Sweet Home Quilt Along: Week 2 - Log Cabin Block

Welcome to week TWO of the Sweet Home Quilt Along, a QAL I'm co-hosting with Sharon Holland, the designer behind the adorable Sweet Home quilt pattern, and Jennifer Jones of Penelope Handmade!



This second week we start our block sewing beginning with the ten log cabin house blocks in the Sweet Home quilt pattern! Below you can see the schedule we're following throughout the QAL, but by all means, feel free to sew at your own pace! 



By now you should have purchased the pattern from Sharon's SHOP and used the helpful coloring page to plan out fabric placement or you've chosen one of the quilt kits we put together for your Sweet Home. I have planned to sew four quilts during the QAL, two to keep and two to give -- two will be made with my new Cozy & Joyful collection and two using the original Sweet Home quilt kit, both from Lady Belle Fabric!

When I first told Sharon that I was considering making four quilts she reassured me that this was a very doable goal since for this pattern, once the fabric cutting is complete, the quilt it's self goes together pretty quickly with chain piecing. Once I got going I was amazed how fast it went and how addictive these blocks are to make!

If you're new to quilting and/or chain piecing, Sharon has been putting together a super helpful weekly IGTV video series for this QAL on her Instagram that includes video of each step throughout our QAL full of helpful information and tips! Sharon is always incredibly informative and thorough with her instructions, so be sure to follow!

For the two Cozy & Joyful Sweet Home quilts I'm making I only made one fabric swap. One version will have the red stars as the background and snowflake windows, the other version red star windows and a snowflake background. Seeing the way my Cozy & Joyful finished log cabins looked stacked up waiting for their roofs and chimneys has me so excited to get these quilt tops finished. I think this cheery red plaid is my favorite, I just love it!



I snapped the pic below just after I finished the last cabin block center for my fourth quilt as the daylight was fading. It's my favorite time to work at our dinner table because the light hits the stained glass and casts pretty light, shadows and little rainbows throughout the dining room. 



Once the cabin blocks were finished I chain pieced together the rooftops for all forty cabins and added them to my log cabins! Sharon also has a video for this step on her IGTV for a little extra visual help, you can find that HERE!



I was inspired by Nuria (Fabric Stork's) photo of her Log Cabin House block to go out to the yard for some clippings to pretty up my photos of  my finished blocks to share!



For my Cozy & Joyful quilts I picked a few pine branches to shape into a little tree. So cute!





I hope these photos inspire your Log Cabin House block photos! I can't wait to see them! Be sure to post your photos on Instagram with our QAL hashtag #SweetHomeQAL, as well as tagging me @MaureenCracknell, @SharonHollandDesigns and @PenelopeHandmade. 

Just a reminder -- that from the hashtag pool we'll be able to see everyone's posts, as long as you have a public account, and from there we can interact and encourage one another! We'll also be using the hashtag pool to choose weekly Giveaway winners!



Be sure to pop on over to both Sharon and Jennifer's blogs to see how cute their week two blocks have turned out!

I'll see you back here Friday when I share our next Giveaway with our sponsor, Chenille-It!

xo Maureen

Sweet Home Quilt Along: Week 1 - GIVEAWAY

Happy Friday! Each Friday throughout the Sweet Home Quilt Along there will be a new Giveaway with one of our amazing participating sponsors and today I'm so excited to kick off our very first Giveaway with a prize from Fabric Stork!



Fabric Stork is a wonderful family owned, modern fabric shop on Etsy that offers the most beautiful curated bundles, collection bundles, collaborative quilt bundles & kits, plus yardage to coordinate! They only carry the highest quality fabrics and are always on top of the new trends & must have collections! 

You can follow Fabric Stork on their social's -- Instagram & Facebook and be sure to check out their amazing SHOP!

For this week's Giveaway prize Fabric Stork is generously offering a complete 14-piece fat quarter bundle of my brand new collection for Art Gallery Fabrics, Cozy & Joyful!





To Enter: Be sure to use a public Instagram account to post your Sweet Home Quilt Along progress photos throughout the QAL using the hashtag #SweetHomeQAL. Each time you do, you'll automatically be entered into the Giveaway hashtag pool! It's as easy as that, so be sure to share away your fabric and progress pics each week as we work our way from fabric selection, cutting, to making our blocks and finishing our quilts!

We'll announce each Giveaway winner on Monday's late afternoon EST throughout the QAL on each of your host's Instagram accounts at @MaureenCracknell, @SharonHollandDesigns, and @PenelopeHandmade, so be sure to find us to follow! 

New Sweet Home makers feel free to join in anytime, see HERE for details! All our welcome! 

We look forward to sewing with you! xo Maureen

A Fabric Friday Giveaway with Fabric Stork!

Today a have a special Giveaway to share with you all from Fabric Stork!

