Zig Zag Quilt Along

I am so excited to announce this quilt along!! I am teaming up with one of my best friends in blog land {and in real life} Rach from Family Ever After!! I decided to do a zig zag quilt and she will be doing a ruffle quilt that is so much fun! I can't wait to make one myself!! So if zig zag's are not your thing and ruffles are- definitely head over to her blog today and get the supply list for the ruffle quilt!

As I am sure you all have noticed, quilting has become one of my new favorite things ever! For the last month or so, quilting has taken over the ole bloggety blog- It started with the baby quilt, then the Hello Luscious quilt, then the Salt Air quilt, the Strawberry Fields quilt and now this one...

I need to start with a disclaimer... I am far from an expert when it comes to quilting! The quilt that I made for this quilt along is my 5th quilt, but I am so excited to share with you all the things that I have learned so far! So if you decide to join in on this quilt along-  I need to let you know now that I {sometimes} break "the quilting rules", I don't know every quilter's term in the book, and I am still very much learning- so keep this in mind! If I teach you to do something a certain way and you were taught differently, definitely do it your way- like I said, I am still learning! 

Ok... with that said- here is the quilt we will be making!

(of course it was super windy the day I try to take a picture of the quilt- sorry it's not perfectly flat to see)

The quilt measures approx. 70 x 80 inches.

I plan to do a step by step directions of exactly how I made this zig zag quilt. This quilt along is definitely for everyone- those that have never made a quilt before, those that have made one or two, and those that have made hundreds of quilts. It is a super fun and easy quilt to make- but if you are nervous to start with a big project like this, you may want to get a "feel" for quilting by starting with something small- like making a baby quilt... I used this awesome tutorial to make my first quilt. I found it on one of my favorite blogs- Diary of a Quilter {Amy is pretty much the "quilting expert" in my book}... She also has an intro to quilting series on her blog and I have learned so much from it... So if you are feeling a little nervous or want to brush up on your quilting skills- definitely check it out!!

I haven't quite finished the stitching on the outside sashing (border)... I plan to ad some hand stitched design to it so stay tuned for that in the last post of the quilt along.

Before I announce the supplies, I wanted to let you all know that the Ribbon Retreat is sponsoring our quilt along. I love the Ribbon Retreat! I buy so much of my fabric from them. They ship their fabric so quickly! (I usually have it within 2 days- which works great for me- especially if I am in a bind and need my fabric quickly!) Plus they are always having weekly {sometimes daily deals} called BIGbuys. If you sign up for their newsletter, they send the deals straight to your email so you don't miss out! Love it!

So that means- good news for us! They are offering all Mommy by day Crafter by night readers 10% off of your entire order. Just use the code Mommy10 at checkout.

****Here is the list of supplies- I tried to keep it as exact as possible to cut down on costs, but there is not much extra left over as scraps or backup in case of mistakes so if you want a little leeway calculate that into your yardage.***

SUPPLIES NEEDED:

**** Addendum- I have added a little bit of yardage on a couple things because some were running into problems with the initial measurements.****

-1 layer cake or 42 10x10 inch squares

-1/2 to 3/4 yard for binding

-1/2 yard for small sashing (inner border)

-1 1/4 yard for large sashing (outer border)

-4 to 4 1/4 yards for quilt backing

-Quilt Batting (the quilt is approximately 70 x 80 inches so you will need enough batting to accommodate this size. If you need help picking quilt batting- here is a great post about about quilt batting from Diary of a Quilter... I had a pre-packaged twin size batting so I used that for my quilt and trimmed off the excess- but quilt batting is available by the yard so you could figure out how wide the batting is that you like and then calculate your yardage. You will want your batting to be around 2-3 inches longer that your quilt top on each side. My favorite quilt batting is Warm and Natural which is 100% cotton and but I also like the Polyfil 80/20 which is a blend of cotton and polyester- I used the Polyfil for this quilt.)

I got all of my fabric from the Ribbon Retreat. I used the Moda Oops a Daisy line for my quilt. Oops a Daisy Layer cake,  Red Lazy Daisy for backing and large sashing, Cream Ladybug for small sashing, and Orange Gingham for quilt binging.

So are any of you wondering "what in the heck is a layer cake??"

Well... Let me tell ya- but be warned- they are my new obsession when it comes to Moda's Bake Shop.

