Friday, April 29, 2016

The Sew Sampler Box from The Fat Quarter Shop

The Sew Sampler Box from The Fat Quarter Shop

This week my first Sew Sampler Box from the Fat Quarter Shop arrived! A knock on the door is always a welcome interruption and when it means the delivery of a surprise parcel it is even more so. The Sew Sampler Box is a monthly subscription box filled with notions, fabrics, patterns, thread and accessories, especially collated for quilters and delivered to your door every month. Each month will feature a specific theme sure to surprise and inspire you!

What's in the box?

The Sew Sampler Box from The Fat Quarter Shop

April Sew Sampler Box:
Each month the box will include at least 5 specially chosen items with a retail value more than the monthly cost. Don’t be surprised if you receive exclusive or first-look items. Plus, as a member you will receive special discounts and exclusive deals. The cost of the monthly subscription is $US24.95 plus shipping. 

The Sew Sampler Box from The Fat Quarter Shop

I love fabric and notions so this box was filled with just the right products for me; practical and useful items. My Miniature Schnauzer - Oliver - was unusually curious and couldn't help but take a look for himself! He gave it his paw of approval.



Thank you for stopping by,
Rita

DISCLOSURE: The Fat Quarter Shop is a sponsor of my blog and the Sew Sampler Box was sent to me as a review product at no charge. The content of this blog post and opinions stated are all mine. I am not paid for clicks or by commission from this sponsor or any other sponsor.

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COPYRIGHT: Do not copy or use any content or photos from my blog without my written permission. Images included in this blog post include my own product photos. Product banners and logo images provided by the Fat Quarter Shop and used with permission.

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

A Half Square Triangle Variation Quilt

Work in Progress.

I have had a busy week with sewing for a friend for quilt market - which I love to do! - and so my project for this week needed to be something simple with lots of fabric play, and if at all possible a scrap buster quilt. I am still focused on working my way through my overflowing scrap bins! I therefore decided to make another Tiffany Quilt. My original Tiffany Quilt features a mix of low volume, solids, printed fabrics, a gentle color palette and simple block sewing. Once I got started though I almost immediately found myself on a different path, changing the block construction, adding more prints, but keeping the overall feel and subtle color palette of the quilt the same. Or at least similar.


I have many different low volume fabrics in my stash (my definition of a low volume fabric is one that reads as a light color fabric - not necessarily white - that also feature a design often printed on a white/light background) and I love using these fabrics in my quilts. I also like to mix these fabrics with a range of Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton in shades of white and off-white including the following colorways: White, Snow, Butter, Natural, Sand, Ivory, Oyster, Bone, and Cream. Solid fabrics add contrast and the variation of shades create interest (in the same way that these solid fabrics added contrast and interest in my Fields and Furrows Log Cabin Quilt).


Many of my low volume fabrics are text fabrics including a recent addition of large scale letters (from the Pastel Thrift Collection by Art Gallery Fabrics) which I have fussy cut and scattered throughout the quilt. Collectively the letters spell the word SEW (see photo below) although if it wasn't for the lack of the letter Q it would have been QUILT! Just for fun.


QUILT STATS
Quilt Top measures 48 inches x 60 inches
180 Blocks (half square triangle units with
 sashing on two sides with some variation)
Cotton fabrics, hand screen printed, linen and linen blend fabrics;
includes Liberty Tana Lawn, rare and sought after fabrics, and vintage fabric.


Ready for basting, quilting, and binding ~
Thank you for stopping by,
Rita


RELEVANT LINKS:
Half Square Triangle Variation Quilt Pattern - The Finished Quilt

Half Square Triangle Variation Quilt Pattern (pdf file) now available from my Etsy Store and my Pattern Store.

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COPYRIGHT: Do not copy or use any content or photos from my blog without my written permission.

Sunday, April 24, 2016

Sunday Stash #330 Garland by Cotton + Steel

Garland ~ A collaborative holiday collection by the Cotton + Steel designers | Red Pepper Quilts 2016
Garland ~ a collaborative collection 
by the Cotton + Steel design team.
Garland is a collaborative holiday collection by the Cotton + Steel team. It is the their second holiday collection and follows the success of last year's popular Tinsel fabric range. I am not usually a fan of Christmas and holiday fabric collections but this collection - just like their previous holiday collection - I could not resist and was purchased with good intentions. Use it or lose it. As always. Fortunately Garland and Tinsel pair alongside one another perfectly!

