Quilt Story

Tutorial: Friendship Star Block

2012-01-28T00:01:00.006-07:00

Hope you're enjoying your weekend! We've got a simple tutorial to share with you today, the Friendship Star. We shared this tutorial several months ago on Chasing Cottons and hadn't put it onto our blog yet! :) This is a simple and fun block to make for a sampler, swap or repeated in a quilt. What makes this star a little unique is I fussy-cut the center square...you can't go wrong with Heather Ross!

Cutting requirements

see image below

Solid background: two 4.25" x 4.25" squares for HST and four 3.5" x 3.5"

Contrasting pinwheel: two 4.25" x 4.25" squares for HST

Center: one 3.5" x 3.5"

HST (half-square triangle)

Draw a line from corner to corner on both solid background pieces.

Sew 1/4 inch on each side of the pencil line, then cut down the pencil line.

Square the HST's to 3.5"

Piece together in rows first, always using 1/4" seams

Then rows together!

Voila! One 9.5" x 9.5" finished block

Do you have a quilt block tutorial??

Make sure to link it up to our Block Tutorial Link-Up!

Chemo Quilt from days and years...

2012-01-26T23:55:00.001-07:00

Kim from days and years created this amazing quilt in record time 10 days! (during her busy life). She made it for a Aunt who is going through chemotherapy. What a wonderful thing to do! Her blog is full of crafting, sewing, cooking, gardening among other things. Make sure to go visit her.

Chemo Quilt

How to make a quilt in 10 days while working a full-time job, and doing a girls’ cabin weekend in the middle of it all (a.k.a. quick ‘n dirty style):

Day 1: Decide, upon hearing that your dear auntie who was recently diagnosed with ovarian cancer will be starting chemo in 10 days, that you MUST make her a care package, complete with handmade lap quilt. Make plans to hit the fabric store after your New Year’s Day date with your husband. Curse the universe when you realize that the fabric store closes too early for you to get there.

Day 2: In a 20 minute between-appointments break at work, run into your favorite local fabric store. Grab several bolts of your favorite Anna Maria Horner fabric, thank your lucky stars that there isn’t a line at the cutting table, and walk out with about 1/2 yard each of 6 quilting cottons and 1 yard each of voile. On the drive home, wrestle with the eternal question: to prewash or not to prewash?? Opt to prewash.

Day 3: Decide that you don’t have time to use an elaborate pattern. Start laying out the fabric on your living room floor, keeping the pieces as large as possible. Time is of the essence… planning and piecing eats time. Misplace your scissors. Burst into tears a few times. Ponder the thought of losing yet another family member so soon… Start ripping fabric. Discover that your plan for the backing won’t work. Dig through stash, find more fabric. Assemble the top and the back. Cry yourself to sleep.

Day 4: Make your quilt sandwich, using organic cotton batting and basting spray to hold everything together. Try not to spray your dog, because he keeps trying to “help.” Gather quilting needles, thread, curse yourself for failing (again) to buy a thimble.

Day 5: Go out of town with your girlfriends. Take a day off from working on the quilt. Say a silent “thank you” to the universe for blessing you with such great friends.

Day 6: Everyone knows that girls’ weekends are filled with wine, chatting, more wine, more chatting, and other sedentary activities (except that one time when there was snow – we went snowshoeing!). Use this opportunity to start the hand quilting. Work on the stitching whenever sitting down, which ends up being about 10 hours over the whole day.

Day 7: Continue stitching on the drive home, and for the rest of the evening. It helps if your husband is sleeping on the couch.

Day 8: Stitch stitch stitch!

Day 9: Yes, more stitching! Finish! Stand back and realize – whoah. Those colors are, um. Bold. Loud. Not exactly subtle. Then again, there’s nothing subtle about cancer.

Day 10: Trim the edges. Realize that the failure to measure anything while assembling results in less-than-square corners. Decide you don’t care. Make double-fold bias binding. Machine-stitch to the quilt. Wash and dry!

My sister and I delivered the care package to my aunt last weekend, right after she finished the first treatment. She loves it, and refuses to bring it with her to her treatments. That’s alright. It can stay at home.

In case you find yourself in this situation and are looking for chemo care package ideas, here is what we came up with:

Large tote bag

Slim expanding file folder

Business card folder

Notebook/journal

Fun pens

iTunes gift card

Extension cord (for her iPad)

Hard candies (sugar-free Jolly Ranchers, Werther’s, mints, honey-lemon lozenges)

Smartwater

Water flavorings (Crystal Lite packets, Mio water flavor drops)

Various teas (Smooth Move, Ginger, Peppermint)

Crystalized ginger

Assorted hand lotions

Lip balm

A tea kettle & pretty mug

Cozy lounge pants, t-shirts, and zip-front hoodies

I feel like there was more in there… I can’t remember what else though. We made a pot of vegetable soup and a pan of veggie lasagna and froze those in single servings. We also cooked some frozen fruit, then re-froze it in ice cube trays. We thought those might come in handy if her white blood cell counts go low, and she wants to keep doing smoothies.

Now we just need to say our prayers and call in our favors and hope that she comes through this as strong as ever.

Fabric envy giveaway....

2012-01-25T23:40:00.001-07:00

Our wonderful sponsor Fabric Envy is hosting a fun giveaway today!

Fabric Envy is offering a 6x6 Prince Charm Pack by Tula Pink, a polished blossom from Basic Grey and 2 yards Riley Blake ruffle elastic!

How cute is this stuff! I wonder if I can win??? :)

A little about fabric Envy...

They offer low shipping rates up to 8 yards ships for only $5.00 and all patterns and orders of $150.00 or more always ship FREE

They carry a fun assortment of notions including Basic Grey Fabric Flowers, Buttons, and Riley Blake Trims, and Anna Maria Horner Bias Tapes

Her darling blog offers great tutorials and giveaways like these flower and headband tutorials

They also offer a one-of-a-kind Vendor Program, that offers discounted fabric for those of you out there who resale your crafts. It's so easy to apply. Check out the perks here

They carry a wide variety of unique Fat Quarter Bundles

Great, easy, website was designed to help the user find what they need fast by allowing you to shop by Designer, Collection, Manufacturer, Color, Theme, Special Cuts, and more

The Design Wall makes it easy to coordinate fabrics right on your computer screen

How to enter:

(enter each of these in separate comments, for 4 ways to enter)

Visit the shop and let us know your favorite item
Follow on Facebook
Follow the Blog
Follow in Pinterest

Giveaway will run through Monday, winner announced on Fabric Tuesday next week!

GOOD LUCK!

Wonderful memory quilt from Nancy Noodle...

2012-01-24T22:12:00.001-07:00

Nancy from Nancy Noodle made this wonderful quilt in memory of her Uncle. The details that went into all the embroideries is amazing! What a great gift to give to the family who lost their father and husband. Be sure to visit her blog, and she has a cute etsy shop as well...

Quilt of Shaun

My final post of 2011 is dedicated to a quilt that has taken me most of the year to complete. I first envisioned a quilt dedicated to my uncle Shaun a little over a year ago. In October 2010 he passed away suddenly, leaving my aunt and her 3 kids heartbroken.

