Gather Round - Bountiful Holiday Blog Tour

Gather Round - Bountiful Holiday Blog Tour

Today's my stop on the Bountiful Holiday Blog Tour and I'm excited to share the new Gather Round free pattern with you!

Every year, Thanksgiving comes around and I wish I'd thought ahead to organized a holiday sewing blog tour. Well, this year I was on the ball and planned way ahead. In fact, this tour has been in the making since my spring Bountiful tour! Some of the makers on that spring tour are also taking part in our holiday tour with the addition of some new bloggers as well. It's been a spectacular tour so far and I love the variety of projects geared toward gift giving, decorating your home for the holidays, or fast and fun sewing projects for any time of the year.

For my tour post and new free project, I selected Bountiful prints from both the Plant and Harvest color ways that create a winter Christmas feeling. For this project you will need fat quarters of 4 light and 4 dark prints, 1-1/2 yards backing, and (6) 18'' squares of Hobbs Thermore batting (affiliate link). The full material list with fabric sku numbers are listed on the PDF instructions.

I used 8 different prints in my placemats and mixed and matched for 6 different combination placemats. If you'd prefer a more unified look to your mats simply reduce the number of fabrics and up the yardage on each print so the total yardage is still the same. For example: To make 6 placemats you will need a total of 1 yard light print and 1 yard dark print. The backing and batting remain the same for 6 mats.

Download my free Gather Round pattern from my Free Patterns page. You'll find 24 free patterns there which are also great gift ideas for everyone on your sewing list.

I must confess that the last few years I've not decorated for Christmas--life has just been too busy. The extent of my decorating is displaying the Christmas cards I receive from friends and family and switching out the quilted table runner from my fall runner to a more wintery looking runner. For me, I prefer to spend my time with my kids and cooking. 

When I was thinking up what sort of project I wanted to share with you for my tour I wanted to make sure it would do not only double-duty for me, but for you as well. By making placemats, not only did I get a new look for my holiday table this year but we all get to enjoy a very useful (and quilty) project.

I like a round placemat because you can fit a lot of people around a table and not have mats edges overlapping. My Gather Round mat isn't round but is such a fun shape without messing with curves. Simple half-square triangles (HSTs) and a pillow case turned edge make these really fast to put together. I used a wonderful product from Hobbs Batting for the batting. It's called Thermore (affiliate link) and is perfect for placemats in many ways. The ultra-thin polyester fiber is not bulky at the seams and dishes won't rock or wobble. Because I turned the layers rather than bound the edges, it was nice not to have extra bulk at the seam and there's no need to clip the corners on this project when using this batting. Quilting can be 6-8 inches apart and the batting will still hold up in the laundry. It's very easy to quilt through by machine or by hand. This product would be great for T-shirt quilts, bags, clothing, and of course quilts like baby quilts that get a lot of use and laundering. 

I decide to use my Perennial Renewal print from my Bountiful fabrics for the backing on all 6 mats. Now my placemats have a whole new (second) table setting option. I love how my vintage dishes look in this clean farmhouse table setting. I'm going to get a lot of use out of these next month!

I chose to do minimal quilting on my mats. My top thread is the beautiful Aurifil 2887 green in a 28-weight thread so it really shows up on the front of the mat. I used a 50-weight 2021 white Aurifil thread in my bobbin to give the top stitch a little more definition between stitches and the white thread will blend in with the backing for a cleaner finished, whole-cloth look to the back of the mats.

I had a lot of fun photographing these mats and now have a strong desire to do some holiday decorating! 

I can't wait till my kids get home for the holidays and we can gather around our table (which is getting too small these days for the growing family) and share laughs, food, and time together. 

Thank you for visiting my blog and all the love and support you've shown me (and my fabrics) this past year. I hope you're enjoying the Bountiful Holiday Blog Tour and pay visit to all the talented designers that have already shared their projects and the rest that will follow me. Peta Peace of She Quilts A Lot shared a fabulous free pattern yesterday to make a beautiful kitchen towel, mitt, and hot pad set that would be so difficult to give away so plan on making two sets! Friday Heather Andrus of Quilt Story will be hosting the tour and she's stitched up a must make for a little girl on your holiday sewing list. 

