Patchwork Essentials: Vast Quilt

Time to share another quilt from my book, Patchwork Essentials: The Half-Square Triangle! You can find all the posts about Patchwork Essentials using the MY BOOK link at the top of every page, or here.


I'm slowly going to share each quilt, in order, with the exception of a few that I've already shared. We've made it to the relative size chapter, and the first quilt is Vast!

For more on how the book is structured see this post.


Need a copy of the book? Buy a signed one here: Patchwork Essentials: The Half-Square Triangle


Photo © 2015 Lauren Hunt for Lucky Spool Media.

I knew when I first had the idea for the book that I wanted to include a quilt that used supersized half-square triangles. I've played a lot with the idea in other quilts, like my Giant Vintage Star Quilt, so I wanted to include another variation on the idea.


Photo © 2015 Lauren Hunt for Lucky Spool Media.

I wanted to play with all solids for at least one quilt in the book, as a personal challenge. I haven't made a lot of all solids quilts, but it felt like the right way to make this already bold design feel even bolder. I used Pure Solids by Art Gallery Fabrics for this quilt. I used the following colors: Raspberry Rose, Coral Reef, Empire Yellow, Sweet Mint, Blueberry Zest, Mauvelous, Verve Violet, and Snow.


The absolutely gorgeous quilting was done custom by Melissa of Sew Shabby Quilting. I asked her to choose a different design for each color! This way it almost gives the solid colors a print feel, especially when you look at it from a distance. I love all the variety of design, it turned out just how I envisioned.


I kept things pretty simple for the backing and binding. Another solid for the binding, and a blender from Minimalista for the back! I remember stocking up on clearance fabrics for backings before I started working on the book quilts. It didn't take long to go through most of my stashed backing fabric.


Photo © 2015 Lauren Hunt for Lucky Spool Media.

I recently finished up the variation quilt top that is shown in the book, so I'll be sharing that quilt finish soon too!


Happy Quilting!

Log Cabin Quilted Floor Pillow

Happy Tuesday! Today I have a long overdue share! The two years have been such a whirlwind, and I've neglected to properly share all the projects I've made. I recently pulled a few out to finally photograph them and plan to sprinkle them in with more recent finishes. First up, a big floor pillow!


I made this pillow using Heather Givan's Literary fabric collection for the Fall 2017 issue of Quilts and More magazine. I knew I wanted to lean into the book theme for my project. I like sitting on the floor when I look through books, so a big fluffy floor pillow seemed like the perfect project for these fabrics! Design-wise, I liked the idea of playing with a quilt block in the center of a log cabin block.


With all the straight horizontal and vertical lines in the piecing, I decided to use diagonal lines for the quilting. Also, I love quilting diagonal lines! I started with a big X across the pillow top, then echoed those lines about every 1".


Every so often I like to finish my quilted pillows with binding. Using another low-volume print for the binding gave the pillow a nice frame. It's finished with a simple envelope closure on the back.


The pillow finishes at 24" square, and has a nice big form in it. To make it look extra filled out, I added some loose fiberfill to the corners.


I'm glad that I finally pulled this project back out and stuck a form in it. Michael's has been using it, which makes me smile!

Happy Sewing!

Lined Drawstring Gift Bags

Happy Thursday! It's time for a parade of lined drawstring bags! I always make a few at the last minute to wrap gifts for the holidays. I wanted to quickly document them before we got too far into 2019! Make sure and check out my post with tips for using drawstring bags to wrap gifts, if you're interested!

First up, an Everything Bag (tutorial size)! This held some sweet treats. It's made with a star print from Heather Bailey's Hello Love collection and a print from my Curiosities collection. It's finished with paracord ties.


Another Everything Bag (tutorial size) for sweet treats. It's made with two prints by Carolyn Friedlander, a print from Carkai and one of her Crosshatch prints. It's finished with paracord ties.


Next up, a Artist Bag (pattern size)! Perfect size for gifting a baby quilt. This bag is made with three prints from my Geometric Bliss collection. It's finished with paracord ties.


One of two Laundry Bags (pattern size), for gifting throw quilts. This one is made with prints from my Curiosities collection. It's finished with paracord ties.


