Karin Jordan Studio

Super Scrappy Tumbler Baby Quilt

I made this quilt for a friend who had a baby recently and by 'recently' I mean about nine months ago. I pulled this fabric last March to make my daughter a quilt; all the paper piecing is done on that, I just need to put it together. There was enough fabric left over to make this tumbler quilt. It's not often I use up the scraps from a project before finishing the project itself!

It's nice when I have the time to do something fun with the back. Since I used the Sizzix BigZ L die - Tumbler with my Fabi to die cut all the fabric for the front, I was left with thin triangle scraps in differening widths but with the same angles. I pieced this strip together with the scraps. 

The orchid-colored backing is from my stash — now I want more yardage of it to use for Annabel's quilt. It's from Marden's in Maine, however, and it's unlikely I'll be able to find it there again. I'm feeling another Marden's trip coming on. 

Michael Miller's Garden Pindot in Violet ties it all together in the binding.

The quilting is simple and lets the fabric be the star. I use Aurifil 50 wt cotton thread in Natural White (2021) for most of my piecing and quilting.

I hung it on the wall in Annabel's room for a sense of scale. I hope the baby and her mom like it!

  

        

Tutorial: Sea Glass Table Runner

It's nearing the end of summer here in New England, but I'm not ready to let it go just yet. This sea glass-inspired table runner brings beachy vibes indoors for when the days start getting shorter. 

Please visit the Sizzix blog here for the full tutorial. I used the new BigZ Crazy Quilt Die and eight shades of blues and aquas from the Pure Elements Solids line from Art Gallery Fabrics. 

It's backed in Threaded Shreds in Mamey from the Indelible line from Art Gallery Fabrics, bound with Andover's Mineral Forest in Azure and quilted in Aurifil 50 wt cotton in Dove (#2600). Batting is Pellon Nature's Touch 100% cotton. 

My kids don't start school for another week, so we're ignoring all the school buses zooming by and are still in summer mode. The mom school bus will start up soon enough!

  

        

My Interview with FaveQuilts Talks

Just a quick post today to send you over to the new Seams and Scissors blog where I was interviewed as part of the FaveQuilts Talks series. I'm a designer on FaveQuilts. If you've never checked out their web site, I encourage you to do so — there are tons of fabulous free patterns and tutorials to browse! 

I'm currently working on a tutorial for Seams and Scissors that will be on their site in a few weeks, and I'm looking forward to following them on Bloglovin. :)

  

         

Jelly Roll Jam 2 with Fat Quarter Shop

Mormor. I've been wanting to make something with it. When Fat Quarter Shop asked me if I'd like to participate in the Jelly Roll Jam II blog event, I chose this wonderful Lotta Jansdotter line to work with. Jelly Roll Jam II is the latest in Fat Quarter Shop's Shortcut Quilt Series. It's a fun little free pattern with a printable PDF and a video tutorial. 

I was surprised by how quickly this 36.5 x 38.5" quilt went together, even though it's a 'shortcut' pattern. Two of these quilts can be made from a single jelly roll. I wish I knew someone who was having twins! How cute would that be?

Editing these photos down to a handful proved difficult. It was a beautiful morning here in New Hampshire and it was a perfect excuse to enjoy the weather.

I chose Mormor Little Blomster in coral for the backing and Netorious in teal from the Cotton + Steel basics line for the binding. Netorious is my new favorite binding; it replaces stripes in my repertoire. 

Straight line quilting went well with the fabric. 

 

Since one jelly roll makes two of these quilts, I now have the other half of the fabric ready to go when I need to whip up a quick baby quilt!

  

        

Winner of the Fat Quarter Style Book!

Congratulations to #166, Joanna, the winner of Fat Quarter Style! She wrote, "Summer was ages ago for me! I love buying Christmas fabrics at 50-75% off. At the begninng of this year I bought enough cuts for backings for only about $4 :D". The Random Number Generator at Random.org chose this comment out of 239.

Thanks to everyone for stopping by and commenting. It was fun reading about favorite fabric purchases. Congratulation, Joanna!

  

        

An Upcoming Quilt Pattern & a Fruit Ninja Update

Pretty new fabric can either be a great motivator or a terrible distraction. Cotton + Steel has managed to be both for me. It arrived and I immediately designed a quilt for it. Dishes? WIPs? Deadlines? Stinky children? Hungry husband? Garden weeds? As a weekend guilty pleasure I allowed myself to ignore all these things for a day and I hid in my studio with my laptop.

I'm excited about this new pattern. I'm calling it Mostly Mustang, after the fabric that inspired it but also for the vibe it gives off — half wild and perhaps a little wonky (just like my kids). These are my chicken scratchings and scribbles a k a cutting instructions. I've explained the distraction now let me divulge the motivator. 

