Row By Row Begins!!!

Yay! The Row By Row shop hop began on July 1st. There are 1,250 quilt shops participating. Each shop is giving away a FREE row pattern and many of the shops offer a fabric kit for purchase to go along with the pattern. They also have a unique fabric license plate for sale. The plates are what I'm primarily after. I picked these up on day 1 as I did a northern Virginia drive around.

I purchased 2 from each shop. I might use one with the row and use the other in a different quilt.

In Manassas, VA I went to Suzzie's Quilt Shop, Aurora Quilts and Old Town Needlecrafts. I was disappointed in Aurora Quilts because it was LOCKED with a note taped to the door saying, "Be right back, went to Hancock". That was at 10:25am on the first day of the row-by-row!!!

These are the patterns from Manassas. Suzzie's didn't have a kit available but I picked up the pattern. The next shop had kits for the 3 different versions of their row. I bought the kit for the top row shown.

Next I went to Nokesville, VA to the Daffodil Quilts and Fibers shop. Their kit has buttons and trims.

This bookshelf row is from The Quilt Patch. No kit and no license plate! :(

They did have a cute shop though. 

LOTS of TRAFFIC in Fairfax! 

I made my way to the next shop in Fairfax: The Quilters Studio.

The Quilters Studio had a kit for their row celebrating the state bird (cardinal) and tree (dogwood) of VA. They had a really nice shop too. But the TRAFFIC!!

So next I was on my way to the 2 shops in Alexandria, VA. 

Just after I got on the capital beltway heading EAST there was a huge crash in the lanes going WEST with tons of BLACK smoke. The traffic on that side of the median was stopped --all 4 lanes of traffic was stopped....then the rescue vehicles passed me going to the crash. I hope everyone was ok. The cars involved were totaled.

This row is from Artistic Artifacts. I didn't realize I needed to purchase the cute doohickey and paint to stamp my own butterflies on the white fabric. My row will NOT look like theirs. I didn't buy the extra stuff mostly because I wasn't told about it. I do like learning new techniques but this one will not be on the list this time.

Amber Waves of Grain is from Bonnie's Sewing and Fabric. I bought the kit which was 3 fabrics. She didn't tell me until AFTER I had completed checking out that there is a SPECIAL RULER needed for this block. Yeah, whatever, I'll figure it out.

Not bad but my middle points don't always match. Especially the last block because I cut one with the fabrics wrong side up on that one. Who knew it would make a difference. Still it looks nice.

On my way home I passed the wreck. The burned out car was on a tow truck and traffic was moving along. Time for one last stop at my favorite local quilt shop.

Capital Quilts in Gaithersburg has a very patriotic row. I was going to wait until the 4th of July to piece this one but couldn't help myself! I bought the kit and started on the stars. There wasn't enough of the dark blue to piece all the outer points on both stars. I used their fabric to piece the 4 identical parts that are above and below the center star. I used one of my fabrics (also from Capital Quilts!) to complete the block. Next I need to prepare the appliqué to go over the fireworks fabric....

Maybe tomorrow.

What I've been sewing lately

Vera Bradley steering wheel covers for Lynn's Etsy page.

These are selling well......but that means that I have to sew them!

Venetian Paisley

Clementine

Heather

Variety of 5 different patterns.

Sammie requested Clementine and Ribbons.

Jazzy Blooms

Midnight Blues

Flower Shower

Petal Paisley

Plus a second variety set with 5 different prints. Plus others I didn't photograph...
The good news is that the steering wheel covers are selling very well. The bad news is that I have no time to do sewing on the various quilt projects I'm in the midst of.

FUN STUFF: quilted boxes, crochet rugs, sew together bag

Quilted boxes

This tutorial is by Tina Craig.
Cut (2); 10" square of fabric and 10" square batting. Stack: batting then fabric with RST. Sew around edge leaving 4" opening to turn right side out. Press. Topstitch along edge (which will sew the opening closed) and quilt the rest of the block. See tutorial for sewing the side seams.

Crocheted Rag Rug Tutorial

This is my 2nd ball of "yarn".

This is how much 2 balls of yarn makes--but I chained 58 instead of 40.

