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!

Keeping Secrets

So I've been keeping a bit of a secret!  Head on over to Hearts & Bees to find out more about my new pattern adventure!  Here's a sneak peek!

Happy 35th Anniversary OLFA!

OLFA is turning 35!!!  When OLFA asked if I'd like to make a block to help celebrate their 35th anniversary I agreed immediately!  OLFA is my absolute favorite ruler/mat/rotary cutter brand.  Hands down.  No question!  

OLFA sweetly sent me this awesome rotating cutting mat, ruler, and cutter to help create my block.

I was super grateful for the rotating mat since I decided to make a block with half-square triangles that finish at 1.5"  This mat was perfect for trimming all my HSTs down to the perfect size! Tiny things are scary, but the right tools can make a project so much easier!

Ta-Da!  My block is 6.5" unfinished.  

Blue fabric:  Innocent Crush by Anna Maria Horner 

Yellow fabric: Charley Harper by Birch

Numbers: cut from a Japanese print and appliquéd on

30 Minute Pouch Tutorial

I recently made a bunch of these pouches for an upcoming event and I thought I'd share how!  These are super quick and easy and are perfect for teachers gifts, last minute gifts, or as a cute way to hold gift cards.  They will really only take 30 minutes!  Promise!  I timed myself! 

You can find this tutorial for PDF download on Etsy.

  As you can see, the pouch is large enough to carry most cell phones.

It's a quick and simple pouch!