Pretty Fabric Needs A Pattern ~ Suggestions?

And there I was, minding my own business, shopping for the weekly supplies and.... Who put these cute little bundles on an end cap?  Oh the nerve of some people!  Don't they understand triggers and addiction?  I'm pretty sure I let out a little squeal right there in the middle Wal-Mart.  A quick look around...and yes I was busted by not one but three very young Wal-Mart employees.  All three turned to see what crazy old lady was saying...OOOO SO PRETTY!  What could I do but go deeper into my addiction by asking "Do you have Pioneer Woman fabric in single fat quarters or yardage?"  Response... "No mam".  In my mind I was screaming...youngin's don't understand and should go back to playing Candy Crush.

 Like a kid with a new toy I had to open them and play as soon as I got home.  The groceries can wait while I OOOH and AWED for a bit, cocking my head from side to side, sigh....feels good.  Oh the fabric high, what a rush.  Now, what should I make with them?  Something simple.  I've been quilting my tail off at the frame.  A break is earned.  Yes, I'm justifying my wanting to veer from the 2023 UFO busting.  That's what we do, right?  New year comes, we make a plan, we break the plan.  It's all a part of the plan.  It's nice to have goals but let's get real, this isn't a life or death situation.  It makes me happy and that's good, right?  RIGHT!  Okay, it's settled I'm going to make a quicky quilt.  But first let's get the groceries put away because finding just the right pattern will more than likely turn into a quilt pattern rabbit hole.

Now that the groceries are put away and the new fabric excitement has dissipated, I'm starting to think these two prints and maybe the solids need to be pulled from the mix.  The navy blue is a sore thumb, right?  In the picture above it jumps out to me and says, "Hey I'm an ugly frog".  What do you think, frog or swan?

I have two more different PW bundles in here somewhere behind all the other PW fabrics...sigh...and I was worried about a pattern rabbit hole.  A dig through the cabinets is a whole other issue.  Well I know they are in there so lets just wait until I find a pattern because why make a big mess until there's a definite plan.  The studio just recovered from the Christmas quilting blitz of 2022.  More on that at a later date.  I still have one blitz quilt on the frame.

Most of the time designing quilt patterns is my thing, but for time sake I need a pattern I already own or a free quick and easy from the internet.  The first one that comes to mind is The Yellow Brick Road.  It's become a classic go to for many quilters.  I own it so it's a maybe.  What's also great about this type of quilt is you can make them in several sizes.

Common sense would say "Great!  You've got fabric and a pattern, you're all set!".  Not today, I feel the need for a rabbit hole expedition.  I mean you never know what quilty treat you might find on the internet these days.  Jenny Doan of MSQC came to mind but to be honest I feel like I need something not so EVERYBODY makes it, hence the not really wanting to do the Yellow Brick Road.  Jordan Fabrics also popped up in my thoughts but most of her YT tutorials are tips for making purchased patterns.  The goal is FREE because it's my kind of crazy.  Fabric we almost always pay for, patterns I can make or find free.  So as I got deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole I found another pattern similar to the YBR above.  This one is by Material Girl Quilts.  She's from Indiana, like me.  It's simple, there's a free PDF printable and a video if that's your thang.  As of right now this is the one I'll be using because of the larger cuts.  Large cuts are great for some of the large prints in PW fabric and it's quicker. 

I covered cutting instructions out of respect for her hard work.

This is still not a set in stone idea.  I have 2 other quilts needing love.  One on the frame and one in my lap as I hand stitch the binding. As soon as these two are finished...it's go time with the Pioneer Woman fabrics. So, I'm open for any suggestions you might have for a pattern.  Do you have a favorite go-to easy quilt?  Leave me a comment below!

Until Next Time....

I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet! 

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Little Sweethearts ~ UFO Quilt 2022

 Hello Happy Quilters!  Today I want to share with you a happy little quilt I started way back in 2014 and finally finished last October.   There seems to be a trend with my UFO quilts.  So far many of them were started in the same year.  You can read more about this quilt and the pattern I used and the for the little girl blocks by clicking here.  The information for the little girl panels are also in that same blog post.   After it became a UFO I opted to alter the pattern and not complete all the blocks.

