Rainbow Ripple Pattern Release!

I am excited to release the pattern for Rainbow Ripple today! The PDF pattern is now available in both my Etsy shop and my Payhip shop.

 

I love the combination of vibrant rainbow colours and a black print to make them pop, don't you?

This quilt finishes at approximately 44" x 44", making it a perfect baby or wall quilt. It comes together quickly and there are no points to match up anywhere. Easy!

I had a lot of fun quilting feathers in each of the coloured strips of my version, but it would also look great with straight line quilting and spiral quilting would be amazing.

What about if you're not into rainbows? I think this quilt would look great made many different ways and I couldn't resist playing around in EQ7 to test out my theory :)

 Maybe alternating the black strips with strips made in different shades of one colour...

 or using only two different fabrics...

 or three fabrics, like this...

 or this...

 

There are so many possibilities! How would you make your Rainbow Ripple?


Click to buy your copy of Rainbow Ripple in my Etsy shop or my Payhip shop.

Why Wait?

Devotion for the Week...

I have to say that life is pretty good in the Parsons' household. Paul and I both have work, the boys are all healthy, we have an abundance of food, there is wood stacked out back to heat the house and spring is on its way. Oh, and I've been doing lots of fun quilting! I hope you can list a similar abundance of good things in your life. But have you ever stopped to think about how the good things in life sometimes make us forget about God?

Moses knew about this prosperity-induced forgetfulness, and he warned the Israelites about it in Deuteronomy 8. He told them, "The Lord your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills; a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills" (Deuteronomy 8:7-9). In other words, God would bring them into a land where they would have everything they needed. They would not only lack nothing, but they wouldn't even have to start from scratch because the land had already been settled. The Israelites would simply move in and enjoy vineyards and land ready to be cultivated. No taming the wilderness needed.

But listen to what Moses said next. "When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery" (vv. 10-14). He knew what would happen. He knew their hearts and how quickly they would turn away from God, forgetting that everything comes from Him. 

Of course, that's exactly what happened. Over time, the Israelites turned away from God over and over, choosing instead to worship the gods of the people around them. To regain their attention, God allowed other nations to rule over His people, including the nation of the Midianites, and "Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help" (Judges 6:6). They were living in a land where they should have had everything they needed and wanted, but because they forgot God they lost everything. Then, when they had nothing, they remembered their God again.

More than anything, God wants our attention to be focused on Him. When life is easy, sometimes it's also easy for us to be distracted by all the good things we have. We 'eat and are satisfied' and we forget about God. But then, when life gets hard, we remember Him. We cry out to Him for healing or for financial help or in anguish for a child in trouble. Many people will say that the hard times in their lives brought them closer to God. King David even said, "It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees" (Psalm 119:71).

My question is, why wait? Why wait for the hard times before turning to God? Why not focus on Him when life is good? Moses told the Israelites, "When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you" (Deuteronomy 8:10). Let's live our lives full of thanks and praise to God for the good things He has given us.

Keeping our focus on God when life is good doesn't mean we'll never encounter sickness or trouble, but it does mean God will never have to send the Midianites to impoverish us to get out attention.

Want to start now? Leave me a comment sharing some of the good things God has given you.

Just the Basics Mystery Quilt - HSTs

Welcome back for the next installment of the Just the Basics mystery quilt!

Introduction

Running from March to August 2016, the Just the Basics mystery quilt-a-long will require no special rulers and no scary techniques. The design is confident beginner level and there will be no paper piecing, no applique, no improv piecing and no y-seams! Not that there's anything wrong with any of those techniques, but sometimes it's fun to see what you can make out of basic blocks.

I promise, the basics are anything but boring!

It's never too late to join in. All of the posts can be found under the tab at the top of the blog, so you can start anytime. New posts will be published here on the first Wednesday of each month. You can follow Devoted Quilter by Bloglovin, email or Feedly to be sure you don't miss anything - the links are all on the sidebar.

