Blitzen Basketcase Top Finished

My May ALYoF goal is done -- just under the wire!

My goal was to finish all of my Basketcase blocks and get them put together in a top and I got it done today!!

Here's the top all together before the borders:

This jelly roll was a birthday gift almost two years ago and I started this project about a year and a half ago (embarassing!) and I finally just put my butt in gear and finished it. My mom was able to find some yardage of one of the red prints for me to use for the border and I cut 6 inch strips for the border -- that way I'll still have enough of the yardage (I started with 2 yards) to use it for the binding too.

This is the FIRST Christmas quilt I've ever made! I'm very excited to start thinking about quilting possibilities and to start searching for backing fabric.

Linking up to the May ALYoF Finishes Party!

Basketcase Pattern via Cluck Cluck Sew

Periodic Table Wall Hanging

It's a finish -- woo hooo!

When I was cleaning out my scraps pre-move, I cut a bunch of two inch squares from some small pieces and went to work on this periodic table wall hanging quilt for my old adviser.

I grouped the colors so that each color represents a different group of elements -- orange is halogens, green is transition metals, etc. There are a few repeats in the greens, but for the most part every square is different.

I free motion quilted each square with the atomic symbol for the corresponding element. It was very fun to "write" with my sewing machine! I did each row from left to right -- just as if I was writing, but connected each one in the same row for simplicity.

The black areas I quilted with diagonal wavy lines. I made the hanging loops out of black solid and the backing fabric is a tan and white on black floral print. The binding is green Fairy Frost.

Sharing at Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts!

Seasonal Placemat Set #4 Now Available!

Head to our Etsy Page and get yours now!

This set is probably the funnest one yet!

We have bugs....

...and fruits....

... and PENGUINS!

We have so much fun putting these together and we hope that you do too! Don't forget to grab the matching table runner patterns too! 

Baker's Rack Shelf Pads

Pictures of my new sewing space coming soon! But until then, here's a peek into a quick project that I made -- shelf pads for the baker's rack in my kitchen.

Using the left over solid triangles from my Ocean Waves Mini, I sewed them to scraps of solid black fabric and then trimmed them to 3 inch squares. My current self wanted to go back in time to 16-ish year old Alison and yell at her for how askew some of these were, but alas, I don't have a TARDIS so I just sucked it up and kept stitching.

Here are some of my 3 inch squares and some of my squares sewn together. No judgement on my points not lining up!

I sewed the squares randomly into pairs and the pairs into four-patches, and so on. My small shelves needed to be 3 squares wide by 11 squares long and my large shelf needed to be 5 squares wide by 11 squares long. Here's the top of my large shelf topper all sewn together.

I quilted all of them with black thread with loops only in the areas with black fabric, so I don't have a close up of the quilting because you still would have a hard time seeing it in a picture.

Here's the finished product with the bright blue binding sewn on. Yes, this picture is fuzzy, but I am not about to unshelf everything for the umpteenth time this week.

Here's a close up of the binding. I used a Rashida Coleman-Hale print from her I Heart collection and machine stitched the binding shut with a star stitch. I love how the fancy stitches turned out!

And here's the backs. Nothing special, just fabric that has been in my stash for about three years from an uber-sale at Fabric.com.

And here's everything set up back on the baker's rack!

Of course, maybe I should have been working on my A Lovely Year of Finishes goal, but I still have a few days to get that done!

Sharing at Fabric Tuesday and Linky Tuesday!

May Bee Blocks

I did actually get these blocks done before the move but didn't get to posting them until just now!

This month for the Stash Bee, Sheila requested a bento box style block in black and white prints. I made two blocks and this was the ONLY black on white print that I had in my entire stash. I must need to go shopping!

This month I also signed up for the Sew Pieceful Bee on Flickr! It's a monthly sign-up bee and I don't know what I was thinking signing up for May when I was moving! My chosen colors were peach, mint, and lavender and this is my color inspiration mosaic:

Here are the blocks I made this month for myself (first one in the top row) and my hive mates.

I used the Squash Blossom Block tutorial from Bloomin' Workshop for these blocks. I was able to use a lot of small pieces of scrap for these -- especially for those star points!

One of my swap partners this month was Cheryl from Texas Quilting Gal who won the Traveling Stash Box from me! If you didn't win this time around and want a chance -- go to her blog and enter! She'll actually have a second giveaway for a different stash box soon -- lucky girl won two of them recently!!

Sharing today at Linky Tuesday!

QCQAL Block #6 -- Churn Dash

In a very close race, the churn dash pulled ahead at the end!

Like the previous block, I've included directions at the bottom for a single 12" finished churn dash in case you don't feel the desire to make four 6" finished blocks!

Thanks to Amanda for making the test block and putting together the directions for me while I was busy moving!

Don't forget to link up your blocks next Monday and to share your blocks in the Flickr group!

Cutting:

Background:

Eight (8) 3 inch squares for HSTs 

Four (4) 2.5 inch squares for centers

Strip 1.5 x WOF long for churn dash sides -- subcut into sixteen (16) 1.5 inch x 2.5 inch sections or strip piece and then cut.

