January's Block

 

Hooray! You're back to start the 2025 BOM. I have been struggling with releasing one pattern each month and making you wait... I always have several emails wanting to sew on thru all the months while they have time to sew. I know many of us get a lot of quilting done during the winter months and get busy outside when the weather is nice. It shows in my stats that I have on my website. Everyone is gun ho in the beginning, and I have thousands of downloads and it slowly dwindles as the year goes on and then upticks when fall arrives. So I have decided to try having all of the months available this year to give it a try. But there's a catch, to get the monthly patterns ahead of time, they aren't FREE... The patterns are only free the month they are made for. For example, January's is FREE in January, but not free the rest of the year. The monthly blocks are available, the finishing directions won't be available until at the end, November/December. Let me know what you think about this since I'm giving it a try this year.

Have you gathered your fabric for this years quilt? If you have, have you cut it up into 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" squares? I went on retreat with my mom and got mine all cut and have been sewing some of the squares together, I am working from my fabric stash for mine. I am making mine very scrappy. What colors have you chosen for yours, remember you need a good contrast. For example, blue and white, red and white. You want contrast between the background and design. Think, light and dark... this quilt can be scrappy, scrappy, scrappy, or very controlled, it's up to you. If you want, you can have the dark color be the background and the light be the design. It's all about contrast. Like I said before, the quilt is based on 2 1/2" squares. If I counted correctly a total of 724 squares total. 504 background squares and 220 'design' squares. So, if you want to gather a ton of scraps and divide them between light and dark and cut your 724 2 1/2" squares, you sure can! I would cut extra in case my math is off. I will be going thru my scraps and doing this too. But if you want to purchase fabric... here's what you 'll need.....

2 yards contrasting color

2 1/2 yards cream background

3/4 yard for the border

1/2 yard binding

Tell your friends! Spread the word! Post the button on your blog!

Let me show you how I made this month's block... gather your 2 1/2" squares and following the block layout and sew your squares together using your favorite method making sure to nest your seams so everything lines up nicely. Did you notice the green in the block, don't worry, it can be the same color as all your other dark blocks. I wanted to show you that you can mix it up color wise if you want to. Again, I am encouraging you to use your stash and have fun with it. Just remember the contrast between light and dark. This finished quilt block will measure 12 1/2" x 20 1/2". 

As you can see, I am making mine very scrappy. I am actually using scraps from my 2 1/2" scrap bin that I have been adding to for years. For retreat, I cut a bunch of cream and blue squares to make sure that I would have enough. At this point it doesn't make sense but, trust the process, it will.

I like to chain sew when I can. If you prefer to sew row by row, iron, feel free to do that.

January's Block

 Each month's pattern is a free PDF instant download. If you miss a month, the patterns are available for $2.00 on my website and also in my Etsy shop.  

If you don't have a printer, you can purchase a PRINTED copy of the monthly patterns.

HERE

 There's also a Facebook Group, please join and post your progress! It's also fun to see everyone else progress too! Make sure to post your blocks so far! 

 I hope that you have a wonderful day and find some time to stitch.

Have a wonderful day,

Cindy, Josephine & Bonaparte

Songbird Holiday Cardinal Wreath Table Runner

Have you seen my Songbird Holiday panel yet? It's lovely and perfect for celebrating winter and the holidays. The panel and coordinating fabric can be found in quilt shops and online now. I have several free patterns available to go with this line and they can be found on my website as a FREE PDF download. Today I'm going to show you one of the cute table runners I made using extra blocks and portions of the panel that I fussy cut.

When I made the Quick as a Wink and Songbird Holiday Festive Bows quilts, I cut extra blocks knowing that I would use them in some extra projects. I figure why not chain sew and get it all done at once while watching a series on my iPad or listening to an audio book. I try to multitask when I can, lol. 

These lovely Ohio Star blocks made it easy for me to work with to come up with some free projects for you. What's nice about these free patterns, you could easily substitute any of the designs to fussy cut to personalize your project. For the Cardinal Wreath Table Runner Pattern, I feature the cardinals with the wreath from the panel. I took the time to embroider the block but that is totally optional since the design is colored to match the fabric already! For the embroidery on the block I used a combination of DMC and Valdani threads and handstitched it. The listing of thread recommended can be found on the quilt pattern listing under the supplies. 

