Gruber's Quilt Shop

Pie in the Sky

2012-02-13T11:39:00.001-06:00

Pie in the Sky is a 66” x 86” quilt. The above picture doesn’t show the whole quilt—not enough space on my design wall—the entire width is shown, but not the bottom. The colors are much prettier than show in this picture, very rich looking.

The block is a Churn Dash with a star in the center, and finishes at 8”. The sashing and borders are 2” finished squares.

There are 48 fat quarters used, with leftovers enough for other small projects, look for a pillow case in the days to come.

The stars points are made from 1.5” squares. You will need to draw a diagonal line on 384 squares. That gets old very quickly. BUT—there is an alternative—Clearly Perfect Angles. You can see it here. It’s a template that clings to your sewing table. All you need to do is line up your fabric and sew—no lines to mark—way easier, and faster, that drawing 384 lines.

The pattern for Pie in the Sky is in Kim Diehl’s book “Simple Graces”, by That Patchwork Place.

Stop in soon for a kit to make this beautiful quilt.

Farmhouse Quilts

2012-02-04T10:00:00.001-06:00

These two small quilts are designed by Glenda Sha for Liberty Homestead.

The first is X’s and O’s and is 29”x29”.

There are three navy prints and one cream print. The background in the navy blocks is the same for the entire block, but the Flying Geese are of each of the three prints, as they are in the cream blocks also.

The mini quilt is made from the leftovers from X’s and O’s. It’s 9”x12”. The flower stem and leaves are fused and then stitched with a machine buttonhole stitch.

There was enough leftovers to use for the backing on each, although for the X’s and O’s, it was pieced of both cream and navy.

If these look a little strange—especially the mini—it’s because there are yo-yos to be added. The flower needs one large surrounded by seven smaller ones to form the blossom. The center of each block on X’s and O’s needs the same number of yo-yos.

Stop in soon!

Cinnamon and Nutmeg, Star Stepping, and Sent with Love

2012-01-11T14:07:00.001-06:00

Not the greatest picture in the world—my design wall isn’t big enough—Cinnamon and Nutmeg is about 90”x102”. Solid centers alternate with pieced centers. The pieced centers are three strips sewed together then cut into diamond shapes. The small diamonds are the cornerstones, and the sashing is light tan. The pattern is by Tara Lynn Darr for Sew Unique Creations. It originally appeared in the February 2009 issue of American Patchwork and Quilting Magazine.

Star Stepping is designed by Vicky Iannucci for Olde Green Cupboard Designs, and is 72”x72” (fits a little better on my design wall). I like the illusion of circles, achieved by background strips sewed to the star blocks. The stars and square-in-a-squares are made from 16 fat quarters, with one fabric for the background.

Next up is a very cute little wallhanging for Valentine’s Day.

This is Sent with Love by Patch Abilities, Inc. It’s about 12”x14”. The envelope and hearts are fusible applique. The only quilting is the details on the envelope and around the hearts. You could use some stippling in the background or border if you like. I didn’t notice until I saw the picture that the background shows through the large heart, it might be a good idea to use a double layer to make it less transparent, depending on the fabric you use.

The buttons add a little glitz, you can use as many as you want, and put them where you want. Scatter them around and see what looks good to you. This you can easily do in an afternoon.

Stop in soon and pick up a kit or two to work on.

Farm Fun

2011-12-15T06:10:00.001-06:00

Farm Fun baby quilt is 44” x 31”. The animals, the stars, and the foot prints are fusible applique. Most of it is stitched with a machine buttonhole stitch, some of the small pieces are with a straight stitch, the toes on the top and bottom border are stitched down with a free motion straight stitch. The supply list specifies black DMC or pearl cotton for stitching around the appliques, but I used matching or coordinating thread. Instead of a running stitch for the mouths I used a narrow zigzag stitch, and stitched over it twice to build up the thread. I see now that the poor cow’s mouth doesn’t show up much. (Why is it that you can see more on a tiny picture than looking at the item itself?) The blocks are free motion quilted around the animals and stars with just a meander. Around the paw prints are large and small circles. The binding is a bias cut stripe.

The pattern is by Disa Designs, their website is under construction so I can’t send you there to check out their other designs. You’ll have to stop at the store to see what else they have.

In these colors, it would be a great quilt for a Christmas baby, it looks Christmas-y, but not so much that you wouldn’t want to use it all year long.

Stop in soon to pick up a kit, and see what else is new.

Olde Time Pinwheels

2011-12-10T06:08:00.001-06:00

This cute little quilt is designed by Annemarie S. Younk for Quilts Remembered. It’s 18” x 23”. You could use it as a wallhanging, a tabletopper, or even as a doll quilt.

With this fabric, it looks like Valentines Day. If you used reds and greens, it would look Christmasy. Changing the fabrics can change the whole look of it to whatever season you’d like. You could also do scrappy.

The quilting on this is stitch-in-the-ditch along the sashings and borders, then free motion in the blocks.

Whichever way you’d like it, stop in soon get your kit or pattern.

I Met a Moose at Bear Lake

2011-12-07T12:33:00.001-06:00

This 62” x 80” quilt is made from flannel—what a soft and cuddly quilt! I love working with flannel.

The pattern is designed by Jackie Robinson of Jackie’s Animas Quilts. (By the way, there is a fabshophop going on.) There are more wildlife themed patterns also.

This is a fairly easy pattern to work with, but it is time consuming. If you want to give it as a gift for Christmas, now is the time to start.

The moose and the bear are applique, fused then topstitched with a buttonhole stitch. The trees are pieced with a square or rectangle on the corners of a rectangle, similar to Flying Geese.

I like the off-center design, something a little different.

I put all the blocks up on my design wall, mainly checking that the dominant red and gold squares were all in line. You also need to make sure that the other colors are are in the right position also—the red and gold can be correct, but the blocks can be flipped putting the blues and greens our of place.

Stop in soon to pick up a kit, and get started on this fun project.

Folded Christmas Star

2011-11-28T09:08:00.001-06:00

Folded Christmas Star is another pattern from DJ Richards Designs, the same as the Folded Tablerunner here. This one went faster than the first, probably due to having done it before, and it’s smaller. It measures 13'” in diameter. You can do it in Christmas colors, this one in the white and blue looks like a snowflake.

It’s a fun technique to use. You do have to pay attention to what you’re doing, it’s easy to get off track, but it’s all worth it when you’re done!

Stop in soon and check out the kits and patterns available.

Winter Stars

2011-11-22T07:13:00.001-06:00

Suzanne’s Art House brings us this pattern. This variation is 32.5” x 25”, just a tad smaller than specified on the pattern. There are three variations included in the pattern:

This is something you could use all winter long, it doesn’t scream “Christmas”.

Happy Thanksgiving to all the US readers!

Quilt Squares #4

2011-11-22T07:09:00.001-06:00

This is Trip Around the World, from the Quilt Squares #4 pattern from From my heart to you hands, designed by Lori Smith.

It’s 12” square. There are six different patterns included. These little quilts can be displayed as is, or put into a frame. You could also use it as a topper on a small table.

This one is made is made from the leftovers from the My Log Cabin quilt from last week. It goes together quite quickly, you can easily finish it in a day or less. You could also make it more scrappy, just keep each round a matching color instead of all the same fabric. You could make several, or all, of the patterns to coordinate with each other. Lots of possibilities!

Stop in soon.

Folded Table Runner

2011-11-18T08:39:00.001-06:00

This tablerunner pattern is by DJ Richards Design, the same company as the Florabundance tabletopper shown here.

This is made with strips of fabric cut into small rectangles. I found the instructions very confusing, until I actually started following them. Then it became a piece of cake.

After the first round I skipped the pressing except for the first .5” fold to the wrong side. The batiks behaved, so I didn’t find it necessary to do all the pressing—I’m just lazy. (I did press the center fold on the rectangles that go on the corners.) To position the rectangles without having that center crease, I just eyeballed it, it just fit along three of the previous round of FTs.

Instead of pressing after sewing down the center of the FT, I just folded the end in: tucked it under the previous one: stitched it down: folded the other end in, and stitched across:

As I said, I’m lazy, that was too much getting up and down to go to the iron. If it wasn’t batik, I may have had to do the ironing.

I used a Chacoliner filled with Miracle Chalk to mark the lines for each round. I knew I’d never be able to keep the ruler straight as I positioned the FTs. After each round I ironed off the markings for that round and made marks for the next round.

It was a piece of cake until I came to the corners on Rounds 5, 6, and 7. My FTs weren’t covering the previous rounds. I called the number on the website and talked to the most helpful lady (Joanna? I didn’t ask her name!). Everything looked okay at this point: So I kept marking that way. WRONG!! This is what I was coming up with: I kept thinking that somehow it would get covered up. Finally I knew that wouldn’t happen, so that’s when I called. And in talking to that nice lady, I realized that I should have been measuring the distance along the line I was sewing onto.

This shows the correct marking: What a difference when doing it correctly!

This isn’t a project you can do in an afternoon, but then again, you don’t need to do any quilting. When you’re done sewing, all that’s left is the binding. (And don’t forget the backing before doing the binding—don’t ask.)

Even though I had some problems with this pattern—operator error—, I really enjoyed working on this. I love batiks, and this was fun. I know I’ll be using this technique again. As I was working on it, I was thinking of ways to use the technique.

So stop in soon and get your kit, and have some fun. These fabrics make it a very pretty fall decoration.

My Log Cabin…

2011-11-15T06:14:00.001-06:00

…is a pattern by Joanna Figueroa of Fig Tree & Co. It’s 71” square.

This is the Barn Raising layout. Two other layouts are shown in the pattern, but there are many different ways to lay out Log Cabin blocks.

