Wednesday, January 30, 2019

Turnabout Patchwork Blog hop ~ Arrowhead

Welcome to my stop on the Turnabout Patchwork Blog Hop!




I love a good quilt book, don't you? I jumped at the chance to have a look at Teresa's new Turnabout Patchwork book. Grab your copy at that link.

I chose to do Arrowhead. There is something striking about it made up in neutrals. I chose to go a different route though, I've been pulled towards gradiating patterns, and I found the perfect fabric in Garden Variety from Lullaboutiqe for Moda.




The Arrowhead pattern is perfect for precuts. I chose to use a Layer Cake (2 actually to get the gradiating pattern I wanted). Add some yardage and you have a gorgeous quilt.

The pattern was very simple to follow, and very quick to put together.




I chose to do the same quilting that was done for the quilt in the book, but I used my fancy wavy stitching on my machine. It was a simple finish to a simple quilt. I wish it hadn't been a bazillion degrees below zero, because I would have loved to have grabbed more photos.

You could easily get this pieced, and dare I say quilted, in a weekend. You know, if you didn't have kids that needed to be fed or anything like that. Ha!




I am excited to be able to offer the opportunity to you to win your own digital copy of Turnabout Patchwork! Since I don't like to have a lot of extra fabric hanging around my space, I'm also giving away all my "leftovers" from piecing this quilt. This includes FORTY-THREE 10" squares.

How do you enter? Simply answer this question (in Rafflecoptor, not directly in the comments) How many quilt books do you own? Be honest! Or don't, we'll never know! Good luck! **Due to the different laws for giveaways in different countries, the fabric giveaway is open to US only. I'm so sorry.**


a Rafflecopter giveaway

I am participating in day one of the blog hop, but we have days and days of beautiful quilts to look forward to! Don't miss my fellow quilters/bloggers as we hop through Feburay 6th!

January 30 - Quarter Snow Ball

Arrowhead
Sweet Bows
Tutti-frutti
Sun Dunes

February 1 - Modern Shoofly

Flying Rainbows
Flying Butterflies
Flying Flags
Flying Confetti

February 2 - Half Square Triangles (HSTs) and squares

Rose Garden Star
Swirl
Houndstooth
Diamond Star

February 4 - Striped Fabric Block

Shells
Xs and Os
Jaws
Arrowhead

February 6 - Coordinated Strips

Peaks
Diamond and Crosses
Knots and Crosses

February 8 - Double Disappearing Nine-Patch

Holiday Trellis
Stepping Stones
Two for One
Cross



So many bloggers, so many quilts. You are going to be drooling by the end!
Happy Stitching!
Jen



Don't forget to visit Teresa!


New to Patterns By Jen?


Find paper and digital patterns in my Etsy shop.




Follow me on Instagram and Facebook for daily sneak peeks and updates.

Island Batik Getaway Hop ~ Oh Deer!

Welcome to my stop on the Getaway Blog Hop from Island Batik!




I'm excited to share my quilt with you using the amazingly gorgeous Oh Deer fabric line provided to me by Island Batik as part of their Ambassador program.




For this quilt I chose to use the Quick Curve Ruler from Sew Kind of Wonderful. I used their Fun Poinsettia pattern as inspiration. However I wanted to make it more "mine" and decided to use the units created to make subtle pinwheels.




This also gave me a chance to show off some of the larger prints, which definitely needed to be shown off.

Here is a very quick video on how I sew the curves.




This quilt finished at 60" square. I backed it with a soft, dark brown flannel as it will be headed to Montana soon.




This is my last post as an Island Batik Ambassador as I chose not to reapply this year. At the end of the blog post you will find a few giveaways to try your hand at. First, though, a look back at a few of my favorites as a 2018 Island Batik Ambassador.


















Etsy pattern

Now for the fun stuff! If you follow me you know I don't like to have a lot of extra fabric around. I like my space clear and free for creativity. To help keep that up I'm giving away ALL of my leftovers and scraps from Island Batik. Say what?! It's true! I have two bundles to giveaway. The first has mostly 1/2 yard cuts in it and then a bag of scraps. The second has mostly 10" squares in it and a bunch of scraps. Scraps can be anything from 1" strips to 4" strips. All YOU have to do is answer the question (through Rafflecopter, not directly in the comments): What is your favorite color? Simple! The giveaway is open through February 6th to give everyone a chance to join. Due to different laws governing giveaways in different countries I have to limit this to US only. I'm so sorry.


a Rafflecopter giveaway


Island Batik also has a giveaway going on. You can win a 20 piece fat quarter bundle. Go to their blog post and enter at the bottom. That giveaway ends on February 2nd.

