Minnesota Winter Wonderland QAL-August

Do you have a 'Sweet Tooth', I know I sure do! Every Christmas I make several batches of homemade caramel. Love caramel, so yummy. My nieces and nephews help me wrap  the caramel, they enjoy the samples while they wrap away. This month's strip is a row of wrapped candy. So what kind of candy will you have? Caramel, homemade taffy, butterscotch buttons or cinnamon red hot disks? Have fun with this month's section.

You can make all the candies with the same fabric, or mix it up and make each wrapper a different color. For my candies I used a red strip since I wrap my caramels in pretty wax paper for the holidays. I have also decided to make the background scrappy using two blue fabrics of the same hue.

 

The fabrics I have chosen to do my 'Sweet Tooth' strip with...

Using a pen or pencil, draw a line from corner to corner.
 Pair with a blue background square,
right sides together, sew a scant
1/4" seam on each side of the line.

With your rotary cut, cut from corner to corner,
 then cut from corner to corner again. 

From one block your will get 8 triangle sections.

From these eight sections,  sew together 4 hour glass blocks.
Square them up to measure 2 1/2" square.  I had to pay attention
to the stripes in my fabric when piecing together my hour glass blocks.

I laid my blocks out alternating the direction of my stripe
on my 'candy' blocks (hour glass blocks) 

Following the strip layout it's time to piece your strip together. 

'Sweet Tooth'
August's section

If you blog about it, please email me a link so that I can attach it to the Pinterest Board I have going for the Minnesota Winter Wonderland QAL. Remember you can post your pictures to Instagram and tag me @quiltdoodledesigns and also use the hashtag quiltdoodledesignsQAL

I'm off to get ready for quilt retreat! Can't wait to spend some time with my mom and sister and do some quilting. It'll be fun to see all my retreat quilt buddies.

Happy Quilting,

Cindy and Belvedere

Hanging Matters...

Last weekend I bought a new/used china hutch. Those of you who know me, understand my dish fetish. I love china and dishes and my hutches, yes, hutches, were packed and stacked to the limit. So when I spied a hutch for sale that was a bit bigger and I felt was perfect, at a steal of a price, I grabbed it! My husband and younger son were sweet to move furniture around in the dining room after I emptied all of my dishes, china and glassware out of my hutches. This also meant moving my buffet and the lovely quilt I have hanging above it. I had originally hung this quilt up with some straight pins from my sewing room. Those of you who have hung quilts this way may have also noticed the weight of the quilt puts stress on the 'hanging' points where the pins are. It's not a great way to hang a quilt. I didn't want a permanent hanging rail put up since I like to have the freedom to move things around. So it dawned on me to use my hanging method I do at some shows I've displayed at.  All you need are some Command Hooks and curtain rings with clips. 

I love how this is an easy method using inexpensive products that can be found at your local hardware or grocery store.

I measured my quilt so I had an idea how far apart to place the hooks. Then following the package directions I attach the Command hooks to the wall.

I then clip the rings onto the top of my quilt. I really just eyeballed it...

Then with my hubby's help, we hung the quilt up. It took a little adjusting to get it centered and hanging flat.

I am really thrilled with the results. You can see in the picture I have hung my hooks up flush with the molding. I love that I can now easily switch out display quilts with the seasons. Although, this is one of my favorite quilts, it's an Art to Heart design from years ago. I made it while at my first quilt retreat with my mom and sisters. 

This method can also be used if you have a hanging sleeve. Just make sure to get Command hooks that can handle the weight of the quilt and a dowel for hanging. The hook will also need to be big enough to hold the dowel. 

So that's my handy dandy tip for the day. 

It's raining here in Minnesota, so I'm off to do some quilting on this lazy day.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Happy quilting,

Cindy and Belvedere

Did you know, I also have Ackfeld hangers in my Etsy shop! They are also perfect for hanging mini quilts!

Check it out HERE

August's Block is Out! Snow Much Fun BOM...

Happy August everyone! It's hard to think about winter and seems like so long ago now.  I've got a super cute block to share with you this month, it features a snowman and a sweet little hound dog. This last winter was Belvedere's first and I have to say he didn't mind the snow too much as long as it wasn't sub zero temperatures. Belvedere saw the world as a giant snow cone when he went outside. He enjoyed eating fresh snow and didn't seem to be too concerned about deep snowdrifts. This surprised me since he's got such short stubby little legs. There were times I would just see the top of his head and the tip of his tail as he plowed thru fluffy snowdrifts.

