My Signature Sampler Week #7

My Signature Sampler Week #7

Hard to believe it's August already! August has always been a favorite month for me and usually involved many life-changing events like: Back-to-school excitement for my younger self and for my kids, getting married (34 years ago), having my first baby born in August, and buying our first house in August. So, when this month rolls around it's always a welcome transition month from summer into fall activities and still filled with excitement, although not as big as some in the past. 

It's week #7 of the My Signature Sampler sew along and this week's block is Crosses and Losses first sewn in the Sewcial Bee Sampler sew along. I'm sewing my new block with the Signature fabric line I designed for Art Gallery Fabrics. 

The My Signature Sampler is based off block instructions from the Sewcial Bee Sampler (SBS), Community Sampler (CS), AGF Quilt Block Collection (AGF), and the blocks from the Quilter's Planner 2018 magazine (QP). If you have different favorite blocks and would rather include them in your quilt, please feel free to make this sampler with your own signature-style. 

If you're just joining in on the fun, take a look at my first post for this sew along and pick up the quilt layout and color book page to start planning your sampler!

If you need extra help with your patchwork or would like to learn how to control the direction of your prints in half-square triangle units and other piecing techniques, visit my Tutorials page for lots of great tutorials all in one place. Also, when making any Sewcial Bee or Community Sampler blocks you can access the original blog posts for each block and find additional tips and tutorials for piecing. If needed, just use the search bar at the top of the this page on the right and simply type in the block name.

Don't forget our blocks will be set on-point so if you have a fussy cut center, cut it on-point for best results. Note: I don't recommend cutting any other pieces of the blocks (other than a center square on-point for fussy cutting) because it will create bias edges along the outside of the block and increase chances of distortion. Keep any bias edges in the center of the block.

I've already been adding my setting triangles to my finished blocks as I make them. I'm using a combination of my Perennial print from Printemps Fusions and Untamed Beauty Daybreak from Signature as the background setting of my quilt. Since this block is in the center of my quilt I have it set in just the Untamed Beauty Daybreak print. 

The setting triangles are made by cutting a 9-1/2'' square on the diagonal to make two setting triangles. Be mindful of print direction, if applicable. See Community Sampler Week #13 for block setting instructions. 

If you're interested in adding a chevron border to your sampler quilt, take a look at the week #6 blog post and pick up the border supplement PDF. I'll review the border option closer to the end of this sew along but just in case you wanted to sew or plan ahead, you have the information now.

GIVEAWAY

Every Friday when I reveal a new block to My Signature Sampler, I'll also be posting the weekly giveaway. This sew along is being sponsored by the most amazing companies and have generously donated incredible prizes to share with you. 

OUR SPONSORS

Art Gallery Fabrics | Hobbs Batting | The Quilter's Planner | Quilters Candy Box | Bloc_Loc | Dritz |  Omnigrid | Fat Quarter Shop

THIS WEEK'S GIVEAWAY SPONSOR IS: ART GALLERY FABRICS

Art Gallery Fabrics was started in 2004 by Pat and Walter Bravo. Since then creativity, beauty, and design have been their passions, and to this day, they have not changed--bringing a chic and modern perspective to the quilting industry.

When it comes to designing a fabric collection, AGF always keeps originality and uniqueness on the top of their list. Find your favorite fabric designers who create enticing color palettes and artful, intricate prints that make AGF collections one of a kind. Art Gallery Fabrics designs modern fabrics that keep up with ongoing trends and at the same time it encourages customers to use new colors and patterns so they venture out of their usual comfort zone.

Art Gallery Fabrics believes strongly in the quality of the fabric which is transcended in their superior thread count and fine weave making premium cotton as soft and smooth you can get. You really feel the difference with just one touch!

Blog  *  Facebook *  Instagram  * Pinterest  

AGF has created a collector’s box of fabrics like no other! Hand-picked for makers to use in a multitude of creative projects. An explosion of color and design made of unique groups of AGF’s signature quality cotton paired up with an original and collectible box made exclusively for them! Color Master boxes include a selection of 10 prints in two choices: FAT QUARTERS or HALF YARDS. CHECK YOUR LOCAL STORE FOR AVAILABILITY OR BUY IT ONLINE.

This week's My Signature Sampler giveaway will put this beautiful Life is Pink box of 10 fat quarters into one lucky winners stash! 

Giveaway now closed. Congratulations Beth!

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! (First comment entry).

2. Follow Art Gallery Fabrics on any of their social media platforms (see links above). Just let me know that you did by making a separate comment here to record that entry. (Separate comment-second entry). 

3. My followers get a third entry! If you follow me via subscribing to my posts, on Pinterest, and/or Instagram, just let me know by making a separate comment here to record that entry. (Separate comment-third entry).

