Friday

Today I’m making some green scrappy binding and finishing up this quilt.  How ‘bout you? 

Fridays are the favorite around here.  Fridays are early-out for the elementary kids so every Friday afternoon feels a little like a party.  My youngest loves Friday because it’s school pride day where they wear the school’s colors and there’s some sort of competition between classes.  He wakes up and SHOUTS “It’s blue-green day!” and then hurries to get dressed.  His enthusiasm is adorable.  I only wish that same level of enthusiasm would carry over to the other days of the week!

Butterfly Canvas Art tutorial

Today I have a tutorial posted on the Therm O Web blog to make these sweet Spring Butterflies.  Yep – they’re fabric!  And better still, it’s a great way to use up some of your favorite scraps.  These were so fun to make.  It’s an easy, no-sew project and you can use the butterflies for all sorts of other things. 

These are just a few of the fun butterfly ideas I’ve found around lately.  They’re all pinned here (along with some other spring-inspired décor!)

1: Butterfly collection pillow tutorial from Ruffles & Stuff

2:  Peach and pink paper butterfly garland found here

3:  Paper butterfly decoration found here

4:  hand cut butterfly garland found here

The pattern sheet that I created for the butterflies has four sizes on it (tiny, small, medium & large).  I thought the large size would make a lovely garland, and as it turns out, the medium size is perfect for making a butterfly canvas art!  Again – no sewing!

Here’s what you’ll need:

one 16” x 20” canvas

HeatnBond Ultrahold

Butterfly Applique Shapes pattern

fabric scraps

sharp scissors

iron

hot glue gun

I had a small pile of scraps leftover from the quilts I had made for my nieces – not enough to make anything, but just the perfect amount for a few butterflies! 

First you’ll need to print the butterfly applique shapes page from here.  Then trace the medium size butterfly 9 times on to some HeatnBond Ultrahold and then cut out roughly around each shape.

Using the instructions on the package, iron each butterfly to the wrong side of a fabric scrap.  Cut out along the lines, and peel off paper backing.

Then iron the butterflies to the wrong side of another fabric scrap.  It can be identical fabric, or a coordinating fabric.  Be creative!

Now carefully cut around the butterfly, just a bit inside of the first butterfly piece.  You now have a stack of pretty, two-sided butterflies!

To crease each butterfly, fold in half and press with iron for 6 or 7 seconds.  To keep the crease nice and crisp I picked up each butterfly with my scissors and held it there for a few seconds to let it cool.

Next, lightly mark on the canvas where you want the butterflies to go.  I measured and marked the canvas using a ruler and drew a thin pencil line where the butterfly body would be.

Using a hot glue gun, lay a bead of glue on the pencil markings and gently press the butterfly body (not the wings) onto the glue.  I used a pen lid to press it in place along the crease, just to make sure it was fully adhered.

Within just a few minutes my no-sew butterfly canvas was done!

This canvas will be going to my nieces to hang in their room.  The two little girls both have quilts made these same fabrics so this will be perfect!

Thanks for stopping by!

Linking up to Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story

Scrappy Selvages + a winner!

Happy Tuesday morning everyone!  I had the chance to take a mini-vacation of sorts this past weekend and it was so nice!  One of my nephews was getting married  and due to school and work stuff, my kids and husband were not able to come with me.  So my sister and I flew together up to Washington for a few, short, delightful days.  I’m back now, feeling quite rested and ready to survive what’s left of winter.  

So… since finishing my selvage pillow I’ve been thinking about what selvage project I’d like to do next!  I love the look of the selvage quilts-

like this one (called Web of Whimsy from Quilt Magazine June/July 2013 issue)

or this one made by Kelly Girl Quilts

but I know I just don’t have time for another large project right now.

I do love this Market Tote bag pattern from Jodi from A Pleasant Home.  (Click the photo to purchase the pattern.)  And this definitely seems more doable for me right now.

Meanwhile, I keeping adding to my Selvages Pinterest Board.  I know I’ll never have the time to tackle all of these awesome ideas, but it’s still fun to dream, right?

And now for the winner of the box of selvages (plus a few extras that I’ll throw in)……

Congratulations Allison!  I’ve sent you an email.  And thank you to all who commented – it was fun to read how everyone spent their Valentine’s Day!

Friendship Heart Quilt

 

A few months ago, one of the quilt guilds I attend did a friendship heart block swap.  We each used the same heart shapes and used white, pink and cream (and low volume) backgrounds with pink and red fabrics for the hearts.

We each made one large and two small heart blocks for each member that was swapping.  We could embellish one of the hearts in the set as we chose.  As I made my blocks I loved being able to dig through my scraps and be creative with each set of blocks.  And I loved that everyone embellished their blocks in their own unique way:

It was fun to get my stack of blocks back and lay them all out together.  Each block definitely has it's own personality and when they're all sewn together into one quilt the scrappy loveliness is delightful!

For the backing I chose a flannel so it will be nice and snuggly.  I added a wide ric rac with the binding and I LOVE the look.  

We all brought our heart quilts to our guild meeting this week and it was fun to see them all together.  You can see Amber’s version of the Friendship Heart Quilt here, and her original quilt that inspired our block swap here.

I'm linking up to Crazy Mom Quilt's Finish it up Friday

361 Days Early

So this is how I spent my Saturday afternoon – and it was delightful!

The afternoon was unseasonably warm so I pulled up the blinds and opened the window.  The sun was streaming in and I had a few hours of uninterrupted quilting time!

