First Ever Embroidery Project {plus a giveaway}

Tomorrow an embroidered pillow I created using Aurifil threads and a free pattern from The Sometimes Crafter is being featured over at Lily’s Quilts!!!

If you are a first time visitor or regular visitor, welcome to my blog! 

Today I am giving away a copy of Aimee Ray’s book, Doodle Stitching: The Motif Collection.  I accidentally bought two copies when I was looking for an introductory book to embroidery (the danger of shopping both on Amazon and at the local Joann’s) and one lucky reader will be getting a copy due to my mistake.

The book is amazing, and that is an understatement.  There is a library of stitches in the front section of the book with diagrams even I can understand.  It has a section of projects and then in the back there are over 400 patterns divided by theme such as “embellishments” and “under the sea.”  It comes with a CD so you can print your own copies.  I’ve printed quite a few and it makes it so easy for using an iron transfer pen or pencil.

To enter, simply leave a comment on this blog post.  For an extra entry, let me know you are a follower, old or new!  International entries welcome.  I’ll announce the winner on Tuesday, April 2nd. 

Ballerina Dance Bag

A few weeks ago my youngest started dance class.  Of course she needed her own dance bag lovingly made by mom.

The fabric is Ann Kelle ballerinas for the exterior and Michael Miller Pixie Stix for the handles and lining.  I just made up my own pattern after checking out Anna’s Noodlehead tutorials, deciding what I could and couldn’t do and trying to figure out appropriate dimensions.  It went together like a breeze!  I don’t know why I don’t try more projects like this one.

The bag is the perfect size to hold both her tap and ballet shoes with room to grow about 10” x 13”.  I used Pellon SF101 for interfacing which gave it a nice shape without being stiff.  I am happy to say that after being carried around nearly constantly for the past few weeks, the handle and zipper have held up just fine.

I also wanted to let everyone know that Jana won the giveaway for the “emerald” fat quarters. 

Thanks to everyone who entered!  I’ll be having another giveaway in my next post, this time for an embroidery book.  Have you ever tried embroidery?  I’m hooked!

Linking up to Fabric Tuesday over at Quilt Story.

Monday Link Up--Let's Get Acquainted!

When Beth from Plum and June decided to take her Monday link up party on the road, I was thrilled when she asked me to host. Although we have never met, I love her sewing style. She recently finished this sweet improv quilt that is absolutely adorable. Maybe we share some of the same tastes since we are both moms to three little girls?

My favorite part of quilting is figuring things out. Not one to follow a pattern (or ever have success trying to), I like to just go with an idea and see what turns out, like this quilt top I made for the Pantone Emerald Challenge.



This was my first time using triangles, so I just bought a set of templates called Tri-Rec rulers. Originally I planned for the oblong space to be a hexagon shape, but didn’t use equilateral triangle templates (whoops). So when the space turned out oblong, I put those little diamonds in there to fill up the centers.



The rulers made sewing triangles together a breeze. I just wish I had used the right kind of triangle!

Now for the fun stuff! Here are the rules for the link-up party:

1. Link up any recent sewing/quilting post.

2. In your post or on your blog, please include either a text link or a button letting people know about this link up.

3. Visit at least the two bloggers who link up before you and everyone who visits you from this post.

4. WHEN THE LINK ASKS FOR YOUR NAME, TELL ME WHAT KIND OF PET YOU HAVE. My middle daughter wants a cockatiel for her birthday, and I keep thinking how cool it would be to have a magician make it appear at her party.

Half Rectangle Triangles {A Tutorial}

One of the blocks this month for the Make It Modern Bee is a diamond made with half rectangle triangles.  The tutorial was from a reputable national quilting site, but it did not work.  I tried it twice, and then noticed at the bottom of the comments other people had expressed that they too ran into the same trouble as me, namely there was too much seam allowance at the skinny points and almost no seam allowance at the fatter points. 

After thinking it through, that outcome made sense.  With half square triangles, the angles are 45 degrees, even on both sides of the seam.  But with these rectangles, it looks like the angles are even, but they are not…one is more acute and one is more obtuse, so that’s what causes the variance in the seam allowance.

The solution is pretty easy.  The diamonds have to be sewn together in a specific order, and some of the seam allowances need to be 3/8” to 1/2”.  Here’s how I did it.

