Let’s get this party started!

Haley was beyond excited when I told her that I was going to make new clothes with Bari J.‘s new line – Bijoux - to replace a few well loved and well worn pieces in her closet. We delighted in picking combinations of these wonderful fabrics for a few dresses, a skirt and a new Beverly Belle top.

She has worn the top every week since I made it. (Actually one of her friends requested that I sew her a top just like Haley’s new Bijoux Beverly Belle. ) It is such a fun, girly top, who can blame them for loving it? And ALL the girls love it! The combination of fabrics that Haley picked is just perfect, though any from this collection would be wonderful. I love the stitch and butterfly fabrics. They really show off this flowy pattern. (Pattern is from my dear friends over at Izzy & Ivy Designs.) We’ve also completed a lovely dress with the Dancing Harvest Guava fabric.

Yesterday when I told Haley we needed a few pictures, she ran to get her cowgirl boots. I think she and Bijoux would get along splendidly. (You can ready Bari’s story behind the line here.) Haley is also a free spirit and an artist. The only difference may be dancing barefoot in the desert….because Haley is not too fond on the desert bugs that may be crawling about!

It has been too fun playing with this fabric – for clothing, quilts, bags and more. It’s so lovely! I mean – seriously! Check out this quilt that Bari made! She’s going to have to watch me closely because I’m tempted to have this beauty come home with me. I also have a small quilt top that I’ve made – but I really want it to be quilted before sharing pictures. So you’ll just have to keep an eye here for that finished project (and on instagram for those work in progress pictures).

You have the chance to play with Bijoux also! Bari is giving one lucky person 10 fat quarters. It’s a super quick drawing – so I’ll randomly pick a winner on Thursday morning. And then you can go onto the next party house to enjoy all these lovely projects! Simply comment and tell me what you’d like to make if you win!

Comment and tell me what you’d like to make if you win! Check back Thursday for the winner!

Comments are now closed!  The winner is #24! I’ll be in touch!

Hilary says:

  And don’t forget to visit the other blogs to see more fabulous projects and win more fabulous fabric!

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Bless those of you that visit me regularly! My instinct is to jump in and apologize for not posting, but the truth is that my life is finally regaining a balance that it desperately needed. I may rework my website in the coming months to accommodate for a few changes anyway – and the blog will still be a part of that, but it may not be front and center.  Anyway, today I want to share some works in progress with you because I am working on many many things. Some are still secrets but some I can share with you!

As you know, my best friend is having a little girl in a couple months – so I’ve been working on a quilt for her. The adorable fabric is from the talented Natalie over at Cinderberry Stitches. She may be one of my favorite fabric people.

The next fun work in progess is a pattern from Beth and Liz over at LizzieB Cre8ive. It is happy and scrappy! (And so so fast!) Thanks to Instagram, I sourced a missing charm pack and need to quickly finish this one up!  The fabric is Terrain from the lovely Kate Spain. It’s one that I hid in my stash when I sold the store.

I am heading to quilt market next week. I will be posting pictures on Instagram and uploading a set to facebook each night. So join me there! (And join me here again tomorrow because I have fabric to give away!!!!)

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Remember back in December when my tutorial was featured on Moda Bake Shop?  Well let’s revisit the herringbone quilt because I finally took time to attach the binding. 

The quilt top is made with Bonnie & Camille‘s Ruby collection for Moda.  I use charm packs and a layer cake plus Bella #98 for the sashing and outer border. (Also did you see the Camille now has a Craftsy Class? Pre-Cut Piecing Made Simple Class  I totally should take that!)

An aside, I typically find that with their fabrics specifically, the white of Bella #97 is usually a better match because it’s not as bright of a white.  But I had a jelly roll of color #98, plus an entire bolt. (I have a bolt of 97 too….so I totally could have cut strips. Eh.  I had a deadline!) For myself, I find that I almost always end up choosing #98 for my white – I like to look on the bright side.   Isn’t it amazing how many “whites” there are?!?!?

