Custom Quilt Labels

Just a short and sweet post to show off my new quilt labels! I had them custom made from Jennifer’s Jewel’s on Etsy. She has lots of designs to choose from if you don’t have your own. It adds a final touch to a quilt (and it’s inexpensive)!
What better way to end this short and sweet post with my short and sweet furry babies!? Literally short, being that they’re Corgi’s, and sweet, because…well just look at them πŸ˜‰ Here’s Bodie (left) and Paige (right) enjoying my latest Tiffany Diamond’s quilt. πŸ™‚

The tutorial on tying a quilt is on it’s way. πŸ™‚ My next project will be the rug that i mentioned in an earlier post. Happy quilting!

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Tiffany Diamonds Quilt

I finally finished the Tiffany Diamonds Quilt! Thanks again, Sarah at Fabric Crush, for the fabulous name πŸ™‚ This is the first quilt that I’ve tied instead of machine quilting (click the image below for a close-up). Finished Quilt size is 76″x57″. Check out the 6-Step Tiffany Diamonds tutorial below!

I love the simplicity of this quilt. Working backwards, it is made up of 12 of the following finished blocks:

And the above finished block is made up of 4 of these guys pieced together:
Basically, to make this quilt all you need to learn is how to make the above block. Step 1 (below) will get you started!

Materials:

  • Total of 48 ten inch squares (1 layer cake pack which has 42 squares + 3/4 yard of fabric cut into 6 squares)
  • Total of 96 five inch squares, same print (2 charm packs + 1 fat quarter cut into 6 squares)
  • 65”x90” of backing fabric (about 4 yards)
  • Batting

Note: 1 yard of fabric = 12 ten inch or 48 five inch squares

Step 1: Sort all 48 of your ten inch squares into 12 piles of 4 squares each. As shown below, have each pile match with similar colors/prints.

Step 2: For each ten inch square (all 48), do the following Steps A-E:

A) Take 2 five inch squares, and on each square mark a diagonal line from corner to corner. As shown below, I used a Hera marker which is a plastic tool that creates a crease on the fabric when pressed with a firm hand. With a Hera marker, you can layer the fabric (~2 layers), and the crease will show through both layers.
If you don’t have a Hera marker, simply draw a line using a ruler and pen, or fold the square diagonal and press with an iron and then unfold.

B) Align 1 five inch square along the top left corner of a ten inch square. Make sure the placement of the diagonal line is the same as below.

Pin in place, and then sew directly along the diagonal line:

C) As shown below, cut a ¼” seam along the left outer part of the diagonal line that so that the corner comes off.

Up-close photo (be sure to cut a 1/4″ allowance from the stitched line):

D) Press open with an iron:

E) Repeat steps B through D, but on the bottom right corner of the ten inch square.

Step 3: After completing Step 2 for all 48 ten inch squares, you can assemble the piles of 4 that you sorted in Step 1. First, arrange the 4 blocks as shown below. Sew the top 2 blocks together and then the bottom 2 blocks together to create 2 units.

Last, sew the top and bottom units together.

(Note for Newbies: when I refer to sewing, sew with the right sides facing together, sew a ¼” seam, and then press open with an iron). Step 4: Arrange your finished blocks in 4 rows of 3 blocks each.
Start by sewing each of the 3 blocks in each row together. And then sew each row together to create the pieced quilt top.

Step 5: Baste and quilt it! For this one, I decided to tie it (shown below) rather than machine quilt. Click the following for a tutorial on How to Tie a Quilt. If you’ve never done it before, you’ll love it because it’s quick and you don’t have to worry about the fabric layers puckering like you do when machine quilting. It looks great too, and makes for a much fluffier quilt.

Step 6: Bind it! Click the following for a Quick Quilt Binding Tutorial.

>Tip!: Save the corners you cut from Step 2c. You can use them for an easy half square triangle scrap quilt project down the road!

That’s it! Let me know if you have any questions.
Click HERE for a printer friendly version of this tutorial. =)

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Upcoming Projects for November

Wow, can you believe it is November already!? October seemed to fly by so quickly and I hardly noticed that it ended! I have been busy working on a number of different projects (all of which will be tutorials in the near future) and I wanted to give everyone a sneak peak on what you can expect.

My next project is the Tiffany Diamonds quilt for Moda Bake Shop:I have Sarah at Fabric Crush to thank for the snazzy name for this quilt πŸ™‚ The fabric collection is called “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” by Fig Tree Quilts at Moda, hence the suitable name. As you can see above it is very close to finished. And for those of you that shy away from machine quilting, I plan to tie this quilt rather than machine quilt it and will have a tutorial on that as well =) The tutorial (printable version) will be on Moda Bake Shop on December 2nd and will be available on Quilting In The Rain shortly before.

