Friday, October 30, 2020

20 Years of KTQ BOM - Week #20

 Week #20 - Double Decades

I love that these two "X" blocks represent the number 20 in Roman numerals. An assortment of half square triangles (HST) and Connecting Corners (CC) create the gold X in each block. After a year of practicing these techniques, it's all easy peasy. Make sure all of the elements of each block - the center 4-patches, the star point units and the corner HST 4-patches - all measure 4 1/2" square before assembling the block. This will ensure the completed block finishes the correct size (12 1/2").


Once you've pieced the Double Decades blocks, you're ready to assemble the final Section #4. Lay out the remaining blocks, as shown. Piece in rows, as directed. There is a place next to the corner log cabin block that requires a set-in seam. Leave a couple inches unsewn when sewing the top HST row to the Double Decades, as shown by the dotted lines. Pin and sew the log cabin block to the side of the Prairie Pinwheels/HST, then pin/sew to the String of 9-Patches, completing the open seam. Take it one step at a time and it works out perfectly.

With all the sections assembled, it's time to piece the quilt center together, as instructed. (Note the changes to the section numbers in red.) Congratulations! You've completed this year-long jigsaw puzzle of blocks to create the center of 20 Years of KTQ quilt. Take a deep breath, pat yourself on the back, and relax. The rest is all simple border blocks and applique.

Speaking of applique, I would add the fusible, topstitched appliques before sewing the four sections together. It's easier to handle the smaller chunks of quilt to add each applique. When I pieced my quilt, I was still figuring out the appliques, so I didn't add them until the top was completed. The second time around, I added them as I completed each section. 

See you in a couple weeks to talk about the pieced borders. Happy Halloween!


Monday, October 26, 2020

Market at Home by KTQ for Moda, Part 4

I'm really excited about my new sampler quilt, Prairie Days. As I decorate for each season, I'm usually digging through piles of runners and quilts, looking for just the right backdrop for my vintage collectibles. I often wish I had more two-color small quilts to use at home. So, Prairie Days, and it's companion mini quilts, was born. With one Layer Cake, separated into color groups, I made six small quilts with simple, traditional blocks. 

Red Dawn - Reds & tans combine for an early morning star mini quilt (24"x30").

 

Morning Dew - Traditional 9-patches in assorted greens create a fun little table topper (25"sq).

 

Afternoon Delight - My version of a golden sunflower, turning toward the afternoon sun, makes a delightful pillow topper (18"sq).

Day Dreamin' - Gather the plum prints from Prairie Dreams to make this adorable little mini (19"sq).

Evening Shadows - Classic blues and tans in dark & light churn dash blocks make a cute little quilt to tuck in a basket (16"sq).

Midnight Flight - Flying geese in formation create a lovely neutral table runner for almost any season (29"x15").

 

One Layer Cake with some extra tan backgrounds makes all six of the two-color minis. A second Layer Cake with the same blocks comes together as a color-blocked sampler (63"x74"). Watch for details after the first of the year on my 6-month sew-a-long for the Prairie Days Sampler + 6 minis beginning in April 2021.



 

Sunday, October 25, 2020

Market at Home by KTQ for Moda, Part 3

 Prairie Dreams is my new fabric collection for fall market that will ship to quilt shops in March 2021. I've shared more of the fabrics and quilts in previous posts, if you missed them. Here's a look at the final trio of prints for this line.

I chose this delicate floral as a medium size print to blend with the feature fabric florals. I like the dot in the background for added interest. 


I usually add an all-over tight viney print that is more heavily printed to use for inner borders, sashings and as accents in my quilts.


They're not dots, but these tiny arrows are great for backgrounds, fillers, sashing and inner borders. They bring all the colors of the line together in one tiny package.

I used the tan multi print as the background for this next quilt in the Sweet 'n Up pattern, Checks with Jelly. A Prairie Dreams Jelly Roll plus 2 fabrics makes this 66"x78" lap quilt that's perfect for the guys on your list. I love how the little tan print pulls it all together and brightens it up.

Checks with Jelly (66"x78")

 Honey Checks is the Honey Bun version, using 2 HB's plus 2 fabrics for a fun lap quilt. I'll make the Jelly Roll quilts for gifts, since they go together so quickly, but the Honey Bun quilt is all mine!

Honey Checks (57"x63")
 

Watch for my favorite quilts from this collection in a couple days. You won't want to miss it!
 
 

Friday, October 23, 2020

Market at Home by KTQ for Moda, Part 2

Prairie Dreams is truly a dream come true for me. It is my 67th line of fabric with Moda. I am so grateful for Moda's continued belief in KTQ, and the heartfelt support from all of you. If you didn't appreciate what I do, I couldn't continue to do what I love. Thank you. 

From the inspiration fabric, to preview swatches, to yardage & precuts, the quality of Moda's fabric is superior. I shared the feature fabric in a previous post and would like to show you some of the companion prints here. This collection is shaping up to be one of my favorites!  


The light, feathery floral print was fun to use for borders, pulling the whole palette of colors together. I'm loving the gold to add warmth to my quilts.


This scattered leaves print adds that feeling of the first tiny green leaves in spring. Or, will work great for the fall feels, too.

I love dots! I think I realized this not-so-mild obsession on about my third or fourth fabric collection, and decided to make dots a recurring theme. I especially love the multi-colored dots on tan for backgrounds. But the darker prints with dots are great for innner borders, outer borders, bindings, blocks, backing...

I love creating quilts with my fabric, especially when I can start with a precut. For Prairie Dreams, I've designed two patterns with options for Jelly Roll and Honey Bun quilts. The first one is Add It Up. One + 1 features a Honey Bun (1 1/2" strips) for a nice lap size quilt (59"x67"). Two + 2 features a Jelly Roll (2 1/2" strips) for a good size queen quilt (98"x114"). Each quilt only needs 3 additional fabrics to complete. The precuts provide all the scrappy goodness.