Instead of cutting two 1.5” strips from each eighth yard, I cut the strip to 25”,

then cut the 1.5” wide strips.

I cut the 9.5”, 8.5 and 6.5” segments from one strip, and the remainder from the other strip. That way your leftovers will be more usable for another project (stay tuned for an idea in a future post).

I didn’t separate the pieces into pairs as instructed in the Introduction to the Piecing Instructions either. I stacked all the pieces as cut, each size in its own stack, side by side.

I also didn’t cut the background as instructed. Rather than cutting the 1.5” strips and opening them up to cut one piece of each size, I left the strips folded as cut from the yardage. Two strips will give you two pieces of each size. From one strip I cut the 8.5”, 7.5” and 4.5”. Since the strip is double, you will have two of each. Cut the remainder of the sizes from another strip, and you will have two of each again.

First you will sew the two background logs onto the center square. I chain pieced when sewing on the logs. I was careful to keep the blocks in order as I pressed after sewing on piece [a], so that the blocks would be in the correct order to sew on the matching piece [b]. I did mix them up after sewing on the next two background logs, so that the sequence of colored fabrics would vary from block to block.

When you get to the sashing, you will also have to cut two 1.5” squares of the light caramel sashing. These pieces are needed between two [x] strips—in the sashing row between the second and third row of blocks, and between the fourth and fifth row of blocks.

The Log Cabin blocks is a classic, but it makes up into such a stunning quilt.The blocks in this one are arranged in no particular order, but you could arrange then in a more ordered fashion to balance out the colors. The choice is up to you. Just have fun with it!

A Simple Fall Runner

2011-11-15T05:35:00.001-06:00

This pattern is by Bloomin’ Minds. It’s about 8 1/2” x 40”. It’s a very quick pattern to do, you can easily do it in an afternoon.

A rectangle is on each end, with a large leaf over it. The leaf is fused, then stitched down with a buttonhole stitch. The veins are simply a straight stitch done in free motion. You can free free motion quilt the background or a grid would look good too.

There are two other designs included in the pattern.

If you’re looking for a quick project to use yet this fall, this is one that fits the bill—stop in soon!

Florabundance

2011-11-07T12:30:00.001-06:00

34” is the diameter of this tabletopper by DJ Richards Design.

It’s a very simple design with four squares, sashing and inner border. There is a pattern piece for the curved outer border pieces. The appliques are fused, raw edges stitched down with a buttonhole stitch.

The quilting is all free motion, except for outlining the blocks and border. There is a straight stitch around all the applique outer edges, and the center circle of the flowers in the blocks. The background is meandering. The sashing is one of Leah Day’s designs, which doesn’t show up on the picture (thank goodness!), with a meander in the inner border which is larger than in the background.

With a curved outer edge, the binding is bias.

It’s made with a charm pack, but could be made almost entirely of scraps. You could make it more planned and symmetrical if you like, or use fabrics to match a holiday. There are many ways you can take this pattern!

Stop in soon!

Frosty Apple Cheeks

2011-10-28T17:37:00.001-05:00

These guys need eyes yet, but aren’t they cute already!? This one is about 43” x 22”. You could squish them together to make it shorter, or stretch them out to make it longer, or anything in between.

The pattern is in the book “My Runners” by Disa Designs. Disa is from Iceland, but the patterns and books are produced and shipped right here in Minnesota, Chanhassen in fact.

The pieces are fused on and then stitched around using a buttonhole stitch. For the smile I used a stitch on my machine that looks like lightening, and stitched it twice. Black buttons for eyes will finish it off.

Won’t they look cute on your table this holiday season? Stop in soon to pick up a kit. Maybe another project or two will catch your eye, also.

Helter Skelter

2011-10-27T07:10:00.001-05:00

What a fun quilt to make!

The pattern is by Abby Lane. The quilt is 56” x 66”. The fabrics are batiks, and just gorgeous!

Rather than cut through the block pattern template (didn’t want to cut through paper with my good blade), which I had traced onto freezer paper, I folded the template on the cutting line and cut next to the fold.

I only made two templates—ironed them onto one stack of fabrics, did the folding and cutting, then ironed onto the next stack.

This is the cuts completed:

And here they are mixed up:

Even the wastebasket looked pretty:

Another thing I did that wasn’t in the instructions was to mix up the pieces differently on each set cut from the same stack of fabrics. That way there are no two blocks exactly alike.

I did find that there IS a wrong way to cut the border pieces—if you have the cuts too much at an angle, you won’t get a straight border. I had to recut some of the pieces to get the ‘turn’ out of them. Rather than mixing up the pieces, I just randomly picked them up to sew together.

This was such a fun quilt to work with—the batiks and the colors. I did use Mary Ellen’s Best Press on each fabric before cutting, since you will be working with bias edges.

Stop in soon to give this pattern a try.

Tech Pocket and Portfolio

2011-10-19T15:10:00.001-05:00

This pattern is from Indygo Junction. The pattern includes a Tablet Sleeve, a Tablet Portfolio, and an E-Reader Portfolio. This is the Tablet Portfolio:

closed…

open…

open and filled…

…not exactly what it’s made for, but this shows the pockets.

VIEW SLIDE SHOW

DOWNLOAD ALL

I also did the tall/small pocket piece differently to eliminate bulk at the right edge. This shows a piece of paper in the pocket after sewing on the second tall pocket:

and here it is with the second tall pocket folded to the back:

If you’d like to jazz it up a bit, you could purchase three 1/3 yard cuts or 2 half yard cuts.

Pick up the pattern soon to make your own Tablet Portfolio.

Scarlett Queen

2011-10-19T07:33:00.001-05:00

Scarlett Queen is one of the newest patterns from Miss Rosie’s Quilt Co.

It is 72”x 72”.The large block centers leave room for quilting designs. The ‘cornerstones’ are made from connector squares and half-square triangles. The inner and outer border are pieced to be scrappy. If you want to make 4-patches for the cornerstones in the outer 4” border, you should cut one 2 1/4” square from 16 of the medium and dark fat quarters. You’ll still have plenty of fabric for the other sizes needed to cut.

Stop in soon for your kit!

Advent Calendars

2011-10-07T13:36:00.001-05:00

It’s getting to be that time, isn’t it? Hard to believe with the warm wind coming in the window, and the leaves rustling outside, but it’s coming.

These are 2/3 yard panels from Makower.

This one has the pockets arranged in numerical order (except for 21 and 22, they’re rebels). Here you can see 18, 19, and 20. The quilting is done with monofilament thread, tracing lines on the print.

In this one, the numbers are all jumbled up, so a hunt is required to find the appropriate pocket.

I think that’s more fun…

This was also quilted with monofilament thread tracing the lines of the print, but also some extra stitching on some of the larger areas, such as Santa’s beard, hat, cuffs, and stippling in the background. This was done in matching thread.

Both were stitched along the border lines with a walking foot.

After sewing all the pockets onto both calendars, it occurred to me that I should have quilted it first. But in the end it seemed to turn out alright this way. I’ll have to remember that for next time (wonder what the odds are on that???)

The instructions tell you to topstitch the sides and bottom edges of the pockets, then stitch in between each pocket using the dotted line as a guide. I did it all in one step. I started at the top edge, sewed to the bottom, sewed along the bottom until I came to the pleat. I then sewed up to the top of the pocket on the dotted line, turned and sewed back down to the bottom. Once again, sewed along the bottom until reaching the next pleat, and repeated. This way you can do it all in one continuous line of stitching.

Be sure to stop in soon and see what other goodies are waiting for you.

Enjoy this beautiful fall weather while it’s still here!

Crop Circles

2011-10-04T06:27:00.001-05:00

This 45” x 60” quilt is by Chris Hoover of Whirligig Designs. The fabrics are from Northcott.

The sashed blocks are set on-point, with appliqued circles on top. The appliques are two-pieced—the circle, and the narrow ring outlining it. The rings are fused down over the edges of the circles and then topstitched with a buttonhole stitch.

There are instructions included for making the quilt in a larger size, 60” x 75”.

Stop in soon to pick up a kit, and see what else is new.

Welcome to the new followers!

Another Holiday Flourish leftover

2011-09-14T14:33:00.001-05:00

Here is another tabletopper made with the leftovers from the Holiday Flourish tree skirt (see this post and this one).

All that’s left now is some of the green background pieces, and tiny scraps of the flower sections. I could have used that for the backing and/or binding, but I used a different Christmas print for that.

Let’s Twist… Again

2011-08-30T10:26:00.001-05:00

No, not dancing, but sewing. Let’s Twist… Again is the name of a new pattern book by Marsha Bergren for CS Designs Inc. There are 12 patterns in the book. This tablerunner is Twisted Leftovers.

It’s made from a Moda charm pack, Northern Cardinal by Holly Taylor.

Lil’ Twister is a tool for ‘making pinwheels easy!’ It’s also a product of CS Designs. The tool comes in two sizes, this runner is made with the tool for 5” squares. Using it is as easy as simply sewing squares together, adding a border, then cutting around the tool. Those squares are then sewed together to form the pinwheels.

You can see more examples here for what it looks like when you have more rows sewed together.

You’ll end up with something that looks much more complicated than it is—aren’t those fun to do?!

This one has uses only nine charm squares, leaving you plenty for piecing together for the backing.

Stop in soon to pick up a kit, the book, and/or more fabric.

Simple Winter Runners

2011-08-30T09:14:00.001-05:00

Here are two of the three winter themed runners in pattern #194 from Bloomin’ Minds. They are 8 1/2” x 42”. Both width and length can be adjusted to fit your space, simply choose your fabric accordingly.

