First Dresden

My Grandmother is always picking up "things" when she has a coupon or see's a good sale, so she picked up a dresden plate template and allowed me to borrow it. I have wanted to try it out for some time. I always think about getting a template, then forget. So this worked out.

At first I was not quite sure what to expect. Well, to be honest, I never expected all my blades to come together, or at the minimum an epic battle would occur. I pulled from my scrap fabric just in case this didn't work and I cut at the 5 inch mark. This allowed me to use up some charm squares. Then followed the directions and it actually worked! 20 - 5 inch blades makes a 12 inch plate. Much easier than I had anticipated. 

Insert pat on the back ... here.

Now what? I have a semi-complete plate. I watched a great tutorial at Missouri Start Quilt Company and they give a great tip for the center circle, no spoilers, you'll have to watch!  Then pulled some low volume scraps to make a scrappy background. The final choice, this is going to be a mini quilt for my Grandmother. 

Ta, da! As kids we always said "mucho, mucho" instead of "I love you" to my grandparents so, it was only fitting this little quilt got our little phrase added to the bottom.  I embroidered the saying in red floss to make the words stand out more.

The binding is also from my scraps, you may remember this red from my Notting Hill quilt.

Another thing is checked off my bucket list, and I really like them!  Gram might not be getting her template back.

- Patch & Chels

A Thank You Gift!

One of my co-workers really helped me out by giving me a copy of Microsoft Office.  I am usually an iWorks gal, but for this particular case the two programs didn't talk nice to one another.  This left me super frustrated.  I couldn't let this good deed go without a little thank you gift!

Her maiden name is Six (perfect for a math teacher!), so I had to make something with a 6.  The block above got turned into a journal cover and I made her a matching pencil case.  

Hopefully she likes her new teacher items :)  

Sew long for now, 

CHELS 

Tea for Two

Today I finally decided to tackle some of my 1930's scraps.  I wouldn't call these two mug rugs they are a little too big, and too small to be called a place mat.  They are the perfect size for tea!

This morning began by slicing into a stack of various sized scraps.  I decided to use my 5 inch hexagon template and my 2.5 inch tumbler template.  

Although, this flower pot of scraps does look cute sitting my sewing area.  Not for long.  

Here are all the hexagons cut and ready to go.

Patch volunteered to join me for a tea party at high noon today.  We of course tried out our new placemats and celebrated being done another project.

The backing to the hexagon is a cherry pattern.

The back of the tumblers is a little kitty.  

Now I get to actually use my new mat and enjoy a real cup of tea!  Happy Saturday everyone, kick back and relax.

Sew long for now, 

CHELS

Tumblers Part II - iPad Cover

So those two blocks I made earlier this week are getting turned into an iPad cover.  I recently received an iPad from my district.  For the first few weeks I didn't have a cover and was terrified to take it out of the box.  I literally used the thing in the box.  Pathetic, I know.  It took this long for me to get one iPad if anything happens to it, it won't be replaced.  Now that I finally got the keyboard case, I wanted a little more protection for traveling to school and back daily.  Here is my solution.  

If you would like to make your own iPad cover, you will need the following.

28 - 2.5 inch tumbler sewn into a 7 inch by 9 inch block

2 - 1.75 inch by 7 inch - White

2 - 1.75 inch by 11.5 inch - White

1 - Color A (orange flowers) 9.5 inch by 11.5 inch - Back 

1 - Color B (red flowers) 1.5 inch by 21 inch - Ties

1 - 9.5 inch by 17 inch - Linen Pocket 

2 - 9.5 inch by 11.5 inch - Chenille Lining

2 - 11 inch by 13 inch - Batting

I am going to make two iPad covers, one for each block.

First, sew the 1.75 inch by 7 inch pieces to either end of the block on the shorter end.  Press and trim.

 Sew the the 11.5 inch strips to the other side of the block.  Press and trim.  

I spray basted the back and the front to each piece of batting.

You can pick any pattern to top stitch the front and back.  I used a straight stitch, each line 0.5 inches apart for both.

Next, lets make the ties.  Start by pressing the edges of the strip to the center as shown, then fold in half, press again.  

Sew 1/8th of an inch in on the side that is open.  You may also sew along fold, but is optional.  

Once you have finished the 21 inch piece, cut in half.  You now have two ties to enclose the top.

To make the back pocket.  Fold the piece of linen in half and press.  Top stitch along the fold 1/8 inch from the edge.  

Next, pin the linen to the back using pins all along the edge.  

Pin the front to the back part, right sides together.  Sew along the two longer sides and one of the short sides.  The other short side will be the opening, leave this side alone.  When starting and ending make sure to back stitch.  This will the help the cover endure more abuse.  

Do the same to the chenille lining.  This time you will need to leave an opening at the bottom.  This is necessary to flip the cover right side out.  Reinforce the top and opening by backstitching.  

Find the center on the outside part.  This is where you will pin one of the ties to the right side.  Repeat on the other side. 

 

Flip the chenille lining right side out and tuck inside the top, make sure the right side of the top is with the right side of the lining.  

Match the edge of the outside and lining together, pin.  

Next, pin around the entire top.

Sew around the raw edge.  Flip right side out, using the opening in the lining.  Sew together the opening, I hand stitched it closed.  You are now finished.  Enjoy!  

Image the front.

Image of back with pocket. 

If you have any clarifying questions or need help on any of the steps please leave a comment below.  I will do my best to provide any tips or advice.  

Sew long, 

CHELS

Tumbler Part I

This cute little 2.5 inch tumbler template was a FREEBIE with my Missouri Star Quilt Company's 12 days of Christmas sale.  Luckily, I had a mini charm pack on hand (still going strong on my fabric fast!).  The Boho pack was perfect for the job.  I also had a few fabrics from the line to help complete the project.  The first part is sewing these little tumblers.  The second part will remain a secret.  Shhhh!

First, I started cutting all 42 mini charms using the template.  If you don't want to purchase a template, you could make your own.  The hard cardboard that comes with the mini charm works great for templates.  Cut the bottom side of the square so it is 0.5 inches in from both edges to form a trapezoid.  

This is such a cute line of fabric, check them all out!

Sew each of the pieces together matching the small end of one piece to the larger end of another.  Keep sewing until each piece forms a pair.

I would recommend chain piecing. It saves on thread and time!  

Sew each of the pairs together until you have 7 rows of 6 tumblers.  Press the seams, I pressed them open for this project, but you could press all one way.  Make sure you carefully pin each of the rows together.  Personally, I am not a huge fan of pining anything, but for this project it was necessary.  You will have three rows pinned together and one remaining.

Keep pinning and sewing the rows until all 7 rows create one large block.  Once again, I pressed the seams open.  This helps the block lay flat.  

Once the block is pressed, it's ready to get squared.  This block measured 9 inches by 14.5 inches.  ** The final size may vary depending on seam allowance, I used a 1/4 inch.  

To get the tumblers ready for the next part I cut the large block into two smaller blocks each measuring 7 inches by 9 inches.  Then trimmed 0.25 inches off each of the raw edges.  Now edges are square. 

Oh, the potential these beauties have!

The next part of this tutorial is coming shortly.  Just wait and see what these two blocks get turned into later this week!

Sew long, 

CHELS