Category Archives: Finished Quilts

FreeSpirit Circle of Makers

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Happy New Year everyone!

The last three months have been spent sewing up a storm for my time with the FreeSpirit Fabrics Circle of Makers tour. The makers act as brand ambassadors for FreeSpirit, and insipre us with their creative pursuits while featuring the different fabrics FreeSpirit and their designers have to offer. You can learn more about the program and the individual makers HERE.

I am honored to have been a guest maker in 2025, working with Giuseppe Ribaudo, aka Giucy Giuce, Hue and Gemini. The collections are bright, colorful painters palettes of rainbow blenders – Gemini as dual tone ombre, and Hue as single blenders with a pair of gorgeous panel prints.

I received my box of fabric and Aurifil Thread in October, and after opening the panel print, immediately knew it was time for a make I’ve been wanting to complete for a while. I picked up a water repellant lined wool blend a while back, with full intentions of making myself a rain coat. The west coast doesn’t get snow in the winter – it rains. and rains and rains and rains and rains and rains……….

The only bright spots are when the sun shines through and you get rainbows. It doesn’t happen as often as one might like, so I decided I would be my own rainbow. The panel was perfect for the umbrella. I really wanted to keep the shape of the panel. I picked up the umbrella kit from Stitch & Bobbin, a local BC shop, pulled the coat pattern from my library, and got to work.

The panel wasn’t quite long enough for the umbrella panels, so I adjusted the panel to piece it together. I used Odicoat to waterproof the panel and accent fabrics. Then, because I was going to be doing some topstitching, I got some tent seam sealant. the last thing I need is my umbrella leaking through the holes. It worked like a charm! I am so happy with the finished umbrella, its so bright and colorful and BIG!

The coat took the most time. Its a princess seam high-low that I’ve been itching to make since I picked up the pattern. I used one of my Hue prints for the hood lining. The main coat is lined with a Kaffe sateen wideback from my LQS. The 108″ wideback from Hue wasn’t going to be ready in time, and because the jacket is a high-low, the lining would be visible.

I made over 200″ of 1/2″ and 1/4″ bias tape for each color. That felt like it took forever!

The 1/4″ tape went into the cuffs and hood.

The 1/2″ tape was used on the hem. I used every single bobbin I had. It was a ton of sewing, but I emptied every bobbin I own at one point, and had to wind a new one. It was a great way to use up all the small amounts of thread, and it made the inside of the coat extra colorful. I know no one is going to see it, but I know its there, and it makes me so happy!

My machine only has a straight stich, so I got to dust off a skill from eons ago, and made welt buttonholes. I used some gorgeous gold buttons from my stash to finish the coat. I may still switch them out for gold stars if I can find them in the correct size. My favorite cartoon growing up was Rainbow Bright, and the more I worked on the coat, the more I realized it was channeling Rainbow Brights outfit, which made all the stripes worthwhile.

I love my coat! It makes the days a little bit brighter!

Happy stitching,

Jar of Hearts

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Happy New Year!

We are kicking it off strong here at Stacey In Stitches, with a brand new quilt and pattern! Presenting Jar of Hearts, my contribution to the January issue of American Quilter Magazine. I am so thrilled to be featured on the cover. May this year bring you love, peace, and happiness!

Jar of Hearts is bright, colorful, and full of my favorite fabrics from the past few years. Each jar block holds a memory perfectly preserved in fabric. This quilt is perfect for using scraps of your favorite fabrics. It finishes lap size, but can be resized quickly and easily by making more blocks.

My version is definitely a child friendly version with its bright rainbow fabrics and layout. The best part of this quilt as a memory quilt is no two will look the same. Try subsituting the solid jar “lids” with a stripe or metallic print. Change up the background fabric to a bold or bright solid. The possibilities are endless.

For my quilting, I used a combination of stipple/swirls for the background, my feathered butterfly for the hearts (the same one I used on Sweethearts) and a different dense filler for each row of jars.

The January issue of American Quilter is available now! I cannot wait to see what you make!

Happy Stitching,

Summer Blooming

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Today I am happy to introduce my latest quilt patter, In Bloom, to you all. Meet in Bloom, a celebration of spring and summer flowers.

In Bloom features the Untamed collection by Tula Pink for FreeSpirit Fabrics. The pattern is available in the May 2025 issue of AQ Magazine. I spent countless hours constructing and quilting this beauty, and I couldn’t be happier with the results. In Bloom is foundation paper piecing and curved templates, with a pieced border.

