Overseas Adventure

I  am headed off to Paris and then to London, for a little adventure and rest/relaxation. I'll be off the grid until Monday, September 30th, enjoying new sights and quality family time...so, this is my short public service/housekeeping announcement....

While I am out of my office/studio, I will have very limited access to correspondence (I will be out of the country), so please be patient if you send me a message, comment or inquiry that requires a response. All shippable items will be deactivated in my Etsy Shop. Shippable items (paper patterns/charts, project bags, Stitch Starter Rulers, etc.) will return on Monday, September 30th. All digital items will continue to be available. I will respond to all messages, comments and emails in the order received on September 30th. Thank you for your patience!

Please note - I have scheduled quite a bit of content during my absence, so you will see a couple blog posts and social media updates with a plethora of creative things (I have been SUPER busy in the studio).

I'll be back to visit with you again soon, when (I'm guessing) I will have TONS of photos and experiences to share with you...

Pink Pumpkin Quilt SAL

Greetings friends! Have you been sewing along with Poppie Cotton this week? They have been hosting a Pink Pumpkin Quilt Sew-Along...and while I didn't have room in my jam-packed schedule for a full-size quilt, I did manage to sew along. I made four pumpkin quilt blocks and added sashing and borders to create a floating pumpkin pillow. I used fun fabrics from the Kitty Loves Candy Collection by Lori Woods for my pumpkins and Country Confetti in Waffle Cone Yellow for my background. Poppie Cotton has the Pink Pumpkin Quilt Pattern, designed by Lori Woods, available on their website for FREE (visit their website and click on the free tab). I used the pumpkin quilt block from the pattern and then designed my own pillow. I think it turned out super cute and it will be a fun addition to my Halloween/fall decorating...

You can read more about the Pink Pumpkin Quilt Sew-Along on the Poppie Cotton Blog.

Happy creating!

Market Day Fabric Tour

Happy Wednesday - welcome to my stop on the Market Day Fabric Tour - thank you so much for dropping by for a visit. I am thrilled to be sharing these darling fabrics from Poppie Cotton! I have a very special project lined up, created with the new Market Day fabric collection designed by Amy J. Delightful for Poppie Cotton. I enjoyed putting on my quilt designer hat and playing with these soft and charming prints. This brand new fabric collection (shipping to quilt shops this month) has a warm and vintage feel to me. The entire collection is filled with tiny details and the sweetest little motifs. These soft-palette prints feature matryoshka (nesting) dolls, buntings, mini strawberries, doilies, flowery trellises and fabulous floral motifs. The colors are lovely shades of pink, blue, mint, red and white. I enjoyed doing some fussy cutting of these charming prints.

For this fabric tour, I focused on designing a new quilt pattern, which I call "Bunting and Berries." This quilt measures 50" x 50" and is a great throw or lap quilt size. It's the perfect size to snuggle up with in a recliner or on a sofa...or to take on a picnic...or to curl up with on a cool, outdoor evening. I wanted to create a fat quarter stack friendly pattern...and I wanted focus on the delicate prints in the collection. I enjoyed fussy cutting the centers of each star with a wonderful focal fabric (Nesting Dolls) and I cut the Bunting Prints to point towards the center of the quilt. It truly was a joy to create and put together. It is traditional piecing with Rising Star Quilt Blocks and Sashed 8-Patch Quilt Blocks (a simple quilt block I created for this specific project). One of the things I love about this quilt is, it can be as planned as you want (like I did the model with fussy cutting) or as scrappy as you want. You can find this new pattern in my Etsy Shop in both paper and digital format. See my blog post from yesterday for more details.

Paper Pattern: https://blueribbondesigns.etsy.com/listing/1770515606
Digital Pattern: https://blueribbondesigns.etsy.com/listing/1770518918

I hope you have enjoyed this stop on the fabric tour and are feeling inspired - thank you for visiting with me today. For more creative projects using the Market Day fabric collection, visit the Poppie Cotton Blog. If you love this fabric collection, be sure to check out your favorite quilt shop and request it - Market Day is shipping this month.

