Halloween Stars Sew-Along

I'm excited to be hosting the Halloween Stars Sew-Along starting on Monday using my Valiant quilt pattern. The pattern features 5 sizes, baby to king, so you can make any size quilt you desire. I'm making the baby quilt and will be using it as a table topper for the spooky season that's upon us.

I'm using fabrics from a variety of manufacturers that I curated. I started with the plaid, which I love, and decided on the green for a pop of fun color. Then rounded out my selections with an orange with black dot and a white background with random orange and black dots.

Isn't this selvedge so cute!! I just love these little ghosts!

The sew along will start Monday, October 10, 2022 and I'll be posting on Instagram, Facebook and here on my blog. I'll provide tips each day as we sew our blocks. Although I'm sharing a step a day and will cover it all in a week so that those who are choosing to make smaller quilts can complete them before Halloween, please work at your own pace and don't feel rushed. The information will be available whenever you need it. The sew-along schedule is as follows:

    Monday, Oct. 10: Fabric Cutting

    Tuesday, Oct. 11: 4-Patches & Stripes

    Wednesday, Oct. 12: Large Star Points

    Thursday, Oct. 13: Small Star Points

    Friday, Oct. 14: Star Assembly

    Saturday, Oct. 15: Stripe Attachment

    Sunday, Oct. 16: Top Contruction

    Monday, Oct. 17: Quilt Finishing

Here's what you have to do to join in on all the sew-along fun:

    1. Get your copy of the Valiant Quilt Pattern that we are using in this sew-along by clicking HERE.

    2. Decide what size quilt you want to make and select your fabrics.

    3. Optional - Give me a shout-out on Facebook or Instagram and let me know you joining in the fun.

    4. Get ready to start on Monday!

See you Monday! Until then....

Happy Quilting!

~Sharla

Announcing the Thistle Thicket Studio Shop

I am so pleased to announce that Thistle Thicket Studio now has an online shop and the first two patterns are available for purchase. 

My first pattern is Valiant and was made with a patriotic theme in mind, although it would look great in Halloween fabrics, celestial fabrics or Christmas fabrics too. Valiant features wonky stars with stripes cascading down the quilt and the pattern includes instructions for five sizes. 

The second pattern now available for purchase is Ciara. Ciara was originally envisioned as a red and white quilt, but it looks so awesome in gray and cream too (but really any color would be fantastic!). Ciara measures 72" x 72".

I'm already working on my third pattern, so stay tuned as more will be added quarterly.

Happy Quilting!

~Sharla

Trunk Show Travels

Last week, I was thrilled to be asked to present a trunk show for quilt guilds in northcentral Kansas in Hays on being a Moda Bake Shop Chef. It was so much fun sharing the things I've made for Moda Bake Shop, from designing patterns for their website to co-hosting sew alongs on Instagram to designing patterns for four MBS books.

Moda Fabrics was so generous in providing giveaways for my trunk show. They provided two project bags filled with goodies for door prizes and lots (and lots) of mini charms for every attendee. I decided to dress up the mini charms and placed two mini charms in a cupcake container filled with a liner and shredded paper then topped with a red button and a baker's twine bow. They turned out so cute and really fit the 'bake shop' theme!

I kicked off my presentation with a mixing bowl filled with Moda pre-cuts and talked about each one.

Back in my quilt shop days, the shop had a couple of Moda Bake Shop tablecloths that we cut down to fit a 6' table. My former partners found the tablecloths and the extra fabric cut from the cloths and gave them to me to use. I made a chef's apron from the extra fabric and trimmed it using woven ribbons used to tie Moda Jelly Rolls and Layer Cakes. 

I had a great time and I hope those who attended the trunk show enjoyed it as much as I did!

If your quilt guild would like to book my "Moda Bake Shop Chef" trunk show, please email me!

Happy Quilting!

~Sharla

Rollin' Along

Boy, this summer has rolled right on past me! Where has the time gone? I have been busy sewing and thought I'd pop in and share one of my projects.

This spring, the third Moda Bake Shop book was released and it features projects made with jelly rolls. It is appropriately named "Rollin' Along".

I was blessed to have a quilt included in the book called "Chain Links". It's a fun and easy quilt and the machine quilting pattern (called Modern Ogee by Anita Shackelford) really sets it off.

Moda selected their summer sew along project from the book, which was called "Family Reunion". It is a granny square medallion quilt designed by Christine Weld. The Moda Bake Shop Chefs featured in the book were co-hosts for the summer sew along.

I selected the Fig Tree Favorites fabric collection for my Family Reunion quilt.

Christine cleverly named each round of the quilt. The center medallion is called Great Granny block.

The first round around Great Granny is called the Granny blocks.

The second round is called the Momma blocks.

