COUNTRY VILLAGE QUILT-A-LONG! YAY!!! PART 1: Introduction, Schedule and Supply List ;-)

Hi peeps! 

For blocks and cornerstones

As promised in this post last Wednesday, today is the starting point for my Country Village Quilt-A-Long! Below is a hand-drawn example of the Country Village quilt block, designed by me(yay)! Sorry, I was not organized enough to have a sewn up a block for you beforehand…grr... 

So, please bear with me until next QAL post when there will be a real live block for you to see! I don't dare show you my own "test sample" block as it is made up with ancient, hideous, floral prints that I got in a scrap bag from Value Village!!!

I am working with the Maison de Provence fabric line(pictured above) by Connecting Threads. The photos don't do it justice at all, as the prints are so much more rich and vibrant. It is also economical-this line costs only $5.96 a yard!

Just so you know-Connecting Threads has generously provided me with the Maison De Provence fabric, a spool of Essentials thread and the Hobbs batting needed for this QAL, at my request.

Schedule(Wednesdays)...subject to change if I fall behind!!!

1. April 29- Introduction, schedule of posts and supply list.

2. May 6-Cutting fabrics for the Country Village blocks, cornerstones and sashing strips(we will cut the borders and binding strips in later posts).

3. May 13-Instructions for piecing the Country Village blocks.

***4 week break for piecing the 25 blocks***

4. June 17-Adding lattice strips, corner stones, laying out the blocks and sewing them all together. (I have a special way of doing this!)

5. July 1-Cutting and adding both borders.

6. July 7-Preparing the pieced backing and label.

7. July 14-Spray-basting the three-layer quilt sandwich.

**Break now till mid-September/October. It is just too hot to machine quilt!**

8. TBA-Machine Straight-Line and Free-Motion Quilting.

***2+ week break to allow for machine-quilting the entire quilt***

9. TBA-Cutting and sewing the binding to the quilt. 

10. TBA-View of the finished quilt after washing.

These are the three fat quarters that I removed from the 28-piece Maison De Province fat quarter bundle. The print on the left will be used for part of the Country Village block centres and the middle print is the "background" print. I might use the print on the right as corners on the outer border, but that will have to wait till the blocks are put together into a flimsy!

Fabric Requirements and Basic Supplies

*I have included the Connecting Threads fabric names and stock numbers so that you can make your quilt with Maison De Provence, exactly like mine…or you could choose another of their lovely fabric collections!

-25 dark or medium-dark value fat quarters(for blocks)*. I used 25 of the 28-piece Maison de Provence fat quarter bundle, #7213.(A fat quarter is a 18" x 21"-22" cut of fabric). * you could use a linear quarter yard cut(9" x 42") of fabric instead of a fat quarter. 

-0.75 yard of a contrasting medium to medium-light print(block centres).* French Medallion-Parchment, #7172, shown above on left. 
*you will have to piece one square from scraps if you have not also purchased the 28-piece fat quarter bundle…or you can always purchase 7/8ths yard of this fabric.

-4.5 yards of a light fabric(background)-can be a tone-on-tone like mine, above centre and below). Colette-Parchment, #7165.*
*I don't pre-wash my fabrics, so if you do, please purchase 4.75 yards of this fabric. The same goes if you are unsure or new to rotary cutting(buy 4.75 Yds).

-0.5 yard of a dark or medium-dark co-ordinating print(inner border), see burgundy print, second photo down. Feathered Sprigs-Rosewood, #7178.

-1.5 yards dark print,(outer border), see dk. green sprigged print in second photo below. Colette-Med. Mineral Green, #7163.

-1.25 yards dark co-ordinating stripe(bias binding). Cote d'Azur-Multi, #7157.

-2.5 yards wide backing. Amelie 104 Wide Backing-Lt. Mineral Green, #7191.

-100% Cotton or cotton/poly blend thread-Essentials brand in Sandstone, #20950. 

