Cloud9 New Block Blog Hop

Yippee! I received some 'berry' scrumptious fabrics in the mail yesterday - the Berry Harvest fat quarter bundle of Organic Cirrus Solids from Cloud9 Fabrics! That must mean there's a new block blog hop in the near future!

Once again, I will be participating in a blog hop where each blogger will design a 12" block using the fabrics provided by the sponsor Cloud9 Fabrics. The block hop will feature 60+ free new quilt block patterns available to everyone who joins in the blog hop and visits each blogger. So mark your calendar with the blog hop dates - September 12-14.

I will be continuing my exploration of quilt blocks that create a secondary pattern and have already designed several and picked my favorite that I'm calling "Thistleberry Stars". Sound tempting? Then be sure to stop back by my blog on September 12th for the reveal and downloadable pattern!

I am loving this Berry Harvest color palette curated by our blog hop hosts Stephanie @ Late Night Quilter, Yvonne @ Quilting Jetgirl & Cheryl @ Meadow Mist Designs & I can't wait to cut into it!

~Sharla

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The Quilter's Planner 2017

I shared my bit of news last week. My Spinners block will be included in The Quilter's Planner 2017 by Stephanie Palmer of Late Night Quilter!

It is available for pre-order now at The Quilter's Planner site and will ship early- to mid-October. Procrastination caused me to miss out last year (it wasn't my fault, it was procrastination's fault {wink, wink}) because they were so popular they sold out! So, when Stephanie's pre-order announcement went out last week, I didn't let procrastination get in my way this year.

I'm not much of a planner - more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants quilter - and I'm thinking that may be why I never get as much accomplished as I'd like. So I'm anxious for my new Quilter's Planner to arrive and to put it to use. It looks like it will be a handy tool with weekly and monthly calendar pages, project planning pages, places for notes & to-do lists, doodle pages, a quilter's reference section, weekly free motion quilting designs & block designs with links to tutorials, plus 14 quilt patterns - oh, and stickers to pretty it all up!

So don't let procrastination get in your way, go order your Quilter's Planner today by clicking on the link above. Let's get organized together!

~Sharla

P.S. In case you can't remember what kind of a design the Spinners Block creates when multiples are placed together, here's a drawing from EQ7....

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A Day At The Auction

This weekend, my mom and I hit the road for some auction fun. In our neck of the woods, estate sales are unheard of. Instead, auctions are a common place occurrence - farm auctions, liquidation auctions, antique auctions, estate auctions..... This particular auction featured lots of antique quilts, handwork, jewelry and dishes.

But it was the quilts that stole the show! Beautiful old quilts, many hand pieced and hand quilted. A lifetime of handwork.

Many were made with 30's fabrics and were composed of hexagon pieces, like this Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt. There were even a couple of crazy quilts with dates in the 1890's embroidered on them.

We didn't come home with any of these beauties as the prices were all higher than we wanted to go, but it was nice to see that these quilts were being treasured and valued. We did come home with a few treasures from the auction and a couple of antique shops we also visited.

Here's some of our finds - some feedsack fabrics and an assortment of vintage sewing kits. Now I'm trying to decide how to display the sewing kits. Got any ideas?

~Sharla

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2016 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop

Howdy Y'all! Welcome to my turn on the 2016 New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop! It's been a great hop and I hope you've enjoyed meeting all the new quilt bloggers out in cyber-space. If you've never visited my little corner of the blogiverse, then pull up a chair and grab a cup o' joe and let's get to know each other.

Hi! I'm Sharla, the designer, sewist, quilter, crafter and more at Thistle Thicket Studio. This is the second year that I have participated in the New Quilt Bloggers Group and I participated in this blog hop last year, so if you want to see what I wrote about myself last year, sneak a peek here. Since I shared my life history last year, today I thought I'd share what I've been up to in the last year.

I've been sewing most of my life and quilting for many years too. I've been doing more designing of my own quilts lately and have had a couple of 'recipes' featured on Moda Bake Shop, like the "Howdy Y'all" quilt above and my first 'recipe' called "Chainlinks" below.

I designed this "Robots All In A Row" quilt for my grandson. Someday I hope to sit down, decipher all my notes on making this and write a pattern for this one!

Although I started out as a traditional quilter, I am moving more and more toward modern quilts as you can tell from my photos of late. This is a mini quilt I designed for Pat Bravo Designs earlier this year called "Whirl & Twirl". Check out my tutorial here.