Each round of blocks was quilted with its own unique design. The quilting took about a week to plan and stitch out. I was stuck for a little bit, but with some help from Sharon Blackmore of Love Shack Quilts I got right back on track. Sharon offers one on one workshops and I highly recommend it! She is kind and patient and so talented.

The quilting is mostly ruler work, with some freehand ribbon candy swirls thrown in for good measure.

Enjoy the rest of the photos, and I hope you get a chance to pick up a copy of the magazine!

Happy Stitiching!

Zinnia Pattern Spotlight

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I’ve been having a lot of fun recently making different versions of my Zinnia Quilt. I’ve taught this particular quilt twice this year, thrice last year, and decided that the sample needed an upgrade.

What better to make a floral inspired quilt than a flora inspired collection? Tula Pink’s Untamed fabric collection, from FreeSpirit Fabrics, was the perfect palette to refresh Zinnia’s look.

I made two versions, one in each colorway.

I called this one the Waterlily. It uses the aqua neon dot for the background and features the cooler prints in the collection. Waterlily is currently living its best life in Florida.

Wild Rose uses my favorite prints from the warm colorway. I really wanted to showcase the white raindrop and warm herringbone to create an interesting secondary pattern with it. Wild Rose lives with me and will be quilted at some point, I promise! I fussy cut all of the floral prints using me new Cutterpillar. That thing is amazing and cuts my fussy time in 1/4!

I also finished my original class sample! I started it in 2020 when I first started teaching the pattern, and finally finished piecing it in 2025. I’d been saving that background fabric specifically for this quilt the entire time. The goal for this one was to create an inverse of the original, with the green in the cetner and the pink/purples at the outer edge.

Classic Zinnia featured the V&Co Ombre Confetti collection. This is a staple collection from Moda Fabrics. However, the color range has changed since Zinnia debut in 2019, and some of the colors aren’t available anymore, but there are some new one with new gold prints that make great subsitutes.

Zinnia is super versatile, great for large and small prints, and I love making them!

You can find Zinnia in my Etsy Shop

Happy Stitching!

Did I forget to mention Team Timeless?

Posted in Finished Quilts, Tutorials and Patterns by

oops! Between everything happening around here I completely forgot to announce Team Timeless, and introduce my first tutorial with them!!

Team Timeless is a group of 4 designers chosen by Timeless Treasures. Each month, a new designer will showcase a Timeless Treasures collection and present a tutorial for it.

My month was May (again, oops!)

I got to play with these bright, colorful prints from Crayon Party collection. So of course, I had to make myself some big bold crayons!

I called this quilt Scribble, inspired by my littlest kidlet. He loves to color anything with everything! Scribble is made using half yard cuts of both prints and backgrounds.

My best friend’s farm was the perfect setting for photos. and afterwards, I donated this quilt to her school fundraiser. She holds a lot of quilts for me whenever I ask, it was the least I could do!

I quilted it with all over swirls and scribbles, like a doodling pencil line.

Zip on over to the Timeless Treasures blog to find the free tutorial to make your own Scribbles quilt. Perfect for the little ones starting school this month! It goes together quick and easy. And while you are there, check out what the other designers are up to as well.

Until next time,

 

Happy Stitching!

 

New Quilts!!

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I want to show off a couple new quilts for everyone =)

First up are a pair that went back-to-back in AQ Magazine. Meet Leafy and Stars of the Show!

Leafy

Leafy is a super fun paper pieced project, perfect for a beginner who wants to try it out. I used yardage to cut my leaves, but it would be lovely in scrappy. rainbow leaves anyone?

I used straight lines to quilt the background and a fancy swirl for the leaves. I backed it in flannel, to add some warmth and weight. This quilt was gifted to my babysitter’s son.


The Leafy pattern can be found in the March 2018 issue of AQ Magazine. Leafy was also on the cover of that issue!

Stars of the Show

Stars of the Show was created specifically to showcase the All Stars collection from Tula Pink. I adore this quilt. I have a major thing for rainbows, and the colors in All Stars hit all the right buttons for me.

Quitting Detail-Stars of the Show

I spent a lot of time custom quilting this quilt. I really wanted to have fun in the negative spaced. For me, this quilt is circus themed, with the striped and dotted star points looking like big top tents, and the animals starring in the center ring of each, so some fun curves were in order.

I fussy cut each animal to fit in the center of each block. I machine pieced my quilt, but it would also lend itself to EPP as well!

My little helper also loves this quilt! Rainbows for the win!

Stars of the Show can be found in the May 2018 issue of AQ Magazine.

And of course who could forget this stunner, Heat Wave! featured in the RJR What Shade Are You blog hop, American Quilter picked up the pattern. It can be found in the January issue of AQ Magazine.

