Full Moon Forest II – 50th Anniversary

Posted in Tutorials and Patterns by StaceyinStitches

Today I am featuring the quilts for Tula Pinks 50th Fabric Collection. I have been working with Freespirit Fabrics and Tula pink for over a decade now. My first collection with Tula was Nest. I entered a jelly roll challenge with my Grandma at her LQS, and I was faster than she was and grabbed the brightest rainbow roll before she could. I was instantly drawn to Tula’s fabrics. They were like nothing I had seen before. Bright, colorful, bold, unique, and everything I had ever wanted to sew with. You can find the finished challenge quilt here.

When I decided that designing quilts was something I wanted to do, my goal was to design for Tula. I always made my best work with her fabrics, and I wanted to share my love of her designs with as many people as possible. My first design was released with FreeSpirit in 2015, and here we are 10 years, 31 collections, and at least a hundred patterns later. This collection was a celebration of 50 collections for Tula. For me, it was the realization of a dream, and I am so excited for what the next 10 years will bring!

The first quilt in the collection is Rainbow Forest. Its a classic SiS design – fussy cutting, flying geese, and rainbow layout! The centers of the blocks were large enough to feature the owl print, which is one of the largest motifs to date in a Tula collection. There are so many fussy cuttable elements!

The collection consisted of 8 prints, and went wand in hand with the release of the next selection of True Colors prints – 22 rainbow blenders and 6 low volume. I adore the low volume prints, they are the original Full Moon Forest owls, bunnies, and raindrops. What a perfect way to show love for the original while celebrating the new! I made two quilts using the True Colors only. The prints were so pretty and make perfect rainbow quilts.

The final quilt is my personal favorite. It is a love letter to Tula’s fabrics, and the joy that designing quilts brings me. I am truly blessed to do what I love, and be able to share that love with others.

I custom quilted the entire thing. It took me hours. It was a labor of love, and I am overjoyed with the final result! The true colors blocks show the quilting the best, so I came up with a quilting design that would compliment the collection without overwhelming the pieces. I love feather quilting, so I played around on paper until the pattern emerged – a butterfly flitting through the colorful garden of the quilt.

Thank you to all my readers and fellow quilters for sharing this colorful, wonderful, amazing journey with me. I can’t wait to share what’s next!

With all my love,

Happy Stitching!

23Jun2025

Summer Blooming

Posted in Finished Quilts by StaceyinStitches

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!

9Jun2025

Zinnia Pattern Spotlight

Posted in Finished Quilts, Gallery by StaceyinStitches

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!

5Oct2024

Wild Heart Pattern release

Posted in Other by StaceyinStitches

Surprise!

Today is the day! I and thrilled to announce that my heart quilt, Wild Heart, is finally ready!

Wild Heart is a reimagining of my original design, Home is Where the Heart Is, which was published in AQ Magazine all the way back in January 2019. Since it’s initial debut, I have taught this quilt class a number of times, and each time I made notes on how to improve the instructions and construction. I have also made several versions of this quilt digitally and in person. Still, it wasn’t until Tula Pink unveiled her Untamed fabric line that I was truly inspired to finish this pattern, and make it available for everyone.

Untamed spoke to me- a riot of colorful blooms and patterns coming together to create something wonderful. Immediately realized that it would be perfect for my heart quilt. It also inspired the name change. More than ever lately I have been feeling free to live my most authentic life, a little bit wild, a little bit untamed, living in full color as much as possible. I have been travelling more; for quilting and just for fun. I feel more confident in my own skin and taking up space. Some hearts are meant to be free, and that is what this new quilt embodies – the adventure and freedom to live how you want.

Wild Heart is now live in my new Etsy shop alongside the ever-popular Starlines and Zinnia. The pattern includes all the templates and instructions needed to make your own version of Wild Heart. Untamed fabric is shipping local quilt shops this month. I cannot wait to see what fabrics you chose to make you own Wild Heart!

Happy Stitching,

30Aug2024

Spooky Pattern Roundup

Posted in Tutorials and Patterns by StaceyinStitches

It’s that time of year again. The kids are on their way (or already) back to school, the nights are cooler, the leave are starting to change, and pumpkin spice is back on the menu. Its around this time of year my BFF and I start to plan our annual Halloween quilt, and finish up last years.

This year I worked with few different FreeSpirit designers and their seasonal fabric collections. From frightful to delightful, these Halloween quilts have something for every spooky season connoisseur.

I have two Halloween collections form Club Hauer. Club Hauer always has amazingly detailed collections, they are the perfect balance of spooky and fun. The panels make for quick quilts, and the prints support them or are completely useable on their own.

First up is the Storybook Halloween collection. The collection features two panels – a full size single motif and another of multiple fussy cuttable motifs. The hexagon prints makes for a great border, with so many small details in each piece. its also my personal fave choice for backing. The bats and moon border strips makes for great sashing, and the support prints feature cats, bats, and ghosts – the trifecta of Halloween creatures!

Spellbound
Spellbound features the small panel motifs and some of the larger support prints.

