August Color Challenge Link Up

Time to Link Up your August blocks!

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 downloaded your June block yet, it is still free through the end of the month. You can find it in my Payhip store HERE. Each block now comes with a link to a full video how to!

You can also have the block instructions delivered directly to your inbox on the first of each month. Please make sure to add patternsbyjen(at)gmail(dot)com to your address book so you get the email.

Email sign up

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?

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The Broken Panes Quilt Display

It's time for a look at a few of the quilts that quilters finished!

We had some fun finishes for the Broken Panes Quilt Along and I'm excited to share them with you. Everything from showcasing fun novelty prints to bright little prints. Enjoy the display!

Anja's quilt. Follow Anja HERE.

Joanne's quilt top. Follow Joanne HERE.

Eleri's quilt. Follow Eleri HERE.

Beth's top.

Beth's backing.

Elaine's quilt top.

Elaine's backing.

I love all the different fabrics used for the quilts. Bright, dinosaur, floral, geometric, they are fabulous! I hope you enjoyed the Broken Panes Quilt Display and I truly hope you will join the next one!

Happy Stitching!

Jen

New to Patterns By Jen?

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Find paper and digital patterns in my Etsy shop.

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Join the 2019 Monthly Color Challenge!

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Tester Call!

Patterns By Jen is looking for a few more testers!

Hello! I'm Jen of Patterns By Jen and I am adding pattern testers to my group. What you need to know before applying:

1) Patterns are typically beginner friendly, though occasionally a few patterns require a little more skill. 

2)Turn around time is usually 6 - 8 weeks.

3) These are traditionally pieced quilts, no paper piecing.

4) Tops do not need to be quilted, just pieced.

5) Testers use their own fabric.

6) Quilt tops are for the testers to keep.

7) If chosen to be a PBJ testers the expectation is that you sign up (and finish) 1 to 2 patterns a year.

8) There are multiple sizes to choose from.

9) Feedback is needed and appreciated.  From a missing comma to the wrong fabric requirement, nothing is too big or to little for you to point out. I take all editing suggestions seriously.

10) Current compensation is your choice of any of the Patterns By Jen patterns (not just the one you have tested), in either digital or printed format. *Petit Hibou is excluded.*

11) Finished photos are required along with your feedback to qualify for the compensation. **Photos do not need to be professional, just show the pattern well. Photos are included in the blog posts that introduce that pattern to inspire other quilters.

12) Full patterns are to be kept secret until the pattern release. Sneak peeks, that don't show sizes or patterns, are fine. Please make sure to tag Patterns By Jen in any social media posts.

Are you interested in becoming a PBJ tester? Fill out THIS FORM, it's that easy!

Questions? Email me at patternsbyjen(at)gmail(dot)com

Happy Stitching!

Jen

New to Patterns By Jen?

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Find paper and digital patterns in my Etsy shop.

Find fun PBJ merchandise at Teespring

Join the 2019 Monthly Color Challenge!

Join the Quilt and Learn with Patterns By Jen Facebook page.

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

Studio Reboot Part 1

Have you ever walked into your space and just turned around and walked out?

That has been me the last couple of weeks, only I couldn't walk out, because I still needed to work. I don't know about you, but I struggle to accomplish much when I feel overwhelmed in my space. I also struggle at good organization. I'm on a mission to fix that, and to keep myself motivated, I'm sharing with you!

Don't expect pretty, bright, colorful pictures from me as the process moves along. I share my space with our laundry room in our basement. There are no windows, and no where to put a window in, so I have nick named it "The Dungeon."  It may be dark, but it's a big room and I am blessed to have a separate space to work in. My problem is my lack of organizational skills and, believe it or not, space. Or maybe the space issue is because of my lack of organizational skills.... Feel free to share your ideas as I go along, because I am currently fitting fabric storage, shipping products, inventory and sewing space within the laundry room. This is going to be a slow process, because I think I want to see how each change works before moving on to the next, plus I'm waiting for our second child to move to their new apartment so I can store some stuff in their room.  Shhhhhh......

Inventory.

Part of the problem with this is having so many shoebox sized boxes to move and get to. In the blue storage container are the Studio 180 Design rulers I sell.

Fabric. Quilts. Envelopes. Batting. Project boxes. Etc.

