Updates and Freebies!

Posted in Tutorials and Patterns by StaceyinStitches

I FINALLY got around to updating and organizing the growing library of free patterns here at Stacey in Stitches. Under the Free Patterns link in the menu bar, you will now find drop down menus for each individual fabric company I have written patterns for. There have been a number added in the last week, so go check them out! The links are all either above or below the quilt image, and are highlighted in a nice peachy orange color. Each link takes you directly to the download page on the company website. Clicking directly on the Free Patterns tab will take you to the Stacey Day Quilts section, where all of my individual free patterns can be found.

Here is a quick preview of what has been added this week!

: Fan Quilt

: Easy Market Tote

: Rainbow Bouquet Quilt

: Flutterby Quilt

: Sparkle Quilt

: Baubles Quilt

Happy Stitching!

30Jan2016

New Craftsy Kit!

Yahoo! Finally another finish I can share!

This particular quilt I designed back in June and made in August, using Tula Pink’s True Colors and Birds and Bees remix. FreeSpirit Fabrics launched a limited series of reprints in a new collection called the Timeless Collection. Select prints from select designers were included, and they asked me to come up with some designs. Spectrum Stars was by far my favorite, and I am so glad they chose it!

Introducing the Spectrum Stars Quilt!

Spectrum Stars Quilt Kit- Photo courtesy of Craftsy

Spectrum Stars is bright and cheerful, full of rainbow goodness. It makes me happy just to look at it! The background is my new favorite ‘not-white’ solid, FreeSpirit Designer Solid in Mist. It’s a warm ultralight ivory-grey blend, it works so well with so many different things, I use it all the time in my designs. I just love how all the colors play so well together between the different collections. Tula Pink certainly did a spectacular job with her True Colors! It plays well on its own, with her latest releases like Eden, or her vintage collections as you can see here.

The quilt is a large crib size, finishing at 48″x60″, and the kit gives you all the fabric you need to complete the quilt.

Photo courtesy of Craftsy

The pattern calls for paper piecing, the templates will fit on regular printer paper. If you want to make a bigger quilt, enlarging the paper foundations 150% will give you a double size (72″x 90″), and 200% will give you a large queen (96″x 120″) Of course, you will have to increase the amount of fabric you need, but you can find the True Colors and Birds and Bees reprint fabric on Craftsy, online, or at your local quilt shop. Craftsy also carries the FreeFall 108″ wide backing, which is what I used for the backing. I love Free Fall, its a lovely sateen weave with some good weight and a sleek soft feel. I never have tension issues when I use it to back my quilts.

Photo courtesy of Craftsy

I picked a stylized flames motif for the quilting, it added depth and texture without overwhelming the quilt. I used my favorite Glide off white thread, it has such a pretty shine when you get it under bright lights, but doesn’t overpower the fabric.

Spectrum Stars is one of my favorite finishes from last year. If you love it as much as I do, you can CLICK HERE to get your own Spectrum Stars kit from Craftsy. I can say I will be making this one again in a queen size for home!

Photo Courtesy of Craftsy

Happy Stitching!

20Oct2015

Slice of Happiness

Posted in Finished Quilts, Tutorials and Patterns by StaceyinStitches

Woo hoo!

Today I finally get to share Slice of Happiness!

For Slice of Happiness, I was inspired by a picture of a glass of lemonade. The picture reminded me of warm summer days, sitting in the backyard, sipping a cold drink and having nothing else in the world to do but relax. The 3/4 circles represent both the condensation on the glass, and the slices of citrus inside. I chose colors that both made me happy and worked well together, and I decided to use a lot of negative space to have fun playing with the quilting. The simplicity of the design works well with any quilting style-from minimalist straight lines to feathered flourished, and anywhere in between. The 3/4 circles look great as solids, but are also the perfect size to let you show off your favorite prints.

I’m not sure if you can tell from the photos, but I had the BEST time quilting this one! I used a modified motif that I call Zephyr, which is an allover design of swirls and straight lines combines. I first tried it out on Trade Winds, and then refined the design for Flashy. I have used it a few times now on other quilts (to be shown soon!) and its always different every time.

