Fair-and-Square Free Pattern and Video Tutorial

Hi there!  I am excited and also a bit relieved to share this pattern with you! 

This is a really fun quilt, and is a great pattern for a beginner quilter.  This is a very long winded/picture heavy post....I apologize in advance.

There is a video at the end of how I did the free motion quilting. So if you are just interested in the video you can scroll to the bottom and check it out. 

Fair-and-Square

Fair-and-Square {a finished quilt}

Hi there!  Today I wanted to share with you my latest quilt finish, and also enter it into the Blogger's Quilt Festival.

I am entering this quilt in the Baby Quilt Category

I am pretty much in love with this quilt. 

I have decided it is so much fun making small quilts. They come together so fast and are really fun to quilt. I am also in love with the color scheme and vibrancy of these fabrics.  Most of the fabrics are from the High Street Line. 

I want to introduce you to my newest love: 

Fair-and-Square

For the complete tutorial and video for this quilt go here.

Phone Dump Friday!

 I crave Friday, like I crave dark chocolate, sleeping in, and mexican food.  Friday means that my husband ususally only has to work a half a day and I can go to the fabric store!!! :)  No, really.  The fabric store in town is only open until six o'clock everyday (I live in a small town remember?) Plus, there was this one time that I attempted to cart all three of my children into this small little shop.  Let's just say I will NOT do that again.  

The Importance of a Design Wall

Hi there! Yesterday I was putting up my blocks on my design wall and I had an epiphany! I thought that a lot of newbie quilters would really benefit from learning about design walls and why they are so great! So I thought I would share with you my thoughts on having a design wall and why it really makes a difference when designing your quilt.

Like I mentioned in the previous post I am in the process of creating a new quilt and pattern to share with you guys.  I finished up sewing a few last minute squares last night and put everything up on my design wall.  Whoever invented the design wall was a genius!  I love my design wall, and have used it constantly since I've started quilting.  

Why is it important to put your design up on a wall?

1.  It helps you see the layout of your fabric/blocks in a different perspective.  When you layout your quilt on the floor you really don't get the same perspective.

2.  It is easier to arrange and rearrange blocks on a design wall rather than on the floor.

3. It also helps to see how fabrics and patterns look in relation to one another.  

I have also found it helpful to put up a block or design I'm working on and just leave it up there for a couple of days.  This helps me really decide if I like the design or layout or not and if the fabrics are working well with each other. 

Putting things up on the wall to see how it looks is not a new thing.  In fact, this was one of the first lessons I learned in my interior design class in college.  We always put our fabrics on the wall next to one another to see how they would work with each other.  This helps you see what colors and patterns work well with each other and what doesn't look so great. 

Another thing that I strongly suggest is take a picture each time you rearrange your blocks.   I can't tell you how much it helps to see the picture of the blocks on my computer screen.  It gives you another perspective as well.  You can put two of your photos next to each other on your computer screen and see which orientation you like best.  I would really recommend trying this if you haven't already. 

I want to show you three different photos of my quilt.  

This was after I put all my blocks up the first time. 

A Work in Progress...

Hi there!  I am happy to announce that my sewing machine and I have spent a lot of quality time together the past couple of nights.  My allergies are significantly better, and I am no longer carrying around a box of kleenexes wherever I go. :) 

So, I have been itching to start a new quilt.

I have three quilts in progress at the moment.

I don't know if I have lost my sanity (very debatable) or if I am just like any other quilter. 

I wanted to create an original pattern and share it with you for free. 

So this is what I've been working on:

{Blocks on my design wall}

Fall Pumpkin Table Runner

I had a rough weekend. I had these glorious plans of eating and sewing all weekend long.  However, my weekend did not quite play out that way.  

Christmas Table Runner-Finished!

I worked on this little runner over the weekend! 

I got the whole thing quilted and decided to try my hand at machine binding again. 

I did a lot better on my machine binding this time and I was pleased with the way it turned out.  

My Date With the Unpicker.....

I had no idea I was going to spend my Friday and Saturday nights with my unpicker!! 

We spent some quality time together.

I think we actually are forming a really great friendship that wont go away anytime soon.

Haha, just kidding.

I like unpicking, just about as much as I like to clean the toilet. (which it just so happens that I have the greatest husband in the world who always cleans the bathrooms.  In fact, in the 7 years we have been married I don't think I've cleaned a toilet more than 3 times!) 

So back to my relationship with the unpicker:

Totally Made My Sunday.....

So I woke up this morning to a few comments in my inbox.  

I love reading all your comments and appreciate you taking the time to leave one.  It always makes my day!

