October's Block ~ Snowmen!

Snowmen! I love snowmen!

This month’s block is pretty easy peasy compared with past months, but we are slowing getting to the end of the year. This month we will make four snowmen. They will be our corner blocks for the border. To make their sweet little faces we will sew on buttons for their eyes and mouth. (Button kits are available to purchase in my Etsy shop) Remember, you don't sew on all of the buttons until after your quilt is quilted. I appliquéd the snowmen noses, but you can use a carrot shaped button if you would like.

Have fun with this block. You will be able to get these done easily in an afternoon.

You get to make four of these sweet snowman blocks.

I have all of my pieces ready to go to assemble my snowman blocks...

I was such a lucky girl, I got to use my mom's new sewing machine.

It's the Cadillac of sewing machines and has a handy dandy laser light to help you line your blocks up while sewing. So slick! There's no guessing here!

This picture shows my corner to corner seams to form the snowman block.

Trim away the excess fabric and then iron... to the dark side.

I appliqued the noses onto the center of the block.

The button eyes and mouth won't be sewn on until after I have

my quilt quilted.

The pattern can be found for FREE this month in my Craftsy Shop and also on my website. Also, if you ever need to find past blocks or tutorials, I have a tab at the top of my blog labeled 2016 BOM that you can click on to get links to all past blog postings for this quilt. A complete listing of fabric supplies can be found on my website, Craftsy Shop and also under the 2016 BOM tab on my blog. Remember to post pictures of your progress on Instagram #quiltdoodledesignsBOM2016 (you can also tag me at Quilt Doodle Designs) There is also a flickr group you can join and post pictures. I love seeing pictures of what you guys are doing with the Tis the Season patterns. It is soooo much fun to see the quilt made in different fabrics! Love it!

Button packs are available in my Etsy Shop. I have packaged the button packs a couple of different ways. Either as one big pack with everything in it or individually for each design/row.



I hope that you have fun making this block this month. Remember to post those pictures!

 Happy Quilting!

Cindy

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Applique and a Glue Stick

I have a new favorite product that I use for applique and it has been so helpful as I work on my Dear Jane quilt. It's a handy dandy glue stick that I picked up from Missouri Star Company. It's called Lapel Stick from BandK Enterprises, now you need to know I am in no way being paid or reimbursed for my opinion on this product. I'm sharing it with you because I really do love using it and it has made hand appliqueing some of these blocks so much easier! There are many products out there and I'm sure they work just as good and if they help you in your quilting journey, then use them! The technique I am showing you today is like freezer paper applique. Instead of using freezer paper I am using just plain old paper from my computer that I traced my shapes onto for my Dear Jane quilt. (Which I have been slowly working on.... I may get it done before I turn 100 years old)

I cut my paper shape out and I use this handy dandy

glue stick to 'glue' my fabric onto my paper foundation piece.

I love that there are no basting stitches!

I then will hand applique the shape into place on my block.

I then trim away the excess fabric on the back side leaving about a

1/4 seam from my hand stitching.

This will expose the paper foundation piece that I glued my fabric to.

I then pull the paper out. Don't worry about the glue residue.

It is water soluble.

My block is finished! woot woot!

I used this technique on these Dear Jane blocks!

 I hope that this little tutorial and hint helps you out when you do applique. Using the water soluble glue stick is a handy dandy alternative to basting your fabric onto freezer paper. It has sure helped me out with my Dear Jane journey. Those of you that follow me on Instagram have been seeing some of my progress as I work on my blocks. I am fascinated with the Jane Sickle quilt and love to see other Janiacs finish their quilts.

Have a great quilty day!

Happy quilting,

Cindy

An Adorable Fox!

I've been having fun working on some projects using my applique designs on something other than tea towels. So today I'm going to share with you a fun project! A super easy project! An insulated pot holder! Now this is not your loop de loop type of pot holder like we made at girl scout camp or home ec class.... although those are cute too. No, this is an adorable fox pot holder that would be adorable to have for when you go camping or up north to the cabin. It would be a sweet hostess gift for your cabin loving friends too! My grandma used to have cute pot holders on display in her kitchen hanging on a hooks near her stove. She didn't usually use them, they were for decoration because they were so adorable. What happened to those days? Let's put some potholders on display again just because they are cute! 