 

After I got the top all pieced together, I layered it with my backing and batting and used my embroidery feature on my machine and machine quilted a single pass holly quilt design. Repeating it across the entire table runner. I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

 

~ Cardinal Wreath Table Runner ~

This sample will be at the Missouri Star Birthday Bash in the Marcus Fabrics booth if you would like to see it up close along with the Quick as a Wink Quilt and the Songbird Holiday Festive Bows Quilt. I'm excited that I will be there on Thursday afternoon and on Friday walking about. Hope to see you there too! If you see me, make sure to say Hi!

Hope you have a wonderful day and find some time to stitch,

Cindy, Josephine and Bonaparte

Feathered Friends BOM UPDATE!

 It's another sunny but cold day in Minnesota and I have spring fever sooooooo bad! My feathered friends have been scavenging thru the gardens looking for seeds to munch on, so I've filled the bird feeders again so now I have a bunch of happy visitors. I enjoy watching the birds visit my birdfeeders. I just don't know how the birds stay warm during these below zero days! I'm sure they are awaiting spring too.

I have been asked to offer printed patterns for the BOM this year for those of you who don't want to download PDF's or don't have a reliable computer or printer to use at home. I have thought about this and have decided to offer this thru my ETSY store. Unfortunately, there is a cost to print and mail these out. I've kept the cost to $2.50 with a .50 shipping fee in the USA. I am able to offer a cheaper shipping cost thru ETSY then thru my website because how I have it configured.

PRINTED PATTERNS CAN BE FOUND HERE

I also suggest getting a file folder and printing up the patterns each month and stashing them in the folder. Especially if you aren't planning on working on it right away. That way you won't miss a thing!

                                                        Fabric Requirements

Many of you have been asking about fabric requirements. I am encouraging you all to work from your stash, I am using a combination of tone or tone fabrics and civil war repos that I have been hoarding the last several years. So here is an estimate of what you will need without giving away the design or layout of the quilt.

          1 3/4 yards cream fabric (background for applique blocks, corner stones plus scrappy                                                     blocks)

        1/2-yard dark fabric (cornerstone blocks)

        1 1/2 yards quilt border

        Various scraps in medium to dark tones adding up to about 2 yards

        1/2 yard for binding

        Various scraps for each monthly applique (twelve total applique blocks)

I hope that you are having a wonderful day! My new stove has arrived and I'm craving brownies.... it's time to bake and warm the house up! 

Happy Quilting

Cindy

12 Days of Christmas, Day 4

 

Day 4

This year I feel more Grinchy than Cindy Lou Who-ish.... often muttering " I must find some way to stop Christmas from coming.... is Christmas coming?" I'm just crabby about limited to no gatherings so it's not feeling like Christmas. No Christmas parties.... no snow on the ground, it melted a couple weeks ago. Boo hoo hoo hoo..... Hubby and I took the dogs walking last night and enjoyed the Christmas lights. That was fun and felt normal. I've been doing a lot of online shopping and have to admit it's nice, but I do miss walking the mall and listening to Christmas carols. I'm going to unpack some more decorations today, maybe I'll come across my Christmas spirit somewhere among the decorations.

 The free pattern can be found on my website.   There's a little bit of Grinch in all of us. Remember... "The Grinch's small heart grew three sizes that day!" We all find the joy in the season, it's just taking me a little longer this year.

Instead of cutting one 7"x10" piece for the front like I wrote in my pattern.  I pieced together a few left over strips to create the front of my mug rug.

Here I have all of my Grinch pieces lined up and ready to be ironed.  Remember it will be a 'mirror' image from the pieces that you traced onto your heat n bond.

I am sewing on the binding onto my mug rug.  Notice that instead of doing a blanket stitch around my applique pieces.  I used invisible thread and 'quilted' a scant 1/8" from the edge  to secure my design.

All ready to sew on the eyes and nose and hand stitch my binding... almost done!