I enlisted the help of my sister Amber and my mom in the project. Amber, who is great with design and drawing helped me figure out which aspects of Shaun's life we should include and how to do so. She drew most of the images that became the stitcheries. We divided the 10 blocks between the 3 of us. A few months later I collected the stitchery blocks. We collaborated on fabrics/quilt designs, and from our collaborations I created this quilt. Just in time for Christmas too!
I love how it turned out. The colors, the design, the fabrics, the stitcheries, the straight line diagonal quilting, even the back.
Fabrics used in this quilt: Kona Cottons (Lemon, Banana, Medium Grey & Ash); Michael Miller's Dumb Dot, Peacock Lane- Meadow and Going Coastal- Sea Kelp; Free Spirit's Soliel and Silent Cinema- Iris Yellow; Ary Gallery's Modern Affair; and Cloud9's Cut Out & Keep- Poplin Avenues.

Now for a brief look into Shaun's life:
Family was always the most important part of Shaun's life. His wife, his children and his extended family.
Shaun married my Aunt Karen in the Idaho Falls LDS Temple.
He served a religious mission to Japan.
He was a farmer, and operated a red combine. He was one of the hardest working men I've ever known.
Shaun attended and graduated from Brigham Young University.
He taught his kids to ski when they were small and it was always a favorite family activity.
He loved scouting and was involved in it his whole life.
Shaun enjoyed read, and I always remember that there was stack of books on the table beside his chair.
He was raised in and lived his life in a small town in Idaho.
He went to Oakley High School and enjoyed sports.

My uncle Shaun was a great man, a man whom I want to try to emulate in my own life. Creating this quilt about him has helped me to remember that and I hope that it will have that same affect on others, especially his children and future grandchildren who won't have met him but can still benefit from his example and love.

Fabric Tuesday #70, Valentines Blog Hop...

2012-01-23T23:50:00.000-07:00

Happy Tuesday everyone! I can't show you what my fabric Tuesday project is, because it is top secret! Okay, I am working on a Valentine's project for with this fun group, here are the details...

Melissa from Happy Quilting Melissa has come up with this fun Valentines Simply Charmed Blog Hop. 10 days of Valentine tutorials and giveaways kicking off on February 1st. So here are the amazingly talanted ladies that will be joining in!!!

February 1 - Melissa from Happy Quilting

February 2 - Heather from Quilt Story

February 3 - Melissa from Lilac Lane

February 6 - Angela from Cut to Pieces (that's me!)

February 7 - Amy from Diary of a Quilter

February 8 - Natalia from Piece N Quilt

February 9 - Jessica from Twin Fibers

February 10 - Katie from Swim, Bike, Quilt

February 11 - Jane from Want It, Need It, Quilt

February 13 - Corey from Little Miss Shabby

February 14 - Happy Valentines Day and the Grand Prize Winner Announcement!!!!

We've each been given a single charm pack of Always and Forever by Deb Strain. I have a fun project in the works :)

And Melissa has lined up tons of giveaways! So there should be lots of fun had by all!

Thanks to the generosity of our amazing sponsors, there will be a giveaway along with each of the 10 tutorials. So when the time comes, make sure to enter at each of the contributors tutorial post for your chance to win some major fabric cash.

Fat Quarter Shop has graciously sponsored the fabric used in making the tutorials

They will also be sponsoring the Grand Prize of a $200.00 Gift Certificate to 1 lucky reader.

Burgundy Buttons has graciously sponsored three $25.00 Gift Certificates for 3 lucky readers.

The Intrepid Thread has graciously sponsored three $25.00 Gift Certificates for 3 lucky readers.

The Green Fairy has graciously sponsored three $25.00 Gift Certificates for 3 lucky readers.

So be sure to tune in here and there and everywhere for your chance to play along, see some great tutorials, and maybe win some fabulous prizes.

Melissa has also set up a flickr group for sharing your creations. You can find it HERE.

What are your projects this week?

Mermaid Esmerelda from Life of Riley...

2012-01-22T23:40:00.000-07:00

Rachel from "The life of Riley" made this fun mermaid quilt , her name is Esmerelda! What a fun style of quilting, I love the blue hair. I don't think Meg or I have ever attempted this style of quilting, but it is fun to see all the variety of styles and techniques people use. Rachel has some great quilt finishes, yummy recipes and neat tutorials. Be sure to go have a visit at her blog.

Meet Esmerelda:

She's been in my head for a year and now she's done!

Close of up the hair.

The pearls.

The tail.

The rest of the tail.

Squiggly waves and body quilting.

The back, which as you can see is perfect for hiding stitches. I think that was in my favor, because......

I got a second place ribbon!

Cheeky Quilt from Diary of a Flutter.Kat

2012-01-20T00:01:00.000-07:00

Today's feature is from Kat a very talented Australian quilter who blogs at Diary of a Flutter.Kat. This feature is very much my style because I love COLOR! She is very good at knowing how to use it too! Check out her darling patterns, a scrappy quilted pouch, a zipper pouch pattern and her shop, so cute! Also go here for a tutorial on how to make the blocks in her Cheeky Quilt that we're feature today. Thanks Kat!

** Health warning to any colour phobes out there - this will not be the post for you... **

{Firstly a brief history about this quilt before I begin... In August last year I got it in my head that I'd like to make myself another Queen/King sized quilt for my bed. Only problem was I was determined, but severely lacking in time. Not just that but I don't have a very good attention span and 49 blocks of the same design is a LOT of repetition for this ADD crafty Mumma!
- I had nearly half the required blocks because I had used the block for my month in 2 rounds of a bee. But that still left 29 to go! So on a cheeky whim, I hesitantly blogged asking if any of my bloggy friends would like to make a block for me. Offering them an exchange of something if they liked.

To be honest I wasn't really expecting any response. But I got one. An amazing response at that! You will find the list of that wonderful group of ladies who helped me make this quilt at the bottom of the post. I will be forever grateful to them for their help.
Anyway; that is why this quilt is now called "The Cheeky Quilt" :) }

***

Oh what a day, what a day...
I can be a stubborn mule when I want to be!
And today's dose of stubbornness led me to finishing my cheeky quilt in time for Christmas...
YEAH BABY!

It was no small task though I have to say. And I really had to push myself to finish it towards about the last 3/4 LOL...
But it was SO worth the final push to get it finished because I could not be more in love with it!
(and I also knew that it was one of those jobs that if I stopped I'd put off starting again and shove it into the corner somewhere...)

***

First I'll show you the last 3 blocks I made which I haven't shown you yet.
2 were made last night, then the last this morning...

Block 1 (or should that be block 47!?) was made from scraps from my own scrap bin, most of which have come from recent projects of mine and have fond memories attached. The fishies in the middle though I just chose because they were my favourite :) ...

Block 2 was made almost entirely with scraps sent to me by Karen my scrappy swappartner. The scraps which weren't from Karen are scraps that I used to make her a scrappy pouch with...

Block 3 was made using fabric selected by my local friend Megan. Plans were for Megan to make this, but we had to reschedule our sewing date, so I just decided to make it myself so that I could finish. I'm sure Megs won't mind hehehe...

