Sparkle - A Christmas Sew Along - The Quilt

Now that you've got your Sparkle quilt all complete it's time for machine quilting  and attaching the binding.

I've had so much fun making this quilt I hope you have too!

When it came time to machine quilt my quilt I decided to go with an all over, edge-to-edge pattern. I want this quilt to be used and loved in my home each Christmas so something all over will be perfect!

Sparkle - A Christmas Sew Along - Putting the Top Together

Today we get to sew our Sparkle quilt tops together. YAY! 

Begin by sewing one 2 1/2"x24 1/2" white strip to the right side of six of the blocks.

Next, sew the blocks together into three rows of three blocks.

Now take your two, 2 1/2"x76 1/2" white sashing strips and sew them to the bottom of two rows. Then sew the three rows of three blocks together.

That's it!

If you wanted to make your quilt larger  you could add a white, red or green border. I am not a border lover so I'm stopping here.

Tomorrow I'll be back to share my quilt after it's all machine quilted.

We're making great progress! If you're just joining in, no worries, you can still catch up. 

Fabric requirements are listed here.

Cutting instructions are listed here.

Sewing square-in-a-square instructions are posted here.

Sewing half square triangle instructions are posted here.

Sewing the corner units instructions are posted here.

Putting the blocks together instructions are posted here.

Make sure to share your progress over on instagram using #sparklexmassewalong

Sparkle - A Christmas Sew Along - Putting the Blocks Together

We are just moving right along. Today we get to put our blocks together, YAY!

First we will make the top and bottom units, take two side units and sew them to the right and left sides of one of the green square-in-a-square units. Sew 18 of these units. Press toward the red corner units.

For the center units you will sew one green square-in-a-square unit to opposite sides of a white 8 1/2"x8 1/2" square. Sew 9 of these units. Press toward the white squares.

Now, we get to put those units together!

Sew a top and bottom unit to the top and bottom of the center blocks. Sew 9 blocks.

Tomorrow we'll put our quilt top together!

We're making great progress! If you're just joining in, no worries, you can still catch up. 

Fabric requirements are listed here.

Cutting instructions are listed here.

Sewing square-in-a-square instructions are posted here.

Sewing half square triangle instructions are posted here.

Sewing the corner units instructions are posted here.

Make sure to share your progress over on instagram using #sparklexmassewalong

Sparkle - A Christmas Sew Along - Sewing the Corner Units

Today we're going to make 36 corner units.

Sew 36  half square triangle blocks to the left side of 36 red 4 1/2" blocks. Press toward the red block.

Next, you will sew the remaining 36 half square units to the right side of your 36 white 4 1/2" blocks. Press toward the white blocks.

Now, sew the two units together, creating 36 corner units. 

Set all of your units aside! We get to start sewing blocks together tomorrow! YAY!

We're making great progress! If you're just joining in, no worries, you can still catch up. 

Fabric requirements are listed here.

Cutting instructions are listed here.

Sewing square-in-a-square instructions are posted here.

Sewing half square triangle instructions are posted here.

Make sure to share your progress over on instagram using #sparklexmassewalong

Sparkle - A Christmas Sew Along - Sewing Half Square Triangles

It's time for some more sewing! Today we're working with reds, yay! I'm having fun with the scrappy Christmas reds that I chose.

Gather up your 36 white 4 7/8"x4 7/8" squares and your 36 red 4 7/8"x4 7/8" squares. You should have already drawn a diagonal line from corner to corner on all of the white squares. If you haven't, no worries, you can do it now.

Now place your white and red squares together, right sides together. Then sew 1/4" on either side of the draw line, repeat on all 36 blocks.

Next, use your rotary cutter, or scissors and cut on the original draw line.

Press the blocks toward the red. You should now have 72 half square triangle blocks. Square these blocks up to 4 1/2"x4 1/2".

We're making great progress! If you're just joining in, no worries, you can still catch up. 

Fabric requirements are listed here.

Cutting instructions are listed here.

Sewing square-in-a-square instructions are posted here.

