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I Just Want to Sew

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I’ve been away from my sewing machine too long. For good reason, we’ve been traveling. We had a family reunion camp trip in La Veta, Colorado. It was lots and lots of fun. You know it was fun when you arrive home exhausted! I brought a hand-stitching project with me and didn’t do a single stitch. When I got home I had orders up to my eyeballs so it’s been almost 3 weeks since I’ve sewn. This may be a short blog. My Singer is singing to me the song of the siren. Ha!

Sew, What’s Up?

We have the next 3-yard pattern available for you to download. It is dandy, too – Yankee Doodle Dandy! Introducing 3YD Victor, the next in our 3YD line-up. This easy strip-pieced pattern is fast, fun, and free for a limited time. Check out our 2024 3YD Sew Along tab above or click this link. The 2024 Sew Along is free. Jump in anytime. You can find the 3 yard kit (plus 1/2 yard for binding) here but the pattern download is on the 2024 Sew Along page. All the previous 3YD patterns for this year are currently 50% off. Visit our Etsy store for digital downloads or our online store for paper copies.

3YD Victor
3YD Victor
3YD Victor
3YD Victor

Sew Much Fabric

While away, my sister-in-law was very sweet and house-sat our dogs for us. We arrived home to find 6 huge boxes of fabric! I was delighted to open them. A couple of the boxes contained our Material Girlfriend’s Scarecrow’s Song fabric line! Yay! The 15-fabric line includes a delightful scarecrow panel singing to the birds as they fly away. The panel was created in a “cheater appliqué” style. We received the sample yardage to make the Scarecrow’s Fly Away Song quilt last month. See the pictures below. It is a free pattern download. Download your copy here. I’ll have a free Scarecrow’s Bargello pattern at the same location in a few more days. I’m still trying to catch up from our 2-week camping road trip. Check out our online shop for Scarecrow’s Fly Away Song kit and Scarecrow’s Song fabric bundles.

Scarecrow’s Song

We also received a lovely line of batiks from Timeless Treasures. We’re making more Bento Bento kits with this line. If you want extra fabric for a border, just let me know.

Also new is a gorgeous green Wowza kit.

Wowza Green Batik kit
Wowza Green Batik kit
Wowza Green Batik kit
Wowza Green Batik kit
Wowza Green Batik kit

Plus we received some autumn charm packs and yardage, some Christmas fabrics, and sew on. Check the online store often. We will be adding more kits over the next week or so. We’re massively stocking up and getting ready for the Pacific International Quilt Festival July 24-27. We’ll be in booth 310!

Sew Little Time

We made progress on Mom’s sewing room. Mostly Mom made progress on her sewing room. I was at her house this morning and forgot to take pictures! We’ll need to report more on her room next posting. See the previous post for the move-in mayhem.

My unfinished projects haven’t increased but they’re not decreasing either. Seams I finish one, only to start another. How are you doing? Are you keeping up with the 3YD quilt challenge? Are you finishing your PHDs (Projects Half Done)? Make a little time for yourself and enjoy some sewing. My Singer Featherweight has been calling to me long enough. It’s time to sew.

Have a lovely Father’s Day too!

Happy sewing,

Lisa W. Norton

Basically Speaking

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The 3-Yard Quilt Along Series has been going great! We’re on our 5th month for the free pattern download. Click on this link to find out the details and to download your free monthly 3YD pattern, 3YD Romeo.

10 Thousand, Wow!

We have 10k subscribers to our monthly email. I can’t even get 10K steps in daily. It boggles my brain that 10K people voluntarily signed up. Not coerced or threatened, right Lora? Why does she look guilty? Coerce your friends, I mean, invite your quilting friends to check out Material Girlfriends. We have a lot to share and we love what we do.

Our Promises to our Subscribers

  • We will NEVER share your email with anyone. We’ll protect it like it was our own.
  • We will NEVER spam your in box. Generally, we send an email once a month around the 15th. Once in a blue moon, we might send a second email if we think there is something you’ll want to know.
  • We will NEVER hold your email box hostage. We have an easy unsubscribe button in every email. You can easily unsubscribe. We get it and won’t have hurt feeling if you need a break from us.

