Kindness Quilt: A gift for a new little blessing

In 2020 I joined a mystery sew along hosted by Sweet Treasures Quilts called the Kindness Project. The goal was to make a quilt and gift it to someone affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. I finished my quilt top and then tucked it away . . . pondering who to gift it to.  I knew the answer would come to my heart, and it did.

I am taking a little license with my choice, but I think you will understand why.  It goes without saying that 2020 was a difficult, sad and challenging year for so many people. But one miraculous blessing came out of that year. A friend of mine became pregnant, after 14 years of trying! When I learned that she was expecting, I was thrilled for her. A few weeks later when I learned she was having a girl, I thought . . . THAT is where my Kindness Quilt will go . . . to the baby of my courageous, funny, loving, big hearted friend whose dream finally came true during the craziest of times.  I’m hoping this quilt will be much loved by a baby girl who represents hope and love and all things good. 

I did find a way to spread some cheer to others whose daily life was directly affected by COVID. My mom lives in a lovely senior apartment complex during the winter months. While it is not an assisted living facility, it is under the management of the local hospital. For much of the year, all of the residents have been under tight restrictions. During the worst months, Mom and I visited only through Facetime and countless phone calls and texts. When restrictions loosened up a bit last winter, I was able to drop off some table toppers, wall hangings, and small quilts from my sample closet. Mom was then able to gift those to ladies that she knew needed a particular pick-me-up. I know there are many of you who did something similar, and my hat goes off to you! We put our hearts into each of our projects, and love goes with the quilt when it is gifted to someone else, even someone we may have never met.   

The sweet machine quilting that you see on the Kindness Quilt was done by a talented and caring new machine quilter that I’ve used a lot lately, Katy of Woods Edge Quilting. She does excellent work and has a passion for the quilting community and for helping others. I would highly recommend Woods Edge Quilting if you are looking for someone to machine quilt your next project.

Would you like to make a Kindness Quilt? Terri of Sweet Treasures Quilts has compiled her sew along instructions into a free printable PDF. Terri is another woman with a true passion for the quilting community and for making each day sunnier. Thank you, Terri!

As I write this blog post my heart is full. Even during difficult times, blessings still arise! I am blessed to be part of our quilting community, and I appreciate the kindness that each of you have shown me.

~Taunja

New pattern: Buffalo Check Table Topper

Last year you all shared a lot of love for my new buffalo check patterns, which included two bed quilts (Buffalo Check Winter and Buffalo Check Autumn) and the Buffalo Check Christmas Runner. I also heard from some of you that while you like table runners, you really prefer table toppers! Well, I aim to please, so I came up with a new pattern, my Buffalo Check Table Topper, which is really two patterns in one. Yes, this pattern will provide instructions to make either a Halloween or Christmas table topper for your home!

 

The Buffalo Check Table Topper finishes at 30 1/2” square. The construction is straight forward and easy enough for an advanced beginner. The only “tricky” part is making sure that you keep all of your whites, lights and darks in the correct order, but my instructions include lots of tips for doing that. Once again, I used Moda Bella solids for the buffalo check portions, and then incorporated some favorite prints for the gifts, pumpkins and stars.

 

In the Christmas version, both of the gifts are made using Sweetwater prints I had in my stash. The red dot you see in the star points and gift ribbon is Moda’s Essential Dots Country Red (8654 101). The red gingham in the star centers is a mystery, just something cute I found my stash. The great thing about this pattern is that the fabric requirements are so small, you can pull a lot from your scrap bins!

 

In the Halloween version, the pumpkins are made using an older Lori Holt autumn text print and a candy corn print by April Rosenthal for Moda.  The candy corn print is part of April’s Midnight Magic II collection, which is scheduled to arrive in stores in May. I also used Midnight Magic II for the star points, star centers and pumpkin stems.

 

I used the black and white diagonal gingham from Midnight Magic to bind both quilts.

I was so pleased with the quilting that Starlit Quilts did on my Buffalo Check Christmas Runner, that I asked her to do the same for both of my table toppers. The design and scale are just perfect for these small quilts.