It really made my day when Kate Spain left a comment on my Sunnyside Pinwheels quilt! 

It's pretty awesome when the designer of the fabric you used leaves you a comment.  

To say I was excited, was an understatement. 

It made my Sunday! Heck, it made my whole week! :)

Anyways, I thought I would share my excitement, even though it probably makes me look like a total dork! 

Hope you all have a relaxing Sunday!

I'll be spending mine in my pj's watching football and trying to finish up some projects!

Christmas Table Runner

I started this little project a couple of weeks ago.  I wanted to try out a new triangle ruler I bought and I had the perfect stash of Christmas fabric (that my friend gave me) that I could try it out on.  

Well, turns out I'm not the brightest crayon in the box when it comes to sewing these little triangles together! I started sewing them in pairs, so I could then sew the pairs together and so on.  Well turns out you have to kind of sew them all the same direction or they will not line up properly.  :) So I had about 3/4 of my sets going one way and the other 1/4 going the opposite way.  There was no way I was going to unpick all of those sets.  So I improvised and only part of them to make a table runner.

I have the table runner all put together and last night I wanted to try to do some free motion quilting on it.  I wanted to try out a new design.  So here it is:

I have to say, free motion quilting a table runner versus a quilt is like night and day! It's so much easier to quilt something so small and it's so easy to move around.  I was really enjoying it this time! Now, I can't believe I'm posting a close up of these pictures because you can see how I really went off course in a few places, but hey this was my first try at this pattern, and in all I thought I did a pretty good job.  I got about 1/2 of it done in an hour.  

A picture of the back:

Parties I'm Joining:

Anything Goes by Stitch by Stitch

Show and Tell Tuesday by Fresh Squeezed Fabrics

Fabric Tuesday by A Quilt Story

Linky Tuesday by Free Motion by the River

Wip Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

Really Random Thursday by Live a Colorful Life

Needle and Thread Thursday by My Quilt Infatuation

Thursday Threads by 627Handworks

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Fall is in the air at our house and I have been making soup every weekend! I'm sure there will come a point when my family will be boycotting soup, but for me it's something I could eat all year round. 

Plus this soup has two of my favorite foods:

Rice & Chicken

You really can't go wrong with that combination. 

My sister introduced me to a Chicken and Wild Rice Soup recipe last year and I was hooked.  I stuck to the original recipe for the first time, but as I've made it several times I made some changes and made it my own.  It's a semi-crockpot meal, which I love and it makes your house smell amazing! 

Sunnyside Pinwheels--A Finished Quilt

It's done! It's really done! And I couldn't be happier with how it turned out!

Diamond Quilt Block Tutorial

Happy Monday!  Hope you all had a fun weekend!  I spent the weekend in my pj's working on projects here and there.  I finished up my pinwheels quilt and I worked on the tutorial I am sharing with you today!

So let's start!

It's been a while...and some unnecessary excitement!

Since I've been gone from the bloggy universe a lot has changed.

I feel like a newbie all over again.

There is a plethora of new social networking sites that more people are using that I am just signing up for!

When I quit blogging, pinterest was just getting started!! Now, I use pinterest on a daily basis.

(totally of the subject, but I hate how my spell checker doesn't recognize the word pinterest, anyone else out there have the same pet peeve? or is it just me and my dorkiness?)

Anyways, back on the topic..

Diamond Blocks Using Tri-Recs Rulers

When I was sewing my trees togther for the Modern Trees QAL (Quilt Along).  I thought it would be really cool to sew two of the sets of triangles in squares together to make a diamond.  Now, I know this is probably already been done and people seeing this are probably going to say, "Lindsey, this is old news!" But here's the deal, it's new to me!

And since it's new to me, I'm going to share it with you.  Because chances are, there will be someone in the blog universe that hasn't seen these rulers, or pattern before and will think it's just as cool as I do! 

So anyways, I've only made one so far:

Here it is:

Now, this was my tester block.  The center seam is sewn straight, I know this because my corners are all met up perfectly! But you see that middle seam?  The pattern on the fabric is running crooked! I know it's not the actual print running crooked, it was definitely an error on my end, but it is driving me insane!

Other than that small detail, 

I really like it.  

I like it so much, I am going to make a tutorial for it, so if anyone wants to try their hand at making these pretty things, they can! :) 

{Here are the rulers that I used}

You can find them anywhere that sells sewing notions, but I bought mine here. 

Once Upon A Time.....

I used:

 to cook 

make up new recipes

devour cookbooks like they were candy

blog stalk cooking blogs (I still obsessively read the Pioneer Woman's blog, who wouldn't?)

bake scrumptious breads, brownies, cakes, and pies.

