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!

16Mar2025

Happy National Quilting Day

Posted in Other by StaceyinStitches

To Celebrate, I have gone through and added about 20 quilt patterns to the Tula Pink Free Patterns Section and the FreeSpirit Free patterns section!

I’ve been busy sewing up a storm these past few months. Some things I can show off, some I can’t yet.

Jurassic party featuring Roar! by Tula Pink for Freespirit Fabrics

My Roar quilt has returned from its world tour! She’s been hanging at international quilt markets and making the rounds to quilt shops across North America. Roar is still my favorite fabric line!

As you may have noticed, I have taken the plunge into bag making! Stacie Wilson of Troll Brothers Quilt Shop sent me a box of gorgeous colorshift vinyl to play with, and I have been making all the things! My Annette Handbag and Commuter Tote feature the vinyl handles and side panels.

Annette Handbag featuring Moon Garden by Tula Pink for FreeSpirit Fabrics

My Hissy Fit handbag is my daily go-to handbag. This is one of my favorite prints from Moon Garden. I am a reptile fan, and finally having Tula Pink make a snake print made me giddy with joy. I take this bag everywhere!

The pattern and hardware for my Annette came from Emmaline Bags. In Fact, every bag I have ever made has Emmaline’s Hardware. Its top notch hardware from right here in Canada!

In my box of vinyl was this deep yellow that I wasn’t quite sure what to do with. A little brainstorming with the kids, and my Pikachu backpack was born! I designed the face and ears myself, and used the Lindsport Mini Backpack as the body of the bag.

The Sweetpea Saddle Bag is a free pattern from BlueCalla. I love their bags as well, and have made a few. I was testing out the denim lookaline for Troll Brothers. Its got a water resistant backing and a denim look without actually being denim. The main flap was a generous donation of original Tula Pink Prince Charming frogs from a friend that I pieced together into a whole frog. It’s stunning with the bright gold hardware, and the perfect size when I just need the basics.

Lastly, I have this gorgeous duo! I was thrilled to be invited as a special guest into teh FreeSpirit Circle of Makers in November. I got to play with Club Hauer’s newest line, Costumes & Cobwebs. The whole line is gorgeous! I was sent this spooktacular cat and owl print, and the frightfully gorgeous Venus Eye Traps, as well as a handful of blender prints from the collection. The second I opened the box, I knew I absolutely needed to make a bag to show them off! I used the Aster Handbag from Blue Calla for the bag, and the Necessary Clutch Wallet from Emmaline Bags for the wallet. The two pair together brilliantly. I also pulled out some Italian leather that’s been waiting for just the right project.

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!

19Aug2024

Tabby Road Pattern Day

Posted in Tutorials and Patterns by StaceyinStitches

Now that Tabby Road is in LQS everywhere, its time to talk patterns!

Tabby Road is Tula Pink’s 3rd Deja Vu line – a reimagining of a classic collection in updated colors, scales, and in this case, textures! That’s right, the third Deja Vu collection includes three minky prints. These prints are supersize and supersoft, making them perfect for quilt backings, stuffed animals, and even warm linings for clothes!

We all know the old adage about curiosity and what it does to cats. Curiosity can also refer to a large group of cats ( have seen it both as clowder and curiosity) and what I have here is definitely a large group of cats. I took inspiration from some classic quilts and then turned them up a notch or five. The sawtooth sashing and the star cornerstones are all reminiscent of traditional quilts. I wanted to feature the rainbow prism print, and the sashing seemed the best place to do it. Add in a little rainbow gradient and a Curiosity of rainbow cats and we have a fun bright quilt! There’s even a little easter egg in this one- each of the star centers has a tiny fussy cut mouse in the middle!

This quilt looked good enough to eat, so I named it cotton candy. it features a lot of the fur balls print, which remind me of puff of the aforementioned sweet treat. I like to image the cans of cat food are actually filled with cotton candy, and the fur balls are the cotton candy popping out when you open the cans!

