The Pocket Economy Block

If you are new to quilting or have been quilting for a long time, you likely know or have heard of the Economy Block. It has also been called the "square in a square" or the "diamond in a square" block. I've loved it since I first learned about the basic block. It didn't take me long to make a Micro Mini Economy Block in various sizes and offer it with other basic hexie and square paper piecing blocks that can be downloaded in my Etsy shop, as a bundle, if you want to sew small and use up some of those scraps!

Now I've got a fun new spin on the Economy block for you. Kim @PersimonDreams invited me to participate in her "Old School BOM" sew along throughout this year and I'm excited to share my fun add on to the basic economy block for the month of June. If you've already been sewing I hope you are having fun sewing through all the amazing "Old School BOM" with the other designers. If you are new to the sew along, I hope you'll take some time to check out all of the other designers FREE blocks that have been released.

So what's so fun about this new block? By adding two more pieces, you can make a fun pocket in the center and use the pocket for a sweet little note, little cuddle toy or something else. To get this fun Pocket Economy Block pattern and the simple instructions click the newsletter sign up link here. (PLEASE NOTE: Once you sign up for the newsletter, Mailchimp will automatically send you a confirmation email that you've signed up. Please be patient and await the actual "Welcome Newsletter" that will come some short time after. Be sure to check your spam/junk folders as emails are known to be filtered. Also note, I will not respond to rude and demanding comments or emails. This is a free pattern and negative behaviors will not be tolerated). There are paper template pattern pieces and two different sizes to make. You can sew one 12" block, or sew four 6" blocks and combine those four to make it 12" to fit with all of the other blocks. After you finish sewing your Pocket Economy Block, please be sure to share it with me by tagging me @kidgiddy on Instagram and use the #oldschoolBOM hashtag as well.

I look forward to seeing what's in your pocket! Thanks for sewing with me!

Disclosure: There are no affiliate links. Thank you.

The Pearson Tree Farm Quilts

Pearson Tree Farm Quilt #1 - quilted by Jaki Soper of QuiltStudio55

I've hemmed and hawed on writing this post because this quilt was never meant to be such a public "worldwide" project where I shared all my backstory feelings regarding it. However, it became bigger than me - and so many people helped so I felt I should share the whole story as a way to show how amazing this quilting community is and to show in some small way, my gratitude to all of you that participated. 

Back in December 2019, a local family in my town, lost their husband, father, grandfather, friend, in a very tragic and horrific way. It was weeks before Christmas and where there was once hope and joy, there was immediately sadness and fear. I live in a big town and word got out quickly that a man was on the run and had brutally stabbed this dear man outside his home and headed north. Many talked about the tragic situation but no one knew what to do. I felt a tremendous amount of sadness for his wife who found him while he was still alive. I wanted to do something to help her, remembering my own Granny that lost her husband to natural causes but was there beside him. I didn't feel anything I could ever do would help take away that sadness she was likely feeling and everything that went along with the terrible situation. 

A week passed and I continued to think of her. After seeing many news stories about Jim Pearson and his family's Beech Ridge (Tree) Farm, I got this image of a (Christmas) tree quilt with a red heart on it. I pushed it out of my mind thinking a quilt won't help, however, I wanted to help change the narrative going on in the town/world. There are good people here. Evil will not win. We can do something, anything to show we care, and that we are here for her, even those of us that didn't know her personally and she didn't know us. The image kept coming back, so I sat at my computer one day and designed a bunch of different "Christmas Trees" in my EQ8 program to see how it would look. 

The process of designing the blocks and the quilt helped me and so maybe this quilt could help Nancy, but I knew this was not something I could sew on my own with a quick turn around. Since I knew others in my town were feeling as I was feeling, I reached out to the local town "mom fb group" and asked if anyone else wanted to help make a block. So many people signed up to sew a block - some offered monetary donations for supplies - some were willing to learn to sew in order to be a part of it - while others forwarded the info to local sewing groups and police stations (as one of the adult children was a soon to retire police officer) and news of the quilt project began to spread.

