little “e” should be napping, but is helping me bind a quilt instead.  gotta love the help around here.

When we went up to Brainerd MN on a family vacation last week, I will admit that one of my top priorities was hitting a local quilt shop–Country Fabrics and Quilting.  The girls + Espen went on an afternoon outing to eat and shop.  My sister-in-law, Emily, has started quilting, but had never been to an actual quilt shop–I couldn’t wait to have her see it!!  We had to be sensitive on time since we had non-quilters with us, but I could have totally spent hours there.  Here’s what I snagged in the short time we were there.

A charm pack and some yardage by Aneela Hoey.  Little Apples is her latest with Moda.

Charm packs (small squares of each print in the line of fabric) is a great way for me to go since I have trouble deciding quickly on what fabrics I want from a line.  I can take the charm pack home, decide what I’m going to make, and then if I need yardage of a certain fabric I can call the shop up and have them send it to me.

Another charm pack and some binding yardage from Sweetwater.   Hometown is a great line from Moda.

I also bought home dec weight fabric from Hometown to make another wet bag for Espen’s room.

A wet bag is for all those stinky cloth diapers that are waiting to be washed.  It is lined with PUL so keeps the smell in.  It will hang on the side of Espen’s changing table.

I also bought some yardage of solid grays.  Did I mention that I am really into gray?

Some more gray things I liked.

That bike is darling!

These adorable Japanese prints.

A cloth diaper pattern,  by Favorite Things, because a new cloth diaper is a treat around here.  And a Terry Atkinson pattern because she does such great patterns, I learn so much from her, and who can’t resist pockets/zippers/organizers.

Good thing I sell quilting patterns so my spending doesn’t make that much of a dent!  You can find my patterns and sooooooo  many other wonderful patterns at Country Fabrics and Quilting in Brainerd MN.  I can’t recommend the shop enough–make a trip!!

This last week we took a family vacation up to Brainerd MN.  It was beautiful!!!  I love the north woods!  I tried to soak up every moment spent up there.

It just happens that one of my favorite quilt shops is up there–Country Fabrics and Quilting.  It is amazing!  If you are anywhere in the area you have to stop.  It just made the Quilt Samplers Featured Shops.  They totally deserve this honor and I am surprised it has taken this long for them to be recognized.  The owner, Deb, sweetly signed the magazine for me.

I was tickled to see a few of my patterns in the magazine.  When I showed this picture to my brother-in-law, Jon, he said, “Oh, it looks like they are trying to feature your pattern.”  What a funny little stink-pot.  :)   Can you see my pattern?  It’s Boxed Blessings, and it is hanging out on the right hand side in the background.

And here is Anything Goes hanging behind the wool display.  Yay!  So exciting to see samples of my quilts that the shop made.  And thrilled that they were used in the photo shoot!!!

I will show you all the things I bought in the next few days.  Some wonderful goodness!

I made this quilt a while ago, and recently had someone ask me for the pattern.  This was a wonderful excuse to have to sit down and write the pattern out.  It is an easy pattern and one that many of you could probably figure out on your own, but I always love a project where I don’t have to do any of the thinking/math myself.  My version makes the pattern a little more subtle, but you could make it really stand out with high contrasting fabrics.  I hope you enjoy the pattern!  (There is a PDF available at the bottom of this post, if you would like to print the pattern.)

Chaser Block Quilt

50”x70” (5×7 blocks)

Solid Block Material—1 ½ yards  (I was just short on material for mine, so I did some of my solid blocks in a different fabric.  A bit scrappier, but I like it.)

Chaser Block Material—app. 2 ½ yards or 1 jelly roll

Binding—7 strips from jelly roll, scraps, or ½ yard

Backing—3 ¹/₃ yard

Use ¼” seams.

From solid block material cut 5 strips at 10½” by width of fabric (WOF)

-subcut strips into 10½” squares.  You will get 4 squares per strip.  You want a total of 18 blocks.

From chaser block material, cut seventeen 2 ½” squares for your centers.  You will now be adding strips onto this center block to build the chaser block.  You can either pre-cut your strips or simply cut long 2 ½” strips by WOF, sew them to your block and then trim to size.  (I prefer the second method.)

First strip after center:  2 ½ x 2 ½  (Finished size: 2 ½ x 4 ½)

Second strip:  2 ½ x 4 ½  (Finished size:  4 ½ square)

Third strip:  2 ½ x 4 ½ (Finished size:  4 ½ x 6 ½)

Fourth strip:  2 ½ x 6 ½  (Finished size:  6 ½ square)

Fifth strip:  2 ½ x 6 ½  (Finished size:  6 ½ x 8 ½)

Sixth strip:  2 ½ x 8 ½  (Finished size:  8 ½ square)

Seventh strip:  2 ½ x 8 ½  (Finished size:  8 ½ x 10 ½)

Eighth strip:  2 ½ x 10 ½  (Finished size:  10 ½ square)

Lay out your blocks.  I started with a solid block in the upper right corner.  Every other square should be a chaser.  5 x 7 blocks make up your quilt top.

Quilt.

Bind with seven 2 ½” strips by WOF.

Printable PDF–Chaser Block Quilt

I finished the quilting and binding on the new nursery quilt.  I have a quilt on Elias’ bedroom wall and I really like the warmth and softness it brings to the room, so I decided to do one for the new baby as well.

I used some vintage looking fabric I had in my stash.  Originally I wanted the red polka dot as the center star and the green duck print as the outer border, but I was short on the duck fabric so I had to work with what I had.

Have I told you Elias is the best quilting support ever?!  Every time I bring out a quilt he acts like it is the most exciting event.  When I showed him this quilt, he pointed at the center, smiled, and said “duck!”  He knows the way to my heart!

The pattern is one I made up.  I won’t confess to you how long it took me to figure out the center star.  :)  I blame it on my pregnancy brain.  For the quilting I did a simple cross-hatch to add to the simplicity of it.  I also rounded the corners to make it really old school.  To hang it I made a trip to the backyard hedge and cut myself a straight looking stick.  Cheap and handy.

It’s a cuddly quilt that will warm the room for a bit and then eventually will be snuggled by a little person.