Pat Sloan’s Teach Me to Machine Quilt Blog Hop!!!

I am so totally excited to be a part of Pat Sloan’s Teach Me to Machine Quilt Blog Hop!!!  I have admired and followed Pat for years and years!  She is so inspiring!  Pat is truly amazing and she is such a wonderful teacher!!   I have been so impressed with her new “Teach Me To” series and absolutely love this third book in the series,  Teach Me to Machine Quilt!!

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Even if you’ve been a quilter for years and years (like myself) you will love this book.  I was excited to learn a few new tips and tricks from Pat.  Plus the projects are super inspiring!!

I LOVE this checkerboard star wall quilt!!!

Something I read and IMMEDIATELY put into practice was Pat’s tip of laying down an old sheet on the floor before spray basting a quilt.  This way the overspray goes on the sheet and not on the carpet or wood!  Toss the sheet in the washer and there is no mess!  Brilliant!!!

Time for a giveaway!

And now, for the best news of all, Pat’s giving away 5 copies of her book over on HER blog.
Here’s the direct link to enter the giveaway:  blog.patsloan.com/pats-mega-fun-book-tour/

I’m one of the last stops on the tour that runs through Nov 30, so be sure to visit these other sites today:

Click here to see the entire blog hop schedule. Good luck and happy hopping!

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Gingercake Holiday Gift Blog Tour

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I’m so excited to be part of Gingercake’s Holiday Gift Blog Tour!  Virginia, who writes the Gingercake blog, has a wide variety of creative sewing patterns, from penguins to purses from lunchboxes to llamas!  It was hard to choose just one – but the penguins stole my heart!!

The penguin pattern was easy to follow with excellent step by step instructions – I never had to read between the lines!  I have twin nieces who just turned 1 year old.  I can’t wait to give them each a penguin for Christmas!

I used soft flannel for the penguin body and I made the tummies, beak, and feet out of minky.  The twins LOVE minky!! img_6824

Since the minky can twist and shift like no other fabric on the planet, I used a little Spray n Bond basting spray to keep the pieces in place while sewing.img_6827

I zig zagged around each piece two times.  I love how the pattern has little darts in the head and body to give the penguins more shape!  They each have their own personality – don’t you think!  Now, what to name them!!

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Mufasa was a little confused and did not know what a penguin was 🙂 img_6868 Check out the other AMAZING designers who are participating in the Gingercake Holiday Gift Blog Tour!!  Start making your lists and checking them twice!!  Christmas is coming fast!!

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You can also enter to win this fabulous fabric giveaway sponsored by Blend Fabrics!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Meowy Christmas Quilt Pattern

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I’m so excited to announce the release of my latest pattern!!  It’s called Meowy Christmas and you can purchase it in my Etsy shop for instant download.  I fell in love with this retro feeling Christmas cat print from Michael Miller.  It was the inspiration for this quilt!  The colors are so nostalgic – red, pink, green and mint green!  There are 12 blocks that measure 12″.  The finished quilt is 52″ x 65″ which is the purrrrfect size to cuddle up with and watch Christmas movies!  Even if you are not a cat lover (gasp) this quilt is a great way to use large prints or theme prints.  cat-block

This quilt even inspired Mufasa to get into the spirit of Christmas!  Doesn’t he look thrilled!!

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I love the quilt border!  It has 12 bows that are appliqued on.  This is seriously my new favorite quilt!  I hope you love it too!!!     img_6932

 

Quilt Petite Blog Hop

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I’m so excited to be the next stop on the ‘Quilt Petite’ Blog Hop!!!  Sedef Imer of Down Grapevine has just released this adorable little quilt book! It is filled with the cutest projects and ideas – it’s just fun to look through again and again!

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It was difficult to choose just one project to feature here.  Since I am in full Christmas decorating mode, I thought a holiday twist would be fun!  I chose the Petal Burst Table Topper pattern, used traditional red and green colors, and turned it into a quilted pillow!  The fabrics I chose are from a variety of Bonnie & Camille fabric lines.

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To speed up the pillow making process, I choose to applique the petals with Heat n Bond Lite.

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Once the petals were fused, I sewed around each petal with matching thread.

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I quilted around the flower and then cut the pillow top down to 20″ square.

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To finish the pillow, I cut the pillow back 20″ and inserted a zipper toward the bottom.  I placed the pillow top and back wrong sides together and basted 1/8″ all the way around the pillow.  I then added binding – just like a normal quilt.  Once it was done I popped a 20″ pillow inside.  I LOVE it!!

