Fun Tutorials

I don't know how many of you watch Jenny at the Missouri Star Quilt Shop, she makes the best video tutorials I have seen.  I thought it would be fun today to share some of my favorites with you.
These are all beginner ones with some great ideas. I hope you enjoy!!
Have a fun and safe Labor Day weekend!!
Kate

 

 

Half Square Triangles

 



 

Tube Tutorial

Hour glass block

 

Dresden plate

 

Panels !!

I meant to post this right after the last post but I have had several down days and am now finally getting to it, Sheesh, I hate feeling like I am running so behind!

I really like panels. I know alot of people consider them cheating but I think they can really add alot to your quilts. It gives you alot more options as far as showing scenes. I have a few projects coming up to share with you done with panels.

This quilt was made from the Sea of Dreams collection by South Sea Imports. My youngest grandson picked it out for his quilt when the fabric first came out.  When they came to visit a few weeks ago, his little face just lit up and he was MINE! That one is mine! I was surprised he remembered it but he did. He carried it all over and insisted to sleep with it. I hope when he goes home he remembers that is is full of love and hugs every time he uses it.

The back 

The quilting  free motion is getting a bit easier )

Nathan with his quilt :)

So, what do you all think of panels? Do you use them? I did add several borders too it but he was just in love with all the animals in the ark

Many blessings and have a wonderful week!!

Kate

I'm back =)

The red, the white and the blue.....done!

Hi ! I didn't mean to stay away so long but life happens as we all know. My grandsons came to visit last week and I had promised to make them both quilts. They both picked out just what they wanted and several months ago I got started. For some reason the deadline was getting close to them coming and they were no where near ready. Noah ( the oldest one ) wanted a red , white and blue quilt and even picked the pattern. For some reason this quilt would not cooperate with me at all!! I ripped it out and ripped it out till I had to stop before there was no fabric left :)  As you can see the stars didn't turn out to be stars.

I used a Superior Rainbow thread in red, white and blue to do the quilting. This is my first actual free motion quilt where it is done start to finish with nothing other than the free motion. (May I add ... the next time I try to stuff a full size quilt through my sewing machine to quilt it when I don't know what I am doing ... hit me in the head, PLEASE!!! )

the back has the Pledge of Allegiance 

with blue borders

of course I filled it with lots of hiding hearts and his name!

There are a lot of jigs and jags in my quilting as you can see. At first I ripped them out every time and finally I gave in and acknowledged there is a learning curve and it will take time to make it all nice. In the end he was thrilled with it. He had it with him everywhere in the house and slept with it, hugged it, and told me how much he loved it a dozen or so times :) He never even noticed the jigs! That made it all worth it!

In the next day or two I will post about the little ones quilt :)

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Kate

And the winner is..........

Welcome to all my new followers! I hope to have alot of good stuff in store for you and many more giveaways in the future. With so many wonderful comments I feel bad that everyone couldn't win. Thank you to all who stopped by and entered.
So anyway the winner of my first giveaway is.........

BonnieJuly 16, 2012 5:10 AM

I am a new follower. Your block is great. After reading through your blog I am inspired by your spirit. Thanks for the chance to win.

I will be emailing you today :)

Red, White and Blue Blog Hop and GIVEAWAY!!!!

                                                             




Welcome everyone to the last day of the blog hop and I am so very happy you are here! I am a pretty new blogger and this is my first hop so I would sincerely like to thank Mdm Samm and Jane from Janes Fabric and Quilts  for letting me be a part of this wonderful hop. It has been 16 days of fabulously creative and inspiring blocks all done in red, white and blue and I have had a great time following all of it.
So, anyway, here we go!!
I only did one block ( and I am seriously jealous after seeing Mdm Samms blocks for today LOL )
Even though I only did 1, I hope you like it.

This was super easy and fun to make. It is a 12 1/2" square. I used 4 white on white fabrics for the center. I cut 2 strips of each color 1 1/2 " x 8 1/2" and sewed them together. I then cut 20 2 1/2" squares of assorted red prints to put around it. I found a star pattern in one of the quilting magazines and used it for the center. This was my first time machine appliqueing and I really liked it. I just did a simple blanket stitch on it. I quilted it using a varigaded blue thread. I don't think I would use this thread again though as I don't like the spacing on the color change.

I am currently working on a red, white and blue patriotic quilt for my 7 year old grandson that he requested, so I turned this into a little hanging he can put on his door.

So, now on to the giveaway. I have 3  1/2 yd cuts of Kona cotton in red, white and blue. You will get 1/2 yd  of each color. That way if you are so inspired to make any of the beautiful blocks in this hop you will be ready to go!

All you need to do to enter is become a follower and leave me a message in comments telling me that you did. That's it ;)  
Here is the line up for today's hop, make sure to stop by to see them all !

July 16th
PolkaDotClassic

Patchouli Moon Studio

little bits quilting  ( you are here )

busy as can be

Madame Samm

Thank you all for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed the visit, I just loved having you!!

Kate

update and giveaway

Just popping in to say hi and show that I am still here! I have been busy trying to finish a few projects ,one of which just doesn't want to cooperate. I have remeasured, recut, resewn, ripped out so many times I am surprised the material is still whole. LOL I am determined to get it done though as it is for my grandsons birthday and he picked it out. Funny thing is that it is a simple pattern and I shouldn't be having these problems. I think that is the most frustrating part of all.
I am also working on my red, white and blue block for the blog hop. My day is July 16th so stop by and see it, I think its a cute one.

Here is a great giveaway you can enter at Sew whats cooking. It looks like a really fun one. I won last month and cant wait for it to get here.

2012 Monthly Giveaway – August

By sewwhatscooking | July 8, 2012 - 9:39 am | giveaway

For this month’s giveaway, I’m digging into my stash for a big grab bag of kid & critter prints. Some are smaller pieces, some are 1/4-yards, some 1/2 yards. Note – there are a lot of cat fabrics due to the collection I ended up with after making my kitty loving son’s quilt. There are also quite a few not shown – bees, flowers, more critter, ABC-123. Anyway – it’s a good size bag with a good assortment of kid friendly prints! Along with that I have an older special issue of Quilt It – For Kids. All the patterns are still attached inside and it’s packed with kid & baby quilts to give you loads of ideas!

So jump on over there and enter!

Have a great week and good luck in the contest!!

Kate

Get ready to hop!

Get ready to hop!

The red, white and blue blog hop starts Sunday, July 1,2012

There will be lots of amazing blocks all done in red, white and blue along with give a ways and tutorials. With 100 different stops you should be able to find something you are totally in love with :)  I am sure you will all have a great time!!
My day is July 16th! Hope you all stop by for it.
Let the Hopping begin! Click HERE to see all the participants.

Kate