A layer cake is 42 pieces of fabric that are 10x10 inches big. They are so fabulous because they come precut and usually contain 42 different fabrics in the stack (a whole fabric collection worth- and if there aren't 42 different fabrics in a collection, the layer cake will have some repeats of fabrics- mine did.) The Ribbon Retreat has lots to choose from... They carry layer cakes by Moda, and Riley Blake. (Just keep in mind that our quilt calls for 42 squares so if you buy a layer cake that is by Riley Blake- theirs have 21 pieces per cake so you would need to buy two)

 

So what if you don't want to use a layer cake?? 

-You totally don't have to! You could choose 6 fabrics and cut out 7 10x10 inch squares of each fabric or choose 2 fabrics and do every other row with each fabric- for instance- if you wanted to do a black and white zig zag quilt- get your fabrics and you could do a white row, black row, white row, black row, etc. The options are endless! I just love layer cakes because you get a bunch of different fabrics without having to buy yardage of each and it saves on cutting time!

TOOLS NEEDED:

-Sewing machine

-Scissors

-Thread

-Cutting Mat

-Rotary Cutter 

-Ruler

-Pins

-Seam Ripper

-Iron and Ironing Board

(if you have any question about what any of these are- here is an awesome post from Diary of a Quilter on tools used in quilting)

OPTIONAL TOOLS:

Depending on how you choose to quilt your quilt at the end, you may want to consider some of these extra tools... I will go into more detail about each of them in the post about quilting our quilts.

(for my quilt, I machine quilted part and hand quilted part as well)

-Walking Foot (for quilting in straight lines)

-Free Motion Foot (for quilting designs such as stippling)

-Embroidery hoop or quilting stand for hand quilting or tying your quilt

-Machiner's Gloves- I feel like these are a must! I can't quilt without them. They are inexpensive and make life so much easier because they help grip the quilt while you are quilting. I haven't ever been able to find them in a store where I live so I ordered mine online at Joann's.

-Hera Marker (this is a nifty tool that you can use to make lines on your quilt to follow while sewing. It will iron or wash away.

-If you are going to be hand quilting you will want quilting hoop of some sort, quilting betweens (needles for hand quilting or embroidery), and pearl cotton thread.

Ok... Do you guys have the quilting bug yet?? Get to shopping and we will meet back here with supplies in hand on Wednesday June 6th bright and early to get to cutting our fabric!!

Feel free to place a button for the quilt along anywhere on your blog to spread the word about the fun we will be having!!

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P.S. Feel free to follow my blog via RSS or sign up for my emails so that you keep on track with all of the quilt along updates and posts!!

Strawberry Fields Quilt

I mentioned on Wednesday that I made both my mom and mother in law quilts for Mother's day this year. 

Well here is the quilt that I made for my momma...

It is probably my favorite quilt that I have made to date- just because of it's simplicity and vintage feel. There is nothing better than simple charm pack square quilt. The very first quilt I made was a baby quilt made out of charm squares. 

This is my 4th quilt to date and I still have the quilting bug! I am in love with quilting. I think it is so fulfilling because a lot of the projects I make are little skirts that my kids will grow out of, or bags that will get worn out... you get the idea... But quilts are something that are around for years and years. I have an old vintage quilt that was made by my great grandma. Every stitch was hand stitched and it is worn with years and years of loving use. I hope that these quilts I make can become family treasures too. (And if not- at least I had fun making them right??)

For this quilt, I used the Strawberry Fields fabric collection by Fig Tree Quilts for Moda. I am totally in love with this collection. The colors are so great together and are bright but soft at the same time. This fabric is so so soft and I can tell that over time, this quilt will get that soft "old quilt" feel that I love so much. 

(btw... it is an older line so I have seen it in the sale/clearance on many sites so if you like it too, snatch some up while you still can.)

I used 4 charm packs and then added a small border in the middle and a larger border around the edge. I absolutely love how it turned out. I am so happy that I have some leftover scraps to put together a mini/baby quilt for myself (for future use)

One of the reasons I love charm pack quilts are because they are by far the easiest for me to quilt. I love doing a simple "x" through each of the squares. I think it looks so cute and it is so easy to do with a machine... The squares are small enough that I don't even have to mark them at all to see where to quilt- I just eyeball it and go for it. Not every square is perfect, and straightly quilted- but heck.. that's half the fun of it. You can tell it was home made.