Tabby road Deja Vu has this fantastic multicolor stripe that makes and obvious binding, however, I liked it so much I really wanted to design a quilt where it had a chance to shine. Cat’s Cradle was the final result after what seemed like days of playing with that stripe. i really wanted to use it to its full potential without overwhelming the maker with STRIPE!!!! Throw in some classic Stacey in Stitches fussy cutting, some neon dots, and a fun background color, and there you have it!

I hope y’all are able to get your paws on this collection while you can. Are you planning on making any of these quilts? let me know in the comments, and of course send me pictures of what you make!

Happy Stitching,

24Jun2022

Big Quilts with Tiny Beasts

Posted in Other by StaceyinStitches

The next collection with Tula Pink is called Tiny Beasts, with a new selection of dots and stripes, also of the tiny variety. I really love the collection; not only are the prints excellent on their own, they can also be used like a blender print. The tiny dots and stripes round out the main prints, and of course solids are a quilters best freind!

First is Lend a Paw. This was such a fun quilt to design, I love making gradients and rainbows. the pieces are small, but the quilt is big, finishing up at 91″ x 91″! You’ll have no trouble fussy cutting this one if you want to, even though the cut pieces are smaller you’ll still get the full print in the pieces. I used my favorite print, the trash pandas, as a background feature. You could switch it up with whatever you wanted, from the ladybugs to solids. I used the tiny stripes/dots to complete the rainbow gradient.

Lend a Paw, 91″ x 91″, designed by Stacey Day

The next quilt is a more advanced quilt. I loved the hedgehog print, I thought it was so creative and clever and cute. Chatting with Tula about it led to an idea of dandelion fluff, which evolved into Just Dandy. This is a foundation paper pieced quilt with some bias tape applique. It is not for the faint of heart. The end result is spectacular. Its already popping up on Instagram in progress or completed, which makes my quilty heart so happy.

Just Dandy, 82″ x 82″, designed by Stacey Day

The final quilt I came up with is called Mini Menagerie. I wanted a large central block that would feature as much of the tiny print as possible. This is regular piecing, no special techniques required! I ended up hand drawing this one to make sure the the pieces all fit together as intended. it reminds me of a sunburst. I think this block will make an appearance again in the future. I want to color it for the upcoming Moon Garden collection, it would feature those large prints really well.

Mini Menagerie 61″ x 78″, designed by Stacey Day

Which is your favorite Tiny Beasts quilts?

30Apr2021

Pattern Roundup 3: The Tula Pink Edition

Posted in Tutorials and Patterns by StaceyinStitches

Today I thought I would dive right in to one of the most popular fabric designers I have the pleasure of working with; Tula Pink!

Every 6 months or so, Tula releases a new collection with FreeSpirit Fabrics, and I have so much fun taking those fabrics and turning them into quilts for you to enjoy. The entire process takes about a week per pattern, between designing, tweaking, writing, illustrating and technical editing. Myself and the tech editor at FreeSpirit do our absolute best to make sure you get a pattern that is clear, easy to read, and straightforward to make. I get to really branch out with the skill level on these ones; I aim to have a beginner friendly pattern and an advanced level pattern. The advanced level assume prior knowledge and experience in things like paper piecing, fussy cutting, templates, applique, ect. The beginner level patterns I try to make straightforward, and introduce at least one new skill for quilters to develop and start gaining confidence.

As I have about 3 releases of quilts to cover, I will take a day for each collection. I am prolific when it comes to the fabrics and designers I love 😉

Today we will dive into the glorious explosion of Tula Pink True Colors.

The release of Tula Pink’s new True Colors collection made all my wildest rainbow dreams come true. With a full spectrum of 42 hues to chose from, it is entirely possible that I may have gone overboard when designing for this one. I enjoyed every second of it, and poured so much of my love of all things color and fabric and texture into it, that True Colors will always be one of my favorite lines. The best part? It is a supporting line, so will be around for at least the next 2 years!

The first quilt for the True Colors collection was finalized while I was on my quilting cruise; Woven Radiance. I wanted to utilize every single print in the collection in a non-traditional rainbow layout. I took inspiration from my previously designed Radiance quilt. This quilts name is a nod to the previous. I assure you, the two are nothing alike and I may be the only person to see the inspiration on first glance.

