Isosceles Triangle Quilt Along... the supplies.

Since I started quilting, I have been wanting to make a Christmas quilt to snuggle with during the Christmas season. I finally checked it off my to-do list and this lovely quilt has found it's home on my couch next to the Christmas tree... I am loving it! It's the perfect size for my littles to snuggle with and maneuver around, but it is big enough for an adult to use as well.

I fell in love with and was totally inspired by Amy's Kitschy Christmas quilt. I love how vintage and retro her quilt is! I may have to make another next year and go for more of a retro feel. 

I made mine using Riley Blake fabrics... I used two different lines... The majority is from Alpine Wonderland line and I also threw in two prints from the Marguerite line (red polka dot and the pink stripe). I wanted to go for a slightly girly feel to this quilt since I have two little girls... And I love that if I really wanted to I could use it if I want during the year since it is not totally Christmas-y looking.

Instead of trimming off the excess from the triangles and squaring off my quilt, I decided to try something new and left the zig zag edge. I love how it turned out! Just something different. 

 I used the Alpine Wonderland Main in blue for my backing and love how it turned out. The print is so big and fun. I took care to piece it together carefully so as not to see the seam in the backing and it turned out great. 

I contemplated hand quilting this one... and honestly I think it would have turned out really awesome if I had done that, but in the end, I opted to finish this quilt before Christmas instead of after and machine quilted 1/4 inch from every seam. I think it turned out pretty good. I love the straight lines and the design on the back looks really cool. 

I thought it would be fun to do a quilt along for anyone that wants to make an isosceles triangle quilt- Christmas themed or not....

Anyone in the quilt along mood?? I hope so! :) 

Supplies:

-rotary cutter and mat

-thread

-scissors

-iron and spray starch (totally a must for this quilt)

-For cutting my fabric into triangles, I used the Quilt Sense Kaleidoscope Triangle Ruler. I picked mine up at Joann's and was able to use a coupon to get it for pretty inexpensive.

(image source)

It is super easy to use- I just cut my fabric into 6 inch strips and then lined up the template on the 11" block line to cut my triangles... They are 45 degree triangles that measured 6" tall  and 5 1/4 " on the base of the triangle- so if you wanted to make your own template than that would probably work ok too.

-instead of giving you specific yardage, I am going to let you know how I made mine and give you some options. You can make this quilt with scraps, fat quarters, 1/4 yards, 1/2 yards, etc. The options are endless. 

I started with an Alpine Wonderland Fat Quarter bundle, and then added some yardage of the red polka dot and pink striped Marguerite fabric to compile my 156 prints/colored triangles. 

Then I used 2 yards of Riley Blake Clean White yardage for the 156 white triangles.

My quilt consisted of 156 colored triangles and 156 white triangles. The quilt measures roughly 50 x 63 inches. I say roughly because when I was making it, I realized halfway through that my new 1/4 inch seam piecing foot is slightly over 1/4 inch... So it kinda threw my seams off a bit... once I had pieced the triangles into rows, when it came time to sew the rows together I ended up having to use 1/2 seam allowance to compensate for the mistake in the seam allowance... So if you decide to make this- I definitely recommend using a scant 1/4 inch seam when piecing to make sure things line up perfectly- and then I think your quilt would measure slightly bigger... So this is gonna kinda be one of those do as I say, not as I do quilt alongs! But hey... I figured out all of the ways to do it wrong, so now you don't have to do any of that... you can just start out doing it correctly! :)

Ok... Like I said, I used a fat quarter bundle and some various yardage for my quilt top, so I will just let you know how many triangles you can get out of different cuts of fabric and then you can decide what cuts you want to use.

Fat Quarter: 18 triangles

(beware when using fat quarters... they have to be exactly 18x22 inches to get 18 triangles out of it- in my case, a handful of my fat quarters were smaller and I was not able to get the full amount of triangles cut out of them)

1/4 yard or 6" x Width of fabric: 14 triangles

1/2 yard: 42 triangles

Just something to think about-  After I had my quilt all finished, I realized that since I used an even number of triangles across the quilt, I ended up with a kinda funky shape of quilt. Meaning- on the top left of the quilt there is a white triangle so it zags out but then on the top right of the quilt there is a colored triangle so it zags in. It's no big deal, but makes it kinda tricky when folding it since the top corners are not symmetrical. So if I were to make it again, I would probably do my quilt 25 triangles wide instead of 24 so that it was symmetrical. I am just kinda weird like that though, so if that doesn't bug you then go ahead and do 24 triangles wide like I did.