If you think you’re missing your monthly email, check your spam folder. Sometimes newsletter type emails land there. Just mark our email as NOT spam. Otherwise, Join Our Tribe banner at the top of the page. You’re safe with us.

Celebration Sale!

To celebrate 10K subscribers, enjoy 10% off the entire web store, as well as our Etsy store with this coupon code, 10KWOW. Enter the coupon code at checkout. The items that are already on sale will get an additional 10% off on the web store, but Etsy will only allow one sale code. Coupon code expires May 30, 2024.

Material Girlfriends Shop

Digital Downloads Etsy Store

Basically Speaking

How are your blocks turning out? Are your points pointy? Blocks turning out the right size? Frustrated with your results? It takes just a little detective work to figure out the culprit of a mangled block.

Basically, there are Four Elements to Accuracy. The four elements are NOT an expensive sewing machine, a pricey iron, specialty rulers, or bougie quilter retreats. Although those four are plenty of fun and we sure wouldn’t say no. However, those won’t make your blocks any different than they are right now. If you want a bit more accuracy in your quilt block construction, consider these four elements.

The Four Elements of Accuracy

  • Cutting
  • Alignment
  • 1/4″ seam
  • Pressing

Most quilters assume the error of their ways must be that allusive 1/4″ seam. Nay, nay. I find when checking blocks for my students that the biggest culprit is the pressing! If you’re interested in learning more, see our YouTube channel for sewing tips! We have over 90 videos.

For Accuracy, check out our YouTube playlist, Quilting Tips for Accuracy. You’ll find four videos on each of the elements of accuracy; cutting, alignment, 1/4″ seam, and pressing.

Close Enough Club

I teach accuracy. However, I never require accuracy – not from our students, not from Lora, and not from myself. We all need to be members of the Close Enough Club. If a point is off by 1/8″, I’ll fix it. I’m very familiar with my seam ripper! However, if I’ve seam ripped twice, it stays the 3rd time no matter how off. I give myself 1/16th grace too. I don’t fix it just because it isn’t perfect. 1/16″ is close enough for me. 1/8″ might be close enough for you. 1/4″ might be close enough for your quilting friend. That’s okay! We aim to help you obtain the results you want.

The Misadventures of the Material Girlfriends

Quilt room disaster.

Two weeks ago, we helped move our parents from their home in Lodi, CA to Brentwood, CA. Yay! They are so much closer to us – just 6 miles from me (Lisa), 4 miles from Lora, and 6 miles from our brother, Mike.

The family assembled “and we loaded up the truck and we moved to Beverly” as the song goes. I can just laugh at the imagery. Ha! There was a snaggletooth caravan of trucks and trailers hauling their precious cargo.

We affectionately call the grandsons the “Brut Squad” from Princess Bride. Mom and Dad moved into their new Brentwood home in just a day. A hard day, but moved in. The Brut Squad was amazing. They kept great attitudes, joked, and encouraged each other through what could have been a miserable move day.

The boxes were everywhere. Unfortunately, if anyone didn’t know where a box or item went, it was dumped in Mom’s new quilt room. Oh, what a mess! We had about 3 square feet of carpet that we could move around in. It was worse than the photo below. Mom had worked a bit at it before the photo. Let’s play Where’s Waldo? Can you ‘spy with your little eye’ a sewing machine, cutting mat, collapsible sewing box, and 24 UFOs? Why is the kitchen dinette in the sewing room?

Two weeks after the move, Lora and I came to help set up Mom’s quilt room. Fortunately, Lora took the lead. I was at a loss as to where to start. It was so overwhelming.

Move everything out of the room. Lora had us move everything out. We stacked it in the dining room. Then we arranged the furniture where Mom wanted it. The kitchen dinette did not go back in the quilt room!

Make a plan. We (mostly Lora) talked through the room. Where were the fabric, the projects, the computer, the printer, the sewing machine(s), the ironing board, the cutting mat, etc. going to go? They all needed a home and a workable area. We needed to establish where they belonged. Lora ‘organized’ the spaces in the sewing room.