The background is all one piece of fabric. There is a rectangle of fabric behind the appliques. All appliques are fused and then stitched down, most with a buttonhole stitch, some of the smaller ones are just straight stitched.

The background was quilted before fusing on the applique pieces. The applique pieces were stitched, then the top/batting was layered with the backing. This keeps all the applique stitches hidden inside.

It’s not too soon to start making your holiday items, so stop in soon to pick up a kit or two.

Holiday Flourish leftovers

2011-08-17T07:34:00.001-05:00

If you made the Holiday Flourish tree skirt or tablecloth –July 16 post – here is something you can do with the leftover wedges.

This is 26”, but you could make it bigger or smaller depending on how you cut the leftover wedges. By using the whole leftover wedge, it could be the size of the original.

You would follow the same procedure that you did when making the tree skirt/tablecloth.

This is such gorgeous fabric—can’t let those leftovers just lay there doing nothing!

If you haven’t already, stop in soon for this kit.

Holly & Berries Table Runner

2011-08-12T14:12:00.001-05:00

Jennifer Bosworth designed Holly & Berries for Shabby Fabrics.

It’s a 23” x 50” tablerunner.

The center was quilted through all three layers,

but the ends with the appliqued pieces was quilted without the backing. This way,

the appliqued pieces have the batting behind them, rather than just appliqued onto the fabric. You could just applique through all three layers, but the back is a little neater without the applique stitches showing.

I stitched down the leaves and bow before adding the stem.

This pattern makes a very nice addition to your holiday decorating. Stop in soon!

Wilderness Park leftovers—some of them…

2011-07-27T20:28:00.001-05:00

This is what can be made with the fabric left from the Wilderness Park quilt:

There will be three ‘pictures’ left from making the quilt. This is something you can do with them. This is 23” x 47” and makes use of the fabric that’s left over. You’ll have parts of some strips left, and uncut fabric. The border on this is between the pieces cut for the border on the quilt.

You’ll need fabric for the backing, which can also be used for the binding, or you can use another fabric for the binding.

There will be more fabric left—pillows, maybe??

The pattern is available at the store.

Centerfold

2011-07-26T06:41:00.001-05:00

No, this won’t be an x-rated post—that’s just the name of this Pieced Tree Pattern. It’s Tiny 47, Centerfold.

The fabric is a wildlife print from Robert Kaufman. The Pine Ridge fabric is designed by Elizabeth Brownd.

Centerfold is a very easy and quick pattern to sew up, you can finish it in a few hours.

Stop in soon to pick up a kit.

Wilderness Park

2011-07-26T05:52:00.001-05:00

Jane Maday is the designer of this new fabric from Wilmington Prints. The blocks are part of a panel. The top and bottom border are from a border print, just smaller versions of the center blocks. The free pattern complements this fabric collection, featuring seven different wild animals.

The cornerstones in the quilt center are an easy-to-do technique that add a different look to the sashing.

The quilt finishes at 49” x 63” –a throw, a wallhanging, or a bed topper, a nice addition for fall.

Holiday Flourish

2011-07-16T11:25:00.001-05:00

This pattern makes a tree skirt or a tablecloth. The pattern is designed by Heidi Pridemore. The instructions are for two sizes, either 59” or 80”. This one is 59”:

The fabric used is a border print, the poinsettia and stripes are the edges of the fabric. About half the fabric is leftover, you could make another, with the flowers in the center. That wouldn’t work as a tree skirt, but it would for a tablecloth.

The instructions don’t say anything about cutting all the wedges the same, but I think there would be enough fabric to do so. Of course, I didn’t think of that until laying it out to sew together. It would have looked nice to have the same design at each seam, although, the flowers seem to blend together without fussy cutting.

To make the tablecloth, all that’s needed is to trim off the selvedges and sew a hem.

A tree skirt is quilted and bound. The opening for this is in the middle of a section rather than at a seam. Having the seam allowance in there would add bulk to the bound edges. The circle in the center is also smaller than indicated on the pattern. It doesn’t take a very large circle to accommodate a tree trunk. You could also leave the ends of the circle binding long enough to tie, but it’s not really necessary.

Either way, it won’t take long to finish!

Tiny Christmas tablerunners

2011-07-16T05:58:00.001-05:00

The weather may not feel like it, but Christmas will be here before we know it…

These are both Pieced Tree patterns. The first is Tiny 36 Game Board.

This is very simply made with strips, triangles in the corners, surrounding a larger strip for the center.

Tiny 55 Twister is this one:

This is also easy to make. A plain strip in the middle with a ‘ribbon’ on both sides, with a plain border on the long sides.

Both of these can be made up in a matter of hours. They would make lovely gifts, or for yourself.

Haunted Hallow II

2011-06-27T15:27:00.001-05:00

This is another quilt using Haunted Hollow II, Bats, Hat, and Alley Cats by Jacqueline Paton for Red Rooster Fabrics. You can read about the first one here.

This one is simply the vertical panel print with borders. In no time at all you can have this pieced, quilted and bound, ready to hang for the fall season. You can use it as a wallhanging, or even a tabletopper if you’d like.

Stop in and see for yourself the beautiful colors in this fabric.

Halloween Night

2011-06-27T15:16:00.001-05:00

Riley Blake Designs gives us this cute Halloween quilt. The designer is Jina Barney. It’s 53” square.

The pictures and frames in the center are a panel print. The pattern that was given by the manufacturer has the wrong quilt picture. It shows more 4-patches in the borders. The instructions are written correctly, just the photo is wrong. The instructions are for the nine 4-patches per border.

There is a pattern update on the website, but it doesn’t say what is updated, just a picture, it looked the same. When I ran out of 4-patches (I just counted the ones on the pattern sheet), I checked the website again and counted the 4-patches—then I ripped.

Other than that, it went together very easily. It would be a nice, bright addition to your home for Halloween.

Apex

2011-06-27T14:53:00.001-05:00

Apex is a easy quilt with a Log Cabin-like setting.

Two borders surround a large scale fall print. Borders, or Accent Frames as they are called in this pattern, go only on the right side and bottom. It is then finished off with another border on all four sides.

The quilt pictured is throw size, 52”x67”. There are options to make it as a baby quilt or wallhanging up to a king size, and five sizes in between.

The pattern is from creative sewlutions. In checking out the website, they have quite a few unique designs.

You have the option to miter the borders or frames, but this one was made without the mitered borders.

If you’re looking for a quick and easy project, this might just be what you need.

Stop in soon!

Sneak Peak–Quilt Minnesota 2011

2011-06-24T13:18:00.001-05:00

This is the block for this years Quilt Minnesota Shop Hop. You can read more about it here. Click on the Fabric tab to see all the fabrics in the line. Aren’t they gorgeous!

Summer Lily top completed

2011-06-22T15:44:00.001-05:00

Same quilt, just two different camera settings. I have the quilt pinned to a curtain—the only place I could find big enough for it—so the light is shining through the top half. (It’s another rainy day, so I couldn’t even attempt to do it outside. Maybe I should start building an ark???) I like the dark one—it looks like stained glass.

It’s been a hectic couple of weeks, and although I did a lot of sewing, and took pictures, I didn’t have a chance to document it all here.

Once I got all the strips sewed together and the blocks cut using the templates, I started having trouble.

Here all the pieces are pinned to my design wall, everything is two layers except for the two diamonds extending below the center.

My seams allowances are usually not the correct 1/4”, and although I thought I made adjustments for that, evidently I didn’t do enough adjusting. When it came to sewing the blocks together, the seam lines have to match up, and that’s where I ran into problems. (Whoever quilts it may have a few choice words for me.)

So, along the lines of “Do as I say, not as I do”, be sure to check your seam allowances, and be sure to place the templates accurately.

This is the center of the top and bottom of the quilt, the corner of the borders and the center of the border.

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All of these pieces require fussy cutting, but when you take the time to cut accurately, the result is stunning.

Have you started your quilt yet??

Animal Junction

2011-06-13T17:06:00.001-05:00

Amy Schimler’s Animal Party Too! fabric is featured in this Robert Kaufman pattern.

The twelve large blocks are four per width of fabric. The little green squares are fused then appliqued onto the red squares. The red-green blocks are sewed together alternately with yellow squares. Sashing is sewed between the large blocks, and separating them from the red-green-yellow strips. Sashing also goes on each side of the top and bottom border.

It finishes at 43” x 52”, so it’s a good size for a baby or toddler quilt. And they’ll love the cute party animals!

Stop in soon and check it out!

Ten Minute Table Runner

2011-06-06T16:37:00.001-05:00

I don’t know about that. Maybe if you have your machine threaded with the proper thread, and the fabric pressed, and maybe even the edges trimmed, from there on it might be close to 10 minutes.

It took me about a half hour. I’m fussy about getting things perfectly even, and I like to press well, I think that helps to get a quality item.

Nevertheless, this is a VERY quick and easy pattern to make. This is made from two batiks. Just think how many different ones you could get done for each holiday and special occasion. You can flip this over and have it a solid look.

If you need a quick gift, or something for your own home, this is one to consider!

Girl’s Best Friends

2011-06-06T16:16:00.001-05:00

This quilt finishes at 55 1/2” square, The pattern is from Mary’s Cottage Quilts. You could use it as a throw, a tabletopper, or a wallhanging.

The outer border fabric is a large floral directional fabric. If you’d like to have the flowers all the same direction—for example, all standing up—cut two border strips from the width of the 1 yard piece. These two are the ones you will sew on first. Cut two borders strips from the length of the other piece. These two are the one you will sew on last. You will still have enough of the 1 yard piece to cut the 10” blocks. The center block can be cut from the fabric left from cutting the two border length of fabric strips. You can then arrange the 10” and center block to have the flowers standing up also.