My current set up leaves so much to be desired. The drawers on the right are full of knit fabrics for clothing. I either need to get sewing or sell some of this, because  the suitcases are also full of knits. Ugh. The drawers to the left of that are quilting cottons. Then project boxes on top of envelope and box storage, and then more drawers of "stuff." Behind all of that (you can see the bins to the left and the sunflower table cloth sits over the two totes of rolled up quilts) are my quilts and bins of batting, class supplies, etc.

First step was to organize the patterns. I bought Bankers Boxes and moved all of the patterns into these three boxes. I left the rulers in the blue bin and then moved boxes that were sitting on my cutting table, and the large envelopes into this area as well.  I'm still not super thrilled with this, because it's still hard to get at everything, but at least I'm not taking out twelve shoe boxes to get to one pattern.

This doesn't look like much, but I did go through and clean out my bins of quilting cottons. When I switched my patterns to the Bankers Boxes I emptied out a lot of the shoe box containers. Now they hold separated colors, a few kits and a few years, yes years, of BOM from my LQS.  Yikes. PS. Did you notice the TWO laundry baskets of socks in the first shot? If you ever hear anyone in my family complain that they don't have any socks, you can show them that picture. Ha! Down to one basket with just a few socks missing their partners.

The next step will be to label the colors (yes I only kept enough of each color to maybe fill one shoe box), move the quilts upstairs to the soon to be empty room, move the drawers back against the wall (can't wait for the extra floor space) and go through those knits. They are driving me batty. I'm going to ignore the mess behind me and take it one slow step at a time.

If you have organizational tips feel free to leave them in the comments!

Happy Stitching!

Jen

New to Patterns By Jen?

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Find paper and digital patterns in my Etsy shop.

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Join the 2019 Monthly Color Challenge!

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Batting Buster Wrap Up

 Thank you for joining us for Batting Buster Week!

Did you find something to use your batting scraps on? Let me know in the comments what you thought of the projects shared this week.  Did you miss a day? No problem, find them listed below:

Monday - Patterns By Jen

Tuesday - Hilltop Custom Designs

Wednesday - Love Notions Sewing Patterns LLC

Thursday - Melissa Marginet

Friday- Tamrinis

I hope you enjoyed the Batting Busting ideas and were inspired to use up your scraps!

Happy Stitching!

Jen

New to Patterns By Jen?

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Find paper and digital patterns in my Etsy shop.

Find fun PBJ merchandise at Teespring

Join the 2019 Monthly Color Challenge!

Join the Quilt and Learn with Patterns By Jen Facebook page.

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

Batting Buster Day 5 - Tamarinis

It's the last day of the Batting Buster Blog Hop!

Tammy of Tamarinis has the cutest little project for you! I am going to be busy this weekend making all of these cute, but quick, batting buster ideas. Go to her blog to get her Batting Buster idea!

Don't miss the rest of the ideas for using up your batting scraps!

Monday - Patterns By Jen

Tuesday - Hilltop Custom Designs

Wednesday - Love Notions Sewing Patterns LLC

Thursday - Melissa Marginet

Friday- Tamrinis

Happy Stitching!

Jen

New to Patterns By Jen?

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Find paper and digital patterns in my Etsy shop.

Find fun PBJ merchandise at Teespring

Join the 2019 Monthly Color Challenge!

Join the Quilt and Learn with Patterns By Jen Facebook page.

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

Batting Buster Day 4 - Melissa Marginet

Welcome to day 4 of our Batting Buster week!

Today's Batting Busting idea comes from Melissa Marginet. She shares a super cute little project to help you use your small batting scraps. Head to her website to see more of her Batting Busting Idea.

Personally I really want the flowers in the background, my thumb is definitely NOT green!

Don't miss the rest of the ideas for using up your batting scraps!

Monday - Patterns By Jen

Tuesday - Hilltop Custom Designs

Wednesday - Love Notions Sewing Patterns LLC

Thursday - Melissa Marginet

Friday- Tamrinis

Happy Stitching!

Jen

New to Patterns By Jen?

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Find paper and digital patterns in my Etsy shop.

Find fun PBJ merchandise at Teespring

Join the 2019 Monthly Color Challenge!

Join the Quilt and Learn with Patterns By Jen Facebook page.

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

Batting Buster Day 3 - Love Notions Sewing Patterns LLC

Welcome back for Day 3 in our Batting Buster Blog Hop!

This Batting Buster idea is too fun, and I plan to have one made by the end of the day, or maybe by the end of the weekend. This fun little project comes from Love Notions. Some people may think this is a winter idea, but I'm tired of burning my hands on a hot steering wheel this summer, and this is going to solve all my problems.

