The La Conner Tote

The Fat Quarter Shop is updating a few of their previous posts and videos. There were several choices available to their Quilt Along group and I was fortunate enough to get on the list for the La Conner Tote Bag. The original bag was made using a couple of charm packs to "create" the fabric for the two outside portions of the tote. With an "oh yes, you can use one piece of fabric" message tucked in. I decided to use one piece of fabric and broke into my serious hoard of turtle fabric. This fabric had been hidden in my stash, note I did not say languishing, for a while. It is a South Seas Import and I suspect they do not make fabric anymore.

A piece of my extensive turtle collection. The painters tape will act as the guideline for my first row of machine quilting.

There is a front and a back for the tote. I did a diagonal line from top left to bottom right

and then added a line two inches away on either side of that original line.

Next step is some lining and of course a pocket. In retrospect I should have done two pockets but since these are added before the lining and the body of the tote are attached it is too late for that. 

And finally the big reveal. 

You will note there is a row of top stitching around the top edge of the bag. Wonder clips would have been the perfect tool for this job but since I don't have any I settled for a really good pressing and some pins.
I am particularly happy with my La Conner Tote bag and would like to thank the Fat Quarter Shop for the opportunity to construct this remake of the original. sometimes a little push is all that is needed. There are a few more bloggers making this tote, check out the Fat Quarter Shop's blog (here)

Piecefully, Joanne

Today is the day for the final installment for the Clementine Quilt Along

The final steps are posted for the Clementine Quilt Along today. Visit the Fat Quarter Shop's blog (here)  and for a voluntary donation you can download the finishing instructions. Just to give you a heads up the smaller blocks need to grown to match the larger blocks. They have a clever way of doing this that involved two steps but is quite effective. The difference between my background and the accent is slight so you may not identify it with my photography skills. You will be making a square in a square and then snowballing that block. The exact measurements are in the download so no spoiler alerts on that information.

And for my big reveal here is my Clementine top. Yes I said top. Not quilted yet. Sadly my go to long arm quilter is battling some serious health issues at this time and is not doing anything much beyond trips to the hospital for tests. I am praying for good news for her. And the other spoiler alert, this is a large quilt. Hubby is too short to hold this one up for a good photo so the clothesline was called to duty.
This is a beautiful quilt and I hope to find some way to get it finished soon. For those who are following along I trust you have enjoyed the process and will be making your own Clementine Quilt. This charitable initiative on the part of the Fat Quarter Shop has produced a significant donation for St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital.
I have been honoured to be part of the Fat Quarter Shop's Quilt Along group.
Piecefully, Joanne

Today we get the final blocks for the Clementine Quilt Along

Hard to believe we are six months in. I hope you have been able to keep up the pace. It isn't usually that difficult when there are only two blocks to create and they are actually one in different sizes. I love it when my piecing is just spot on.

This is a fairly good close up of part of the block as it comes together. Happy colours and simple to do. The flying geese for this project have all been done with the stitch and flip method. I am working on my waste  bonus triangles. The ones for the smaller block are small but then again I like small.
Here is the photo of the pair of blocks for this month. They are called Strawberry Star. I made an assembly error last month so I paid much more attention to block orientation this month.

After weeks of no rain we had a very overcast day that threatened rain but it didn't happen so an indoor photo was called for.
Make sure you come back next month for the "Big Reveal". In July you will get all the final assembly instructions and see just how these different sized blocks will fit together nicely into a beautiful quilt. All of this is available for a voluntary donation to St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital. Visit the Fat Quarter shop blog (here) to purchase this month's block. Piecefully, Joanne

Time to Show Off Month Five

Introducing Pineapple's Puzzle. 

Another great block. This time a Square in a Square and some Half Square Triangles are used to build the design.

Once again the block is provided in two different sizes. The smaller size finishes at 12" and the larger one at 20". So the larger one with just a couple of borders could make a small Project Linus quilt. So much potential. 

Stop by the Fat Quarter Shop (here) to get your pattern. Remember the patterns are free for a voluntary donation to St. Jude's Children's Hospital. If you are on Instagram take the time to look at what some of the other members of the Quilt Along group are doing with their blocks. Several are using the Fat Quarter Shop's kit, as I am, but several others have branched out into either other collections or colourways that have special meaning to them.