Heat Wave – American Quilter Magazine

I’ve got so many more updates and quilts to share, as well as a brand new website that will be launching in the summer, so stay tuned for all the quilting goodness. You can still pick up a signed copy of my book, Child’s Play Quilts, on my Etsy site. and keep posted for my teaching and lecture schedule. I am speaking at least once a month for the next year, and I can’t wait to share my quilting cruise experience in August!

Happy Quilting!

Fall Quilt Market 2017

Posted in Finished Quilts, Tutorials and Patterns by

There is so much to say and so little time to say it in! As always, September and most of October was a time of writing and sewing in preparation for Fall Quilt Market in Houston, TX.

This year I had a number of new designs with FreeSpirit Fabrics. Since quilters are mostly visual, this is going to be a picture heavy post.

Let’s begin shall we?

Flock Together- Featuring All Stars by Tula Pink

Flock Together is a 100% Stacey Day design. From digital design to the final stitch in the binding, this quilt was my favorite to put together. It utilizes a jelly roll and is super fast to whip up. The pattern is a free one and available by clicking here.

Center Stage- Featuring All Stars by Tula Pink

Center Stage was a collaboration with Tula. I had a much lighter hand than usual with this one, but the instructions were all me =) It’s a stunner and I love it! I believe this will be a free pattern from FreeSpirit.

Pom Pom – featuring All Stars by Tula Pink

Finally, there is the Pom Pom quilt for All Stars. This one is a stunner. Check out that quilting by Angela Walters! This one is another collaboration with Tula, and the pattern will be exclusive to the quilt kit.

Then we mosy on over to Joel Dewberry’s new collection, Avalon.

Arise! Featuring Avalon by Joel Dewberry. *Made by someone else, mine hung elsewhere*

Arise! was inspired by the legend of Excalibur, how it rose from the depths in the hands of the Lady of the Lake. I wanted simple pieces to show off the prints to their best. There were two Arise quilts made for Market, this one by an unknown-to-me quilter who did a lovely job, hanging in the gallery. Mine hung in the main booth where all the ordering took place. I quilted mine in straight lines and swirls.I am really enjoying the ribbon candy these days. I used my new favorite Designer Solid, Mineral. It’s a gorgeous green-blue hue and it goes with everything! And of course I had a little helper taking photos.

ribbon candy goodness

swirls and straight lines make a stunning combination

peek! Checking out Mommy’s work.

 

Art Deco- Featuring Roaring Twenties by Snow Leopard Designs

For Art Deco I wanted to channel some classic architecture but add a bit of modern flair. I added the inserts into the clamshell, and the written pattern has optional bias tape around the top curve of each clam. This really makes the individual clamshells pop. The collection is gorgeous. Shout  out to the same unknown maker for this one.

Oasis – Featuring Sugar Beach by Jennifer Paganelli

 

Sugar Beach is a bright and vibrant collection. it was a ton of fun to design with. I wanted to give the feeling of floating on the water, fruity drink in hand, on a hot summers day. I’m pretty sure it comes through in this one.

Fashion Show – Featuring The Dress by Laura Heine

Finally there is Fashion Show. The Dress is based on her very popular class by the same name. You can’t see it very well in this picture, but I quilted each wedge with a trio of feathers. I did a meander and outlined each dress panel, and the sashes are quilted with – you guessed it – ribbon candy and straight lines. This quilt didn’t hang at market, it was being used elsewhere.

Caroles Log Cabin- featuring Boston Commons by FreeSpirit Fabrics

I also had the pleasure of designing a retro quilt for FreeSpirit’s house designed collection, Boston Commons. It is a gorgeous, deeply vibrant hued reproduction collection. That golden yellow is perfect! I quilt is a modern take on the classic log cabin block, and very easy for a beginner.

Thank you to my friend Lindsay who walked the show floor and took all the photos for me.

I will update the pattern links as they become available under the FreeSpirit tab in my Free Patterns dropdown menu. All but Pom Pom will be a free pattern available as the collections come out.

Until next time,

Happy Stitching!

Quilt Market Flashback

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This past Quilt Market in St. Louis looked like a fun one. I wasn’t able to attend in person but I did have a plethora of quiltings hanging throughout.
Today I want to show you my latest for Timeless Treasures and Dear Stella. Each quilt has a free pattern attached to it.

First up, and probably my favorite, is the Space Station Quilt for Supernova by Rae Ritchie. I love Rae’s design style and it is always a pleasure to work with her prints.

