Sweet Home Quilt Along

Sweet Home Quilt Along

Have you heard the good news?!?! There’s going to be a Sweet Home quilt along!

Yes, that’s right, I’ll be cohosting the Sweet Home Quilt Along with my good friend Maureen Cracknell and new friend Jennifer Jones. The fun starts September 9th, right here on the blog and over on Instagram.

This quilt couldn’t be anymore symbolic of 2020 and is so much fun to piece you won’t mind staying home one bit! The quilt along is a six week event where we break down and construct our house blocks, sashing, assembly, and quilting into manageable weekly bite sizes. Of course, I’ll have tutorials for you with video tips and tricks to make your Sweet Home blocks as happy as they can be.

Purchase your Sweet Home pattern in my SHOP and gets started gathering your fabrics so you don’t miss one minute of the fun!

To make it even easier for you to get started and source your fabrics we’ve collaborated with the following fine quilt shops to bring you Sweet Home quilt kits that can be delivered right to your door!

Click on the images below to go directly to the kit pages!

Sweet & Spooky Sweet Home kit from Lady Belle Fabric

Sweet Home quilt kit from Lady Belle Fabric

Cozy & Joyful Sweet Home kit from Lady Belle Fabric

Terra Kotta Sweet Home kit from Fat Quarter Shop

Starry Night Sweet Home kit from Lamb and Loom

Prairie Companion Sweet Home kit from Piper Autumn Designs

Prairie Companion Sweet Home kit from Piper Autumn Designs with backing HERE.

If you’d like to read more about this quilt (I’ve made two so far) check out the pattern release post Home, Sweet Home (Quilt) and the Sweet Home & Faux Chenille posts.

We’ve got some wonderful sponsors lined up for this quilt along event and there’ll be giveaway prizes each week during the QAL. The giveaways will be held on Instagram and each host will take turns hosting the giveaway on their Instagram account. Be sure to be following me @sharonhollanddesigns, Maureen @maureencracknell, and Jennifer @penelopehandmade for all the details of each giveaway.

See you back here on September 9th as I post more about the Sweet Home Quilt Along.

Phoenix Quilt Pattern Release

Phoenix Quilt Pattern Release

Phoenix Quilt by Sharon Holland

Has it really been two months since my last post!? Time really does fly when you’re having fun (and keeping busy)!

I hope this post finds you well. I’ve been staying home and trying to get the most out of what’s left of this dismal year. I’ve had a sudden burst of energy and from now until the end of December I’ve plenty of posts and projects planned to share with you! And, be sure to read down to the end for a special announcement you won’t want to miss!

August is the first month in the next four that I’ll be releasing a new quilt pattern! That’s not the special announcement but very exciting all by itself non the less. This first quilt is called Phoenix, not for the state but because the idea for this quilt came from me playing around with the left over half-square triangle (HST) trimmings from my Sweet Home quilts I made earlier this year. (That’s a hint to the special announcement.)

The Phoenix quilt was born from scraps! Well, really more like one block was born from scraps. I needed a whole lot more HSTs to make the Phoenix quilt.

This summer-inspired palette is a mix from several different Art Gallery Fabrics collections: Spirited, Decostitch, Marrakesh Fusion, Pure Solids, and Gossamer for the binding. But you don’t have to source out all these fabrics on your own if you’re wanting to make one just like the pattern sample because Brooke Becker at Lady Belle Fabric has made up Phoenix quilt kits with all the pretties you see in the photo above. Don’t delay—these kits go fast! Here’s a link to the Phoenix Quilt Kit. You’ll also need the quilt pattern and you can find that on my SHOP page.

Bundle photo courtesy of Lady Belle Fabric

Lady Belle Fabric is your one-stop online shop for fabrics and long arm quilt service. I have sent several of my quilts to Brooke and she has one of mine she just finished up yesterday. You’re going to love the service!

The entire Phoenix quilt is made from half-square triangles. You’ve probably heard me sing the praises of Bloc_Loc Rulers before and I’m still singing! If you’ve never tried them or feel it’s finally time to invest in a quilting tool that’ll make your life and quilts better, this may be the time—especially if you’re planning on sewing this quilt—there’s a lottttttt of HSTs! If you can only by one HST ruler, by the largest one because you can always trim smaller sizes with a large ruler.

