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
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!
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.
I am so happy to be writing tonight, because I finally get to tell you all about my new online only pattern series with American Quilter Magazine!
We set this up back in November, when I made the Whirlpool quilt, and I have been working away since then on a 5 quilt series. The patterns are downloadable on the American Quilter website, just click here for a direct link. The pattern series will use a variety of techniques, from applique to paper piecing, and will cover a broad range of skill levels.
First in this series is Photobomb.
Photobomb is one of my favorite designs. Originally for the book that never was, AQS liked it a lot and agreed to use it as the first quilt in the series. It combines traditional lone star construction with raw edge applique and an improv layout. I always thought this quilt would look great resized as a baby quilt in rainbow colors, so I might have to make one and see if I am right!
The quilt was inspired by one of my favorite placed to take photos. The walkways are cement square tiles with inlaid rock mosaics spaced out around the center fountain. The fountain has a beautiful carved sunburst, which always appeal to me and my love of stars.
My good friend Joan at Maple Leaf Quilters did an amazing custom job for me. The white areas are all quilted in a freehand paisley, the black borders have a ribbon candy pattern, and the stars segments are filled with orange peel echos. I just love it!
The layout possibilities are endless with Photobomb. The background can be plain solid, or pieced with smaller sashes, the stars can be put anywhere you want, borders can be replaced with facings, the list goes on!
I am going to be offering this quilt as a workshop, so if you or your guild is interested, please feel free to contact me. I have a lot of tips and tricks to share and techniques to teach.
As usual, I want to see what you are making! Tag me on Instagram @staceyinstitches, #photobombquilt, send me an email, or upload your quilt to the Stacey Day Quilts group on Flickr.
I have been waiting all month ( and some of April too) to share this quilt finish with everyone!
Way back last year I submitted some designs to the Modern Quilt Guild for the Quiltcon Raffle Quilt. The design they chose was superb and perfect to represent modern quilting. Then I got an email asking if i would be interested in repurposing my submission for the Pattern of the Month program. Of course I said yes!
Meet my newest baby, Sunshowers!
Sunshowers is my representation of the rainy days in Vancouver, where the sunbeams break through the clouds and you know that it won’t be raining forever. It starte as a QDAD design, but quickly morphed into something more personal as I worked on it.
Look at all those triangles!
I tweaked the size of the design to make it suitable for a child’s quilt. Then I had all kinds of fun putting it together. I freely admit that pressing is my least favorite part of quilting. Thankfully I was at my parents for a weekend and my mom LOVES pressing, so she did it all for me.
Then when it was all said and done, I loaded it onto the longarm and had at it. I used a lot of the quilting techniques and styles I learned at Quiltcon. I love the varying straight lines, and I threw in some ghost shapes just for fun. I had intended to do just straight line quilting, but I very quickly got bored of it (after about 5 lines). Now I completely understand what Angela Walters mean when she says that she doesn’t fully plan quilting. I changed motifs on a whim, going with what felt right, changing it up when I got bored. Totally works for me. I may never be a Judi Madsen or Marilyn Badger, but “finished is better than perfect!” ( Thanks AW!)
I am so happy with how the quilt turned out!! Sunshowers is a free download for Modern Quilt Guild Members though the community forum. Members will have the link emailed to them. For those of you who aren’t, I will be able to have the pattern made available for download in a few months!
I used a selection of Cloud 9 Fabrics beautiful organic solids for Sunshowers. They are so super soft and pretty! And that’s without washing them!
Photo day was super sunny, but super windy! I tried a couple “in the wind” shots, but they almost turned into “gone with the wind” shots. There was also a 100% chance of Toddler, but I didn’t mind =)
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.
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)
1/2 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!)
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!
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!!!
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.
A while ago I designed a quilt for a new Timeless Treasures line: Tres Jolie. This French inspired line is full of soft colours and rich prints. Even better, the prints are sewing related! The antique machines and sewing scissors were begging to be showcased.
I chose a block called French Silk Pie as my feature block, and put my favorite prints in the center. Then I played with the layout until I hit one that I liked. The borders are my favorite part, they set off the inside perfectly!
I sent off my idea, and Timeless Treasures chose it as the free pattern for the line!
Head on over here to get your copy. I can’t wait to see what people make!
