Bumble the Gnome

 Spring is here and I have started cleaning up the perennial gardens and I'm happy to say I've seen a couple of bees too. We have a cousin that is a beekeeper and we have been lucky enough to get jars of fresh honey from him. I love honey in black tea. I love to cook with it. Honey is a wonderful glaze on roasted carrots too! To make honey glazed roasted carrots. I clean and slice several carrots and put them in a 9 by 13 pan. I drizzle them with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast them in a 425-degree oven until done. As soon as they come out of the oven, I drizzle honey on them and give the pan a good stir. Yum!  One of my family's favorites. 

Bumble is a sweet gnome that takes being a beekeeper seriously. It's a fun design with a touch of whimsy. The design pictured was put on a tea towel that I made out of some fabric from Marcus Fabrics. I like how it turned out. It'll be so cute in my kitchen. I currently have it hanging on a cabinet door in the corner of my kitchen. It adds a nice pop of color!

I pulled some great bumblebee colors from my Marcus Fabric stash.... 

The pattern can be found both on the Quilt Doodle Website and in the Etsy Shop under the PDF patterns. Download the pattern and trace the gnome pieces onto the paper side of your fusible web.

I then group the shapes with the fabric colors and iron the fusible web onto the back side of the fabric following the manufacturer's directions.

Then position the gnome pieces to form the design and iron it in place. Something I didn't do, you can line your white fabric with an extra layer of fabric and fusible web to hide the overlapping shapes. This will make the gnomes beard and mustache appear a little crisper without the color bleeding thru from the body and hat pieces.

Using black or dark brown thread, machine stitch around all of the raw edges of the design. When finished, sew the button to the center of the flower and stitch the bee's antennae.

~ Bumble ~

I hope that you enjoy this cute new design. It's a fun one to do and it only takes an afternoon to do. Bumble can be found in my Etsy Shop and also on the Website. It is a PDF download.

Hope you are having a wonderful day and find some time to do some stitching!

Happy Quilting,

Cindy and Josaphine

An Adorable Bunny

It is hard to believe that Easter is just around the corner! Well, you can't have Easter without some cute bunnies. I made up a really cute bunny mug rug for you. This pattern is super quick and easy. These can easily be stitched up in a weekend.

I like to use the embroidery stitches on my machine to make the
bunny's eyes and whiskers.

I made up a few in different colors, using fabric from
my fabric stash.

This fun pattern can be found on Etsy as instant downloadable PDF's. There's still time to whip a couple of these up for Easter! Pair it with a cute mug, candle or bag of candy and you have an adorable hostess gift!

Happy quilting,

Cindy and Josephine

12 Days of Christmas 🎄 Day 12

 

Day 12

Welcome to the last day of my 12 Days of Christmas. Today's project is another adorable snowman!  I put mine on a Buffalo Plaid tea towel from Dunroven House. But this sweet snowman can be used for so many different projects! Make a special pillow, apron, mug rug.... so many possibilities! Some supplies I like to use and have on hand in my sewing room for this project included my applique scissors from Olfa, Flexifuse, brown and white thread, and a healthy supply of scrap fabric for the applique design. To make my Mitten Snowman you will need to download the PDF pattern. It can be found on the Quilt Doodle website and also in my Etsy shop.

So let's get started...

Trace all of the deign shapes onto the paper side of your fusible web.

Rough cut the shapes out and iron onto the wrong side of the different color fabrics.

Cut out the shapes.

Lay out the design shapes following the layout sheet in the pattern.

I like to use a buttonhole stitch along all the raw edges of the design. I used white thread to go around the snowman and brown thread around all of the rest.

I do like how the stitching finishes the edge of the design.

I used a pencil to mark where the eyes and mouth will be. It will make it so much easier to embroider.

I embroidered French knots for the eyes and mouth with #12 black pearl cotton.

~ Mitten Snowman ~

I hope that you have enjoyed the projects and recipes and have found some time to do a couple of them. It's been fun sharing with you family recipes and some new projects. I have a link below to a Pinterest board that has links to all of the projects, also included are the 12 Days of Christmas projects from a couple years ago. There's all sorts of fun items to work on for the holidays. You could even get a jump on next year! Lol...

Happy quilting,
Cindy and Belvedere

If you missed anything, I have put together a Pinterest board for the 12 Days of Christmas!