I did a very simple and quilt machine quilting on the diagonal for this quilt. For my batting I used Hobbs Heirloom Bleached 100% Cotton because my background is Art Gallery Fabrics Snow and I didn’t want any color showing through from an unbleached batting.

Over the years I’ve been approached by makers wanting to know if I ever use pattern testers. I’ve never done so in the past but thought that this year might be a great chance to use testers and help promote new rising quilt makers.

So, during July I started work with my testers. I have 17 in all right now which is plenty so the search for testers is closed for this year. Since I have four quilt patterns coming out over the next few months this was as good a time as any to get some help from pattern testers and I’ve split up the testers into groups by quilts. Today I’d like to introduce you to six of my testers who have made and tested the Phoenix quilt.

Meet the Testers

Phoenix quilt make by Brittany Tunison

Brittany Tunison created a Phoenix quilt in a soft, farmhouse color palette and used a mix of Art Gallery Fabric prints from a variety of AGF fabric designers. I love her Farmhouse style and sweet fabric selection. See more of Brittany’s work on Instagram @brittanytunison and on her Etsy shop at White Plains Quilts.

Phoenix quilt make by Christine Trotta

This lovely Phoenix quilt top was made by Christine Trotta of Serendipity In Love Creations. Christine used Bari J.’s new 365 Fifth Avenue AGF fabric line and it couldn’t have been any more perfect a collection to juxtapose a feminine twist to the geometrics of this quilt design. Let’s all pause a moment to take in this beautiful garden setting for this quilt—it’s gorgeous! For more fabric fun, check out Christine’s shop on Etsy.

Phoenix quilt make by Kathleen Armstrong

Kathleen Armstrong is a prolific quilter. Just check out her Instagram account @creativestitchesbyk and you’ll see exactly what I mean! You can learn more about Kathleen from her website Creative Stitches Quilts where she also takes custom orders. Kathleen used prints from my AGF Everlasting collection for her Phoenix quilt and I love how she mixed up the fabrics in the blocks for a unique twist on the pattern.

Phoenix quilt make by Marija Vujcic

My long-time followers may remember my friend Marija Vujcic from my blog tours. Marija is the Queen of Bold Colors and her AGF Pure Solids fabric pull for the Phoenix quilt is pure Marija-magic! I love how she pulled colors from my AGF Bountiful Tartan Field print (the backing) for the color inspiration for the blocks. You’ll definitely want to follow her on Instagram @mvquilts and on her blog Mara Quilt Designs where she has quilting, tutorials, and lots of sewing inspiration to share.

Phoenix quilt make by Mary Grove

You’ll find Mary Gove on Instagram as @thecurlyquilter and be equally blown away by her beautiful quilt makes like I was when I first viewed her page. This new comer to quilting has a natural eye and Quilty talent plus I’m very envious of her Wyoming landscape for photography! Mary chose Art Gallery Fabric blender prints and solids form several different AGF collections to create the perfect summer-vibe palette.

Phoenix quilt make by Victoria Newmyer

Victoria Newmyer is also brand new to Instagram. In fact she just started her account @midlife_quilter the beginning of this year but don’t let that fool you, this girl has talent! Check out her Etsy shop at Brass Tacks Sewing. I can really connect with Victoria’s aesthetics and if you know anything about me by now, you know my love for this palette she used for her Phoenix quilt. Although her fabric selection is a mix of many AGF designer collections her backing fabric (the trees print) and some of the block prints are from my AGF Tapestry collection.

Be sure to stop by my pattern SHOP and get the Phoenix quilt PDF so you can start your quilt today! I can’t wait to see what you create with the Phoenix quilt pattern! If you’re posting to Instagram be sure to tag me @sharonhollanddesigns and use the hashtag #phoenixquilt so I don’t miss your posts!

