Triangle Pouches, Not a Sandhill Sling / Beauties Pageant 241

If you’ve been keeping up with my posts the past few months, you may recognize the sweet zippered makes in this post. Yes, I sewed some more of Sew Lux’s Triangle Pouches! Using scraps from a Songbook jelly roll (Fancy That Design House for Moda) and a Holiday Essentials Christmas mini-charm pack (Stacy Iest Hsu for Moda), I made two more pouches. (You can read my original post about the Triangle Pouch here.)

Although there are three Triangle Pouches pictured in today’s post, I’ve actually made a total of four—the last of which was sewn with Melody Miller’s Stay Gold collection. It proved to be my favorite thus far, so I’m sad I didn’t think to snap a pic before I wrapped it up with a little plate from the Fish Museum and Circus as my contribution to a guildwide Yankee swap.

Now, you may be thinking that all signs point to the fact that this post is about Triangle Pouches. In fact, it is a post that’s not about a Sandhill Sling finish. : /

I bought a kit to make the popular Noodlehead sling from Stitch Supply Co. back in January 2022. Then, because I had yet to embark on making it despite owning a kit, I signed up for a Sandhill Sling class through my guild this past September.

And here we are, almost four months later, with no finished Sandhill Sling. 

I can summarize the problem in one word: gussets. The exterior bag is completed, with the lining waiting to be inserted, and the outer gusset is off by 3/8 inch. That 3/8 inch has me completely paralyzed. Do I just forge ahead and live with what might seem to some makers like a minor oversight? (In a quilt project, 3/8 inch would almost always have me ripping out lines of stitching.) Or do I unpick the exterior gusset and hope that a second try will improve the situation, when it may actually end up making things worse?

Well, I tell you what I do ... I write a post about Triangle Pouches!

Needless to say, I will be spending the last days of 2023 trying to muster the courage to unpick that gusset. I wish you the best—with sewing, quilting, and beyond—as we wrap up this year and step into the next. : )

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A Ridiculously Easy Retrospective / Beauties Pageant 240

 

For the past month, the impending winter solstice has been the wrench in the works here at From Bolt to Beauty world headquarters. With the sun so low in the sky, I have to photograph finishes during the limited window when light is adequate, and don’t even get me started about the difficulties with making fabric selections. I love considering fabric pulls for new projects at night when I am relaxed and open to different ideas but cannot bear the thought of making a decision at 7 p.m. only to discover it’s a bad one at 10 a.m. the next day.

 

Instead of photographing a finish or picking out fabric for my next project, I used the daylight this week to make a silly reel, National Geographic style, about that elusive species called the quilted yeti. (If you’re logged on to Instagram, you can view it here.) And because the algorithms are forever plotting against me, I am sure no one will even see it! (Darn you, Instagram!)

But you got this far in a rather rambling post, and you deserve a little eye candy. So today I am presenting a retrospective on my Ridiculously Easy Jelly Roll Quilt pattern, mainly because it requires taking zero pictures.

 

 

I first published the Ridiculously Easy Jelly Roll Quilt tutorial back in November of 2015. Year after year, it was my most popular blog post. Since graduating from being a humble tutorial to a full-fledged pattern, in 2020, the design has been made by thousands of quilters. It has been kitted more times than I can keep track of. Many people have reached out to tell me they’ve made it multiple times. 

 

I don’t know why this quilt has struck a chord with so many makers. Is it the geometric design that renders well in both modern fabrics and more traditional collections? Is it the cheeky title? Truth be told, I wish I knew how to replicate Ridiculously Easy’s success! 

The pattern’s sweet spot will always be the lap size, which measures about 58” x 70” and requires just one jelly roll and background fabric. This pattern comes in other sizes, but I like the number of peaks of the chevron in the lap quilt. (Compare it to the child size at the top of the post, which has just three peaks.) Plus, the quilt top is pieced in columns. As the size increases, the construction remains simple, but the columns get longer and the lap quilt’s columns are easily managed.

 

The owner of the original REJR quilt is a friend. We were talking recently, and she said that the quilt is one of her favorite things in her house. I love that!

For those of you who are celebrating Christmas next week, have a lovely day of family and faith. If Santa brings you a jelly roll, you know where to go for a pattern to tackle it. As for me, I’ll be here next Friday with a finish to share!

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Beautiful Things (That I Did Not Make Myself) / Beauties Pageant 239

I’ve realized something in the past year: I cannot make all the things. I may have the fabric and crafty know-how to make all the things, but I do not have the time. So I’ve been purchasing beautiful finishes from other makers, and it brings me so much joy!

This isn’t to say that I’ve gone hog wild buying up all sorts of handmade loveliness. I am very deliberate with my choices, and I use and/or admire both of the creations that follow every day.

First up: the cheerful rainbow mini quilt, pictured above, from Amy Chappell of Ameroonie Designs. The Etsy listing billed this beauty as a mug rug, but there was no way I was going to put a drippy coffee cup on it. Instead, it’s pinned to the bulletin board above my desk, and I have that splash of color within view whenever I’m working at my computer.