 Anyway, it has 12 blocks from my tutorial.  Sashing is all 2.5 inch strips.  And then a border is cut from a layer cake. pieces measure 3.5x 6.5 (cut that size.)  Since I used part of the layer cake to make some of the blocks, I used what was left.  The outer border is 6.5 inches wide.  And the finished quilt is about 54×66.

Joanna did an amazing job on the quilting. She quilted each block and then she got all fancy with the border.  She split it and did fans sort on each side of where it’s divided.  Of course, in my usual fashion, I backed the herringbone quilt with minky.  And as per usual, it is so fun to see the quilting on the back!  That’s one of my favorite parts (besides the coziness of minky! I love that too.)

I’m glad to have another comfy cozy quilt in my finished pile.  This herringbone quilt has special meaning to me (they all do, really) because it came from my own little head and another person thought it was cool enough to publish the tutorial.  Plus I think it’s cool how you can use any quilt block for so many different items.  I have many a book full of other original quilt ideas that I really need to get cracking on!

In theory, this herringbone quilt will be on the back porch off the master bedroom. Most likely, it will end up being moved around the house to be used. Just as it should. And maybe someday we will live in a climate that minky makes sense year round. It’s already getting too hot here to sit outside (unless in the middle of the night) with a minky quilt.  Oh well!  I now have a nice stash of voile, and I have a deadline for a presentation on quilting with voile.  Voile seems perfect for Tucson quilts!

If you have made the herringbone quilt (or hot pads as shown in the tutorial) I would LOVE to see them!  Please be sure to leave me a comment or drop a line.

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Almost seven year olds and eight year olds are good for many things! Helping me video tape a tutorial for making the Steal Your Heart – Raccoon Applique – Shirt is not one of them.   Luckily I am tricky like a raccoon and still have an applique tutorial video for you!  I warn you, I like to say now, next and then.  BUT at least I finally stopped coughing so I’m not redoing it again!

This is raw edge applique without the use of heat-n-bond lite or other fusible web.  I love that it gives a soft, flexible design that moves with the clothing when you’re finished.

PDF Pattern pieces here.

Video Here

One last note – never iron the shiny side of the freezer paper. Put the shiny side onto your fabric and iron the dull side.  I am a little confusing about that in the video.

Supplies:

• Usual sewing items
• Shirt (or bag or blanket, etc)
• Fabric for applique (Scraps! Largest needs to be 6×8)
• Freezer Paper
• Spray Starch
• Glue Stick
• Matching Threads
• Needle for hand sewing

Optional:

• Tricot
• Washaway Stabilizer

Knit tricot is sold by the yard at Joann’s and I’m sure other places like Hobby Lobby, Hancocks, etc.  I iron it on the back of the applique design to protect stitches and the baby’s skin. It is totally optional and I happen to have it on hand, but you can do the project with out!

Sulky Fabri-Solvy is a washaway stabilizer that acts like an extra thickness of fabric and adds stability but then washes away so leaves your t-shirt soft and flexible.  I used it on one shirt I made and not on the other.  If you’re getting puckering or ‘bubbling’ then a little piece to go behind the raccoon body or specific area should help.  This is my own advice – I should ask Cristy what she recommends. 

I do have to thank my friend Cristy for showing me this method with glue.  Once again, if you haven’t experienced her genius yet, please go visit her site!  Glue is awesome!

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Fact: Babies steal your heart.

One of my dearest and longest friends is having her first baby this summer. This little girl has already stolen everyone’s heart and she’s not even arrived yet!

Mom & Dad √

Grandma & Grandma √

Aunts and Uncles √

And we all know that once you’ve given your heart to a sweet little baby girl, there is no way you’re getting it back. 

That inspired the little applique shirt that I made for her.