-Batting-queen-sized, must be at least 90" x 90". Hobbs Tuscany Cotton/ Wool Blend Batting, #21303. 

Also: Sewing machine in good working order, rotary cutter with new blade, various square and rectangular acrylic rulers, straight pins, new all-purpose needle in your machine, quilting needle, iron and ironing board.

PS: You can copy and paste these requirements(and the schedule as well) into a word document to make it easier to refer to.

**I will be putting all of the Quilt-A-Long posts under their own tab just under my title header. That way you can find a specific step with ease!

This is for the "pathways" or "background" of the blocks and lattice strips. It is difficult to see in my photo, but this is a tone-on-tone print.

From left: Centres, inner border, outer border and binding-to be cut on the bias.

Backing fabric and my thread choices for piecing and machine-quilting. For piecing, I always use two colours, one slightly darker than the other. For this project, I will be using my 5,000-yard cones of Sandstone, #20982, in the needle, and Taupe, #20980 in the bobbin. I find it easier to distinguish which thread is top and which is bottom this way. I got these two cones during a Connecting Threads sale and they last a super looong time!!!

Queen-sized cotton-wool blend batting. I am SOOO stoked to try this batting out! Has anyone used cotton/wool batting before? It is very light and soft and I think it would beautifully show off hand-quilting.

I hope that you are as excited as I am to get started on this Quilt-A-Long! 

Feel free to leave a comment or email me(my addy is on the "Drop me a line" page), if you need some assistance or even if you don't; I love hearing from you!

Sharing is caring!!! 
Don't forget that I am happy to share with your friends…feel free to pin to Pinterest, post on Google+ and Facebook, and Tweet away! Just please play fair and make sure your posts link back to this blog. 

*If you mouse/hover over the top right corner of my photos, a red "Pin-it" button will show up and all you have to do is click it to be taken to Pinterest. There is also another red button right beside it for posting to Facebook and Twitter. Or, you could always use the little square grey buttons at the end of this post. 

Thanks for reading and have a great day! 

Quilty Huggs, 

Jacqueline 

PLEASE NOTE: The writer of this blog accepts forms of compensation such as, but not limited to; fabric/notions/patterns/books in exchange for a posted review. All comments/critiques/opinions are completely my own and are not those of the provider. This post may also contain affiliate links and I will receive a small commission if you make a purchase after clicking on one of my links. Thanks so much!

NEW SPONSOR and an AURIFIL GIVEAWAY!

Hi Peeps!

I would like to welcome Paper Pieces on board the blog today. This is where I purchased my (almost) 4,000 papers for the first and second giant hexie quilts. They have generously offered 20% off your order, using the code: qsh20. They have high quality card-stock papers to sew your fabric on, in a multitude of shapes. Head on over to their website and have a look around! They also have various books and notions to help you on your way. 

Coupon code expires: July 1, 2015.

How about that weather! It was close to 100* yesterday for Canada Day!

We didn't go to any of the festivities as I don't do crowds much, but we did head into town for some lovely air-conditioned shopping. Got some much-needed things and found an awesome tripod for my camera(alas, not purple!), and it was on sale! Yay!

I rummaged through my latest box of scraps from L in Arizona and found most of the fabrics needed for my Prism Jumbo pillow. Got them all trimmed up and drew the diagonal lines on for piecing the HSTs. I figured that since I was cutting all the fabrics needed for one pillow, I might as well make 2! You can follow along if you like! The tutorial is on my Cute Tute Links page.

 ...and now for the Giveaway!!!

There will be three, yes three, winners of my giveaway today. Each winner will receive a large and small spool of Aurifil thread(care of Alex Veronelli-Aurifil Brand Jedi!!). The thread is in various neutral colours and weights. Also in your little grab bag will be: a book of John James needles, a fat quarter of unicorn/castle print(gotta spread the purple love!), and a zipped nylon sewing bag(or you could use it for cosmetics). I had the bags printed by CowCow.com. The needles, fatties and bags are from me!

