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Love the Quilt This! Printable, but think of yourself more as a Sewist?

Check out the new Sew This! Printable here.

After munch procrastination, because honestly I let those tiny house intimidate me this month, I am thankful for the bonus day to get things done!

I made a couple house blocks when my son was finally back in good health this month, but just wasn’t getting into sewing the tiny pieces.

However on leap day, my son happened to be really excited about playing with the homemade play dough his aunt had made and this gave me more uninterupted sewing time than I have had in a long time! So I dug in.

I started by making all of the house pairings I was going to use. (This one house by one house business was taking forever.) I cut all of my tiny pieces and then got to sit and sew each one and they came together very quickly.

These little houses are so cute! I just love the results.

Sometimes we lose our sewing mojo, and its just a small inspiration or sewing time that gets it back.

So that was my learning from this month’s project. Even if it seems hard, get in there and start or try, because the results could be beautiful!

Happy Quilting!
Katie

Thanks for all the positive feedback on the Mini Quilt Challenge so far! I’m excited that some of you are planning to join in. 🙂

I gave myself a super challenge for January because I got going late on this one. But, I have my fabric selected and my cutting done for my Thimble Blossoms Mini Spools quilt, plus some sewing on the spool blocks.

I mentioned previously that I had designed this challenge because I don’t have very much time to sew. This is true for me, and maybe it’s true for you too. With a busy work and family schedule, I get probably one evening a week where I can sit down and sew. So that’s about 2-3 sewing hours per week. I want these mini quilts to fit into my mini sewing schedule!

If you have more time to sew and still want to join in and add these pretties to your mini quilt wall – please do! The more the merrier! And if you’ve got the extra time, maybe you want to embark on the full size versions. Totally up to you!

So, here is my plan for each week of sewing. I’m going to give myself the freedom to work ahead if I find extra time, and as life gets busy, I’ll probably need to play catch up too. It’s important to go after our goals, but be good to ourselves too. 🙂

Week 1 – Select Fabric and Cut
Week 2 – Piece Blocks
Week 3 – Assemble Blocks into Quilt Top
Week 4 – Quilt and Bind

If you’re not up to crunching January’s selection into just 4 days instead of 4 weeks, I totally understand! Maybe you want to pick up with me on the February challenge for a normal cadence. Great! February is going to be Thimble Blossoms’ Mini Dwell pattern.

I’ve already selected my February fabric for this pattern. With the house theme, I wanted to choose a line that would fit with my home decor. I picked out a charm pack of Harvest Road for next month. And honestly, I just love blue, brown, green, and creams so these colors make their way frequently into my quilts and my home decor. Looking forward to getting into that one, but for me, first steps first and time to get this cute Mini Spools quilt going!

I’m looking forward to having a wall of mini quilts to adorn my home at the end of this adventure. What do you consider when picking out fabric for a quilt? Do you prefer mixing and matching from your stash, or choosing precuts that are already coordinating?

Happy Quilting!
Katie

PS if you’re in need of charm packs to get going on your mini quilts, I have 3 brand new Riley Blake lines of precuts available in the shop! Dream Weaver, Deep Blue Sea, and Play Outside, all just released this month!

I’m not usually a pink and hearts kind of girl, but I have to say I’m changing my mind this year! Pink is really growing on me. It’s such a great compliment to my favorite teals and mint colors and therefore it’s starting to have a standalone place in my quilt stash (and even in my wardrobe!). So, I guess I’m converted!

With this newfound enjoyment of pinks and corals, I’m also finding a new appreciation for heart quilts. So I want to share a few of my favorites (in no particular order) here with you. With Valentine’s Day just on the horizon, let me know which inspires you!

1. Love Letters Quilt by Jessica Dayon

I am loving this quilt! Jessica used the Down Memory Lane pattern from Acqua Paisley Studio and the Love Letters line of fabric from Lindsey Wilkes. The combination is beautiful! Naturally I am smitten here with the pink and mint combination. 🙂 The colors and hearts remind me of the conversation hearts that I used to have this time of year as a kid. You can check out Jessica’s post here.

2. Quilty Hearts from Quilty Love

I love the simplicity of this heart quilt. Simple four patches set on point. And what a beautiful result! This is sweet in any color and a way to use up those scraps! Find the pattern here.

3. Scrappy Hearts from Quilty Love

Love this cute new scrappy pattern for 2020 from Quilty Love! There is a quilt along going on for this one from Jan 20 to Feb 14 and I’m looking forward to seeing all the great versions on Instagram. This one could be adorable in monochromatic schemes of any color as well as coordinating scraps. You can find the pattern and quilt along information here.

4. I Heart You from Then Came June and Pen + Paper Patterns

This version of the I Heart You quilt is my favorite! I love the way Jenn from Fabric, Ink. took this one beyond the pinks and Valentine’s Day. She shares a great story about this one being “an ode to her stash” and you can read a little more here. Love it! The color variety and combinations she has in this version are beautiful! You can find the pattern here.

5. Box of Hearts from Cluck Cluck Sew

I love the color and print combination possibilities in this fun offset hearts pattern. I like the simple piecing of these blocks. And this style of creating a block I find so relatable! A great modern twist to a traditional idea. You can find the story from Cluck Cluck Sew and pattern here.

I hope you also found some inspiration in these!

Happy Quilting!

Katie

I am inspired by the ideas out there to challenge our use of scraps or our stash. I started my quilting this year with the Scraps-Along challenge from A Quilting Life. The January challenge here is Jelly Rolls so I am working on a Jelly Rings pattern from Quilty Love using Wander from Joel Dewberry. It’s coming along great, despite the mathematical mishap when I started. I’m making this quilt from yardage actually, rather than a precut Jelly Roll. So I miscalculated my strips and ended up with exactly half of the prints cut that I needed. It was a quick stop by back at the cutting table to get me back on track. It’s coming along nicely and this was a great challenge for me as I don’t often make quilts from strips.