Woven Radiance

The next offering for True Colors left me undecided on a background. I wasn’t the only one torn between colorways, so we went with both! A simple substitution of background hue breathes a different life into this quilt, which I called Stardust. The lighter version uses the fairy dust print from True Colors in Whisper for the background. The dark version used the Tula Pink Solid Diva. I may reimagine these with the new Tula Pink Solids, I think Legendary would make this quilt…..wait for it……LEGENDARY! haha!! See what I did there? yes? Okay! moving on….

In my mind, this quilt represents light in all it’s full prismatic glory, gently bathing the world in color as it rains from the stars.

Stardust Light

Stardust Dark

I loved True Colors so much I needed to express it in quilt form. I also wanted a quilt that could possibly be made with a jelly roll. While the jelly roll aspect was a fail, the quilt itself was a WIN. I just can’t seem to make a quilt small enough to suit jelly rolls…….but that’s okay! More fabric for you to love!

Floating Hearts uses a combination of strip piecing and stitch and flip piecing. The best part is all the leftovers could be turned into a mini quilt or throw pillows if one was so inclined. And since I also can’t seem to do anything the easy way, the colors flow one into the next. My brain was a gooey pile of rainbow spaghetti after editing this one, but so totally worth it! The release of this pattern was delayed because of the background print. We had to wait until the announcement of the next collection before releasing this one, so it had been sitting in the ready folder for FOREVER. Okay, okay, not forever, but it really felt like it!

Floating Hearts

I don’t always remake my old patterns, but the next two quilts are updated colorings of my quilts for the previous true colors collection in 2016.

Confetti was first designed when Tule Pink All Stars released. The Stripes, Pom Poms, and Tula Pink Solids were meant to continue on into future collections, and I wanted a quilt to show off the supporting prints and carry them forward. I have an ongoing love affair with stars, and I’ll take any chance at creating one with fabric in different and exciting ways. I wrote Confetti as a beginner friendly quilt. The building blocks are HST. My whole vision was no two Confetti quilts would be the same. Cut the triangles, throw them in the air like confetti, then pick them up and start sewing them together at random. While I don’t usually encourage throwing your fabrics all over the place (who wants to recount squares or lose one behind the sofa) I do encourage letting go and grabbing at random to create the sections.

Confetti

Each of Tula’s lines has an exclusive pattern that you can only get in the quilt kit released by FreeSpirit Fabrics. For True colors, my design was chosen for the kit! Solar Flare is an updated version of the original true colors quilt kit, Prism, that was Craftsy Exclusive. ALLLLLLLLL the way back in 2015. 2015!!!. I loved that quilt, and now I love it even more with the expansion of colors.

You can find the exclusive quilt kit at your local quilt shop or online.

This isn’t the last quilt in True Colors, but it is the last for today. The next True Colors quilts are spectacular, but both are part of different posts, and I cannot wait to introduce you to them!

As always, please tag me on Instagram when you make your quilts. I love to gush over other quilters makes from my designs!!

Happy Stitching

6Sep2018

Did I forget to mention Team Timeless?

Posted in Finished Quilts, Tutorials and Patterns by StaceyinStitches

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!

11Feb2016

Dryad Blog Hop-* Winner Drawn!

Posted in Finished Quilts, Tutorials and Patterns by StaceyinStitches

Welcome to my stop on the Dryad Blog Hop!

I am so excited to share a tutorial with you all for my newest quilt using Shannon’s line, Dryad! I met Shannon at Quilt Market last October, and I fell in love with Dryad. The colors are bold and vibrant and earthy, and some of the prints have some subtle metallic details. Shannon is also super awesome and so easy to chat with! When she asked me if I wanted to make a project with Dryad for her blog hop, of course I said yes! Fabri-Quilt sent me a Snack Pack, which contains 42-2 1/2″ wide strips of fabric. It also has a handy swatch chart on the back so you can preview the fabrics and know how many of each print are included in the pack.

