Dresden block

I wanted to make a pretty dresden table topper, a quilted, happy piece to brighten up a room.

I chose bright, sunshiny, scrappy pieces of fabric.

I sewed the dresden onto a white block.  I attached it with a small zig zag stitch, using invisible thread.

I have a lot of 1 l/2" squares, so I used them for a colorful border.

With my new sewing machine (Bernina 750 QE) that I got for Christmas, I quilted my dresden block and sewed on a scrappy border.

I can't tell you how much easier it is to machine quilt with!

I think the back of the block looks almost as pretty as the front :)

I used the free block template with video instructions from Riley Blake's mystery block of the month.  

The dresden was the month of August.

This link will take you to the video (August), along with a link to the pdf file for the pattern. 

The dresden looks so difficult, but really it isn't.

Quilty Fun Sew Along, Week 13

I'm out of order on my blocks, but better late than never!

I had an off day when I made these blocks yesterday :)

I cut and sewed these leaves but the stems weren't centered and the seam allowances must have been off.

The blocks wouldn't match up to the long piece of white sashing.

Notice how the blocks are so uneven on the bottom?

AAAAAgh!!!

I cut out more fabric and sewed the leaves together again.

Usually I don't do that, I just make things fit.

There was some water in the iron, and the seams are all puckery!

This time the seams were all matching but the leaves don't look very good with all the puckers!

I think it's time to take a little break from sewing for a few days :)

I sewed all the blocks together with sashing, on the left side of the quilt.  

It's starting to come together :)

I think I am going to have to change those puckery leaves again!!!

Quilty Fun Sew Along, Week 14

I made my house blocks for the Quilty Fun Sew Along.

I had some water in the iron so the fabric is a little "puckery".

My iron's not working very well right now so I think I'll exchange it for another one.

Here's my second house block, they are such fun to make!

I love Little Red Riding Hood.  

You can find more about the Quilty Fun Sew Along here, at Lori Holt's blog, Bee in My Bonnet.

Strip quilt, WIP

I posted about my fabric organization here.

One of my readers left this comment, "The hearts of string piecers are breaking!  Those scraps still have worth!"

It may me feel really badly, so I decided to save my scraps that were less than an inch and a half, and larger than half an inch!!!

I didn't know what a strip quilt was, so I researched and found out.

This is my first strip block, isn't it beautiful?

I made four more blocks, look how cute they are together!

Karen, I hope that you see that I took your comment to heart :)

I'll never throw away my little scraps again...

I'm going to sew these blocks as leaders and enders, and that way I will be sewing two quilts at once.

Paper Piecing Hugs & Kisses Blog Hop

I have been looking forward to this for a while....

Madame Samm is sponsoring a blog hop from sew we quilt.

We were given three paper pieced patterns and were given the task to design anything we wanted to with one or more of the patterns.

I wanted to use all 3, because they are so cute!
I posted the following photos so you could see all the little pieces of fabric that are added to give the "O" its shape.

Now it's time to square the "O" block.

Ta Da!!!  A beautiful "O" with a heart :)

I spy some feet too!

The letter "X" was piece in three different segments.

This is the completed "X" after I tore away all the paper.

My sewing isn't perfect, do you see the little missing piece in the bottom left corner?

Since this letter is all sewn in pieces, I just sewed another piece in the corner and squared it up.

No one will ever know :)

One of my favorite parts about designing a quilted project, is choosing the fabric.

The gray is the sashing, and the pink flowered is the binding.

It's all quilted and bound.

I shared this photo on instagram and everyone thought it was a quilt.

They would be beautiful colors for a Valentine quilt!

I made a table runner, it's 57" X 15".

I now have a beautiful Valentine table runner for my dining room table, yay!!!

Now to see what everyone else made!

Here are the other participating blogs for today and the rest of the blog hop.

Go and see the fun things they made with their "kisses & hugs"!

Today, February 12

Cynthia (me) @ Dream quilt create

Carol @ Just let me quilt

Sandy @ Upstairs hobby room

Pat @ Life in the scrap patch

Jolie @ Jolie Maxtin

Susan @ Desertsky quilting

February 13

Beth @ Words & Stitches

Jenny @ Squawk that

Britt-Inger @ Hill valley quilter

Carla @ Creatin in the sticks

Marian @ Seams to be sew

Lyndsey @ Sew many yarns

February 14

Soma @ Whims and fancies

Laura Ann @ The fuzzy hat quilter

Doris @ The quilting queen online blog

Rexie @ Crow calling woman - a crafting goddess

Sharie @ Living with purpose

Cherry @ Cherry blossoms quilting studio

February 17

Mary @ 1 piece 2 Mary

Vickie @ More stars in Comanche

Anne @ Seaside sewing

Selina @ Selina quilts

Theresa @ Bumbleberry Stitches

Jane @ Jane's quilting

February 18

Lana @ It seams to be sew...

Judy @ How art you?

Shanna @ Sparrow in flight

Amanda @ Amanda Murphy

Kay @ Sew golden a chance

February 19

Bente @ I like to quiltblog

Kristen @ Meadowbrook

Marcy @ Life, quilts and a cat too

Susie @ Susie's sunroom

Madame Samm @ Sew we quilt

If you are interested in a copy of the pattern, you can purchase it here on Etsy, or here at Craftsy.

Sweet Pouch Swap

I found "Sew Delicious" through Instagram, somebody I follow posted about her Sweet Pouch Swap.

Whoever wants to sign up can, Ros from Sew Delicious said that she'll have another swap sometime later this year.

The deal is to make a cute little zipper pouch and fill it with sweet treats for your partner on the other side of the world :)

My swap partner is Tracie Bailey, she lives in Australia!

She's a sweet young mother of an adorable little 2 year old girl.

We have become friends and we follow each other on Instagram.

I chose the "quilt as you go" method for my pouch.

I auditioned an orange and a blue zipper.  Hmmmmm.......

I chose the blue zipper, but now I have to decide which shade!

So many choices.....I like the darker one.

These are the backs of the quilted panels.

I like it!

Another angle....

....and the other side :)

This is the bottom of the pouch.

The orange lining is really happy :)

This is a representation of the most American candy I could think of.

I packed it in the smallest box I could find and took it to the post office.

The cost to mail the Sweet Pouch to Australia was $60!

I took the parcel home, opened it and took out the candy until it weighed 13 oz. 

I felt badly, having put so much thought into what to buy.

Tracie told me she really likes jellies.

I was able to keep the Jelly Bellies, Skittles and M&M's.

I also sewed a piece of Little Red Riding Hood ribbon onto the pouch and still paid $25 to send it off to Australia.

I was prepared to spend that much and am looking forward to Tracie's response to the pouch and the candy.

Leaders and Enders

I first learned about Leaders and Enders here, on Lori's blog.

If you're interested, read the whole post and click her link as well.

She has lots of info....

Here is my leader, the block before the tulip block, under the presser foot.

I organized most of my scraps like Lori suggested, into strips and squares.

You can see my fabric bins here.

This is the little container I found in my office that I can use for the l l/2" scraps for some courthouse steps blocks.

The center square is 2 l/2", surrounded by 6 - 1 l/2" strips in varying lengths.

After I sewed part of the tulip block I would have cut the thread and pressed the block. 

Instead of cutting the thread, I sewed another strip to the courthouse block which will be the ender.  

Then I was able to cut the tulip block off of the chain and take it to the ironing board. 

Jodi from Pleasant Home also posted about how she has organized her scraps like Lori and is also sewing leaders and enders.

This method of sewing saves so much thread, I hope you try it :)

I still have more scraps to organize, I'll get it done eventually!