One + 1 (Honey Bun)


Two + 2 (Jelly Roll)
 

Prairie Dreams ships to quilt shops in March 2021. Watch for more of my Market at Home Preview in the coming days. Follow me on Instagram for even more fun stories. @lynnektq

 

 

 


 

 

 

Thursday, October 22, 2020

Market at Home by KTQ for Moda

 Kansas Troubles Quilters Presents...Prairie Dreams

I'm so excited to share my newest fabric collection with Moda, Prairie Dreams. This weekend would have been Quilt Market, so I'm giving you a sneak peek here at all the new goods. 

I fell in love with the feature fabric as soon as I uncovered it in Moda's huge library of vintage textiles. This beautiful, viney floral is layered over a meandering dot for lots of depth and texture. It's perfect for borders or large setting blocks.


The meandering dot pattern also shines on it's own as a tone-on-tone print to use for, well, everything! It comes in almost every colorway - tan, gold, red, blue, purple & green.

I have always loved charm packs! I've made a quilt featuring a charm pack for every line I've designed since they were introduced (over 50 at last count). The charm project for Prairie Dreams is called Starry Dreams. These spinning, swirling stars easy to piece with simple half square triangles.

Starry Dreams

 There are more prints and quilts to come over the next few days, so stay tuned for all the goodies. To see more of the Prairie Dreams collection, follow me on Instagram @lynnektq. Prairie Dreams ships to quilt shops in March 2021.


 

 


 


Thursday, October 15, 2020

20 Years of KTQ BOM - Week #19

 Week #19 - Flying Geese

Gather up your leftover scraps and stitch up a gaggle of geese. Sixteen, to be exact. Keep in mind the tips on creating accurate Connecting Corners and you'll have no trouble piecing these fun, scrappy blocks. The secret to perfect flying geese points? Make sure you have a 1/4" for the seam allowance where the two triangles overlap at the top of the block.

Once you've made the flying geese blocks, sew them together in sections, as shown. Now, you're ready to add them to Section #3 of your quilt.

For Section #3, lay out the blocks indicated, as shown. Piece the blocks together in order shown, pressing carefully. You're almost done with the center of your 20 Years quilt! Woohoo! (insert happy dance here)

I'll see you on October 30th for a very non-spooky Block #20, when we'll be just a couple weeks from finishing our quilts. Please post your blocks/quilt on our 20 Years of KTQ BOM Facebook page. I love to see your progress.

Wednesday, October 7, 2020

Bittersweet Lane Arriving Soon!

 We're eagerly awaiting a truckload of Bittersweet Lane fabric & precuts any day now. The rich, yummy colors and prints are perfect for quilts for any season. 

 I added a few precuts in with my collection of pumpkins on the dry sink for fun. The color palette is perfect for my home - and yours, too.

Bittersweet Lane Precuts

Bittersweet Lane offers colors and prints for any season with golds, greens, pumpkins, purples, reds, blues and browns to contrast with the lovely tan prints and tone-on-tones. (I'm saving a bolt of the background tan print for myself. It's great backgrounds and backings.)

Bittersweet Lane charm pack

 

I had so much fun playing with Moda's KT Bittersweet Lane Honey Buns. I made a dozen projects to decorate my home all through the year - wall quilts, table runners & pillows to coordinate. 

Bittersweet & Honey booklet & kits

Bittersweet Pumpkins offers two ways to piece this lovely quilt - with a Layer Cake for year round appeal, or with a Honey Bun for fall pumpkins. This is the project I designed for our KT & Friends Retreats last summer that were cancelled. I hosted (3) Facebook Live tutorials for all our retreat ladies, and anyone else who's interested in making these projects. Find it on the KT & Friends Retreat FB page.

Bittersweet Pumpkins (2 lap options)

 

Make a charm quilt with a scrappy zigzag border, then whip up four adorable panels to change with the seasons. Two Bittersweet Lane charms plus yardage make the quilt and all four panels.

Bittersweet Seasons charm quilt w/4 seasonal pin-on panels

Everybody needs a reason to smile these days. Who could resist these happy guys with their silly grins! Make Happy Jacks for the season this year, or get a head start on next year's fall stitiching.

Happy Jacks charm Pattern & Kit

Watch for all the Bittersweet Lane fabric, precuts and patterns at your local quilt shop, or ktquilts.com.


Thursday, October 1, 2020

KT October Special

 Bittersweet & Honey Booklet + Pumpkin Pickin' Kit

I'm so excited to decorate for fall! The rich colors and textures of the season call my name. Here's a deal to add a little fall to your home. Bittersweet Lane fabric & precuts are due later this month, but I couldn't wait to share some of the new projects for the season. 

 My new Bittersweet & Honey booklet features a dozen seasonal projects using Moda's precut Honey Buns (1 1/2" strips). Three of the projects are for fall with a pieced pumpkin surrounded by gold, brown and tan strips. The Pumpkin Pickin' wall quilt is 23" square, but could be made any size you desire with additional brown/gold strips. The booklet also includes a pillow cover and runner with the pumpkin motif.

Our KT October Special includes the Bittersweet & Honey booklet plus the Pumpkin Pickin' wall kit (above) for only $45+Free Shipping. (Retail value w/shipping $64+). 

Find the KT October Special HERE.

Kit includes a KT Favorites III Honey Bun with additional Bittersweet Lane strips from my stash. (There's even a little sneak peek at the whole collection included.)


Supplies are limited. Order soon! Go to ktquilts.com and click on KT Specials, or call the KT Quilt Shop at 785-488-2120.