Home for Harvest is Here

Today is a fun day for me – my bolts of Home for Harvest have arrived!

That means it is shipping to stores now and you should start seeing it while you are out and about visiting your favorite quilt shops.

That also means that I am giving away a Fat Quarter pack to one of my blog readers!  I enjoy the chance to give back to my readers whenever I have a new product that is hitting the market.  If you want to be entered to win, just leave me a comment below.

 

Here’s a closer look at the panel from the line –

 

 

I may have spent way too much time rearranging fat quarters and photographing them!  Just trying to capture the colors and how they look together. . . . .

If you would like a second chance to win a fat quarter pack, head on over to my Instagram page.  (link here)

If you would like to order some of the fabric, please go to our online store here.  I will be working on listing kits as I get them ready to go.

Woven Squares – Part 1

Today I’m going to share a few hints for those of you who were interested in sewing along with me to make the pattern Woven Squares.

 

Tip #1 – Fabric Selection

The easiest thing you can do when it comes to picking our fabric, is to start with a Moda Mini Charm Pack like this:

A Mini Charm Pack contains 42 – 2 1/2″ squares.  You don’t have to spend an hour taking 40 different fabrics from your stash, cutting off one square, then folding them all up and putting them all away again.  You are ready to start sewing right away!

Secondly, take some of those squares and audition them on the background fabric to make sure all of the prints set off.  I even cut a skinny strip of white to make sure everything was looking good before I cut out the rest of the strips.

 

#2 – Accuracy.

Accuracy is very important when it comes to working with small pieces.  I talked about this in my last sew along, so click here to review some of those tips.

 

One additional tip on accuracy – This particular design has blocks that have several seam allowances going one direction only.  That means that if your seam allowance is off, your block will not be square.   For example, if you are making a 9-patch block and your seam allowance is off, the block will still be square (though it may not be the size it is supposed to be).  If your blocks only have seams going one direction, your block may turn out a bit rectangular and when you sew them all together they may not fit together quite as well as they should.  In the photo below, my seam allowance was a little small, therefore the block turned out a little bit wider than the block next to it.  That means you have to trim a bit, or fudge.  It’s much easier to start out with the right size and avoid that problem!

 

#3 Pressing

Pressing is also very important for accuracy.  Make sure that there isn’t extra fabric hiding in the fold next to your seam like this:

There is probably 3-4 threads hiding in there – per side of the seam allowance.  That could add up to 1/8″ on this seam alone, not to mention all the other seams in the quilt.

 

Notice how I am just using the edge of the iron (see photo below) to press the seam toward the cream?  I am not taking the entire iron and resting it on top of my seam allowances, but I am using the edge of the iron to gently push the seam to the side and make sure there is no extra fabric hiding there.

 

You may also choose to press this seam open.  If you are going to iron the seams open, I suggest using a smaller stitch length and matching color thread.  The stitches are more exposed when you iron the seams open and this will help with strength and durability.

When I press my seams open, I start from the back side like this –

 

After the seam is pressed, I flip it over and go over it quickly with the iron again to make sure that the seam is laying flat.

 

#4 – Save Some Time when cutting up the strip units.

If you have this Shape Cut ruler or Gudrun’s Stripology ruler.  The ruler has slits that you stick the rotary blade through and it allows you to make 4 cuts without having to move your ruler (on this particular pattern).

 

When doing the strip units, watch out for what is called “The Rainbow Effect”.  Notice how my strip set curves up and to the right?  Every 4-5 cuts I square up the left side of the strip unit to make sure that I am staying square.

 

In the photo below, you can see where I had to trim up a little bit to stay square.  Anytime you are doing strip units, it is a great habit to get into and will help improve your accuracy.  (This is also a good habit if you are doing angles – such as diamonds, because when the angle gets off, it multiplies in a hurry!)

 

Lastly, follow the pressing arrows in the pattern, that way the intersection in the blocks in Step 3 will “nest”.  If you don’t know how to nest, click here and scroll down to Step 5.

 

That’s all for today.  Feel free to share your fabric selection or progress at #ankastreasures on Instagram.

Woven Squares

It’s crunch time here right now, as I need to have everything wrapped up for the new book in the next couple weeks.  On top of that, I have had sick kids so there has been way more snuggling than sewing, and no exposing the babysitter.  And though I enjoyed all the snuggling, the timing could have been better!

During all the snuggling, my sample yardage of my fall fabric line arrived.  It’s always fun when that package arrives – It’s been about 9 months since I painted up the ideas, so it feels like I have been waiting for a while for it to arrive 😉

In case you missed my previous blog posts on this line, it’s called Home for Harvest.  (You can view the entire line here).  It will arrive in stores sometime in May – in time for you to get your fall quilts finished in time for the season!

 

I have several larger quilts that I have started with the line, but while I was waiting for this yardage to arrive, I whipped up a little runner made out of my strike-offs (meaning I had about a 10″ square of each and used a couple of pieces from my stash for the background).

 

Since I don’t have any of the other quilts with this fabric done to share with you, and I can’t share any of my book projects yet, I thought I would have another Sew Along to give me something to blog about while I wait.

 

During the Sew Along, I will just share a few tips on this runner, but nothing as involved as my last sew along.  I know many of you got the pattern last time or followed along, but were short on time when it came to getting it finished.  This one is a quicker and smaller, so maybe that will make it easier for those that want to join along.  Or you can just follow along, and pick up a few tips.

The runner doesn’t involve any triangles or applique, so whatever you level of quilting skills, you could handle this.  In fact, our niece came over a couple of weekends ago and made this runner.  It was her first quilt, and she had very little experience with a sewing machine.  She sent me a few pictures to share –

 

If you want to join in, you can find the pattern – Mini Charmers 1 – on sale here.  (To view more photos of the runners, click here)

 

To start with, all you need to do is figure out your fabrics.  You will need:

1 Mini Charm Pack (or 38 – 2 1/2″ squares)

1/8 yard cream

3/8 yard grey

1/4 yard binding

The runner measures 11 1/2″ x 34″

 

I will share a few cutting and piecing tips next time we meet. Hope to see you back here then!

PS – The other fabrics shown are Persimmon and PB and J, both by Basic Grey for Moda Fabrics.