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The blog hop goes until December 11th.   Check out this amazing list of quilt bloggers participating in the blog tour!  Be sure to visit Down Grapevine Lane for a chance to win a lovely package full of all kinds of goodies, including a copy of Quilt Petite! 
November 6: Sedef at Down Grapevine Lane
November 7: Wynn at Zakka Art
November 8: Sarah at A Little Happy Place
November 9: Bridgette at The Family Hearth
November 10: Heidi at Fabric Mutt
November 11: Minki at Minki’s Work Table
November 12: Ange at A Little Patchwork
November 13: Lauren at Molly and Mama
November 14: Michelle at Cole & Taffy
November 15: Nadra at Ellis & Higgs
November 16: Amy at Nana Company
November 17: Faith at Sarana Ave
November 18: Debbie at Happy Little Cottage
November 19: Erin at Why Not Sew
November 20: Amanda at Jedi Craft Girl
November 21: Melissa at Oh How Sweet
November 22: Stacy at Stacy Olson Design
November 23: Ayda at Cafe Nohut
November 24: Peta at She Quilts A Lot
November 25: Amanda at A Crafty Fox
November 26: Keera at Live Love Sew
November 27: Sharon at Lilabelle Lane
November 28: Kate at The Homemakery
November 29: Jemima at Tied With A Ribbon
November 30: Jodie at Ric Rac
December 1: Anorina at Samelia’s Mum
December 2: Alisha at Ministry of Fabric
December 3: Xanthe at Wife-made
December 4: Cheri at Tinker With This
December 5: Kristyne at Pretty By Hand
December 6: Kimberly at Fat Quarter Shop
December 7: Veronica at Vivid Felicity
December 8: Shari at Doohikey Designs
December 9: Jina at Jina Barney Designz
December 10: Emma at Emma Jean Jansen
December 11: Sedef at Down Grapevine Lane

Moonlight Path Quilt Tutorial

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I am super excited to share this pattern with you!  The inspiration for this quilt came when I saw this cat fabric called The Highlands from Michael Miller on the Fat Quarter Shop website! Yes those are cats with antlers!!!!

screen-shot-2016-11-10-at-7-24-55-pm I’m so in love with it!!!!!  I selected 22 prints to coordinate with this sweet little fabric to create the Moonlight Path Fat Quarter Bundle that is available from Fat Quarter Shop!

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Aren’t these colors fabulous together!  To make this throw-size quilt top you only need this fat quarter bundle and nothing else!!  (There is enough fabric left over if you want to make a scrappy binding too!)

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The fat quarter bundle has a perfect blend of darks, lights, and mids.  You don’t have to add any additional yardage!!

img_6504  I love all the shades of blue with a few gray prints – I am a blue girl – can you tell!  If you look closely there are a few fussy cut cat blocks hidden in the quilt.  After all, they were the inspiration 🙂

Let’s get started!!

all seams 1/4″

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We will only be using 2 1/2″ strips for the blocks.

Each dark print 2 1/2″ strip will be enough for one block.  You need 50 dark strips for the 50 blocks.

Each light print 2 1/2″ strip will be enough for (2) blocks.  You need 25 light print strips.

Each medium print 2 1/2″ strip will be enough for (2) blocks.  You need 25 medium print strips.

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Once the strips are cut, sew the light and medium strips together lengthwise.  Press toward the dark.  Sub-cut into 2 1/2″ increments.  Cut the dark strips in 4 1/2″ increments.  The above picture shows everything you need for one block.

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Sew the strip set to the dark rectangle as pictured above.  You will have (4) of these units per block.

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Continue sewing in this manner until all the strips are sewn into these units.

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The pieced units will be sewn as pictured above, like a 4-patch.  I pressed the seams alternately as much as I could for easy matching.

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Now you have a finished block!  Continue sewing all the units together to form 50 blocks.

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I love how they each turned out!!!

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Cat Blocks

You will need to make 6 additional fussy-cut cat blocks to mix in.

Fussy cut the cat fabric in 4 1/2″ squares.  Cut 6.

Cut (24) light 2 1/2″ squares.

Cut (24) medium 2 1/2″ squares.

Cut (24) dark 2 1/2″ squares.

Lay them out according to the photo below:

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Sew the top and bottom rows together.  Sew the sides together, press, then sew to the sides of the cat square.  Finally sew the top and bottom rows to the center cat unit, matching seams.  Press.  img_6469

I love the cat block!  It wouldn’t be a quilt unless there was a little theme print in it!!!  Of course you could omit the cat blocks and just make 56 of the original blocks.