I’m not sure how the five strips for the 4-patches are figured. I needed 5 of light strips (or in this case, the brown), and 3 of each of the dark (in this case, the light)

When you cut the A squares, you need to get 8 off of each width of fabric. You will not have any extra of this fabric.

After that, it’s a simply 4-patches, with alternate squares, sewed together to form a larger 4-patch. Then those blocks are sewed with larger alternate blocks. These blocks are then set around a large center square.

This is a very quick quilt to put together. Stop in soon and check it out.

Haunted Hallow II

2011-06-01T06:23:00.001-05:00

Haunted Hallow II, Bats, Hats, & Alley Cats by Jacqueline Paton for Red Rooster Fabrics is a 40” square quilt.

You could use it for a wallhanging or tabletopper. Add a few borders and it would be large enough for a lap quilt. The fabrics are from the new Haunted Hallow II collection. There is a large border print. This was fussy cut for the large corner blocks

and the Flying Geese blocks.

The pumpkin face, stem and crow are appliquéd.

The cornerstones are also fussy cut.And the center of these blocks.

It’s never too soon to get started on your fall projects, stop in soon!

April Flowers

2011-05-26T11:18:00.001-05:00

April Flowers is a cute little kit from Hummingbird Highway (isn’t that just the coolest name?!) The kit is one of the Snap Sack collection. It comes in a paper bag, just like a lunch. Most of the quilts are smaller than 20” x 20”, so they don’t take long to make up. Everything you need is included in the kit-backing and binding too. If you’re looking for something quick and easy, or for a gift, or even for a gift for a quilting friend, a Snap Sack kit would fit the bill.

You could use this for a placemat, tabletopper, wallhanging, or a doll quilt, or??

You can read about another one here.

Stop in and pick one up.

Cute as a Bug

2011-05-26T10:57:00.001-05:00

If you’re looking for a quick and easy baby quilt, this is one you could do in a day. It finishes at 36” x 42”. The large center block gives you a head start, and it’s bordered with wide strips.

The blocks in the border are simply a square with sashing sewn on all four sides. There are two sashing fabrics, and they alternate in the borders.

The pattern is from the Artichoke Collection.

You could also use charm squares for the border blocks, or fussy cut squares, or even make it scrappy.

Be sure to stop in soon for this, or any other, kit.

Enjoy the spring weather!

Summer Lily – 3

2011-05-23T17:26:00.002-05:00

Working with only one strip set at a time, sew the strips together. Lay out the strips according to the diagrams on page 4.
To keep your strip sets flat and straight, always sew with the same strip on top. Maybe a better way to say it is to place the strip on the right RST onto the strip on the left, etc., etc., etc. For example, sew with #2 on top of #1, #4 on top of #3, #6 on #5, #8 on #7.
Press to the even numbered -- or odd, doesn’t matter, just do all the same. The shapes cut will have bias edges, so consider using a fabric starch. Mary Ellen’s Best Press is a good choice. Spray each pair as you press them (and each pair of pairs, and when you sew all eight strips together). After you press the pairs, lay them out in the correct order again. If you’ve pressed to the wrong one, you can still flip it around before sewing to the next pair.
Then sew 1/2 to 3/4 and 5/6 to 7/8, with 1/2 on top of 3/4 and sewing 2 to 3.

Next sew 1/2/3/4 to 5/6/7/8.

In the these photos, one seam is sewed from end with the masking tape, the next seam starts at the unmarked end. You are sewing so that one seam goes from top to bottom, the next bottom to top, etc. One edge will be even, and the other end will be uneven due to different widths of the fabric. Follow the same sequence, even on those sets that are not numbered in order.
Now you can start to cut. Using the appropriate template, cut according to the instructions. Check the diagrams on page 4 for the correct placement of the template on the strip set.

Cut two and two reversed.

You can use your ruler lined up with the edge of the template. It’s a little easier to cut against the edge of the ruler, it’s thicker than the template.

You will have this left over.

The first two--H and H reversed!

With I and I reversed:

E and E reversed added:

And with F and F reversed:

And that’s it for today. I’m not sure which side of template B goes along the edge of the strip. So it’s a good time to stop.

Summer Lily, episode 2

2011-05-20T15:54:00.002-05:00

This will be very short—things haven’t been going the way I had hoped, and all I’ve accomplished since I cut the strips, is to make the templates.
Several of the templates are included at full size, the rest need to be enlarged 200%. Most of them are in two pieces. Most of them are also large enough that they don’t fit on a large sheet of template plastic. All you need to do is butt the pieces up to each other and tape them. I should have taken some pictures of the process, but I forgot. I couldn’t figure out to make copies at 200%, so I just did it all by hand. I copied a line, then moved the end of the line to the opposite end, and marked again—one end of the line is A, the other end is B. B would go down to A, and draw again up to B. The left edge of the top template would be A, the mark in the center is where the end of that line is on the pattern piece. That’s the mark you move over to A on the pattern piece, and draw again to the end of the line on pattern piece. It’s a tedious job, and you have to do lots of checking. But then you’re all set to start sewing!!

Summer Lily

2011-05-16T16:02:00.002-05:00

Summer Lily is a drop-dead-gorgeous quilt from Jinny Beyer (does Jinny do anything NOT gorgeous???).

The quilt will finish at 80” x 95”.
Kits are available. Here are a few pictures of the start of this quilt.
Be sure to take the time to label all your fabrics. Just a number on a piece of masking tape on the corner on the selvedge is how these are marked.
Be sure to label all the strips cut.
Another tip is to go through and color code all the pieces to be cut. This was decided after cutting more of some fabric than was needed. Some of the cutting is “x-number of strips x the WOF”, but some are “x-number of pieces x a certain length”. Luckily, it only took one strip cut on two fabrics to realize that (I had them stacked), and even more luckily, there was enough fabric to allow for a mistake in cutting.
There are unusual measurements also, sixteenths of an inch. 1/4 = 2/8 = 4/16, so—3/16 is halfway between 1/8 and 1/4. Definitely, measure, check and check again, then cut.
Most of the fabrics do allow for some miscuts, but #6 and #7 have no room for error. #’s 8, 9 and 20 have a little extra, but not much Not sure why the company figured the fabric requirements the way they did…
This is all of the strips, ready and waiting to be sewed together. But that’s for tomorrow—the outdoors is calling!
Take your time, measure and cut carefully. As it says on page 1 “This quilt cannot be made quickly, but few masterpieces can!”

Deer Friends

2011-05-11T07:13:00.001-05:00

The Deer Friends Quilt is another beautiful creation from Nancy Halverson of Art to Heart. Deer Friends is from the book Jingle All the Way, #544B.

The center is from a panel, as are the small pictures in the border. The center is surrounded by two narrow borders, then the pieced border. In addition to the small pictures, the border has pinwheel blocks (just four HSTs in each) and squares. The arrangement of the blocks is up to you. It’s finished off with a wider border. This one hasn’t been quilted yet, but will have a binding of the same fabric as the first, red border.

With the cooler weather we’ve had this spring, it doesn’t seem like we should be thinking of Christmas already, but it’s never too soon to get started. Won’t it be nice not to have to rush when the time comes to put up Christmas things?

Stop in soon to pick up a kit.

Raindrops

2011-05-09T15:37:00.001-05:00

Fig Tree Threads brings us the pattern for a rain cape or quilted poncho. This rain cape can be made from laminated fabric or oilcloth. This one has a flannel lining.

A tip for marking the shoulder seams—I think it would be easier to do the marking after cutting the neck opening, but before cutting down the center front. You only cut through one thickness of fabric – just the front, not the back. If you cut the front, then you have to line it all up again to mark the shoulder seams.

The instructions aren’t too clear with the binding. Fold the binding wrong sides together and press. Sew to the outer side of the hood with raw edges even. You can use about a half inch seam allowance. Start stitching with a smaller seam allowance. Stitch a few inches and check to see if there is enough to fold around to the lining side and to cover the stitching. If you have more than necessary to cover, you can increase the seam allowance if you like. Just don’t start too wide, have to rip out and have holes from the stitches showing on the laminated fabric.

When sewing on the hood, if you are going to snip into the hood to ease it in to the neckline, you should sew around the neck edge of the hood with a slightly narrower seam allowance than you’ll be using to sew on the hood. This will help to keep you from making your clips too long and going into the hood, the clips have to be only in the seam allowance. I actually sewed the hood on first, then did the clipping. BUT I clipped in the seam allowance of the outer and the lining, not in the hood.

I don’t like leaving an opening to turn a quilt on an outside edge. No matter how hard I try and how careful I am, the place I left open and then had to close up after turning right side out ALWAYS shows. So what I do is to have the opening for turning somewhere in the body of the quilt, even if I have to piece the backing to have a seam to open.

In this case, the opening is to be left out at the bottom which is a curve—even harder to conceal! What I did was to sew all around the edges as instructed. This leaves no way to get in to turn right side out. Then I pressed the seam allowance onto the outer fabric—this is the wrong side of the outer fabric. This shows the seam as sewn: This blurry picture shows the seam allowance pressed up onto the wrong side of the outer fabric.The seams allowance is at the edge. This puts a good crease at the seam line, and when turned right side out, it’s much easier to get the seam at the edge.

I then opened one of the shoulder seams allowances of the lining far enough to be able to turn the whole thing right side out.

The seam had been pressed open, so it was creased where it needed to join. You can handstitch it closed, or just fold the lining with the seam at the edge and stitch right on the edge of the fabric.

This will close up the opening and since you have only a thread or two for seam allowance, it won’t affect the seam at all.