***

Those 3, coupled with the 2 blocks that had arrived last week from Sarah left me 5 blocks left to quilt and trim to size today before I could get started.

I decided to be a bit lazy and I didn't baste them, just taking my chances to see how it went.
What a test for poor Miss Pfaff!
But luckily she coped with the job very well and in no time at all those 5 had joined the other 44 all ready to be laid out...

I decided to quilt the blocks just using straight line quilting of varied distances apart.
- Half of the blocks I quilted with vertical lines & half I quilted using horizontal lines.
Hence the two piles above!

After some fairly major reshuffling of furniture in my lounge room, we eventually discovered enough floor space in order to begin laying them out...

My "helpers" thought that this part was great fun. But I'm pleased to report that I more or less maintained my sense of humour as Abbie periodically nicked off with the blocks, running down the hallway with them in a fit of giggles. Oh what a fun game! ;)

Who me?...

Noooo... surely not me Mum!

Meanwhile Hannah thought they made a great mat for doing ballet on...

Using my two piles I laid them out like a checker board - vertically quilted block, horizontally quilted block, vertically quilted block... and so on and so on.

I more or less just laid them out as they came off the piles. A few times I reshuffled particular blocks to avoid having too many light coloured blocks in a row, or two by the same person in a row for example, but apart from these few exceptions they just got placed as they came off the piles. And it all seemed to work perfectly.

Then it was time to start sewing them together...

Top together check - must be time to baste.

Cue more dancing all over it by my "helpers"...

Basting done (200 pins later!) - check...

Time to stitch the back to the top...

Oh how immensely glad I was at this point that I had quilted as I'd gone and this stitching was minimal. Because at 49 x 15 inch unfinished blocks, boy was this baby big and h.e.a.v.y.

Quilting complete - time to stop for dinner & bathtime.
- Cue me sitting and removing the 200 basting pins while I watched the girls in the bath. No point stopping when the end is so close in sight right?! ;)

Girls in bed - check.
Time to bind...
Make way too much binding because you are too lazy to calculate how much you need - check.
Binding finished - check.

***

Must be time to try it out on the bed in it's finished state...
eeeeeeeeeekkkkkkkkkkk

To coin a phrase from my daughter....
"I love it, I love it, I LOVE IT!"

And I certainly won't be able to complain that it's not big enough - because it's HUGE!

... When planning to do an extra row than I did on my last quilt, I also didn't take into account that I'd made the blocks an inch bigger in each direction as well.
Ooops.
So it's really really really big!

After it was finished I was a little nervous that it was so large it wouldn't fit into my washer & drier, but I'm pleased to report that it is currently in the tumble drier as we speak. So no problems there...

The Final Stats:
# of blocks: 49 x 14.5 inch (approx) finished squares
Finished size: approx 101.5 inches square
Number of blocks made by me: 6
Number of other people contributing blocks: 25
Approximate number of different fabrics included: 980

Thank you SO much to: Susan, Shay, Marg, Anne, Linda, Jamie-Lee, Mona, Rachel, Mel, Sarah, Corrie, Lucinda, Juliet, Angie, Bec, Bron, Debbie, Sue, Suz, Allie, Caroline, Tammi, Ellie-Mae, Jill, Bree, (gosh I really hope I haven't missed anyone!)
...for your much cherished and appreciated contributions!!

As well as blocks gifted by these fine people above, I have also used fabric from many swaps I've had with other people. To name a few: Angela, Megan, Karen, Leona, Susan, Bec.

So this really is a very special and sentimental quilt with contributions from so many of my blogging, flickr & "real life" friends!

I am still hoping to name each block with who it was made by, but I'm still pondering the best way to do this and it requires waiting for my main sewing machine to get fixed in order for me to do some trials.

Oh and I have taken photos during my process to do a tutorial of the quilt as you go along process that I do, as promised, but I don't think that will happen until after Christmas now.

So on that note I'll leave you with a few shots of some of my favourite parts...

Love these musical love birds...

I've always wanted that yellow AH bird fabric in the centre but it was always out of stock when I went to make an order. But now I have some - thanks Jamie-Lee

How cute are those Laurie Wishrun donkeys in boots!

"Hey good lookin, what you got cookin" - I can't believe Lucinda fussy cut that saying into her block. It's one of Neil & my little sayings we say to each other regularly...

Gotta love goldfish in bags... And aqua scissors - perfect for a sewing Kat :)

I love every single block though, and it's amazing how well they all go together...

Just too perfect!
I couldn't be happier!!

And now if you'll excuse me I better go clean up my trashed house... It's amazing how much mess 3 people can make when all Mummy does all day is sew ;)

{Edited to add: You may now find my QAYG Process tutorial here...}

A Quilt for Baby Belle

2012-01-19T00:01:00.000-07:00

Warning: Picture Overload

I've got another quilt finish (Megan), so I had to sneak in my own feature :) My sister-in-law just had her first baby, a sweet baby girl Annabelle. I called my SIL a few months into her pregnancy and asked her what colors she liked. She said she was really into yellow, pink and brown. Well just prior to that Heather and I got the whole line of Just Dandy. Perfect right? Except that I had the blue/green colorway and Heather took the pink/yellow colorway. AND I had already used mine on these messenger bags. Sigh. After a lot of pouting and bribery (and more pouting) Heather gave me some. I don't think there could have been a more perfect line!

I went through several designs with this, all of them were HST though :) At one point it was a zig-zag quilt. Ultimately I settled on this design and I liked having the pink/cream double hourglass to offset the yellow.

I used some leftover Peacock Lane for binding. I need more of those fabrics, amazing for the stash, seriously.

I also gave baby Belle Lola's Quilt :) I figure if I ever have a girl I will want to do all pink/red/purple for her. Already having two boys I literally have blue and green in every room.

I used Joel Dewberry's Heirloom for backing. I straight stitched about 1/4" on the sides of the seams. It made a neat pattern and I love the six-pointed stars in the middle.

Next I had to make her one of my Carseat Canopy's from Oh Baby!. I used felt for the flowers and added a pearl in the middle. I loved working with so much pink!

I also made her a nursing cover with Midnight Garden from Michael Miller. Those come together fast...some boning and D-rigs and you're good to go! Got to have one of those right?

I made an extra flower with a hair clip on the back.

Seriously it was so much fun to make girl stuff! And it felt nice to go "overboard" since it was for a niece...now to get to meet that sweet baby girl! They're in Florida and we're in Arizona, so it make take some time but it'll happen. Until then Skype will suffice.

Thanks for stopping by!

Farmer's Wife Quilt Finish from City House Studio

2012-01-18T00:01:00.001-07:00

Michelle from City House Studio is very talented...in fact every time she links up to Fabric Tuesday she's always one of the top viewed links. Not too surprising, check out her Quilt Finishes 2011! Talk about impressive! She also recently celebrated a 30 something birthday...Happy Birthday Michelle! Okay try and keep your mouth closed when you see this GORGEOUS finish!

