Jingle Birds patchwork pillow & giveaway with Stash Addict Quilts

Hello there, quilting friends! If you are looking for a quick Christmas gift to make, I have just the project for you: a cheery winter pillow!

This patchwork pillow features a festive collection called “Jingle Birds” by Keiki for Moda Fabrics. You can make your own by following my free tutorial: Romantic Patchwork Pillow.

Don't you just love the mix of traditional red and green with this modern, steely gray? What a delightful collection!

I embellished my pillow with some crocheted lace that I found at an antique store. On top of that I layered a string of fluffy pom-pom trim I purchased at a local quilt shop. For binding I used the wonderful red gingham from Bonnie & Camille's "Basics" collection.

To highlight the dainty snowflakes, I added French knots using Aurifil's aurifloss in natural white (2021). If you are adept at hand embroidery, there is a lot you could do to embellish this piece!

To accent the pretty patchwork squares, I added a few vertical lines of machine quilting, spaced 1/8" apart. I used Aurifil’s 80 wt in dove (2600). Typically I use 50 wt when machine quilting, but I had the 80 wt on hand from an applique project. The thread color is absolutely perfect, and it quilts up just as nicely as 50 wt in my machine!

The kind folks at Stash Addict Quilts would like to give you a head start at making your own winter pillow, so they are offering this wonderful giveaway: 1 charm pack of Jingle Birds and 1/3 yard coordinating fabric as shown in my project. Note: my tutorial only calls for a mini charm pack, so you will have lots of squares left over to make another fun project!

That’s not all! Stash Addict Quilts is also offering my readers 15% off their entire order, now through Sunday, December 3, 2017.  Just use this code at checkout: carriedawayquilting2017

To enter the giveaway, simply leave a comment below. Be sure to include your email address. The giveaway is open to US mailing addresses only due to the high rate of international shipping. Comments are open through 5:00 pm (CST) on Wednesday, December 6, 2017. At that time, I will do a random drawing and announce the winners. *Only one comment per person/per email address.  Email me if you are having trouble leaving a comment and I will leave a comment on your behalf. (carriedawayquilting@gmail.com)

Thank you so much, Stash Addict Quilts, for your generosity! And thank you all for stopping by the blog today. Now go and get carried away holiday quilting!

~Taunja

Project Note: 
The Romantic Patchwork Pillow tutorial provides instructions to make a 12" x 16" pillow.  In this Jingle Birds sample, I created a 10" x 16" pillow because I wanted to use a 10" x 16" pillow form I had on hand. You will see that this pillow is not quite as tall as the original, as one row of 2 1/2" squares has been omitted. I think this size is just as cute, and I've been frugal in using what I had on hand!  

Single block "Star Crossed Pines" and other gift ideas

Hello quilting friends! Today I want to share some holiday gift ideas with you. Christmas is just around the corner, and many of us are feeling disappointed that we didn’t get more homemade gifts accomplished during the year.  Well, I have two small projects that you could definitely complete before the holidays, plus another unique gift idea designed by a young artist!

Some of you are familiar with my “Star Crossed Pines” pattern, a 74” x 80” quilt featuring scrappy stars and festive pine trees. It turns out that just one block from that pattern makes a darling wall hanging . . . and a great gift!

I dug into my Fig Tree & Co. fabric stash to create this 14” x 24” mini quilt featuring just one block from Star Crossed Pines. I think the red gingham gives it a homespun holiday feel. If you own my pattern, you could create something similar in an afternoon!

Using my walking foot, I machine quilted this piece with a 1” grid layout, offset so that none of the quilting lines are in the ditch.  I think it complements the pattern nicely, and it was so easy to do! I used Aurifil 50wt thread in color number 2000 (light sand). This thread color is wonderful for so many of my Fig Tree projects!

A little wooden button finishes off the star and ties in with the soft brown binding fabric. This single Star Crossed Pine is all ready for gifting!

In the next photograph you will see another gift idea . . . printed watercolor cards!  These beautiful "Vintage Truck" notecards were designed by Mercedie Treu Designs.  Mercedie is the lovely, talented daughter of Jamie Merrill, owner of LouLou’s Fabric Shop!

These beautiful cards are printed on a rich linen stock.  The set of four would make a nice gift for a friend, but I think I will use mine individually to send notes to loved ones. I may even frame one for my desk! 

If you are interested in making the full sized version of Star Crossed Pines, LouLou's Fabric Shop has created a custom kit with fabric from Fig Tree's newest line, Hazel & Plum!