Just what’s needed for this rainy weather we’re having!! The pattern comes in three sizes, with hints on how to make it bigger. The only pattern piece is for the hood.

Maxine’s Arcadia

2011-05-09T11:35:00.001-05:00

Kari Nichols designed the pattern Arcadia for Mountainpeek Creations. The pattern made with Maxine fabric gives it a different look than using the Veggie Tales fabric in this post.

Pair this with the Maxine pillowcase and you can snuggle up for nap!

Patchwork Pillowcase

2011-05-09T10:38:00.001-05:00

Patchwork Pillowcase: 1/2 Square Triangle Style is a pattern by Tara Lynn Darr of Sew Unique Creations.

This is a pillowcase to be used with standard and queen size pillows .This one is made from scraps. The pattern also shows it done in two colors, giving more of a ‘pattern’ to the layout. These HSTs are just randomly picked up and sewed together, resulting in some same fabrics side by side in places, and totally mixed up in other places. Once you complete the HSTs you can spend some time arranging them if you like, or just throw them in a bag and pull them out, and sew them together however they come out. This would also work well with charm packs, you’ll need 84 squares to start with. This one was made from the leftover fabric from the Trailing Diamonds quilt, which you can read about here.

There is a mistake in the directions for this. You are to trim the HSTs, and the unfinished size is actually a half inch smaller that the measurement given in the instructions.

Before cutting the accent strip and the trim, measure the width of your fabric. If it’s wide enough, there is no need to cut two pieces and seam them together. The fabric used on this pillowcase was wide enough, so there was no need for a seam.

Just let your imagination run wild with this pattern, and have some fun!

More Tiny Tabletoppers

2011-04-21T19:42:00.001-05:00

Well, the tabletoppers aren’t tiny, just the patterns are…the Tiny series from Pieced Tree Patterns.

This one is Hidden Charms, #50. It’s 11” x 39”. You can make it from a Charm Pack or from yardage. This one is from yardage, so everything is matching and ordered. [It’s just the picture that’s crooked…]

#29 is Center Stage This is one of those “I can’t believe I did that.” The side units are put on the wrong way. If you want to know what it should look like, you can see the St. Patrick’s Day one here. No wonder I was thinking that I didn’t like this one as well! The lights and darks are swapped on this one, and some people (who shall remain nameless), have problems figuring stuff like that out.

However you may want to put them together—there are kits available. Stop in soon to get yours—maybe you can come up with a totally different layout!!

Happy Easter, hope the Easter bunny is good to you.

Thimbleberries

2011-04-19T05:12:00.001-05:00

Ribbon Runner is a 24” x 48” tablerunner by Thimbleberries. The center of the blocks and the borders are a larger print. A darker print frames the blocks, with a light for the background. The green flows around like a ribbon, and binding is the same green fabric to finish it off.

The quilting is curved lines of straight stitching.

The colors are so nice and spring-looking. Wish the weather was!!

Stop in soon!

Trailing Diamonds

2011-04-18T12:03:00.000-05:00

This is a very pretty quilt—but oh my!! Is it ever mathematically challenged!

No matter what the pattern tells you, the large size is really 70” x 90”.

For block #2, Fabric A you need 1 1/8 yard, 1 yard will give you only 30 squares, and you need 34. You will get 36 squares [which gives a little insurance, if you need it].

For the inner border, you are instructed to cut eight 3 1/2” x WOF strips. 3/4 yard is 27”, 8 x 3 1/2” = 28” so you can’t cut that many strips—BUT you don’t need 8. Depending upon how you piece it, six is enough, seven for sure is enough.

You have enough fabric for the outer border with what’s specified on the pattern, BUT you will have to piece it. If you want the border to be one piece [like it says in the instructions] you will need 2 1/4 yards. You will have about a 13” x LOF piece leftover, but I think an unpieced border looks so nice, especially with a large print like the one used in this quilt.

Once you get past the multiplication problems, the pattern is fine, just follow along as instructed. Personally, I would cut the A squares at 6 1/2” to make sure that your seam allowances give you the 10 1/2” block you need to end up with. With 1 1/8 yard you have plenty of fabric to cut at 6 1/2”.

The kits will have the correct amounts of fabric in them, and there will be corrections included. You will have leftover fabrics, and here is a pillowcase that can be made from them.

I hope you’ll try this pattern.

Hopscotch Baby

2011-04-13T13:48:00.000-05:00

Bunny Hill Designs has the pattern for this sweet little quilt.

This can be made from a jelly roll, or from yardage, or your stash! You can easily finish this in a day. The fabric in this one is shades of teal and brown with white for every other square, with white for the inner and outer border.

You could easily make this larger by adding more squares, or using larger squares. You would then have to add more fabric.

Wouldn't this look cute for a little girl, and then make a smaller quilt with smaller squares for her doll?

Stop in soon to check out this and all the other new things!

A couple of new tablerunners

2011-04-13T13:33:00.001-05:00

This is The Big Easy. It's one of the "Tiny" ones by Pieced Tree Patterns, #10. This one goes really fast, a piece of fabric for the center and two borders. With the cardinals on the fabric, it would look nice for Christmas, but you could use it any time. If you need a quick gift, this is the one to go for!

Blueberry Cobbler can be made in three sizes, 47" to 62" to 78" long by 17" wide. I'm not sure where the name comes from, it's a triple Irish Chain block. One of the quilts pictured has blue in it, and maybe that's the inspiration for the name. It's a pattern from Allison Quilt Designs, a Minnesota company located in Wayzata. This is a very easy quilt to do, but you do have to pay attention so that you sew your blocks together correctly (yeah, I know that). This one is made from batiks, and is much more beautiful than the picture shows.

Kits are available!

See what Maxine is up to now!

2011-04-13T13:10:00.000-05:00

Maxine is featured on fabric by Robert Kaufman. We've made a pillowcase with it.

As usual, she has plenty to say:

Stop in soon. Make one for a friend, or for yourself. Can't have too much Maxine!!

Let’s take a trip to Candy Land

2011-03-23T13:02:00.001-05:00

This Candy Land fabric makes up into a VERY cute quilt! Wouldn’t this make a great quilt for a youngster in your life? [We won’t tell if you want to keep it for yourself!] The quilt finishes at 52” x 60”.

The fabric is by Quilting Treasures. The top left and right bottom block are a panel. The rows of ‘pictures’ are in the collection, as is the multi-colored fabric in the two narrow borders. The multi-color in the top left panel is part of the panel itself, the same with the multi-colored sections separating the ‘pictures’.

The ‘candy’ is made using a jumbo yo-yo maker, with a rectangle of fabric scrunched up behind it for the ‘wrapper’. The candy is puffy with all gathers in making the yo-yo.

This is only partially quilted. There is stitch-in-the-ditch around all the green sashings and borders. The two white blocks were quilting with straight lines 1” apart. One block angles down to the left, the other down to the right. After quilting, the candy pieces were attached. The candy wrapper ends are loose, and the yo-yo candy is machine stitched down with a buttonhole stitch.

There are various ways you could quilt it—an all-over design; free motion in the Candy Land blocks, and in the borders, or however you’d like to do it..

If you do want to make this for yourself, and would like it larger, you could easily add another border. A six inch border would make it more adult size. A yard and a half would be enough for that. You’ll also need more for binding,5/8 yard total.

Either way, stop in and pick up a kit to make this fun quilt.

Autumn Down on the Farm

2011-03-17T09:35:00.001-05:00

This colorful quilt is made from a panel, a border print and coordinating fabric. It features fabrics from the Country Fields Collection by Edith Collections. There are deer, pheasants, turkeys, dogs and a rustic old house

Nine squares are cut from the panel for the centers of the star blocks. The four alternate blocks on cut on-point from a large print. The border print is used for – the border. With the ‘striped’ border print, a mitered border would look great.

Stop in to pick up this fun project.

another Mini quilt

2011-03-07T18:53:00.001-06:00

This is another quilt from the “Fat Quarter Quilting: And the 4-Inch Block” pattern that was posted yesterday. This one is “Dutchman’s Puzzle”. The sashing is a fussy cut stripe fabric.

Doesn’t this make a cute little quilt? Stop in soon!

a Mini quilt

2011-03-06T12:42:00.001-06:00

This cute little (16” x 20”) quilt is from “Fat Quarter Quilting: And the 4-Inch Block”. It’s designed by Lori Smith of From my heart to your hands. There are nine patterns included, all finishing at 16” x 20”, each features one block. The star block is “Variable Star.”

They’re the perfect size for a doll quilt, wallhanging, tabletopper, or even placemats.

Stop in soon and pick up a kit to make your own!

Easy Striped Tablerunner

2011-03-03T07:11:00.001-06:00

“Five seams and the top is finished!” That’s what the pattern states. The hardest part is cutting the two repeats [and that’s NOT hard].

You need to cut two identical sections of the stripe. Cuts are made with a 60° ruler. This one is made with binding, the pattern is to sew right sides together and turn. Using the binding adds a “border” to it. You can do it either way.

This fabric is so cute! It’s little chickies doing various things—eating, playing with boxes, riding on trucks and wagons, one even has a pacifier in its mouth!

The colors are very spring-y. There’s pink, lavender, green, yellow and white. All you need to add is an Easter basket, or a flower arrangement—but it’s so cute just by itself!

The pattern is Easy Striped Table Runner by The Quilt Company.

The Crooked Goose

2011-03-03T06:47:00.001-06:00

The Crooked Goose is a Silk Road Creations pattern. You can use fat quarters or scraps. This one is with the ‘geese’ made from a fat quarter. The two large rectangles are the same fabric as the border.