My Grandma's 90th Birthday was November 1st, and I wanted to do something really special for her. She has been one of my favorite people for a long time -- she used to fix the holes in my worn out teddy bear, over and over. She always choose the Old Maid card that my brother and I wanted to get rid of. And I still wish that she could make me a peanut butter sandwich every night for a bedtime snack, like she used to do when I slept over at her house.
She makes the best peanut butter sandwiches, ever.

When my Grandpa turned 90 years old a couple of years ago,
my brother and cousins presented him with 90 bottles of beer.
You should have seen the huge smile!

So I wanted to do something equally amazing,
and maybe even better, for Grandma.

So here it is . . . . 90 quilt squares!

After I read about the Farmer's Wife Quilt Along starting up,
I knew that this group of blocks would be perfect.
My Grandma wasn't a Farmer's Wife, but she was a farmer's daughter!

I started making the blocks this past summer, but quickly realized that I would need (LOTS) of help if I was going to finish it in time.

So I invited my mom, aunt, and uncle over for some quilting parties!

They're not technically quilters, but my mom and aunt have done some sewing, and my uncle is a mathematician & painter, with a good eye for design and color.

We spent most of our Tuesdays together for the past 2 months -- they'd arrive right after I dropped the kids off at school, and we'd sew for hours and hours.
Most of the blocks are paper pieced -- and my quilting helpers did ALL of the tearing the paper off the backs for me -- how wonderful!

We had so much fun together, that I've joked that we need to decide who to make a quilt for next -- we make a great team!

We had a hard time deciding on a layout for the 90 blocks,
because a simple square design of 9 x 10 blocks seemed too plain.

And I wanted to make it large enough to fit a double/queen sized bed.

One day we just started laying out our blocks on a huge piece of white fabric,
and this design was born!

For the blocks set on point, I cut a 5 1/2 inch square on the diagonal,

then sewed these triangles on all four sides.

For the squared up blocks, I added 2 1/2 inch sashing to all 4 sides.

All blocks were then squared up to 9 inches.

There is another 2 1/2 inch border around the very edge of the quilt.

The fabrics are Kona Snow and Moda Sugar Pop.

I free motion quilted this myself,
using a fairly small meandering type pattern throughout the solid snow fabric.
I love how it makes the blocks pop!
The batting is Warm and White, and the back is a collection of left over pieces.

She loved it!

Fabric Tuesday, were you featured?

2012-01-17T00:01:00.001-07:00

First I'll announce the winner of our giveaway, a Stash Pack and teflon sheet from Vicki Welsh. Make sure to stop by her shop for custom hand dyed fabrics. Thanks so much to Vicki and congrats to Becky!

B Greene said...

I visited the shop and I would have to say that the Blue Stash Pack is my favorite, but I love the Pebble one, too... and the Autumn Stash Pack has great range... Oh, they are ALL beautiful!!!

JANUARY 12, 2012 8:14 AM

Happy Tuesday! i LOVE TUESDAYS AND CAN'T WAIT TO SEE WHAT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WORKING ON. i HAVE A NEW QUILT TO SHOW, IT'S A SMALL BABY QUILT BUT STILL SWEET! i WILL SHARE MY QUILT THIS WEEKEND AND SAVE TODAY TO SHOW SOME OF THE GREAT LINK-UPS FROM LAST WEEK. HERE ARE SOME THAT CAUGHT MY EYE: (SORRY FOR THE CAPS-LOCK, BLOGGER IS FIGHTING ME AND I'M TOO TIRED TO FIGHT BACK ;)

HIGH SEAS QUILT BLOCKS FROM THE ELVEN GARDEN QUILT DESIGN

tREE BLOCK from mommy for reals

Swoon block by dee's doodles

Iron quilter quilt from north star quilting

wonky scrappy little star quilt from blueberry patch

stars in your eyes from s.o.t.a.k handmade

so many cute ones last week! I had a hard time narrowing it down.

before i open the linky party...i am considering joining another quilting bee. heather and i's first experience was not good at all, but i am really excited about trying one again. any thoughts? suggestion? i'd love to know your opinion!

fabric tuesday #69

See here if you need a refresher on how to play! :)

Mini Quilt from Lily's Quilts

2012-01-16T00:01:00.000-07:00

We've got a great feature today from Lynne of Lily's Quilts! We're so excited to have her back, she is very talented and inspires us constantly! Lynne has taken on mini quilts this past year and they have been so exciting to see. AND congrats to Lynne...she's joined the Fat Quarterly team!!! We're so excited to see what she does at the e-magazine. Make sure to stop by Lily's Quilts and see her fabulous tutorials page too.

First let me introduce myself. My name is Lynne but my blog is called Lily's Quilts because my husband likes to call me Lily. I live in England with my Welsh husband and our four kids who are kind to me about my quilting but don't think it's very cool (except if I make something from Dr Seuss fabrics then they're all over it like a rash). I'm forty something and look it but in my head, when there are no mirrors around, I look more like a supermodel - however, this is not reflected back at me in a mirror sadly.

This year for me has been the year of the mini quilt. Why? They're quick to make. Fun to quilt. It's a great way to try something new without committing to a whole quilt of it. And you can hang them up on your walls just like pictures. So here are the minis I've made and I hope Amy isn't cross with me for showing several small quilts rather than one full-sized one. Amy, please feel more than free to delete the link to this post if that is the case.

It occurred to me a few months back that it would be fun to have a Flickr group where quilters living in Britain could get together and chat and so Brit Quilt was set up and we are now up to about 120 members. Out of that group came Brit Bee and then the Brit Quilt Swap. We also have a chatroom (located on the right of my blog) and chats can be set up from the Brit Quilt, Brit Bee or Brit Quilt SwapFlickr pages - just advertise a time and date on one of those pages and then come here and have a chat. We had one on Sunday evening for the Brit Quilt Swappers which was hijacked by my 12 year old son telling her we were all losers and weirdos and that it wasn't cool for people our age to use words like LOL. So be it. We think we're cool, to the extent that patchworkers ever can be cool.

So, on Sunday night the Brit Quilt Swap kicked off with partner allocations flying around the UK. We have four mamas (those are the people that sort the secret partner allocations), 40 bebes (those are the people that make and swap the quilts) and one Uber Mama - that is of course me - Mrs Big Fat Bossy boots.

So I kicked around a few ideas in my head and took a look around my partner's pics, mosaic etc and started heading down the route of scrappy. Having organised my stash and scraps into 10 IKEA tubs over the weekend, made this job a whole lot easier and a whole lot more fun.

Here is where I have got to so far:

Here's my initial sketch for each quilt block:

Here's my first little triangle all pretty and pieced and proud and pointy and pinned to the pinboard.

Then came a few more.

And then a trial layout.

But here's the thing. I love this so much that, unless my partner goes mental over it, I am going to keep it for myself and make something different for her. I know that sounds horribly selfish but I made a quilt in another swap, sent it off all happily and never heard a thing from the person it was made for and it made me very sad.

If my partner yells "knickerbockerglory" from the rooftops when she sees this, then I will be thrilled and she can have it with my big hearted blessing because it was made for her. If she's kind of blah about it, that's cool too and I'll have a re-think for her and hang this on my kitchen wall and shout 'knickerbockerglory' from my rooftop (well the velux window just below because I'm scared of heights).

