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I’ve started a scrappy new project and I’m pretty smitten. Earlier this summer Jen Kingwellsent me a copy of her beautiful new book, Quilt Recipes, as well as templates for some of the patterns. Jen’s scrappy style always inspires me – her quilts are just amazing. I was so excited to get a look at her latest patterns and source of creative inspiration.
The book contains 12 new quilt patterns. I was immediately smitten with the Winki Stars quilt and have been itching to find a moment to play with the blocks. Summer has been full and I’m finally just getting to it. Over the past weeks I’ve been in the process of moving two daughters to college in different parts of the country – which means no time at my machine, but plenty of time on the road for some hand stitching and decided to pull some fabric and cut pieces to make a few of these blocks while sitting during travel times.
A scrappy fabric pull for a scrappy quilt
This is the fabric pull that resulted – a scrappy Jen-Kingwell-inspired palette. I’ve also been in the mood to work with more pastels and washed-out colors lately. I’m a little surprised at my self with the purple inclusion. I don’t sew – or even buy – a lot of purples, but somehow these prints had climbed into my sash – mostly as parts of other bundles and they fit just perfectly. It’s all a little bit outside my typical color range, but I’m pretty excited about where this is going!
Hand-piecing a quilt block
Using the acrylic templates for this quilt, I prepped a couple blocks to hand-piece during my travels. I hadn’t hand-pieced any quilt blocks (besides English Paper Piecing or applique) for ages and I’m really excited to give it a go again.
The first quilt blocks I’d ever made were hand-pieced when my mom taught me as a 12 year old. After that I was excited to learn how to piece by machine as it seemed to be a lot faster. In my typical ‘hurry up and get stuff done’ mentality, I’ll admit that hand-piecing again seemed a bit intimidating. Or slow. The next time I hand-pieced was taking a class from Jen at the Fat Quarterly Retreat 7 (gulp!) years ago. (How has it been that long?!) Jen’s class was a great reminder of how relaxing and enjoyable the process can be.
It has been surprisingly soothing to sit and hand-piece these quilt blocks. And much less intimidating than you’d think. The acrylic templates make it really easy to trace and cut accurate pieces as well as holes for marking the ¼″ seam allowances and intersections.
Like how my stripes match up in the block above?! Nothing I did purposely – totally a happy accident. 🙂
Here’s my work so far. I’m totally excited about hand-piecing this quilt! (And to be honest, it’s probably a little easier to hand piece this block as there are multiple Y-seams, but still totally doable by machine if you’re comfortable with machine-piecing y-seams.)
Meet Quilt Recipes by Jen Kingwell
Quilt Recipes is a gorgeous and inspiring hardcover book filled with scrappy quilt patterns and beautiful lifestyle photography, as you’d totally expect from Jen.
This hardcover book contains 12 new quilt patterns in Jen’s eclectic, scrappy style.
Some of the quilt patterns – like this one called Aunt Sukey’s – are written for rotary cutting and machine piecing.
Other quilts – like this one called Diamond Exchange – require template cutting and can be pieced by machine or hand. To see all of the quilts and projects from the book, you can check out the photos on the Quilt Recipes Amazon listing.
Acrylic templates are available for 6 of the projects in the book are sold separately.
The book also includes all templates at scale (no need to resize) so that you also have the option to make your own.
The book also includes actual food recipes too – 8 favorite dessert recipes passed down through Jen’s family.
photo from Jen Kingwell book Quilt Recipes
If you are a fan of scrappy, quirky quilts, or anything else Jen Kingwell-related, you will be inspired by this book. The 184-page hardcover book also makes a beautiful coffee-table book.
Here’s a quick video if you’d like to ‘meet Jen’ and hear about how she chooses fabric for her scrappy, eclectic style.
Where to find Quilt Recipes book
Quilt Recipes is hopefully available at your local quilt shop. (I spotted it at my local shop, the Corn Wagon in Springville, Utah. 😀) You can also find the book as well as the acrylic templates online from shops on Etsy or the Fat Quarter Shop.
If you’re international you can order directly from Amite Textiles or Jen Kingwell in Australia.
The hardcover book is also available on Amazon.