The ‘geese’ aren’t made as typical geese, they’re made from half-square triangles. The geese are echo quilted. The two large rectangles are free motion quilted using a technique from Leah Day, called Wiggly Woven Lines. The echo quilting goes out into the border by the geese, and curvy lines are quilted into the border by the rectangles.

The photo just doesn’t do it justice, the batiks are much more beautiful than it looks.

Stop in soon to pick up a quilt.

Another Spicy Spiral

2011-02-16T16:46:00.001-06:00

This tablerunner is made with batiks.

Spicy Spiral is a pattern by School House Quilts. It uses the 25” 9° wedge ruler by Marilyn Doheny. Using the ruler, putting this tablerunner together is a so easy. The hardest part is figuring out how to quilt it!

You can read more about this pattern by going back to April 8 and 28, May 5 and 17.

It finishes at about 22” x 42”. Wouldn’t this be a lovely addition to your table?

Pinwheels Aplenty

2011-02-10T13:50:00.001-06:00

This is a very colorful quilt with lots of different fabrics. It’s an easy to make pattern from Tea for Two Designs. It consists of half-square triangles, squares and rectangles.

This colorway looks very springy with the soft pastels. but you could change the fabrics for other seasons—red, white, and blue for the 4th of July—rich golds, oranges, browns and greens for fall—red and green for Christmas—just let your imagination run.

A few hours of your time and you’ll have it done!

Stop in soon!

A spring-y tablerunner

2011-02-02T11:28:00.001-06:00

This is another quick and easy tablerunner from Pieced Tree Patterns. It’s Game Board, Tiny 36.

The fabric is from Free Spirit by David Walker, it’s the Tea Party line.

It may be cold outside, but these cheerful colors will bring some spring inside!

Amy’s Lotus Brick Path

2011-02-02T06:06:00.001-06:00

The fabrics in this quilt are Ty Pennington Impressions by Free Spirit Fabrics.

The pattern is a free one from Amy Butler. It’s a very simple pattern, all rectangles, no borders. This one is a little longer than the pattern, there is one extra fabric added, making it about 72” x 80”. You could very easily add a border or two to make it even larger. You can add pompoms to the corners, you can choose to not use binding, just sew right sides together and turn. There are lots of possibilities!

Stop in soon and pick up a kit.

Winter Whispers Eagle

2011-01-28T06:17:00.001-06:00

This beautiful quilt is made from a panel print, from Wilmington Prints, designed by Michelle Mara. The eagle and the first border are the panel.

The wide border is batik fabric, picking up the colors in the panel. The narrow brown border is also a batik. In the checkerboard border the light is a batik.

The checkerboard consists of two different 9-patches. One has the dark in the corners, the other has the light in the corners. The medium then runs along the center of the border. The sides are sewed on first, and have the dark corners on each end of the checkerboard. If you’re not careful it’s possible to sew the 9-patches together incorrectly, so that the medium squares are going out from the brown border, instead of parallel to the brown border. When sewing the 9-patches together, you will have two with the dark corner 9-patches on each end, and two with light corners. If you’re not careful it’s possible to sew a dark corner strip on one side, and a light corner on the other, which you won’t notice until you try to match up the 9-patches on each side. We won’t talk about how I know these things…

Stop in soon and pick up a kit to make this gorgeous quilt. It may be cold outside, but you can snuggle up and keep warm!

More from Pieced Tree Patterns

2011-01-22T19:02:00.001-06:00

Hourglass is a Multi-size pattern. You determine the finished size by the size of the block you start with. Sizes range from 7¼" x 41” to 13” x 77”.

The quilting is very simply curves from point to point.

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My Tie is 15”x 43½”, and is made from squares

The bow ties are quilted ¼" inside each, and the background is curves from point to point.

13¼" x 39” is the size of Terrific Triangles. A charm pack gives a nice variety of prints for the Half-Square Triangles in this tablerunner.

This is also quilted with curves.

The Understudy is perfect to feature a novelty print in the center, surrounded by Half-Square Triangles. You could use it as a tabletopper or a placemat. It finishes at 16” x 16”. This is quilted along the inner and outer edges of the green ‘frame’. and also ¼" outside the green in the white background. Isn’t he just the cutest leprechaun?!

Each of these is quickly made up over a an evening or two, or an afternoon.

Stop in soon to pick up a kit or two, or all of them.

Here comes Easter!

2011-01-19T15:10:00.001-06:00

Bright Easter eggs and ducks adorn this cute tablerunner just in time for Easter.

The fabric on the left is the backing, and it’s cute enough to display that side also!

Second Time Around is Tiny 18 from Pieced Tree Patterns. Four fabrics and a few hours of time and you’ll have this done in time for Easter!

More 2nd Saturday BOM

2011-01-18T10:34:00.000-06:00

The final four blocks of the quilt are sewn together.

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All that’s left is to sew this to the top section and add the borders. Contact the store for more info!

Doing a little catch-up

2011-01-09T16:39:00.001-06:00

This quilt is called Ruby Slippers.

The pattern is by Miss Rosie’s Quilt Company.

As you can see, there are lots and lots of half-square triangles in it.

There is a small accent piece between the inner and outer border.

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This is simply a narrow strip of fabric folded wrong sides together. It is then stitched to one of the border pieces, and the other border stitched onto that. After the border is assembled, it is then stitched onto the quilt top, with mitered corner.

2nd Saturday Block-of-the-Month

2011-01-09T16:06:00.001-06:00

There is a Block-of-the-Month starting in February. This is 3/4 of the top sewed together.

Do you see the mistake? Why does it stick out like a sore thumb now, when it hid before?!

Blueberry Pie, the center block, finishes at 18” square. [Some of the other blocks have yummy names too.] The other blocks finish at 12” square. The background blocks are 6” x 18”, and 6” squares. The 9-patch and 4-patch blocks are 6” square.

It may look like you need to be an experienced quilter to make this quilt, but you will learn techniques to make blocks that will make it a snap.

Several blocks have Square-in-a-Square:

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Some have Quarter-Square Triangles:

There are Flying Geese:

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and Half-Square Triangles:

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Half-Square 4-Patch:

and 4-Patches:

along with simple squares and rectangles:

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Most of the blocks have a square in the center.

As you can see, some of the blocks have more than one category of patch in it, which will give you the opportunity to thoroughly learn the technique if it’s new to you.

Contact the store now to reserve your place in this fun class.

Flippity Floppity

2010-11-15T08:26:00.001-06:00

Here is another quick and easy tablerunner from Pieced Tree Patterns.

This is made by sewing strips together, cutting the strip set into segments, then flip-flop every other segment, and sew together.

Batiks were used in this one. The quilting is just gentle curves from side to side.

Wouldn’t this look nice in Christmas fabrics?

Tablerunners

2010-11-09T16:57:00.001-06:00

The Pieced Tree Patterns tablerunners are quick to sew up, you can easily do one in a day.

Around the Block is approximately 15”x 44”. This one is done in four Christmas fabrics. The fabric is At Home for the Holidays by Heather Mulder Peterson of Anka’s Treasures for Henry Glass and Company.

The blocks weren’t fussy cut on this one, but you could do so if you wanted to feature one particular view of the poinsettias.

The stripes are printed on the diagonal, so no need to cut the binding on the bias.

This was free motion quilted. The poinsettias are outlined, then echoed. The sashing and border are simply straight stitching using a walking foot, and the lines curve back and forth, crisscrossing each other. I forgot to take a close-up of that. This is from another project, to give you the general idea, but with only 2 lines of stitching. It’s very free form, simply stitch away as you guide the fabric back and forth.

Two-For is just that—make one set of strips and get two runners from it.

After sewing the strip set, squares are cut, and each square is cut on the diagonal twice. Half the resulting triangles go into one runner, and the remainder into the other. Wonder what it would look like if the triangles would both be used for one runner??

These fabrics are the 12 Days of Christmas by Kate Spain for Moda.

Frame Up is made from Hoffman screenprints.

The gold highlights make an elegant runner. It’s approximately 14” x 46”, but it would be easy to make it any size to fit your particular spot for it.

Last, but not least, is Something Fishy. This one isn’t Christmas-y like the others, but it is cute! It’s approximately 14” x 39”.

The fabrics are all batiks, and just gorgeous!

Stop in soon to get started on some Christmas projects. Or just go fishing!!

Another Sweet 16

2010-11-02T15:29:00.001-05:00

This little tabletopper can be made from scraps, so it’s a nice one when you want to use up all those little leftovers you can’t bear to toss.

These are the sorted scraps.The pattern is for 2” strips making an 18” topper. These scraps were 1.5”, so instead of making five 16-patches, it became a 36-patch [guess it should be called Sweet 36??]

And this is the final result:

Isn’t it a good feeling to use up some of those leftover pieces?

Stop in soon and pick up the pattern to make your own!

Catchanap with Paper Dolls

2010-10-28T12:36:00.000-05:00

Pieced Tree Patterns, Tiny59 is a 50” x 55.5” quilt.

The Christmas fabric is from Windham Fabrics. You can see the whole line here.

The dolls and their clothes are fussy cut from yardage. The dolls are fused onto heavyweight stabilizer. The clothing is fused onto fusible batting.

The figures are also stitched close to the edge then cut close the stitching

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The dolls are attached to the quilt with Velcro.

The loop side of the Velcro side is sewed to the quilt, and the hook side to the back of the doll.

The special little girl in your life will enjoy playing with the dolls, changing their clothes,

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then snuggling up under the quilt to ‘catch a nap’.

The Heritage Collection

2010-10-18T18:03:00.001-05:00

This quilt was designed by Cyndi Hershey using Red Rooster’s fabrics, The Heritage Collection, by Jacqueline Paton.

