I'm not known for small piecing, I'm more of an instant gratification type of girl.  But I just couldn't resist busting open one of these Boho candies! 

Aren't they adorable?  We have a whole assortment of mini charms, more and more lines are coming out with them.  If you haven't had the opportunity to work with them, they sure are fun!  42 squares in a pack (just like a charm pack), but these little guys are only 2.5" x 2.5".  Check out the mini charms we have available, it's hard to choose between them all!

Those little pieced squares are only 2" x 2", maybe not the smallest blocks out there but they sure are cute!  I'm only about half way done...

Make sure to check back to see how this little mystery quilt turns out!  I'm hoping to be done with the top this week if all goes according to plan.

Jenn

Ever wonder what to do with your selvages?  I was in desperate need of some coasters, so I thought why not make them a little interesting!

Here's a quick and informal tutorial on how to use your selvages to make coasters.  I began by taking some scrap fabric or muslin and cut them into 5" squares.

Take a ruler, line up the 45 degree line with the corner of the 5" square.  Mark with a pen (I used a Frixon pen, but you could use something permanent since the selvage will be covering up the line).

Grab a handful of those selvages you've been hoarding (come on, no point in denying it....).  I only used 7 or 8 different strips, they stretch surprisingly far!

Place the first selvage aligning the top with the line you just marked.  

Place the next selvage above the first selvage (both selvages facing up), overlapping slightly so that when the top stitch line is sewn both selvages are sewn down.  Stitch close to the edge of the lower portion of the second selvage.

Continue to layer the next selvage in line slightly above the selvage just sewn, stitch close to the edge making sure both selvages are sewn down with that stitch line.

Continue until the whole square is completely covered with selvages.  Here is a picture of the front and back.  That's it, now all you have to do is cut them into the desired size (I used a final size of 4.5" x 4.5"), make a quilt sandwich with backing and batting, quilt as desired and bind! 

Who couldn't use some new coasters?? I know I did!

Jenn

Check out Bonnie and Camille's newest line Happy Go Lucky.  Every line they come out with I think "this is my favorite one", then they out do themselves on the next line!  This one is exceptionally nice because they added a navy to make a pop of color.  I made a sample quilt for our store using two charm packs and some white fabric.  The quilt pattern can be found in the book Fresh Fabric Treats, very easy and fun to make.  

So fun in fact, that I used the few charm squares I had remaining from the quilt to make a pillow.  For the pillow cover I cut the charms into 2.5" squares and used the same wonky star technique.  Like I said really fun to make, I'm sure this is not the last wonky start object you'll see from me!

The colors in this line are so stunning, yellow, navy and of course red and aqua.

You really must check it out soon, with a line this delicious it will certainly be gone soon!

Jenn

I'm sure almost everyone out there in the quilting world already knows how to make a half square triangle block.  There's nothing fancy to making one, but they are in oh so many beautiful blocks!  So if you don't know how to make them, today is your lucky day!  I was making another quilt to add to the collection for our Charity Quilts, and thought a half square quilt would be a really quick and easy quilt to make.  Here's a quick tutorial on how to make half square triangle blocks.

Details of our quilt:

Size:  43" x 52"

We used four different colors (if you like the fabric we used, it's called Pirates by Riley Blake, such a cute boy quilt fabric which can be so hard to find sometimes!)

Colored Blocks: One 10" strip WOF (width of fabric) of each four colors.  Cut these into 10" x 10" blocks, you will have a total of four 10" x 10" squares of each color.

Background Blocks:  1 1/4 Yard.  Cut 16 10" x 10" squares.

- Mark a diagonal line down the center of the background blocks. 

- Sew a 1/4" seam down both sides of the line you just marked.

- Cut on the center line.

- Press the seam towards the dark fabric.

- Align the diagonal line of ruler on the diagonal sewing line, trim the top and right side of the block.

- Flip the block to trim the other two sides, we trimmed our block down to a 9" block.

There you have it, it's that easy to sew and trim half square triangles!  Now you just need to decide on your quilt layout, which may sound easier than it really is with all those choices... diamonds, chevron, diagonal lines... so many layout choices!

Jenn

We are excited to announce that we have donated a quilt to be put in A Swine Evening silent auction benefiting A Childs Place organization.  If you're not familiar with what good work A Childs Place does, then hop on over to their website!  They are fully funded by donations and fund raising, providing school lunches, uniforms and organizing volunteers to mentor Mecklenburg County homeless children.  

Did I mention there were over 4,900 homeless kids in Mecklenburg County last year alone?  Truly hard to believe so many kids and parents have no permanent address.  That's why we have also decided this will be our local organization that our Charity quilts will be donated to, I can think of no better place than helping out these local homeless kids!

Here is the quilt we donated for the silent auction.  

The fabric is Kaleidoscope by Northcott Studio, featuring a Dresden Plate pattern.

We used a feather pattern in a white thread color so the quilting flows nicely between the white background and the dresden plates.

I was told this will be placed with a set of rocking chairs that were donated as well as a celebrity decorated pig!  I would love to see all the donations and can't wait to hear how much money they are able to raise!  What an awesome job! 

Jenn

A couple weeks ago we had a customer come in searching for blue, orange and green fabrics.  She was going to make a quilt for a wedding gift.  We were so pleased when she brought in the finished quilt top for us to quilt!  I love seeing final projects our customers have made.

The pattern is called Hugs and Kisses by Jay Bird Quilts.  It uses my favorite ruler ever, The Lazy Angle Ruler.  Easy to use, quick projects, endless deigns.  If you haven't heard of it before, look it up, you won't be disappointed!  You may remember this Summersville Spring quilt I made with it.

We went with an abstract vine quilting design. One of our favorites, not too stitch intensive to take away from the design of the quilt.

I love all how all the blues, greens and oranges she selected play so nice together!  It's amazing to me how almost none of these fabrics are from the same line, but sticking to three colors gives it such a nice cohesiveness.

Jenn

I sure do love this time of year, when the trees start blooming and the sun is shining so bright through the windows.  I was in our store the other day and noticed how light and cheery it looked.  Then I thought about all the people that shop with us online have no idea what the inside of our store looks like.  So it's not much, but here are a few pictures of our little store in Belmont.

Here is the front portion of our store.

A few of the mini charms, these are Tapestry by Fig Tree.

Don't forget to check out our end of the bolt remnants, there are some real gems in there!

Hope you enjoyed the tiny tour, if we're lucky maybe you can visit us one day in person.  Until then, we enjoy seeing you online!

Jenn