Thursday 25 August 2016

Travelling Makers

Over the past summer we have done some travelling. As a maker, I am not always drawn to souvenirs. Often they are over priced made-in-china nick-knacks that I always feel I could make myself... like a shall... or a scarf.. or a postcard type of thing. Also, because I am a "maker" I love to go to shops I have heard about but live too far away from. Wool shops, fabric shops and paper shops are often a great way to meet like minded people who live in this different place. I find friendships in these places. I feel like these are the friends I would have if we were not 2000 miles apart. I love the conversations we have - the typical tourist conversation but with a crafter/maker/quilter theme. This is also a great way to find new styles in crafting that are more local, less popular, and you can implement into your own work to create a brand new hybrid style. Who isn't inspired by a quilt shop wall? All the amazing quilts - local designers work - the "in" colour of that season. The thing is - the "in" colour for Ottawa and Montreal is very different from the prints and colours that are popular in San Francisco. Combine the two styles and suddenly you have a unique way of looking at things - your work represents you - and not just the hottest pattern on Instagram that has been re-made 2000 times.
Local Yarn from Atelier in San Francisco 

My example happened last weekend, we travelled to San Fran and I walked into a fabric shop that had these dark blue-greens against steel greys and a pop of burnt orange. I couldn't stop staring at this. The lady explained its a San Francisco scene - the intense colour of the bay water, the grey of the skies in all that fog, and that burst of colour from the iconic bridge. I will definitely be incorporating this colour scheme into my next work - as a reminder and a memento of where I was. Colours often ignite memories or feelings so it will make the perfect souvenir to hang on the wall.


Also, souvenirs like fabric and wool become practical objects, not just silly things to be pushed to the back of  dusty shelf in a year. I picked up some local Alpaca wool and I plan to make a fall scarf. Every time I wear it I will be reminded of the San Fran hills hand in hand with my husband, just the two of us.


Next time you travel I invite you to skip the tourist nick nacks in the airport and head to a local craft/yarn/fabric/paper shop. Meet the people, exchange tips, and get a feel for what this area really is!

Friday 1 April 2016

Our Very First Give-Away!

Hello readers I am so happy you stopped by and you will be glad you did!

Today I am posting to tell you about this great quilting book that has become an essential bedtime story in our family! Brandy Lynn, you probably recognize the name as she is the host of Canadian Quilt Talk (among other crafting ventures) recently wrote a charming children's book called, "Kristy's Quilt". I was so excited that Brandy wrote a children's book about quilting because I am always involving my five year old daughter in my own quilting endeavors. I ordered the book and Brandy was kind enough to sign the inside and I cannot even tell you how excited my five year old was when she saw that Brandy had wrote her name and a little message on the inside!

When we read the story I was very impressed at one thing in particular - the book was about modern quilters. Now, I don't mean modern as in only using contemporary fabrics or a certain type of quilting - I mean modern in a sense that the story is about a bunch of quilters at a retreat, using rotary cutters and sewing machines! Most storybooks about quilts that I have gotten from the library have been about an old hand pieced quilt from a special grandma, and please don't misunderstand, those quilts are sometimes the most special ones, but they don't really connect with our family.

Best way to carry your favourite quilt
Recently my daughter Chloe sewed her first quilt, a 24" x 24" patchwork piece for her little sister. Chloe had a stack of 5" squares, arranged them, sewed them, and quilted them all by herself. She was so proud of this quilt and she learned so much during the process. Her baby sister of course loves it and points at the little Elmo while carrying it around all day and night. Chloe's quilting experience was a modern one - she used pre-cuts, a sewing machine, and even decorative stitches for the actual quilting.