A few tips--

You will be sewing bias edges together, so it’s very helpful to use spray starch or sizing, to keep the stretching to a minimum. Mary Ellen’s Best Press is a good choice. Piece your strips together and spray before cutting the segments for the diamonds. Also, spray the large squares before cutting diagonally.

Be very careful cutting the strips sets for the diamonds. The entire width of the fabric is needed to get all eight segments required.

Kaye Wood has a different method for sewing the triangles to the diamonds [y-seams], which is, for some quilters, easier than the instructions in the pattern.

Also, sew the diamonds and triangles in sets—sew 2 diamonds together and add the triangle and repeat until you have 4 sets of 2 diamonds and a triangle, then sew 2 sets together and add a triangle to that. Now sew those 2 halves together and add the remaining 2 triangles. Doing it this way, you don’t need to struggle with the whole top to sew all the triangles on, just the last 2 triangles.

The quilt finishes at 44” x 44”. It will make a tabletopper, wallhanging, or even a tree skirt.

Have fun with it!

Jelly Roll Fever

2010-10-14T13:46:00.001-05:00

Jelly Roll Fever quilt is a pattern in You Asked For It, a pattern book by Kathryn Squibb and Deborah Jacobs of the Gathering Friends Quilt Shop.

The book has 12 patterns, ranging in size from tabletoppers to bed quilt.

Jelly Roll Fever is made from Bliss, a jelly roll by Bonnie and Camille for Moda. The jelly roll strips are sewed in rows, separated by strips of chenille, with a 6” outer border.

It sews up quickly, so stop in at the store and sew up a new quilt!

Sanibel

2010-09-29T07:09:00.001-05:00

The pattern and fabric for Sanibel is designed by Heather Mulder Peterson [Anka’s Treasures] and Deb Mulder for Henry Glass and Company.

The quilt is 69” x 83”. There are six appliqué flower blocks. The remainder of the blocks are square-in-a-square, some with just a square in the center, some a pieced block. The inner border is actually pieced setting and corner triangles. The outer border is pieced so that the inner border extends to the edge of the quilt.

Stop in soon to see the quilt top and pick up your kit.

Holly Berry

2010-09-23T13:23:00.001-05:00

Holly Berry tablerunner is made from a charm pack. It finishes at 16” x 32”.

The center is one piece on this particular pattern. There are 2 other variations included in the pattern which have the center pieced. A square of the same fabric as the center is folded, then placed on the corners of the charm squares. The squares are then pieced together and sewed to the center. This is what they look like at that point:

The folded edges are loose. Then they are rolled back – as in Cathedral Windows – and then topstitched.

In this picture at the bottom it’s not yet stitched:

This is what it looks like completely stitched down:

The quilting in the center echoed the curves of the borders:

It’s hard to see, since it was quilted with matching thread.

After that was done, the holly leaves and berries were fused on, and then a machine buttonhole stitch was used around the edges:

Wouldn’t this make a ‘charming’ addition to your table this coming holiday season? Stop in soon to pick up your kit.

Bloomers and Britches

2010-09-22T08:22:00.001-05:00

Britches and Bloomers by Jackie Clark Designs is another pattern for cute clothes for the little one in your life. The pattern is for a little girl

with a ruffle on the bottom, and pink pockets

Or it can be make with just a cuff instead of the ruffle for a little boy. It has elastic in the waist.

The Julia Skirt

2010-09-13T16:02:00.001-05:00

If you have a special little girl in your life, here is a cute skirt to make for her.

It consists of an overskirt [the green], an underskirt [the black] with a separate waistband. There is casing sewed to the inside of the overskirt for the insertion of a drawstring. The drawstring can be made of fabric, or a ribbon can be used. There is elastic in the waistband.

The pattern for the double-layer twirl skirt is by Patty Young for Modkid. It’s multi-size pattern with sizes 2T to 7 [Euro sizes 92-122] included. All pieces are rectangles, so you can use your rotary cutter and ruler to cut out the fabric. Also included are appliquéd flowers to dress up a knit top.

If you’re ready for a break from quilting, give this a try!

Makin’ New Friends

2010-09-13T11:34:00.001-05:00

The pattern for this 59” x 73” quilt is a free download on the Moda website.

You start with a panel print, featuring snowmen—three closeups and three with friends.

The cornerstones are fussy cut snowmen, and tree fabric.

The sashings are a checkerboard of white and red fabric with a strip of white on each side.The inner border is dark green, and the outer border is a red fabric featuring trees.

You could use the panel to make throw pillows, or one panel for a wallhanging. You could make it smaller or larger by changing the sashing and the borders, lots of possibilities.

But this is a good size to snuggle up under while waiting for Santa!

Christmas Pillow

2010-09-02T15:10:00.001-05:00

The Comfort and Joy pillow, a Little Scraps pattern from This & That Patterns is a quick little pillow to make for Christmas.

The holly leaves, holly berry and the letters are fused onto the background, and then stitched around using a buttonhole stitch.

A change from the pattern instructions on this pillow is that there is a layer of thin cotton batting on the back side of the pillow front. The batting gives the pillow a little more body, and poofs it up a bit. Along with the batting, a meandering stitch is used to quilt the background, and the squares on the right side are stitched with a walking foot using Sulky Blendables size 12 variegated thread.

The back of the pillow is two sections that overlap to allow the pillow form to be inserted.

Wouldn’t this pillow look nice on your couch for the coming Christmas season?

Advent Calendar

2010-09-02T07:55:00.001-05:00

Whether we like it or not, it’s time to start thinking about—and sewing for—Christmas.

Greeting Advent Calendar is a panel by Makower UK.

This is the finished product:

It was quilted with a walking foot around the stars, gifts, and ribbons. Stars were free motion quilted in the background. A gold cotton thread was used for quilting, but with the gold in the fabric, the thread looks almost like a gold metallic.

A few hours, perhaps an afternoon, and you’ll have a beautiful Advent Calendar to hang for this Christmas.

Have fun!

Get Ready for Halloween!

2010-09-01T11:55:00.001-05:00

“Perfect Ten” by Swirly Girls Design is “perfect” for these Halloween prints. Look at these googly eyes:

The eyes are tiny, just peeping out among the leaves.

Spider webs and bare trees:

A couple of non-Halloween fabrics, too:

And a print just made for a mitered border.

The pattern makes a nice size quilt—60” x 72”.

Kits are available.

Here’s a sneak peak of a few Christmas projects to come:

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Check back for an update—maybe even later today!

3 tablerunners

2010-08-24T07:06:00.002-05:00

This tablerunner, The Big Easy from Pieced Tree Patterns, is made from the Quilt Minnesota 2010 fabric. This is a quick and easy project if you need it done NOW. This has 3 prints, plus a stripe for the binding.

Pumpkin Walk is by Julie Popa for Sunflower Hill Designs. The large is 62” x 22”, and the mini is 21.5” x 12”. The pumpkins on the mini are made from 1.5” strips, and the large from 2.5”. This pattern could use up some of the scraps in your stash!

Daydream Flowers

2010-08-19T06:48:00.001-05:00

“Daydreams” is designed by Stephanie Brandenburg for Camelot Cottons. The flowers—poppy, lily, iris, and sunflower—are large, the blocks in this quilt finish at 21”.

The sashing and first border are a solid black, with a coordinating stripe for the outer border.

It’s quilted first by stitching in the ditch around each flower block and between the inner and outer border. The blocks and outer border are free motion quilted.

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Stop in soon to pick up your kit!

Minnesota fabrics quilt

2010-08-01T08:23:00.001-05:00

The quilt with the 80 blocks from the shops participating in the Shop Hop was finally finished at the last possible minute to be on display. Here is a picture of the quilt top.

There are a variety of methods used in piecing the blocks. Some are appliquéd, some foundation pieced, in addition to plain ol’ piecing—stars, square-in-a-square, half square triangles, diamonds, 4-patches, 9-patches. You name it and it’s probably there!

Be sure to stop in to Gruber’s and see for yourself, and be inspired to make something out of this line of fabric.

My Mom and Me

2010-08-01T08:11:00.001-05:00

This is the “Mom” of Little Scraps from This and That pattern by Sherrri K. Falls. “My Mom and Me”. It’s a 20” x 24” bag, made using a charm pack. You also need yardage for the handle and lining, and a fat quarter for the binding.

There is a pocket on the front, it doesn’t show up too well, it’s the red in the center. There is a flap covering the top of the pocket. The handles are sewed on with the last row of charm pack rectangles at the top. These were topstitched to keep them in place.

There is plenty of binding using a fat quarter to bind the inside seams, although this step wasn’t included in the instructions. The bottom is oval and stitched so that the seam is on the outside. The seam allowance is then covered with the bias binding.

The top is also bound. This bag still needs the buttons on the bottom of the handles, the pocket front and the closer tab.

Odds and ends

2010-07-24T08:39:00.001-05:00

The Oilcloth Carry-All is a pattern from Heartfelt Garden. There are pockets on the outside and on the inside. There is a loop on the inside for hanging your keys [it doesn’t show up very well in the picture]. It’s a sturdy bag that will stand up nicely, especially if you put something hard in the bottom. The outside is easy to clean with a damp cloth.

Country Lanes is a variation the the traditional Irish Chain pattern. The large block between the chains is a great place for that larger print or to fussy cut.

The pattern is by Atkinson Designs. Instructions are included for a wallhanging, a lap quilt, and a bed quilt. The same number of blocks are made for each of the sizes, but the size of the blocks is increased to make the larger sizes. If you have a certain size that will fit with your fabric, you could also simply add or take away blocks to get to the size of quilt you want to have.

