Hello Mini-Quilt - Entryway Wall Hanging - Handmade Holidays Blog Hop 2014

I'm excited to be participating with so many other bloggers today with my contribution to the Handmade Holidays Blog Hop 2014.  I'll be sharing a "Hello" Mini-Quilt, the perfect gift to give to your favorite hostess to help her welcome guests into her home.

 Welcome to the final day of the 4th Annual Handmade Holidays Blog Hop!

We hope you enjoyed the projects from the last 2 days! A few years ago we were looking online for handmade gift ideas and thought it would be great if there was a resource dedicated JUST to handmade gift ideas. Enter the Handmade Holidays hop!

We've gathered over 100 of our creative blogger friends in the craft industry as well as some of our fellow product manufacturers to bring you a plethora of inspiring gift ideas you can make now to give to your friends, family, and colleagues. Pin and bookmark these ideas for this holiday season and to use throughout the year! Each day of the hop features approximately 30 gift projects and you can "hop" from one blog to another to check them all out.

Hello Mini-Quilt Instructions

I love a good mini-quilt and they make wonderful gifts.  This one sews up really fast since the base of the quilt is just simple strips.  You could purchase yardage specifically for this, or just use some scraps.

Materials Needed:

• Scraps at least 21 inches long or Fat Quarters in 5 different background fabrics
• 1/2 yard contrasting fabric for Hello and binding fabric
• 21x27 inch piece of American Spirit Cotton Batting
• 1/4 yard Stick by Fairfield World

You could also make it a variety of sizes.   Start by cutting strips of your chosen length in various widths from your fabrics.  I chose to make mine about 21 inches wide because I could use fat quarters.  My finished quilt was about 21 x 27 inches.  I wanted a salmon and silver color scheme and used four different fabrics.  You'll want some wide strips and some narrow ones to give your quilt some visual interest.  Don't be afraid to cut a few extra strips, so you've got some extra to play with.

Arrange your strips in an order you like.  Remember that as you sew, it will "shrink" in length when you "lose" your seam allowances.  Your quilt is going to look "too long" at this point for it's width.

Sew your strips together using 1/4 inch seam allowance.  Since my fat quarters weren't exactly the same width, I had uneven ends.  You'll want to trim those up with a quilting ruler.

You should end up with something like this.

Now we're ready to applique our "hello" onto the quilt.  I just used a font I liked on my computer to make my hello.  You can download a copy of mine here.

I applied the hello to my quilt using Stick Interfacing (part of a new line from Fairfield World...look for it in stores soon.  Disclaimer: I'm a Master Maker for Fairfield World and they provided me with free samples of their products, and compensate me for sharing my experiences.  All opinions and ideas shared are my own.)  I always love to have something in quilts that seems to break boundaries, so I made sure my hello went over one of the seams.

Stitch around the edges of your "hello" with a tight zigzag stitch.  (Mine was about a little over 1/8 inch side and the stitch length is about half way between 0 and the next larger stitch.)

I don't backstitch at the beginning or end.  Instead I leave the thread tails long and pull them through to the back and tie a knot.

From here your quilt top is finished and and you can finish your quilt the way you normally would.  I chose to quilt mine by first stitching around my "hello."  Then I stitched about 1/4 inch on each side of my seams, but stopping where I ran into the hello.  I also used the same contrasting fabric in the binding that I used in the Hello.  I also used American Spirit Classic Cotton Batting for the insides.  (Disclaimer: I'm a Master Maker for Fairfield World, and they provided me with free samples of their products, and compensate me for sharing my experiences.  All opinions and ideas shared are my own, and I think they make amazing batting.)

Who would you make one for?

Are you ready for lots more creative handmade gift ideas and projects?? Follow along on our blog hop! Simply click on each of the links below to be taken to that post with additional information and photos on how to create a handmade gift project. Have fun and pin away!

