Garden Path

 Spring is right around the corner and I just can't wait for warmer days and watching things grow in my garden. I have been planning my garden over the last couple of weeks and have ordered seeds and also have started some seeds indoors. I've invested in some grow lights last year and I love them. Best investment ever. Gosh, Amazon has everything...

I have even wintered over a couple of container gardens that I put on display by my front door during the summer. They are full of Boston Ferns and Wandering Jew. I'm amazed the inpatients are still blooming too.  I'm feeling pretty accomplished at keeping these pots alive over the winter. Growing things indoors over the winter has been uplifting and I look forward to my flowers and vegetable plants this summer. I'm also looking forward to the arrival of the bees and hummingbirds again. While designing this quilt I thought about my love for growing things, so this nostalgic quilt features embroidered bees and various flowers and plants, there's even a garden glove. The quilt features Collectable Calicos by Laura Berringer from Marcus Fabrics. I just love the nostalgic feel of these fabrics. I even made the background scrappy using a range of cream muslins and tone on tone cream fabrics. I like how it added an extra depth to the design.

I embroidered sweet designs in the center of the double pointed Dresden plate block.

Did I tell you that I also enjoy tending to my many houseplants? One of my favorites are my Aloe plants. I have a couple of them. This block features a potted Aloe vera plant and a single garden glove. I planned a single glove since I'm always searching for the other in my gardening drawer.

Here a sweet bee is leaving a pot of flowers, on his way back to the hive.

Bees are my favorite thing to embroider... a cousin of ours is a bee keeper. 

~ Garden Path ~
70" x 82"

This beautiful quilt was quilted by Darci Read of Field Trip Quilting. Her work is amazing! I trust her with anything that I give her and am always in awe when I get a quilt back from being quilted by her. I haven't seen her in a year, only have talked thru messages and a friendly wave when I do porch drop offs and pick ups. I look forward to the day when we can actually visit in person! 

I hope that you have enjoyed seeing my new Garden Path quilt. Patterns are available in my Etsy Shop and also on the Quilt Doodle Designs website. I am offering both packaged and PDF patterns.

Happy quilting!

Cindy and Belvedere

Let's finish the Dresden Blocks

This month's designs are the last of the Dresden plates. So when you have time, if you haven't done so already, it's time to sew your Dresden plates onto your background 12 1/2" x 12 1/2" squares. You should have a total of twelve Dresden plates done so far for the quilt. Appliqueing the centers goes fairly quickly once you have everything pinned, so plan an afternoon or two for sewing this section of the quilt. I have been using plastic scrapbooking bins to store my blocks, it's just the right size. They are tucked away until I am ready to work on the next section of the quilt.
So let me show you how I appliqued my Dresden plates onto my fabric squares....

I have centered my finished Dresden plate onto my fabric square, remember we want these to be on point.

I am using a small buttonhole stitch that is on my machine. Here is my setting that I am using for length and stitch width. A small zig zag or blind stitch would also work.

Stitching along the edge.....

I want to show you a close up of my stitch... I am using a cream InvisaFil thread so that it doesn't show too much. You can see that it sorta blends in nicely.

I also stitch along the inside edge of my Dresden Plate too... I think it just finishes it off very nicely.

I then give it another good press.

The supply list can be found on my website along with this month's directions. June's directions are only FREE this month, then after that they will be found on my Etsy site for a small fee. You can also find the directions in my Craftsy Shop too. So let's get started....

This is the last set of Dresden plates for this quilt. Next month we will move onto another design element for the quilt. Can't wait to show you!

Patterns can be found on the Quilt Doodle website and on Crafty (Not until the 1st of the month):

Fat Quarter bundles of 16 fat quarters are available in my Etsy store to get you started.

Tag me on Instagram with your photos #quiltdoodledesignsBOM2017 #quiltdoodledesigns @quiltdoodles
If you have any questions, feel free to email me.

My favorite picture of grandma and I, taken in front of her flower garden.

I'm off to work on the garden for a little bit. I'm so thrilled that I have a new garden fence and it's deer proof! I actually have bean plants this year instead of 'little sticks' with no leaves!