Even this squirrel wanted to hear the story!
Chloe's experience is just like the experience the little girl in the book is having, and Chloe really connects to the story. Another great part of the story is the sense of community and sharing from the quilters it portrays. My daughter is going to her first guild meeting this month and is very excited to help me at the Charity Baby Quilt table, and this book really shows quilters off in a great light. The story tells how the quilting community is one of the most supportive communities that you can find - all we want to do is share! How else can you describe a craft based on hundreds of hours of planning, cutting, pinning, sewing ect. just to give that work away to a charity or a special neighbor. Quilters are givers - quilters are sharers and I am so excited to welcome my daughter into this special community. She already loves visiting our local quilt shop and last month she learned from one of the ladies working there how to purchase a thread that blends with your patchwork for the quilting design.

This leads me to the really exciting part- remember how I said that quilters love to share? Well, Brandy Lynn from http://www.brandylynndesigns.com/ is definitely one of those quilters because she offered a free signed book to one lucky reader on this site!
a Rafflecopter giveaway


This book is a great addition to anyones bookshelf and supports an amazing Canadian quilter and author! Here is where you can purchase your own copy: Purchase the book HERE



Crochet - A New Go-To For Crafting in Spring Weather

With spring weather finally making an appearance here in Ottawa I keep finding myself less drawn to my sewing machine and more pulled to a sunny window - or even crazier- outside. Helene has now taken her first walk outside on the grass (she learned to walk in the middle of winter so only walks inside so far). She is now 16 months old as is becoming a little toddler in abilities and attitudes. I barricaded her in the living room today and she goes between free play on her own with little things and brings me books to read every five minutes. Her meals are getting bigger, her bottles fewer and her naps fewer still... this means a lot less quilting time. This is where crochet comes in!

A few months ago I started watching YouTube crafting videos (or had them on the background while playing with V tech toy farms all morning). I stumbled across Melanie Ham and I have really enjoyed her casual but informative tutorials. Melanie produces high quality interesting and on trend DIY tutorials that I really enjoy watching. One of her most popular topics is her crochet videos, and I always skipped over them as I gave up crochet when I was ten after my grandmother tried patiently to teach me. Then spring came and I thought to myself that crochet would be a great craft to do while I'm watching the little's play. It was better than hand applique (too many sharp things), was fairly inexpensive and the projects always look so impressive!

Melanie has a crochet video on Granny Squares and I really loved the finish look of the square, I am finding crocheting in the round a challenge but I am enjoying the learning process. I decided it would be a great way to learn some more advanced crocheting while getting ready for one of our homeschooling projects for the fall. I decided that during our pioneer/first peoples studies I would teach Chloe about natural dyeing of materials. I think a crochet table cloth will be a grat candidate for dyeing because the 100% cotton natural wool I found will soak in the dye well, and a little variation in the saturation of colour will be great for a table cloth. I am doing the granny squares with only the natural cotton wool instead of switching colours in the traditional way they are made and it is really turning out great. I also realized that doing them all in one colour is hiding my imperfections as I learn!

So far from Melanies tutorials I have made 3 scarves (all different) 4 washcloths and now I have started my granny square table cloth project! If you would like to check out some of Melanie's tutorials go to https://www.youtube.com/user/iheartstitching . There are tons and tons of crochet videos on YouTube so I suggest finding one person you are inspired by rather than watching a million different videos - some people explain better than others and techniques can vary greatly.

I hope this inspires you to pick up a hand craft and enjoy this warm weather we are having. I think some crochet in a comfy chair (of course wrapped in a quilt, we are still in Canada) and a hot cup of coffee on the deck sounds kind of amazing right now... For now I will settle for the front room with the big window and the Elmo toys.
Helene running to grab my camera and my project!



Wednesday 16 March 2016

Moving to... Montreal!

Bonjour!

Today I am posting about my family's newest adventure - moving to Montreal! My husband has been offered a contract at Google in Montreal so that means we are moving! We plan on coming back to Ottawa after the contract, (that is the plan for right now) and we will be splitting our time between Ottawa and Montreal for a while. We LOVE Montreal. We currently visit once every couple months and have said many times that it is our favourite city.


