More Fabric Acquisitions from this summer

 Mostly I buy fabrics with a plan.

I found this Kim Diehl wideback fabric while online shopping as part of Quilt Canada. This fabric will be the back of my On Ringo Lake quilt.

I finally found and bought some of this wideback from one of Carrie Bloomston's lines. I knew I wanted to use it for the back of my rainbow Churn, Baby, Churn.

This is the same pattern I plan to make the larger version of with the Velvet fabric line I mentioned in my last fabric post.

I was kind of on a roll this summer as some designers that I have been wanting to purchase fabric by came out with new lines. The next line I had to get fabric from was by Ann Kelle.

There are so many rainbow fabrics out right now. I like that this one is done in brights and different scales. The kids are awesome too!

I bought the Bright Days fabric to make another Dropping In quilt. I already made this one using Christa Watson's Good Vibes fabric - and even did a quilt along.

Sew Joy Sew Along with Dropping In quilt

 For the Bright Days fabrics, I am considering making the quilt upside down so it will look like rainbows. . . . hmmm

As you can see, I've got a lot of plans! Now I've got the fabric too;)

With Joy,

Sarah V.

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Feature Pattern: Churn Baby Churn

This month's feature pattern is Churn, Baby, Churn

This quilt pattern makes a baby size quilt using only a layer cake - no extra yardage required!

There are leftovers to use on the back or to use in another project.
This backing for this one was designed for my son's teacher as a baby gift - he goes to a Catholic school.

Each block looks different even though they are all churn dashes because of the way it is pieced using different fabrics for each block.

I love this design so much that I went bigger and decided to get yardage to make a twin size quilt for my daughter's friend for her highschool graduation.

Then I played again and made my brother one by cutting up fat quarters. You can read my post about cutting fat quarters into 10" squares here.

How to make your own 10" squares

I included the cutting instructions in this pattern to make it easy for you to upsize the quilt. Or you can find a layer cake and make the baby size one.


Enjoy!



Sarah V.


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A Quilt for Christmas, eh!

Happy Holidays! I'm still on break and looking forward to a few more days of quilting and organizing my quilting space.

For Christmas this year I finished a quilt to gift to my brother - finally!

As soon as I saw this fabric line, Holiday Homies by Tula Pink, I knew I had to make a quilt with it for my brother. 

I used my Churn, Baby, Churn baby quilt pattern and a half yard bundle of fabric. Well, I didn't use all of the fabric - that was part of the plan! I have some left for me to make some more projects with :)

I love using this pattern with a whole line of fabrics! 

I finished the quilt by binding it in all of the green fabrics in the line and used an 'army green' flannel for the back (my brother's in the military.) I used the same shade of green Aurifil thread for the quilting. The only photo of the back I have is process shot over on my Instagram feed. Check it out over there if you'd like. (I need to get better at taking photos with my real camera again!)

This quilt was fun to make! I have plans to make at least one more Churn Baby Churn quilt this year, this time using ONE fabric for all of the churn dashes. Okay, maybe two!

Wishing you a healthy, happy, and quilty 2018!

Sarah V.

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Finished Uppercase Churn Baby Churn quilt

I am tickled to have finish on a Friday!

I finished my Churn Baby Churn baby quilt for my son's teacher. I've started to call it Uppercase Churn Baby Churn because it is almost completely made with prints from the Uppercase fabric line (the numbers print was my addition).

I lucked out with some overcast fall weather this morning to take the quilt out onto my front porch for a quick photo shoot. My first finished quilt with a straw bale in the photo :)

The light was just right for capturing the quilting too. I didn't do a lot - I sewed in the ditch of most of the churn dashes. Here you can see straight lines angled out from the middle.

Remember the back?

After designing the back using up two patch blocks and creating a cross, I really started to think of the quilt as reversible. So much so that I wanted the quilting to compliment the back too. I actually started to quilt with the back face up going down one long side of the cross - just to see if it the quilting line would match up well enough on the front with the churn dashes.

