Americana Plaid Quilt and bags

 I am so in love with this Americana by Lori Holt for Riley Blake fabric. I used the fat quarter bundle to make this gorgeous pattern by Cluck Cluck Sew called Picnic. 

After putting the blocks together, the quilt top is turned diagonally and the corners are trimmed. I only got turned around once while sewing the rows on. 

Here it is after binding. When I bought the fabric bundle, I went ahead and purchased the background fabric as well that coordinated. So cute! I used navy blue binding that I had leftover from another project. 

I had some extra fabric leftover so I made these pouches for iPads, tc. For whatever reason I am still having a really time making perfect makeup pouches. I will get it eventually, but for now these diagonal zippered ones are much easier and pleasant. 

Half-Hexagon Quilt: Winged Medley

A friend and I went to a Quilt Show hosted by the Stone House Quilt Guild in Manassas, Virginia. While we were there she bought a cute fat quarter bundle by Riley Blake called Winged Medley. I told her I'd make her a quilt, and we decided on a half-hexagon design.

I've never made one before, but it didn't seem that hard. First, I cut out pattern pieces using clear acrylic on my Glowforge. Then, we laid out the fabric in the way she wanted, and I cut out the pieces and sewed them row by row. 

 The trickiest part was making sure the fabric was directionally correct. I didn't want any upside-down birdies!

 To make it a little bigger, I added a row of floral fabric around the outside edge. I like to do that to most quilts to help ensure the top is even and sized correctly. 

This was one of the first projects I quilted on my longarm, and I was so nervous! I used a floral design, and it turned out beautifully! 

Flag Quilt

 Over the summer I saw tons of the cutest flag quilts on TikTok, so right before July 4th I decided to make my own. Unfortunately, the fabric I ordered didn't arrive in time, so I decided to take my time with it. First, I cut out all of the strips and blocks, and then randomly put them together. After making all of the flags, I laid them out in a way that limited similar fabrics touching as much as possible. I used my Sashiko to "hand-stitch" the rows to add character and help give it a vintage look. 

A lot of examples I saw used denim or other blues between the flags, but I decided to go with a bright white. I was a little afraid the flags would blend in, but they were just different shades enough that it wasn't a problem. 

I wanted a really loose, fluffy quilting to not take away from the hand-stitches, so I'm glad I waited until I got my longarm to finish it. The wide-back fabric I got came from a shop close to my mom's house that we checked out while I was visiting. It turned out to be perfect! 

I used a pre-purchased navy blue binding to finish it, and then went around the edges with my Sashiko using red thread to pull it all together. 

And there she is! As always, I think about giving it away but will probably just keep it.