Yearly Archives: 2017

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Merry Christmas to all who are celebrating!

We spent Christmas morning with my mom and brother enjoying a relaxing time together. When I returned home in the mid-afternoon I fully intended to make it into the sewing room for some quality time with my sewing machine. Instead, I opted for a long walk while my kids had some rest time, and then I settled back at the puzzle table. (I also worked with my son to make his first stop-animation video. So fun! And my husband and I played two games of Pandemic. It was a lovely day.)

Last night I broke out this awesome puzzle, a gift I received from my husband for Hanukkah this year. I'm a fan of puzzles in the 500-1000 piece range that are not ridiculous (ya know, the ones where all the pieces look the same!). I'm also a big Disney fan. This stained art jigsaw puzzle is plastic, which at first I thought was kind of odd. Then I realized it was so that it really looks like stained glass. (See pic below.) The quality is top notch and the pieces "snap" together so nicely. I've made decent progress working solo on it this evening and I imagine the kids may help me tomorrow. I'll also get into the sewing room tomorrow. I don't think it'll get done, but I'd like to make more progress on my OMG for December.

What do you do to relax when you aren't sewing?

 

Now that my laptop is back, I'm back to my 31 Day Blog Writing challenge. Be sure to click through to find others who are blogging every day this month!

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A couple days ago I set out to clean my sewing room. (It desperately needs it!) Well, true to form, I got distracted. I had some mini makes in mind for January and hadn't quite decided what I was going to create or what fabric I was going to use. Well, in the process of cleaning up I had a pile of little leftover HSTs. Naturally, it's considered "cleaning" if I make that pile into one mini quilt top, right?

These were my scraps from some secret sewing I can't show you yet. ;-) Now this 8" x 10" quilt top will become a mug rug.

 

Then I picked up a bag of project scraps. You see, for a while I intended to make a block from scraps from each quilt I've ever made for an epic memory quilt. I think the idea would be fun, but after making just two blocks and them languishing in the bottom of the WIP pile, I decided that project wasn't for me. I haven't taken the time to sort those scraps (and in some cases yardage) back into my greater stash, but I have pulled from these bags on occasion for a variety of projects. And this week it hit me that I could use these bags for my mini makes.

From my Midnight Mystery project scrap bag I made this little mug rug quilt top. The Midnight Mystery quilt top was completed long ago, but apparently there aren't any pictures of it on the blog. It's quilted and sitting next to waiting to be bound.

I pulled another colorful scrap bag from the pile. This one is from my Candy Shoppe quilt. Here's the first of a few mug rugs coming from these scraps.

 

In unrelated news, my laptop is back! It's nice to have a new, dependable battery, but more exciting to me is that the space bar works! (For months the space bar has sometimes made a space, sometimes no space, and sometimes two or three spaces!)

Did you see my last post? There's a great block tutorial, and be sure to enter for the fabric giveaway!

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Welcome!

I'm so excited to be here for the Dot Crazy Blog Hop with Benartex. These vibrant, cheerful designs by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr were so fun to work with. I had a hard time narrowing down the palette since I loved all the prints! I decided to feature the Fun & Games print in blue so I could fussy cut for a kaleidoscope effect. Check out Weeks and Bill's fussy cutting video tutorial.

My table runner is made of three blocks and finished at about 10" x 30". It is quilted with 50 wt Aurifil #2600 (Dove) and features Small Dot in yellow, Jax in blue, Maze in purple, and Fun & Games in blue, all from the Dot Crazy line.

 

 

Here's a peek of the Fun & Games prints that I fussy cut for my block's centers. You could get quite a variety of centers from this one print.

 

BLOCK TUTORIAL

My 10" finished blocks are made from four identical sections. Here's how to create your own!

Fussy cut four 3 1/2" identical squares. (You'll only see about half of the print in the finished block.) Note: These squares are not cut on grain. You'll have bias edges on these squares, so take care to not stretch the fabric as you sew. New to fussy cutting? There are great tips for how to mark your ruler to help with precision in Weeks and Bill's video.

For each section of the block you'll need (1) fussy cut 3 1/2" square, (1) 4 1/2" square of background (yellow), and (2) 1 1/2" x 4 1/2" rectangles of a contrasting value/color (blue and purple). Remember, you'll need four of these sets for one finished 10" block.

Sew 1 1/2" x 4 1/2" rectangle to 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" background square. Press seams open.

Sew second 1 1/2" x 4 1/2" rectangle to unit as shown. Press seams open.

On the wrong side, mark 2" from the edge of each 1 1/2" rectangle.

Using a ruler, mark a line connecting these two dots. (Top edge of ruler shown.)

Align unit from above with fussy cut square, right sides together so edges line up as shown. Corners of fussy cut square should touch dots from previous step.

Flip over this fabrics, your marked line is your sew line. Sew on this line. Then trim 1/4" from sewn line and press seams open.

Tada! Here's the first of four sections for your block. Paying attention to placement of each fabric, make 4 identical sections. These should measure 5 1/2" square.

Putting four identical units together will create a kaleidoscopic center to your block!

 

GIVEAWAY (US addresses only) - GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED

For your chance to win a fat quarter bundle of Dot Crazy fabrics, leave any comment below. Newsletter subscribers can leave a second comment for a bonus entry. (Not a subscriber yet? Subscribe in the purple bar at the top of my blog, click to confirm your subscription in the email that comes to you, and leave a comment on this post telling me you're a new subscriber.) Entry deadline is 11:59pm EST on Tuesday, December 26. I will email the randomly selected winner and they will have 48 hours to reply with their (US) shipping address or I will select a new winner. EDIT: Angela J Short is our winner! :-)

Be sure to visit the other stops on the Dot Crazy Blog Hop:

Dot Crazy Intro and Interview @ Sew in Love with Fabric

Technique Tuesday Fussy Cutting Tutorial @ Sew in Love with Fabric

Dots Squares @ Love to Color My World

 

Thank you for visiting!

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