Patriotic Quilt

So what do I sew next?  I've been wanted to make a patriotic quilt to celebrate our country's 250th birthday.  I chose the free pattern from the Fat Quarter Shop called Stardust.  It looks pretty easy and hopefully I can get it made before July 4th.  

These are the pretty colors that I picked out for my quilt.  They are from the Old Glory collection from Lella Boutique and they're exactly what I wanted.  I found them while on the Shop Hop last month at a local store.  

The quilt should finish about 60x70 inches.  I plan to use it as a throw in my family room.

I started it two days ago and this is what I have so far.  I think with adding the other colors, it will turn out so beautiful.  I'm off to do some more sewing...

I'll keep you posted.

 

Geese in Flying Colors

Every year my quilt guild has a themed challenge for the members to make.  This year was Revolution in Color and the quilt could be displayed for our local quilt show in April and also voted on in our guild meeting in June.  

I wanted to make a quilt with "flying geese" going in a circle and then more geese flying the opposite way in the outer border.  Flying Geese is a quilting term referring to triangles that look like geese that are flying.

I started by making some "geese" in different colors and then found a pattern on how to make them fly in a circle.  I pulled some different colors from the fabrics that I had bought last year on the Shop Hop and somehow they worked for the different colors.

For the middle square, I wasn't sure what color to use.  I tried many different colors, but ended up using white to make the gray star stand out better.

Here are my geese flying in a circle!  I was happy with how it looked.

Somehow the flying geese colors worked out so well that they also fit along the sides of the next border.  I made some little sawtooth stars to fit into the corners and love how it all came together.

At first I quilted 1/4" lines in the large center star and in each of the flying geese triangles.  But them I thought that it needed more quilting in the center.

Then I had to put more quilting in the outer white areas and then more quilting in the white areas around the geese border and finally, more quilting in the gray border.

I had wanted to enter my quilt in my local quilt guild show, but I was sick for 3 months at the start of this year and couldn't do any sewing.  So I decided to make my wall hanging for the June meeting and started and completed the entire project in just 30 days!  

I brought my entry to the June meeting and won 1st place from the members' votes.  I'm so proud of my quilt and the fact that it came out what I dreamed it to be and that I actually finished it in time.  

I'm calling it Geese in Flying Colors.  I will definitely keep it and hang it somewhere in my home.

 

Re-Purposing Old Quilts

I've got a couple of old quilts that I use to cut up and make things from.  I've bought them from vintage and antique fairs.  Although I have made some of the quilted hearts before, I love to keep making them.  They're fun and easy to make.  

The large hearts are about 9" and the small ones are around 5" big.  I like to sew vintage buttons onto them to go along with the vintage theme.  They look good in a basket or bowl paired with old lace or can be used to sit on a shelf for a decor piece.  

Each cut from the quilt gives a different look to the heart.  Of course, I don't know who made these quilts in days past, but it's kind of fun to see them being made into new projects instead of getting thrown away.  

Someday I want to make a coat from one.  It's a trendy thing right now and lots of my quilty friends have made them.  Hopefully one day soon.

 

Visiting the Scenic Coast

I've been a Stampin Up demonstrator for 23 years!  And I have loved the creativity that it brings to my life.  From the time that I was a girl, I have enjoyed making pretty things out of paper.  :)

This summer's catalog is filled with beautiful new stamps, dies and papers.  For this card class, I chose the Scenic Coast to work with.  The papers are amazing and the the cut outs are easy to use to make beautiful cards.  

This card features a lighthouse cut out with one of the sunset papers in the background.  A version of this card is in the SU catalog.  

I know that I don't share what's in the catalogs very often, but this set is so scenic.  LOL

 

For this card, I cut out the "sunrise" die from the blue cardstock and then glued it back in.  I cut a strip of the sunset paper and adhered it along the front side of the card.  Then I cut out the sailboat and added it to the scene with dimensionals.  I love the seagull cut outs and everything about this card.  It's one of my all-time favs.  I could make it all day.  

This card has a large strip of the sunset papers glued to one side.  I did some stamping on the purple side and then added the "sunset" die cut from patterned vellum that I had.  As the girls were making the card, we called it the "age of aquarius," like the old song.  I got the idea from Cheri's Cards and I like the addition of the yellow strip for the saying.  

I hope to make more cards and projects using this set.  Thank you, Stampin Up and my stamping friends for two decades + of crafting bliss.  I hope there will be many more.  

Crocheting Face/Wash Cloths and More

Remember all of the cloths that I crocheted at the beginning of the year?  I sold all 50 of them to my sister who put them in her shop.  She said they were a big seller for Mother's Day gifts.

So I decided to make some more!  This time I picked up some yellow yarn from Hobby Lobby and made some creamy, soft yellow cloths.  

Here is a better view of what they look like.  Each cloth takes about an hour to make and the cotton yarn from Hobby Lobby is soft and easy to work with.  Here is an older post of mine with the pattern if you'd like to make one.  

I made the little stars a while back but they coordinate so well with these colored cloths.  

After making the washcloths, I had some leftover yarn and decided to make some flowers.  I wanted them to look like daisies and here is what I came up with.

To make them:

Chain 4, sl stitch to form a ring.

Row 1:  Ch 2, 11 dc in ring, sl stich in ring and tie off.

Row 2:  Sc, dc, ch 2 (repeat 12 times)

End with sl stitch in ring.  Sew in ends.

They're quick and easy to make.  I turned mine into pins that you can wear or put on a purse, etc.  One of my friends suggested putting a hair clip on the back.  Maybe I will try that next.

I cut a circle from felt using one of my Sizzix dies, glued it on and then added the pin strip.  To make the pin strips more heavy duty, I added some Sticky strip double sided tape to them.  

They're a cute little embellishment for your lapel or handbag.  

Here's a pic of me wearing two of them.  The yellows paired well with my sweater.  :)

 

Cutest Crew

The Cutest Crew is an online stamp set and honestly, just as cute as can be!  It features little cats and dogs or cut little birds.  It's whimsical and fun to work with.

For my card, I pulled out some older papers for the background.  I added a strip of the cute paw cut outs that come with the set.  I outlined the inside of the cats with a soft gray to give them some color and dimension.  

Aren't they so cute?  I've only made one card so far using this set, but there will be more, I'm sure.  
 

Greenery Lane

Greenery Lane is another stamp set that includes some pretty washi tape that you can cut images from.  It was in the Jan-April catalog.  We adhered the washi tape to some white cardstock and then cut them out for the two leaves and for the right side of the card.

The green paper is from Nature Walk designer papers.  I used the arch dies and an old saying that fit so perfectly in the arch.  I love the beautiful greens in this card.

For the next card, we used some of the leafy cut outs from the set and stamped the leaves onto vellum paper.  The blue strip is from Fitting Florets designer papers.