I used this years Minnesota Shop Hop fabrics. I had leftover pieces left in my layer cake that I bought. I picked out two 10" squares for the front and back of my potholder. Then I traced my fox pieces out onto my heat n bond lite and ironed them onto my fabric pieces for my design. Cut them out and ironed them onto the front square for my potholder. I ironed my design on at an angle so when the potholder hangs from the corner loop the design will be 'upright'. I then layered my backing, batting and front together to make a batting sandwich. I used Insul-Bright Needlepunched Insulated Lining for my 'batting' for my quilted Garden Visitor potholder. You can find Insul-Bright at most quilt shops, Walmart, Connecting Threads etc.

Using brown thread and my machine's buttonhole stitch, I machine applique around the design, sewing through all three layers. A quick way to quilt your potholder!

I've got all the applique done in this picture. I'm ready to sew on the binding.

I sewed on the binding by machine and added a loop for hanging. If you leave the loop off, it makes a really cute trivit. (Although I would never want to put a hot pot on it!)

Now onto the fun part! Let's sew on the buttons for the fox's eye's and nose. I also add buttons for the flowers center, yo-yo's would also look cute! I couldn't just stop there, I added a yo-yo to the hanging loop.

I love how my potholder turned out! I don't think I can give it away, it's mine!

I hope that you take some time to make some potholders. Have some fun! It's a great way to use up some leftover pieces of fabrics from those bigger projects. My quick potholder tutorial would work with any of my tea towel designs. Let's display cute potholders again like our grandma's did!

Happy quilting!

Cindy

Camper Sweet Camper!

Oh how I love when the Minnesota fabric comes out each year for the Minnesota Shop Hop. I know many devote quilters criss crossed the state to collect their stamps and Minnesota fabric. This year I didn't have a bunch of time for shop hopping, so I visited a couple of my favorite local shops and picked up just enough fabric to make a few fun projects.  I'm going to share one of them with you today. I wanted to show how you can use my applique designs on more than just tea towels! One of my favorite patterns is my 'Camper Sweet Camper'. I just love this little retro camper.How about a quick and easy cosmetic bags for traveling.

I started out with a layer cake of the 2016 Minnesota fabric...

I pulled out different fabrics that worked for my 'Camper Sweet Camper' design and traced the design out onto some heat n bond lite, ironed it onto the backside of the fabrics I choose for the design and ironed them onto a 10" square. I am soooo in love with this mosquito fabric.

I have cut 2 - 10" x 10" pieces of batting, 2 - 10" x 10" pieces of fabric for the lining, and another 10" x 10" piece of fabric for the 'back' of the bag. (Remember, I have the mosquito 10" square for the front of the bag. I am also planning on sewing a strip along the bottom of the front of the bag as an accent color. (the blue check/plaid fabric)

Then I layer the lining and front of the bag, right sides together on the batting and sew along the top of the 10" square. I then turn it right side out and iron it. This forms a finished edge across the top. Repeat this step with the lining and back of the back fabric pieces.

Here are the front and back pieces of the bag with the finished edge on the top.

Using brown thread, sew around the design pieces using your machine's buttonhole stitch. (or whatever stitch you like best for machine applique) You will sew through all three layers.

Machine applique is all done.... I have star buttons to sew in the sky instead of appliqueing the stars in my original design.

I did a simple quilting line design on the back of the bag... sorta sewing in between all of the vintage campers.

I then added a fabric accent strip along the bottom... totally optional.

I don't have a picture to show you, but I took a couple of 2" x 4" fabric pieces and doubled them up, (Sorta like a binding) and sewed am eight of an inch top stitch on each side to make a couple of tabs. These are for each side of the zipper, they are easily seen in the below photo. This is a pretty simple way to set in a zipper. Sew the finished edge along each side of the zipper setting in the 'tabs' on each side of the zipper.

