Here Comes the Sun Blog Hop! It's my day!!!

~ Josephine ~

It's been a while since I've been in a blog hop! It was so much fun to create something for this hop! The complete list of participants can be found at the end of this posting. I hope that you are able to visit them all! Today is my day to show you a fun project that is Josephine inspired! Who is Josephine you ask; well, she is my little side-kick. She's a beautiful black and white basset hound with a bunch of attitude. She certainly keeps me on my toes! She's five months old and is a little spitfire. She loves basking in the sunshine every moment she gets. In fact she will come to a dead stop during a walk and lay down in a sunny spot to bask in the sunshine. I do too if time allows (but not during our walks). I bought myself an inflatable kiddie pool to float in with my frozen cocktail. Now to be fair it does list adults too on the box. The UPS man will be delivering it sometime on Friday. It's been insanely hot here in Minnesota so I'm looking forward to a few lazy afternoons laying in my little pool! LOL!!! I have reached the age of, 'I don't care what the neighbors think'..... hubby just laughs.

I have a couple projects to show you that I made for this blog hop. Downloadable PDF patterns for both can be found in my Etsy Shop.  First, I made a garden flag to fly by my front door! It was easy and fun to make and shows off that little Josephine lives here with a big splash of color! Let me show you how I put it together....

I am using my Season Sampler Fabrics, some black fabric and a little bit of cream and a cream print, all from Marcus Fabrics. You will also need a half yard of blue fabric for your garden flag. Other items you will need are some fusible web, rotary cutter, applique scissors, thread and some uninterrupted time with your sewing machine!

From the half yard of blue, cut a rectangle 13" x WOF.  With right sides together, sew a quarter inch seam all around leaving a 4" space to turn right side out. Iron.

Topstitch on all sides an eighth inch seam using matching thread.

Fold over the top edge to the back 2 1/2" and then topstitch along the edge to create a hanging sleeve.

Trace the design shapes onto the paper side of your fusible web and pair with the different colors of fabric. Iron the shapes onto the backside of your fabric following manufacturers directions.

With your applique scissors, cut all the shapes out.

Following the placement picture, assemble the design. Some of the shapes will overlap. I placed Josephine and the sunshine about a half inch in from the sides and the seam from the top hanging sleeve. I left a few inches from the bottom edge.

I felt like my garden flag needed a little more color so I added a strip of binding a couple inches from the edge. I stitched a quarter inch seam on the raw edge of my seam binding and then ironed the strip to cover the raw edge and then topstitched on both sides of the binding with a decorative stitch.

I then took my flag over to my sewing machine and stitched along the design edges using a straight stitch. (The picture of the finished flag shows this.) You can also stitch along the raw edge using a blanket stitch too!

I then decided this would make an adorable mug rug! So I made a mug rug, the finished size is 12" x 8 1/2". I sized the design down a little bit to fit on a 12" x 8 1/2" blue fabric rectangle. 

I layered the front with the backing and some leftover batting from a larger quilt. Using brown thread, I top stitched around all of the raw edges using a buttonhole stitch.  I had fun quilting the sun's rays. I enjoy making mug rugs and trying out different free motion quilting ideas. It's a great way to practice free motion quilting if you are new to machine quilting. I then squared my mug rug up and added a bright summertime binding.

The mug rug is Josephine approved!

I love the bright pop of color the garden flag adds to my front yard!

I would also like to let you know about a little giveaway I'm doing. Follow me, leave me a sweet comment, pin this posting to Pinterest, share to your Facebook for chances to WIN! I am giving away a fat quarter bundle of 6 of my Season Sampler fabrics to one lucky winner! Winner will be announced June 30th.

Thank you for visiting today! The complete list of bloggers is listed below! Have fun hopping!!!

Have a wonderful day!

Cindy and Josephine

June 20

Creatin' in the Sticks

Becky's Adventures in Quilting and Travel

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

For The Love Of Geese

That Fabric Feeling

 

June 21

MooseStashQuilting

Inflorescence

Ms P Designs USA

Quilting Gail

Vroomans Quilts

 

June 22

Samelia's Mum

Beaquilter

Karrin's Crazy World

Selina Quilts

Scrapdash

 

June 23

Quilt Doodle Designs (You are here!)

Patchouli Moon Studio

Karen's Korner

Homespun Hannah's Blog

Days Filled With Joy

 

June 24

Just Let Me Quilt

Vicki's Crafts and Quilting

Quilted Delights

Quilt Schmilt

Lynn's Blog

Kathy's Kwilts and More