4. 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 the My Signature Sampler sew along on YOUR instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest by pinning any of my pretty images in this post, etc... (separate comment-fourth entry). 

That’s FOUR possible entries! Enter now through Monday, August 6th! The winner will be picked at random around 4pm Eastern. I will post the name of the winner on this post once they've been notified and responded to my email.

Don't forget to enter into this same giveaway on Instagram by posting images of your sampler inspiration, sampler fabric pull, or blocks. Use the official #mysignaturesampler hashtag every time you post your My Signature Sampler makes (to a public account) and you're automatically entered into the weekly IG drawings as well! See my Instagram giveaway posts @sharonhollanddesigns for full details. 

Happy sewing!

Sharon

Endless Summer

Endless Summer

It's such an honor to be part of Mathew Boudreaux aka Mister Domestic's blog tour! Mathew launched his first fabric collection, Loved to Pieces for Art Gallery Fabrics this spring and I couldn't be happier for him!

Mathew's a power house of positive energy and brilliant sewing ideas. He's lovable and personable and you can't help but have a smile after watching his engaging You Tube videos!

Here's the amazing line up of designers for his tour:

Mister Domestic’s Loved to Pieces Blog Party

Monday July 16: Amanda Woodruff of A Crafty Fox

Tuesday July 17: Sharon Holland of Sharon Holland Designs

Wednesday July 18: Angela Wolf of Angela Wolf Pattern Collection

Thursday July 19: Brittany Jones of Brittany Jones

Friday July 20: Sharon McConnell of Color Girl Quilts

Saturday July 21: Elina Temmes of Elina Temmes

Monday July 23: Meghan Buchanan of Then Came June

Tuesday July 24: Nicole Daksiewicz of Modern Handcraft

Wednesday July 25: Cristy Stuhldreher of I Love You Sew

Thursday July 26: Kate Basti of Quilt with Kate

Friday July 27: Courtney Davis posting at Melly Sews

Sunday July 29: Mimi Goodwin of Mimi G Style

Monday July 30: Kim Niedzwiecki of Go Go Kim

Tuesday July 31: Tara Curtis of Wefty Needle

Wednesday August 1: Saija Kiiskinen of Saija Kiiskinen

Thursday August 2: Jodi Godfrey of Tales of Cloth

Sunday August 5: Brett Lewis of Natural Born Quilter

Monday August 6: Karen Tripp of The DIY Addict

Tuesday August 7: Tracy Martin of Tracy Bug Creative

Wednesday August 8: Sharon Burgess of Lilabelle Lane Creations

Thursday August 9: Maureen Cracknell of Maureen Cracknell Handmade

Friday August 10: Kylie Gersekowski of Little Moo Designs

With the wind of his daughter Helena’s love at his back, Matthew created Loved To Pieces. Helena's love for flowers and Mathew's love for paper piecing fused into a world where florals and EPP geometrics play against an array of blue tones with touches of vibrant pinks and subtle greens.

To signify the eternal love that's woven into every fiber of this collection I chose to make my Endless Summer table runner that I designed and first published in July/August 2013 Quilt-it...today magazine. 

This runner is made from half-square triangles and quarter-square triangles and the overall effect is as if it's been woven and a nod to Mathew's amazing woven fabrics sewing projects. There's a lot of pieces but once you make the units you're ready to put the runner together so it actually goes together pretty quickly. If you need extra help with HST and QST triangles, take a look at my tutorial for them HERE.

To share the love, this is now a free pattern for you to download from my Free Patterns page. 

I adore using a striped print for binding, don't you? To get the maximum effect, it's best to cut a striped binding on the bias. For a tutorial on how to cut and attach regular and bias binding, see my How to Bind a Quilt tutorial.

I really love the colors in Mathew's collection and these cool greens and aqua's are scrumptious and made me feel like I was in a Mediterranean getaway! You better believe I ate those props after the photoshoot!

I didn't have enough left over of the striped print to cover the back so I added my Woodblock Splendid print for AGF to each end, giving this runner a second look if flipped over.

The machine quilting is kept very simple because I didn't want to take anything away from the pretty prints. I followed the overall shape of the radiating rings which was plenty of quilting to use on the Hobbs Tuscany Silk Batting that's the perfect thickness for a table runner. 

Be sure to follow along on the blog tour and on Mathew's blog and @MisterDomestic Instagram as he'll be having weekly drawings for Loved to Pieces fat quarter bundles and loads of sewing inspiration. 

Happy sewing,

Sharon

Signature Bedroom

Signature Bedroom

Today I'll be taking a closer look at the Signature fabrics Soho bedroom I put together for a photo shoot to show off my new Signature fabric collection for Art Gallery Fabrics. This room was another mock-room setting I put together in my studio and I had so much fun sewing and decorating for this scene. See the Signature Baby Room posts Part 1 and Part 2.