Well, it could have been good enough, and maybe if it wasn't a gift it would have been, but I ripped out that line and quilted it from the churn dash side instead. I went around the cross 1/4" away from the patches then I did diagonal lines coming out from the center of the cross.

This photo shows the diagonal line quilting better. Here you can also see the stitching in the ditch of the churn dashes that don't intersect with the cross - see them up in the blue part?

I used the blue for the binding too - it matches pretty closely with the Uppercase blue on the front.

I understand now why people take so many photos of their finishes - I'm really happy with this one! Plus because I'm gifting it, it's nice to have these photos that show how the quilting detail so I can remember what I did in case I want to do this again;)

You can find my Churn Baby Churn baby quilt pattern in my online shop.

Do you have a finish to share this week?

Linking up for the first time at Confessions of a Fabric Addict - Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? - click over just to see the cool quilt she made with mens' ties! There's a lot more eye candy too ;)

With Joy,

Sarah V.

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How I made my Churn Baby Churn quilt reversible

I'm back to share some progress on my Churn, Baby, Churn Dash quilt. In my last post I showed the fabrics I selected for the churn dashes. I finally got some deadline quilting done and focused again on this quilt. I spent two, one hour sessions making the last 6 churns I needed. 

I posted my progress on Instagram where you can see a different arrangement of these blocks. I first laid them out in the same way I had organized my original piles of churn dash and background fabrics - then I walked away. I came back a couple of times, looked at the photo again and made some changes. I really didn't want the colours to read in any particular way, but I did want to spread out the dark backgrounds and the blue churns. I also noticed that I could lay out the blocks so the squares that formed where the blocks joined would each have one light section. After all that thinking and rearranging it was time to sew them together!

I'd love to show you a nice "beauty" shot of the top pieced together, but it's Fall here and lately we've had a lot of rainy, overcast days. Plus I've been quilting at night so my inside pictures are pretty dark too.

Instead I thought I'd share what the BACK of the quilt looks like:

I'm pretty pleased with this design! It came to me as I was walking home from my local quilt store where I bought the text fabric and blue polka dot fabric. The fabric says Teach Them To Sing Teach Them to  Care Teach Them To Love etc. - some great fabric for a teacher! Click here for a closer look.

I knew I had several two patch units left and I was thinking about ways to incorporate them into the back. I thought about just making a row of them across the quilt and then thought of making it into a cross because my son goes to a Catholic school.

My math skills were put to the test in figuring out how to cut my directional text fabric so I would have enough. Remember I said I thought of this on my way HOME from the quilt store - I definitely didn't have enough of the text fabric. The blue I bought for the binding as it matches with the blue in the Uppercase fabrics. Then I was thinking about how this was a quilt for kids and how when they first start drawing pictures of "outside" they make the classic line of sky at the top. I measured the blue fabric and realized I could make two pieces for the top parts and still have some left for binding!

This quilt is in hurry up mode as we got a letter home late last week saying that NEXT Monday will be the teacher's last day before her maternity leave. Slight panic here as I am working the next few days then have company this weekend and our little town's Fibre Festival too!

Wish me luck!

With Joy,

Sarah V.


p.s. there's still time for YOU to make a Churn, Baby, Churn Dash quilt - you can buy a copy of the pattern at Craftsy ;)

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Churn Baby Churn Quilt Along into October

This is me not showing you a completed Churn Baby Churn Dash quilt! Life got busy, I got distracted and then I decided to work on another project with a deadline first. Here is my bin of churn dash fabrics, covered with the new Quilt Sampler magazine and some selvage squares.

If you read my newsletter you'll know that I was bribing myself with the new Quilt Sampler magazine - get something done and I could get the magazine. Needless to say I got my reward and was not disappointed with the stores inside of it. The cover quilt is calling my name! 

Subscribe to my newsletter and find out what my next carrot is - look for another newsletter soon! But, back to the churn dashes. 