Our daughter Chloe will be home schooled for the year and I am SO excited! I have always wanted to home school and this was the perfect opportunity while we are splitting our time between here and there. This means Chloe can do her schoolwork all week (staying on the Ontario curriculum) - join groups, visit museums, ect - but still come back to Ottawa about once every one or two weeks to continue some of her sports and activities back home. It will also make it easier for Chloe to join her old school again when (and if) we return back to Ottawa permanently.

I will still have my place in the Ottawa Valley Quilters Guild and will never miss a meeting (I have only missed one - but I had given birth 4 days prior). We are lucky enough to have my parents staying here in Ottawa that we can visit as much as we need. We are very fortunate to have the opportunity to split our time between the two cities (especially because they are only a couple hours apart).

I will keep posting as our moving adventure continues - especially my exciting home schooling journey! <3




Saturday 27 February 2016

My New Favourite Website/Community

Hello!

Today I just wanted to give a quick word about a great website everyone should know about!
For a very long time my husband used to tell me about this website called "Instructables"... and I was very passive on the idea. That changed when he told me about a contest called "Sew Warm", where you post instructions on a project for something warm. I have so many quilts but writing instructions for them is a different story. I decided to try it, and now, 4 instructables later, I am a
little obsessed.

My profile : http://www.instructables.com/member/moosemamaquilts/

I love instructables for the home-made 'real life' feel of the website. Everyday new projects are featured so there is always something new. It isn't one of those fluffy blogs with amazing professional photography for every project, it is real life people making real life projects who want to share. I have referenced many different instructions from this website and got great inspiration for other projects.

The Sew Warm contest was great, I was a runner up and got an AWESOME Tshirt! I love Instructables, I like the commenting, the communities and the overall friendliness of the staff and community. I highly suggest next time you want to make some awesome recipes, a homemade shelf, a knitted sweater or even a cool dog toy, check it out!

I now post all my tutorials on both the blog and instructables!

Heres the link to the website - have fun and share your own projects - the staff are great and it is very user friendly. Follow my profile to get the latest free tutorials.


"http://www.instructables.com" 




Tuesday 23 February 2016

Re-writable Flashcards/Clue Cards/Memory Game

 Re-writable Flashcards/Clue Cards/Memory Game

Flash cards are great for kids to learn their letters, their numbers and 'sight words'. Unfortunately, flash cards get bent, ripped and dirty very quickly. I created a flash card holder that I could wash, that is re-writable and has many more uses than traditional flash cards! My flash card holders are a great size for small photos, for filling with this weeks spelling words, or to hide pirate clues in around the house. They are made with inexpensive vinyl to keep the cards free from damage, and scrap novelty fabrics to make them fun! You can make them in less than an afternoon and they will last from baby hands to school age quizzes! Have fun and customize your own flash card holders with this 5 easy step


Materials
  • White Cotton Fabric - 20 rectangles - 3.5" x 5.5"
  • Clear Vinyl (Purchased at Walmart in the craft section for less than 10$Canadian) -20 rectangles - 3.5"x 5.5"
  • Printed Novelty Fabrics- 20 rectangles - 6" x 4"
  • 20 Cue Cards
  • Marker
  • Scissors
  • Sewing Pins
  • Topstitch Sewing Machine Needle Size 90/14
  • Sewing Machine
  • Iron and Ironing Board
  • Colourful Thread


Step 1 - Cut out all of your materials - cut rectangles according to materials list. (as shown in picture)

Step 2 Place your white fabric rectangle on top of your printed fabric rectangle - right sides together. Align your together rectangles along the top and place the white rectangle in the middle (as much as possible -refer to picture).
You can place a few pins if you need.
Stitch 1/4" from the top aligned edge

Step 3Turn over your rectangles so that your stitching is hidden inside and the right side of your fabric is facing out. Press with your iron to set that seem and make it flat.
Take the excess fabric of the printed fabric and fold them toward the white fabric - creating a lip - all the way around the 3 unsewn sides.
Insert vinyl rectable into the folded in lip. Pin in place if you need.

