What I'm Working On + Book Giveaway!

Hello friends! Thanks so much for reading my newsletter! It means a lot that you take the time to stop by. Thank you!

Last week I had a great response to my post about 7 Tips and Tools for Accurate Quilt Block Piecing. I also had requests for a printable PDF with those steps. So I made one! You can download it for free here: 7 Tips and Tools for Accurate Quilt Block Piecing.pdf. (If you missed the full post and want to see all of the details +pictures you can find the full post here.)

What I'm Working On Right Now!

This week I've been catching up on some fun projects and here's a look at what's on my sewing table this month!

I finished piecing all of my pastel Checkered Garden quilt blocks for an Easter quilt and sewed them together. Caught up on block 11 of the Riley Blake Quilt Block Challenge and an update on my current favorite cross stitch sampler. Click below for all of the details on each project.

Modern Ombre Quilts - A Book Giveaway from Amber Elliot

Also new this week, Amber Elliot is sharing the release of her brand new book, Quilts in Modern Color - Creating Ombre Palettes.

There's so much visual inspiration to see in Amber's beautiful modern quilts. This book is also a great resource for learning color theory and tips for choosing color palettes. I'm inspired to make a quilt with an ombre effect.

I have a hard copy and an ebook copy of this book to giveaway. Click below to go to the post to enter!

Foundation Paper Piecing Tutorial

Looking to try a new skill? Or just use up some scraps for a cute spring-inspired project? Check out this free Foundation Paper Piecing (FPP) Carrots pattern from Leila Gardunia. The FPP technique is where you use a piece of paper or stabilizer as a foundation for piecing intricate quilt blocks.

This technique gives you the freedom to create unique and perfectly-pieced shapes that would be practically impossible to get any other way.

Leila is a pro and will walk you through all of the steps. This whimsical little carrot project is a great way to get started!

Fun Finds on the Web - Easter Inspiration: Make an Easter Basket

Center Street Quilts (famous for her excellent bag patterns) released a darling large, beginner-friendly Fabric Basket pattern this week.

A Spoonful of Sugar has a free pattern for a cute mini basket pattern made from felt and ribbon.

A few years ago I created a free tutorial for a medium size quilted basket.

I also had fun making some pretty fabric eggs using Retro Mama's free fabric egg pattern. A good, long-lasting alternative to real eggs this year. 😅

What's on my mind this week...

Spring has officially blossomed in my neighborhood this week! We had an extra warm couple of days and all of the blossoming trees are in bloom, my tulips have popped open and everything outside looks so lovely. It's motivated me to get out walking to soak it all in before the blossoms fall. It's been a good balm to my soul! I even took my pieced quilt top out for a little photo shoot with the flowering pear tree in the backyard.

At the same time, not all is perfect. My husband has seasonal allergies and all of these blossoms bring very different emotions for him. 😆 At the same time I'm facing the fact that I need to stop ignoring my yard again... (that is honestly my favorite part of winter.) The older I get, the less motivated I feel about doing yard work. It's just not my thing.

Not that I don't thoroughly LOVE beautiful yards and flower gardens! My mom is a die-hard gardener and always has stunning flower beds. I now appreciate them more because I also have a better understanding of how hard she works to cultivate them. I've come to accept that it's just not my strength - or where I choose to put my time.

And now that I don't have cheap labor (aka my teenage boys at home) to mow the lawn, I'm scrambling a little to figure out how that's going to get done. Part of me is seriously tempted to just pave over most of the grass in the back yard and put in a pickleball court....sounds like a great solution to me. ;)

Wishing you the best parts of spring: minimal allergies and the perfect level of yard maintenance for your preference.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

xo,

Amy

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