I have four favorite prints (because I couldn’t pick just one). First is the main print in the cool greens, which contains bits and pieces of each prints in that colorway. The print is reminiscent of Shannon’s Scrappy Bits Applique style, which I think works really really well with the collection. It adds a lot of visual interest and pops of color to the pieces.

Next is the bright orange print I nicknamed branchlers, because they look like branches and antlers. The orange in person is the PERFECT hue of orange. Orange can be a hard color to pull off, and Shannon nailed it. NAILED IT. Also, kiddo loves it too!

The next is the text print. The text is a Robert Frost poem “Into My Own” written in Shannon’s own handwriting. At first glance the fabric looks black, but it’s really a rich deep indigo blue that sets off perfectly with the other fabrics in the line and would compliment a lot of what’s already in my stash.

Next is the leaf print with metallic accents. I couldn’t pick between the gold and green at first, but the gold won out. It makes good almost neutral compliment to all of the other fabrics and I can see myself using it in other projects as well.

Now, I am always trying to stretch my creativity when it comes to precut fabrics. I wanted to make something simple, but that so did not happen. I had a brainstorm and ran with it, and the result is a full tutorial that uses almost all of the fabrics included in the Snack Pack. The quilt can be made by either a very patient, confident beginner, or an intermediate/advanced quilter. There are two options and you can just continue with whichever option you choose, it’s very streamlined! I added a metallic ivory print from my stash, and a blue binding fabric that looked like water ripples.

Greeting from ~Enchanted Forest~

I really wanted to have the idea of leaves, and at first I was just going to cut out leaf shapes from my strip sets. Then I started thinking more about the name, Dryad, and how they are mythical creatures that you would probably find in an enchanted forest full of sunlight and unicorns. I thought to myself “If I were in an enchanted forest, I would expect it to sparkle and shine” and the idea of the 3D curved diamonds came to life. The curve of the diamonds create the leafy shape I wanted, but with an added level of sparkle. They are the magic in the forest, the sunshine through the trees, and a perfect skill builder!

I just love how Enchanted Forest turned out, and once I got going I finished in a single day. The top anyways. For quilting, I chose to double up a polycotton blend that was much too thin on its own, and then quilted it in simple straight lines that paralleled the direction of the strips. The result is a lofty warm toddler size quilt. Kiddo simple ADORES the color orange and has already confiscated this quilt. Wish me luck getting this one back to show off at Guild!

Now, before the tutorial begins, here is all the information you need to follow along with the rest of the hop and enter to win some great prizes!

For a chance to win a bundle of Dryad, sign up to follow Fabri-Quilt’s blog, Inspired by Fabric. Then leave a comment here letting me know that you are signed up! The giveaway is open until Feb 15th at 10pm Pacific Time! Winners will be randomly chosen after the blog hop ends. You can enter to win from each blog too! Isn’t that awesome! Make sure to go check them out, there are a ton of great tutorials and projects to be had. Also, Angela Walters is offering 10% off of Dryad fabrics from her shop, Quilting is My Therapy, during the hop using the promo code DRYAD. Fabri-Quilt just launched an Instagram account, so be sure to share your own Dryad posts with them! C&T is giving one lucky hopper a copy of Shannon’s book, Scrappy Bits Appliqué, and Aurifil will also be promoting Shannon’s coordinating thread line. So much great stuff happening!

And the winner is Comment #65!

chanzy01 who said”This has got to be my favorite stop on the hop so far. I’ve saved, bookmarked and pinned it so there is no chance I can loose it. I already follow Fabric Quilt and their Inspired By Fabric Blog.” Thank you chanzy01, and enjoy your fabric

Schedule

2/2 Shannon Brinkley @ Bottle Tree

2/3 Inspired by Fabric

2/4 Angela Walters @ Quilting Is My Therapy

2/5 Aurifil

2/8 Casey York @ Studiolo

2/9 C&T Publishing

2/10 Rebecca Bryan @ Bryan House Quilts

2/11 Stacey Day @ Stacey in Stitches

2/12 Kristi Schroeder @ Initial K Studio

Enchanted Forest Quilt: A Tutorial in Two Skill Levels

Finished size: 48″x 64″

Finished Block: 8″x 8″

Materials

1 Dryad Snack Pack (42- 2 1/2″ strips)

1 1/2 yards metallic low volume ivory [3/4 yard for beginner]

