I want to share some personal news today! At the end of 2025, we're moving! Michael (my husband) is starting a new job and we'll be moving to Pennsylvania. The plan was for our time in Connecticut to be temporary, so this move has been on the horizon for a while. It's a good thing, but also comes with a lot of mixed emotions! We grew to love CT and our home more than we expected to. It will be really hard to leave our community, home, and favorite spots. We're ready to be closer to family though, and I know it will be for the best in the long run. The emotional pain and stress of packing up our life and leaving is so real though!

I'm sharing this now because this will definitely affect how I am able to show up here in the next year-ish. I already struggle to find a work-life balance while being at home with a toddler, so I know all the work that comes along with a big move will make that even more difficult. I will continue to craft and share through this process because my work and this space are important to me. I would love to take you along for the journey, especially in terms of downsizing/moving a craft space. We'll see what I can manage!


You can expect a destash of fabric, other craft supplies and a sample sale later this year. I'll also be putting together more vintage sheet bundles over the coming months. For now I'm starting small. I am ready to discontinue my printed mini patterns. I'm including a full set of five mini patterns ($15 value) with every order in my online shop of physical products (paper patterns, twill, paracord, beads, vintage sheet bundles, books, etc.) while supplies last.

Now that my news is out of the way, let's dive into what I've been working on lately!


It's been a mix of small new projects and working away on older works-in-progress. I think it's the moving mentality, I just want to get some of these lingering projects done! Funny how much of a motivator that can be.


First up, I tackled a pile of offcuts from my original Keep Turning Quilt. I had a good amount of offcuts from making this quilt, and I've been saving them in a little pile for the last five years. I also happened to have a lot of scraps of the same fabrics I used too, so I got to work! I went super scrappy and improv with these blocks, which I haven't done in a long time. My main goals were to end up with a baby-ish sized quilt and to hide the offcuts a little. I feel like I did okay! Now I just need to quilt it and get it finished.


This quilt has been in progress for SO long. I tried to look back in the archives to see when I started it, but I somehow never talked about it! This is a quilt using the Night Sky Quilt Pattern by Jaybird Quilts and various fabrics by Leah Duncan. I cut it out at least 10 years ago, and I've pulled it out a few times over the years and worked on it a bit. About a month ago I decided I was pulling it out for the last time. Time to get it finished!! I decided to deviate from the pattern and put my blocks together differently. I skipped the sashing between blocks and cut equilateral triangles to fill the gaps instead. It doesn't have quite the same look as the true-to-pattern version as a result. In hindsight, I probably should have just followed the pattern verbatim! On the other hand, this change allowed me to get this quilt top over the finish line, so I think for me it was the right call. It's still going to be a beautiful quilt!


Not the right season for it, but I'm working on the scrap Christmas quilt that I started in December! It's basted and ready for quilting.


It's not all old works-in-progress over here, I started a new handwork project! A cross stitch mushroom sampler. I haven't picked up cross stitch in many, many years. When I saw Katie working on this sampler though, I knew I had a make it! It's a free pattern from Lecien, which you can find here if you're interested: Mushroom Family Sampler. I didn't have any pieces of Aida cloth large enough, so I ended up picking some up from my local creative reuse store. It was off-white, so I dyed it! Honestly, it was easier to dye than I thought it would be. I think I got the color pretty close to their sample!


One thing I've finished recently are these pouches! I wanted to get my daughter's coloring supplies out of the cardboard boxes so I made these pouches with my towel scraps. These are all unlined, super simple, but they do the job! I figured they're going to get covered in crayon and marker anyways, might as well make them from something absorbent and washable! I love how they turned out. I really love working with towels, more than I thought I would!


Yesterday I pulled out a stack of half-square triangle blocks made from Dreamin' Vintage and started sewing them together! Thankfully past Jeni already trimmed them. I'm making broken dish blocks, but that's my only plan. I have no idea how many blocks I'll end up with, or how big the project will be. I just started sewing!

Have a Great Weekend!

Vintage Sheet Schoolhouse Quilt

Happy Tuesday! Today I have a finished quilt to share! This one is my take on a traditional schoolhouse quilt, made using reclaimed vintage bedsheets.


This past winter, a vintage schoolhouse quilt caught my eye and got my gears turning. I couldn't get it out of my head, so I decided to make one schoolhouse block (with no intentions of making a whole quilt to be honest). The problem was, I couldn't find a block pattern that I liked. So I drew this one up! I made it just how I wanted. It's a big block, using 2.5" strips for most of the construction. For the roof, I chose to do a paper pieced strip instead of messing with templates or funky seams.

