20 Years of KTQ BOM Week #12

Week #12 - Spools

This week's block is one of my new favorites. I've used it in the BOM, on a pincushion and charm quilt. It's a fun block to piece. The only tricky part? The tiny connecting corners on the top and bottom of the spool. If you use the connecting corners guide in the BOM instructions, there's nothing tricky about it. It's all about precise marking, stitching and pressing.

Here's the page I've included with several of my patterns, including the BOM, on how I cut & piece half square triangles (HST) and connecting corners (CC). Find the printable version HERE.

Here are the Basics -

1. Mark the diagonal line carefully from point to point. The smaller the square, the more important it is to mark accurately.

2. Stitch on the drawn line; fold square toward corner to test for accuracy. If the triangle point is a bit short (doesn't match up to the background rectangle corner), stitch a thread's width inside the drawn line toward the corner for a better fit.

3. Trim the background and square seam allowances to 1/4". Press seams open for less bulk.

4. Assemble the spool block.

That's all there is to it! For more scrappy spool inspiration, I pieced 1/4" strips for the "thread" center in a couple of other projects. Sew What is a charm quilt that features scrappy spools and a single tomato pincushion for fun.

Sew What - Find it HERE

If you have the 20 Years of KTQ BOM pattern packet, you should be receiving the bonus pattern A Few Little Extras with the Spool Pincushion and two pillows.

A Few Little Extras - Find it HERE

And finally, introducing a new KT booklet, Stick a Pin in It, with a dozen adorable seasonal pincushions, coming in July.

Stick a Pin in It - Coming Soon

This booklet includes the tomato pincushion, a strippy flag, pumpkin, flying geese, flower, basket, star, candy cane Christmas and this spool pincushion, inspired by the original spool block in the BOM quilt. Each one takes about an hour to make and are great bowl fillers or gifts for sewing friends. Watch for Stick a Pin in It right here in a couple weeks.

All Wound Up Pincushion in Stick a Pin in It Booklet

See you on July 15th for the next 20 Years of KTQ BOM block. Happy Summer!

Sweet Holly is HERE!

The store is full of our Sweet Holly fabric and precuts - and they're going fast! Be sure to order your fabric or kits soon before it's all gone. Find it HERE.

If you're in our KT Collector's Club, you've received your Sweet Holly fat quarters, mini charm and charm pattern, Cabin Sweet Cabin.  Robert has been busy cutting kits for this sweet quilt with traditional log cabin blocks and a few candy cane appliques.

Cabin Sweet Cabin charm quilt

Shine Bright (on the wall, left) was our June Special. It's a fun and easy Jelly Roll quilt for the holidays. The Evergreen lap quilt (right) shines with a forest of trees surrounding a starry center (lap quilt 68" sq.). The runner is on the mantel, and the pillow is tucked on the chair with my Christmas Cabin quilt. Christmas Cabin uses a Honey Bun (1 1/2" strips) for easy cutting and piecing.

Below the mantel is one of our tried and true quilts, Twisted, in Christmas attire. Layered Patchwork and our KT Wedge Template make this quilt a breeze to make. Perfect for the kids in your life - young or old.

Comment to win a PDF digital patterns of Cabin Sweet Cabin and Christmas Cabin. Do you like to piece with Honey Buns?

KT Winner & New Bittersweet Lane Fabric

KT Winner

Sorry for the delay in announcing a winner. The days are running into each other faster each month. What's up with that?

Congratulations to the winner of my Woven Dreams digital pattern -

Renea - I love this pattern! I have been saving a jelly roll from one of your fabric lines that I have not been able to cut up. I think I finally found the pattern I want to use. Thanks for the giveaway and as always the inspiration to create beautiful quilts.

Please send your email to my email - lynne@ktquilts.com - and we'll send your pattern right out. Enjoy!

We still have a winner that has not claimed their Quilter's Select 3 1/2" square ruler. Bonita, please email us to claim your ruler.

Bittersweet Lane

Spring Quilt Market was virtual this year, so there weren't any pictures of all the smiling Moda designers in their booths, showing their new quilts. However, you can go to Moda's Cutting Table blog to see all the shining faces in videos from many of the designers (including me!) with new fabric collections. Mine is called Bittersweet Lane and I'm LOVING working with it. Click HERE for a printable link to the swatch chart to start your wish list.

I use this chart when designing quilts, ordering fabric and as reference for future lines to make sure they blend from one to the next, but don't repeat prints. Here's how to read my fabric charts.

*The name of the line and when it will ship to quilt shops is the in the center.

*The sku number for each print runs vertically down the left side. There is a tan of each print - some are in a multi-colored prints (#11) and also a tone-on-tone (#21).

