Just finished my second butterfly quilt (Stacy, you're brilliant--love this pattern!). Are you getting sick of it yet? Cause I'm not. After the last one, I had a ton of people ask me how I quilted it. They couldn't believe I did it on my little Kenmore machine, and that I didn't use a pattern. I often "stipple" my quilts because it's fast, it looks great on almost every quilt, and it's hard to notice the mistakes. And it's way easier than it looks.


Side note--don't you love the backing on this one? This print is from the original line and I just adore it.


Okay, here's my little stippling video to give you an idea of how to do this. Hopefully you've already learned how to make the quilt sandwich and pin your layers together. I didn't go over that in the video.



Here's a close up of my stippling pattern. I used a pretty large pattern on this one, but I've done tiny versions, too. Both look great, but I've learned the the bigger pattern creates a softer, less stiff quilt.



This is a hand-drawn version of what I'm doing, since my stitches are the same color as my quilt top. I did this really fast, and I actually think my drawing on the quilt is better than the hand drawing! It feels really organic to me--almost like you're drawing tiny lifeforms, like amoebas.

My best advice is to 1. practice first, and 2. floor it! When you move your needle fast, everything about stippling becomes easier. Oh, and I have to say that I am a huge believer in using Kona Cotton when you're using a solid color, like I did here. They cost a little more than the broadcloth options at the fabric store, but they crinkle so much better, and have such a rich feel after they're washed! Good luck with your stippling!

It's finally done! I made this simple banner (bunting) quilt for the little girl I nanny to use. I love all the bunting we're seeing in the craft world--from scrapbook lines to marketing logos, they're everywhere. My favorite thing about this quilt is how easy it was! It's a great stash-buster. You could even make the pennants smaller to use up your smaller pieces of fabric.


I cut my templates for the birdie and the pennants out of freezer paper with my Silhouette. You can't technically cut fabric with it, but you can cut a million different templates, and if you cut them out of freezer paper, you can iron them on your fabric and cut around them. Soooo much easier than pinning them on or tracing around them! They peel right off when you're done, and don't leave any sticky residue on your fabric.



Since it was such an easy quilt, I decided to try something new with the binding. I created a scalloped edge using yellow ric rac.


To do this, sew your ric rac around the very edge of the quilt before sewing your binding on.


Then sew your binding right on top of it. Finish binding as usual.


So sweet! Don't you love that I finagled a way to keep this one? I do have other blankets at my house that the little miss could use, but I just really wanted it. :) It has a little birdie on it for goodness' sake! I needed it!

I was so inspired by Stacy's easy butterfly quilt that I headed right over to her house to use her Sizzix die cut machine. I had Cosmo Cricket's Girl Friday fat quarter bundle ready and waiting to be made into a cute baby girl quilt. This quilt comes together really quickly, and it's so cute!

Machine quilting a quilt is my favorite part of the process, but my hands and back get so tired. It's difficult to keep the fabric moving under the darning foot when you're stippling--the fabric is just too slippery. I've seen quilting gloves at the fabric store, but I'd rather save my pennies for more fabric. So I decided to do my hands a favor and figure out how to make my own quilting gloves.

One-Step Quilting Gloves Tutorial

Supplies:
*Pair of snug-fitting gloves--I used an old pair of stretchy winter gloves
*Fabric puff paint


1. In order to create friction, draw lines and shapes over the palms of the gloves with fabric puff paint. I let my kids help me decide what shapes to draw--it doesn't really matter what you draw. Allow to dry according to paint's instructions (mine was four hours). That's it!



I've never used actual quilting gloves, so I can't compare the quality, but these worked beautifully for me. Here's my finished quilt. . .


I hand stitched a little butterfly trail with embroidery floss before adding my batting and backing.

I am in love with this green polka dot fabric I used for the backing. It wasn't part of the Girl Friday line (I found it at Hancock's), but it was such a great contrast to all the pink. Can't wait to give this to a sweet little niece that will be here next month!

I think I am obsessed with butterflies these days. I have two more butterfly projects coming up in the next few days, including my project for Craft Camp over at Skip To My Lou. So be sure to stop by again soon!