I was intending to get this friendship heart quilt all finished up well before Valentine’s Day, but you know how these things go.  So instead of thinking that it’s LATE for this year, I decided to say that it’s just 361 days EARLY for next Valentine’s Day!

The border for this heart quilt caused me a bit of grief.  I had a hard time deciding just what I wanted to do, and then I had to find just the right fabric for the job.  Then came deciding just how to quilt it. 

I finished the quilting Saturday and tackled the binding this afternoon.  Tonight the quilt had it’s debut at our little quilt group’s show and tell.  I’ll have some photos of the finished quilt on Friday. 

Happy Sewing everyone!

I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced

A Selvage pillow + a giveaway

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!  And happy Friday – how ‘bout that – two reasons to celebrate today!  This week I’ve been busy finishing up this selvage pillow and trying (unsuccessfully) to finish a Valentine’s quilt.
The pillow started as this block, created from the scraps class I took at Quilt Bliss from Amy:



The block was great, but was just a bit too small for the pillow form I had so I knew I needed to add a frame for the block.  I pulled these three grays from my stash and auditioned them on instagram.  The darker fabric on the right was the clear winner (and it happened to be the one I loved the most), however I  didn’t quite have enough.  Hawthorne threads came through for me and my needed fabric arrived in just a few short days. 

That delicious gray fabric is called Color Weave in Silver by P & B Textiles.  Found here.

I kept the quilting to a minimum to let the awesome textures shine.  The same Cross Weave fabric is on the back of the pillow as well.



Isn’t it wonderful that something that is meant to be thrown away can be turned into something lovely and useful?  I’ve been keeping my selvages for a couple of years now but really only as a type of fabric catalog.  As I’m asked about fabrics from older quilts I’ve been able to go back, find the selvage and answer those questions.  It’s been so handy!  It’s time to put some of these selvages to use though!




I did a quick inventory of my selvage stash and realized that I’ll never use them all.  So I’ve stuffed this box full of just some of my selvages and I’d love to send it to someone who can use them!  I’ll tuck a few extra goodies in as well.  To enter, leave a comment below telling me how you celebrated Valentine’s Day. Giveaway closes Sunday February 23 at midnight.  I'll randomly choose a winner Monday the 24th.

****************The giveaway is now closed- thank you!**************

Thanks for stopping by – have a wonderful Valentine’s Day!

Linking up to Finish It Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts and Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story

Swapping

Along with all of the fun classes and sewing happening at Quilt Bliss, there were also several swaps to participate in.  The first one I joined was a secret friend swap.  I’m just so delighted with what my secret friend gave to me that I had to share it with you! 

April (from April Mae Designs) made this sweet English paper piecing travel kit for me using a tutorial she found here.

And as if the travel bag was not enough, she tucked some goodies inside!  A Mickey Mouse tin (I’m a Disney fan!) with some papers, a thimble and scissors -

one completed hexie flower, and a generous fat quarter of some Briar Rose Strawberries-

Now I’ve tried English paper piecing before and got about this far:

And then there they sat.  It’s a cute little stack, but I didn’t have a project in mind for them.  Now that I have this awesome travel case I’ll be making more of these!  April, you are awesome – thank you!

Oh, and if you’re not familiar with April you should go and visit her here.  She also has a pattern shop -  I’m a long time fan of her Hello Sun block of the month project!

Quilt Bliss 2014

Last weekend I had the opportunity to attend Quilt Bliss here in the gorgeous mountains of Utah. 

It was a delightful, relaxing time spent with old friends and new friends.

There were great classes (this one is a scraps class taught by my friend Amy Smart – and this was also the gorgeous sewing room with spectacular views) -

There was plenty of open sewing time -

And as the snow kept falling we all stayed cozy and warm inside -

I finished a few things and started several more – this is my string block made from just a few of the selvages in my scrap bin -

And these will soon turn in to a quilt like this one (Briar Rose from England Street Quilts). 

There were trunk shows by Sherri McConnell, Erika Bartlett, Sarah Jane and the women from the Utah County Modern Quilt Group.  There was inspiration everywhere!  It was almost overwhelming.  I came home with new ideas and plans and I am already looking forward to the next Quilt Bliss.  Hopefully I’ll see you all there!

Dumplings

I’ve decided that 2014 will be the year of trying new things.  I have several things that I avoid (zippers, sewing curves, english paper piecing, etc) not that I fear them, but just because I either don’t enjoy them or I just THINK I won’t enjoy them.  Well I’ve decided that that’s a silly way to live – not doing something because you THINK you won’t like it.  Just in this last month alone I’ve tried several new foods and it turns out I like lobster and lamb.  I had no idea.  And look what I was missing out on. 

So for awhile now I’ve had the pattern for these sweet little dumplings but I kept setting it aside thinking it would be a frustrating mess. 

A couple of weeks ago I finally made one dumpling.  And guess what?  It was….FUN!

Here’s the first one I tried – and it’s not a frustrating mess!  In fact, I enjoyed making it and immediately decided to make more!

For the next dumpling I chose to make the outside of the pouch quilted (layer a piece of fabric with batting, quilt it and THEN cut out the dumpling shape) and I liked how it gave the pouch more body.

And of course it was fun to pair up fabrics for the outer bag and the lining-

These little pouches make perfect little gifts and are wonderful for people who travel.

So head on over here and grab the free pattern.  One tip – when it says to hand baste the zipper – DON’T.  I used my Clover Wonder Clips and it was faster and easier!