Dalmations in Diamonds

Here's the quilt I'm working on now. This collection of fabrics was very deep down in my stash! 

I do love the doggy feature fabric.  It's called "Firehouse Friends" and was printed by Alexander Henry Fabrics in 2006.  These dogs have such sweet faces! The dogs are Dalmations but the number of dogs and the general chaos in this design remind me of foxhounds before a hunt.

"Firehouse Friends" by Alexander Henry Fabrics Collection, copyright 2006

The quilt pattern is from Fons and Porter's Fun Quilts for Kids, 2012.  I really like how the small diamonds in the borders echo the large diamonds in the blocks.  Note: If you use this quilt pattern, the instructions in the book for the central blocks do not make a closed inner diamond. The points are blunted, as they would be in a snowball block. If you want a true square- in-a-square block, you need to cut your fabric differently.  You can find square-in-a-square calculators with specific cutting instructions for any size block with a simple Google search.

The quilt pattern in the book has two additional borders. I like the way the quilt looks now. I'll bring the deep blue back in the binding when the quilt is done.

Bonus:  Because I used the fold over method of making the diamonds in the central blocks, I have 24 half square triangle blocks from the trimmings. That's a head start on another quilt!  But I think I should finish this one first!

Improv Scrappy Block Project 2017

Improv Scrappy Block Project 2017

It's a new year and I'm starting a year long project!  If you quilt a lot, or have quilted for a long time, you collect a lot of scraps that are just too good to throw out but hard to use up!  I want see how many ways I can use my scraps to create fun and interesting quilt blocks.

I plan to make 2-3 blocks Improv Scrappy Blocks each month so that I'll have at least 30 blocks, enough for a good sized quilt, by the end of 2017.

Here are the rules I've set for myself.

1. As much as possible, blocks will be made from the pre-cut scraps in my stash.  These include rectangles, squares, strips and strings (strips under 2 inches wide)
2. If supporting fabrics for a background are needed, they must come from my current stash
3. The unfinished blocks will be 12 1/2 inches square
4. Blocks need to be pieced with intention.  They can be color studies, interesting piecing or just fun to piece.

The first 2 Improv Scrappy Blocks are at the top of this post.  There is a simple slab, a hot pink color study, on the left and flying geese, a blue color study, on the right.

If you have a stash of scraps you'd like to use up this year, please join the fun! I'll be posting my blocks here and on Instagram. If you are make blocks too, please post them using the hashtag #ImprovScrappyBlockProject2017. Thanks!!

Thoughts about the Blog for 2017

It turns out that a craft blog is a mighty hungry critter! Sometimes it is hard to keep up with it, Especially since I am blogging about projects that are all handmade! I love making and writing. I really enjoy this. But I've also noticed that there are days when the dogs don't get a second walk or I skip doing other things because I need to sew so that I have a project to write about. That's not so good.

I have been posting on Mondays and Thursdays for almost 3 years now.  This year I am going to try posting on a less rigid format. I want to write when I have something to share, not just to meet a deadline.

Blogs tend to focus in on a theme. Mine focus has been primarily quilting, with some doll making and a bit of surface design, drawing, band weaving and rarely cooking. Expect to see more on all these topics, though I will probably make fewer quilts this year.

So my loyal subscribers and faithful followers, for now, expect to find a new post most Thursdays. From time to time, I expect I may post more than once a week. I'll see how it goes!

Please feel free to leave comments and let me know what you are thinking!

HAPPY CREATIVE 2017! 

Orphan Block Improv Quilt

This is my final finish for 2016!  And it's a good quilt to end the year!

This quilt was made from orphan blocks, left over bits from other quilts, sample blocks, blocks from my posts on color studies and some left over strips and bits of fabric.

There is no reason this assortment of bit and pieces who work well but they do!  I love all the bright colors and the the organized chaos in this quilt! And the fact that there is nothing precious about it! The dogs are welcome to sleep on it and I can roll it up and use it for a picnic blanket!

But most of all I love it because I have a reminder of quilts I've made!

It's just about twin size.  I quilted it with a walking foot on my domestic machine. I let each block suggest the quilting: straight lines, echoing, Bernina's #4 wave, and even a little free form wave crossing a straight line. Free motion quilting would have been faster, but following the patterns in the each block was more fun!

