Welcome once again to Melanie! Let us know if you are enjoying this quilt-a-long in the comments. And don’t forget to tag @barij @southerncharmquilts and #barijquiltalong on Instagram!

Take it away Melanie!

_______

Hello again!

I'm hoping, fingers crossed, that you will give embroidery a try.  This block is soooooo much prettier and more bohemian looking when you add a little bit of hand stitches to your block.

You don't have to, so no pressure, but I'm hoping that you find the slow stitches not only calming, but absolutely stunning too.

Before I jump right into this, if you are behind or just starting, or looking for the place all the patterns are kept, click here.

Let's talk about fabrics

The Ivy Vine Block only uses 2 different fabrics (feel free to use more).

For my block, I'm using (click the shops to be taken directly to the fabric):

• Petit Potpourri in azur - Fat Quarter Shop, Hawthorne Threads
• Budquette in nightfall - Hawthorne Threads, Bobbie Lou Fabric

I chose the Budquette for my leaves, because that's what I used for the Mod Tulips and I wanted that dark color in more than one place of the quilt.  I've been trying to find some balance with my color placement.

Download the PDF pattern for the Ivy Vine block here.

My sweet friend, Kathy, let me know that sometime's it's hard to see where each block goes on the quilt and that it can be confusing to swap back and forth between PDF pattern to the whole quilt diagram.  

Changing the format of the PDF's now would be too time consuming, so to remedy the confusion, I just created a PDF that gives you the coloring sheet of the quilt, with the block/blocks we are working on highlighted in color.  This way you know exactly where your block goes.  Find this pattern's coloring PDF here.  I'll be sure to add this to all posts in the future too.

A little more for beginners

If you need a little bit more help than the PDF offers, please enjoy this video.  This one is kinda long (sorry), but it's only because I do some hand stitching on the video just to show you how simple it is.

Tips for this week's pattern:

• If you decide to use a decorative stitch on the edges of your leaves, the zig zag is the quickest, but your sewing machine will have at least several to choose from.  I'm using a blanket stitch in the video.
• Get the leaves stitched down soon, then spend the rest of this two week time period slow stitching your embroidery.
• I mention a class that I learned to embroider from, find it here.

Our Sponsors & a Giveaway

 

Thank you to the following companies for sponsoring this quilt along.

(logos are clickable)

               

 

Don't forget to share your progress!  I love seeing what you are making with this pattern.  Are you following along with the #barijquiltalong?  On IG, you can now literally follow it, just like you follow another user.  This way everyone making this quilt with us pops into your feed, making it even easier to connect with someone making the exact same things as you.

If you have a question or just want to chat, you can find me here and here.

Next week is the Dresden's, are you ready?