Four Corners Fabric Tour

A little over 2 years ago I had the pleasure of meeting the sweet ladies (Liz and Elizabeth) from Simple Simon and Co. for the first time.  If you've ever met them in person you'll understand when I say there was laughter AND tears (the joyful kind).  Anywho! When they asked me to be apart of their blog hop celebrating their new fabric line, Four Corners, from Riley Blake, I happily agreed! 

When I got the fabric I squealed a bit--I mean, come on! Bright, graphic prints plus some metallic thrown in?  YUM! I decided to see where my sewing mojo took me and just began slicing and dicing! I thought I was making a mini quilt, but I ended up with a piece of fabric the perfect size for my Hour Basket!  Heads up, Pellon is coming out with a new fusible foam  soon called FF78F1 Flex Foam (which I used for this basket).  It ROCKS! 

The Hour Basket didn't use up much fabric from the fat quarter bundle I had so I decided to add a Lined Drawstring bag!  This orange-red cross print on light grey is my absolute FAVORITE from the line! 

I still had fabric left so I made a little zippered pouch with a curved bottom (just use a bowl to cut the corners into a round shape).  Loving the peek of metallic in the lining on this one!

Then, I decided I needed to use one of the border/panel prints to make something and wound up with a 30 minute pouch!  Seriously, the cross ended up perfectly centered without even trying! It was fate! 

This just goes to show you how far you can stretch a few fat quarters! I have an entire basket full of beautiful goodies plus fabric to spare!  Congrats on the great fabric line ladies!  Be sure to head over to Simple Simon Co for a chance to win some of this beautiful new fabric for yourself!

Triangle Imprint: 30 Days of Sewing with AGF

For those of you new to my blog, welcome!  My name is Kelly and I am half of the pattern design team at Hearts and Bees and I'm an avid Instagram user named "kelbysews"!  Ever heard of the One Hour Basket?  That's me! :)  When Art Gallery contacted me about making something with one of their new lines for 30 Days of Sewing with AGF, I immediately jumped at the chance to play with Imprint by Katarina Roccella!  I love love love these colors! They are feminine without being overly girly!  I was also impressed with how well these fabrics work in quilting, home-dec, and apparel sewing!  Super versatile!  Plus, if you have never worked with Art Gallery fabrics before, you simply MUST try them! They are amazingly soft and have a fantastic hand!

I wanted to find a pattern that would showcase the fabrics and play into their modern, fresh feel.  I thought this Sugar Loaf block by Wooden Spoon Quilts was a happy match!  The block is FREE on Craftsy!  I chose to alternate the triangle Sugar Loaf blocks with simple squares so you see hints of the designs in the triangles, but get full design in the squares.  

The only change I made to the Sugar Loaf pattern was to enlarge it to 6.5" unfinished (6" finished).  I simply did this during the printing process by increasing the scale.  I adore how it turned out!  The finished quilt is 42"x48" perfect as a small lap quilt or for your favorite toddler's bed!  Thanks for stopping by!!!  

This blog post was sponsored by Art Gallery Fabrics

Stash Fabrics Kona Blog Hop and Fleur Pattern!

I was so excited when Beth of Stash Fabrics asked me to participate in her Kona blog hop (read to the end for a coupon code and information on my giveaway)!  She asked me to choose my favorite 12-15 Kona colors for my very own bundle......I sorta chose 21 colors instead!  Ooops!  Sweet lady that she is, Beth went along with my pull!  Did you know she carries ALL KONA COLORS?!?!?!?  Yeah, me either!  Anywho!  I decided to use my (totally awesome) bundle to create a new pattern for Hearts and Bees called Fleur!

I am so in love with this quilt!!!!  I dragged it all over town trying to find the best shot!  People must have thought I was nuts!  This one was taken at the Civil War Battlegrounds in Franklin TN!  I stole a tourist to help hold the quilt! 

I pulled over on the side of the road to use these ratty old stairs that lead to some utility building.  I'm so classy! ha! ha! ha! You can really see the stellar quilting Crinkle Love did for us here!  

I absconded a jogger along the Harpeth River for this one!  Gotta love the South--you can ask perfect strangers to do weird things and they're totally agreeable!  

Like most of our patterns, there are two versions!  This is Ali's interpretation of Fleur!  I love it in Bonnie and Camille fabrics, but......

I am IN LOVE with this mocked up version she made with Denyse Schmidt's Hope Valley!  Oh!  It also comes with the paper pieced mini versions of both patterns!  Yeah, we're cool like that! 

So, don't forget to check out the other killer bundles along the blog hop and get 10% off your Stash Fabrics purchase with the code WOW303 through September 6th.  You know you want my awesome bundle!  Also, there is a great new Kona Club Stash Fabrics is starting soon to help build your stash!  If you sign up before September 1st you get a free color card!