For this month I came up with a sweet snowman pulling his dog on a sled. I had Belvedere in mind when I drew this design up. Basset Hounds are known to 'poop' out on long walks and will melt into the sidewalk when they are done with their walk. It doesn't matter where in the walk you are, you could be blocks from home. Belvedere pulled this stunt when he didn't want to come inside recently. He melted himself to the back patio and there was no moving him until he was good and ready. I'm sure this will also hold true this winter. A sled will come in handy because I'm sure I can get Belvedere on a sled if a treat is involved. My sweet hound dog has a lot of 'bassitude'.

 This is the last applique design you will be doing for this year's BOM. It's hard to believe we are already this far with the quilt! The design is placed on a pieced on point quilt block. 

The on point quilt block will be used for the May thru August applique designs. So let's get started.... First go to my website and download this month's free directions. Remember it's only FREE this month, then there will be a small 2.99 fee after that. So download and print it up NOW even if you don't expect to get to it yet.

Here I have the design elements traced and ironed onto my fabric scraps. I then cut them all out.

Using the block picture as reference I have the pieces placed on the block. I then iron them in place.

After I stitch around the pieces I use a pencil and lightly mark the snowman's face so that I can embroider it with French knots. I have laid the carrot nose on the design to use as a reference for the eye and mouth placement. 

I have also drawn the sled rails so that I can embroider them using a backstitch.

I'm in love with this sweet little hound dog...

~Let's Go Sledding~

To finish this cute design, I embellished my design with some special buttons from Just Another Button Company. I do have these buttons available in my Etsy Shop. Pattern can be found on the Quilt Doodle Designs Website. It's a Free download this month only.  I will not be sewing my buttons onto my quilt top until after I have it all done and quilted. I will also be offering some extra postings for you wool workers out there too! This BOM will be offered the first of every month. Like always, it's FREE for the month that the block is out, then there's a small fee if you have to play catch up to get the block. 

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

If you would like to post this image on your website or blog to spread the word. Please grab the image above and link it to my blog.

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Christmas In July

Welcome! Today is my day and I have a project to show you that I started years ago. I mean y-e-a-r-s ago. Let me tell you the story because there's always a story.... about a kazillion years ago in my time, my sisters and mom came and visited me here in the twin cities and we went 'shop hopping'. I took them to a couple of my favorite places. Needle punch was new, or at least new to us. Our first stop that day was to Eagle Creek Quilt Shop and they had a whole needle punch section. My sister Stef fell in love with a set of ornaments. So I asked 'how easy is needle punch' and the staff smiled and said, "Here, pull up a chair, can we get you a cup of coffee? Let's show you how to needle punch" It was so sweet, we had a little needle punch class while drinking our cups of coffee. I just love how helpful the staff is there. I have never forgotten their kindness. I refer people their direction all the time. Needless to say I went back to the shop the next week to purchase everything I needed to make those adorable ornaments for my sister. My plan was to make them for her birthday, which was in December. I had three months to get them done. Well, that was over ten years ago.... mom tells me it was 14 years ago.  hummmmmm I missed my original goal sadly, but I'm happy to say I'm ready for her birthday for this year and she's gonna love them!!!!

I spent my rainy day at the cabin working on my ornaments. I had a lot of needle punching to do!

The pattern that I used is by Brenda Gervais from 'With Thy Needle and Thread' 
Pattern is called 'Three Lit'l Mittens'

This is such a sweet pattern, the ornaments are adorable.

The wonky little snowman makes me giggle.

I love the classic look of the tree design.

Here are four of the ornaments I made for my sister. I actually made two of each design for her. I think she's going to really love them.  Shhhhh… it's a secret so don't tell Stef that I made these for her..... wink.... wink...….

I love joining these hops because it gives me a deadline to get a project or two done. I also find it fun to hop around and see what everyone accomplished. I always find everyone's project inspiring. So grab a cup of  coffee, or ice tea and have fun checking out all the great projects. 

July 23

Creatin' in the Sticks

MooseStashQuilting

Lily Patch Quilts

Adventurous Applique and Quilting

Melva Loves Scraps

Sew Many Yarns

Cynthia's Creating Ark

July 24

Wont-To-Be-Quilter

Words & Stitches

Home Sewn By Us

Desert Sky Quilting

Thimblemouse and Spouse

Seams To Be Sew

Clever Chameleon Quilting

July 25

Quilt Doodle Designs (You are here!)

Kwilty Pleasures

Creative Blonde

Just Because Quilts

Vicki's Crafts and Quilting

Quilter in Motion

Made By Marney

July 26

Quarter Inch Crafter

Marjorie's Busy Corner

Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats

Ms P Designs USA

Selina Quilts

Beaquilter

Mountain Quiltworks

July 27

Life in the Scrapatch

Quilt n Party

Days Filled With Joy

Quilt Fabrication

All Thingz Sewn

Sew Golden A Chance

Just Let Me Quilt

Happy Quilting!

Cindy and Belvedere