by Sherri Sylvester | Mar 29, 2018
Growing up, my family did a lot of tent camping. Every year we’d drive to our favorite spot for a week or two. As I got older we would book the same park and the exact same campsite. So many amazing memories were built during those summer trips!
Kelly Panacci (a lovely Canadian fabric designer!) designed a Road Trip fabric for Riley Blake Designs last year, and she graciously offered to send me some fat quarters. I couldn’t resist the vintage trailers and camping theme – so I chose a few I knew would match my parents’ home and remind us all of our camping trips. They received the quilt just this past Christmas.
Now that it has been a year, Kelly released a super-cute new line called Panda Love – in stores now – and she’s having a giveaway! We thought this would be the perfect time to show you something with her old line and introduce a new one. If you want to win some fabric (who doesn’t?!) – be sure to head over to Kelly’s brand new shop website. Read her blog for a mini-tour and GIVEAWAY happening March 30, 2018!
Quilt photos are fun and I happened to get some lovely winter photos of this one the day after a gorgeous snowstorm. The opposite of a summer camping trip – but the contrast is so pretty!
This quilt was going to be a copy of this Giant Vintage Star quilt. But it wanted to be it’s own thing, so I made a light/dark contrast HST quilt because making something twice isn’t as much fun! Most of the fabric is Kelly’s Road Trip line, and I added some solids to set it all off.
I quilted it myself with simple straight lines in a diamond pattern and machine bound it as usual using a sage green sheet as the backing. Nothing fancy – but it is finished and usable, which counts in my books!
See you here again soon. I’m madly sewing Easter dresses, nursing a broken baby toe (on my sewing foot, eep!) and preparing for company tomorrow, so I’d better go. Don’t forget to support our amazing Canadian talent – visit Kelly Panacci to win some Panda Love!
My helpful quilt holder and I!
by Sherri Sylvester | May 11, 2017
Hey there! It’s been so long, how are you doing? I’m ok, still doing my best to recover from whatever it is that’s got me down. In the meantime, I’ve got a long-finished project to show you. Thankfully there are tons of these in the wings – just gotta get the energy to write about them!
I finished this quilt top almost exactly two years ago, June 2015. Backed, quilted and bound it early this year and photographed it in February. Sounds like May is a good time to write about it then?!
You can read about the process I took to make the top in this post entitled “How Not to Make a Quilt” – for realz – that’s the truth! Back when I wasn’t a quilter, it seemed daunting. After my 2 years more experience it took very little time to finish it up and now it’s a kids cuddly lap size at about 44″ square.
It is quilted using the dual feed foot on my on-loan Janome Skyline S9 with diagonal lines in robbins egg blue with navy thread in the bobbin. I just aimed the machine at the next corner in line and went for it. Each square is about 3 1/2″ square finished, so it was a nice easy finish. I also used basting spray for the first time, love it!
The backing fabric is a gorgeous border print from Sarah Watson’s collection with Cloud 9 Fabrics called “Biology”. The quilt top is made from a generous amount of Cotton and Steel fabrics (from when they first took over the fabric world, lol) with a few other gorgeous prints sprinkled in.
There’s actually a label this time! Stitched in shaky blanket stitches that I was too lazy to redo, or maybe just felt like leaving it to show that I don’t fix everything before it’s posted. Found in a Missouri Star Quilt Company post lately…
Finished is better than perfect!
The colours in this are so bright and cheery. It gets used a lot even if it does clash with my red living room furniture. Quilt top fabrics are a Monthly Sparks bundle I put together for Fabric Spark two years ago, the backing was ordered from them as well. Binding is from a Solids Club subscription with Sew Sisters Quilt Shop. Both are lovely sponsors of this blog and Canadian online shops.
As an aside, I just realized that I’ve replaced photos of “quilt on a barn” with photos of “quilt on an abandoned building”. #citygirl #lol
by Sherri Sylvester | Feb 24, 2017
I didn’t know I liked making quilts, but, it seems like I’ve been hit by the bug!
Before this year, I had made a lot of quilt piles. Little sets of fabric that must-never-be-separated because I wanted them to be made into something. I collected these for years until a few months ago I had had enough. Enough piles, enough scraps… I could never see myself finishing all of my piles and that was discouraging.