The hard lesson I have learned about scrappy though is that each one of those scraps has a story behind it for me - a gift from a friend or family, a piece from a favourite layer cake, which turns the quilt into a little story book of this year's quilting and so gives the quilt more meaning for me than a quilt made from fabrics bought for the purpose. It's going to be difficult to give away. Here is the back of the quilt.

AMAZING paper pieced quilt from Selfsewn life...

2012-01-13T01:18:00.001-07:00

AMAZING quilt from my selfsewn life by Summerfete, she paper pieced the entire thing! Each block took an hour, and there are 68 blocks! This girl does not have ADD! I think this would take me years! She has a wonderful hand piecing tutorial, and a great fussy cutting tutorial. Here is some more details about the quilt, you must check them out...

Summer of Love Quilt

I'm entering Amy's

bloggers' quilt festival.

If like me you have never heard of it go take a look

there are some amazing quilts to swoon over.

I'm sharing my hand sewn English paper pieced summer of love quilt

that I finished this June.

I suppose you would call it a scrap quilt,

as no two stars are the same

and the majority of the fabric came from my stash.
Some are from friends and some are from France
and one is from my childhood!

My inspiration was a vintage hexagon patchwork cushion.

So the fabrics are a mix of vintage and new,

with an addition of solids to break up the busyness.

I backed it with an old duvet,

as I'm all about using what you have.

When I found the scrap for the binding

I couldn't believe how well it matched the scheme.

As I'm not the worlds greatest quilter I did simple machine diagonals,

also I didn't want to add to the fussiness,

though I'm probably regretting that decision now!

It took me at least 6 months to complete,

though I really motored on during winter/spring

I learnt about fussy cutting through this quilt,
it's a real joy to see how the patterns form.
Well for those of you have seen it all before

hope you enjoyed the re-run!

And to those that are new to me

welcome

I hope it has brightened your day!

New sponsor and a giveaway!!

2012-01-11T23:59:00.005-07:00

Welcome to our new sponsor

A little about Vicki's fabrics from Vicki...

The most unique thing about my fabrics is that they are hand dyed so each fabric is a one-of-a-kind creation. That said, I have hundreds of dye recipes and can create custom colors. I am best known for my fabric gradients. These fabrics blend colors from selvedge to selvedge and are very popular with art quilters for landscape backgrounds and they make great borders for traditional quilts.

My goal is to introduce (or reintroduce) quilters and fiber artists to the world of hand dyed fabrics. Hand dyed fabrics have a reputation for not being colorfast and, for that reason, many quilters are afraid to use them. My fabrics are processed to remove all of the excess dye and you can use them in your quilts as confidently as you do commercially printed fabrics. You can read about my process for removing excess dye here and the process is also effective for you to use with commercial prints that bleed. One recent quilter used this process on a finished quilt that bled and it got out all of the excess dye that had bled onto her white fabrics.

Be sure to visit Vicki's Blog (with lots of tutorials), her facebook, Google + and pinterest

3 ways to enter:

Merry Christmas Megan, my gift to you!

2012-01-10T22:31:00.001-07:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS MEGAN!

Megan, our older sister Amy and I exchange gifts each Christmas. A few years back, I think it was me that had the brilliant idea that we should make gifts for each other instead of buy. It has been fun, and I like it way better, but it does cause some stress and anxiety... This year for Megan I made these...

UNION JACK MINI QUILT AND PILLOW

I believe we have mentioned that we are half Brits? My Dad came over on a giant ship when he was 17 all by himself! Several years later he met and married my Mom and had 7 children. We get sad that we were not raised there, think of how darling our accents would be after all? Needless to say, we have a fondness for all things British!

The problem is, all of us kind of stress the whole year about it. With best intentions of having it done months early (that hasn't happened once by even one of us!), we normally are sewing up until the we hours of dawn of the last possible night. One year we even just all decided to call it off and did nothing for each other because we were all so behind and stressed, sad!

I got this super fun darling mini wonky union jack pattern from Jennifer from All Things Belle in her etsy shop. Paper piecing is fun and I am liking it more and more...thank you Jennifer!

If I am being perfectly honest, I hated giving the mini quilt away! I wondered if the pillow would be enough on its own. I love the mini! I got inspired from Erin of Why Not Sew and all her darling mini quilts, I pretty much stole her little birdy shape. When we discovered Erin's mini's last year, Megan said "I want you to make me one of those for Christmas!" (Commit to memory) I think she loved it at least...

And this fun pillow I made for my sisters and my Mom, now I just need to make one for me! I got this pattern here. Hope you all like these as much as I do!

And only if you are curious, check out this link to Megans family blog, scroll to the bottom of the post. She made this cute video to Beatles music of video of our young Daddy, around minute 4 you can see him on his ship. Makes me cry! Can you imagine sending your 17 year old off to live in another country, especially way back then, they didn't have money...they knew they would rarely see him...just sad and sweet, nothing crafty or quilty about it :)

Fabric Tuesday, come link up!

2012-01-09T22:57:00.000-07:00

You guys are already busy sewing! Lucky! I still have Christmas messes all over my house! Still don't know where to put new toys and gifts. How to store all the new "after Christmas sale" ornaments and decor. It is a real life mess, and when I say it's a mess, I am not a regular girl that says my house is a mess, I mean it! Ask Meg, she knows how messy my house gets with these 5 little humans that I love running around trashing the house. In fact, it is one of my new year's resolutions (again) just keep my house tidier!

What caught my eye last week...

sew love to sew, manly quilt Christmas gift for her brother...

Creative Shape-moth pillow for a swap, lucky!

sweet dreams by sarah and the darling tumbler quilt

duke says sew what chasing chevrons quilt top...

1001 Peeps quilt from The elven garden...

2012-01-08T23:48:00.002-07:00

I just recently came across The Elven Garden, a modern quilt design blog. Jess from Australia made this fun 1001 peeps (just got some of that fabric myself) quilt for her 1 year old daughter as a Christmas gift. Love it! Here are some darling quilt finishes, she is selling them too! Be sure to visit her blog, cute fun stuff!

1001 Peeps - a finished quilt (yay!!)

I am ridiculously proud of this quilt. I absolutely LOVE Lizzy House's fabrics, and 1001 Peeps is no exception - and it leant itself perfectly to this pattern. The pattern is Fussy Framed Fairytales by Kate Conklin, and it was really fun to make. I love the fact that it wastes virtually NO fabric, and the floating squares border is really cool.

I actually deviated a little from the pattern - I started with 10" squares rather than 10.5" squares, which is why my floating squares aren't quite set in the right spots at the corners - although I think they still look okay. Apart from 1001 peeps, I used Kona solids in blush, hibiscus, petal and PFD. I quilted it all over using an echo shell pattern - time consuming compared to stippling (it took about 10 hours to quilt), but I love the result. And the texture of the quilt is amazing.

The binding is Kona blush, and it's machine stitched at back and front. Finished size is about 50" x 65" (approximately - haven't measured it properly yet...)

Darling daughter loving on her quilt Christmas day...

