Diamonds in the Snow

Last night just as the sun was setting I finished my Uncut Diamonds. Sadly the lack of light made picture taking undesirable. I got up this morning to fog. Finally just before noon the sun came out so my Diamonds could shine.

 I was 18" short on my original choice for binding. No worries this is a scrap quilt so a scrappy binding is prefect. I chose two separate dotty black prints. I really like the way the black print frames the quilt and love that there is variety in that frame.

 I did go back and add a swirl of quilting in each of the diamonds. It gave me piece of mind knowing I didn't have larger areas not quilted. Plus I like the way it looks on the back.

This was a very fun quilt to make. I'm so happy I found a good home for all those odd triangles.

 Remember there is a tutorial for this quilt here. Just in case you have a bunch of odd triangles lying around that need a good home.

Linking up with my friends; Sarah, Myra, Amanda Jean and Cynthia to celebrate this sparkling finish.

Happy Hour Quilt with Tutorial

Yesterday I finished chaining the rows together and got them all sewn on. I thought I might not be able to put the sashing and corner posts around the edges of the quilt. I didn't quite have enough red to do it and finish the binding. I would have had to choose one or the other. But I little excursion to a couple of fabric shops and I found a close enough match that I pulled it off.  I didn't know if the red was a Kona or a Bella solid let alone what it was called. The match is Riley Blake's cayenne. 

 My hour diversion allows me to complete my quilt as planned. To celebrate I'm naming my scrappy hour glass quilt Happy Hour. If you are interested in making your own Happy Hour you will need. 198- yellow/orange quarter triangles and 198- blue/green quarter triangles. I cut mine with my Nifty Notions Quarter triangle ruler from 3 1/2" strips. You can find how to use this ruler here. They are the geese without the sky. The tutorial is for geese in case that statement just confused you.

I sewed these into hourglass blocks with a blue/green combo as top and bottom and a yellow/orange combo as left and right. Then alternated the blocks so that the blue/green was next to the yellow orange. Is that clear as mud. Does this picture help?

Then I cut 218- 1 1/2" x 6 1/2" red sashing rectangles and 132- 1 1/2" squares in yellow, blue and green. And started sewing the sashing and rows together.

It's quick, easy and a pretty good scrap buster. If you make one I'd love to see your version. Email me or leave a link in the comments here. 

Moving It Forward

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Here at the Bailey home are Christmas wishes were delightfully fulfilled. The drizzling rain of Christmas Eve turned to snow that fell most of Christmas day. Making for a beautiful white Christmas. Looking forward to making a snowman today and sledding later in the week.

I made a little progress on my hour glass blocks with little bits of time found here and there. A few rows completed and sewn together. A few more in various stages. Just chaining them through and stitching them on as they are complete. 

 I also got a lot of quilting done on Uncut Diamonds. I like the way the quilting I chose makes the diamonds puff out. I thought of leaving it that way but I'm afraid there may be too much area not quilted. So may go back and add a little in each diamond. You, who have more expertise, I have any advice? I'd love a little input.

Were you able to find any sewing time over this busy time of year? If so I'd love to see how you are moving things along.

Link up and share your progress.

An InLinkz Link-up

Christmas Gifts and Quilty Hugs

I just love the Christmas parties I have with my quilting friends. They are so fun and oh so generous. Here is just some of the gifts I received from them: pincushions, ornaments, mug rug, hand dyed fabric, buttons, and safety pins. The photo is missing all the goodies. I ate those. Naughty I know. Just adding to the fat quarters on my hips. Good thing January is near and the time for resolutions and being better. The way I've eaten this holiday season it can't get here fast enough.

 This last week I also received a wonderful box full of Quilty Hugs from Kristi. I was thrilled! Just in time for Christmas! I usually wait until I have at least a dozen before I call Michelle to pick them up and distribute to cancer patients. With the five Kristi sent there was more than enough to reach that target. Michelle is picking them up this morning to put into bags and handout to those fighting that horrid battle. I hope they bring lots of healing and peace. I'm almost certain they will.

The winner from my Cover Girl giveaway is Sharon Denny Parcel, Congrats! I just know your going to love your fat quarters! So happy for you! Shot me your snail mail and I'll get them off to you.

Linking up with Sarah, Myra and Amanda Jean to celebrate this Christmas miracle. Merry Christmas everyone! Hope all your Christmas wishes come true!