My older son helped me pick the fabric placement for this one. He loves space and one days he wants to be an astronaut/karate kid/hockey player. This quilt gets to live at home with us. HE was absolutely thrilled when “his” design was picked for the collection, and doubly so when he saw the finished quilt. The pattern is available HERE from Dear Stella.

Next is the pattern CHOMP! for the Dark and Stormy Collection I just LOVED the sea theme and immediately thought of sharks popping out of the water. During the process I am pretty sure my family managed to come up with more than a dozen unique shark puns as name suggestions for the pattern.

The shark teeth can be made 3D or pieced. I thought it was clever to use the pirate head print for the teeth. Tee hee! You can find the pattern HERE.

For Timeless Treasures I got to play with a more traditional collection, Zephyr by Alice Kennedy. There are 22 neutral and greyscale hues in 15 unique prints. I loved how they all played together, and the varying levels of contrast meant I could create a lot of depth and texture without adding color.

The first quilt, Halo, is my favorite. I grew up in northern Alberta and at night, with the moon shining brightly, you could often see (what we called) “moon dogs” haloing the moon. The shimmering ice crystals were my inspiration for this quilt. You can find the pattern HERE.

 

I probably overquilted it, but I don’t care! The black spaces were calling to me. I used a deep navy thread for a subtle glow against the black fabric, and to prevent eye strain while I was quilting. I quilted a series of loops, swirls, straight lines, and circles. This quilt gets to live at Timeless headquarters in New York. (Does that mean I get to say I have art hanging in New York? I’m going to say YES!)

The second quilt, Marbled, I wanted to play with simple shapes that make a complex texture. I wanted a tile wall-inspired flow and form to the quilt. Pretty sure I succeeded with that. You can find the pattern HERE.

Next week I will showcase more Market pieces.

Until next time,

Happy Stitching!

Terrace Garden Quilt Tutorial and giveaway *winner announced!

Posted in Finished Quilts, Tutorials and Patterns by

A few months ago I got to play with some gorgeous new prints from a brand new FreeSpirit designer, Amy Reber. Her debut line, Posy, is a visual wonderland of bright bold prints and colors.

The three individual pallets are perfectly balanced and work well individually together or in a group quilt.

I wrote a free pattern for the line called Blossom. You can find it here. Blossom uses the Rosa color group, but you could easily swap out for Julep or Abelia, the other two color groups (aren’t those names just delicious?) There is a shop as well that is carrying the pattern as a premade kit!

Kit available from Village Fabric Shop

I had a hard time trying to narrow down my favorite prints, they are all pretty great!

At the very top of my list is the main print – Bunches. It contains many of the individual elements in a gorgeous collage setting. This is the print I designed teh entire Blossom quilt around.

Then there is Perfect Petal. I love the purple hue, and the black and white is so striking! 

Then of course is the Sunglow Stripe. All three colorways make perfect blenders.

With my bundle of Posy, I decided to make something quick and simple that would show off all the prints to their finest. I decided to use Half Rectangle Triangles. I feel like HRT are an underrepresented quilt block. They are super fun to make and showcase large prints to great effect.

Say hello to Terrace Garden!

The prints are showcased perfectly, and to soften the hard edges of the block shapes I used an all over swirling design for the quilting.

I used a dusty teal thread for the quilting that matched the prints.

Terrace Garden

A Stacey in Stitches Tutorial

Materials

1 F8 bundle of Posy by Amy Reber (24 prints) for HRT

3 yards Gray (FreeSpirit Designer Solid in Manatee) for background and binding

 

Cutting

From each print cut:

(1) 6 3/4″ x 11 1/8″ rectangle (24 total)

From the gray solid cut:

(24) 6 3/4″ x 11 1/8″ rectangle

(1) 10 1/2″ x 36 1/2″ rectangle

(1) 10 1/2″ x 30 1/2″ rectangle

(1) 10 1/2″ x 24 1/2″ rectangle

(1) 10 1/2″ x 18 1/2″ rectangle

(1) 10 1/2″ x 12 1/2″ rectangle

(2) 6 1/2″ x 10″ rectangles

(7) 2 1/4″ x WOF strips for binding *to use a print binding you need 1/2 yard of fabric

Instruction

All seam allowances are 1/4″. Press seams open.

1. Stack the print 6 3/4″ x 11 1/8″ rectangles right side up in groups of 6. Cut the rectangles in half on the diagonal as shown. Repeat with the gray solid.

2. Sew a gray HRT to a print HRT right sides together as shown. Press. Repeat for all gray and print HRT.

3. Using the layout diagram as a guide, sew the HRT and all gray rectangles together into rows. Press, then sew the rows together into the finished quilt top, matching seam allowances carefully.

