The Spring Fling Sew Along is coming!

In March 2020 I will be hosting a Sew-Along on Instagram called #SpringFlingSewAlong

During the sew-along, I will be making another version of my Spring Fling Quilt and will be posting my progress on Instagram! 

Why should you join me and make the Spring Fling quilt? It’s free and all you need to participate is a copy of the pattern and the ability to sew a quilt block using the Foundation Paper Piecing! 

If you have done a sew-along before you will know it’s a lot of fun and there are opportunities to bounce ideas off other quilters and learn new things. Plus if you are like me and have difficulty finishing quilts you have started, a sew-along gives you some accountability and a goal/deadline to finish by.  Also, this sew-along has been planned to coincide with both International Quilt Month and Spring in the Northern Hemisphere and I hope that we will be able to fill Instagram with lots of pretty flower quilt blocks for Spring! You can sew as many blocks as you like.

Plus there are PRIZES on offer! The grand prize is a mystery box of quilty goodness that I have been collecting including fabrics, tools and some of my patterns, valued at over $200 NZD. Is there a picture? Nope - the contents of the box will remain a mystery until the winner receives it!!! 

There are also some other great sponsors offering prizes: 

• Cedar Makerie is offering a PDF quilt pattern of your choice from her store.
• ByNessie505 is offering a PDF copy of her Lady in Red Pattern
• Rainbow Stash NZ has several fabric bundles up for grabs
• Fabric Stork is offering a Fat Quarter Bundle to one lucky winner
• Little Quack Fabric is offering  fabric from her Spoonflower store to back your Spring Fling Quilt
• And there are a number of Premium Memberships to Online Quilt Magazine up for grabs!!! 

Each week a winner will be chosen from the photos posted during the week of completed quilt blocks. If you want to receive email updates you can sign up here (it’s not a requirement to win, however, all the winners will be announced via email). 

What do you need to do to win a prize? 

1. Post a photo of a completed Spring Fling Quilt Block from the Spring Fling Quilt Pattern to your Instagram account between March 1st, 2020 and May 24th 2020 (it’s best to make your profile public to ensure it will be seen by me) 
2. Use the hashtag #SpringFlingSewAlong
3. Follow the prize sponsor on Instagram! 

To win the grand prize you will need to post a photo of your finished quilt (or quilt top) containing at least 6 quilt blocks from the pattern in any combination you like to Instagram before May 31st, 2020, tag #SpringFlingSewAlong and follow me on Instagram! 

Are you as excited as I am?

Happy Quilting!
RJ

A White Elephant Quilt Swap

My most recent project has taken me more time to complete than I initially anticipated. I’ve been participating in the White Elephant Quilt Swap 2019 hosted by Janelle from @tinyquiltswaps

It’s a genius swap project though up by Janelle where you make a mini-quilt (note here I said “mini”) that you want to make and everyone votes at the end for their favourites, and that helps to determine who gets each quilt.

I decided that this was my opportunity to finally make the 'Lady in Red' pattern byNessie505, and I already had purchased the fabric and knew I wanted to make her in some purple-blue Tula fabrics. I shrunk the pattern to 75% of its original size so that my finished pattern would be 18” x 36”. I could have gone 12”x 24” but decided against it as one of the fabrics I had chosen was The Hypnotizer from Tula Pink’s 2015 “Chipper” collection and I felt the scale of the print deserved to be a bit bigger, so my quilt ended up being a bit bigger than a “mini”.

It was pointed out after I started that it would be a great swap to use some existing orphan blocks up, something I have plenty of as you probably know from reading my other posts, but by this time I had already started my new quilt, posted photos and was committed.

So why did it take me so long? Well, first I may have been a bit over-ambitious with my quilting. I really stretched my skills with this one, while the end result was definitely worth the effort, I did have a finished quilt that wasn’t quite square and needed fixing.

I am also sewing-time poor at the moment, as since moving my 2-year-old has decided that his day-sleep is optional and therefore I don’t get the same amount of time to spend designing and creating until he starts kindy next year. I also have several other secret projects happening in the background and a long list of custom-order pattern designs to create as well. Plus I’m gearing up for the Spring Fling Sew Along next year. Nevertheless, I did get my quilt finished before the deadline and also added a zipper at the back to make it a pillow cover for whoever ends up getting her (that’s still a secret that hasn’t been decided).

I'm sure whoever receives her will love her, and I am super excited to vote for my favourites (there are some awesome quilts and you can see them here on Instagram) and find out which one I will be receiving!

I really enjoyed making 'Lady in Red' and highly recommend it for anyone who knows how to foundation piece. The pattern is available from ByNessie505’s Etsy store.

Happy piecing!

RJ

Sit Dog, Sit! New Paper Pieced Quilt Block Pattern!

