Category Archives: Uncategorized
2023 Holiday Gift Guide
I haven’t done a gift guide in a few years, but I thought I would bring it back in case you’re looking to buy a gift for the quilting person in your life, or even the non-quilting person. I include ideas for both. And if you don’t see something for a loved one, maybe you just want to treat yourself!
With that, here’s what’s catching my eye right now.
Don’t make the same mistake I made and keep buying the Omnigrid square rulers separately. Instead, buy the Value Pack that includes a 2.5”, 4.5”, 6.5” and 9.5” ruler. They make squaring up quilt blocks so much easier. Buy the Value Pack HERE. ($25.99)
Just like sitting on an airplane for hours isn’t good for leg circulation, neither is sitting at a sewing machine. I love wearing compression socks and highly recommend. They also lessen pain and decrease swelling. I like the stripe socks from Comrad, but they have other colors and patterns available too. Buy HERE. ($28)
I love a red lip and my favorite lipstick brand is NYX. And if red isn’t your color, they have many gorgeous shades available. Buy HERE. ($7.99)
I live in these slides at home, but for winter The Cloudies slides with a furry liner look perfect for hours of standing and cutting fabric or chores around the house. Available in a variety of colors HERE. ($39.99)
It’s the time of year when dry skin is upon us. It’s tough on the hands, especially if you are a hand quilter like I am. Burt’s Bees Lip Balm has always been my favorite, but I also really like the Hand Salve and Cuticle Cream. You can buy a gift package with all three HERE. ($11.99)
When it comes to entertainment, I have a deep love for British crime dramas. It is my favorite genre and there is nothing I like more than working on a quilt and bingeing a good show. To watch many of the good international shows (not all of them are crimey) a subscription to Acorn TV or BritBox is the way to go. If you are buying for yourself and have Amazon Prime, you can add them as one of your channels or download the app to your TV or favorite device. For gifting, an Acorn gift subscription is available HERE ($69.99 for a year) and a BritBox gift subscription HERE ($89.99 for a year).
Speaking of which… I cut the cord a long time ago and the Amazon Fire Stick lets me watch all my favorite streaming services. I have a small TV with a Fire Stick next to my sewing machine and it’s great. Buy HERE. ($19.99)
You can never have enough charging cords for your phone, and 10 ft. cord comes in handy for reaching you wherever you are. Buy HERE. ($23.99)
The Jewel Tone Ombre Taper Candles are so fun and remind me of a quilt. They’re available in two different colorways, and like them both. Buy HERE. ($30)
Denyse Schmidt is one of my favorite fabric designers and her latest collection, Bonny, has a cheater print that’s perfect for making a wholecloth quilt. It’s a Tobacco Leaf pattern and it’s pink. Enough said. You can find it on her website, and it’s available for purchase at local quilt stores or online. (Approximately $12 per yard)
For the holidays, Target has a partnership with iconic British brand Marks & Spencer. Little known fact about me, I’ve lived in London…twice! I used to work right across the street from a Marks & Spencer and it was a frequent stop for me. You can check out the all the offerings HERE, but I think the Hot Chocolate Light Up House Tin is very cute. Buy it HERE ($9.99) or the Shortbread Biscuit Bus Tin with the famous double decker bus is cute. Buy it HERE ($14.99). Plus, when you’re done with the food, you have a cute tin to store all your sewing bits and bobs.
Do you like to collect Pyrex like I do? It’s a good thing I have limited space, otherwise I would go crazy collecting it. This shirt is fun and funny and perfect for the Pyrex lover in your life. It’s available in white, black and gray. Buy it HERE. ($24)
Midsummer
I found myself wanting to make something easy(ish) this summer, but I wasn’t exactly sure what I wanted it to look like. So I did what I often do, and I came up with a scrap quilt.
I finished this quilt in the middle of July – about midsummer – hence the name.
I should note I only had one quilt holder for these pics but I really needed two people. Next time when I show the finished version, I’ll be sure to recruit a second holder. But nonetheless, my friend made a valiant effort this time around. LOL
Back to the quilt. If you’ve ever made or seen a Trip Around the World quilt, this quilt kind of has those vibes, a little.
My goal was to use up scraps, even small ones, and also incorporate solids. If you begin in the center, it starts pattern/solid/pattern/solid etc. etc. as you work your way out. I end with a solid navy blue fabric around the edge.