Around Christmas, I decided to make a scrap quilt and posted a few photos on Instagram as I worked – followed a few weeks ago by the sewn quilt top. I love it, despite a few things (I’ll not mention) that are driving me crazy! Now all I need to do is sew the quilt back and (I think) do some very simple in the ditch or straight line quilting. It’s a queen size, and despite my machine having a large throat space, I’m still nervous to try any free motion quilting on something this large.
That quilt got me started… the bug took on a life of its own and, in January, I decided to join 3 quilt samplers. It helped that my sponsor Sew Sisters asked me to design a block for their Canadian Sampler – Block of the Month. As part of the deal, I get to take part in the sampler and receive all of the block patterns. I had no idea it would be so addicting! (By the way, this round of registrations for the Canadian Sampler closes in just a few days at the end of February!)
I finally figured out why… Turns out I love the “mystery” behind following lots of little instructions to get the final block, but not making tons of the same block over and over again – the only kind of quilting I knew before now.
(Oh, and I also love 12″ blocks, because they are BIG and you don’t need a lot of them to make something!)
Here are the details for each sampler:
- Sew Sisters Quilt Shop (Canadian!) – The Canadian Sampler – 2 blocks sent monthly (paid subscription, paper pattern)
- I’ll be making all 20 blocks, and am excited to show you my block when it’s released.
- Sew Fresh Quilts (Canadian!) – Have a Jolly Little Christmas– bi-weekly block on Saturdays
- I am making most of these, but not all of them, in a blue and gray palette. Hopefully something different and fun for a Christmas Quilt!
- Maureen Cracknell and Sharon Holland – Sewcial Bee Sampler – weekly block on Wednesdays
- I will make all of these, but I’m not adding the framing pieces until I find the perfect fabric for it. Something pink and yellow I think!
I’m hoping to post monthly photos and explanations where necessary all year. So you can keep me accountable, and feel free to bug me if I forget *please do!* You can follow me along in “real-time” on Instagram too if you’d like.
Maybe some of you want to join me? I’ve linked all of the Samplers and blocks so you can find the tutorials. If you’re sewing along let me know, I’d love to see what your versions look like.
2017 Samplers – Update No. 1
The Canadian Sampler
Fabric Pull
January: Pacific Stars by Daphne Greig, Patchworks Studio
January: Keep’n Warm by Sandy Whitelaw, Upstairs Hobby Room
Have a Jolly Little Christmas
Fabric Pull
Block 1: Christmas Stockings
Block 2: Winter Mittens
Block 3: Christmas Bow
Sewcial Bee Sampler
Fabric Pull (Mostly a Fat Quarter bundle I made for my sponsor, Fabric Spark.)
Block 1: Patience Corners
Block 2: A Dandy
by Sherri Sylvester | Apr 21, 2016
So there’s thing called an isogram, which I didn’t know about until my sponsor Fabric Spark emailed to see if I wanted to make a project with a Nature Walk Alphabet Panel. It’s gorgeous, but right away I was worried… my kids are too big for alphabet projects, no matter how amazing the fabric is! Of course, I now *needed* the fabric, so for a couple of days my husband and I thought of things to write with one panel of the alphabet until I Googled it and found out what I needed was an isogram: “a word or phrase without a repeating letter”.
Moving ahead for a second, this project is the last thing I need to finish before my Trunk Show at the Creativ Festival in 2 days! Wow! I am running around like crazy person over here. If you are in the Toronto area, I will be presenting a Trunk Show – “Be Brave and Sew” on the Fashion Arts stage at 2:30 on Friday and 9:30 am (gulp!) on Saturday. You can also see the original sample projects from the Sewing Diaries, other past projects and the girls’ Easter Dresses. I’m so happy to be working with Janome to present this!
But, back to isograms, it turns out there are tons of these things! I got a few from this website – “Stand By Me”, “Rocket Man” or “Rhapsody in Blue” (plus lots more) if you are a music enthusiast and Playground, Trampoline, Ambidextrous or Subdermatoglyphic (!) according to Wikipedia. I also found a great example of a sewing isogram after I finished my project, from Sherri Noel (great first name, btw!) – she wrote “Sew Crazy” on her sewing machine cover! Of course, you could always think up another phrase and buy two or three alphabet panels.