12 Days of Christmas, Day 11

Day 11

It finally snowed a little here in Minnesota, really just a dusting, but it snowed! It helped brighten my Christmas spirit as I wrapped some gifts today. Our Christmas tree isn't as bare underneath now. It's starting to feel a little bit like Christmas. Hubby and I delivered gift bags with gnomes to all our neighbors. Belvedere enjoyed the walk and made sure to bellow, 'happy holidays' in only a way that a basset hound could. I then popped into my sewing room and worked on today's project. A sweet snowman. It's appliqued using fusible web. There's still time to make some sweet tea towels to give as gifts or to decorate your kitchen with.

To begin, print off the PDF pattern and then trace the snowman shapes onto your fusible web.

Then roughly cut out the shapes and pair them up with your fabric that you are going to use. Green for the holly leaves, white for the snowman etc. Then iron the fusible web to the backside of the fabric.

Then cut all the shapes out. I was planning on using this red and black buffalo plaid towel for the design.

But, when I laid the design out on it, I decided I would use this cream and white check towel instead. Since I used red for the hat and scarf, it shows up better on this towel. Iron the shapes into place using a hot iron following the manufacturer's directions for the fusible web that you choose.

I am using white thread to sew around the snowman and on the brim of the hat. I am then using a brown thread for the rest. 

I used a pencil to lightly mark where the snowman's face and buttons are.

Using a black embroidery thread I sew the snowman's eyes and smile using French knots. I also used French knots to stitch the buttons on the snowman's body. I used a green thread. To make the snowman's stick arms, I stitched them using a back stitch and black thread.

I was going to use a carrot button for the nose instead of appliqueing it, but I didn't have the right size carrot nose! There are times there isn't time to order more noses, especially with Christmas right around the corner. I decided to play around with my sewing machine and stitch a nose using orange thread. I practiced on a piece of scrap fabric. Practicing also helped me figure out placement for when I stitched it onto my snowman's face.

I think his nose turned out quite cute!

~Holly Berry Snowman ~

I'm pretty happy with how my little snowman turned out. I used 3 red 1/4" buttons for the holly berries. You can also sew a white button or a snowflake button onto the top of the snowman's hat for the pom-pom. I left mine plain. I may add a pom-pom later. I haven't decided yet.

This sweet snowman would also be cute made into a small decorative pillow, or put on an apron. It would also be cute made into a mug rug or table runner. I hope that you enjoy today's design, it can be found on my website and also in my Etsy shop.

Hope you have a wonderful day and find some time to quilt and do some stitching,

Happy quilting,

Cindy and Belvedere

Woopsie Doodles Witchy Poo

Woopsie Doodles Witchy Poo! It seems like a fun project for this Halloween. This year the spooky holiday will be very different from years past. I'm not sure if we'll have trick or treaters. Some cities are cancelling Halloween, one of my favorite holidays. I was thinking this would be a fun project to make to brighten someone's Halloween. Add a bag of a favorite Halloween candy and tuck it in a festive bag along with the mug rug and some hot apple cider mix and you have an instant Halloween celebration. Leave it hanging on your neighbors door, or sitting on their front porch for a sweet surprise! 

Several years ago my sister and I split a grab bag of Halloween scraps and I'm still having fun with it! I made this sweet mini quilt of Witchy Poo's shoes and striped leggings. So festive for Halloween! Let me show you how quick and easy this goes together...

I didn't want to cut out all of those 'stripes' for Witchy Poo's leggings, so instead I cut two 1 1/2" x WOF strips of the black fabric and green fabric. Then sewed them together lengthwise.

I then would cut that in half and sew it again... I repeated this process until I had a nice fabric piece of striped fabric long enough for my applique piece for Witchy Poo's leggings.

I traced Witchy Poo's legging onto my heat and bond and then ironed it onto the back of the black and green striped piece.

Then I cut them out... all ready to put them onto the mug rug center piece. 

I'm all ready to stitch around the fusible applique design. What I love about doing the leg section with the pieced strips is I only need to stitch on the sides of the legs instead of around each striped section. It's really a nice finish for this design.

~Woopsie Doodles Witchy Poo~

I hope that you have fun with this pattern. I sure did. I made up a few of them. I also want to thank everyone who popped in and stitched bats with me. I'm planning on having more sew alongs! It was fun!  It's a beautiful day here in Minnesota and the leaves are beautiful. I think Belvedere and I will go for a walk to the park. Then I'm going to spend the afternoon sewing!