Make sure to share your progress over on instagram using #sparklexmassewalong

Sparkle - A Christmas Sew Along - Sewing Square in a Square Blocks

All right, you've got your fabrics picked, and all cut and you're ready to start sewing! YAY! 

Lets start by making the green square-in-a-square blocks! You will make four of these units per block, making a total of 36.

All seam allowances are 1/4"

Begin by sewing one 4 7/8" triangle to opposite sides of each of the green 6 1/4"x6 1/4" squares. Refer to the image above.

Press. I chose to press my fabrics toward the white on these units.

Next, sew a 4 7/8" triangle to the two remaining sides of the square-in-a-square unit. Press. After you have pressed, square up the block to 8 1/2"x8 1/2" square.

Put these 36 units aside, we will use them again in a couple days.

If you're just joining us, make sure to share you progress over on instagram, use #sparklexmassewalong

You can find fabric requirements here and cutting instructions here.

Sparkle - A Christmas Sew Along - Cutting Instructions

Okay! I hope you've all got your fat quarters picked out and are ready to start chopping up your fabric! The pieces for this quilt a big, so the cutting is quick and easy!

Cut your pieces and then make sure to draw a diagonal line from corner to corner on 36 of the 4 7/8"x4 7/8" squares. My favorite marking pen is Mark-B-Gone.

Make sure to share your pictures over on instagram using #sparklexmassewalong

And, just in case you missed it, the fabric requirements are listed here.

Sparkle - A Christmas Sew Along!

I've been in desperate need of a new Christmas quilt for a few years now. My only Christmas quilt has been around for several years, and needless to say it's time for something new. Even though I don't "stash" fabrics, I have been hoarding some fat quarters for the last couple years, and it's finally time to cut them up and put them to use! 

I've sketched out a new quilt and thought it would be fun to sew and share as I go over the next week. You are welcome to sew along with me. I will share instructions here, starting with the fabric requirements today, and then sharing steps in the pattern each day until the quilt is complete.

I'm super duper excited to officially introduce you to my first sew-along, Sparkle!

Sparkle quilt will finish at 76"x76", it's a great stashbuster quilt, and a fabulous lap size!

These are the fabrics that I've pulled for my quilt (plus a few more reds), plus the solid white! I'm so super duper excited about this quilt, I'll be sharing pictures over on instagram using #sparklexmassewalong if you want to join me there.

I'll be back tomorrow with cutting instructions!

Typhoon - Cabin Fever: 20 Modern Log Cabin Quilts

I can't even begin to express how excited I am about our upcoming book; Cabin Fever: 20 Modern Log Cabin Quilts. I know I've said this over and over but I love when you look at a quilt and it makes you think.....now how was that put together?!?  When Kathleen and I came up with the concept for this new book, that was exactly what we wanted to create. A modern twist on traditional Log Cabin style quilt blocks.

This pattern is Typhoon. I love it so much, it might be one of my very favorite quilts from this book. I love that when you look at the quilt you cannot see the Log Cabin type construction. :) 

Cabin Fever: 20 Modern Log Cabin Quilts is now available for pre-order, and you know as soon as I receive my advanced copy, in April or May, I'll be screaming it from the rooftops!

Pre-order signed copies here. 

Machine Quilting Patterns

I don't often talk much here about my fun little hobby, designing digital machine quilting patterns and embroidery files. 

Kathleen and I started this fun little journey a few years back and learned the ins and outs of the digital portion of machine quilting and embroidery. For me, this is just a fun thing that I like to do whenever inspiration strikes. I often see designs that I love in nature, architecture and every day life that inspire me, and when I do I love to turn them into machine quilting patterns. 

With my recent move and just busy life in general I just haven't been able to play with designing these patterns in what seems like forever! But this week, inspiration struck, hard! I had to put everything down and just draw, I came up with several new digital machine quilting patterns, and even a few Christmas embroidery files.

Some of the new patterns are:

Alternating Bubbles

 

 Angel Hair

 Cheerios

 Urban Argyle

 Urban Quarterfoil

Urban Quarterfoil Single Block

All of these files are available for purchase in the "shop" or if you want your long-arm quilter to use them we have all of our digital machine quilting files available in most long-arm machine quilting formats.