Sweet Home Quilt Along - Week 3

Sweet Home Quilt Along - Week 3

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Welcome to the third week of the Sweet Home Quilt along hosted by (me) Sharon Holland, Maureen Cracknell, and Jennifer Jones. We’re halfway through the quilt along and excited to connect with the Sweet Home quilt makers on our Instagram community and here on our blogs!

I hope you’ve been following along on all three hosts blogs and Instagram accounts as we’re each making different versions of this quilt and let me tell you I’m loving ALL OF THEM!! See what I mean when you search the #SweetHomeQAL hashtag on Instagram.

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If you’re just joining us you’ll probably want to pop over to the Sweet Home Quilt Along - Week 1 post to get caught up. Purchase the Sweet Home quilt pattern from my SHOP here.

If you’ve been following along since the start then you should already have your fabrics cut out and Log Cabin blocks assembled.

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The quilt along will run six weeks total and we’ll cover a different aspect of piecing or finishing for that week. Some of you are working ahead and that’s wonderful—it’ll give you more time for the quilting and finishing portion. This quilt along is very relaxed. If you feel like completing the top in a week—go for it! But, if you’re a beginner and want more instruction along the way—we have that too in the form of LIVE and recorded Instagram tutorials over on my IGTV channel on Instagram. I just added a Bungalow Block tutorial on Monday of this week.

I’ve recorded step by step tutorials for you to access on my @sharonhollanddesigns IGTV channel on Instagram and so far the Sweet Home Quilt series covers fabric selection, Log Cabin block, and Bungalow block construction.

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Today we talk about piecing the Bungalow blocks. I’m using Art Gallery Fabrics Terra Kotta prints mixed with AGF Pure Solids Sandstone for the background and one of my Spirited prints for half of the Log Cabin block roofs. The Sweet Home Terra Kotta kit can be purchased from Fat Quarter Shop.

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Once you’ve made one Bungalow block all the way through and are comfortable with the construction you can utilize chain piecing to help speed up the repetitive sewing steps.

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In the photo above, I’ve added all the long strips to one side of the window units without clipping the threads. Once the same sewing step has been applied to all the pieces needed for the Bungalow blocks I remove the chained pieces, snip the connecting threads and add the long strip to the opposite side before moving on to the next step.

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When constructing the roofs for both the Log Cabin and Bungalow blocks there’s usable trimmings from the Flippy Corner construction. I’ve been saving all my trimming and am planning to make something scrappy from them in the near future.

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If you’re looking for some ideas of what to do with those leftover half-square triangles (HST) units, take a look at an oldie but goodie blog post were I show examples of what to do with leftover HSTs to create new quilt blocks.

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If you don’t want to commit to making another quilt from leftover HST scraps then why not think smaller and make a pillow? I had a similar stack of half-square triangle (HST) trimmings when Maureen and I hosted the AGF Heart Quilt sew along earlier this year. If you’d like some inspiration for a pillow project, read about my pretty pillow that also uses Chenille-It Blooming Bias for an added bit of fun!

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Just like the Log Cabin construction, you’ll find the Bungalow block uses much the same piecing techniques. The window sections are assembled in a Log-Cabin fashion and the base of the Bungalow comes together quickly—especially if you’re chain piecing. The roof is constructed exactly like the Log Cabin roof only minus the chimney.

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If you’re working with a directional print for your roof like I am then you’ll want to either watch my Instagram IGTV video for this block construction or read about Controlling Directional Prints in Patchwork Units on my tutorial post.

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Next week we’ll be making the corner squares and attaching sashing to blocks.

I’m enjoying seeing your postings to Instagram and following along on your progress—you’re all are doing amazing and beautiful work on your Sweet Home quilts!

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Don’t forget that this Friday will be a new Friday Giveaway with fabulous prizes from our sponsors. Be following along on Instagram as all the giveaways will be held on that platform and winners will be randomly drawn the following Monday from the #SweetHomeQAL hashtag pool. The quilt along members that post their progress photos to public account on Instagram and use the hashtag #SweetHomeQAL will automatically be entered into every Sweet Home Quilt Along drawing! It’s that easy to enter, so enter often to up your chances!