Quilt Along

As I mentioned at the beginning of this blog post I had a special announcement to make…drum roll…Maureen Cracknell (Instagram @maureencracknell ) and I will be hosting a Sweet Home Quilt Along! We’re also going to be joined by a special new quilting friend, Jennifer Jones of Penelope Handmade! Find her on IG at @penelopehandmade. It’s sure to be loads of fun!

The Sweet Home Quilt Along begins September 9, 2020 and will run for six weeks. If you haven’t already bought the Sweet Home quilt pattern yet you can find it in my pattern SHOP and started gathering your materials. All three of us hosts will be making new Sweet Home quilts from Art Gallery Fabric collections and I can’t wait to show you my fabric pull.

The QAL is going to be so much fun and there’ll be plenty of giveaways and tutorials during the event. Stay tuned for more QAL news—hope to see you there!

Sweet Home quilt by Sharon Holland

I am an Amazon Associate site and earn from qualifying purchases on the products I’ve linked below. The helpful products selected are the same or similar to materials used to make the project(s) in this blog post or related items I think you may enjoy.

Heart Quilt Sew Along - Week 3

Heart Quilt Sew Along - Week 3

It’s the final week in the Heart Quilt sew along. This fast and fun sew along has been hosted by myself and Maureen Cracknell with special thanks to Allison Harris of Cluck Cluck Sew for allowing us to use her Heart Block in our quilt layout.

If you’re just joining us, you’ll want to get up to speed by reading first weeks post announcing the sew along. If you’re already making heart block or at the point to start adding the sashing and borders—check out week 2 HERE.

This last post is dedicated to turning that top into a quilt plus I’ve added an extra bonus project for all those left over half square triangles from trimming the large flippy corners off the hearts!

Quilting

Rather than reinvent the wheel, I'm directing you to the blog post for Finishing that was originally posted during the Sewcial Bee Sampler sew along. You'll find all the tutorial information for spray basting, quilting, and binding your quilt. The sizes have changed but the concept for basting, quilting, and binding your quilt are the same. As stated in that post, there are many ways to finish a quilt and I am blogging about how I finish my quilts. If you have a preferred method, please do it the way you're comfortable with. If you intend to send your top off to be professionally quilted, discuss with your long-arm quilter how they'd like you to prepare your quilt top and backing for being quilted. 

I'm not a professional quilter by any means. I get by and call my quilting style "organic" because it's not perfect and lines are not straight. I love the human touch that non-perfect quilting adds to my quilts. I used my mid-arm Viking Platinum 16 for quilting my top. The quilting guide lines were marked out ahead of time and the quilting went really fast after that to just follow the diagonal lines as shown below in the quilting diagram.

Quilting diagram

I used my favorite Hobb’s Tuscany Silk batting inside my quilt and love how light and drapey it is—especially for handling and maneuvering when quilting.

The backing on my quilt is from my Everlasting fabric collection for Art Gallery Fabrics and is called Summer’s Dance. For the binding I used Woodblock Ballerina that was also used for hearts.

Here’s another look at the prints that went into my quilt. My Heart quilt’s stitched from a curated mix of fabrics from Art Gallery Fabrics Ballerina Fusion (a recolored mix of AGF designer prints), my Spirited, Everlasting, Signature, and Maureen’s Enchanted Voyage and Mystical Land collections.

My non-traditional Valentine colors remind me of sugared gum drops and candy. I’m crazy over this color palette and went with my heart when I did my fabric pull.

One of the biggest challenges of photographing quilts this time of year is the gloomy, cold weather. I had some grand plans for how to photograph this out doors but the wind didn’t cooperate. It started to rain shortly after we got these shots…

Be sure to check out Maureen’s blog to see her finished quilt top and bonus project from left over HSTs all made using a mix of Amy Sinabaldi’s MayFair and the new Foresta Fusion collection. Quilt kits for Maureen’s quilt are available at Lady Belle Fabric.

Photo and Heart quilt by Maureen Cracknell

Bonus Project

Since I finished my quilt by Sunday I could’ve easily stopped there, written this blog post and moved on to the other projects stacking up on my desk but no—that’s too easy!

Remember in my Instagram Stories videos where I told you to hold onto those large half square triangle (HST) waste pieces???