The Grinch!

Isn't it adorable!  Especially with the Cindy Lou Who Mug
that my sister gave me for Christmas!

I hope that you have fun with my version of the Grinch. I have a few kits available, email me and I can send a paypal invoice if you  would like one or two. They are $8.00 plus shipping.  I'm going to go pull out the Christmas tree and work on decorating it. It'll brighten up the house. I've got plenty of gifts to wrap to put under the tree.

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

Stuck in the House?

Stuck in the house? Me too... along with millions of others. It seems so surreal, this whole pandemic Covid 19... almost like a zombie apocalypses. So since I am also stuck at home, I plan on posting some fun tutorials on embroidery, do some fun projects that you can adapt using any of my applique designs and revisit some of the fun projects I've made. I'm hoping this will also make your time spent at home go quickly too. 

I have also decided to use this time to update my website. Look for a new, much easier to use site with much of the items you love, like the free PDF download page and monthly BOM page. Let me know if there is anything you would like to see on the website. I would love to hear your ideas! What excites me most, is an easier to shop, beautiful to browse, Doodle Store. I'm hoping that it will make shopping for you easy and fun. Stayed tuned for it's launch! I'm planning April 1st!

I'd love to hear from you too! What are you working on? Post your Quilt Doodle projects on Instagram and tag me! @quiltdoodledesigns

Stay safe and healthy everyone! Let's take this time to quilt. We can get thru this together!

Happy Quilting,

Cindy and Belvedere

Grandma's Attic BOM ~ February's Block!

February's Block

Happy February! If you are new to the BOM here's the details.... There will be a new block design each month for a total of 12....  it will be a traditional sampler quilt. I'm planning it as a stash buster. It's based on two colors, a main color and a white/cream background color. You can choose any color for your main color, blue, red, green, anything....I'm making mine out of red fabrics. I have a lot of red Civil War fabric on hand, so that is what I'm using for mine. So go raid your stash for some fabric. You will need;

4 1/2 yards white/cream

4 yards red

1/2 yard red for binding

5 1/3 yard for backing

The finished size is 67" x 87"

Let's get started on this month's block, it's a spin off of a Log Cabin Block. You will need 3 different reds (or colors of your choice) You will make four blocks and then sew them together to make a large 4 block square. So go to the website and download the directions, grab a cup of coffee or some pop and let's go sew!

To begin with, cut out all of your block pieces following the directions. The PDF pattern can be found on the Quilt Doodle Designs website.

Begin with sewing together the cream H square with the red G rectangle and then add the red F strip.

Continue sewing.... cream F, cream E, red E, and red D.....

Continue sewing on the strips building your Log Cabin blocks. If you like chain stitching, it will work to sew all of your blocks together, ironing in between each strip.

Make a total of 4 of the log cabin block. Then sew them together to make one large block.

~ February's Block ~

When I first started sewing, the log cabin block was one of the first blocks I learned how to sew. It's a quick easy block and is all straight stitching. I hope you have fun making this month's block. It can be made 'two' toned like what I've got pictured or you can make it scrappy. 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. 

Happy quilting!

Cindy and Belvedere

Short On Time?

It's that time of year that we are busy running around getting ready for the holidays. If you are like me, time is short and you are trying to cram as much as possible into your days. Well I've got a quick gift for you to make and I bet you already have what you need to make it in your fabric stash! Plus, spending some quiet time in your sewing room stitching will help you destress. So grab a cup of coffee and lets go do some sewing.

After you set your coffee down, go dig thru your fabric for a Charm Pack. Don't have a Charm Pack but lots of cute fabric, cut out a bunch of 5" squares. What? you say... no pattern. No not really, this is what I call mindless sewing. For my table runner I used a cute Christmas Charm pack that I've been hoarding for a few years. I used 30 squares from the package. I separated them out between light and dark so my table runner would be scrappy. I decided I would make my runner 3 x 10 squares. You can make yours longer or shorter, it's up to you!

I did not preplan how to sew my squares together, I just started sewing. I like to listen to audiobooks while I sew. I'm currently listening to a Stephen King book. Take this time to relax and stitch. Put on some Christmas music if you'd like. 

