Pineapp-O-Lantern Pillow

Aloha y’all. It’s October and that means one thing, and one thing only. Halloween. If I still lived on the mainland, I’d probably be sewing pumpkins right now, but I’m in Hawaii so…

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The pineapp-o-lantern is a beginner project – nothing more than squares, half-square triangles and a couple of quarter-square triangles. I’ll be adding the full pattern in the next couple of days but here’s the layout for now. Grab a stack of 2.5″ squares, click on the link below and get started. 🙂

Pineapp-O-Lantern

Some Tools I used

• Electric Quilt 7 (pattern design)
• Accuquilt Go (cutting)
  • Value die included with machine (Square and half-square triangle)(2″ finished square)
  • Quarter square triangle (2″ finished square)
• Brother Innovis VQ 2400
  • MuVit Digital Feed walking foot (for spiral quilting)
  • Zipper foot (for cording)

Posies and Plaid

Throwback Thursday

This little lap quilt is another treasure from my Alaska days. The girls and I spent a wonderful year there while my soldier did an unaccompanied tour in Korea. Between hubby being gone and the bitter cold winter, I had lots of time on my hands, most of which I spent quilting and sewing.

My 5 favorite things about this quilt are:

1. The plaid shirting – a freebie I picked up at a fabric exchange. Oh, and that pink floral…I wish I’d bought a whole bolt of it. It goes with everything.
2. Accuquilt friendliness factor – I cut every piece with my Accuquilt Go.
3. Color scheme – The pinks and greens are delicious…like ice cream sherbet.
4. Quick, easy piecing – This would be a great beginner pattern. It went together very quickly, but it still looks great.
5. Beautiful quilting – My go-to long-arm quilter in Alaska, Mary Lou Frahm of Honeybee Quilting did a fabulous job, don’t you agree?

At about  57″ square, this quilt is the perfect size for the beach, or curling up on the couch. I think it would make a great baby quilt too. I might have to make a few more. 🙂

Mahalo, y’all, for stopping by.

The Scrappy Camper Strikes Again

My youngest daughter is heading off to summer camp next week, so I took a break from quilting to make her this pillow case and yoga mat bag. (It’s yoga camp. How cool is that!)

These are both quick and easy projects. I could have finished them both in one day if I’d applied myself a little harder. The yoga bag is a free pattern from Amy Butler. She has a ton of cute projects, all free on her website. If you haven’t checked it out, you definitely should.

The pillowcase is a great first project for beginning sewers. Trust me, anyone can do it, and everyone could use more pillowcases, right?

Instructions can be found here.

Earth Song

A Finished Quilt Top (Or Flimsy, If You Prefer)

My other New Year’s Resolution, besides the one involving my scrap tub, was to finish something old and something new every month. It’s a contract I made with myself after realizing my UFOs had gotten out of control and that I was going to die one day with a zillion unfinished projects if I didn’t do something about it soon.

My first instinct was to say I couldn’t start any new projects until I finished all the old ones, but a wise friend suggested I alternate one UFO with one new project to stave off boredom. It’s a system that’s worked marvelously. Thanks, Kelly.

Earth Song is my Something New for March. It was inspired by a quilt I saw on Pinterest by Adrianne Ove of Little Bluebell. It’s a bossy little quilt. It insisted on that hippy name. (Not that I’m denigrating hippies. Far from it. I have quite a few hippy tendencies. My two daughters are named after trees and I’ll tie-dye anything that gets in my way.) However, I’m not that great at naming my quilts, so I let this one have it’s way.

There’s a small scrap element to this project. The yellow center squares came from my famous tub. The yellow used in the sashing was a fresh purchase. 😦 🙂 Everything else came from my stash, which is great because I need to use that up too. Yay, me.

Now, when I say “finish,” I mean I finished the quilt top. It’s not quilted yet. I’ve been saving for a long-arm quilting machine, so for the moment, I’m stacking my quilt tops on a shelf and waiting patiently. Hopefully next year will be my year to really finish all my projects. Having said that, I welcome any and all advice on which long-arm machine I should purchase.

Skill Level: Beginner

I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this to beginner quilters. It’s not only easy, but it comes together quickly. More advanced quilters can take it up a notch by using a pinwheel as the center block (A) or incorporating a more complex sashing.

Illustration 1, Block + Sashing

12-inch block w/2-inch sashing (finished)

• A = 4½” x 4½”
• B = 4½” x 4½”
• C = 4½” x 8½”
• D = 4½” x 8½”
• E = 4½” x 12½”

Sashing

• Yellow strips = 2½” x 12½”
• Brown squares = 2½” x 2½”

Layout

• 24 blocks
• 6 rows of 4 squares
• Finished quilt size: 58″ x 86″

Accuquilt Friendly: Somewhat 

I used mine to cut the 4½” squares, the 2½” sashing strips, and the 2½” sashing squares. I used a rotary cutter for the 4½” by 8½” strips and the 4½” by 12½” strips.

Precut Friendly: Somewhat

You can use a jelly roll for the sashing. A charm pack will work for the two 4 1/2″ squares in each block. If I were going that route, I’d probably adjust the size slightly and not trim the charm pack squares. And you could use fat quarters for the other three pieces. If you go that route, you’ll need:

• 1 jelly roll
• 1 charm pack
• 12 assorted fat quarters

This will make twenty-four 13½” blocks. Finished quilt size will be 70″ by 105″.

• A = 5″ x 5″
• B = 5″ x 5″
• C = 5″ x 9½”
• D = 5″ x 9½”
• E = 5″ x 14½”

I hope you like Earth Song. Mahalo, y’all.