July's Block!

 

It's so hard to believe that it's July! It has been a dryer week so far and I'm so happy to see the sunshine. Hubby spent the weekend fortifying our garden fence while I replanted green beans. I think it's the bunnies that are enjoying the fresh vegetable plants. I've never in my life bought green bean plants, I've always planted by seed, but I am determined to have fresh green beans this year. I've given up on kohlrabi... this year and I'm starting to question how much I'll really get out of the garden. We've had so much rain that the plants were drowning before the sun came out this week. I am truly hoping that I'm swamped with produce by September. I enjoy canning tomatoes and stocking up our freezer with veggies. I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

July is a fun busy month, we have the 4th of July, our wedding anniversary and our family vacation. I know that summertime is busy for everyone! So, we only have one snowman block this month so that you have time for all the other stuff. 

Here's a quick recap, if you are just discovering this year's block of the month, it’s sort of a mystery and I am encouraging everyone to use fabric from their stash. You will want the same background color for the quilt to tie it all together but, other than that the sky’s the limit. So, to begin with go dig thru your fabric stash and look for the following. 

Fabric Requirements

Blue background fabric- 2 yards

white fabric (snowman faces) - 1/2 yard

green (trees) - 3/4 yard

pieced border - red- 3/4-yard, pink - 1/2-yard, light green- 1/2-yard, light blue- 3/4-yard

orange- snowman noses

scrappy hats- 10 plus fat quarters or a combination of fat quarters and fat eights in a variety of colors such as red, blue, yellow, pink, green, purple. 

Now let's get stitching!

Snowman Hat Rectangle- Sew a background 2” square onto the top two corners right sides together corner to corner. Trim excess fabric leaving a ¼” seam. Press.

Trace 1 noses onto the paper side of the Heat N bond fusible web. (Or whatever fusible brand you prefer) Iron onto the back side of the orange fabric. Cut out all the carrot noses. Iron on carrot nose onto the snowman block using the quilt on the front cover for placement. Applique stitch using orange or brown thread around the raw edges of the carrot design. I like to use a small buttonhole stitch.

July's Block

We will wait until the quilt is completed and then quilted before we put on the snowman faces, which will use either buttons or yo-yos.

 

Tell your friends! Spread the word! Post the button on your blog!

 Each month's pattern is a free PDF instant download. If you miss a month, the patterns are available for $2.50 on my website and also in my Etsy shop.  

If you don't have a printer, you can purchase a PRINTED copy of the monthly patterns.

HERE

 There's also a Facebook Group, please join and post your progress! It's also fun to see everyone else progress too! Make sure to post your blocks so far! 

 I hope that you have a wonderful day and find some time to stitch.

Have a wonderful day,

Cindy, Josephine & Bonaparte

~ Bonaparte~ 
(Bonaparte's nickname is 'Bone')

June's Block

 

Happy belated June! Life has been crazy as usual, so please accept my apology for the late post. I didn't do a good job managing my time this week! On that note, since it's summer and summers are typically a busy time for everyone, we will do only one snowman block each month for the next few months.  

It has been raining like crazy here! Inches at a time and I have been struggling to get our garden in. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I will get it done by this weekend! I've had the plants ready to plant the last week... I'm planting tomatoes, peppers, kohlrabi and squash. Our usual favorites... 

To add to our chaotic home, we are adding a new furry friend. A sweet mahogany and white basset hound puppy who we've named Bonaparte. As you read this, keep your fingers crossed and send positive vibes that Josephine and Bonaparte get along. We're excited to pick up our new puppy tomorrow, his mother was Belvedere's sister. We love that connection. The timing for a new puppy isn't great with scheduled vacations etc. but we didn't want to miss the opportunity to have first pick of this litter. Bonaparte won't be old enough to go to our dog sitter's home on vacation (I call it puppy spa week), so sweet Bonaparte will be traveling with us until he gets all his shots. 

Here's a quick recap, if you are just discovering this year's block of the month, it’s sort of a mystery and I am encouraging everyone to use fabric from their stash. You will want the same background color for the quilt to tie it all together but, other than that the sky’s the limit. So, to begin with go dig thru your fabric stash and look for the following. 

Fabric Requirements

Blue background fabric- 2 yards

white fabric (snowman faces) - 1/2 yard

green (trees) - 3/4 yard

pieced border - red- 3/4-yard, pink - 1/2-yard, light green- 1/2-yard, light blue- 3/4-yard

orange- snowman noses

scrappy hats- 10 plus fat quarters or a combination of fat quarters and fat eights in a variety of colors such as red, blue, yellow, pink, green, purple. 