Close up of the cute quilting...Thanks,

Jess

Meg Finished a Quilt!

2012-01-05T23:46:00.001-07:00

I finished Lola's Quilt!! Yay!

And sweet little Lola's Quilt ended up being for our brand new niece, AnnaBelle. Couldn't be happier!!

I made this quilt in the spring, I didn't know anyone (at the time) having a baby girl. I loved the fabrics...all the Lagoon color stories from Michael Miller. And I was given the chance to do a tutorial using an Accuquilt.

TUTORIAL FOR LOLA'S QUILT HERE

Finished quilt size 30.5" x 40.5"

Perfect for new little babies!

I played around with the quilting on this one. Since it didn't have a home, yet, I tried a decorative stitch. It turned out sweet and I learned a lot.

The flowers were a fun feminine touch. Although there are flower prints in the rest of the fabrics, I really felt like I needed to add more femininity. Plus I LOVE putting applique over simple quilt patterns.

Polka dot backing.

I was happy to find this binding, I auditioned a lot!! But this was sweet, finished it nicely without standing out. Plus aqua is just a fab color, don't you think?

It feels great to post a finish! I had this quilt top sitting around for a while. Next week I'll share the other quilt I made just for baby AnnaBelle :)

Happy Birthday to my baby boy! He's 3 today!!!

Custom Memory Quilt

2012-01-04T00:01:00.000-07:00

This is our second time featuring Alix from Mamaka Mills (first time HERE). Alix does an amazing job creating custom memory quilts for families, and the stories are always amazing. This is no exception, here she made four separate and unique quilts, all in memory of one father. If you want to find out more about what Alix does stop by Mamaka Mills, check out her gallery and she even has tips and tutorials on creating your own memory quilts. Thanks Alix!

Today I finished a very special commission for a family in Ohio

in memory of their father, John.

John passed away and left his

three beautiful children and

his amazing wife, Becky.

Becky contacted me earlier this year to make 4 quilts for them

from his clothing so that the kids could have a piece of their dad

with them as they grow up.

Here are some of the finished pictures of their quilts!

Notice that all of the kids have different pantographs and border/backing fabrics.

This is a way the kids can have their different personalities visible in their own quilts while using the same quilting fabrics, which in this case is their father's clothing!

Blaine's Quilt

Meredith's Quilt

Becky's Quilt

Grant's Quilt

Read previous posts about these quilts HERE..

and HERE...

and HERE...

and more HERE...

yup, more HERE...

and finally, last post HERE!

Fabric Tuesday is BACK!

2012-01-03T00:01:00.000-07:00

Happy New Year!!!

Heather and I were able to bring in the new year together playing cards and enjoying time with our families. It was a really fun time, I enjoyed myself! But tomorrow morning I am setting out with my husband and kids for a 12 hour drive back to Arizona :( At least I'm taking my mom with me for weeks and weeks!! She loves the sun and I love her company and help!

Here's some projects from Fabric Tuesday (2 weeks back)

Lawson and Lotti: Union Jack Tutorial

Confessions of a Fabric Addict: Zig-Zag Quilt (great story!)

Stitchnquilt: Ode to the Thirties Quilt

Just A Little Stitch: Fifi's Nine Patch Quilt

Creative Chicks: String Pillow

Fabric Tuesday #67!

To see how to play click HERE!

What have you been working on??

Great quilt finish from Quokka Quilts...

2012-01-01T23:23:00.000-07:00

Great quilt finish from Quokka Quilts, and fun story, some of these quilts take a while to finish...even 12 years! Ahhh, look at the puppy patches on the quilt! We introduced Quokka Quilts last week, with the competition from Fat Quarter shop, read up on it here...Make sure to visit her blog, and be sure to view her finished quilts...

TFIFF (or almost Friday) - Genesis of a quilter

No, TFIFF is not a typo. I'm just SO freaking relieved this is finished. It has taken a lifetime. Literally. This guy's lifetime:

Patches when quilt was started

Patches when quilt finished (yesterday)

Let me tell you a story...

1999: Girl gets Elna sewing machine as present. Girl decides to learn to quilt. On her own. (This is before the internet got big, when we learnt quilting from ~~stone tablets~~ these things called books).
2000: Girl starts a quilt involving triangles, cuts with scissors, buys polyester fabrics and poly batting. It ends up in the Salavation Army bin. Salvation Army gives it to the Lost Dogs home (for all I know). Girl gets puppy and names him Patches after new hobby.

2002: Girl takes classes, discovers applique and starts baby quilt for pregnant sister in law. Finishes quilt. Feels triumphant. Has BRILLIANT idea of designing own KING SIZE quilt as wedding present for friends. Finishes top in time for wedding (regularly tested by Patches). Grinds to halt.

Girl discovers fitting King size quilt through baby-size Elna potentially similar to giving birth. Takes 3 years to complete in-ditch quilting. Grinds to halt.

2003-2007: Couple intended as quilt receipients have first child. Girl thinks "gosh/darn/damn/crap/s$&#*/[insert increasingly rude word for each year here], I really should finish that quilt".
2008 - Girl gets Bernette. Girl discovers fitting King size quilt through standard size Bernette is still only slightly more feasible (and a lot less fun) than trying to fit camel through eye of a needle. Grits teeth and wrestles quilt through for straightline in-the-ditch quilting, bit by painful bit. Girl is faced by insurmountable problem of how to finish off quilting given large triangles of blank space. Grinds to halt.

2009-2010 - Girl either:
a) acts like dog that has had encounter with particularly nasty cat and pretends not to notice quilt every time she opens spare-room door or
b) wastes inordinate amounts of time pondering what to do with blank spaces in quilt.

2010: Original intended recipients of quilt celebrate 10th wedding anniversary.

2011: Girl suffers quilt induced nervous breakdown, buys new sewing machine with BIG space and extension table, works out what to do with the big triangular gaps in the quilt, starts TGIFF with M-R and FINISHES THE FREAKING THING.

So THAT, my friends, is why it is a TFIF Friday instead of a TGIF Friday.

Thank FREE-MOTIONQUILTING It's Finished Friday!
(That was what you thought the F stood for, wasn't it?)

Enough teasing, here are the proper photos. (For Giles, it's a black homespun solid with stars in very bright, marbled colours, set on diamond points, with little 1.5" squares crisscrossing diagonally across the quilt around each star. One very thin border with all the rainbow colours graduating and melding from red through orange, yellow, green, to blue, to purple, to pink and back again to red, all the way around, with a wider black border to finish off. Which is why it's called a jewelbox quilt - the colours fairly sparkle.)

Held up by camera assistant

Before nearly falling off wall with camera

Late afternoon sun on quilt in my bedroom

(I didn't get to wash it as it didn't fit in the washing machine!!! But I did sleep under it last night - first night sleeping under my own quilt!)

I have climbed Jacob's Ladder quilt....

2011-12-30T00:39:00.000-07:00

Do you love this quilt! I love the contrast of the lights and blacks. Very well done! Rachel from The life of Riley made this gorgeousness! Check out this list of tutorials, I really like the grid mini quilt tutorial. And here are some finishes, go have a visit...

