Focus Quilt - Harmony

Fall is in the air and I love the new Harmony collection designed by Melissa Lee for Riley Blake Designs. I love the prints in the Harmony Collection and I definitely wanted to "focus" on the gorgeous fabric so I chose my Focus Quilt Pattern - available at Etsy (here) OR PayHip (here).

The Focus Quilt block has a large center square that is perfect for fussy cutting your favorite prints so you can "focus" on them! I love how the pattern is block based so it was easy for me to make 16 blocks instead of the original 12 blocks to make my quilt a bit wider. I chose to make the quilt larger because I wanted 16 "focus" prints since I couldn't just pick 12 ;). 

Focus Quilt (16 Block Edition)

70.5" x 70.5"

Supplies: (for larger quilt)

• Focus Quilt Pattern - available at Etsy (here) OR PayHip (here)
• (32) 10" Squares - Harmony designed by Melissa Lee for Riley Blake Designs
• 2 yards Background -Pin Dot Honey designed by Lori Holt for Riley Blake Designs
• 2 yards Sashing Fabric - Bee Backgrounds Gray Honey designed by Lori Holt for Riley Blake Designs
• 0.75 Corner Fabric - Harmony designed by Melissa Lee for Riley Blake Designs
• 0.25 yards Sashing Squares - Gray Small Gingham by Riley Blake Designs
• 0.75 yard Binding - Harmony designed by Melissa Lee for Riley Blake Designs
• 5 yards Backing - Gray Blossom designed by Christopher Thompson for Riley Blake Designs

Hints for perfect half-square triangles:

• If you have an AccuQuilt System - I LOVE using the half-square triangle die for perfect blocks with NO trimming.  GO! Qube (here)
• If you prefer to trim your half-square triangles - the 6.5" Bloc-loc ruler is great! (here)

The illustration prints from Harmony are so gorgeous and I LOVE the colors! 

Another awesome feature of the Focus Quilt is that it is a block based quilt pattern. This means you can easily enlarge or shrink the quilt by making more or less blocks OR you could even add a border! So many possibilities!

Is your favorite Harmony Print: deer, floral, beehives, bees or geometric? 

Harmony Fabric available HERE

Focus Quilt Pattern - available at Etsy (here) OR PayHip (here)

Be sure to follow me on Instagram @ABitofScrapStuff and on my A Bit of Scrap Stuff Blog for more fabric fun!

Have a great day and happy quilting! 

Melanie 

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for supporting A Bit of Scrap Stuff. My family appreciates it!

Focus Quilt - Spooky Hollow

Trick or Treat! Are you ready to start quilting for Halloween?!?! Spooky Hollow is a brand new fabric collection designed by Melissa Mortenson for Riley Blake Designs and is available now (HERE). This super cute spooky collection will definitely make you want to start making Halloween projects right now.

Seriously - the Spooky Hollow prints are fabulous and I love the aqua and purple added to the collection! Plus a few of the prints are metallic and the eyeball fabric glows in the dark --- so cool!

I love the prints of the Spooky Hollow and I wanted the fabric to be the focus of my quilt so I chose to make my FOCUS Quilt Pattern - which was perfect! 

Focus Quilt Pattern Available on Etsy OR PayHip

I did make a few adjustments to the original Focus Quilt Pattern by making only 9 blocks and adding a border with the super cute Spooky Hollow Main Print.  That's why I love block based quilts as it's easy to adjust the size of the quilt by making more or less blocks. 

The Focus Quilt is perfect for beginner quilters as the blocks are large with simple piecing!  

Hint: for perfect half-square triangles: Trim the half-square triangles with a Bloc loc ruler OR Use your AccuQuilt GO! Half-Square Triangle die for a no-trimming option (my fave)

Focus Quilt - Spooky Hollow Edition  60" x 60"

Supplies:

