Cathedral Window Quilt Along

I am super excited to tell you all that I have been chosen to be a Pellon Artist! I have been using Pellon products for years and will be partnering with them to give ya'll some awesome projects with tutorials. Check out my Pellon Artist page!

This month I am teaming up with Pellon and FreeQuiltPatterns.info, along with 8 other amazing designers, to bring you a fun 9-block Cathedral Window mini sampler. Each week in October, there will be two block tutorials featuring each designer's take on the traditional Cathedral Window.

Oct 1 :: Sara @ Sew Sweetness
Oct 4 :: Bree @ My Crafty Crap
Oct 8 :: Jill @ Made with Moxie
Oct 11 :: Emily @ Mommy's Nap Time
Oct 15 :: Rachael @ Imagine Gnats
Oct 18 :: Jessica @ Sew Crafted
Oct 22 :: Elizabeth @ Don't Call Me Betsy
Oct 25 :: Kim @ My Go-Go Life
Oct 29 :: Heather @ Olive & Ollie

And of course, what would a quilt along be without prizes?! We have some truly amazing prizes for you from some amazing sponsors.

Pellon

FreeQuiltPatterns.info

Aurifil

Fat Quarter Shop

There will be prizes for completing each individual block and for completing the full 9-block sampler top (does not need to be fully completed with back & binding).


First & Second place will be randomly drawn from all completed sampler tops. You do not need to have the mini backed, quilted, or bound, but all nine blocks must be completed. You may have one entry for each completed sampler top.
First Prize
1 Kindle Fire HD
1 $35 Fat Quarter Shop gift certificate
1 pkg Pellon® EK150-10 Easy-Knit® Tape
1 pkg 70 Peltex® Ultra Firm Sew-In
1 pkg Pellon® 987F Fusible Fleece
1 pkg Pellon® 805R Wonder-Under®
1 pkg Pellon® SF101 Shape-Flex®
1 Legacy™ by Pellon® Throw (60x60) 100% Natural Cotton Batting
1 pkg Pellon® Perfect Loft™ Cluster Fiber
1 Pattern Playground CD

Second Prize
1 $35 Fat Quarter Shop gift certificate
1 Legacy™ by Pellon® Crib (45x60) 100% Natural Cotton Batting
1 pkg Pellon® Perfect Loft™ Cluster Fiber
1 pkg Pellon® 805R Wonder-Under®
1 pkg Pellon® SF101 Shape-Flex®
1 Pattern Playground CD

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Third & Fourth place will be drawn from all individually completed blocks. You may have one entry for each of the nine blocks completed.

Third Prize
1 pkg Pellon® 987F Fusible Fleece
1 pkg Pellon® 805R Wonder-Under®
1 pkg Pellon® SF101 Shape-Flex®

Fourth Prize
1 pkg Pellon® 987F Fusible Fleece
1 pkg Pellon® 805R Wonder-Under®
1 pkg Pellon® SF101 Shape-Flex®

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Individual block prize bundles will be drawn from all entries for each block design. You may have one entry into each of the nine drawings for each block completed of that design.

Individual block prize #1-9
1 Aurifil thread bundle
1 Pattern Playground CD

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All blocks must be completed & submitted to the Flickr Group by midnight central time on November 15 to be considered for the drawing.

Grab a button for your page and get ready to quilt along!

<a border="0" href="http://my-crafty-crap.blogspot.com/search/label/cathedral%20window%20quilt%20along" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8315/8023117255_2effbde30d_q.jpg"/></a>

What does handmade mean to you?

Etsy has a question the ask every featured shop owner in an interview and it is this:

"What does handmade mean to you?"

I joke that handmade means unmatched quilt square seams because if you wanted something perfect you should just buy a blanket from a store. There are children in sweat shops with skill levels higher than I (currently) possess. I say, if you can't tell it is handmade, who are you trying to fool?

In January of this year I participated in my first charm swap. It was organized by Lorelei at Mermaid Sews and we swapped fabrics for an I Spy quilt. This past week, nine months later, I finally finished it.

The front is two sets of charms and the back is pieced flannels from JoAnn's. I used Pellon's Fusible Thermolam for the batting and hand made the binding as well. I have to say I was very pleased with my binding's mitered corners. It just goes to show you that if you keep working at something, you can eventually get it right.

For all of my new sewing friends, please take a good look at this above picture, so you can see some fabulous matched up charm square corners and the quilting. That's right. They aren't. Making quilts isn't always about matching corners. It's about making something for someone you love.

We're often our harshest critics. It is always not good enough, not pretty enough, not straight enough, not prefect enough. We forget to remember to see our gifts through the eyes of the receiver. Even the littlest of creatures remind us of that joy.

I put my kids down on their new quilt to take their pictures and they immediately started searching the squares and pointing and laughing. No one had to explain to them what an I Spy quilt was for.

To me, handmade means I poured love, and sweat, and probably tears (and maybe a little blood) into it. It means I took the time to craft fabric into something made just for you. It means I love you with all of my heart.