Tricks and Treats is a wall size quilt utilizing the large panel with a fun bonus, a table runner that can be made on its own, or using the leftover triangle scraps from the wall quilt!

The second Club Hauer collection is Mystic Moonlight. This collection is a little darker, more otherworldly than Storybook. The prints are large and perfect for fussy cutting, featuring some classic creatures of the night. Owls, bats, ravens and black cats take center stage with the support of some very handsome jack-o-lanterns and skulls.

Stirring Up Trouble was my first quilt for this collection. I had visions of cauldrons being stirred and spells being cast while the familiars wait and watch.

Halloween is the time of year when it can be easier to believe in magic. Personally when I picture magic, I thinks sparks and stars, and wanted to incorporate that into the next quilt. Believe in magic features all of the prints, fussy cut into their own magic stars. Even the striped corners are fussy cut to create the secondary patter. Because when it comes to magic, sometimes you don’t know what effects you may end up with (WooooOOOOOOooooo!)

Believe in Magic

The third quilt is less spooky and more fun. Who casts spells? Witches come to mind. As do wizards. In my mind, what do these particular spellcasters have in common? They wear some pretty distinctive socks. Since I have features witches socks in the past, it was time for the wizards to have their day. If witches wear stripes, then wizards must wear argyle, obviously! LOL! You know me, I’ll never pass up the opportunity for a good play on words 😉 and since wizards seems to make things more complicated than they need to be, this quilt features oodles of FUSSY CUTTING! Bwa-ha-ha!!

The next Freespirit Collection is none other than Ghostly Greetings from designer Cori Dantini. This family-friendly Halloween collection features a multi-print panel that screamed (at least to me) a pattern set! The all in one pattern bundle gives you a wall quilt, a table topper or banner, and two pillows that takes care of your quilted decorating needs for the season.

Finally we have Haunted by designer Brenda Walton. This vintage vibe collection throws back to the magic of Halloween as a child. The brightly colored prints were so much fun to work with, I wanted to make a candy inspired quilt. As kids, our number one goal was as much candy as possible in a single night! The Gumdrops quilt (names after a classic candy, of course!) is big enough to snuggle under after trick or treating has ended, watching scary(ish) movies and eating leftover candy.

I hope these quilts inspire you to whip up something spooky and fun in time for Halloween, and perhaps start your own tradition with your quilty friends!

Happy Stitching!

13Aug2024

Pattern Catch Up -Besties by Tula Pink!

Posted in Other by StaceyinStitches

Good morning my quilty friends! I am currently playing catchup with my free pattern library, so we will start with the earliest new patterns and work our way forward!

Tula Pink’s fabric line, Besties, is currently live in shops, so I thought I should probably (finally!) share the fun patterns I designed for the collection.

Besties is a vibrant colorful line with lots of gold accents. My favorite prints are the bunnies and the goldfish, even though as a family we lean heavily into the crazy cat people category. Besties has some great small scale and blender prints (hearts and turtles and hamsters, oh my!) to round it out.

The first thing that comes to mind with best friends for me is, of course, the classic friendship bracelet. I spent summers travelling with my family, and during those long drives I often passed the time making friendship bracelets. My best find at the book fair in middle school was a book of 15 totally awesome NEW designs! I practiced and practiced to master each and every one of them. I still remember the fish eye design taking me eons to finish. I wanted to bring that nostalgia to this quilt.

The feature print for this collection is a delightful menagerie of different poochy pals. These good puppers (11/10, the bestest!) deserved a quilt all their own. And what do dogs dream about? I assume food LOL. I had a lot of fun imagining a good boi snoring away with dancing bones floating through its head. Say woof to Doggy Daydreams!

Who else loves those videos of pets travelling to exotic locations with their people? Who would you want to being with you on a whirlwind adventure? Your bestie of course! Thus, Besties Road Trip is an ode to all those besties (furry or otherwise) you would 100% go on a trip around the world with!

Each of these three patterns is free on the FreeSpirit website, and available to download by clicking the blue linky title under each image.

My final quilt to share with this collection is one of my favorites. Most of my designs for this collection are reminiscent of my childhood. Growing up in the 80’s and 90’s friendship charms were all the rage, especially at my school/within my friend group. We swapped those half heart necklaces like currency and made friendship bracelets from anything we could weave into them!

My favorite quilt for this entire collection is – Best Friends Forever! I wanted to try and recreate the split heart friendship charms we used to swap, and that Tula oh so accurately featured in fabric and metallics. This quilt was published in the January 2024 issue of AQ Magazine. You can still find yourself a copy HERE.

Happy Stitching Besties!

23Sep2023

Tula Pink DejaVu – Nightshade edition

Posted in Other by StaceyinStitches

Today I will be introducing you to my lineup of patterns for the Nightshade Deja Vu collection by Tula Pink. The original Nightshade is one of the most highly sought after out of print (OOP) collections. The Deja Vu line features more colorization, brighter fabrics, two new scales and a new print!