I also tried out a technique I learned from Krista Withers. I am not the best at ruler work, so I tend to freemotion most of everything. I am definitely going to be making more channels and filling them with pretty fillers in the quilts to come, it’s a great way to break up a quilt.

I chose a selection of Oakshott Cottons, sent by the amazing Michael Oakshott himself! HUGE THANK YOU! Oakshotts are a tightly woven crossweave fabric, meaning that the warp threads and weft threads are two different shades or colours, resulting in a fabric with remarkable color, shine, and drape. They are fully washable, I actually prewashed these ( and I NEVER prewash my fabric!). The fabrics are also 53″ wide, so you get way more out of them than normal solids. I absolutely adore the Oakshott cottons, and I have a small stack of cool colours I cannot wait to dig in to. When you order from the website everything is sent overnight from the UK, so it’s as close to instant fabric gratification one can get without physically leaving the house. They are absolutely worth every single penny (or, I guess, Pounds)

Those of you who are members of the Modern Quilt Guild will be able to download the pattern for free from the Community area of the MQG website. For those that aren’t, patience! The quilt pattern will be available to everyone from me in about 3-4 months (just be sure to send me a friendly reminder and I will get it up and running!) I am currently working on editing Sunshowers to be available soon.

My favorite part of the whole process was when I photographing the quilt. Little H wanted SOOOOO BAAAAAAAD to help hold the quilts, that little hand showed up in every single shot. And I love it!

I hope you all enjoy making your Slice of Happiness quilt! I love to see pictures, so make sure you tag me on Instagram @staceyinstitches or send me an email!

I am going on a Texas Adventure this week to Quilt Market, and you can follow along on Instagram #staceygoestomarket

Happy Stitching!

27Aug2015

Going Up- A Free Pattern Download

Posted in Finished Quilts, Gallery, Tutorials and Patterns by StaceyinStitches

Its been a long busy summer, with so many things that I just cannot share at the moment. So I thought I would carve some time out and do something that I could share with you!

Meet “Going Up”

I used some of my favorite fabrics from my stash, and it was lovingly pieced by Holly Broadland @hollybroadland . The quilting is a medium grey thread, and Joan of Maple Leaf Quilters did a great job straight line quilting this on her long arm for me.

Going Up is one of the patterns from the book that never was. I finally got motivated enough to illustrate it and try to take some pictures (solo outdoor pictures with a white quilt on a sick day? Yeah, that was really smart of me) But they turned out not half bad and I was rewarded with a visit from an actual real live bumble bee. I took more pictures of him than I did the quilt!

That bumblebee was exactly what I needed today. I have been sick for a few days, and feeling overwhelmed with responsibilities at home and at work. Watching that little guy, standing in the warm summer sun, I felt a peaceful calm fall over me. I was able to relax and enjoy the moment. It has been a dry, hot summer with severe drought conditions, so its no small miracle that we have these teeny tiny flowers for him to enjoy. Some shots even show the pollen as it bursts from the flower while he works.

I feel busy as the little guy for sure!

Going up is available as a free download from my Craftsy Pattern Shop. I have some other great patterns there too, so have a look around and enjoy!

Happy Stitching

29Jun2015

The Flashy Quilt- A free pattern

Posted in Finished Quilts, Tutorials and Patterns by StaceyinStitches

A few weeks back I was contacted by Michael Miller Fabrics, to see if I wanted to make up a free pattern for a new line of metallic prints, “Glitz Garden”.The fabrics are gorgeous and have metallic detail, which I love. The catch was that they only wanted the “Glitz Bars” fabric in the quilt. Well, you all know how much I love a fabric challenge, so of course I said yes!

A little frame block and fussy cutting later, I came up with “Flashy”.

The name comes from the layout, to me it looks like the flash of a strobe light or set lighting. I used the metallic bars (which are evenly spaced! woot!) to create a secondary pattern. The blocks all have mitered corners, so fussy cutting is really effective.

The quilting for this one gave me pause. I was determined to do an all over swirl, but Fashy was made when I was still learning the art of the long arm, and swirls were getting a little….boring. It needed something to break the swirls up and compliment all the striaght lines. So, add some straight line quilting!