Halloween costumes

Halloween is a big holiday at our house. We have so many costume ideas to just settle on one a year; we should probably celebrate Halloween once a month.

I thought Jane was young enough that I could still pick out her Halloween costume for her.

When I was pregnant with Jane, we were skeletons.

Her first Halloween she was Dorthy from the Wizard of Oz.

Last year she was R2D2.

This year she is was going to be Annie. I have the sweetest dress pattern and white tights for her to wear. She even has a pair of hand-me-down tap shoes with red ribbons.

This morning Operation Annie came to a crashing halt.

"I want to be a monster, Momma. A scary owl monster. Jimmy wants to be a monster, too. A pink one."

So we're heading to Joann's today for some patterns and fleece. My little princess is going to be a Scary Owl Monster. Jimmy, too. Probably not a pink monster though. I think it would be funny, but I'm certain my husband would kill me.

Bargello Bag Tutorial: Friendship Quilts Blog Hop

Thanks for stopping by Made with Moxie for today's Friendship Quilt Blog Hop! Diane at From Blank pages... came up with a great idea to make quilted projects that were inspired by the friendship bracelets everyone made for their buddies in the 1980s.

Today I'm going to share with you how I made a Bargello Bag for my good friend, Rachael at Imagine Gnats. I made it for her to carry her embroidery projects around. Little did I know that before I made her this bag she was carrying around her embroidery project in a jar. A jar! You know what they say about the cobbler's children...


To start, choose a group of coordinating fabric fat quarters. Cut them into strips of varying widths of your preference, and so that they are 22" long. Decide on a visually pleasing order and stitch them all together using a 1/4" seam allowance and pressing your seams open as you go. All seams allowances for the Bargello are a 1'4".


Fold your bottom most edge up to meet the top and stitch together to form a tube.



Lay your tube in half on your cutting mat. Trim your selvedge pieces off making a squared edge. Use your rotary cutter to slice off a piece of your tube of a width of your choosing. I advise doing any widths between 3/4" and 3". Anything smaller is eaten up in seam allowances and anything larger visually disrupts the bargello pattern.


Use a pair of scissors and open up your first bargello tube slice at any seam.


Cut two more slices of your bargello tube that are the same width as each other, but different than slice #1.


Hold bargello slice #2 next to the top of slice #1 and shift the slice so that the fabric at the top of #2 is a step lower than that on slice #1.


Cut both bargello slice #2s open at that spot and lay them on either side of slice #1.


Continue cutting sets of matching width slices, adjusting the position you cut the tube open at and laying them on either sides of your previous slices to create your Bargello Bag pattern.


I started with slices #2 as the widest and made each subsequent slices smaller and smaller through #8. Continue cutting slices until you run out of tube.


Now, the fun part of a Bargello is that is doesn't need to stay in the symmetrical arching down shape. You can flip the entire thing upside down so it arches up. Or you can re-order your Bargello slices to create a roller coaster or zigzag shapes.



Choose the Bargello shape you like the best. I ended up sticking with my original design. Starting at one end of your slices, start sewing them together with a 1'4 inch seam allowance. It is important to keep track here of which slice goes where here and up and down. Now is not a good time for distractions.


Press your seam allowances open as you go. They may not be lying perfectly on the back but do your best in order to keep the seam allowance bulk down.


This is also the point when I get super excited because I can see my pattern coming together. Clap your hands together and admire your Bargello, folks!


Press your Bargello really well and lightly spray with spray starch to keep its shape. I then fused my Bargello Bag front to a piece of Pellon Fusible Thermolam Fleece. Use your rotary cutter and clear rulers to square your Bargello Bag front edges.

I used a clip art image of old fashioned-ly looking scissors to print and trace onto my bag front.


I used embroidery floss to stitch the scissors. I also stitched a running stitch across a top run of Bargello steps then stitched a needle and thread, too.


My fabric selections for the Bargello Bag backing and linings.






I also used some coordinating scraps to stitch up a little needle book, too, using this pattern by Rashida Coleman-Hale. I love this little pattern and have made them for mini coin purses for my daughter, Jane and needle books for myself.

Here's the bags in action with some of Rachael's amazing embroidery!


Thanks for stopping by and if you try your hand at a Bargello Bag I'd love to have you share pictures here on Flickr.

Until next time!

Pirate Ship Birthday Cake Pictorial Tutorial

This past week we celebrated Jimmy Quinn's first birthday with friends and family. I had planned on making pirate cupcakes. My husband was disappointed with my choice given birthday cakes I have made in the past; full size dragons, moons, owls, lego man. I even melted a Buzz Lightyear onto a rainbow cake one year. (Unintentionally) My husband suggested a pirate ship cake would be more worthy a first birthday celebration.

What you need:
Three 9'" x 13" cakes
3/4 pound of butter made into frosting (three sticks)
Chocolate covered sugar wafer cookies
Gold coins, gold nuggets, Rolos and gummy sharks
Computer paper (tear the edges, dip your hands in coffee and wipe on paper for sails)
Three sets of chopsticks

Here she is!