Tulips & Rainbows -- Little Ditty For April

Here's my Little Ditty for April!

The grey, dreary rain clouds of April

Bring the beautiful colors of Spring.

My batik and hand dyed fabrics worked perfectly for this Little Ditty.  It gives it a rainy, watercolor feel.  The quilt measures 18" X 23".  The tulips are done with fusible applique.  And the rainbow and cloud are pieced.  The pattern has 6 pages of instructions.  And the price is only $4.50!

Here's a link to the pattern on Craftsy.

Here's a link to the pattern on Etsy.

Keep watching for my Little Ditty for May!

Announcing My Little Ditties!!!

Spring is my favorite season!  And it's a great time to start something new.  I've been working on some little quilts to represent each month of the year.  Today, I'm introducing my "Little Ditty" pattern line.  You can find patterns for these little quilts on Craftsy and Etsy, as pdf downloads.

Here's my Little Ditty for March, "Irish Pinwheels."

And here's the ditty to go with it...

It’s March! 

Open up

the windows

and let

my lovely fabrics

and I

breathe the

Spring air!

 

It's finished size is 24 1/2" X 24 1/2".  And each Pinwheel and Irish Chain block measure 4" square.

I'm not a very good quilter, but I've got to get my practice somehow!  So, here's my attempt at quilting my Irish Pinwheels.

You can also see that I've sewn the hanging sleeve into the binding, but still need to sew the other edge in place.

Tessellating Birds Pattern

This is my "Forever Project."  

It's all done by hand with English Paper Piecing.

 At my last count, I have 166 birds sewn in place.

I like to use freezer paper for my foundations.  I can iron it onto the back of the fabric, and it stays put while I baste it in place.

I sew them into groups of 4.

Then sew those groups together.

Here's a picture of a mini quilt I made with my tessellating birds.

You can get the pattern from Craftsy or Etsy.

Mini Block of the Month for Quilt Guild

I've been working all Summer to come up with a Block-of-the-Month for the Sew Small Quilt Guild.  Here it is!  There are twelve different 4-inch blocks, eight 2-inch Shoo Fly blocks, and one 8-inch block in the center.  It finishes at 33" square, and there are a total of 556 pieces.

The plan, is to make the center block and the eight Shoo Fly blocks the first month.  Then make two 4-inch blocks for the remaining 7 months.  And, if anyone is able to keep up, they could have the top finished by the closing social.

Row By Row Experience 2015

Stylish Fabrics Bernina, in Logan, Utah, is participating in the Row By Row Experience again this year.  It's so fun to see all of the new faces in the store!  I got to design the row pattern again this year, and here it is.  It's the Bear Lake Monster!  Isn't SHE stylish!

June 21 through September 8, you can come into hundreds of quilt shops across the USA and into Canada, and ask for a FREE row quilt pattern.  Be the first in your area to make a quilt using at least 8 rows, and bring it to your local shop, and you could win a prize of 25 fat quarters!  Win an additional prize if you use the row pattern from that shop.

This year, we have lots of kits cut, and we got the license plate, too.

THE BEAR LAKE MONSTER ROW PATTERN is now available on Craftsy for $3.95.  Here's the link.

Patriotic Quilt Project

Here's a great way to show your patriotic side!  

The Patriotic 3-D Banner

The stars are actually made with 3-D bowtie blocks.  
I'll show you how...

First, cut 5 squares of the same size -- I cut 2 1/2" squares.  If you were making a bowtie, you'd cut 3 squares for the bowtie and 2 squares for the background.  To make diamond stars, you'd cut 4 blue squares for the background, and one white square.  I'll show you how to make the star.

Lay a blue square down with its right side up.  Fold a white square in half, with wrong sides together.  Lay this on top of the background square, with the raw edges at the top and sides even.  Then lay another blue square on top of it with the right side down.  Sew one side (either side will work).

Fold the 2 blue squares out of the way.  Repeat the layering process, sandwiching the same folded white square between two more blue squares, with right sides together.  Sew the other side.  

 
When you open the blue squares, you should have what looks like a bridge.

Open the white piece and bring the two seams together at the center, nesting the seams with the seam allowances going in opposite directions.  Pin together.

Bring the white raw edges even with the blue raw edges, and pin in place.  Be sure there is at least 1/4” of white in the seam allowance, that is not folded, or you will get puckers.  Sew all the way across, pivoting at the center seam if needed.  Open it up to reveal a diamond star in the middle.

As you can see, it's pretty easy!  Get the Patriotic 3-D Banner pattern as a pdf download from Craftsy or Etsy. 

Vintage Memories Block-of-the-month

This has been a really big project for me!  It took me 5 weeks to piece, and about 30 hours to quilt on the HandiQuilter at the store.  It's so big, it will be hard to find a good spot to hang.  But I LOVE it!  You can click on the picture to see a bigger image.