The patterned fabric is Denyse Schmidt and the solids are a little bit of everything, with mostly Ruby + Bee and Kona Cotton.
One thing I didn’t really take into consideration when I started was how much of the same fabric I would need as I worked my way out. I had to use up some of my bigger scrap pieces so that I had enough, which was great, but I hadn’t really thought it through in the beginning. It worked out because I’m always trying to shrink my scrap pile!
I took photos of one other quilt while I was out with my friend so I will be sharing that one soon. Talk to you then.
Jacob’s Ladder – Finished
Sometimes you just want to make a classic quilt pattern, and Jacob’s Ladder fits the bill.
I have a list of classic, traditional quilt patterns I want to make one day, and I’m glad I’ve checked this one off the list. It’s a simple block to make and I like that it’s easy to adjust for whatever block size you want. I went for a larger block than I typically make and made mine at 12” square.
Like so many of my quilts, this is a scrap quilt. It is made with all Denyse Schmidt fabric, because that’s what I have a lot of and I’m trying to use the fabric that I have.
The back of this quilt is a vintage bed sheet my aunt gave me. This quilt is pretty large and luckily so was the bed sheet, but it juuuuuust fit. I had maybe an inch to spare. Maybe. I don’t recommend this! LOL
I have one more vintage bed sheet identical to this one from my aunt, so the other one will make an appearance at some point on another quilt. As you’ve seen from other quilts I’ve finished, I really like using vintage bed sheets as backs. It’s a good way to repurpose them, and it’s an affordable option that’s also really beautiful.
I’m calling this quilt done and putting it away in my quilt closet. Yes, I have a quilt closet and it’s glorious!
You’re A Star
Aren’t star quilts the best? I love the many different star blocks available and how they can look classic yet modern at the same time. That’s why I knew I had to use Denyse Schmidt’s Darling collection to make a star quilt.
I love the colors in Darling and I think they look so good with the white background, which is from Windham fabrics.
One of my favorite parts of making this quilt was pairing two fabrics together for each block. None of the blocks repeat, unless I made a mistake and accidently did one block twice, but I think I’m good!
When I started placing the blocks, I was trying to move them around so the colors were somewhat evenly distributed throughout the quilt. It was especially important to me with the yellow – because it’s the only yellow fabric and it really pops – but I also didn’t want it to look too perfect, if that makes sense.
Speaking of perfect, I wasn’t a stickler for the stripes in my fabric going the same way. If you look closely, you can see the striped fabric in the stars goes different directions. I know this kind of thing would bug a lot of quilters, but I have a different take.
If you go to quilt museums or quilt shows that have antique quilts, they are often meticulous and perfect. I love that! But I also love when I find old quilts at an antique store or a quilt someone’s grandma passed down to them and they aren’t as perfect looking. Those quilts are equally as beautiful to me and that’s how I like to quilt.
One last note on this quilt. It used to be smaller! I ran out of white fabric and was going to let it go and just let it be a smaller quilt, but I sat on it for a while and I really felt like it needed to be bigger, so I got more white fabric.
It was the right call.
Valentina – Finished
This wonky little quilt is done.
I wrote more details about the origin of these blocks in a previous post, if you want to read it, but the short story is I was gifted the blocks and they all had issues that I happily worked around.
The main issue was they were all extremely uneven in every way. Instead of trying to square them up, which was pretty much impossible, I embraced their imperfections and made a perfectly imperfect quilt.
Nothing in the quilt is square and it’s filled with a bunch of wavy lines. But I have to say that not worrying about square blocks really takes the stress out of quilting. LOL
Since the front of this quilt was all about imperfection, that’s what I did for the back as well.
I used the three leftover blocks and patched together a backing using whatever I had in my stash. Again, I didn’t worry about anything being straight.
I kind of love how this sliver of yellowy gold fabric just barely came through once I trimmed the back.
Now this little red quilt is done and is perfect just the way she is. Have you ever made a wonky quilt?
Malibu – Finished
The clock was ticking to get this quilt posted, since there are traces of snow in the pictures and I didn’t want to be posting snow pics in June, so here we go. This is my finished Malibu quilt.
When I first wrote about this quilt, I explained how it’s made from castoffs of flying geese blocks, which made for a pretty quick and easy project.
I think the randomness of the triangles and fabric, going in different directions with no rhyme or reason, keeps your eye moving across the quilt. This is an example of how sometimes the simplest patterns can create such an impactful design.