I've been exploring block designs that create secondary patterns this year. The first one I designed was called "Spinners" and was for Paintbrush Studio's New Block Blog Hop.

This block creates spinning pinwheels when multiple blocks are sewn together.

I just found out that my Spinners block will be included in the 2017 Quilter's Planner designed by the very talented Stephanie Palmer of Late Night Quilter (who just happens to be my Hive Host this year)! They will be available in October - with pre-ordering available in late August, so be sure to reserve one. I'm so excited!

One of the fun things about this blog is the tips and fun facts each blogger is sharing with everyone, so here's mine.....

Blogging Tip: Want to make your own social media buttons for your blog? I found great instructional resources online. I made my new social media icons following a post by Made in Craftadise (although I used Photoshop instead of PicMonkey). I just love my new thread spool social media icons....

Quilting Tip: Quilt inspiration is everywhere! When you see something that would make a great quilt pattern, take a photo of it! I have files on my phone of quilting inspiration - one file is solely photos of hotel carpeting!

Quilting Question: My dream is to design my own fabric. Do you have any great online resources on textile design? Preferably free:)

Five Fun Facts About Me:

1. I'm a farmer's wife from Kansas and enjoy a slower paced life in the country after years in the economic development field. I just spent the last 3 weeks driving a combine in wheat harvest!
2. I'm a mom to two thirty-somethings: a high school teaching daughter and computer/electrical engineering son; and a nana to two of the cutest and orneriest grandsons, age 2 & 5.
3. Besides quilting, I love antiquing and collect many things including jadeite dishes, toy sewing machines, vintage Christmas ornaments, old sewing notions, and yardsticks.
4. If I'm not quilting, I'm crafting or decorating and I share those projects on this blog too.
5. I love to travel, but don't get to do as much as I'd like. Right now, I'm planning my annual Girl's Quilting Road Trip for my birthday in August. There are eight of us who will be loading up in the van for a 3-day shop hopping extravaganza that will include a day at Missouri Star Quilt Co.! Can't wait.

Be sure to check out my hive mates who are also introducing themselves this week:

• Stephanie @ Quilt'n Party
• Katrin @ Puppilalla
• Jen @ A Dream and A Stitch

Then stop by one of our blog hop hosts - Stephanie @ Late Night Quilter, Cheryl @ Meadow Mist Designs & Yvonne @ Quilting JetGirl - for details on this week's giveaways.

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today and getting to know me a little better!

~Sharla

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First FAL Finish For Q3: Zipper Totes

My grandsons love their super heroes. Grandson #1 is into Batman and Spiderman, and to a lesser degree Superman, Ironman, and any other super hero ending in 'man'. Grandson #2 is all about Paw Patrol. They both have all the action figures and they go everywhere with them. It's an armful. So I decided to make them zipper totes to carry their action figures when traveling (hopefully to Nana's house soon!)

I used Missouri Star Quilt Co.'s Zipper Pouch tutorial on You Tube, only I added handles to make it easier for little hands to carry. In the tutorial, Jenny finishes the inside seams with a zigzag stitch but I sewed binding on the inside seams of my totes for a more finished look. The totes finished at 10 1/2" wide x 11 1/2" tall (not including the handles).

The only place I could find Paw Patrol fabric was at Walmart. I'm a little worried about the quality of the fabric, but decided he'll be on to the next toy fad long before the fabric is worn out.

The Batman fabric I found at JoAnn's after my grandson requested a Batman quilt. I bought extra since I wasn't sure exactly what design I was making. That quilt will be my next project.

I'll be linking this post up to the 3rd quarter Finish-A-Long at the end of the quarter. Here's a link to my Q3 goals.

Can't wait to see my grandsons and give them their totes. Of course, Nana will have to put some surprises inside!

~Sharla

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New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop - Week 3

After a short break, the New Quilt Bloggers Blog Hop is featuring a whole new set of bloggers and, of course, more giveaways! Stop by my fellow hive mates and get to know them a little better:

Shannon @ Shannon Fraser Designs
Tami @ Sew Much For Free Time
Suzi @ Webster Quilt
Kathy @ Kathy's Kwilts and More
Olusuyi @ Alice Samuel's Quilt Co.

Then hop on over to our hive host Stephanie at Late Night Quilter to enter for the fantastic giveaways! You can meet more quilt bloggers by going to the other hive hosts, Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl and Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs, and checking out their members.