Like I mentioned in the post about my mother in law's quilt- My favorite way to give a quilt to someone is folding the quilt in half and then in half again so it is a big long strip (1/4 the width of the quilt) and then I roll it up into a neat, tidy roll and tie it with a cute ribbon.

And last but not least... I have to thanks my dad for holding up the quilt so I could take pictures... We had fun goofing off and I managed to snap this shot- don't tell him I posted it! Always love taking picture of my "quilt models"...

 ha ha

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Salt Air Lattice Quilt

For Mother's Day this year, I decided to make a quilt for my each of my moms... This is the quilt that I gave my darling mother in law. I used the Moda Salt Air fabric. I love how happy these colors are! Can't go wrong with the primary colors! (that's what I always say at least;)

I used one Moda Layer Cake (which is 42- 10 inch squares that come pre-cut.) I love using layer cakes because it cuts down on all of the cutting you have to do! And then I used half of a Moda White jelly roll (which is 42 pre-cut strips that are 2 1/2 by 44 inches long) for the lattice criss-crosses. 

For the quilting, I used 3 different sizes of measuring bowls from my kitchen and traced a bulls eye in each of the diamonds (I am pretty advanced in my techniques I know! ha ha Just gotta use what you have sometimes;) and then I quilted straight lines on the white lattice pieces. Now for the kicker..... I just used my normal presser foot for the circled bulls eyes. Oh. My. Heck. It was so tricky! I had a heck of a time getting the bulk of my quilt around and around through the neck of my machine as I sewed over the traced circles. Now I am sure some of you are wondering why I did it that way... Well your guess is as good as mine! ha ha I tried out my free motion quilting foot for approximately 3 minutes and the stitches were so uneven due to my lack of experience with it that I put my normal presser foot back in and just went for it. As you can see, my circles aren't perfect, but I just told my Mother-In-Law not to look too close! ha ha (She is super talented at sewing so I was a little embarrassed to give it to her- but I figured it was made with love and that is what counts, right??) :)

If you look at it from far away it looked super cool;)

I had my studly brother Logan help me hold this quilt up again so I could take pictures! Love having a tall  brother to help me with that. (love ya Log)

My favorite way to give quilts as a gift, is to fold it in half and half again (so it is 1/4 the width) and then roll it up into a neat little roll and tie it with cute ribbon.

She loved it! Definitely worth all of the work! :)

So I am not going to go into detail on how I made the entire quilt since we have the Quilt Along coming up soon (I will be announcing the supply list on May 25th- stay tuned)... But I thought I would share how I pieced the top of the quilt in case anyone wanted to recreate it themselves.

I mentioned that I used one Moda layer cake and then half of a Moda jelly roll for the quilt top...

Each of the 42 squares in the layer cake are 10x10 inches. I cut each on the diagonal so there were 84 triangles once I was done cutting the entire layer cake. Then I cut 42 strips of fabric that were 2 1/2 x 15 inches long

Now at this point, you can lay out your triangles and strips to make up your pattern to visualize where you want each fabric piece in relation to all of the others... for mine, I put the yellow fabrics together in a diamond, red in a diamond, blue in a diamond, etc. If you don't care about the fabric being in a specific order or layout and just want it to be random then you don't need to do this step.

To piece each square, I took one of the triangles and pinned it in the middle of one 15 inch strip (there should be a little overhang on each side of the triangle) and stitched it, and then added another triangle to the other side of the strip and stitched it.

Once the two triangles are sewed to the white strip of fabric, iron and press the seams flat. (don't press the seams open, press them away from the white and towards the patterned fabric.)

Next use a straight edge and rotary cutter and square off the excess of the white strip so that the square is "square".

Repeat with each of the triangles and strips until you have 42 squares total. 

When it is all laid out, it should look like this. 

Now you just sew each of your squares together row by row until it is all pieced together. Then to set off the diamond/lattice pattern I added some small borders to finish it off. Pretty simple quilt to put together!!

P.S.... I made a dumb bloggers mistake and forgot to measure this quilt before I gave it away to my mom in law... but it is just a lap sized quilt- nothing too huge!

Stay tuned for the quilt I made for my mom for Mother's day!!

Vintage Inherited

While I have been home visiting, my grandma sold her house in order to downsize. Downsizing meant going through all of her stuff and getting rid of lots and lots of things. It was such a bummer seeing everything go. Before I moved out east, I lived next door to her. If I had still lived there, I would have been able to inherit a lot more vintage goodness... but I am totally happy with the one vintage treasure I get to keep for myself. 

