2021 Sweet Home Quilt Along

2021 Sweet Home Quilt Along

We’re back!!

The AGF designer duo who LOVES to collaborate has been busy planning a new community event—Sweet Home Quilt-Along 2021!! Join Maureen Cracknell and myself, Sharon Holland for the second Sweet Home Quilt Along.

The Sweet Home Quilt Along (QAL) is going to be a six week long sewing event beginning August 25, 2021 thru September 29, 2021 and is perfect for new to novice quilters!

This year, I’ve started a new format for hosting a quilt along. Even though this is a FREE event, you’ll need to sign up and become a Sweet Home QAL Member to enjoy all the benefits like:

• Member’s only emails for each QAL blog post from this website

• Access to the Sweet Home Kit Directory where I’ve gathered all the Sweet Home kits available from your favorite shops (a dozen different looks to choose from at the time of writing this post)

• Helpful tips and tutorials to make piecing your Sweet Home quilt the best experience

• Opportunities to enter the weekly giveaways that you wont want to miss!

Sign Up

It’s free and easy to start an account on this blog and sign up for the Sweet Home QAL 2021 event.

There’s several ways to to it:

• Look for the black Log In/Sign Up bar across a phone screen or rectangle in bottom right corner if viewing on the screen. Click and you’ll be prompted to create an account like pictured in the box below.

• Or, head over to my Sew Along page and click on the Sweet Home QAL 2021 current event image or link. The pop-up sign up prompt will come up.

• If you don’t see any pop-up boxes to fill out then you’ll need to allow pop-ups from this website to activate that sign up option.

If you don’t already have a Sweet Home quilt pattern, then you’ll want to stop by my SHOP and purchase the PDF download. The first week (August 25) of the QAL will be fabric selection so you will have a little extra time to gather your supplies but you may want to get a head start and either purchase or pre-order a kit, search through your stash, or go shopping on your own to get just the look you want.

Fabric pull ideas from the 2020 past sew along held last year can be found on these pages:

Sweet Home Quilt Along

Sweet Home Quilt Along - Week 1

I’m looking forward to making my two new Sweet Home quilts and can’t wait to see what you make this year! If you’re on Instagram you’ll want to follow both Maureen @maureencracknell and myself @sharonhollanddesigns as we post daily over on that space with pretty images of our Art Gallery Fabrics collections, the projects we’re working on, and all things 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.

Sweet Home Quilt Along Grand Finale Giveaway

Sweet Home Quilt Along Grand Finale Giveaway

This is our grand finale giveaway for the Sweet Home Quilt Along. Your QAL hosts, Maureen Cracknell , Jennifer Jones, and myself have coordinated special giveaway prizes with our amazing participating sponsors for each week during the event and a big finish deserves a big prize! A winner will be randomly selected from the growing Instagram hashtag pool Monday, October 19th around 4 pm Eastern with the winner announced on the giveaway post on Instagram.

Just Getting Started Sewing?

If you’re just finding out about the quilt along you can still work on your own and take advantage of the quilt along tutorials. Take a look at the Week 6 review post which contains all the links from the beginning.

Recent #SweetHomeQAL posts in the Instagram hashtag pool

Is your Instagram post featured in this #SweetHomeQAL hashtag pool snapshot for this week???

We’re using Instagram as a Sweet Home QAL community share spot where we can follow along and comment on each others quilt progress and share beautiful photos of our work.

Every time you share a post to your public instagram account and use the official #SweetHomeQAL hashtag in your post caption your post is automatically entered into the giveaway hashtag pool! That’s right—it’s as easy as that—just do what you’d do anyway! So, to up your chances, post a lot of of progress shots of your fabric pull, cut pieces, blocks, sashing, assembly, tops, and ultimately, finished quilts.

You may notice I keep saying you need a public Instagram account to be entered into the giveaway drawings. That’s because if you have your IG account set as a private account, Instagram does not add any hashtags to hashtag pools from private accounts—it’s just the way they roll. So, you may want to go into your IG settings and turn your account to public for the QAL or if not, and I totally get the need for privacy in this strange world we live in, just know that you won’t be eligible for the giveaways.