• Clearsnap 
• Westcott 
• Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L 
• Ellison Educational Equipment 
• ICE Resin
• Neat and Tangled
• Therm O Web
• Walnut Hollow
• Elizabeth Craft Designs
• Rowland Technologies
• Graphic 45  Hydrangea Hippo
• Pink and Main 
• The Buckle Boutique
• Tami Mayberry Art & Design - Tami Mayberry 
• Jamie Dougherty - Jamie Dougherty Designs 
• Elizabeth Craft Designs - Raquel Mason  Meagan - The Charming Farmer
• Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L - Angela Ploegman 
• Carolyn Dube - A Colorful Journey 
• Pink and Main - Mistyana Wright 
• The Buckle Boutique - Niki Wilson
• It’s Sew Lorine - Lorine Mason 
• Therm O Web - Andy Knowlton 
• L. Grace Lauer - Uniquely Grace
• Clearsnap - Meihsia Liu
• Oh Snap Lizzie - Lizzie Sanchez
• Graphic 45 - Katie Zoey Ho
• Charity Wings ICE Resin - Tatiana Allen
• Polly Carlson - Pieces by Polly
• Ellison Educational Equipment - Jan Hobbins
• RoseRedd Paper Studio - Rochelle Washington
• 
  
• a Rafflecopter giveaway

Follow our Handmade Holidays Gift Ideas Pinterest board for even more inspiration!

Follow Jennifer Priest of RainMaker Media Works + Hydrangea Hippo's board Handmade Holidays on Pinterest.  

A huge thank you to our sponsors for this hop - please visit their blogs & websites below and follow them. And be sure to come back tomorrow for another 30+ amazing Handmade Gift Ideas!

 

Clearsnap || Ellison Educational Equipment || Walnut Hollow || Graphic45 || Westcott || ICE Resin || Therm O Web || Rowland Industries || Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L || Pink and Main || Elizabeth Craft Designs || The Buckle Boutique || Neat and Tangled

Additional Sponsorship provided to bloggers by:

Sakura || Fairfield Processing 




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Mr. Chillingsworth Halloween Quilt - Free Halloween Quilt Pattern - With Fairfield and Sisters and Quilters

This is a quick and easy quilt pattern that works great for Halloween with the Mr. Chillingsworth collection by Andover Fabric.  You could easily put this quilt together in a day.  It can also easily be adapted to other quilts that use a central quilt panel. The cutting and sewing is really fast and just requires a few quarter yard cuts of fabric.  It also uses the fabric very efficiently.

And isn't Mr. Chillingsworth dapper?!?  I'm not into super creepy Halloween...but I thought this guy struck a good balance between being grown-up, but not scary.  He's sophisticated and not disturbing.

I love the texty and damask prints that come as part of the Mr. Chillingsworth collection too.

I planned to use s coordinating solid for the backing, but then I found this fun glow-in-the-dark skeleton fabric at my local quilt shop that just seamed perfect.

I actually didn't even know at the time that it was glow-in-the dark.  I just loved how it had all the bones labeled.  It seemed to go really well with Mr. Chillingsworth and all the texty prints on the front.

And one of the best parts about this quilt is on it's inside.  I tried using some new batting this time (I usually use 100% cotton) and tried a bamboo/cotton blend.  Let me tell you...this stuff is dreamy.  It's so soft right of the bag that it almost seemed a shame to put it inside a quilt.  I did put it inside the quilt though...and it really does feel different.  The finished quilt is more flexible and drapes beautifully.  It instantly has more of the feel of a well loved quilt rather than a slightly stiff new one.  I'm going to have to get my hands on some more.

I'd like to thank Fairfield and Sisters and Quilters for helping me bring you this pattern.  Sisters and Quilters provided me with the too-cool Chillingsworth fabric and Fairfield provided me with the dreamy batting, but all opinions and ideas in this post are my own.

And I've typed up the instructions, so you can make your own.  As I've been working on the quilt and posting pics to Instagram, I've had several people ask me about the pattern...and you're in luck because I took pictures so you can make your own.

Materials:

• 1 Mr. Chillingsworth Quilt Kit from Sisters and Quilters (includes 1 Mr. Chillingsworth panel, 6 quarter yard prints from the Chillingsworth collection, 1 quarter yard of green fabric, and 1/3 yard of black for the binding.)
• 1 2/3 yards of fabric for the backing.  (I used 1 1/2 yards and added an accent strip.) 
• 1 crib sized package (45"x60") of Luxury Blend American Spirit quilt batting (50% Rayon from Bamboo and 50% Cotton)
• Rotary Cutter and Mat
• Sewing Machine and typical sewing supplies