Another Bloggy Giveaway

Sure, I get an extra entry for blogging about this, but really, I love to share a link to a wonderful blog and especially a wonderful blog with a wonderful giveaway :) Too many wonderfuls?


Sheree's Alchemy

Check this out! A huge box of fabric scraps and she sews clothes so her scraps are bigger than us scrappy quilters

A LONG table runner without a long story

I made this table runner for my cousin Keri and her new husband. They were married today and their ceremony was sweet and casual and my kids LOVED that kind of wedding! It was at a park with a river, playset and there was even a pinata!
Keri really likes 50's era stuff and her table is an antique mint green metal. I immediately thought of the Hello Betty line of fabric by Chloe's Closet for Moda. Just a really simple style, kind of fashioned after the one I made for our table using the tutorial from ModaBakeShop, but this one is obviously much longer, made to hang over the ends of the table rather than sit in the middle.

Isn't that huge red ric-rack fun? I picked it up at the Chicago Quilt Show.

A Bag for Emily

Ok, so my dh has been in the Army for the last 6 years and as of today, he is officially done! This is great news for us because he's been gone for 4 of the last 6 years and that's a bit tough on family life as any military family knows. The difficult part now is finding a job, add to that, we live in Michigan. REALLY tough to find a job. This is all to say that money is a tad tight 'round here. So when my daughter was invited to a birthday party this weekend, I knew I needed to come up with something from my stash. A tote bag. Her friend is turning 13 and I know that can be a picky age, but I laid out a few different fabric combos and let my dd pick. Here is what we came up with.

70 Blocks Done!

I finished up 70 blocks for the Nine Patch a Day sew-along! I thought I was going to have a bunch extra so I had the option of not using some blocks that are just not going to work. Oh, well. I'll lay them out on the white fabric and if I need to make up some extra, I'll do it.

Mod Sampler DONE!

Yay! It feels so great to finish a project. I think I've said that before. I really enjoy the whole process, though. This was the quilt along from Oh,Fransson. She did such a great job walking through each step of the process. Check it out!

I've been wanting to do a quilt with pink and turquoise for a while now. I'm not sure why. It matches nothing in my house, but they are so bright and cheery AND I didn't have to buy much fabric. Always a plus, right? I will probably give it to my daughter for her room and she's excited about that.

As you can see, the borders are a bit wavy. That's because I put them on using the LAZY method. YK, just cutting them long, sewing them on and trimming them to the correct length. It just doesn't work well. Lesson learned. I knew better. I'm glad it's just for us so I didn't have to get out the seam ripper :)

Design Your Own Fat Quarter Pack Giveaway!

We just love giveaways, don't we? Head on over to The Fabric Shopper and check out the great giveaway. You not only sign up but you get to spend time shopping and designing your OWN FQ bundle from Whipstitch on Etsy!

Mini Modern Dutch Quilt

I think my favorite part of the quilting process is the last few handstitches on the binding. I just loe to finish a project. Especially if I like results :) This was a fun quilt to put together. I enjoyed working with these colors a lot. The reds, oranges, yellows and greens are what spring looks like around here.

I used a pattern from an old American Patchwork and Quilting Magazine and they were copying a full size antique Dutch Quilt. The traditional Dutch pattern was to have a center unit, usually a pieced star surrounded by small repeating blocks, often the hourglass or bowtie. Of course, I had to update the fabrics a bit, hence the "modern" in the title :) I also read that they almost ALWAYS used a red backing and binding. On this I was happy to oblige since red seems to stay at the top of my favorite color list. I used a cotton/linen blend for the setting blocks and Espresso Kona Cotton for the framed corners.

I sure hope my recipient likes it!

Patchy Fabric Card Tutorial

So many of you sweetly commented on the fabric cards I made for the swap at SewingMamas and a few of you even asked for a little how-to. I had a LITTLE extra time this week so I thought I would put a tutorial together. Besides, I needed to add some boy cards to my stash so it wasn't too hard to take some pictures while I sewed them up. I'm sure there are tons of ways to do these, but this is the way I like the best after a bunch of trial and error. This project is such a great way to use scraps, even teeny tiny pieces.

1. Gather Supplies

Blank Notecards with Envelopes
Fabric scraps at least as long as your card, can be any width
Lightweight/midweight fusible interfacing
Glue stick"0"
Matching thread

2. Measure the front of your cardstock and cut a piece of interfacing the same size.




3. Cut your fabric scraps into 1"-2" strips at least as long as your card. I like to use 5 per card, but you can do whatever strikes your fancy.

4. At your ironing board lay the fabric strips on the fusible side of the interfacing in an order that pleases your eye, then fuse in place. Make sure at least some of every strip is fused so that when you take it to the machine they wont be moving around. Go ahead and give it a press from the back, too, just to ensure a good bond.





5. Trim the fabric to the size of the interfacing rectangle. Then take to your sewing machine and zigzag along each raw edge, making sure to keep your zigzag more on the "loose" side to be sure you are catching it in.




6. Now, take your glue stick and run a line around the edge on the back of your interfacing rectangle and glue it onto the cardstock. Then take your card back to your sewing machine and zigzag the fabric to the cardstock around the perimeter.




That's it! You've got a finished card. Wasn't that easy? It's even easier to sew up a bunch at once and use chain sewing techniques. These can make a great gift or just keep some to have on hand. Handmade is such a nice touch! Use your imagination and have fun.

As you can see, I "appliqued" one of the funky vehicles on the front of the tall card. If you want to do something like that, just glue your image down and zigzag around it after you've completed step 5.

Enjoy and let me know if you give these a whirl or if I have made no sense at all and you have a question, feel free to ask!

And the winner is........

Aine!


Congratulations! Look for an email from me and a package full of goodies will be on it's way.

Thanks again, SewMamaSew, for a memorable week! I found some really great blogs, just what I need....