Fat Quarter Frenzy Begins with Meet Me In St. Louis!

 

Hi, all!

Welcome to this year's tutorial series, Fat Quarter Frenzy!  Born from the inspiration of my oldest granddaughter, who so kindly pointed out that I had a "butt-load of fat quarters", I'll be sharing six simple quilt tutorials, all using fat quarters as their source of fabric.  Of course, you can use yardage or scraps if you choose, but the tutorials are written using fat quarters.

If you're like me, you love to buy fat quarter bundles because they are such a fun way to get your hands on a full fabric line.  All those beautiful fabrics just waiting to be turned into quilts - but sometimes they just languish away on the shelf, looking pretty but not much else. So let's use them!

A word here about fat quarters!  As I've been prepping my own for use in these tutorials, I have found serious discrepancies in the sizes of fat quarters.  By definition, a fat quarter should be 18" x 20-22", but I have found many of my bundled fat quarters to be only approximately 17" wide when squared up.  So for purposes of these tutorials, I am assuming that fat quarters are 17" x 20".  Yours may be larger than that, and I trust that you will find good use for any scraps that are left over!

With that being said, let's get started with our first quilt tutorial, which I call "Meet Me In St. Louis" in honor of its classic block, the St. Louis 16-patch.  I was not familiar with this block before, but it certainly lends itself to fat quarters, as you will see that there is very little waste.

Meet Me In St. Louis

A Fat Quarter Friendly Quilt

Materials:

16 Fat Quarters (FQ) measuring (squared up) a minimum of 17” x 20”:

8 light (L) FQ, 8 dark (D) FQ *or two contrasting colors can be used*

Cutting:

Square up your FQ, using the selvage edge as your constant straight.  Line it up on the straight of your cutting mat, then trim the right and left edges to straight.

Leaving the FQ in place on the mat, cut four strips 4.25” wide by 20”+ long.  

Repeat for all 16 FQs.  You should now have 32 llght strips and 32 dark strips.

Assembly: 

Divide your strips into 16 sets, pairing two identical light (L) strips with two identical dark (D)  strips. 

Assemble strip sets, alternating the strips in a LDLD pattern.   I recommend starting sewing from the selvage ends so the sets are basically straight on that end for economy’s sake.

Press seams towards the dark strips.  (If you are using contrasting colors, press toward the same color on all strip sets)

Crosscut the strip sets in the following manner:  laying your strip set with the strips running horizontal on the mat, line up the straight bottom with the straight on your mat.  Cut off the selvage edges.  

Then cut the strip set into 4 4.25” wide block strips.  Repeat for all strip sets, being sure to keep the block strips from each strip set together.

Take the four block strips and arrange them in a checkerboard 16-patch pattern.  Your seams should nest into each other.  Assemble the block.  Repeat for all 16 blocks.

 Arrange your 16-patch blocks and  assemble your quilt!

Yields one approximately 60” square quilt.

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And there you have it - the first of six tutorials for this year's series, Fat Quarter Frenzy!  I hope you'll enjoy making these quilts as much as I have.  Most are quick and simple, perfect for comfort quilts to give away - and hopefully they'll help you use up some stray fat quarters if you also have a "butt-load" of them!

See you next Sunday with another fun quilt tutorial!

Hugs!

Sarah

Hands2Help - Time To Sign Up! And A Giveaway!!

"What does love look like?

It has the hands to help others.

It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy.

It has eyes to see misery and want.

It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men.

That is what love looks like."

Hi, all!

Things are all falling into place for this year's Hands2Help Charity Quilt Challenge!  I'm so excited to get this started!

2017 represents the seventh year of the Hands2Help Charity Quilt Challenge!  We've had an amazing six years...

2011:  47 quilters made 60 quilts

2012:  55 quilters made 94 quilts

2013:  65 quilters made 127 quilts

2014:  70 quilters made 145 quilts
2015:  67 quilters made 147 quilts
2016:  104 quilters made 194 quilts

I can’t wait to see what the seventh year of the Challenge has in store - so let’s begin!

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This year we have several great charities to choose from!  No matter what size quilt you like to make, I'm sure you'll find a perfect fit (or more!)  Here's some info about this year's charities...