In the last post I showed you several different choices for the churn dash fabrics. Here are my choices for the quilt I'm making for my son's teacher:

My choices for the churn dash fabrics are a mix of light, bright and dark. This way I can play with contrast between the background fabrics too. I like a quilt that dances!

MAKING TIP: Use a photo like this to keep you organized as you sew your blocks together. I refer back to mine often!

The next challenge is to decide on two background fabrics for each churn dash block. 

For this bright green I chose two black background prints. The contrast between the churn and the background will be the most obvious. I love the size of the graphics on the Uppercase fabrics because they work so well for different size blocks. 

Choosing two light background fabrics also offers strong contrast between the churn dash and the background. The two fabrics will read the same when you look at the quilt from a distance, but offer some delightful eye candy up close to the quilt.

The  number print is full of fun colours so I decided to play off two of the colours with my choice of background prints. Blue and orange are complimentary colours - which means they play nice together! 

Here are my first three finished Churn, Baby, Churn blocks. You can see by looking at where the blocks touch that the secondary pattern is going to be fun to look at too.

Churn, Baby, Churn baby quilt pattern available at Craftsy

It's not too late to join me in making your own Churn, Baby, Churn quilt. I'm going to pick out three more blocks to finish today - they really do go together quickly! My son's teacher will be done at school in November which means I need to get this top together and quilted as soon as possible. 

With Joy,

Sarah V.

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Quilt Along for Churn Baby Churn baby quilt

I'm making a baby quilt for my son's teacher with my Churn, Baby, Churn baby quilt pattern. This is my first quilt along post for the project - and you're invited to join me!

Churn, Baby, Churn baby quilt pattern

The pattern uses a 10 inch squares pack - or layer cake - to make the churn dashes and backgrounds - no other fabric yardage needed for the front!

I get discouraged by patterns that are designed to use with precuts but then need me to add yardage. So this was a personal design challenge and I like the results. The scrappy effect of using two different fabrics behind each churn dash leaves lots of potential for playing with the colours in a fabric line. 

This is the second year my son has had this teacher - and it will be her third boy. When my son came home with the news I knew I finally had a happy reason to cut into my Uppercase fabric fat quarter bundle :)

Because the pattern is written for 10 inch squares - and then cutting those squares into 5 inch squares - I decided to cut my fabrics so my making would look like what you would make if you followed the pattern. Of course, you could also cut up a fat quarter bundle like I did to make this quilt.

 Here's a post for that:

How to make your own 10 inch squares

Now the fun part: deciding which fabrics will be the churn dashes!

I went through and took photos of three different options to show you how versatile the pattern is and also, the kind of fabric line that will make your Churn, Baby, Churn baby quilt happy too. I'm sure you've noticed that some fabric collections have lots of variety when it comes to colours, and others have very few different ones. The results will show in your quilt. Take a look at these examples and see which one you like more than the others. (None are wrong or right - just notice what you like!)

From my Uppercase fabrics I chose 12 different ones that read as light. They're not in any particular order here - meaning I might move them around in the quilt - but these would be my choices if I was making 12 light churn dashes.

Here are the 12 light churn dash fabrics paired with two background fabrics each. 

I would chose light churn dashes if I was hanging this quilt - it gives a more subtle look to the quilt and would be easy on the eyes for a long period of time.
At least that's what I think ;)

Here are my choices for twelve dark churn dashes. The number fabric is not part of the Uppercase line - but definitely inspired me to make this quilt for my son's teacher. She has done a great job nurturing his love of mathematics and I think this is a fun way to say thank you.

Here are my quick choices for backgrounds for the dark churns. I think this one would be very graphic and visually striking. I think the dark churn dashes would almost vibrate against some of these background pair choices I made! 

Then I had to go bright! If this quilt was for ME, I think I would choose to make my churn dashes with these bright prints. I hesitate to call it a feminine palette because I don't think that's how they end up looking when you add the dark backgrounds. Take a look:

See? Again it's a very dynamic, graphic effect. This one might feel busier than the dark churn dash one because of the bright fabrics vying for your eye on top of the backgrounds that are a mix of light, dark, and bright. Definitely a fun mix!