1/2 yard blue for binding

3 1/4 yards backing

56″x 72″ piece of batting

Cutting

From the metallic ivory cut:

(18) 8 1/2″ squares [12 only for beginner]

(10) 4 1/2″x 8 1/2″ rectangles for advanced only

(4) 4 1/2″squares for advanced only

From the blue cut:

(6) 2 1/4″x WOF strips

Block Instructions- Both Skill Levels

Note: To see a photo or illustration larger or in more detail, click on the image and it will open that image full screen.

1. Remove and discard (2) strips from the Dryad Snack pack. Take the remaining (40) strips and randomly sew them together into pairs. Press the seams to one side, and then sew the pairs together to make (10) strip sets 8 1/2″ wide. Press in the same direction.

2. Cut the strip sets into (48) 8 1/2″ squares. You will be able to get (5) squares from a strip set.

3. Lay out the 8 1/2″ pieced squares into sets of (4), rotating the squares as shown so that the strips travel in two different directions. These pieced squares will be sewn together to make a large block with the 3-D shape in the center.

4. Take an 8 1/2″ ivory square and fold it in half wrong sides together (WST). Pin it to the right side of the first pieced square as shown, so that the raw edges match in the corner of the pieces square, and the fold is to the inside of the block. Place the second pieces square right sides together (RST) on top. Sew the pieces together down the side with the fold. Do not press yet.

5. Fold the block out of the way along the seam, so that the folded ivory piece is free. Pin and sew the other side of the folded ivory piece to a second set of pieced squares, in the same manner as before, making sure that the pieced squares are oriented as shown. Do not press yet.

6. Open the block and lay it flat, to check that the strips of the pieced squares are oriented correctly.

7. Place the two pairs of blocks right sides together, matching the side of the seam allowance with the folded ivory piece together. Finger press the seam allowances in opposite directions so that the seam nests together carefully. Make sure that the fold of the ivory piece is not caught up in the square. CLICK HERE for a handy video tutorial for this step! When you open the block it will look like this:

8. From the wrong side, gently open the seam allowance of the first two seams at the center of the block, so that the seams all spin in the same direction. Press the block flat.

9. Repeat steps 4- 8 with the remaining 8 1/2″ pieced squares, to make (12) diamond blocks total. Trim and square the blocks to 16 1/2″.

10. Take one of the 16 1/2″ diamond blocks and place it right side up on your ironing board. Gently fold one the side of the diamond in towards the center, until the side form a concave curve, usually about 1/4″-3/8″ fold will achieve this. Press the side to set the curve. Repeat for the remaining sides and the remaining diamond blocks.

11. Using a matching thread for each block, topstitch right next to the fold as shown, on the inside of the diamond, backstitching at the start and stop of the seam. Trim the threads or pull them to the back of the block to hide them.

Assembling the Quilt Top -Beginner Quilt

This section is for the beginner quilt. After completing Beginner step 10, scroll down to “Finishing the Quilt”. Skip this section if you wish to complete the Advanced quilt.

10. Sew the finished blocks together into (4) rows with (3) blocks in each row, matching the seam allowances. Press the even rows left and the odd rows right.

11. Sew the rows together, matching the seam allowances. Press the entire quilt top. The finished top will look like this:

Assembling the Quilt Top – Advanced Quilt

Alrighty folks, this is where the steps get a bit strange, but stay with me! You can already make the 3D Diamonds, so adding them into the rows just takes a little patience and longer seams. The corner curves are super easy, and the 3D geese are simple as well. Also, lots of pictures!

10. Take one of the 4 1/2″ ivory squares and fold it in WST. Pin it to the right side in the corner of a diamond block and then baste in in place. Turn the fold back like you did for the diamonds, and topstitch in place. Repeat for the remaining 4 1/2″ ivory squares and three more diamond blocks. This makes (4) corner blocks.

