cobbleston road

2011 A Year in Review

7 Comments / 4th of july quilt, baby quilt, bottled rainbows, cobbleston road, Easter Basket, felt basket, felt flower, flag quilt, halloween, handmade gift exchange, monkey business quilt, mystery quilt, pillow case, table runner, whirly gig pillow / By

This year has been a year of creation for me. I have spent hours upon hours letting my creative self soar – something I have rarely allowed myself to do.  This year marks the first time in my life when I stopped following sewing and quilting patterns and started following my gut.  It has been incredibly liberating. I have made my own knitting and crocheting patterns for years – easy to do when you make a knitting mistake and end up liking that better than the original design.  Sewing though, was so much scarier for me. Cutting fabric has always seemed so final to me, like there is no going back. Knitting…I could just rip out my stitches and start over – no wasted materials or money, just time.

I learned this year that if I cut something and end up not liking it that I can hold on to that fabric and save it for a later project – ie. Bottled Rainbows.  I now view scraps and “mishaps” in a whole new way.  I also learned this year, as I mentioned earlier, to follow my gut. I know what I like and if I listen to my inner voice odds are everything will work out just fine. This is something that I have learned in both my crafting and personal life. Trusting yourself and your instincts is so important and I am so glad that I figured that out. It is so much more fun to sew now. I am not afraid.

I have a few goals for 2012. I am going to list them in no particular order with no real timeline in mind other than to do them at some point this year.

  • Make several more dresses for Anne (I won 4 patterns from Hopeful Threads by Lily Bird Studio and I really want to use those patterns!)
  • Learn to use the serger my mom gave me
  • Practice FMQ and attempt to keep up with the challenges over on SewCalGal’s blog
  • Publish at least 2 patterns
  • Turn the 3 quilt tops that I have already finished into quilts
  • Do more handmade gifts
  • Play More!!!

Do you set yearly goals? How do you hold yourself accountable? Better yet, do you hold yourself accountable?

NOTE: Don’t forget, I am one of the bloggers who is going to lose Google Friend Connect in March 2012, please take a moment and follow me via Bloglovin’, Facebook, RSS or networked blogs.  You are important to me and I want to be able to stay in contact with you!  Check my side bar for all the best ways to stay in touch after GFC goes bye bye!

Cobblestone Roads – A quilting tutorial

30 Comments / bittersweet quilt designs, cobbleston road, Fat Quarter Shop, hometown by sweetwater, quilt, tutorial, tutorial tuesday / By

Two weeks ago I received the most awesome squishy package from my UPS man – this jelly roll of the new Hometown by Sweetwater fabric. Kimberly from Fat Quarter Shop sent it over to me so that I could work on a tutorial to go with the Jelly Roll we are giving away this week – make sure you head on over to the post to enter to win!  Look at what I made with it!

You may be wondering who BitterSweet Quilt Designs is…it’s me

Fabric Requirements:
1 Hometown by Sweetwater Jelly Roll
2 Extra Strips of the cream (Sunni got a Jelly Roll two and swapped me for a couple of strips!)
1 yard of Kona Slate for the borders – cut into twelve 3″ strips
3/4 yard of Solid Cream Fabirc (I used Northcott – but didn’t look at the name of the fabric) – cut into six 3″ strips
4 yards backing fabric (42″ wide) or 2 yards backing fabric (108″ wide)

The technique I am using I learned when I made this gorgeous batik Trip to Trinidad quilt (designed by Kathleen Starr) 7 years ago – it now lives in our guest room.

Lay out your strips:

Not pictured are the 2 extra cream strips I got from Sunni!

Layout your groups – lay them out from light to dark so you get a nice gradation of color.

[insert groups]

Sew each group of strips together – you should have 4 groups of 9 strips – there will be extra strips from your Jelly Roll – these will be used later!

The Front

Here’s how you need to iron your seams:

After you have sewn your 4 strips sets together – fold the sets in half – make sure they lay flat and sew them into tubes

Time to start cutting!  Cut your sets into 2.5″ strips

Next – cut your strips apart – choosing a different seam each time

Now the fun really begins – you get to lay out your strips and chose your design! (I tried lots of different patterns – below are a few of them)

Now start sewing your strips together (this goes really fast) I did it in vertical rows – I ended up with 3 sections

Sew the three sections together – I pressed my seams open to reduce bulk

Add your borders (these are your Kona Slate and Northcott Cream 3 inch strips from earlier):


This is where my quilt stands today – I have a backing, my threads and my batting all ready to go, but I have not had a chance to quilt it yet. Once things calm down with my baby’s sleep schedule and I can squeeze in some sewing time it will get done!

The finished size of the quilt top is 51″x71″ – it makes a very nice lap size quilt!

I plan on using my left over 2.5″ square strips as my binding and I promise to post pics as soon as this puppy is complete!  Will you be making a Cobblestone Road quit? If so, please let me know, this is the 2nd original quilting pattern of mine that I am sharing online and would love the feedback!

 

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