Scrappy Pink Bunting Blocks!

The sweet bunting block was selected as the one to be sewn for the month of October in the online Pink Quilt Bee that I am participating in for the whole year!

 If you'd like to sew your own version, please visit Alyce's blog, Blossom Heart Quilts for her wonderful tutorial (click here for the tutorial).

Once again, I enjoyed sewing my version to send (as well as the second version, which I am keeping) in as many scrappy pinks and low volume fabrics as possible!

I pulled out some of my most treasured fabrics to make a fun block that I sent to my friend, Heidi.  Many of these are fabrics that have been long out of print and are difficult (if not impossible) to find and I knew that Heidi would enjoy and appreciate finding them in her block.  One of my favourite reasons to love scrappy quilting, is that I get to use every last bit of fabric.  It's even more fun when you get to share those special fabrics with a friend!

If you look close you will notice that I have a sweet theme in this block, check out these fabrics... an advertisement for strawberry plants,   three different  strawberry prints and then a strawberry jam print!  Too fun!

The second bunting block, is the one I am keeping for my sampler quilt and once again, I used some of my long time favourite fabrics from my stash - anyone remember Sandi Henderson's fabric line called Farmer's Market? If you do, you will spot a couple of those treasures within my block. 😏  There's even a sweet fussy cut that I couldn't resist adding - actually it was tough to stop at one.  It's not always possible to incorporate a larger fussy cut into a quilt block, so I couldn't let this opportunity pass me by!

My block went together a bit quicker - at least for the center of the block, due to the fact that I have some pre-made half square triangle units on hand. I have a growing collection of half square triangle units because I sew them up as leader/enders, using my cut off triangle scraps from block making. I take my scrap busting seriously! 😊

 This finish makes eleven of the needed twelve blocks for my sampler quilt for my year of sewing pink!  I am getting excited to lay out my monthly blocks, together with the setting blocks I received from my bee mates and see how my quilt is shaping up.  Stay tuned on that!

Wonky Star Blocks

Looking for a fun block to try?

Love that Sarah Jane print that I fussy cut for the center of my star!

I had the pleasure of sewing my first wonky star block as a part of an online quilt bee, selected for the month of September.  (Click here for the tutorial to make this block).

I am sewing two blocks for each month (one to keep and one to send to that month's Queen in the quilt bee).  I decided to make the first block as my keeper, so I could get the hang of free hand cutting the star points, to make sure I could then make a decent block to send! 😜

Turns out, that was a good plan - not because I messed up on the star points, but rather I missed the mark selecting fabrics with good contrast to really show off the star!

The second star is much better with contrast and is definitely "wonky"!  The beauty of this block is the freedom to create a unique star each time and it is a great design for going scrappy - which is always a win in my opinion.   One tip I would give in the making of these blocks is to start out with a 5" square for the background for the star points, that way once you cut and sew your points, you can trim down the finished square, before adding it to you block.  That little bit of extra fabric to play with, gives a bit more wiggle room in working with the improv points. 

This block is number nine out of the twelve I need for my all pink and very scrappy sampler quilt!

Carrying on

This month I stitched up my fourth version of a favourite messenger bag for children, which will be gifted to my youngest niece. I selected a mid weight denim for the main body of the bag, thinking that will make it durable and easy to care for (expecting that this bag will be taken on lots of  little girl adventures!).

The messenger bag pattern can be found in Liesl Gibson's book,

Oliver + S Little Things to Sew: 20 Classic Accessories and Toys for Children .

Kona Challenge "Twigs" Placemat Tutorial

How about a Throwback Thursday Tutorial?

This is a post that was written and shared back in October of 2014 on the Sew Sisters blog (and not previously published on my blog). I was invited to design a project using a bundle of solids - all Kona cottons, selected from their fabric club and I came up with a Nature inspired placemat for fall.  Since we are in the midst of the fall season, here on the mountain, I thought this post would be fun to share for some seasonal sewing! 

A Parade of Rainbow Bee Blocks!

I have been keeping busy with two online quilting bees this year and sharing it all on my Instagram account, but have failed at posting regularly on my blog!  Time to change that.