For this mock-room to make sense, it had to tell a story. I wanted something fun and flirty, just like the fabric collection so I came up with the idea to create a Soho loft bedroom from a 20-something girl who loves sewing, flowers, vintage finds, and a little bit of bling. 

I didn't want a fussy bed frame so I put the mattress and box spring directly onto the rug-layered floor and stood two same-size, narrow boxes on end. You can't see the boxes because they're covered with a wood boards that made a temporary bench of sorts that I could use as my headboard/shelf. This created the perfect look for my bed and kept everything low and modern. 

The quilt on the bed is called Tracery Rose and is an adaptation of the Tracery quilt pattern from my Utility-Style Quilts for Everyday Living book (Landauer 2017). I wanted layers of fabrics with texture and vintage charm as well as doable DIY projects that my creative girl would want to make for her room. 

Find a tutorial for the fun Fabric Fringe Wallhanging on one of my earlier posts as well as instructions for the Improv Boho Pillow tutorial. These are both great projects to get the kids involved in sewing something for their room.

Crafty touches include vintage pompoms, my grandmother's Singer sewing machine on the desk, knitting yarn in the Bucket Bag tote (another free pattern on this site), Art Roll Up caddy for knitting needles or other art supplies (see Free Patterns page), thrifting treasures of vintage jewelry and furniture, and of course florals to bring the garden inside.

Pile on the layers and let the photo tell a story! I can just image my younger self busy working on crafts in my room and rearranging and decorating my space with pretty things.

This photo of the basket with yarn and fabric is one of my favorite shots because of all the yummy textures, layers, and colors. I had the last minute idea to throw a piece of faux fur on the chair seat and that added a bit of glam to the look plus more texture and interest!

This petite desk's was something I picked up at a garage sale almost 20 years ago! I painted it gold after I bought it and it's normal spot is as a nightstand by my bed. Because I wanted to bring in different metal elements into my Soho bedroom like gold, copper, and silver I thought it would make the cutest sewing table for this scene. The sewing machine was my grandmother's and it still works like a dream. I have it as a backup machine and don't sew with it much but it's comforting to know it's here with me when I need it. 

The chair is another garage sale find and it has a big hole in the caned seat. I've hidden the hole with a piece of faux fur to repeat the look on the other side of the room. 

Although I am obsessed with so many of my sewing makes for the two mock-up rooms, the project that's gotten the most wear is my Signature Extempore Rayon kimono. This garment was an easy make for a non-garment sewer like me and AGF rayon is the perfect fabric for a flowie cover up like this. I used Simplicity pattern 1108 and chose the cropped cut because I'm only 5'2'' and it's a good proportion for my frame. 

I hope you enjoyed this look into some of the photos that went into the Signature Look Book and my styled photo shoot. Are you getting lots of inspiration? What would you sew with these prints--quilts, clothes, or something else?

Star Light Quilt

Star Light Quilt

The very first time I made this star block was for the Community Sampler Cactus block and knew then and there I wanted to eventually make a quilt using just this block.

When sewing for my new Art Gallery Fabrics collection called Signature I designed projects around themed rooms and one of the rooms was to be a baby room which would be the perfect look for the Star Light quilt born from the Cactus block!

This gender-neutral design is perfect for any baby and is a generous 50'' square finished size. I consider this an intermediate project but with my tutorial on piecing the star block and other tutorials of Quarter-Square Triangle Units and working with directional prints, I feel even a beginner could make this quilt with a little extra attention paid to accurate seam allowances and cutting and a care with the trickier aspects of this design.

For my nature-loving baby I selected Signature prints and Pure Elements solids in a green, teal, and golden yellow palette that made me think of being outdoors on a summer's evening, chasing fireflies and looking at the stars. 

This week Art Gallery Fabrics will be virtually publishing the Signature fabrics Look Book and it will be packed full of beautiful projects made with my Signature collection. To celebrate the Look Book and collection I've added this Star Light baby quilt pattern to my Free Patterns page. 

Download the free PDF pattern for full instructions and illustrations for piecing this large baby quilt. I've also included a Quilting Diagram for how I machine quilting my quilt. This is a nice size for quilting on a domestic machine. 

I used Hobb's Tuscany Silk Batting to fill my quilt and I love the lightweight, sumptuous drape it gives a quilt. Silk batting handles and launders just like cotton with very little shrinkage. 

Tip for machine quilting like I've done is to stitch all the stitch-in-the-ditch diagonal, vertical, and horizontal lines first then go back in and stitch the oval leaf shapes last.

Be watching later this week for the Art Gallery Fabrics release of the Signature Look Book! If you're sewing with Signature and posting to Instagram, be sure to tag me @sharonhollanddesigns and use the hashtags #artgalleryfabrics #Signaturefabrics and #agfsignature so I don't miss any of your makes!