Before we get started on the Gobble Gobble Sew Along (get the pattern HERE and you can sign up for the sew along HERE), I wanted to chat briefly about the fabric requirements–particularly for the front of the pillow.

The fabric requirements for the turkey direct you to get 1/4 yard total of assorted orange prints, and you can accomplish that several different ways. For my original Gobble Gobble pillow, I used all scraps from my stash! The orange pieces to be cut are all pretty small, so they are perfect to use up some orange scraps and as a bonus, you’ll get a good variety of prints to give the feathers a nice, variegated look.

Another way to get a good variety of orange prints is to cut what you need from fat quarters or yardage in your stash. If you are going for certain shades of orange, you can easily pick out your desired oranges and follow the cutting instructions using only those prints.

For the sew along, I’ve decided I’m going to be using charm squares (5″ x 5″ squares) for my orange prints. I picked up a charm pack in All Hallow’s Eve by Fig Tree & Co. as I love the shade of the oranges in it and there are also a good amount of orange squares to still have a nice variety of prints.

If you’d also like to use charm squares for the orange fabric requirement, I did a little math and figured out that at the very least you need six 5″ x 5″ orange squares. However, I’d recommend using 8-10 squares to get a better variety of prints and have a little bit of wiggle room when cutting the pieces out.

For all of the other fabric requirements, I’d recommend getting yardage as indicated in the pattern. The brown fabric has one piece to cut that’s larger than a charm square, so charm squares and other scraps wouldn’t work quite as well for the brown fabric.

Are you joining in? We’re starting on Monday, August 24th and will work on getting all of our fabric cut out that first week. Remember to post your weekly photos on Instagram using the hashtag #gobblesewalong to be entered to win prizes!

Happy sewing!

Do you remember my Vintage Checkerboard quilt pattern from the Best of Moda Bake Shop book? It’s a quick pattern that uses precut jelly roll (2.5″) strips and finishes at 72″ x 84″. You can find the full instructions in the book along with fifteen other fun precut friendly patterns.

The designers of the other quilts and I are participating in a Moda Bake Shop pillow parade event to showcase our quilt designs re-imagined into pillows. Pillows are one of my favorite things to make (they are fast and pack a big decorating punch) so of course I was up for the challenge!

For my Vintage Checkerboard pillow, I used the fabric line Flour Garden by Linzee Kull McCray for Moda and instead of keeping the center background square blank, I decided to add a fun hand embroidered saying. Some crosshatch hand quilting and a zipper in the bottom finished it off nicely. Super simple, but I love that it can be used year round or made with holiday fabrics (and a blank center or different embroidered saying) for a seasonal pillow.

This little pillow was so fun to make that I wanted to share my hand-lettered quote file for anyone else wanting to embroider it on their own pillow or project! You can click below to download the PDF file then transfer it onto a piece of solid fabric (I like using Frixion pens–they are erasable with a quick touch of a hot iron) and go to work embroidering!

Click here for the Always Grateful Embroidery PDF file

Happy sewing!

Are you ready for fall yet? Although I’ve been enjoying summer, I am always up for some fall sewing! The first thing on my list for fall sewing is my new Gobble Gobble Turkey Pillow Cover! This cute turkey pillow was featured in the Fall 2019 issue of Quilts & More and I’m so excited to now have the pattern available in my Etsy shop.

The Gobble Gobble Turkey Pillow cover finishes at 18″ x 18″ and is such a fun addition to your fall decor. The pattern has all traditional piecing (no foundation paper piecing) and is a great way to use up some scraps! The pattern has clear, easy to follow directions and full color graphics to guide you through all the steps.

There was so much excitement last year about this pillow that I’ve decided to host a sew along this year! We’ll start on Monday, August 24th and will have three weeks of sewing, tips, and of course prizes!

You can get the Gobble Gobble pattern in my Etsy shop HERE and sign up for the Gobble Gobble Sew Along HERE. I’ll be sending out weekly emails for the sew along to keep us all on schedule and give tips and tricks where needed. And remember to tag all of your social media sew along images with #gobblesewalong to be eligible for the weekly prizes. I’m so excited to get started and hope you are, too!

P.S. If you sign up for the sew along or share the information on social media (tag me and use the hashtag #gobblesewalong on instagram or facebook when you share), you’ll be entered to win a kit to make the front of the turkey pillow!

Happy sewing!

The Best of Moda Bake Shop book is here and I’m honored to have one of my quilts included! The book has fifteen precut-friendly projects, each by a different quilt pattern designer. There’s a wide variety of projects and definitely something for everyone! The cover quilt uses two charm packs (5″ squares) and was designed by Christine Weld. I absolutely love those cute houses and can’t believe you only need two charm packs to make them all!

The quilt that I designed is called Vintage Checkerboard. It’s part checkerboard, part Irish Chain, and super easy with a precut jelly roll! The fabric is Scarlet & Sage from Fig Tree for Moda fabrics and the background is Moda Bella Solid in Ivory. I love that the fabrics go so well with the vintage/heirloom feel of the quilt.