Brace yourselves- In fact you may want to sit down...

This is what I inherited....

A table... BUT- not just any table. 

Open it up and you will find my vintage treasure.

Are any of you swooning yet?? I could not believe that I had no idea this beauty even existed!

This vintage Singer sewing machine used to be my great grandma's machine. 

When my dad was cleaning out my grandma's basement he found this. He asked if I would be interested in an old sewing machine and of course I said yes (before I had even seen it). When I walked in and saw that it just happened to be my favorite color, robin egg blue, I definitely had a swooning moment.

From the little research I have done on it, I think it is from the early 1960's. It probably wouldn't be worth a ton if I were to sell it. But are you kidding me- who in the heck would want to sell this thing!?!

It definitely has some signs of heavy use and is not currently working. I never got to meet my great-grandma because she passed away when my mom was young, but from all of the wonderful stories I have heard about her, I can totally picture her sewing up a storm with this beauty.

This table keeps everything stored right inside. Even the pedal (and 50 years worth of dust) fits in there.

Unfortunately, since I live across the country, I have to part with my newest treasure for a time until I can take it home somehow....

Believe me though... I have tried and tried to come up with a way to get her home right now- BUT- I just couldn't picture traveling through the airport with a two kids under the age of 3 in a double stroller while carting this thing on my back somehow.... And... I am pretty sure the person sitting in the seat next to me wouldn't want to hold it for me while I struggled to keep two wiggly kids calm on a flight across the United States. (No matter how much I batted my eyes at them;) ha ha

So for now, I have to say goodbye to my vintage beauty...

But... one thing I will be able to sneak home is an extra suitcase full of vintage thread, fabric, patterns, and books that I snatched up while I was looking through Grandma Betty's stash! And I managed to talk my grandma into storing 4 huge totes full of sewing goodness in her garage til I move back home to claim the rest of my treasures! So awesome! :)

What vintage sewing goodness have you guys inherited from your mom's and grandma's?? :)

SNAP in a Nutshell

Back in September of last year, I found out that there was going to be a blog conference called SNAP at Thanksgiving Point in Utah and although my blog was on the smaller side, I decided that I would take a leap and sign up to go. I begged my friend Rach to come with me so I wasn't a total geek showing up to a blog conference all by myself. She agreed and we started planning and anticipating how much fun it was going to be to be able to meet all of our favorite bloggers in real life!

So... I am going to attempt to give you a recap on my favorite bloggers that I was able to meet at the conference!! (You will notice my bestie Rach in pretty much all of the pictures... we were together everywhere we went pretty much and I am going through withdrawls without her by my side now! Love ya Rach!!)

Let me start with my fabulous roommates!!
I was one lucky gal... I had the pleasure of bunking with Kristy (Diary of Dave's Wife), Rach (Family Ever After), and Kelli (Lolly Jane)... Can I just say that I had the best roommates at the conference! I loved each of them so much. They spoiled me rotten with pj's, a sleeping mask, earrings, rings... the whole nine yards. We stayed up talking till 4 am most nights and laughed out heads off none stop! They are so much fun!! 

 Kelli and Kristy made this darling sign to go on out hotel door to our room! How cute are they??

Probably the person I was most excited to meet was Kristyn (Lil Luna)... She has seriously been my blog mentor and has taken me under her wing and taught me the ropes of blogland! We had emailed, texted, skyped, etc so it was high time we met in real life and she did not disappoint! I just love her! She is seriously one of the funnest people I have ever met! She has the cutest personality and is so kind to everyone she meets! Love ya girl!!

I was so excited to meet Vanessa (See Vanesa Craft). I have participated in one competition (which I took dead last place in LOL!) and it was on Vanessa's blog (here is my entry). She is so sweet and so gorgeous!! I wish we could have hung out more at the conference!

I got to meet Steph (Crafting in the Rain) and it was so much fun! She even had her darling bag that she made from a tutorial on my blog to show me. How fun is that?

Tam(Sew Dang Cute) was just that... SEW DANG CUTE! I love her! She is so funny and we had fun one night hanging out with a bunch of bloggers telling stories laughing our heads off! Loved her!!

Oh my goodness... I was so excited to meet Kirsten (Kojo-Designs)... She was the 1st place winner of So You Think You Can Sew competition in January. She is absolutely darling, sweet, classy, hilarious, fabulous, and I could go on and on! She is such a talented lady on top of all of that! I just love her and had so much fun with her at the conference!