This quilt is like many of my quilts, it has a wide range of fabrics.  Don't call the quilt police on me....the pink gingham is an old poly cotton.  And the orange print peaking out below the gingham is a shirt I found at Goodwill, it too is not cotton.

Once again I tried to keep the quilting fairly light just for time sake.  It's a mixture of free motion and ruler work, I would say about 50/50.  Oh and look down at the bottom left corner.  The yellow print with flowers is a sheet from a thrift shop.  I used the same sheet as a sashing in another quit called Scrap Happy Baskets, you can see it by clicking here.

All of the fabrics you see below are NON quilt shop fabrics.  Since there were so many not up to snuff fabrics in this quilt, washing it was a real treat.  I think I washed it three times before it stopped bleeding.  I have synthrapol and retayne on hand but prefer not use them.  The label printing did not survive all the washings.  So I've order a new Pigma pen to fix this label.  

She was finished off with a cute little aqua strip also from Hobby Lobby.  I love the little punch of color.

This little cutie finishes at 60 x 60.  That's the smallest quilt I've made in a long time.

The Little Sweethearts quilt will be perfect for my two little sweetheart granddaughters to snuggle under when they come to visit grandma.

Until Next time...

I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!

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Autumn Stars ~ UFO Quilt #2 2023

 One of the best things about finishing UFO's is the  memories put into to each quilt.  With this quilt I was at a loss for what inspired this odd for me colorway.  A quick search for the quilt on my blog and I found the inspiration was a trip to the mailbox on a beautiful fall day while wearing a flannel shirt.  What can I say...I'm an odd critter and never know what will inspire my quilty brain.  You can find the original post here.  And then here as a forgotten UFO.

 I do remember thinking about adding applique to the bottom of this one.  Just because even the smallest amount of applique on a quilt adds a lot of WOW.  But....sometimes the thought of WOW is over powered by my laziness.  Obviously that was the case with this quilt.  But if you want to see what I drew up in EQ it too can be found in the posts linked above.

As with most of my quilts this is a mishmash of fabrics.  The vintage orange calico is my all time favorite orange fabric in my stash.  They just don't make them like this anymore.  I would guess it dates to the 60's or 70's.  The navy blue is also an older fabric from the 80's or 90's.  Not quite vintage but it's getting close.  All three of the different green prints in this quilt are about 8 or 9 years old and are Walmart fabrics.  The white is more than likely a Kona from Joann's or Hancock Fabrics.

The simple traditional pattern appeals to old school country girl in me.  You just can't beat a traditional quilt with tons of white space.  Even when quilt styles go all color I tend to stay with plain ole white for the background.  The white space generally makes me want to add tons of quilting and feathers but on this one I decided to keep it simple for the simple reason of time.  If I quilt to death every quilt I'll never get all these UFO's finished.

The gingham backing is a Moda print...Bonnie and Camille...I think.  What I do know is no quilt is complete unless it has gingham in it somewhere.  Gingham is the best print ever.  I CAN remember being very little and loving gingham.  And then my Aunt Linnie had a red kitchen back in the late 70's early 80's.  The countertops were bright red and red gingham curtains.  She also had a large print green gingham couch.  I knew someday I would have a red gingham couch.  Well that hasn't happened yet but there's still time.  

The label isn't the prettiest...again keeping it simple.  To be honest I almost forgot the label.  To me the best label is put on the backing before it's quilted.  It can never be removed if it's part of the backing and gets quilted.  Well, it can be removed but the quilting would need to be taken out.  

With the permission of Racheal from the Quilted Twins quilt shop I'm sharing a FREE pattern from their website.  This quilt shop in Florida has a wide variety of fabrics at great prices.  They also do two Facebook Lives every week where they show fabrics for sale, most as low as $6.99 a yard!  Racheal has also put together many 1/2 yd. bundles at very reasonable prices.  The prices will be hard to beat.