Like I said, if you are following my layout, you will need 156 colored triangles so calculate how much yardage you will need depending on if you are using fat quarters vs. 1/2 yard cuts, etc.

Then you will need 2 yards of a solid/neutral fabric.

If you are wanting to make your quilt smaller or bigger than mine, just figure out how many triangles you want and calculate how much fabric you need to buy.

-1/2 yard to 3/4 yard for binding... just depending on if you decided to do the zig zag edge like I did or square your edge and do straight edge binding.

As for the batting and backing since my seam allowances were messed up when piecing my top, I recommend finishing your quilt top and then purchasing those two items after you have a final measurement so that you are not buying too much or too little.

I will be posting the directions for cutting your fabric and piecing your quilt top next week so stay tuned!

If you have any questions, leave a comment but be sure to include your email so I can get back to you!

Last but not least, I just wanted to give a big shout out to my sponsor for the quilt along- Riley Blake Designs.

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HAVE FUN FABRIC SHOPPING! :)

For directions to make this quilt, click HERE.

Little House Zipper Pouch

Recently, a bunch of my friends got together to have our annual Favorites Party. Each time we have the party, we each bring one of our very favorite things that cost $5 or less... Last time we had the party, I brought my favorite lip gloss. This time, I wanted to bring something that incorporated my favorite thing to do, so I decided to make something to give away.

While searching Pinterest a bit ago, I came across this darling tutorial for Fabric House Ornaments by Retro Mama and this darling House Sachet by A Spoon Full of Sugar that was inspired by Retro Mama's tutorial. I decided to make my own spin off of the ornaments and made a little house zipper pouch. I didn't follow the tutorial exactly since I made it into a pouch and did a different shape of roof on the house, but the tutorial was a great help for me as far as the actual design elements... 

I started by drawing out the shape of my house to make a pattern/template. I cut out two pieces on duck cloth- one for the front and one for the back. Then I just added my pieces of fabric for the front of the house by sewing onto the duck cloth. I left the duck cloth plain for the back. Then I cut out two pieces for the liner of the pouch by using my template. and just put it together as I would a regular pouch- just in a kinda funky shape.

I love the way it turned out. It is just a little thing so it would be perfect to keep in a purse with little things you need to locate easily- ie. Chapstick, lipgloss, bobby pins, etc.

It was definitely a hit at the party- and to be honest, I kinda had a hard time parting with it. ha ha 

I think this little house had started to make a nice home on my bookshelf. 

Guess I will have to make another... ;)

My Quilted Weekender Bag

I finished my Quilted Weekender Bag!!! I love the way it turned out. I took it on it's maiden voyage last weekend to Nashville. 

I always try to be a light packer and only bring the bare necessities- so it was the perfect size to fit my clothes and makeup in... But the blow dryer and flat iron had to squeeze into my kiddos bag.

My inspiration for the bag was this quilted patchwork Weekender Bag by Elizabeth of Oh, Fransson.

 I have heard others call the Weekender Bag the Holy Grail of Bags... I would have to agree. I wouldn't say that it was hard to make- more like tricky... but now that I have made it, any trouble it caused me has long been forgotten due to it's cuteness! ;)

I loved this project because I was able to incorporate all of my favorite fabrics and scraps into one bag. It has all my favorite colors, patterns, etc so it is totally me.

 I used a bunch of leftovers from my scrap pile of fabric so I am not sure of the names of all of the fabrics, but the majority of them are from these fabric lines: Vintage Modern, The Simple Life, Annie's Farm Stand, Ruby, and used this Kokka Matryoska Fabric and fussy cut out the flowers and matryoska dolls as accents in the panels. I also fussy cut the sayings "Life is Beautiful" and "I love my family" from the Odds and Ends Happy Thoughts in Rosebud fabric. 

I used Oh Deer! Twill Cherry Dot fabric for the handles and piping.

For the lining, I used Moda Made with Love Measuring Tape in Aqua Canvas.

I made a few alterations in the pattern when I was making my bag.