Do what we can. We determined there wasn’t enough storage at the moment. Mom’s previous quilt room had an upright cabinet and three upper cupboards. Can’t snap our fingers and make those appear so we did what we could with what we had. First off, we put away the fabric bins. Then we sorted through her numerous projects. We had a lot of fun poking fun at her orphan blocks and seam-ingly abandoned projects. She had decluttered a lot before packing for the move, but she found quite a bit more she decided she was ready to be rid of. We then put her projects away on the other side of the long cabinet.

Time was up. We set 2.5 hours to make progress. We made quite a lot of head way! We tidied up, and left mom with a list of shopping items she’ll need to pick up for her new quilting room.

Sew, if your quilt space has gotten out of control, remember How do you eat an Elephant? In small bites. Don’t choke on a huge project. Make a time limit, for us it was 2.5 hours. Then clear out some space, organize, then put it back. Declutter as you go.

Stay tuned for Mom’s sewing room next month. We’ll keep you updated on her progress!

Happy sewing!

Lisa Norton and Lora Zmak

Spring Fling

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Spring Fling Sale at MaterialGirlfriendsShop.com

Yay! It’s spring time. Weather is warming up. The sun is shining. Ah- hem. The sun is shining. California, really! We’ve webbed toes already. The sun is shining between rain bursts, but we’re not going to let that dampen our mood. Lora and I have been clearing, cleaning, and organizing. Which is good news for you, because that means…. we’re having a SALE!

Material Girlfriends SALE

I created a special sale section on our web store for this fun Spring Fling Sale. Snatch up select quilt kits and patterns with up to 50% off. You’ll find some fabulous deals! One week only! Sale ends April 22, 2024.

Etsy Storewide SALE

Not to be out done! The entire Material Girlfriends Etsy store is 30% off. No way. Yes, way. Every digital download pattern is now 30% off. Sale ends April 22, 2024.

What’s Better than a Sale?

FREE! Yep, that’s right. The FREE 3 Yard pattern for April is now available. Download your copy until April 30, 2024. If you haven’t heard of our 2024 3YD pattern Series Sew Along, you’re missing out! download a free pattern from the 15th to the end of the month, every month for the year. This is our community quilt challenge. We are encouraging everyone to make community quilts and donate, or give, as they see fit.

The Misadventures of the Material Girlfriends

Lora and I belong to a lovely guild, the Delta Quilters of Brentwood, CA. One of the guild fund raisers is a Sewing Room Tour, held every other year. This year was that year! Lora was asked to be a part of this fun tour and she was happy to participate. There were 5 homes on the tour, with the tour ending at a 6th home for a reception. All the homes were located in the Brentwood / Oakley area.

Plans Go Awry

We had planned to have a Material Girlfriend Pop-up store in Lora’s backyard during the Sewing Room tour. Alas, the forecast was rain, rain, rain. We went to plan B. The day before the tour, we planned to set up the MG booth in the living room. There was a Preview Sewing Room Tour for the hostesses and volunteers that afternoon at 4:45pm. We had lots to do to set up. Puppy pen, one recliner sofa, one recliner loveseat, two wingback recliner chairs, coffee table, end tables, lamps, and assorted decor were all schlepped to the long hall and to the back bedrooms. Now to unload and set-up the booth.

Disaster Strikes

When we moved the puppy pen to the long hall, Lora had pulled apart the puppy pen to wash the mat. She put the mat in the laundry room sink and turned on the water to soak it. I continued to move things into the back rooms. My son, Joshua, was helping us unload our little MG trailer. We unloaded the poles, drapes, suitcases of quilts, bins, and more bins of quilt kits and patterns.

I told Lora and Josh that I needed a quick bathroom break before more lifting. As soon as I walked into the bathroom, I noticed the floor was flooded! I thought there was a leak at the base of the toilet. I yelled for Lora. As I’m leaving the bathroom to find her (doing the pee-pee dance now), I hear the water running in the laundry room. I dash around the corner into the laundry room and the floor is flooded with water! Oh, no!!! The sink had been overflowing (full blast) for at least 20 minutes! I turned off the tap.

