Tuesday, July 26, 2016

OMG It's Finished: July Linkup!

A bit delayed, but here we go!
Only SIX days left to reach July goals!

I am motivated by the fresh gift-making ideas and all the tutorials shared throughout the month after following the 12 Days of Christmas in July blog hop at Confessions of a Fabric Addict. Sarah's hop was so much fun and I have quite a few tutorials bookmarked as a result.
One is for a caddy I have have my eyes on:
Picture ripped from Carole at From My Carolina Home. Link here to the tutorial!
I found Carole's daily dose of Christmas cheer to be so inspiring! Each day new surprises were found, and yesterday's surprise had me doing the happy dance: I won my first box of Aurifil!

Woot-hootin news, thanks to Carole at From My Carolina Home!
Thank you Carole!

Ready or not, It is Link-up time!
Hopefully, I will have a quilted Christmas mini to share here soon. How about you, will you be able to finish up before August is upon us?  Thank you for linking up and Good Luck!


Bagmaker Supply August Hardware Challenge:
Bagmaker Supply has launched a fun and easy challenge for anyone on Facebook! Make anything your imagination desires with their 1.5" slide; large or small!

From the FB page: "Get some gorgeous purse hardware for free, even if you're not the winner. Make a bag from this striking piece of hardware. Take a picture of it and post it here. The entries with the most votes in each of two categories will win $50.00 of beautiful hardware from our Etsy shop. How do I get free hardware without enough votes? If you purchase the challenge item from 7/18/16 - 8/18/16 and follow a few easy rules (including actually entering the contest!) we'll refund the purchase price!"


Go To The Bagmaker Supply Etsy Store

 

Cheers to our amazing sponsors of One Monthly Goal!

Thank you!

 

Saturday, July 23, 2016

Watermelon Scraps!

Two new Kite Tail blocks have been added to the collection.
Blocks 13 & 14.
I decided to keep them all going in the same direction, staggering to the right. I will still have a couple layout options at the end of the year, and they will join together a little easier too.

I even finished the leftover chains, and a Courthouse Baby block.
Piecing is the "sweet spot" of quilting for me. I really enjoy most everything about sewing, but nothing compares to the instant gratification of putting things together. That moment when you finger-press the last seam, flip it over, and reveal the assembled block is a simple pleasure I am addicted to.

Playing with the RSC16 watermelon theme for July was relaxing, and satisfying, and now I think I am ready to work on some Free Motion Quilting today.
After I link up with...
RSC16
Enjoy the weekend!
On Tuesday, I plan to share, and catch up with progress at Cynthia's too!
Quilting is more fun than Housework

Friday, July 22, 2016

Pixies, Pincushions, & A Challenge for You!

I finally used my mini Hex n' More!
And now that I've added buttons, I can officially call this pincushion a finish!

I like this photo though, so you will just have to take my word for it about those buttons, lol.
This fabric jumped at me (take me! take me!) for the bottom-side:
I used Jaybird's mini Hex n' More template. It finished 6" across, a little bigger than I thought it might but still within the guidelines for our guild swap.
My heart belongs to Seattle.
The biggest distraction I succumbed to this week is the Pixie Summer Home QAL (Intrepid Thread).
I've really fallen off the wagon with this one I'm afraid, but having tons of fun of course!

The QAL is co-hosted by three bloggers: Julie, Brooke, and Sally.
I joined late and started with block #2, catching the linkup with Brooke, at Silly Mama Quilts:
At that point, I thought I would be using lots of summery-bright colors. When I returned to the project however, I stuck with blue and green/ gray and white.
Two more Block Two houses, and two of the Block One houses. I began to think of Seattle, my hometown, and somehow, some of my houses turned into houseboats!
Here is my favorite so far:

A dreamy little sewing shop on the water. Surely there's a Starbuck's around the corner.

Now that I'm considering a setting, I think I'll need a stadium. Maybe a needle and mountain too, we'll see. Those Block One houses will need their background fabric changed as well, I think they belong in front of the lake.