Charity #1 - International Institute St. Louis

With all that has been in the news recently regarding refugees, there has been a lot of interest in making quilts for a refugee resettlement group.  A tip from a blog reader led me to the International Institute St. Louis.  The following is from their website...

The International Institute is St. Louis’ welcoming center for new Americans. Our mission is to help immigrants and their families become productive Americans and champion ethnic diversity as a cultural and economic strength. 

We provide essential community integration services to more than 7,500 immigrants and refugees from 80 countries each year. Our clients range from low-skilled to high-skilled and from non-literate to university-educated. Many are refugees who have fled war-torn countries around the world. We also work to build connections between foreign-born and long-time residents....

Together, we can improve lives and help strengthen the St. Louis region.

When refugees arrive in America, they often come with little more than the clothes on their backs.  I have spoken with their office and, among other things, they are in need of twin size quilts (approximately 65" x 88") to be given to families being settled in the St. Louis area.  They requested no religious symbolism, but said that anything patriotic or seasonal themed, such as snowflakes or flowers, were particularly appreciated.  They are also a 501(c)(3) organization, so if you are in need of a charitable donation letter, they can provide this upon receipt of your quilt(s).

Charity #2 - Happy Chemo!

Once again, Emily of Em's Scrap Bag will be collecting quilts to be donated to people undergoing chemotherapy.  This has been a favorite charity for the Challenge since the second year, and a whole lot of love and comfort has gone to them in the form of quilts over the past five years.  Emily accepts quilts of all sizes, from 48" square to twin size (approximately 65" x 88").  

   

      

Charity #3 - Camp Hobe via Stash Builder Box

Stash Builder Box is the brainchild of Amanda Kelly, and has a unique purpose (beyond building up your stash!)  Yes, you receive a great box of fabric and goodies each month, but in addition, 20% of the cost of your box goes to provide quilts for specific children's charities.  The charities change each three months, spreading the love around.  Amanda coordinates a team of HeartBuilders who take the supplies she sends and turns them into beautiful tops and finished quilts.  

She also accepts donations of completed quilts, so this year as part of the Hands2Help Challenge, you can choose to make quilts for this quarter's charity, which is Camp Hobe, a special summer camp experience for children currently being treated for cancer and their siblings.  Their mission is to create an atmosphere that enhances self-esteem, fosters independence and friendships, and creates a sense of belonging.

Your quilts for Camp Hobe should be at least 45" x 60" and geared towards children ages six and older.

NOTE:  If your quilt(s) arrive too late to make the Camp Hobe donation, they will be placed in the donation for the next quarter's charity, so if you especially want your quilt to go to Camp Hobe, be sure to send it early!

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With a variety of charities to choose from this year, you can make a wide variety of sizes and styles of quilts - something for everyone!! And if you're torn between the charities, feel free to make more than one quilt!  Just think how many wonderful designs you can try.... 😜

And this year, to allow more international participants, if you live outside North America and want to participate, you can send your quilt top and back to me and I will quilt it for you, to save you from having to pay huge international postage to ship a finished quilt.  Or in the alternative, you can choose a local charitable cause to give your quilt to.  So come on and join in, all you Canadians, Aussies, Brits, and Kiwis!  And anyone else who wants to join in!  

Here's the calendar for this year's Hands2Help Challenge:

Initial signups will be Sunday March 12th through Saturday, March 18th.  You will receive one entry for signing up, and can get additional entries for putting the button on your blog sidebar, and/or posting about the challenge to encourage others to join in!  (You can sign up after March 18th, but this is the period to sign up to be part of the signup giveaway.)  If you signed up early, you're good - and you'll be included in the giveaway!

The following Sunday, March 19th, we'll announce the winners of the signup giveaway.  

On Sunday, March 26th, there will be a linky party where you can post links to your favorite on-line tutorials!  It could be a tutorial for a quilt pattern, or a technique like machine binding, or even a recipe for your favorite "while-I'm-quilting" snack or crock-pot meal!  You don't have to write the tutorial, you can link up to another blogger's tutorial.  If you love it, someone else might too!