Now here's the rulezzz…

1. You must follow me by email. That includes all my Facebook, Bloglovin and Google Plus friends. 

-Just enter your email in the Follow Me By Email window in my right-hand border. 

-You will get a pop-up window that will ask you to type in a code, then hit enter. 

-Lastly, you will receive an email confirming that you want to follow this blog. Click on that and you are done! It actually takes more time to type out this explanation than it does to follow me! I ask that you do stay following me for at least a month or two. I do not share emails.

2. You must leave me a comment letting me know that you are following me by email, and within the same comment I would like you to tell me which kinds of tutorials you would like me to do. I do have a few thoughts, but it never hurts to get input from other peeps.

That's it, easy-peasy! 

Just follow me by email, comment that you have, and tell me about tutorials you would like! 

One comment per person only, please.

I will draw three names on Saturday, July 5 and will contact the winners shortly after that. Please make sure I can email you for your snail-mail addy. If you are a no-reply blogger, please make sure to give me your email address.

This giveaway is open to international addresses(I am in Canada), with the exemption of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East-due to the high frequency of lost/stolen mail.

Sorry, I am not responsible for lost or stolen mail.

Giveaway has been awarded. Thanks for participating!

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Jacqueline

A finish and some extra special Happy Mail!

Hi peeps!

I finally managed to finish the table runner I was making for my Dad's birthday. We are having him over for supper on Sunday, though his birthday is actually today. Link to the tutorial is on my Cute Tute Links page.

Here's a close-up of the quilting. I did 'in the ditch' for the side pieces and a continuous decreasing square in the center. 

I just love those cavorting chicks and chickens! Aren't they cute???

I backed it with an piece of Debbie Mumm fabric. I have been hoarding this scrap piece for ages, I think it was from one of her first lines! 

I had JUST enough, with a strip left over for my 'string' box…will make a string quilt one of these days...

Got some Happy Mail from Connecting Threads. They had a rare pattern sale, so I stocked up, and the 2 books were Clearance. 

I really need to make that Sit & Stitch pincushion. The arms of my easy chair are getting a real beating from all the pins and needles I stick into it!

More from Connecting Threads…I rarely buy kits as they tend to sit around and get lost in my sewing room. I really wanted this pattern(Wedges), and of course, the blue-green batiks were a must! The thread was on sale for $1.95 a spool, so I stocked up on some favourite colours. The lime and orange are being discontinued!

Spoiler alert: I wrote their customer service to complain about the many thread colours that sold out too fast for me to purchase…they got back to me to tell me they will give out a special coupon code(on this coming Monday) to all their customers who lost out, and the code will make the thread @$1.95 again. Not sure if they will give this code to everyone as I only got notification for it because I complained.

Now for the extra special Happy Mail!!! Soon after I started this blog, I contacted Mr. Alex Veronelli of Aurifil threads to see if I could get some samples to try and some to give away as well. The man is a sweetie and did not disappoint! Look at what he sent me!!! Those colour cards are a $30 value!!! The local UPS guy was impressed that we got something from far-away Italy!

I received 12 spools and I have chosen the spools I'd like to keep. I have 8 spools to give away! I will be having a giveaway soon…for 4 different people! Each person will receive a large spool, a small spool(curtosy of Aurifil of Italy) and a package of John James needles(curtosy of little old me!).

I am giving you a heads up, so you can get organized!!! I will have 2 conditions for this giveaway; you must follow me by email(that includes my Google+ and Bloglovin people!), and; you must comment and let me know what kinds of tutorials you would like me to show you. But not yet!!!

I will let you know when the giveaway is to start(hint: Maple Leaf) and you will have a few days in which to register. I am giving you time to put on your thinking caps, let your creative thoughts flow and think up tutorials...

I did do a tutorial recently, but am having a hard time attaching it to this blog! grrr…

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Jacqueline