After this week, there’ll no longer be giveaways but please, keep adding your progress and finish quilt photos to the hashtag pool as our growing community would love to see your finished work.

SWEET HOME QAL SPONSORS

TODAY'S FEATURED SWEET HOME QAL SPONSOR IS Lady Belle Fabric!

Lady Belle Fabric is run by husband and wife team, Rob and Brooke. In their shop you'll find kits, both bundles and single cuts of hand-picked fabrics that are fresh, modern, and fun! Designer fabrics include many of our favorites -- Art Gallery Fabrics, Cotton + Steel, Figo, Robert Kaufman, Moda, and more! Lady Belle Fabrics goal is to offer the most gorgeous fabric as quickly as they can. Visit them today for an online, one-stop shop for all your fabric and edge to edge quilting needs! 

Right now, all Sweet Home quilts sent to Lady Belle Fabric by December 31, 2020 will get 15% off their long arm order!
   
Shop  *  Instagram  *  Facebook  *  Pinterest  

Our grand finale prize is an amazing package from Lady Belle Fabric in which the randomly drawn winner will receive free long arm quilting, batting, and return shipping for their Sweet Home quilt! Incredible, right!!??

I’ve gotten several quilts edge to edge stitched by Brooke and she’s really the best! She works with you to pick out the right quilting pattern for your quilt, advices on thread color, and does the most professional job! But, rather than me just tell you about it, let me show you her work from quilts done this year.

Above is the original Sweet Home quilt in the Daisy Chain pattern. My second Sweet Home quilt (in blue) was also quilting by Brooke.

Prairie Flower by Sharon Holland

The exquisite Abstract Rose pattern was used on my Prairie Flower quilt.

We went all out on my Vista quilt and selected the all-over Feathered Spiral design to fill the large open spaces on this quilt. I think it looks like tooled leather and so perfect for this quilt.

Trapeze quilt by Sharon Holland

Here’s a sneak peak at Trapeze, a new quilt release for next week that’s also quilted by Lady Belle Fabric. I mixed things up a bit and had Brooke quilt this quilt with a design called Triangle Loops and am so happy with it—I can’t wait to show it off.

These are just a few examples but you will want to check out all the beautiful quilting designs Brooke has to select from yourself, HERE.

Sweet Home quilts by Sharon Holland

Don’t forget to share your Sweet Home quilt makes with your fellow quilt along makers over on Instagram and you’ll automatically be entered into this week’s drawing if you have a public IG account. One winner will be drawn from the growing hashtag pool on Monday, October 19th around 4 pm Eastern and the winner will be tagged and notified on Instagram on the original giveaway post.

I want to thank everyone who joined in on our quilt along and made a Sweet Home quilt. I’m so honored you selected my pattern to put all your love and time into and wish you years of good health and snuggles under those colorful roofs.

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.

Sweet Home Quilt Along Giveaway Week 5

Sweet Home Quilt Along Giveaway Week 5

Each Friday, throughout the Sweet Home Quilt Along, there’ll be a Giveaway. Your QAL hosts, Maureen Cracknell , Jennifer Jones, and myself have coordinated special giveaway prizes with our amazing participating sponsors for each and every week! If you've happened to miss the first Sweet Home QAL post, take a look back and read about it HERE then follow the posts in chronological order until you get caught up.

These Friday blog posts will highlight the Sponsor and awesome giveaway prize offered for this week’s QAL giveaway. The randomly drawn winners will be selected from the growing Instagram hashtag pool the following Monday around 4 pm Eastern with the winner(s) announced on Instagram.

Recent #SweetHomeQAL posts in the Instagram hashtag pool

Is your Instagram post featured in this #SweetHomeQAL hashtag pool snapshot for this week???

We’re using Instagram as a Sweet Home QAL community share spot where we can follow along and comment on each others quilt progress and share beautiful photos of our work.

Every time you share a post to your public instagram account and use the official #SweetHomeQAL hashtag in your post caption your post is automatically entered into the giveaway hashtag pool! That’s right—it’s as easy as that—just do what you’d do anyway! So, to up your chances, post a lot of of progress shots of your fabric pull, cut pieces, blocks, sashing, assembly, tops, and ultimately, finished quilts.