Sunday, April 2rd, you'll Meet The Sponsors!  So many generous people have stepped up to provide giveaways for all of you fabulous H2Hers, and I'm sure you'll want to see who they all are - and maybe even do a little shopping for the challenge with them!  And if you know of someone who wants to help a good cause, we're always up for more sponsors...

And then there's the guest bloggers!  You will definitely want to be here on April 9th, April 16th, April 23th, April 30th, May 7th, and May 14th as we get to peek into the creative lives of some of our fellow H2Hers!  

There will also be check-in dates like last year, when you can link up and show your progress....  April 16th and May 7th.

Quilts should be completed by the week beginning Sunday, May 21st.  There will be a linky party (May 21st through May 27th) to link your finished quilt and show it off, and giveaways for people who link up their quilts.  We've got some great sponsors this year!  Winners will be announced on May 28th.

Quilts should be mailed to the appropriate charity by Friday, June 2nd.

NOTE:  The schedule will always be available under the Hands2Help Pages tab located at the top of my blog header if you lose track of your dates!

And did I mention a GIVEAWAY?  Yes, I did!!  The wonderful folks at Free Spirit Fabrics gave us some beautiful fabric for Hands2Help, and I've selected this lovely jelly roll...

... to give to one lucky early-adopter - so if you sign up before Saturday 3/18 at 6 pm CST, your name will be thrown in the hat!  This lovely jelly roll is Splendor by Amy Butler - and the colors are amazing!!!  The winner will be announced next Sunday, March 19th.

Woohoo!!  Let's get started!!  Please fill in the form below to be officially signed up. Place your cursor in the box below, scroll down to see all the fields to enter, then click SUBMIT and you'll be all set! (You'll see a message "Your Response Has Been Recorded" when you are finished.)  I'd love for you to leave a comment, too (just because it makes me happy!)

Hugs!

Sarah

If you'd like to read about the previous Hands2Help Challenges, click here and scroll back through the posts!

PS - if you've commented on any of the H2H posts and you haven't heard back from me, you are probably a "no-reply" blogger!  Check here for instructions on how to correct this problem, or leave your e-mail address in your comment so that I can reach you!  If you don't feel comfortable leaving your e-mail address out in public, you can e-mail me directly at salliesue57(at)gmail(dot)com.

Fat Quarter Frenzy Is Woven Today!

 

Hi, all!

We are back this week with another Fat Quarter Frenzy quilt tutorial!  We've been discovering new ways to utilize fat quarters in quilts, and if you're like me and have way too many, a way to use up some of the stash!  So far, we've used 48 fat quarters (!) - 16 in Meet Me in St. Louis, 14 in Kaleidoscope, and most recently 18 in a new version of Supernova.  But I'm still overflowing with fat quarters, so today we will be exploring a new tutorial, this time for a quilt I call Woven.  Let's go!

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Woven

A Fat Quarter Friendly Quilt

FABRIC REQUIREMENTS:

Fat Quarters (FQ) in three different contrasting color groups

Color A - 7

Color B - 5

Color C - 4

CUTTING:

From Color A FQs, cut:

26 4.5” x 12.5”

30 4.5” x 4.5”

To achieve this, and assuming your FQ have 17” x 20” of useable fabric, cut your first six FQ in this manner:

This will give you 24 long strips and 24 squares.

Take your remaining FQ and cut in this manner:

This will give you your remaining 2 long strips and 6 squares.

From Color B FQs, cut:

13 4.5” x 12.5”

30 4.5” x 4.5”

To achieve this, cut the first 3 FQ in this manner:

This will give you 12 long strips and 12 squares.

Take another FQ and cut four 4.5” x 17” strips.  From one strip, cut one 4.5” x 12.5” strip and one 4.5” square.  Cut the remaining strips into 9 squares.  This will give you one more long strip and 10 more squares, for a total of 13 long strips and 22 squares.

Take the final FQ and cut three more 4.5” strips, then crosscut into 8 4.5” squares, giving you a total of 13 long strips and 30 squares.

From Color C FQs, cut:

48 4.5” s 4.5”

To achieve this, cut four 4.5” x 17” strips from each of the four FQ, then cross cut them into 12 4.5” squares for a total of 48 4.5” squares.

