2012!

 

CONGRATS TO ALLISON, for winning $25 gift certificate to Christa Quilts shop. Looks like she already knows what she wants!

 Allison C said...

I follow Christa's blog and I would get a Kona jellyroll since i have never worked with a jellyroll before.

With the new year around the corner we've been reminiscing on the past year and the fun things we've done! 

Isn't it fun to see all this fabricy goodness in a collage?  I had fun picking the pictures and creating it!  H and I had a busy year, carpooling, kids activities, pattern writing, books, LIFE, a new baby and sadly an unexpected death that has changed our family forever.  It has been nice (mostly!) to have the blog for a fun and light hearted escape.

Above are our new quilt and sewing patterns for the year.  All of these are found in our etsy shop.  They are Anchors Away, Christmas Forest, Kenna's Blooms, Dottie, Sail Away Skirt, Simple Baby Blankets and Rylee's Path.

And I was able to re-do one of our best sellers, Oh Baby!  Seen above in Moda's Oh Deer! and the simple life from Riley Blake.

Hope you've been enjoying the holiday's with your friends and family!

Wreath block tutorial and Merry Christmas!

This may not be new to some of you, but wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas with a fun Wreath block tutorial. I shared this on another blog last year, but don't think I posted it here. Here you go:

Using this template and 4 green prints, cut out 4 leaves. I did a fusible web for my applique. Choose which method you like. I think I used light heat and bond.

Lay them out like this and iron down...

Sew your leaves down to your background. I used a blanket stitch.

\

Do the same process for the bow

 Done! Cute little wreath block. Would be a great mini quilt with some borders.

Thanks and Merry Christmas!

$25 Gift Certificate to ChristaQuilts

GIVEAWAY CLOSED 

We've got a great new sponsor  ChristaQuilts!  Hooray!! And one more chance for you to get some fabric under your tree :)

ChristaQuilts offers an eclectic mix of unique, modern and traditional fabrics for the discriminating quilter. Christa has been quilting for nearly 2 decades but just recently discovered the modern quilting movement. With the help of her husband Jason, she is moving her store more in that direction. I love this pencil collection in her shop:

Christa loves to make it as fun and easy as possible to browse her store and go shopping! She offers Daily Deals, Weekly Specials, and free gifts with purchases of $25 or more. 

She also offers Free US Shipping all the time on every order, with no minimum purchase. Fabulous right??  She has an incredibly low international rate, too - just $10 for worldwide shipping, no matter where you live or how much you buy!

The most popular items in her store are her precut fat quarter singles. Whenever Christa gets in a new line of fabric, the first thing she does is cut and fold hundreds of individual fat quarters so that they are stacked, bagged and ready to ship!

Christa is also a prolific blogger where she shares weekly quilting tutorials demonstrating how to make her original quilt designs from start to finish. You can visit her blog here, lots of inspiration!

Christa is offering a super awesome giveaway: a $25 shopping spree to her store. To enter, visit ChristaQuilts and sign up for her email newsletter, or follow her blog. Then leave a comment stating what you'd love to buy with your gift certificate if you win!

Here's a special offer just for Quilt Story readers: use the code B12STORY to get an extra 5% off your first order from ChristaQuilts.

Once Christa sees you use the code, she'll flag your account to receive 5% off every order in the future, with no further coupon needed. It's like a permanent group discount!

This giveaway will remain open through Sunday, winner announced Christmas Eve!!  Good luck!

Fabric Tuesday, sorry I am late!

 

First our winner from "A Joyful Soul Fabrics" Michala, congrats on your $50 gift certificate! Just in time for Christmas!

 Michala said...

I really like the Notting Hill bundle.

December 5, 2012 9:54 AM

 

 And another winner!  Woot woot!

Winner of Flutter Giveaway from The Quilted Fish

Linda said...

SO PRETTY!

FOLLOWING QUILT STORY VIA FB!