• Focus Quilt Pattern - available Etsy OR PayHip
• (24) 10" squares [9 block quilt requires only 18 squares] Spooky Hollow designed by Melissa Mortenson of  Riley Blake Designs
• 1.5 yards background - Halloween Pin Dot designed by Lori Holt for Riley Blake Designs
• 0.5 yard corner fabric - Spooky Hollow designed by Melissa Mortenson of  Riley Blake Designs
• 1.5 yards sashing fabric - Spooky Hollow designed by Melissa Mortenson of  Riley Blake Designs
• 0.25 yard sashing squares - Spooky Hollow designed by Melissa Mortenson of  Riley Blake Designs
• 0.625 yard binding - Spooky Hollow designed by Melissa Mortenson of  Riley Blake Designs
• 1 yard border fabric [add an extra 1/4 or 1/2 yard if you want to fussy cut] - Spooky Hollow designed by Melissa Mortenson of  Riley Blake Designs
• 4 yards backing - I used my left over Spooky Hollow yardage for a scrappy backing - love it!

Optional for trimming half-square triangles

• Half-Square Triangle Bloc-loc ruler      OR
• AccuQuilt GO Half-Square Triangle Die

Adding a border 

A border was a "must add" with the Spooky Hollow Main Print. Don't forget to buy extra fabric to allow for fussy cutting of the cute characters.

Cutting:

• Cut (8) strips 3.5" x WOF - I chose to fussy cut my borders. So I cut (4) strips with the vampires and witches and (4) strips with the mummy and pumpkin girl.

Assembly:

• Sew (2) matching strips togethers to create (1) 3.5" x 80" strip
• Repeat until you have (4) 3.5" x 80" strips
• Measure length of quilt
• Cut (2) side border strips the length of quilt
• Sew (1) side border strip to each side of quilt
• Measure width of quilt
• Cut (2) top/bottom border strips the width of quilt
• Sew (1) top border to top of quilt and (1) bottom border to bottom of quilt

Now the hard part will be waiting to start using your Focus Quilt - Spooky Hollow. Of course, there is no rule that you have to wait until fall! My 14 year old quilt holder was a bit baffled why I was making a Halloween Quilt in April. Ha! 

 

I used yardage for my Focus Quilt so then I could make a scrappy backing! I love having a reversible quilt!

I don't use a pattern when piecing my quilt backs. I just sew long strips of fabric of fabric together until I reach the desired length/width. It does take a bit of extra time, but I love scrappy backings and using my left over fabric - no waste here!

Spooky Hollow Fabric Available HERE (Fat QuarterShop) or HERE (Green Fairy Quilts)

Focus Quilt Pattern Available on Etsy OR PayHip

Be sure to follow me on Instagram @ABitofScrapStuff and here on my A Bit of Scrap Stuff Blog for more fabric fun!


Have a great day and happy quilting!


Melanie

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for supporting A Bit of Scrap Stuff. My family appreciates it!

Focus Quilt - Idyllic

It's time for me to share my Focus Quilt with the gorgeous Idyllic Fabrics designed by Minki Kim for Riley Blake Designs. When I saw the bold floral prints, I knew I wanted the "focus" to be on these beautiful prints. This is why I chose the pattern name - Focus Quilt! Sometimes you have lovely fabric prints that must be left large so you can fully enjoy them and FOCUS.  

The variety of florals, small prints, stripes, and text with fall colors in the Idyllic Collection is absolutely stunning. Seriously gorgeous!!!

I was so excited to make my Focus Quilt with this lovely bundle of Idyllic Fabric. I love making the Focus Quilt because the pattern uses my favorite (and more affordable) pre-cut 10" squares! I love being able to have a bit of an entire collection without spending my full fabric budget at once!

The Focus Quilt uses large blocks so it is quick to sew plus you are able to FOCUS on the gorgeous fabric prints! I also love the secondary pattern that is created when the blocks are sewn together!

Another awesome feature of the Focus Quilt is that it is a block based quilt pattern. This means you can easily enlarge or shrink the quilt by making more or less blocks OR you could even add a border! So many possibilities!

Focus Quilt 53.5" x 70.5"

Supplies:

• Focus Quilt PDF Pattern designed by me (HERE)
• (24) 10” squares - Idyllic designed by Minki Kim for Riley Blake Designs
• 1.5 yards background - Idyllic Sprinkles Cream
• 0.5 yard corner - Idyllic Love Buds Blue
• 1.5 yards sashing - Idyllic Pavement Cream
• 0.25 yard sashing squares - Idyllic Stripes Navy
• 0.625 yard binding - Idyllic Strips Navy
• 3.5 yards backing - Blossom Gray for Riley Blake Designs

*All fabric for Focus Quilt top and binding is Idyllic designed by Minki Kim for Riley Blake Designs.

