Benartex Christmas in July 2023

 Jackie Robinson has 

done it again!

A Botanical Season is 

a lovely array of 

holiday touchstones from 

holly to Christmas ornaments.

I used techniques from

my Fabric Collaborations class

to adorn this sweet and 

simple table runner

with lovely amaryllis 

flower bouquets.

I am in love with 

these sweet flowers and the 

cute star negative space 

at their centers!

The pattern can be found

in my ETSY shop

HERE.

Fun quilting 

suggestions included.

Come see how I used this

line in another project HERE 

to create a matching set!

Benartex Ambassador Project #3

 Christmas in July is celebrated by 

lots of quilters to get a jump on

their Christmas gift lists, so

I am going to offer 2

Christmas in July patterns

for my Benartex projects!

For project #3 I chose

to work with the new

line, Rhapsody in White,

arriving in shops now.

This line has a lovely

silky feel to it and there

are lots of cute

prints to choose from.

White makes me think of 

snowflakes though and how 

fun are those little

paper cut ones from 

our childhood.

In all honesty, I was never 

much good at getting them 

to look pretty, and I 

have worked very hard

to make the ones

in my Holiday Settings

pattern easy and cute!

The designs can be single

or layered as shown and

explained in the 

pattern instructions

found HERE.

These will become

timeless family gifts,

used every year.

Use them for pillows,

tote bags, candle mats,

mug rugs, Santa's

cookie mat....

The list is endless!

Come see how I used this

line in another project HERE 

to create a matching set!

CHURNED DAISIES:)

On shelves now is the 

January 2023 issue

of American Quilter.

The digital issue is now

available for purchase

HERE.

I am SO excited to finally

have this design out in the world:)

and in one of my favorite

color combinations!

These fabrics have been

waiting for me to get my

butt in gear as they sat

patiently for years in this fun 

monogram bag given to me by

my friend, Susan!

The daisy inspiration came

from these ca 1970 home items,

(match tin & recipe card box)

which were found while treasure

hunting with same sweet friend!

All the fabrics cut and 

awaiting assembly into 

one of the cutest and 

easiest blocks in quilting.

The Churn Dash is so

versatile and easy to 

chain piece while watching

your favorite movie on a

chilly winter day!

Once your blocks are done,

stitch them into the 

appropriate rows, 

pinning at seams.

The perfection of this 

design is that you only

have to make half the blocks

needed because the other

half of the quilt is done

in negative space:)

That negative area

is the airy space for 

our daisies!

Using a teflon pressing sheet

to assemble to full flowers,

allows the daisies to be

auditioned on the 

assembled background

before fusing in place.

They can be put anywhere 

you would like them!

I chose a gold variegated

thread that matched my 

centers to stitch my

petal edges down.

I thought it may help

them stand out against 

the background a bit.

Use black if you want

more differentiation or 

white for less.

So many ways to go:)

Look at how awesome

the AQS staging pic is!!

THANK YOU, AQS, for

again, choosing to 

publish my imagination:)

Winter Games QAL: SAVE THE DATE

Who is ready for some 
BLIZZARD QUILTING?!! 

Anyone else have wonderful memories 

of watching the Olympics every year?
I think the most exciting one for me was 

1980 because we lived near
Albany, NY then and the excitement was 

amazing living so close to
​where it was all happening:)
SO, this year I will be hosting a QAL 

during the 2 weeks of the Winter Olympics.  

We will be sewing on my quilt, 

Winter Games.

This quilt was designed 

years and years ago 

but never made it to pattern stage

until now:)

As with previous QALs, 

all the information will 

be found here and in 

my newsletters.

You will need a pattern to participate

 in this quilt-along.

The pattern has been written for

fusible applique' and will be 

offered in PDF format only 

with all full-sized templates.

Techniques involved will include

general piecing, paper piecing & 

fusible machine applique'.

Of course, there will be some video assists

to help in the process.

We will be doing all the discussion and

ooohing/aaahing of fabric choices over

in my FB group, Robin's Rocking Needles.