In this picture you can see that I have one side sewn and the other side ready to sew, see the pins? I then also sew along the 'tabs' to secure the zipper better.

Fold the bag with the outside sides together and the zipper at the top. I also made a loop handle 18" by 4" strip of fabric that was folded and doubled over on itself lengthwise. I sewed an 1/8th of an inch on each side to give it a nice finish. (Topstitching) I made sure to have it inserted towards the top on the one side so that I would catch and sew it into place as I sewed the side seams.

  Here's a huge hint... open your zipper a little bit or at least half way. Why you ask? Well after you sew the three sides... it will be almost impossible to turn your bag inside out. It will be like trying to break into fort knox... I kid you not! Took me close to an hour to wiggle my zipper enough to get my hand in there to turn it right side out!  Anyway, sew along the sides and bottom using a quarter inch seam,  then zig zag over the raw edge to finish it off a little better on the inside.

This is an option bit, but I fold the bottom corners in on themselves  and sew across about an inch or so in to give the bag a nice bottom... it also helps to give the bag a good shape. Remember to trim the excess fabric. I also do a zig zag stitch along the raw edge.

Now it's time to embellish this cute bag with some buttons!

Maybe next year I'll hop on a bus and visit a section I haven't been to yet. It would be fun to go on a little quilting trip and visit a section of Minnesota I don't normally go to. Maybe go on one of those fun overnight shop hop bus trips. I'll have a cute Minnesota cosmetic bag to pack for the trip!

Have a great day!

Happy quilting,

Cindy

September's Block ~ Hats

It seems like an odd time of year to be working on a stocking cap block, but there have been times early in the morning while fishing we have worn them to keep from freezing to death on the boat. We once rented out a captain and his boat to go trout fishing on Lake Superior at the end if August, right before the beginning of the school year. Thank goodness to a group of fishermen who recommended to us that we wear warm clothes. (They had snowmobile suits for fishing) We quickly ran to Target and stocked up on warm clothes since I had only packed t-shirts and shorts! It was funny... we went out on the lake clad in long underwear and winter gear early that morning (stocking caps included), kept it on for most of the day while we were out on the lake.  As our ship/boat/rig whatever you want to call it came back to shore for the day, we were greeted by tourists in shorts and t-shirts. They looked at us as if we just arrived from the moon. It does get pretty cold out on Lake Superior, even in late August.

Have fun with this block.

Play around with colors and mix it up for your five blocks. The directions are for a plain stocking cap and for a striped stocking cap. It’s a good opportunity to tie some of your fabrics together for the quilt. I used up bits and pieces that were left from the other blocks.

I have all of my strips cut out for all of the hats for this section on the quilt.

I used leftover scraps from the other blocks

I 'chained' sewed from corner to corner on the 1 1/2" squares to form the hat shape.

Here I have the top of the hats all done and ready to

piece with the brim of the hat block.

Hat blocks all done! For the pom-pom on the hats you will

make yo-yo's and sew them onto the hats after your quilt is quilted.

The pattern can be found for FREE this month in my Craftsy Shop and also on my website. Also, if you ever need to find past blocks or tutorials, I have a tab at the top of my blog labeled 2016 BOM that you can click on to get links to all past blog postings for this quilt. A complete listing of fabric supplies can be found on my website, Craftsy Shop and also under the 2016 BOM tab on my blog. Remember to post pictures of your progress on Instagram #quiltdoodledesignsBOM2016 (you can also tag me at Quilt Doodle Designs) There is also a flickr group you can join and post pictures. I love seeing pictures of what you guys are doing with the Tis the Season patterns. It is soooo much fun to see the quilt made in different fabrics! Love it!

Button packs are available in my Etsy Shop. I have packaged the button packs a couple of different ways. Either as one big pack with everything in it or individually for each design/row.



There's also a handy dandy grab-able button to post on your blog to help me promote and get the word out about this fun Christmas BOM .  Please help to spread the word!

I hope that you have fun making this block this month. Remember to post those pictures!

 Happy Quilting!

Cindy

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