A Parade of Pincushions

A Parade of Pincushions!!

Hey, there's a parade going on... and it is a Parade of Pincushions!!

My Sister Made Me is the host.....

Click here to go see the Perfectly Pleasing Pincushion Parade at My Sister Made Me !

     
I have been known to make a pincushion or two... ( Is is ok to have a parade in honor of my addiction ?!   )         

So let the parade begin!

First in my parade lineup , are the cute and functional  Deluxe Pincushions   ( from the "Sew Organized for the Busy Girl  " book.  I kept the first one, in  these cute Bonnie and Camille fabrics , and gave the others as gifts.  

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Oh, here are some stragglers.... more Deluxe Pincushions!  I made these with applique,  for the Crafted Applique' Book Blog Hop . ( by  Lara at BuzzinBumble )

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Second in the parade, is a super plump "combination" pincushion... the  " Be My Valentine Heart " Mr Snowman pincushion.  It is made from these patterns:  side A is  the "Be My Valentine Heart Mug Rug" by Amy Made That! ; And side B is  the Mr Snowman Block by Lori Holt. 

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The next pincushion is  a tea bag pincushion.  I made this pincushion up,  for the Pin It Blog Hop! My designer friend, Amanda, The Patchsmith,  helped me with the design!  

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Look out.... this next unit in the parade is a big one!  I made these delectable strawberry pincushions from Fig Tree & Co 's " Strawberry Shortcake" pattern!  They are made from my huge Fig Tree & Co fabric stash! See the scrappy ones?

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 Good enough to eat!!

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Here's a rowdy little group... that little flock of Bird Pincushions!      This is a pattern by by Joel Dewberry  (here).  I often use these birdies as a paper weight, as I fill my pincushions with crushed walnut shells to make them heavy.

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It looks like my last unit in this parade is rounding the corner... in perfect step!  It's the Prettified Pincushion,  from the "Patchwork , Please !" book .  A little bit of Zakka and paper piecing is such fun!!   I love these Denyse Schmidt orange and blues together!!

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You'll want to hop on over to My Sister Made Me blog  { here } , to see all of the gorgeous pincushions that are on parade!  And check out the fabulous sponsors for the giveaways!

If you are a follower of Susie's Sunroom, you will know that there are even more pincushions in my blog posts through the years! 

( Use the search feature under HOME, on the top left of the blog page,  to hunt them  all up!)  ( I won't be mad at you for enabling encouraging me!! ) 

I'm off to my sewing room!

Linking up at:   Perfectly Pleasing Parade of Pincushions @  My Sister Made Me

Finished Ribbons Quilt

Sherbet and Creams Quilt Along Quilt 

It seems like just yesterday that I jumped in with Joanna Figueroa in the  Sherbet & Creams Quilt Along  { at Fig Tree Quilts .}  It was April when I picked out these fabrics from my stash, to match, as closely as possible , to the  Fig Tree's Sherbet and Low Volume Bundles.

My pile of Sherbets:

I pulled these solid "Sherbet" fabrics from my stash

My pile of Low Volumes:

These are all gorgeous Fig Tree fabrics, except for the first and second fabrics
on the left

I didn't know what we were making, but was ready to make anything coming from Joanna!
This is what Joanna made... a Ribbons Quilt!  (here)  We didn't see the final quilt details until the 5th week of sewing!

Joanna's Ribbons Quilt.... a Sherbet and Creams Quilt pattern

I made a few changes from Joanna's quilt:

Since my low volume fabrics did not have any black or gray colors in them, I did not use black fabric circles and squares for the centers of the 4- Blocks.  I had a  lot of Millhouse Inn yardage, and found that it was perfect color for the centers.

I got "sew" excited at this step....

Aplique's sewn onto each 4-block

My little helper and I got busy laying out the 4 patch blocks ....