          Let’s have some quilty fun!
Cindy

Sunflower Fields

Sunflower Fields

When I was a kid, every summer was spent at my Grandma and Grandpa's farm in North Dakota. Back in  70's I remember fields of sunflowers and wheat. It is burned into my memory how golden it was. It was a golden time in my childhood.... lazy mornings waking up to the smell of bacon and eggs, homemade sweet rolls,  4th of July fireworks, family barbecues, kittens, homemade cookies and grandma's apples and banana salad. I can always count on inspiration from my childhood and memories, so I have yet a new pattern, capturing the golden fields of sunflowers and the waves of golden wheat fields. This pattern has been a long time coming. Somehow I stalled out at the editing phase and this project has been in the works for a couple of years. So over the last couple of days, I finished it, sewing on bee wings and doing the final edit on the pattern. I also need to thank my testers! You guys rock and I'm so sorry it took me so long to finish this project.

What I love about this quilt is that you can have fun and make it scrappy. You can work out of your fabric stash or go run to the quilt shop and buy a bunch of fat quarters in both light and dark fabrics. (Light-cream for the background, Dark- the chevron stripes and sunflowers) I made mine using all yellow and gold fabrics, and then a bunch of cream fabrics. This quilt is done in all pinks, or blues or whatever  your favorite color is. Sunflower Fields would also be adorable made scrappy with all sorts of colors. To give it a retro feel, 1930"s fabrics would be fun to work with.

I love embellishing my quilt with these sweet little bumblebees.

The wings are 3D... I love the added touch!

I didn't want to wings to be 'flapping' so I stitched them down using a blind stitch.

I also had fun doing a running stitch using #12 pearl cotton to make the 'flight'

of the bumblebee. I also embroidered the bee antennae using the pearl cotton.

My new design seems to also be Maddie approved.

Yes, silly girl, you look adorable sitting on the quilt...

No, it's not for you.

I wrote this pattern in three sizes... Pattern includes directions to make a

lap (50" x 65"), twin (65" x 75") or double (80" x85") sized quilt.
I hope that you enjoyed my little blog posting today. Give my Sunflower Fields quilt a try. It does go together pretty quickly and would be a great retreat project. I just love making quilts that have that scrappy feel. I also use flannel for the backing to make it extra snuggly.

I'm off to organize my office and studio, it looks like a bomb went off in there since I've gotten back from quilt market. It's so much more fun to make a mess....

Happy quilting,

Cindy

Hate Curved Piecing???

Is the curved piecing on the Dresden block driving you nuts? As I have learned over the years, there is usually more than one way to create a block. From my point of view, there is no right or wrong way as long as it gives you the same results as what the pattern is trying to achieve. Well my friend, Lea at Podunk Pretties has taken my Dresden BOM directions and shown a great tutorial on an alternative way to do the center circle. For those of you who hate curved piecing this is a great alternative method for you! I have gotten several emails on sewing the center circle so I thought it would helpful to share with you this method of doing the center circle. It may make some of your lives easier and make piecing a Dresden plate more enjoyable. You can find Lea's tutorial

HERE

To add a little extra sweetness to this little posting, I thought I would have a give away too! Post your pictures to Instagram, add the hashtag quiltdoodlebom2017 and tag me @quiltdoodledesigns for a chance to win! I am giving away a set of three of my brand new patterns to two winners! I will pick my winners at the end of the month. So remember to post your finished Dresden plates to Instagram and use the #quiltdoodlebom2017 @quiltdoodledesigns so that I can find your pictures!

Happy quilting!

Cindy

February's Blocks, A Cute Puppy and Chicken!

This month are a couple of cute blocks, a puppy and chicken. I can't even count how many dogs my grandparents had over the years while all of us were growing up. I can say my least favorite dog was Barney, a St. Bernard. Barney was a sweet dog and I probably would have loved him if we would have started out on a better foot. Here's my version of the story.... Imagine a thirteen year old who, well was a typical thirteen year old girl, fussy about her hair and outfits. When I first met Barney he was all excited to greet a car full of kids. I'm sure he saw our arrival as a litter of playmates. Being the oldest, I was the first one out of the car... it had rained... it's the farm.... mud everywhere... mud puddles EVERYWHERE....  I'm foolishly wearing all white.... I was styling the hippest 70's look not realizing that I would be greeted by a two hundred pound bundle of love and mud.... everyone had a pretty good laugh as I stomped my way into the house full of paw prints the size of my head. I do think of Barney fondly now, I'm sure he was a sweet dog. I don't remember chickens on grandma and grandpa's farm, but my mom talks about when they had chickens when she was a little girl. I love farm fresh eggs! My sister in law has chickens on her farm and it's always a treat to get a dozen of eggs from her. Someday I would love to have a few chickens. Just love them!