 4. Cut a backing approx 68″ x 78″. Layer the backing, batting, and top. Quilt as desired.

 

Giveaway time!

I am offering up a pair of precut Posy bundles that you can use to make your own Terrace Garden. Just add your own background fabric! I will be giving away one here, and the other on my Instagram account @staceyinstitches. You can earn up to FOUR chances to win!

To Enter on the Blog:

  1. Follow me here or on Instagram, and leave a comment on this post telling me where.
  2. Leave a second comment telling me your favorite Posy print.
  3. Follow Amy Reber @amyreberdesigns on Instagram and leave a third comment letting me know you’ve done so!
  4. Share this post! Then leave a comment telling me where for a bonus entry!
  5. If you follow me on Instagram you can enter on my IG post for a chance to win the second bundle.

That’s it! I will run the giveaway until Friday at 4pm PST. Winning fabric is a great way to kick off a summer weekend, don’t you think!

Congratulations

My favorite print is Posy Bunches – Abelia because oh.those.colors!

 

Until then,

Happy Stitching!

What Shade Are You? Winner Announced!

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Today is my turn for the RJR What Shade Are You blog hop! I love participating in blogs hops, it gives me a chance to create something just for me, and have a little fun with all of my wonderful followers (Hint: FABRIC!) This is my second appearance in the blog hop. My first was back in 2015 with my Lanterns quilt Tutorial. It felt like only yesterday, and the ways my life has changed in such a short time, from there to here, is truly amazing. From a new house, to a new baby, to new opportunities within the quilting world, the last 2 years have been busy and scary and WONDERFUL.

RJR makes Cotton Supreme Solids. They are a dream to sew with. The fabric is the perfect weight to mix with anything, and you have 197 rich, delicious hues to choose from.

Now let me introduce my newest creation, Heat Wave!

I LOVE everything about this quilt. The colors, the layout, the quilting, everything. I’m sure somewhere there is a grouchy quilt police officer wagging a finger and chanting “Stacey, you are being prideful. You can’t just TELL PEOPLE you LOVE your own work.” But you know what? The hashtag for RJR is #quiltwithlove . So I just threw this quilt over their head, because I LOVE IT! I want to shout that love from the rooftops!

I picked an analogous gradient of my favorite warm colors and went to town. Each color is a color I love individually, and together they make a perfect sunset inspired palette.

Heat Wave is the perfect example of how a small change can make a huge difference. I had mocked up a different layout for these blocks, something eclectic and busy and kinda neat, but in my near-coma-like sleep deprived state I sewed half the blocks as a mirror image of the first. And I didn’t notice until I started laying the blocks out. After a little head scratching (because I STILL hadn’t noticed what I’d done) I turned the blocks around and VOILA!  Heat Wave was born! I still had to take a picture so I could purposefully do what I just did accidentally (and then FINALLY realized what had happened), but the top came together quickly after that and it couldn’t have turned out better.

The next step was quilting, and I had Heat Wave hanging over the bars of Penny(my Tin Lizzie Apprentice) for almost a week while I pondered. Then I realized it was Wednesday (again, I blame the sleep deprivation). Now I know some blogs are really good at showcasing just a top. Me, not so much. So she needed to be quilted, and quilted now. The funny thing is once I had her loaded on the frame, the quilting just fell into place. I recently returned from a family vacation, where I was able to meet up with a quilting friend. She once told me an anecdote from a famous longarm quilter (don’t ask who, I really can’t remember) and it always stuck with me. The moral of the story is when it comes to thread choice, always take the risk. So I did. I matched the yellow and violet fabrics in my quilt, and then used each color exclusively with the motif. Violet with the straight lines and yellow with the curled meander. The contrasting thread and patterns really worked well to highlight the secondary patterns in the quilt, and reigned in the pre-quilted color chaos.

To top off the perfection of this quilt, I chose to face it instead of binding to keep the colors flowing. Paired with the first really nice sunny day we’ve had in weeks, it felt like magic taking her outside to photograph. Even H wanted his turn with the camera! (We now have a lovely montage of grass growing.)

Now for the fun part (and the reward for reading to the end)! One lucky follower gets to win a bundle of the gorgeous Sunset Palette I curated for my quilt.

To enter, follow me here or on Instagram @staceyinstitches, and leave a single comment telling me 2 things: Where you follow me, and what your favorite color is! Easy peasy! I will draw a winner at 4pm PST Tuesday.

 

Congratulations to number 82, Deborah! I will be in touch soon!

There is also a second giveaway on the RJR Instagram Account. Log on and follow RJR Fabrics instructions to enter.

Happy Stitching!