I turned mine into this fun pillow! As a bonus, I’ll share with you how to make one (or more) for yourself!

The beauty of this type of project is that it can be customized to any size you want. I happened to have an extra rectangular pillow I wasn’t using anywhere in the house so I used it as my pillow form. It measures around 14’’ x 26’’ and is probably not a standard size.

I trimmed 36 HSTs to 3-1/2’’ square using my Bloc_Loc Ruler then arranged them into a design. I would’ve loved if the design was symmetrical but no such luck in this improv piece using scraps. I don’t really notice it now that the pillow is done.

I added 2’’-wide strips to the top and bottom to get it all up to the size I needed.

I’ve done a few projects on this blog where I’ve incorporated Chenille-it Blooming Bias and I can’t tell you enough how much I love this added texture—especially to pillows!

After stitching quilting lines to outline the chevron shapes 1/4’’ inside the seam allowances I added the 3/8 inch-wide Chenille-it to my pillow top. Stitching the blooming bias down not only adheres the product but also works as quilting.

I added two echo rows of chenille to the background areas. To read about how to stitch and then bloom the chenille, read more on my Chenille Pillow with Hidden Zipper post/tutorial. Plus, to see the gorgeous decorator pillows I made more recently with my Spirited Trail Marker print and Chenille-it, read HERE.

For more Chenille-it projects, here’s a fun You Tube video!

Personally I love a zipper closure on a pillow. Especially in a case like this where I’m using an existing pillow as the pillow form and like to switch out or clean the pillow covers regularly. You’ll find my go-to method for adding a hidden zipper on a pillow HERE. It’s insanely easy to do!

Now, not only do I have a heart quilt to snuggle under this Valentine’s Day but I have a coordinating pillow to go along with it!

Maureen and I want to thank you for sewing along with us and sharing your progress of your blocks to Instagram. We love seeing your work and encourage you to follow along, share, and tag when you post. Use the sew along hashtag of #agfLOVEquilt and be sure to tag @sharonhollanddesigns @maureencracknell and @cluckclucksew so we can see your progress! If you’re sewing with Art Gallery Fabrics don’t forget to tag them too as they love to see what Makers are making with @artgalleryfabrics !

Happy Valentine’s Day!

I am an Amazon Associate site and earn from qualifying purchases on the products I’ve linked below. The helpful products selected are the same or similar to materials used to make the project(s) in this blog post or related items I think you may enjoy.

Heart Quilt Sew Along - Week 2

Heart Quilt Sew Along - Week 2

Welcome back for the second week of the Heart Quilt sew along hosted by myself and Maureen Cracknell! If you’re just joining us, you’ll want to get up to speed by reading last weeks post announcing the sew along. If you’re already making heart block or at the point to start adding the sashing and borders—this post is all about getting that top pieced!

The design for the heart block comes from Allison Harris of Cluck Cluck Sew. For this sew along we have Allison’s permission to use her block and we’ve selected and designed a quilt using an 8” square block, sashing, and border layout to make a 52’’ x 61’’ throw-size quilt. You’ll find a free download for our quilt layout, coloring sheet, and fabric requirements on the Sew Along page.

You may want to design a different layout for your heart blocks or follow Allison’s quilt tutorial from her site—Feel free to be creative! This is a casual sew along and perfect as a customizable project! Just be aware that the material list and cutting information on our sew along handout may not work if you’re changing the block size and layout. These sew along blog post support the sew along PDF handout.

We’ve not included piecing instructions in our free download because the Heart Block tutorial at Cluck Cluck Sew will cover what you’ll need to know about making the heart blocks. However, I’m adding some quick tips and tricks on cutting and piecing in the form of videos to my Stories on Instagram. You’ll also find these same videos archived in my Highlights under the #agfLOVEquilt circle.

Sharon Holland Designs Instagram Feed

Be sure to follow along with Maureen on her Instagram page as she makes two heart quilts using new Art Gallery Fabrics from Amy Sinabaldi’s MayFair and the new Foresta Fusion collections.

Find quilt kits and bundles for the fabrics used in Maureen’s quilt at Lady Belle Fabric.

