Happy Wednesday! Today I have a little shop news to share as well as a quick updates on a few recent vintage sheet projects I've been working on.

There are more vintage sheet fat quarter bundles in the shop! This round features lots of great florals in whites and creams for your next soft and subtle project! All the sheets were salvaged from local thrift stores. Find them in my shop here: Vintage Sheet Fat Quarter Bundles


Bundle A


Bundle B


Bundle C



Bundle D

Find them in my shop here: Vintage Sheet Fat Quarter Bundles



I finally was able to get a flat shot of my vintage sheet plus quilt that I made this Spring! It was so big that it didn't fit either of my photo taking spots here, so I took it back to Ohio with me to photograph on my parent's barn.


I also photographed my vintage sheet side braid quilt while I was home!! I don't think I've shared any of this quilt here on the blog, I hope to write up a post about it soon. It was also the first vintage sheet quilt I've had longarm quilted, and it's so dreamy!!


I love having garland or bunting hanging in our living room and I recently made myself a new one! I think I need to take it down to get a proper photo, but here is a little peek. I love how it turned out! It's so cheerful.


Right now I'm working on a new pillow cover! I have a big pillow form to cover, and decided to make the pillow from my giant vintage star quilt pattern. Mostly because I cannot find the pillow that I made when I released the pattern. I know it's in the house somewhere, but it honestly seemed faster to just make another than search too hard for it!


I've been really loving working so much with sheets again, it's so satisfying!

Happy Sewing!

Vintage Sheet Plus Quilt

Happy Thursday! Today I want to share my finished vintage sheet plus quilt that I made during the Plus Quilt Along!


I had so much fun working on a soft and subtle plus quilt on a larger scale. I made a baby quilt with all low-contrast vintage reclaimed bedsheets earlier in the year, and I just can't get it out of my system! It's bringing me so much joy to work with these fabrics. Since making the first one, I thrifted a few that made it into this quilt which is fun!


Wow, this quilt is big!! It doesn't sound that big (80"x88"), but it's so much bigger than what I normally make! I mostly make small throw (like 60"x80") quilts or baby quilts. I forgot how much longer each step takes on a quilt of this size. This quilt was too big for both of my go-to spots for taking flat shots! I plan to bring it home with us to Ohio this summer so that I can photograph it on my parent's barn. For now, this will have to do!


Update, here is a flat shot!


Because this quilt was so large, I kept the quilting as simple as possible. I quilted lines 1/4" away from all the seams.


I'll admit, I struggled to quilt this quilt. I thought I did a good job basting, but the layers were sliding all over the place on me. I'm not sure if it was the weight of the quilt or a mediocre basting job or some mysterious third reason! Leave it to quilting to continue to humble me. Thankfully my troubles were mostly disguised with a good wash and dry.


Sometime last year I thrifted two King size flat sheets of this brown butterfly sheet! It holds a special place in my heart, I used this print to make a dresden pillow back in 2011 that we still love and use today. Since the quilt was so big, I pretty much had to use a King size sheet to back it.


For the binding I used leftover fabric from the back, my current favorite choice.


My last two quilt finishes I forgot to add one of my custom tags, so this time I made sure to add one!


In the end, I love how this quilt turned out! I wish the quilting had gone a little better, but maybe next time! It did make me realize that this is a bit too big of a quilt for me to quilt myself. I think I'll stick with smaller throws and baby quilts for a while!

Vintage Sheet Plus Quilt
Pattern: Arithmetic Quilt Pattern (Double size, 4.5" squares)
Fabric: Vintage Reclaimed Bedsheets

Happy Quilting!

Plus Quilt Along Week 4

Welcome to week four of the Plus Quilt Along! I'll be updating the Sew Along Page each week with all the posts so that you can easily catch up or reference these posts after the sew along ends!

I hope you'll sew along with us! Sew from the tutorial or the pattern:
Arithmetic Quilt Pattern
Modern Plus Quilt Tutorial


This is our final week and we're focused on finishing our quilts! I want to share a few different ideas for quilting your quilts as well as some posts that might be helpful!


I've quilted most of my plus quilts on my home sewing machine, primarily with my walking foot. My go-to quilting for plus quilts is to simply do lines 1/4" away from all the seams.



The other quilting pattern I like to use for plus quilts is diagonal lines. Especially for the 4.5" square size, I think this looks especially nice!



A word of caution however, for the 8" size, a diagonal line through each block may not be strong enough. I did this on mu double gauze plus quilt, and have had lots of broken seams as it's been used. the double gauze has so much weight to it, I'm sure that's not helping! To remedy this, I've added ties to the quilt. I think this adds to the overall coziness, it felt like the right fix for this particular quilt.


You can't go wrong with a simple free-motion quilting design for the plus quilt. For this one I quilted some simple loops.




I've had a few plus quilts long-arm quilted. I've gone for more structured geometric designs but also an organic loop too. They all look good in my opinion!


Need a refresher on basting/quilting basics? Check out my tutorial: Basting and Quilting Tutorial


It's fun to see how I've gone through phases in binding choices over the years. I think in my early quilting days I favored more bold choices for binding. Nowadays my go-to binding choice is usually the leftover backing fabric! I'm really loving the look of the backing and binding matching, I don't know why! It's also a nice way to use up the extra backing that is cut away after quilting, which is a bonus!