On the other side of the wall of the laundry room was the hall bathroom and Lora’s sewing room. The laundry room water flowed under the wall to the bathroom and into Lora’s sewing room. The carpet was soaked about 18″ from the baseboard into the room under her sewing desk and cabinets. We pulled all her sewing room furniture from the wall and used a shop vac and every towel in the house to soak up the water. The Pre-view Sewing Room Tour, 30+ volunteers and hostesses were arriving in just 4 1/2 hours!

Never Let Them See You Sweat

We were sweating! Clean up, set up. I was so grateful Kelly (Lora’s husband), and Josh were able to help us. The show must go on! We rolled up our sleeves and worked hard.

The Pre-view party went great. My hair was still wet from sweat on the back of my neck, but the front looked good. Carpet was a little damp but preview peeps didn’t mind one bit.

Check out Lora’s video. Do you think we pulled it off?

Lora’s house, Sewing Room Tour

After we cleaned up, Lora noticed my mini Red Star quilt that we had hung in a flower pot by her front door, had bled in the rain. This misadventure was full of blood, sweat, and tears.

What a bummer! Lora thought the bleed was from the red binding and it ran along the quilt lines. Time to use some Shout Color Catchers. “Can I soak this in your laundry room sink for a little while?” I said with a smirk. Lora let out a short, loud laughed. “OH! It is just too soon for that to be funny,” she tried to say seriously.

Happy Sewing! We will see you the next time.

Lisa W. Norton and Lora W. Zmak

Choose Three

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Lisa W. Norton and Lora W. Zmak

Choose three what? Cookies, candies, chocolates? No, silly. Choose three fabrics. Oh…can I still have three cookies?

The Three Yard Quilt trend has been a fun one to follow. Made popular by the 3-Yard books and patterns by Fabric Café, Donna Robertson and Fran Morgan have influenced quilters all over the world. What a dynamic duo!

When vending quilt shows, Lora and I had been asked by several quilters if we had 3-Yard patterns. No, but we had everything else from minis to kings. We thought it interesting that quilters were searching for more 3 Yard Quilt patterns. So we listened to our customers and designed four 3-Yard patterns. They sold like hotcakes. Hmmm… Donna and Fran really started something! We pushed up our sleeves and started designing a FREE 3-Yard Quilt Sew Along for 2024. We’ll make community quilts by the dozen! And we’re having fun.

Fabric, Fabric, Fabric

You have your 3YD pattern download, now what? You get to choose three 1-yard cuts of fabric. The instructions say to select a Light, Medium, and Dark fabric, but there really is more to it than just that. You’ve got contrast, size of print, shades, tints, fabric genre, and don’t forget colors, all playing a part in choosing the perfect Light, Medium, and Dark fabric requirements. And will this match Micah’s room? Selecting the fabric is an important part of your 3-Yard quilt. It can be stressful! It can cause decision fatigue and shut you down. Let us help you out.

Your 3-Yard Movie

Imagine your 3-Yard quilt like a movie. In your 3-yard movie, you have your Lead Actor, a Co-Star, and a Supporting Actor. Lead Actor demands most of the attention, then the Co-Star. The Supporting Actor doesn’t have much of a part in your movie. However, in your 3-yard movie, they all have the same amount of screenplay, aka 1-yard. The size of the print is a prominent element in the role a fabric plays.

So what would this yardage look like? Your Lead Actor Yard would be your busiest or largest print, perhaps the boldest colors too. The Co-Star Yard could have a moderate-size print and could be a couple of colors, but the color(s) would complement the Lead Actor Yard. The Supporting Actor Yard is usually a solid or, tone-on-tone, doesn’t demand attention but coordinates with the Lead Actor Yard and the Co-Star Yard nicely. Let’s look at a couple examples.

The Dark is the Lead Actor Yard with its beautiful ruby sunflowers. The Medium is the Supporting Actor Yard, a one-color ruby batik. The Co-Star Yard is the Light, a tone-on-tone print. The half-yard of ruby on top is the binding in this 3 Yard kit.