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1711336606

Sorry I am late! Technical difficulties last night. I will be short and sweet. This is what inspired me last week...(there were many more, I am just trying to be quick!)

Sneak peak from Sprout Baby Sprout...bright and cheery!

Christmas tree applique from Confessions of a fabric addict...amazing!

Christmas string quilt from Quilt it out

Fabric Tuesday #116

Wahoo!

What fabric crafty goodness are you up to? Making Christmas gifts?  Please link up, invite your friends too!

Studiolo Insect embroidery quilt...

Casey from Studioloblog submitted this awesomely embroidered quilt. We love it! That is a ton of embroidery with a great technique! Casey blogs here, she loves art history, quilting and design, she plans to start her own pattern company early next year! I think this quilt is very unique and fun !  

I have been itching to show this quilt top since I started it…er…last summer.

 This weekend I finally put in the final stitches, and I have to admit that I’m quite pleased.  More importantly, my son Julian is pleased, since this quilt is for him.  Which is why the appliques are of dandelions and bees. Luckily, his little brother Simon asked for nice, streamlined sharks for his quilt!

Because of the intricacy of the silhouettes (antennae, anyone?) the shapes had to be done in raw edge applique.  I don’t really want them to fray over time, though, so I had to be inventive in how I applied them.  I’m terrible at machine applique, and I don’t really like the way it looks on my machine at home, so I ended up doing the whole thing by hand.  I fused the shapes to the background and then blanket stitched around them with clear thread.  To protect the edges, I then chain stitched around them with embroidery thread.

I’m not sure if this will work to protect the edges a bit and prevent them from fraying, but the embroidery will at least ensure that the outlines of the silhouettes remain crisp.

I haven’t come across this technique in my research on-line, and I’m thinking it will turn out to have been either brilliant or really, really stupid.  Once I’ve washed the quilt a few times, I’ll let you know how it turned out.  I can at least say that the process of hand-stitching was enjoyable, if slow.  I hope I don’t have to applique any more insects for a while, though.

Which Way Quilt from ...just quilts

Great quilt today from Steffi of ...just quilts.  LOVE the colors, she speaks my language!!  She's got some really fun projects, I love this Fabric House she posted a couple weeks ago.  Make sure to stop by ...just quilts for some inspiration!

Yesterday I finished the hand quilting and binding on the "Which Way?" quilt. For the binding I chose a grey fabric with a white polka dot pattern because I thought the rest of the quilt is colorful enough.

 

If you are new to this blog: welcome, it´s nice to have you here! :-) 

(Of course it´s nice to have my regular readers here, too!)

And if you are interested in the tutorial for this little quilt, you can find ithere.

 For the binding I used a new to me technique. First I sewed it onto the front as usual. Then I turned and pressed it to the back. and using a fancy machine stitch sewed it in place from the front.

 The back looks like this:

 Not bad, I think. And very much more quick than hand sewing it to the back. I don´t know if I would do it on a heirloom bed quilt, but for me it´s okay with this little wall hanging.

Now the quilt hangs in a little corner of our living room.

Fab Tues and Block of the Month

Fabric Tuesday! 

and

Block of the Month 

We've been posting our Block of the Month the first Monday of the month.  This Monday however Heather and I were together (YAY!) and wouldn't you know it, we completely forgot!  So today we'll share our blocks for December; theme STAR:

Heather's Block

12" x 12"

Braced Star page 53

Fabric: Ooh La La from Michael Miller

Megan's Block

12" x 12"

Eight Hands Around page 101

Fabric: Backyard Baby from Michael Miller

These are my blocks thus far, from left to right, top to bottom, March-December.

For more on our Block of the Month see here.

January's Theme: Squares and Rectangles

Fabric Tuesday #115

Wahoo!

What fabric crafty goodness are you up to? Making Christmas gifts?  Please link up, invite your friends too!

Flutter Giveaway

I know we've been pretty giveaway happy lately, but when we have the chance to give away fabric to our lovely readers we can't pass it up!!  We all love free fabric right??

