Charleston by REVIVE Blog Tour!

Hello and welcome! Are you enjoying the tour so far? I sure hope so. If you have yet to visit the earlier blog stops, you can get to them all quickly with the links at the end of this post. And trust me, you'll want to visit them all!

I will be sharing with you today how to make this Scrappy Disappearing Four Patch. My quilt is still a work in progress, but come on back next week to see my thoughts on attacking the quilting. Then in the following week I will show how to create a striped binding cut on the bias. It's one of my favorite bindings to make!

But first, let's get back to the fabric and the goodies!

If you're an art history buff like me, you'll love this line. If you like Art Deco, you'll love this line. If you like sparkles and metallics - you'll love this line! This collection combines the true essence of the Art Deco movement beginning in the 1920's and captured everything a quilter would love about this period into luscious fabrics. By using designs and colors that touch on this "Golden Age" of Hollywood filled with extravagance, these fabrics are the perfect balance of glitter and gold. The colors are so rich and vibrant and they work hand-in-hand with the metallic sheen that graces most of the line. Some fabrics are more subtle and some are a bit more bold, but together it's just magic!

So would you like to win some of this beautiful fabric? The good news is - YOU CAN!!!

Three lucky winners will win the Grand Prize - this 28 FQ Bundle featuring each fabric in the line. To win this bundle, head on over to the SewTimeless blog here and enter the Rafflecopter. Winners will be drawn 7/27.

Otherwise, stay tuned for my own little giveaway here! And let's make that quilt!

 Here's what you'll need to make this quilt:

8 - 5" squares of each fabric (all 28) in the line (1/4 yard of fabric is more than plenty of each fabric)
4 yards for backing
5/8 yard for binding (or 1 yard for bias cut binding I will show soon)

That's it! This method has minimal waste so you don't need a ton of fabric.

 To begin, cut the 5" squares from each fabric. Separate the fabrics into even piles of lights and darks (14 different fabrics in each pile) - use your best judgement on some of the more "medium" fabrics like gold and coral that could go in either pile.

 Pair up fabrics to create a block. You'll need two of the same dark fabric and two of the same light fabric. Contrast is key!

With certain prints that may be directional, pay close attention to the direction of the print as you sew, stitching both pairs together so they look exactly the same. Press the seams towards the darker fabrics.

 If you've paid attention to the direction of the prints, when the block is sewn together they should all run in the same direction as shown. Now, for prints like this floral on the navy that run in just one general direction, I placed them so the base of the print was centered in the block. You could also arrange the block pieces so that both squares are based in the same direction... The choice is up to you, there's no right or wrong here - just preference.

*Note - when sewing these blocks together, always sew the pieces in the same manner. What I mean is - if you sew each piece feeding the dark fabric through on top first, do that for all of the blocks. We are going to be spinning the seams for easier construction later on, and if you don't piece them all the same, you may have some seams going in the wrong direction.

 Stitch the block together and clip the seam in the middle of the block up to, but not through the stitching. This will allow you to spin the seams of the block. Press the seams following the direction of the previous seams.

 Now here's where it gets fun and interesting... Cut the block twice horizontally and twice vertically measuring 1 1/2" from the center seams. It's helpful in this step if you have a small cutting mat you can rotate or a mat designed to rotate like a lazy susan (yes they make them).

 Leave the corner squares and the center block alone. Don't move them an inch! Now, take the center section of each side and move it directly to the space on the opposite side. Don't rotate the pieces as you move them. Here's the best part, the seams are already pressed so each piece should "nest together" beautifully.

Here's where it can get a little tricky, but go slow, breathe and you'll be just fine.

Stitch the rows of the blocks together. Press the seams for the top and bottom rows of the blocks in the same direction as the center seam of that row. Clip the seams in the center row to press each half of the seam allowances in opposite directions of the seams in the adjoining rows.

Then, sew the rows together to create the block clipping the seam allowance at the marked X in the diagram above to complete the rotating seams. I know this may seem like a lot of extra work now, but later on it will be worth it, I promise! You'll have 56 blocks measuring 8 1/2" square at this point.