As before, over the next few weeks

expect multiple blog posts leading up to 

our big reveal day where I will discuss

fabric selection and supplies so you

can start preparing and be ready to go

as soon as you get your pattern.

Please leave a comment here if you have

any questions or email me,

robin@nestlingsbyrobin.com

I will be stitching along too as I make

another one in fusible applique' in 

another color way.

Until next time,

keep stitchin'~

SHOE TREE

  The November issue of AQ Magazine is out for 
delivery and on shelves very soon:)

So Much Inspiration and, if I 

may, yay me for being included

amongst the amazing talent!

I had been playing with shrinking

my shoes from my, "Get Pumped"

BOM in 2015.

You can find this 'tricked out'

design in my Etsy Shop.

HERE is the blog post about it:)

If only I could wear these to 

Thanksgiving dinner this year!!

This design is in my Etsy Shop too.

HERE is the blog post about it:)

As I was saying....

I had shrunk the shoes down so

I could recreate a picture I had

taken in South Beach, FL. of 

a shop window full of 

crystal decorated shoes.

I am not a "shoe" person but 

all that color and shiny...LOL!

So one day I am chatting with 

a friend and, Voila', 

this darling mini variation

is imagined.

THANK YOU, Mary:)!

I can't wait to see

all the new trees going up 

this holiday season:)

FLOURISH QAL: Supplies

 We are only 3 days away 

from this fun and inspiring quilt along!

So Exciting!!

Last time we talked FABRICS!

If you are new to the conversation,

go read the introduction HERE. 

We will wait...

Ok, now that you are back, 

let's talk supplies.

Some of my favorite supplies!

My swirly twirly designs

are back for this project

as well but I wrote the

whole pattern for 

fusible applique' and 

that is what we will 

focus on throughout

the QAL.

 *Still love the Magic sizing 

for PRESSING my seams.

*You see my favorite 

Bohin pencil is back.

That will come in handy

depending on the value

of your border fabric.

*There are two threads

shown because the supply

list says a skein of floss

but I chose to do all my 

embroidery with a YLI 

variegated machine thread.

Other items in the picture are: 

a pencil, Karen Kay Buckley

serrated scissors for cutting

my applique' (especially

cutting into V points/curves,

a tracing kit for an

embroidery tracing shortcut

(we will discuss at that step),

all sitting on my favorite

Pellon Wonder Under & Stabilizer.

These items make my life 

so much easier.

I know we all have our

own favorite tools so 

assemble what you need

based on this supply list below:

Right click the image to save

to your computer so you can

use it as a checklist before

Thursday.