This year's BOM is a very traditional design using 1930's fabrics. These fabrics remind me so much of grandma and her cotton dresses. I hope that you have fun with this pattern. February's pattern is chock full of info. You will get the directions on how to make the Dresden plate block. Feel free to make all 12 Dresden circles if you would like. The left over fabric from the Dresden Blades will be used for the applique designs. Remember the blocks are set on point. The supply list can be found on my website along with this month's directions. February's directions are only FREE this month, then after that they will be found on my Etsy site for a small fee. You can also find the directions in my Craftsy Shop too. So let's get started....

Using the blade template cut 1 blade for each fabric.

16 different fabrics total for each block.

You will make 12 blocks all together for this quilt.

Fold the blade in half lengthwise, right sides together and sew a quarter inch seam along the short straight edge (Top edge). This will form the 'point' when you turn it right side out.

Here I have all my blades pressed for one block.

Sew your blades together in pairs, right sides together. Continue to sew blades together along the long side until you form a 16 section plate.

I love the scrappiness of this 'plate'.

I ironed the circle in half, then in half again. And one more time so that I have 'markers' for lining up my circle with my plate section.

I line the seam up with the folded marking and ease my circle and plate section together.

I hold it all together with pins. A lot of pins...

I sew the two together with a 1/4" seam.

The center is the perfect spot for an applique!

When tracing your shapes onto your heat n bond, group the same colors together.

Also remember the shapes appear reversed until you iron them onto your fabric.

Use the pattern placement drawing to lay your pieces onto

the fabric circle. Remember some of the pieces overlap.

This puppy is so adorable when done! Reminds me of a

friendly golden lab! (Doesn't really look like a Barney)

Chicken is adorable sitting on her nest... wonder if she has any eggs for me!

I made my chicken blue, what color will your chicken be?

I have not appliqued my Dresden plates onto my 12 1/2" white squares yet.

Patterns can be found on the Quilt Doodle website and on Craftsy (Not until the 1st of the month):

Fat Quarter bundles of 16 fat quarters are available in my Etsy store to get you started.

Tag me on Instagram with your photos #quiltdoodledesignsBOM2017 #quiltdoodledesigns @quiltdoodles
I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's little puppies and chickens.

If you have a blog please help promote it and post my button on your sidebar!

Thank you!!!

          Let’s have some quilty fun!

Cindy

<center> <a href="http://quiltdoodledesigns.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="<a href="http://s1193.photobucket.com/user/Cindy_Staub/media/BOM%202017_zpsfwh6tg76.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1193.photobucket.com/albums/aa347/Cindy_Staub/th_BOM%202017_zpsfwh6tg76.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo BOM 2017_zpsfwh6tg76.jpg" style=""></a>"/></a></center>

The Mystery Piece...

There seems to be a mystery piece in the January directions for the Quilt Doodle BOM. I've gotten tons of email about the mysterious 'B'. I have no great explanation.... the software I use for designing kicked the 'B' piece out for me. I left this 'B' piece on the pattern sheet, it was a complete oversight on my part to leave it there with no explanation. While working on this block I decided there's an easier way to make this 'piece' of the quilt so I drew up the wedge piece with the 'fold' marked on it. For our grandmothers and great grandmothers they would have more than likely used the 'B' piece and fussed with folding the edges over and ironing the finished edge using a bit of spray starch.... I don't know about you but I will find a shortcut if I can, so that is when the other piece showed up.... the one you fold over right sides together and sew the one end and voila! a finished edge. I can't say that I didn't find piece 'B' useful, I did.... let me show you how I used it in a quirky goofy way to check my blades.....

Here is the wedge shape I have you cut for the blades of the Dresden plate.

Then following the directions you fold it over, sew the edge and then turn it right side out to form the blade  that is shown in the picture. (You can see the directions explaining this in the background.)

Here's where I probably break a few quilt rules.... I used the mysterious 'B' piece to measure my single blade for my block... I line up the 'finished' solid line with the finished edge of the blade, and the unfinished edges line up with the dotted line on the 'B' piece. This is how I checked my blades.