ASSEMBLY

This quilt is made up of three separate blocks, shown as follows:

Block 1:  Make 13

Block 2:  Make 6

Block 3:  Make 6

LAYOUT:

While it may look complicated to lay out, it’s really quite simple.  First of all, take Block 1 and lay it out in a checkerboard design, with 3 blocks in the 1st, 3rd and 5th rows with the stripes running horizontally, and 2 blocks in the 2nd and 4th rows with the stripes running vertically.

Take Block 2 and place them between the horizontal stripe blocks in rows 1, 3, and 5. 

Now take Block 3 and place them between the vertical stripe blocks in rows 2 and 4.

Assemble and quilt as desired!

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I hope you enjoy this quilt pattern, and that it helps you use up some random fat quarters in your stash!  See you next Sunday with another Fat Quarter Frenzy quilt!

Hugs!

Sarah

Fat Quarter Frenzy Rediscovers Supernova!

 

Hi, all!

I. Am. Late.  So sorry!  And I will totally blame this on the state of my studio - it's a flipping mess, with about twelve quilt tops waiting to be quilted, a customer quilt just off the frame, a t-shirt quilt in progress, and now a new quilt started for a wedding shower gift.  My brain feels like my studio looks, and I just completely forgot what day it was yesterday when I should have been writing this post.

That being said, welcome back to Fat Quarter Frenzy, where we are exploring simple quilt designs made from fat quarters.  If you're like me, you've got a lot of fat quarters sitting around, and hopefully this will help you find a good quilt-y home for some of them!  So far I've used 30 fat quarters, 16 with Meet Me In St. Louis, and another 14 with Kaleidoscope.  

Today we're going to re-visit one of the most popular tutorials on my blog, Supernova.  I first posted this in 2017, as part of the Stunning Stars series, and it's been requested as a PDF hundreds (thousands?) of times since then.  But I'm always up for a new interpretation of this quilt, so here it is in mixed prints!

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Land, Sea and Sky

A Fat Quarter Friendly Quilt

This is a very simple one-block quilt; its secret lies in the layout.

Finished size:  approximately 60” x 60”

Materials:

18 Fat Quarters - 9 each in two different color groups

For the purposes of this tutorial, choose one that you will 

        designate as the “background” fabric.  Dark fabrics tend 

        to pop, so you may find that the lighter of your two 

        fabrics works best as background.

CUTTING DIRECTIONS:

From each fat quarter, cut six 7” squares.  Once finished, you should have 54 each in two different color groups.  

Choose four foreground squares in the same print that will become your focal star.

MAKING THE BLOCKS:

Take the squares you have designated as background squares and draw a line from one corner diagonally across the square on the back of the fabric. This can be done with pencil, chalk, or my personal favorite, Hera marker, which just leaves a visible crease on the fabric.

Pair one background square with one foreground square, right sides together.

 

Stitch a scant 1/4” from each side of the diagonal line you drew on the background square.  Cut on the diagonal line.  Press seam to one side (it doesn’t matter which side, just be consistent.)   You will have 54 sets of two matching half square triangles (HSTs).  Trim your HSTs to 6.5” square.  Don’t skip this step - it will make your quilt go together faster and look better!

 I love using a Bloc-Loc ruler for this step - it makes everything go fast and easy.  However, if you don’t have one, a regular square ruler with a diagonal line will work!  And just look at how pretty all those trimmings are!

Locate your eight focal star HSTs to start your layout.

LAYOUT:

Use this diagram to lay out your blocks.  Start with the focal point star in the lower left quadrant, (the shadowed area) and work out from the star.  (The shadowed area and the dark lines are to help you see how the blocks lay.)  Step back often and check to see that your diamonds are going the right direction!  Fill in the gaps at the upper right and lower left edges with half diamonds, splitting up some of your pairs for the purpose.  

TIP:  If you have a design wall, or use a “design floor”, take a photo of your layout (before assembly) and look at it on your phone.  The distance this provides you visually makes it easier to see errors and places where you may wish to switch some blocks.  It usually takes four or five photos before I’m happy with the layout.  

Assemble the quilt top.  Quilt as desired!

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And that's it for today's tutorial!  I'm another 18 fat quarters down in my stash after making this quilt, and it's barely made a dent!  But I'm having fun and finding all kinds of inspiration for making more quilts and diminishing that stash.  See you next week!