Baby G. finally got his quilt! Nevermind that he is six months old. Luckily summer doesn't officially start here until July, so he still has a little time to snuggle in it.


I love an easy quilt, and this one is just that. I had leftover Michael Miller fabric from this stroller quilt, but not enough for another patchwork. So I opted to cut a few circles of each (plus a few other coordinating fabrics) to create a similar look with way less fabric.

I ironed my fabric to an iron-on webbing, then cut the circles using a die cut machine, but you could easily trace a cup and hand-cut your circles. Then I measured and ironed them in place and used a zig-zag stitch to stitch them in place.


The quilting was the hardest part of this quilt! That's the reason it sat in my closet for months and months. I decided to quilt around each circle, and then outline the circle rows with another row of quilting. If I could do it again, I'd probably just do a stipple over the entire center panel, even over the circles. I love the look of stippling. But I still love the way this polka dot quilt turned out!

Roar! Grumble! Gnaw!

The monster quilt is finished. Can't you hear them? My son is so happy he now has a new quilt to use. I am pretty happy with how it turned out too. Whaddaya think?

I am almost done with my monster quilt. Just need to bind it and I will have a final picture to show you all. It has been put on hold though for a while because I am now working on a quilt for an upcoming baby shower. This quilt was inspired by the Pottery Barn's butterfly wallies (paper wall decorations) and Stampin' Up's new butterfly die cut.

Here's a sneak peek:

Ever walk past fabric and have it jump out, knock you down and insist you take it home? Yea, it happens to me all the time. Especially this super cute, er, I mean scary flannel fabric. These little guys on the fabric demanded that they come home and be made into a cozy t.v. blanket. I just couldn't say no. You should have seen the looks on their faces! So, now the fabric is home and I am working away on an applique quilt inspired by this fabric. Here's a sneak peek of what is done so far. This round little man is Earl.

This is Victor. He's a little sassy, but I have to admit he's my favorite.

Wally is a sweetie. A little clingy at times but an overall good guy.

Last, but not least we have legs. He's the dancer in the family.

I am pretty excited with how this quilt is turning out. The appliques were a lot of work so I think I am going to keep the rest of the quilt super simple. I can't wait to show you all the finished product.

Giveaway #12

I am so freakin' excited about this giveaway! This is different from any giveaway we've done, and I know there are tons of quilters out there who are going to being dying to win this one.

Felicia Graves, owner of The Quilting Bee, is a machine quilter. She has been in business for six years, and most of her work is freehand. Before learning to machine quilt, so worked as an artist (painting needlepoint canvas for Rebecca Wood Designs) so her favorite thing to do is "draw" on quilts using her Gammill longarm quilting machine (I know!). So all you quilters out there, admit it--you have at least one quilt top just waiting to be quilted. Don't we all? This is where Felica comes in. People send her their quilt tops and backing, and she puts them together with a one-of-a-kind quilting design. Look how gorgeous these quilts look with Felicia's finishing touch.






In my opinion the quilting is really what makes a quilt. Felicia's work is so amazing--she is truly an arteest. And guess what? She's friends with our girl V from the other day. There's some crazy creative vibe coming out of that little town in the middle-of-nowhere-Utah. I just may have to make a stop there next time I'm there visiting family in Utah so I can soak up some of their amazing-ness!

So here's the coolest part. Felicia will be quilting a quilt for free (up to 56"x56") for our lucky winner! Here's what you have to do to enter. Go to The Quilting Bee blog and tell us your favorite of Felicia's top 10 quilting memories (hint: they're all in her April archives). Make sure to leave us a comment by Wednesday, June 3 at 11:59pm PDT! Oh, and while you're there, scroll to the bottom and watch her slide show of more amazing quilts she's quilted. It's mesmerizing.

Good luck to you and your quilt tops!

A few months ago I found the instructions to make this fun stroller quilt from Susan of Joy Bucket. Her Peek-a-Boo Bunting basically takes a 28" x 45" quilt and turns it into a tie-on quilt for your stroller, to keep baby's feet warm without dragging on the ground. The best part is that baby can't kick it off! And there are three buttons, so you can extend the length as baby grows.

