swanzzz {good night // hello, ollie!}

The moment I saw the sleepy tones in Bonnie's new organic line (Hello, Ollie), I knew exactly what to make.  (And, judging by the last stop of the tour, it turns out I wasn't exactly alone!)

You see, around the time Bonnie first asked us to participate, I'd been exploring a snoozy #yawnquilt theme, which made its way into this pillow for my zzz-inspiring friend, Alison:

And of course, those sleepy swans in her line had just the perfect potential to become ZZZ's all their own.

And with that, a bevy of swanzzz was born.

Of course ever since making this little naptime quilt I've been dreaming up another muted version of this design...

I've had to set it aside for various reasons, and likewise have been a bit delayed getting the paper piecing pattern released (apologies to those who've asked!) But let's just say that by the time the swans migrate (...south, and then back north again, that is), I'll be posting the pattern with a few layout options (think bevy // swimming in a line) to my little shop.  (For those who are patient enough to stick around, anyway!)

And for now, I'm so glad you've stopped by, and hope you'll follow along with the other stops of the Hello, Ollie tour for more gorgeous inspiration!

ode to the trees {paper obsessed giveaway}

It's my stop on the Paper Obsessed blog tour, and I figured I'd share a little something old and new.  Or, more specifically, something Ode.  You see, when Heather first told me last year about her new line about all things paper, my mind immediately went to the trees... those luscious, leafy green givers of fresh air, shade, the seasons, and of course, paper.

The design started off as a play on a row quilt, with trees both small and tall.  You know, because it is "Ode to the Trees" after all.  But I couldn't help but add in a few doodle blocks, like this one, which I call "scratch":

Then, as I was thinking about today's tour, I decided to test out another hack.  I have to say, no offense to the trees, but "scratch" has quickly become one of my favorite blocks from this design.  It's got such potential for movement, and Heather's line has the perfect range of grays to do the trick (with spot-on pops of color in that black print, I have to say!):

I enlarged the original pattern by 190% (similar to what I did with the trees, but even bigger :: hop on over here for instructions on how to enlarge paper piecing designs using a simple print feature!).

And because I can't make just one, I have big plans to turn this newly enlarged 9.5" x ~23" block into this...

At 190%, this particular layout would finish around 45" x 60".

Because paper's for doodles and chicken scratch too, right?

Thank you so much for stopping by.  I hope you'll follow along here to keep up on my hack progress, and along with the rest of the tour to see some more amazing makes from fellow Paper Obsessed peeps!

July 12 Windham Fabrics :: http://windhamfabrics.wordpress.com

July 13 Heather Givans of Crimson Tate :: https://blog.crimsontate.com/

July 14 Sarah Sharp of {no} hats quilts ::  http://www.nohatsinthehouse.com/

July 15 Janine Vangool of UPPERCASE Magazine ::  http://uppercasemagazine.com/blog/

July 16 Karen LePage of Gentle Clothing :: http://onegirlcircus.com/

July 17 Jenny Leisure / David Barnhouse of Crimson Tate :: https://blog.crimsontate.com/

July 18 Heather Jones of Heather Jones Studio :: http://www.heatherjonesstudio.com/blog

July 19 Eric Lubrick of Eric Lubrick Photography :: http://oartooar.com/

July 20 Annie Unrein of By Annie’s :: http://byanniecom.blogspot.com/

July 21 Amanda Castor of Material Girl Quilts :: https://materialgirlquilts.com/

July 22 Sara Lawson of Sew Sweetness :: http://sewsweetness.com/blog

July 23 Giuseppe Ribaudo of Giucy Giuce :: http://www.instagram.com/giucy_giuce

July 24 Karen McTavish of Karen McTavish Quilting Studio :: https://blog.crimsontate.com/

July 25 Kristen Wright of Two Blondes and a Sewing Machine :: https://twoblondesandasewingmachine.wordpress.com

July 26 Heather Givans of Crimson Tate ::  https://blog.crimsontate.com/

And because Heather and Windham are so very generous, there's lots of goodies in store along the way!  For a chance to win some Paper Obsessed FQs, a copy of Ode, and a whole bunch of swag, leave a comment and tell me what *your* current obsession is!  I'll choose a random winner on July 27, after the tour has come full circle ;o)

xo

Sarah

 

summer bling bag {SMS|RK manchester metallics challenge}

....Ohhhhhhh metallics.  If I have a weak spot for anything, it's that little bit of glitzy glam you can only get from a good gold.  Add to that some earthy browns, and I'm in my element, one hundred percent.