July 17 – Darcy @ Modern Cozy
July 23 – Jacey  @ Jacey Craft

July 30 - Kelly @ Kelby Sews
August 3 – Nancy @ Owen’s Olivia
August 6 – Jodi @ Tales of Cloth
August 10 – Megan @ City Stitches
August 12 – Rita @ Red Pepper Quilts
August 17 – Elizabeth @ Andpins Handmade
August 19 – Tara @ Rad and Happy
August 21 – Sharon @ Color Girl Quilts
August 24 – Allison @ Allison Sews
August 27 – Kristi @ Schnitzel and Boo

August 31 - Jessee @ Art School Dropout

******GIVEAWAY!******  

I will be hosting a giveaway on my Instagram account for 2 mini charm packs of my Stash Fabrics Kona bundle and a free copy of Fleur!  Just find me @kelbysews on Instagram to enter (the post will go up around noon CST on 7/30)

Farm Girl Goes For a Swim

Hi Farm Girls!!!  Thanks for stopping by my blog on the Farm Girl Vintage Sew Along hop! My name is Kelly and you may have heard of my One Hour Basket Pattern recently.  I also co-write patterns with my friend, Ali, for Hearts & Bees. Fat Quarter shop sweetly sent me this book to try out and I have to tell you, I adore it! 

The book has 45 sampler blocks in two sizes (6" and 12") along with patterns for 10 quilts, 2 table runners, a table topper, and potholders!  You can get a lot of milage out of this one book.  There are so many cute combinations to make!  The book was created by Lori Holt of Bee in My Bonnet and you can get your copy HERE.  Lori is hosting a Sew Along on her blog and each Friday she posts a block from the book along with tips and inspiration!

This is what happens when chickens swim!  ha ha!

I made this Chicken Foot block, 12" size then quickly quilted it up to add to my mini quilt wall!  Yes, I have a lot of minis.  This is only about 1/3 of them!  I have an addiction!

While I love Lori's style, it's not really "me" so I decided to see what would happen if I made one of the blocks with some of my favorite fabrics!  I know you all were expecting Anna Maria Horner (and truth be told, I ALMOST used it), but I decided to bust out my Heather Ross Mendocino and some Essex linen blend in Olive.  This is my first time using that color Essex and I really love it!  

I love the texture the Essex linen blend gives! 

Thanks for stopping by my blog!  I really encourage you to try out some of these Farm Girl blocks and make them your own!  

1 Hour Basket Tutorial

***** Please note, this pattern is no longer free or available as a tutorial.  It may only be found in my Etsy shop.

Ok, here it is!  I promised I write a tutorial and I did!  I thought it would be a bit easier if I put the tutorial in PDF format on Craftsy so you can easily download and/or print rather than scroll through my blog post.   I wrote this up pretty quickly so there may be a mistake or two, forgive me!  Also, if you like this style basket and want to step it up, Anna has a beautiful Divided Basket Pattern you should check out! 

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do the right thing and tag or link back to me, my blog, or Etsy site if you post pictures/blog/sell the basket!  I'm @kelbysews on IG and Twitter or use #kelbysews #hourbasket

GET THE PATTERN HERE

Simple Stained Glass Tutorial

I recently ordered a 4" design roll of Tula Pink's latest line, Elizabeth, from Hawthorne Threads.  I ordered yardage too, but I knew I would want to make something right away so I splurged and got the roll.  I made this super quick and easy pattern I thought I'd share!

Fabric Requirements:

(25) 4"xWOF strips of prints

2 yards background fabric

3.75 yards for backing

1/2 yard for binding

Cutting instructions:

From each print

(3) 4" squares

(2) 4"x11" rectangles

From the background fabric:

10.5"xWOF strip then sub cut into (20) 2"x10.5" rectangles for inner sashing

(8) 2"xWOF strips for inner sashing

(8) 4" xWOF strips for outside border

Mix and match your prints to create these square-in-square blocks.  Each block requires (1) 4" square of print A for the center and (2) 4" squares and (2) 4"x11" rectangles of print B for the outside square.  Once these are assembled, cut each 11" square-in-square block into 4 new squares.  

Mix and match again to create all new 10.5" blocks

It helps to lay it all our to make sure you don't have too many of the same print clustered together.  

Add your sashing strips and voila!  Quilt finished at about 63" square.  

A Quick Hexie Video

I've had many friends tell me about the Sewline glue pen for a while, but I stubbornly kept hand basting my hexies.  I finally caved and gave it a try.  Ummmmm, I feel really stupid I didn't do this sooner!  While I use the Sewline pen, others have said Elmers and other cheaper options are out there.  Personally, I like the small pen shape of the Sewline and I know it's safe for my fabric, but feel free to experiment.  No one is paying me to promote a certain brand, I'm just sharing my experience. Here's a quick little video of how it works!

I'm currently making two hexie projects, but the one I'm most excited about are these large (2" per side) hexies that take a charm size square to make.  I'm using almost every print Anna Maria Horner has ever produced!  I've almost finished with the hexie part--last count was 260!--but now I have to start on the tedious triangle making.  Boo for boring!