And finally, one more Laundry Bag (pattern size). This one is made with the panel and matching prints from my Nordika collection. It's finished with paracord ties.

Find the tutorial and pattern here:
Lined Drawstring Bag Tutorial
Lined Drawstring Bag Pattern

Happy Sewing!

Liberty Lawn Giant Vintage Star Quilt

Happy Tuesday! I'm excited to share another recent quilt finish with you today! This was the first quilt I started after we moved, and I managed to finish it up just before the end of the year.


This Giant Vintage Star Quilt was made with lawn fabrics! The lovely folks at Alice Caroline provided the Liberty of London prints for the quilt top. Thankfully, I had just enough white Cambridge Lawn (my favorite lawn solid) to put together the top.


The first version of this quilt was made with a rainbow of vintage sheets, so it's unsurprising that it looks so nice in a rainbow of Liberty of London lawn prints!


For the quilting, I thought it would be fun to play off the star design, so I chose a loopy star design. The quilting was done by Melissa of Sew Shabby Quilting. I sent along Quilter's Dream Orient batting, which is perfect paired with the airy lawn fabrics!


For the backing, I used a variety of liberty lawn yardage from my stash. At one time I had grand plans to make lots of lawn garments, but in all honestly these prints are a little for my wardrobe. They make a beautiful backing though!


I had a bit of trouble deciding on binding, but ultimately went with this pretty gray and orange floral liberty print. I wanted something that would look good with the scrappy backing and the rainbow front. This print had been in my stash for a while, so it worked out well in the end!


Finally I was able to photograph one of these star quilts on a barn! The design was inspired by barn quilts, so it seemed very fitting.


You can find the tutorial and pattern for this quilt below. Pattern version includes a baby quilt and pillow, in addition to more color options.

Giant Vintage Star Quilt Tutorial
Giant Vintage Star Quilt Pattern

Happy Quilting!

Handmade Gifts: Sewing Tool Organizer

Happy Thursday! Today I have another handmade gift to share, this time a sewing tool organizer!

This is the fifth tool organizer I've made with the #10 Caddy Pattern* by Sew Can She. It's a fun project that comes together quickly, and is really handy. It gets it's shape from a #10 aluminum can, which is 7" tall and about 6" in diameter. They can sometimes be hard to find at regular grocery stores, you'll probably be more like to find them bigger grocery stores or warehouse chains like Costco.

See my other organizers made from this pattern: Halloween + Constellations organizers, Patchwork + Sheep organizers.


I made this particular organizer for my friend Jacey! She loves Leah Duncan's fabrics, so I started off by pulling this beautiful print of hers. The color is just so pretty, and I knew it would show off nicely along the top half of the organizer. From there I pulled matching blenders from my stash. Fabric collections top to bottom: Lore*, Around the Block*, Whisper Palette*, Carkai*.


Picking the fabrics and the cutting/interfacing definitely took longer than the actual construction. I've made enough of these now that they really come together quick! I think I put it together in an afternoon. I added a circle of felt to the inside to finish it off, with a little hot glue to keep it in place.


I love how the little animals in the main print peek out from the pockets, so cute! These little organizers hold a lot, and are really handy for keeping your tools within reach. Plus you can fit all kinds of things in the main center compartment.


I use mine most when I am traveling, when I bring my machine downstairs or on the back deck. Plus, they're really fun to make and don't take a lot of fabric!

Find the pattern here: #10 Caddy Pattern* by Sew Can She.

Happy Sewing!

*Note: Any links marked with an asterisk in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click through and buy something, I make a small commission, at no extra cost to you.

Flannel Whole Cloth Quilt

Happy Tuesday! I thought I would break up the handmade gift posts which one of my recent quilt finishes. So today I'm sharing my flannel whole cloth quilt!


This is one of the simplest, quickest quilts I've ever made, but from idea to finished quilt it took such a long time to execute. I bought 10 yards of flannel for this quilt back in 2011. I had just finished my flannel plus quilt. I fell in love with that quilt, and I still use it constantly. Flannel on both sides of a quilt is one of the coziest things, and I knew I wanted another one, so I stocked up on two prints from Anna Maria Horner's Folksy Flannels collection.


