ODE TO SUMMER 2023: MORE RED, WHITE, & BLUE

We wanted to do one more small bit of red, white, and blue summertime inspiration – and decoration – before we start projects and ideas for my *favorite* time of the year…AUTUMN!

Let’s get right to it…

VINTAGE RED CROSS QUILT

This super simple and quick-to-piece quilt will elevate any room and bring about that ‘small town parade’ feeling in an instant.

We did this as a sew along in our FACEBOOK GROUP last year, and it was so popular that we decided it surely needed a place here on the blog again. Although we were able to create a few more kits for the shop last week, they have [unfortunately] sold out, BUT this is a great quilt to use up some of your growing stash or scraps of reds and creams! The blue sashing we used is actually a Light Denim “Chambray” Fabric, which just adds to the vintage vibe if you ask me!

The VINTAGE RED CROSS pattern is available in the shop as a PRINTED PATTERN SHEET or PDF. I promise you can squeeze this in before Summer ends; it’s actually a fabulous weekend project idea!

PATRIOTIC PINEAPPLES BANNER

One of our Fig Tree Friends, Lacey (@laceypoirier on Instagram), decided to create a patriotic banner using the PINEAPPLE block from my latest book, FRUIT SALAD – available for purchase HERE. When I saw it, I knew we needed to feature it here on the blog!

FROM LACEY:

I have loved using the Fruit Salad book to create lots of fun projects with the Fruit Cocktail collection. They are quite literally a match made in heaven! Even so, I wanted to go outside the box a bit, and I was intrigued by the piecing of the Pineapple block. I found a honeybun of the Fresh Fig Favorites collection hanging out in my stash, which features several reds and a variety of “low volume” creams. I decided to pull out some light denim chambray for the background and go red, white, and blue with it!

I made 6 pineapple blocks, using the single-block instructions in the book on page 40. I made the leaf tops in the various reds, and the pineapple bodies were all the cream prints. I’ll be honest when I say that I originally planned on creating the Ambrosia Table Runner (a bonus “recipe” in the book on pages 49-50), but quickly realized I have a few patriotic runners already that I truly love. Rather than having to choose which to display, I decided to take the quilted blocks and create a banner instead! This way, I get to enjoy both, so it’s a win-win!

After constructing your pineapple blocks, quilt them with a layer of batting and a backing fabric. Trim the blocks square, just as you would a quilt top. I then bound the edges of the left, bottom, and right sides of each.

From there, you will create double-fold bias tape with the same fabric (and width) used for binding the individual blocks. This is the fun part, because you can make the banner as long as you’d like by adding or removing blocks or creating more space between each of the blocks themselves. For mine, I used [2] WOF strips cut at 2 1/4″…and I didn’t actually cut it on the “bias”, as it isn’t really necessary for this project.

Once you have identified how you want to space your banner and the arrangement of the blocks, simply open the double-fold bias tape, tuck the top edge of your blocks under, use some wonder clips to keep it in place, and (starting and finishing at the bias tape ends) sew an 1/8″ from the edge to secure. I spaced my blocks 1″ apart from each other. For the bias tape ends, I made a simple knot and VOILA – it’s ready for display!

And since I opened the Fresh Fig Favorites honeybun, I have extras of the aquas, yellows, oranges, greens, blacks, and tans. I plan to use those to make some pouches as gifts using the Little Jellies Pattern! Christmas in July, anyone?

I think this banner would be adorable in all sorts of fruit block varieties! I may make another with apples (single block instructions on page 37 of the book) to transition into Fall. Oh, the possibilities!

Thanks for having me!

-Lacey

DECORATING WITH VINTAGE QUILTS, TWO-COLOR QUILTS

If you’ve been following me for a while, you probably already know that so many of my patterns are inspired by vintage quilt finds. I not only love to reimagine them into new designs…I also very much like to collect them as is! 😉

Here are a few of my latest finds! I am absolutely loving the denim and navy blues lately!

I love how decorating with classic two-color quilts can add to a seasonal feel. What about you…are you a vintage quilt lover/collector? Do you have a favorite find? I would love to hear about it!

Be sure you check out this PREVIOUS BLOG POST where we showcased more patriotic quilt projects and recolored a few favorite designs in what we call a “pattern remix”!

P.S. We may just have one more fun red, white, & blue surprise up our sleeve for later this week. I guess its kinda hard to let go of summer quite yet… Be sure to check back!

-Joanna