I am also working on another non-quilt project for Moda Bake Shop: a woven rug made with a Jelly Roll pre-cut. This one will be very fun for me because it is something completely new. It is going to be a bit of a quilt/weave hybrid…and it also needs to be tough enough to survive people stepping all over it. I hope it turns out!

Finally, my last project will remain a mystery until I can prove that it’s going to work….but lets say that I just dropped by the hardware store to buy a coil of 14 gauge wire and I had my husband order me a soldering iron on Amazon πŸ™‚ This is for a upcoming winter-themed project. I will let you all know what it is very soon – and pray for me that I won’t burn something with my new toy (my arm hairs have already been singed and regrown after a past run-in with a chemistry Bunsen burner). :-

Happy Quilting!!! Stay tuned… πŸ˜‰

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‘Fabric Fix’ Giveaway Winners!

The ‘Free Fabric Fix’ Giveaway contest has now ended! I want to thank everyone who commented and sent emails. Reading the responses and meeting everyone (even if only virtually) was fun for me and well worth a small fabric sacrifice πŸ™‚

The correct responses to the photo contest are:
1) Sewing machine feed dogs
2) Yo-yo maker
3) Fusible webbing

I have tallied up the responses and the winners are (drum roll….):

1st Prize: Becca Quilts
Becca was the first to respond with the correct answers! Congrats, one Honeybun and a Charm Pack coming up! Check out Becca’s blog on quilting and life in general.

2nd Prize: Alise
Of all other correct responses, Alise’s name was drawn from a hat (literally) for the 2nd Prize. You have a Honeybun coming your way! See Alise’s photography blog here.

Fabric Sicko Award: The Quilted Finish
First of all, I loved – *LOVED* – reading through all the stories of fabric addiction! Those kept me entertained for the past week, so thank you! πŸ™‚ Of all the fantastic entries, the story from The Quilted Finish was both hilarious and close to my heart. I too find myself sneaking new fabric purchases into the house to avoid the rolling (but loving) eyes of my husband. Once in a while I find myself saying, “oh that old jelly roll, I’ve had that for months” when in reality it was a same day hit. No one needs to know. Right?! 8-} See what’s new with The Quilted Finish at her blog.

Finally, because I was so tickled by so many responses, I wanted to give a couple of honorary mentions for the Fabric Sicko Award:
Suzan – I especially liked your admitting to spending multiple hours in a store to save a measly 10%. I have also fallen victim (willing, of course πŸ™‚ to this symptom of fabric addiction!
VickiT – Your fabric collection sounds impressive! So does your crafting area! We do what we can with our smallish home, but someday I aspire to take over more of our house with my crafting (don’t tell my husband).

Thanks again for all the participation. I hope to interact with everyone more in the future. And remember, the next time that your husband or significant other starts questioning your stash, or asks ‘why don’t you just use some of the fabric you already have?’ … just smile and pretend you didn’t hear them πŸ˜‰

-Jera

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Fabric Giveaway Update! Plus a Cautionary (finger)Tip…

Hello fabric fiends! I have been so entertained with the responses to the fabric giveaway! It has been interesting to find out where everyone is located and I *LOVE* hearing about your fabric devotion… I’m glad I’m not alone out there and that I have support from fellow-fabric junkies! In fact, I love it so much that I have decided to throw one more prize into the mix for the giveaway: a Fabric Sicko prize to my favorite tale of fabric addiction! I’ve seen some great ones already, and if you haven’t posted because you think it’s too late, you still have a couple chances to win something! (click here for the fabric giveaway and fabric addiction affirmations).

The Fabric Sicko prize will be four fat quarters, as seen below:
I am ending the giveaway contest at 12:00am PST on October 23rd (the end of next Friday/beginning of next Saturday). So post if you haven’t already!

Finally, I wanted to give a quick shout out to Maggie over at Maggiesquiltnthreads and a word of WARNING to my fellow quilters out there to be very careful when using a rotary cutter! I screamed when I saw an unexpected picture of Maggie’s severed finger on her blog. Maggie sacrificed a piece of herself (literally!) to the craft when she accidentally nipped off a bit of her finger with a rotary cutter. Not fun. Yet she continues to quilt away, now that’s true dedication. You can check out her blog for a description and all the gory details…but I just want to propose that October (and all other months, for that matter) should be recognized as Finger Safety and Awareness month. A couple (finger)Tips on how to observe FSA month follow:

A chainmail glove or gauntlet:
These are great because they make you look like a medieval knight and also protect you from rotary cutters.

Honest Abe:
You can trust Abe to protect your digits, although any thimble will do the trick.

An old-fashioned finger guard (not as hard core as the chainmail glove, but it will do):

And if all else fails, a good First Aid kit πŸ˜‰

Happy crafting!

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