And, while you’re on Instagram, take a look at the #SweetHomeQAL hashtag on Instagram and see what the other QAL Makers are using in their quilts—it’s an amazing resource not only to see fabrics but to make new friends!

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.

Sweet Home Quilt Along - Week 1

Sweet Home Quilt Along - Week 1

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Welcome to the first week of the Sweet Home Quilt along hosted by (me) Sharon Holland, Maureen Cracknell, and Jennifer Jones. Not only are we excited to be working together to bring you this quilt along, but we’re so happy that you’ll be sewing along with us and have this chance to connect!

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Many of you have joined Maureen and I for past sew alongs and you’ve already an idea of our hosting style and what to expect during the next six weeks. For those of you that have never sewn along with us I’ll let you know what to expect so you can pace your sewing with us.

Our events are very casual. No sign up, but we encourage you to follow all the hosts because each host will bring their unique perspective to the sewing table and we’re all working with different Art Gallery Fabrics and collections so each of our quilts will looks completely different. Be sure to check out their blog post each week as well as follow along on Instagram!

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Each quilt along week will begin with a Wednesday blog post (on each hosts’ site). See the schedule above to know what to expect each week and how we’ve broken this quilt down into manageable goals. By the end of six weeks you’ll have your top done and hopefully quilted, too!

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The Friday right after the Wednesday blog post there’ll be a corresponding sponsored giveaway! We’ve coordinated with six fabulous sponsors who’ve donated prizes you’ll love to add to your stash, notions, materials, and equipment in your sewing room.

Be following along on Instagram as all the giveaways will be held on that platform and winners will be randomly drawn on Monday from the #SweetHomeQAL hashtag pool. The quilt along members that post their progress photos to public account on Instagram and use the hashtag #SweetHomeQAL will automatically be entered into every Sweet Home Quilt Along drawing! It’s that easy to enter, so enter often to up your chances!

If you haven’t already purchased the Sweet Home quilt pattern you’ll need to get it from my SHOP in the form of a PDF download or you can purchase it from Fat Quarter Shop as a PDF as well. Once you have your pattern it’s time to pick out your fabrics!

Week 1 - Fabric Selection

Sweet Home Terra Kotta kit

Sweet Home Terra Kotta kit

Selecting your fabrics can be a simple as digging through your stash and pulling out your favorite prints! You may already have an idea in mind for what you’d like your little neighborhood of houses to look like or have a special recipient in minds and are using their favorite colors.

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When I first published this quilt pattern in May I made two quilts, one for my granddaughter and another for her baby brother. They share a room so it was fun to make quilts that fit their unique personalities but still worked together in the same space.

I finished each quilt with 5/8’’-wide Chenille-It Blooming Bias for the cherry on top of an already adorable quilt. You’ll find instructions for adding faux chenille binding to your quilt in the pattern as well as a video tutorial on my Tutorial page. But, we’ll get more into adding binding on Week 5 for finishing your quilt. Just something to think about if you want to order your materials early. You can also finish your quilt with traditional binding—it’s nice to have options!

Read more about the first quilt on the original quilt release post and about the second quilt HERE as well as take a look at a beautiful quilt kit made by Fabric Stork (sorry, this kit is sold out but can give you fabric selection ideas). Also, check out the fantastic Halloween quilt pieced by Fabric Stork for the AGF Sweet and Spooky Look Book.

All these quilts show you finished Sweet Home quilt examples made with beautiful Art Gallery Fabrics. I hope this little Sweet Home quilt show has helped to inspire and get your fabric selecting ideas flowing.

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For the quilt along, I’ll be making a third Sweet Home quilt using Art Gallery Fabrics new Terra Kotta collection mixed with a couple Pure Solids and one print from my Spirited collection. This kit is available at Fat Quarter Shop if you’d like to sew a quilt like mine.

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For additional kits with Art Gallery Fabrics, check out my August 31st blog post announcing this quilt along. We’ve teamed up with Lady Belle Fabric, Lamb and Loom, and Piper Autumn Designs to bring you Sweet Home quilt kits, making your fabric selection and buying easy. These shops have a limited number of kits still available—so grab yours now before they’re gone!