Speaking of LouLou’s, I’ve learned they also have a few kits remaining of my Picking Petals pattern featuring Comfort & Joy fabric by Riley Blake Designs. This is another project you could piece, quilt and bind in a weekend!  What a great gift it would make! Here is a picture of the quilt I made last May, which I gave to my mother-in-law for her birthday.

Thanks so much for stopping by the blog today.  I truly appreciate your support, and I know the same is true for LouLou's Fabric Shop. LouLou's was my very first blog sponsor, just two years ago.  I feel blessed to have gotten to know shop owner Jamie as a caring, trusted leader in the quilting community, and also as a kind and thoughtful friend. 

Today through Thursday, November 30, everything in my Etsy Shop is 20% off.  You just need to use the code THANKFUL2017 at checkout!

Now go and get carried away quilting, friends! There's plenty of time to stitch together a few more gifts!

~Taunja

A tea towel turned quilted banner

Hello quilting friends! Last spring (through the wonders of Instagram) I stumbled upon a talented artist who designs inspirational art prints and tea towels for the home, Stephanie of Fancy That Design House. I especially loved the hand inked, vintage look of the tea towels, so I ordered two! 

As you might expect, I didn’t use either of them as tea towels.  One of them I framed, and one of them I put in my special “do something cool with this” tub in my sewing room.  Well last weekend that second tea towel began calling my name, and I came up with this banner.

Old hymns have a way of bringing us back to special times and places in our past, don’t they? They bring me back to the small country church I attended as a girl. The church with the white curved railing around the alter and the high, beautiful stained glass windows. Old hymns bring a sense of comfort and belonging.

And isn’t it true that we don’t actually need to hear the tune . . . we can just see a few lines from a favorite hymn and suddenly the melody and the words are filling us up?  Maybe that’s why I was so drawn to Stephanie’s art! I look at my “Great is Thy Faithfulness” banner and I am filled with the sounds of a small church choir lifting their collective voices to the best of their ability, in praise. 

I'm also reminded of my Grandma Audrey, who was a choir director, and my Grandma Arlene, who frequently sang hymns around her house. Grandma Arlene could also yodel, but that’s a story for another day!

Banner making tips

Now, onto the quilty nitty gritty! I will share with you, very loosely, how I made my banner/wall hanging. I don’t have a tutorial or a pattern. This is one of those times where you just need to play and create!

I trimmed my tea towel to roughly 11 1/2” x 14 1/2”. (Yes, this was the scary part.) Basically I trimmed it so that there was about an inch of white space around all four sides of the printed design.

I sewed a slim border to the top and a pieced border to the bottom. You could make these whatever size looks good to your eye. Or you could sew a simple border around all four sides!

To make the “quilt sandwich” for this project, I used fusible fleece (Pellon 987F) instead of batting. I ironed this onto the back of my banner top.  Then I used temporary spray adhesive to add the backing fabric to create my “quilt sandwich.”

I stitched the crocheted lace trim across the top, using my walking foot and matching thread. That lace trim is from an antique store. It's one of my favorite finds and I've used it on other projects.  Sadly, I don't have much left!

Again using my walking foot, I did some simple quilting lines here and there to keep the piece together. I stitched straight lines in the borders, and I slowly stitched meandering lines around a few areas in the towel’s design.  I did not want to lose the crinkly goodness of the tea towel, so I was vary sparing in my quilting.  Just a bit of quilting should be enough to keep the banner together since I used the fusible fleece.

After trimming the excess backing fabric, I added 2 1/4” binding just like I would any quilt. There are so many fun possibilities with a project like this. I think these tea towels would also be terrific made into throw pillows!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American friends celebrating that holiday.  And to everyone, I hope you find time to get carried away quilting!  Thanks for stopping by!

~Taunja

Cloth book panel winners, courtesy of Quilt Girls

It's time to announce our giveaway winners!  Earlier this week I shared some cloth books I have made, courtesy of the kind folks at Quilt Girls! Shop owner Patricia was nice enough to give me two extra panels, which will go to two lucky readers!

If you haven't entered one of my giveaways before, my scientific method for selecting a winner is to copy and paste all of the comments into an Excel spreadsheet.  Then I do several sorts to rearrange the entries.  Then I ask a family member to chose a winning number.  I suppose something like Rafflecopter would be more efficient, but this is much more fun, and I do enjoy reading your comments as I sift through them!

• The winner of the "Fun with Flaky Friends" panel is OhioLori.
• The winner of the "A Christmas Wish" panel is DebbieChristin.

Ladies, we will be in touch so that I can ship out your panels!