Cue Manchester Metallics, a new range from Robert Kaufman fabrics.  So when RK and Sew Mama Sew paired up for a summer bag challenge, I opted for a couple of the golden hues (eggshell up top, bronze on the bottom) to whip up an easy two-toned beach bag...

Plus two Kona charm packs (neutral and brights), you know, for a little extra bling.

I used a half-yard cut of the light metallic for the top, and a fat quarter of the dark for the base.  I just winged it, but I'm happy to sketch out a little tutorial if anyone is interested!

For the gemstones, I used my temporarily-retired-but-soon-to-be-rereleased (here) "Shinebright Birthstone" quilt block pattern to make 9" gemstones (a "sandstone" and an "ocean stone," no doubt).

Thanks so much to Sew Mama Sew and Robert Kaufman Fabrics for arranging this challenge!  And for other metallics inspiration, be sure to check out:

Mo Bedell
Sandy Whitelaw of UpStairs Hobby Room
Michelle Morris of That Black Chic
Kathy Green of Designs by KTGreen
Carrie Federer of carrie bee
Anne Zeitler of AnneZPlace
Sanchia Gair of Red Brolly
Natalie Strand of Vegetablog
Devida Bushrod of The Driftwood Thimble
Sara Johansen of The Sara Project
Sarah Sharp of no hats in the house {you are here!}
Michelle Webster of michellepatterns
Marni Weaver of Haberdashery Fun
Jenny of My Handmade Home

And while you're doing that, I'll be rethinking my decision not to bind or line this carryall.  That, or I'll just line it with beach towels, suntan lotion and sand, and never look back! ;o)

Thanks for stopping by!

Sarah

@nohatsquilts

ode to the earth! {free pattern hack!}

I've had this idea up my sleeve ever since stumbling upon the Kona Wondrous Woods color story.  Naturally, Earth Day (this past Friday) seemed like as good a time as any to roll out these (very) tall trees!

I mean, come on. Those greens!  All the heart eyes.  (I bought my FQ bundle here from Hawthorne Threads).

You see, the blocks in my Ode to the Trees pattern include small (7") and tall (10") versions...

But thanks to ledger-sized paper and the poster print option, there's a quick way to hack the pattern templates to yield not-so-small (10.5") and very tall (15") trees.

Here's how!

STEP ONE:  Pull up the print menu from the digital version (or your scan of the printed pattern).  Note that I've switched "All" to the respective pattern page (23) under Pages to Print, and selected "Actual size" under the Size Options section.

STEP TWO:  Next, click the "Poster" print tab (sometimes this is called "Tile" print, so just find the option on your printer that allows you to change the scale).

STEP THREE:  Click the "Page Setup" button.  Your Paper Size likely defaults to US Letter or A4, as depicted below.

STEP FOUR:  Switch from your letter-sized default to Tabloid or Ledger (11" x 17"):

STEP FIVE:  Under the "Poster" tab, change Tile Scale from 100% to 150%.

ALL DONE!  Notice that your formerly small 7" trees have grown into not-so-small 10.5" trees that print one-per-page on ledger/tabloid paper!  And guess what... you can do this to pretty much any pattern you want!  Neat, huh? :o)
 

TALL TO VERY TALL:  To apply the same transformation to the tall tree templates, walk through the steps above but just change the Pages to Print to the tall tree page of your digital file (those are on page 24 of the digital pattern):

...Voilà!  Very tall trees.  With very little effort!

And for those of you who aren't able to print on 11" x 17" paper, fear not!  You too can have yuuuuuuge trees!  Simply skip over STEPS THREE + FOUR above, and poster print at 150% on whatever paper your printer prefers.  I wanted to share the ledger option because it just so happens to wind up with the two tree templates splitting perfectly apart, each on its own separate page.  (Full disclaimer:  anything smaller than ledger will require taping, but a little tape never hurt anyone, right?)

