Sweat Shop

I've been hard at work lately between gifts and finishing up custom orders!  One of my favorite go-to gifts are these voile/velveteen infinity scarves!  Anna Maria Horner has a great tutorial on her blog, though I use different measurements since I find hers a bit bulky.  For mine, I use one yard of voile and one yard of velveteen to get TWO scarves.  I cut two pieces of velveteen 13"x36" then sew together along the 13" end to get a 13"x72"ish piece.  Repeat with the voile.  Then follow Anna Maria Horner's instructions!  Well, I also sort of cheat and machine stitch everything closed with invisible thread.  Shhhhhh!  Don't tell anyone I'm too lazy to hand stitch!








Then I put all the scarves in some totes I got on clearance at Old Navy.  Voila!  Teacher gifts!


I also finished this quilt, which has been partially quilted for months, and gave it to my friend, Ryan, because he's cool and I just felt like giving it away.  :)


Jessie made me this mini dresden forever ago and I finally found the perfect frame for it……after I painted the matting that awesome color!  Can't wait to hang this up!


A few more boxy bags for gifts!


Some Liberty Christmas trees as gifts for special ladies!

The Crossing: An Easy Quilt Tutorial

Made on my BabyLock Symphony

I've been wanting to use my Chicopee fabric for a while, but I couldn't decide on a pattern.  I saw something similar (almost exactly) to this quilt on Pintrest by HoosierToni and knew immediately I wanted to make it!  It had the added benefit of being easy! :)  This quilt is a 5x6 layout and is 67.5"x81" finished.

Each cross requires roughly a fat eighth (9"x21") of fabric.  If you have fat quarters, you can make 2 crosses per fat quarter.  For this quilt, I made 30 crosses so you will need 30 FEs or 15 FQs plus 1.75 yards of solid.  I'd get 2 yards of solid to be safe!  

Cutting for EACH print if using 30 FEs:

Cut one strip 5"x21" then sub cut into (4) 5" squares

Cut one strip 2.75"x21" then sub cut into (4) 2.75"x5" rectangles

OR

Cutting for EACH print if using 15 FQs:

Cut 2 strips 5"x21" then sub cut into (8) 5" squares

Cut 2 strips 2.75"x21" then sub cut into (8) 2.75"x5" rectangles

Cutting for Solid:

Cut (4) 5" x WOF strips then sub cut into (30) 5" squares

Cut (8) 5" x WOF strips then sub cut into 120 2.75"x5" rectangles

For each block you will need 4 print squares, 1 solid square, 4 print rectangles, and 4 solid rectangles.

Sew each print rectangle to a solid rectangle along the 5" side.  Press seams open.

Create each block as shown below.  Block is 14" unfinished. 

                                                                                                   

Enjoy!  Happy sewing!

Quiltmaker Magazine Giveaway!

I'm so happy Babylock and Quiltmaker asked me to be a part of the latest issue of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks magazine!!!  In addition to my own little giveaway here, Quiltmaker is having a fantastic blog hop and giveaway to celebrate so be sure to check out all the fabulous designers and great prizes from each of the 60 designers blogs plus some sponsor blogs all week long, with two giant prize package giveaway on Friday! 

This is my block, Squared!!!  Isn't it cute????  I love rainbows and squares so I put my two favorite things together to come up with this!  Oh, and if you really want to see something embarrassing  check out my video for Quiltmaker HERE. 

 For a chance to win a free copy of the latest 100 Blocks magazine just leave me a little comment here!  Maybe tell me your favorite pattern, favorite workout song, or something to make me laugh.  :)  It's up to you!  I'll leave comments open until 8am CST on Friday, November 15 then randomly select a winner.

Starry-Eyed Quilt: Blogger's Quilt Festival

Every year Amy hosts this great event called the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  If you haven't heard of it, you REALLY need to check it out!  Soooooooooo many inspirational quilts and new bloggers to discover!  This year I'm entering two quilts, one is my "Starry-Eyed Quilt" in the Throw Quilt category (here's the other one):

I recently blogged about this one and the method I used to make it.  Every print is from designer Anna Maria Horner.  Some new, some old, some VERY old.  Everyone loved and precious to me!

I got it all quilted up and ready to ship to its new home---and, yes, that means I'm not keeping it!  It's a shocker I know, but I do have, uh, several other Anna Maria Horner quilts to keep me warm! 