Which one do you like best?

Remember, fabrics make a quilt, but your fabric choices make it YOUR quilt!

If you're quilting along - yay! - take some time to play with your fabric and decide on which ones will be the churn dashes, then the backgrounds. 



  I love this part at the beginning of making a quilt.

 Thinking about who the quilt is for, 

what fabrics to use,

 what the quilt is celebrating/commemorating,

 and how I want the recipient to feel is

 probably my favourite part of the process.

 My next favourite part is seeing the fabric choices coming together in the right pattern!

The current pattern cover features this quilt :)

Second post in this quilt along is here

Here's a post with the quilt finished and photos of the back and the quilting -

Finished Uppercase Churn Baby Churn quilt

With Joy,

Sarah V.

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Quilting Fun on Fortune Cookie Day!

Happy Fortune Cookie Day !?! I guess there's a day for almost everything now. And us quilters have probably made something for most of them too! :)

If you happen to enjoy feeling lucky, and creating your own luck, why not take some time today to make your own fabric fortune cookie or my Lucky Monkey Tail mug rug that I created to ring in the Lunar New Year over at QUILTsocial.com.

****note: you only need a fat eighth of gold fabric - not 8 fat quarters! (oops)

You can find the post on how to piece the mug rug here.

See how I quilted it here.

Here's the link that I (mostly) followed to make my own fabric fortune cookie from Mollie Makes.

I'm going to start cutting into my fat quarter bundle of Uppercase fabric to make a Churn, Baby, Churn baby quilt. Lucky me - and lucky baby!

Wanna quilt along with me? Purchase your own copy of my Churn, Baby, Churn pattern and join along in the fun - you can always have a baby quilt on hand to gift :)

I'll be sharing how I choose my fabrics based on their prints and colors so you can just follow along and enjoy my process too. The pattern uses a layer cake pack - and actually uses only 36 of the 10 inch squares. I will be cutting a strip from each fat quarter and deciding on a few to double up on. I will be adding this number print to the mix as well - it fits in nicely, don't you think?

First up, ironing!

Wishing you luck and Joy today,

Sarah V.



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A Bright Happy Version of Churn, Baby, Churn Baby Quilt

Before I put my Churn, Baby, Churn pattern up for sale I asked a quilting friend to test the pattern for me. She just happens to be expecting a new baby this summer too!

I took this photo from Kristy's post so you could see the two quilts together. Fun, eh! You can make the quilt with 36 - 10 inch squares from a layer cake or cut your own. Kristy used a mix of fabrics by Pat Sloan.

Please visit Kristy's post to see more photos here.

Churn, Baby, Churn is available as a downloadable pattern in my online shop here.

With Joy,

Sarah V.

p.s. Sign up for my newsletter and be the first to know when I have a new pattern ready :)

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New Pattern - Churn, Baby, Churn

I'm proud to offer my first baby quilt pattern!
Let me introduce you to *Churn, Baby, Churn*

I designed this quilt as a challenge - a way to use only a layer cake for the top and my favourite block, the churn dash. Somehow my local quilt shop still had a layer cake of Sweetwater's Noteworthy laying around and I decided it was finally time for me to buy it and use it!

The piecing is easy; it's almost all straight line sewing with some half square triangles. Big quick pieces! And it's simple to make this quilt bright and busy, or calm and low volume, or for a specific gender depending on the fabric line you pick. Primary colours are great for baby quilts - this would be fun to make with black and white prints too!

I used a bright alphabet print for the back. My 8 year old son still has the toddler blanket I made my daughter in his bed! I know that little ones get attached to their quilts so I thought I would use a backing that would interest a toddler. It could also be the teacher in me thinking that you can never start too soon;)

This pattern works up quickly and would make the perfect gift to welcome a new little one in your life. You can find it in my online shop here.

With Joy,

Sarah V

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