*The color numbers are listed across the top horizontally - tan 11, gold 12, etc. My color numbers stay the same from one line to the next, so if you have a sku with -14, you can be confident it's blue. If it's -19, it's always black. These numbers are also listed on the selvedge edge of your fabric.

*The quantity of each color of fabric - how many tans, reds, blues, etc - is located on the bottom right. If you have a pattern that requires (4) strips of (5) different colors, you'd be good to go with this Bittersweet Lane Jelly Roll.

*If there's white space, it means that particular print doesn't come in that color. For example, print 9641 is not available in red.

*When you're perusing our website, keep in mind we sell our fabric in 1/2 yard increments. If you want 1 1/2 yards, order a quantity of 3. We'll cut and send 1 1/2 yards in one piece, not three 1/2 yd. chunks.If you're interested in 2 yards of  9643 print in blue-14, you would order a total quantity of (4)  9643-14.

Bittersweet Pumpkins Booklet

One of the quilts I made using Bittersweet Lane is the Pumpkin Sampler. I gathered an assortment of fat quarters for the pumpkins and used a Bittersweet Lane Honey Bun for the setting blocks and pieced border. It has such a crisp, fall feel with the addition of the pumpkin stems & leaves.

This quilt was inspired by the project I designed for our KT & Friends Retreats this summer (that we unfortunately had to cancel). I was working on the retreat quilt when Bittersweet Lane sample yardage arrived and knew I had to make one featuring pumpkins. The retreat quilt, Bittersweet Sampler, was made with my Through the Years fabric collection and a Layer Cake.

It has the same framed blocks with the fun setting blocks, but I changed up the pieced border for fun. Both quilts finish 63" square, but would be easy to make larger with more precuts/fabric.

The Bittersweet Sampler and Pumpkin Sampler are included in the Bittersweet Pumpkins booklet that comes out in October, but you can own it in July as part of our KT Retreat Box. Watch for details right here July 1st.

Would you like to win a PDF digital booklet of Bittersweet Pumpkins? Comment here for a chance to win.

Evergreen KT Winner

KT Winner

The winner of our Evergreen booklet featuring Sweet Holly fabric is...

ThreadCatcher -I like the flexibility for size on the table runner, and the trees are perfect! Great pattern.

Please send your email address to lynne@ktquilts.com and we'll email the booklet to you.

Thanks to everyone who commented.

Anyone interested in a quilt-a-long for this project? The lap quilt? Or runner? Let me know in comments and I'll see if I can put something together for August.

20 Years of KTQ BOM Week #11

Week #11 - Woven Star

We're starting the second half of our block-of-the-month countdown with one of my favorite blocks - Woven Star. I could see all the fun possibilities when piecing it and made a separate lap size quilt just for fun (below). It's one of the bonus patterns that comes with the 20 Years of KTQ BOM pack of patterns.

This block is usually made with a 4-patch in the center. I eliminated a few seams for easier piecing and made my block in 4 sections. The assembly is simple with half square triangles and connecting corners. Refer to the HST and CC detailed step-by-step instructions included with your pattern.

When adding the connecting corners (CC) to the A and B strips, be sure to note the direction of stitching.

Here's the block in quarters, and fully assembled with the bottom sashing strip.

If you love this block as much as I do, make a quilt! The Woven Dreams lap quilt is 12 star blocks using a Jelly Roll for even easier cutting. The large blocks make a good sized quilt in a hurry. I'm hoping to make one in my new Sweet Holly fabric this fall.

Would you like a Woven Dreams digital PDF pattern? Comment here to win. Do you enjoy making a quilt one block at a time in a block-of-the-month? or do you prefer to complete your quilt more quickly in a weekly quilt-a-long?

Star Cluster Quilt-a-Long Week #8

Week #8 - Borders & Finishing

I didn't get as much sewing done as I'd hoped this weekend, so my quilt is not totally put together, but it's getting there. The first tan border is on, all the HST are made (trimming left to do), the brick border is cut out and ready to go, so it won't take too long to complete the quilt.

As we've been doing in the past weeks, I oversized my squares when making the half square triangles (HST) so they can be trimmed. While I was handling all the dark fabrics, I also cut the rectangles for the bricks border. I find it saves alot of time to cut as much as possible at one time.

Here is the rough layout of my quilt. My question is: Do I use the black candy cane fabric for the outer border? Or the green? I've used black on several of my other Christmas projects, so I might go with green for something different. What do you think?

Thanks to everyone who quilted along with me to make a Star Cluster quilt. I love it just as much the second time around! Maybe I need to start another one in red,tan,blue???