Step 4- Using a zig zag stitch on your sewing machine will secure all the layers together and will prevent fabrics from fraying.

Zig zag stitch in a colour thread that you like all the way around the 3 raw edges. Make sure the zig zag catches all three layers. (Printed fabric lip, the white fabric and edge of the vinyl rectangles)

Step 5 - 
  • Now is the creative part! My original use for this project was for my daughters reading - I would write 2 of each words on my 20 cue cards (so ten different words). I would then flip over the cards so the words are hidden, now we take turns flipping them over, reading the word and trying to find a match.
It does not end there though!!
 

I have 10 different uses for these cards, feel free to try them or create your own uses for these protected flash cards
  • Memory Game
  • Hide pirate clues around the house for a party game
  • Put pictures of family who live far away and let baby play with the cards - the fabric and plastic protect your photo
  • Recipe Cards - no spills will ruin your favourite recipe
  • Bilingual Game - Lay cards face side up and match words Example. Match Hello matches to Bonjour!
  • Colour and shape recognition for toddlers - lay face side up and request the red triangle shape!
  • Seek the house game - draw pictures of household items, flip the card and see who can find it! ex. a paperclip
  • This weeks spelling words! Use them as traditional flashcards
  • Math flashcards
  • Eye-spy restaurant game - bring blank cards to restaurant - everyone write down something they see who can find
These flashcards are easily washed in a sink with warm soapy water - then let sit in the drying rack to dry!

Tuesday 16 February 2016

Sewing with Kids

Sewing with your kids or children in your life can be daunting. We are talking about sharp needles, electrical machines, expensive materials .. all these things can put us off sewing with our kids. I have met many obstacles while teaching my little one to sew (as well as others) and I thought it might be helpful to shed some of my hard earned knowledge on the subject.



First, never push your kids to sew, instead, try showing them an awesome (but simple) project. This could be a little bag to put toys in for the car, a pillowcase dress or even a little quilt. It is important that they feel this is something they want to do, otherwise they will look for ways out and this can be frustrating.

Second, do not start too young. My daughter is now five and is really enjoying sewing this year. Keep in mind, she sees me sew everyday so she already understands the safety aspect to sewing. When you start too young, it may not turn out and could discourage them for a long time following.

Third, sew in short intervals - do not try to finish the whole project in one sitting. I learned this when my daughter learned to read. At first, we were always "sound it out, sound it out'..that didn't work. What did work was reading extremely simple books, once a day, fly through it, and build confidence. Over time the books increased in difficulty, but very very gradually. Now my five year old reads confidently and doesn't mind having to stop, sound it out, struggle a bit and then keep going. Sewing is the same, her first sewing experience was maybe 5 minutes, then it moved up over time. Now she can sew for a couple hours without getting bored.

Fourth, show off the finished project to as many people as possible. My daughters first very simple small quilt was brought to the local quilt shop, where they 'oooed and awwwed', really making my daughter feel special. Another tip that goes along with this step is only purchase the materials you need for each step, then as its completed, go shopping for the next few supplies you will need. Kids loving picking out things and it is a great way to turn a simple project into a meaningful one.

Fifth and most important tip... DO NOT BUY A CHILDS SEWING MACHINE. I have bought a couple and I can honestly say they are wastes of money. I would highly suggest you skip the toy/child sewing machine and buy a low level Brother or Singer from Wal-Mart. The last thing your kids need is to be frustrated at broken threads, tension problems ect. It is so much better to teach on your machine first, then once they can sew alone, invest in a starter machine for them.




My daughter Chloe recently made 2 quilts - all by herself. I started with a pile of 6inch squares of
many different fabrics, Chloe selected 16 she wanted to use, then she arranged her pattern of patches. I then took the patches,pinned them together and drew a pencil line ont he 1/4inch seam mark. This way Chloe only had to follow the pencil line to know her stitches were good. It was a great teaching technique because when her stitches did stray, she could see that, and we would take those stitches and she would fix it.