Quilting friends, please visit the Quilt Girls website and check out their terrific selection of book panels, quilt panels and novelty fabrics.  Cloth books are an affordable gift that will be loved for years to come!

~Taunja 

My Timeless Day grand opening: New storefront

In July of 2016, Allison Cotton made her quilting dreams come true by opening an online quilt store, My Timeless Day. Now, just 16 months later, Allison is expanding that dream by opening a new brick and mortar storefront as well! This weekend is the Grand Opening, and Allison was kind enough to share some photos of her lovely new shop, so that I could share them with all of you!

Allison Cotton in her wonderful new storefront.

Allison’s new space features beautiful antique cabinets, wonderful lighting (I spy a chandelier!) and of course, heaps of great products! My Timeless Day carries the latest fabric collections from Moda, Riley Blake, Penny Rose, Windham and Tilda, as well as fun and useful notions, embellishments, patterns and books. 

Bolts, precuts, patterns and notions galore!

Below is a photo of Allison's store before she set up all of her merchandise and displayed her lovely quilts.  I can just imagine the fun she had organizing and decorating!

The new space was a labor of love for Allison's family.

Whether you are an online or in-person customer, you will enjoy Allison’s helpful and caring personality.  She truly wants to provide her customers with the best products and service, and she is an avid quilter. I am honored that My Timeless Day carries so many of my patterns, and kits several of them!

To celebrate their Grand Opening, My Timeless Day is offering 20% off online and in store, now through Saturday.  (Online shoppers, use the code GRANDOPENING at checkout.) Here’s the scoop:

Grand Opening Hours:
Friday, November 17 from 1:00 – 6:00 pm
Saturday, November 18 from 10:00 am – 2:00 pm

Typical Store-Front Hours:
Thursdays & Fridays from 1:00 to 6:00 pm
Saturdays from 10:00 am – 2:00 pm
*Follow My Timeless Day on Facebook, Instagram, and their blog for updates

Location:
My Timeless Day
30442 481st Avenue
Alcester, SD

On a personal note, I want to congratulate Allison and her family on the success of this new venture. I know all of Allison’s family pitched in to help make her dreams come true. Allison and I have not met in person, but we chat frequently via email and text, and I consider her a friend and feel lucky to have met her in this quilty world!

Congratulations, My Timeless Day! Best wishes!

~Taunja

Sample of Star Crossed Pines!

"A Little Sweetness" doll quilt

Have you seen the new “A Little Sweetness” collection by Tasha Noel for Riley Blake Designs?  This precious line features little girl dresses with bows, aprons, ruffles and polka dots in Tasha’s signature colors.  These dainty dresses just beg to be fussy cut and made into a doll quilt . . . so that’s what I did!

I ordered three fat quarters and some backing fabric from one of my dear sponsors, Stitches ‘N Giggles.  I paired these Tasha Noel pieces with a mint green print I had in my stash. That delicate mint floral is from Elea Lutz’s “Milk, Sugar & Flower” collection.  I still didn’t have a pattern in mind, but I was happy with this fabric combination and knew something would come to mind! 

One evening I turned to Lori Holt’s Farm Girl Vintage book for quilty inspiration and decided that 6 1/2” churn dash blocks would be perfect for fussy cutting and highlighting this sweet fabric. I made a test block, fell in love, and fussy cut five more 2 1/2” dress squares for the blocks. This kind of playful sewing really nourishes the soul!

I used Elea’s mint floral for the sashing and borders, and another “Milk, Sugar & Flower” stripe for the binding. For backing I used Tasha's main white dress print. The finished size of this doll quilt is 15 1/2” x 22 1/2”.

I used two pretty Aurifil thread colors to quilt this project: 2835 (medium mint) and 2423 (baby pink).  In my bobbin I used 2021 (natural white). I began by quilting 1/8” from the seams of the sashing and border pieces. Then I quilted soft squares on point, in both mint and pink, to highlight the blocks.

I will be gifting this doll quilt to a new baby girl who has a big sister. It’s my hope that when the baby gets older, she and her sister will have fun playing with their dollies, and that this quilt will be part of that play. There’s not a bigger reward for a quilter, is there?

Stitches 'N Giggles carries the "A Little Sweetness" collection featured here, as well as many other fabric collections, notions and the Farm Girl Vintage book! Shop owner Lori is offering my readers free shipping on all orders over $50 now through Sunday, November 19. Just use the coupon code: carriedaway

To see some other projects I've made from Tasha Noel and Elea Lutz collections, please visit these links:

• Twirlity: a fat quarter pattern
• Strawberry Biscuit Blog Hop
•  Apple Farm Blog Hop
•  Coffee Time Quilt
•  Pixie Noel Blog Tour 

Have a great day and be sure to make time to get carried away quilting!