Whiskers helped me layout the blocks

I sewed  four 4 -blocks together to make the 12 1/2 unfinished blocks ....   and then I re-read Joanna's directions.  I should have added squares on some blocks , at the corner, before I sewed them together!  Oops!!

I thought about it , and realized that I could add the squares, if they were treated with the Crafted Applique' technique !  { See my post about the "Crafted Applique'.... New Possibilities" book  {here}  } Ta Da!  The little 2 inch squares  won't fray, and will be easy to sew on at  all of those intersections!  

I also  added half squares at the edges. Next it was time to sew  a 1 1/2 " cream border on all sides, and then the 6 1/2 " wide Millhouse Inn fabric border.

Here is my flimsy top-

Ribbons  Quilt     made by Susie's Sunroom

And here is my completed Ribbons- Sherbet and Creams Quilt:

Ribbons     by Susie's Sunroom

Quilt Details:  

Pattern:  Ribbons    by Joanna Figueroa at Fig Tree Quilts , in Sherbet and Creams Book

Size:   62 "  x 74 "

Fabrics:  various Fig Tree & Co.  fabrics  ( Millhouse Inn, Dots, Buttercup )

Batting:  Warm and Natural cotton

Thread:  Aurifil  50 weight #2024  for piecing and machine quilting

Applique' :  Starch Applique for the pumpkin seeds, and Crafted Applique' for the red squares

Quilting:   Walking Foot -  serpentine "s" stitch -  plus - hand  quilting  stitches of 2 " squares in the scrappy 4-patch areas with   Gutermann thread

Hand quilted stitches  - 2 inch squares

I had a large piece of the green Millhouse Inn fabric, which I pieced with some cream tonal fabric, for the back of the quilt. It matches the green sherbet pumpkin seeds on the front.

The back of the quilt is green and cream!

This is a close up of the back... you can see a hand quilted square.

The back of the quilt.  See the little square?

You can see the serpentine "s" stitch quilting

I love the crinkling.... and it isn't even washed yet!  I also love the extra texture that the hand quilting has added!

This was such a fun quilt along!  Thank you, Joanna!

Ribbons

I'm off to my sewing room!

Linking up at:  Let's Bee Social  @ Sew Fresh Quilts  and
                       Fabric Frenzy Friday @ Fort Worth Fabric Studio

Blog Hop Giveaway Winners!!

Winners Chosen for the Giveways!

Mr Random Number Generator had fun picking out 2 winners from the comments on my book tour post.  

So here we go......             


                                                

•                For the "Crafted Applique'... New Possibilities"  book,  sent directly from Lara

The Book Winner:

#28 is......

Lori SmanskiMay 22, 2016 at 2:13 PM

this is such a fun hop. I love your quilt and pincushions. I cant wait to get the book and start machine appliqueing myself. I have done it by hand.

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AND,  

•  for the  All in the Family Mermaid Deluxe Pincushion Winner:

#17 is .....

17     Happy Cottage Quilter

This book looks so awesome! I would love to learn this applique technique. No I have never combined books or patterns. I have always basically followed the directions :-) Thanks for the giveaway!

Congratulations, Lori and Happy Cottage Quilter!!

I will be emailing you both soon , asking for your mailing addresses!

Thank you everybody,  for taking time to visit my blog, and for leaving such wonderful comments!  Your encouragement means so much to me!!

I'm off to my sewing room!

Christmas in June

The Folk Art Christmas Quilt

I just love it when I can make something early for the Christmas holidays! It doesn't happen every year.  But this year, I saw a  small Christmas quilt that I fell in love with instantly!  It is the  "Folk Art Christmas" quilt, from the book, "Crafted Applique'... New Possibilites,"  by Lara Buccella.