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Lay the quilt out 7 blocks across and 8 rows down.  I had to play around with my blocks so they didn’t create an unwanted pattern.  It’s tricky to look random 🙂  Sew the blocks together pressing seams alternately with each row.  Sew the rows together pinning at every seam intersection.  Quilt, bind, love!

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Heartland Fabric Blog Tour and Quilt Tutorial

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heartland-tumbler-quiltI’m thrilled to be a part of Pat Bravo’s Art Gallery Fabrics Heårtland Blog Tour!!!  And a special thanks to Amy from During Quiet Time for putting it all together!!  These amazing fabrics were so much fun to play with.  When they arrived in the mail I may have squealed!!!screen-shot-2016-11-09-at-4-25-04-pm

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I love how these fabrics look all together and I knew I wanted each fabric to have an equal part in my quilt and not single any one out.  I love the over all look of them blended together.  I decided to use my Sizzix tumbler die.  This quilt is just as easy as sewing squares together, but has an entirely different look with the tumbler shape.  I also did not place each fabric individually in the quilt.  I wanted a truly random look – and that’s just what I got!  Also, using the tumbler die makes each seam match up perfectly!!!

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To make this quilt you need a stack of fat quarters or yardage of Heartland fabric and the Sizzix Bigz L Tumbler die.  I used 19 different fabrics.

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Cut your fabric into 5 1/4″ strips.

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Lay the fabric strips on the Sizzix Tumbler die.  I layered up to 6 at a time!

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Die cut each strip and then move the strip down, rotating it, and continue die cutting.  This way you have hardly any waste.

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Such a fun little stack!  You need a total of 256 tumblers.

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Once you have all the tumblers die cut, mix them up in a bag and grab and go!  They will be sewn together in an alternating manner.

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Place the tumblers right side together, there should be 1/4″ overhang at the top and the bottom.  Sew along the edge using a 1/4″ seam.

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This is how it looks with the seam.

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Continue sewing tumblers together in rows of 16 (you can totally change up the dimensions).  You will need 15 rows.  Press each of the seams of the rows alternating so the seams look like this:

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Sew the rows together and press. Mufasa loves the quilt!!!!!

img_6454 I like to quilt the quilt without squaring up the edges.  After quilting, square up the edges with a rotary cutter and bind.heartland-quilt-2       heartland-quilt  Here’s the rest of the schedule so you don’t miss a thing:

Wednesday, November 9  ~  Jade/Stitch mischief
Thursday, November 10  ~  Amanda/Jedi Craft Girl
Friday, November 11  ~  Kari/Craft happy
Monday, November 14  ~  Stephanie/Spontaneous Threads
Tuesday, November 15  ~  Christopher/The Tattooed Quilter
Wednesday, November 16  ~  Kerry/kid giddy
Thursday, November 17  ~  Nichole/Wildboho
Friday, November 18  ~  Krista/poppyprint

Find Pat @PatBravoDesign on Instagram, and see the hashtags #PatBravoDesign, 
#HeartlandFabrics, and #ArtGalleryFabrics. heartland-tour

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Happy Haunting Halloween Quilt

This is one of my most favorite Halloween Quilts and I thought I would give it a little shout out this year!  It’s a great pattern to use up all those Halloween scraps you’ve been saving for years.  You can find the full pattern HERE.

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Mufasa is a huge fan of this quilt too!!

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I love how each of the blocks turns out different depending on which version of the block you choose and which fabric you choose.  It’s scrappy yet not too scrappy!!

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Find My Recipes at The Rounded Teaspoon

After years of trying to track down the family recipes in paper files, note cards, computer files, blog posts, and still not being able to find the Pumpkin Bread recipe every fall, my sister and I decided it was time to launch our own cooking blog, The Rounded Teaspoon.  We thought it would be a great idea to have our recipes accessible to our family and friends 27/7!!  YAY!!!!   Our blog consists of recipes that have been made over and over  – that are tried and true.  We only share what we absolutely love and have made “a hundred times”.  Here are a few of our most recent posts – I hope you enjoy these recipes, from our home to yours 🙂pumpkin-banana-bread moms-cinnamon-rolls strawberry-cupcakes-cover crackle-top-cookies-cover

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Trick or Treat Table Runner

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Just when I thought Halloween sewing was over, these cute fabrics jumped into my cart at Michael Levine!  I got out all my scraps of Halloween fabric and started cutting!  Before I knew it I had made this super fun table runner!  I added a variety of black lace and ric rac trim to give it more interest!