~Taunja

November Spinning Tops blocks: Patchwork Quilt Along with Fat Quarter Shop

How did it happen? There are only two blocks left in the 2017 Patchwork Quilt Along with Fat Quarter Shop. It seems like just yesterday that I was eagerly cutting up fabric for the first block!  Today I'm sharing my November blocks: Spinning Tops!

I've been sewing with one of Brenda Riddle's beautiful collections, Fleurs.  Fat Quarter Shop carries several Brenda Riddle lines if you’d like to check them out!

I hope you'll check back on December 15, when I show my December blocks.  Then we'll need to begin setting the blocks and working on the pieced backing! Fun!

This quilt along is an annual charity event hosted by Fat Quarter Shop. The patterns are free and are posted on the 15^th of each month on the Jolly Jabber. Quilters are asked to donate $5 for each block pattern that they download.  All proceeds will go to the Make-A-Wish Foundation!  What a great opportunity for us all!

GREAT NEWS: Fat Quarter Shop still has the kit available if you want to make one in Basics by Bonnie & Camille!

Several other bloggers are quilting along! Please visit their blogs too!

Amanda from Jedi Craft Girl (@jedicraftgirl)

Amy of Diary of a Quilter (@diaryofaquilter)

Andy of A Bright Corner (@abrightcorner)

Bonnie of Cotton Way (@bonniecottonway)

Camille of Thimble Blossoms (@thimbleblossoms)

Debbie of Happy Little Cottage (@happylittlecottage1)

Greg of Grey Dogwood Studio (@greydogwoodstudio)

Heidi of Buttons and Butterflies (@buttonsandbutterflies)

Melissa of Happy Quilting (@happyquiltingmc)

Melissa of Oh How Sweet (@ohhowsweet)

Pat Sloan of Pat Sloan.com (@quilterpatsloan)

Sedef of Down Grapevine Lane (@downgrapevinelane)

Sherri of A Quilting Life (@aquiltinglife)

Sondra of Out of the Blue Quilts (@sondradavison)

Taunja of Carried Away Quilting (@taunjalynn)

Tina of Emily Ann's Kloset (@emilyannskloset)

Carrie Nelson/Miss Rosie of Moda Cutting Table

Thanks for stopping by! Remember to share your progress on the 2017 Patchwork Quilt Along Facebook group! And be sure to post your own blocks using the hashtag #patchworkquiltalong on Instagram!   

~Taunja

Thanksgiving cloth book and a giveaway with Quilt Girls

Are you looking for a quick, homemade gift that is sure to be well loved? Then a cloth book may be the answer!  One of my terrific blog sponsors, Quilt Girls, recently sent me this adorable Thanksgiving book panel, which I was able to whip together in no time. Now I have a sweet book to gift to a young one!

“I Love to Gobble You Up” lends itself to having a sing-song, rhyming read-along with a little boy or girl. I’m pretty sure I can picture most of us reading, and gobbling, some well-loved little toes to the natural tune of this book.

Quilt Girls, has an amazing selection of cloth panel books, including classic/vintage stories, ABC/123 primers, holiday stories, and contemporary characters.  I’ve made two others and blogged about them.  Here is a nostalgic Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer book. This would be so fun to give to a child, along with the treasured movie!

I also made a vintage inspired cloth book called "Fun in Somebunny’s Garden.”  Cloth books are easy to make and they come with good instructions printed right on the panel. I have also written up some tips of my own, along with helpful pictures, from the afternoon that I made this cloth book.

The kind folks at Quilt Girls sent me two additional holiday book panels, and we are happy to offer them as giveaways. Follow these two links to see pictures of the panels that you could win:

•  Fun with Flaky Friends
•  A Christmas Wish

To enter, simply leave a comment telling me which holiday book panel you’d like to win (Fun with Flaky Friends or a Christmas Wish). Be sure to include your email address. The giveaway is open to US mailing addresses only due to the high rate of international shipping. Comments are open through 3:00 pm (CST) on Friday, November 17, 2017. At that time, I will do a random drawing and announce the winners. *Only one comment per person/per email address.  Email me if you are having trouble leaving a comment and I will leave a comment on your behalf. (carriedawayquilting@gmail.com)

Please visit the Quilt Girls website and check out their terrific selection of book panels, quilt panels and novelty fabrics.  Thanks so much for stopping by today! Gobble gobble!

~Taunja