I had so much fun putting this block together that I decided to make a whole quilts worth! Each block features a different colorful focal fabric with a different white sheet as the background. On some blocks I made the focal and background fabrics coordinate, on others I didn't.


I normally like to cut out an entire quilt before I start sewing, but for this quilt I cut and sewed each block as I went. It was actually pretty satisfying to work this way. Since I don't have large chunks of time to sew anymore, being able to start and finish a block in a sitting was really nice.


Despite my very limited sewing time, this quilt came together fast! I felt so motivated and inspired to get it done. It was a joy to sew.
Since these blocks are so big (18" finished), I could get away with making just 12 and end up with a decent sized throw quilt.


I used all different white fabrics for the background of each block and for the sashing pieces. I did choose a single fabric for the cornerstones, to keep it from getting too wild! I auditioned quite a few options but eventually landed on this colorful tropical fabric.


I sent this quilt to Katie at Autumn Moon Quilting for longarm quilting. I still can't get over the fact that I can send out an all sheet quilt for professional quilting, I'm giddy over it!! For this quilt I chose the "Lollipop Garden" quilting design. I think it's so fun! Katie did a great job, as always.


Speaking of, the backing is this incredible blue and green floral. I've been holding on to this one specifically to use for a quilt back!



I had to use a striped binding, right? There are just too many good stripe prints to ignore! I chose a blue stripe for this quilt to match the backing.


I loved making this quilt. From choosing the fabrics to designing and making the blocks. It was one of those quilts that I just head to get out of my head! I think I would like to try making some more quilts in these sweet bright fabrics, using more traditional block designs.

Vintage Sheet Schoolhouse Quilt
Pattern: Self-drafted personal pattern
Fabrics: Vintage Reclaimed Bedsheets

Happy Quilting!

(More) Adventures in Thrifting

Happy Thursday! It's time for another installment of Adventures in Thrifting! We're still getting caught up with a few highlights of the things I've thrifted over the last year. Starting with this sweet paint by number I picked up from Goodwill. I eventually want to either paint the frame or reframe it, but I really like the colors!


Another piece of art I found more recently was this little pansy needlepoint. It needed a bit of help, the frame was damaged and I knew I wanted to spruce it up a little. I ended up painting the frame to look like the edges of a stamp. I am really happy with how it turned out!!


Was very excited to find this Finel teapot in the Kehra pattern. I have a matching bowl!


Another before and after, this time of a very dirty Chemex. My Dad actually bought this, but I helped get it fixed up and in working order again! We've been using a Chemex exclusively for many years and absolutely love it.


I found this little pitcher at the Restore for a couple dollars. I usually keep water in it on the counter to refill my plant propagation station.


Love a good tin, always! This girl scout first aid tin has slots on the back so you can put this on a belt!! So cool.


I picked up this vintage Craftsman carryall tool caddy on the side of the road, for free! It needed some repairs but it's now in working order again!


I was surprised to find this little vintage singer sewing machine at the Goodwill Outlet! It was in this cute plastic carrying case. A great addition to my collection of miniature machines.


One of my favorite table cloth finds! Not sure what I want to do with it yet, we'll see! Maybe one day I'll have a table that is the perfect size for it.


A set of beautiful floral napkins. Since there are only two, I plan to sew them into something! Probably a bag of some kind.


Sweet strawberry napkins and tea towel! The napkins are already being used as napkins but I'll probably cut up the towel!




Always, always looking for sheets and pillowcases!


This was a particularly good day of thrifting! That towel is one of my favorites.

Happy Thrifting!

HST Leftovers Free Baby Quilt Pattern

Happy Monday! Today I have a finished quilt and a free baby quilt tutorial to share with you! I recently made a baby quilt for one of Michael's co-workers and decided to use it as an opportunity to write a tutorial! It's the same design as the Leftovers Quilt I made last year.


The first quilt (the Leftovers Quilt shown above) I made in this design started from a desire to use up a pile of leftover half-square triangles. I had a good number, but not quite enough to make a healthy throw quilt. I thought about just making more half-square triangle blocks, but instead decided to extend the blocks by making them into (almost) quarter square triangle blocks. The blocks are made with one half-square triangle and one print square. So you end up with a block that has a half triangle and two quarter triangles.


Specifically for this baby quilt version I knew I wanted to use a bunch of black and white fabrics. Nowadays there is lots of high-contrast things for newborns, so I thought it would fun to feature high contrast prints in a baby quilt. Of course I had to add a few pops of color too.