I already have my projects underway for the next Poppie Cotton Fabric Tour - my day is September 23rd. The next tour will be showcasing the "Painted Blossoms" fabric collection (click to see a preview). Plus, I am working on my next tutorial for Therm O Web (a collaboration project with Benzie Design!). I also have a few other projects up my sleeve to finish up before I travel out of the country in September...so stop back soon to see my latest creations...

Bunting and Berries - NEW Quilt Pattern

Yes, you read that title correctly - I have yet another new quilt pattern! This is my “Bunting and Berries" - a wonderfully sized lap or throw quilt. This quilt measures a manageable 50" W x 50" H. It's the perfect size to snuggle up with in a recliner or on a sofa...or to take on a picnic...or to curl up with on a cool, outdoor evening. The pattern contains comprehensive/detailed instructions with all sorts of color diagrams...and it includes coloring sheets for each block to easily adapt to your favorite fabrics, along with detailed instructions for Four-At-A-Time Flying Geese units. This 21-page pattern is designed to easily use your favorite fabric collection, is fat quarter friendly, and is good for all skill levels. You can find this new design in my Etsy Shop, in both paper and digital format...

Paper Pattern: https://blueribbondesigns.etsy.com/listing/1770515606
Digital Pattern: https://blueribbondesigns.etsy.com/listing/1770518918

I designed this quilt at the beginning of the year for Poppie Cotton using a fabric collection that is shipping to shops this month called Market Day. I wanted to create a fat quarter stack friendly pattern...and I wanted focus on the delicate prints in the collection. I enjoyed fussy cutting the centers of each star with a wonderful focal fabric (Nesting Dolls) and I cut the Bunting Prints to point towards the center of the quilt. It was a joy to create and put together. It is traditional piecing with Rising Star Quilt Blocks and Sashed 8-Patch Quilt Blocks (a simple quilt block I created for this specific project). One of the things I love about this quilt is, it can be as planned as you want (like I did the model with fussy cutting) or as scrappy as you want (using up what you have on hand!).

My model was beautifully longarm quilted by:
Quilting by Leslie
19800 W 207th St, Spring Hill, KS 66083
816-509-5610
quiltingbyleslie@gmail.com
Leslie does an incredible job on my model quilts!

Thank you so much for visiting with me today and checking out my latest quilt pattern. I will be back tomorrow for my turn on the Market Day Fabric Tour, where I will show more images of this special quilt.

For now, I am back to the studio...I am scrambling a bit right now to get things done before I leave for a trip to Paris and London in September. I have a lot to do in a very short amount of time...

Happy in Hermann

Greetings friends! I thought I would pop in for a visit on a Sunday night. My husband and I returned earlier today from a long weekend in Hermann, Missouri and I thought I would share a plethora of photos from our trip.  Hermann is picturebook village in the Missouri River Valley that is known as Missouri Wine Country. A lovely small town that we like to visit once a year to unplug and unwind. We rented a lovely little Airbnb cottage downtown, where we could walk to all the restaurants and shopping and a quiet, quaint, little craft cocktail bar that we have found to be a favorite place. There are wonderful wineries throughout the area and we enjoy taking the trolley for a day to visit each one (it is hop on and hop off)....and it drops us off right at our lodging at the end of the day. 

This year, we decided to take The Shire Experience at Hermann Farm (one of my very favorite places) and get up close and personal with the shire draft horses. My husband and I were the only people on the tour, which made it an incredible experience. The Hermann Farm handlers and trainers showed us about the care, harnessing and driving of these magnificent horses - and then we were able to take a four-seat surrey (fancy farm wagon) ride pulled by the shire horses around the incredible 200 acre property. I was amazed at how much time we were able to spend with the shire horses and they were extremely affectionate and powerful at the same time. The farm also houses a draft mule and several sheep that we saw grazing on our ride around the farm. I loved this experience so much, it was a very special day.

