Sister's Choice Quilts

Then This Happened

Oh dear, I am not sure what came over me. This is Fig Tree & Co.'s latest Halloween collection "Pumpkins and Blossoms". It is different from, but coordinates perfectly with their previous Halloween group "All Hallows Eve".

You know I am making the "Among the Stars Again" Block of the Month in a beautiful Christmas collection by Lella Boutique called "Christmas Morning". The BOM I accidentally signed up for with Fat Quarter Shop. Well, I figured since I was already making two blocks each month in the Christmas fabric...

...I might as well make two more in Halloween fabric.

Just to be clear, in case anyone is confused, I am not combining the Christmas blocks and the Halloween blocks into the same quilt. I will be making two quilts. One Christmas, one Halloween.

I am just glad all the thinking is done for me because I don't have the energy to do anything too clever on my own these days.

As an aside, the cream background fabric in the Pumpkins and Blossoms line is a tone-on-tone print. It is cream with a little pumpkin figure on it. I can't show it off properly in a photo, but trust me, if you can get your hands on this background fabric, do it. It will be perfect for any fall or Halloween-themed quilt you do in the future. I managed to get 6 yards from an Etsy seller, and am so glad I did.

This is the design in black and orange. It is pretty darn cute too. The fabric I bought is all cream, with the design printed in white. The SKU of the tone on tone is 20427-21

Hope you all had a great weekend!

New Fall Project in the Planning Stages

Just look at this adorable table topper by Carried Away. It is two patterns in one, and I want to make both of them. The first one I plan to tackle is the Halloween/Pumpkin version. I have all the fabrics on hand, which are mostly scrap-sized. When I bought the pattern, I noticed that the exact Moda Solids you need for the checkered design were listed on the back of the pattern instructions, so I went ahead and ordered a couple of yards of the light grey and the darker grey.

FYI, you need 98 Bleached White, 178 Etchings Stone, and 128 Stone. The other fabrics are from a layer cake of last year's Fig Tree Halloween collection. They have a new one out now that would also work great.

I was itching to get started right away, but I caved in and did my starching first. It is so darn hot here, that my fabric was dry in about 20 minutes, I swear. Look how hazy the air is from the drift smoke from the fires. The air quality has been "Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups" which is me, with my asthma.

I am quite excited to start a small manageable project like this little table topper. I am overwhelmed with all my bigger ongoing projects, so will switch gears for a while. It is getting me down not to have finished anything in so long. When I finish this little project, maybe I will start on the second one, which is little Christmas presents instead of pumpkins. Then I will have two little quilts to send out for quilting. I love having a new seasonal project to display.

Hope your week got off to a terrific start!

 

Easing Back Into Things

Well hello there. I am easing back into things. Rejoining the land of the living. Call it what you will, but I have been out of commission and am struggling to get back to normal.

The doctor says my eyes are healing perfectly and all is well. I had some sort of allergic reaction to something and my right eyelid swelled up pretty spectacularly. My vision was never constant. Sometimes super blurry, other times just ok. None of the "I can see the individual leaves on the trees" stuff that many cataract patients claim. The main thing I noticed besides not being able to see very well at all was that my world had suddenly gotten super bright. Too bright. Dracula at dawn bright. Wearing sunglasses indoors bright.

Day by day things are getting better. With luck and time, I will be able to see great again. I am counting on it. I'll keep you posted.

I am SO anxious to get back into my sewing room. My big summer plans and goals have gone right out the window. I even had an email this weekend from a lovely lady in North Carolina who quilts for me, asking if I was still sewing. Now that hurt.

Even while I was laid up, I managed to do a bit of shopping. Here are two new Halloween-themed bundles I picked up. No idea what I will do with them. 

Pumpkins and Blossoms by Fig Tree

Kitty Corn by Urban Chiks.

 

Hope you are all well. Looking forward to sharing more with you this week.

 

Red Sampler Sew Along

Uh oh, you know what that means. I have been going through cans of starch like nobody's business lately. These yummy fabrics are mostly from Riley Blake, getting prepped for a sew-along Lori Holt is hosting, called the Red Sampler Sew Along. As I said, the fabrics are Lori's from various collections she has done for Riley Blake, and the block patterns all come from Lori's books. The sew-along has been going on for eight weeks, so I have some catching up to do!

Here are the reds all pressed and folded. The reds have a coral cast to them, which is very fresh and pretty. The reds that Bonnie and Camille use are similar in tone I think. I pulled a couple B&C reds from my stash and they go perfectly. There are a few darker tone reds on the bottom of the stack on the left. They will add a nice change from the lighter ones I think.