This was the first quilt where I combined the swirls and straight lines, the motif I used in my Trade Winds quilt, only these lines went vertical instead of horizontal. It was liberating and a lot of fun. I used a white Aurifil thread, and it hides well over the colored fabric.

The metallic details in the Glitz Bars are suprisingly soft and easy to sew with. The quilt comes together fast ( I made most of it at my frind Kristie’s house during one of our late night sewathons) and the white space means there are tons of quitling options, from simple to sublime.

You can find a permanent link to the pattern in the Free Patterns section of the blog.

Happy Stitching!

3Apr2015

Lanterns- A Tutorial

Posted in Challenges and Giveaways, Finished Quilts, Tutorials and Patterns by StaceyinStitches

A few weeks ago I was invited to participate in the What Shade are You Blog Hop by RJR fabrics. I am always up for a blog hop, it gives me the chance to bring some of my Quilt Design a Day designs to life AND give away some great fabrics to a lucky reader!

Back in December one of our inspiration photos, called Sparks and provided on a weekly basis by a QDAD member, really struck me with its colors and intensity. Taken during Snowmageddon, that particular QDAD design I had flagged in my head as one to do up as a pattern. The timing was perfect, as RJR sent the invite not a week later, and that design came to mind.

: QDAD Spark Photo Courtesy of Alyson@ The Hasty Quilter

Lanterns

I had a lot of fun narrowing down the colors to use from the Cotton Supreme Solids. RJR has 149 solids colors to choose from in the Cotton Supreme line. They have a beautiful drape, weight, and feel to them. They might actually become my new favorite.

I tweaked the design to make it lap sized. The construction is a basic log cabin with a few fun color placements. This design would look great in some of the other color offerings RJR has as well.

Cherrywood- 297, 282, 283, 289, 291, 294

Kelptastic- 342, 348, 349, 327, 328, 300

Winter Dogwood- 297, 282, 283, 289, 291, 294

Now, normally I wouldn’t just show you a quilt top, I like my quilts to be finished and bound and presentable. However, in this case I am saving this top to be finishe don a long arm. Quite possibly by me. Which is super super super awesome!

Alrighty, on to the good stuff!!

Lanterns Glow Tutorial

Finished Quilt: 54”x 66”

Finished block: 12” square

Fabric Requirements

1/4 yard medium bright yellow (Cotton Supreme 9617-337)

1/4 yard bright yellow-orange (Cotton Supreme 9617-140)

1/2 yard medium tangerine (Cotton Supreme 9617-276)

1/2 yard light blue (Cotton Supreme 9617-327)

1 yard medium blue (Cotton Supreme 9617-300)

2 1/2 yards navy for background (Cotton Supreme 9617-191)

1/2 yard royal for binding (Cotton Supreme 9617-345)

3 5/8 yards for backing

64″x 76″ piece of batting

Cutting

Tip: Use a light spray of starch or starch alternative before cutting to help keep the pieces from shifting and skewing while sewing. Spray on the wrong side and press from the right side of the fabric.

From the medium bright yellow cut:

20 rectangles, 2”x 3 1/2”

From the bright yellow-orange cut:

20 rectangles, 2”x 3 1/2”

From the medium tangerine cut:

40 rectangles, 2”x 3 1/2”

From the light blue cut:

40 rectangles, 2”x 6 1/2”

From the medium blue cut:

40 rectangles, 2”x 6 1/2”

40 rectangles, 2”x 9 1/2”

From the navy cut:

40 rectangles, 2”x 9 1/2”

40 rectangles, 2”x 12 1/2”

4 strips, 3″x 42″

2 strips, 3″x 19″

2 strips, 3″x 12″‘

From the royal cut:

7 strips, 2 1/4”x 42” for binding

Instructions

All seams are 1/4” unless otherwise stated. Pieces are sewn right sides together.

Take the medium bright yellow and bright yellow-orange 2”x 3 1/2” rectangles and sew them right sides together. Press the seams open to make the center squares.Take the medium tangerine 2”x 3 1/2” rectangles and sew them to either side of the center squares as shown. Press towards the center square. Take the light blue 2”x 6 1/2” rectangles and sew them to the top and bottom of the block. Press towards the center square.