Now let's get stitching!

Snowman Hat Rectangle- Sew a background 2” square onto the top two corners right sides together corner to corner. Trim excess fabric leaving a ¼” seam. Press.

Trace 1 noses onto the paper side of the Heat N bond fusible web. (Or whatever fusible brand you prefer) Iron onto the back side of the orange fabric. Cut out all the carrot noses. Iron on carrot nose onto the snowman block using the quilt on the front cover for placement. Applique stitch using orange or brown thread around the raw edges of the carrot design. I like to use a small buttonhole stitch.

~ Block #11 ~

We will wait until the quilt is completed and then quilted before we put on the snowman faces, which will use either buttons or yo-yos.

 

Tell your friends! Spread the word! Post the button on your blog!

 Each month's pattern is a free PDF instant download. If you miss a month, the patterns are available for $2.50 on my website and also in my Etsy shop.  

If you don't have a printer, you can purchase a PRINTED copy of the monthly patterns.

HERE

 There's also a Facebook Group, please join and post your progress! It's also fun to see everyone else progress too! Make sure to post your blocks so far! 

I'm now off to gather all the puppy stuff so I have everything ready for Bonaparte. I hope that you have a wonderful day and find some time to stitch.

Have a wonderful day,

Cindy, Josephine & Bonaparte

~ Bonaparte ~

On The Road Again Blog Hop

Welcome! Today is the first day of the On The Road Again Blog Hop! I have several fun designs that come to mind for this fun road trip! Let's start with one of my favorites, Belvedere's Bel Air... I was fortunate to get to know my great grandparents growing up. They were the sweetest couple. I know they had what I thought was a 'cool' car for the time, but I really don't know what kind they had... I don't know if they ever owned a Bel Air, but it's the kind of car I imagine them driving so I thought it would be fun to draw a Holiday design with Belvedere at the wheel. He was such a sweet goofy dog I certainly can imagine him bringing home a Christmas tree. There might even be some gifts boxes in the trunk including some squeaky toys for his doggie friends, Lola and Maddie.

When I do machine fusible applique I play around with stitch length and width on scrap fabric before I begin to make sure I like the stitch setting for the design I'm working on. For this design I used a 2.5 x 2.5 setting for stitch width and length. You may like a different setting based on your machine so play around and stitch on some scrap fabric and see what you like.

On the Belvedere's Bel Air design, I used a dark brown thread to stitch around the tree, Belvedere, tires, windows, bumpers, and the turquoise section of the car.

I used white thread to stitch around the bottom white section of the car.

~Belvedere's Bel Air ~

The car can be any color, red, blue, green. I made my car turquoise; I thought it was a fun retro color for an old car. I then sew on buttons for the car's hubcaps using a matching car color. The tree can be left plain but I like the added red button decorations. I used a black pearl cotton to stitch a French knot for Belvedere's eye. I used a satin stitch for his nose. I think this design would be super cute on a table runner or made into a pillow for the holidays.

 I made an adorable Farm Delivery table runner. This basic runner pattern without the applique can be found on my website as a free download. I really like how versatile this table runner pattern is... I love the 12" plain block to feature any applique design in. I love that I can switch up the fabrics and have a totally different look for a different occasion. 

For this table runner I used scraps from my scrap basket and found the perfect fabrics for the applique design. For the table runner I used my Bonnie and Camille fabric. 

Here I am sewing on a scrappy binding that I made out of all my little bits that were left over from a quilt I made. 

It's not often that I actually use any of my creations. Many of my items end up in the trunk show to never be used since I can't risk getting them stained or mucked up. But I actually made this runner for myself!

You can see how I just did a meander for the background quilting.

In the plain square blocks, I quilted a sweet little flower. I'm very pleased with the results.

It just tickles me pink knowing I was able to whip this project up with just bits and pieces I had left over from other projects! This design can also be done with wool for you wool workers out there. I think it would be adorable!

Free Table Runner Pattern can be found
HERE

 I hope that you enjoy my fun appliques. They are available on the Quilt Doodle Website and also in my Etsy store, or a quilt store near you!

Hope you have a great day! Below is the complete listing for the blog hop, I hope that you have fun visiting everyone! I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's creations!

Happy quilting,

Cindy and Josephine

MAY 20

Just Let Me Quilt

Quilt Doodle Designs (You are here!)