See if you can match some of the orphan blocks with the quilts in the gallery below! (Note: There are orphan blocks without photos matching quilts). Have fun!
 HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Showcase: Sewing for Little Girls

Today I want to showcase my friend Marcia who knits, quilts and especially loves to sew for little girls.

Last week she sent me the photo above of a Doll's Bed in a Basket that she made for a toddler. She used my Lab Puppies Pink fabric design, printed by Spoonflower.com.  Marcia chose the Labs wearing the purple bandanas which are turned so they print well for baby blankets. She picked the minky option for the top of the doll blanket and used cotton for the pillowcase! I really like the gray and white fabric she picked to go with it. I love this doll bed! It's so sweet. And it's just perfect for a two year old to use and carry around. (Note the handles on the ends of the basket)!

Here's a jumper Marcia just finished. The patterned fabric is batik and the inside is corduroy!  Using those two fabrics together is really brilliant! The corduroy gives the light batik fabric more body and makes the jumper warm enough to wear in the fall and winter.

Batik and corduroy jumper

Marcia and others also sew dresses which they sell at the annual St Mary's Art Walk to benefit,  I Still Matter, an organization whose mission is "to foster mental and emotional healing through art and creative expression".  Click the link to find out more about I Still Matter.

Here's a photo of their dress display at this year's St. Mary's Art Walk in Jacksonville, Florida. Aren't these dresses beautiful! ALL the dresses they made sold!  Pretty awesome!

Dresses for sale to benefit "I Still Matter" at the 2nd St Mary's Art Walk, December 2, 2016, Jacksonville, FL

I'm going to give the blog nap next week, letting it dream of sugar plums and other wonderful things! But I'll be back soon!

Happy Holidays, everyone!

"Salt Air Crossings" Quilt Completed

Another finish for 2016! 

This is "Salt Air Crossings", a free pattern from Moda Bake Shop designed by Andrea Harris. The printed fabrics are from Karen Lewis's line, "Blueberry Park" printed by Robert Kaufman Fabrics.  The background is Kona® Cotton "Snow".

I really this pattern, especially with the Blueberry Park prints which echo the grid work of the pattern. The fabrics I chose have the colors of January cold and the July beach!  A great all year round color palette!

Tipper has also given his stamp of approval. He used to try to stand in front of every quilt I was photographing but he has become more particular about his endorsements as he has grown older!

Showcase: Christmas Wall Hanging

I believe this is the only quilted item my mother ever made.

She had a bachelor's degree in interior design and had excellent tailoring/sewing skills. Sewing clothes was her gig. Quilting was mine!

In her interior design work, my mother's area of expertise was interior design for churches and Sunday School buildings. She was very interested in Christian symbols and had many books on this subject her library.

I don't know for sure, but I think it is likely that she designed this wall hanging.  However, it might have been based on a design in one of her books of Christian symbols.

Mom did her machine applique without any fusible web.  It probably didn't exist when she made this!! (Based on the red calico, I'm guessing this was made in the 1970s or 1980s).

I love that she chose to do hand quilting in concentric circles in the background! She'd be tickled to know that today's Modern Quilters would really enjoy her circular quilting!

Note that she braided the yarn cord to hang the pieced using yarn the three main colors in the quilt!

This wall hanging was tucked in one of my boxes of Christmas decorations. I took it out this year and had a good look at it. I really appreciate her work, especially her attention to detail.  In this season of Advent, I to have this little quilted wall hanging on my wall. It makes me happy in so many ways!

Free Pattern: Knitted Socks for 11-12 inch Traditional Type Waldorf Dolls (and Bamboletta Little Buddy Dolls)

A few years back I knit a lot of socks, but I haven't knit any for a while.  However, I have a stash of sock yarn, including little balls of left over wool. What to do with those little balls of left over sock yarn? 

I recently purchased a Bamboletta Little Buddy, a traditional Waldorf type doll, with straight legs and "feet" that are just a part of their legs. Traditional Waldorf type dolls are perpetually on their toes! The Bamboletta Little Buddies come sweet little crocheted Mary-Janes. I don't crochet. But since this doll has feet that don't need turned heels, I decided try knitting the doll some socks with some left over yarn.  I can knit and follow patterns, but consider myself just at the "competent" skill level. I wasn't sure if the socks would work out--but they did!

