Pat Sloan's Mega Fun Quillt Tour

I am so excited to be one of today's featured stops on Pat Sloan's Mega Fun Book Tour of her book 'Teach me to Machine Quilt'.

This book is another great book in the Teach Me series published by Martingale.

My favorite part of the book is the first half. I love how Pat spends time detailing supplies and techniques and includes a treasure trove of tips and inspiration along the way.

Pat recommends building a batting sampler for your at home reference. What a great idea to have samples of your favorite batting and maybe some batting you wish to try right at your fingertips.

We have a basket of batting samples at the shop. We LOVE the resource and use it every day when helping customers select the perfect batting to finish their next project.

We have 3 versions of each batting:

1. Loose - Out of the package
2. Quilted between white fabric
3. Quilted between white fabric and then laundered. 

Each batting sample is accompanied with manufacturer information.

For your samples at home you could also add:

• Unused sizes of supply you may have in your studio.
• Notes from the last time you quilted with a specific batting. It is really important to make notes and  keep a sample of a batting you prefer NOT to use again in the future. ***
• Prices and sources for future purchase. 

Add this book to your shopping list. It makes the perfect reference for your library and is a great gift for any newer quilter! 

Make sure to check out the other stops today: 

• Sherri McConnell www.aquiltinglife.com/
• Ebony Love lovebugstudios.com/blog/
• Martingale  blog.shopmartingale.com/

Visit Pat's blog to win a free copy of Pat's book.  

Thank you for taking time out of your holiday weekend to visit my blog!

Hope to see you again soon! If you happen to find yourself in Southeastern Wisconsin, make sure to stop by Patched Works!

Happy Quilting!

Julie

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

Oh wait, we still get to celebrate Thanksgiving!

Just want to let you know we have plenty of holiday themed fabric in stock and ready for your next project.

Be sure to check out our upcoming in store events from now until the holidays for inspiration and holiday cheer!

We are proud to participate in Shop Small, Small Business Saturday November 26th.

Happy Quilting!

Julie

Friends Around the Square

Hi Everyone!

My name is Julie and I am sew excited to present today's featured block for The Splendid Sampler. I own Patched Works in Elm Grove, Wisconsin.

This is a photo of me and Pat from Fall Market.

At Patched Works, we focus on quilting fundamentals to help make quilting a more enjoyable, rewarding experience. I chose a simple pieced block as my contribution to offer a basic skill building exercise.

My block is called "Friends Around the Square"

About 15 years ago, I was at a quilt retreat working on a quilt with a lot of half square triangles (HST). I was painstakingly template cutting each triangle, pairing it with another and stitching on the bias edge to creating each little block. My blocks were beautiful, they just were taking a little bit of time. My table mate looked over and exclaimed "What are you doing?" She showed me her Quick Quarter ruler and the rest is history. We all start somewhere and even though I had been sewing and quilting since I was a young girl and I now own a quilt shop, I find that I learn new things almost every day.

Throughout this journey and your entire quilting career, you will find there are MANY ways to achieve the same result. I always recommend to students to learn as many methods as possible so that you have many tricks in your toolbox. As you learn more techniques you can choose one method over another, you can say, "I know how to do it that way, I am simply choosing to do it another way."

I know how to template cut triangles and sew pairs together into HST, however today I choose a different way. :-) 

Now let's get started!

Cut your fabric according to the directions provided in the pattern.

Cut 2 large squares in half once diagonally for the frame of the block. 

Next, pair up light and dark squares right sides together and position a Quick Quarter ruler from point to point. 

See how the tip aligns perfectly in the corner?

Using a Sewline Ceramic Lead Pencil, carefully draw a line on either side of the ruler. Use caution to position the lead as closely to the ruler as possible to draw an accurate sewing line. 

Stitch on the drawn lines. 

Split each square to yield 2 HST. 

Press open. (You can press to the dark side if you prefer.) 

Trim all 4 HST to 2 5/8" squares. Don't be afraid of the 2 5/8" measurement. 

Position your 4 HST as shown in the picture and assemble as a 4 patch. 

Your center block should measure 4 3/4" 

Position the 4 cut triangles around the perimeter of the center block. 

Align one triangle to the center seam of the square and pin carefully. 

***Note the ample overhang on both edges. It is supposed to be this way!!! 

Stitch 1/4" seam

Repeat on all 4 sides. 

Viola! Look at your beautiful block! 

Pat and Jane included a bonus paper pieced version if you prefer. 

I created a little video for you too! :-) 

I can't wait to see what you make!

Thank you for reading! I hope you visit again soon!

Julie

The Splendid Sampler

I am so excited to be included in an amazing group of quilters as a block DESIGNER for Pat Sloan and Jane Davidson's newest project The Splendid Sampler!

This is a year long online quilt a long introducing 100 - 6" blocks contributed by designers from around the world. There will be many techniques and tricks used in these blocks. So much to learn and try!

We will kick off the program Valentine's Weekend. 2 blocks will be released a week for a year. All the block instructions will be free during this time and you will make thousands of new friends along the way!

In March, 2017 Martingale will publisher a book with the designs.

So this is the best part! Remember when we played with Sylvia's Bridal Sampler, Loyal Union Sampler and the Tula Pink City Sampler? We featured blocks on our blog AND blocks in the store! We are going to do it again! Only this time we are playing along with Pat and Jane and thousands of our new closest friends!

Ready to join me?

Black Tie Affair by Basic Grey for Moda Fabrics

Grab a big stack of fat quarter some background and let's get ready for an adventure! Click here for more specifics. 

I'll be using Black Tie Affair by Basic Grey for Moda and coordinating Grunge Basics if you wanted to be "Just like Julie" :-)

Happy Quilting!

Julie

Patched Works in the News

In case you missed it, Frank and I were featured in the Brookfield Now as a local business spotlight.

We have come so far and I appreciate all of your support! Read the full story here!