Rise Quilt Along- Cutting and First Blocks

Hello Rise quilters, welcome! This post will bring you up to date with the upcoming WEEK 1 and WEEK 2 for the quilt along. By now you should have your fabric picked out and and ready to cut! I'm using this happy purpley/teal rainbow, which is a copycat of a bundle that Fabric Bubb carries. Too cute!

For this pattern, a lot of the fabric will be cut out as we do the blocks. To cut all of it in one go would be madness, and very confusing to keep it all in order. For now we can cut background pieces, and the fabric we need for the baskets and rope. Skip ahead to the sashing and border instructions and cut that too if you want to be super prepared. You will cut the prairie points from each print as we go along with the blocks, as indicated in the pattern. You need 62 of them so depending on how many prints you are using, plan accordingly.

Things are still very crazy around here (trying to find a non-moldy house to buy, making terrifying life decisions whilst trying to wrangle 4 boys who are now out of school!) so I'm not going to bug you with a ton of emails for this casual summer sew along, you can always check in on IG for every day happenings. Week 2 will not have an official email, so please proceed to the first 3 balloons! Here are my first 5 since I obviously have to work ahead. I love how it's turning out!!

Here is the Rise Quilt Along Announcement post if you missed it or need more info, and here's the remaining schedule:

June 10- background cutting
June 17- Block 1 Block 2 Block 3
June 24- Block 4 Block 5 Block 6
July 1-Block 7 Block 8 Block 9
July 8- Prairie Points/Borders
July 15- wrap up and final prizes (3 winners!)

The prizes from myself, Riley Blake, and Starlit Quilts will be sent to 3 random winners at the very end of the sew along in July. There will be some cute notions, a custom 12 FQ bundle, and some surprises :) You can enter by sharing progress photos on IG with the hashtag #riseqal. Good luck and happy cutting and first 3 blocks!

Rise Quilt Along 2019- a hot air balloon quilt pattern

It's time to begin! Who's excited!!? This is such a fun little quilt and I'm thrilled to be making another with all of you. Here are the details of the sew along-

First, you can sign up for the Rise Quilt Along HERE!

Second, if you still need to get a PDF or paper copy of the Rise pattern in condensed, organized form, you can find it in my Pattern Shop. I worked so hard on these and I'm super proud of them. They are discounted $1 until the start of the quilt along! The individual balloon patterns are still available for free here on the blog from the original quilt along in 2016.

Because I will be out of town for almost all of it (coming for you Utah quilt shops!) and I don't operate from a laptop, the quilt along will be fairly simple and mostly based and announced on Instagram. I will check in here on the blog a couple of times but not every week. A new phase will start every Monday and there won't be any prizes until the end, when there will be 3. Here is the schedule:

June 3- fabric planning
June 10- background cutting
June 17- Block 1 Block 2 Block 3
June 24- Block 4 Block 5 Block 6
July 1-Block 7 Block 8 Block 9
July 8- Prairie Points/Borders
July 15- wrap up and final prizes (3 winners!)

Materials Needed: 

Balloons: I used 16 fat eights of Backyard Roses by Ellis and Higgs for Riley Blake, which covered the balloons and prairie points with a good amount left over. You could also use scraps, jelly strips, or layer cake squares. Not all precuts will work for all blocks, however, so you can't just use one jelly roll, for example, unless you make some adaptations. You will need about 8 fat quarters' worth of fabric, though a little more variety than 8 prints would be optimal. 

1 1/2 yd background fabric 
1/2 yd border fabric
1/2 yd binding fabric
2 yds backing

I love the backing on this quilt. The Seed Catalog print combined with the hot air balloons and summery prints remind of me of an old timey state fair, and I just love it!

The final quilt measures 42" by 54", a generous baby size. It would be the most perfect new baby quilt, in my humble opinion :)

There will be no designated longarm quilter since it has prairie points and can't be done edge to edge. We can all quilt our own baby size, right? I will be sharing tips on how to quilt around the points. 

If you are quilting along and are on Instagram, don't forget to tag with #risequilt so I can see. I'm @woodberry_way, and you know I love to share there!

I made this quilt a second time in softer colors, and that one was donated to a charity auction for refugees. I wonder where it lives now, and I'm grateful to the person who bought it and donated that money. 