Bamboletta occasionally sells socks for their larger dolls, but not yet for the small dolls. I asked the folks at Bamboletta.com if I could share my sock pattern and they said YES! So here it is!

Knit Socks for Traditional Type Waldorf Doll 11-12 inches/Bamboletta Little Buddy. 

Doll's Ankle Circumference 4 1/2 inches

Supplies

• Small ball of sock yarn
• #1 US (2.5mm) double point needles (4 needles)
• #2 US (2.75mm) double point needles (4 needles)
• 1 stitch marker or a scrap of yarn made into a loop to mark the end of a round
• Yarn needle

Gauge:  6 stitches/inch with #2 US (2.75mm) needles

Instructions

1. Using #1 US (2.5mm) double point needles, cast on 28 stitches.  Space them evenly on 3 needles.
2. Mark beginning point.
3. (Knit 2, Purl 2 to create a rib), continue to end to end of round. Repeat x 5 rows.
4. Switch to #2 US (2.75mm) double point needles.
5. (Knit to end of round). Repeat until the length of the sock, including the ribbing, is 2 inches long.
6. (Knit 2 together, Knit 1) repeat to end of round.
7. (Knit to end of round)
8. Repeat Steps 6 & 7 until 10 stitches remain.  At some point you will need to switch from 3 needles to 2 needles when it becomes too difficult to work with all 3 needles.
9. Cut the yarn, leaving approximately a 12 inch tail.
10. Thread a yarn needle with the the yarn tail and weave back and forth across the 2 needles, picking up a stitch on one needle and then a stitch on the opposite needle. When all the stitches have been picked up with the needle and yarn, pull tight.
11. Weave in the yarn on the inside of the sock.
12. Knit the second sock!

Here the socks are on Nettie, my Bamboletta Little Buddy!  Her scarf was knit with #10 US (6.0mm) needles and worsted weight yarn.

A Bamboletta Little Buddy with her new socks!

Bamboletta Ltd. is a wonderful Canadian company that makes beautiful handmade dolls in a variety of sizes.  Click the link to learn more!

Dolls, Revisited

A young friend came for a sewing lesson a couple weeks ago. While she was here, she noticed a doll standing on my desk and asked about her.  She wanted to see more dolls so we happily traipsed up to my third floor. We had a great time looking at my little family of cloth dolls.   Some were dolls I had made, and some had been purchased.  When we were done, I told her that her grandmother had 3 more dolls I had made stored in her attic. (Actually it was 4, but I'd forgotten about one)!

A week later when I went to a birthday party, there were the dolls, down from the attic!

The fellow in the green overalls is a Hobbit, a character from J.R. R. Tolkein's book, The Hobbit. Check out his feet!  Lucky fellow, he dressed in the amazing and colorful fabrics printed by Marblehead Handprints!  There is more about him my post on February 16, 2014.  All these dolls were made with patterns I designed.

It was fun to see these three again, now loved by a new generation of children!

African Animals Toddler Quilt

One Thanksgiving when I was in college in Minnesota, I went home with one of my friends who lived in South Dakota. After the festive dinner, when the dishes were done, the women sat down in the kitchen to work on crafts--making staw star ornaments, quilting and other handwork. That is a Thanksgiving tradition that I love, and try to carry on.

I had a quiet Thanksgiving this year.  I had pre-cut out some panels from donated fabric to make a charity toddler quilt. I was able to spend a couple hours Thanksgiving afternoon sewing the top of the quilt together.  I sandwiched it last week and finished it this past weekend.

This quilt is a collection of components.  In addition to the donated animal fabric, the 2 checkerboard borders where a stack of 6 patch blocks I picked up at a guild yard sale swap. The binding was made from left-over sections of binding from other quilts.

There is a variety of quilting in the quilt. The vertical bars have straight stitching 1/2 inch apart done with a walking foot. Running down the center of the top and bottom checkerboard border there is a machine embroidery stitch. 

There 3 free motion quilting fill patterns inside the blocks. I thought about what might be seen in the African bush. I started quilting near one of the springboks. Swirls of dust came to mind!  So several of the blocks have swirls.  In another blocks with a gorilla. I thought he would love having leaves, as would the parrots, and zebras. I also thought about the African night sky, far from city lights, filled with stars. So a single block is filled with stars! 

This was a happy project! It was so much fun to make and quilt!