Piecefully, Joanne

It has been a month of challenges

Here is my Clementine Quilt Along block for this month. I have had a few too many sick days this month and have not taken those sneak peek photos that are to grab your interest before the big reveal. This block is titled Peaches and Plenty. Once again the steps are straightforward and clearly outlined on the instruction sheet. I hope you will consider joining in. Previous month's patterns are still available and all the Fat Quarter Shop(here) is requesting is a donation to St. Jude's Hospital. If you have ever spent time at a Children's Hospital you know just how important their work is. We spent time at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto with our son over 35 years ago. Happy those days are now behind us. Piecefully, Joanne

The latest Fat Quarter Shop Short Cut Quilt Pattern is out

Meet Jelly Roll ripples. Or rather my practice blocks. The Post Office either south of the border or here decided I needed to wait for my real fabric. So while waiting I decided to use a partial jelly roll and some Kona Red to test out the block.The pattern is truly easy to follow. Each block uses most of a jelly roll strip. My real fabric is here so I need to get on with my real quilt. Hopefully I can post a picture of it sometime next week. Piecefully, Joanne

Welcome to Month Two of the Clementine Quilt Along

This month the block we are making is called Broken Berries. We are adding one new fabric design and taking away one from last month. For those of us living under a blanket of snow these are a delight to work with. Such happy colours. The fabric from the Fat Quarter Shop is fabulous.

The block components are straight forward, clearly illustrated and ones you are likely used to making.

I hope that you are saving your bonus triangles. I am generating a goodly number of them and have not as yet stitched them into actual HST's but they are contained and ready to be my next Leader and ender project.

If you follow some of the other bloggers who are working on this Quilt Along you may have seen the little Valentine purse made by Pat from the  Scrapatches Blog (here). She used her smaller bonus triangles for the project. so far I am generating two different sizes and have just put them all together in my next Leader/Ender container.

And these are my two Broken Berry blocks. I would encourage you to join in. Make a donation to St. Jude's Hospital. We don't have that particular hospital in Canada but we do have Hospitals like Sick Kid's in Toronto that fulfil a similar purpose. The work they do is amazing and has been for years.

Visit the Fat Quarter Shop to purchase a monthly block pattern for a simple donation. Piecefully, Joanne

Clementine Quilt Along Started Thursday This Week

Once again the Fat Quarter Shop has organized a charity focussed Quilt Along. The quilt is called Clementine and the feature fabric is Mama's Cottage by April Rosenthal.
The kits were a little late in shipping and mine have to cross the border so as a result I was a little late starting. 

The block for Month One is called Watermelon Wheel.  Each month we will be making a large (20" block) and a small (12" block). The fabric selected for the kits was Mama's Cottage by April Rosenthal, a delightful breath of fresh air for we sun and warmth starved Ontario residents.
There are bloggers and designers from many locations participating in this Quilt Along. To obtain your own copy of the pattern the Fat Quarter Shop requests a voluntary donation to St. Jude's Children's Hospital. The pattern itself is crisply written and well illustrated.
This is the list of participating bloggers. Please try to visit a few as even though we are all doing the same thing it will have little variations here and there. 

*April of April Rosenthal (@amrosenthal)

Bonnie of Sunset Family Living (@sunsetfamilyliving)

Cara of That Crafty Cara (@thatcraftycara)
Carrie of Moda Cutting Table (@modafabrics)

Denise of Pieced Brain (@piecedbrain)

Elise of Elise and Emelie (@eliseandemelie)

Gina of Carpe Quiltin (@gina_tell_carpequiltin)

Heather of A Creative Pursuit (@acreativemama)

Hilary of By Hilary Jordan (@byhilaryjordan)

Jan of Cocoa Quilts (@cocoaquilts)

Jen of Heritage Threads (@heritage.threads)

Joanne of Quilts by Joanne (@turtlequilterjo)

Kairle of Kairle Oaks Handcrafted Goodness (@kairleoaks)

Kendra of Good Starter (@good_starter)

Kristen of 3 in the Nest (@threeinthenestraleigh)

Kristina of Center Street Quilts (@centerstreetquilts)

Leah of Ponderings from My Heart (@ponderingsfrommyheart)

Melanie of A Bit of Scrap Stuff (@mellierc)

Melissa of Happy Quilting (@happyquiltingmc)

Pat of Pat Sloan (@quilterpatsloan)

Pat B. of Life in the Scrapatch (@scrapatches)

