Warmth in the North

hole in the barn door tutorial

    It's almost November and my turn to quilt for do. Good Stitches has rolled around again.  This time I'm asking everyone to make me 2 Hole in the Barn Door blocks, one in coral and one in navy.  It's one of those blocks that has a ton of names, Churn Dash and Monkey Wrench are the most popular but I like Hole in the Barn Door because I'm contrary.  Anyway, if you use this tutorial you'll end up with 12" finished/12.5" unfinished blocks.

Use a scant 1/4" seam unless otherwise noted.

I press my seams open, feel free to use whatever you're most comfortable with.

Cut:

2 - 4" x 4" in white

2 - 4" x 4" in print

2 - 2.5" x 13" in white

2 - 1.5" x 13" in print

1 - 6.5" x 6.5" in print

   

To make 4 Half Square Triangles mark the white squares from one corner to the other diagonally.  Sew the white squares to the print squares 1/4" on either side of of the marked line.  Cut along the marked line, press, and trim to 3.5" square.

Sew the print strips to the white strips lengthwise.  Press and cut each strip into two 6.5" strips.  Layout your block and sew it together.  Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

    You'll have a 12.5" block in no time.  I chain pieced both my blocks at the same time and that made things all the faster.  Hopefully this makes sense but if you have any questions let me know.

do. Good Stitches & a winner

    This month, Colleen, asked the Grace circle to make purple and grey stars.  Her only requirements were that one be purple on grey, one be grey on purple and no wonky.  For the grey I made a Diamond Star and for the purple a Morning Star.  I ended up making a Sawtooth Star as well but didn't get a picture before sending them all off.

    While I was at the Sewing Summit, Rachel, from Stitched in Color gave me this lovely notebook.  She made them for all the do. Good Stitches hosts.  All the notebooks she made are really beautiful and tailored to each person, I love my purple pinwheel.  The notebook is already hard at work holding sketches and ideas for new projects.  I'll be using it to plan Grace's November quilt, I'd really better get started on that, November is right around the corner.

    In unrealted news Jackie from Jackie's Stitches won the little giveaway.  Thanks for giving me a little bit more room in my sewing space.   

a kona colour card & swag giveaway

    Like everyone else I came home from the Sewing Summit with a suitcase full of goodies.  My teeny, tiny sewing area can only hold so much so I'd love to send some of it off to one of you.  There are some cute sewing patterns, an Aurifil thread sample pack, the cutest Lizzy House notebook, a charm pack and some other do-dads.

   

    The best part, at least in my opinion, is the Kona Colour Card.  Everyone who took Jeni's Creative Fabric Selection class received a colour card from Robert Kaufman.  They are pretty awesome and I pull mine out all the time, even if I'm not planning on using any solids in a quilt.  Since I've already got one hard at work, the copy they gave out in class needs a new home. 

    If you'd like to enter just leave a comment below and I'll draw a winner Monday evening at 8pm MST.

pretties

    Early last week I opened up my post office box to find a wonderful package from Leona, oneygirl on Flickr, her blog is Leona's Quilting Adventure.  She made me this beautiful mini quilt as part of the For the Love of Solids Swap on Flickr.  Isn't it gorgeous?  I immediately hung it up next to my sewing table.

    She added all these extras into the package, I'm going to have figure out how to put everything to good use.  The pincushion is already being stabbed but the ribbon is a bit trickier.  Plus there are all sorts of lovely scraps to add to my stash.

good grief, that was amazing!

    This weekend basically blew my mind and my camera apparently.  I did manage to take a few pictures during the shop hop on Friday and it looks like Salt Lake City has a huge quilting community to support all the stores.  I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off, I don't know how many times "Hey, where did you get that?" came out of my mouth.

    I'd never seen this much quilting fabric in the same place before.  Yes, my life is sad.  Considering the sales that all the shops had going on it's surprising that I didn't go crazy and buy everything.  It was almost as if I my poor brain was unable to handle the joy and would only let me buy so much fabric.   And all the shops had amazing give aways so even if you didn't spend a dime you were bound to come away with a stack of fabric.

    In the end fat quarters were my downfall.  They look so small but that's 6.25 yards and doesn't even begin to take into account all the other fabric they just gave us.  Between the swag bags, all the class giveaways, the shop hop giveaways, the fat quarter swap, and the charm square swap I have a ton of fabric to tuck into my stash today.

    I've got hardly any pictures to share but trust me the Sewing Summit was amazing!  It was so wonderful to meet everyone in person and make new friends.  As soon as I unpack and sort through everything I'll be back.  Maybe my mind will even quiet down enough that I'll be able to sew something.