Just a Little Scrappy Play

Welcome if you are visiting from McCalls Quilting. I hope you will stay awhile to see what is going on and maybe check out my tutorials. For my wonderful faithful reader, I'm a guest blogger over at McCalls Quilting if you want to pop on over. 

Yesterday I found time to sew the rest of my scrappy quarter square triangles I cut here from my yellow, orange, blue and green bins are now all sewn together. I need to get the sashing cut now. I've chosen a tomato red. I think I will also add scrappy green and blue corner posts. I'm hoping to find a little time later today to move this along. I'll share my progress on Monday. I'm not set on the layout yet. I think I need more dark triangles scattered through the middle. 

Tuesday I met with friends and basted my Uncut Diamonds quilt. I really love how this turned out and not just because I used up all those odd triangles. Though that is a big bonus. If you have an abundance of odd triangles in your scrap bins the tutorial on how to make this block can be found here.

When Anna and I did our boutique last month we had a request for patchouli soap. I made it shortly there after. It has now been four weeks and it's ready to nourish and soften skin. I put it in the shop yesterday. Remember we are having a sale of 15% off through Christmas with code MERRY2016.

Tuesday Tutorial ~ Ornaments

 There are so many fun ornaments to make. I've received or made many of these and thought it would be to share them here today. Each on is simple and could be made with children as an activity at a Christmas party. These festive little stocking caps are simple to make and oh so cute. You can find the link to make them here.

I made these little Christmas trees with my activity day girls. We used scraps of fabric and grape vine from my backyard. They turned out really cute. The tutorial can be found here.

 These stars are a little tricky but could be made by older children. My guild spent an afternoon learning how to make these thanks to Ruth. The tutorial can be found here.

I hope everyone is enjoying this wonderful time of year. Good luck on all your preparations for the big day. Try to find a little down time to sew, create and maybe find a little time to make a few ornaments.

Moving it Forward

I've been busy enjoying the holiday season with family and friends. Maybe a little too much. I've been adding fat quarters to my hips instead of my stash with all the yummy food I've been eating. 

Not a lot of sewing has been going on but I did manage to cut out a new project and begin to put it together.

Have you managed to squeeze in a little sewing among all your festivities? If so I'd love to see what you've been up to. Link up and share your progress.

An InLinkz Link-up

Cover Girl

I'm so excited to finally be able to share this quilt with you. I instantly feel in love with Sheri and Chelsea's fabric line, Desert Bloom when I saw it. Maybe it's because I'm a desert girl myself. I love the wispy flowers and the bright colors. I had a delightful time playing with it and designing my Desert Rose quilt. Imagine my delight when it made it on the the cover of Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting.

In addition to this thrill I got to fly back to Iowa and film an episode of Love of Quilting. Watch for me in your area, episode # 2904. I'm a bit of a homebody so this was quite the adventure for me. Not to mention the fact that I ended up in 5 airports in two days getting there and back. I also used Uber for the first time. I'm so proud of myself. Though I couldn't have done it without the help of a sweet 20 something girl at the airport. Here I am with the new host of Love of Quilting and my quilt.

To share my excitement I wanted to have a little giveaway. My mom was up this last weekend and stole my extra copy of the magazine. How could I refuse my greatest fan? But I do have four fat quarters of Desert Bloom I'd love to giveaway to one lucky reader. Leave a comment to win. 

 I made this bar of Eucalyptus Mint with Aloe because I only had a few bars left. I thought it looked so festive with my holiday trimmings. So I decided to have a holiday sale now through Christmas. Don't miss out. If you want Eucalyptus/Mint with Aloe order soon or you'll have to wait four weeks for this pretty bar to cure. I'll still honor the sale you'll just have to wait for your soap.

Now for our winner from last week. I can't tell you how fun it was to go down memory lane with you all as I heard of your first albums. I shared the fun with my hubby. It was a blast! I couldn't believe the range of music. The random # generator chose #6. Congrats Deb E. She said, "Really dating myself - but it was The Monkees! Loved the trip down memory lane...it was SO long ago! Deb. Congrats!!! Please send me your snail mail and I'll get your magazine off to you.

Uncut Diamonds and Christmas Fun

Yesterday I took some time and sewed up my uncut diamond blocks, tutorial on previous post. Chaining the rows and then sewing them together. Slowly it grew as I pressed between rows.