Tutorial: Quick Cloth Holiday Table Napkins

Quick-Sew Cloth Holiday Table Napkins,  17 1/2 x 17 1/2 inches, finished

I love looking through my bin of Christmas/holiday fabrics at this time of year. There are usually several multi-yard cuts of fabric picked up at an end of season sales--just perfect for sewing up a quick present of table napkins.  The napkins pictured above are actually from THIS year's fabric sale!  Too pretty to wrap, all they need is a ribbon!

The napkins pictured above where sewn with a serger.  But it is just as easy to fold under the edges and sew them on a regular sewing machine.

Tutorial

Supplies

• 1 yard of fabric (that has been carefully cut) for each 4 table napkins, cut as 18 x 18 inch squares. Quilters cotton is recommended but slightly heavier cotton fabric is great too.
• Matching or contrasting color thread, whichever you prefer
• Pins if you are hemming with a sewing machine

If using a printed fabric, pick one that has a wrong side that isn't too different from the right side. A fabric with dark printing on the right side, and white on the back won't look good. Woven plaids are great as there is little difference between right and wrong sides.

• Cut the selvage off the fabric using a quilting ruler to make a straight edge.
• Cut a straight line across the end of the folded fabric the full width of the fabric.
• Using a 24 inch quilting ruler with a 12 1/2 inch or 16 1/2 inch square quilting ruler makes cutting an 18 inch square easy.
• If the long ruler is 6 inches wide, put the square ruler on the cut selvage at the 12 inch mark. (12 + 6 = 18).  Put the 24 inch ruler on the fabric next to the square ruler, with the 18 inch mark on the cut end of the folded fabric.  The square isn't long enough but you can move it up and down along the 24 inch ruler to make check that the cut square will measure 18 inches.  Leave the square even with the TOP edge of the long ruler. This makes it possible to cut across and then down without moving the rulers.

24 inch ruler is on the left, with the quilting square on the right. The fabric cut will be 18 inches long and 18 inches wide.  Note the fabric at the lower right edge that isn't covered by the shorter square ruler.  That's fine because no cut is needed there.

• Here is a photo of the cut table napkins.  Because the fabric is folded in half, 2 napkins are cut at the same time.  Note the long strip of fabric along the fold that can be used for another project.

The cut napkin with the left over strip along the FOLD of the fabric.

Now you have a choice about how to proceed. The raw edges can be turned under with a rolled edge with serger OR they can be folded a quarter inch, and then folded again a quarter inch and secured with an edge stitch. 

Here is a photo of the napkin edge being rolled under by the serger.  Follow your machine's instructions to set the serger to sew a rolled hem.  If you have a serger, this is the fastest way to finish cloth napkins.

Using a rolled edge hem on a serger

IF USING A FOLDED HEM, the corners can be mitered but the napkins will still look great if you choose not to miter them.

Hemming WITHOUT MITERED CORNERS:

• Fold under the right raw edge 1/4 inch on the wrong side of the napkin, pressing the fold with an iron as you go. Turn under another 1/4 inch, enclosing the raw edge and pin. Repeat on the left side. Once both sides are pinned, turn under the top and bottom raw edges.
• Sew the fold down stitching close to the loose edge of the fold.
• At each corner put the sewing machine needle down to anchor the napkin, then pivot the fabric to sew the next side. 
• That's it! One napkin done!

Hemming WITH MITERED CORNERS

• Fold under the first side, turning the raw edge 1/4 inch toward the wrong side. Press. Turn it again 1/4 inch enclosing the raw edge. Pin.
• At the corner, fold the corner inward forming a triangle approximately 3/4 inches long on each side. See below.
• Then turn the new side 1/4 inch and then another 1/4 inch. It's fine if it gets a little wider.  The second fold in the photo below is 1/2 inch.
• Press, pin.  Continue folding under all four sides.
• Sew the loose edge closed with an edge stitch, right along the free edge of the fold.
• That's it!  One napkin is done!

Once you have sewn all the napkins, fold each napkin in half, and then in half again. Press.  

Wrap the Quick Holiday Cloth Napkins up as a present or put them on the table enjoy them yourself!

Churn Dash Christmas Quilt

Another finish to share today!  This is the Churn Dash Christmas Quilt I made using 9 red on white background churn dash blocks from the October block of the month at the Proper Bostonian Quilters Guild.