Today's pattern and every pattern on their website is designed by Becky, Rachael's twin.  Becky has a scrappy quilty style I love.  This one is called Autumn Majesty.  You can find this pattern by clicking here.  And there's many more fabulous scrappy patterns just click here to see them all.

Until next time...

I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!

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New Quilt Marking Pencil Review and New Fabric

So much for the plan of only buying what's needed to finish the current project.  In my defense, you all know I work with these colors a lot.   More than likely they will be used within in the next few months on the huge stack of UFO's I shared in a previous post.  

How could I pass up $3 a yard?  This receipt is for 11.806 yards of fabric and 2 water soluble pencils.  Review for the pencils later in this post.  11.806 what an odd number.   They charge for every inch, no rounding down at this store.

I know your wondering where in the world is fabric $3 a yard and is it worth a darn?

Hobby Lobby

Did you know every other week most of the fabric is 40% off?  Like clockwork for the last 2 years.  And they always have a section of clearance fabric.  Now since the company is going to change hands this may change.  

These little cuties were in the clearance section.  I've been eyeing them for a long time but I just kept telling myself, I know where it is if I need it.  But if it's in the clearance section that tells me it's going away and not coming back.  Better grab it while I can and at these prices how could I not! 

Kim, the fabric department gal, even gave me this small piece of scrap for free...LOL!   She's such a sweetie, always happy.  Yesterday as I walked up to the cutting counter she says "Hey Aries!  I knew you'd be in this week for the 40% off!".  She calls me Aries because the topic of astrology came up in one of my many recent visits.  She must be big on signs, I can't remember her sign but she remembers mine.  Not sure that's a good thing when you're and Aries.😕😁  All that matters is I'm memorable and we enjoy our visits.  

Anyway, back to the fabric.  Is it great fabric, no.  Is it better than Joann's?  I don't know.  Is it better than Walmart fabric?  Again, I don't know.  It's fabric, it passes my test of how does it feel.  All of these non quilt shop places have some okay fabrics and some not so okay fabric.  Obviously this one is better than some of the fabrics in Hobby Lobby.  No matter what the print or what store, if the fabric feels like a tight weaved gauze, I won't purchase.  If it feels stiff or heavily painted, I won't purchase.  Even in quilt shops there's fabrics with a heavy metallic, shimmer or glaze on top of the dye.  These types of stiff fabrics have given me issues in the past.  

Now here's what I do know about non quilt shop quality fabric, especially Hobby Lobby fabrics.  Bleeding is more than likely going to happen.  These will be pinked and prewashed before going into my stash.  They also tend to shrink a bit more than name brand.  

Brother Sister Design Studio is on the selvage.  A google search for the company and the thread count of their fabrics brought up no useful results.  The only thing found is they are basically a Hobby Lobby company.

Alrighty lets get back to the reason for shopping at Hobby Lobby.   A water soluble white marking pencil.  It's not something needed very often since I rarely work with dark fabric.  Many brands of white fabric pencils and markers have been used over the years and they have failed by staining or embedding in the fibers. When I saw these at Hobby Lobby I thought, why not give them a try.  If they too fail, I'm only out $2.99.

 

Any new pen or pencil is tested before using them on projects due to the many failures.  Trusting the company or other quilters is not an option anymore.  So don't trust me either!  If you decide to try anything suggested here, TEST IT OUT ON YOUR FABRICS FIRST.  Why?  Maybe its because different fabrics have different chemicals?  You may use a different starch?  Your water may have something it that causes them not to work?  I really don't know why products work for some and not for others.  

It works!  A little spritz of water and....See!  All gone.   I've quilted 4 quilts marked with these and not one white mark was visible after washing.

Now there is one thing I didn't like about this pencil and all other pencils that need to be sharpened.  The "lead" breaks inside the pencil.  It would also break if applying too much pressure when marking the quilt.  After figuring out the problem was applying too much pressure, there was no more "lead" breaks.  Of course it could have been the $1 pencil sharpener causing some of the issues. Pretty sure they don't use the best blades in those.  

Hope you found this useful and...

Until next time....

I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!

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