Island Batik Blog

I hope you have enjoyed the Oh Deer! Pinwheel quilt, as well as the look back at a few of my favorite Island Batik Ambassador makes.

Happy Stitching!
Jen


New to Patterns By Jen?


Find paper and digital patterns in my Etsy shop.



Follow me on Instagram and Facebook for daily sneak peeks and updates.

Friday, January 25, 2019

January Color Challenge Link Up

Welcome to the first link up of the 2019 Monthly Color Challenge!




This year the link up is available just for you to share your gorgeous blocks, there are no prizes. You will need either an Instagram account, a Flickr account, or you will need to email me directly so I can put your block on my Instagram account and get you added. patternsbyjen(at)gmail(dot)com




If you haven't gotten your January block yet, it is still free through the end of the month. You can find it in my Payhip store HERE.


You can also have the block instructions delivered directly to your inbox on the first of each month.



If you are having trouble getting the link up to work please read THIS POST.




If you haven't already, you can join the Quilt and Learn with Patterns By Jen Facebook group to get inspiration for you blocks as well as tips, advice and encouragement from quilters sewing along with you.

If you missed the introduction post you can find it HERE. This post will be updated each month with a link to the new Color Challenge post, so you may want to bookmark it.

I can't wait to see your blocks! Thank you for stitching along with the 2019 Monthly Color Challenge!

Happy Stitching!
Jen

New to Patterns By Jen?


Find paper and digital patterns in my Etsy shop.



Follow me on Instagram and Facebook for daily sneak peeks and updates.

Tuesday, January 1, 2019

January Color Challenge: Green

Welcome to the first month of the 2019 Monthly Color Challenge!




If you are new to the 2019 Monthly Color Challenge you can hop over quick to read through the introduction and also see the colors coming up in the months ahead.




Our first color to start the year off is: Green. This year I decided to use a little floral inspiration with my colors and for green I chose Bells of Ireland.

I chose this particular flower because of the gorgeous, fresh color, but also because my family has a little bit of Irish in them. The story goes that my great, great, great (I'm not sure how many greats, I should check into that) grandfather witnessed a murder by the Irish mob. He had to leave in order to not be killed himself, so he flipped a coin between Australia and America. Thanks to that coin flip I am here today. ;)




Are you a beginner? For this months block these posts may be helpful:




For a full ensemble of my tips for beginners see the Beginners Unite page.


For this months block you will need:

Mat
Rotary cutter
Ruler
Marking pen/pencil

Specialty rulers that are NOT required, but helpful (the links above go over trimming with specialty and regular rulers):



A great group of bloggers will be joining us throughout the year. January's bloggers are:




Cinzia - Raconteur



Make sure you visit their blogs, see their beautiful blocks and maybe even get some tips.

Piecing tips




Chain piecing is your friend. I sew as much as I can before I have to go press.




This is the first set of chain piecing. I then pressed.




Remember to finger press your strips before hitting them with the iron, this keeps them from getting wonky.




Then I do the next set of chain piecing, press and trim them all to the required sizes. This means I'm a little out of order with the instructions, but once you start feeling comfortable with piecing quilt block units I encourage you to start chain piecing as much as possible before pressing. It speeds up the process for you.




Remember to sew with the Square in a Square unit on top so you can watch where the stitching meets and you don't lose your point.

I never trim my blocks, but if you are a trimmer I recommend waiting until all of your blocks are pieced and then finding trimming them all at once. Your goal is 12 1/2" unfinished blocks. I don't trim because I don't want to lose my points and since we make the units that makeup the block larger and trim them down, you should be fairly close to the correct size. If you are off 1/8 of an inch or less I really discourage trimming. If you are off 1/4 of an inch then instead of trimming I would suggest taking a look at your seam allowance and cutting, because trimming will definitely cause you to lose the look of the block.

For tips on putting together blocks that are slightly off read THIS POST.




Ready for your free January Monthly Color Challenge block? Find it HERE. Remember there is a change this year and the block is available for free only through January 31st. Use #2019monthlycolorchallenge on social media so we can see your blocks.

To get the block instructions delivered right to your email sign up HERE.

This will not give you January's block, you still need to go to Payhip and download it, but from this point on it will come directly to your inbox.

Happy Stitching!
Jen

New to Patterns By Jen?


Find paper and digital patterns in my Etsy shop.

Join the 2019 Monthly Color Challenge coming soon!

Follow me on Instagram and Facebook for daily sneak peeks and updates.