One of my favorite projects from the book is this mini quilt, Christmas Baubles, by Jen Daly. It uses one mini charm pack and is such a cute way to use those little squares of fabric! This quilt would also be perfect to use up scraps or for fussy cutting some favorite Christmas fabric to make the ornaments.

Another favorite is Twin Pop by the mom/daughter duo Diane Brinton and Audrey Mann. Seriously, such a fun quilt, right?!? Twin Pop uses jelly roll strips and has such a clever construction to make the popsicles look 3D.

The Best of Moda Bake Shop book is available now–ask for it at your local quilt shop or find it online HERE.

Happy sewing!

I’ve been into bag making recently and the process seems to work really well with my current day-to-day schedule. I can do one step, go help the kids with schoolwork, do another step, get dinner ready, etc. Each little step feels like a lot of progress and before I know it, I have a whole project completed!

As I’ve worked my way through making bags, I’ve found that when I try to iron small binding strips or other tiny pieces, my steam iron (which I love) has a tendency to blast steam on my poor fingers. It’s hard to hold those tiny pieces in place with the iron so close and not have the steam burn me.

Enter the Misting Spray bottle!! I have never owned a misting spray bottle before, but I immediately fell in love with this one from Riley Blake Designs. I gently mist the fabric, iron it without steam and can still get crisp pressed lines while saving my fingers from burns. I definitely call that a win!

I know a lot of quilters also love their misting spray bottle to use with liquid starch spray. I generally don’t use starch, but can imagine that misting a piece of fabric would be more effective than spraying with a regular spray bottle. You’d get a more uniform spray and use less starch, too.

These Open Wide pouches (By Annie pattern) were the perfect project to break in my RBD Misting Spray bottle! The pouches have lots of small binding strips to iron and the misting bottle saved my fingers from the steam of my iron. For these Open Wide pouches, I used the new Splendor fabric line by Jen Allyson and am in love with the charming florals and gorgeous colors.

You can find the Open Wide pouch pattern on the By Annie website HERE and check with your favorite local or online quilt shop for the RBD Misting Spray Bottle and Splendor fabric.

Happy sewing!

Baby quilts have always been a favorite of mine to make. They are fast to finish and a great way to feel productive. 🙂 Lately, I’ve been loving the cute panels from Riley Blake Designs. For this baby quilt, I used the new Noah’s Ark panel with just one yard of a coordinating print from the line as the border. It was as easy as it is cute!

I used navy Dreamy Minky for the backing, quilted some raindrops (how could I resist using the raindrop quilting design?!?) and added the navy and light blue raindrops for the binding.

The Noah’s Ark line has three different colorways for the panels plus a bunch of darling coordinating prints. See that rainbow raindrop print above? That’s a favorite of mine that I’m bound and determined to use for another project. Stay tuned to see what I have planned. 🙂

Pinwheel quilts hold a special place in my heart. One summer when I was a teenager, I asked my mom if she’d teach me how to make a quilt. I looked through her quilt books and fell in love with the pinwheel block. After picking out some 30s reproduction prints, I made my first ever quilt–a simple pinwheel quilt.

My new quilt pattern, Windy Day, is a fun reminder of my first pinwheel quilt. Windy Day has a bit more pizazz thrown in, though. 🙂 With the blocks set on point and the smaller pinwheels in the sashing, this quilt top reminds me of an array of pinwheels, all blowing in the wind.

Windy Day was originally designed for Quilts and More magazine, where I made an aqua and red Christmas version. To release the Windy Day pattern in my Etsy shop, I wanted to make a more spring-like version and chose the new Riley Blake fabric line Charmed. It features pretty corals and navy blues and I added in Sweet Mint Shabby fabric for the background (also from Riley Blake).

You can find Windy Day in my Etsy shop HERE.

Happy sewing!

Have you made a buffalo plaid quilt yet? I made my first buffalo plaid quilt 3-4 years ago. It was red and black and made entirely from flannel (in other words, it weighs a ton, but is well loved during wintertime!). I didn’t realize that there were any online tutorials, so I figured out the fabric requirements and cutting instructions myself (which really isn’t a difficult task since you’re just dealing with squares).

A few months ago, we got a new bed frame and mattress for our boy and I thought a black and white buffalo plaid quilt would be perfect on his new bed. This time around, I wanted to make the plaid jumbo sized for a big impact and fast finish. I chose Riley Blake’s Confetti Cotton because it has such a softness to it. If you haven’t tried their solids lately, you really should–they are so soft to the touch!

The backing is flannel (Riley Blake Kisses in Steel) so it’s still warm and cozy, I quilted it with the Too Simple pantograph, and bound using Confetti Cotton solid in black.

I realize that there are many other online tutorials, but wanted to share the specifics for my jumbo plaid quilt, so I’ve added a tutorial below. Enjoy!

