Thanksgiving sale at Carried Away Quilting

I am truly thankful for all of you! I appreciate that you take time out of your busy lives to read my blog, and that you order and enjoy Carried Away Quilting patterns. When you reach out to me, through social media or email, to share a finished project or even just to ask a question, it is a joy to connect with you.

As we head into Thanksgiving week in the United States, I wanted to extend my heart-felt thanks to all of you. Now through Sunday, November 29, all items in my Etsy shop are 20% off.  No coupon code needed.

And don’t forget, I do have several free (and fun) tutorials on my blog.

Have a wonderful week and get carried away quilting!

~Taunja

Fabric kits for Buffalo Check Winter

Hello quilting friends! I’m popping in quickly to let you know that LouLou’s Fabric Shop has restocked fabric kits for my Buffalo Check Winter pattern!  LouLou’s offered kits when the pattern released in August, but they quickly sold out. Here's your second chance to nab one!

Remember, the pattern is a digital (PDF) pattern which needs to be purchased from my Etsy shop. The fabric kits are available directly from LouLou’s.

That’s the post. I told you I was popping in quickly. Have a great day everyone!

~Taunja

Christmas quilts out early this year

This weekend I was seized by the desire to decorate for the holidays. I don’t usually pull out my Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving. But this year is different. We’ve had three snowfalls since the middle of October. Our extended families won’t be gathering for Thanksgiving due to the pandemic. I rarely leave the house anymore. I’m not whining or complaining, I’m just deciding to make the best of it and give myself a warm hug. As one of my Instagram friends said, “Bring on the merry!” That’s exactly what I decided to do all around the house, starting with our bedroom.

We don’t have a fancy bedroom. The carpet is worn and needs to be replaced.  The walls could seriously use a fresh coat of paint. Our furniture is over 25 years old and has survived five moves, as is evident by several nicks, dings and scratches. But the room is spacious and cozy at the same time. And when I add in three Christmas quilts and a few other seasonal touches, it becomes a wonderful haven.

I’ve never had twinkle lights in my bedroom before, but I certainly plan to do that from now on, and not just for the holidays.  Twinkle lights make everything better, don’t they?

Even my husband didn’t complain about my early jumpstart for the season. While I was bustling about the house putting up decorations, Brad was working outside, prepping his ice house for winter fishing. (If you curious about that, read this post from last year: Stitching while ice fishing.) It will be more than a month before our lake makes ice thick enough for safe fishing, but like me, Brad is ready to embrace the season. “Bring on the fish!”

I’m wishing you all peace, warm shelter, good health and happiness in the weeks to come. Sending a warm hug your way!

~Taunja

The scoop on the quilts:

On the bed: My new Buffalo Check Winter quilt pattern, featuring Winter White by Holly Taylor for Moda.

On the wall: A wall hanging I made in 2010 featuring the Fruitcake collection by BasicGrey for Moda.  The pattern is from the book Simply Charming Two by Moose on the Porch Quilts.

In the basket: My Star Crossed Pines pattern (runner version) featuring several holiday collections from Moda Fabrics.

 

Free block pattern: Snazzy Snowflake

This past week we experienced unseasonably warm weather.  November high temps in the 70s are rare in Minnesota. The snow we received in October disappeared quickly, and we were able to get outside to finish our autumn yard chores and enjoy the sunshine.  But mother nature can’t fool me.  I know that bitter cold and mounds of white stuff are just around the corner. So, I embraced the inevitable and sewed up this pretty snowflake pillow.

I’m pleased to tell you that the snowflake block is a free pattern from Highway 10 Designs, a Canadian based design team that I came to know through the wonderful quilting community on Instagram.  They designed this Snazzy Snowflake Quilt Block years ago as part of a sampler BOM program with area quilt shops, and now it is a free PDF on their website!

I added 2 1/2” borders to all four sides so that I could use a 16” pillow form I had on hand.  A bit of simple straight-line quilting accented the snowflake shape nicely. To finish my pillow, I used the simple envelope back technique and bound my pillow just like I would bind a quilt. 

I used fabrics from my stash. The blue background is Moda’s Indigo Chambray (#12051 13). The white snowflake is from Gingiber’s Merrily collection from a couple of years ago.  The warm gray binding and backing material are also from Gingiber’s Merrily collection.

When I carried my cute pillow to the guest room to photograph it, I felt a rush of happy inspiration. My Buffalo Check Autumn quilt is currently on the bed in that room. As I was moving it out of the way, it dawned on me that if I fold it in half and just display the denim stars (hiding the pumpkins), it will look wonderful as a winter “foot of the bed” quilt. And . . . bonus . . . it coordinates so nicely with my new pillow! Don’t you just love happy accidents like that?

Thanks for stopping by today, quilting friends.  And thank you to the ladies at Highway 10 Designs for making this Snazzy Snowflake Quilt Block pattern available to all of us!

~Taunja

Christmas Economy Blocks

I got a little sidetracked this weekend, quilting friends.  I had fully intended to organize the scrap baskets and shelves in my fabric closet. Unfortunately, I was easily distracted by a bin of festive Sweetwater Christmas prints I had saved from past projects. So instead of organizing, I found myself cutting and sewing. Before I knew it, I had made four holiday Economy Blocks to share with you.

Just in case you missed my most recent posts, I’ve provided a detailed tutorial on making these 4 1/2” Economy Blocks from your stash. Let me warn you though, you won’t be able to stop at just one, or even two!

Sweetwater’s fabric collections nearly always include text prints, which are fun to fussy cut and feature in a small block. I also appreciate that new Sweetwater lines, like this year’s Christmas Card collection, typically coordinate with their past fabric releases. I’m pretty sure these Economy Blocks include prints from three Sweetwater collections. The lovely red and green prints with the soft white snowflakes are from Janet Clare's Wintertide collection. 

I also wanted to share a tip with you regarding directional or text prints. Naturally, text prints are delightful to use in the center square.

But they can also add visual interest in the “inside” square.  The magic is this . . . if you cut your 3 1/2” square twice on the diagonal and rearrange the pieces, they will still be directional (i.e. read horizontally).

That’s it for today. Now head on over to your own scrap bins and start cranking out some Economy Blocks!

~Taunja