11. Take one of the 4 1/2″x 8 1/2″ ivory rectangles and fold it in half lengthwise WST. Pin it as shown on the right side of a corner block. Take an 8 1/2″ ivory square and fold it WST. Pin it in place as shown in the opposite corner of the same corner block.

12. Place a regular diamond block RST on top of the corner block and sew them together down the side with the folded rectangles. Press the seam allowance right and open the blocks flat.

13. Place a folded ivory rectangle and square on the regular diamond block the same as you did for the corner block, and pin them in place. Place a corner block RST on top, so that the curved square of the corner block is aligned as shown. Sew down the side. Open and press the seam allowance to the right. This is the top row.

14. Take (2) regular diamond blocks and pin a folded ivory rectangles in the top corner of each as shown. These will be the side blocks of the next row.

So far so good! This is where we will construct the 3D blocks that are between the rows. The technique is exactly the same as creating the regular diamond blocks, there is just some prep that needs to be done for each before sewing to set up the next set of 3D pieces in the rows below. The pieces tend to get a bit bulky as each diamond block is added and the rows are constructed, so take your time and use pins.

15. Take the left side block and place a folded ivory square in the bottom corner as shown. Using a pin or a removable marking pen, mark the opposite corner with the X. This is the corner that will be lined up with the other side of the first folded ivory square in the first row.

16. Take the first row and fold it back along the first seam allowance, like you did when constructing the diamond blocks. This will free up the folded ivory square and make it easier to sew the second set of blocks to it.

17. Match the raw edges of the left side block with the raw edges of the first folded ivory square in the first row. Pin, and then place a regular diamond block, now referred to as the center block, on the other side of the folded ivory square, RST with the side block. Sew down the side with the folded ivory square, as you did when constructing the diamond blocks. Open and press the seam allowance to the right.

18. Take the right side block and and place a folded ivory square in the bottom corner as shown. Using a pin or a removable marking pen, mark the opposite corner with the X. This is the corner that will be lined up with the other side of the second folded ivory square in the first row.

19. Match the raw edges of the right side block with the raw edges of the second folded ivory square in the first row. Pin, and then line up the center block on top of the other side of the folded ivory square, RST with the side block. Sew down the side with the folded ivory square. Open and press the seam allowance to the right.

Open the piece, and it will look something like this:

20. Place the two rows right sides together and pin at the seam allowances, adjusting and pinning the ivory pieces the same as when you made the diamond blocks. Sew the two rows together, open, and press towards the second row. It should look like this when you are finished:

21. Prep a second set of side blocks. Sew the blocks of the third row EXACTLY the same as you did for the second row.

23. Take the last two corner blocks and pin the final folded ivory rectangles to them as shown.

24. Using the prepped corner blocks and the remaining diamond block, sew the last row the same as the second and third rows. Press the top well, then baste the open raw edges down to the edges of the quilt top. Fold and press all of the newly formed 3D diamond and geese shapes. Topstitch them down the exact same way you did with the original diamond blocks.

Did you make it through? Then give yourselves a pat on the pack and a chocolate bar, you earned it! It’s smooth sailing from this point!

Finishing the Quilt- Both Skill Levels

Give your quilt top a final press. Piece together the backing so that it measures about 56″x 72″ (you can make it smaller, but since I work on a longarm I like to have the extra wiggle room just in case) and then layer and baste the top, batting and backing. Quilt as desired! I used parallel straight lines and left the centers black, but there is a ton of potential for custom quilting in the strips and in the 3D shapes as well. Piece together the binding strips using a diagonal seam, and then attach the binding to the quilt. Sew on a label, take lots of pretty pictures, and enjoy!

Phew! We made it through! I hope you enjoyed my stop on the hop, and if you have any questions when making your own Enchanted Forest quilt, email me or pop a question in the comments and I will help out as best I can.

When you’re done, tag me on Instagram @staceyinstitches or email me a picture of the finished quilt, I love to see what you make!

