retro bathing suit

I have been very, very busy lately designing new patterns for magazines, shops, and patchwork groups. One of my projects this year is help design a Row by Row with a specific scheme. I will let you figure it out yourself just what that theme is. ; ) In the meantime, since so many of you ask about my patterns, I thought I would start to share them with you as well. You can find all of them on Craftsy.

This cute little retro bathing suit is foundation paper pieced. You might think it is too small to sew, but I know you love a challenge. You can always blow it up if you need to. I am really curious to see what you can make with this too. I found it is the perfect size for a journal cover made by the talented Sandra aka Hohenbrunner Quilterin. She has a fantastic tutorial on how to make them.

I would love to see a mini quilt out of these!! Here is a little glimpse of how a mini quilt could look designed with Glamping from Moda. I just love the look of this!

Here is another close up of the the assembly. The block is made with just three sections. Believe me, it is a lot simpler to make than you might think. And no, it's not too small. I worked on an ice cream cone with three scoops of ice cream in the same size as this week that was rather tedious. This you definitely can manage. So hop on over to Craftsy to download your new Retro Bathing Suit FPP Quilt Block.I would love to see what you make!!

Thanks for dropping by!

leaves a'flutter tutorial

Hello Everyone! Thanks for stopping by today, especially if you are taking a side trip from the Moda Bake Shop where my tutorial for the Leaves a'Flutter quilt was posted! If you missed it, it is all about making a masculine quilt for that very special man in your life. It uses one layer cake, one jelly roll and two different yardages for the borders and binding.

I wanted to show you how universal this pattern is with a different colorway in the very luscious fabric collection from Zen Chic -  called Sphere. The yellows were carried over, and the aqua blues and modern grays spice up the pattern if you want something more vibrant. I am sure this would look even nicer when you mix two different collections together!! It is also a bit easier to see what I did with the binding by adding two matching border strips in the corners. Here they stand out just a little bit more than on the original quilt.

As an extra bonus, I wanted to share this miniature Autumn Blaze block with you. I had so much fun making the larger blocks, I had to see it as mini, because I love minis! I made mine for the quilt label.

As written in the tutorial, the original blocks are 20" and 10". I thought about making a 5" block as well, but then I thought this 2½" block would be a slight challenge would be just so darn cute. It was really pretty easy (after you know how they go together.) I made it in the exact same way, just with smaller blocks. I embroidered the step with a stem stitch. Doesn't it look cute?

 

If you make this block or a quilt from the pattern, I would love to see your creation!! Nothing warms a pattern designer's heart more than seeing your pattern put to use!

I would like to wish you and your family a very happy and exciting new year filled with less stress, more fun and interesting new challenges! Thanks for dropping by!

Karen