Several months ago I did a very small Quilt Along featuring some new Farm Animals I had created. While most of these patterns were released at the time of the Quilt Along, one pattern was not. That pattern was called 'Sit Dog, Sit!'

'Sit Dog, Sit!' is a 12" quilt block pattern using foundation paper piecing. The release of the PDF pattern was delayed, as I was developing a print version of the pattern and it was one of the featured pre-release patterns in the Jump On In Box in October 2019. The Jump On In Box is a quarterly subscription box full of fabrics, patterns and other quilty goodness from Sew-Inn Colac in Australia, and totally worth checking out (I'm a subscriber myself). In fact, the background fabric I used when making my own version of this pattern was Serenity - Daydream from the Pinkerville Range by Tula Pink and was one of the fabrics which came in the first-ever Jump On in Box! I then used some pretty pink fabric from my stash and an 18" zip to finish my block into a pretty cushion cover!

There were some pretty cute versions of Sit Dog, Sit made during the Quilt-Along by my testers and I really couldn't pick a favourite:

I love the flowers that Truus Tante used for the background. Truus plans to make a full quilt of farm animals using all the animals from the quilt along!

Donna said she was thinking of her own dog when she was making her version and used fabrics and colours to reflect this. 

Marie's puppy quilt block was very cute in the green hues she chose!

Julia had been making a rainbow of farm animals for her quilt, and so she made her version of Sit Dog, Sit! using a variety of beautiful Orange fabrics. 

I'd love to know which version is your favourite - Let me know in the comments!

Sit Dog, Sit! is available as an instant PDF download in my Etsy Store now, or as a print pattern available select quilt stores.

Happy Piecing!
RJ

Have you heard about the Purple People?

Hello again!

Recently I designed a fun new quilt called 'Purple People' and I haven't yet had a chance to write about it.  Essentially Purple People is a series of twelve foundation paper pieced faces, which all differ in expression and have subtly different features.

Each quilt block measures 6" wide by 8" tall and the finished quilt centre should measure 22" across and 37" down after sashing has been added. 

When I designed them, I envisaged the faces would be purple for my own quilt. However, since the release of the first blocks, I have seen the blocks made in all different colours, including, one participant who decided to make hers as a Rainbow! 

If you want to join in the fun an make your own Purple People Quilt - I'm releasing one quilt block each month until July next year through my email newsletters. 

'Moustache Matt' made using Aboriginal Dot by Kaffe Fassett

The first two blocks, Kissy Karen, and Moustache Matt, have already been released and have now been made available to purchase in my Pattern Store for a small cost and if you would like to get the remaining blocks for free, make sure you sign up to my mailing list! 

Alternatively, the full Purple People Quilt Pattern including all twelve foundation paper pieced quilt blocks, sashing, and quilting suggestions will be made available for purchase sometime in the last half of 2020.

Happy Quilting!

RJ

Packing, Moving and Sewing.

It's been a while since I posted. There is a very good reason for it. 

I'm moving house - actually we are moving cities. As of next week, I will be living in part of the artistic (and coincidentally also political) capital of New Zealand, Wellington! 

However, in the meantime, it has meant a lot of sorting, donating, cleaning and generally having a clear-out of the horrendous amount of rubbish that we seem to have accumulated or kept from our last move. Seriously - how many spare pillows do we actually need? Because I had about 16 spares in the cupboard and more on the spare bed! Unfortunately, all of this has not left me a lot of time for quilting or sewing. 

However, I have managed to finish up one of the items on my list for The Work in Progress Project. 

Remember I wanted to finish my Up in the Air Quilt filled with Aeroplanes, Rockets, Helicopters, and Hot Air Balloons but was very unenthused about it. I had chosen a baby blue background colour which I thought was going to look like the sky when it all came together. Turned out by the end of six quilt blocks I really disliked the colour.

I think it was just too over-powering on its own and needed more colour to break it up. So I decided to put a colourful border around each one and make six mini-quilts to donate to Tauranga Hospital's Special Care Baby Unit. This is something I have done before, but never six at once!

Thanks to the ladies at Papamoa Patchers for being my lovely quilt-holders!

I know it probably seems a bit crazy, that as I'm trying to reduce the number of unfinished quilts I have by actually finishing them, I would decide to make six quilts instead of one. But it did give me the passion back that I needed in order to finish these blocks and make something that I know will be cherished by six little people. As I started putting the borders around each one, I realised that I could have quite easily put all six blocks into one quilt with the rainbow borders, making a lovely aircraft themed rainbow quilt. However I was also pretty determined to finish what I had started and because we are moving I now had a deadline!

