My Baby Zigzag quilt is done!!!

Hi everyone,

I have another finish to share.

I'm really excited about this one.

It's my Zigzag baby quilt.

The triangles were all cut with the Accuquilt GO! cutter and the 3 inch finished HST die.

I machine pieced and hand quilted this quilt.

I quilted it with perle cotton.

Finished size is 36 inches square.

I love how the hand quilting turned out.

The big stitches really pop.

And the quilt remains nice and soft.

I backed the quilt in the cutest flannel by Northcott called Forest Friends.

I really love this quilt.

It was a lot of fun to make.

It will make a nice gift for my Brother and his Wife's new baby,

due to be born very soon.

Hugs

GO! Ahead and Show Some Love Blog Hop ***Giveaway CLOSED****

The Blog hop starts today, and Marjorie and I are the first ones up.
Don't forget to visit all the others blogs this week too!

Here is the line up!!!

February 13th

Marjorie (Marjorie Busby, quilter)

Ariane (Ariane's Crafts)

February 14th

Connie (Quilting by the River)

Linda (Living 4 Quilting)

February 15th

Lisa Marie (Scraps of Life)
Marilyn (North Hills Quilters)

February 16th

Alicia (Heirloom Quilting)
Marjorie (Marjorie's Busy Corner)

February 17th

Sharon (Crazee Corners)
Jacque (Lilypad Quilting)

February 18th

Stacey (Driving Miss Stacey)
Tracey (The Peony Teacup)
Paulette (Sweet P Quilting and Creations)

I've prepared this for a few weeks now.

I wanted to use Accuquilt GO! dies that a lot of you might already have.

You will need the circle die,

and the 5 inch square die.

I'm going to show you a very simple block that can be made with any of the circles on the circle die.

It's the half-circle pinwheel appliqued block.

This block can be used to make many different items.

Let's start!!!


Take your red and white/cream scraps out.

Instruction for the 5 inch unfinished block.

1) You will need to cut 2, 2.5 inch squares of the same red fabric.

You can also use the value die to cut the 2.5 inch red blocks.

 Iron fusible web on the back of the two red squares.

You can see in the image that I have 2 pairs of red squares.

2) Once you have ironed the fusible web to the red squares,

align your red squares over the smallest 2 inch circle on the circle die.

Cover the die with your cutting mat and crank the die through the machine.

3) You will have some nice perfectly cut circles.

4) Now take these circles to your cutting board and cut them in half.

Next Step......

1) Cut your 5 inch background squares using the 5 inch square die.

2) Bring a cut square to your ironing board.

You will iron you square in half with wrong sides together.

3) Then, fold in half again and iron without going over your first ironed crease.

4) When you open up your square, you should have the creases showing like in image #4.

Next.....

You will then take your half circles, remove the paper backing from them and lay them out on you block using the creases as guides.

Your blocks should look like the ones above.

Iron the half circles to your background fabric.

Then take these blocks to your sewing machine and zig-zag stitch all around the edges.

You can also use a button hole stitch or some other decorative stitch.

Now....what to make with these blocks.

A simple needle case would be so handy.

1) Sew your pinwheel block to another plain 5 inch background square.

Iron the seam open

2) You should now have a piece 9.5 X 5 inches.

3) For the inside of your needle case you need to cut a main piece 9.5 X 5 inches in background fabric,

Then a red piece of fabric for the pockets 9.5 X 6.5 inches.

You will iron the red fabric in half to form the pocket.

4) Lay the red pocket fabric over the background fabric and stitch a pocket line in the centre, then one 2 inches from the centre. Then baste stitch 1/8 th inch around the outer edge of the pocket.

5) Lay your inside piece over a piece of batting. 

The batting should be just a bit bigger then you inner piece.

Cut a 3 inch piece of ribbon and baste stitch it to the centre of the left side.

6) Lay the outer piece right sides together over the inside piece.

Pin in place.

7) Sew a 1/4 inch seam all around the edge of your fabric.

Leave about a 2 inch opening to allow for turning.

Make sure you back stitch at the beginning and ending stitches.

8)Trim your batting off and clip the corners.

9) Turn you needle case through the opening.

10) Iron your needle case and the opening to prepare for top stitching.

11) Top stitch using a scant 1/8 inch seam.

12) Cut an 4 X 8 inch piece of felt.
 Center the felt on the inside of the needle case.
Pin in place.
Flip over the needle case,
 and using the seam between the outer blocks stitch down the centre seam to secure the felt.

13) Add a matching button to the back.


You are now done!!!!!


I hope you like this tutorial.
If you have any questions, please let me know.

I'll have more ideas for this block in the next few days.
So please keep coming back.

