Charming Nine

Charming Nine

Charming Nine quilt designed by Maureen Cracknell and stitched by Sharon Holland

Charming Nine quilt designed by Maureen Cracknell and stitched by Sharon Holland

Scrap quilts and Nine Patch blocks hold a special place in my heart. Collecting fabrics and making quilts from a stash is the core reason for me making quilts in the first place and what started my love affair with prints, calicos, and becoming a surface pattern designer.

The Nine Patch quilt block is especially meaningful to me because it was the second quilt I’d ever made and the first quilt I hand quilted. The first ‘quilt’ was actually a Nine Patch variation with sashing and tied, so technically it doesn’t count as a quilt because of the way it was finished.

To see my first quilt of a red and white Single Irish Chain quilt on my @sharonhollanddesigns Instagram post swipe through to the second slide to see a fun stop motion video.

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Last week Maureen Cracknell posted images on her Instagram account of a Nine Patch quilt she was making that used 34 different fabrics from combining her 16 piece Art Gallery Fabrics Homebody collection with my 16 piece Kismet collection and 2 prints from Bonnie Christine’s Lambkin collection.

AGF Nine Patch bundle and photo courtesy of Lady Belle Fabric

AGF Nine Patch bundle and photo courtesy of Lady Belle Fabric

I instantly fell in love with Maureen’s quilt and had to make one, too! Because I had written the free pattern for my Charming One quilt last fall, I thought it would be fun to continue the beginner-friendly series of easy quilts and dubbed this quilt pattern Charming Nine because of it’s inherent scrappy nature. Find both the patterns on my Free Projects page.

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This fabric pull is a partial look at the fabrics that went into my Nine Patch version. I had just a few scraps of my upcoming Lilliput collection left and because they were light prints I decided to keep the lights and darks of the Nine Patches in the same place on each block, opposed to Maureen’s quilt that she mixed up the light and dark positions in the blocks.

By my using the light prints in the 4-patch positions on the Nine patch I could conserve my little bit of fabric and use the 5-patch darker fabrics in solids and blenders that I had more materials of. I ended up supplementing this pull with Homebody, Kismet, Spirited, Pure Solids, Decostitch, and AGF denim to get enough for my scrap quilt. I also kept the background squares of my quilt light to create a Single Irish Chain affect with the diagonal dark squares as a nod to my first quilt make.

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I’m calling my quilt a Controlled Scrappy quilt because even though I used 16 different fabrics there’s an order to the light and dark placement to create an obvious pattern to the quilt design.

You will want visit Maureen’s blog to read about her quilt and see her beautiful photos. I like to think of our two versions as sister quilts, Town and Country quilts, or Controlled Scrappy and Super Scrappy quilts but however you name them they’re uniquely beautiful and so much fun to make!

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Like I mentioned earlier, this scrap quilt pattern is fat quarter friendly and written using Strip Sets rather than cutting a bunch of squares. You can use as many or few of prints as you like and in whatever way to reach the total yardage required (see PDF pattern). I used a mix of scraps, fat quarters and width of fabric cuts to get the number of blocks needed. Jelly Roll strips will also be great to use on this project.

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I could’ve evenly distributed the Nine Patch blocks across my top like Maureen had done but to accentuate the difference between our versions and keep more control over the look of my quilt I placed the Nine Patch blocks in diagonal lines by color or close enough color if I ran out of fabric for an exact match.

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With the low volume spring-inspired palette and playful nature-based prints I was smitten by the cottage-style of my quilt and wanted to play off the vintage feeling to it’s fullest. So, to give some added texture and comfort to the quilt I used two layers of Hobbs Tuscany Silk batting! Doubling up the batting makes the quilt heavier and stiffer but has an incredible, vintage heft and feel! The machine quilt has lovely definition and the binding edge is thick and wonderful.

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This quilt needed to be made and finished quickly because there was also a pattern to be written and photographs to be taken before posting a week later. I started cutting pieces on a Thursday and by following Tuesday morning put the last hand stitches in to the binding. I didn’t have time to send this quilt out to be professionally long arm quilted so I did the free motion quilting myself. Yes, it’s irregular and very organic (a pleasant word for wonky) but I’m very happy with the results and it fits the true utility scrap quilt tradition.