And the backgrounds.

I have fat quarter cuts of most of the reds and one-yard cuts of the backgrounds and the red gingham, which appears often in the blocks.

I have not used Riley Blake fabrics much before this. The quality feels just as nice as Moda. I was a bit worried about the reds bleeding but saw no sign of it while starching heavily. What is your experience? Have you used much Riley Blake fabric?

What is it about red and white quilts? They are so hard to resist.

The patterns Lori uses for the sew-along come primarily from her two Farm Girl Vintage books, her Christmas Vintage book, and her Granny Square book. She has been doing three blocks each week in 12" and 6" sizes. I will link to Week Eight of her sew-along, where she has all the blocks done so far pictured. Obviously, you need her books for the patterns.

As soon as I get my Moda BlockHeads behemoth off the design board I will make a few of these pretty red blocks as a reward. 

Hope you all have a terrific weekend!

Spring Brook Charity Mini Quilt

I worked on the Spring Broom Mini Charity Quilt yesterday. I only got four yellow flowers done, but that's ok. The picture above is from Coriander Quilts website. It is a free pattern you can print out here. My fabric choices will be similar, but I have a grey solid and a green solid that I am using for the leaves, stems, and flower centers. 

I was exhausted by the time I finished the four yellow flowers. I had spent hours starching fabrics for two other projects, plus ironing them. Then my husband and I actually planted real flowers in containers on our front and back porches. Then I cut out all the pieces for the Spring Brook Charity Mini Quilt. It is amazing I got any sewing done.

I think this is a super cute little table topper or wall hanging. You should definitely take advantage of the "free" pattern. Fatquartershop is requesting some sort of a donation for the Make A Wish Foundation in return. It's a great cause. 

Hope you all had a great weekend. I had a lovely time with my father. He has lost his four bottom teeth! I suppose that is common in people who are approaching 100 years of age. He refuses to see a dentist of course. 

The stuffed peppers I made were a success. Neither of us could finish our portions, so even "Cooking for Two" is making more food than we can eat! I bought another Cooking for Two Cookbook by America's Test Kitchen, which appears to be excellent. For my husband and me, I prepared Chicken with Penne Pasta, Mushrooms and Gorgonzola which was just amazing. You can make it all in one pan, and it was truly easy and fast. I will be making a lot more recipes from that book. And I still ended up with leftovers! 

Found Treasure

Oh my gosh, look what I found yesterday. Way up high on a closet shelf there was a project box labeled "Granny Blocks".  When I pulled it down I was blown away to discover these quilt blocks made from a
Pam Kitty Morning collection for LakeHouse Fabrics. I must have made these seven years ago. I vaguely recall making them and I may have even sewn some together for a baby quilt for a niece some years ago. 

Presently though, I have no idea what to do with them! I could make more blocks, but at this point, I have no idea what the white outer fabric was, so it might not match exactly. Not that big a deal I don't think. I can get pretty close with a current Bella Solid. But what should I do with the blocks?  I do not know of anyone who is expecting a baby girl right now. I suppose I could make a baby quilt and keep it on hand for that happy occurrence. Eventually, someone I know will have a baby girl, right?

I wonder why on earth Lakehouse stopped making Pam Kitty Morning fabrics? I recall they were hugely popular, and seriously are way cuter than a lot of other fabrics of this type. Pam has a terrific blog. She has tutorials for fabulous projects and is fun to read. She starts out some of her posts with a photo of a cup of coffee in her garden and saying "It's a PamKittyMorning". She is upbeat and friendly and seems super nice too.

I have a question for you all. Do you think I should separate the blocks with a white lattice? Or do you like the idea of the blocks all looking "connected"?

So, this was a lucky day for me, finding a treasure trove of pretty blocks in gorgeous fabrics. Hope your day was as fortunate!

Extreme Happy Mail

Normally I dislike it when bloggers post all about all the fabric they are buying and rarely about what they make with it, but I just have to share this. You know I have confessed that I have been on a bit of a buying spree lately. My latest purchase arrived yesterday and I am feeling quite excited. 

Lori Holt of Bee in my Bonnet is doing a red sampler sew along, that is just so darn cute. I know I said no more red quilts for a long while, but this one is irresistible. Check it out, see if you don't feel the same. This is her fat quarter bundle of reds to get you started on the sew along.

And then. And then I got this Moda kit to make a red white and blue flag quilt by Primitive Gatherings.