Remember, you can choose to make the Just the Basics mystery quilt in the 48" x 48" baby/wall size or the 60" x 72" throw size. Either way you'll cut and piece the units the same, but you'll make more of each unit for the throw quilt.

This Month's Instructions

Last month was fabric selection and this month we get to start cutting that fabric up and sewing it back together!

We're starting with one of the most basic units in quilting - the half-square triangle, or HST. HSTs are used in so many different quilt designs, from pinwheels and chevrons to stars and herringbones. Check out my HST Quilts board on Pinterest to see some amazing ideas for using HSTs.

Just as a reminder, here are the fabrics I've selected for my quilt.

This month we'll be using Fabrics 2 and 5 to make our HSTs. In my fabrics, that means I'll be using the blue and red fabrics.

For the baby/wall size, you need 128 HSTs.
For the throw size, you need 240 HSTs.

Before you panic about making so many, let me assure you that we won't be making that many units every month! I figured I'd start with the highest number, get that out of the way as soon as possible and then all the other months will feel easy :) Also, we'll be making them two at a time and chain piecing them, so although the number looks big they come together pretty quickly.

We'll also be making them slightly larger than needed and trimming them to the proper size. It's an added step, and a bit tedious, but HSTs are notorious for being just a little off, no matter how carefully you cut and sew. Making them big enough to trim means they'll be perfect when you're finished, and that makes assembling the quilt top much, much easier. It's definitely worth the extra time spent trimming.

Let's get started, shall we?

Cut

For baby/wall size

From Fabric 2 - 64 squares 3" x 3"
From Fabric 5 - 64 squares 3" x 3"


For throw size

From Fabric 2 - 120 squares 3" x 3"
From Fabric 5 - 120 squares 3" x 3"

Choose which of your two fabrics is lightest and draw a diagonal line from corner to corner on the back of each of those squares. My blue fabric is lighter than my red one, so I drew the lines on my blue squares. This step seems to go faster if you are watching TV or otherwise engaged in something else at the same time!

Pair a Fabric 2 square with a Fabric 5 square, right sides together, and pin. Do this with all your squares at once so the whole pile will be ready for chain piecing.

Stitch 1/4" away from the line on both sides. Don't break your thread between squares, just keep feeding them into your machine with only a couple of stitches between them to create a long chain of squares. Chain piecing in this way is much faster and reduces thread waste. When all the squares are sewn, cut the threads joining them.

 Cut the squares apart on the drawn lines.

Now, I'm going to show you how I trim my HSTs. If you have a Bloc Loc ruler, then by all means press your blocks open and trim using that. I don't have a Bloc Loc ruler, though, and I trim my HSTs before pressing them open to make it a little faster.

I have a 4" square ruler that I usually use for trimming my HSTs, unless they're bigger than 4". I have used the same method with a 6" x 24" ruler, so if you don't have a small square ruler you can still trim HSTs this way.

The first step is to turn the ruler on point and find the proper measurement for trimming your HSTs. For this quilt, we need to trim them to 2 1/2", so find 2 1/2" on either side and mark a straight line from one side to the other. I have mine marked with permanent marker, but I've also taped paper across the ruler to mark the line when I was using a friend's ruler. I've also used masking tape and painter's tape...whatever was on hand at the time!

Please ignore the extra two lines on my ruler...I've also marked it for trimming 1 1/2" and 3 1/2" HSTs.

Place your HST unit on your cutting mat. Position the line on your ruler directly on top of the stitched line.

Use your rotary cutter to trim off the excess fabric on both sides. Repeat for all the remaining HSTs. Again, a good TV show or movie can help make this feel less tedious. I watched a Craftsy class (affiliate link) while trimming mine :)

Press the HSTs open, trim off the dog ears and you're done!

I can't wait to see the beginnings of your quilts! Tag me if you post your progress on Instagram (I'm @devotedquilter), leave me a comment here with a link to a blog post or even just email me a picture (devotedquilter at gmail dot com).

That's it for this month. I'll be back with the next step in May :)


* This post contains an affiliate link, which means if you click on the link and then make a purchase I may receive a small commission. This does not affect the price you pay.