At first I was tempted to do diagonal straight line quilting but thought that would be pretty boring and maybe I could do something just a little better than that. I ended up with this not-so-perfect Orange Peel design that I will share with you just how easy it is to do—without even marking your quilt or using templates or rulers!

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Orange Peel Quilting

  1. Working on the diagonal, and eye-balling down the center of the blocks, start needle at the corner of a block and stitch an arching half circle or shallow curve that returns to the center of the block. Repeat that same arching curve, ending at the opposite corner of the block. Continue repeating the two arching curves on each block until you reach the end of the diagonal block row.

  2. Turn the quilt around and repeat Step 1, arching the curves to reflect the curves made on the first pass down the quilt.

  3. Repeat Steps 1 and 2 creating parallel diagonal arching stitches down and back up each Nine Patch and Square diagonal rows creating loops as show in illustration 3.

  4. Repeat Steps 1 through 3 in the diagonally opposite direction to create Orange Peel quilting. Note that the quilting on my quilt has shallow loops compared to the nice computer generated example. If you’d like your quilting design to be more regular and closer to perfect, you may want to mark the top first or use a curved ruler when stitching.

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For the backing of my quilt I used Ikat Diamond Posh from my Art Gallery Fabrics Kismet collection. My labels are made by the Dutch Label Shop and I hand stitched the binding with a running stitch for a little extra special touch.

I hope you make yourself a Charming Nine quilt and get your quilt friend involved too. You could have a Nine Patch block exchange or a virtual Sew In—a good excuse to play with fabrics and sew!

Fabric carrots by Sharon Holland

Fabric carrots by Sharon Holland

While we’re talking about scraps, I wanted to share a fast and fun project I had posted on my Instagram account—Fabric Carrots. This was inspired by burlap carrots I saw at Target and thought, “Heck, I could make those and there’s some prints in my Lilliput collection that would make the cutest carrots!”

The project is so easy I felt it didn’t need any more than a silent stop motion video to explain how to make them. You can use scraps, make them any size or length you’d like, and there’s only two seams to sew! I took my carrots and made a door decoration from hanging them with raffia. Use the link and slide through the photo like the one shown above to see the tutorial video HERE. See the door decoration post HERE.

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If you’ve been wondering about this Lilliput collection I’ve been talking about in this post and the few prints you’ve seen used in my Charming Nine quilt, I’m talking about the next fabric line I designed. Lilliput is my first ever children’s collection but it’s not just for kids and has prints the whole family will love. Take a look at the collection on the AGF website, HERE.

Lilliput is my 10th collection for Art Gallery Fabrics and is slightly delayed because of all the shipping hassles happening world wide but due in any day and it wont be long before this collection starts showing up in your local quilt shop and favorite on line shops!

I’ve started a stock list for online shops carrying Lilliput and you’ll find link on my Fabrics page. Some of these shops are taking pre-orders for the collection to if you’re one who likes to have collections as they first come out and before shops sell out you’ll want to get your name on the list!

Trust me, there’ll be much more to share about Lilliput and new quilt patterns in the weeks ahead. Until then, happy sewing!

I am an Amazon Associate site and earn from qualifying purchases on the products I’ve linked below. The helpful products selected are the same or similar to materials used to make the project(s) in this blog post or related items I think you may enjoy.

Rose Window Quilt

Rose Window Quilt

Rose Window quilt by Sharon Holland

Rose Window quilt by Sharon Holland

Earlier this year Elizabeth Chappell of Quilter’s Candy Membership asked me if I’d like to design a quilt for the November Quilter’s Candy Membership and the answer to that was…YES! It took me several months to figure out just want I wanted to make as a quilt pattern and I wanted it to be something very special. The result is my Rose Window quilt pattern.

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Quilter’s Candy Membership is a subscriber membership that opens a few times a year and features a new quilt or sewing pattern each month. Registration will open again in the new year so check the website HERE for more information.

Right now the Rose Window quilt pattern is exclusive to QCM but after 6 months I’ll be releasing it as a stand alone PDF pattern and it’ll be available in my shop. This post will just be eye-candy to show you the two sizes I made and to show off the work of my quilt testers with their beautiful Rose Window makes.