And the last round is called the Baby blocks. Boy, there were a lot of baby blocks! Only three more sides to go!

I haven't quilted my version of the Family Reunion quilt yet, but it's on the schedule for next week.

If you're interested in the "Rollin' Along" book, you can purchase it through Martingale Publishing HERE.

I'll try to pop in more frequently and share some of the other projects I've been working on.

Happy Quilting!

~Sharla

What's Happening In My Studio

Oh my! Has it really been over two months since I've posted on here??? I have been busy in my sewing room and on the farm but I really need to drop in more often. So, to that end, I thought I'd catch you up on what I've been up to.

First off, I am so excited to announce that I completed a 12-week pattern writing course taught by Amy Ellis of Amy's Creative Side. During the course, we learned how to calculate fabric requirements using industry standards, writing cut lists and instructions, pattern layouts and formatting, marketing, photography; and then all those things like tech editors vs. pattern testers and selling online vs. distributors. It was great to have someone to bounce ideas off of and someone to edit and organize how I write patterns. I met some other great pattern writers in our Zoom classes and I look forward to keeping in touch with them as we all move forward.

Best of all, I have designed and written two new patterns. I completed the pattern testing for one and it is now in top form ready to be quilted. Yay! And I am getting ready to start pattern testing the second one. I hope you stay tuned in as I will be announcing the launch of those patterns later (hoping for September!).

I'm also co-hosting Moda Fabric's Family Reunion Quilt Along using the newest Moda Bake Shop book "Rollin' Along". Most of the Chefs featured in the book are also hosting and we are all making the Family Reunion quilt from the book. It's not too late to get a copy of the book and join in the fun! Rollin' Along is available in local quilt shops or on ShopMartingale.

I also completed a commissioned t-shirt quilt and pillow for a retirement gift for a former colleague. 

In between pattern designing, pattern testing, and co-hosting, I've been busy in my garden and we completed a successful wheat harvest here on the farm. I even managed to go on two shop hop day trips with quilty friends!

I'd love to hear what you've been up to lately, but I've turned off comments for awhile on my blog because of all the spam/bots. So share with me on Facebook @ Thistle Thicket Studio or on Instagram @thistlethicketstudio, or email me! 

Happy Quilting!

~Sharla

A Patriotic Finish

I realized I never shared the flag quilt I finished last month. I have been wanting to make this flag quilt for a couple of years and finally can mark it off my bucket list. 

I just love the colors of this quilt, it's a little modern update on the traditional red, white and blue.

This quilt is definitely not perfect. The aqua plaid fabric was printed soooo crooked that I wasted a lot of fabric trying to find spots of the fabric that were semi-straight. 

And then there is the pleat I found in the backing after the quilt was quilted, trimmed and bound. I was so upset that I didn't see it earlier. It was too late to unstitch and re-quilt that section so I pondered what to do.

Luckily, the pleat was located in the lower corner of the quilt. But it was 15" long! My fix was to cover the pleat with a LARGE label.

I made another flag block and wrote a portion of the Pledge of Allegiance with a permanent marker in the white stripes of the flag. I added borders and pieced in my sew-in tag and a place to date and sign the label. Then I quilted the label to a large fusible fabric interfacing with the fusible side facing away from the label. 

Sewing the fusible interfacing on the back allowed me to fuse the label to the back without having the fabric label glued directly to the quilt back. The fusible also kept the center of the large label from being floppy and loose. After it was fused, I stitched the edges of the label down.

I'm really happy with how it turned out. This quilt was originally going to be a gift but I couldn't gift it knowing that there was that huge mistake hidden by the label. So I'll be keeping it. 

I think I have enough of the red and blue fabric to make more flag blocks but I'll have to find background and an aqua plaid that is straight to make another quilt.

I plan to display this quilt in my entry way, draped on my antique wardrobe. With that in mind, I even made a floral arrangement to coordinate with my quilt. I'll try to share a quilt when I get it all finished.

Happy Quilting!

~Sharla

P.S. I've been bombarded with spam on this site so I have turned off comments for the time being. Contact me through Facebook, Instagram or email. Thanks for understanding!

Whirl & Twirl Sew-Along: Quilt Reveal

Drum roll please! Here it is....my Whirl & Twirl quilt! 

I love how it turned out! I love the scrappy feel you get by using low volume background fabrics and a layer cake. I took a cue from the fabrics and used an all over quilting design of roses and leaves. 

I love using the leftover layer cake squares for a pieced backing. 

You can visit my past posts during the month of March for instructions on how to make this quilt. They will remain up for a few months but I will eventually take them down and publish the pattern, so get the instructions while they are still available.

If you make a Whirl & Twirl quilt, please share on social media and tag me at Thistle Thicket Studio.

Happy Quilting!

~Sharla