 So why on Earth did you clip all of those seams and press this way and that way? With rotated seams, you can line up your blocks dark-to-dark and light-to-light without worry of the seams being too bulky. No matter which way you lay out the blocks and rotate them all you like, the seams will match up on all four sides each and every single time. I promise it'll make stitching the top together so smooth! That's the key to this layout, match dark corners together and light corners together. That's it! Lay out the blocks in a 7x8 setting.

Another little tip for you, when I finished all of my blocks I threw them one-by-one into my dryer for a few minutes without heat. Then I pulled them out and started laying them down. I didn't change a thing! The dryer automatically tosses the blocks and mixes them up for a more random look without the work!

From this point I sewed the blocks together in rows pressing the seams in opposing directions from row to row and then sewed the rows together.

And there you have it, a 56" x 64" top ready to be quilted.

 I love how the look of the quilt changes depending on the distance you view it from. Up close you notice the glitz and glam and metallics. A bit further back you see the rich and vibrant fabric colors, but from far away this quilt almost looks "rustic" or "cozy" if I may...

 Now to think of a quilting plan... I have one of the gold prints ready to go for a backing, but I think the quilting needs to fit the Art Deco vibe. Come on back next week to see my thoughts and my quilting plan. Then don't forget I will be sharing how to cut, prep and make bias-cut binding the following week. It'll be wonderful!

But the only thing more wonderful is a chance to win some fabric! Leave a comment below to be entered to win a yard of Charleston fabric (you get to choose the fabric). Tell me in the comment which fabric you'd choose - you can view them here - and don't forget to leave me your e-mail address so I can tell you when you win!

Visit all of the stops on the Blog Tour for more chances to win fabric and to see some amazing projects using this new line of fabric:

Monday, July 20:

Shayla Wolf, Sassafras Lane Designs

Tuesday, July 21:

Leslie Meltzer, 50 Sq Ft Studios

Kim Buffington, Make Something/Dritz

Wednesday, July 22:

Rebecca Silbaugh, Ruby Blue Quilts (that's me)

Thursday, July 23:

Kim Brackett, Magnolia Bay Quilts

Lee Chappell Monroe, May Chappell

Friday, July 24

Jessica VanDenburgh, Sew Many Creations/The Straight Stitch Blog

If you'd like to read more about this new line of fabric, head on over to the SewTimeless blog here. It's really an interesting story! Also, to see more inspiration with this line, and seriously, like you really need another excuse to peruse a bit more on Pinterest, head on over to the mood board for Charleston by REVIVE here!

Don't forget to comment below to enter to win some fabric! A winner will be chosen this Saturday! And make sure to enter the Rafflecopter giveaway on the SewTimeless blog to enter to win a Fat Quarter Bundle! That's a lot of chances to win! But, if you're not feeling lucky or you just can't wait to get this fabric in your hands, check for Charleston at your LQS. It should be at a store near you already! Thanks for stopping by and have a great day! -Rebecca

Seems Like Scrappy Preview: Shimmer

If there is one style that I gravitate towards when I'm designing quilts, it's probably star quilts. There are so many little adjustments you can make to change the personality of the block. With that kind of versatility, I find star quilts work great for anyone and any style. They're not gender, age or style specific so star quilts cater to a much broader audience. The quilt I'm about to show you fits into this category wonderfully!

Photo used with permission from Martingale. Photography by Brent Kane. All rights reserved.

Meet Shimmer! I love this quilt. It's a star quilt, there's no doubt about that, but it's interesting... I love the fact that every person I have shown this quilt to sees something different. Some people notice a lattice type effect, some pick out the secondary stars in the design, and some just gawk with their jaw on the floor (and that's perfectly fine with me, just don't drool on the quilt).

Shimmer is created with the Tonga Treats 6-Pack. The 6-Pack is a fairly new bundle that includes 20 strips that are each 6" wide x WOF. Some packs have 20 different fabrics and some have less fabrics (some duplicates may be in the pack), but this new bundle is a great way to still have a coordinated fabric group and still have a nice bit of fabric to play with.

Sometimes when I'm playing with a new design and I find a new fabric I like, I'll grab a charm pack... Then once I get into the project I fall in love even more with the fabric and wish I had more of it to play with... Sometimes I'd like a little more heft to satisfy my fabric craving. You can get that with the Tonga Treats 6-packs. Unlike a fat quarter bundle, the strips are still the width of fabric so it feels like yardage and it tricks your brain into thinking there is more fabric in there.