I like to chain sew... here I have my squares stitched together going 'one direction'.  I will then sew the 'rows' together, nesting my seams.

All ready to give my table runner a good press.

Now go back to your stash and dig around for something that can be used for the binding. I found this adorable fabric that worked well with the Charm Pack I used it even though they were from different designers. I then cut 2 1/2" strips for the border of my runner.

I sew the borders onto the long sides, then trim and iron. Then sew the border onto the two short ends, trim and press. Then layer your table runner top with the batting and backing and quilt. Scrap batting works well for this! I bet you have some left over from another project! I used my embroidery machine and quilted a cute holiday quilt design to the center. While that quilted I worked on binding another Christmas gift. 

After you are done quilting it's time to rummage thru your fabric stash again and find some fabric for the binding. I found a fat quarter that would work well with mine. I cut  2 1/2" strips for the binding, sewed them end to end then irons in in half lenthwise for the binding.

Sew the binding on using a 1/4" seam, remember to miter your corners.

Since I'm short on time, I just flipped the binding to the back and stitched in the ditch making sure to 'catch' the binding on the back side. In this picture you can also see the free motion quilting I did on the border, a holly leaf garland.

~ Charm Pack Table Runner ~

I hope that you find some time to make this fun table runner. Take some time for yourself and stitch! I'm really pleased with how mine turned out. I'm thinking I will be keeping this for myself. It looks so cute on my kitchen table with my snowflake lantern and gnome!

Happy quilting,

Cindy and Belvedere

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. I hope that you have a wonderful time with your family and friends. As I gather with my family over the next few days, I hope that I am a blessing to others as I reflect on all of the things I am thankful for. Now I'm off to look for a piece of pumpkin pie and some turkey!

Happy Thanksgiving!
Cindy and Belvedere

Holiday Savings!

Holiday savings just for you to help you get those Christmas projects done!

Remember this is in my ETSY shop only. No coupon code is needed!

Scrappy Hats QAL Day 13

Welcome to Day 13

Welcome to day 13 of the Scrappy Hats QAL! As you read this I am flying home from Houston. It was a very quick visit to International Quilt Market. If you follow me on Instagram you've gotten a sneak peek of what I was up to while I was there. I'm looking forward to being home again and getting back to stitching. But today is football day! I'll be home in time to relax and watch my team play! Woot! Woot! Today's snowman block won't take too long to make, so if you're a football fan too you'll have time to get your block done today before or even after the big game. Although it'll take a bit longer to complete compared with our first few blocks. I hope you are having fun making your snowmen with their scrappy hats! Let's get going on todays hat.... a uneven nine patch.

This hat brim will use a total of six different colors. Two for each uneven nine patch block. Label you fabric colors 1 thru 6. Following the pattern directions cut out all of you uneven nine patch pieces. Remember not to repeat the same color as the top of the snowman's hat.

The pieces are small but oh so cute! I find it helpful to lay the shapes out to form the block so I know what gets sewn together. There's also a 'chart' in the pattern to follow for stitching together. Sew the nine patch together using 1/4" seams. Press. Repeat and make two more nine patch blocks using colors 3-4 and 5-6.

Sew the blocks together end to end to form the hat brim strip. Press. Finished strip should measure 3 1/2" x 9 1/2". (This includes the seam allowance.)

Assemble the snowman block as pictured, sewing the hat block to the top of the hat brim stripe and the sewing the snowman face onto the bottom of the hat brim strip. Press. The finished block measures 9 1/2" x 11 1/2"

~ Uneven Nine Patch Snowman ~

Remember the carrot and eyes are not added to the block yet!

Isn't it fun making snowman blocks! I just love them! If you feel extra ambitious, you can make extra ones for an adorable table runner to match your quilt! See you tomorrow for the next snowman quilt block! Remember to share your block on Instagram #scrappyhatsqal @quiltdoodledesigns

Happy Quilting!
Cindy and Belvedere

You can also click on this link to purchase the instant PDF Download of the Scrappy Hats Pattern.