I used my favorite Innocent Crush print for the backing on this one and I couldn't be happier with the results, even though it was a case of using what I had on hand!  It's ones of the BEST feelings to find enough yardage for backing in my stash!

Before it was quilted this quilt made a nice curtain in my living room!  My husband thought it was a bit too much to stay there permanently.  Oh well! 

Look how pretty it looked with the light coming through!  

Hope you all enjoy the Festival and blog hopping!  Psssst!  Vote for me! :)

Best Bee Quilt Ever: Blogger's Quilt Festival

Every year Amy hosts this great event called the Blogger's Quilt Festival.  If you haven't heard of it, you REALLY need to check it out!  Soooooooooo many inspirational quilts and new bloggers to discover!  This year I'm entering two quilts, one is my "Best Bee Quilt Ever" in the Group/Bee Category (here's the other one):

I pretty much think this is the best quilt ever made, but I may be bias!  :)  This quilt is the culmination of two bees, The VIBs and the Twice Around the Block groups.  The ladies were each give a piece of every print of Anna Maria Horner's Good Folks and asked to make a block constructed of half-square triangles.  The results blew me away!

This is a little pre-quilting shot.

I had it professionally custom quilted by Krista Withers and she totally killed it!  See that fabulous "K" she worked in there?  

I decided on another Anna Maria Horner print for the backing (from Field Study).

I adore this quilt and it certainly holds a special place in my heart (and on my couch!)  Hope you all enjoy the Festival and blog hopping!  Psssst!  Vote for me! :)

Starry-Eyed Quilt and My Favorite Ruler

It's no secret that I REALLY love designer Anna Maria Horner's fabric.  What I love most is that when you look at some of the prints individually you may think, "meh".  However, when you put them all together, what should be a hot mess ends up being an explosion of colorful awesomeness......in my opinion at least!  I love to hoard my AMH, but sometimes I get really annoyed at myself for NOT using precious fabric.  I decided to go all out on this quilt!  I was using as much AMH as I could find in my stash--hard to find prints and all!  

I wanted to keep the pattern simple, but not as basic as square patchwork.  I decided on the Sawtooth Star mainly because I had a new ruler I wanted to try.  

This is my new favorite ruler!  The Flying Geese ruler!  Seriously, so freaking in love with this thing! It made putting this quilt together so easy, so fast, and with virtually perfect results.  I didn't have to trim one single block! I thought I'd give a brief overview on how this little guy works.  I got mine at JoAnn's and they carried two sizes, 3"x6" (what I have) and 4"x8".  Each ruler makes two sizes of geese.  Mine will make 1.5"x3" and 3"x6".  

Cut two squares according to the package direction for the size geese you want to make.  Place the squares rights sides together and center the smaller square on the larger one (I just folded creases in the squares to find the middle)  I ended up cutting my larger square .5" larger than they suggested because it gave me more wiggle room when I went to trim the blocks at the end.  

Draw a diagonal line through the smaller square and sew 1/4" on either side of the line, just like when you make HSTs.

Cut along the line you drew.

Open the resulting units and press toward the larger square.  Then place the squares right sides together matching the corners, NOT THE SEAMS IN THE MIDDLE.

The corners should be opposite fabrics.

Draw another diagonal line and sew 1/4" on either side, then cut on the line you drew.

This is the strangest step, but it's important! make a tiny snip in between the seams of each resulting unit.  Don't clip through the stitches holding it together! Then, you can press the seam allowance toward the larger square fabric on each side of the unit.  Trust me, this will make sense once you do it!

You end up with two weird looking blocks like this.  For reference, if you looked on the back of this block, my seam allowance would be clipped in the area where the tops of the red triangles meet.  All seam allowances are pressed to the red fabric.

Now it's time to break out the best ruler ever! This would also be a good time to bust out your rotating cutting mat if you have one.  Line up the ruler to the geese on your block and trim all the way around.

Ta-da! FOUR amazingly perfect geese!!!!  I know these seems like a bunch of steps, but the results are perfect and you get 4 units for your effort!  Seriously, I love this freaking ruler! For these blocks, I used (4) geese, (4) 3.5"squares, and (1) 6.5" square.  The block is 12.5" unfinished.