I actually knew how I wanted the applique shirt to look before I found a shirt to applique. I found it at Carters (removed a flower they had on it. I love my seam ripper!) I just couldn’t bring myself to use a plain white onsie.   I was even willing to look at boys items if needed. But lucky for me, I found this and the little pink touches are just perfect. I used a small zig zag stitch to attach the applique. I contemplated putting some 12 weight pink stitching on the cute little raccoon. I’m still tempted…but my friend doesn’t sew and I’m not sure if the hand stitched finish is main stream enough.  I really need to leave the house more. 

My friend, Cristy, showed me some applique tricks.  She is so awesome!  (This applique shirt is a raw edge method.)  It has made me want to applique everything.    And guess what?  I used glue.  No heat and bond or other fusible.  I love glue!  And I love that it washes out leaving the final product soft and not all hard and stiff.  Also, I ironed tricot on the inside of the shirt after I had finished with my applique.  I figure it protects the skin and the design.  Do you put anything on the back of an applique shirt? (Or other clothing.)

I will be making many many items for her. (And maybe a thing or two for her mom as well ) Quilts, hooded towels, appliqued onsies, pajamas, bibs, burp cloths….. what else would you put on a “make for baby” list?

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My daughter was gifted a cute pair of Bitty Twins for Christmas. We knew that she was receiving these, so our job was to make  a place to sleep. My task, specifically, was to create Bitty Twin quilt bedding. I had the best job.

I knew that I wanted to make Michael and Maya (the twins have now been thusly named) quilts that matched but were not identical.  I thought about patchwork squares, but decided that I wanted to create little tumblers instead.  I feel like it creates a bit more interest in the quilt top.

I started out with 2.5 inch squares. Then I used my EZ Dresden Ruler to cut the angle on each side. (It ended up being 2.5 inches wide at the top and 1.75 inches on the bottom.)  Each quilt has 10 rows and each row is made up of 5 tumblers.  Then I added a 2.5 inch white border.  You can see that I used some of the same fabrics in each quilt to make them match.  I added orange to Michael’s and pink to Maya’s quilt.

All kids (even doll kids) love to cuddle with minky, so I used minky for the backing. And due to time considerations, I opted to sew the binding on this time by machine. I’m not a fan of machine sewn bindings (I know so many people love it, so don’t hate me!) From now on, whenever I need to machine bind a quilt, I’ll be using Pat Sloan’s method.

I made the mattresses and pillows for the beds also. You’ll have to ask Luke about the bed. He made his own pattern (is pattern the right word for wood workers?) and used left over wood. That’s about all I know.

We’re happy to have Michael and Maya in our family now. And they’re happy to have a place to sleep each night with their bitty twin quilt bedding.

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I made this sweet zippered pouch recently.

Of course, I used Erin’s pattern, because it’s perfect. It’s the Essential Wristlet.

Since I’m sending this to a quilty friend in Canada, I wanted to make it quilty. So before making the pouch, I made a little quilt block and bordered with the gorgeous Sandi Henderson Ironworks print. I quilted it with the batting, & then cut my pieces for the zippered pouch from that. After that I just followed the pattern.

I’m always surprised at the number of people that are terrified of zippers. They really are not hard! If you’re unsure, then I want to tell you that Erin‘s patterns walk you through the process step by step. (She’s really not paying me to say this! I just love her patterns!) And I love that the end is clean and not all bunched up/tucked in.

OF course, I had to fill the Sweet Zippered Pouch with candy. That’s what makes it so sweet, right?

I also have to talk about the decorative stitching. It’s my new favorite thing, so expect to see this often! I used Aurifil 12 weight thread (in the bobbin too), a 90/14 needle and lengthened my stitch to 3.5. (I tested 4.0 also and it worked too. I just liked the look of 3.5 better on this project.) Then I just sewed like normal. It worked perfectly! And I think it adds a delightful detail without all the hand stitching…because I LOVE the look of hand stitching but just don’t like doing it!

So there you  have it!  My sweet zippered pouch.    Next goal it to have ALL the colors of Aurifil 12 weight so I can add decorative stitching to everything under the sun.  There are only 252 of them! 

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