This morning I finished my first trees from Block Three:
The one on the left went smoothly. So did the one on the right, considering this quilt accepts casual wonkiness. I did not want to Paper Piece and just 'winged' it instead!

Do you like crafty challenges? 
Bagmaker Supply has launched a fun and easy challenge for anyone on Facebook! Make anything your imagination desires with their 1.5" slide; large or small!
Get some gorgeous purse hardware for free, even if you're not the winner. Make a bag from this striking piece of hardware. Take a picture of it and post it here. The entries with the most votes in each of two categories will win $50.00 of beautiful hardware from our Etsy shop. How do I get free hardware without enough votes? If you purchase the challenge item from 7/18/16 - 8/18/16 and follow a few easy rules (including actually entering the contest!) we'll refund the purchase price! 


Looks like fun, right? This is a great shop to work with, I hope you will check it out!

Thank you for reading today! 
I am looking forward to catching posts at the following linkups, I hope to see you there!




 
Fort Worth Fabric Studio
 
 

Sunday, July 17, 2016

Modern Trees Rug! A Herringbone-Chenille Tutorial for Ho, Ho, Ho, and On We Sew: July Linkup and Giveaway!

Welcome to my stop on the Ho, Ho, Ho, and On We Sew monthly blog hop!

Each month throughout the year, a tutorial is offered by that month's host of HHHowS, and a linkup party as well, where you are invited to share your own Christmas makes! There is a monthly prize drawing as well. That is what I like most about Fiona's linkup. No, not the drawing, lol, the inspiration and clever gift-making ideas we share!
http://sewsweetness.com/
Still, those monthly prizes are fun, and everyone who links up is eligible to win! This month, the drawing is for a pattern by Sew Sweetness (winners choice from Sew Sweetness Pattern Shop!). I hope you will plan to link up before the end of the month!

Today I am sharing my experience playing with chenille, by way of the following tutorial, Modern Trees Rug. I have only begun to play with these techniques and throughout the process new ideas continued to flow. Please use the tutorial to make Modern Trees, or as a spring-board to design your own "patchwork" rug!

Supplies needed for Modern Trees Chenille Rug:

• Spray-baste (I used Dritz)
• Walking Foot
• Temporary fabric Marker (I used red chalk pencil)
• Size 100 Machine Needles (I used several denim needles)
• Strong Thread (I used cotton-wrapped poly 40 from Signature. I used 4 bobbins with this project)
• Chenille Cutter (optional, but recommended)

Want to know what you are getting into?

Press and Cut Fabrics                       2hrs
Assemble Sandwich                           1hr
Quilting Channels, herringbone      7hrs

or, Quilting Bias Channels               3-4hrs?

Cut Channels                                     2hrs (movie time!)
Wash, Dry, Trim                                2hrs
Block & let dry                                  8hrs (overnight)
Trim & add Binding                          1-2hrs

Make a Sample!
This is the best way to select fabrics and plan your quilting! 
I zig-zagged the edges before washing this.
My sample is loaded with experimentation: Various batting's, channel widths, and fabrics. I compared two layers of muslin to three. I did not care for the effect of the stripe, nor the toile that I sneaked in. I preferred the fray of the Connecting Threads fabric vs. the Kona Solid. Inside the black square, I have one layer of Quilter's Dream Cotton on top of the denim, it is channel-cut under the muslin. That area is more narrow as well, about 1/4". Love the wavy-channeling!  
 
Modern Trees Rug, Fabric and Cutting Requirements:

Finished Size: 31.5" x 23.5"
Muslin, base of rug:           cut 1: 27" x 34"
Muslin, for chenille:           cut 2: 24" x 32"
Batting, Cotton:                  cut 2: 27" x 34" (I used Warm & Natural)
Denim, chenille base:         cut 1: 27" x 34" (this layer shows through chenille, and serves as the border)
Denim, raw-edge binding: cut 4 x 1.5" strips, longer than the sides by a couple inches
Quilt Cotton, navy trees:   cut 9: 6" x 7" tall, sub-cut trees as pictured


Draw a Layout Grid:
Using a chalk pencil, draw a grid for tree placement. I made light folds to mark the centers of the fabric, then measured and drew lines vertically, 3" on each side of center. Then two more lines on each side, 6" apart. Horizontally, measure 3.5" from center, then 7" from those lines. This will leave an inch or so around the perimeter and the grid does not need to be perfectly centered withing, as it will be trimmed.
Here we have an inaccurate grid that I am unable to remove from this post. hmph.





