This Flag Stands For Freedom is a Moda kit that features fat quarters from the new American Gatherings collection by Primitive Gatherings. There is a ton of fabric in the kit. Fatquarters of the entire collection plus some extra yardage. Moda kits are so attractively packaged, and you have to love the box.

I have a couple of projects I have been saving for summer, and this will be one of them!

New Layer Cakes

This fabric collection was so big last summer. I didn't jump on the bandwagon unfortunately and came to regret it. Luckily you can still purchase precuts and yardage of this super cute group on Etsy and some online fabric shops. Back Porch by Me and My SIster for Moda. Did you follow along with the free pattern sew-along on Moda Bake Shop Last Summer? There is one block that is a canning jar that is the cutest thing ever.

This is probably going to be this summer's most popular fabric collection. Strawberries and Rhubarb by Fig Tree Quilts for Moda. It has all of the perfect colors you would expect from Fig Tree. I believe Fatquartershop.com is featuring it in their Designer Mystery Quilt sew-along for 2021.

I have no idea what I will make with either of these fabric groups at this point in time, but i know I wanted to have some on hand. I ended up purchasing layer cakes of each just to have it and give me some options. Do you ever do that? Buy a smaller pre-cut of a collection just so you don't miss out entirely on it?

I didn't feel like committing to a full fat quarter bundle of each but felt comfortable springing for the lower-priced layer cake option. 

I sure hope you all had a great weekend. I visited my dad, who claims to be "in the pink". We had Safeway soup and salad one night and Marie Callendar Chicken Pot Pie the other and he swore it was the best food ever. I have given up cooking anything fancy for him. He eats two tablespoons and says he can't take another bite. However, when I give him a bowl of soup, he eats it all.

I stopped at a Target on the way and picked up some fun new summer things for Eva. We had fun discussing on the phone which bikini was the cutest.

I preferred the orange one but was outvoted. The blue came home with me.

Bella Solids Lights De-mystified

When it comes to the Moda Bella Solids that are so prevalently used as background fabrics, have you been confused? Have you wondered which of the cream or white fabrics is a perfect match for the fabric collection you are working with?

Well, I have kinda sorta figured it out. One thing that may help is that you can buy a fat quarter collection of Bella Solids Lights from Fatquartershop.com.

The different fat quarters are labeled with the name and SKU number of the Bella Solid. The bundle costs $35, but I cut strips of each fabric and stapled its label onto it, and sewed them all together in a sample collection. There were a couple of lights that I use that weren't in the bundle, but it was easy to add them on.  Fig Tree Cream and Kona Snow were the two I added. The leftover fabric from the $35 bundle won't go to waste. I will use it in something.

When you sew with certain designer's collections, you also come to know which Bella lights work with their collections. They are pretty consistent over time from collection to collection. For instance, Minick and Simpson and 3 Sisters both use Bella Porcelain 9900-182. Corey Yoder of Coriander quilts uses Bella 9900-200 "Off-White". Camille Roskelley of Thimbleblossoms uses "Off-White" a lot as well. Lella Boutique seems to favor Bella Solid 9900-97 "Bleached White". The designer will often provide the coordinating Bella Solid information on their blog. Occasionally, but by no means consistently Moda fabrics will include the information on the fabric collection "Fabric Download" page. I have also had good luck doing a Google search when all else fails. If I am getting nowhere, I will email or call the Fatquarter Shop and ask their customer service team if they can offer a suggestion of the best match and have always been extremely helpful. I have a feeling you could email the designer and most would answer you as well.

I hope this information is helpful to you!

 

 

 

 

 

Roselyn Fabric Collection

This new collection called Roselyn by Minick and Simpson finally has arrived in fabric shops. Poor Moda is a month or more backed up in its release schedule due to shipping delays and issues with the weather in Texas.

I have been waiting for this one for a while and am so glad to get it into my hands. I know I said no more red quilts, but I can't seem to help myself.

FYI, the collection has some outstanding backgrounds that are worth a second look.

There are some beautiful pinks in the line and I will absolutely be making some kind of Valentine's runner out of whatever is left over after I use most of it for a quilt.

Hope you all had a great weekend! It is really starting to feel like spring here. I stopped at a garden center in the more populated area where my dad lives and got some really unusual plants I am excited to plant in pots on my porch. I can never find anything this unique where I live. I can tell you that garden center is going to be a regular stop for me every Sunday on my way home.

Bacopa, calibrochoa, and some kind of amazing sedum at the bottom. I think that color combination is so striking.

Supertunia and more calibrochoa.

Osteospermum.