I liked her colors so well that I used similar tones found in Michael Miller's Dick and Jane fabric line. It was a pretty fast project since the quilt is pretty small, and it used less fabric than a regular baby quilt. Susan used 2.5" x 2.5" squares, but I upped my to 3" x 3" squares.


Here's the finished product.


You can see from the back view that you just fold up about 1/3 of the quilt and attached three fabric-covered buttons (plus buttonholes--that was the hardest part for me since I'd never done them on my current sewing machine).



This was such a fun project that I made another one! This one was much quicker because I just used wide strips of fabric for the quilt top instead of patchwork. I used a striped chenille on the back to make it a little cozier.



Stacy caught the bug, too, and made a couple more. These fish-in-a-bag and goldfish prints from Heather Ross are adorable!


Here are the cute buttons. They're sewn on, but the buttonholes aren't done yet.


And here's a cute idea for a toddler who's into pirates. Stacy appliqued this silly skull and crossbones on black and white fabric, then backed it with a soft dot minky. Cozy and cool.


These make great baby gifts! You can always use a pre-made blanket and attach some straps if you're not into quilting. Just be aware that if you use Joybucket's instructions you may not sell the finished product. They're under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial Copyright. She's very generous to share the tutorial with us! Thanks, Susan!

Sorry for the break in our regular quilt-along series. Hope you had fun with all our great giveaways last week while you were waiting!

So now on to the final part of our denim blanket project. I did make a modification to the supplies list to ensure the vinyl tablecloth would hold the bottom part of the snap. There is more than one way to reinforce the edges, but I'll show you how I did it and you can do it however you want to. I wish I would've seen this article on Martha before I started this project--it would've saved us all some time! If you don't want to take the time to make a denim blanket, you can really use any blanket and attach the vinyl tablecloth for the same effect.

I used about 9 yards of twill tape and sewed it around the edges on the back side. I found it for .37 a yard.


I stopped, backstitched, and broke off the thread, then folded the edge over at the corners. Then I started sewing again around the corner. I did this on all the way around, then on the inside of the twill tape all the way around again.


When I got to the end I just overlapped the tape and backstitched a few times.


You could easily just use a small piece of twill tape where you will have your snaps to save money (and time). Or, a reader suggested using a small piece of a denim patch, like you use to patch the knees in a pair of jeans, under each snap. This would work great, too.

On to the snaps. Here are the supplies you'll need:

*Heavy-duty denim snaps (since it's only one layer of denim, these might not be necessary, but it's what I used)
*Snap setting tool (to match the size snaps you bought)
*Fabric marking pen
*Pencil with eraser
*Hammer (don't use a wimpy one like the one pictured here--I endedup switching to a full size hammer because the little one was too weak)


These are the four pieces of snaps. The first two (from left to right) are for the top (blanket). The second two are for the tablecloth.


These are the tools to set the snaps. You can use the instructions on the back of the package, or follow along with me below.


1. Lay out the tablecloth on the floor with the waterproof side down. Lay your finished blanket on top. Mark on your blanket where each snap will go, then make a corresponding mark on the tablecloth so you can match up the sides of the snap. I did the four corners plus a few in between on each side.


2. Put the snap head on your mark and press the prongs down through the denim.


Using your eraser, press down on each prong. This will help the prongs go through the denim without poking you!



3. Set the corresponding piece over the prongs.


4. Place the protective cover on the top of the snap (so it doesn't get dinged up when you hammer it).


5. Hold it there and turn that part of the blanket over. Place on a hard surface (don't do this on the carpet--the pieces won't set right). Protect your hard surface if you need to (I used a cutting board on my tile). Put the other tool over the top of the back side of the snap. Hit it with your hammer 2-3 times. This should set it.


6. Find your mark on the tablecloth. Repeat the steps for setting the bottom side of the snap using the other pieces. Put a snap on each place you marked.





That is it! Now get out there and have a picnic!


Just joining us? Here are the other parts in this series:
*Invitation and supplies
*Part 1
*Part 2
*Part 3