4th July Flag Map Mug Rug Pattern

Now there's a tongue twister for you:  Flag Map Mug Rug.  Whoo! :)  I just finished up this fun 4th of July Mug Rug as part of the Scrappy Mug Rug swap with a Red/White and Blue theme.  This one is going to Cherry in Louisiana.   It's a foundation pieced 5x7" block that can be turned into a mug rug or used for something else.

Want to make one of your own?  You can download it here and the piecing guide can be found here.

There are a couple of glitches still with the software I use to make these patterns,  so you'll have to glue/tape pieces G1 to H1 together before you sew,  same goes to C/D, P/O and also sections A1/A2 can be attached to B1/B2 before sewing.  For some reason I can't get the program to leave those attached.  I'm sure it's user error, but you can still use the pattern as is.  

The piecing guide is shown here:

Sewing sections:

Sew AB, to  CD

Sew E

Sew F to,G/H to I to J-to K

Sew FGHIJK --to ABCD

Sew M to  N to L  

MNL to AB...K  Set aside

Sew OP to Q to R to S.  Set aside

Sew Xto W to V to U to T

Attach TUVWX to PQRS then attach Y

Attach the top and bottom halves of the map and you are done!

Now go whip one up and when you're done you can put your tall frosty glass of lemonade (or other beverage) on it!  I hope you have a Happy 4th with friends or family and lots of good BBQ!  Happy Sewing!

Oh Snap block by Becky

As you know, I recently participated in the Sew Out Loud Quilt-along and there were quite a few  submissions for the twelfth and final block.  I thought some of those blocks were fantastic and deserved to be made available for other people to sew.  So I contacted fellow Oregonian, Becky of Solar Threads and offered to digitize her 'Oh Snap' design for her so you all could sew it as well. Ok I'll confess I wanted to sew it also. ;)

Here is her fabulous block design:

The final design will yield a block that is 12.5" square.  The pattern pieces for this block can be found here

The piecing guide is here.

Please NOTE that there is an error on the pattern pieces pdf.  Block H1 is incorrectly labeled and should be labeled H5.  If you assume there is no H1 and proceed from H2 you should be fine.  Also the cutting guidelines for some of the pieces seem to be wonkily off. Just add 1/4" seam allowance around each section when you are finished piecing it and you should be fine.  EQ7 is glitchy for me sometimes when running on the Mac through the virtual desktop.  I'm still working on this problem.

Prepare the sections in alphabetical order.  Starting with section A.
Make section B,  and the make C and attach them to each other - then attach that section to A. Set aside.
Make section D then E and attach them to each other.  Set aside.
Make F and then G and attach. Make H, then attach to FG.
Make I, then make J, then make K and attach J ->I ->K.  Then attach this whole section to HFG.
Make L then make M and attach to each other.  "SNAP!" is made.
Attach section N to bottom of word SNAP. Then attach section O to top of SNAP. Then attach "OH" section to top of SNAP.  Then attach sections ABC above OH SNAP words as shown in piecing diagram.
Then attach pieces P1 and Q1 and you are done!

Awesome block Becky! I can't wait to sew it up myself.  If any of you sew it up, please add it to the Sew Out Loud flickr pool we'ld all love to see it!


Happy Sewing!

Stitch block instructions

 The Sew Out Loud quilt along has been through 11 amazing weeks and 11 equally amazing blocks.  I am only about halfway through sewing up the blocks  myself but I continue to be amazed by the creativity and talent of all the designers.  Every single block is so original.

As you might know, part of the QAL was to select a 12th block from among the entries submitted by participants.  The winning entry was chosen by none other than Suzuko Koseki herself.  Quite an honor.  I'm thrilled to say that my block was chosen as the winning block.  I can't tell you how honored I am to be included.  Still kind of in shock over here.

I also wanted to say thank-you to all the designers for hosting the QAL and especially to Joanna and Juliana who organized the whole event.  It truly was the most exciting QAL I've been part of and the ladies that participated were a blast.  If you would like more info click here:

So with that, here are the instructions for sewing the block:

Go here to see the block pieces.  They are formatted to print on US 8.5x11 paper and include seam allowances.  Set your printer to print at full scale (100%).  The finished block should be 12.5".  Thanks to Joanna for help, she test printed these on A10 paper as well and they came out at the correct scale.  So I think all our European friends should have no problem printing these.