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As I said, the pattern offers the quilt in two sizes. The oversize throw shown above and a crib/wall size quilt. The pattern is a mix of traditional patchwork and foundation paper-piecing. Don’t be frightened off by foundation paper-piecing, it’s easier than you think and I’ve created a video to go along with the pattern so you’ll have that available to you once the pattern is published this spring.

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For the oversize throw I used prints from my new Art Gallery Fabrics Kismet collection and AGF Pure Solids. The backing is a print from my Art Gallery Fabrics Bountiful collection and it always amazes me how easy it is to mix and match between AGF collections!

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The quilting on the throw was done by Brooke Becker of Lady Belle Fabric and we selected the Abstract Butterfly panto which has become one of my favorite quilt designs.

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I went with Hobbs Heirloom !00% Cotton Batting inside and the quilt has a lovely, traditional drape and feel to it.

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The crib/wall sample I wanted to make something with a holiday feel and selected various red and green prints from a mix of my AGF collections. For this quilt I added a few hand stitched lines of quilting and mostly machine quilted it all in a diagonal cross hatch pattern, using the points on the blocks as a guide. This quilt also has Hobbs Heirloom Cotton batting inside.

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This is the perfect crib size or would also make a lovely wallhanging.

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Meet the Testers

I was fortunate to work the the most incredible group of ladies this year and have them test my quilt patterns. About half the Rose Window pattern testers had never done foundation paper-piecing before and were surprised how much they enjoyed the experience! I think they did an amazing job!

I hope you stop by their Instagram feeds, websites, and or shops to learn more about them.

Jennifer Cannon of Piper Autumn Designs

Jennifer Cannon is an Etsy shop owner of the fun Piper Autumn Designs fabric shop and can also be found on Instagram as @piperautumndesigns.

Jennifer Monroe of Sunshine Selvage

Find Jennifer Monroe on Instagram and @sunshineselvage

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Find Joyce Ulm of @evamaecustomquilts, Etsy shop, and on her Facebook blog HERE

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See Renata Auld’s beautiful work on her Instagram feed @ciaomamaquilts

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Find Sara Marie Gardner on Instagram @sewlucille and her blog at Sew Lucille Handmade and Etsy shop by the same name, HERE.

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Victoria Newmyer has a wonderful online quilt shop Midlife Quilter and beautiful Instagram account @midlife_quilter that you’ll definitely will want to drop by and take a look.

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Angela Porritt can be found on Instagram as @wildrose_quiltco as is one to follow for a fresh take on quilting.

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I’m excited to remake this quilt again in spring for it’s second launch to everyone and am thinking of remaking it in my Lilliput fabric collection that comes out in February. You can see Lilliput as well as the rest of the Art Gallery Fabrics new 2021 Part 1 fabric collections by clicking on the video below.

Happy sewing,

Sharon

Kismet Look Book

Kismet Look Book

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Every aspect of fabric design is exciting but some parts more so than others. I needed to learn to be patient along with how to pull together a beautiful collection. Concept to production can take upwards of a year sometimes so much thought and planning goes into predicting trends and colors that will work for the season the collection finally lands in a shop owners hands at your local fabric store or favorite online shop. All that hard work and waiting pays off when Art Gallery Fabrics releases a new fabric line and collection Look Book!

The Art Gallery Fabrics Kismet Look Book is a virtual publication you can view right on your computer or device—for free. Click HERE to view.

I’ve been secret sewing projects for the Kismet Look Book along with other talented makers. Each contributor makes and photographs their projects and Art Gallery Fabrics puts it altogether into a beautiful virtual publication.

For this blog post I’ll only be showing the four projects I made for the Kismet Look Book plus a quilt made from my Vista quilt pattern. You’ll most definitely want to take some time and pour over the Look Book pages to see all the other amazing contributions by your favorite online makers—this post is just a teaser!

Trapeze Quilt

Trapeze quilt by Sharon Holland

Trapeze quilt by Sharon Holland

The first and biggest of my project makes is a full-size Trapeze quilt in Kismet and Pure Solids. When I first designed this quilt earlier this fall I had designed it with Kismet in mind but the fabrics had not arrived yet for me to make a sample so I made the beautiful Sky version in blues for the pattern launch last month. Purchase the Trapeze Sky Quilt Kit at Lady Belle Fabrics.