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I love a pretty pile of quilt pieces, don’t you?

I’ve got all my pieces cut out for my Terra Kotta Sweet Home kit and next week we’ll dive into making the Log Cabin houses. This week you should be gathering your fabrics and getting all your pieces cut out. Remember to take lots of fabric pull photos and styled shots like this so you can post your progress to Instagram along with the #SweetHomeQAL hashtag and get your name in the pool for Friday’s drawing!

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Sweet Home Cozy and Joyful kit from Lady Belle Fabric

If you’re still looking for more fabric inspirations, check out Maureen’s blog —she’s going to be working on four quilts—yes, four quilts! She’s got a lovely post prepared with tips on how to streamline your cutting when there’s a lot of pieces (or multiple quilts). Pictured is the Cozy and Joyful kit from Lady Belle Fabric. Lady Belle also has a Sweet Home Halloween version!

Sweet Home Starry Night kit from Lamb and Loom

Sweet Home Starry Night kit from Lamb and Loom

Don’t forget to also visit Jennifer Jones over at Penelope Handmade. Jennifer is piecing the Starry Night kit from Lamb and Loom but this is her second Sweet Home quilt because she had stitched the Sweet Home Prairie Companion kit from Pipe Autumn Designs earlier this spring and fell in love with this quilt at first stitch.

And, if you’re still looking for inspiration, take a look at the #SweetHomeQAL hashtag on Instagram and see what the other QAL Makers are using in their quilts—it’s an amazing resource not only to see fabrics but to make new friends!

Meet you back here on Friday as we announce this weeks giveaway prize.

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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.

Home, Sweet Home (Quilt)

Home, Sweet Home (Quilt)

Sweet Home by Sharon Holland

Sweet Home by Sharon Holland

Wow, I know it’d been a bit since I last blogged but, I had no idea it’d been this long! I’ve really been so busy these last two months (which incidentally is also the amount of time I’ve not left my house) and the time’s flown by for me.

Just to fill in the gaps between the last post and now I’ve done some more paintings, finished a new fabric collection for fall (October release if all goes according to shipping plans), stitched 244 masks—70+ of which I’ve listed for sale in my new FABRIC MASKS page. I’ve also designed, wrote the pattern, and stitched two quilts in my new Sweet Home quilt pattern, and am working on a new fabric line for 2021.

Sweet Home quilt by Sharon Holland photo and long arm quilting by Lady Belle Fabric

Sweet Home quilt by Sharon Holland photo and long arm quilting by Lady Belle Fabric

Today it’s time to show you the newest pattern in my shop and it’s quilt pattern release day, hooray! You can find this PDF pattern on my SHOP page HERE. This adorable, beginner-friendly design is the perfect scrap quilt and a way to show off all those prints you’ve been collecting.

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I’ve made two Sweet Home quilts but for today’s post I’ll just show the first one since I have a bunch of beautiful photos and don’t want this post to get too epic. I’ll show the other quilt next week along with a new giveaway. See end of this blog for this week’s giveaway.

The fabrics for this blush and turquoise quilt are all Art Gallery Fabrics and use prints from several different AGF collections: Spirited, Ballerina Fusion, Marrakesh Fusion, Rosewood Fusion, and Pure Solids.

I love how you can mix between AGF collections and curate an entirely new look!

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When I was designing this quilt pattern, I was creating it for a Quilt Along (QAL) to be co-hosted with myself and Maureen Cracknell. Unfortunately, with COVID-19, lockdowns and shipping issue headaches have all played havoc on the fabric availability coming into Art Gallery Fabrics and going out to shops. Even though I pulled the most current fabrics for my quilt, many are already out of stock! My Spirited collection is being reprinted and is probably in a container somewhere waiting to be unloaded.

Until more normal business resumes and shops can get restocked we’re tabling our QAL for now. I’m very disappointed but will be ready with two quilt already made and loads of video tutorials to prepare, sponsors lined up—all to make a sew along extra enjoyable when the time comes.

