January 2016 - Lost Socks!

Do you ever lose just one sock? Well here they are in this quilt. All kinds, all shapes, plain and fancy.

Quick applique, hand or machine.

1. Choose a light fabric for the background, print or solid. Cut into a 6" square.

2. Choose a medium or dark fabric for the sock. Cut into a 3.5" x 5" rectangle.

By eye, cut any sock shape that you like. Position it in any direction on your background.

Applique the sock to the background using any method. 

Do you want to make tights or low ankle socks? Baby socks? Pairs of socks? Lace edging?

It's all good. 

January 2015 - Cheerio!

Our January quilt will be cheery indeed! It'll have a soft ruffled texture too (after washing and drying the finished quilt). And it takes only 1 minute to make one of these. So make a bunch and you may win the makings of your first quilt of the new year!

Choose a bright multi-colored fabric and cut it into a circle using a CD for a pattern.

Fold into quarters and cut a circle out of the middle, by eye. 

Place the "Cheerio" on a white 6" square. (The square can be ivory, ecru etc.) 

Machine stitch around the outer and inner edges of the circle, as shown above.

Snip along the outer and inner edges, about every 1/4 - 1/2 inch. Be careful not to clip the stitches.

I used a toothbrush to speed up the fraying in the photo above, but you don't need to do that. When the lucky winner finishes the quilt, it will fray in the washer and dryer. After the first washing there will be a lot of threads to pick off. But after that, loose threads won't be a problem. And the texture will be so nice!

Remember you enter your name in the drawing once for each block that you bring.

September 2014 - Lamps!

Take a look at your fabric stash to see what interesting lamps you might have in there. 

This is a quick and easy block. Our collection of blocks will make a fabulous quilt!

You could add a finial if you're so inclined. This lamp looks like a game board piece.

Directions:

1. Cut a white (or parchment, ivory etc.) square 10" x 10" for the foundation.
2. Cut a 6" x 3.5" rectangle for the lampshade. Fold in half. Cut a curved or straight line as shown above.
3. Cut a 5" x 5" square for the lamp base. Fold in half. Cut as shown above. Cutting so that the lamp base is skinny at the top makes the lampshade fit gracefully.
4. Using a glue stick or pins, secure the lamp base and shade to the foundation. Machine applique about 1/4" from the edges. 

The winner of all the blocks will have a very interesting lamp gallery quilt! Shown above are the blocks that I made to be sure that this block is fun to make. And I assure you that it is!

June Block: French Macarons!

This is a quick and easy raw-edge applique block. Start with a 6" square and a 4 3/4" diameter circle (trace a CD to get the right size circle). Use a glue stick to hold the circle in place in the center of the square.

Topstitch the circle to the square using a straight stitch, buttonhole stitch, or a zig-zag stitch, as shown below. (I used a straight stitch, so I sewed around the circle twice, about 1/4" from the edge.)

After sewing, press. Then cut the square in half, horizontally, as shown below. Turn the bottom rectangle upside-down and sew the two together so that the block looks like the one at the top of this post.

FABRIC RECIPE: Choose prints and/or solids in tasty colors. Think: pink and red fruits, lemon, grape, orange, coffee, chocolate, etc. Also lacy prints, damasks, stripes, little dots, pastels. See the colorful macarons and my quilt in-the-works below.

Enter your name in the drawing once for each block that you bring to the June meeting.

Have fun!

October: Raw-Edge Food Tile

The last time we made raw-edge applique blocks, they came out great. And the quilt made by the winner was awesome. This time let's use Food Themed fabrics: food, candy, beverages, flatware, cookware; if you can't decide, throw it in there. I like how the apple in the block above looks with the white background.

Directions:  Cut a 10" square from solid white fabric. This could be any white, ecru, parchment, ivory, etc. Choose some food themed fabrics and cut them into various shapes to make a mosaic. Don't worry about precision because the finished quilt (after washing) will be "shabby chic." Place your fabric pieces about 5/8" away from the outer edge (as shown above). 

Cut any shapes and sizes that you like. Something fussy-cut in the middle might be nice. 

Put a bit of glue in the middle of each piece to hold them in place while you sew (Above.)

Sew around each piece, 1/4" from the edge. Secure each piece by back-stitching at the beginning and end of each seam. Don't leave a smaller than 1/4" space between the seam and the edge of the piece or the pieces will come loose in the wash. I learned that the hard way.

Sew around the edge of each piece.

This kind of quilt is also called a Boston Pavement and Tile quilt. Our quilt will have a remarkable variety of food prints, benefiting from so many quilters' stashes. Remember, you enter your name in the drawing once for each block that you bring to the October meeting. Have fun!