Plum Pudding Blog Tour Begins

 It's never too early for holiday quilting, right? Especially when there's new fabric involved!

In December I participated in Sherry Shish's blog tour for her first signature line with Island Batik called Love and Kisses. Shortly after that Sherry was already making plans for her next line and I eagerly signed up again. 

These batiks are my favourite that I've worked with so far - they have a soft feel and drape almost like cotton. Plus, Sherry designs some pretty fabric!

You can check out the colorways on Island Batik's website and better than that, follow along on the blog tour!

Starting today, June 8, quilt pattern designers will be sharing their projects made with Sherry's Plum Pudding line.

Here's the lineup:

June 8 - Kick off with Sherry at Powered by Quilting

June 9 - Joanne at Canuck Quilter

June 10 - Vasudha at Storied Quilts

June 11 - Kate at KatieMaeQuilts

June 12 -  Sally at Paleofishdesigns

June 13 - Leanne at Devoted Quilter

June 14 -  Jessica at Desert Bloom Quilting

June 15 - Jennifer and Trisch at Everyday Stitches

June 16 -  Patti at  Lemontree Snippets

June 17 - Debra at Tuning my Heart Quilting

June 18 - Laura at Slice of Pi Quilts

June 19 -  Lisa at Love to Color My World

June 20 - Anja at Anja Quilts

June 21 - Suzy at Webster Quilt

June 22 - MY DAY!

June 23 - rest day! :)

June 24 - Jen at Dizzy Quilter

June 25 - Final day with Sherry at Powered by Quilting

Please visit and leave comments for these designers - let them know you still read blogs and you love to see new fabric :)

With Joy,

Sarah V.

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Modern Spring Tablerunner for QUILTsocial

  

Last month I made a Spring runner with simple blocks set on point to leave room for quilting.

Spring has sprung all over this quilted runner

I challenged myself to make these simple blocks look modern by using a white background. 

I also made a second option using up the odd sized scraps I have from making masks.

How the PFAFF performance icon helps with sewing on-point quilt blocks

The next challenge I gave myself was to finally try out the quilt rulers and ruler foot for the PFAFF performance icon.

Perfect stitch-in-the-ditch quilting with the PFAFF performance icon

Beautiful ruler work made easy

Echo quilting makes the Spring Tablerunner complete

I was actually able to finish this runner in time to give it as a gift for Mother's Day! 

This quick runner makes a great gift for any reason.

With Joy,

Sarah V.

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Dazzle Quilt Along Week 11

   It's here - the week we put together the quilt top! It's Week 11 of the Dazzle Quilt Along.

These posts will always be available so start when you're ready!

You can find a link to all of the posts in one spot - right here.

Newsletter subscribers have access to a free weekly tracker for this Quilt Along :)

SIGN UP TO THE NEWSLETTER BY CLICKING HERE

This is my favourite week! It's time to sew the blocks together to make the quilt top. The Dazzle quilt reveals it's secondary pattern this week. Take a look!

The lap size is quite large and I needed more room than my design wall to lay out blocks. Lucky for me I can use the my queen size bed for this task. I would sew a row then return it to the bed to keep the rows in order and out of the way.

Follow the instructions in the pattern to assemble the rows. The one piece of advice I have at this stage is that all of the corner triangles were ironed the same direction when making the blocks; at this point I finger pressed some to make the seams nest. It's not necessary to do this - and the performance icon I'm using by PFAFF does a great job of sewing evenly over these seams - but if you find your blocks are not coming out the way you would like, try finger pressing one seam in the opposite direction. 

Once the quilt top is assembled there are two things to do: iron all the new seams and sew 1/8 " all the way around the outside edge of the quilt. These stitches keep your outside seams from unravelling and give the seams extra stability. If you plan to have your quilt finished by a long arm quilter they may also request you add this row of stitches - my local one does.

My Dazzle for this week - besides the quilt top? I played 'bobbin chicken' sewing that final row of stitches to the quilt edge and won! 

Enjoy putting together the Dazzle quilt top this week. 

With Joy,

Sarah V.

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Dazzle Quilt Along Week 10

   Week 10 is here for the Dazzle Quilt Along.

These posts will always be available so start when you're ready!

You can find a link to all of the posts in one spot - right here.

Newsletter subscribers have access to a free weekly tracker for this Quilt Along :)

SIGN UP TO THE NEWSLETTER BY CLICKING HERE

Block E

I named the blocks in this quilt D and E because each is the name of the main fabric in each block. I think my brain works a bit differently when naming the pieces and fabrics for a quilt and I hope it doesn't confuse you too much! I have always been a 'block-of-the-month' quilter and labelling fabrics for a whole quilt is still a learning process for me as a pattern designer.

Here is Block E with it's beautiful fuschia from Allison Glass.

I love the POP of brightness this fabric adds to the block. I can see myself making another Dazzle quilt with Allison's new fabrics too - they are even brighter!

This photo shows you the non-directional nature of the middle fabric and how it works so well to add another element to the design. Notice the small scale of the birds as well and how they create a bit of movement and interest. I didn't have too worry about how to set the center fabric as I made the blocks which is nice too - just sew the units together and the block is done.

Remember to follow the pressing directions in the pattern so the blocks will nest together next week with the Block Ds.

The dazzle in my sewing space this week is this wonderful pair of embroidery scissors. They are nice and sharp and pointy and I love using them. I use them for cutting my threads and don't feel bad at all about not using them for embroidery - they work great for the job I use them for and that's what's imporant to me right now. I also like how the handles are both the same size so they can be used easily if you are right or lefthanded; something I noticed when my daughter was sewing with me last year (she's a lefty).

We are sooo close to done the quilt top! The finished blocks may not fit in the storage container you've been using to store the Dazzle quilt parts; try to keep them flat and ready to be sewn together next week.

Stay safe and keep quilting!

With Joy,

Sarah V.

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Dazzle Quilt Along Week 9

   Week 9 is here for the Dazzle Quilt Along. This week we start making blocks!

These posts will always be available so start when you're ready!

You can find a link to all of the posts in one spot - right here.

Newsletter subscribers have access to a free weekly tracker for this Quilt Along :)

SIGN UP TO THE NEWSLETTER BY CLICKING HERE

Putting the pieces together

This is the week to put together the Block Es of the Dazzle Quilt. All that precise piecing and trimming will start paying off as you sew them into blocks.

Follow the pressing directions in the pattern to have seams that meet and overall flat blocks. The blocks will nest nicely with next week's blocks too! 

You can see in the block how the two background fabrics contrast with the center design.

The center shoofly starts to appear in the blocks too.

What's dazzling in my sewing space this week? My purple pincushion! This pincushion was made using the built in stitches on the PFAFF performance icon. I used pins this week to assemble the quilt blocks because of their size. 

  Pincushion and Threadcatcher are matching scrap projects

Whether you're keeping up or just beginning, I'm glad you're here quilting with me!

Leave a comment and let me know what's dazzling in your sewing space this week.

With Joy,

Sarah V.

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