Now, if you have made it this far down, you are in luck.
I'm giving away the above needle case to one lucky person.


Just leave a comment for a chance to win!!!


The giveaway winner will be announced on Friday!!


Winner is....

Jan said...

How cute is that, and you make it so simple! Thanks much!

February 13, 2012 11:38 AM 

Hugs

Small completed projects!!

Some days all I want to sew are little things that I can finish in a few hours.

Today was one of those days.

I made a mug rug with selvages and scraps.

This was my first project today.

It was fun to make.

Then, I got a bunch of amazing mail.

The UPS man came first.

I hadn't bought a die in a while.

But I had all these points accumulated on the Accuquilt site.

So, I decided to order the GO! Heather Feather #2 die.

I don't usually buy applique dies.

But, I'm really glad I bought this one.

I worked on a few small projects using this die.

I finished one of them today.

This little art quilt was made using the leftover scraps from one of the fabric I cut with the die.

It's a little butterfly quilt.

Do you like it???

It's 8 X 10 inches.

I really love this die.

I will be showing more small projects with this die soon.

Then, the mail man came, and I received two packages.

These two packages are winnings from the Quilting Gallery's giveaway day.

The big package I received from Contemporary Cloth Fabric Shop.

Look at all my winnings.

It's like winning the lottery for a quilter to win so much fabric.

Thank you so much!!!!

Then, I won some beautiful dupioni silk from Cheryl Lynch Quilts.

She sent me 3 fat quarters and some interfacing to make a project.

Thank you so much Cheryl.

I can't wait to try using these silks.

So, I've had a pretty good day.

I hope you did too!

Hugs 

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Hi everyone,

I would like to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving Day!!

We celebrate Thanksgiving in October in Canada.

I am so thankful for my wonderful family, my job,

my friends and the wonderful quilting/blogging community.

I am just so blessed.

I don't have alot to share since I worked all weekend,

but thought I would re-share the link to my fall table runner tutorial.

I made it using the isosceles die for the GO! Cutter.

GO! have a look.

Hugs

GO! Baby Giveaways to report!!!

Here are some GO! Baby Giveaways going on in blogland.

Bijou Lovely - ends Monday August 22, 2011

The Fabric Shopper - ends Sunday August 21, 2011

A Spoonful of Sugar - ends Monday August 22, 2011

The Tulip Patch - ends Wednesday August 24, 2011

Chasing Cottons - ends Tonight August 17, 2011

Don't forget to sign up to receive the free Accuquilt Newsletter and receive 22 free patterns.

Click the button below to register.

I also have the tutorial for my Broken Dishes QAL.

You can find it here.

Hugs

Broken Dishes - A quilt along

Hi everyone,

I've been wanting to share a project with all of you.

Something that we can do together.

I got inspired by this vintage block, that dates back to the early 1800's.

It's the Broken Dishes block.

This block is a relatively simple 4 patch block.

It uses only 4 half square triangles to make the block.

I wanted to show that you don't need a ton of fancy software to design a pattern.

I use graph paper, a pencil, eraser, colouring pencils, and a calculator.

I also wanted to teach you how to adjust the block size depending on the size of quilt you want.

So, come share with me and I hope I can share a bit of my knowledge with you.

Broken Dishes QAL - Part 1

I always just design first,

 then think of the size of the quilt I want to make.

When you use graph paper,

you chose the scale of each square.

If you look at my quilt design below, 

you see that I used four squares to draw one half square triangle (hst) block.

I did this to make it easier to colour the hst's and to make my design bigger on the page.

The border measurements are kept simple.

The first plain border is half the size of one hst.

The second pieced border is the same size as the hst's.

The third plain border is half the size of one hst.

You may wonder why I have the third plain border?

Well, I like my pieced border to stand out.

Especially since I've put so much work into making it.
Here's an example of a border done the same way.

This also allows to make a statement with your binding, if that's what you want.

Each HST block can be made any size.

It can be 2 inches, 3 inches, 4 inches, 6 inches......
(Note: you always need to add 1/2 inch to each measurement for the seam allowance)

I've made up a table with all the measurements to make this quilt.

Quilt Size	Block Size in inches	# of Broken Dishes blocks	Size of HST’s in inches	# of HST’s needed	Size to cut squares for HST’s in inches	Cut Plain borders	# of Triangle in a Square blocks	Finished Quilt Size with borders
Twin size	12.5”	24	6.5”	116	6 7/8’	3.5”	4	72”x96”
Queen Size	12.5”	48	6.5”	240	6 7/8’	3.5”	4	96”x96”
Lap Size	8.5”	24	4.5”	116	4 7/8’	2.5”	4	48”x64”
Baby size	6.5”	24	3.5”	116	3 7/8’	2”	4	36”x48”

I've made up the three block sizes in different fabric collections.