While in Hermann, we also enjoyed wonderful food and wine, took several walks along the Missouri riverfront, and recharged. I really needed a break before the next month. As I mentioned in a previous post, I found out a couple weeks ago I would be taking a trip overseas with my parents in September. We are headed to Paris and London (a trip I never thought I would be taking in my lifetime!). We are going to be visiting some incredible places and I am thrilled I get to spend quality time with them for few weeks. It wasn't on my bingo card to be out of the country for a couple weeks (so soon!) and I am scrambling a bit to accomplish everything I need to do before we leave. The old saying - work hard, play hard. So, the Hermann trip was a restful few days away with my husband, before I am in a work frenzy.

As promised, here are some of my favorite sights from our trip...

I hope you enjoyed this trip to Hermann, MO through my camera lens. I will be back with more creative posts very soon! Have a great week and make time to do something special...

Freshly Picked Mini Quilt

Greetings friends! It is new project tutorial day - time to share my August project created for Therm O Web with you! I always enjoy putting on my Fabric Education Designer hat and creating new projects/tutorials to share with you on the Therm O Web Blog. Each month, I share a new project and you give you my tips and tricks for using their extensive catalog of products. For the month of August, the blog is focused on projects for back-to-school, animals, self care and travel. I created a brand new project that was posted yesterday - it is a complete project tutorial for my "Freshly Picked Mini Quilt" featuring HeatnBond. My comprehensive tutorial contains a detailed supply list and step-by-step directions with color photos and a pattern with applique templates (and you can find a short tutorial video on my YouTube channel and Instagram page). This is a versatile, beginner friendly, appliqué project. I hope you will stop by the Therm O Web Blog and check this fun design...

This is an afternoon project that can definitely be a scrap buster! You can use your favorite fabrics to create your own mini quilt. If you are new to appliqué, this project is a great place to start - these simple appliqué shapes are great practice for a beginner. Plan out the blocks or make them super scrappy! I used a Stitch by Lori Holt for Riley Blake Designs Joly Bar for the quilt top...and a coordinating fat quarter from my stash for the back (also from Riley Blake Designs)....and of course, the hand-dyed rick rack is from Lady Dot Creates!

Therm O Web recently released a new product, a Tear-Away Stabilizer Value Pack. While you may immediately think of this as a machine embroidery product, I will let you in on a little secret…this is my favorite product for getting the very best machine appliqué results! I use a sheet under each of my appliqué blocks when doing my machine stitches and these stabilizer sheets keep my blocks and stitches nice and flat, with no puckering. After my appliqué pieces are all stitched in place, I simply tear away the stabilizer and sew the block(s) into my quilt. These magical tear-away stabilizer sheets come in two sizes (8”x 8” or 10” x 12”), making them convenient and versatile. I thought this mini quilt would be a perfect project to show off this new product and my technique...plus it is perfect for a back-to-school teacher gift or seasonal décor.

For this post, I used Tear Away Stabilizer 8 inch x 8 inch Sheets, Fusible Fleece, Medium Weight Interfacing, a HeatnBond Lite EZ-Print Iron-On Adhesive Sheet, and HeatnBond Fabric Fuse PeelnStick Fabric Adhesive Tape...plus, I give you some pro-tips in my post. Visit the tutorial post for a complete and detailed supply list.

To find the mini quilt stand and my favorite small, sharp scissors used in my post (along with other supplies/tools listed), visit my Freshly Picked Mini Quilt Supply List on Amazon (full disclosure: as an Amazon Influencer, I earn from qualifying purchases - I only share products I actually use - and I truly appreciate you shopping from my links, thank you!).

If you have questions on any of the Therm O Web or HeatnBond/SpraynBond products or would like to see a specific type of product in one of my projects, drop me a comment or email.

You will have to visit the ThermOWeb blog for my complete tutorial and pattern, but I am posting a few photos here...

Here is a direct link to the project tutorial:

https://blog.thermoweb.com/freshly-picked-mini-quilt-featuring-heatnbond

I hope this project gets you excited to create something special and unique...

I am creating monthly projects for the Therm O Web Blog and I will be sure to post here when I have a new tutorial available. My next project will be available on September 23th...and it is going t be a GREAT one - a collaboration with Benzie Design!

Thank you for stopping by for a visit today - I always enjoy sharing with you. Have a great week and make time to work on something creative...