3YD Bravo by Material Girlfriends. Shhh. Secret. 3YD Bravo will be the free download in November if you want to wait, but don’t wait on the yardage. It’s going fast.

Check out the green selection below. Ahah! I bet you didn’t expect the background fabric to be your Lead Actor Yard. In the image below, the Light is the Lead Actor Yard. The Medium is our Co-Star Yard, and the Dark is our Supporting Actor Yard.

Free download for February, 3YD Charlie Quilt Pattern.
My medium green is not the same as the image above. I didn’t have that fabric when we sewed this up. Hopefully, you can imagine the medium green with a little more texture.

Color and Contrast

Regarding Colors, here are my guidelines.

  1. Keep the tones with tones. Tones are colors that have a little gray added to mute the colors, like Civil War fabrics. You can have Light, Medium, and Dark Tones.
  2. Keep the tints with tints. Tints are colors that have a little white added so they’re a little washed out like 30s fabrics. Again, you can have Light, Medium, and Dark Tints.
  3. Keep genres together. Civil War, 30’s prints, or different fabric designers such as Kaffe Fassett, all coordinate well within their genre.
  4. If you don’t like a particular fabric, you’re not going to like it in your quilt top either. I don’t know how ugly fabric follows me home, but occasionally I find some in my bucket and wonder what was I thinking. Don’t sacrifice all that piecework and other fabric resources for $12 of ugly fabric. Put that ugly fabric in a paper sack. Donate it, give it to a friend, but don’t use it if you don’t like it.

Of course, there are plenty of successful cross-overs. These are just simple guidelines. Once you’ve exercised that fabric selection muscle a bit, choosing fabrics will get easier. I promise.

Color might not be your superpower. One out of 200 women and 1 out of 12 men have some level of color blindness. The number of cones in our eyes also determines our ability to see the slight variations of color. Less cones, less ability to see color. If your superpower isn’t color, it is quite alright to video call a friend or ask for help from a quilt store sales associate. Enlist help when you need it.

Regarding Contrast, here are my guidelines.

  1. Light, Medium, and Dark are relative. They relate as a Light, Medium, or Dark within a set. That same Light for one set could be the Dark for another set.
  2. Use your phone to take a picture of your 3-yard set. A smartphone not handy? Squint through your lashes or dim the lights. When seen reduced on the phone, it is easier to see a gap in contrast between fabrics. Is your Medium too close to your Dark? You can also change your color pic to grayscale. However, remember red can read as a Medium when in color but changes to a Dark in grayscale. I rely on reds when taken in color, not in grayscale pics.
  3. Having good contrast strengthens the quilt design. If your fabrics are too close in value, your piecework can disappear. It is a bummer to work so hard on a quilt top only to discover a lighter shade of purple would have made the piecing stand out better.

Lora’s superpower is color. I have a few extra cones in my eyes too. However, we can’t smell everything, taste the slight differences in flavors, or hear the different instruments in a musical. (What? That’s a piano?) So we get it. We all have physical strengths and weaknesses. Quilting with a community, either a social-sew group at a quilt shop, or with your local quilting guild, enables us to band together, lending and leaning on each other to enjoy our hobby and to obtain the results that we want.

Most importantly, it is your quilt! Use the fabrics that make you happy. As my friend Linda would say, make a decision and embrace it.

On The Road Again

Our next show will be a the Sewing & Stitchery Expo in Puyallup WA, February 29 – March 3, 2024.

We’ll have a 30′ booth packed full of patterns and kits. Lora has over 70 3-yard kits cut and ready to come with us too. If you’re in the area, we’ll be in row 900. We look forward to seeing you!

Absewlutey,

Lisa Norton

2024 is Feeling Good

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“It’s a new dawn, It’s a new day, It’s a new life for me. And I’m feeling good.” ― Nina Simone

Michael Bublé is singing to me “Feeling Good“. It’s my new 2024 theme song. I love fresh starts, don’t you? It’s a new year and I’m feeling good. We’ve a lot of new beginning for the first month of 2024! Join us in Feeling Good.