The baby quilt I'm sharing in this tutorial is 40" square and has 5" finished blocks. You could make this quilt larger (or smaller), by making more blocks or by making the blocks larger. If you're using up leftover half-square triangles from your stash, just match them up with fabric squares of the same size!


I kept the quilting simple (as usual!) with some straight lines on either side of the seams.


The backing is one of my prints from Geometric Bliss.


For the binding I was able to use up a bunch of binding scraps that matched! Very satisfying.


To gift this baby quilt I made a drawstring bag to match! This is an Artist size bag from my lined drawstring bag pattern, which is my favorite size for baby quilts.

Half-square Triangle Leftovers Baby Quilt Tutorial:

Sewing Level: Beginner Friendly
Finished Size: 40"x40"
Finished Block Size: 5"x5"

Materials:
- 1 yard total Colorful Fabrics
- 5/8 yard Black Fabric
- 5/8 yard Background Fabric
- 48"x48" quilt batting
- 2 2/3 yards of backing fabric
- 1/3 yard of binding fabric

Cutting:
From Colorful Fabrics:
- Cut a total of (32) 6" squares

From Black Fabric:
- Cut a total of (16) 6.5" squares

From Background Fabric:
- Cut a total of (16) 6.5" squares

Half-square Triangle Leftovers Baby Quilt Instructions:
*Use a 1/4” seam allowance unless otherwise noted.*

Block Construction:

1. Make Half-square Triangle Blocks: Using a marking pen or a pencil, draw a diagonal line across the wrong side of all 6.5” background squares. Place one 6.5" background square and one 6.5" black square right sides together. Stitch 1/4" on both sides of the marked line. Cut apart on the marked line to create two half-square triangles. Press seams open. Do not trim blocks at this time. Repeat with remaining squares to make a total of 32 half-square triangle blocks.


2. Make Quarter Square Triangle Blocks: Using a marking pen or a pencil, draw a diagonal line across the wrong side of all 6” colorful fabric squares. Place one 6" colorful fabric square and one untrimmed half-square triangle block (from step one) together, so that the line marked on the colorful fabric square and the seam on the half-square triangle block are perpendicular to one another. Stitch 1/4" on both sides of the marked line. Cut apart on the marked line to create two quarter-square triangle blocks. Press seams open.



Trim blocks to 5.5" square. To make sure the center of your block ends up in the center after trimming, line up the center seam intersection with the mark that's half the trim size, so in this case 2.75".


This method creates two blocks that match, but are not identical. To make laying out the quilt top easier, let's call these A blocks and B blocks.

Repeat with remaining squares and half-square triangle blocks to create 64 quarter-square triangle blocks.

Quilt Top Construction:

1. Arrange blocks into 8 rows of 8 blocks each, using the photo above as a guide. To create the secondary pattern with the black and white fabrics you'll need to alternate A and B blocks in each row. The odd numbered rows will start with an A block, the even numbered rows will start with a B block.


2. Sew blocks together in each row. Press seams in one direction, alternating direction every other row. Sew rows together, press as desired. Press top well from the right side.

Quilt Assembly and Finishing:

1. Backing: Cut backing yardage in half. Press. Trim off the selvedges and sew pieces together lengthwise. Press seam open.

2. Basting: Using masking or painter’s tape, tape the backing to a clean, hard surface, right side down. Spread out your batting on top of the backing. Smooth out any wrinkles. Carefully spread out your quilt top on top of the batting, right side up. Pin your top, I like to use curved safety pins, spacing the pins a few inches apart. Make sure that your pins are going through all three layers.

3. Quilting: Quilt as desired, by machine or by hand. Trim away excess batting and backing fabric.


4. Binding: Cut yardage listed for binding into 2.5” strips. Trim off selvedges and sew your strips together to form one long strip, press seams open. Fold in half lengthwise, pressing with your iron as you fold. Attach binding using your preferred method. For a detailed tutorial on attaching your binding to both sides by machine: Machine Quilt Binding Tutorial.

I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial! I have lots of other tutorials for everything from quilts, pillows, bags, and holiday items to informational series and techniques. Find all my tutorials here: Tutorials. My online shop is filled with patterns for quilts and bags. Find my patterns here: Jeni Baker Patterns

Tag me @jenib320 and use my hashtag #jenibaker on instagram if you make something from this tutorial!

Don't forget to pin this post to your Pinterest for future reference!


Happy Quilting!