Garland ~ A collaborative holiday collection by the Cotton + Steel designers | Red Pepper Quilts 2016
Garland ~ A collaborative holiday collection by the Cotton + Steel designers | Red Pepper Quilts 2016

With prancing reindeer, jolly Santas, snowmen, angels, tree decorations, and twinkling lights, Garland has all the charm of a 1950's holiday; Christmas cheer wrapped up in a fabric collection in festive colors with a just a hint of glitter (metallic gold). I rather like the color palette of this holiday collection with the traditional festive colors clearly represented but extended to include colors not typically associated with Christmas ~ pink, blue, yellow, and purple. I also see lots of opportunity for fussy cutting!

Garland ~ A collaborative holiday collection by the Cotton + Steel designers | Red Pepper Quilts 2016
Garland ~ A collaborative holiday collection by the Cotton + Steel designers | Red Pepper Quilts 2016
Garland ~ A collaborative holiday collection by the Cotton + Steel designers | Red Pepper Quilts 2016

GARLAND BY COTTON + STEEL is available from:
The Fat Quarter Shop
Westwood Acres
Stash Fabrics
Fabric Bubb
Bobbie Lou's Fabric Factory

Garland ~ A collaborative holiday collection by the Cotton + Steel designers | Red Pepper Quilts 2016

SPONSOR NEWS:

Expired coupon codes and details deleted.

Garland ~ A collaborative holiday collection by the Cotton + Steel designers | Red Pepper Quilts 2016
Click on any image for a larger view.
Enjoy Sunday!
Rita

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Thursday, April 21, 2016

The Daisy Chain Quilt - An English Paper Piecing Project - Part 4

The Daisy Chain Quilt - English Paper Piecing | Red Pepper Quilts 2016

An update on my Daisy Chain Quilt today as was promised when eight out of the twelve rows were joined together. It has been just over a month since my last Daisy Chain Quilt progress report and during that four week period I did not touch this project for the first two weeks. I began to worry that I had lost my momentum with this project and had to push myself to pick it up again. Of course from the moment I threaded the needle again I haven't looked back. 

The Daisy Chain Quilt - English Paper Piecing | Red Pepper Quilts 2016
The Daisy Chain Quilt - English Paper Piecing | Red Pepper Quilts 2016
The Daisy Chain Quilt - English Paper Piecing | Red Pepper Quilts 2016

Eight out of the twelve vertical rows of Daisy Chain units are now joined together and I am happy to say it is starting to look like a quilt top. As the quilt top grows it is becoming increasing more difficult to handle and it is definitely not a pretty lap project. Nor it is portable! It takes up the whole couch with me buried under it. Mind you, I have sewn the quilt top together in sections: two rows at a time, that were then sewn together to become four rows, then the two sets of four rows were sewn together. So the discomfort of having to handle a large section of the quilt top with papers still in is short lived.

The Daisy Chain Quilt - English Paper Piecing | Red Pepper Quilts 2016

Most of the papers are still in although you may be able to tell from the photos that I have taken a few papers out (where you can see the seam allowances) because I can't wait to see what the quilt top will look/feel like without them. I have glue basted my papers for this project and I am happy to report that very few papers popped out unexpectedly whilst working on the project - I have had to glue baste two or three papers back in as they were near the edge that I was working on. Other than that all papers have reliably stayed in place despite all the handling and manipulation of the quilt top.

The Daisy Chain Quilt - English Paper Piecing | Red Pepper Quilts 2016
The Daisy Chain Quilt - English Paper Piecing | Red Pepper Quilts 2016
The Daisy Chain Quilt - English Paper Piecing | Red Pepper Quilts 2016

Below is a photo of what my project looks like right now (eight vertical rows). The piece measures approximately 42 inches x 75 inches. As you can see, even when all of the twelve rows are joined together I will still have quite some work to do to fill the gaps along the edges.

The Daisy Chain Quilt - English Paper Piecing | Red Pepper Quilts 2016

I have also come to realize that just because you spend a lot of time carefully arranging all units on a design wall, place those units in order into separate snap lock bags - one bag for each row - and number the bags, it does not mean that you will join the units for each row in the set order, nor join rows in sequential order. How does that even happen?!

The Daisy Chain Quilt - English Paper Piecing | Red Pepper Quilts 2016
The Daisy Chain Quilt - English Paper Piecing | Red Pepper Quilts 2016

The Daisy Chain Quilt ~ An English Paper Piecing Project
Fabrics: from Stash and 
Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton in White for the connecting diamond shape.