You may notice I keep saying you need a public Instagram account to be entered into the giveaway drawings. That’s because if you have your IG account set as a private account, Instagram does not add any hashtags to hashtag pools from private accounts—it’s just the way they roll. So, you may want to go into your IG settings and turn your account to public for the QAL or if not, and I totally get the need for privacy in this strange world we live in, just know that you won’t be eligible for the giveaways.

SWEET HOME QAL SPONSORS

TODAY'S FEATURED SWEET HOME QAL SPONSOR IS Oliso!

At Oliso, they believe in the human-centered design process. San-Francisco based team of inventors, engineers and researchers know that great ideas are best inspired by listening to people. See how their products can change your home and lifestyle for the better.

Oliso | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube

Visit Oliso to see all their fine products.

Each Oliso Mini Project Iron™ comes with its solemate™, a silicone trivet that hugs the mini iron for travel and storage and functions as a safe place for the soleplate to rest while ironing.

For this week's Sweet Home QAL Giveaway, Oliso is offering one lucky winner their pink Oliso Mini Project Iron™ which brings you the power of a full size iron in an adorable compact design.

Don’t forget to share your Sweet Home quilt makes with your fellow quilt along makers over on Instagram and you’ll automatically be entered into this week’s drawing if you have a public IG account. One winner will be drawn from the growing hashtag pool on Monday, October 12th around 4 pm Eastern and the winner will be tagged and notified on Instagram on the original giveaway post.

Be sure to follow along on all three host’s blogs as well as our Instagram accounts: Me @sharonhollanddesigns , Maureen @maureencracknell , and Jennifer @penelopehandmade

I also want to let you know that during the QAL Jennifer and I plan to have impromptu IGTV live videos to give you tips and tricks for sewing your Sweet Home Quilt.

View my IGTV Sweet Home QAL series

View Jennifer’s IGTV story

Next Wednesday is week 6 and the final week of the Sweet Home Quilt Along. The grand finale will be a chance for all three hosts to show off their Sweet Home quilts and a grand finale needs a grand prize we can’t wait to reveal next Friday!

—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.

Sweet Home Quilt Along - Week 5

Sweet Home Quilt Along - Week 5

Welcome to the fifth week of the Sweet Home Quilt along hosted by (me) Sharon Holland, Maureen Cracknell, and Jennifer Jones. It’s been fun to connect with the Sweet Home quilt makers on our Instagram community and here on our blogs. The quilts being made are so adorable—see what I mean when you search the #SweetHomeQAL hashtag on Instagram.

If you’re just joining us you’ll probably want to pop over to the Sweet Home Quilt Along - Week 1 post to get caught up. You can purchase the Sweet Home quilt pattern from my SHOP here.

The quilt along will run six weeks total and we’ll cover a different aspect of piecing or finishing for that week. Some of you are working ahead and that’s wonderful—it’ll give you more time for the quilting and finishing portion. This quilt along is very relaxed. If you feel like completing the top in a week—go for it! But, if you’re a beginner and want more instruction along the way—we have that too in the form of LIVE and recorded Instagram tutorials over on my IGTV channel on Instagram. I’ve recorded step by step tutorials for you to access on my @sharonhollanddesigns IGTV channel on Instagram and so far the Sweet Home Quilt series covers fabric selection, Log Cabin block, and Bungalow block construction.

Assembly and Finishing

We’ve got a lot to cover this week as we assembly our quilt sandwich, quilt, and bind our Sweet Home quilts. Luckily, I’ve covered different aspects of how to quilt a quilt on my other Sew Alongs and Tutorials so as you continue reading, be watching for the highlighted links to take you to those previous posts and tutorials.

Basting

If you’re planning to do your own quilting for this quilt I recommend spray basting. I’ve tried a few different brand and hands down I love Odif 505 brand the best. See the step-by-step instructions for how I sandwich my quilt layers and apply the spray baste in the Basting tutorial as part of my Sewcial Bee Sampler Quilt Finishing post.

