Fellow Quilters,

#stayathomeandhop

How are you doing?  If you’re one of my regular peeps you’re thinking “What?!?!?  Two blog posts in 3 days? Did that girl fall and bump her head?!?  She normally blogs once every 4-6 months”.  Pretty much true, I have to admit.  (If you’re not a subscriber yet you can sign up on the sidebar 😊)  Well, the reason for this post is the Stay at Home and Hop

that I’m participating in – it started March 21 and runs until March 31, with posts every 3 days from 40 fabulous quilt designers.  Here is the list of the next 10 designers (you may need to click on their blog button to see their post):

Studio R Quilts https://www.studiorquilts.com
Toadally Quilts https://www.toadallyquilts.com
From Blank Pages https://www.fromblankpages.com
Cotton Street Commons http://www.cottonstreetcommons.com
Puppy Girl Designs http://www.puppygirldesigns.com
Phoebe Moon Quilt Designs https://www.facebook.com/phoebemoondesgins
The Devoted Quilter https://www.devotedquilter.com
Christa Quilts https://www.christaquilts.com
Stitched by Susan http://www.stitchedbysusan.com
Tamarinis https://www.tamarinis.com

If you’ve just hopped over from another blog, WELCOME!  You might want to take a look at my blog post from March 21 – hint: there’s free stuff there.  You can also sign up for my newsletter here (scroll to the bottom of the page) or follow me on Facebook here.

So, this fun virtual Hop was created to give quilters everywhere a quilty fix without having to leave the safety of our homes.  Like everyone I know, Hubby and I are holed up in our home, only venturing outside for a brisk walk, waving to the neighbors from the other side of the street.  Quilting has been my happy diversion these past few weeks, and I have enough in my sewing room to continue uninterrupted until June – 2021 that is!  I know I’m not alone here – hands up if you also have a few (dozen) projects – UFO’s, not-even-started’s, etc. – to keep you going for the next year.  Hands up if you also go looking for a particular item in your sewing room, find 3 long-forgotten UFO’s, pull them out to pet them, swoon over them, dream about making them, then realize an hour later that you still haven’t found the item you started looking for.  Yup, me too.  We’re in this together.  That’s why my friend Jody Houghton calls us the Sisterhood of Quilters.

As I mentioned in my last post, I’m including 4 things in each of my #stayathomeandhop posts:  something newsy, a quilting tip, a mouth-watering easy comfort-food recipe from my personal cookbook, and free stuff.  Let’s get started, shall we?

Today’s newsy item is jump-up-and-down exciting.  Drum roll please!!!  My Covered Buttons quilt is on the cover of the current (May/June) issue of McCall’s Quilting 😊😊.

Covered Buttons on the cover of McCall’s May/June issue

It is made with Northcott’s Dream Weaver collection of textures and ombres.  Oh, how I love ombres!  The gradual shading from dark to light mesmerizes me.

This design started in February 2019 when I received the digital files from Northcott.  I loaded the files into EQ8 (Electric Quilt) and start playing.  Normally I design 1 quilt from a collection, or sometimes 2 if it really inspires me.  With this collection I kept thinking “Oh, but I could also do THIS with it, and THAT with it”.  It was so easy to manipulate the ombre fabric in EQ8 to create a myriad of effects.  After 6 quilts I had to force myself to step away from my laptop.  Two of the designs

PC244 Illusion & PC245 Shadow Squares

–PC244 Illusion bargello and PC245 Shadow Squares – were selected by Northcott.  When the submission call for quilts came out from McCalls in September I jumped at the opportunity to send one of the remaining designs.  I was thrilled when it was accepted.  I was away when the fabric came in so my colleague Susanne perfectly pieced it and long-armer Ruth Quinn of Stitching Impressions worked her magic on it.  Isn’t it fabulous?

Covered Buttons by Patti Carey

It uses only 3 fabrics – light turquoise for the light circles, dark turquoise for the dark circles and binding, and turquoise ombre for the entire background.  Can you believe it’s all from 1 fabric?!?  How cool is that!?!  Now, I know you’re wondering where you can get your hands on a copy of the May/June issue of McCall’s.  It shipped to subscribers March 12 and will be on newsstands March 26.  You’re also asking yourself where you can find the Dream Weaver fabric.  Let me help you with that.  As with all Northcott, Banyan and FIGO collections you can use the Product Finder on the Northcott or FIGO website – simple enter the name of a collection, click on the link and find the Product Finder icon on the right-hand toolbar.  The very best feature of the Product Finder is that you can search for a shop that has the exact pieces that you want.  So handy and helpful!

Today’s quilting tip is one that I include in most of my patterns and will come in handy when you make Covered Buttons – you will use this when you sew the light and dark triangles into columns.  Tip for aligning patches for sewing:

aligning triangle patches

When you have 2 patches to be sewn together and they are sloped at opposite 45° angles, they are correctly aligned when they meet at the ¼” seam line as shown at right.

When you have 2 patches to be sewn together and only one is sloped at a 45° angle, they are correctly aligned at the top when they meet ⅜” from the edge as shown at far right.  However, sew them together with a ¼” seam.  I’ll throw in another tip:  Just because something is done a certain way in a pattern doesn’t mean you have to do it that way.  Case in point:  Looking at the Covered Buttons quilt I noticed that Susanne appliqued the circles using turned applique instead of fusing them.  That is, she added ¼” seam allowance and turned the edges under to invisibly machine-applique them in place.

Today’s recipe is an old standby in our house and usually provides leftovers for lunch the next day, depending on how many sons come for dinner.

Creamy Chicken & Rice

Spray a 9”x13” casserole dish with Pam/non-stick spray.
Combine (1) 10 oz can cream of mushroom or chicken soup, 1 cup milk and ½ – 1 tsp herb of your choice (paprika, Italian seasoning, sage, garlic, etc) and pour into dish.
Sprinkle ¾ cup uncooked long grain rice over soup.
Place 4 boneless chicken breasts or equivalent (I like to use 1½ – 2lbs boneless thighs) over rice.
Cover with foil and bake at 375° for 40 – 45 minutes.

Today’s free stuff:  I have an extra copy of the McCall’s May/June issue and will throw in some fat ¼’s of Dream Weaver.  For a chance to win this, please leave a comment on my blog telling me the size of quilt you usually make (runner, wall, crib, lap, bed) and the size you usually make for a bed (twin, double, queen, king).  I will randomly select one respondent to receive the magazine and Dream Weaver fabric pack.  If you haven’t commented on last Saturday’s post yet, head over there now for a chance to win there too.

Thanks for stopping by, have fun staying home and hopping, and please stay safe and healthy.

Cheers,

Patti