Each of the blocks has a pretty backing, but my favourite is definitely the backing I used for the Red Hot Air Balloon Quilt. The heart fabric is by Riley Blake, and is something that I found while cleaning out my stash. The hot air balloons are a fabric that I had printed at Spoonflower using my logo (it's not for sale, but here are some designs that are) It turned out so cute. I also ended up using a lovely Satin binding which will I hope will be nice and soft and silky on those precious baby fingers that will be curling around the edges. 

I'm pretty pleased with all of these awesome colourful mini-quilts and hope they brighten up the Special Care Baby Unit! All of these quilt block patterns can be found in my Etsy shop either individually or as a set of quilt blocks.

It's another project finished, but I still have plenty left. Plus, unfortunately, when I was cleaning out my fabric stash I found another two unfinished projects that I started years ago. One is a completed flimsy (quilt top - yet to be quilted), and the other was an EPP project I started moons ago and clearly did not get unpacked from last time we moved. I have put them both in a box marked "The Work in Progress Project" and will add them to my list. One thing is now very clear - given my propensity to start further projects on a whim (I want to make everything!) and the fact that I keep finding forgotten projects, it is a safe bet that I will not be finishing all of my WIPs any time soon, but that doesn't mean I won't keep trying! 

Now my sewing machine, overlocker, and all my tools are sorted and packed into boxes. So that means no sewing for the next couple of weeks and not finishing any more projects for now. Although I'm sure it will be unpacked and set up in a new room as soon as possible when we reach our new home.

Until next time, Happy Quilting!

RJ

Free Foundation Paper Pieced Patterns

Thanks for stopping by my website! This page contains patterns that I have designed and are available for you to download for free. I will continue to add patterns every so often, so make sure you check back regularly!

Many of these patterns were available first to my email subscribers - make sure you sign up to get a FREE Foundation Paper Pieced Pattern every month!

Click Here to Sign up to my email newsletter!

If you are a beginner to Foundation Paper Piecing, you might also like to download

  this handy beginners guide. 

Snowball Flower Pattern 

This was a free paper pieced pattern in my June 2019 email newsletter. It was designed for a quilted cushion I made for a quilt swap. You can see it here.

Click Here to Download the FREE PDF Snowball Flower Pattern

Jack-O-Lantern Pattern 

The Foundation Paper Pieced Jack-O-Lantern pattern was developed in 2018 and was offered for sale in my Etsy Store for a short time, but was also offered to my email subscribers for free in September 2018 as a Halloween bonus pattern. It has recently been updated and comes in two sizes, 9" and 12".

Click Here to Download the Free Jack O Lantern Halloween Quilt Block Pattern

Thank you so much for visiting my webpage and I hope you enjoy using these free patterns! Keep checking back as now and then I will add more.

Happy Piecing!
RJ

Making something just for the fun of it.

I've been a bit naughty and I don't feel guilty about it either. 

I made something from my quilty bucket list - 'Distractions' by Blossom Heart Quilts! Its a foundation paper pieced pattern that is available in Issue 16 of Make Modern Magazine.

You might be wondering why I have no guilt about starting a new project?
Well to start with, I also finished it! 

The other thing is to be completely honest I needed a break. I’ve done pretty well so far finishing off some of my in-progress quilts, but I was feeling recently that my sewing was more “work” than “fun”. I needed to make something fun that wasn’t scheduled and is just for me. Something to re-inspire me and help me stop avoiding the sewing machine. This was a great small project to do that with, plus still get it finished in one day.

The other reason is that it is a great pattern for using up some of my ever-growing fabric stash! In fact, I didn’t buy a single thing to make this. Everything came from my stash including the wadding/batting and the cushion insert!

This helped me to realise two things
1. I have some cool stuff in my stash.
Check out the cool black and white fabric I used for my border and backing for example. It's been at the bottom of a box for a really long time and how perfect is it for this project!

2. I need to have a clear out, as some of the fabrics I have there, I will probably never use.

When I say the entire thing was made from my stash I mean it, I got to use some of the scraps from my overflowing scrap box, the black came from a skirt I tried to make years ago (and it was a disaster) which has been waiting around for me to fix (that was never going to happen).

This pattern was fantastic for using up my scraps and I got to dig around in my stash for the border and backing fabric. The example in Issue 16 of Make Modern Magazine used an off-white background with a grey border, but I decided to use black and the funky black and white flower print for my border for this one, which I think makes it really quite striking.

Worth noting: During September 2019 if you make ANY pattern from ANY issue of Make Modern Magazine and tag #highfivemakemodern on Instagram you could win some pretty awesome prizes like fabric bundles, patterns, books and magazine subscriptions. So if you have any patterns on your bucket list - now's probably a good time to make it!

I'm going to keep this cushion just for me. I really like it and it also serves as a reminder not to put too much pressure on myself, which is something I have been doing lately.

Hope you are having some great quilty adventures of your own!

Happy piecing!
RJ