1. I did not use all of the Peltex and interfacing that the pattern called for. Instead I used Elizabeth's method for quilting as you go by layering duck cloth and a thin layer of batting and then quilting my scraps onto that. In the end, My panels were very stiff and held their form without the extra layer of Peltex and interfacing. I did however follow the directions for the base of the bag and did use the interfacing and Peltex for that part. My bag stands up all on it's own and in all of these pictures, nothing is in my bag to hold it's form... It's one of the things I love most about the bag- it's sturdy!

2. The Handles: I made them 8 inches longer than the pattern called for (if I ever make this bag again, I will make them even longer). When I sewed the handles onto the bag, I made an X in between the 9 and 13 inch marks. I also sewed the handles to the panel all the way down underneath the X's so that the handles weren't loose in the pocket.

3. The Outer bottom panel: I made my bottom panel out of oil cloth so that I could wipe it off easily in case I sat it on something dirty. Love this! I don't worry so much about my bag getting filthy on the bottom.

4. The Piping: When I made my piping, I did not sew it like the pattern called for. Instead I used 1/4 inch Steam a Seam tape and then when it came time to attach the piping to the bag, I didn't have to worry about covering up any lines of stitching.

Other than that, I followed the patterns directions and I feel like my bag turned out pretty well... 

Can't wait to plan another getaway to use this darling bag! :) 

WIP Quilted Patchwork Weekender Bag

A couple weeks ago, I came across a quilted patchwork Weekender Bag by Elizabeth of Oh, Fransson! 

I fell in love with it the minute I saw it and knew that I needed to finally take the plunge and make the notorious Weekender Bag by Amy Butler. This bag is kinda the Holy Grail of bags and definitely has a reputation for being hard to get along with due to all of the layers of peltex, interfacing, cording, etc that are involved when making it. 

I have always loved the look of this bag, but the reputation and horror stories had me pretty much sworn off making it, but when I saw Elizabeth's bag and the method that she used to make it by quilting as you go onto cotton duck cloth, I had a change of heart. 

Apparently I am not the only one either- from what I have heard of Sewing Summit and seen on a few blogs, it looks like Elizabeth sparked a quilted weekender craze and there is now a quilted weekender bandwagon! Check out these fabulous bags by  Laura and Amber!

Two weeks ago, I raided my scrap stash and even dug into a few fabric piles that I had been saving for a rainy day and came up with my color palette- red, aqua, and yellow. 

It hasn't been a fast process by any means, I just add a little each night and am finally finished creating my patchwork panels so now I am ready to start assembling my bag now...Duh, duh, duh... I am hoping to make it out in one piece! Wish me luck!

Here is a sneak peak of what the the main and pocket panel are looking like together! I am excited to see it finished! 

I plan to finish it over the weekend since I am headed to Nashville next week. This is the perfect bag to take along on my trip! :) 

Stay tuned for more pictures to come soon once I finish it!

Ahoy Matey Quilt

With me having little girls, it's pretty rare to see me sewing for a little boy... but one of my friends just had her very first baby boy last week and I couldn't resist making the new little guy a quilt.

I can't even tell you how much I love this Ahoy Matey fabric by Michael Miller . When I saw that it had a panel and that it was so darling, I knew that I wanted to try making a quilt using a panel. Usually I am not a huge fan of panel quilts, but this one may have changed my mind. 

To make it, I used one panel (which is the main part of the quilt with the ship and waves on it), and then I used the Navy Stay the Course fabric for the side sashing, and Dumb Dot in Clementine for the prairie points, Clementine Ship Shape for the binding, and then Quarter Dot in Midnight for the backing. 

I have been wanting to try doing prairie points on a quilt and I felt like this was the perfect quilt for it. I found an awesome tutorial for continuous prairie points on Sew Take a Hike. It was such an easy tutorial to follow! Love how they turned out!

As soon as I saw the panel for this quilt, I knew that I wanted to hand stitch along the outlines of everything. I love the way it looks around the waves, clouds, and boat. Once I washed it and dried it, oh my goodness!! I was in love... it was a tad bit hard to part with this lovely quilt. ha ha

But lucky me... I happened to buy two panels and have just enough leftover fabric to make myself this exact quilt- should a little bundle of blue pop up into my future.... And if not, I am sure I can find a loving home for such a darling little quilt- don't ya think? :) 

Happy Sailing!

xoxo, Ashley

Work In Progress Finished... well... almost!