Well Amanda Herring aka The Quilted Fish is an amazing designer for Riley Blake.  She also happens to be one of the nicest most giving people we've met in this business!  She spent the better part of her afternoon talking Heather and I through the details of market, her help was priceless.  And all out of the kindness of her heart.

Her newest fabric line is called Flutter.  Have you seen it?

I'm loving those deep hues.

THE GIVEAWAY

Amanda is generously giving away a Rolie Polie (2.5" strips) and 10" stacker!  Oh the fun to be had!

How can you win?

Let's be simple again.

1 entry to follow The Quilted Fish on facebook comment what'd you'd like to make if you win

1 entry to follow Quilt Story on facebook comment and tell us your favorite Christmas candy!!

Good luck!

This giveaway is now closed.

The Quilted Castle Giveaway winner!

Thanks again to The Quilted Castle for their awesome quilt kit giveaway!! Woot woot!  Be sure to stop by their shop for some darling fabrics!

And congrats Jenelle, lucky #2!

Jenelle said...

This is tough choice, :) but I think I might like the schooner blue just a touch more. It's such a gorgeous line and either colorway would make a lovely quilt. Thanks for the chance!

NOVEMBER 29, 2012 12:41 AM 

Holiday Tutorial Series...In Color Order

We had Pennie from Tuppence Hapenny Quilts scheduled, but do to a family situation, she wasn't able to get it together. We wish her well.

I decided to repost this darling tutorial from In Color Order from last years Holiday tutorial series...

Fabric Embellished Dish Towels

Hi, I'm Jeni! :) A big thank you to Heather and Megan for having me here today! I blog at In Color Order, about my sewing adventures, thrifting finds, and pet bunny George! I have been trying every holiday season to make as many gifts as I can, but my budget is still small! I picked up these plain dish towels on clearance last year and have been saving them for the right project! These embellished towels don't cost a lot of time or money but look awfully sweet!

This is a super quick, scrappy project, if you know the basics of using a sewing machine, you can make them! I'm showing you how to embellish towels three different ways, but the possibilities are endless! Here are the three we'll be making:

The Patchwork Towel

The Strip Towel

The Hexagon Towel

My towels are 18"x24", I added the fabric embellishment across the short edge. You can add or subtract patchwork or hexagons to accommodate your towels! If you're super ambitious you could make your own towels, linen ones would be especially lovely! The Purl Bee has a great Quick Dish Towel Tutorial! Now, let'sget started!

Materials
- Fabric scraps
- Plain dish towels
- Coordinating thread
- 1" paper piecing hexagons (I print my own here, just put 1" in hexagon size)
- Water soluble pen (optional)

Seam Allowances: 1/4"

For the Strip Towel, Cut:
- (3) 1.5"x18.5" strips

For the Patchwork Towel, cut:
- (9) 2.5"x3.5" pieces

For the Hexagon Towel, cut:
- (11) 2.5" squares


1. Assemble your fabric into a strip.

For Patchwork: Sew together all 9 pieces into a long strip, along the 3.5" sides. Press.

For Strips: Sew together all 3 strips, along the long sides. Press.

For Hexagons: Create hexagons and stitch together in a long strip. For more on paper-piecing hexagons, I recommend this tutorial!



2. For Patchwork or Strip towels, turn under 1/4" on all four sides. My trick for making this easier, is to draw a line 1/2" from the edge with my water soluble pen, then fold the raw edge against that lines. Helps you get a straighter fold!

For Hexagons: Press your strip gently, then remove your basting threads and the papers. Press again. 



3. Now it's time to pin your pieced fabrics to the bottom edge of the towel! Carefully topstitch around all the edges. For the hexagons especially, take advantage of the needle-down function on your machine so that you can pivot easily! :)


Voila, you're done! These would make a great holiday gift on their own or along with a cookbook or some cute spatulas/spoons!

Enjoy!