Folk Art Christmas quilt
by Lara @ BuzzinBumble

                                                         
Lara Buccella, the  extremely talented quilter and designer at BuzzinBumble blog, has her first book published now, and I was so thrilled (and lucky) to be a part of her book tour this past month.  (You can see my book tour post HERE.)  
                                                      

The book can be purchased
at BuzzinBumble {here}

                                                       
Normally, I would shy away from making a quilt with all of this intricate applique'  as the main cornerstone of the design.  But,  I had new confidence, having used Lara's crafted applique' technique a few weeks before , and  I dove into making the Folk Art Quilt with excitement!!

I was happy that I  washed and starched the  fabrics a few days in advance of my "getting down to the nitty gritty" of pattern tracing and cutting applique' shapes out.  The process turned out to be quite enjoyable for me!    And the pieces were easy to cut out, with no fraying edges, using my small scissors and teensie thread cutting scissors for those round berries and thin stems.

Lara's directions are clear  and thorough. I felt like she was sitting beside me at the table, showing me the steps along the way in a private class!  

This is my quilt... as it hangs in my living room ... in June!!  

Folk Art Christmas quilt      made by Susies' Sunroom

I really loved the quilted background that Lara has on her quilt, and so I decided to try to quilt a little on  mine.   I used a chalk pouncer to outline some hearts from a stencil.  

It is far from perfect, but seems to add the texture in the negative space that I was looking for.

The quilting ... close up.  And, you can see the thin gold striping
in the fabric

I like using the white tone- on- tone fabric, for the applique'.  It reminds me of  powdery snow! 

I really LOVE these doves!  Lara drew this part of the design , way back in high school!

The Folk Art Christmas Quilt:

Pattern:   By Lara Buccella, in the book "Crafted Applique'... New Possibilities"
Size:   18 " x 27 "
Fabric:     Striped Christmas fabric  from JoAnn Fabrics   from my stash!!
               I used the same fabric on the back and for the binding, as Lara had done on hers
               White Tonal fabric    from my stash  

Batting:   Warm & Natural 100% cotton (scraps)
Stitching:  Straight stitch , outlining the applique'  shapes
Quilting:  I used my walking foot and Guterman thread.  The hearts were marked with chalk, with a pouncer and stencil.
For Hanging:  2 upper corner pockets, to hold a small dowel rod


Here are some more photos :

Folk Art Christmas on my pencil Christmas Tree

Yes, we still have our little pencil Christmas Tree up in our dining room.  It's in the corner, so you have to sort of "look for it" to see it!  My husband and I like it so much, we decided to keep it up year long.  I only have a Star of Bethlehem hanging on it now.  

Note to self:   I need to make a Christmas tree skirt for it, AND a year-round tree skirt!  

I also wanted to share with you a little tip: 

                    Using Crafted Applique' to make a Patch

I used the Crafted Applique' technique to make some patches for a tote bag purse.
My SIL showed me her beloved  (and well used) tote bag, where the bottom corner edges were fraying.

See the bare spot?

I prepared a patch.

The patch... hmmm  looks like it can work!

I sewed the patch on by hand, as it was not possible to use my machine at the corner, on this lined tote bag.  I didn't have to turn the raw edges under, using Crafted Applique' technique !  Yay!

You can see my  handsewn stitches, in the light.  (My thread was lighter than the fabric)
But the patch bent nicely and shaped-up ,like a corner

It went so well, that I decided to patch the other corner of her tote bag, as it was beginning to fray as well.

Here are both corners, front and back .... repaired and ready to go for more use!

 You know how good it feels to make something for another person when they just love it?  Well, my SIL really loves this "simplified" Bow Tucks Tote bag, and my mother asked me to bring along my Folk Art Christmas mini quilt.  She asked if I could " leave it at her house until Christmas , "  because it reminds her of living with her grandmother, who was Pennsylvania Dutch.   { She has only seen a tiny picture of it on her little cell phone, so far. }  I  will be making a second Folk Art Christmas quilt soon... for our house!  LOL 

I'm off to my sewing room!

Linking up at:   Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story  and 
                          Let's Bee Social  @ Sew Fresh Quilts  and
                        Crafted Applique" Sightings @  Buzzin Bumble