By the blog Crazy Mom Quilts. Crochet hook P and 3/4" strips of fabric sewn end to end to make "yarn". Chain 40 plus one to turn. Single crochet in each chain then add one chain to turn, repeat. Her rug is 23" x 31".

Quilt Barn Tutorial for the Sew Together Bag

The Quilt Barn blog has a tutorial with good photos on how to assemble this bag. The pattern is by Sew Demented called the Sew Together Bag.

This is my inside.

This is the outside. 

This is called ticker tape--by Sew Mama Sew but I saw it on the Crazy Mom Quilts blog..

Done!

Block 42, 43--Random Ohio Stars, Road to Camp Gravatt

It's been a while since I've posted my block progress but I have been sewing. Here are the blocks most recently completed. It is so fun to only have to pick fabrics for one block at a time. The color palate can change to fit my mood.

Random Ohio Stars

Ohio stars are always fun to make because of the cheater way to make the triangles.

The big star is 12" finished. 

The cheat way: cut 2 light and 2 dark squares 1 1/2" bigger than finished size desired, stack light and dark RST , draw a line diagonally from corner to corner and sew 1/4" from each side of line. Cut apart between sewing. Press open. Reposition these half square triangle units RST with light on dark and draw line from corner to corner. Repeat sewing. Cut. Now you've got 4 quarter square triangle blocks! Trim to exact size needed. 

This small star is 6" finished. 

Road to Camp Gravatt

This quilt has Puss In the Corner blocks that are set with wonky sashing that produces stars in the posts. I made 4 blocks with sashing in between to get one star in the center.

Quilter's Steering Wheel Cover

This steering wheel cover has 5 different Vera Bradley fabrics. 

My daughter, Lynn, sells these covers on her Etsy page Holman's Creations.

She also sells the covers made from just one Vera Bradley fabric--you pick.

So yesterday someone ordered a cover in "Heather" (which I was out of) and the lady asked please can I have it before mothers day because its a gift for my mom. Lynn asked me if I could do it... Well, yes but... So I drove 17.5 miles to the closest Vera Bradley store. No luck with "Heather" but I picked up several other fabrics. The adorable woman who works at the store checked with the next closest store to see if they had "Heather". Yes! 2 left. Put them on hold--I'll be right there. Another 9 miles farther away from home but I scored both "Heather" napkins. So I then rushed back home and sewed the steering wheel cover and mailed it to the lucky lady. I hope her mother enjoys it.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!!!

It's because we all love our moms that I was willing to drive 52 miles to make mom happy.

After the frantic rush, I got to the fun of playing with fabric MY way. Who can pick just ONE fabric anyway? So I cut 5 napkins into 6 pieces each, sewed them in rows with 5 fabrics to a row.

Each row will become a steering wheel cover. I've got the first one on my steering wheel right now.

The next 5 are nearly finished and are for sale HERE.

Tomorrow I may get back to sewing quilt blocks.....

Blocks 40, 41--Playing With Jacks, Princess Crown and Tulip Fields

Today I was inspired by Bonnie Hunter's blog entry about her class on Tulip Fields.  There is a pattern for this block in her book String Fling. I don't have the book so I had to wing it. It finishes at 7". Cute block!!!!

Tulip Fields starts with foundation string piecing a 4" square. Make 2 for each block. 

Cut in half diagonally the direction the strips are going.

The corners are cut 2" square.

The red/white wings were tricky. I suggest using her book....

Playing With Jacks

This block finishes at 6". It was simple to piece.

Princess Crown

This cute block finishes at 6" also. 

It has a 3" center, 1.5" corners and flying geese units to complete the block.

Blocks 37-39 Pinwheels & Patches, Pineapple Blossom, Pioneer Braid Border

Patches and Pinwheels

The red and white pinwheel is actually the corner blocks for the Out On A String block that I had lots of trouble with. These were too small for my block so I had to make larger ones. But they are the exact size required  for this pattern. For the patches part I continued the theme of red/white.

Pineapple Blossom

This block finishes at 9". The little pinwheel is a bonus for sewing across the diagonal twice and trimming the corner off. This block begins with 8 rectangles and 5 squares. 

No odd shapes or triangles to cut. 

Pioneer Braid Border

These strips are cut 2.5" wide so this border could be made using pre-cut strip sets.

It finishes at 6" wide. I made this piece 6 x 12 as a sample.