One last thing still bugged me – cutting up the panel without a use for the leftover letters. But, I’m in luck and know a whole bunch of people with first and last names that start with each of the leftover letters – so, if you know me – you “might” be getting a pillow or zippy pouch (or other sewn something) with a letter on it for your next birthday/Christmas or other random holiday!
This project, however, is for my oldest daughter. I thought the isogram “Quick on the draw” was perfect for her bedroom wall. She does not stop drawing – and you rarely find her without a drawing implement of some kind in her hand. She visits art supply stores like they are candy shops – she needs this mini quilt! Fabric Spark was amazing and sent me the alphabet panel and some of her other fabrics from Tamara Kate’s Nature Walk collection for Michael Miller Fabrics. I love that this Tamara Kate art can inspire my little girl!
I’ve made up a little mini tutorial for the project below, with links to all of the fabrics I used, plus the gorgeous Little World in Amberthat didn’t make it in – vetoed by the fact that after it was pieced in it didn’t really match my daughter’s room so well.
Keep in mind that the amount of fabric you need will drastically change depending on the phrase/word you want to spell! This mini quilt is actually quite large at 35″ x 23″. If you are coming to the Creativ Festival, it will be on display in the Fabric Spark booth, #248!
As a gauge I used this much fabric:
1) Cut alphabet rows apart. Measure the halfway point between the rows, mark first, cut after!
2) Cut letters apart with 1/4″ seam allowance on both sides, making sure to keep the sides parallel. We will trim the top and bottom after sewing each line.
3) Sew the letters together into words with a 1/4″ seam, I pressed my seam allowances open. Make sure to align the letters so they line up side by side before sewing, don’t align the top/bottom of the white space or they will be uneven.
4) Cut and sew 2 1/2″ wide strips for spaces between words and sew words into lines. Trim the top edges, including a 1/4″ seam allowance on each, so everything is square. My letter rows ended up about 7 1/4″ tall each. Make sure each row is the same height.
5) Add 2 1/2″ strips to each row end, then the top and bottom and between your rows. I pressed these seams open as well.
6) Sew all the rows together to make the center of the mini quilt.
7) Cut & sew 2″ strips to the top, bottom and sides to create the border.
8) Piece your backing if desired, make a quilt sandwich and quilt your project. For lack of more experience, I mostly stitched in the ditch around the letters. Then did a few border rows around the edge.
9) Add quilt hanging sleeve if desired.
10) Make enough binding with 2 1/2″ strips to go around project. Then bind with your favorite method.
I hope you love your new mini quilt! My daughter is so excited to hang this in her room.
by Sherri Sylvester | Mar 15, 2016
My husband and I differ in the amount of closet space we need. Here’s a quick run-down.
Every time I purge my “half” of the closet and get rid of clothing, it results in my husband appropriating the extra space for himself. I am starting to wonder if leaving piles of decoy clothing around would be helpful in case I ever need more space!
The thing that I don’t understand is that a disproportionate amount of those clothes are graphic tees, sports t-shirts, jerseys or free tees from things like wing eating challenges. Things he’s not ever going to give up, but also does not really wear. Ack! They sit there, taking up space – and more importantly, being messy – since other wearable tees are mixed in with them. Not that I’m a perfectionist or anything – but I love me a tidy closet!
Thankfully, I was able to convince him we were able to compromise and he let me chop some of them up into a t-shirt quilt. #ifyoucantbeatthem #jointhem We managed to pare the pile down by 20 tees. That’s 14″ less clothing piled on our shelves (I know, because I just measured a stack.) Makes me feel even better about this project. But, of course, it’s been almost 2 years since I took these photos and we’ve accumulated a full closet again. Turns out I should have made him king-sized quilt instead of only a twin!
If you might possibly have the same shared-closet predicament in your family dynamics *ahem-yes?* I would recommend that this is definitely the way to go! It’s been our go-to downstairs basement blanket ever since it was finished. I think maybe it was my first ever “real” quilt finish. At least, it is the first-quilt I am most proud of. The photoshoot was fun too. There’s a great park in Oakville by the waterfront that has these amazing life-size moose and wolf statues. #verymanly for our manly t-shirt quilt!
