Christmas Placemats and Towels

Just in time for Christmas! I finished these cute placemats yesterday! 

I like to practice new techniques with placemats, so I'm not too committed if I don't love it.  With these, I practiced my machine binding.  I sewed the binding onto the back then top-stitched the front.  It turned out nice!

For the design, I tried this 9 patch technique from That girl...That quilt... It was super easy!  The blocks came together very quickly, but for this small project, with only 3 fabrics, it was hard to mix them up.

A few weeks ago, I made these towels.  I bought waffle muslin from Joann and was thrilled with these towels!  I used wonder under and then stitched around the edges.  So.. bad news... the muslin SHRINKS big time when you wash it... so now I have wash rags. LOL  They are still cute though.

That's all for now!  

Merry Christmas, Blogland!

Fall Table Topper

I've been in the mood to make small projects to spruce up the house for fall.

I found this cute fall tree fabric at Joann's and couldn't resist buying it.  For weeks, I could not come up with a project for it and then one night, I thought of this design.  All the other fabric is from my stash.

My new-ish walking foot made quilting SUPER easy.  This is my first attempt at making a grid.  It turned out pretty well.

Mug Rugs

Since "mug rugs" are all the rage in Blogland, I decided to make a few of my own.  

I've always been interested in flying geese, so I decided to try them out on this small project.  

Conclusion: Flying geese are complicated and only cute when they are perfect!

The fabric is a reproduction print left over from this quilt.

My dad requested this mug rug inspired by LandShark Lager.  lol

It was a good opportunity to test my free motion quilting skills.  As you can see, they are lacking, but I'm improving.  Maybe in 2 years, I'll be ready for a quilt. 

Free Projects = Fun Projects 

I used left over fabric and batting for these mug rugs!

Blogger's Quilt Festival!

It's that time of year again!  The Blogger's Quilt Festival is so much fun! There are so many fun and beautiful quilts to admire.  I can spend hours looking through all the links.

I wanted to share my New Wave Love quilt that I made this summer. 

This pattern came from one of my favorite blogs Oh, Fransson!

And the fabric came from a sweet lady on Etsy plus some Kona Khaki from Joann.

I used 12 fat quarters, but the dimensions didn't quite work out the way the pattern explained.  I like to prewash my fabric, so once i did that, I couldn't get the full 9" shape.  8.5" works just fine and left me enough extra for 2 more rows!
 

I pieced the back with leftovers and an extra half yard of my favorite Amy Butler pattern.  Then, machine quilted in the ditch to make a beautiful wave design on the back!  This was the first quilt I've made using my walking foot.  What a difference!!!

Here's the label that I made.  This is the first time I've ever used a selvage!  I think it looks great!

I can't get enough of this quilt!!

Vote for Me!

Recently, I discovered this weekly quilt contest sponsored by the Quilting Gallery.  Since, this week's theme is "Scrappy Again" I decided to enter my Scrappy Flower Quilt.   Click on the box below to vote!

Halloween Placemats

I made these fun place mats over the weekend.  They are perfect for Halloween!

I was inspired by this tutorial and plan to make more in different colors.

It's Halloween!

It's Halloween at my apartment!

I made this cute pumpkin pillow with the scraps from my Leaf Placemats.  

Piecing these tiny 2" squares was easy with Oh, Fransson!'s technique.

It's a simple envelope style pillow cover with spooky backing fabric from Joann.

Here's how the process started!

My Halloween decor!  I have about 10 black cats sitting around. 

Flower Pillow

I made this adorable pillow using a tutorial by Cluck Cluck Sew.  I just love her!

New Wave Quilt with Amy Butler Love

It's Finished and I LOVE it!!!

This pattern came from one of my favorite blogs Oh, Fransson!

And the fabric came from a sweet lady on Etsy plus some Kona Khaki from Joann.

I used 12 fat quarters, but the dimensions didn't quite work out the way the pattern explained.  I like to prewash my fabric, so once i did that, I couldn't get the full 9" shape.  8.5" works just fine and left me enough extra for 2 more rows!
 

I pieced the back with leftovers and an extra half yard of my favorite Amy Butler pattern.  Then, machine quilted in the ditch to make a beautiful wave design on the back!  This was the first quilt I've made using my walking foot.  What a difference!!!

I can't get enough of this quilt!!

Drying Mats

I saw these cuties on a new-to-me blog called Noodlehead.  Amy's Spring Blogger's Quilt Festival turned me on to several new and exciting blogs!

 My dishes are black, white and red, so I decided to make a couple drying mats to match. I used half-square-triangles to make both of these patterns.  The zebra print is my favorite!

 You can see that it matches perfectly with my dishes :)

Go make a few of your own!

Blogger's Quilt Festival 2010 -- Figgy Pudding

Last year, I discovered the world of quilt blogs.  I was and still am amazed at the things you guys create.  When I found the Blogger's Quilt Festival, I knew I had to start a blog.

I knew I might have a problem when I saw Moda's Figgy Pudding fabric.  I couldn't stop thinking about it.  I wanted this fabric. After calling all my LQS, I resorted to ordering this fabric online (a first for me).  When I saw this pattern, I knew immediately that I wanted to make it.  I thought it would be challenge because of the trees and the size, but once I got started, it came together pretty quickly.  I worked on it for about 3 months and finished just before Christmas.

After a suggestion from a reader, I decided to hand quilt snowflakes in the blocks. That was taking FOREVER, so  I machine quilted around the trees which was a challenge, but I think it motivated me to try machine quilting for my next project. It's so much faster!

For the back, I used ideas from the blogs I read and found an inexpensive brown sheet that was almost the perfect size.  The scrappy stripes turned out great too.

Happy Quilt Festival-ing!

Camera Case / Kleenex Holder

Have you ever noticed that your purse Kleenex supply tends to get dirty?  If so, make this cute little holder!  The original design is a camera case from Pink Penguin.  Her instructions are very easy to follow, so you can whip this up in about an hour!

I made mine completely from scraps, so it was free!  If you're not used to making a button hole with your machine, then you should practice a few times on something else.  My machine tried to eat my cute little creation. I still think it's good for my first try.  Maybe I'll make more.. Christmas presents???

Zig-Zag Pillow

Update:  Here are the two pillows with my "headboard" quilt.


Over the weekend, I practiced my HST skills to create this cute pillow.  It's the first of two that match my Flower Scrap quilt.