 

The Buffalo Check Table Topper pattern is available on my Etsy Shop in PDF format, and I’ve listed fabric requirements below. 

My Etsy Shop also has a limited supply of the Bella Solids needed for the buffalo check portion. 

Materials for Christmas Version

Green Gift............................................................................................. 1/8 yard or scraps

Black Gift.............................................................................................. 1/8 yard or scraps

Star Centers.......................................................................................... 1/8 yard or scraps

Red Star Points & Ribbons..................................................................... 1/4 yard

White (Moda Bella Solid 9900 98 White Bleached)................................. 1/3 yard

Light (Moda Bella Solid 9900 178 Etchings Stone).................................. 2/3 yard

Dark (Moda Bella Solid 9900 128 Stone)................................................ 1/3 yard

Backing................................................................................................. 1 1/8 yards

Binding.................................................................................................. 1/3 yard

Materials for Halloween Version

Orange A............................................................................................... 1/6 yard or scraps

Orange B............................................................................................... 1/6 yard or scraps

Star Centers.......................................................................................... 1/8 yard or scraps

Black Stem............................................................................................ 5” square/scrap

Black Star Points.................................................................................... 1/6 yard

White (Moda Bella Solid 9900 98 White Bleached)................................. 1/3 yard

Light (Moda Bella Solid 9900 178 Etchings Stone).................................. 2/3 yard

Dark (Moda Bella Solid 9900 128 Stone)................................................ 1/3 yard

Backing................................................................................................. 1 1/8 yards

Binding.................................................................................................. 1/3 yard

I hope you enjoy this new buffalo check pattern.  Thanks for stopping by!

~Taunja

Brenda Riddle's "Sophie" collection ships to stores

Brenda Riddle’s new “Sophie” fabric collection has finally shipped to quilt stores! Sophie is the sweet pink and green collection that I used for my newest quilt pattern, By the Hours. With delicate florals and cheerful gingham prints, "Sophie" is perfect for a baby quilt or any spring sewing project you may have in mind.

My By the Hours pattern is a two-for-one, as it includes instructions to make both the baby quilt and the coordinating nursery pillow. The quilt finishes at 38 1/2” x 44 1/2” and the pillow finishes at 16 1/2” square.

Fabric selection is fairly easy. Begin with 8 coordinating fat quarters and then select a green for the vine, a neutral for the background, and of course the binding and backing. The material list will make both projects!  By the Hours is available as digital PDF pattern on my Etsy Shop.

You may remember that one of my Instagram friends, Sigi, was kind enough to do the pattern testing on By the Hours. She used a combination of Brenda Riddle and Lella Boutique pastels for her test samples. Sigi's generous spirit also extended to taking some pictures of her finished samples so that I could share them with you.  Thank you so much Sigi! You are a gem!

Thank you for stopping by today. Have a wonderful week, quilting friends!

~Taunja

Star Crossed Pines: A finished quilt featuring Christmas Morning

Spring is slowly arriving in Minnesota. It’s a joy to hear the robins tweeting in the evergreen outside my window. I am so excited for my grass to green, the perennials to peek out from the soil, and the trees to bud. But we quilters also know that in a month or two, several wonderful Christmas and winter fabric collections will be hitting the stores, and we have to be prepared! As crazy as it sounds, now is the time to plan any quilts you may want to have completed by next Christmas. I hope that my Star Crossed Pines pattern might be one on your list!

When I shipped my Star Crossed Pines top to be machine quilted, I was already in love with it. But when it came back from the quilter, I was overwhelmed with happiness. Star of Starlit Quilts selected the perfect pantograph to make my quilt twinkle! Now the white spaces in my quilt are filled with magical wintery stars and swirls. Star always seems to know what a quilt needs to turn it from pretty to beautiful, and I can’t thank her enough.

The fabric you see in this quilt is Christmas Morning by Lella Boutique for Moda, and it is scheduled to ship to quilt shops in June. This beautiful collection features a wonderful range of cranberry, sage and silvery gray prints. Click here for Moda's brochure of Christmas Morning, with SKUs.)

