Terrace Garden Quilt Tutorial and giveaway *winner announced!

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!

Modern Mystery Quilt Challenge

The American Quilters Society is hosting a modern Mystery Quilt. The quilt was designed by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr, authors of Quilts Made Modern. The best part? Its free! It is a 6 part/week Mystery Quilt, and part 1 is up now. Part 2 will be up next week.

Because this is a free quilt-a-long, I would love for everyone to participate and send me pictures of your progress week to week! I will post pictures as we go, and then after the last installment we will have a final reveal of everyone’s finished quilt tops! You will get to vote for your favorite, and the top with the most votes will win a fat quarter pack! That’s right! I will put together a packet of 5 fresh modern fat quarters for one of my lucky readers to win! So please, share this with all your friends and lets have some fun! The deadline for submissions will be November 14th, 2012. Voting will run from November 15th to November 25th, and the Winner(s) will be announced November 26th. Voting Closed. 

To Participate:

1. Comment below so I know how many people interested. For every 10 entrants I will add a Fat Quarter Packet.  If there are more than 10 entries we will have a first, second and third place!

2. Encourage your friends to follow the blog and vote for your quilt! The more followers, the more votes!

3. Send a photo of your finished quilt top ( it does not have to be quilted) by November 14th, 2012

Here is the link! I can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with!

This challenge will be open to international participants as well! Quilting is its own language, one that is spoken with color and thread and heard with the eyes, and understood by all!

As Always,

Happy Quilting!

 

A New World for Baby Quilts

Does it ever seem like when one friend has a baby, suddenly everyone is having babies?? Not that I’m complaining, because it means getting to make lots of super cute baby quilts! I love the selection of spunky, modern fabrics available right now for babies and children. Especially all the owl prints. I love owls, and its so great that they are in right now! The only problem I’m having is that the owls all seem to be in little girl colors! I love how they look, but I don’t think my son would enjoy a hot-pink and green owl quilt as much as I would *sigh* so I slowly walk on past and find the blues, greens, yellows, oranges, reds and  browns. Don’t get me wrong, I love what they have for baby boys, such a breath of fresh air over baby blue, white, and more baby blue. But maybe they might consider all these adorable little owls Ok, I found that they do make all those adorable little owls in that palette! Zoologie from Robert Kaufman!

Anyhow, I digress!

One of my best friends, M.H. just welcomed a new little girl into her family. Born yesterday morning at 9lbs 13 oz, and she came in just under 3 hours, all natural, though not by choice I’m told! M.H. is a champion, and they chose the most beautiful name for their little girl. So yesterday baby H and I went to the fabric store and picked up some cotton prints and a pastel mint minky, and we whipped up a crib sized quilt.

I always make my baby quilts 45″x60″ ( or somewhere around that mark) because its the perfect size to lay baby on the floor to play, and when baby is old enough to use fluffy quilts safely (not until after 9 months) it will fit their beds and their growing bodies. On average, a 60″ long quilt can be used as the main covering until the baby hits 3 years old. Sometimes longer, depending on the child’s growth.  After that they are the perfect size to cuddle up with on the couch, floor, wherever your child wants, AND it works as a bed runner!

Since I plan baby quilts to last so long, I always choose colors and prints that are fresh, bright, and fun so that as they get older the child doesn’t feel that the blanket is too babyish. I always back with either minky or flannel so its always warm and cuddly, and I do an all-in-one backing/binding. I love this method, as it keeps the corners soft and flexible, and keeps the binding from becoming too bulky. It is also much easier than trying to use minky in traditional binding methods, minky is naturally stretchy and can be finicky.

Here is the finished baby quilt. I used the Turning Twenty block with only 6 fat quarters instead of twenty, and added 3 1/2″ borders. It makes a perfect crib size!

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fabrics:

Urban Zoologie by Ann Kelle for Robert Kaufman

Good life by Deena Rutter for Riley Blake Designs

Hoos In the Forest by Doohikey Designs for Riley Blake Designs

Get Together by David Walker Studios for Free Spirit

Baby Safari by Carina Gardner for Northcott