A Recipe for a Modern Sampler Quilt

Gradually combine the ingredients for one chain link block.

Add a healthy dose of equilateral triangles.

 Chop twelve 3" curve blocks. Sew one. Set the remain ingredients aside. Permanantly. Seriously, these are just too small! 

Preheat (press) a double layer of freezer paper to preshrink. Cut random shapes and press to the wrong side of fabric. Cut 1/4" seam allowance.

Baste with a brush on exposed fabric. Fold over the freezer paper and heat set with an iron.

Remove the freezer paper.

Add a handful of rectangles with stitch and flip triangles.

Trim the fat.

Repeat.

Generously apply some strip piecing.

Combine with half square triangles.

Separate the dog ears.

Organize your ingredients.

It's alright to improvise.

Cut some freezer paper templates.

Apply the melon to your pickle dish.

Allow the components to stew.

Apply decorative flourishes.

Enjoy.

I'm linking up with:

Fabric Finds

Just For Fun is a whimsical line designed by Marisa and Creative Thursday for Andover Fabrics. It's filled with a delightful combination of rabbits, pinwheels, scooters and balloons. Isn't it adorable?

You can find it at Fabric.com for $9.20 per yard. I love not having to pay shipping when I order $35 worth, which is all too easy!

I Dream of Paris Eiffel Tower by Wild Apple for Windham Fabrics might need to join my low-volume collection. At $7.35 per yard, who could resist?

Handmade Holidays

Have you seen the great home-made ideas on Sew Mama Sew? A series of guest curators have been featured throughout the month. Each post suggests clever, inexpensive gift ideas that can be made or baked, which are catered toward a specific audience. 

Craftsy

If you haven't checked out Craftsy yet, you're missing out. Once you set up a free account, you can enroll in online classes, 23 of which are free. These classes are available to watch online any time and never expire. You can retake the class as many times as you like, and even replay sections using the 30-second repeat feature. You can communicate with your teacher and other students online, and even show your work in a special a projects section of the website. While there are many quilting classes, you can also explore topics such as photography, cake decorating, sewing, knitting, painting,  cooking, and more. Patterns and supplies are available too! For example, I have a series of free patterns for my Drive Through Quilt-Along.

Craftsy Yarn and Fabric sale up to 80% off from 11/27-12/2!

Juvenile Prints

I love these Girl Friends and Super Kids prints by Ann Kelle for Robert Kaufman.

There are also some great border prints by Sarah Jane for Michael Miller that would make a great girl's skirt. The first is from "Children at Play", and the second is from "Let's Pretend".

Sarah Jane also designed the adorable collection, "Out to Sea". 

  

Check out this geometric print from "The Circus" by Marie Perkins for Robert Kaufman.

Low volume choices don't get any cuter than "Little Red Riding Hood" by Tasha Noel for Riley Blake.

By now it's obvious I have a little girl, so I'll throw in "Once Upon a Time" by Alexander Henry paired with Cloud 9's "The Land That Never Was" to round out my list of favorites.

   

You can also donate 2.4% of what you spend to the Albuquerque Modern Quilt Guild, or another cause, by downloading the iGive button to your toolbar. Click here for more information.

Drive Through Quilt-Along - Road Construction

Cut one 2 1/2" x width of fabric (42" or more) strip of a cream, white, tone-on-tone or low-volume fabric and one 2 1/2" x width of fabric (42" or more) strip of black. Sew together the longest sides using a 1/4" seam. Press toward the black fabric. this means your seam should be laying underneath the black fabric. Measure to make sure the width is 4 1/2". If it is larger, adjust your seam allowance to be larger. If it is less than 4 1/2", adjust your seam allowance to be smaller (a scant 1/4"). Cut the cream/black strip in half. 

Again, sew together the longer sides with black touching cream. Keep the selvage or jagged ends on the same end so fabric lost is minimized.

Cut the end even by lining up the horizontal lines of the ruler with the center seam, rather than the top or bottom raw edge. Crosscut at 6". Pull the larger portion of the fabric aside. Slide the ruler without moving the fabric you are cutting, and cut at 5", 4", 3", 2" and 1". Repeat this process two more times. Then cut three more 1" strips. You should have 21 strips total.

Take 16 of the strips and sew them together in pairs by joining the shorter sides, black to cream, with 1/4" seam (unless you needed to adjust). Press toward the black fabric. You should now have 8 strips.

Again, sew the strips together in pairs by joining the shorter sides, black to cream, with 1/4" seam. Press toward the black fabric. You should now have 4 strips.

Take four more of the 8 1/2" original strips. Add one to each of your longer strips, being careful to adjoin cream to black with a 1/4" seam.

Locate your remaining original strip.

Use a seam ripper to remove the stitching.

Add one 2 1/2" x 1" rectangle to each of your long strips. Attach the 1" side to the 1" end of the strip with right sides together using a 1/4" seam. Make sure black is adjoined to cream and cream is adjoined to black.

You should have four strips that measure 42 1/2" long at this point.

Cut 8 2 1/2" x width of fabric strips of black. Sew the long side of these strips to the top and bottom of the skinny 1" strip you created.