Go here to see instructions for piecing this block. Instructions are also posted in this blog post with some pictures.

Instructions for piecing of Stitch Block
Section layout ~

Foundation piecing of Stitch block.  
All Pattern pieces include ¼” seam allowance. Remember to trim up your sections to ¼” prior to attaching to the next section.  Some pieces need to printed over 2 pages. You will have to attach the pattern sections together using the guidelines prior to sewing (a glue stick works well).  All pages should be printed on a standard 8.5x11” (US/Canada) paper or foundation paper product.  

Needle ~
Stitch section A,

Stitch section B, Sew A to B

Stitch section C, Sew A to C

Sew D to B, Attach section E to C, Needle segment complete.

Attach section F to Needle section.  Attach section G to F and Needle section.  Set aside.

Spool ~
Sew section H.  Sew section M.  Sew section N.  Attach M to N. Sew section S. Attach section S to H and M/N.  Set aside.
Sew section I.  Sew section R.  Sew section O.  Attach R to I and then to O.  Set aside.
Sew section J.  Sew section K.  Sew section L.  Sew section P.  Sew section Q.  Attach L to J and then to K.  Attach Q to LJK and then to P.  

Set aside.  
Attach T to SHMN.  Then attach this whole section to RIO.  Then attach this whole section to QLJKP.  Spool segment complete.  

Sew this half of the block to the previous side (needle segment).  Block should measure 12.5”.  Trim up if necessary. Block is complete. 

With a chalk pencil, write the word STITCH and draw a thread line in a looping arc through the eye of the needle and over to the word “Stitch”.  

I like to trace a printed out word since my handwriting isn't the neatest. I tape the block to the window to help see through the block to the paper underneath.  Remember to have the thread going above  the eye of the needle on one side and and below the eye on the other side so that it looks realistic.  Use cotton embroidery floss to  stitch over your drawn lines.  You are done! Enjoy!

 Please email me or post a comment if you have any questions about the block piecing.
 Happy Sewing!

Tumbling blocks with aqua and linen

Yet another tumbling blocks pillow, but this one will live in my house.

After the last pillow talk swap, the boys in the house were really loving the tumbling blocks design - they like everything that looks 3-D, so I decided to make another one.

This time I chose natural linen and aqua colors because they fit in well with the living room sofa and coordinate with the other existing pillows. I also used a gray linen and lots of different prints of aqua fabric.

I used 2" 60 degree triangles this time, so my blocks are a bit bigger. I also got to try out my new free motion quilting design which I've been practicing for the ORBC FMQ QAL ~ translation: Old Red Barn Company Free-motion Quilting Quilt-along led by Debbie Brown. ha! That's a mouthful! Here's a close-up...

And on a completely different note: I made key lime cupcakes using a recipe recommended by Emily of Crazy Old Lady quilts - I made cupcakes instead of a cake because we are on a cupcake kick at our house. OMG! So Yummy!! I modified the recipe by adding some lime zest to both the batter and the frosting oh and I used regular white cake mix because my store didn't carry lemon. Delish!! Try it out!

Happy Sewing and Baking!

Hexie Redux ~ Take 2

Some history ~ I've been planning a trip to visit my parents and I wanted to bring along a little something for them to have in their home. I have not seen my mother since I began quilting at the start of the year, and seeing as she lives 3000 miles away, I thought that a quilt would be appropriate. My Mom is the driving force behind my sewing skills ~ were it not for her I would not be here today to blog about my sewing adventures. She is the most amazinging sewist ever! But, she doesn't quilt, so this one's for you Mom!

I chose this fabric (Martinique from Moda) ~ primarily because the colors are perfect for my parents home and include both my Mom and Dad's favorite colors. I think it will look lovely in their living room.