See you in 3 short days!

~~~

FLOURISH: New QAL

 Well-Loved Ladies was a Huge success
and we still have many that are 
working on it because it really
isn't a quick project:)

As promised many moons ago, 

a smaller more attainable project

would be next so that those 

intimidated or not up to the 

task of WLL would be able to

join the quilt along fun and 

sharpen their skills for when

they are ready to tackle WLL. 

Twice a month starting July 1st,

I will present a tutorial via a

post here & FB that prepares us 

for the next step in the quilt along.

You will need a pattern to participate

 in this quilt-along.

The pattern has been written for

fusible applique' and will be 

offered in PDF and print form 

with all full-sized templates.

I will address using the templates

for hand applique' in a blog post

when we get there:)

Techniques involved will include

general piecing of flying geese units

and half-square triangles, applique'

(hand or fusible/machine), & embroidery.

Of course, there will be some video assists

to help in the process.

We will be doing all the discussion and

ooohing/aaahing of fabric choices over

in my FB group, Robin's Rocking Needles.

As before, over the next few weeks

expect multiple blog posts leading up to 

our big reveal day where I will discuss

fabric selection and supplies so you

can start preparing and be ready to go

as soon as you get your pattern.

Please leave a comment here if you have

any questions or email me,

robin@nestlingsbyrobin.com

I will be stitching along too as I make

another one in fusible applique' in 

another color way.

Until next time,

keep stitchin'~

Poppy Pod Lane

I have a love of poppy flowers and 

have designed some larger quilts 

that the magazines maybe find
overwhelming...?

So I designed a smaller piece and

Primitive Quilts & Projects

picked it up:)  YAY!

Their magazine is so full of beauty.

I started previewing my fabrics

to see how they would look

as quarter-square triangles.

Once the top was finished,

it was time to work on the 

embroidery for the 

applique' section.

Once all my applique'

was fused in place,

on to basting....

Yes, I pin baste 

small projects for 

machine quilting.

My quilting was straight

stitching along the diagonal line

of the pieced area; and as

I stitched down my raw 

edges of applique' with 

free motion scribble stitch, that 

area became quilted as well.

I had some wonderful

pattern testers that shared

their final minis with me:)

Thank you Brenda and Mary!!

Mary gave me a fun

change up from the 

original color scheme

and she knows how 

much I love orange:)

Make it in whatever colors

make your heart sing and 

don't forget to show me!

You can always post on my FB page HERE!

I can't wait to see it:)

The magazine is still out 

on shelves now and there 

is plenty of time to have it 

done for July!!

Keep stitchin'

Bramble Blooms

 The May issue of AQ Magazine is out and you will 
find my Bramble Blooms within its fine pages.

Let's talk fabrics:)

My fabric supplier was very

generous with this HARLOW 

collection from Northcott.

There is some truth to having too many decisions:)

Sometimes you need to try a new

technique, quilt style, or in this

case, a new block.

I have an affinity for pinwheel

blocks and tried something new 

this time by splitting one square of 

a half-square triangle set up 

before stitching together.  

It gives some fun extra movement.

Then you chain piece

every step of the process

so that you can stay on 

track and not mix 

up the steps.

Remember when I said I had too

many choices?  

When it came time to decide how

to make my applique' POP, it

got hard:)

My color aesthetic is not to mix

cream and white due to the 

cool/warm tones possibly clashing.

I really thought my flowers should be 

cream to blend in with the cream

background tones of the prints.

The chartreuse really threw me and

I felt it would be too in your face against

the soft pastels of the hydrangeas; but it looked

SO good with the white and gave

that POP I wanted my flowers to have.

Sometimes going out of your comfort 

zone gives you a surprise and opens

your design choices up for the 

next project.

I mixed cool and warm, bright and soft tones

and ended up loving it.

This is one of my favorite 

quilting motifs that I like

to repeat throughout a project.

I also like to do scribble or 

wiggle stitches along a raw

edge applique' for the 

ease of getting it done.

Lastly, don't forget to label your work 

and it can be as easy as using a micron pen:}

Remember that digital issues are 

available of all issues of AQ.

Visit the website HERE 

Keep Stitchin:)

SPLENDIFEROUS

Meet SPLENDIFEROUS!

Thank you again to 

Simply Vintage and 

the Quiltmania team

for showcasing my work

so beautifully!!

If you click on the Simply

Vintage link above you 

can purchase your own copy.

Here were the original layouts 

for this design and it would be

so fun to make a center pieced

medallion and add the applique'.

Then I started playing with

a long wall hanging and 

layering the applique' sets

from the 4 way layout.

It is just so cheerful and a

 bit smaller.

Then I was onto fabric selection.

One of the color ways was done

in peaches and pale greens.

That stuck with me and I set out

to replicate that idea minus the

use of pastels because that IS NOT me:)

Many lines were used and most

are older because I pull from

my stash most of the time.

Now the instructions are 

written for fusible applique' since

I try to listen to my audience but

when I have the time and the 

LOVE for a particular design,

I really love to hand applique'!

Once I had the embroidery lines

done, the flowers just jumped 

onto my background:)

This has to be the busiest

design I have ever done and I 

just adore it!!

Simply Vintage decided to 

photograph this as a table runner

and it is lovely that way too.

I didn't even think of it that 

way because my brain had a 

set plan if you can relate-lol.

Thanks for reading along &

keep stitching:)