Glimma Crosses – a free pattern

Posted on January 15, 2014

glimmacross

So, remember a ways back when I had the opportunity to make a couple quilts for Windham Fabrics using Lotta Jansdotter’s Glimma line? (No? Well, you can find them here and here if you care to read more about them). Periodically I’m asked for a pattern for that quilt. As it happens, I wrote up a free pattern for the wonky cross quilt back then, but couldn’t post it here at that time. But! I can post it now, and have provided a link below for the free PDF. As usual, if you have any questions, leave them in the comments and I’ll answer there!

Glimma Crosses pattern

 

 

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Jubilee!

Posted on January 14, 2014

jubilee6

I’ve had a bit of an obsession with the beautiful florals and the silky feel of Liberty of London tana lawns for quite a while now. It’s a bit of a collection for me – on occasion I do sew with it (a couple Tovas, and a quilt or two (or three or four or, ok, I lied! five, six, seven…!)), but mostly I admire it on the shelf. Which is exactly what I was going to do with the fat quarter bundle I purchased from Westwood Acres (fat quarter bundles are sold out, but there are a couple F8th & F16th bundles still available) recently (did you know they’ve started selling Liberty? Yay!).

jubilee4

But each time I walked by the bundle I kept thinking that it would be so much better made up into something I could actually use, and so one day, during coloring time with Max, I decided on this quilt design (colors are random in my diagram, which made it kind of hard to follow!)

jubilee

It’s really just a redo of my recent faceted diamonds quilt. This time around though I wanted to keep it simple to show off those pretty Liberty prints, so I went with one print on either side of the solid white. (Plus, sometimes I just want something quick and easy to finish!)

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I paired several of the prints from my bundle with a few from my stash, and boy, I’m quite pleased with it! I’d love to be laying under it now, but I’m having trouble deciding on a backing, and (and!), I’m even considering hand quilting it, so it may be eons before I actually get to lay under it.

jubilee3

Anyway, Westwood Acres is now offering a Liberty bundle of the month club, where you can opt for a fat quarter, fat eighth or fat sixteenth bundle and each month you’ll receive 10 lovely new Liberty prints (to add to your stash?). I love this idea, as it’s a really great way to get a great variety of prints (and paired with a few solids or other prints, a little Liberty actually goes a long way!)

So, thoughts on backing? Ideas are always welcomed!

Posted in Fabric, Posts about Quilts | Tagged , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Vintage Quilt Revival blog hop

Posted on January 13, 2014

VQR-cover-art

It’s been a while since we’ve talked quilting books here, so I hope you don’t mind me taking the time today to talk about Vintage Quilt Revival, a beautiful new book written by Katie Clark Blakesley, Lee Heinrich and Faith Jones. I’ve been reading each of their blogs for a long time now, dare I say from the beginning?, so I already knew that a book written by any one of them would be something I’d enjoy reading – but a book from all three of them is a real bonus. The book they’ve put together is nice and substantial, and starts right off with page after page of gorgeous quilts made from 20 traditional blocks, and even includes three different layouts for sampler quilts.

cutglass
(a favorite!)

I love how they’ve each taken various classic blocks and used colors and different layouts to create a series of very modern quilts. But as much as I love seeing the modern look of these quilts, I appreciate that they take the time to provide a mini history lesson for each block.

stardust

As part of this blog hop, we were each asked to select and make one of the blocks from the book. As you can imagine, it was a hard decision! In the end I went for the Dakota Star block – I haven’t done much paper piecing, so I thought it would be a fun challenge to select a block that used that technique.

dakota

And I’m so happy to report that it was pretty painless! Though I hope you’ll learn from my little mistake – do make note when a scant 1/4″ is called for! I failed to do so on my first attempt, and after finishing the block up (and congratulating myself for successful paper piecing!), I measured it and was sad to discover that it wasn’t close enough to the 12 1/2″ it should have been.

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Redo! And success.

You can follow the rest of the blog hop below. Be sure to check Katie, Lee & Faith’s blogs on the last day of the hop to see the charity quilts they’ve made using the blocks we each made!

January 13th (Monday):
Crazy Mom Quilts – Amanda Jean
Don’t Call Me Betsy – Elizabeth
Film in the Fridge – Ashley
Happy Quilting – Melissa
Noodlehead – Anna

January 14th (Tuesday):
I’m A Ginger Monkey – Katy
Quilting Is My Therapy – Angela
A Quilting Life – Sherri
Sew Mama Sew – Kristin
Tall Grass Prairie Studio – Jacquie

January 15th (Wednesday):
Christa Quilts – Christa
Diary of a Quilter – Amy
Quilting Gallery – Michele
Sew Take a Hike – Penny
V and Co. – Vanessa
West Coast Crafty – Susan

January 16th (Thursday):
Bijou Lovely – Holly
Don’t You Know Who I Am – Sukie
Lily’s Quilts – Lynne
One Shabby Chick – Amber

January 17th (Friday):
Swim, Bike, Quilt – Katie
Freshly Pieced – Lee
Fresh Lemons Quilts – Faith

You can find Vintage Quilt Revival on Amazon or on the Interweave store. Also be sure to check the Vintage Quilt Revival page for other important information, including technical help and errata.

 *book links are Amazon affiliate links

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