Originally, hexies were not part of this quilt plan at all. I wanted to use these pretty traditional quilt fabrics in a very modern way. I had been looking at simple shapes - squares outlined simply in a narrow solid frame and quilted in a modern parallel lines approach. Then a bolt of inspiration hit me (as they sometimes do) - why not add a spray of hexies to the squares just to mix it up a bit? I like to mix things up a lot actually, in case you haven't noticed. So there you have it, the idea behind the final design. Here's my sketch-up if you are interested in quilt process.

I used hexies of various sizes to lend a feel of movement to the design. I think the redux is perfect and modern and I am very happy with the end result.

I have also been converted into the quilt label camp ~ this newest quilt is the first to feature the Trillium label which I had printed over at Spoonflower.

After being a Spoonflower member since the earliest Beta days, I'm glad to have finally taken the plunge in printing my own fabric. Thanks to Julie (jaybird quilts) for some instructional info on how to get a quilt label ready for printing. The Spoonflower FAQ was very helpful in this regard as well.

The back ~

I hope Mom and Dad like this quilt as much as I do because they will be receiving it very soon.....

And with that, I should point out and the kids and I are now on vacation. We will be visiting Toronto for a week, so I'll be off blogland for awhile. See you in another week!

Happy Sewing!

Hexie redux ~ Take 1

Hexagon shapes have hit, swept (and mopped up?) the online quilting world ~ they are everywhere these days. People, including yours truly, can't get enough of making these little paper-pieced shapes.

For me, they are a relaxing way to spend the evening with my family, much the same way as knitting used to occupy my time. But, as much as I enjoy making them, there is always the question of what to do with them in the end? Their classic use isn't for me - it's great, but not for me ~ too traditional.

So the question remains, what to do with all these little hexagons? I wanted something that would lend a modern feel and a fresh perspective? I have been thinking about this problem for a while now and have come up with a few answers to my own question. Here is the first one ~ a little hexie redux, Version 1.

You have already seen the beginnings of this project in this post. Here is the final version. All my hexies sewn up together and ready to be made into a pillow ~ the Walking in the rain pillow

Why a pillow? ~ Because I'm on a mission to redo all the toss pillows in our house. The Pillow talk swap was impetus enough to retire our boring plain pillows and come up with fabulous replacements. Reason two is because these are half inch hexies! That's a finished hexagon about 1" across and believe me, after hand-piecing 400 of these babies, I'm ready to be done. A pillow was about a big as this project was going to get.

It's black and white and grey as you can see, which is a "color" scheme I'm fond of in our house. Seems to be everywhere.

See?...

Fit's right in.

I threw in a little splash of color to stir things up a bit by appliqueing the little person walking in the rain and used some free-motion stitching to attach the applique.


Add some quilting and a back and it's a throw pillow!

Looks nice next to the Cathedral Mod pillow and the Mid Mod Quilt, no?

So there you have it! Hexie redux, part 1. Stayed tuned for part 2, coming in August.

Happy Sewing!

Happy 4th ~ a little late

... If it's July 6th, I kind of a blew right by the Independence day celebrations. We were a little under the weather this year with some sort of weird dizzy viral bug at our house. I managed to escape so far, so instead I cleaned out my daughters room - really cleaned it out as in, purged it big time. Well, it's done now and while it probably wasn't the most exciting thing for the 4th, I'm very happy that it's finished and all the random clutter is gone. You know how kids rooms just manage to accumulate - ummm - stuff? It's all gone - many many bags worth. Her room actually looks bigger now, although it's not. She loves it to! Hopefully this will be incentive for her to keep it clean for awhile – yeah right, I know that’s not going to really happen, but a girl can dream right?

Aside from getting a peace/love tote bag done this weekend, I did manage to finish off my July 4th hexie napkins. The first version was a little bland,

so I spiced them up a bit with red rickrack (instead of blue), and used a coordinating print fabric for the backs - much better this way.

The Hexies were made from a Red, White and Bold charm pack (Sandy Gervais, Moda) and the backs are assorted fabrics from my stash including Amy Butlers Love.


Much better this way.

Hope you had a great 4th! Happy Sewing!