For all the quilts shown in this post I used Hobbs Tuscany Silk batting inside and love working with it if I’m the one quilting but since I’ve sent my quilts to Lady Belle Fabric with Tuscany Silk batting to use she now carries it as a batting option in her shop because she also loves working with it too!

Quilting

Even if you’re not planning to do your own quilting you’ll still need some inspiration for just how to quilt your quilt. A good long armer will help you decide what may look best.

I personally love an overall design that may not have anything to do with the quilt design at all but that it adds another layer of goodness to the entire finished piece.

It’s certainly not my best work ever but I have my quilt finished and did the quilting myself this time around. I went with one of my favorite quilt designs, the Fan or Baptist Fan design. I’ve a tutorial for how to mark out a quilt and stitch in a continuous line. Read more HERE.

For more information on how I quilt using a mid arm machine and some easy looping stitches read more HERE.

The two Sweet Home Quilts I made in the spring I sent off to Brooke Becker of Lady Belle Fabric to be long arm quilted. The blue quilt above has an overall geometric pattern called Abacus.

This quilt was made for my grandson who love stripes so the diagonal lines of the quilting were just perfect to highlight all the lines already happening in the quilt. I also bound the quilt with light blue Chenille-it Blooming Bias.

For my granddaughter who loves pink and flowers I had Brooke use the Daisy Chain design for the quilting.

Chenille-it Blooming Bias was also used to edge this pretty Sweet Home quilt and I used the natural color for this one. It’s really the perfect finish for this fun quilt.

Binding

The Sweet Home quilt pattern includes information for traditional strip binding as well as how to attach Chenille-it Blooming Bias tape for the binding. I’ve tutorials for both!

Regular Double-fold binding is the most common type of binding and done by cutting width of fabric strips. The Sweet Home quilt pattern includes my method for attaching traditional binding and you’ll also find step-by-step instructions for traditional and bias binding HERE and even more instructions and step-out photos HERE.

Attaching Chenille-it Blooming Bias tape to your quilt for binding is a little different and possibly easier than traditional binding. Faux chenille binding does not fully encase the raw edge of the quilt like traditional binding does so the first thing you’ll want to do it to zig zag or serger the edges of your quilt.

I’ve made a YouTube video that shows you exactly how to apply this fun product to your Sweet Home Quilt.

For my quilt along Sweet Home make I used the Cinnamon colored faux chenille for my binding. Binding is applied in double layers to both the front and the back of the quilt. Below is how the Blooming Bias looks stitched to the edges and before 'blooming' in the laundry.

To “bloom” the bias tape you can run your quilt through a gentle cycle wash in the laundry. Blooming can be done by hand but is more successful if the quilt is laundered.

Toss the quilt into the dryer on a low, gentle tumble. I have dryer balls I use in the dryer that also help to fluff the quilt and dry it faster. I prefer to leave my quilt just a touch damp for reshaping and a light press but you may love a dryer-crinkled quilt so wash and dry like you would normally with your quilts.

Next week it’s all about the big reveals! I’ll show off my lovely Sweet Home quilt with it’s Art Gallery Fabrics Terra Kotta prints and my co-hosts will have their quilts to show off!! I’m excited to see your quilts.

I’m enjoying seeing your postings to Instagram and following along on your progress—you’re all are doing amazing and beautiful work on your Sweet Home quilts—there’s even some finished quilts showing up already!

Don’t forget that this Friday will be a new Friday Giveaway with fabulous prizes from our sponsors. Be following along on Instagram as all the giveaways will be held on that platform and winners will be randomly drawn the following Monday from the #SweetHomeQAL hashtag pool. The quilt along members that post their progress photos to public account on Instagram and use the hashtag #SweetHomeQAL will automatically be entered into every Sweet Home Quilt Along drawing! It’s that easy to enter, so enter often to up your chances!

And, while you’re on Instagram, take a look at the #SweetHomeQAL hashtag on Instagram and see what the other QAL Makers are using in their quilts—it’s an amazing resource not only to see fabrics but to make new friends!

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.