Chloe made one quilt for her little sister, and one quilt for our baby quilt charity here in Ottawa. I quilted the one for the hospital and Chloe quilted the one for her sister. Chloe loved using all my decorative stitches, doing an envelope style binding, and picking super contrasting bright thread. She even selected fabrics of her sisters favourite character - Elmo.

I feel  I have taught my daughter the value of homemade, living a less commercial life, and the value of giving and sharing. For now though, she just thinks we are playing with fabric!

I hope this is helpful for you and your little sewists!

Saturday 30 January 2016

Your New Sewing Buddy- A Hedge Hog! - Free Pin Cushion Pattern

This past weekend was my sister-in-laws birthday. In the past few months she has started sewing and I wanted to get her some of my very favourite pins. It took me years to finally treat myself to some quality pins. My favourite pins are these yellow flower head pins. They lay flat which is perfect for piecing quilt blocks together and helps maintain accuracy.

I didn't want to just give her a box of pins though, especially because she has little ones and pins are hard to keep track of. I decided to make her a pin cushion and I was definitely limited on time -- the party was in three hours and I have two kids myself to keep track of.

I did a quick google search and saw these cute hedge hog pin cushions! I knew there were some
features that were important to me in a pin cushion:
1. It needs to not roll away (why are tomato pin cushions a thing? They roll off your table!)
2. It needs to be functional (hold A LOT of pins)
3. It needs to be small enough to sit nicely in the throat of my machine
4. It needs to be soft enough for the pins to slide in without trouble. (I used corduroy once for a pin cushion... it didn't work very well)




The best part of my pin cushion? I saved my pieces and made a free pattern for you!
Open and print him out here:

FREE PIN CUSHION PATTERN

Pattern Instructions and Materials 

Materials

4 small half beads (or any small plastic object for his feet)
1 small pink bead for nose (I used a small plastic pearl)
Small pieces of burlap
Small piece of brown fabric for his back
Black thread to sew on eyes
Very small amount of pink for inside of his ears
Pins of course! (They make the spikes on your hedge hog)
A handful of batting -- the fluffy kind designed to fill teddy bears)

Instructions 

Cut out all your fabric shapes.
      -2 burlap ear shapes, 2 pink burlap ear shapes.
      -2 burlap face triangles
      -1 burlap belly shape
      -2 fabric back pieces

Construction: 
To make ears - Sew (right sides together) one burlap ear shape to one pink ear shape - sew on dotted line of pattern leaving bottom open, turn right side out, repeat for two ears
                   
To make face - Sew both triangle face shapes (right sides together) then turn right side out

To make back - take both back fabric pieces and sew along the line (right side together)  then turn right side out

The next step is to sew the face to the back - right sides together. Leave a small opening (about 1 cm) opening on either sides of the center seam. Insert the ears so that the raw edge will be contained in your seam. Then sew the head to the back again - this time it will catch the raw edges of the ears. When you flip right side out, your ears should be sew into place. The ears will need to bunch a bit to fit in the holes - this gives them a more real looking ear.



To create his body, sew the belly to the back and face - right sides together. Leave an inch opening to be able to stuff his body. Flip him right side out through the opening, then full his body (fairly full) with batting. Hand stitch to close the opening.




The last step is to embellish your little hedge hog. I added the plastic on the bottom to help him stay up without rolling away. I simply glue gunned on the four little feet where it looked appropriate. I then took some black thread and whip- stitched on some black eyes. The last piece - the little nose just got tacked on with some white thread, but you could also glue gun that little piece
.







And there you have it - stick your favourite pins and you have your new sewing buddy.
Why not make a family of hedge hogs and put your different pins in different cushions? If I was more organized and lived in a world where my kids got their own snacks by them self .. I would make a hedge hog family! For now, one little guy made a great birthday gift!


