Quilting in the Rain

Don’t throw away your leftover fabric scraps! Instead, save them to make these unique patchwork fabric cards. By using baby shower or Christmas or Halloween, etc.-themed fabrics, you can easily customize these cards for a one-of-a-kind holiday or special occasion greeting card.

Materials:

• Fabric scraps
• Plain cardstock (you can get this at your local crafts or paper store)
• Coordinating thread (I used white colored thread in the bobbin to match my cardstock)

Instructions:

1. Start by cutting your fabric scraps into random size strips. Make sure the strips are at least ½ an inch longer than the front of your cardstock. You will trim the extra fabric later (in step 4).
   
2. Starting from the right end of the cardstock, place one strip of fabric on top of the front of the card. Take a second strip of fabric and place it to the left of the first strip, overlapping the first strip by at least ¼ inch (shown in figure 1). Next, sew along the edge of the second strip making sure to stitch through both layers of fabric (shown in figure 2). When you sew, start and end your stitch with a backstitch.
   

   Figure 1

   Figure 2

3. Continue the process above using the rest of your strips until the front of the card is covered (shown in figure 3). Be creative and place the strips however you like – you can make the strips extra wide or perfectly straight; you can even use a zig-zag stitch or your favorite embroidery stitch if you wish. For this example, I used a simple straight-stitch. Figure 4 (below) is how the stitching on the back of the card will look after the front is covered.
   

   Figure 3

   Figure 4

4. Turn your card face down, and trim off the excess fabric around the card (shown in figure 5). I used a ruler and rotary cutter for a clean cut. Lastly, sew a ¼ inch seam around the border of the card to stitch the fabric in place (shown in figure 6). Start and end your stitch with a backstitch.
   

   Figure 5

   Figure 6

5. And that’s all there is to it! Now you have a beautiful, one of-a-kind patchwork card! =) The 2nd picture below is how the back of the card top will look. I think it looks really cool and emphasizes that it really is patchwork, while showing off your awesome sewing skillz (yes, with a “z”, because you’re that kewl). But if it bothers you or if you wanted that extra space to write in, simply glue in a sheet of card stock or paper cut to size and cover. Enjoy!
   

Oh and one minor note – set aside a sewing needle for your patchwork cards only as paper will dull your needle.

I warned you that I’m a fabriholic. That being said, I took the liberty to purchase 10 bolts of fabric! I’m tweakin’ over here! 8-)* Why did I buy 10 bolts? Because I want to offer you a beautiful variety of good quality fabrics for a great deal. I’m addicted to fabrics and an avid quilter, so I know how expensive good quality fabrics can get. It’s a modest variety, but nonetheless, it’s a great deal. And by great deal I mean $5 yard, so stay tuned! I’ll make a post when they’re available (I’m currently working on a quilt top that showcases these fabrics). I plan to put the fabrics together in kits that come with a jera-made pattern. 🙂

Aren’t they beautiful? These fabrics are designed by In the Beginning Fabrics, a textile company based in Seattle. They’re gorgeous prints. A mix of two collections: Haru Kaze (Spring Breeze) and Shiki.

This is a short and sweet (just like Finn!) post to show off Finn Flanigan rockin’ his baby blanket. 🙂 Finn was born December 4 of last year and is the son of proud parents Lidia and Sean, two really great friends of mine. Below is a picture of the front and back of a post card that Lidia and Sean used for Finn’s birth announcement. Sean took the photo used for this post card – I don’t even have to say this but I will anyway, Sean is an astounding and well renown photographer, his blog speaks for itself.
The gal that designed the stitching print on the postcard was inspired by the quilting on the blanket. Below is another photo of Finn that Lidia sent me from her iPhone.

When I went shopping for fabric to make a quilt for sweet little Finn, I bought your typical nursery, pastel-colored prints with bunnies flying air planes, yada yada yada. Don’t get me wrong, they were cute fabrics! But it just wasn’t “Finn” – what can I say, Finn’s just too awesome for that. As soon as I saw the sock monkey fabric print, I knew it was the perfect find 🙂 I bought it right away, and the bunnies-flying-airplanes fabric is still in my cabinet..collecting dust.

A tid bit on the quilt: I used the sock monkey collection by Moda and did a star and moon applique on a couple of the blocks, simply by ironing on sticky interface and then stitching along the edge. It’s a great way to applique, not only because it’s quick but after a few washes, you’ll get a nice fray around the edges. You can’t see the back of the quilt in this picture, but it was put together using leftover fabric scraps.