Head to Love Notions to get all the details for this Batting Buster Idea. Don't miss the rest of the ideas for using up your batting scraps!

Monday - Patterns By Jen

Tuesday - Hilltop Custom Designs

Wednesday - Love Notions Sewing Patterns LLC

Thursday - Melissa Marginet

Friday- Tamrinis

Happy Stitching!

Jen

New to Patterns By Jen?

Newsletter sign up

Find paper and digital patterns in my Etsy shop.

Find fun PBJ merchandise at Teespring

Join the 2019 Monthly Color Challenge!

Join the Quilt and Learn with Patterns By Jen Facebook page.

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

Batting Buster Day 2 - Hilltop Custom Designs

Welcome to Day 2 in our Batting Busting Blog Hop!

Today I'm sending you over to Hilltop Custom Designs where Amista is going to share details on her cute little Batting Busting idea.  Make sure to leave a note to let her know you were there!

Don't miss the rest of the bloggers this week!

Monday - Patterns By Jen

Tuesday - Hilltop Custom Designs

Wednesday - Love Notions Sewing Patterns LLC

Thursday - Melissa Marginet

Friday- Tamrinis

Now excuse me while I go stitch myself an adorable hexagon pincushion!

Happy Stitching!

Jen

New to Patterns By Jen?

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Find paper and digital patterns in my Etsy shop.

Find fun PBJ merchandise at Teespring

Join the 2019 Monthly Color Challenge!

Join the Quilt and Learn with Patterns By Jen Facebook page.

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

Batting Buster Day 1 - Flamingo Can Koozie

Welcome to day one of the Batting Busting blog hop!

Who has extra batting lying around? I have scraps that are too small to be sewn together for wall hangings or miniatures, even mug rugs can be tough if the batting piece is too thin. It feels like such a waste to just toss them. That's what inspired the idea of a Batting Busting Week. I hope you enjoy the fun and unique ideas we are sharing with you!

Who doesn't love a cold beverage on a hot summer day? A Can Koozie is a great way to use batting scraps and some fun fabric.

For this project I actually used a scrap piece of Insul-Bright®. I *really* hate the thought of tossing those pieces and felt this would be a great way to use it up. I grabbed some scrap flannel, too. This is a fun project to make and use up scraps at the same time.

Supplies

4 1/2" x 9 1/2" focal fabric

4 1/2" x 9 1/2" flannel or quilters cotton

4" x 8" insulbrite or cotton batting

coordinating thread

Assembly

Using your focal fabric, fold right sides together, short ends together.

Sew short ends together using a 1/4" seam allowance.

Repeat with flannel backing.

Press seams open.

Turn focal fabric right side out. Slip it inside the flannel piece so right sides are together.

Pin top edge. I like to match up my seams first. The find pin the other side.

Once I have those to pinned I find the half way mark on both sides of the first pins.

***NOTE*** If you are using directional fabric make sure you are pinning the top of the koozie.

Carefully sew a 1/4" seam, making sure not to catch the other side underneath your needle.

Pull the flannel right side out.

Tuck the flannel inside the focal fabric so that the wrong side of each piece is together. I like to press the sewn edge before the next step to give me a good edge to work with.

This step takes the longest. I don't like to sew the Insul-Bright® directly into the seam allowance because it gets too bulky. Instead I tuck and manipulate it after I've sewn the top seam. It takes a little bit of time and patience, but you should be able to move it around until it is laying flat inside and up against the top edge. Pin in place and top stitch through all 3 layers.

Next press a 1/4" seam allowance on the bottom of the flannel and focal fabrics.

Pin really well along the bottom making sure to catch the Insul-Bright® to hold it in place.

I like to push my pins all the way in, that way I know if I catch one of them I am getting too close to fabric underneath and I need to adjust it so I don't accidentally catch it.

Top stitch all the way around the bottom. That's it! You are done!

Now get outside and enjoy August!!

Don't miss the rest of the Batting Buster ideas coming this week!

Monday - Patterns By Jen

Tuesday - Hilltop Custom Designs

Wednesday - Love Notions Sewing Patterns LLC

Thursday - Melissa Marginet

Friday- Tamrinis

Happy Stitching!

Jen

New to Patterns By Jen?

Newsletter sign up

Find paper and digital patterns in my Etsy shop.

Find fun PBJ merchandise at Teespring

Join the 2019 Monthly Color Challenge!

Join the Quilt and Learn with Patterns By Jen Facebook page.

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