Twisted Ribbons in Quilty Magazine

You GUYS!! I'm so excited to finally be able to share this quilt!

Katie (aka my sister) designed and made this quilt herself. She has been trying for a while now to get into designing and selling/publishing her own patterns. And guess what?! This one is ON THE COVER of Quilty Magazine!!

This is the new March/April issue that just came out. 

And I'm actually not too surprised it made the cover because this one just turned out so awesome. I love the warm vs. cool color scheme and the overall layout of it. I like the diagonal spiral effect it has.

Plus it can be made easily by a confident beginner quilter.

You can find the pattern here.

Oh. Yeah. The quilting.... So, I wanted to keep the directional effect going with the geese, so I accentuated that with some ruler-work, and filled in with a straight-lined meander.

The blue/black areas are impossible to see here, but I quilted large swirls and pebbles.

Ahh. Here it is!

More of the back.

I can't wait to actually get my hands on a copy. Right now the website says it is out of stock already. But I'm sure you could find it at a quilt or craft store. I don't have one close by me and we are getting 5-7 inches of snow today, so I guess I will have to wait until it is back in stock.

This is just a thrill to see something you've worked on on the cover of a magazine! Who knows, we could do it again! :)

Lois's rectangles

Lois made this lovely quilt with rectangle shapes.

I quilted an all-over design with paisley shapes.

Thanks Lois! More to come from her next.

Patty Doo pouches

I came across this free pattern for these adorable zipper pouches, and thought they would make perfect teacher Christmas gifts. 

This one is quite glitzy with the shimmery gold zipper and metallic gold touches in the fabric.

This one was my favorite though. They are lined with yellow fabric. I like to use a light fabric for linings so you can see inside a little better.

I added serving of my homemade hot cocoa mix and some mini marshmallows inside.  So they not only looked pretty, the smelled yummy too.

They were a hit.

Boxed pencil pouches

It all started when someone on my Christmas list requested a pencil case.  I found some great tutorials for these boxed pencil pouches and thought I would give it a try. SO fun and quick! 

Loola Blog's

Touched by Nasha's

I had stocked up on a whole bunch of fun and fancy zippers back when Hancock Fabrics was closing out. I was almost kicking myself for buying so many zippers without having a project for them.

So I ended up making pouches for (just about) everyone on my Christmas list.

I would cut out 3 or 4 at a time and sew them together in an assembly line. I got so I could sew up 3 or 4 in an hour.

This one's Katie's. I happened to have a scrap with her name stitched on it- making it the perfect tag.

The sewing ladies went to my Mom.

The goofy veggies went to my little nieces and nephews.  Inside them all I put some homemade hot chocolate mix and some mini-marshmallows for a yummy holiday treat.

Here is another batch.

It is very easy to adjust the size of the pouch to whatever size zipper you happen to have. Most of these are 7 inch zippers. Some were a bit longer. The 7 inch ones are still long enough to hold a pen or pencil, plus whatever else your little heart desires.

The linings were just machine stitched shut with a very narrow seam allowance.

These were a fun little project that added a little homemade touch to my Christmas gifts.

12 inch Split 9-Patch Tutorial

February is my month for my Do.Good Stitches Haven circle and this is the block they will be making for me. A Split 9-patch. It's just a 9-patch but with HST's that divide the unit up for a fun visual interest.  I'm going to show you how to make one 12 inch finished block, or 4 units. 

Here's how to make it!

You will need:

Mark your gray squares in half diagonally on the backsides. I use a regular old pencil for this.

Match a gray and black square right sides together and stitch a scant 1/4 inch on either side of the line. I make a chain by sewing down one side of all, then turn the whole thing around and stitch down the other side without cutting them apart. Super fast!

Cut apart on the lines.

My ironing board is gross.

Trim these all up to 2.5 inches square.

Turn unit around and square up again to get rid of both 'dog ears'.

Next, lay out your blue and light squares to make one quadrant--keeping the gray halves on the blue side and the black with the lights.

Sew together into rows, then sew the rows together to make one quadrant. Make 4 quadrants to complete a 12.5 inch unfinished block!

I'll have my Haven-ites leave the 4 quadrants unsewn so I can mix them all up, and so I can play around with the layout. Which way should I make it??

Barn raising? (above)

Zig-zag?

Lighting bolt?

Or I could make it into some other random design. We will see in a few months which way I will go with it. But I'm loving the way this block looks! I chose these colors because it matches some yardage I got on super clearance a while back that I will use for the backing and perhaps a border and/or binding. But, it would be neat to see this in other colorways too. I also love how it is a great block to use up scraps. I love a good scrappy quilt!

DGS November regatta/Embroidered baby quilt

November's blocks for Do Good Stitches- Haven circle were these Regatta sailboats.  I dug out all my nautical themed fabrics for these. I knew I was saving for something someday! The rectangles were a bit tricky.

Rose embroidered this adorable baby quilt.

I kept it super simple with some swirls.

I avoided quilting over the satin stitched eyes.

So sweet! Thanks Rose!

Lois's Around the world

Lois made this around the world throw-sized quilt.

She let me have creative freedom so I got a bit fancy-pants on the outer green border.

The red border got swirl-feathers.

The center was quilted with an all-over swirls, feathers, leaves and curls.

Thanks Lois!