11-01  Mathew Boudreaux  Mister Domestic

11-02  AnneMarie Chany  Gen X Quilters

11-03  Brooke Sellmann  Silly Mama Quilts

11-06  Blair Stocker  Wise Craft Handmade

11-07  Silvia Sutters  A Stranger View

11-08  Peta Peace  She Quilts A Lot

11-09  Sharon Holland  Sharon Holland Designs

11-10  Heather Andrus  Quilt Story

11-13  Maureen Cracknell  Maureen Cracknell Handmade

11-14  Anjeanette Klinder  Anjeanettek

11-15  Alexis Wright  My Sweet Sunshine Studio

11-16  Katie Skoog  The Simple Life Company

If you're an Instagram user and follow my IG feed, I'll have daily postings and links to the Bountiful Holiday Blog Tour Makers and their projects and it will also be easy to follow along by searching the hashtag #BountifulHolidayBlogTour. I hope to see you following along on that platform as well as visiting and getting to know these amazing blog tour Makers. 

There will a giveaway at the end of the blog tour. My generous sponsor for this tour is the Fat Quarter Shop and they're giving away a 10-pc Bountiful Harvest colorway fat quarter bundle. On November 17th, 2017 I'll post the final weekly recap post along with all the details on how to enter into the Bountiful Harvest fat quarter bundle giveaway. You'll have a chance to enter right here on the blog (on the that final post, so be watching for that) and also on Instagram.

Every time you share a tour image along with the #BountifulHolidayBlogTour hashtag, to your public Instagram account, you'll automatically have your name put into the hashtag pool and automatically be entered into the drawing. So share and repost those Instagram images by the Bountiful Holiday Blog Tour Makers often and use that hashtag (hint, hint)!

A blog winner and an IG winner will be drawn on Monday November 20th. All this information will be given again at the end of the tour but thought you'd like a head's up :)

For more Bountiful fabrics project inspiration, check out the Art Gallery Fabrics virtual Look Book!

Bountiful Holiday Tour Week 1 Recap

Bountiful Holiday Tour Week 1 Recap

The Bountiful Holiday Blog Tour is underway and even though this first week has only been three days, it's not been short on stunning projects!

Mathew Boudreaux of Mister Domestic started out the tour on Wednesday, November 1st. Mathew is a sewist extraordinaire and everything he stitches is pure magic! If you have a special someone in your life, how about making a handmade garment for them? This Bountiful Grazing print in Brindle makes to coolest shirt. The gun metal snaps and great fit makes this shirt boutique chic. Visit Mathew's blog post for pattern information as well as all the other goodies and tutorials Mister Domestic has up his sleeve. 

Photo courtesy of Mister Domestic

Photo courtesy of Mister Domestic

Day two, Thursday November, 2nd is hosted by the lovely AnneMarie Chany of Gen X Quilters. AnneMarie is known for her innovative hoop quilts and I was so excited to learn she was planning to make one for my blog tour. 

Photo courtesy of Gen X Quilters

Everything I love is in AnneMarie's Bountiful Holiday hoop quilt. The basket block, hand stitching, embroidery, and the prints she chose for this project all speak to me. This is beautifully drafted and so darn pretty! Wouldn't this be the wonderful gift to receive, I think you should plan to make at least two because it will be hard to give away!

If you've not had the chance to visit AnneMarie's blog you really must. She has tutorials, a block library, block of the month clubs, and so much more!

Photo courtesy of Gen X Quilters

November 3rd finishes out Week 1 with Brooke Sellmann of Silly Mama Quilts. I first met Brooke at spring Quilt Market in St. Louis. Her energy and passion for quilting was so evident and I liked her right away. 

Brooke designed a table centerpiece for the Bountiful Holiday blog tour. The offset, radiating quilting design was such a great way to break up the grid of squares and rectangles. Brooke made great use of the fabrics I sent her for the tour and this would make a cheery table topper and a quick-make home decor project for your holiday table.

Photo courtesty of Silly Mama Quilts

There's more to come on the Bountiful Holiday Blog Tour as eleven super talented designers and myself will be blogging about fast and fun projects you can stitch for the family, decorating for the holidays, and gift giving ideas. I'm so excited to see what next week's bloggers will make. Here's the list of names and dates so you can follow along:

11-01  Mathew Boudreaux  Mister Domestic

11-02  AnneMarie Chany  Gen X Quilters

11-03  Brooke Sellmann  Silly Mama Quilts

11-06  Blair Stocker  Wise Craft Handmade

11-07  Silvia Sutters  A Stranger View

11-08  Peta Peace  She Quilts A Lot

11-09  Sharon Holland  Sharon Holland Designs

11-10  Heather Andrus  Quilt Story

11-13  Maureen Cracknell  Maureen Cracknell Handmade

11-14  Anjeanette Klinder  Anjeanettek

11-15  Alexis Wright  My Sweet Sunshine Studio

11-16  Katie Skoog  The Simple Life Company

If you're an Instagram user and follow my IG feed, I'll have daily postings and links to the Bountiful Holiday Blog Tour Makers and their projects and it will also be easy to follow along by searching the hashtag #BountifulHolidayBlogTour. I hope to see you following along on that platform as well as visiting and getting to know these amazing blog tour Makers. 

