Dragonfly Dream Table Runner

I just know spring is right around the corner even though we have a ton of snow on the ground here in Minnesota. How do I know? The days are longer, the sun is brighter and most importantly, the birds are singing! Yes! There was actual singing this morning when I let the dogs out to do their thing. I actually braved the 31 degrees in a sweatshirt and listened to the birds chatter and sing this morning. It was glorious. It would have been perfect if I would have remembered my cup full of coffee. I have spring fever so badly... I'm dying for color.  I've notice lately that I an gravitating towards bright colors when I work in the studio. My fabric purchases this last week or two have been laden with flowers and bright at that!

One of my favorite patterns is my Dragonfly Dream Table Runner. I designed this pattern when I was a total newbie at pattern writing. It's written so that you can make two runners with the materials listed. My thought with this runner was to inspire the creativity in everyone. I have no concrete directions for placement of your coneflowers or dragonflies. You can play with the placement of the design elements and have some fun. I finished two of these runners this last weekend. Both have different design placement.

I used a dark brown thread to do a button hole stitch around the designs.

The brown thread adds an edge to the design.

On this table runner I didn't add the extra stitching. I am relying on the heat n bond to hold the design in place. I machine quilted an all over stippling design using a thread that blends in with the colors of the batik fabric. This will also hold the design in place.

Finished size is 12 1/2" x 36 1/2"

Here you can see how I placed the design onto each table runner.

My dining table is sorta big so I placed both table runners side by side for my centerpiece. This table runner makes a great hostess gift if you are visiting family Easter weekend. The pattern is available as an instant PDF download for $8.00 click on the link below to purchase your copy. It's a fun pattern to make and perfect to chase away those wintertime blues and celebrate spring!

Happy quilting,

Cindy and Belvedere

Small, Smaller, Smallest Blog Hop

Thank you for stopping by today to check out what I came up for this blog hop. Thanks to Carol too for organizing this fun hop and awesome group. Small, smaller, smallest...I have been thinking about this hop and thinking, geez what can I do.... ideas didn't come easily for this one. I thought of what I would do late one night. You know, those nights when it's hard to get to sleep. Well that's when it dawned on me what to do and share with you. Lately I have been doing a little catching up on UFO's. Those that follow me have seen my 'Snowball' Quilt that I finally finished piecing... well there were scraps, a few fat quarters, a little yardage, orphan blocks and a pattern for a smaller 'Snowball' quilt (table topper) so let me show you what I made to share with you today!

We all have ophan blocks. You know the blocks that didn't quite work out right, extra blocks left over when finished with a project and sometimes a block we make that we have decided we don't ever want to make again...Well, these blocks make great mini quilts and mug rugs. Just add some borders and voila! A cute mug rug.... it's also a great way to use up batting strips.  I had extra blocks left over from my Snowball quilt so I made a cute mug rug. 

I just love how it turned out! 

I then made a smaller snowball block... using all the extra fabric I still had left over I made a blue-tiful table topper. In this picture you can see how large my quilt block was compared with the table topper block. It's smaller...

The finished size of my snowball table topper is 36" x 36"

When I made my original snowball quilt, I saved all of my triangle scraps that I trimmed off my snowball blocks. What's great about saving these is they are perfect for triangle squares! Don't throw those scraps away, let me show you some wonderful uses for these little scraps. It's great for a smaller project!

I turned my pile of half square triangles into a healthy stack of  2" triangle blocks.(with the seam allowance) These little beauties will be 1 1/2" blocks when finished.

One thing I really like to do is make matching pillowcases for quilts that I make. So I thought these little blocks just screamed pillowcase border!

It took a ka-zillion triangle blocks to make a pieced strip for my pillowcase. 

I just love how the border turned out on my pillowcase. I used the burrito style pillowcase pattern that can be found FREE online and I inserted my pieced border in for the coordinating pillowcase hem. It took a little thought when pinning it together so that the pieced border would end up on the outside of the pillowcase and not on the inside.

Here's a close up look at the hem of my pillowcase.

I still had a stack of triangle squares leftover. So I pieced them together to make some pinwheel squares.

I then used these pinwheel squares to make some simple chicken pincushions! 

So the next time you finish a project. Look at the fabric you have left, even the little bits. Think of the fun possibilities you have for small projects. I will never look at those triangle trimmings the same way again. Just think, out of an couple orphan blocks, my leftover fabric and my 'trimmings' I was able to make a table topper, mug rug, pillowcase and a bunch of little chickens. Can you believe I still have some fabric left over! 

I hope that you have fun hopping around, I have included the entire blog list. Just in case you missed yesterday and want to join us for the rest of the week. I'm joined by a bunch of talented ladies! Oh, I'm also having a little giveaway... leave a sweet comment for a chance to win a fun little Quilt Doodle Gift bag... it includes a mug, Snowman Trio pattern, some handy clips and three carrot noses.

March 5

Kris Loves Fabric

Creative Blonde

Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats

Lily Patch Quilts

Needled Mom

Quilt Fabrication

Sew Many Yarns

Meanderings Along Lizard Creek

March 6

MooseStashQuilting

Vroomans Quilts

Creatin' in the Sticks

Beaquilter

Quilt Doodle Designs (You are here!)

Den syende himmel

Quiltscapes

Quilt Taffy

Hazel's Daughter

March 7

Selina Quilts

Cynthia's Creating Ark

Sunshine Quilting

Marjorie's Busy Corner

Elm Street Quilts

Kathy's Quilts

Pamela Quilts

That Fabric Feeling

Words & Stitches

March 8

Sew Incredibly Crazy

What About Rheema?

Kwilty Pleasures

All Thingz Sewn

Ms P Designs USA

Ridge Top Quilt

Life in the Scrapatch

Seams To Be Sew

Just Let Me Quilt

Happy quilting!
Cindy and Belvedere

A Sweet Little Snowman

Sample made using Benartex Jingle All Way 
by Nancy Halvorsen

It's snowing here in Minnesota ~ again.... and I know that Christmas is past, but it's always a good time to make a snowman project. I love snowmen! This is one of my NEW designs that will be available at the International Spring Quilt Market in May. It's called "A Sweet Little Snowman". The finished Quilt square measures 12 1/2" x 12 1/2". Directions to complete this project are clearly stated with diagrams included. You will enjoy the embroidery and quilting the front. So cute for Winter and Christmas! Directions are included for both border styles using a charm pack. 1 Charm pack is enough to do both borders!
***3 pages of directions with directions in US measurements with color picture of finished quilt. Materials needed are clearly stated on the pattern. 

The PDF versions of the pattern is available on Craftsy and Etsy.

Happy Quilting!