I enjoy keeping tabs on Amy’s projects and new patterns. All of her projects are on the smaller side, and she incorporates a lot of applique in her work. You may remember the cutie-patootie mug rug I made back in 2022, pictured below. That’s one of Amy’s patterns.

Another item I’ve bought is this thread catcher from Cristi of Duval Quilt Co., who sells items from @cristiclothier_shop on Instagram. I used to have a brown paper bag under my sewing table for cut threads and such. This thread catcher is not only prettier, but it’s also more convenient to have right next to my machine. I adore it!

Again, could I have made this myself? Sure. But I really loved the combination of natural Maker fabric and the color gradient strip. Why try to replicate perfection when I could buy the very thread catcher I wanted?

I love having these objects in my life, and I love the idea of supporting other crafters. Do you have any recommendations on other crafters whose wares I should check out? I’m not interested in buying quilts but smaller objects, and I’m specifically in the market for a new pincushion. (Items would need to be able to be shipped to me in the US.) Thanks in advance!

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Elizabeth Hartman's Legendary Pattern / Beauties Pageant 238

Back in 2017, Elizabeth Hartman released her Legendary quilt pattern, and I was dubious. It was a cool design, but was there really a market for a Sasquatch quilt pattern? 

Six years later, I realized that, with a few palette decisions, I could transform Sasquatch into a yeti, and obviously, I need a yeti quilt in my life.

Yetis, or abominable snowmen, are a running joke between me and my older son. Over the years, I have bought him yeti Christmas ornaments, yeti stuffed animals, yeti washi tape, you name it. As his 15th birthday appeared on the horizon (and by this, I mean it was just three weeks out!), I knew I had to move into high gear and get this project done.

Essex Linen

Thankfully, I had already cut out almost everything, including five different green fabrics for the forest. The dark greens are two prints from Cotton and Steel past and present, and the lighter, brighter greens include a solid, a blender, and a print from Kate Spain’s Grand Canal collection.

For the background I used Essex Linen. It was something I purchased for a different quilt, one that requires a lot of fiddly curve sewing, and I am thankful I used that cut of fabric here instead. 

Now, I am not an Essex Linen novice. I’ve used it a variety of projects, most of which are bags, not quilts (see the links at the bottom of the post). In other words, I know Essex Linen’s lovely, textured hand can be annoying to work with. It’s malleable and stretchy and not nearly as well behaved as quilting cotton. So I took precautions: I washed the Essex Linen (and all the other fabrics, for that matter) and I gave it a good press with starch.

I chain-pieced 12 of the 14 tree blocks right off the bat. As I squared the blocks, though, I realized that I would lose some points when I sewed them into the quilt top. I blamed this (ahem!) on the fact that I did not mark the diagonal seams before sewing them and instead just eyeballed everything. But then I cut and sewed the final 2 tree blocks, diligently marking every diagonal seam with my hera marker, and they were not any more accurate than the first batch I sewed. Sorry, Essex Linen, it’s not me, it’s you!

The Quilting

There was no way I was going to quilt a project with this much Essex Linen myself. On one hand, I think Essex Linen merits a good amount of quilting to stabilize it. On the other, too much quilting could result in a top without much drape.

I decided on a pantograph called Ramble, and I couldn’t like it and the scale my longarmer decided on more. I had considered different designs that played up the forest theme, but this modern geometric seemed more appropriate for its 15-year-old recipient.

I’ve been second-guessing my thread choices of late (remember this quilt?), and Legendary was no exception. My usual rule of thumb is to use the lowest value in a quilt top as the color for the quilting thread. Instead, I went with a medium gray option here, which makes the quilting recede on almost all of the blocks and the background. Don’t get me wrong: I really like it. I can’t help but wonder, however, what Ramble would look like with an off-white thread.

The Backing and Binding

A flannel from Tula’s Holiday Homies collection was the perfect foil to all that Essex Linen. And I finished everything off with a solid binding, also from Tula, in matcha.

I knew I would miss an opportunity to add another layer of texture if I machine-finished the binding, so the time required to sew these chunky stitches was well spent, even if I was still at work on it the day before I planned on gifting the quilt to my son! (For a tutorial on chunky-stitch bindings, click here.)

I divide Elizabeth Hartman’s pattern design into two phases. Her earlier work, including the designs in her two books, is mostly geometric. The ones that do have a novelty feel to them (like these cats, which are freebies on her site) are fairly simple to make. Most of what she designs now is much more complicated. I’ve heard friends talk about all the pieces required to sew her sloths or her dinosaurs, and I cringe. Legendary may be part of her later work, but despite my woes with lost points, it’s pretty easy. If you have a reason to sew a Sasquatch quilt or, like me, a yeti version, I recommend it!

Other quilts from Elizabeth Hartman’s patterns:

• Valentine
• Neighborhood
• Me-Wow!
  

Other quilts made with Essex Linen:

• Birds in Blue
  
• No Latitude
• Me-Wow! (yes, it’s an EH pattern and I sewed it with Essex Linen)

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The pageant rules are simple:

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• Visit and comment on other participants’ finishes.

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