I quickly had enough people signed up to make a queen size quilt, from people in my town, state and even a few from out of state. Someone in the mom fb group suggested we make two more quilts for the adult children, that also lived in town, and was only sorry she didn't know how to sew. Knowing I only had enough blocks coming for 1 quilt, I knew I needed a new source for 2 more quilts worth of blocks, or three quilts weren't going to be possible. My only option at that point was to reach out to all of you, my @kidgiddy community on IG and the response brought me to tears. Without hesitation you all signed up, showed up and shared the post. Within 24 hours I had to shut down the sign up form, before I had more blocks than I knew what to do with. I felt like I closed a door with more people knocking outside. You all are so amazing!

The local Scarborough Public Library offered their public space for me to have "sew-ins" so I could teach folks how to sew the foundation paper piecing blocks, or how to sew the patchwork or applique versions. If someone wasn't there to learn, we were able to use that time to start sewing blocks together for the first quilt as the packages started coming in early January. Everyday at mail time was so exciting and always turned into tears of gratitude. Some of you sent letters and some also included the coloring page that your kids colored in (that were gifted with the quilts). 

February and March brought more of the same but by mid March our last sew-in happened just in time to make the quilt backs before Covid shut everything down. I had a couple of volunteers that helped piece the last blocks for two of the quilts together in their homes, while I finished the first quilt. With all the quilt tops and backs done, a local friend, Jess, began helping me search for local longarmers willing to give their time to quilt them. Other friends shared my posts and tagged their friends too which resulted in offers from as far west as Seattle and as far South as Florida and Texas to quilt the quilts, but I became hesitant mailing anything out with Covid taking over the news. 

Pearson Tree Farm Quilt #2 - quilted by Tammy Johnson courtesy of Alewives Fabric Shop

We finally secured 3 local quilters within driving distance that were willing to quilt them for this cause (Jaki Soper - Quilt Studio 55 in Maine, Alewives Fabric Shop quilter Tammy Johnson also in Maine, and Patty Sciacca from Massachusetts. Covid slowed down the finishing process, but eventually everything was done.

Pearson Tree Farm Quilt #3 - quilted by Patty Sciacca Crafts

When the quilts came back they were trimmed up and sent right back out to my local volunteers Leslie and Jennipher for binding and all the hand stitching needs. These quilts were truly a community effort that I was honored to be a part of. It was not just this local community, but a worldwide community of quilters that want to do good with their skills. In total, I received 235 blocks from approximately 75 quilters in the US, Canada and the UK. 

You can see everyone that helped in some way or another listed on the labels that my husband and I created. Jess, a friend of the Pearson family, also made pillows for each of the grandkids so they would have something as well. Each pillow and all three quilts have a tree or two pieced from Jim's clothing. The quilts have 1 or two blocks with his work shirt and one t-shirt tree from the clothing provided by the family. You can see in one of the images above, I made two tree blocks for Nancy's quilt using one of Jim's work shirts that had his name on the left side above the pocket and the farm name on the right side above the pocket. We were sure to use as much of the shirts that we cut into so as not to waste any of the material. Not even the buttons.  

While the quilts (and pillows) were being made, we had many folks wanting to donate so much funding to the quilts, which would've been more than needed. Eventually the family was able to set up a memorial education scholarship in Jim's honor, and the first recipient this year was recently awarded a scholarship for his freshman year at college. For more information about the Beech Ridge Farm, or to support the Pearson Family Memorial Scholarship, you can visit their websites (links highlighted). If you would like to purchase the #PearsonTreeFarmQuilt blocks pattern, please know that I am in the process of working with them to offer it on their website or a dedicated Etsy shop, with proceeds going to the Pearson Family Memorial Scholarship. I will update that info here when it becomes available. 

I truly want to thank everyone that helped make these quilts happen. It was a lot of work to put together and thanks to Covid took way longer than anticipated, but the process was made easier with the help and love of so many others. The Pearson family was grateful for the outpouring of love from so many strangers worldwide and really enjoyed looking at the variety of trees and hearing how they all came together. I never could've done this myself...certainly not 3 quilts (or the 9 pillows Jess also made), but not even the one quilt. Thank you again!

Disclosure: Although this is not a sponsored post - I did receive the EQ8 software previously which helped to create the blocks and quilt layout, but the opinions and comments provided are always my own. There are no affiliate links. Thank you.