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Project Supplies:

Scraps of orange prints and black prints – at least 20″ long

Black fabric for applique

Heat n Bond® EZ print sheets

SpraynBond® Basting Spray

Trick Treat PDF pattern

Scraps of black trim, ric rac, and lace

1 1/2 yards backing

1/2 yard black fabric for binding

batting

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Begin by cutting your strips into random widths: 2″, 2.5″, 3″, 4″, 5″, etc.  No need to plan – they are all going to get sewn together.  Once you have a nice assortment of fabrics, cut them all to be 20″ long.  (If you prefer a narrower runner, you can adjust this measurement.)

Begin sewing the strips together – I didn’t plan it out – I just did the grab and go method – which makes this project super fast.  Keep sewing strips until you are happy with the length.  I have a super long farm table so mine measures 92″ long!

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For the applique section…..

Cut (2) 6.5″ x 20″ white or off-white rectangles.

Sew an orange or black 20″ strip to each white rectangle.

Print out the letters onto the HeatnBond® EZ print sheets.

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Iron the letters to the wrong side of the black fabric.  (The letters will be reverse)

Cut out each letter, peel off the backing paper.  Position the letters like this and heat set in place:

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Sew around each letter in black thread. Confession: I didn’t sew around each letter – I quilted over the letters pretty good and caught most of the edges.

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Sew the “trick” section and the “treat” section to opposite ends of the table runner.  Press all seams in one direction.

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Once the runner top is complete, use Spray n Bond® Basting Spray to baste the top, batting, and back, just like you would a quilt.

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Next measure your desired trims 20″ and cut.  Position them throughout the table runner.  Some I placed over the seams and others I placed on the fabric.  I used different widths of lace and large ric rac.

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Once you have the trim how you like it, use the Spray n Bond® and spray the back of each piece of trim and re-position it.  This will hold it in place while you sew.

Tip: I like to use old wrapping paper to spray my lace on.  You need something behind the lace or the spray will go through onto your work surface.  The wrapping paper works great because it it large and then easy to throw away!

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Once the trim is in place, use a walking foot and sew with black thread along the edges of the trim to secure.

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I switched to cream thread and quilted random wavy lines throughout the quilt, even over the letters.  Square up the runner after you’ve quilted it to get it nice and even.

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Once the quilting is finished you can bind the runner as you would a quilt.

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I am so in love with this little project!  And it was a quick too!

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Black Cat Pillow Tutorial

black-cat-pillow-tutorialI need another pillow like I need a hole in the head!!  hahahaha!!   Who doesn’t need this silly cat pillow on their couch during the month of October!  I love looking into the family room and this kitty face is always smiling at me 🙂  Want to whip one up?  You only need about 1 hour!!

Supplies:

Heat n Bond® Lite (may use EZ print sheets)

(2) 20″ squares orange ticking for pillow body

Fat quarter solid black

scraps of white fabric, green fabric, and orange fabric

2.5 yards pom pom trim

zipper

20″ pillow form

Cat Pattern, click HERE

Project Instructions:

Begin by printing or tracing each of the pattern pieces to the Heat n Bond® Lite fusible applique. Cut around each piece about 1/4″ away from pattern.   Press the pieces to the wrong side of the desired fabrics with hot, dry iron.

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Peel off backing paper and position the cat head and face pieces on the right side of one of the 20″ orange ticking squares.  Center the cat.  Heat set in place.

With black thread, straight stitch around each of the applique pieces 3 times.  I only stitched around the cat head once because you can’t see the stitching.  Following the picture, add detail stitching for his teeth.

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Sew black buttons for the center of his eyes.

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He needs whiskers!!!!  I used a shiny light gray thread to stitch the whiskers.  You can draw them with a pencil first so you don’t mess up ?

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I only stitched the whiskers once and used a stay stitch to start and stop.

To finish the pillow, baste the pom pom trim around the pillow front, starting and stopping at the bottom center.

To finish the pillow, cut a 3″ strip off of the remaining 20″ square.

Sizzix Tutorial|Fish Bubbles - Nautical Throw Pillow by Amanda Niederhauser

This is where the zipper will go.  (If zippers make you run for the hills, you can finish this pillow using your favorite method. This just happens to be my favorite way to finish a pillow!)

Simply sew the zipper in and press.  This is now the pillow back!  With the zipper part way open, pin the pillow front to the pillow back, right sides together.  Using a 1/2″ seam, sew around the entire pillow.

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Turn right side out.

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I love silly black cats!!!

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