Stashing

Are you a fabric stasher?  I am definitely not.  In fact this picture is probably about 80% of all my fabric.  Don’t get me wrong when I first starting quilting I went through a buy-all-the-fabric-in-sight phase, but now I’m much more picky and limit most of my stash to basics and prints I really love.    When I have too much fabric on hand I always feel a little pressure to hurry and use it….its a little stressful, which sounds silly but true! 

Now I’m learning that I’m much happier when I buy what I need, when I need it, and that way I get to buy all the new fabric lines as they come out.  Not that its bad to have a stash….I’m jealous of those of you who do…..I just can’t stand all that pretty fabric staring at me from its shelf begging me to use it instead of folding the laundry.  

Anyways, in the midst of organizing I made some “for sale” piles of fabric pieces, mostly fat quarters and large scraps left over from past quilts.  They are in the shop.  (sold…man you guys are fast!)

Stack n’ Whack

The past couple days I’ve been experimenting with stack n’ whack block making. This is a simple and fast fast fast way to make blocks. The blocks below finish up at 7 1/2” square but there are instructions at the bottom if you want larger blocks like in the orange quilt.

Start with two 8 1/2” squares.

Make a cut 2 1/2” in from each side.

Cut the center strip horizontally 2 1/2” in from the top and bottom.

Switch the center squares.

Sew the center strips back onto the new center square, right sides together and press out.

Sew the side strips onto the center strip right sides together and press out. Don’t worry about lining up the side strips as you’ll be trimming off those extra pieces anyways.

Trim off the top and bottom first, and the sides 1/4” or so until you have a square block that is 7 1/2” square.

If you want a larger block….lets say 8 1/2” finished, start with a 9 1/2” square and use the same cutting instructions and sizes. That will give you this same block as in the orange quilt….just easier. To make the same quilt with 72 blocks, start with 36 colored squares and 36 white squares, then stack n’ whack away to make it extra fast!

Holidays in July

Cindy, Kelly & Rachel have organized a Bake, Craft & Sew along to give everyone a head start preparing for the Holidays. They are featuring my camera strap cover tutorial today. There is some amazing tutorials and talent, check it out here.

Guess what I spotted at Joann’s the other day stuffed in with the fat quarter bundles? It made my day. :)

Its Katie Jump Rope fabric by Denyse Schmidt if you didn't already guess, my Joann's had two of them...which I bought.

Guest Tutorial: Bullseye blocks by Kersten

Today I’m lucky to have a tutorial by Kersten of Frozen Knickers. She’s going to show you how to make the blocks for this hip little quilt. Which looks very honeybun friendly for all you honey-bunners out there. Thanks Kersten!

I am so excited to be guest posting on Cluck. Cluck. Sew. today. Today I am going to show you how to make this Bullseye block. There is a lot of pressing so if you are one of those people who likes to get a workout while you are crafting this is TOTALLY. FOR. YOU! If your not one of those people, keep your iron close.

What you'll need:

Printed Fabric: 2- 1.5" x 1.5" squares

2- 3.5" x 1.5" strips

2- 5.5" x 1.5" strips

2- 7.5" x 1.5" strips

Neutral Fabric: 1- 1.5" x 1.5" square

2- 3.5" x 1.5" strips

2- 5.5" x 1.5" strips

1. Stitch the two printed 1.5" pieces to the sides of the 1.5" neutral piece. Press seams toward the print.

2. Stitch the two printed 3.5" strips to the top and bottom. Press seams toward the print.

3. Stitch the two neutral 3.5" strips to the sides. Press toward the neutral.

4. Stitch the two neutral 5.5" strips to the top and bottom. Press toward the neutral.

5. Stitch the two printed 5.5" strips to the sides. Press toward the print.

6. Stitch the two printed 7.5" strips to the top and bottom. Press toward the print.

Simple as that. Square up your edges, add batting and backing, quilt it, bind it and you have yourself a nice little table topper or hot pad (add extra batting).

To make a Reverse Bullseye (so the center square is a print and the outside strips are neutral), just switch the neutral and print measurements and order. Assemble using the same directions. Want to turn it into a baby sized quilt (approx. 35"x42")? Make 15 Bullseye and 15 Reverse Bullseye blocks. Alternate between the two blocks. Six rows with five blocks in each.

Update: Kersten just added these fabric requirements for making the baby quilt....

1 honey bun
1 yard neutral
1/3 yard binding
1 1/3 yards backing

Nicey Jane Table Cloth

Last week I made a  table cloth with Nicey Jane laminated cotton purchased here.  Its SO nice that it wipes clean, it might be the only table cloth to actually stay on my table and not in the washing machine.  The laminated cottons are expensive, but I like the drape a lot and luckily my table is small (and it was a gift…thanks Mom!)  I bound it in a matching cotton stripe using my walking foot.

Now back to the slippin’ slide for me!  Well…not really me…the kids.  It makes my knees ache just watching them.  Oh to be a kid (and short) again!

Tutorial: The Road Trip Quilt

This is a fun, fast quilt to make and a GREAT quilt for a beginner. You only need to buy 10 different 1/8 yard strips and the cutting and sewing is easy since there are no matching seams or squaring up edges to worry about. This finished quilt measures 36" x 40", but to add more rows just cut one extra 1/8 yard per extra row you want. On to the tutorial….

Your quilt should have 10 rows. In each row, you will use 2 of each size piece above. There is no set order…since the fabrics you use will determine where you put your squares, but if you need help you can look at the quilt below and you should be able to tell what sizes I put where. I labeled the 1st couple of rows if you need help…

Once you get the rows laid out and the darks and light fabrics evenly spaced, sew the blocks together into rows, press, and sew your rows together and press. You should now have yourself a cute little quilt top in no time at all! I thought this one would be a good play mat quilt for a boy….to make it a crib size just add two more rows (cut 2 extra 1/8 yard pieces…so 12 instead of 10).

The fabrics used in this quilt are from the Wheels collection by Riley Blake. You can find it here or here. here. I've had lots of questions about the polka dots....the yellow dot and the blue and orange dot I have no idea. The orange on orange dot is from the wheels collection, the green and blue polka dot is Anna Marie Horner from the garden party line, the green outlined dots with some yellow dots thrown in is from the Mingle line by Robert Kaufman. The orange print that is kind of leafy with the brown dot in the middle is a Riley Blake print. Any of the others I have no idea but they are probably old!

The Road Trip Quilt

Tutorial coming soon! This one is in the shop.

PS. How cute is that fabric!??? Love it. You can find it here or here. You can also find it here at the Ribbon Retreat and they sell by the fat quarter and 1/4 yard! LOVE THAT because I rarely use up the whole 1/2 yard. And yes…the quilting was boring as heck…but well worth it. :)

Boring

I can only quilt three rows or so before I’m majorly bored and distracted….which is probably why straight stitch quilting takes me FOREVER.  (and why I’m writing this post instead)

By the way, your comments to my last post…..HILARIOUS!  We were laughing our heads off….I’m glad everybody’s kids go through a “lets take back the baby” phase.   Thanks for making my day!

Thoughts from my 3 year old…

From last night while Ryan was doing this:

Ben:  We should not get any more babies.

Me:  But Mommy and Daddy love babies. 

Ben:  We should give our baby to a different family so they can have two kids and we should just have one kid.  We should just have me.  That would be great.

The end.

Laying low

I’ve been laying low in the sewing department…..except for a handful of appliquéd onesies I made a few nights ago.  I bought size 6-9 months thinking they’d be roomy enough for my 3 month old….and they are TIGHT!   This brand always seems to run a size or two small though….or maybe its my chunky baby?  Probably both.

Here is the graphic I used for my dog onesie.  To make one…. iron your fabric to double sided fusible web (like heat n’ bond) then hold up the fabric to the computer screen and you should be able to see through the fabric well enough to trace the dog onto the fusible web paper.  Then cut out your dog, peel off the paper,  iron it to the shirt and sew around (the tricky part!).