Find the Trapeze quilt pattern HERE in my Shop.

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I had Brooke Becker of Lady Belle Fabrics quilt this for me and we selected my favorite panto called, Abstract Butterflies. The batting is Hobbs Heirloom 100% Cotton batting inside for a traditional drape and feel. This quilt pattern is one of my favorite makes this year and the Kismet version has now been put in use on my bed.

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With Kismet fabrics selling out so fast in shops we made it real easy for you to shop this look! Lady Belle Fabrics has the Trapeze Kismet Quilt Kit available in her shop. Don’t delay on getting your hands on one of these kits!

Also, now through Thanksgiving weekend US customers will get free shipping on their orders! Plus, Brooke will have SALES running all weekend so this is the time to stock up on all your favorite fabrics!

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Charming One

Charming One quilt by Sharon Holland

Charming One quilt by Sharon Holland

With every fabric collection I like to have at least one free pattern to add to my Free Projects page. We are sent fabric strike offs from the mill before we get the final rolls of fabric. Strike offs are small pieces of fabric that Art Gallery Fabrics evaluates for color and quality before giving final approval on a collection. The designers are sent these pieces so we can get an early glimpse of the prints and hopefully create something to get ahead of the mad dash of sewing right before the Look Book releases.

I had a handful of scraps that I didn’t want to waste and decided to create a very simple, yet fun scrappy One-Patch quilt. In all my years of sewing I’m not even sure I’ve done a One-Patch quilt before!

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To extend the little I had left of prints I included many shade of coordinating Pure Solids, AGF Decostitch Blenders, and AGF Smooth Denim. There were only four squares of the Mudcloth Berries print from Kismet so I decided to make them a feature in the center of the quilt.

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To make it a little more special I put everything on the diagonal and kept the quilting very, very simple and stitched in the ditch. If you’re an absolute beginner at quilting or just want to use up some scraps—this is a fun and rewarding quilt to make!

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I used Hobbs Heirloom 100% Cotton batting inside this quilt as well and love the traditional feel of it. Sometimes the simple quilts are the best and sure show off the prints beautifully! I made the pattern layer cake friendly that you can get 4 squares per 10” precut. Download the free pattern HERE.

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Pillow Shams

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Not only do I love making things but I also love photographing them! Once all my Kismet projects were completed I had a couple days of photography, To set up the lovely Charming One quilt bed scene I wanted pillows with Kismet fabric so why not make my own pillow shams! I used the wonderful YouTube tutorial video by Craft Gemini to learn how to make these easy and picture-perfect shams. These are going to go right into use now as well and pillows and pillowcases are the perfect way to freshen up any room.

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Meet the Testers

Three of my pattern testers made their own Charming One quilts. I love how each makers personality shines through from their scrap basket fabric pulls. Be sure to visit these talent makers via the highlighted links.

Charming One quilt make by Kathleen Armstrong

Charming One quilt make by Kathleen Armstrong

I’m crazy over this honey and mint Charming One quilt make by Kathleen Armstrong of Creative Stitches by Kathleen. Kathleen used a variety of Art Gallery Fabric prints and blenders from several AGF designers but I spy many Bonnie Christine prints as well as some I’ve designed for AGF. The crinkly quilting makes this an instant classic! Read more about Kathleen and her passion for sewing on her BLOG and @creativestitchesbyK feed on Instagram.

Charming One quilt make by Joyce Ulm

Charming One quilt make by Joyce Ulm

Even though Halloween has come and gone, Joyce Ulm of @evamaecustomquilts, Etsy shop, and on her Facebook blog HERE is still loving the Art Gallery Fabrics Sweet and Spooky collection and I don’t blame her one bit! Just look at how amazing these prints and AGF blender are in a simple One-Patch design like this quilt—stunning and so much fun! I’m excited to see how Joyce ends up quilting this one and if you are too, be sure to follower her on any of the above social platforms via the links.