Watch over the next few weeks as I introduce the new fabric collection for Spring Market, Bittersweet Lane, and all the fun quilts to go with it. Also, two new booklets with six seasonal Mini Table Treats, and a year's worth of fun and easy pincushions. So much more to come!

KT Winner & Evergreen

KT Winner

Congratulations to the winner of my Shine Bright PDF digital pattern with Christmas and America options---

Roxnne B.Beautiful quilt. Looks like it would be easy to make. Thanks for sharing your designs.

Enjoy! Please email lynne@ktquilts.com with your email address to claim your PDF digital pattern.

This Jelly Roll quilt goes together easily with strips and connecting corners for the star points. The perfect weekend project.

Sweet Holly

Even though the temperatures are rising here in Kansas, Christmas is just around the corner! Christmas fabric, that is. Sweet Holly is due to arrive the end of this month. Please check out all of the projects we've created for this collection on our website at ktquilts.com. Preorder your kit(s) now for best selection.

Evergreen is a booklet with three coordinating projects - a lap quilt, runner and pillow. The medallion style lap quilt features a Sweet Holly Layer Cake plus a few extra greens for trees and the tan backgrounds and outer border. No fancy piecing, just great use of the Sweet Holly assortment.

The perfect compliment to the Evergreen lap quilt is the matching runner with stars and trees. I pieced this runner in sections with two trees and a star so it's easy to make it any length you wish. Just make the desired number of sections to fit your holiday table.

The Evergreen pillow is a simple fusible applique design, perfect for last minute gifts or just one more pillow for your home decor. I made mine in about 1 1/2 hours, then whipped down binding. All of the Evergreen project will set the stage for your holiday home, yet last well into the new year.

Love it? Want it? Comment to win a PDF digital pattern!

Star Cluster Quilt-a-Long Week #7

KT Winner

Congrats to the winner this week of a 3 1/2" sq. Quilter's Select ruler -

Denise - Love this - doing good so far! My sampler class is also using KT fabrics this year - so excited! This ruler would be awesome - haven't seen it before but would love it!!!

Thanks to everyone who's been quilting a long and commenting. I love to hear your feedback.

Week #7 - HST & Settings

I added simple half square triangles (HST) and tan squares or rectangles to fill in spaces between the various sized churn dash and star blocks.Cut the squares for the HST an 1/8" larger to allow room to trim, if desired. As I cut squares for both sizes of HST, I also cut all the squares for the HST border for next week. That way, I knew how much fabric I had available in each color/print.

As usual for HST, draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of the darker fabric. Stitch a scant 1/4" on both sides of the line; cut on the line. Press seams open.

 I use my small Quilter's Select ruler to trim my HST to size.

Sew the (16) small HST section in two rows with 8 HST in each, as shown.

Piece the (15) large HST in 3 sections, as shown.

Next, I laid out all of my pieced blocks, plus HST and tan setting squares/rectangles, on my current "flannel board" (which happens to be a flannel sheet on the floor of the living room until my new studio is completed this summer). The lighting isn't good, but you can see the sections I pieced together at this point. Follow the assembly guide in the pattern (note the inset seam just left of the center).

I'll finish sewing the sections together tomorrow, then start on HST for borders. We'll finish up next week with borders and quilting. We're so close!

I'm so glad you've all pushed me with this quilt-a-long to make a second Star Cluster quilt in Sweet Holly fabrics. I'm loving it! Please comment if you have any questions.

KT June Special

Shine Bright America

We've finally made it to summer! After a few long months of quarantine and rain, the sun is out and I'm delighted to be outside again. Aleece (grandaughter 15yrs old) and I have been working in the garden, decorating the porch, grilling, and relaxing with a cool drink as we wait for Robert to come home from work each evening. (My choice - black raspberry ICE; hers - Boylan's Cream Soda.)

To celebrate the beginning of summer, we're offering our Shine Bright pattern featured with my new Christmas fabric, Sweet Holly (see it HERE). I loved the design so much, I also made it in traditional red, tan and blue. It's an easy-to-piece Jelly Roll project for a picnic or porch quilt, perfect for summer gatherings. I'm made mine without batting, just a flannel backing, for super cuddly softness and lightweight warmth on cool summer evenings.

Our kit starts with an exclusive 20-strip Jelly Roll of KT Favorites III tans for easy piecing. We'll add in an assortment of reds, blues and golds from several lines for scrappy fun.

The Shine Bright America lap quilt (62" x 70"), pattern and shipping is over a $100 retail value. Our KT June Special price is only $69.95 with FREE SHIPPING! That's a savings of over 30%! Find our KT June Special HERE.

Quantities are limited, so order your Shine Bright kit today!

Would you like to win a Shine Bright Digital PDF pattern?

Comment by Friday, June 5th to win.