Take the medium blue 2”x 6 1/2” rectangles and sew them to the sides of the block as shown. Press towards the center, and then sew the medium blue 2”x 9 1/2” rectangles to the top and bottom. Press towards the center.

Take the navy 2”x 9 1/2” rectangles and sew them to the sides of the block as shown. Press towards the center, and then sew the navy 2”x 12 1/2” rectangles to the top and bottom. Press towards the center. Trim and square the blocks to 12 1/2”x 12 1/2”.

Sew the blocks together into rows of four as shown. In the odd rows the second and fourth block will be rotated, and in the even rows the first and third blocks will be rotated. Sew the rows together into the quilt top.

Sew the 19″ navy strips to two of the 42″ navy strips to make two side borders blocks 60 1/2″. Sew the 13″ navy strips to the remaining 42″ navy strips to make the top and bottom borders 53 1/2″. Sew the side borders to the side of the quilt top, matching ends and centers, and press towards the borders. Sew the top and bottom borders to the quilt top, matching ends and centers, and press towards the borders

Piece the backing together so it measures approx 64″x 76″. Layer the quilt top with batting and backing; baste. Quilt as desired. Join the royal 2 1/4″ wide binding strips using a diagonal seam to make a single long binding. Fold the binding in half and sew it around the quilt top on the right side. Turn the binding to the back and secure in place by hand or machine. Label and enjoy!

You could quilt each color individually, changing threads each time, to hide the quilting and let the blocks pop. Alternately, you could choose a medium blue thread and quilt in straight lines that radiate out at angles from the center of the block to mimic the flow of light, and then use a swirl in the yellow sections to soften out all the hard angles.

If improv is more your thing, you could easily make the blocks using varying width strips for a modern wonky log cabin look. Construct the blocks in the same order, using pieces with varying widths, building the log cabin outwards. Use the indigo round to bring the blocks to just over 12 1/2”, then square. Put them all together for some fun and funky movement to your Lantern Quilt.

I hope you enjoy making your own version of Lanterns Glow. I love to see what your make, so please send me some pictures of your finished quilt, or upload them to the Stacey Day Quilts group on Flickr. You can also tag me in instagram @staceyinstitches #lanternsquilt

~~RJR has generously donated a bundle of the same fabrics used in my Lanterns Glow quilt to give away to one lucky reader!~~

~~Simply comment below with an answer: What color are you and why? Entries will be open until 8pm Sunday, when I will draw a name using Random.org~~.

Congratulations Michele!

The Winner was #27, Michele, who said “Beautiful quilt and I absolutely love the name for it!!! My favourite colour would be Aqua so #292, #291, and #289 are my colours!! I would love to make a quilt just like yours and it would be perfect for a gift to my BIL!! Thanks for the chance!!”

Thank you for entering Michele, and thank you to everyone who came by to visit!

*Full Disclosure* When I picked out my fabrics I did so without a color card, and what I thought was Navy was actually that beautiful royal almost purple at the bottom of the bundle. I am using it for the binding and back of the quilt. In the meantime, I found the correct color sku for the Navy and used that in the quilt as well as quoted it correctly in the instructions.

Enjoy your long weekend, I know I will be sewing and spending time with family (and eating chocolate, shh! Don’t tell my diet!)

Happy Stitching,

26Mar2015

A lot ‘a Lotta! Sneak Peek!!

Posted in Finished Quilts, Tutorials and Patterns by StaceyinStitches

FINALLY!!!

A couple months ago I had the opportunity to design a quilt with the upcoming Windham Fabrics line by Lotta Jansdotter. I love Lotta! I have a ton of carefully hoarded Glimma in my stash, and have added all of my favorites from each of her lines over the years. (I would show you a picture but no one needs to see the disaster that is my stash). I have been keeping the finished quilt a secret, and finally last week Windham and Lotta started sharing sneak peek photos on Instagram ( @windhamfabrics and @lottajansdotter ).

So now I get to show you all my favorite quilt!!

