Monthly Archives: October 2013

Simply Retro Update: “Dapper” Finished

October 21st 2013

Look! Another I finished quilt from the Simply Retro book by Camille Roskelley.

The pattern is called “Dapper” with contrasting pinwheels. She did hers in blues for her boys.

I call mine “Dainty” because it’s for a girl.

Pink Chocolate. That’s another good name for it!

I quilted it with pink thread in flower patterns with loops in the sashing and big flowers in the pinwheels.

I initially only did one block, see it here. But the colors go so great together, I finally just sat down one day and pieced the whole thing!

I just love how it came out. ( I even have some left over if I want to make more blocks) The white I used is a little bright, maybe an off white would have worked but all in all I think it still very pretty.

I absolutely LO-OVE this one From Chocolate Dipped Quilts.

The blocks are 10 inches so it’s about 38″ by 38″ finished size. Just Girly!

There’s a Craft for That!

October 17th 2013

I was having MAJOR issues with picture size when uploading onto this new format, so I apologize for any image inconsistencies on this post.

Today I am re-posting a great craft I did way back when I started blogging. I call it the “Jack-O-Hanger.” It’s the first post in my new series which features recycled items. (And you still have time to do it before Halloween! )

Got a wire hanger? There’s a craft for that!

Here is what you will need:

1) An all wire hanger.

2) Scraps of orange fabric in various prints. Fat quarters (18″ by 22″) work well. You can find those in Joann’s. The little squares in front of the fabric bolts. In case my Non-sewers were wondering. ; )

3) A piece of green Rick Rack and green scraps of fabric or felt to wrap the stem (hook)

4) Scraps of contrasting colors for face

5) Scraps of webbing or iron on material

6) Hot Glue Gun

7) Scissors

Shape your hanger into a pumpkin like form.

Cut the strips as narrow or wide as you like, between 1-3 inches or mix it up! make sure they are long enough to outside the wire form you make about 1 inch on either side. You are going to arrange the strips in a basket “weave” type of way, so cut plenty! You can estimate by measuring the height and width of your wire shape.

GLUE GUN SAFETY. Always glue on the surface not on something you are holding! I use chop sticks or wooden ka-bob sticks to “press” objects together.

Glue the first end down on top of the wire but with a 1 inch piece overlapping.

Pull taut and glue on the other side until the whole area is covered. Make sure each side has some extending over the hanger.

Pumpkin Craft Then you are going to weave the other strips across, over and under the strips that are glued to the hanger. Glue on one side so you can pull it taut to get to the other side.

Cut features out of contrasting fabric, use a little webbing on the back and iron onto the weaved fabric.

Glue an end of green fabric or felt strip to bottom of hanger and wrap around, secure with glue as needed, then add Rick Rack for “vine” effect. Trim around the pumpkin leave 1/4 – 1/2 inch edge.

Hang your Jack-O-Hanger on your door or window!

This one is at my sister’s house, sorry I don’t have photo of it “in season.”

Christmas Once a Month

October 15th 2013

I am so glad that Julie is doing this great Christmas Once a Month blog-along!

Christmas Once a Month at The Crafty Quilter

I have been hearing Christmas music for several days now, since the weather has been so pleasant and thoroughly enjoying it! The last few Christmases it’s been really hot and muggy (Miami, FL) so I’ll take this “in the 70’s” winterish weather and pretend it’s Christmas already! I only wish there were more hours in the day and less obligations to do Christmas Crafts all day long!

Today I made the smallest quilt ever!!

It’s 2″ x 6″ and doubles as an ornament or hang it on a knob.

Here’s how to do it:

Cut 3- 2 1/2 inch squares (front) sew together.

Cut 3- 3 1/2 inch squares (back) sew together.

Out of scraps cut 2 inch letters and use webbing to iron one letter on each square.

Make a (finger) sandwich and quilt as desired, no basting necessary!

Trim excess batting and backing.

Bind. (Mine was original 2 1/2 inch binding, but it was too large, so you can trim yours.)

When attaching binding to sandwich, also include ribbon for hanging and it’ll fold over when you do the final stitching. See below.

I think I’m going to make a collection of quilted ornaments this year!

Hanukkah Runner

October 13th 2013

My friend has a really cute Menorah in the “form” of Jerusalem and I thought a little runner would be nice for her to display it on her table. So this project was in my head for a long time, then in my hands for another while, but it’s finally finished! Maybe you saw part of it at this Friday Night Block Party.

I had started collecting Hanukkah fabric to see what was the right combination.

It made a great birthday gift!

The backing doubles as Christmas so she can flip it over. I contemplated doing it in a 6 point Star of David layout but we went with the Whirlpool block to showcase the fabric better. You can see with this color placement, how the “box” and pinwheel is more visible.

In this arrangement, you can see the “whirlpool” in motion!

Here, you can see the Dreidels stand out.

I probably should have done them all the same to get that mirror, echo, pattern within a pattern look, but I only realized the “whole” picture when I put it together. Oh well, piece and learn!

Have you ever had a similar revelation after your quilt was done?

Friday Night Block Party: Autumn Tints

October 11th 2013

Finally, TGIF!! Thanks for coming to the party! I hope lots of you decided to join the quilting fun.

What fun you ask? Well, last week I told you that to make this whole thing more “coherent” I thought making the blocks from the Farmer’s Wife Quilt Sampler would make sense. Plus, it would be a great way to use up some delicious scraps of fabric we love and incorporate them into these 6 to 6 1/2 inch squares.

autumn leaves

So this week we are featuring block #2 called Autumn Tints.

Coincidentally, the one I made has lots of green and natural colors. That’s what Fall looks like here is South Florida!

As you can see this block was super easy as it was just 2 regular squares and two 4- patch squares. I am trying to stick to same number of colors the book suggests. These are the some of the fabrics I used for my Granny Squares I talked about here.

You can find the pattern for an 8 inch block here for those who don’t have the book.

If you check out the Flickr group for Farmer’s Wife Quilt Along, you can see all of their blocks by this name.

It was really hard getting more images because they are almost all on that flickR group, so please link your block below so we can see more!! I think my favorite thing about looking at everyone’s blocks is that they are all so unique!

The giveaway this month is a charm pack for any comments or linkies until the end of the month on any Friday Night Block Party in October!

Thanks to our sponsors!

Next week Block #3.

Summercrafter

Craft. Quilt. Unwind.