I think I started this project almost 4 years ago now. I found a nice t-shirt quilt tutorial on Goose Tracks Quilts. It is simple, without drawings or photos, and well written. Right down to a link to finding your fabric yardage. The design is a straight-forward and beginner friendly t-shirt quilt with same-sized blocks and simple sashing. Appealing to my sense of symmetry and order! I pieced a few of the blocks together to include the front and back of the tee together. And added in some important patches on the back.
The hardest part about this quilt was quilting it on my old budget basic machine. My non-quilty self decided to use a heavy blanket for the batting and my husband wanted to back it in baby-wale corduroy “that reminded him of a Scottish tartan”. Add the weight of the tee’s, and the interfacing you need to keep them from stretching. It’s a wonder my arms didnt’ fall off! Right – and then after that I pieced the t-shirt leftovers together for binding… *oof* #novicequilter!
In the end, the heaviness is so nice to cozy up under, And I’m glad we got to keep some fun memory t-shirts mixed in with the crazy graphic tee’s. His U2 concert tees, designs he made for work and shirts we designed and inkjet ironed-on. Oh, and one of the five epic basketball jersey we naively decided to double-layer applique lettering on for a basketball tournament (What was I thinking? Well, we were dating… Moving on!) Now these memories are preserved as a quilt we use almost everyday. I should probably add a label.
I wanna know! What has been your favorite quilt project?
Disclaimer: My inadvertent throwing Matt under the bus has been fully approved by the spouse in question. 🙂
by Sherri Sylvester | Feb 12, 2016
Oooh! I am crazy about this quilt top! The colours are amazing, the star pattern is fantastic. Plus, it’s Little Red Riding Hood, so absolutely nothing could be wrong about that! 😉
When my sponsor Fabric Please! emailed me to see if I’d like to work with Lil’ Red by Stacy Iest Hsu for Moda, I’d already fallen in love with it. I am pretty sure I saw this line in the fall Quilt Market photos. Plus, I have a couple of amazing readers who tag me whenever they find new Little Red Riding Hood fabric, so I can get it for my collection. So helpful! Of course, I told Rita “Yes, Please!” and waited impatiently for it to arrive in the mail!
The Lil’ Red fabrics are in stock at Fabric Please! now, so I get to share my quilt top, just in time for Valentine’s Day – how appropriate! They have prints, layer cakes and fat quarter bundles for you to choose from. (Enter to win a Lil’ Red Layer Cake at the end of this post!)
After a ton of thought, I decided to make a Moda Love Quilt. The directions come with measurements for a layer cake, charm pack or even a tiny mini charm pack. I am loving anything with diagonals and star shapes right now. This quilt is so easy to make with rows of squares and half-square-triangles (HST’s). Plus, if you look up other versions, there are so many ways to arrange the colours. I made mini charm version of this recently and it turned out completely different due to the colour placement.
If you follow me around on Facebook or Instagram you’ll know that I asked for help deciding which colour to place in the center diamond. Your most common suggestion was to use blue (which I love, thank you!), but you may also notice that the final layout of the quilt is different from the photos posted earlier this week.
Once I was about to piece everything together, I got worried. The red chevrons at top and bottom suddenly stood out too much for my liking. Rearranging the blue/red and low volume HST’s made the center star show up a lot more, and with the pop of blue, all of a sudden it was perfect!
Now all I need to do is convince one of my daughters to love blue/red/pink and green so I can redecorate their room and make this project into a twin size quilt for their bed. (With matching pillows of course – from the extra squares!) For now the quilt top and extra 10″ squares will be joining my quickly-growing Red Riding Hood fabric collection, waiting for the perfect fabric to back it with – or maybe I should piece a few together? (I’ve also got secret exciting news that might help me with the quilting. Eeek! Can’t wait to share!)
One very lucky reader will win a Lil’ Red Layer Cake from Fabric Please! These bundles of 10″ squares are so much fun to play with. And this playful fabric line is so bright and cheerful it’s pretty hard not to love it!
This giveaway is open to readers in Canada & the US, from today (February 12) until midnight February 19, 2016. Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter – and if you don’t have Facebook to sign in with, just use your name and email address. There’s a “click to enter”, no social media login entry too!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Fabric Pull
January: Pacific Stars by Daphne Greig, 
Fabric Pull
Block 1: 
Block 3: 
Block 1: 
Block 2: 