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The nice thing about a pattern release ahead of a quilt along is that you can start planning and gathering your materials early! I love how different colors and fabrics give this quilt an entirely new look and vibe and have included a coloring sheet of the quilt in the PDF pattern. Did you know you can download virtual fabric swatches from the various Art Gallery Fabrics collections and play around with different looks? Yup, just look for the Download JPEG Swatches button on every collection and start planning.

This Shabby-Chic Boho palette is what I put together for my first quilt and is my happy zone for colors and florally prints! It’s very girly and with the Daisy Chain long arm quilting design stitched by Brooke Becker of Lady Belle Fabric and the chenille edge finish—it’s the perfect finish to this sweet quilt.

Lady Belle Fabric - Sweet Home Quilt Kit

Brooke has curated a beautiful bundle of Art Gallery Fabric to make her own version of the Sweet Home quilt and has kits ready for you to make a quilt too!

Photo and quilt kit by Lady Belle Fabric

Photo and quilt kit by Lady Belle Fabric

All your favorite Art Gallery Fabric designer’s prints are mixed together in this soft and sweet palette with shades of dusty mauve, mint, navy, coral, and terra cotta that’ll look right at home in your decor all year round.

Photo and quilt kit by Lady Belle Fabric

Photo and quilt kit by Lady Belle Fabric

Visit Lady Belle Fabric to find this Sweet Home quilt kit, fabrics, and long arm quilting services. Brooke is the best and genuinely a fabulous person. I love helping support small businesses and quilt shops—especially during these tough times.

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Let’s talk about the Chenille-It Blooming Bias edge treatment to replace traditional binding to add an additional layer of Boho-Chic to this quilt. This stunning look couldn’t have been any easier to create with a double-layer of 5/8”-wide Blooming Bias and took half the time of traditional binding. Instructions for adding chenille binding to your quilt are included in the PDF.

5/8”-wide Chenille-It Blooming Bias

5/8”-wide Chenille-It Blooming Bias

I’m absolutely in love with this chenille binding and have another new quilt pattern in the queue that’ll be finished in this same technique. But, if you’re not feeling adventurous, there’s also traditional binding information/yardage included in the PDF pattern.

See materials list on the Sweet Home pattern listing in the SHOP.

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For both my Sweet Home quilts, I’ve filled them with Hobbs Tuscany Silk Blend batting. This is my very favorite batting for many reasons. The drape of a quilt with silk batting is luxurious and vintage-soft. Tuscany Silk is lightweight, resists wrinkling, and has better insulating properties than traditional cotton batts. It handles much like cotton batting for hand or machine quilting and has less shrinkage when laundered. Oh, and great quilting definition, too!

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Staying at home never looked so good, right? I hope you like my new quilt design and check it and my other patterns out in my SHOP.

I mentioned a giveaway earlier in this post and a new pattern release wouldn’t be complete without a giveaway or two! Read below on how to enter for a chance to win my new quilt pattern…

GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

Congratulations to: Jennifer Lewis, Laura M, and Anne!

Comment to Win a Sweet Home PDF Pattern!

* Note * This giveaway is open to EVERYONE! If you're a "no reply" or anonymous commenter, please remember to include your email address in your comment--you can't win if I can't get a hold of you!

1. Simply leave a comment here under this post! (Counts as first comment entry).

2. My followers get a second entry! If you follow via subscribing to my posts, with Bloglovin (or another service), or follow me on Instagram, just let me know by making a separate comment. (Counts as second entry). Note: I'm no longer on Facebook.

3. Help spread the word!! I know that many of you already do, so I thought it would be nice to add that as another way to enter! Spread the word about this giveaway on YOUR instagram, facebook, tweet, pin, blog post, etc... (Counts as a third entry). 

That’s THREE possible entries and three chances to win! Enter now through Monday, May 18, 2020. I’ll be drawing names for three winners. The winning comments will be picked at random around 4pm Eastern. I’ll post the name of the winners on this post once they've been notified and responded to my email.

Be sure to visit my Instagram feed @sharonhollanddesigns for a chance for you and a tagged friend to win PDF patterns from my SHOP. Winners can pick a substitute PDF pattern if desired for the blog and IG giveaways.

Stay home and sew,

Sharon

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.