Karrin’s Crazy World

Sew Many Yarns

Vroomans Quilts

MAY 21

Selina Quilts

Just Sew Quilter

Kathy's Kwilts and More

Words & Stitches

High Road Quilter

 MAY 22

Ms P Designs USA

 Scrapdash

Quilting Gail

 MAY 23

MooseStashQuilting

Quilted Snail

Beaquilter

Bumbleberry Stitches

May's Blocks!

 

April showers bring May flowers, we're so happy spring is here and I'm ready to visit some greenhouses and plant some flowerpots. It's also been raining like crazy, and I would love to see the sunshine for a change. It's also been pretty busy around here with the new arrival of our newest granddaughter, she's a doll! I'm such a spoiled grandma! I get to spend time almost every day rocking her to sleep. We are smittened with miss Eleanor. I call her Ellie. Mom and dad live with us while they save and look for a house. I'm pretty lucky to be able to see Ellie every day, it's such a blessing. Now on to this month's block for the Snowman Forest BOM quilt.

Here's a quick recap, if you are just discovering this year's block of the month, it’s sort of a mystery and I am encouraging everyone to use fabric from their stash. You will want the same background color for the quilt to tie it all together but, other than that the sky’s the limit. So, to begin with go dig thru your fabric stash and look for the following.

Fabric Requirements

Blue background fabric- 2 yards

white fabric (snowman faces) - 1/2 yard

green (trees) - 3/4 yard

pieced border - red- 3/4-yard, pink - 1/2-yard, light green- 1/2-yard, light blue- 3/4-yard

orange- snowman noses

scrappy hats- 10 plus fat quarters or a combination of fat quarters and fat eights in a variety of colors such as red, blue, yellow, pink, green, purple. 

Now let's get stitching!

Snowman Hat Rectangle- Sew a background 2” square onto the top two corners right sides together corner to corner. Trim excess fabric leaving a ¼” seam. Press.

Trace 2 noses onto the paper side of the Heat N bond fusible web. (Or whatever fusible brand you prefer) Iron onto the back side of the orange fabric. Cut out all the carrot noses. Iron on carrot nose onto the snowman block using the quilt on the front cover for placement. Applique stitch using orange or brown thread around the raw edges of the carrot design. I like to use a small buttonhole stitch.

We will wait until the quilt is completed and then quilted before we put on the snowman faces, which will use either buttons or yo-yos.

 

Tell your friends! Spread the word! Post the button on your blog!

 Each month's pattern is a free PDF instant download. If you miss a month, the patterns are available for $2.50 on my website and also in my Etsy shop.  

If you don't have a printer, you can purchase a PRINTED copy of the monthly patterns.

HERE

 There's also a Facebook Group, please join and post your progress! It's also fun to see everyone else progress too! Make sure to post your blocks so far! 

I'm now off to my flower list for when I go to the greenhouse. Then I'm planning on watching some Great British Baking Show and doing some embroidery. I hope that you have a wonderful day and find some time to stitch.

Have a wonderful day,

Cindy and Josephine

Eleanor 'Ellie'

April Showers Blog Hop!

Happy Monday! Today is the first day of the April Showers Blog Hop Challenge! So glad that you are here, I hope that you have fun hopping around and seeing all the quilty fun. We have had our share of rainy weather, but we have also had some cold days too where we are lighting the fireplace and looking for our winter sweaters! Today it's a bit warmer and I'm happy to say we might make it into the 60's. I did break down and buy some pansy pots for my front entryway, but I have been having to watch the temperatures so that they don't freeze! My daffodils are blooming so I know spring will soon be here. For my project I designed a sweet highland cow adorned with flowers. This sweet cow is also spending time picking flowers from the farmers garden too! It's a fun springtime design and looks adorable on display in my kitchen. It took me an afternoon to stitch together using some scrap fabric from my bits and pieces basket... let me show you how I put it together.

I traced the Highland Cow pieces onto the paper side of my fusible web. I like to use flexifuse since it does not gum up my machine. Then I iron the shapes onto the wrong side of my fabric scraps and then cut them out using my applique scissors. Following the manufacturer's directions I iron everything in place to form the cow design.

Once everything is fused in place, I machine stitch around all of the raw edges using brown thread and a buttonhole stitch. To finish my design I raided my button jar and found the perfect buttons for the cow's eyes and flower centers.

 

~ Highland Cow ~

I think it's super cute on display on my cupboard door.