Fast forward seven years to this past Fall. I had the idea to turn those cuts into a whole cloth quilt from the beginning, but never had a huge need for it. We had been living in apartments that had heat included in our rent, which I took full advantage of! So having more than one flannel quilt wasn't super necessary. Now that we live in our own house, and an older home at that, let's just say it's a little colder inside during the winter! I quickly realized that we could use a few more cozy quilts.


So, one afternoon I took the time to figure out how big I could make the quilt with the two 5 yard cuts I had (67"x77"). I had already pre-washed the fabric years ago, so that was out of the way. I did decide to take the time to pattern match the seam on both the front and that back, and I'm so glad I did. It really was much easier and less time consuming than I originally expected it to be. I think that's honestly part of what made me put off this project. I took some guidance from Amanda Jean's post on the subject. Considering I haven't done much of this, I'm very pleased with my seams, they are nearly invisible now that the quilt has been quilted and washed! Win!


I love my Nani Iro brushed cotton Vast quilt that has wool batting, so I went with wool again for this quilt. It is like a fluffy, fuzzy, warm cloud! 100% happy with that choice. It makes me want to use more wool batting in the future. For the quilting, I sent it to Melissa of Sew Shabby Quilting. I went with the popcorn design, which I have had done before and love.


Since this quilt is super simple, I wanted to dress it up a little by curving the corners. I think it adds just enough interest. For the binding, I used a long stashed Free Spirit solid voile. The color is heather.


We've been using this quilt every day since I finished it! It's usually on our couch, and Michael and I fight over who gets it. There were times when I thought about destashing this flannel, feeling like I was never going to make things project. I'm so glad I held on to it, moved with it twice, and finally gave it a purpose in this quilt. I still love the prints, and I think they more than hold their own as a whole cloth quilt.

Happy Quilting!

Handmade Gifts: Sew Together Bags

Happy Wednesday! It's time to share all the gift sewing that I did last month. I didn't make tons of gifts this year, but I always like to make a few. Now that they've been gifted, I can share them with you here!

Today I'm sharing two Sew Together Bags that I made for Michael's parents. I originally intended to give these last Christmas, but packing up our apartment took over and then didn't get sewn up. I had cut everything out and interfaced all the pieces though, so it made them come together quick this year!

Sew Together Bag Pattern by Sew Demented


First up, a paper themed bag for Michael's Mom! She's a first grade teacher, so I knew I wanted to take inspiration from that for her bag. I've had this handwriting fabric stashed for years (I'm not sure who it was made by, it was thrifted.), and it seemed like the perfect focal fabric.


From there I pulled another paper-inspired fabric, this lined paper print from Jot (and Literary) by Heather Givans, for the side panels.


For the inside, I used this tiny vintage pin dot that has been in my stash for many years. It reminds me of the inside of a security envelope! This was really a stash dive project, because I used an old graph paper print for the pocket linings.


After diving back into free-motion quilting with my quilted tree skirt, I decided to do the same with the exterior panel. Doodle quilting felt extra appropriate on paper fabric! I love how the little red dot for the bindings really pulls it all together and gives it a special pop!

All the zippers are gray YKK from Zipit, my favorite source for zippers.


Up next, a bag for Michael's Dad. For this bag, I decided to go with a denim theme. I used a variety of chambray and denim fabrics, all by Robert Kaufman.


I have been collecting these fabrics for a few years, but haven't used up much of it. It was fun to cut into these fabrics, and they worked great for a bag!


It's hard to see in the photos, but the pocket linings and the bindings are a speckled chambray, with little pops of primary colors. It's subtle, but fun!

Zippers are YKK in slate gray and white from Zipit.


For the exterior panel on this bag, I decided not to quilt it. The denim I used was pretty thick on it's own, so I just reinforced it with fusible fleece and called it a day! It's still nice and soft, but a little more clean looking.


I've now made ten of these bags! Find the other ones I've made here:
Dreamin' Vintage Sew Together Bags
Nordika Sew Together Bag
Geometric Bliss Sew Together Bag
Carolyn Friedlander and Paris Map Sew Together Bags
Indigo and Black + White Sew Together Bags

You can find the pattern to make these bags here: Sew Together Bag Pattern by Sew Demented

Happy Sewing!