Of course I really love the Idyllic Navy Stripe fabric for binding and the sashing corners...stripes are my favorite for quilt binding!

I'm totally a fan of using my AccuQuilt fabric cutting system for cutting my half-square triangles  because it saves me time plus I have perfect blocks! The Focus Quilt pattern gives traditional rotary cutting and piecing directions AND shares which AccuQuilt die to use if you would rather use your AccuQuilt to cut out your half-square triangles. 

The Focus Quilt Pattern is also awesome for quilt panels too...here is my Focus Quilt with Blessed Beyond Measure Fabric designed by Buttermilk Basin for Riley Blake Designs. I love how the Focus Quilt can look different based on fabric selection! Check out my blog post for Focus Quilt - Blessed Beyond Measure HERE.

The gorgeous Idyllic fabric collection will be shipping to store this month - yay! Fat Quarter Shop will be carrying the full Idyllic Collection HERE.

Focus Quilt PDF Pattern available HERE

Be sure to follow me on Instagram @ABitofScrapStuff  and here on my A Bit of Scrap Stuff Blog for more fabric fun!

Have a great day and happy quilting! 

Melanie

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for supporting A Bit of Scrap Stuff. My family appreciates it!

Focus Quilt - Blessed Beyond Measure

Hi Friends... I'm SEW excited to share my latest quilt! Focus Quilt - Blessed Beyond Measure! When I saw the new sewing themed collection, Blessed Beyond Measure designed by Stacy West of Buttermilk Basin for Riley Blake Designs - I just had to make a quilt!

 

I'm love making quilts with the panels made by Riley Blake Designs as the quality is amazing! I decided to make my Focus Quilt pattern so I could fussy cut the Blessed Beyond Measure Panel!

It looks like I appliquéd the shapes...but it was a panel! Easy peasy!

Ready to make your own Focus Quilt - Blessed Beyond Measure 53.5" x 70.5"

Supplies:

• Focus Quilt Pattern (HERE)
• (1) Blessed Beyond Measure Panel
• 1.5 yards Background Fabric: Blessed Beyond Measure by Riley Blake Designs Pointe Cream Black
• 1.5 yards Sashing Fabric: Blessed Beyond Measure by Riley Blake Designs Geo Cream
• 1.5 yards Black Fabric (Block, Sashing Squares, Binding) Blessed Beyond Measure Ditsy Black by Riley Blake Designs
• 0.5 yards Corner Fabric: Blessed Beyond Measure by Riley Blake Designs Pointe Cream
• 3.5 yards Backing Fabric: Small White Dots on Red by Riley Blake Designs

OPTIONAL:

AccuQuilt GO! Qube for cutting your half-square triangles - NO trimming! 

or

Bloc-loc Ruler for trimming half-square triangles

Pattern Adjustments:

Below are the fabrics I used, which corresponds to the Focus Quilt Pattern. Fabric requirements are listed above under Supplies.

(A) Blessed Beyond Measure Panel

(B) (Sashing Squares) (Binding) Blessed Beyond Measure Ditsy Black

(C) Blessed Beyond Measure Pointe Cream Black

(D) Blessed Beyond Measure Pointe Cream

(Sashing Strips) Blessed Beyond Measure Geo Cream

I really love making the Focus Quilt as the large center of the block allows you to "focus" on your favorite print! PS - If you check out my Focus Quilt Pattern you will have a big hint on the quilt that I'm sharing in September ;).

I really love adding a Woven Quilt3r Label (here) to my quilts! Plus that Red/White Polka Dot backing fabric is awesome!

Be sure to purchase your Focus Quilt PDF Pattern (HERE)

Blessed Beyond Measure will be shipping to your favorite quilt shop August 2020 !!!

Be sure to follow me on Instagram @ABitofScrapStuff  and here on my A Bit of Scrap Stuff Blog for more fabric fun!

Have a great day and happy quilting! 

Melanie

This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for supporting A Bit of Scrap Stuff. My family appreciates it!