I loves the vibrant hues in Nightshade Deja Vu. The spider blossom print is my absolute favorite of the collection. I briefly lived in a heritage home that was 100+ years old. The scaled down prints were reminiscent of the carpet in that house. It was large, and empty, and for a time I lived completely alone in it. I had so many ideas, and a story started to play out in my designs.

I imagined some dark, lonely heroine wandering the halls of a large, rambling manor, searching for secrets and avoiding the ghosts of their past. Walking the same halls day after day, wearing a path through the ancient flooring.

The heroine finds themselves in a lost, forgotten corner of the library. Amongst the webbed and dusty tomes, one seems to glow with an inner light. Reaching out, trancelike, the brush of warm pebbled leather awakens a matching glow within their chest, waking the magic inside.

As the magic wakes, our heroine finds herself immersed in a new world of color and light, imbued and overlaid upon both the animate and inanimate. With this newfound sight, they make new discoveries that only help them grow their power.

In a forgotten cellar room, hidden under the rotting floor, a journal is found. Written by a long forgotten ancestor, it tells the story of three sisters, all gifted with powers. as our heroine dives deeper into the mysterious past, they realize they are the last remaining descendant of these sisters.

Only time will tell whether this power is a blessing….or a curse.

I hope you enjoy the story as much as I enjoyed making these quilts.

Until next time dear readers,

Happy Stitching!

7Jun2023

Its Free Pattern day!

Posted in Other by StaceyinStitches

Happy day to you all!

I have some new free patterns available with the release of Tula Pink’s latest line ; Everglow!

Everglow is a neon lovers dream, with 4 new feature prints and 8 electrifying colorways. I have three patterns for the line, and I had so much fun designing to feature each of the elements in the line. Hippos, giraffes, lions and elephants take center stage in this whimsical collection. My favorite print is the Lion, and I love the orange/green colorways that go with it. My close second is the hippo. The small details, like the birds and the body shadows under the water really bring the print to life.

Now, on to the quilts!

First up is Sparkler. This quilt features fussy cutting and precision piecing to create a block exploding with color. I wanted the animal prints to really stand out. My inspiration for this quilt was fireworks. I love how bright and loud they are, and how fireworks spark joy for those who watch. I wanted the same feeling in this quilt. I love how the supporting stripes, dots, and fairy flakes bring the center star to life around the print.

Next, I wanted to use the supporting prints – pom pom, stripes and fairy flakes – as the feature, especially those stripes! They are bold and eye catching, and there’s so much you can do with them to create visual interest in a quilt. With that in mind, I went about playing with blocks and layouts to create Stained Glass. The quilt is stunning, and the construction is deceptively simple – its the same block in 8 different colors! the same print in each section of the block, and the layout does all the work. I highly recommend this quilt for any skill level-beginner to advance!

Last but not least, there is High Voltage. This IS an advanced skill level (you know me, there’s one in every collection!) I wanted a quilt that looked fast, like electricity or lightning, to match the feel of the neon prints. Like argon through a glass tube to create bright light.

You can find each of these patterns in the Projects section of the FreeSpirit Fabrics Website.

Which would you make?

1Sep2022

Sample Sale Announcement

Posted in Other by StaceyinStitches

Good Morning my Stitching friends!

I have a big announcement today; I am officially having a sample sale! AKA: Stacey Ran Out Of Room And Has More Quilts To Make So Needs To Make Room Quilt Adoption Sale!

I will be listing quilts this week, and the sale will go live Sunday morning. There will be Finished quilts from my book, Child’s Play Quilts, quilts I have made just for fun, and some from the first unpublished book. There will also be a small selection of Work In Progress (WIP) quilts. Some WIPs may be flimsy tops only, some might be quilted but need binding.

The prices will vary. I thought long and hard about the pricing models for these. Some take a lot more time, some take a lot more fabric. I have taken many things into account, and have settled on only charging for the cost of materials. For many of these samples my labor has been paid already, and I really want my quilts to find their forever homes. I am one of those maybe-not-so-strange-after-all people that tends to personify their art, and I know that each quilt has its perfect home, and have been ready to find them for a while. I have a hard time letting go.

I started off small in one of my Facebook groups, and I am feeling ready to start the quilt adoptions! I know that my own mental health and creativity is tied in with my stash of fabrics and quilts, and the sheer number has gotten overwhelming, to the point that I feel it affecting my sewing.

Thank you to everyone who has been following along and supporting me over the years. I am excited to me moving forward and making room for new quilts.

12Jul2022

You asked, I answered. PDF patterns now available!

Posted in Other by StaceyinStitches

That’s right! All of my patterns will now be available as a PDF download.

Additionally, the Kaleidoscope pattern now has optional PDF templates and foundations to download. The kaleidoscope templates are quite large, and having them enlarged is a bit of a hassle. That’s not what I want for my patterns at all! So, so address the enlargement issues, the paper version of the pattern will have the option to download the templates in larger format paper to print at home. For those who have already purchased the pattern, I will add the download option to your order.

If you purchased from me at Heritage Festival of Quilts, please contact me directly.

Thank you everyone for your support. I have some new patterns coming this month that I cannot wait to share with you!