I also met Heidi (Sew. Craft. Create.) and Kate (See Kate Sew) and I am in love with both of these ladies... Let me start with Heidi. Ok... can I just describe her in one word?? H.I.L.A.R.I.O.U.S.!!!!!! Oh my heck... she made me laugh so hard the entire conference long! She is so sweet and darling. I just love her!! (She was the winner of that competition I took last place in by the way! ha ha She is super talented!)

And Kate... I was in awe at meeting her! She is such a sweetie! I have been blog stalking her for a while now and I was so excited to meet her! She is definitely one talented gal! And did I mention GORGEOUS and classy- love her style!

Ok... enter UBER talented photographer: Kristen Duke... Umm... words can not express how much I loved meeting this gal! She is so cute, funny, talented, sweet, and I could go on and on. She is so much fun to be around and I am in awe of her photography skills... I am going to be reviewing her book Say No to Auto soon so be watching for that!

Next up was the FABULOUS-ly gorgeous Letter 4 girls (two of the four- Janae and Jamie) they are so much fun. And I totally felt out of style every time I stood next to them! They are both so darling! 

I was so excited and searching for Kari (Ucreate) the entire blog conference and finally met her on the last day. She is the nicest ever! She gave me my first big break with my blog by letting me guest post for her. She had been so supportive of me and my blog and I can't thank her enough! She was so sweet in person and took the time to talk to Rach and I for a while even though she was headed to teach one of the classes! Love her!

Ok... These next ladies are definitely on my favorites list- Jennifer, Jamie, and Jodie (eighteen25). I was so in awe to meet these talented ladies because I love everything they create on their blog. Then I started hanging out with them and realized just how fun they are to hang out with! We made late night runs to JCW and laughed our heads off with all the bloggers and their hilarious stories! Loved these ladies!!

Ok... next up is two of my favorite people I met at the conference... Landee and her sis in law Shelly (Landee See Landee Do) OH MY HILARIOUS! Let's just say that these ladies made me laugh harder than I have laughed in a long time! Can you guys adopt me into your fun family?? ha ha Love you ladies!!

I was so excited to meet the fabulous Mique (30 handmade Days) She is another person that has helped my blog along and had given me pointers along the way in my blogging journey! I just love her! She is so talented and so sweet!!

One of the surprises of SNAP was meeting Nikki (Chef in Training)... I believe that at times in your life, certain people come into your life for a reason- I know that I was supposed to meet her. She helped me so much... The first night at SNAP, I was having a hard time (it's been rough since my brother passed away) and I was feeling guilty for leaving my family to do something frivolous like attending a blog conference and I met Nikki and talked her ear off like we were lifelong friends- telling her my troubles and worries... She sat there and listened and let me cry to her while everyone else was having fun (I still feel bad she missed out on all the fun that first night) She is seriously the sweetest person ever! I just love her! And her blog- have you seen it?? Holy Cow... she is amazing! Love you girl!

These 3 ladies are fabulous! Jamielyn (I Heart Naptime), Mallie (DecoArt), Linda (Craftaholics Anonymous). They are all so darling and talented!! I am a total blog-stalker of Jamielyn and Linda's blog so it was so much fun to meet them in real life!!

Meeting Cheri (I Am Momma- Hear Me Roar)was so much fun! She is so so talented and look how gorgeous she is! I didn't recognize her at first and then when I found out who she was I was speechless! I love her blog!!

This next lady needs no introduction in the craft blog world! Jen (Tatertots and Jello) is SO FABULOUS! I was so impressed with how sweet and kind she is in real life! I have emailed her (aka bugged her) a few times and no matter how busy she is she always takes the time to help me out! She is so genuine. I loved meeting her and watching her in action!

Amy (The Idea Room) also needs no introduction! She is so awesome!! I loved meeting her and had so much fun chatting with her. I am so impressed by her. You can just tell she is such a good mom and is so genuine! She is so so talented too! Love reading her blog!

As you can see... I had such a fabulous time at SNAP and it was just the thing I needed right now in my life! Everyone I met was so inspiring. One of the things I loved most is that all of these fabulous ladies/bloggers are just normal people like you and I. They are kind, they care about their readers, and they love what they do. Which is why we all love reading their blogs. 

Thanks to all these fabulous ladies for putting on a wonderful conference!