The cat is the "disruption" in this quilt.  Once the quilt was pieced, that mostly white block didn't read very well in a row of mostly white churn dash blocks.  It appeared to extend into the block above it and the block below. I figured the quilting could improve it, and that's exactly what happened.

I quilted around the margins of the cat block and quilted concentric circles around the cat. The inner circle is quilted with dark green thread and the next to last circle is quilted with very pale green. Most of the thread used for quilting is a very light silver/grey color. That grey looked much better white on the quilt's red back.

Circular quilting around the cat

Back of the Churn Dash Christmas Quilt

The batting in this quilt is wool. Perfect for cold Yule Season nights. The binding is a peppermint candy print fabric! I love peppermint!

Floral Latte Quilt Finished!

I hope everyone in the US enjoyed Thanksgiving Day with your families yesterday!

This seems like a good day to show one of the quilts I just finished. This is Floral Latte, a low volume Plus Sign quilt. The design is my own.

It has a wool batting--the quilt is light, soft and has lovely loft.  I like my wool quilts to puff so there is a minimal amount of quilting. It's a warm has having a Springer Spaniel on your lap--only less wiggly!

Churn Dash Red and White Christmas Quilt

This was a surprise project! One of the quilt guilds I belong to, Proper Bostonian Quilters Guild, has a Block of the Month Raffle.  A pattern is distributed each month and those who wish to make it, bring in the completed block (or as many as they want to make) a month later. For each block contributed, a member gets one chance in the raffle. The raffle winner goes home with all the blocks made that month.

The Block distributed in October was a red and white Churn Dash block--red bars on a white background. This is a classic block, and like many old blocks is known by many names. I usually refer to it as a "Monkey Wrench" block but a piece by Quilting in America lists another 19 names!! "Hole in the Barn Door", "Dragon's Head" and "Quail's Nest" are three of my particular favorites from this list!

9 blocks were in the raffle this month, and I won them.

Nine 12 inch blocks is half a lap size quilt. Clearly I needed to make more!  I'd been thinking about what I would do if I won. Opposites and Disruption were on my mind!  So I whipped up 10 blocks with white bars on an assortment of red Christmas fabrics (opposites) and one Cat in a Circle block (disruption, in more ways that one)!

I initially had the quilt on the design wall with alternating red and white background blocks. I sent a photo of it to my quilting friend, Janet. She suggested another layout which was great but not possible with this set of blocks. Nevertheless, her idea got me rearranging the blocks in a variety of patterns, (shown below) before I settled on the final layout (above).

This quilt top is active WIP #4!  I think that may be a record!

Salt Air Crossings on the Design Wall

This is how those 'Blocks on the Clothes Line' in my last post are coming together.

I think this Moda Bakeshop pattern, "Salt Air Crossings" is bold and dynamic! It's perfect for Karen Lewis' Blueberry Park fabric line by Robert Kaufman Fabrics!

Oh, and this quilt pattern is free. You can download it at the link above.

Blocks on the Clothes Line--A New Quilt in Progress

I recently found a quilt pattern which intrigued me. I knew immediately that Karen Lewis' "Blueberry Park" line printed by Robert Kaufman Fabrics would be perfect for it! 

The Blueberry Park prints, except the flowers, are grid based and the pattern I'm using, "Salt Air Crossings" by Moda Bake Shop is very clearly a grid based pattern. The crosses in the quilt pattern also echo the design in the fabric. 

I used "Disruption" to create more interest in the quilt designs for my last 2 quilts, the Low Volume Plus Signs/Floral Latte, and the Lab puppies. If you look very carefully at Karen Lewis' designs in the fabric above you'll see that she has used "Disruption" too! It was so much fun to find that in her design!

The "Salt Air Crossings" quilt pattern was designed for a jelly roll but I had fat quarters in my stash.  That turned out to be great. I was able to choose the colors I really wanted to use and I just cut my own 2 1/2 inch strips.

I can't wait to put these blocks together! 

My stack of UFOs (quilts in need if finishing) is starting to grow!! I'm going to need to do some quilting...soon!

"Floral Latte"--Low Volume Plus Sign Quilt Top

Here is my "Floral Latte", low volume plus sign quilt design, finished top.

"Disruption" in pattern to create more interest has been my theme this fall. In this quilt the disruption is in the 3rd vertical column of block from the left. All the blocks in the horizontal rows are the same block. But in the 3 vertical row, it's the opposite block.

