[update]

So crazy story. Over the last few days, I've gotten a crazy amount of people repinning my stuff or following me on Pinterest. Couldn't figure out why, and then I discovered it was because Jennifer Hadfield (from Tatertots and Jello) and Beckie Farrant (from infarrantlycreative.net) repinned my Easter wreath.

Pretty freaking cool.

But anyways, all this traffic has made me realize what a slacker I've been about getting my old posts back up on here. Especially since I still have a few old posts linked on Pinterest. That a lot of people have been pinning. Oops.

I'm SO sorry if anyone has had trouble accessing those posts. I'm spending today and this weekend fixing them!

<3 Lindsey

p.s. When I say "crazy" amount, I mean 20 ; )

[spring]

All the Valentine's Day decorations have been put away, and spring is taking over the house. 

Loving the fresh happy colors. 

<3 Lindsey

[herringbone quilt] DIY

To make a long story short, I gave away the very first quilt I made myself.

I wasn't in love with it. No matter how much I thought it was growing on me. 

So I gave it to my sister. 

And then I saw this on Pinterest.

[is Crafty Blossoms a genius or what??]

I fell in love and knew this was the perfect quilt for me.

Unfortunately, I'm not much of a genius. So I totally copied it (minus the backside). The gray/yellow combo is my favorite and the color scheme in our living room. But this would look so cute with many other solids! 

Some of you may already know how to make a chevron quilt. And if so, this will be so easy to learn! If not, it's still easy AND you'll learn how vary the DIY slightly to make a chevron quilt too!

So here we go!

[ FYI This tutorial is for making top of the quilt only. The finished measurements are 64 1/2" by 70". You can customize your size by adding or removing rows/columns very easily]

You'll need:

2 yards of white fabric

2 yards of gray fabric

Thread

Acrylic Ruler

Pencil 

 First you'll take your fabric and cut it in 8" by the width of the fabric strips. Then cut those strips into 8" by 8" blocks. 

You'll end up having a big stack of them like this...

After I cut all mine out, I then took one gray block and one white block and placed them on top of each other. I took my ruler and a pencil, and drew a line going from one corner to the corner diagonally opposite of it [gray square is below white square fyi]. 

I repeated this till I had a line drawn on each set of squares. 

I then took this stack over to the sewing machine and stitched a 1/4" on either side of the line. Do this with all sets of squares. 

And then I took my scissors [you could also use a rotary cutter] and cut right along the line I marked with my pencil. You'll then have two triangle shaped pieces.

After you have all your set of squares cut, you'll then press open the seam. Open up your traingle, and with the wrong side of the block facing you on the ironing board, open up the seam and press with the iron till it's flattened out. 

And ta-da, you now have one square of your quilt ready to piece! Once you have all your blocks pressed, you'll then start sewing them together. Having lots of floor space, or ping-pong table in my case, really helps visualize/plan for how the blocks will be sewn together. I suggest at least laying out 1 or 2 rows at a time to prevent any mishaps.

You'll take two blocks that are opposites of each other. Put them right sides together and sew along edge. Open up and press the seam. This will create the herringbone pattern. The picture below might help explain it better. Notice how the two top center blocks are opposites of each other. You'll be repeating that same pattern for one row. And then flip the pattern for the next row.

If you wanted to make this into a chevron quilt instead of doing opposites, you'll just do mirror images. So gray triangle will match up with another gray triangle.  And you'll repeat that for an entire row and then flip the pattern for the next row. Example pic of a chevron quilt below! 

Anyways, back to the herringbone quilt...Sew one row at a time. After you have all your rows sewn and pressed (I pressed ALL my seams open). Take the first two rows and with right sides together and pins to keep your seams lined up, sew a 1/4" along the edge. Repeat this with rows 3 & 4. 

[example of two rows sewn together]

And then take those rows 1&2 and 3&4 that were sewn together and pin right sides together and sew along edge. You'll then have 4 rows joined together. Sew rows 5 & 6 together and join those rows to the first 4 rows. This will be the top half of your quilt. 

Sew rows 6 & 7 together. Then 8 & 9. And 10 & 11. Piece those together like you did with the top half. After that's finished you'll have two halves of a quilt (top and bottom). Take those two halves, right sides together, and sew just like you did with your rows. Make sure to pin and press! 

Sewing your top in parts like this helps to insure that your quilt has straight lines and isn't "wonky". That makes sense, right? You'll just have to trust me! ; ) 

After I finished my top, I took it to the quilter, and after she was done with it, I added my binding. 

Think this one's a keeper! ; ) Thanks Crafty Blossoms for the inspiration! 

If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comment section! Happy to help! 

<3 Lindsey