Focus fabrics

Eight (8) 3 inch squares for HSTs -- two each of four different colors

Four (4) 1.5 x 10 inch strips for churn dash sides -- subcut each strip into four (4) 1.5 inch x 2.5 inch sections or strip piece and then cut.

What you'll do for each churn dash block:

Pair one of your colored 1.5 inch strips with your background 1.5 inch strip. Sew together along long side, press away from background fabric and subcut into 2.5 inch wide sections. I usually cut my strips slightly longer just in case! Repeat for all four colors.

Draw diagonals from corner to corner on all eight (8) of your 3 inch background squares. Pair each background square with one of your focus fabric 3 inch squares. Sew 1/4 inch away from the line on each side of the line, cut along line, and press. Trim to 2.5 inch square. Repeat for all four colors.

Lay out each block as shown below and sew together.

Arrange your four 6" blocks as desired and sew into 12" finished block.

Update: here are my blocks!

Alternate directions for single 12" churn dash block:

Cutting: 

Background

Two (2) 5 inch squares for HSTs

One (1) 4.5 inch square for center

One (1) 2.5 inch by 20 inch strip for churn dash sides

Focus fabric:

Two (2) 5 inch squares for HSTs

One (1) 2.5 inch by 20 inch strip for churn dash sides.

Sew together 2.5 inch strips along long edge. Subcut into four (4) 4.5 inch sections.

Draw diagonals on 5 inch background squares and make HSTs using 5 inch background squares and 5 inch focus fabric squares. Trim to 4.5 inches. 

Arrange as shown above and sew together into final block.

Cosmos Starburst -- Blogger's Quilt Festival Spring 2014

I'm taking a quick break from setting up my new sewing space (!!!!!) to share my quilt for the Spring 2014 edition of the Blogger's Quilt Festival! My quilt falls into the "large quilt" category this time around.

This quilt was the first pattern that I hosted as a quilt along here at Little Bunny Quilts last fall and my sister designed the pattern (and I helped a little bit!)

My fabric used for the stars was mainly from the Cosmos line with a few extras thrown in.

The quilt was professionally long arm quilted and the backing fabric is from the Pretty Please line.

Quilt Stats:

Size: 64 x 81 inches (large quilt category)

Fabric: Cosmos line for stars, others from stash for stars and borders, Pretty Please for backing

Quilting: Professionally long arm quilted, black thread on front, white thread on the back

Thanks for visiting and don't forget to visit all of the other entries in the Blogger's Quilt Festival!!

May ALYoF Goal

My goal for this month (after I get moved, of course!) is to finish all of my Basketcase blocks in Blitzen and put them into a top!

I have more than half of the blocks made so far and just need to finish about 16 more.

Linking up with Fiber of all Sorts and Sew Bittersweet Designs!

Don't forget to vote for block #6 in the Quilter's Choice Quilt Along!

QCQAL Block #5 -- Broken Dishes

Our fifth block in the QCQAL is Broken Dishes!

This is a great block for scraps! Get inspired here on Pinterest! I've made the tutorial for a 12 inch finished block with 9 sections, but the cutting measurements for a block with 4 sections is at the bottom of the page.

Cutting:
Eighteen (18) 3 inch squares of background fabric
Eighteen (18) 3 inch squares of focal fabric, cut in pairs

Sewing:
For one unit, draw lines along the diagonal of two background squares. Make HSTs by pairing each background square with one colored square and sewing 1/4 inch from each side of the diagonal line. Cut apart along the drawn diagonal, press, and trim to 2.5 inch squares.

Sew together as shown below. Repeat for a total of nine 4.5 inch squares.

A note about directional prints: to get all four of your HSTs to have the stripes all in the same direction, you need to sew your two squares with the "grain" of the stripe running one way for one square and the opposite way for the other square.

Here are my nine finished units:

Here is my finished block:

Alternate cutting measurements:
Eight (8) 4 inch squares background
Eight (8) 4 inch squares focal fabrics, two squares of each of four different fabrics

Make HSTs with pairs of background and focal fabrics. Trim HSTs to 3.5 inches. Sew four HSTs of one color into units as shown above, repeat four times, sew 4 dish units together into a 12.5 inch block.

Wishes Quilt Along Block #5 -- Log Cabin

Happy Saturday!!

Another day, another BOM block!

This month's Wishes Block is a Log Cabin. It was so simple to put together and sometimes you just need a break from making half square triangles, you know?

Check out everyone's blocks over in the Flickr group!

May Sew Kitschy Block

It's the beginning of the month, so let's begin the deluge of BOM blocks!

This month's Sew Kitschy Block is a mixer!!

My stand mixer is NOT as cool as this paper pieced one -- it is matte grey.

Go here to check out the May Sew Kitschy Block Party at Quiet Play!

Happy Friday to you! I hope you spend your weekends indulging in something delightful -- especially quilting!