One of my favorite aspects of making scrappy quilts is when I can take a simple design and add extra pieces into it. It's part of my "the more the merrier" mentality. For instance, some of the triangles are whole, and some are pieced in this quilt. Part of the reasoning for that was to make it easier to sew the blocks together, and part of the reason was simply because I could. :)

The bundle I created this quilt with obviously had a simple fall-like color palette to it and I love how it turned out. However, don't forget that this whole new book is full of tips and tricks if you'd like to use your stash too! This would be amazing with a smattering of whatever fills your scrap bins thrown together. With a more eclectic color palette, parts of this design may stand out mare giving your quilt a totally new look from the original!

Shimmer and all of the other quilts I've shared each Monday are patterns in my new book, Seems Like Scrappy, due out this June. Come back each Monday to see a new quilt from the book and I'll keep you posted on when you too can get a copy! I know June is still a bit away, but I have that feeling that if I blink, it'll be here in an instant! I can't wait to share the book with all of you!

Seems Like Scrappy Preview: Patch Stack

I know I should've written this post over the weekend and scheduled it... I should've and I didn't. And now it's late-ish morning because Daylight Savings Time didn't hit me until this morning when it was still pitch black at 7am and the dogs and I didn't want to get up... Oh well, better late than never!

Today I want to introduce you to Patch Stack:

Photo provided by Martingale, Photography by Brent Kane

There are 14 quilts in Seems Like Scrappy and they are made with an array of your favorite precuts like charm packs, layer cakes, jelly rolls and fat quarters. However there are two new precuts featured in this new book including honeycombs (6" hexagons) and Tonga 6-packs. This pattern features the Tonga 6-pack. 

What is a Tonga 6-pack? Timeless Treasures has released this relatively new precut that contains 20 strips that are each 6" wide x WOF. Some of the packs contain as few as 10 fabrics (two cuts of each fabric) and some packs contain 20 different fabrics. I like this particular precut because you can get a decent amount of fabric and still have a nice variety of colors. I love my jelly rolls, but sometimes that 2 1/2" wide strip just isn't enough fabric that it satisfies my fabric craving...

In Patch Stack, I used the Tonga 6-pack for the creamy and greenish tones. I used yardage for the blue background and I love how this quilt looks masculine yet interesting. I love the colors because I live so close to Lake Erie, it gives off that lake vibe. However, I think this quilt would look amazing in a totally scrappy mix of prints reminiscent of a grown up I Spy.

This quilt was so easy to make and even easier to layout and piece. I thought it would be much harder than it was so I made the pieces and laid it out, then I gathered them up and set it aside for a long time. I don't know what I was afraid of! I started stitching the rows together and was only planning to fill a small amount of sewing time I had open. It was a boring night with nothing much going on and I just wanted to sew for a bit. Not long into my hour or so I set aside to sew, I was almost done with the top, so I kept going!

Patch Stack finishes at a decent size (71" x 86") so it would be a great large throw or a twin size. That's also without borders, so the size can easily grow if you'd prefer it a bit larger if you added borders.

I love this quilt and I hope you do too! Remember that I will be back here each Monday showing off a new quilt from Seems Like Scrappy before it's release in May.

Also, if you missed it over the weekend, I put together a little chart listing the three most popular precut sizes and the names each fabric company uses to identify them. It's a free pdf printable and you can get to it by clicking here. 

And last but definitely not least, tomorrow there will be a super exciting post you'll definitely want to checkout... did someone say giveaway??? Come back tomorrow for the details. Have a great day! I'm going to enjoy my coffee and get in gear... I've got quilts to make!

Candy Sweets Quilt (A Free Tutorial)

I had the amazing opportunity to work with the folks at Timeless Treasures Fabrics and they asked me to come up with a fun Christmas-y quilt... Well, this is what I came up with:

 The great thing about this quilt, well there's a few:

1. It's fast, fun and simple.
2. It uses 5" squares and minimal yardage (so you probably have all of the fabrics at home already)
3. It can be used for Christmas or any get together for a little quilty decor. I had in mind that it would look great at the dessert table or at a cookie exchange!
4. It's small enough to be used as a wall hanging, but big enough to make an impact!!!