Remember the WIP {work in progress} that I shared with you guys FOREVER ago?? I finally finished it. Well kinda- I have just a tiny bit more hand quilting to do on two blocks, but it has been bound and in use for the past month on my littlest's toddler bed (which is why it is so narrow and long). I am not sure why I can't make myself sit down and finish it. It would take all of 30 minutes or so, but you know how things go... other projects take priority and things get put on the back burner. So alas, this little gem has been a bit abandoned but perhaps an afternoon during nap time will be enough to get her finished...

But until that happens, I thought I would show her off to you guys. 

What do you think? It was my very first time paper piecing and my first time making dresdens and I kinda loved it. It was definitely the most time consuming and labor intensive quilt I have ever made, but I still really enjoyed it. I was inspired by Kerri's vintage nursery quilt and decided to add in the dresdens to make my quilt a little different.

Almost all of the fabrics I used were japanese import goodies (most from Lecien's Old new 30's line) that I found in Kerri's shop. She has the cutest fabric and I loved picking and choosing out fabrics in soft pinks, aquas, and a tiny bits of yellow for this quilt. It almost a bit monochromatic to my eyes since I stuck with just a few shades of colors, which isn't normally my style, but I love the way it is totally matchy matchy and shabby chic looking. 

For the center of my paper pieced blocks, I used prints from the Sweet Life fabric I picked out. Since it is a Japanese import, some of the sayings on the fabric is so funny and isn't always grammatically correct- for instance, there is a block that says "I'm now cleaning a living" and "Let me give you hand".

I think the saying on this block had to be my very favorite- "You look spruce. Are you going on a date today?" ha ha My family says it all the time now and it makes me laugh every time!

I started machine quilting the quilt initially and had machine quilted around the edged of each block, but I decided to hand quilt the rest of the quilt instead of finishing it on the machine... which added to the time and labor intensiveness, but I love the look of it and think it adds to the vintage look and feel of the quilt. I used a pale pink DMC pearl cotton 8 thread for the hand quilted part.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Hope you are all having a fabulous week! 

Happy Sewing! 

xoxo, Ashley

The Mini Messenger

I know... I know... I have been a blogger M.I.A. for the past few weeks- but with good reason. Over the past month we have had 3 fun visitors come into town to spend a week each. It has been so fun! 

Our first special visitor was my little sis Heidi. We had such a great time together! She had been wanting me to teach her to sew something for over a year now, but we had never gotten around to it until this visit... And to our surprise this gal is a natural!

(exterior of bag Lark Sateen- Treasure Box in Charcoal by Amy Butler, interior of bag Vintage Modern  Sky Houndstooth by Moda, Mini Pom-Pom Trim in Aqua)

When deciding on a project to have be her very "first sewing project" we were back and forth between making a blanket, a skirt, or a bag... We ended up deciding to make a bag since she was in desperate need of a new one. 

We headed off to my favorite fabric shop and although it was a tough decision to decide on only one fabric with a shop full of awesome fabrics, she fell in love with this darling  print by Amy Butler. I knew that I had some matching fabric and trim at home to go with it so we headed home and got started. 

It was a lot of fun because we both worked together to come up with the pattern for the bag. Essentially it is the same as the Little Birdie told me Messenger bag so you could definitely follow that tutorial but just modify the measurements to make this bag. We wanted the bag to be tall and skinny instead of a wide bag so the width and height measurement flip flopped and we ended up making it approx. 12x15 inches.

She honestly sewed the whole bag except I put the zipper pocket in for her  (with the help of this awesome tutorial) and helped her a bit with the mini pom pom trim (tricky stuff to sew on! ha ha) but other than that- this was her deal... She was a total natural! She sewed a straight line immediately- something I had to practice! I was so impressed!! It was so fun helping her and seeing someone else enjoy sewing as much as I do. 

While at the fabric shop we found this cute Vallori Wells Little Wallet Pattern- so she used it to make this cute matching wallet to use inside her bag. I loved the pattern. It was so user friendly and would be the perfect beginner project for anyone- even kids. I can't wait to make one for myself and I think it is perfect for a little gift for someone.

Love spending time with my sister! We laughed more than I have laughed in a year. I am so glad to call her "my little sis". 

Watch out "Sewing World"- there is another awesome sew-er on the loose! ;)