 Until I had a completed top. I'm in love with this finish. Now to baste and figure out how I'm going to quilt it.  Any suggestions?

Tuesday night kept me busy with lots of Christmas fun. First I took my nieces to a fun Christmas party. We decorated cupcakes, made ornaments, played Twister and....

 Visited with Santa.

 Just as we were finishing up my hubby called to see if I would be able to go with him to meet his sister. My hubby is adopted and earlier this year found his birth parents. This find has led to finding three brothers and a sister. While we had talked on the phone and emailed we had not met his sister in person. She was here skiing. (Utah does have the best snow on earth.) So I met him at my sisters and headed up the canyon to meet his sister, her sister and their hubbies. It was a lovely evening, piecing together info on their birth father.

Tuesday Tutorial ~ Uncut Diamonds

I've had a request for how I make my uncut diamond blocks so I thought I share my method today. I start with an odd shaped 90* angle rectangle. If you don't have these in your scrap bin you can make them by using a rectangle. For the 4 1/2" square background I used for these blocks I used rectangles that were 2-2 1/2" wide and 3 1/2" - 4" tall. Then cut on the diagonal. I cut some from right to left and others from left to right so I had opposing triangles. Lay your triangle over your background square so the 90* angle edges line up with one corner of your background square.

 On the third side of your triangle use a ruler and measure in 1/2". Take a Clover Hera Marker and run along the edge of your ruler

 It will leave a crease in both of your fabrics.

Line up the edge of your triangle along the crease it made on your background fabric. You will want to make sure the the point on the short side of your triangle only hangs over 1/4" the point on the long side will hang over more. Sew 1/4" along the edge of your triangle. If you don't have a Hera marker you can eyeball it but I found I did a lot of reverse sewing if I did it this way. I'd always have a part of the background corner showing. Using the Hear marker seemed to take care of this problem. 

 Press your triangle back so it cover the background corner.

 Repeat the process with another triangle this one the mirror of the previous at least as far as the right angles are concerned.

 Square up your block

 To get rid of dog ears and any little discrepancies.

Repeat process for the desired amount of blocks. I made 270 or 15 x 18 rows. It should measure 60" x 72". 

Now to sew the blocks into rows and then the rows together. Let me know if you have any questions.

Moving It Forward

Do you remember all those quarter square triangles I cut from my scrap bins? Well on Tuesday at the Quilty Hug Sew In they got made into these hour glass blocks. I'm thinking the tomato fabric you see peeking through the blocks will make a nice sashing. I still have a few more to sew up before I get to that point though. Soon though soon, at least I'm hoping.

Now it's your turn to share your progress. 

Can't wait to see how you are moving things along. It is always so inspiring.

An InLinkz Link-up

On Vinyl

I bought my first vinyl album when I was in the 6th grade. I had saved my money from babysitting and doing my family's laundry. The Bay City Rollers, did I ever think I was cool.  I listened to it over and over again on my parents turntable. Probably drove my mother nuts. 

 As I got older my collection of vinyl never really grew. Technology changed and I bought cassette  tapes. But I do love the hiss and pop of vinyl.

My son has quite a collection. I call him whenever I find them in second hand stores and garage sales. They are just so classic. All the digital music we have now, while crisp and clear misses out on all the colorful covers and the hands on experience vinyl holds. 

 In memory of all this nostalgia I created On Vinyl the quilt. You can find the pattern in Fons and Porter's easy quilts. I hope you will check it out.

I also made a new loaf of soap this week. I'm call it Sun and Sand. I think it will be perfect in four, that's how long it takes to cure, when the January blahs hit. It has coconut milk and coconut oil and is scented with lime, lavender, eucalyptus, and rosemary. It might even fool me into thinking I'm on the beach as I shower in a few weeks. Let's hope so.  

I have a copy of easy quilts available for one lucky winner. Just leave a comment telling me what your fist album purchase was. Good luck! I'll pick a winner next week.

Uncut Diamonds

This has been hanging out on my design wall waiting patiently for more background fabric. You may remember the blocks from here. I like the wonky diamonds this little blocks makes as you put them together.

Happily the fabric arrived and I've been enjoying some time in my scraps. I ran out of the random triangles I was using. So glad I found a home for them. And while I have no more I'm not worried. I have plenty of other scraps I can cut into odd triangles. 

Looking forward to watching this grow. I'm really loving the results so far.