I hope that this answers your questions about 'B'. It's not a necessary piece unless you want to be old school about putting the block together or use it to check your sizing. I didn't mean to add any confusion to the first blocks.
January's directions are only FREE this month, then after that they will be found on my Etsy site for a small fee. The patterns can also be found on Craftsy but since their new redesign of the website, it has been harder to find. Remember the patterns can also be found each month on the

Quilt Doodle website
I have a special 2017 tab. If you are viewing the website on your phone or mobile device, you may not be looking at the website in it's full version. So scroll down to the bottom of the 'page' and click on the view full version so it expands the page so that you get everything.

Fat Quarter bundles of 16 fat quarters are available in my Etsy store to get you started.

Tag me on Instagram with your photos #quiltdoodledesignsBOM2017 #quiltdoodledesigns @quiltdoodles
I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's little piggies and kittens.

          Let’s have some quilty fun!

Cindy

January's Blocks! A sweet little kitten and piggy!

Happy New Year! I finally have this month's posting done! Sometimes technology fights with me and things take a little time. Which reminds me of all the long car rides we took to grandma and grandpa's house! They lived on a farm in North Dakota and we lived either in Texas, New York or the closest state, Minnesota. We were always so anxious to get to grandma's! I've been so anxious to get this posted that it seems it has taken be twice as long, sorta like how all those car rides felt. So for this month I have two block designs for you, a sweet little kitten and pig. My grandparents always had kittens on the farm and us girls loved them! While visiting we always took the time to hunt down where mama kitty hid the litter, and then we would take the time to name them all. (Fluffy, Cotton ball, Ginger....) My grandparents never had any piggies but my husband grew up on a farm that did. I just couldn't resist making a little pink pig. This year's BOM is a very traditional design using 1930's fabrics. These fabrics remind me so much of grandma and her cotton dresses. I hope that you have fun with this pattern. January's pattern is chock full of info. You will get the directions on how to make the Dresden plate block. Feel free to make all 12 Dresden circles if you would like. The left over fabric from the Dresden Blades will be used for the applique designs. Remember the blocks are set on point. The supply list can be found on my website along with this month's directions. January's directions are only FREE this month, then after that they will be found on my Etsy site for a small fee. So let's get started....

Using the blade template cut 1 blade for each fabric.

16 different fabrics total for each block.

You will make 12 blocks all together for this quilt.

Fold the blade in half lengthwise, right sides together and sew a quarter inch seam along the short straight edge (Top edge). This will form the 'point' when you turn it right side out.

Here I have all my blades pressed for one block.

Sew your blades together in pairs, right sides together. Continue to sew blades together along the long side until you form a 16 section plate.

I love the scrappiness of this 'plate'.

I ironed the circle in half, then in half again. And one more time so that I have 'markers' for lining up my circle with my plate section.

I line the seam up with the folded marking and ease my circle and plate section together.

I hold it all together with pins.

I sew the two together with a 1/4" seam.

The center is the perfect spot for an applique!

I have fused my applique pieces onto the centers of the circles.

I then machine applique around the edges to finish off the design.

For the cat I use my machine's buttonhole stitch to 'draw' the cat.

I followed the drawing that is included in the pattern sheet for January.

"Little Piggy"

I added an embroidered pink tail!

"Kitten"

I used black floss to embroider the kitty's whiskers.

For the kitten's little nose, I used a tiny button.

I have not appliqued my Dresden plates onto my 12 1/2" white squares yet. I'm planning some hand stitching in front of the tv tonight.

Patterns can be found on the Quilt Doodle website and on Craftsy (Not until the 1st of the month):

Fat Quarter bundles of 16 fat quarters are available in my Etsy store to get you started.

Tag me on Instagram with your photos #quiltdoodledesignsBOM2017 #quiltdoodledesigns @quiltdoodles
I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's little piggies and kittens.

If you have a blog please help promote it and post my button on your sidebar!

Thank you!!!

          Let’s have some quilty fun!

Cindy

<center> <a href="http://quiltdoodledesigns.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="<a href="http://s1193.photobucket.com/user/Cindy_Staub/media/BOM%202017_zpsfwh6tg76.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1193.photobucket.com/albums/aa347/Cindy_Staub/th_BOM%202017_zpsfwh6tg76.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo BOM 2017_zpsfwh6tg76.jpg" style=""></a>"/></a></center>