Assemble the Sandwich!
1. Lightly spray one side of your base piece of muslin and adhere it to bottomside of batting layers. The needle mark indents indicate the right side of fabric.
2. Lightly spray underside of denim and adhere it to the top side of the batting layers. Press and smooth each side of this sandwich.
3. Lightly spray muslin chenille layer and adhere to denim. Repeat with the gridded muslin.
4. Lightly spray the backside of your tree pieces and adhere them using the grid for placement. I sprayed half my pieces at a time. (note: you will have three leftover trees)

At this point, I had still planned to add navy strips for a border. With that plan, the chenille would run edge-edge and would simplify the quilting a bit. Instead, I decided to lightly lift those edges,
 and trim the white border off altogether.
Mark your Quilting Guidelines
Use chalk to draw vertical lines down the center of each tree.
Draw your first row of quilting across the bottom, using 45˚ lines. (I ended up marking the bottom row of each tree..)
Stitch!
Stitch the first row along the drawn line, securing the beginning and ending of each row with plenty of backstitching.
Clip threads and stitch the second row 3/8" from the first. I have two pins only securing my sandwich and really tried to avoid manipulating it much until I could get things more stable.
I did not worry much about accuracy as far as distance apart, although 1/4" I found too narrow for this fabric combo. You may want a stiletto to keep your tree edges from catching, and to help catch treetops as well. The whole process is pretty forgiving though, so just keep stitching!
Two hours in, I only have 10 rows stitched. I have never been a fast quilter, but I did pick it up a bit at this point...
Just keep quilting...
Once the channels are complete, change to your thread of choice and quilt your border. I simply channeled all around, stitching the perimeter a few times.

Cut the Channels
I found the medium setting to work best with my handy-dandy channel cutter. If the size is not correct, you may end up with cuts that do not run down the center of the channel, as I found out when I made my sample.
When working with herringbone, cut as far as you can through each channel, working your way up the right-side column. Then, come in with scissors and trim into the corner so you will be able to insert your cutter to continue across the row.
Work your way across the quilt, column by column.

Ready to Wash
I ran mine through the wash inside an old pillowcase that I stitched closed (and a couple towels for balance). I was rather surprised at how little lint was created though, and I ended up removing it from the pillowcase part way through drying.

TA-DA!
Not done yet, but looking pretty! Trim to tidy threads and tree-tips. 
Let's take care of those wavy edges..

Blocking
Run it through the wash one more time, or saturate in the bathtub and spin-dry. 
Block/Pat it out flat to dry. 
Once dry, trim edges 1.5" from patchwork to prepare for binding.
Raw-Edge Binding
I chose this method to finish the edges with less bulk! Traditional, double-fold binding with quilter's cotton would work well too.

I came in with permanent black ink and dabbed the little white spots later.
I never call it a finish until I have cleaned Bernie! Still a champ after 25yrs!
Cozy on the feet!

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial, perhaps you are inspired to try your hand with chenille!

Please share your holiday makes by linking up! Anything you have finished this month that is intended for Christmas qualifies, whether for gift-giving or for decoration!



And for more Christmas gift-giving ideas, visit:

Confessions Of A Fabric Addict

Thank you to all the fabulous sponsors of Ho, Ho, Ho, and on we Sew!

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/nicoledebruin
  
http://www.needcraft.co.uk/
http://www.elephantinmyhandbag.com/http://www.tikkilondon.com/http://www.japancrafts.co.uk/http://www.rylandpeters.com/
 
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/summersville
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/AngieAttwoodTextiles

http://simplysolids.co.uk/
http://sewsweetness.com/

 
http://www.tina-francis-tapestry.co.uk/

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