Maureen Cracknell Instagram Feed

Adding Sashing and Borders

Once all your blocks are pieced it’s time to add the sashing and borders to complete the quilt top.

I’ve not given any instructions in the PDF for adding the sashing and borders other than material lists and cutting information. This blog post and supplemental Stories videos on my Instagram feed will be the pattern support and tutorial for piecing together the quilt top.

Heart Quilt Assembly Diagram

Start by adding one 1-1/2” x 8-1/2” horizontal sashing strip to all 30 blocks. Note that I’ve added the horizontal sashing to the tops of the block to hold the tiny flipped corners down for easier assembly.

Arrange your single-sashed blocks into 5 vertical rows of 6 blocks each. Add the last 5 horizontal sashes to the bottom 5 blocks.

Join the sashed blocks into five vertical block rows of six blocks each as shown on the above Quilt Assembly Diagram.

Now it’s time to add the long vertical sashing between the block rows. Here’s where you’ll use those (9) 1-1/2” x 42” strips held in reserve. We’ll be sewing those reserve strips into one long strip and then sub cutting them to make the vertical sashing needed for the top.

You can, of course, simply sew the long strips right sides together on the short ends to get the desired sashing lengths but I have a nicer way to make your sashing and here’s how I prefer to do it:

Make One Long Strip

1. Place (2) 1-1/2” x 42” strips right sides together at right angles. Sew with a diagonal seam as shown in the illustration below.

2. Continue adding strips in the same manner to make one long strip.

3. Trim seams to 1/4” and press seams open.

By creating a diagonal seam you will make a stronger seam because of its longer surface area and the seam will be less noticeable on the quilt. Pressing the seams open helps the seam to lay nice and flat.

Cut Sashing to Size

1. Measure the vertical block rows and average those number to determine the vertical sashing length. Note: If you’ve sewn your blocks true-to-size up to this point your vertical sashing rows size will measure 55-1/2’’ long but everybody sews differently so measure first to check the size you’ll need for your quilt.

2. Cut 6 strips from the long strip to your measurement. Tip: Cutting from one continuous strip helps to stagger where the seams will land on the quilt and give a nicer overall appearance.

3. Sew the vertical sashing strips alternately with the block rows.

Tip: When attaching sashing to your vertical block rows, use the previous block rows to help keep everything lined up. Notice how I’ve pinned at the horizontal sashing seam line and lined up those seams with the sashing of the row next to it.

Pressing is your friend! Press every step of the way when assembling your quilt top for better results.

Adding Borders

1. In the same manner as making the vertical sashing, sew the (6) 3-1/2” x 42” strips together to make one long strip.

2. Measure the two sides of the quilt and average those numbers. Cut 2 strips to this size. Note: If you’ve sewn your top true-to-size up to this point your vertical border (for the sides) will measure 55-1/2’’ long but everybody sews differently so measure first to check the size you’ll need for your quilt.

3. Stitch to the sides of the quilt.

4. Measure the top and bottom of the quilt including the border. Average those numbers and cut 2 strips to this measurement. Sew to the top and bottom of the quilt. Note: If you’ve sewn your top true-to-size up to this point your horizontal border (for the top and bottom) will measure 52-1/2’’ long but everybody sews differently so measure first to check the size you’ll need for your quilt.

Congratulations, you just completed your Heart Quilt top!!!! Next Wednesday we’ll go over how to make the quilt sandwich, quilt with a quilting diagram of how I will quilt my top, and binding of your quilt along with the full reveals of our quilts.

Meanwhile, both Maureen and I’ll be posting our progress on Instagram and we encourage you to follow along and share your fabric pull and block progress as well. When posting your quilt to Instagram use the sew along hashtag of #agfLOVEquilt and be sure to tag @sharonhollanddesigns @maureencracknell and @cluckclucksew so we can see your progress! If you’re sewing with Art Gallery Fabrics don’t forget to tag them too as they love to see what Makers are making with @artgalleryfabrics !

I am an Amazon Associate site and earn from qualifying purchases on the products I’ve linked below. The helpful products selected are the same or similar to materials used to make the project(s) in this blog post or related items I think you may enjoy.