Until next time,

Happy Stitching!

29Nov2014

A Paper Piecing Tutorial

Posted in Finished Quilts, Tutorials and Patterns by StaceyinStitches

Lately I have been so (sew!) busy, that I haven’t had time to write as much as I would like. I have a bunch of ideas strewn about my sewing room on scrap pieces of paper, of ideas for blog posts and tutorials, as well as some free pattern shares for you all. As I find them I will start working my way through them. Well, those still legible despite cat teeth marks and copious amounts of peanut butter fingerprints (those only happen ONCE, and he knows it!)

Today it’s all about paper piecing, which is perfect because I have a couple of patterns coming out very soon that use paper piecing!

Cartwheel Mini-Addapted from Cartwheel COnstellation published in AQS magazine January 2010

Cartwheel Mini-Adapted from Cartwheel COnstellation published in AQS magazine January 2010

Paper piecing, also known as foundation piecing, is a method of sewing your fabric to the wrong side of a piece of paper, stitching down the printed lines on the right side of the paper. It makes piecing irregular angles and tiny shapes a breeze, and you don’t have to worry about your straight and bias grain as much as if you were piecing normally. You can also paper piece blocks made from templates or blocks you could piece normally, it makes for very accurate points and corners.

Supernova

My favourite method for paper piecing is a combination of a couple different techniques I have learned over the years. The tutorial works for all manner of foundation patterns, simple, complex, pictorial…

Rainbow Star

When I paper peice ( I am sure you noticed that I interchange the terminology) I like to pre cut my fabrics. This is how I know that a) my pieces will be large enough to cover the entire area of the foundation section, and b) that I actually have enough fabric to make all the pieces. There is nothing worse than cutting a piece too small or not having enough fabric to make all the pieces!

When foundation piecing it is important to pay careful attention to the sewing order of the peices. The sewing order is laid out so that the next seam sewn always covers the first.

To determine the size of strips to use:

Lay the foundation printed side up on your work area. Find the sewing line between the first and second section of the foundation pattern. This line will be the first line you stitch down, so you use this line to find the length of the fabric strips.

*NOTE* If the first section is a triangle shape, or has a long edge that is also the seam allowance, like the triangle of a flying geese block, then you want to use that edge as the length of your first piece plus seam allowance, and then determine the width. I cut Half Square Triangles for triangle shapes, that way there is less waste fabric.

Take a large clear acrylic grid ruler and place it over the template, with the 1/4″ line on the stitching line and the bulk of the ruler covering the first section. Adjust the ruler so that it starts at least a 1/4″ past the end of the stitching line. Find the end of the stitching line, and the measurement on the ruler that corresponds with it. Add 1/4″ to that number. This is the length of your piece with seam allowances included.

Now without moving your ruler, find the outer edge of the first section and the measurement that corresponds with it. Add 1/4″ to that number. This gives you the width of the piece with seam allowances included. Write down the two measurements inside the foundation section, this helps avoid a million measurements on a single piece and avoids confusion. As a general rule, I will add an extra 1/4″ to each measurement as a safety net-sometimes fabric shifts as you are sewing.

Now move your ruler so that the bulk is covering the second section of the foundation pattern, again with the 1/4″ line of the ruler on the same stitching line. Using the same method as above, find the length and width of the piece. Continue across the foundation, from section to section in the order they are sewn, until you have mapped out the measurements of each section.

To determine the amount of fabric you need:

I use this calculation to determine how much fabric I need:

42″ (the average usable Width of Fabric) divided by the length of the piece = the number of pieces per strip (always round this number DOWN to the nearest whole number)

I then divide the number of pieces needed by the number of pieces per strip, and round the answer UP.

Finally, take the number of strips needed and multiply it by the width of the pieces, then divide by 36 ( the number of inches in a yard). The final sum is the required yardage.