The Daisy Chain Quilt - English Paper Piecing | Red Pepper Quilts 2016

The next Daisy Chain Quilt update: when all twelve rows are joined together.

Thank you for stopping by,
Rita
The Daisy Chain Quilt - English Paper Piecing | Red Pepper Quilts 2016

RELEVANT LINKS:
Daisy Chain Quilt - Part 1
Daisy Chain Quilt - Part 2
Daisy Chain Quilt - Part 3
Daisy Chain Quilt - Part 5

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Tuesday, April 19, 2016

For the Love of Patchwork ... Part 2

A Finished Quilt
For the Love of Patchwork - A Finished Quilt | Red Pepper Quilts 2016

 QUILT STATS
A selection of more than 220 different quilting cottons
were used to make this quilt.
I  have made 42 16-patch blocks and then added one additional
 row of squares to finish the quilt at 60 inches x 72 inches. 
  A total of 696 patches of fabric (29 rows of 24 squares).
Each finished square measures 2.5" x 2.5".
Low loft cotton batting ~ 
Warm & White batting from The Warm Company;
a low loft cotton batting perfect for use with low volume and bright white fabrics.

For the Love of Patchwork - A Finished Quilt | Red Pepper Quilts 2016
For the Love of Patchwork - A Finished Quilt | Red Pepper Quilts 2016
For the Love of Patchwork - A Finished Quilt | Red Pepper Quilts 2016

A picture post of the finished For the Love of Patchwork Quilt. I love making these simple patchwork quilts, using fabrics from stash, and piecing in a methodical way using essentially the same technique as described in my Strip Piecing Tutorial

For the Love of Patchwork - A Finished Quilt | Red Pepper Quilts 2016
For the Love of Patchwork - A Finished Quilt | Red Pepper Quilts 2016

And of course it is a great way to showcase a range of fabrics; from stash basics to low volume fabrics, beautiful Liberty of London Tana Lawn, and many novelty fabrics featuring birds, cats, dogs, deer, lambs, flowers, text, faces, mermaids, accessories and many more.

For the Love of Patchwork - A Finished Quilt | Red Pepper Quilts 2016

The finished quilt measures 60 inches x 72 inches and I have ditch stitched all seam lines, thereby creating an all over 2.5 inch grid of intersecting lines and giving the quilt a lovely soft hand without adding or taking anything away from the fabrics that are the feature of this quilt.

For the Love of Patchwork - A Finished Quilt | Red Pepper Quilts 2016

The back of the quilt features a single text fabric ~
  ~ an old favorite. 

For the Love of Patchwork - A Finished Quilt | Red Pepper Quilts 2016
For the Love of Patchwork - A Finished Quilt | Red Pepper Quilts 2016

This quilt was sold prior to completion and my customer asked if she could finish the quilt by sewing down the binding by hand - her favorite part of the quilt making process. Of course! I quite like the idea that the new owner of the quilt gets to spend some finishing the quilt. The photo below therefore shows the quilt with the binding attached but not yet turned over and stitched to the back of the quilt. (The narrow black/white stripe fabric used for binding is by Timeless Treasures).

For the Love of Patchwork - A Finished Quilt | Red Pepper Quilts 2016

This quilt is already on the way to the new owner where I know it will be much loved and used often. Do I find it difficult to part with my quilts? Sometimes! But it is different knowing that you are making a quilt ultimately for the purpose of selling. Unless the quilt is a custom order there isn't at that time a personal connection with the person for whom the quilt is intended (whilst making the quilt). Instead when I look back at photos of my previous quilts it brings back fond memories of a time and place, a season, and the process, and I know that the quilt is being used and loved. Sometimes a customer will send me a photo of the quilt being used in their home, which fills my heart with joy, and motivates me to keep making.

For the Love of Patchwork - A Finished Quilt | Red Pepper Quilts 2016

As always, thank you for stopping by,
Rita

RELEVANT LINKS:
For the Love of Patchwork - Part 1 (Work in Progress)
Checkerboard Quilt and Strip Piecing Tutorial
Backing fabric - Newsprint in White from the Story Collection by Carrie Bloomston

For the Love of Patchwork - A Finished Quilt | Red Pepper Quilts 2016
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COPYRIGHT: Do not copy or use any content or photos from my blog without my written permission.