There will a giveaway at the end of the blog tour. My generous sponsor for this tour is the Fat Quarter Shop and they're giving away a 10-pc Bountiful Harvest colorway fat quarter bundle. On November 17th, 2017 I'll post the final weekly recap post along with all the details on how to enter into the Bountiful Harvest fat quarter bundle giveaway. You'll have a chance to enter right here on the blog (on the that final post, so be watching for that) and also on Instagram.

Every time you share a tour image along with the #BountifulHolidayBlogTour hashtag, to your public Instagram account, you'll automatically have your name put into the hashtag pool and automatically be entered into the drawing. So share and repost those Instagram images by the Bountiful Holiday Blog Tour Makers often and use that hashtag (hint, hint)!

A blog winner and an IG winner will be drawn on Monday November 20th. All this information will be given again at the end of the tour but thought you'd like a head's up :)

Photo courtesy of Fat Quarter Shop

Paper Lanterns Table Runner

Paper Lanterns Table Runner

Paper Lanterns Table Runner by Sharon Holland

I had the greatest pleasure of sewing with Maureen Cracknell's new Soulful collection. Soulful is inspired by nature, handmade goods, and vintage finds celebrating the gentle spirit of makers. The sumptuous collection just released in May and is Maureen's newest fabric line for Art Gallery fabrics.  

As you remember, both Maureen and I attended Quilt Market last month and both had booths to show off projects made from our newest collections. I created a table runner for Maureen's booth and finally have the pattern written so you can make one as well! Find the the free download for my Paper Lanterns Table Runner on my Free Patterns page. 

I love table runners and have several different looks that I rotate throughout the year. This runner is a large size of 21" x 69". If you need one larger or smaller, simply make more or less of the blocks. If you make a runner exactly the size as the free pattern then you'll have 8 extra A shaped pieces leftover. These leftover pieces are intentional because the A shape is an A and an A reverse type of shape. Having an extra piece allows for you to play with where the prints go and the orientation of the shape in the block. 

After I had completed my runner I was playing with the leftover A shapes and found I could turn those into a cute pieced zip pouch!

I sewed the 8 leftover A and A reverse shapes together to make a rectangle. I used flannel behind the pieced rectangle and machine quilted 1/4" aways from the seams in all directions. You can you all or just some of the leftover pieces, depending upon how big you want your pouch.

Once the quilting was done I squared it all up and cut a lining to match the pieced exterior size. From there you will want to follow your favorite pattern for making zip pouches. I do not have a pattern for this but can point you to some blogs that have some nice tutorials:

The Sewing Chick

Jedi Craft Girl

Missouri Star Quilt Company

Be sure to watch for the upcoming Soulful Lookbook by Art Gallery Fabrics. The fantastic virtual magazines published by AGF for each fabric line is a feast for the eyes and loaded with sewing inspiration! You'll even see my Paper Lanterns table runner among the beautiful projects. 

Check out more of what Maureen is doing by stopping by her blog. 

Sewcial Bee Sampler Block #3

Sewcial Bee Sampler Block #3

Hello, friends! It's Wednesday and that means a new block is available for the Sewcial Bee Sampler sew along co-hosted by myself and Maureen Cracknell. If you're just now joining us, welcome! Please take a moment to catch up by reviewing all my earlier posts, beginning with the January 30th, 2017 post The Start of Something Sewcial.

The rest of you, let's get sewing! Block #3 is called Flock. You'll enjoy it because we're reviewing the two different half-square triangle (HST) techniques we've learned about in blocks #1 and #2. You've got this, but if you'd like a refresher, follow these links to my tutorials: 8-at-a-time HST units and the traditional HST units (2-at-a-time). 

#3 Flock Sewcial Bee Sampler featuring Bountiful fabrics by Sharon Holland for Art Gallery Fabrics

I've started a series of tutorials to accompany this sew along that covers very basic patchwork sewing skills. If you've missed the first installment and want to perfect your strip cutting and seam allowance sewing skills, pop over to my Perfect Patchwork post here.

