Cupcake Party!

We’re having a cupcake party for Valentines.  I made this tablerunner over the weekend for the special occasion.

It measures 54” x 14”.

I found these cute red glitter buttons at Joanns on Friday (along with a few choice cuts of Aunt Edna…).

Then I did a practice run of baking the cupcakes for the party.

Lookin’ good!   The backing fabric features even more sweet treats.

Most of the fabrics used are Heidi Grace from Joanns.  I loved making this and the kids love it even more!

Five Little Pumpkins Sitting on a Gate…

If you have a preschooler, I am sure you’ve been singing that song recently!  I saw this beautiful tablerunner which referenced this tablerunner.  I tried my best to make my own--they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!

When I saw those cute little pumpkins, I knew I needed to make myself one.  And my sister-in-law asked for a fall themed tablerunner measuring exactly 13 x 33 inches, so I made her one with a border that fits to her specifications.  Ours is a little longer, probably 11 x 42 inches.

My husband wasn’t a fan of the taller pumpkins, so I think if you are going to make one, you would want shorter and squatter pumpkins.  I just joined together scraps and then made 4 small squares to make a snowball block.  I made the 4 snowball-making squares various sizes for each of the pumpkins.   Bea was even able to sew the diagonal line on each square!  She really loved helping.

Although I personally like the crazy pumpkins, I think they look better with vertical piecing.

I went with one of my smaller labels for my sister-in-law’s tablerunner.  I wrote my name and the year on the label.  This is the first time I’ve used an indelible quilt marker.  I have two larger labels with my name on them, but because this runner is kind of smallish, I wanted to use something size appropriate.   I have a few charms left from a Grand Finale pack and think I might make a few more of these.  They fun, fast, and easy!

Swaps Goodies

Today I got my fall swap package in the mail.  I sent my partner, Kim, this fall table runner, some Halloween candy, and a wristlet key fob I made.

 

The leaf fabric has a linen look I really like.

Today the mail lady Donna drove up our road and delivered these goodies Esther is modeling in the photo…a cute pumpkin bag, a tabletopper, a Halloween mug rug and new mug, and candy.  You can’t see the chocolate pretzels because Esther has already eaten them all! 

Thank you, Kim!  Everything is lovely!

I also mailed out my block for my Block Swap Adventure partner Linda yesterday.  I never took a photo of the complete block, but here is the sneak peek.  She asked for bright colors.

I really wish I had taken a photo of the whole block.  It is by far the best one I’ve made for BSA and I think it turned out really nicely.  My points were all in the right place and not cut off for once!

Here are the three blocks I’ve received so far along with two I made myself. 

I plan to make a quilt for my brother-in-law in civil war repro type fabric once I amass enough blocks.

Fall Tablerunners

 

I’ve made quite a few tablerunners lately either as gifts or for swaps.  I bought a charm pack last year and have managed to make 4 tablerunners out of it.  I can’t remember the name of the line, but it’s a Moda fabric by Sandy Gervais.

It’s backed by a brown polka dot and bound by a fantastic modern dot fabric and machine attached.  I am loving the zig zag stitch!

I made another identical runner and backed it with a great large scale fabric that I might like even better than the actual top and bound with my favorite zig zag fabric.

And here’s a view of the back—it could be reversible.

The backing was a great find at Joanns.  I only paid $1.80 a yard for it during one of their 1/2 off red tag fabric sales.  I love it!

   

I’m working on another tablerunner with the latest fall line by Sandy Gervais (of course!) called Finale.

I can’t wait to get this one done.  Hopefully in time for Halloween!

In the doghouse…

I guess my husband thought he was in trouble at home.  He brought these lovelies home on Friday, complete with a funny card.   Can you believe they actually make this card?

Truth is, my husband wasn’t in the doghouse.  We’ve just be plagued by colds and lack of sleep, so I’ve been a bit crabby.  We got out all our Halloween decorations today which improved everyone’s moods.  Esther was thrilled to hang bats and spiders on our front porch.  We don’t happen to have a mantle above our fireplace, so our piano is where I put a lot of our holiday stuff.

See those pumpkins in the bowl?  My mom and dad had a reunion yesterday and used a ton of mini pumpkins for decorations.  Trouble was, my mom wrote all over them with permanent marker.  So the girls and I spray painted a few with metallic paint we had in the garage and put glitter on a few of them. 

The fabric in the tablerunner is Pumpkins Gone Wild.  It is definitely my favorite fall fabric line of all time.   I have made several tablerunners either for swaps or gifts recently.

Third (or fourth) time's the charm

I joined the Block Swap Adventure this month (button on the left side of my page) and was assigned my partner Lillian.  She requested a Tulip Ladyfingers block with some color choices.  I had never made this block before (I've never made most blocks before!) and picking out the fabric was half the fun.  Last weekend, I finally sat down to cut out my pieces and put it all together, but it certainly didn't turn out how I hoped:

I think what happened was that my seam allowance wasn't quite 1/4 inch, so the block was bigger than it should be.  Then when I trimmed it back, there wasn't enough seam allowance so the tulips would remain pointy when the block is sewn to another.  But basically I was freaking out.  Enter Bobbie, a fellow quilter who answered my help post on the Block Swap Adventure Blog.  She gave me some great advice for remaking the block.  I made a second that came out nearly perfect, but since I had to rip virtually every single seam, I thought I should make a newer block due to the wear and tear.  I wasn't sure how well the block would hold up after all my man handling.  After cutting out block #3, I realized I mixed up some of the colors and actually cut out and sewed the wrong color for the HSTs.  So, I had to make a fourth block!!!   The last one turned out okay.  The block is a little shy of the 12.5 inch size, but it's pretty close.  So, I hope Lillian likes it!  I picked some Eleanor Burns and Connecting Threads fabrics in blue and yellow.  I tried to stay within the confines of Lillian's color choices, but isnt' it amazing how different each block looks based on the colors?  I love the middle one with the Riley Blake polka dots and some Lecien pinks.

I also pieced together a little pinwheel parade for the Fourth of July.  The bottom with the white sashing is my first attempt at pinwheels, and I had pretty much the same errors as I did with the Tulip Ladyfingers.  I trimmed them back a little and the points disappeared, although it wasn't terrible.  So, I tried again and it turned out so much better.   This time I omitted the sashing, too, and I think I like that look better.

And finally I whipped up a tablerunner from some of my favorite scraps that I am going to call the Indian Summer skinny tablerunner.  The backing/binding fabric is actually some that I purchased to back my fall tumbler quilt, but then I forgot I had it and since I was making a pieced backing for the fall tumbler, it completely slipped my mind until it was all quilted and I found it folded up in a pile of fabric on the couch:)  It is so summery--abstract sunflowers that look just like little suns to me.  I love it!  The flowers are from my sweet husband--we celebrated 7 wonderful years together on June 19.  Happy Summer!  I hope everyone is enjoying the weather and time with family!