Patty of Elm Street Quilts (@elmstreetquilts)

Rebecca of One Wee Bird (@oneweebird)

Sarah of 123 Quilt (@123quilt)

Seema of SSK Craft Shop (@sskcraftshop)

Sherri of A Quilting Life (@aquiltinglife)

Sondra of Out of the Blue Quilts (@sondradavison)

Stephanie of Quilt 'n Party (@quiltnparty)

Tanya of Tanya Quilts in CO (@tanyaquiltsinco)

Teresa of Aurea's Kitchen (@aureaskitchen)

Vickie of Crocheting Vixen (@crochetingvixen)

Both blocks together for a hint of scale. I know for most of the people who visit my blog from time to time these are huge blocks. But change is good. Piecefully, Joanne

Working towards some finishes

This top has been languishing for some time now. Small rails, 1 1/2" x 3 1/2". The centre's a constant blue with a few reds thrown in, the side rails were shirting samples our Scrapbag group was given. I tidied them up and did this as a Leader and Ender project. Hubby has 4 more quilts pinned and ready for me to quilt so my work is cut out for me.
Of course now that we are in December one does start to look ahead at the coming year. Not certain yet where it will take me but I am signed up for the Fat Quarter Shop's Block of the Month. This is a fund raiser for St. Jude's Hospital. And Jen of Patterns by Jen is doing a colour block of the month. Each month will be different block featuring the colour of the month. It will happen on her blog (here). Piecefully, Joanne
Linking with Cynthia at Oh Scrap! (here)

Mini Charm Chocolates QAL my project

I am slowly learning a few more things. I guess as we get older it takes longer. This post was supposed to be up last night but Old Man Winter decided that was not happening and we enjoyed a 16 hour power outage. We had the "good fortune" to be a very small pocket of town out of power and it did not matter as much to us as it did to the Tim Horton's or the only gas station in town. So now on to the quilty content.
I was able to ask for whatever mini charms I wanted to make this quilt. I love the Me and My Sisters designs and since it was for a small quilt I picked Red Dot...Green Dash. Here is where I made my first error. I should have selected something totally different for my background fabric. The overall design of the project gets lost when the background is similar to or matches a couple of your charms.

On the left are my fabric choices. The scale of the design was perfect it was just the too matching background that made the final project lack punch. On the right the first step was really fast stitching your charms together in three's. I had never worked with mini charms before so I can only speak for these but they were spot on 2 1/2" square and a delight to work with.






Once the background pieces are cut the assembly is even faster. Because of my fabric choices I have a lovely quilt but I also have a quilt that does not show the design. This has been washed and is ready to donate. It will go to Project Linus, through my quilt guild, the Kincardine Sunset Quilters Guild. To see other examples of this quilt pattern hop on over to the Fat Quarter Shop's Blog (here). You will find complete instructions for a couple of different sizes for this project as well as a video to enhance the instructions and photos of some other fabric combinations that my fellow Quilt Along participants have used for their quilts. Piecefully, Joanne

Mini Charm Chocolates Quilt

The Cobblestone Quilt, a Fat Quarter Shop, Shortcut Pattern

This is my second project as a member of the Fat Quarter Shop's Quilt Along group. I had the good fortune to work with the Rainy Day fabric line by Me and My Sister Designs. It is beautiful fabric to work with. The instructions for this quilt were very simple and the quilt goes together very quickly. At approximately 63" x 80" it finishes somewhat larger than the  quilts I normally work on. I quilted it on a grid pattern using my new Janome Horizon sewing machine and a walking foot. I am still a little intimidated by the machine.
For instructions to complete your own Cobblestone Quilt be certain to visit the Fat Quarter Shop  (here)and while you are there take a look at their Clementine Charity Quilt Along for 2018. They have posted the blocks (here). This is a charity focused Quilt along where participants are asked for a voluntary donation per block with proceeds going to St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital.

There are some subtle colour differences in the blocks. You can some differences here.



While the weather was still good we set up my pinning table in the garage. The table is going back to the basement this weekend when we have company here to help with the lifting.

I used one of the striped fabrics from the fabric line for my binding. I do love a striped binding.



I hope everyone celebrating Thanksgiving this weekend has a wonderful time with food, family and some fun. Our grandson's will be here so that will keep us on our toes.

The quilt will be donated to Project Linus. Piecefully, Joanne