Just so you know, there's always several ways to accomplish the same end result in patchwork piecing and quilting. The methods I give you are my go-to methods and have served me well over the years. I'm not saying this is the absolute and only way to do things--this is just how I prefer to sew my patchwork quilts. 

Perfect Patchwork

Pressing and Pinning

A question I'm asked a lot is do I wash my fabrics before I sew with them? The answer from me is, NO. Again, this is a personal preference. I like to sew with fabric that still has the mill sizing finish on it. I feel the fabric is easier to handle and work with in a crisper state. Yes, I could pre-wash and then starch--but why go through that extra work?

Second big question is about pressing seams to one side or pressing them open. If you'd have asked me this question 6 months ago I would have gasped in horror at the very thought of pressing patchwork seams open. But, this fall as I was sewing a quilt for my Utility Style quilt book, (in print later this year) I had a scrap quilt project that I just HAD TO press the seams open for it to work. This was the first quilt I ever, ever had done that way and was pleasantly surprised how it really helped make this particular quilt go together so nicely. 

I've since been using a hybrid of pressing seams to one side and pressing seams open. If you put a little thought into the construction of each section of your block and how they fit together like a puzzle, you can get into a bit of a rhythm when piecing and start to instinctively know when to fold them (press to one side) and when to hold them (press open). 

Let's Practice on the #3 Block

1. Always start cutting and sewing with wrinkle-free fabric. When piecing you'll want to press not iron. Pressing is the motion of picking the iron up and putting it down rather than sliding it across the surface. Use the correct setting for the type of material and keep the iron clean. When pressing a unit or block press the seam from the back first to set the seam then open the unit or block and press the piece open. Press as you piece so the block stays true to size. I do not recommend using a steam iron. Steam could distort the shape of pieces by loosing the weave. I inevitably burn my fingers from the steam and it just messes up my iron no matter what, it's not been my friend.  

2. To press the seams for the #3 Flock block like I've done, press the seams on all the HST units open. Trim the dog ear corners to reduce bulk.

3. After sewing the 2 small HST units together, press the seams to one side so they can be nested when joining the two rows of two small HST units. I find when joining sections like this the nested seams are invaluable for locking the seams in place. Nesting seams before sewing means the seam allowances of each unit are going in the opposite direction. After joining the small HST units, this now becomes a section of the block; press the seams open on all sections.

Pressing tip: When the pressing direction is important, place the fabric to be pressed toward face up when pressing and opening. This trick will save time and result in the seams being pressed in the direction of the face-up fabric.

Pinning tip: I always pin when nesting seams and joining sections. Pinning helps to keep pieces and units from shifting when sewing. Pin seam allowances on a diagonal from right to left as shown, locking the seams in place. Do not sew over pins. Instead, stitch up to the diagonally placed pin, catching the leading seam allowance. With the needle in the down position, stop and remove the pin before proceeding.

4. Join the 2 large HST units and 2 HST sections into 2 rows of 2 units/sections each. Press seams to one side for nesting. Pin, stitch, and press the seams open.

5. When adding the frames, I press after each frame is added toward the frame strip because it will have the least amount of bulk in that direction.

Once my entire block is pieced and if I feel it needs to be flatter, I have a spritz bottle of regular tap water. The water, reactivates the mill sizing that will now act like starch (without the mess to your ironing board and iron). Your block is now (hopefully, a square) and if the pieces have been cut on the straight-of-grain, the straight-of-grain outside edges of the block will help to keep the shape of the square. I lightly mist my block and give it a good pressing with a hot iron (be sure to use the appropriate setting for your fabric). Remember, do not iron, this will distort and pull the block out of shape. Instead, press with an up and down motion and the block will remain true to size. If you'd prefer to use a steam iron, this would be the time to use it to make your block nice and flat instead of the spray bottle technique. 

I've enjoyed watching your blocks as you post them to Instagram. Be sure to use the hashtag #SewcialBeeSampler when you post and tag @maureencracknell and myself @sharonhollanddesigns so we can see all your hard work. Any public IG account posting that uses the official hashtag will automatically be entered into the hashtag pool for our weekly giveaway drawings. 

This Friday, February 17th, 2017 is my turn to host the weekly giveaway. I'll have a new post introducing you to this week's sponsor Sharon McConnell of Color Girl Quilts and all the details on how to enter on Friday. 

P.S. I love you sew! Photo by Sharon Holland