First, join our 2024 Sew Along

Whoohoo! The year has begun! January starts off with not just one free 3YD pattern, but TWO!! The 3YD Echo will be a free pattern download all year. No matter what month you jump into this Sew Along, you’ll already have a free download pattern to start. The January download is 3YD Alpha. Click over to the 2024 3YD Quilt Series Sew Along page to get the download and view all the possibilities with this fun, easy, and versatile quilt block.

3YD Echo

3YD ALPHA

Second, join us on a 2025 Quilting Cruise

That’s right!! But it isn’t until April 2025. Check out all the details at Stitchin’ Heaven. Our husbands are coming with us. You can choose to room with a quilting buddy or bring your non-quilting sidekick. We may have to have a Quilters Enabler Support Group while we sew, lol! Plan on having an amazing cruise with us. Oh, and when you register, be sure to write in that the Material Girlfriends sent you. We get a little $ for each recommendation so we can purchase prizes for our participants! Sawheet!

Third, join us for our Annual Mystery Zoom Class

Introducing our 10th Mystery quilt! Watch the video to see all the previous mysteries. The recipe is the same for each mystery, 24 dark 10″ squares and 24 light 10″ squares, plus optional border fabric. We will be teaching this at In Between Stitches February 17, Delta Quilters Guild (members only) February 19, and via Zoom February 18. The Zoom class will be held February 18, 2024, 1pm-4pm Pacific Time and is just $30. Zoom class size is limited. Mystery Kits available in Navy and Cream batiks – same fabrics as our gorgeous sample quilt that Lora is dying to show you. She is so bad about keeping a secret! Don’t text her, she’s weak.

View the past 9 mystery workshops. Can you believe this is our 10th?!

Fourth, will you be my Valentine?

Are you a romantic? We’ve got some cute Valentine influenced projects, cause we know how you feel (I’m still singing with Bublé). Tea time with a grand baby? or a pretty runner for brunch with your quilting tribe? Check out the Cups of Love kit and patterns. We also have a lot of our kits back in stock. Thank you very much for shopping Material Girlfriends during the holiday season. We really, really appreciated it. You know how we feel.

A Charming Cup of Love Runner kit, $59.99 (includes fabric for both runners in the Charming Cup of Love pattern plus the pattern) or A Charming Cup of Love Runner pattern $11.99.

A Cup of Love kit, mini 19″ table topper, $19.99, includes the pattern.

Don’t forget to purchase your “I Love Me” present. Shop generously at

https://www.materialgirlfriendsshop.com and https://materialgirlfriends.etsy.com

Finally, find us at a Quilt Show

Come find us January 17-20 in Ontario CA at the Road to California Show, Booth #317-319. Lora, Diana, Mom (Carolyn), and I would love to see you!

Come find us February 2-4 in Folsom CA at the Folsom Quilt and Fiber Show, Booth #12. Sooo good to be back to this one.

Come find us February 29-March 3 in Puyallup WA at the Sew & Stitchery Expo, don’t know my booth # yet. This will be our second year at this show. We had sew much fun last year. We met lots of new vendors and customers. We hope to see you there as well. We’ll be praying for no crazy snow storms this time! Oi, I have lots of new gray hair from last year’s road trip.

As always, if you have questions please feel free to reach out. Email me at lisa@materialgirlfriends.com Oh, and if the sign up banner doesn’t show up for you and you’re using a tablet, try rotating the tablet from horizontal to vertical or visa-versa. Weirdly enough that seems to do the trick and the Join Our Tribe banner will magically show up at the top of the page. I throw my hands up into the air. I don’t get it either. Thanks for joining our tribe!

It’s a new dawn, It’s a new day, It’s a new life, for you and me. And I’m feeling good.

Happy Sewing,

Lisa Norton and Lora Zmak

2024 Sew Along

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But wait!