The front and bindings are all batiks.

I received 13 blocks and made 20. I would have made more, but I ran out of the green, plus I really like the layout.

12 mitered corners. That's a lot of sewing, un-sewing, and re-sewing to get them matched up. Some went together the first time. There was one seam I did four times.

Green straight line quilting in the black areas.

Black straight line quilting in the block areas.

The back is a Kona cotton in black. I just love the texture of the quilting lines. Someday I will do a whole cloth quilt.

I just couldn't make this one fit in the layout, so he's high lighted on the back.

Applique circles quilt from mansells on the move..

2011-12-27T22:27:00.000-07:00

Clare from mansells on the move blog, made this darling circle quilt for her baby. Love this quilt. Clare has all her quilt finishes here, there are some darling ones. She is a travelling Mama, currently in Scotland, her blog header and graphics are darling. Her blog is a fun read, so be sure to head over...

Applique circles quilt

Two quilts in two weeks? There's no stopping me!

This is the first of many quilts I'll be making for our baby who is due next month. I'm loving being able to work on small quilts AND keep them. Before I found out I was pregnant I'd run out of excuses to make a quilt in anything but a superking size for us, but they'll hopefully be lots of excuses to make mini quilts over the next few years.

This quilt is exactly a yard square and is intended to be used as a play mat with a baby gym. The fabric I used is from Moda's It's A Hoot range. I'm slowly learning that there tends to be a bit of a lag between me buying fabric and actually using it for a project, by which stage the yardage has often sold out.

I learned my lesson this time and bought two packs of charm squares and yardage as soon as I saw it on sale. I had a few reservations that the colours were a bit girlie (we don't know what we're having) but when mixed together I think it looks sufficiently unisex....

I had a new tool to play with when I did the binding for this quilt. Previously I have always used this method to finish attaching the binding. It produces great results, but is fiddlely to do. Then when I was searching youtube for quilting tutorial videos for my sister, I found this video which recommends using a binding tool to achieve exactly the same finish. After finally tracking a UK store down that sold them and waiting for the stock to arrive, I can confidently say I won't be going back to the old method!

I also bought myself a copy of Block Party- The Modern Quilting Bee. I have been wanting to get involved with or organise a quilting bee for ages and there are some great ideas and patterns in the book. I'm just trying to decide whether it would be insanity to start a bee with a new baby on the way, or whether it would actually be a rather nice manageable size quilting project - what do you think and would anyone be interested in joining the fun?

Fun competition from Quokka Quilts....

2011-12-25T23:07:00.000-07:00

It's finally here! A very, very exciting competition dreamed up by Laura at QuokkaQuilts.

If you have looked through the Fat Quarter Shop's FQ bundles section, you will surely have noticed the 'Blogger's Choice Bundles'. Who wouldn't want to have their very own bundle listed in the FQS?

Now you have the opportunity to choose and potentially WIN not your own Fat Quarter bundle of fabric, but a WHOLE HALF YARD of 15 fabrics of your choice - 12 prints and 3 solids, courtesy of the wonderful Kimberly at the Fat Quarter Shop.

What you need to do:

Go to The Fat Quarter Shop website and choose 12 coordinating prints and 3 solids from their selection.
Either a) create a blog entry about your set of fabrics; or b) if you don't have a blog, upload them somewhere they can be seen in one link - eg flickr, picasa, etc. You must include pictures of your fabrics. You can 'borrow' these from the FQS site. It would be very helpful to the judges if you could do a photo collage of your various prints. Instructions below if you don't know how - new IT skills are always useful!
Go to QuokkaQuilts and link in your entry by 15 January. Please link your photo collage as the thumbnail if you can! Laura is going to post hers in the next few days.

Now Laura says she is easily corruptible and open to bribery, so she had to find some independent judges, these being the following wonderful bloggers:

Sunni from Love Affair With My Brother
Megan from Canoe Ridge Creations
Cara from Cara Quilts
Heather and Megan (two Megans are better than one) from Quilt Story

Each of these lovely ladies is going to choose ONE entry as their favourite. Then Amy of Amy's Creative Side is going to be grand high judge and choose the best final entry from the five finalists. She is well qualified as there is going to be an "Amy's Choice" bundle featured in the FQS in the new year.

So get browsing and share your inspiration for coordinating fabrics into a quilt with us!

The linky party will close on January 15.

How to make a photo collage

Picasa is one of the best free downloadable applications for working with photos. One useful tool is the collage tool. You can choose your photos and arrange and rearrange them into a collage.
Mosaic maker is a free online tool. You have to have your photos uploaded somewhere first (eg flickr) for it to generate the mosaic for you.

Merry Christmas!!!

2011-12-25T00:01:00.001-07:00

Heather's family

Megan's family

Stitched Buntings and Birdies from Clover and Violet

2011-12-23T00:01:00.000-07:00

Today's feature is from Clara and Jennie of Clover and Violet. Super cute blog!! I really love their little niche. They design really cute bags and totes, I love this Ruby Market Tote they did. They also do a lot of stitching and embroidery...and this quilt today is to-die-for sweet. And you can totally make your own, check out this index, tons and tons of info and directions on this quilt! It makes me want to start stitching this instant!! Make sure to stop by Clover and Violet and check out all their fun tutorials and their shop!

It's finally done! I wasn't sure way back in May when I started this quilt that I'd ever actually finish it! But all the wonderful participants of the Embroidery 101: Stitch & Quilt Along kept me going, and now I have one of my favorite quilts ever! {And, if you missed out on it the first time around, the tutorials and patterns are still available here!}

Along with everyone else, I learned a lot through making this quilt. Each block was not only an adventure in stitching, but also in drawing and designing, things I'd never really done a lot of. I really feel like I grew with each block.

But instead of saying too much, I'll let the quilt do the talking this time. Here are a few of my favorite blocks, though it's really hard to narrow it down...

Cute softie doggie from Saffron Craig...

2011-12-21T23:03:00.000-07:00

Have you seen these cute Saffron Craig Softies? Are they not darling?  All you do  is cut the shape out of the fabric, and sew together! So fun and cute!

This is my darling 8 year old. She was being mopey, even though she is my happiest child generally...

She wanted to do this project 100% by herself and I let her. IT is that easy and fun. She did a lousy cutting job, but it didn't really matter in the end!

She kept telling me "mom, it is inside out!" I tried to explain it to her, but I figured she would realize it soon enough. I turned the speed really slow, but she did an awesome job!

Look how proud she is? She is giving it to her little sister Sophie for Christmas. What a cute fun easy project! The other girls want to make them too!

Be sure to check out Saffron Craig, she is an Australian designer, really fun, unique fabrics. I took these photos of projects from her blog to show you all some of the cuteness!

Darling?

Beautiful colorway...

Hope you are all ready for Christmas, just 3 more days! (I have so much to do!)

Amazing Teacher Quilt from Squares and Triangles

2011-12-21T00:01:00.002-07:00

We featured Tanya from Squares and Triangles not too long ago (here)...and I raved about her quilting gallery (and if you didn't see it then see it now!) I think we could feature almost every one of her quilts!! I love this quilt though, it's unique and thoughtful. Plus Tanya is so good about documenting her quilting journey, including all of the things she learned with this quilt. Tanya also sells some of her goodies if you're in need of a nice handmade gift.