If you want to make a Highland Cow of your own, it can be found in my Etsy Shop and also on my website as a PDF download.

April Showers may bring May flowers, but this year our second granddaughter waited until April to be born, (she was due in March) So she is our sweetest little April baby! We are smittened with her and can't wait to watch our two granddaughters grow and play together. 

I hope that you have a wonderful day and spend some time stitching. Make sure to leave a sweet comment and visit all of today's blogs. The list is below.

Happy quilting,

Cindy and Josephine

Monday April 22

MooseStashQuilting

Words&Stitches

Quilting Gail

Quilt Doodle Designs (You are here!)

Kathy's Kwilts and More

 

Tuesday April 23

Karrins Crazy World

BeaQuilter

Selena Quilts

Songbird Designs

Just Sew Quilter

 

Wednesday April 24

Quilted Snail

Ms P Designs USA

 Days Filled With Joy

Quilting Between the Rails (Facebook)

Bumbleberry Stitches

 

Thursday April 25

Just Let Me Quilt

Inflorescence    

Quilted Delights

Vroomans Quilts

Scrapdash

High Road Quilter

A Quick Appliqued Apron

 Someday I hope to have some chickens, I want to be the crazy Ol lady with the hound dogs and chickens that loves to quilt. Sounds like a great retirement, doesn't it? I think it does. In the meantime, I need to be happy with visiting my sister and sister in laws chickens and live vicariously thru them. I can also make cute chicken projects.... today I wanted to show you a quick apron project. The big cheat is to run to Hobby Lobby and pick up an apron that doesn't have any design on it because you are going to applique your own design using some fabric scraps from your stash. 

I went thru my fabrics and found some perfect colors for my hen and chicks. I traced the pieces onto the paper side of my fusible web for applique. I like to use Flexifuse because it doesn't gum up my needle on my machine.

Here's the apron I found at Hobby Lobby; I'll give it a good press to get the wrinkles out.

 I then cut out the shapes and pair them with the fabrics.

Press the shapes onto the back side of your fabric.

Then cut all the shapes out and lay them onto your project following the placement sheet or pattern photo. I'm centering the design on the front of the apron above the pocket. Press the design in place following the manufacturer's directions.

I traced a third chick and have placed it on the lower corner of the apron as a cute little added detail.

Using my sewing machine, I applique around the edge using a dark brown thread.

The final touch is to embroider eyes onto the Mama Hen and Chicks. I'm using a double strand of pearl cotton.

~ Hen and Chicks Apron ~

This pattern can be found in my Etsy Shop and also on the Website as a PDF download. It's a fun design for all year round. I bet you even have fabric scraps that would work for this sweet design. I was also thinking, you could make these birds bright and colorful too! Let your imagination go and have some fun! I made mine white to look like a Plymouth Rock, but you can switch up the colors to look like your favorite mama chicken. 

Have a wonderful day!

Cindy & Josephine

Mama Hen and Chicks

 It's the time of year that little chicks start to show up at the farm supply stores. They are adorable bundles of fluff. When the kids were young their auntie brought some of her baby chicks and ducks to an Easter celebration for the little ones to see. The kids were so excited to hold the baby chicks, such a sweet memory. Let me introduce you to a new applique design featuring a mama hen and her chicks. It's a great size for a tea towel but can be used in a variety of ways. It would make a cute bench pillow or table runner too! Let me show you how I stitched it together.

I went thru my fabrics and found some perfect colors for my hen and chicks. I traced the pieces onto the paper side of my fusible web for applique. I like to use Flexifuse because it doesn't gum up my needle on my machine. I then cut out the shapes and pair them with the fabrics.

I then will iron, press the shapes onto the back of the fabric.

Then cut all the shapes out and lay them onto your project following the placement sheet or pattern photo. I'm putting the hen and chicks on a tea towel for in my kitchen.

Press the design in place following the manufacturer's directions.

Using my sewing machine, I applique around the edge using a dark brown thread.

The final touch is to embroider eyes onto the Mama Hen and Chicks. I'm using a double strand of pearl cotton.

~ Mama Hen and Chicks ~

This pattern can be found in my Etsy Shop and also on the Website as a PDF download. It's a fun design for all year round. I bet you even have fabric scraps that would work for this sweet design. I was also thinking, you could make these birds bright and colorful too! Let your imagination go and have some fun! I made mine golden to look like a Buff Orpington, but you can switch up the colors to look like your favorite mama chicken. 

Have a wonderful day!

Cindy & Josephine