I also added the narrow orchid strip and a plain border just on the left side of the quilt.

I tried out lots of various layouts on my design wall--but this is the layout that I found the most interesting and the most pleasing!

I left the background in the photo this time--I like how the autumn color in the trees and the leaves on the ground compliment this quilt!

And speaking of compliments...a shout out to my friend Suzanne for giving me the inspiration for this quilt's name!  Thanks!

Tutorial: "Leave Me a Message" Envelope Pillow

I've been collecting travel/stamp fabric thinking I would use them for a quilt. But when I saw a video on Creativebug.com showing how to make envelopes from magazine pages I realized I could make fabric envelopes!  And what could be more fun than sewing an envelope on a pillow? I'm thinking the pillow could be left on someone's bed or chair with a message tucked in the envelope for a special day--sort of a variation of putting a message in a lunch box!

So here's a TUTORIAL so you can make your own "Leave me a Message" envelope Pillow.

Materials:

1.  14 inch square purchased pillow form. (You could also make your own).
2.  Paper envelope to use a template--at least 4 x 6 inches or use larger a greeting card envelope.
3.  Plain paper to make a pattern for your fabric envelope
4.  1 Fat quarter of a fabric for the pillow front
5.  1 Fat quarter for the inside of the envelope
6.  1 Fat quarter for the exterior of the envelope
7. 1/4 inch pre-made bias double fold bias tape or 2 1/2 inch wide strip of fabric, at least 12 inches long. (Does not need to cut on the bias).  You can make a regular quilt binding or use a Clover Tape Maker: Width 25mm, 1" to make a double fold tape
8. 1/2 yard of fabric for the back of the pillow
9. Matching sewing thread
10. Pearle cotton #8 contrasting color for hand stitching on envelope
11. Chenille needle, or needle with eye wide enough for the Pearle cotton
12. 1 decorative button
13. 1/8 inch ribbon to make loop to close the envelope
14. Tailor's chalk or other non-permanent marking pencil or pen
15. 16 1/2 inch square quilting ruler--helpful but not necessary
16. Sewing machine with open toe foot.  A walking foot also very helpful but not mandatory.

Instructions:

• Cut one 15 1/2 inch square for the front of the pillow
• Cut two 10 1/2 inch x 15 1/2 inch rectangles for the back of the pillow

Using a quilting ruler to cut the cover

• Carefully take a paper envelope apart and smooth it flat
• Cut off the envelope flap along the fold line
• Lay the two envelope pieces on a plain piece of paper. You may need to tape two pieces of paper together to make a piece large enough for the body of the the envelope.
• Trace around the body of the envelope and around the flap. 
• Now draw a 1/4 inch seam allowance around all sides of both the envelope body but ONLY the lower edge of the flap on your pattern.
• Mark the fold lines from the template envelope on your pattern
• SAVE the paper envelope used as the template. It helps to refer back to it when you fold your fabric envelope.

Envelope pattern pieces and intact template envelope

• Place fabric for inside of envelope and outside of envelope RIGHT SIDES together. Pin on the 2 pattern pieces. Cut out the envelope pieces.
• Mark where the two fold lines will be at the top edge of the envelope body
• Using a 1/4 inch seam, sew the two parts of the envelope BODY together, leaving the top edge between the 2 fold lines OPEN. (The envelope flap will be sewn tucked into this opening later).
• Trim the points on the envelope body and clip notches. Be careful NOT to cut your stitches!
• Turn the envelope body right sides out. Press, turning the raw edges under 1/4 inch at the top.

Envelope body turned right sides out and pressed, with raw edges at top turned in 1/4 inch and pressed flat

• Make a double fold tape using the Clover Bias Tape Maker OR make quilt binding OR cut a commercial 1/2 inch bias fold tape the length needed to cover the two upper sides of the envelope flap. 12" is probably long enough.
• Cut a piece of 1/8 inch ribbon about 2 inches long, fold in half
• Turn the envelope flap pieces so they are WRONG SIDES together
• Attach the 1/2" tape or binding to the two upper sides of the flap, leaving the BOTTOM EDGE OPEN. Miter the corners.
• Tuck the folded ribbon into the miter at the point of the envelope flap.  Tack it down.
• Finish sewing the tape to the edges of the flap.