Some background: My child’s first grade teacher LOVES pirates. She was a pirate on her first day of school. Her room is decorated with cartoon pirates and ships. She uses pirate sayings to get them to pay attention. And for Halloween…yes, she was a pirate. So, I thought it appropriate to make her a quilt for teacher appreciation week with a pirate (well, pirate ship) theme.

This is her first year of teaching, and I wanted the quilt to represent how I feel about teachers and how grateful I am for the time and effort they put into teaching my children. So, I drew out a picture with a large ship surrounded by small ships, representing a teacher being surrounded by her students. It kind of made itself after that.

This quilt represents a few firsts for me.

– This is my first time doing improvisational piecing throughout the whole quilt (the rotary cutter became both my best friend and my worst enemy.)

–This was my first time sewing a curve (the sun)

–This was my first time doing this maze free motion quilting. I have done block-type meandering before, but I wanted this to look more like a maze. I think the overall quilting pattern helps the seams melt away. I love how it turned out.

–This was my first time using fabric marker, which I used for the back of the quilt (It has been blurred in the photo to keep their names private. Don’t worry, it hasn’t bled…yet)

I am excited for my child to give it to her next week. Hopefully she will use it as a wall hanging (I plan on using this tutorial to make embroidered hanging loops) or, eventually, I hope she’ll be able to wrap up her grandchildren in it.

This quilt measures 39.5 inches x 46.5 inches.

Thanks for visiting!

Fabric Tuesday, link up!

2011-12-19T21:00:00.001-07:00

I know you've all been crazy busy with Christmas and holiday plans, well at least I have! Do you have some projects to link-up to Fabric Tuesday?

First I want to introduce you first to our newest sponsor, Fabric Envy. Andrea is so sweet and nice and wears many hats...wife, mom to 4, fabric shop owner and amazing photographer. I know so many of you can relate to her in one way or another! Well here is the fabulous news, she has an awesome sale going on right now and that she's extended through Wednesday!

One of my favorite things to receive and give my crafty friend is FABRIC! Seriously, I cannot have enough :) It is such a good gift for crafters, and you don't even have to make anything!

Check out these goodies!!

LISTEN UP!

I love this program Andrea has and I know many of you will. A vendor program. Do you have an Etsy shop? Do you use designer fabric to create products you sell?

Well she has an awesome program just for you!! I think this is so cool, you get a 15% discount ALWAYS, quarterly coupons, friend referral benefits, and lots more. See HERE to apply. There's many ways to find out more about Angela and her designer fabrics. You can follow her on facebook, see her blog, check out her pinterest...fun stuff!

Fabric Tuesday #66!

To see how to play click HERE!

Can't wait to see! :)

Tutorial: Mini Christmas Quilt

2011-12-19T00:01:00.002-07:00

First, winner of our $40 giveaway from Five Monkey Fabric, #198:

Mimi said...

Oooooh I love the Black and White bundle, 4 Fat Quarters - sweet!!! Thanks!

DECEMBER 15, 011 8:01 AM

Congrats!! Get shopping!! Thanks to Five Monkey Fabrics for such a great giveaway to our readers :)

Get ready to die. of. cuteness. I have to admit that today's Holiday Gift Tutorial is 100% selfish of Heather and I. We both went nuts when we discovered Erin from Why Not Sew? and her mini quilts. So unbelievably cute. And she does not disappoint today! Make sure to see Why Not Sew? , her darling gallery of birdie quilts and her shop.

First of all I'd like to say a big "Thank You" to Heather & Megan for asking me to be apart of all of these great Christmas tutorials. I hope I can deliver. All of the projects have been fantastic! For my Christmas Tutorial I am going to show you how I make, and how you can make, a mini Christmas quilt that can be used for a wall hanging or topple topper.

You will need: Heat'n Bond or a fusible web of your choice (you won't need much of this, 4 x 10 inches should be enough)Fabric of your choosing for applique pieces (large scraps are perfect!)12 inch square of background fabric (I used linen) 1 3/4 inch square for the present.13 inch square piece of batting13 inch square piece of backing fabricBlack threadDarning foot for free-motion sewing (alternative-hand embroidery) binding fabric and method of choiceBirds, holly leaf, holly berry template here.

Draw or trace your pieces onto the paper side of your fusible web. Cut out your pieces leaving at least 1/8 of an inch around your drawn lines. This will insure that the fusible web has covered all of the fabric and there will be less chance of fraying. You may use the birds, holly and berries that I drew for you or by all means draw your own. The ones for the file are not what I used here. I tried to draw nicer ones for you to use that are in the file. Birds, holly leaf and holly berry file here.

Fuse your pieces to the WRONG side of your fabric.

Cut out your pieces ON the drawn line.

Take the paper off of your pieces and place them like this on your background fabric. When you have them in place iron them down.

Use black thread and set your machine up for free motion sewing (darning foot, drop feed dogs).

I start by outlining the Holly leaves and berries on each side.

Next I draw a branch between each set of Holly for the birds and present to rest on.

Then I outline the present and make little loops for the bow.

The birds are outlined next. I like to go around them a few times. Then make eyes, a beak and little bird legs. For all of these outlines I like my stitches to fall on the fabric pieces and the background fabric. I like a really drawn / sketchy look. Now this is where you can decide if you are finished with your block or if you want to add some embroidered words.

I wanted to embroider a Bible scripture on mine. I just grab a Sharpie and write right on the background fabric.

Here it is embroidered. I know that it isn't perfect. But it has that handmade feel that my mother loves and this is for her so I know it's okay. You can use a ruler and write very neatly on the lines or use a really pretty font, whatever you like. I prefer this method.Press and square up your block now. There is some shrinkage and distortion from the free-motion stitching and the embroidery. Now you can add a patchwork border or a plain border or leave your block as is. It's really up to you and I have made these using all of the above and they are all great options.Next layer your block (top), batting and backing fabric to make a quilt sandwich. Baste.

For this quilt I am quilting some horizontal uneven lines with big stitches.

Next thing you do is bind your quilt! I chose a bright cream colored fabric with pretty green polka dots for the binding.

That's it! Enjoy your new Christmas quilt!I hope my instructions are clear. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday with the people you love! Thanks again Heather & Megan!

Thank you to everyone who participated on our Holiday Gift Tutorials series, we are so appreciative!

November 7th: Amber from A Little Bit Biased Tutorial: Holiday Table Topper

November 14th: Quilt Story :) Tutorial: Winter Tree Table Runner

November 21st: Bev from Flamingo Toes Tutorial: Linen Jewelry Travel Bag

November 28th: Corey from Little Miss Shabby Tutorial: Hope Canvases

December 5th: Jeni from In Color Order Tutorial: Fabric Embellished Dish Towels

December 12th: Melissa from Happy Quilting Melissa Tutorial: Holiday Oven Mitt

December 14th: Gentri from Little Lulu's Nest Tutorial: Hoop Art Ornament

December 19th: Erin from Why Not Sew?