Made on my BabyLock Symphony

I love how wild and crazy this quilt turned out! It wasn't planned (a real challenge for me) and I didn't edit myself much in my fabric selection or pairing.  It's my stream-of-consciousness quilt!  Maybe I should rename it The Sound and the Fury quilt.  Jeez, I think my nerd is showing.  That high school term paper is still haunting me!  Hopefully some of you got that reference!

Sew South Here I Come!

I've been busy with lots of custom orders lately!

All that work has helped me keep my mind off the secret I was keeping!  I'm teaching at Sew South!!!!

There is a great line up of teachers and classes this year and I'm so excited to be going to Charlotte!  I used to live there and both my parents are from there so it's real homecoming for me!  I'll be sharing more details on my class soon!  I hope to see some of you there!!!!

Customs and Lost and Found

I've been getting a LOT of custom requests lately!  Here's a peek at some of the things keeping me busy!

An Amy Butler baby quilt for a new little girl due this fall

A farm-themed baby quilt with cow minky backing for another little one due soon!

A fall-hued Liberty quilt for my sweet friend Sara Rose, the photographer with a quilt addiction! :)

A queen size patchwork quilt with over 30 fabrics!  This one was so much fun to lay out!

I also found a "lost" project!  This one has been done for about 2 years and was put away in my closet.  I recently had to pull it out because I needed all the pins I used to baste it.  I guess I should quilt it one of these days.....

Here's a less wrinkled view of the finished top.

Swapsies: A Rainbow Mini Quilt

An IG friend mentioned wanting to swap with me and I could always use a new mini quilt for my sewing room so I happily agreed!  She didn't give me any instructions or preferences so I just made something that I loved!

Sadly, I love it a bit too much and I have a feeling I'm going to cry a little when I mail it to her! :)  I used this pattern by Diane.  CLICK HERE for a chance to win the pattern!!!  There are two versions, one finishes at 12" and one at 18" (mine is 18").  All of the fabric is by either Anna Maria Horner or Tula Pink with the exception of the black/white background fabric which is a print from Wordplay by Benartex.  Creating the 8 sections went relatively easy; the tricky part is sewing the 8 sections together so the everything lines up!  Lets just say I did not get it right the first, second, or third time with some sections!  I decided on some minimal radiant quilting from the center (thanks Michelle!) and my favorite color teal solid for the binding. 

Instead of highlighting the stars this pattern can create, I decided to highlight the geese!  I was surprised how different the pattern looked when I was done!  Change the fabric around and you get a whole new look!  I won't lie, this took some time and a LOT of background fabric--I tend to cut pieces way bigger than necessary when dealing with paper pieced triangles.  I somehow always muck it up and have the fabric fall short of the area I'm trying to cover.  I really hate ripping out tiny paper piecing stitches so I over compensate by cutting the fabric larger than necessary.  Anywho!  Hope Chrissy likes her new mini and it doesn't accidentally get stuck to my wall.........I mean, LOST in the mail! 

GeoCentric Summer Totes

It's no secret that I love making bags.......I mean LOVE it!  I've picked up a few tips in my bag making adventures, the most important of which is to choose the right fabric!  I rarely, if ever, make bag exteriors with quilting cottons.  I always prefer to use a home dec, linen, or canvas--something sturdy to stand up to being tossed around.  I am super smitten with Cloud 9's canvas line, Geocentric.  Not only is the canvas perfect to make bags, but I love the bright colors and simple, modern prints.  

I was SUPPOSED to be making a Pretty Pleats Reversible Tote designed by my good friend, Michelle, but there was a, um, cutting error.  What can I say?  I'm human!  No matter how many bags I've made, I still make mistakes!  This time, I accidentally taped the pattern pieces together incorrectly and cut out something that shouldn't have been.  Michelle's pattern is awesome and easy to follow and I have totally rocked it (the right way) before: 

See?  I can follow directions, really!  :)  Anywho, I had a Tim Gunn moment and decided to make it work!  The resulting three totes are a bit smaller than Michelle's design, but functional and cute all the same!

I even took the extra time to put my labels in these bag!  Usually, I'm too lazy to put my labels on bags, but I do like the "finished" look they give.  

These totes ended up being the perfect size to take to the pool or run a few errands.  The strap fits over my shoulder and the bag profile is slim and unobtrusive.  Since the GeoCentric line is canvas, the bag holds it's shape well without being stiff.  I see these bags making many appearances this summer!