• Tuck the raw edges of the flap 1/4 inch into the opening at the top of the envelope body
• Pin in place
• Sew flap to the envelope body using a edging stitch

• On the INSIDE of your envelope, mark the Fold Lines using tailor's chalk or non-permanent fabric marking pen.  TIP: Check your template paper envelope to see where the fold lines should be.
• Determine where you want the envelope on the front panel of your pillow.  Pin completed the flat OPEN envelope to front pillow panel.
• Sew the open envelope to front pillow panel along the two side fold lines and bottom fold line. Don't sew across the top edge where the flap is.

Sewing the flat, open envelope to front pillow panel. Note blue marking line, drawn along fold line of envelope body.

• Fold envelope and pin. Refer back to paper envelope template if needed.
• Sew on button
• Using the Perle cotton, stitch the envelope closed. Make sure you don't accidentally sew the front of the envelope to the back of the envelope!

• To make the pillow back: Fold one long raw edge down 1/4 inch both back pieces. Press.  NOTE: If the design of the back fabric is directional, turn down the lower edge of the top half and the upper edge of the bottom half.
• Fold over again 1/4 inch. Press. Sew folds closed stitching close to the edge.
• Lay the upper half of the back on top of the front of the pillow, RIGHT sides together.
• Lay the bottom half of the back on top of the front of the pillow, overlapping the upper half of the back. Pin front and back pieces together.
• Sew SCANT 1/4 inch seam around all 4 sides of the pillow cover.
• Trim the corners. Turn right side out, making sure to fully turn the corners. Press.
• On the outside of the pillow cover, top stitch 1/4 inch around all 4 sides on the front of the pillow.  The top stitching will cover the raw edges inside the pillow cover.

• Insert the purchased pillow form.
• Write a note, tuck it in the envelope and leave it for someone special!  You should also find a pocket behind the envelope--a place to hide a little present or a piece of chocolate!

Hope you enjoy your "Leave Me a Message" Envelope Pillow!

Suggestion:  One of my friends thinks this would be a great place to keep a rosary, using it as a Prayer Pillow.  I think that would another great way to use this pillow! Thanks for that idea, Janet!

The Fine Print: Copyright 2016 Judith Tucker. Feel free to use this tutorial to make pillows for friends and family.  It's also fine to make a pillows to sell on craft table at a fair or quilt show. If you do sell pillow covers, please credit the design to www.sleepingdogquilts.com. Thanks!        Use for commercial purposes is NOT allowed.

Low Volume Plus Sign Quilt in Progress

I'm zipping right along with the Low Volume Floral Plus Sign Quilt!

As shown above, there was a near catastrophe on the design wall when two of the dogs decided to wrestle right in front of my quilt! Fortunately I moved the excitement to another room in time!!  (Though for the record, I did have a back up photo of my design).

Low Volume Floral Plus Sign Quilt--ready to Sew

As November comes to Massachusetts, the trees have dropped their brilliant yellow and red leaves, daylight is gone by late afternoon and the landscape is now shades of gray and brown.

So I wasn't surprised when I found myself digging down to the bottom of one of the bins in my stash, looking for the "Sew Chic" stack of 10 inch square florals that I purchased from Keepsake Quilting a couple years ago.  This collection has lots of large print flowers and a few of smaller scale.

My friend Janet loves to make quilts with multiple shades of the same or similar colors as the background. I'm going to follow her lead with this quilt and use a Kona® Cotton Solids "Sand Castle" stack of 10 inch squares, which was also in my stash.

This quilt is a stretch for me. I rarely use large scale florals and almost never use shades of tan. I'm much to likely to gravitate to tints of yellow than beige and brown.

I'm designing a plus sign quilt. More than half the blocks will be mostly negative space using the various background colors. 

The fabrics are all cut and ready to sew--floral sunshine therapy for gray days!

Doll Quilt--Lab Puppies

One last look at a Lab Puppies quilt.  This one is a doll quilt.   I incorporated the asymmetric borders from the lap quilt, but these blocks have a symmetric layout. It is quilted just off the ditch, with decorative stitching on the bottom border and the Bernina #4 stitch on the left side. 

The back is fleece, so there is no batting in this little project.  The binding was made of scraps of other quilt bindings--I think these scrappy bindings are my favorite!