Charm Square Sampler Quilt Along

A special thank-you goes out to the Grab My Code Generator so I could make this Quilt A Long (QAL) button.  This really is the fastest and easiest way to create a blog button.

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<a href="http://moderntraditionquilts.blogspot.com" title="Charm Square Sampler Quilt A Long"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoQUYYoNu4QavbsYY-1Mdr801citK1JNlmeCnxkkGGovkvuiR1hO9zX2kNRdANUmspR21fQmn9i1x6v371eY65d9hHozBhD3WK7twCbsiirUnZPLVw6-6vxxCfBE44FgAr4EwwgC111DlP/w214-h212-p-no/" alt="Charm Square Sampler Quilt A Long" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

I am flattered by the interest shown after Monday's announcement and grateful that some of you are going to join in.

I had a nice email asking me the "rules" for the QAL.  In short, I don't have any.  If you would like to copy the code and paste a button on your blog, that is great.  If it is a daunting task to do so, then don't worry about it.  I'm doing the QAL for fun--not for publicity.  It's simply my next pattern to be developed and thought I would share it for you.

Also, I do not "expect" you to purchase the pattern.  As with my other QAL, all of the instructions will be posted here.

FYI, I started a flickr pool for easy photo sharing of projects.  I would love for you to join and share your blocks and progress there.

Lastly, some folks have asked for a schedule.  Here is my TENTATIVE schedule. I am sorry that it is tentative, but I figured you would understand.  I am doing a Master's Degree right now, juggling 4 kids and it is their basketball season--so not a lot of free time around here!  The plan is to construct one block a week (not too bad, right?).

I will post every Saturday with the next week's instructions.  Here is the planned schedule:

January 10--How to change your charm squares into Half-Square Triangles (HSTs)--the Magic begins!  (wink wink)
January 17--Block 1
January 24--Block 2
January 31--Block 3
February 7--Block 4
February 14--Block 5 & Happy Valentine's Day!
February 21--Block 6
February 28--Block 7
March 7--Catch-up week and Happy Birthday to Me!  I will be featured on Moda Bake Shop this week with another pre-cut fabrics quilt tutorial.
March 14--Block 8
Block 9 & Celebrate all of our blocks being sewn
March 21--Block 9 & Celebrate all of our  blocks being sewn.
March 28--Sewing the Settting Sashing
April 4--Add the Borders

I separated this into 12 sections.  Why?  Because if you don't want to do the whole quilt in three months, you could do just one block a month and have a great project at the end of this year.

Here is your Fabric Requirements:

• 2 packages charm squares in your favorite print (pre-cut 5" squares).  Now, if you want to use your stash, cut strips of 4 7/8" and cut these into 4 7/8" squares.  Why?  Well, charm squares contain a serrated edge, which makes their useable size 4 7/8".
• 2 packages white (or background color of choice) charm squares (pre-cut 5").  Also, if you're using your stash, follow the instructions above.
• 2 yards white (or color of choice) fabric for the sashing.
• 2 1/4 yards print fabric for the outer border.

When I design a quilt, I don't always know what color I want to create it in--which is what make QAL's so fun!  I get to see the quilts worked up in multiple colorways.  This quilt could also make a great stash-buster.

Print this off and color your own!

Denim and Blues

Heirloom Reds

Modern rainbow colors and grays.

Stash-buster!

I am going to use the Honeysweet collection from Moda Fabrics.

Reproduction prints--a similar colorway to my Honeysweet Moda Fabrics Collection.

Well, I hope that is enough information for now.  Thank you for your excitement over this project.  It means a lot to me.  When I did my first QAL, I never got a single comment on any of the posts!  My second QAL, got comments but I don't think anyone actually sewed the project, so those of you that have expressed your excitement and commitment, know that it means a lot.

Happy Quilting!

Thank You!

Thank you so much for reading through my "Growing Pains" machine quilting posts.  I appreciated your comments.  They gave me a lot of perspective.

Shared courtesy of QuiltingSewingCreating.com

Thank you for your support!

-Shannon

7-Hour Layer Cake Quilt, Scrapadealy-O

Hey all!  I hope you are having a great week.

I was getting burned out from all the machine quilting for customers this week and it reminded me of a time when I was in college, studying Physics.  It was a Saturday night around 7:00 p.m. and some guys called to invite me to go swing dancing with them.   I decided not to go because I just couldn't get the Physics assignment.  It was at that point, my father came to my room and said, "Sometimes you just need to take the time to sharpen the knife."  He took my Physics book away and sent me out dancing with my group of friends.

It was some of the best advice I had ever had!  Make sure to take the time to enjoy life.

So...Friday I skipped out on my machine quilting orders (thankfully I'm ahead of my due dates), pulled out a layer cake and came up with a new pattern.

Yay!

7-hour project (no kidding!) start to finish!

I love all the fabrics designed by Bonnie and Camille.  For this project I used "Miss  Kate".

The layer cake was cut into a 6  1/2" square, a strip 3 1/2" by 6 1/2" and a strip 3 1/2" by 9 1/2".  These were then sewn together to make a 9 1/2" block.

Then, my favorite part of quilt making--playing with the colors.  Here is a random color placement.

Making a blue pinwheel.

Putting red in the corners.

Ultimately, I settled on the random color placement as there were a lot of small scale prints in this layer cake bundle.

I like how it turned out, but I wish the bundle had more large-scale prints.  The small scale prints just washed out.  As I live 30 minutes from the nearest wal-mart and an hour from a decent fabric store, I had to order the borders online and will be putting them on once the fabric arrives in the mail.

I also have another variation I am working on. I can't wait to see how it turns out as well.  By the end of next week I should have a PDF ready.

Taking time to sharpen the knife feels great!  Rejuvenate!  I am ready to get back to the long-arm.  I just needed a break.  I am finishing closing out my machine quilting business and won't take any orders in January.  I was accepted to my Master's Degree program and will work on that--and spend more time with my mini-monkies.  I love my kids.

Nordic Sweater Quilt My Newest Pattern

I love to design quilts around themes.  This quilt was designed as a snow and winter Christmas theme in mind.  It was inspired by traditional Intarsia and Nordic knitting styles.  And now it is available for instant download on my Craftsy and Etsy shops.  Enjoy!  This is by far my favorite design to date and I hope you enjoy it too!

I chose to do a curl-feather design in the outer border and did a back-fill in the red of my windblown design.

I had noticed other bloggers take a "stained-glass window" of their quilt tops.  I really liked the look of the seams against the setting sun so I took some photos of this quilt top.

The stained-glass photo shoot really makes the Nordic star pop.

Now it's your turn...what have you been working on?  It's my weekly linky party KISMIF (Keep It Simple and Make It Fun!).

An InLinkz Link-up

I'm So Excited! Another Feature on Moda Bake Shop my Jellyroll Baskets Quilt

I'm so excited to share with you another featured project on Moda Bake Shop.  It is my Jellyroll Baskets Quilt.  Head over to their blog to download a free copy of the pattern and enjoy making it yourself.  Of course I love to see how your projects turn out and for ease of sharing, have a flickr pool for you to share your photos in.

Here's a picture of the project, a generously sized queen-size quilt.