Next week is my turn on the blog hop so be sure to stop back by then! Hopefully, we'll be finished with wheat harvest and I'll be back to sewing by then!

~Sharla

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Finish-A-Long 3rd Quarter Goals

I feel like a broken record, but here I go again.... Since I only finished two projects on my list last quarter, most of my Q2 projects are moving to my Q3 list of goals for the 2016 Finish-A-Long.

1. First on the list is my "Spell It With Moda" ABC quilt. I did get the top completed during the second quarter and even got a pieced backing finished. I've been thinking how I want to quilt this while on the combine. So I'm hoping this will be my first finish for the new quarter as soon as we're done with harvest!

And here's the scrappy backing in all it's wrinkly glory.....

2. I picked up these Paw Patrol fabrics to make a zipper bag for Grandson #2 who LOVES Paw Patrol and has to carry all the figurines with him wherever he goes. Hoping to make a bag to give him when he comes visit at the end of the month. And I want to make one for Grandson #1 with left over Batman fabric from the quilt he wants me to make for him.

3. Here's that Batman fabric for the Lego Batman quilt that Grandson #1 asked for. Time is running out & I haven't even started this one! Eeeek!

4. I haven't touched this Farm Girl Vintage quilt since I finished the blocks last fall, but hoping to change that this next quarter.

5. This is my Leaders and Enders project that also hasn't been touched in awhile. I need to get back into the practice of using leaders and enders!

6. Ugh! Another project I haven't touched! My quilt guild BOM from last year. I still have setting blocks to make and piece these blocks into a top. At least I have a layout chosen.

7. Here's a new one. I made this table topper a couple of months ago to showcase a block I designed for a blog hop. Have been searching for silver metallic thread to quilt it and finally found some. I didn't have time to press this for a better photo since we're in harvest, so here's another wrinkly one. Can't wait to play with this one on the longarm!

8. I have a couple of projects that I purchased last year on our Row by Row Experience girls road trip that have yet to be started, but I want to include them in case I get the itching to start something new. This is called "Fall Frolic". I just love these colors!

9. And last, but certainly not least, is this Bonnie and Camille Frivols quilt kit.

Well there you have it. Nine projects in three months. Wonder how many I'll get done this quarter? Wish me luck! I'll be linking this post up with the 2016 Finish-A-Long.

~Sharla

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Howdy Y'all Quilt: Q2 FAL Finish #2

My second finish for the 2nd quarter of the 2016 Finish-A-Long is my Howdy Y'all Quilt. You can see my first Q2 finish here. And you can see my Q2 list of lofty goals here. I say 'lofty' since I only finished two of the nine that I listed. Oh well, two is better than none (or that's what I keep telling myself, but secretly I am disappointed that I didn't get more done on my list)!

I designed this quilt for Moda Bake Shop's 7th Birthday Quilt-A-Long and the instructions to make the cowboy boot filler block was featured on MBS website here. This is the sketch of the design I submitted for consideration to Moda, which I later modified by eliminating the cowboy hat & fixing some spacing issues.

The project used the "Spell It With Moda" pattern for the letters and designers were to submit quilt ideas that included a "filler" block (mine was the cowboy boot) that would be featured on their website.

I made this quilt with ties at the top so that I could hang it on my fence when friends and family visit our farm. I love it so much. I also love the quilting pattern I used on this one and the quilting really shows up nicely in the photos!

I'll be linking this post up for the 2016 Finish-A-Long on our host's She Can Quilt site. Someday, maybe - ha, ha, I'll be lucky enough to win a prize! Well, it's time to head back to my sewing machine and work on another one of my lofty goals that will now be on my 3rd quarter list!

~Sharla

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B&C Log Cabin Swap - Q2 FAL Finish #1

Once again, I must admit I didn't get as many projects completed as I would have liked for the 2016 Finish-A-Long second quarter, but I'm thrilled with the couple that I did finish.

My first finish is my Bonnie & Camille Log Cabin Swap quilt (Here's the link to my Q2 List). I am still in love with this quilt. And I still don't have a great photo of it, so this one will have to do.

This was my first block swap. The log cabin technique used in the swap was fun. I added a little customization by putting spinning pinwheels in the corners using some charm squares I had left over.

I blogged about this quilt on a few other occasions and you can check those out here and here and here for details on the pattern and more.

Tomorrow I'll blog about my second finish for this quarter of the Finish-A-Long (since it's been raining and we can't harvest any wheat, I might as well blog and sew!)

~Sharla

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