Happy New Year! I love the start of a new year. A fresh new planner waiting for thoughts and ideas. And there are just so many great ideas out there to fill it with!

Like many others out there I am joining the APQ UFO Challenge for the year. I’ve got my 12 UFO’s all laid out. January’s challenge is to complete the second UFO on your list. For me that is a Bushel and a Peck pattern using the adorable Woodland Secrets line. This is the next project that I plan to tackle and I hope to get into this one next week.

As I’m planning out my year and thinking about my quilting time and projects that I’ve been wanting to make, I’m also going to add my own challenge to the works for this year. I have a toddler and therefore know that I have a limited amount of time to sit down and actually get some quilting done. I am a lover of precuts and charm packs are just the perfect pack of inspiration from a line of fabric. To add to that, I absolutely adore the Thimble Blossoms patterns, and conveniently there is an adorable mini version of almost all of these beauties that uses charm packs! So, you guessed it, I am going to challenge myself to do one Thimble Blossoms Mini quilt each month.

Here is what I have planned for mini quilts for the year.

January – MINI Spools
February -MINI Dwell
March – MINI Swoon
April – MINI Puddle Jumping
May – MINI Little Star
June – MINI Round & Round
July – MINI Fireworks
August – MINI Saltwater
September – MINI Rise and Shine
October – MINI Handmade
November – MINI Vintage Holiday
December – MINI Vintage

Many of these (full or mini) have been on my “Patterns I Want to Make” list for a very long time and I’m excited to get started! Quilting is always more fun with a friend. : ) Let me know if you’d like to join in!

If you’ve got more time that I and want to embark on the full size patterns you’re welcome to join and share as well.

Happy New Year and Happy Quilting!

Katie

Please note that this is a personal challenge and I am not affiliated in any way with Thimble Blossoms.

I am excited to announce that I am now a reseller for Riley Blake Designs!

I have been dreaming of owning a quilt shop for year. YEARS! This year I have been working towards lots of quilty goals but this one had remained in the dreams list. And it just became time to take a step towards making this dream a reality.

As you know by now I am a huge fan of Heather Peterson and Ankas Treasures and now that she is designing for Riley Blake this felt like the perfect place to start.

I’m starting small (you have to start somewhere!) and precuts are already available in my Etsy Shop. Including, of course, Wildflower Boutique from Heather Peterson! Head on over to my Etsy Shop page and take a look at all the current items available!

If there is something you have been dreaming about, what’s that one small step you can take today to start moving forward?

Katie

I’m not sure about you, but I have been enjoying seeing all of the wonderful Quilt Market posts all over social media this weekend! I have a sick little one that has needed a lot of rest and therefore I have had a lot of time to scroll Facebook and Instagram while cuddling my sleeping baby.

It may be that I just had the extra time and attention during this event, but I feel that vendors at market made a great effort to share their work over social media. I am personally really happy that they took this time. It made me feel a part of the event even though I could not be there in person. Those that showcased their booths and new items through videos, stories, and pictures caught my attention and definitely inspired me to be looking at some new purchases as well.

The most inspiring videos that I saw this weekend were the designers from Riley Blake sharing their space at market, their lines, and patterns. I am a little biased here because I am a HUGE Heather Mulder Peterson / Ankas Treasures fan! I was absolutely thrilled when it was announced that Heather Peterson was releasing a new collection. I feel like Riley Blake has grown over the last couple of years. I’m impressed with their fabrics, especially those lines that are modern, but with traditional influence which is naturally an inspiration point for me (Modern Cottage Quilts!) Heather Peterson was one that showcased her Quilt Market booth, new line Wildflower Boutique, and new accompanying book, via social media, and they absolutely had my attention! It was a great method for putting the viewer in the shoes of someone actually there and getting to hear the story of the booth from the designer. Overall I’m left focusing on their excellent products and because of their excellent use of technology!

Embracing our digital world has been so transformative to the quilting industry. Certainly there are pros and cons that come with the digital era, but it is something that I have benefited from and want to embrace in my own business and quilting goals.

Thanks for joining me!

I am exciting to rejoin the quilting industry after a couple years hiatus.  I have spent the last couple years focusing on my family and my now 2 year old son.  I renewed my quilting spirit at the beginning of 2019 with a simple new years resolution to start sewing regularly again.  I hadn’t been completely devoid of sewing in my life.  I made a couple quilts in 2018, but really hadn’t found the right way to balance being a mom and having hobbies (much less trying to make that hobby a small business!)  I’m sure I’ll have more to share on that balance in the future!

My goal for 2019 when I kicked off this year was to make 4 quilts.  I wanted to double the number I had made in the year before.  I felt this was super attainable – giving myself 3 months to create one quilt.  Little did I know that in the first three months I would already have my goal of 4 quilts complete!  I was so thrilled to be back in the sewing saddle again!  I just kept sewing and sewing!  There are a few tools that have really helped me stay motivated and stay on track and I’m excited to share some of those things with you all as well.

Overall, I feel like me again!  Now that I have my quilt goal accomplished, I have decided to expand on my industry participation and start sharing my quilting journey again through Instagram, Facebook, and blog.  Please follow me to join in the journey and share your comments and experiences!  I felt very alone and isolated in my first couple years of motherhood away from the industry I identify with, and the more I see, the more I know I was never alone, I just didn’t know that others were out there sharing the same joys of quilting and motherhood.

I look forward to sharing my projects and journey, and getting to know you along the way!

Katie

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton