Fourth of July Americana Quilt

I've been wanting an Americana Quilt for some time now. I love red, white, and blue together because I'm so patriotic. Plus it's so summery and fun! I found the CUTEST Riley Blake fabric called "vintage verona" and I based all the colors for my quilt off of it. 

Red, coral, navy, cornflower, off white, and white.

Chinese New Year cupcakes

Happy Chinese New Year! 

This year is the year of the sheep. I made some fun cupcakes for a Chinese New Year party I'm attending. I think they turned out pretty adorable! 

These are fruit cake cupcakes. White cake (sometimes angle food cake, but I use my go-to vanilla cake recipe). Topped with a heavy whipping cream frosting. Which is just heavy whipping cream whipped until it thickens, and powdered sugar to your preferred sweetness.

I wrote sheep (or goat) in Chinese with melted chocolate, froze it, then used it as a cupcake topper along with mandarin oranges and strawberries

 The sheep's face is fondant, and the body is marshmallows. Super easy, and super cute! 

 Happy New Year! 

新年快乐

Cupcake Valentine Box

The perfect Valentine mailbox for your sweet tooth!

My 8 year old picked this design for her class Valentine mailbox, it was super quick to make & turned out scrumptiously cute!

Valentines Table Runner

Normally I'm not too into Valentines day.

But I am into Valentines day fabric!!! 

The stinking cute birds

Strips and polka dots

And my all time favorite, the postage stamps! 

Oh my heck can we say ADORABLE! 

Naturally, I had to start celebrating the holiday so that I could make fun things out of my fabric

Easy Triangle Christmas Quilt

I finished! 

One more Christmas quilt to go, maybe some fun Christmas wall hangings, and all the reusable Christmas bags I need to make... then I will be ready for the Holidays (and by holidays I really mean Christmas because although I love Thanksgiving ((I love pie)) my heart belongs to Christmas) 

This quilt came together very quickly (maybe because my mom was helping me sew???). I used up a bunch of Christmas scraps (you would never know that looking through my Christmas stash though), and I love the traditional Christmas colors (I'm not big on traditional holiday colors, I usually insist on adding blue to all my quilts..).

St. Patrick's Day Bunting

Left over fabric? 

Make some bunting! 

Is there anyone out there who doesn't love bunting? Really? Anyone? 

I decided to hang my green bunting over my wall hanging. 

I just love bunting! 

St. Patrick's Day Wall Hanging

 Wall hangings are my favorite!! It's nice to be able to make an entire project in a few hours instead of laboring for months (although those projects can be very fulfilling too!). This is a really simple pattern that I've used for other wall hangings. I simply put a four leaf clover in the center rather than pumpkins (see this post for measurements, WALL HANGING). I decided to put the clover right in the middle this time, rather than overlapping the border fabric. 

I think it turned out pretty cute!

DIY St. Patrick's Day Shirt

Happy First Day of March!! I can't wait for Spring,  flowers, rain, sunny summer days up ahead, and of course Easter candy! Here's a quick 15 minute (drying time not included!) project you can whip up during the commercial breaks of your favorite show.

You can find detailed instructions for painting shirts here:

DIY SHIRT

I simply found a four-leaf clover picture online, printed it out, traced it onto freezer paper (LOVE freezer paper for all crafts!), used my exacto knife to cut it out, ironed onto my pre-washed white shirt, painted, and dried. It's so easy and so quick. 

This could also be made using left over fabric, just use this tutorial instead- APPLIQUE SHIRT. 

Cheers! 

Lovey Dovey Valentine Wall Hanging

How to make a Valentines Day wall hanging.

Step 1- Draw a very bad picture of your soon to be quilt
Step 2- Make that bad drawing a reality through fabric (see my technical drawing!)

Step 3- Contemplate your quilt design, and then go for it! 

Step 4- Mess up all your measurements and unpick several times. Cut fabric incorrectly and try to not to cry because you just broke a quilting commandment (thou shalt not waste fabric!). Sit and unpick scraps of material that you need to sew together because you refuse to buy fabric just for the back. Break your walking foot right when you start to feel excited about quilting again. Then eat a lot of chocolate chips and wonder why you even have a sewing machine.  

Step 5- Order a new walking foot, and FINALLY finish your quilt! 



Step 6- Admit you're a drama queen, because this was actually very simple and easy! I just like to make things harder than they need to be. 

*Try to avoid step 4 if possible, except you should always eat chocolate chips while quilting... I'm pretty sure that is another quilting commandment

-Most of the fabric I used for this quilt came from two of my favorite designers-

Riley Blake, Lovey Dovey

And

Moda, Surrounded by love 

I would love to make this pattern available, but I don't want to take the time to write it out if no one is going to use it! Leave me a comment if you're interested and I'll add it to the post. It's very basic and simple. 

Cheers! 

Like what you see? 

Check out my  VALENTINE TABLE RUNNER

Valentine/Baby Girl Quilt

I was SO excited to make this quilt for one of my best friends! She picked the color scheme for the quilt; pinks, purples, and grays. Immediately, I knew I wanted to make appliqued hearts, since she's due in February.

15 Minute Table Runner

Need a quick Christmas gift?? I've got just the thing for you! A table runner, that is a snap to throw together when you're in a last minute gift giving bind! No machine quilting required, no batting, & it's easy to modify to suit your needs! Let's get started. 

You will need:

1 piece of fabric for your top that is 5/6 of a yard

1 piece of fabric for the bottom that is 2/3 of a yard

*Remember, you can make this ANY size! If you want it wider, or more narrow, you can do it! Just make sure your top fabric is 6 inches bigger (width) than your bottom fabric. 

1 piece of fusible interfacing, 5/6 of a yard

Step 1- Press (with starch, not water!) and iron your fabric

Step 2- Iron your interfacing onto the WRONG side of your top fabric (5/6 of a yard). Follow the instructions that come with the interfacing 

 Step 3- Place fabric right sides together, and sew along the edge LENGTH wise, 1/2 inch seam. 

Step 4- Now sew along the other edge LENGTH wise, your bottom piece will not line up exactly because it is SMALLER. That's how it is suppose to be. YOU WILL NOW HAVE A TUBE OF FABRIC WITH THE ENDS OPEN. 

Step 5- Press open seams

 Step 6- Turn tube right side out

Step 7- Iron your runner with the top fabric making a border on the bottom side. Mine ended up being 1 1/2 inches on each side. Make sure you measure. NOW YOU SHOULD HAVE A FLAT, IRONED, TABLE RUNNER WITH RAW ENDS

 Step 8- Trim ends so that they are equal (I had to cut the selvage off my ends)

 Step 9- Fold your runner in on itself, top sides together, and pin together lining up evenly, do this on both ends. Sew together using 1/2 inch seams 

 Step 10- Now open your runner flat, and press the seam open (looks like a hood!)

 Step 11- Flip ends right side out. Your runner should look like this (this is with the bottom facing up). You can add buttons onto the end, or any other embellishments. 

Step 12- Wrap it up to give away, or use it on your own table! ENJOY! 

Bonus Step, Lucky number 13! 

Use a non-washable fabric marker and write a Christmas message on the backside of your runner. I am going to trace the hand prints of grand-kids onto mine and give it away to Grandma! 

Quick, easy, & made with love! The perfect gift for the Holiday! 

Cheers! 

Santa's Hat Table Runner

This is a pattern I bought at Pine Needles which is located in Gardner Village which is located in Salt Lake City, Utah... which is perhaps the quilting capital of the world. I altered it somewhat to suit my liking and without trying to insult the creator of such pattern I think mine is stinkin' dang cute! This was also another attempt at quilting with my walking foot. You can't see the stitching, but I did quite a bit and tried to get a little trickier.Oh, yes, and my friend bought me a yo yo maker so these yo yo's are a product of this device. It only took me five practice tries before I got the hang of it. Decided it is easier than making them without gadget so I bought another one in a bigger size.  

Twisted Tree part 2

I'm up late, laying awake, I can't sleep. Visions of quilts are dancing through my head. I'm getting excited to finish up my tree quilt. I put the border on and now I'm just waiting to quilt and bind! Can't wait to hang it up for the holidays!

TWISTED TREE PART 1

DIY Halloween Onesies

I stumbled upon a youtube video of how to make your own prints on t-shirts. It looked like lots of fun, so I decided to give it a go. My last few creative ideas have been causing me grief, so I expected the same from this, but this was one of the EASIEST projects I've ever done! So much fun & the possibilities are endless!

What you will need:

-T-shirt/onesies/tote/pants/sweatshirt/etc.. anything you want to personalize. Prewashed & dried

-Fabric paint, DO NOT get the DIMENSIONAL or 3D ones!! I made this mistake & luckily caught it before I started. Michaels has fabric paint, so I'm assuming Joanns & Walmart would as well.

-Freezer paper, yes it costs $8 bucks.. but you get a lot & you can use it for other crafts

-Sponge brushes, which are not really brushes, you don't want to brush when you paint your onesies anyway

-Cardboard, I just cut up an old cookie box & used it

-Iron

-Exacto knife, don't try to use scissors unless you are cutting something that isn't very detailed 

OK first things first, what are you gonna put on your shirt?!?! Since it's the beginning of September, I knew that I was going for the Halloween fun onesies. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE Halloween, & all things fall. My first design was a onesies that said "Mommy's little" & then had a picture of a pumpkin. So cute right?!? I went onto WORD, chose a font, and wrote "Mommy's little", making sure it was small enough for a onesie since I was going to trace the letters onto freezer paper. Then I printed it out & drew my pumpkin. I taped the freezer paper on top of my finished drawing (shiny side down since that's the side you will iron onto the fabric), & cut the design out with my exacto knife. You need to be careful not to make unnecessary cuts, otherwise you will have paint where you don't want it. When cutting out the letters I used the exacto knife, & then the scissors to cut out the middle of the "o" & "e" (it was much easier than trying to exacto it out!). I used scissors to finish the pumpkin too since it was so big. I also wanted my pumpkin to have some white in it so it wasn't solid orange, so I cut out some white strips once the pumpkin was cut out. After you're done cutting (which takes the longest!) iron your design onto your fabric, don't forget to add the little "o" & "e", they're small, but once you have them ironed on they don't move.

 

Now for the fun part!!! Get your sponge brushes & paint cuz it's time to sponge! Put a piece of cardboard under your fabric so the paint doesn't bleed through. Do not forget this step!

I just put some paint on left over cookie box cardboard & sponged it onto the onesie. DO NOT BRUSH THE PAINT! Just dab it on, even though the paper is ironed down it could leak through. Once it's on, rinse your brushes out, put your onesie in a safe place & walk away. You need to let it dry for at least 4 hrs. I've read that you can blow dry it, but I didn't try. I just started making another onesie while I waited. After 4 hrs (OK I didn't wait that long either!! But I tried! I just had to see if it worked, I made it about 3 1/2 hrs), peel the freezer paper off, making sure you get the little pieces you've added & voila! Handmade stinking cute onesie! Grab some cotton fabric to put on top of your painted design & set your design with the iron (DO NOT IRON DIRECTLY ON THE FABRIC PAINT) & you are good to go!

 

I used some Halloween scrap booking paper for inspiration, I just drew the spider & monster the size I wanted & cut them out.

Twisted Tree

 I bought a quilt template called the twister to make a table runner (TWISTED TABLE RUNNER). The nice thing about buying a template is, it gives you instructions for how to use it! I ended up making my table runner with out having to buy a pattern. I hadn't use my twister since until I decided to make this Christmas tree! Dang fabric stores, putting their Christmas fabric out in August! This looks really complicated and it is... Well it's a lot of pieces! Other than all the pieces you will have to put together, it's not hard. I made this in 2 days since I suffer from QCD. I started with 8 different Christmas green fabric cut into 36-5 inches by 5 inch squares. I used 5 fabrics for the ornaments also cut into 5x5 inch. One yellow 5x5 inch star and three brown 5x5 inch pieces for the trunk. 48 white 5x5 inch to outline the tree and 3x3 inch boarder all the way around.

 I laid it out in the design I wanted my tree to be, then I sewed it all together. This part took a lot of time because I wanted all my corners to match up. It already looked SO cute that I didn't want to cut it! How can you cut into such a beautiful quilt??? I felt like I was destroying all my work.

Here is my twister template. It's simple to use, just place it on the lines with your seams, and cut around. YES this was A LOT of cutting!!!! Cutting, cutting, and more cutting (after all that sewing!). 

 The quilt looks ruined! 

 Once you have your pieces, turn them to start making the twists, sew them together (again, this takes a long time!) and you've got your tree!!!

Obviously this quilt isn't complete, it needs a border, to be quilted, and bound. It's just too cute to not show off! 

Christmas Quilt

It's not Christmas yet, but I've been singing Christmas songs since June! It usually happens when I'm sewing too.... This is was my first Christmas project. I bought the fabric and pattern after last Christmas. I love the non-traditional Christmas colors. Pinks, light blues, light green... I didn't know how to embroidery so this was me just faking it. I'm sure a professional could have done a much better job. The embroidery took the longest!! This would be really cute as a bigger quilt instead of just the throw. I changed mine a little from the pattern. I only embroidered my 4 favorite squares and then placed them in the middle. Although I might use the other embroidery templates for Christmas pillows, stockings, place mats, table runners, etc. The possibilities are endless!! 

PATTERN HERE

Oh and look how cute my quilted snowflakes are!!! Is it Christmas yet?!??!