Finished Quilt Size: 67″ x 86″

Fabric Requirements:

Black: 1 1/2 yard
Gray: 2 1/4 yard
White: 1 yard
Backing: 4 yards (with a vertical seam in the backing)
Binding: 1/2 yard

The fabric I used for the quilt top is Confetti Cotton solids in Black, Riley Gray, and Riley White from Riley Blake Designs.

Cutting instructions:

Black: cut (5) 10″ x WOF strips. Subcut into (20) 10″ x 10″ squares.
Gray: cut (8) 10″ x WOF strips. Subcut into (31) 10″ x 10″ squares.
White: cut (3) 10″ x WOF strips. Subcut into (12) 10″ x 10″ squares.

Assemble the quilt top:

Layout the black, gray, and white squares as shown below. Sew the blocks into rows, pressing seams toward the gray squares. Sew the rows together, press all seams in one direction.

I can never get enough of a good rainbow gradient–so cheerful and always puts a smile on my face! When I saw that Sandy Gervais was putting out a fun new basic line called Texture with Riley Blake, I knew the vibrant colors would be perfect for my new Kaleidoscope FPP pattern.

I started off by making some 4″ x 4″ blocks from the Kaleidoscope foundation paper piecing pattern (found HERE). Since I wanted a gradient of colors, I made sixteen blocks total: one red block, two orange blocks, three yellow blocks, four green blocks, three blue blocks, two purple blocks, and one pink block. Those numbers gave me a good flow of colors from corner to corner.

The Kaleidoscope blocks sew together pretty fast since there are only a few seams in each one. and it was fun to add the colorful blocks to my pile and watch the rainbow come alive.

After making the sixteen blocks, they were sewn together into a 4 x 4 panel (it measures 16.5″ x 16.5″ and is the perfect size for a pillow cover, although I’m thinking I’d like to save it for a different project). The paper backs have all been removed and now I’ve just been enjoying the splash of color in my sewing space.

The colors of the Riley Blake Texture fabric is mesmerizing and while I absolutely love the colors all together, each color is wonderful on its own, too! I used thirteen colors in my Kaleidoscope panel, but you can see there are many more colors in the Texture line to play with!

Ode to a Nine Patch Block

Roses Are Red
Violets Are Blue
I love a nine patch
And I hope you do, too!

Nine patches are such a classic quilt block. They are no fuss, simple, predictable, but oh so versatile and fun! So when Amanda from Broadcloth Studio had the genius idea to do a Quilt Block Soul Mate quiz and asked me to contribute a block option, I knew I wanted to go with the nine patch (because, let’s face it–I can relate to the nine patch block because I’m simple and predictable, too). 😉

If you haven’t taken the Quilt Block Soul Mate quiz yet, you can check it out HERE and let me know what quilt block you’ve matched up with! It’s no surprise that when I took the quiz, I was matched up with the nine patch block! Haha.

Since I love nine patch blocks so much, I thought it would be fun to do a little round-up of some great nine patch tutorials and patterns that I’ve been admiring. So sit back, relax, and let’s see just how awesome the nine patch block is!

Nine Patch Quilt Block Tutorial by Simple Simon & Company

Nine patch blocks are just a grid of 3×3 squares, but have you ever tried strip piecing them? Simple Simon & Company has a great tutorial to show you how to quickly make nine patch blocks by strip piecing 2.5″ precut strips. It’s such a great time saver! You can check out the nine patch block tutorial HERE.

Basic Irish Chain Quilt Pattern by Andy from A Bright Corner

One thing I love about the nine patch is that you can pair it with solid squares and you suddenly have an Irish Chain quilt! Andy from A Bright Corner has a great pattern to show you just how easy it is to make an Irish Chain Quilt. Check out her free printable pattern HERE.

Disappearing Nine Patch by RebaLeigh Handmade

If you haven’t seen or heard of a Disappearing Nine Patch, you’ll have to check this free pattern out! Someone, somewhere had the brilliant idea to make a nine patch, cut it in half both ways, reposition the pieces, and sew them back together to make a new design. It’s so clever–and fast, too! Head to RebaLeigh Handmade’s blog for her free printable pattern, First Crush Charm, that goes over the disappearing nine patch block step by step.

Nine Patch Plus Quilt Pattern by Center Street Quilts (me!)

It’s pretty much obligatory that I include one of my own patterns in this round-up, right?!? I designed this Nine Patch Plus pattern to be a scrappy, modern mashup of a nine patch block and a plus block. So if you’re looking for something off the beaten path, check out my Nine Patch Plus quilt pattern HERE.

Star Patch Pattern by Gigi’s Thimble

Looking for a nine patch quilt with a twist? The Star Patch pattern from Gigi’s Thimble has darling nine patch blocks set on point around a jumbo star. Super cute, right? You can find the Star Patch pattern HERE.

After seeing all these fun nine patch patterns are you just as pumped about nine patches as I am? My scrap fabric pin is just begging me to make one or two of these! 🙂