Quilting Archives - B In The Studio

Improv Pieced Happy Heart Ornament Tutorial

By B February 2, 2023Free Tutorials, Quilting, Uncategorized2 Comments

I’m back today with another version of the Happy Heart Ornament I have been sharing this week! I love sewing with scraps and improvisational piecing is one of my favorite ways to turn otherwise unusable small fragments of fabric into fun and beautiful creations. I especially love when you have held on to precious small bits of a beloved fabric for years and you can make it into something sweet that showcases your cherished pieces. The pink panda and plaid fabrics in that top right ornament are some of my favorites that I have been using up the very last pieces of for years. I love how they came together in this ornament and I will treasure it and enjoy pulling it out for Valentine’s Day every year.

I am going to share a quick tutorial on how I pieced these ornaments today, but if you need help finishing your heart ornament you can click back to the original Happy Heart Ornament Tutorial I posted earlier.

Rainbow Quilt Block Tutorial

By B January 16, 2023Free Tutorials, Quilting1 Comment

I am so excited to have another free tutorial for you! And two tutorials in one week, how exciting is that?!

Ever since I released my Over The Rainbow Tote pattern I have been wanting to make the block into a quilt. I have decided to experiment this year and try posting free patterns here on my blog, and since it is dreary January in the Pacific Northwest, starting my free patterns and tutorials with this rainbow block feels perfect! And in case you were wondering, this block is a bit different than the one in the pattern.

So let’s get quilting! This will make one 18.5″x18.5″ quilt block. If you are making more than one rainbow block you will just need to add in these same yardages per block. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in the comments below.

Supplies (Per 18.5″x18.5″ block)

(3) Fat Eighths For Arcs or Jelly Roll Strips

(1) Fat Quarter For Background

Basic sewing supplies- cutting mat, rotary cutter, cutting rulers, sewing machine with needles and thread, scissors, etc.

WIP Wednesday #4

By B October 20, 2022Quilting, Sewing, WIP Wednesdays

Hi friends! Well, it has been a rather wacky week and I haven’t gotten very much sewing done since the weekend. I haven’t gotten the giant nautical quilt loaded on my long arm yet, but I did get started on a football quilt my Stepmom asked for that she is going to gift to her 9 year old grandson.

Here are the fabrics I picked. I found a cute Seahawks bundle on Keepsake Cottage Fabrics and they had the fun helmet fabric as a backing bundle as well. Then I added in this fun football print as well.

We decided on just a simple patchwork of squares. I started cutting them at 6″ (so they would be 5.5″ finished), but a couple of my fat quarters were a tiny bit under 18″ after I pressed them so I ended up making them 5.5″ squares, which will be 5″ finished. This is as far as I got though…I think I got through most of the things that were keeping me out of the studio so far this week, so hopefully I will get more cutting and sewing time in tomorrow and Friday and will maybe get enough time for piecing to get the quilt top finished!

What is your WIP Wednesday project this week? Have you had a wacky week like me? I’ve heard it seems to be going around!

Weekend Sewing

By B October 18, 2022In Progress Pics, Quilting

Hi friends! Did you get time to sew or create over the weekend? We had a quiet weekend at home and I spent both days in my studio.

I need to quilt the big nautical quilt that I was working on last week…which means the quilt that has been hanging out on my long arm frame for awhile now needed to get finished. But I got it done!

I added the binding (look at those cute snow globes!!).

And then had the brilliant idea to finish the binding on my machine. Which reminded me how much I dislike finishing bindings on my machine and much prefer hand finishing them!

I needed a small project after working on the big king quilt, so I sewed up this cute hexi baby quilt top as well. I’m thinking I will share a tutorial on this top soon on the blog!

What are you working on right now? Leave me a comment and let me know!

WIP Wednesday #3

By B October 12, 2022In Progress Pics, Quilting, WIP Wednesdays

Happy Wednesday friends! How has your week been? I don’t have a ton more sewing progress to show you since my last post, it feels like my sewing time has been used doing other things this week. And I can’t even tell you what those things were, the week has gotten away from me I can’t believe it is Wednesday already!

I did get a few more navy fabric’s for the king sized quilt I am working on. I didn’t feel like I had enough dark fabrics for how many light fabrics I had, so I grabbed these locally this morning and ordered some other navys to mix in that should be here in the mail tomorrow.

I did manage to get some progress done, but I am sort of pausing now until the other fabrics arrive tomorrow. Those top three strips are sewn together though! That bottom one is not, nor is it long enough. Because of the repetition with the fabrics (can spot the matching fishy fabrics that touch?!) I think I will add a few more strips between before sewing that bottom one to the rest of the top. Also, do you remember how I said I might add a row of half height rectangles between the big block strips? Yeah, apparently that went out the window today….

