The Alternate Ending Quilt Pattern — Now Available!

The Alternate Ending Quilt pattern is now available in CoopCrafts Etsy Shop!  This pattern helps you learn a method of blending colors so that they really look like they belong with each other, placed just where they should be.  An interesting twist with the quilt is the ability to choose an Alternate Ending before completing the quilt top.  The three pictures above are all the same quilt, with just three seams left to finish!

The pattern also includes creative twists to inspire you in your own quilting, including interesting spins thrown in by pattern testers.

 

While the pattern uses simple half square triangle blocks, I don’t recommend this for beginners.  It’ll be more enjoyable sewing if you’ve already developed a good understanding of work flow and order.  That said, if you’d like to try it, you can find the pattern here:  CoopCrafts Etsy shop.

Thank you, and happy sewing!

The 24 Years Quilt and the A and B Quilt

I’m sharing two quilts in one post because they’re very similar and I made they mostly at the same time. You can find more detail of the process through my Instagram photos (I’m @CoopCrafts there) tagged either #24yearsquilt or #aandbquilt .  First I started my colorful 24 Years Quilt, which was created to celebrate our 24th anniversary.  There are 24 squares floating around in the half square triangles to represent our years together.

Just testing the unfinished top on the bed here, to see how the border rounds were looking.

And then my sister in law announced her wedding — in two months!!  So my quilt was put on hold while I immediately started the A and B (Alison and Bryan) Quilt for the soon to be newlyweds.  I wanted to use the same basic design, since it seemed like good luck to base a wedding quilt on one that was to celebrate 24 years together.  I decided to completely leave out the squares since they hadn’t “earned” them yet.  ;)

Eventually, they were both finished and approved.

And now I begin three graduation quilts, again in a similar style.  Wish me luck!

Stardust at Sunrise, A Solid Color Baby Quilt

Little Stars Quilts

Lately I’ve been seeing stars. Lots of stars! Star quilts, specifically.

This one is to keep, made from gorgeous Japanese fabrics sent to me from my friend Kaori, who lives in Chiba.

The star shape was a great compliment to the fabrics,  and simple hand stitching really defined it.  Oh, I love it!

I enjoyed making it so much that as soon as I was done, I started on one for my little sister in law.  She asked for orange, brown and red.  I threw in teal and black.

Rows of ombre stitches make a halo effect, so that the star almost twinkles.

And now I’m working on one that will go back to Japan, to Kaori’s daughter, Anna.  Hers is getting the same “twinkle treatment”.

Which kind of brings me back to where I started.  :)  Mine will eventually go up on the quilt wall.

If you’d like to make your own, you can find the Drawn Together foundation paper piecing star pattern in the Little Quilts Book by Sarah Fielke and Amy Lobsiger.  (It’s a great book, I plan to make a few more little quilts from it!)

Starting a Quilt Wall

It’s been too long since I posted, but I have been sewing, even if I haven’t been sharing it here.  I’ve started on a little wall of quilts in my dining room, opposite my herringbone stenciled wall.

The Wine/Whiskey quilt was made using the My First Alphabet and My First Alphabet: Numbers and Punctuation foundation paper piecing patterns by From Blank Pages on Etsy.  I accented it with leftovers from the American Made Brand License Plate Tour, so that it reminds me of how nice it felt to be asked to participate.  (And aren’t those colors gorgeous?  LOVE them!)

My husband doesn’t listen to country music, so even though he loves Blake Shelton from The Voice, he doesn’t hear the song in his head when he reads the quilt.  He does know why I chose it for us, though.  :)

Oh, those S’s are HARD!  I’m only really pleased with one of them, but I let them ride.  I’ve learned that over time, the imperfections in a quilt kind of become endearing to the creator.  It’s weird, but mostly true.  It’s what you’ll look for, part of how you know it’s yours.  It’s good to learn to forgive yourself and move on.

The hashtag quilt was a very simple pattern I found in Fons & Porter’s Scrap Quilts magazine Spring 2014 issue.  You can make the top from just a charm pack of solids and less than two yards of white fabric.  I think this would make a great baby quilt, boy or girl.

I have a third little quilt made, but it won’t be hung up until I have a couple more done, just for proper placement.  For now I’ll just enjoy these, and the process of making the ones to come!