The colors and patterns of this Cider fabric are something I wouldn’t have immediately chosen, but I grew to love them as I worked on this project. The fabric and table runner pattern came in a Sew Sampler box.
This was an easy, relaxing project and it was perfect to bring along to a quilt retreat I attended in September 2021. It’s comprised of two different types of blocks, so it was nice to assembly-line sew these and then lay them out to create the rows.
The table runner pattern was written to be even longer, but I modified it and used the remaining fabric to make a wall hanging.
I cycled through a few quilting designs for each shape and added some simple straight lines to the border.
Finished Size: 18.5" x 58.5" for table runner, 26.5" x 27" for wall hanging Pattern: Fast and Flurrious exclusive to the Fat Quarter Shop Sew Sampler Box for January 2021 Fabric: Cider by BasicGrey for Moda Fabrics
This fresh, bright floral fabric along with this playful pattern were in my April 2021 Sew Sampler Box from Fat Quarter Shop. I had more than enough fabric for the table runner in the pattern so I made a coordinating wall hanging out of the rest!
I had fun quilting the main octagon shapes using a curved ruler which made perfectly fitting orange peel designs. I also played around with creating a secondary diamond shape design in the negative space surrounding the shapes.
I did similar quilting for the wall hanging for extra practice!
Finished Size: 16.5" x 56.5" for table runner, 30" x 27" for wall hanging Pattern: Starflower Pattern exclusive to the Fat Quarter Shop Sew Sampler Box for April 2021 Fabric: Sunday Stroll by Bonnie & Camille for Moda
After working on a string of table runners, it feels good to complete a quilt! The Feelin’ Pine quilt pattern I used came from the November 2020 Sew Sampler Box from Fat Quarter Shop. Besides the pattern, the box included the fabric, which really gives a woodsy vibe if you ask me!
The original pattern was actually designed to be pine cones and stars, but I switched the pine cone layers up a bit, added a stump and they became trees!
Original pattern design
After I had assembled the quilt I decided it needed something more. I came up with the triangle border using scraps from all of the trees and stars. It really completes the quilt!
The cool icy blue fabric with dots that seem like snow creates a wintry woods scene to me. For the quilting design my first thought was to add a swirling wind throughout the sky. Once I started I was committed — even when I realized it was going to take a long time to quilt all of those swirls! I wanted to set the trees apart a bit so I gave them some layers of snow to stand on.
The backing fabric is green with dots similar to the blue fabric on the front. It coordinates well with the elegant striped binding. I can’t wait to pull this quilt out this winter to enjoy!
Finished Size: 59" x 67"
Pattern: Feelin' Pine Pattern exclusive to the Fat Quarter Shop Sew Sampler Box for November 2020
Fabric: Folktale by Lella Boutique for Moda
Just a day before Valentines’ Day and I’ve finished a lovely set of decor! These projects were inspired from the 2021 Cupid Box from Fat Quarter Shop.
The annual Cupid Box from Fat Quarter Shop is a mystery box filled with fabric, a pattern, and exclusive accessories/notions for the holiday. This was my first time getting this box and I was pleasantly surprised! It included a bunch of heart goodies like: clips, a handy tape measure, key ring charm, and ruler grips. The featured fabric was a stack of fat quarters from the “From the Heart” line by Sandy Gervais and an exclusive panel with large images of typewriters, love letters, and phones. There was an exclusive pattern to make a quilt from this fabric, but I went my own way and created some Valentine decor for my house.
Pillow Covers
Pillows I started off making two pillows featuring the large typewriters from the panel. I pieced together squares from the fat quarters to make an outside border. This turned out to be much more difficult than expected because of all the math involved! The typewriter image wasn’t exactly square, so even when I figured out the measurement the border needed to be for two of the sides, I couldn’t copy it for the other two sides and had to adjust the size of my white spacer squares to cover the difference accordingly. It all turned out decently, but by this point I was already regretting branching out and wishing I had a pattern to follow!
Table Runner
Table Runner Next up was a table runner. I was determined to use up as many images from the panel as possible! I really liked the heart blocks that were included in the quilt pattern, so I made those as designed, but added white borders around them to make them the same size as the love letter and phone images from the panel. I thought surely this would help me put the pieces together easier! Unfortunately, I found that while those blocks lined up nicely with each other, they didn’t line up perfectly with the typewriter (which still wasn’t square!). After trying out a few layouts I decided to add a red border around some of the edges to make the two sides the same height as the typewriter. The design definitely changed from my original vision, but I’m happy with how it turned out.
Wall Hanging
Wall Hanging At this point I was ready to be done with these projects, but I still had more panel pieces to use up! 🙂 I had also premade a bunch of hearts when I made the table runner (smart move), so I had some blocks ready to work with. I decided to keep it as simple as I could and cut up strips of the remaining fat quarters to use as sashing around the blocks. I didn’t have enough pieces of each fabric to make solid strips, but I actually like the scrappiness of it!
All in all, I’m very happy with this set of projects! However, I learned that I don’t dream of becoming a pattern designer and instead can’t wait to follow someone else’s math next time!
Finished Size: 20" x 20" for Pillow Covers, 42" x 14.5" for Table Runner, 22.5" x 22.5" for Wall Hanging
Fabric: From the Heart by Sandy Gervais for Riley Blake Designs
This quilt was actually made by my 9-year-old daughter! Her first quilt! The pattern and fabric came from the Fat Quarter Shop Jolly Box 2020. When the box arrived, she was immediately excited about this fabric and since it looked like a good beginner quilt I told her she could do it!
We added an extra outside border to make it a bit bigger (closer to a lap quilt size for her) and backed it with super soft Fireside by Moda to make it cuddly. It was my first time using Fireside and I love it! I had no problems quilting it with the longarm. I’ve got another piece of Fireside waiting for the back of my cat quilt when I make it.
For the quilting, my daughter and I picked out a couple designs from Designs with Lines books (Border Lines and Basic 8) and used Pam Clarke’s stencils and chalk pounce powder to create a guide. I outlined the deer — well, half of it — and my daughter got on the longarm for the first time to finish it up. She did a great job and luckily has the attitude that “nothing is perfect, Mom!” so she just went for it and wasn’t afraid of mistakes.
She loves her new cute, cuddly couch quilt!
Finished Size: 37.5" x 46.5"
Pattern: North Pole Quilt Pattern exclusive to the Fat Quarter Shop Jolly Box 2020
Fabric: Deer Christmas by Urban Chiks, Fireside Pink by Moda
#jollybox
#sewsamplerbox
This cute project bag pattern is exclusive to the Fat Quarter Shop Sew Sampler September 2020 box. It was an easy make with clear color illustrations. The back of the bag uses ByAnnie’s Soft and Stable foam stabilizer and the front has a handy vinyl window. It’s a great size (16″ x 20″) and could fit a large project inside. I also loved the Balboa fabric that was included with the box. I wish I had more of it!
Finished Size: 16" x 20"
Pattern: Pack and Go Project Bag Pattern (exclusive to Sew Sampler September 2020 box) by Sherri McConnell
Fabric: Balboa by Sherri & Chelsi
Sew Happy by Sarah 