A Charming Barn Star Quilt 3 has been gracing our wall for a couple weeks. It's dear husband's favorite to date, which thrills my heart, and our kids love the 3D effect.

My goal with this pattern design was to create a quilt using a charm pack/mini charm pack utilizing squares as much as possible and very few half square triangles/HST. For the border I wanted a bold frame yet not just strips of fabric. Trying to use as much of the charm pack as possible, I was inspired to use four patches in the corners. Voila! a striking yet simple quilt. My kind of quilt pattern : )

A Charming Barn Star 3 quilt pattern is now available in my shop here

Quilt Stats:

Fabric: Sweet Tea by Sweetwater for Moda Fabrics

Background: Moda Bella Solid 9900-97

Border: Bella Solids American Blue

Batting: Flannel

Size: 36" x 36"

Introducing Stars and Bars, a quilt runner quilt pattern. 

Pick your yardage, fat quarters, or scraps and choose one of three sizes to make - 

15" x 36", 15" x 54", or 15" x 72".

Pattern available in shop here.

Thrilled to be releasing the Stars and Bars Quilt Pattern today, too late for the Fourth but perfect for continued July sewing. (I can't be the only one who loves to sew red, white and blue all summer, right?)

This quilt table runner is made with a simple repeating block comprised of a strip bar unit and an Ohio Star block - simple yet striking.

Before making this runner I had never made quarter-square triangles. Not as scary as I thought : ) If you need any help learning these simple little units, I highly recommend the following tutorials by a couple of very talented quilters. 

Sherri of aquiltinglife.com

Julie of thecraftyquilter.com 

Simple straight line quilting for my finish.

Stars and Bars isn't exclusively for patriotic colors. Check out this sample done up in Early Bird by Bonnie and Camille for Moda Fabrics.

Or this beauty in Sugarcreek by Corey Yoder for Moda Fabrics.

Quilt Stats:

Fabric: Sweet Tea by Sweetwater for Moda Fabrics

Background: Moda Bella Solid 9900-97

Batting: Flannel

Size: 15" x 36"

One of my daughters requested a quilt for her birthday this year. And it gone finished on time!!!!

She loves how it turned out. Her bed looks kinda fancy now : )

I purchased this Good Fortune fabric by Kate Spain for Moda fabrics a several years ago. She loved it then and still does (whew!). She asked if Moda Black Marble would work with it. What do you think? I think it's an awesome pairing with the jewel tones of the Good Fortune fabric.

I used my Simply Done pattern to get this quilt done in record time. The pattern is written with traditional piecing, but I must confess that if I can strip piece I do. Not sure if it is any faster, but I personally prefer strip piecing versus cutting a bunch of small pieces and piecing them together. Either way you choose to piece, Simply Done is a breeze to cut and piece and makes a quick, fun finish.

 

Piece block pieces to background strips.  Trim and slice pieces/background strip.

 

All pieces/strip sliced apart and pressed. Repeat for second side.

Backing for this quilt is a rich purple cotton velour. It adds a little bit of weight but is so lusciously soft and cuddly. 

Simple straight line quilting. The key with quilting with velour backing is to remember to quilt with the nap, NOT against it. Goes a lot smoother and more evenly.

My second version of my Simply Done quilt pattern turned out beautifully. So thrilled with how happy the birthday girl was to receive it. Many thanks go out to my helpful team of little helpers who pitched in and helped with pressing and snipping and crawling around on the floor to lay it out : )

Quilt stats:

Fabric: Good Fortune by Kate Spain for Moda Fabrics

Background fabric: Moda Marbles Black

Batting: Dream cotton

Piecing and quilting thread: Aurifil

Size:59" x 85"