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My sponsor Fabric Stork is an enthusiastic fabric shop filled with love and beautiful fabrics by many of our favorite companies including Art Gallery Fabrics, Hoffman, Birch & Moda, just to name a few! Fabric Stork is run by Nuria a mother, quilter and lover of high quality fabrics and I'm so excited to have Fabric Stork as my newest sponsor! 
   
SHOP  * INSTAGRAM  *  FACEBOOK  *  PINTEREST  
 

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We hope you enjoy visiting the Fabric Stork sites! 

For this week's Fabric Giveaway Friday, Fabric Stork is offering the winner Alexandra Bordallo's debut collection for Art Gallery Fabrics, Dew & Moss! This bundle will include a fat quarter cut of each of the TWELVE colorful prints that make up this adorable collection!

In addition, Fabric Stork is generously offering a special discount to all of you wonderful readers! Be sure to use their coupon code: MAUREEN for an extra 10% off and to visit Fabric Stork for fabric shopping now thru Sunday 9/8 by midnight EST right here --  https://www.etsy.com/shop/FabricStork

Enter to win!

Here's how,
 
1. Simply leave a comment here in this post! (one entry)
2. Follow Fabric Stork on Facebook or on Instagram! Just be sure to let me know you do by making a separate comment here for an extra entry! (optional extra entry)
3. My followers get a third entry! Just let me know that you do by making a separate comment here to record that entry. (optional extra entry)
4. Help spread the word!! I know that many of you already do, so I thought it would be nice to add that as another way to enter! Whether by Instagram, tweet, facebook, pin, blog, etc... (optional extra entry) 

That’s 4 possible entries! Enter now through Monday, September 9th! The winner will be picked at random and I will announce their name at the bottom of this post here on the blog!

* Note * This giveaway is open to EVERYONE! If you're a "no reply" or anonymous commenter, please remember to include your email address in your comment! 

A BIG thanks to all who entered our Giveaway! I hope you visited me on Instagram for a second chance to win this FQ bundle from Fabric Stork! This week's random winning commenter is Sandra, please check your email for a message from me or email me at maureencracknell@hotmail.com!

xo Maureen 

New Bags!

I 've mentioned before that this year started off rough with me badly injuring my right knee. In between my sprained ligaments healing and reconstruction surgery, there were a couple of weeks where I was able to sew, very slowly, and during that time I had challenged myself to try my best to make a bag a day. I came pretty close to that goal and it was just what I needed to stay creative and feeling somewhat productive. The bag challenge was helpful and I realized just how much I love to make them, which absolutely kept my spirits up during such a difficult time! The bags I make aren't very complicated, which makes them fun. Often times they're made from scraps leftover from larger projects which feels good to use, the construction is simple and they're always quilted. Today I thought I'd share a few of my recent quilted bag finishes!



Inspired by tomorrow's Friday Fabric Giveaway with my new sponsor Fabric Stork for Alexandra Bordallo's adorable Dew & Moss collection for AGF, I pulled a few favorites from my Dew & Moss bundle and added in some colorful prints by Sharon Holland, Pat Bravo and Amy Sinibaldi to make a cheerful new drawstring bag!



I love the way the photo of my fabric pull was arranged so much that I decided to keep the prints in the same order while piecing my bag. Such a pretty ombre effect, don't you think!? You may have seen the drawstring bag I shared last week made in this same style and I should let you know that I've decided to make at least six to display on a vintage accordion peg rack that I have in the shop side of my studio that I've been working on filling with inventory. Besides the zip bags I often make, I love making these non-zip, drawstring bags with handles!



I still haven't sourced or made the perfect drawstrings just yet, but I'm getting closer! For these I used an AGF denim and finished the ends of them with Dritz Fray Check, to seals the unfinished ends of my drawstrings. When the Fray Check dries, which I left over night to dry after they were threaded through my bag, the ends harden slightly and think this may be the way I go from now on. I'll definitely keep you updated on that!



The other three bags I made are zipper pouch bags using my Quick Quilt As You technique. This first one I shared on my Instagram yesterday and received lots of love! I've made several using this pattern that's a modified version of a qayg quilt block I made for my Craftsy (now Bluprint class). I love the combination of the flying geese with fabric strips. This is definitely a pattern I plan to make into a quilt!



The back features prints from my Mystical Land and Nightfall collections combined with a few prints from the Lugu collection by Jessica Swift. I adore Jessica's moths and owls!



The final two bags include many of the same fabrics but this time I used my Friendship Braid QAYG! Each strip is pieced and straight line quilted to a layer of Hobbs cotton batting with an aqua 50wt Aurifil thread that I finally just ran out of. I swear those large spools last forever!



The back is just a simple striping of the same fabrics but this time I used a wavy stitch that comes as a built-in stitch on my Janome. I set the stitch length and width at the greatest options and it goes super quick and looks great!



Now you'll all have to let me know which of these new bags is your favorite? It will help me decide which to make more of for my shop, which I really appreciate!

xo Maureen