I used to ENJOY COOKING!

No I am pretty much lame in the cooking department.

I have been in a rut.

I have stopped enjoying the first thing I was really ever passionate about. 

Here's why:

I have three small children.

I have three small children.

I have three small children.

Did you get that?

Turns out it's hard to spend a lot of time in the kitchen when you have three kiddos running around!  

Not to mention my Charlie is an extremely picky eater.  I mean I can't believe he survives on the limited food that he eats. 

So I make really quick and easy dishes.  I try to make things I know we will enjoy (well except for Charlie of course).  

I realize that this is just a stage I am going through.  But I also fear that life will just get busier as my children grow up.  Juggling three kids' schedules and trying to make a decent meal will be even harder than it is today!   

I am going to try to find that passion in cooking again.   

Once a week I am going to cook something I WANT to cook, try out a new recipe, or add a new twist to an old favorite.  I really enjoyed sharing my recipes when I was regularly blogging. 

I want to integrate cooking/baking back into my blog.

Because let's face it, I don't care who you are, we LOVE food. 

So I hope you come back to see what delicious bites I'll be cooking up! 

:)

My Halloween "Mantle"

Yesterday I dug out my Halloween container of decorations. 

Besides Christmas, Halloween is my favorite holiday to decorate for. 

Since I have 3 small children, they really like to play with fun little decorations that are in their reach.  I have to be careful where I put things so they don't get a hold of anything and break/destroy it.  So I am limited to what I can decorate.....which is a bummer!

I have a "quilt" shelf that is hanging in my front room.  This is where I can decorate and not have little hands touching and grabbing things.  It's a pretty good size shelf and I really like hanging wreaths on the bar, rather than quilts.  I do want to start hanging quilts on there, I just need to finish one first! :)    

So this is pretty much all I decorated for Halloween.  Not too much.  I only got out about 1/4 of my decorations this year.  I have really learned in the past couple of years, that less really is more.   I definitely have a little more than I normally have on my shelf, but that's okay! I feel like in this case it works and it's not too crowded.  It also works because the rest of the room is not overly decorated.  I have kept the other walls in the room simple, because this space is so busy. 

I made this wreath last year, all with dollar store supplies! It was really easy to put together and it turned out fun and festive for Halloween! :)

I got to put my Halloween Owl Runner out on my table.  I give it a couple of days before my little monsters pull it off the table.....

You can find the tutorial for the Boo! blocks right here. 

Here's a close-up of the runner and the post about here. 

I still need to figure out costumes for my kids, and we have to make our annual trip to the pumpkin patch! Other than that, we are ready for Halloween! :)

Basting and Straight Line Quilting...

Like I said in my previous post, I had a really productive weekend! One of the things I got done was basting my pinwheels quilt.

My thoughts on basting:

1. It's not fun

2. It's my least favorite part of the quilting process

3. I am determined to invent an easier way to baste a quilt! ;) ( I know there is basting spray out there, and I really would like to try it out, but I'm apprehensive on trying it out on a quilt. I'm thinking I'll try it out on something smaller like a table runner or something)

I really should have done twice as many pins on this quilt,  but I ran out of pins!  I really need to stock up on some more basting pins...

On this quilt I knew I wanted to do straight line quilting. I didn't want the quilting to take away from the  pretty pinwheels.  I also think the straight lines will add to the geometric design of the pinwheels. 

So yesterday when I was quilting this baby up, I asked my husband to take a picture of me tackling this quilt.  He was over enthusiastic and took about 20 pictures, and they all were dark and a little blurry because it was on my iphone, and the lighting is weird since my lamp was on....anyways like I was saying he was a little enthusiastic:

 Another:

 Another:

 And finally my face that says: "would you quit taking pictures now!"  :)

Some things I have learned about straight line quilting so far:

1. Stitch length is everything.  At first my stitch length was way too small.  I really wanted the stitches to be larger so it had an almost hand quilted appearance to it. So it took a few tries, but I finally managed to get it on a setting that I liked.

2. Basting is key.  I should of basted that thing to death..I mean I should have pinned that baby every three inches or less.  

3. I really like the look of straight line quilting.  It has a very clean and modern look. 

4. NEVER look away from the quilt.  My lines are not completely straight. If you just happen to glance up, you risk your stitches wiggling one way or the other.  This quilt by no means is perfect and the lines are not stick straight.  That is something I really need to work on.  Practice, practice, practice!

Like I have mentioned before,  I am a beginner at this and I am learning something new every day!