Meet Playing the Odds! I love this quilt so much! I had a lot of different design ideas along this theme. My inspiration was the name of the new collection: Lucky. I wanted to try and capture a game of chance kind of feel with the quilt, while using as many of the bright and colorful fabrics as I possibly could. I also wanted to show off Jerry the Cat. The Jerry print is adorable and is one of the signature prints of the collection. At Quiltcon Lotta was handing out Jerry patches to iron on to your clothes. I have a pair of Jerrys put away for something special. Probably a bag =)

My good friend Joan at Maple Leaf Quilters did the quilting for me. I picked a nice big swirly design to soften out all the angles of the squares. And of course I had to take my Lil’ Lotta paper doll to the photo shoot. I have discovered that the park by my house has a TON of great setting and backdrops to take quilt pictures. As long as it stops raining of course. Usually the sun is setting by the time the rain stops, but we managed to get some nice shots.

The Hubster is getting really good at holding quilts for me, don’t you think?

I almost cried when I sent this quilt to Windham, but I have enough left over to make another one so the Post Office lady only had to pry the box out of my hand a little bit 😉 The pattern will be available on the Windham Website as a free pattern. In the meantime check out Windham and Lottas Instagram feeds or Facebook for more sneak peeks of Lucky and all the great projects you can make with it!

Happy Stitching!

14Mar2015

Work Work Work!

Posted in Finished Quilts, Tutorials and Patterns by StaceyinStitches

Seems that all I have been doing lately, and not a whole lot that I can share at the moment.

One of the things I CAN share is the Rainbow Confetti Quilt!!

This pretty lap quilt is in the latest issue of Modern Quilts Unlimited. I made it using Color Theory by V and CO for Moda. I love everything V and Co does! The block is one of my favorite asymmetrical blocks. You can really make things pop when you start playing with rotation and layouts.

Rainbow Confetti

I used the Ombre in Navy for the backing and the binding. Oh man, the Ombre!!

March 1st saw me frantically sewing February bee blocks for the Great Canadian Stash Busting Bee. Since I was making Feb block, I figure I might as well sew the March blocks too! I also finished the March block for the I Love Lucy International Bee (but forgot to take a finished picture, yikes!).

I also finished this quilt for Windhams new collection, Forest Parade by Petit Collage. It’s printed on organic cotton and is so super cute! The free pattern will be available soon ( I will have a link on my Free Patterns page)

Forest Clearings featuring the Forest Parade Collection by Petit Collage

I also have a bevy of patterns out with P&B Textiles. They have some great blenders (I love Dash and Color Weave) and some really pretty prints. You can find links to the patterns again on my patterns page.

I picked up this cute little Lotta Jansdotter paper doll at the Windham booth at Quiltcon (and got to meet Lotta in person! EEE!). L’il LJ has been helping out in my sewing room, coming on photo shoots, and organizing my thread by color ( to match her outfits apparently). She also gave me a hand with some of the secret sewing I have been doing!

I have some great fun stuff coming up in the next couple months. I am really really excited about it and cannot wait to share it with you!!!

Enjoy your springtime, and Happy Stitching!

Stacey

26Jan2015

Featured and a Fabric Giveaway!

Posted in Other, Tutorials and Patterns by StaceyinStitches

Windham Fabrics blog is currently having a giveaway with the new Sarah Fielke collection Snippits. I love the Snippits collection, and had the opportunity to design not one, but TWO lovely quilts that are going to be free patterns on the Windham Website.

The first, “A Great Notion” is available soon! I have links to each of my free and off site patterns in the menu bar above under Free Patterns.

Coming Soon!
A Great Notion

14Jan2015

Pattern Release- Down by the Sea

Posted in Tutorials and Patterns by StaceyinStitches

Thats right!

Down by the Sea is finally ready and available! Just in time too, as Tidal Lace, the collection this quilt features, is shipping to stores now! Kim @ I Adore Pattern did an amazing job with this line, and I absolutely love it.

Down by The Sea Queen Quilt

The pattern includes a size chart for four different sizes from Crib to King, as well as optional yardage cutting for a separate border and background. Down by the Sea is beginner friendly and easy to put together! I also have a free tutorial for using the triangle scraps from the quilt to make some pretty throw pillows! You can also relive the fun of the Tidal Lace blog hop from that link.