This will be my third time making it and I'm going to use pinks, purples and teals from my stash that were inspired by a Fabric Bubb bundle. Not sure how that's going to go but I'm excited to find out!

Chamomile QAL- finale!

Hello! Welcome to the grande finale of the Chamomile Quilt Along! After all the drama of sickness and more sickness and broken machines, I was able to finish my top thanks so a sweet neighbor and my husband. Bless them both. I love how it turned out!

I wan't sure how much the gray sashing was going to show up, or if the cornerstones would overpower the blocks, but I am pleased with how it all balanced out in the end. This is definitely the lightest, airiest quilt I've ever made. I used Riley Blake white (a bright white, if you remember the background fabric post), Kona Silver for sashing, and various colored scraps for cornerstones from many different manufacturers.

Now how to quilt it!? I'm sending it to Emilee at Paisley, Prints, and Polka Dots for sure, just need to pick a design. You can see her pantographs here. Don't forget she is offering 20% off all Chamomile quilts she receives before June 15th!

I'm most excited about the backing I have for this one, can't wait to show you. Until then, let's announce the winner! The winner of $75 dollar quilting credit from Heather Alexander Quilting is @kimradair!! I love the sashing she used. Also go check out the drama of her 2-year old drawing on her quilt top with Sharpie the morning after she finished it! Yikes! Oh toddlers.

If you are late to the party you can purchase a PDF or paper copy of the Chamomile pattern here. It's fun and easy.

Thank you all for participating and for your understanding as I wasn't as involved in this one as I would have liked. You're very patient and kind! Be sure to check out all the lovely tops everyone made at #chamomileqal on Instagram.

Next up for quilt alongs in these parts will be Rise, staring in June. I'll have more details, and paper patterns for sale, very soon. It's a fun one! You can check out #risequilt to start getting ideas. See you then!

Chamomile QAL Week 6- finish the top!

Chamomile friends! Hello! So I think maybe the universe is telling me I shouldn't host quilt alongs anymore. Why do I get so sick every time! My influenza turned into pneumonia and I'm sicker than I've been in a long time. I'm hoping with antibiotics I'll be back to sewing this week and can finish up my top, but no telling yet. So that's a huge bummer, but that's life huh. I'm very excited to see all of your progress and share last week's winner.

Check out this red and navy beauty by @cottageindustryquilts. I love it!

How about this loveliness by @what_saysie_makes. Dreamy!

And a sashing bouquet for you by @luv.pieced :) She's making a King size Chamomile!

Alright, and the winner of $50 quilting credit from Knot and Thread is @lynnhoule4!! Yay!! You will love her quilting. 

Crossing my fingers for a healthy body and a quilt top to show you next week! I'm so close! Thanks for sewing along and checking in here.

Chamomile QAL Week 5- finish sashing

You guys, it's been a rough one over here. Influenza hit everyone but the birthday boy (a birthday miracle!) and it was TERRIBLE. But we're almost through the worst, and I don't want to relive it so let's talk about pretty quilts :)

Before the monster hit, I was able to put my 2 rows together. The Juki still isn't fixed, that's a story for another day too! I don't tell the sad ones here, ha! Usually. I really like how this is looking, it's just how I'd hoped it would. Love it when that happens!

I love to see your progress on #chamomileQAL, you're doing such a beautiful job and I'm so glad you are finding the pattern easy and fun! You have to admit the sashing is boring though. It's worth it.

This week's winner is @whill389! You win 20% off edge to edge quilting by One Sweet Bee Designs. Hooray!!!

Find something interesting to listen to while you finish that sashing up! I'm still listening to Joyful by Ingrid Fetell Lee, as well as LDS General Conference talks, and lots of music. We'll see you next week for the last week!

Chamomile QAL Week 4 and a Birthday Scrappy Trip!

Before I get to this quilt, this week we are making half the sashing and assembling two rows of Chamomile!! I broke it up this way because making the sashing for this quilt is so dang boring and I needed the gratification of some blocks together with rows. If you would like to make all the sashing this week instead, go right ahead.

I'm super excited about how mine is turning out, but a wrench got thrown in the works this week when I broke the bobbin case on my Juki, so I only have one strip of sashing done! I put it in hurriedly and somehow the needle hit the case and bent it. I am going to do my best to catch up, but last time I got a machine serviced it took a week, so we will see. Continue as scheduled, and I will meet up with you hopefully by next week!