So for example:

I need 16 white rectangles 2 1/2″x 7 1/2″

42/7.5= 5.6, rounded down to 5

16 pieces/ 5 pieces per strip =3.2, rounded up to 4 strips

4 strips x 2.5 wide=10″

10/36= 0.2777777 , rounded up to the nearest whole cut of fabric, which is 0.3333333, or 1/3 yard.

Here is a handy chart for you to reference!

0.125 = 1/8 yard

0.250 = 1/4 yard

0.333 = 1/3 yard

0.375 = 3/8 yard

0.5 = 1/2 yard

0.625 = 5/8 yard

0.666 = 2/3 yard

0.75 = 3/4 yard

0.875 = 7/8 yard

1 = 1 yard

I like to label my fabrics in the order they are pieced, that way I don’t confuse myself if there are lots of little pieces.

Now that we have our fabric pieces cut we can start piecing the foundations.

1. Lay the first fabric strip right side up on the wrong side of the paper over the first section of the pattern. Hold the fabric to the paper and look through the printed side of the pattern, holding it up to a light in, to make sure the fabric is covering the entire section and there is approx 1/4″ extending into the second section for seam allowance. Pin in place.

2.Place the fabric labelled #2 right sides together on top of the first, matching the raw edges in the seam allowance. Secure the second piece of fabric, turn the foundation over and stitch down the line between the first and second sections of the pattern, extending your stitching through the printed seam allowance.

*Note* Sometimes it’s easy to misjudge the placement of your fabrics when foundation piecing. When this happens you will have to remove the stitches. The cleanest way to do this is with a sharp seam ripper. Place the seam ripper between the paper and the base layer of the fabric and ripe the stitches. The thread on the paper side will remain intact, all you have to do is pull it off and it will take all the extra thread bits out as well.

3. Press open with a hot, dry iron. Fold the paper back along the second stitching line, where piece 2 and three meet, and trim the seam allowance to 1/4”. I use a piece of template plastic and an Add-A-Quarter Ruler to make this quick and easy.

4. Place the third fabric RST with the second, matching the raw edges to the seam allowance and stitch as before, making sure to stitch at least 1/4″ past the next line or through the outside seam allowance, depending on where the piece is on your template. Continue stitching, pressing, and trimming until all the pieces are sewn.

5. Trim around the pieces, leaving a 1/4” seam allowance. Often the seam allowance is marked as an outline around your shapes.

Some people swear by leaving the paper in when sewing. With simple shapes-squares and rectangles- I will remove the paper before sewing the shapes together. This gives a tighter, stronger stitch, I can easily match seams, and the fabric feeds evenly through the machine. For complex shapes, such as wedges and triangles, I will first pin the pieces with the foundations intact to make sure my seam allowances line up, and then remove the paper from the bottom piece, the one that is going to be at the feed dogs. That way I have a line to follow, and I know my pieces will line up. I find that when I leave both layers of paper I get slippage and the fabrics shift inside the paper.

Poppin’ Pillow

I use this same technique for pretty well all of my paper piecing. You can make so many awesome blocks with it, I really hope you find it helpful!

Happy Stitching!

29Jan2014

My first pattern….In Print!

Posted in Finished Quilts, Tutorials and Patterns by StaceyinStitches

This is my very first published pattern, and I am so excited to be able to FINALLY share it with you!

I always have quilt designs floating around, and when Fat Quarterly put out a call for submissions for their scraps issue, I knew exactly which quilt to make.

Presenting Putting on the Ritz!

Putting on the Ritz

We took the pictures over the holidays at my parents home. It’s always a gorgeous winter wonderland up on the mountain. Nothing like fresh air and snow to get your heart going! It also makes the perfect backdrop for a fun, colorful quilt shoot.

You can’t see it from here, but there is a drop off behind the bend that goes down a few feet. My darling hubby scaled the embankment just so I wouldn’t have footprints in my pictures. I’m a lucky gal!

You can find Issue 16, and pretty much any other Issue, here. The Scraps issue is chock full of fantastic scrappy patterns that will bust through those scraps in no time!

I would love to see your version of Putting on the Ritz! Send me a photo of the completed top or quilt and I will be sure to share it on the blog.

Happy Stitching!

Stacey