Charming One quilt make by Lindsey Fuessley

Charming One quilt make by Lindsey Fuessley

I’d love to see the rest of Lindsey Fuessley’s scrap basket if these were just some of the fabrics she pulled from it to make this gorgeous Charming One top. Some of my favorite colors and you can’t go wrong mixing prints between Art Gallery Fabrics collections. Lindsey is a relatively new quilter and wanted to quilt this 57-1/2’’ square quilt herself. I suggested she do the stitch in the ditch like I did if she wasn’t feeling all that confident. I’ll be watching her feed to see how (and what) she decides to do. Follow Lindsey on her Instagram account @lindseymakes to see more of her work.

Folded Star Hot Pad

The free Folded Star Hot Pad pattern on my FREE PROJECTS page has been newly updated so if you’ve downloaded it before, you may want to try the new and improved version!

Folded Star Hot Pad by Sharon Holland

Folded Star Hot Pad by Sharon Holland

The pattern change was purely out of necessity. Remember me talking about limited fabrics to work with in making projects ahead of time? Well, I didn’t have enough materials to make the original square hot pad version so I ended up clipping the corners for this new octagon shape. Necessity is the mother of all invention and I’m very pleased I had to improvise!

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The three dimensional stars are made by folding squares of fabric and taking them in place. The finished piece is a tactile experience but also makes the coolest hot pad for hot dishes and a great gift idea!

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The possibilities are endless for fabric arrangements. I extended my available Kismet prints by adding rounds of AGF Pure Solids which also popped the graphic star shape even more.

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Dresden Pouf

Because the prints in Kismet have a worldly, traveled look I wanted to make something extra fun for home decor and found this Dresden Pouf pattern by Amy Barickman for Indygo Junction.

Dresden Pouf by Indygo Junction

Dresden Pouf by Indygo Junction

This large pouf was a very fast and fun make and the instructions easy to follow. The pattern also comes with instructions to make a Dresden pillow and already on my to-make list.

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I ended up only using prints for the top of the pouf to save on the prints I had but again, love the results because all the attention is right where I want it—on the pretty prints! For the sides of the pouf I used AGF Smooth Denim. For the Dresden center circle and bottom I used AGF Textured Denim just to add more of that global feel. A few lines of chunky hand stitching also gives the pouf some additional details and character.

Vista Quilt

Nuria Elkins of Fabric Stork made a Kismet version of my Vista quilt for the Kismet Look Book and I’m over the moon in love with what she created!

Vista quilt make by Fabric Stork

Vista quilt make by Fabric Stork

Nuria is an Etsy fabric shop owner and one of the sweetest persons you’ll meet. I love working with her and collaborated on quilt kits and giveaways from her shop in the past. When we started talking about her doing Vista in Kismet for the Look Book we both were on the same page for the type of boho vibe we wanted to see this quilt pictured in—I think she nailed it!

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Right now, Nuria is waiting for a shipment of Kismet fabrics to arrive before she can put together the Vista quilt kits in Kismet and Pure Solids like you see here. You’ll want to stalk her shop to know when the kits are ready because they’re certain to sell out fast. Once listed, you’ll find kits here: Vista quilt kit from Fabric Stork but until then check out the rest of her shop for all your favorite prints and designer fabrics!

Find the Vista quilt pattern in my SHOP.

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I’ve started an online shop stock list for shops carrying Kismet on the FABRICS page. Please note the inventory for shops change daily and can sell out fast. If you’re a shop that carries Art Gallery Fabric Kitsmet and don’t see your name listed, please email me your link and I’ll gladly update my list.

Once again I’ve written an epic blog post. There’s so much to share at each posting to catch up to what happens in the life of a textile designer. I’m sure there’s plenty I’ve forgotten to write! If you’re not already following me on Instagram and want more of what I’ve been sharing on this post—be sure to follow me @sharonhollanddesigns as I post daily over there and fill in the gaps between (epic) blog posts.

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****REMINDER to Mackenzi and Angela Miller to reply to emails you were sent about winning Rambler PDF patterns from the last giveaway. Check your inbox or spam folder for an email from contact@sharonhollanddesigns.com and hit reply to claim your pattern.****

Wishing everyone a healthy and joyful holiday season

Happy sewing,

Sharon

I am an Amazon Associate site and earn from qualifying purchases on the products I’ve linked below. The helpful products selected are the same or similar to materials used to make the project(s) in this blog post or related items I think you may enjoy.