I can't wait to sew this entire Wondrous Woods bundle into a wonderfully wild grove.  I'll post a more complete tutorial once I do (spoiler alert :: it involves 1.5" strips to streamline the cutting process for the branches!)  

And in the meantime, I hope you'll take advantage of my Earth Day flash sale!  That's right!  For the next 24ish hours, save 22% off ALL patterns (land, sea and air!) when you enter code ODETOTHEEARTH at checkout in the new shop! Code expires 4/25/16 at midnight EST!

feather ring

Based on the actual size of the five feathers in the pattern, this layout would finish ~25-30" square. 

Up until recently, I considered myself the reigning queen of no-repeats.  If you asked me, I'd have told you it's very hard for me to make the same thing twice.  Ergo, no repeats, right?  Then, unsolicited and out of the blue, a good friend told me I'm "the master of multiple versions."

...

...Say what?!  She totally didn't mean it in a bad way, just a general observation about my work.  So then I started to think back on my valise of (evidently) many versions.

There's Liberty and Justice For All + Karma à la Clematis ...

Catching Dreams by Sunrise + Painted Dreamcatcher:

...and Dip Dye Dreamcatcher:

Painted Leaf No. 1 + Painted Leaf No. 2:

...and Cultivated Leaf:

...and Green Leaf (No. 4?):

Alllllllright.  Touché, my friend.  :o)  So, in an effort to keep things from getting overly repetitive over here, I'm going to start rethinking my original concepts and turning them into something, well,  something you've haven't *exactly* seen before.  ;o)

Ode's name alone is rich with potential.  (Ode to oh so many things!)  I've got a lot in store for Ode, more on that to come.  Painted Dreamcatcher, on the other hand, had me stumped.  Not a whole lot of room for pattern-hacking when the pattern is (mostly) one oversized, foundation paper pieced block.  So then I started studying the individual feathers blocks, which are broken out in the pattern file.   Suddenly, it seemed they might have *just* enough give to link together into a ring...

And with that, Painted Dreamcatcher made way for Feather Ring.

With ~25-30" blocks, this layout would finish at full/queen.  
I love how it's reminiscent of Denyse Schmidt's "single girl" design but brings its own ethereal vibe.

...Or rings? (Such is the blessing (curse?) of free photo collage software!)

So, what you do think?  Do you prefer singular, or plural?  And who knows!  Maybe I'll set out to make the latter and wind up with just the one.  After all, don't want to be too predictable over here.  ;o)

hello... it's me. {and pattern news!}

Hello, it's me.  I've been wondering if after all this time you'd like to... hear from me.  ;o)

...Adele anyone? :)  So, after taking an eight-month hiatus from the blog, I'm baa-aack!  I have lots of news to share (if you follow me over on Instagram you know that my silence here just means all the more whirring on my machine over there!)  I've finished a host of quilts, started a bunch more, had two quilts published in Love Patchwork & Quilting (Kasbah Chic and Dip Dye Dreamcatcher), got a brand spanking new logo courtesy of Megan Fiechter...

AND (with Megan's help) revamped the designs for my new and improved line of foundation paper piecing patterns.  (Wahoo!)

Right now, I have *three* designs available in print and PDF:

No. 1 Painted Dreamcatcher

No. 3 Folksy Fish

No. 4 Ode to the Trees

As you can tell from the sequencing, if I weren't so overly ambitious I would just have three patterns Nos. 1 through 3, but instead I got ahead of myself and let one (No. 2 Painted Leaf) fall by the wayside.

For those of you who are familiar with all my designs, both the Painted Leaf and Shine Bright Birthstone patterns will be listed in the new shop once they've gotten a little refresh.  I'm hoping that will be by Spring market (mid-May).  In the meantime, to celebrate the launch of non-consecutives Nos. 1, 3, and 4, I'm offering 30% off all patterns (print and digital) now through Sunday (April 10, 2016).  Just enter the code HELLO at checkout in the new shop.

And since I have left a little bit of a gap in my pattern numbering, what pattern (chronology aside) would *you* want to see as next-in-line No. 2?  I'd love to know!

Thanks for the warm welcome, friends. It's good be back.

Sarah