Hugs!

Sarah

Hands2Help - Meet the Sponsors!

Hi, all!

I hope you're enjoying the Challenge so far!  Maybe you've started on your quilts, maybe not - everyone works at a different pace - so it's all good!  Today we're going to meet the sponsors who have contributed some lovely things to thank all of you wonderful quilters for participating in the Challenge….

First, let's meet the corporate sponsors.  

 C&T Publishing is providing a coupon for each participant for 25% off a purchase.  They have loads of fabulous books - I'd have a hard time choosing!

Amy Smart, who blogs at Diary of a Quilter, has sent a huge bundle of her patterns and some other goodies!  An accomplished pattern and fabric designer, her blog is always interesting and insightful.

The folks over at Fat Quarter Shop are back again this year, offering three $25 gift certificates!  Have you been to Fat Quarter Shop?  They have a great selection of fabrics, and they feature wonderful tutorials for easy quilts using pre-cuts.  Lots of fun things going on there!

Judi from Green Fairy Quilts is offering a $25 gift certificate for her shop.  And here's a heads-up - they are having a great sale on fat quarter bundles right now!  (Many of you may not know this, but Judi was part of the inspiration for the Hands2Help Challenge the first year.)

If you're anything like me, you're already familiar with The Warm Company, creator of Warm & Natural batting.  The Warm Company has sent us 24 crib-size quilt batts to be given away as prizes!

Northcott Fabrics has joined us as a sponsor again this year, sending several beautiful fabric bundles to share as giveaways!  Their fabric truly is wonderful, with a beautiful hand and great colors.

Moda Fabrics has also jumped on board, with a fun box of goodies that will ensure many happy hours of quilting to come for some of you!  

Quilters Dream Batting has generously donated five quilt batts for our participants!  These are great batts, particularly for hand quilting!

Emily Bailey, who blogs at Em's Scrap Bag and is also the champion for one of our charities, Quilty Hugs for Happy Chemo, is donating three mini soap samples and twelve PDF patterns from her shop! If you love scrappy quilting, you need to be reading Emily's blog - she's the queen of scraps!

Pineapple Fabrics is returning as a sponsor this year with great giveaway goodies!  Be sure to check out their on-line shop and tell them thank you!

Elizabeth Hartman, pattern designer extraordinaire, has joined us as a sponsor this year by sending ten of her patterns!  Her designs are definitely on my bucket list - if you aren't familiar with them yet, you can check them out on her website.

Do you love really great lighting at your sewing machine? Then you need to check out InspiredLED!  I absolutely love their lights on both my tabletop sewing machine and on my long arm - they really help my old eyes!  InspiredLED is donating three lighting kits for this year's Challenge!

Thanks to the recommendation of a fellow H2Her, Jaftex Companies is joining us as a sponsor this year.  Don't know Jaftex? Well, I bet you know one or more of their subsidiary companies - FreeSpirit, Henry Glass, Studio E, Blank, A.E. Nathan and Fabric Editions.  The folks at Jaftex have sent four jelly rolls as their contribution to this year's Challenge!

Felicia's World is joining us this year as a new sponsor.  They are providing some of their paper piecing foundation papers, which are just the coolest thing!  I'll be talking about them on the blog soon as I have been trying them out - it's lots of fun, and a great way to use up scraps!

Joy Martin, who can be found over on Instagram as @themakingsofjoy leaped into pattern designing last year with her Scrap Mountain Quilt and subsequent quilt-along.  She has since added another pattern to her catalog, Pride and Prejudice, and is offering both patterns to three lucky participants!  

Bernie Kringel, who has a fun blog and great little shop at Needle & Foot, is providing $25 gift certificates for two lucky participants!  Bernie has beautiful fabrics in her shop, definitely worth taking a look!!

Kristy from St. Louis Folk Victorian is joining us this year, too!  Kristy designs really beautiful modern quilt patterns - check them out in her shop.  She will be donating 20 PDF patterns, which will be divided among ten lucky participants!