I pulled this gorgeous yellow/gold/pink bundle out to press while I wait for my navy fabric to come in the mail. This is going to be my first free pattern I post on my blog here and I am super excited to get started on it so I can share it with you soon! I found this bundle in the Ember and Lamb Etsy Shop and have been saving it for the perfect project.

I’ve also gotten a bit of knitting on my sweater in this week, although not much and I didn’t manage to get a photo.

What about you? Have you had time to get some creating in this week? What are you working on? Leave me a comment below and let me know!

Scenes From Sewing Saturday and Sunday

By B October 10, 2022In Progress Pics, Quilting

I like to sew on the weekends because we tend to be home and I don’t have to stop and start running in and out for school drop offs and pick ups. I started working on the nautical quilt I shared the fabric for last week. I decided to do improv piecing with extra large blocks. I am aiming for 15″ strips, though some of my fabric was a bit smaller and I ended up with one 14″ strip.

This is the main fabric that my Stepmom wanted the quilt to be based on, so I started with a 15.5″ square to build from.

I’m just winging what I am doing for the blocks, so I decided some Half Square Triangles made into a pinwheel would be a fun addition.

I have done several other nautical quilts in the past so I have lots of prints that are fitting for this quilt. I am loving using up some stash fabrics! I feel like recently I have had a lot of fabric coming in, but not so much getting used from my stash.

I made a couple giant 15.5″ Half Square Triangles. It is super fun to sew on a large scale!

These are the strips I got finished over the weekend. My design wall is about 90″ wide for reference, but I will still need to add another block or so on the ends of these long strips to get the quilt to king size. I am thinking I might add half size rows of rectangles between the bigger block strips, but I haven’t decided yet. I’ll keep you posted as I keep working!

Did you guys get time to sew this weekend? What are you working on? Have you managed to use your stash, or are you like me and nothing in your stash ever seems “right”?!

WIP Wednesday #2

By B October 5, 2022In Progress Pics, Knitting, Quilting, WIP Wednesdays

Hi friends! Want to see what I am working on in my studio this week?

I haven’t done much knitting in a long time, but decided to pull out some yarn over the weekend and start on a sweater. I got in a minor car accident and got rear ended about five years ago and it tweaked my shoulder. It was painful to knit for a few years, and then I fell out of the habit, and then the last couple years have been a black hole…. I was working on this simple Vasa sweater pattern from Paper Tiger back in 2020 and put it down. I picked it up again this summer and wasn’t loving it, so I decided to start over with a couple yarns from my stash. I’m using a Merino and Silk blend called Findley from Juniper Moon Farm. It is a lace weight and not the sock weight yarn used in the pattern, but I did a little swatch and decided to knit a bit of the pattern and see if I like how the fabric looks and feels once it gets a bit bigger. I really just like knitting for the process more than the product, so I don’t mind knitting without knowing if I will love what I am working on, with the possibility I will rip it out. Coco the Toy Poodle doesn’t mind either since it means extra snuggle time.

My Stepmom asked me to make a king sized quilt for her and my Dad. My Dad is a fisherman so she has sent me some fishy themed fabrics to work with, and then I have found a few more (of course!). I got all the fabrics pulled together and laid out today and I just need to dig through my stash and find some good basics to mix in. I haven’t decided what I am doing for the design yet, but I will share it with you when I figure it out!

This adorable fisherman fabric from Dear Stella is going to be the back. Aren’t these little captains too cute?!

This is a sneak peak at a pattern I am working on that I hope to be sharing with you soon! I got these samples finished Monday and I am excited to get on to taking process photos and writing up the directions.

What are you working on this week? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Name Tag Sew Day

By B October 3, 2022Finished Projects, In Progress Pics, Quilting, Sewing

I am a member of the Bellingham Modern Quilt Guild and they hosted a Sew Day yesterday with the focus to make a name tag if you didn’t have one. I had not managed to get one done yet so I jumped at the opportunity to get mine done!

After digging around on the interwebs for ideas I decided I wanted to piece the letter B for my name tag. I found this paper pieced alphabet pattern through a Google search and then dug through and found some cute pink and yellow fabrics in my stash.

I got the B pieced and added some extra background at Sew Day yesterday, but that was as far as I got.

Today I quilted the name tag quilt sandwich, added a magnetic attachment on the back (like on a retail store name badge), and added the binding.

Tah-dah! Finished name tag in time for our monthly guild meeting tonight!

If you are in the Bellingham area I highly recommend coming to the Modern Quilt Guild! We even have members from as far away as Skagit County, and there is another Sew Day coming up on October 22. The guild is just the nicest group of crafty ladies and I really enjoy seeing everyone’s creativity. Sewing a group and being able to share is really a delight for me.

I hope you get a few minutes to create today! Let me know in the comments what you are working on, or if you have ever made a fabric name tag!