A classic choice is stripes! In my opinion, striped binding is always a good option!!



For non-quilting cotton quilts I love to add some texture contrast with the binding fabric. For both my flannel and double gauze plus quilts I used voile or lawn for the binding. The feeling of the smooth lawn against the soft fuzzy double gauze is delicious!


I am a dedicated machine binder, I have a tutorial for that too, if you're interested in trying it out: Machine Quilt Binding Tutorial


Thank you for quilting along with me! I hope you've enjoyed the quilt along! I'll be sharing my finished quilt later this week! :)

Happy Quilting!

Plus Quilt Along Week 3

Welcome to week three of the Plus Quilt Along! I'll be updating the Sew Along Page each week with all the posts so that you can easily catch up or reference these posts after the sew along ends!

I hope you'll sew along with us! Sew from the tutorial or the pattern:
Arithmetic Quilt Pattern
Modern Plus Quilt Tutorial


This week we're working on our quilt tops! It's time to lay out your quilt and then piece your quilt top! Let's dive into some tips and tricks for making this a smooth process.


For these quilts it's ideal to be able to lay out the entire quilt top at once. This means you'll probably need to clear a large amount of floor space, or clear off your design wall. If you're making a throw or baby quilt, you may even be able to lay out your quilt on a bed!

When I lay out a plus quilt, I like to use a large piece of foam board to separate all my squares by print. This makes it easy to move all the squares around the floor as I lay out the quilt. You could also use your cutting mat, or a clean cookie sheet.


Sometimes it can be tough to get a good spread of value and color in your quilt top so that it looks evenly distributed. I find taking a photograph and viewing it in color as well as in black and white can be really helpful! Oftentimes I can see right away a print that's sticking out or where I have similar colors clumped together.


Once I'm happy with my layout, I put my handmade row markers to work! I use these for nearly every quilt I make. Make your own using my tutorial: Easy DIY Row Markers for Quilting.


I like to stack the squares up in each row, then stack all my rows into one big stack of squares! Then it's time to start piecing. Chain piecing helps make quick work of these quilt tops, if you need a refresher check out my Chain Piecing Tutorial.


For even more piecing tips, check out my 8 Tips for Precise Piecing!


Ever lose track of which way you’re pressing your row seams? When I’m piecing a quilt top, I usually press my seams in one direction and alternate directions every other row. A few years ago I made a simple decision that makes my life easier: I press seams in odd numbered rows away from the row marker. I press seams in even numbered rows towards the row marker. I’ve done it this way on many, many quilts and I rarely end up with a row pressed the wrong way! Even if my rows are out of order when I do the pressing, this simple habit keeps things organized.


Pressing a quilt top isn't super high on my list of favorite quilting tasks, but I do love how good it looks when it's neatly pressed! Now it's all ready for next week!

Happy Quilting!

Plus Quilt Along Week 2

Welcome to week two of the Plus Quilt Along! I'll be updating the Sew Along Page each week with all the posts so that you can easily catch up or reference these posts after the sew along ends!

I hope you'll sew along with us! Sew from the tutorial or the pattern:
Arithmetic Quilt Pattern
Modern Plus Quilt Tutorial


This week we're going to work on cutting out our quilts. The cutting for these quilts is straightforward, lots of squares!

If you're working from the yardage called for in the pattern, you'll be cutting all the yardage into squares. You will have some extra squares to give you more flexibility when laying out your quilt.

If you're planning to cut from scraps, both the pattern and tutorial versions contain totals for each plus shape that appears in the quilt. Most of the quilt will be "full pluses" which are made up of five squares each. There are also partial pluses made up of four or three squares and single squares along the edges of the quilts.

If you're planning to cut your squares from stash yardage or a mix of yardage amounts, this table may be helpful to you! You can see exactly how many squares you can get from a handful of yardage types. These three square sizes are the sizes included in the Arithmetic Quilt Pattern:

	Fat Eighth	1/8 yard	Fat Quarter	1/4 yard	1/2 yard
2.5" squares	24	16	56	48	112
4.5" squares	8	9	16	18	72
8" squares	2	0	4	5	10

I wanted to share a few quick tips for accurate cutting. If you're a seasoned quilter, these will probably all be familiar to you, but they might be a good reminder!

Press Well
It can be tempting to skip this step, especially if you don't have any harsh fold lines in your fabric. I always regret it when I don't take the time to properly press my fabrics before I start cutting! It just makes everything easier!

Fresh Blade
When was the last time you changed your rotary blade? If you can't remember, it's probably time for a new one! Not only will you get cleaner cuts, you'll need to use less force to make those cuts.

Squaring Up
Don't forget to start cutting from a clean, squared up edge. I feel this is especially important when you're cutting strips from a piece of yardage. If you're working with the 4.5" square size for your quilt, just be careful not to trim away too much! You'll need the full 18" of your fat quarters or half yards.

Stack Strips
If you feel comfortable, stacking strips when cutting out your squares can make things go a lot faster! I try to limit my stack to four strips thick, but I'm probably more accurate when I only stack two or three!

Happy Quilting!