Centerfold is a quick and easy tablerunner from Pieced Tree Patterns. It’s Tiny 47. The center is perfect for a floral or novelty print. You could easily make this to fit your table by increasing or decreasing the length of the center.

I hope you’ve found something here to catch your eye. Stop in soon to start your next project, and to see what’s new.

Quilt Minnesota 2010

2010-07-24T08:00:00.001-05:00

This Gruber’s pattern is made from the Quilt Minnesota 2010 fabric. It’s two blocks, a snowball and a an hourglass block.

The hourglass block has a 4-patch for the center square.

There are a variety of prints in the line, ranging from lights to mediums to darks.There is also a panel print:

The panel has various winter scenes. The pictures will finish at 5”.

Each of the Minnesota quilts shops involved with the upcoming Shop Hop has made a 9” block using this line of fabric. The blocks will be made into a quilt, and it will be spectacular! What a beautiful variety of blocks!

The above quilt finishes at 61” x 79”, but could easily be made larger by adding more blocks, or smaller by using less blocks.

What can you come up with to use this fabric? Let your imagination run!

2 more bags

2010-07-15T06:37:00.001-05:00

This is the front and back of “The Perfect Purse-O-Nality” by Purse-O-Nalities of Palm Harbor.

The front has two pockets that are hidden by pleats. There is a zipper pocket on the back. The front and back yoke have a folded bias strip sewed to the lower edge before topstitching onto the purse. There are pockets on the inside, too. One goes the full width of the purse, the other is smaller. You can divide the pockets into sections as you desire, to make them whatever size fits your needs.

This is the Bayport Bag from Scrap-Bag Patterns. For this bag, you first make a ‘quilt’. The lining, fusible fleece, and the exterior fabric are layered, quilted and bound. Pleats at the top give the bag its shape. Near the top on the inside there are 2 pockets, for a cellphone and keys.

Both of these patterns are available at the store. Have fun!

Thangles Treeskirt

2010-07-07T13:23:00.001-05:00

This Thangles treeskirt is designed by Mary B. Hayes.There are 3 fabrics used. The quilting is simply straight lines, echoing the stars, both in the center and the border.

If you omit the the slashing step you will have a beautiful tabletopper. With the round opening you’ll need a bias binding.

Kits are available at the store. Get a start on your Christmas sewing now!

The Men in My Life

2010-07-07T11:26:00.001-05:00

Isn’t that a catchy title? It’s the name of this purse made from men’s neck ties.

It’s made from the ends of the ties which are sewed to a foundation and the cut edges covered with ribbon, or in this case, fabric left from the foundation. This shows the covered edge of the ties. With matching fabric, the strip of fabric hardly shows at all.

It uses a magnetic clasp.

Two ties are sewed together to make the pockets inside.

It takes about 30 ties to cover the bag, and you will have the center portions of the ties left to do something with as only a 4 1/2” section is needed from each end.

It’s a project that you can easily complete in a day.

The pattern is from Homestead Specialties, designed by Cheryl Weiderspahn.

First Fall, then comes Christmas

2010-06-24T12:59:00.001-05:00

The name of this pattern is “October’s Joy” by Terilyn Kennedy of the Stitchin’ Post in Alexandria, MN. It finishes at 24” x 46”. This is so pretty it almost-but not quite-makes me wish for fall. The beautiful fabrics are batiks. The pumpkins, stems, and leaves are fused raw-edge appliqué. It doesn't show well, but there is a tiny folded border between the background and the outer border.

“Noel” is a new line of fabric from Benartex. This lap quilt, a Gruber’s pattern, finishes at 58” x 70”. There are 21 fabrics in the line, including a panel. 15 fat quarters, plus two more fabrics for the mitered borders, are used “A Window to Christmas”.

There are no “Y” seams in this, it’s a half-square triangle in the corners. This quilt was made by making four blocks of the same three fabrics, and five different sets of fabrics. It could also be made scrappy, but the HSTs should be the same fabrics as the adjoining strips to give it the Attic Window look. With striped fabric in the line, it just had to have a mitered border.

With the remaining fabric from the quilt, you’ll have enough to make a coordinating wallhanging featuring the panel in the center

The border consists of 3 widths of strips sewed together, the strips are various lengths. The cornerstones are of the same fabric, but could also be scrappy.

If you want to make the wallhanging without having the fabric leftover from the quilt, the pattern includes the yardage requirements.

All of these are available as kits. Stop in soon for your next project!

Pieced Tree Patterns

2010-06-09T09:03:00.001-05:00

These are two easy-to-do tablerunners from Pieced Tree Patterns.

The fabric makes The Big Easy! very elegant.

It looks much better than the picture shows. The background is black-on-black with brown and shades of gold with gold metallic accents.

This close-up shows a little better.

It’s a very quick pattern to make up—the center, with 2 borders on each side, and binding. This one was done a little different than the pattern. The center strip was layered onto the batting and backing, then quilted. The borders were added by the flip-and-sew method, so no quilting was necessary in the borders.

It’s 12” x 43”. The length can be changed, this was made as long as the width of fabric.

In the Middle features a novelty print in the square. A larger print could be fussy cut.

The setting triangles are made Log Cabin style. The binding is a bias cut stripe. This is another quick and easy tablerunner, 14”x 43”.

Both tablerunners are quilted simply with curved straight stitched line which swirl out from the middle.

Kits for both of these are available.

Outback by Jinny Beyer

2010-06-09T08:04:00.001-05:00

Outback is a new fabric line from Jinny Beyer and the name of this pattern. This is a 72x72” quilt. Eight fabrics from the 28 in the Outback line are used.

The center is 4 triangles cut from the wider strip of the border print.

This shows the 2 strips in the border fabric, separated by another fabric in the line.

This is how far you can go until you get more fabric, IF you don’t pay attention and cut the triangle the wrong way:

This is how cutting the wrong direction looks: and the way it SHOULD look: Notice the difference in the direction of the ‘ribbons’. This mistake will require another half yard of fabric.

[But don’t throw away the miscuts! There’s always Plan B… Pillows? Placemats? Setting triangles? ? ?]

The borders are mitered

which really looks neat with the stripes in the fabric.

The quilt consists of Flying Geese, Half-Square Triangles, and borders. The fussy cutting gives spectacular results, while still being easy to do.

The Outback line has three colorways. This quilt is made with the red colorway, there are also teal and green. Be sure to check out all the fabrics at the store—they are beautiful!

Under the Sea

2010-06-05T08:00:00.001-05:00

This 27” x 60” tablerunner is by Nellie’s Needle quilt patterns, designed by Monica Patch [what a name for a quilter!]

The circles in the center are cut using a template and appliquéd onto squares, which are then sewed together. The small circles surrounding the center section are yoyos [made with the Clover “Quick” Yo-Yo Maker, size Large] .

The outer scalloped border is sewed together, then the center section and the outer border are joined with strips of muslin, and layered onto the backing and batting. After the quilting is completed, the muslin strips are cut away. One change that could be made is to baste the muslin WRONG SIDES together to the center and border, and then remove the stitching to completely remove the muslin, rather than leave the seam allowance there, this would eliminate some of the bulk in that area. Use the templates included to cut the scallops. Next the center and both edges of the outer border are bound. The outer border needs to have bias binding to go into the inner corners and around the scallops.

Then the 80 yoyos are stitched together into 4 strips to go between the center and outer border, then stitched into place. This can be done either by hand or by machine.

This isn’t a tablerunner than can be whipped up in a days’ time, but is worth the effort. Theresa saw it at Market, and said it looked really cool hanging with the light filtering through around the yoyos.

Spicy Spiral class

2010-05-17T05:58:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was the class for the Spicy Spiral tablerunner. There were 2 students, and they get a fantastic job! To make sure we made it through all the steps, we worked on just 2 of the strip sets, instead of all 4. This is what the largest cuts made: this is Carol’s

this is Betty’s.

I think this would make an interesting tablerunner at this point.

We talked about different ideas—piecing together wedge shapes to start with, tilting the ruler, making a circle. The wedge ruler has lots of possibilities. After this, they went on to finish sewing the strip sets, cutting wedges, and sewing them together. And here they are with the piecing finished:

Both Carol and Betty used a 10 degree ruler instead of a 9 degree ruler. The pattern states that the 10 degree ruler makes a wider and longer tablerunner. We found that when sewing the 2 longest wedges together, the seams lined up, rather than being stepped. That must be because of the one degree difference, everything thing else was the same. So when they sewed that seam, they just shifted the 2 halves enough to match the step between all the other wedges.

Kits are still available, so stop in and pick up one to make for yourself!

Snap Sack quilts

2010-05-12T17:02:00.002-05:00

Gramma’s Favorite is a small quilt by Joan Ford of Hummingbird Highway. You could use it as a tabletopper or a wallhanging, or possibly as a doll quilt.
It measures 16” x 21”. There are 6 fabrics plus a background for the blocks. The first border is the same as the background, with another fabric for the outer border.
The binding is a stripe fabric cut on the bias..

The blocks can be arranged in a variety of ways

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whatever catches your fancy.

This is a cute little quilt that’s done in no time at all. It’s one of a series, with a new one each month. Have fun with it!

Upcoming Sandra Sue bag class

2010-05-05T06:08:00.001-05:00

Learn how to make this bag. It’s roomy with lots of pockets, inside and out.

You’ll learn:

a handle technique that gives the purse the support of having straps front and back, without having one always falling down.

a ‘bound buttonhole’ zipper treatment [I'll also show you an alternative method]

how to attach magnetic closures

and more!

Call the store [1-320-259-4360 or 1-877-778-7793] if you would like to sign up for the class coming on Sunday, May 23, 9:30-4:00.