The quilt is nearly all Ruby + Bee solids with some Heather Ross Malibu fabric mixed in.
The back is a pieced together with scraps, like most of my quilt backs are.
It’s hard to see the back fabric, but the large pink piece is something random I think someone gave me, but the aqua pieces are Lotta Jansdotter.
This quilt is now officially done and hanging on the quilt ladder in my living room. I’ll probably keep it there for a while because it’s very springy – perfect for the season. Talk again soon.
Winter Watch
I love half square triangle quilts. There are so many variations and ways to organize the blocks, that it offers endless opportunities for quilt patterns. My latest quilt is an experimentation with half square triangles and color.
When I started working on this quilt I knew I wanted to do a striping effect, so I organized my fabric by color into four similar(ish) color groups: deep purple/blue, bright yellow/red, teal blue/light purple and light yellow/pink.
I moved these blocks around many times because I kept changing my mind. I originally planned to do a half and half look, which is ultimately what I ended up with, but I also tried striping it all together. In the end, I went with my original plan. I think I like it?
I should mention the fabric in this quilt is from different Alison Glass collections. I love her modern take on batik fabrics, something I’m not typically drawn to.
Now I have to start thinking about backing for this quilt. Do I go bold like the quilt top, or something subtler?
Feel free to weigh in, and thanks for reading!
Crossroads to Texas – Finished
I had to look back when I originally made this quilt top, and it was the end of summer 2019. So here we are, a few years later, and it’s done! Some quilts just take time.
This block is Crossroads to Texas. I saw an old quilt years ago made with it and created my own version. I’m sure a pattern exists somewhere, but I haven’t seen it.
Most of the fabric is original Cotton + Steel with some other random scraps mixed in.
I intentionally made it very scrappy because that was the look I was going for. Sometimes I like a more uniform, matching look in my quilts, but more times than not I like a scrappy quilt.
While it’s a scrappy quilt, the thing that ties it together are the colors. I stuck to pinks and blues with some teal and aqua mixed in. Love these colors!
Like the front, the back of the quilt is scrappy. I had a large piece of Cora fabric by Tessie Fay that’s in the center, and a big piece of Parson Gray I used for the top and bottom.
The piece along the left side is the Friends fabric Joann Fabrics had a few years ago. Still love that fabric!
And that’s a wrap on this quilt!
It took time to finish this one but I think it was worth the wait.
This Old House – Finished
My blog posts this year have been minimal, but I’m trying to have a strong finish. Let’s get those blog numbers up with a quilt I took photos of last December. I’m a little behind.
If you like scrap quilts, this is for you. The pattern is simple and uses some smaller scrap pieces, but the finished quilt looks great, IMO. I tried to choose scrap fabrics with colors that all meshed but weren’t too matchy matchy.
To pull it all together I used consistent red, mustard yellow and neutral sashing around each block. I like having that consistent element to offset the scrappy fabrics.
The back of this quilt is also pieced together with scraps. I stuck to a more neutral back but it still complements the front.
As I wrote in my original blog post about this quilt, the fabrics are not my usual choice and lean more traditional, but I really like how it turned out. In fact, I might use this one around the house for a while. Until next time…
Darling – Finished
I’m so happy to finally reveal this project. Say hello to my Darling quilt.
Last year, Denyse Schmidt asked me to make a quilt for her next fabric collection, Darling. If you are a longtime reader of this blog you know that Denyse is one of my favorite fabric designers, so I was thrilled to get my hands on the collection early and make a quilt for the fabric launch.
I happily used my Thanksgiving break last year to make this quilt top. That is how far in advance these things take to come to fruition. And I’ve had to keep my lips sealed about it since then!
Denyse and I decided I would make her Courting Steps pattern, which is Denyse’s version of Courthouse Steps. The pattern is available for free on Windham’s website. You can find it HERE.
It’s an easy pattern and ends up being about a lap sized quilt, but you can adjust that and add blocks if you want something larger.
One thing I did that is not reflected in the pattern and is hard to see in the images is to add (sparingly) some of the patterned white fabric to the white sections. It’s just a little something to add more interest. You can see it better in this image.
I hope some of you take advantage of the free pattern and make your own version. I would love to see quilts that use different fabric combinations and how you make it your own.
Be sure to tag me @brooklynquiltingco on social media if you make this quilt. Thanks for reading!