And if you've spent any time at all on my blog you probably know how much I love Lorna McMahon's quilt patterns!  She designs traditional piecing patterns that look a whole lot more difficult than they are, guaranteed to impress anyone.  And Lorna is really sharing the love this year - she's giving one PDF pattern of your choice to every participant who finishes the Challenge!  She'll also be joining us in the Challenge this year - I can't wait to see what she makes!

Many of you not only give it forward with your quilts, but you also help encourage the people who participate in the Challenge by donating giveaway items!  (Quilters are THE BEST!!!)  So here's what your fellow participants have donated!

Kathleen Gansert, a/k/a KatieQ, who blogs at Katie's Salt Marsh Path, is donating a beautiful fat quarter bundle.  Katie's trying to get back into the habit of blogging, so stop by her blog and show her some love!!

Susan Smith of Stitched by Susan is returning as a giver this year, offering a flat rate package stuffed full of generous sized scraps (and everyone knows we all need more scraps, right?  I love playing with someone else's scraps!)

Karen McCutchen has put together some wonderful quilting goody bundles that several of our participants are really going to enjoy!

Carole at From My Carolina Home will send to one lucky winner a selection of 6 batting samples and product folders by Hobbs and Quilter's Dream, Create pouch, 6 oz Best Press travel size, Embroidery Scissors, Spool Keychain, Mini Charm Pack, Selection of Fat Quarters, and because we are interested in a lot of things, a fiction novel Round Robin by Jennifer Chiaverini and 2 Milk Street magazines.

Cindy, who blogs over at Stitchin' at Home, is donating two of her PDF patterns!

Myra, who blogs and creates over at Busy Hands Quilts is donating five PDF patterns from her shop, one to each of five participants!  Myra has a newsletter you can sign up for so you can see the great designs she is always coming up with!

Kate, who blogs over at Katie Mae Quilts, is giving a discount code for all the participants to use during the duration of the Challenge (I'll be sending it soon) and is also giving a PDF pattern download to each of five participants!

Louise, who is lucky enough to live on a boat part of the year, blogs at My Quilt Odyssey, and she is offering a layer cake to one lucky participant!  Be sure to click the link to go to her blog and see the boat where she lives - it's got superior decorations!

Sandra, who has the excellent blog name of Musings of a Menopausal Melon (also known as MMM Quilts) is providing two PDF patterns as her donation to the cause!

Nikki Moshier, who can be found on Instagram as @nikki_moshier is returning as a donor, with some fun and fabulous giveaway goodies.  Her little bundles are always fun!

And Annie, who is on Instagram as @anniesrubyslipperz, has provided the wherewithal for a bunch of giveaway goodies!  Annie's an old blogging friend (long time, not age!) and has supported the Challenge for many years.

We've also had some wonderful Quilt Fairies who are helping us obtain more goodies to giveaway.  And if you want to be included in these, there's still time - just email me directly at salliesue57 (at) gmail (dot) com.

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Such a great array of prizes from so many generous folks!  Despite our record number of participants (264 to date!) it looks like we will have enough goodies to send a "thank you" to everyone who finishes a quilt!   And if you already said you'd donate something, but you don't see your name here, let me know - I have tried to keep track of everyone, but something may have fallen through the cracks...

Be sure to show all our sponsors some love - they really come through when I contact them about the Hands2Help Challenge every year!!  And be sure to check back next week, when the fabulous Susan of Stitched By Susan will be our guest blogger!!

Remember, if you post pictures of your H2H quilts or in-progress shots on Instagram, try to tag me (@fabricaddictquilts) and use the tags #Hands2Help2021 or #h2h2021.  Additionally, you can let your recipients know what you are doing by using the tags @katandcat775 (for Covered In Love), @emsscrapbag (for Quilty Hugs for Happy Chemo), @littlelambsfoundationforkids, #victoriasquiltscanada, and #hometownheroesquiltproject.

Time to get quilting!!

Hugs!

Sarah

PS If you're just now finding out about the Hands2Help Comfort Quilt Challenge, there's still plenty of time to enter!  You can read more about the Challenge by clicking the Page tab at the top of the blog, and you'll find the entry form within that Page.  Be sure to scroll down and fill out the complete form, then click Submit!  You'll get a "congratulations" on having completed the form after you've done it correctly.