***This tutorial yields two diamonds that each measure approximately 8 1/2” x 12”.

Cut four rectangles from your diamond fabric  and four from your background fabric that measure 5 1/2” x 7.5”.  This is a little bigger than the sizes in the original tutorial.  I found that my rectangles weren’t quite big enough to square up (or rectangle up!) perfectly, so I just increased the size a half inch.  After making the block a few more times, I do think the raw sizes need to be an entire inch bigger than your finished size.

Now, mark the back of your background fabric with a diagonal line for sewing.  You can either mark one diagonal and sew a 1/4” on either side of it or you can mark the two sewing lines on either side of the diagonal as I did.

It is important to draw two diagonals going one direction and two diagonals going the other direction.

Now this part is the same as the original tutorial.  Line up one of your background rectangles across one of your diamond rectangles.  Match up the corners and pin in place.  Then, either sew a 1/4 inch to either side of the diagonal you drew, or sew on the 1/4 inch lines you drew.

Cut down the center of the two seams and I am a seams-pressed-open kind of gal, so I pressed them open.

Here is the trickiest part of the process.  You now need to “square up” your rectangles.  It sounds a little confusing, but is pretty easy.   Just align the corners of your ruler so that the 4 1/2 inch marker is in one corner, and the 6 1/2 marker is in the opposite corner.  Make sure you have enough fabric around your ruler and on the other sides to cut off some excess.

Once all four of your rectangles are trimmed, lay them in a diamond formation.  Sew the top two triangles together with a 1/4” seam allowance.  Sew the bottom two triangles together with a 1/4” seam allowance.

Then sew the top and bottom pieces together using a 3/8” seam allowance.  You may want to use up to a 1/2” seam allowance if you use “scant” 1/4” seams.   I’m kind of making this up, but I think the size of your 1/4 inch seam is inversely proportionate to the side seam allowances.  So, if you are like me and sew with a scant 1/4”, you’ll need to use a 1/2” seam allowance to sew the top and bottom together.

I press my seams open.  You can see how much bigger the horizontal seam allowance is compared to the vertical seam allowance.

I trimmed each side down to a 1/4” seam allowance and my block finished up at 8 1/2” x 12”.  

Now the original tutorial said this would work with any size rectangles.  I wish I could come up with some kind of size chart but my math capability isn’t that good!  (I have a degree in English, so go easy on me!)   But, I am pretty sure you just need to add 1/4 inch  to the length of each of your rectangles if you have a finished size in mind.

This is a fast way to make diamonds with little fuss.  Hope you found this helpful if you ever want to make Half Rectangle Triangles!

Luck of the Irish {A Giveaway}

Have you heard about the annual Pantone color contest hosted on Flickr?  This year, the color is emerald. 

I am giving away 11 fat quarters of “emerald” hued fabrics bought mostly from The Intrepid Thread.  They were half yards cut into fat quarters, half for me and half for one lucky reader!

Do you have the luck of the Irish in you???

Fabrics included are Oval Elements, Anna Maria Horner, Amy Butler, and Joel Dewberry.  The giveaway will close on March 17th and I will announce the winner on the 18th.  Open to US and international entries.

To enter, just leave a comment with your favorite color…mine’s purple! 

Finished Summerlove Quilt

My cousin and I took the Summerlove quilt to the Calvert Marine Museum last week for a photo shoot at the lighthouse.

There was no wind, which made it a perfect (although cold!) day to take photos.

This is the first quilt I’ve ever had professionally long-armed!  I picked the quilting pattern and then mailed the quilt and backing off to Utah and got it back about a month later.  The stitching is beautiful and perfect.  I will definitely be sending my quilts out when I can afford it.  Melissa Kelley of Sew Shabby Quilting did the beautiful quilting.

You can really see the quilting on the back side of the quilt.  The backing was a gift from my husband a few years ago.  It’s a wide backing fabric from Keepsake Quilting.  As much as I really love a pretty pieced backing, sometimes it’s awesome not to have to sew the back together!

I couldn’t help but include this outtake from the photo shoot.  My cousin just had a baby in January so she did all the quilt holding with a 14 pound baby strapped to her chest!  You can see his little ear poking out of the wrap.  Thank you, Summer!

The finished quilt measures 60 x 72.  The fabrics are Summerlove and a few from my stash.  The background fabric is Essex linen.  I think the color is called natural. 

After washing and drying, the quilt looks almost exactly the same, just a little crinklier and softer.  I am in love with this quilt!