Let’s quickly finish the 2023 “I Love Us” Sew Along. You can find the I Love us in January block and the assembly instructions in the header above or click on the links. The cremé del a cremé center unit is a digital download at our Etsy store.

https://materialgirlfriends.etsy.com

I can’t wait to see your quilts! If you do Facebook, please share them on our group page, Material Girlfriends Quilting Gang. If you don’t, email your picture to Lisa@materialgirlfriends.com I really do love seeing your creations!

On to 2024!

It will be here before you know it! You can’t stop time.

Wait till you see what we have for 2024! We’re very excited. Lora and I decided to offer a “community quilt” opportunity with our 2024 3YD Quilt Series Sew Along. It is different. Very. Different. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a Sew Along that the monthly block is actually a full on quilt. Yep, a cup of crazy anyone? Do you take cream or sugar with that cup? Mine is extra strong today.

We’ll have a new 3YD pattern download each month. Our focus will mainly be community quilts; baby, throw, and bed sizes.

  • We’ll show double-up options (bed size or quilts of valor size)
  • Scrappy and multiple 3YD options
  • Enjoy a few Youtube tutorials for techniques and tools

What do these 3YD quilts look like? Here is a picture of some of our print-outs. They’ll not necessarily be in those colors though. We’ll include a paper-pieced 3YD quilt, a Dresden 3YD quilt, plus a lot of fun pieced quilts too.

Community Quilt Opportunity

The community quilt part is totally optional. I intend to make a couple as gifts as well. You can make these 3YD quilts for your grandkids, neighbor kids, aging parents, or a cozy tv throw for yourself!

How many 3YD quilts will you make? All twelve, six out of twelve, three out of twelve? Make a personal goal. I plan on making all twelve with at least six of those donated as a community quilts. We’ll see if I can keep up! I want to work through my stash so my 3YD quilts may be more scrappy than just using three one yard cuts. If you run out of fabric, (wink wink), we’ll have 3YD kits at MaterialGirlfriendsShop.com Not right now, though. Check them out in January.

Where will the Community Quilts Go?

Will we give you places to send your 3YD community quilts? Nay. We will not. That is fully up to you. Where are you feeling led to give a warm blanketed hug? Babies? Children? Seniors? Victims? Teens? Orphans? Foster care? Veterans? Teen Challenge? The list seems endless. I’d love to know where you will send your quilts. If you check our Facebook group page, Material Girlfriends Quilting Gang, I’m sure there will be someone that will be happy to offer you some ideas on where to send your community quilt. Check with your local quilt guild, church, or charity.

Why should you do this Sew Along?

Doing the 2024 3YD Quilt Series Sew Along is good for your health. No, we’re not threatening bodily harm if you don’t join us. Lora said I couldn’t do that. But check out this Cleveland Clinic report. (Link below) Why Giving is Good for Your Health

  • Lower Blood Pressure
  • A Longer Life Span
  • Less Stress
  • A ‘Helpers’ High
  • You get to play with fabric

Okay, that last bullet I added. The report also says you get the benefits of the good brain chemicals, Serotonin, Dopamine, and Oxytocin. That’s even better than a cup of crazy! Read the full article by clicking on the link. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/why-giving-is-good-for-your-health

Share the 2024 3YD Quilt Series Sew Along

Be sure to share the 2024 3YD Quilt Series Sew Along info with your quilting friends and quilting guild members. The free pattern download will be available monthly for a short 10 day window. Be on the email list so the monthly free pattern download is not missed. Subscribe by filling in name and email in the Join Our Tribe banner at the top of this page.

Sign Up

The 3YD patterns are all confident beginner friendly. Not too complicated, but definitely pretty. There is no fee to join this Sew Along. It’s totally free. You don’t even have to subscribe to the email list. Just remember to come back each month!

If you sign up for our email (Join Our Tribe banner at the top of this page), we promise we would never, ever sell or share your email address. It is safe with us. No spamming, no scamming. We email once a month, sometimes twice if we have something interesting to share. Plus, we have an easy to Unsubscribe button in every email. You can easily back out and away from the people drinking the hot cup of crazy. 😉

Happy sewing!!

Lisa and Lora