Fruit Ninja. This quilt has been nagging at me because I love it and have been wanting to get it done. Other projects have been popping up and getting in the way. Such is life with self-imposed deadlines! Mostly Mustang is ready to be cut, however, I told myself I had to get the Fruit Ninja top done and sent off to be quilted before I started ironing the Cotton + Steel. Eight solid hours later (best. husband. ever.) my paper pieced Fruit Ninja was magically done! A quilt top that I'd been starting and stopping for months was suddenly completed and in the mail to Melissa in Utah. The Fruit Ninja pattern is out being pattern tested and I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with. It should be ready to share with you at the beginning of September.

Hopefully I'll still be able to make sense of my scribbled pattern notes! :)

  

        

 

Fat Quarter Style Book Tour & Giveaway!

Today is my stop on the Fat Quarter Style Book Tour - welcome! Fat Quarter Style is the second It's Sew Emma book to be released by Fat Quarter Shop. There are 12 fun quilt patterns in four sizes included in this new publication, complete with diagrammed cutting instructions. You can get a peek of all 12 quilts here. It's a great title to have in your quilting library, as the creative patterns vary in style and difficulty level. Good news: there's a giveaway with twelve chances to win!

Twelve bloggers were asked to do a block each from the book and I lucked out with Emblem. I've always wanted to do a red and white quilt. As soon as I saw the pattern I had that a-ha! moment and headed to pile of red and white that I've been collecting. I chose Michael Miller's Garden Pindot in Peppermint for the sashing that will tie the quilt together, and Kona Cottons in Cardinal and White for the solids that will repeat. 

This is one of the more complicated patterns in the book — there are 45 pieces of fabric in this block (including the sashing and corner squares) — however, the instructions are easy-to-follow and it went together quickly.

 

Fat Quarter Style Book Tour

#1  August 4^th - Paula of The Sassy Quilter
#2  August 6^th - Kelly of My Quilt Infatuation
#3  August 8^th - Karin of Leigh Laurel Studios (you are here!) 
#4  August 11^th  - Caroline of Sew Can She 
#5  August 13^th - Jana of Jana Machado

#6  August 15^th - Amy of Stitchery Dickory Dock 
#7  August 18^th - Lee of Freshly Pieced 
#8  August 20^th  - Holly of Bijou Lovely 

#9  August 22^nd - Ashley of Film in The Fridge 
#10 August 25^th - Erin of Why Not Sew? 
#11 August 27^th - Kristyne of Pretty By Hand
#12 August 29th - Amy of Diary of A Quilter

 

Fat Quarter Shop has give me a copy of Fat Quarter Style to give away to my readers! All you have to do to is leave a comment below about your most exciting fabric purchase of the summer. For a second entry, let me know how you follow Leigh Laurel Studios in an additional comment. Leave a third comment and indicate how you follow Fat Quarter Shop. This giveaway is now closed.

 

 

Here's where to find me: 

 

       

 

 

 Fat Quarter Shop can be found here:

  

Be sure to visit all the amazing stops on the tour to see the rest of the projects and for additional entries. Thanks for stopping by, and good luck! 

  

 

Ebb and Flow Quilt Pattern

I'm thrilled to be able to finally share this Ebb and Flow quilt pattern. When Kate Spain's Sunnyside came out I immediately bought a lovely stack of fat eighth precuts from A Vintage Fairytale. Then I put it on a shelf and stared at it. It took me a while to untie it (it was so pretty!) and then I decided I wanted to use all of it in one quilt. One fat eighth bundle of 40 different fabrics makes this 62 x 90" twin size quilt. There wasn't a scrap to spare!

A free PDF of this pattern is available on the Pellon Projects page here. 

Sunnyside makes a cheery picnic blanket.

Materials:

Fabric: 40 different fat eighths
Binding: 1/2 yard
Backing: 5 1/2 yards
Legacy® by Pellon® Natural Cotton Batting: 1 twin size package
Aurifil 50 wt cotton thread #2021
Clover Wonder Clips
Sewing Machine and Related Supplies

Cutting Instructions:

Cut six 4¾” x 6¼” rectangles from each fat eighth.
Cut 320” of 2¼” strips (pieced together) for binding.
Cut one 68” x 96” for backing (piece if necessary).

 The first forty cut rectangles are laid out in four rows of ten, and then the pattern repeats in reverse. 

This numbered diagram is helpful when laying out the pieces.

Sew rectangles for each row together. Press seams in one direction, alternating direction each row.

When the rows are assembled, begin sewing rows together in pairs. Press seam open.

Sew the paired rows together. Press seams open. Make a quilt sandwich. Make sure top is square. Pin baste and quilt as desired. Trim batting and backing 1⁄8” away from quilt top on all sides. Trim sides of quilt top to even up, if necessary. Press binding in half lengthwise with wrong sides together. Align raw edges of binding to edge of quilt top (not edge of batting and backing). Sew binding to quilt. Miter the corners. Fold binding to back. Using the Clover Wonder Clips, hand stitch the binding.

Check out the fabulous quilting done by Melissa Kelly of Sew Shabby Quilting!

I pieced four pieces of Sunnyside together for the back and used the orange for the binding.

It's a twin, but I quickly found it a home at the foot of our king size bed. :) Enjoy!