Starting on the July Book of the Month

Well, it's better late than never! Yep, I'm finally getting a start on a July Book of the Month pattern, with this fetching fabric pull.

I must admit, I spent too many mornings on the internet last week, which really eats into sewing time. And here it is July 31 and I'm just now starting in on a pattern from Strip Savvy (affiliate link) by Kate Henderson. 

Strip Savvy

And me being me, I'm modifying the pattern to a baby quilt size, because there's always a need for those. So without further delay, I'm off to go cut and sew! See you tomorrow.

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Block 7 of the Growing Up QAL

Block 7 of Alida's Growing Up QAL, over at Alida Tweloq Designs, is a wrap! 

Continued in my color scheme of red, white, and blue, this design uses the English paper piecing technique, something I've not tried before. Would I do more of this type of piecing? Only if I were travelling and didn't have a sewing machine around!

But it was good to learn a new skill, which is what the Growing Up QAL is all about. If you want to try new sewing skills, join in!

Have a great weekend!

T- Shirt Quilts Finished

Six finished t-shirt quilts, all ready to go.

Commissioned back in March, they were started in April with the supplied 'tool' theme fabric. Such a sweet guy - he had his wife buy tool fabric whenever they went on shop hops. She certainly had quite the collection to work with!

For closer looks of the tops, check out these posts:
T-Shirts and Me
T-Shirts and Me Two

Since my sewing machine was in the shop, I thought it the perfect time to finish these up and move them from their resting place of the Innova quilt frame.

Now she's all clean!

Much better, wouldn't you say? But I feel so exposed! Now you can see 70% of the stash - I really must work on trimming that down. For new fabric, of course.

All quilts use a lightweight poly batting, and have stippling on them, with either Glide Military Gold or Glide Cool Grey.

And because I'm running low on my most used thread color, Sand, plus a few others, I decided to place an order at BobbinCentral. Look at these yummy colors that arrived!

I'm well stocked now - just need to find storage space.

So another saga of t-shirt quilts has come to an end, though I'm sure there will be more in my future!

Happy Quilting!

Dresden Plate Poinsettia Coasters

Pull up a chair and get ready to rest your favorite holiday beverage on these delightful poinsettia coasters!

These pretty blooms are a modified Dresden Plate, and super easy to sew. A full Poinsettia flower coaster pattern, which includes the template, is available on Etsy.

Below is a brief tutorial on how easy it is to sew these charming Dresden Plate Poinsettia Coasters - let's get started!

Choose red and green fabrics that would make a lovely poinsettia - I went with Kona Rich Red and Basil Green. After cutting a strip from each color, the pieces are cut out using the template. 

And by putting a ruler up to the edge of the template, 

then holding the ruler in place and moving the template aside before making the cut, prevented cutting into the template. Wouldn't want to make it smaller! 

All the Dresden Plate pieces are cut and ready to go!

Now they're sewn just like a regular Dresden Plate, with angled clipping at the fold to reduce bulk.

After opening the seam and turning right side out, the pieces are given a gentle press, then sewn together. 

Once the flowers are together, the seams are pressed in a circular fashion, with three small circles fused in the center.

With some detail stitching of leaf veins, and center applique stitching,

the poinsettia flower is brought to life!

With the addition of the back, turned so that the 'leaves' are exposed between the flower petals, 

plus stitching in the ditch and the outer edges, the poinsettia coaster is now finished!

And here's the back,

with a touch of sealant, such as Fray Check, in the center to take care of any fraying.

I had a ton of fun making these Dresden Plate Poinsettia Coasters, and hope you do to! 

Merry Christmas!

Pinwheel Ducks

Pinwheel Ducks is a finish!

For a scrap quilt, I really love how this turned out! Notice in the design, there is a square on point of dark teal pinwheels, with an inner ring of pale aqua pinwheels. And the very center - a square of that cute duck fabric!


A little bit of the scrap duck fabric used as sashing helped to bring them up to size. Here's a pic of several different widths of sashing.

The pinwheel quilting is an easy arc in all the aqua areas, with seeds in the duck center. 

And the Autumn Breeze motif in the border turned out great!

Notice the design meets in the center, mirroring itself along one side of the border.

And if you look closely, you can see some of the 'made fabric' in the aqua pinwheels.

I also had the perfect aqua/duck flannel for the back.

Overall, a win-win-win on this quilt! And my tip for today? Don't despair over different sized blocks - just add sashing to bring it to size.

Have a great weekend quilting!

12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop Kick Off!

It's here! The 12 Days of Christmas Blog Hop, hosted by Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict, is live!

This is my second year participating, having made the Holiday Forest runner and placemat pattern last year.

Earlier this summer, Holiday Forest took second place (behind Love Abounds) in the sewing division at the local fair. Woohoo!

My day in the hop is next Friday, but here's a sneak peek of what I've got in store for Christmas.

The idea rolled around in my head for a few weeks, then after several tries, it's worked out beautifully.

Now get hopping!

Fireworks Wall Hanging

I'm celebrating the nation's birthday this July 4th with a spectacular Fireworks wall hanging!

Created over the last week, I've teased everyone plenty with sneak peeks - hope it has exceeded expectations!

Inspired a week ago Sunday by this image from a craft store ad, 

I just knew I had to make a fireworks wall hanging. A 4th of July celebration just wouldn't be complete without one!

After working out the concept with paper templates, appliqueing with fabric was easy, as shown with the teaser pictures last week. And now it's time for closeup pictures of the finished Fireworks wall hanging!

Aren't these fireworks just bursting with happy celebration?

There are also sprays of stars in the border,

meeting up in the corners.

Notice the red/white striped inner border, adding a pop of Americana.

And last, the back, a fun patriotic pinwheel fabric.

And you too can have oohs and ahhs over this fireworks display in your own home! The bursting red, white, and blue Fireworks wall hanging is now available as a pattern in my Etsy store. 

Happy 4th of July!

July and August 2017 Book of the Month

It's the 1st of July, which means another choice for the Book of the Month feature! This one goes to Kate Henderson and her book, Strip Savvy (affiliate link).

For many months, I've contemplated cutting some of my stash into strips, to easily make quilts and make room for new fabric. That last part is probably the bigger reason - wink, wink! Seriously, we all love new fabric. But the older stuff needs to be used first. That's just the way I think.

Glancing through this book, there are numerous quilts that have caught my eye. So, I've gone ahead and made this my choice for both July and August. Plenty of time to work on at least one quilt!

It may be a week or two before I get a start as there a several projects to work on first: the patriotic project, the duck pinwheels, and a project for the Christmas in July blog hop. Busy, busy, busy!

Continue to have a great weekend - see you on Monday!

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