Happy quilting!

Cindy and Belvedere

July's Block

Welcome July! I feel like summer is getting away from me. July always flies by quickly for me. It's a busy month, we have a lot on the calendar to make the month fly by... 4th of July, our anniversary, a trip to the cabin and then the day to day shenanigans to fill in between. Although the 4th will be a little quieter then usual, we still plan on celebrating with a picnic and fireworks in our own backyard. 

This month's block is based on the classic Ohio Star block. You will need three different fabrics. My block below shows three different reds. You can use different colors, A dark, medium and light toned fabric. It's up to you! Make the quilt your own. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's variations of the same block. Remember to pop over to the Quilt Doodle Website to download your July directions for this month's block. You will find all of the cutting directions there.

You will make four Ohio Star blocks....

For each Ohio Star block you will need 4 of the triangle square blocks.

And then sew the four Ohio Star blocks together to  make one large 20 1/2 " x 20 1/2 " block.

 I hope you have fun making this month's block.  Remember the goal is to use fabric from your stash!

The monthly FREE pattern is available on my website. I have a special 2020 BOM section on my website. Each month the FREE pattern will be posted. But as soon as the new section or block is out the old block pattern will no longer be a freebie. But it will still be available for a small fee on my website or in my Etsy shop. If you want to share your finished blocks, feel free to post them on Facebook Group (Quilt Doodle Designs Grandmas Attic BOM 2020) and tag me or post them on Instagram tag Quilt Doodle Designs. I love to see everyone's progress as we stitch along together. 

Well, I'm off to go and check on the gardens. We've had so much rain here over the last few days. (7" last Sunday night) My poor plants are drowning, I'm hoping on a couple of hot dry days to dry the ground up a bit. The dahlia bulbs I planted last month are all up and thriving, I'm looking forward to when they bloom. The rain knocked all my zinnias and sunflowers over. I'm going to see if I'm able to stake them up so they can stand tall again. Then I'm going to hide out in my sewing room and get some stitching done!

Happy quilting! 

Cindy and Belvedere

Let’s Toast Marshmallows!

I hope that you all had a relaxing weekend last week. I spent some time in my sewing room over the weekend and worked on a project that I’ve had planned in my head for awhile. I finally got it all written down on paper and made it. I’ve been spending the last few weeks showing you how I’ve been embroidering my Woodland getaway panel so today let me show you how I used those elements to make my banner/table runner. The complete pattern for this banner can be found on my website and in my Etsy shop. 

As you can see in this photo, I have embroidered different sections of the design. Remember the embroidery is optional but I love the added dimension the stitching adds to the design. 

I did all of the stars with a satin stitch with this banner design in mind. Following the pattern, I fussy cut the stars for two of the banner strips. The stars will NOT be centered on my banner, I had to squeak every little bit of fabric that I could to have enough length. It’s okay if it’s not centered, it will add to the overall charm of the mini quilt.

Following the pattern directions, I’ve fussy cut the panel pieces and sewn them onto the flannel strips that I’ve cut. In the pattern I’ve used green as my main color. You could switch it up and use brown, gold or red. I’m just really fond of greens for my banner. 

To add a little something extra I have you make two pieced strips for the top and bottom of the banner. 

 If when you sew your strip on and it’s a little long, do not fret, just trim it off to be even with the width of your banner/table runner.

I then sew the side strips on , and then the top and bottom.

Now it’s time to make your quilt sandwich by layering the top, batting and backing. Quilt as desired.

I did not put a hanging sleeve on mine. If you want to hang it using an Ackfeld hanger you may want to put a hanging sleeve on the back. The pdf pattern has the hanging sleeve directions included. You will want to put on the hanging sleeve before you bind your banner/table runner.

I just love how this turned out! I am displaying it here hanging on a display metal hanger from Ackfeld wire. (I cheated by pinning my mini quilt to it using a couple of safety pins) I did free motion quilting on the panel sections. Also quilted in the ditch between the fabric strips. For the border I free motion quilted a holly border. It gives it sort of a woodsie feel.

Both the pattern for this project and Woodland Getaway Panel from Marcus Fabrics can be found on my website or Etsy Shop. I hope that you enjoyed my project today, it was a fun one to put together. 

Happy quilting,

Cindy & Belvedere

Hubby caught this monster on Father’s Day.