Thursday 21 January 2016

Homemade Valentines - A Kindy Craft






When it comes to holidays, my oldest daughter thinks the entire house needs to be redecorated at every opportunity. Valentines is coming up and we never just send the 'fill your name in' kind. We try to use the holiday as an opportunity to sit at the table and craft together. It is these little moments I find out that my daughter misses her old school, that she loves her new gym teacher and that French is her favourite subject. I see my daughter everyday but sometimes we are so busy shuffling from one event to the next we do not really talk. Also, she is only five so sometimes the only thing she wants to talk about is eating leftover Halloween treats or negotiating more TV time. That doesn't mean homemade valentines needs to take hours or cost a lot of money.

I asked Chloe what she wanted on her Valentines this year, she declared it had to be pandas! Not just any pandas, she wanted pandas with hearts and smiles. A quick google search and I had hundreds of cartoon pandas to choose from, ready to be edited and printed out.

I really love the program "Picasa" you can download it for free here: https://picasa.google.com/ I used this program to edit a few images of pandas that Google had supplied, imposed Chloe's name on them and made a little background. I then printed three to a sheet so that there was room to fold over the paper to make a card. Regular printer paper is just fine because the double layer will be strong enough to hold the treat we selected.

I purchased some chocolate hearts at the store, I loved the purple foil (purple is Chloe and I's favourite colour). They purple looked great with the green background on our panda cards. I bought some snack sized zip bags for less than two dollars and placed two purple hearts in each one. Then we folded the closed zip bag in half and staples our paper on top.
Chloe embellished the valentines with stickers and drew smiles on her pandas (remember she wanted them to have smiles).

This whole project took less than an hour, and cost less that five dollars. Now we get to send our homemade valentines to school and Chloe can feel proud that she put a little extra effort in for her friends!

A tip for fellow kindy parents is to not worry about putting the friends names on the valentines. If you make them all similair, put your own child's name, they can simply drop one in every friends bag without the worry that you forgot someone!

Tuesday 19 January 2016

A Royal Baby

This baby quilt is small enough to whip up in an afternoon. It comes with a free PDF applique pattern to print, and a video showing my favourite (can't mess it up) applique method!
Finished size is 24" x 24", perfect for a tummy time blanket for any royal baby you know! Great shower gift too!
We donate this size baby quilt to the local hospital for premature babies, check your local hospital to see if they have a similar charity!


Materials (All fabrics should be cotton, if possible)
  • 24" square piece of background fabric
  • 4 - 6.5" squares of contrasting fabric for corner triangles.
  • 1 - 10" square of gold fabric for crown applique shape
  • 1 small strip/scrap of colourful fabric for circle applique shapes
  • 1 small strip/scrap of colourful fabric for the diamond applique shapes
  • 26" square of fabric for backing
  • 26" square of batting (any kind, I prefer cotton batting)
  • 2 packages of double fold bias tape for binding
Tools/other materials
  • Fabric scissors
  • Paper scissors (to cut out applique shape)
  • Printer (to print applique pattern)
  • Iron
  • Sewing machine
  • 505 Basting Spray (or any other fabric spray temporary adhesive)
  • Glue stick (regular school glue such as Elmers)
  • Hand Sewing needle
  • Thread

Preparing your Fabric



First thing to do is to iron out all your fabrics, no wrinkles or creases will ensure a better finished product.
Now you need to print out the applique shapes included with this pattern.
Click the link HERE to open up the PDF. When printing, make sure your printer does not scale the image, this will ensure the proper size for your applique.
After printing your applique, place them onto your fabric (right side up) and cut out the shapes. The 1/4" seam allowance is already on the printed shape, so you simply cut out the shape as is.
You should end up with 1 crown, 1 large circle, 2 small circles and 4 diamonds.


The Triangle Corners





We are going to be using the 'snowball' technique to create the triangle corners on our quilt.
Using a hot iron, press the 6.5" squares in half, right sides together. When you open the fabric back up, a crease line will be easily visible across the square.
Now we place the squares in the corners of our quilt. Right sides of the fabric together. You need to place them in a way so that the crease line is going diagonally across the the fabric (see picture). Pin the squares down and sew on the creased line.
Once sewn, use scissors and trim off the excess fabric (see picture). Now open up the triangle corners and press seams. Repeat for all four corners.


