KatyQuilts

I got a present in the mail the other day. The mister and I are signed up for a motorcycle class in July! I can’t wait! My dad used to ride and back in the day, I’d ride with him. But I’ve never driven one. I can’t wait to learn.

This also showed up. Ugh. I get it, civic duty and all that, but this is the fifth time for me!

Some recent happy mail from very thoughtful and generous bloggy friends. 😊

One of my favorite summer things, hanging my sheets on the line!

I’ve been trying to learn continental knitting. It’s supposed to be easier on your hands. I started a sock and ripped it out twice before trying something easier.

I don’t even want to tell you how long it took me to knit this little cactus! I might try another before I try socks again. I keep dropping stitches. Clearly, I need more practice.

Have a great day!

I’ve been doing a lot of “secret” sewing lately, things you will see eventually. But I needed a little break from that.

I love these little hourglass blocks! I used this Accuquilt studio die. They have an equivalent die for the GO! Cutter.

I used some yummy bits from a sweet friend. I played with a couple layouts.

I’m at the hand quilting stage now and will share my finish soon. Have a great day!

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Fat Quarter Shop just released their free Lend and Borrow pattern! You can find the tutorial here. Here is my version of the block.

I used fabric from this line.

I added narrow borders to my block and free motion quilted it on the long arm.

Then I turned it into a pillow!

I just used a simple envelope back. I used the selvedge edges of this woven stripe so I didn’t even have to hem the edges. I bound the edge of the pillow just like I would a quilt.

I think it’s a fun pillow for summer.

Check out the Fat Quarter Shop site and blog for more details, the free pattern, and to see other versions of this block.

Have a great day!

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I have always been fascinated with kaleidoscopes. I have had an idea on how to make one for a long time and finally got around to it. I shared the African print fabrics I recently received from Fabric Wholesale Direct. They sent me fabric in exchange for writing a blog post showing how I used it. This print fascinated me most.

It wasn’t printed completely straight, not uncommon with any fabric, but more noticeable on larger prints. I picked a line in the design and cut eight strips of one pattern repeat each. Can you see the red line in the photo below? That shows you where I cut my strips. I used my rotary cutter and ruler and went from the edge of one rectangle to the next.

Then I layered them up on the ironing board.I didn’t straighten the strip on the bottom so that’s why it looks wider at one end in the photo.

I did my best to match up the prints on all the layers. It isn’t the end of the world if it isn’t perfect, but you want to get it as close as possible.

Then I pulled out this die for my Accuquilt studio cutter. There is also a 6 inch quarter square triangle die for the Accuquilt GO! You could also use a template or ruler to cut your shapes.

Please note: I chose a six inch QST as the shape to cut based on the the size of my strips. My strip sizes were based on the pattern repeat size. If you have a fabric with a different repeat size you may need more or less fabric to make a similar quilt.

Cutting pieces went very quickly! I cut as many as I could from my layered strips.

Now comes the fun part. Look what happens when I take four identical pieces to make an hourglass block!

How fun is that? Time to get sewing.

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I finally finished piecing this and appliqued it to a background piece.

I cut out most of the backing behind the Hexies.

I hope to get this basted and start hand quilting today. Have a good one!

I’ve had a good run of happy mail lately, thanks to surprises from bloggy friends and orders I’ve placed. I was contacted by Joe from Fabric Wholesale Direct to see if I wanted to try out some of their fabric in exchange for a blog post/tutorial with it. I took a look at their site and decided to go for it.

How fun are these?

They are 100% cotton in African prints.

They are a feel a bit heavier than normal quilting cottons. It might just be starch or dye, I’m not sure.

Stay tuned, I’m working on something to share with these very soon.

I also wanted to let you know about a couple current deals from Accuquilt .

Have a great day!

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