A Free Beginner's Quilt Along

Hey Everyone,

Since I am working alone I have decided not to do a BOM this year. It is just too  hard to build the kits and get them shipped all alone. Instead I am going to do two Quilt Alongs. They will be free but I am hoping you will support me by buying some fabric to make them. Both quilts are designed in LemonTree by Tilda.

LemonTree arrives in February and I will have some kits up then for both of the quilt alongs.

This Quilt along is all about beginners. I am writing tutorials to make blocks that I made my first year of quilting (25 yrs ago). That is where the name came from my beginnings. I drafted the blocks that are not traditional blocks (the farm blocks) and as far as I know they are my own. I made a farm quilt my first year of quilting and a cat quilt but those patterns are long lost to time. So I made them somewhat how I remember them, but they are my own.

 It has long been on my list to do a quilt along for beginners because I want to teach things you don't hear often anymore. A lot people teach themselves with YouTube or Google, and that is great, but sometimes you miss something when you don't learn from experience. I am here to help with that. We will get started this week and I hope you will join along with me.

This quilt is baby size 40" by 48" and would be totally appropriate for a girl or a boy (just change the fabrics).

The other quilt will be an intermediate quilt and I will show you a preview of that this week. It will be a large lap size.

Since I am doing this for free I do reserve the right to make minor changes to blocks or fabrics if I feel I need to.

Stay tuned for more info coming this week.

Love,
Julie

Tilda's Harvest Is On The Way.

Hey Everyone,

I am a little surprised that it has been so long since I posted. I have been super busy with the clearance sale and Tilda Pre-Orders have been going so great that time has flown by.

If you haven't seen pictures of Harvest (for one I would be surprised) but I would love to show you.

For those that don't know Tilda has been super hard to get in the US ... we usually have to order it internationally and pay tons for shipping as well as paying the huge international prices. Luckily there is finally a distributor in the US and now I am able to offer it at a great price. When I was buying internationally I was selling it at $16.99 a yard (even though the retail price was $20) but I will have it for $13.49 from now on. It is super exciting for me.

Tilda's new book is coming in November and these adorable pumpkins will be one of the patterns:

You will be seeing me around her a lot more from now on. I have been super busy getting all of the fabric moved home. I still have another couple weeks of work on that but then my time will not be split anymore and I can concentrate on creating content here again.

I am excited for a new project that I am going to start this fall. A fun series of patterns for a seasonal sampler ... I hope you will join me.

Tilda Circus is here... In the United States for real!

Hey Everyone,

From the Tilda's World Blog used by permission

It is finally here... so exciting. I just sent out a newsletter with tons of info but I wanted to show these IRL photos I took at the shop so you could get an idea of scale... this fabric is perfect for fussy cutting because the scale is so nice...

The colors are so pretty!

 I love this print...

There is also a pre-view of the new collection, Harvest, at the website link... and you can see what a perfect scale it is in this picture from Tilda's Blog of her new book Sewing by Heart...

Hugs,
Julie

Surface Calm ...

and the storm that rages beneath....

Since last August I have been working on bringing you something different. Something that you just can't get everywhere. I kept it under wraps until I was sure that it was going to happen but now that it is imminent I thought I ought to let the cat out of the bag.

Photo from Tilda's World Blog

We are getting Tilda. After a diligent search, I have discovered (unless they are a very well kept secret) there aren't many (any) other shops (online since I can't search brick and mortar) selling Tilda in the United States.  The process has been a little arduous so I guess that is why. And of course, it is European so it is a bit more expensive than fabric that is distributed in the US. It is so gorgeous and so worth it. After all, we spend more on Liberty of London and Echino.

Photo from Tilda's World Blog

 Check out this sweet tutorial she has on her blog for this Pincushion

Photo from Tilda's World Blog

If you have never seen Tilda's books they are such a treat. I just bought three of them to check them out and now I feel like I need them all. Photography is so beautiful.

Tilda's Spring Ideas has this adorable Sewing Angel:

The little sewing machine is printed in the book and they show you how to make it look like that for a doll prop... so cute.

 Tilda's Summer Ideas has all kinds of cute Summer Angels including an Angel Garland and I love that it has these paper crafts too:

And I also got Tilda's Toy Box because I couldn't resist the chubby dollies like this Pirate:

and the adorable other crafts like these sweet little purses

Check out Tilda on Pinterest There are so many sweet projects there. And Minki Kim (Zeriano on Instagram)  has made some gorgeous projects with it too. I have been following her since I got her Sew Illustrated book that we are using for our Zakka project of the month.

Oh man, and just as I am looking around for more info I find the hashtag on instagram for Tilda's blog hop from last season... #tildashowcase I think I am in heaven.


January? Phew.... so glad that is over. Of course, it has leaked a bit into February. I spent most of this last month getting my daughter enrolled in college. It seems crazy all of the hoops you have to jump through. Admittedly we took a strange road through her education process from the beginning, because we just can't seem to do anything the way others do :) I decided to take a class too... so I am  in a drawing class with my daughter. Here she is drawing me yesterday...

One last little thing :) Since it is February 8th I wanted to remind you that Galentine's day is just around the corner. Tell your Galentine's you love them. I made these coffee cozies for mine because friends are the best!

Talk Soon!

Love,
Julie