Summer

After travelling all of the month of May and doing three quilt shows in that time, it feels really good to be home. We decided to slow things down a bit as far as travel is concerned. I definitely am not slowing down just because I am home! I have several projects that need to be completed and have lots of new fabrics arriving for new projects. The Swirling LoneStar shown above in the most gorgeous batiks, is down to only four left in stock. I am putting these last four fabric kits on sale at 10% off so if you have been thinking about this one, better hurry. First four orders and then they are gone.

We are still offering the Stars of the Family Quilt as a Block of the Month (either pattern only or fabric and pattern). We also offer it as a complete pattern and a complete fabric kit and pattern. We also have fabric kit only (no pattern) for the entire quilt. We had a lot of customers buy the complete pattern and then decided they wanted the fabrics as in our quilt. We also have all 32 colors available as fat quarters so if you should mess up and need more, they are listed as numbers 1 through 32 as shown in the complete supply list on the back of the binder. The background fabric is also available as a fat quarter, half-yard cut or full one yard cut. For those of you who have purchased the individual blocks over time, the sashing pattern and foundations as well as the border pattern and foundations are also available on the website. Hopefully, that covers everything.

As most of you know, Laura does a sew-along most Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings (East Coast time) on TikTok. I am going to start doing live sew-alongs on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons (West Coast time) on YouTube. I am hoping to get these going in another couple of weeks. I will be posting more about these "lives" over the next few weeks to let you know exactly what we will be working on so that you will have time to order what you need if you want to sew along with me.

I think the first block we will do is the 5" diagonal stripe block. It is perfect for using up strips of fabric. I will show you how I organize my scraps to make it manageable and then we will make some blocks. If you are new to foundation piecing, this is the perfect block to start with. If you know how to foundation piece, this is the perfect block to make up quickly by chain-piecing them. I will show you how to do all of that. And this is a great one to leave when you get bored and then pick up later and just keep adding until you have a big quilt. Or you can do a few to make a topper or a runner, or a few more to make a throw quilt. The possibilities are endless.

We have been working with Julia for several years and have three of her patterns available. All three patterns are featured in her book, Patchwork Luxe which is now available on our website. She has several other designs and lots of ideas in her book and most all of them use our foundations so we have put together packages of blocks for each of her projects to make it easier for you to use. Julia works with silks and specialty fabrics but her patterns work just as well and are just as impressive with cotton quilting fabrics.

I used Kaffe Fassett fabrics in Julia's Kaleidoscope Pineapple pattern and I absolutely love it. It takes 12 fat quarters and black yardage to make this one up. It measures 30" x 40" without any borders. I'm thinking some soft colors and maybe a light gray with a small border would be perfect for a baby quilt.

The vegetable garden is virtually non-existant with all the traveling we have done this year. However, the olallieberries are abundant and delicious. My tomatoes are just getting planted but last year we had tomatoes into December so we are thinking with the addition of the small greenhouse, we might learn to grow them year 'round. We are trying! We had a massive crop of avocadoes and a couple of very tasty oranges on our new little tree and our blueberry bush produced a few more berries this year than last and I had totally ignored it. Now that I know it thrives here, I am thinking we will be adding a few more! My grandsons both LOVE blueberries so they will be a hit.

We just published this Wedding Star Table Runner Pattern. It goes together so easily and is perfect for using Ombre Fabrics. This is also available as a Fabric Kit with the pattern. The bed-size quilt (Queen) will be available by September 1st. There are a few other twists on the Double Wedding Ring that are coming so stay tuned, I'm sure that one of them will peak your interest.

I hope that you all are enjoying your summer; we are complaining because we have not had a day without wind this entire spring/summer while friends and family across the country have had wild weather – floods, snow, rain, scorching heat, you name it. Wherever you are, I hope you are safe and get to spend some time with a needle and thread. Right now, my sewing is keeping me sane and my studio is my "Happy Place." Until next time, Happy Quilting!