EQ8 Block Spotlight of the Month

Have you tried playing around with the Electric Quilt Company EQ8 Block Spotlights? I've been playing with them and it's super fun. It's a great exercise and can help to open yourself up to come up with a different quilt with each block. I can't say different coloring, because I've been finding myself stuck on some specific colors, but different colorings would be great too.

This first one, the July "Arrowheads" block just might be my favorite. I wanted to keep it large scale (as I've done with the others) but wanted it to also keep it simplified. I used a simple fall palette (despite it being the July block) as I thought about cuddling on my sofa in our Cozy Away room with the wood stove burning. The quilt design was created as a Custom Layout with two full blocks down the center, and four partial blocks along the sides. 

This next quilt is the August "Pyramid Kite" block. I added in the blue and white colors to lighten it up a bit but also kept this quilt design symmetrical. This quilt was designed using the On-Point layout in order to create a much larger On-Point layout block to focus on the X in the center.

This last one (for now) is the September "Metalwork" block. I had a hard time with this block, only because it isn't symmetrical - lol. Never the less, I always love a good challenge. I reverted back to the warmer fall color palette, and used two full blocks and two simplified stretched blocks in the Custom Quilt layout.

If you haven't had a chance to try out their block spotlights, I highly recommend it. After you come up with a fun quilt design, you can link it up on their blog with each block post. You can see other designs others have posted as well.

Remember while visiting the EQ website, if you want to add anything to your stash, you can use the code "EQ8Kerry" to save 20% off your purchases.

Disclosure: As a brand ambassador for Electric Quilt Company, I have received the EQ8 product for free, but the opinions and comments provided are always my own. This is not an affiliate code. Thank you.

Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt Along - Tracy # 97

I'm excited to share my second block (Tracy # 97) for Angie (GnomeAngel) and Fat Quarter Shop's Farmer's Wife QAL. I decided to paper piece this Tracy block because of all the smaller pieces. I know a few of the bloggers have already done some paper piecing tutorials so I am just going to share some tricks I have figured out along the way. If you are new to paper piecing, you can check out Angie's Tracy post in the which she has linked up many of the bloggers that shared full paper piecing tutorials.

When working with any paper piecing project that has numerous pieces, color code the pieces to keep things straight while sewing. It's even better if you color code it so the colors match the fabrics you are using.
I leave a little extra paper around the edge so in my mind, I need extra fabric. This ensures I'll have enough fabric for the actual seam allowance.

Some pieces don't always go beyond the edge, especially when trying to fussy cut a specific design. As long as you have enough for the seam allowance, it's ok. 

I don't trim up every block until I know for sure that each fabric placement is correct. Even then, I only trim up one section at a time.

Sometimes it's really easy to line every piece up. Below you can see the straight edge lines up in the front, to the line behind it, and the angle on the right lines up too.

When they don't line up visually, I use a pin to connect the point on the front to the point on the back.

This is the back side.

It also works for joining points.

The pin should meet with both points.

When it's all done, the majority of your points will line up. Somehow I still had 2 a little off in my center square, not sure how or why - but it happens. And it's ok. I'll enjoy all of the others that did line up. The more you work at it, the easier it gets.

Thanks so much for visiting. I hope you learned a few tricks to put your paper piecing blocks together. If you want to check out my other Farmer's Wife block post, you can check out Malvina here. Sign up below for my emails to get info about new patterns, new dies, future sales and other fun stuff. The first one is coming soon...don't miss out on the first bit of giddy goodness and find me @kidgiddy on Instagram for all my daily happenings.

If you want to join in on the fun, you can find Angie's Malvina tutorial on her website Gnome Angel, as well as grainline tips from Marti on her blog. You can get the book and all your fabric needs from The Fat Quarter Shop (Angie got to put together a big Farmer's Wife fabric bundle just for this sew along), and the Marti Michell templates from Marti's website! 

Disclaimer: Because I am a blogger in this quilt-a-long, I graciously received a copy of the Farmer's Wife book and gift card from the Fat Quarter shop (yes I picked up more Cotton and Steel fabrics for my quilt) as well as a full set of templates from Marti Michell. The links above are not affiliate links - because my state won't allow that. The opinions as always, as well as the tutorial and photos, are all my own.