If you would like to start scheming your own Star Crossed Pines quilt, the pattern is available in paper and PDF format on my Etsy Shop. Maybe you could even encourage your favorite quilt shop to pull together a kit when the fabric arrives! Sometimes all it takes is a nudge from customers and a quilt shop will kit a particular pattern.  (Quilts shops can contact me directly for wholesale pattern offerings.)

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I hope you all are enjoying good weather, good health and lots of time at your sewing machines!

~Taunja

Update: Fat Quarter Lattice Quilt is back from the quilter

Hello quilting friends! I haven’t posted on my blog in about a month, and a few of you have noticed. I’ve received some sweet emails and messages, just checking in to see if everything is okay in the Carried Away Quilting sewing room. All is well here, I’ve just been busy behind the scenes.  I do have some fun things to show you in the coming weeks, including a new pattern.

Today I thought I’d share progress on a winter project that I just got back from the machine quilter, my Fat Quarter Lattice quilt. I’m so pleased with the texture. Many thanks to Star of Starlit Quilts who did the machine quilting. We chose a panto called Swirling Feathers, which softens all the angles wonderfully. I have a few evenings of hand binding ahead of me, but thankfully I enjoy that job.

Fat Quarter Lattice is a free tutorial on my blog. Have you been collecting some pretty fat quarters? Maybe today is the day to put them to good use! You’ll find all the details on how to make your own Fat Quarter Lattice quilt here.  You just need 16 fat quarters (top and scrappy binding), 3 1/4 yards neutral, and 5 yards backing.

Have a wonderful week! And thank you so much for checking in on me. Our quilting community is a blessing!

~Taunja

A classic sailboat pillow

Over the years I have collected a small library of quilt patterns and books. On evenings when I am too tired to sew but have quilting on my mind, I enjoy perusing them and pondering future projects. My husband approves of this pastime as well, because it means he gets to control the clicker and can watch golf, or fishing or some other sporting event on TV without me complaining.

Recently, we shared just such an evening of marital bliss . . . Brad watching “Wicked Tuna” and Taunja thumbing through her pattern collection . . . when I came across “Boat Day” by the Pattern Basket. I purchased that pattern a while ago, thinking someday I will have a grandchild who wants a sailboat quilt. Rather than wait for that wonderful someday, I decided to sew up a single “Boat Day” quilt block and make a pillow for our house by the lake.

I kept the palette classic and understated for my “Boat Day” pillow, so that it would look pretty sitting in the corner of my dining room. The background fabric is Moda’s Indigo Chambray (#12051 13), which has nice texture and depth. The navy print is from the Sweet Tea collection by Sweetwater, and the stripes you see on the sails and binding are from Lella Boutique collections.

I hope someday to make the full “Boat Day” quilt featuring a regatta of vibrant, happy sailboats. But for now, I’m quite happy with my grown up sailboat pillow. And I’m thankful for quiet evenings spent with my sidekick, where we can both enjoy life’s simple pleasures.

Wishing you all sunny days ahead, and plenty of time to get carried away quilting!

~Taunja

Crossing Petals kits available at Sweet Treasures Quilts

It’s the first week of March, and we are finally experiencing seasonally appropriate weather in Minnesota. The polar vortex is gone! High temps are in the 40s (F), the sun is shining and the bird are chirping. Although we still have some snow on the ground, it is melting slowly. Spring is just around the corner. Halleluiah!

If you are looking for a quick spring sewing project, then the team at Sweet Treasures Quilts has the perfect idea for you! They have kitted up a lovely version of my Crossing Petals pattern, featuring a collection of prints by Lella Boutique for Moda. Shop owner Terri has photographed her sample with a pot of gorgeous blush tulips. That certainly makes me long for spring!

Crossing Petals finishes at 20” square.  It is easy to sew and easy to quilt, making it an ideal project for a beginning sewist. It’s also the perfect project for those of us who want to quickly jump-start our spring decorating with a new table topper.

Hop on over to Sweet Treasures Quilts to grab your kit today. It includes my pattern, as well as all the fabric for the front, back and binding.

Have a great week, everyone!

~Taunja

Photos courtesy of Sweet Treasures Quilts.