I had so much fun making this quilt and I hope you do too. You can head on over to Timeless Treasures blog here to get the tutorial! It actually posted Friday and I was stuck in the whirlwind of quilting deadlines that I actually forgot it was posting that day... Ooooppppssss. We set this tutorial up a few weeks ago and I lost track of time!

That's actually the reason the blog has been so quiet. Between the unexpected trips to the dentist and trying to meet the quilting deadlines for Christmas and Farmpark, I have been a quilting fool. Seriously, my goal today is to wash AND DRY my hair for the first time in forever. It takes so much time I usually towel dry it as best I can and then throw it up in a messy bun and run out the door. It's the little things, isn't it?

Well, I hope you enjoy the tutorial, I'd love to see pictures if you make your own version of it! Last night I took a quick break to finish up Christmas shopping, so far this morning I've pulled out a few decorations, and it reminded me that I have one to share with you here. To make up for my lack of blogging, I'll post again later today with a little embroidery piece (I'll share the design as a free printable too!) that I whipped up. Until then, have a great weekend!!! I've got a little bit more quilting this week to finish up, so I'll be out there a bit later today, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! It's a good thing because Christmas isn't that far away!!!

Last Market Post & Feathered Star

I almost forgot to write this post! How possibly could I? This is the last post I will write about Spring Market and then I will move on. I think. No guarantees at this point. I think I need more coffee.

Oh, and I almost forgot - there's still time to enter in my latest giveaway. Remember you can enter up to once a day, it's really simple - just click here to head on over and enter to win!

Anywho, my Mom made this quilt to hang in the Timeless Treasures booth and I had the pleasure of quilting it:

 This is the Feathered Star pattern by Judy Niemeyer (Quiltworx). This is the smaller size, but there is a version in a queen size. I also quilted a queen size version not too long ago and you can see it here.

 This quilt features the new Tonga Punch line of fabrics that should be coming out in stores later this year.

 I loved seeing how the lighting in their booth showed off the quilting details.

 And here's some pictures I took when I finished quilting it. This quilt had tons of texture.

 I find that quilts of ours that are going to travel around a bunch, and possibly will live folded up in boxes or suitcases hang much better if they are densely quilted. I think I went a little overboard with this quilt...

 Maybe not, I tried to keep the range of motifs simple and tried to tie in all of the quilt elements together.

I really like how this center turned out. I tried to combine the straight lines and swirls to fill the space and mirror the other spaces in the quilt.

I've been quilting up a storm and I will try to share more of those pictures with you all. Until then, gotta get back to the machine!

Guest Post/ Free Tutorial GIft Boxes

I had the opportunity to meet up with the amazing people behind the scenes at Timeless Treasures Fabrics at Spring Market back in May. They told me they were coming out with newer precuts called a 6-pack and wondered if I would be interested in coming up with a tutorial to feature them? How could I say no?!

They asked me to use their new Joy line for a little Christmas in July cheer. What I came up with was this tutorial, Gift Boxes, which is a nice small quilt that uses almost all of the 6-pack and only extra fabrics for backing and binding. 

 I'm not going to lie, this was a bit challenging for me at first since I'm more scrappy and this was only 10 fabrics in three colors. I know that doesn't sound like much, but I'm used to using about 100 fabrics and way more color. It turned out great and I love it!

 I quilted it really modern and it was so much fun to do! I was really channeling my inner Angela Walters for this one and I think she'd approve. I used both red and green fabrics top and bottom, even though the backing fabric was cream, it looks so cool!

This quilt is nice and small, but super easy to make. To hop on over to the tutorial, click here. Also, you can jump on over to Timeless Treasures' website to view this collection and many more by clicking here. They have a whole bunch of other tutorials too on their blog which you can see here. Whew! That's a bunch of links.

I love this quilt for several reasons, but the craziest and truest of them all is that I feel so ahead of the game since it's only July and I already have a Christmas quilt done. I actually have a quilt to display around the holidays now! What a novel concept! I usually think about making a quilt to display around Dec. 23rd and it never gets done, now I have one!

Hope you enjoy the tutorial and if you make a version of this quilt, please e-mail me at rubybluequilts (at) gmail (dot) com. I'd love to see it!

p.s. remember this would also be great for your stash, it's only 6" strips!!!