Applique

My applique process uses two of my favourite sewing tools, basting spray and a regular glue stick. Both products will wash out of your quilt completely the first time it is washed, so do not hesitate to use them. If you are using a lot of spray baste, you may want to be in a well ventilated area so you do not breathe it in. Having a window open was sufficient for the small amount I use on this quilt.
To start, take your shape, for example, the crown. With the wrong side of the fabric up, use your glue stick and spread glue all around the edges. Now, fold a 1/4" of the fabric over and stick it down with the glue. Keep going until all edges of your shape have a 1/4" folded in.
With your background fabric smooth and ready nearby, it is time to apply some spray baste. I like to put an old towel on my work surface to protect my table, then with my applique pieces wrong side up, I spray the basting glue onto the fabric. Then, take your applique pieces and stick them where you would like them on your background fabric. You can follow the title picture as a guide to place your pieces in the correct spot. The great thing about spray baste is that it is not permanent, feel free to peel it up and re position if you need.
When your applique pieces are in the spot you want them to be, thread your hand sewing needle and sew all around the edges to permanently attach them to your quilt. I sew a hidden stitch on my applique (basically enter your needle slightly on the back of the applique piece, and do not go through the top of your applique). You could also machine applique with your sewing machine.



Quilting this Baby Quilt

My favourite way to baste projects is to use 505 Basting Spray. You can use any temporary basting spray you like, as long as it is temporary and will wash out in the washing machine.

To start, press your backing fabric, spread it out on a clean hard surface, wrong side facing up. Now using masking tape, secure it to your surface.
Apply your spray basting glue, and lay your batting on top. Smooth out the batting so there are no wrinkles.

Take the wrong side of your quilt top and apply the spray basting glue, then flip it over and place in on top of the batting. This creates a sandwich effect of three layers, which become your quilt.
For quilting this quilt, I decided to straight line quilt around the edges. I quilted 5 lines, an inch and a half apart start from the outer edge. Then, leaving a large square in the center unquilted, I echoed the applique design. For the triangle corners, I echoed the triangle shape inside twice.








Sunday 10 January 2016

Beginner Chunky Chevron Lap Quilt

Hey folks, this quilt tutorial will live here on the homepage but will be moving to a new "Tutorials" button within the coming weeks! (so much content, so little time).



I love this quilt -- it honestly takes less than an afternoon to put together. The colours are totally up to you, they could be contrasting, but they don't have to be. This quilt would look good I believe with any three fabrics - hey, lets be crazy make it more than three! Important part is to have fun! Make a quilt!












Cutting:
  • From each of your three fabrics you need to cut 10 squares.
  • Each piece should measure 10.5" square.

Marking:
  • On all 10 of the white squares, and 5 of the yellow squares, you need to mark a diagonal line on the wrong side of your fabric.
  • Using a quilting ruler is a great way, and the ink can be permanent. The drawn line will be hidden in the seam allowance, it will not show in your quilt.



Pinning
You need to pin your fabric with right sides together.
5 white squares to 5 yellow (unmarked) squares
5 white squares to 5 grey squares
5 marked yellow squares to 5 grey squares.


Sewing your blocks (The best part!)
Now you need to sew a 1/4" seam on either side of the line that we had drawn down the middle of our pinned squares.

Once you have sewn down either side of the line, use the drawn line as a cutting guide and split the sewn blocks in half! Press with your iron to open up the 2 squares you have created.
Sew all 15 blocks, and cut down the middle to make 30 blocks.





Now that you have sewn your blocks, start assembling them into rows.

Use the title picture of the quilt as a layout.
Sew your vertical rows, then join your rows together to finish your quilt top.
I like to use pins during this stage to keep my rows from shifting around while I sew.