This week's winner is @roxannehougardy!! You won three free patterns from @piecedjustsew, please DM her to claim your prize. Thanks so much for sewing along.

While I'm here let me show you my latest finish- I made this quilt to be the birthday quilt at our house. So, if it's your birthday you get to use it on your bed for the week! I finished it just in time for boy #2's sixth birthday this week, and he is so excited about it.

The pattern is a Modified Scrappy Trip Around the World, originally a free pattern by Bonnie Hunter that I changed to use alternating white squares, and larger blocks that maximize Jelly Roll strips. I originally made this version in Gooseberry fabric by Lella Boutique and gave that quilt to my niece.

This time I used V and Co. Confetti Dot Ombre. The gold metallic dots make the quilt so fun, just perfect for a birthday. I actually didn't use a Jelly Roll this time, I only had 12 FQs of this fabric and later decided this is what I wanted to make with it. The original Scrappy Trip pattern is very random, kind of like this red, white, and blue quilt I made several years ago. For this one though, almost every detail was planned. Here's how I did it.

-From the 12 different colored FQs, I cut: (5) 2.5" x 21(ish)" strips from each. I separated those into color groups- 4 groups of 3 colors, so that the darker colors would for sure be spread out evenly. Each block had 3 colors and a gold strip, with the 4 white strips. I think it worked out great only having 12 colors. With the different ombre tones, all the colors from a Jelly Roll would have been way too much, plus I didn't love every color available.

-I also cut (10) 2.5" x WOF strips (to be cut in half) of Essex Metallic gold linen for the center strip in each block. I copied this technique from Cindy at Hyacinth Quilt Designs. She used my modified tutorial to make hers, but added the accent color and a clever pressing tip. I in turn used both of those wonderful methods on this quilt! I added the element of ombre this time, however, which makes it a little tricky. In order to balance out the dark and light tones, I tried to alternate the strips within each block. For example, when I first sewed the strips together, I'd alter them:
green, dark to light
purple, light to dark
teal, dark to light
I think I stuck to that method for about 90% of the blocks anyway. I find it funny that Cindy and I  keep building on each other's ideas. What's your next move Cindy? :)

-I used a jelly roll of Moda Bella white 98 as specified in the original post.

Hopefully I didn't make that too confusing! I love how it turned out. I had it quilted by Emilee Hathaway of Paisley Prints and Polka Dots because I wanted to use the aqua minky she carries. I asked her to do a certain design, and I don't think she had it, so she just did it freehand! Can you even imagine!? I was so surprised, and thrilled with the personal touch for this special quilt. Thank you Emilee! The binding is Swiss Dots in gold by Riley Blake Designs from Simply Love Fabrics. Swiss Dots are one of my favorite bindings and this one was just PERFECT.

I was so happy to hand it over to my middle child to add to his birthday joy. He is so excited to use it this week, and honored to be the first one to do so.

Thanks for stopping by, and see you next Monday with some hopefully beautiful Chamomile pics!

Chamomile QAL Week 3- Last blocks and cornerstones

Hello hello again. Welcome to Week 3! This week is all about finishing up blocks and making cornerstones. 

I think I'm the only one in the whole quilt along doing the cornerstones this way (from scraps)- they should all be one color, and according to the pattern are really fast to piece. I'll be doing some IG videos to show you some tips and tricks. Should be a pretty easy week!

Here are some of the wonderful blocks you've been making!

 @piecedjustsew

 @sauervicky

 @quiltylilladybug

@mackmt

Seriously these quilts are looking so dang cute, it makes me so happy to look at them all! A few of you are already way ahead of the game and it's so fun to see your tops! Don't forget you can send your Chamomile top to @emileehathaway before June 15th for 20% off longarm quilting. She's one of the best! (I helped her make a logo this week, isn't it cute? It's fun to make other people's ideas come to life.)

Don't feel rushed by other people's progress though, all in good time! Let me know if you have any questions about cornerstones in the comments. 

Finally, last week's winner is @sauervicky!! Please send you address to @crimsonconfection via DM. Thanks for sewing along! And thank you Jennifer for the beautiful bundle!