I'm making these quilts with fabric from my stash.

The large block is 12.5 inches and made up of some reproduction fabrics.
I cut these HST's with my GO! Cutter and 6.5 inch HST die.

The second block is 8.5 inches and made from Bar Harbor Charm squares.
I have two charm packs of this fabric.
Sew, these are made with the squares method.

  Here is a great tutorial for this method.

I was going to make a tutorial, but this one is very good.
So why do it again.
If you have any questions about this, just let me know.

The third block is 6.5 inches and made up of some Kaffe Fassett scraps and  Kona White.
I used my GO! 3.5 inch die to cut these hst's.
This size is compatible with the GO! baby or GO! Cutter.

Sew if you want to join in and make this quilt with me,
just pick a size.....any size...and start cutting.


I will post a simple tutorial tomorrow on how to make up a block.
After that, I will come back every Tuesday and share my progress with you.
I might even have a linky thing, so that you can share your progress too.
This is a great stash busting project.
That's what I'm doing.

Here's a small button to add to your blog, if you decide to join.




Hugs

A bit of work on my Summer Blues Quilt!!!

Sew, the last couple of days,

 I've been working on my Summer Blues Quilt.

I had put some of the blocks together.

Then, I decided to change the layout, so I took them apart.

This is what I have up to now.

I have one more round of blocks to put on the quilt. 

Sew, it will be 7 blocks square.

This is going to be a queen size quilt.

Each block is 13.5 inches finished.

I used 5 inch charm squares to make the blocks.

I had cut the charms with my GO! Cutter and my 5 inch square die.

I'm just trying to get as many of my UFO quilt tops done.

I need to buy batting, since I'm all out.

But, I have too many other places to put my money right now.

Sew, I finishing my UFO's.

And that's a good thing!!!!

Hugs

My finished Carpenter's Star quilt!!

I finally have pictures of my finished quilt.

Here they are.

Quilt Stats:

Size: 96 inches square

Fabric used: 

"Black, White and Current" by Color Principle for Henry Glass & Co.

and

Kona cotton solids: white, black and red by Robert Kaufman

Designed, machine pieced, machine quilted by Ariane Kring

Started in April 2011 and completed in July 2011

I hope you all like it.

I know my brother and his wife do.

Hugs

A teacher gift

Hi everyone!!

 I hope you have all had a great day.

I made a bag today for my daughters teacher.

It was a last minute gift, as today was the last day of school.

Here it is.

I put a large pocket on the one side.

This pocket is big enough to put a large magazine.

The other side was left without pockets.

I put a zipper in the bag.

This is the first time I have done this.

It's not perfect, but it was good enough for today.

I added some pockets inside.

I tried using cotton webbing for the handles.

They look okay, but I don't think I will use it again for this type of bag.

My daughters teacher loved it.

So that was great.

I also got some great mail today.

The mail strike is over and I should be getting a few more packages in the mail soon.

This order came from Crazy Quilt Girl Fabric Shop.

I love this fabric.

Clermont Farms has some gorgeous prints.

I would love to get more of this fabric.

I will be away for the weekend.

My brothers getting married in Northern Ontario.

It will be fun to see all the family.

Edited to add:
Hey, I found more Baby GO! Cutter giveaways.
Here are the links.


Craft Buds - ends July 4th


Quilting Along The Gorge - ends July 10th

Have a great weekend.

Hugs

Sneak Peak!!!

Hi everyone,

I hope you all had a great weekend.

I spent some time with the kids and did a lot of housework.

I did do a bit of sewing.

I'm only going to show a sneak peak, because this is a gift.

I don't want to spoil the surprise.

Also, on Sunday I went to the beach with the kids.

Here are my two youngest running out in the cold water.

These two had so much fun at the beach.

We were at Sand Banks Provincial Park just outside of Picton, Ontario.

On another note,

I wanted to encourage all of you to sign up for AccuQuilt's newsletter by clicking the button below.

You get to receive all the special deals that they have going on.

And on top of that you get 22 free patterns.

Right now they are having amazing deals.

If you have been wanting to buy a 

GO! Baby.....NOW IS THE TIME!!!!

They are giving a free GO! Alex Anderson die set with the purchase of a GO! Baby.

You can't beat that deal!!!

I know I've been promoting the GO! Baby and GO! Cutter a lot on my blog.

But I really do love my GO! Cutter.

This is an amazing product.

I use mine all the time.

I now design my quilts, according to the dies that I have.

I try to add new dies when I can.

It makes my quilting experience so much better and I get to sew that much faster.

So, go check it out.

You will love it too!!!

Hugs