Owl panel

 I am definitely on a panel kick right now. Several fall panels were dug out and I have been also working my way through winter ones too. Seems like once I get started with one I see several more that I just need to work on. This particular one I have done before or at least the panel is a part of one. Since I had previously cut the panel up and sold it I am not sure if they are identical or just very similar. But it all started with this adorable owl checking out those pumpkins.

After trimming the panel and squaring it up I cut half rectangles using my accuquilt 8" cube companion angles.  It sure made fast work for cutting and ease of sewing them. 

This is the same design as the first one I did which makes things so much faster and easier. Some of the fabrics might be different.

I even quilted it the same.

I put the finishing stitches into this Pumpkin Sampler from Melisa at Pinker n Punkin. Melisa generously offers freebies, lots of freebies and they are always so cute. Thanks Melisa! I started this last winter and then set it aside so this past week the stitching was completed. Now to figure out just how I want to finish it up.

The first tomato from our garden. They aren't super big but they sure tasted good!  Tomatoes are the only thing we might get from the garden this year. It is just a joke...a critter got in and ate the entire pea plants just as they were taking off nicely. Then the lettuce got eaten off, we only had two salads from it. The cucumbers...the first seeds we planted gotten eaten by birds before they could ever sprout! I replanted and then some insect came in and pretty much destroyed them, a few hung on and are trying to give me blossoms even though they are sickly and stunted plants. I even tried planting a few in pots on our deck and then transferred them to the garden, they are just not growing! The zucchini are not even doing well but they do have blossoms so we'll see if we get anything. So disappointing. 

I love getting your comments and am now mostly replying to them here on the blog.

Linking up with the Friday linky parties: TGIFF, Finished or Not Friday, Off The Wall, Friday Foto Fun

Cinderella Pumpkins

I absolutely love how this turns out each time I have made one. The pumpkins get a bit putsy with the tops of them so I don't make them very often. Each time I do I think I should make one for myself. Nope still don't have one. This one went in my shop last week and it's now on the way to the new owner. 

The pattern is from Laugh Yourself into Stitches. I make mine into wall hangings. Aren't those pumpkins just so sweet.

Making the curved lines in the pumpkins seems to bring them to life. 

I have taken a couple days off from sewing/quilting to get some other stuff done. A break every now and then is good too!  I have been making greeting cards to send to Carole at From My Carolina home blog, she puts them into the goody bags for the Safelight project. After reading her blog a few weeks ago about someone donating a few cards I thought I should do that. I certainly have tons of paper from when I made my own. It's really enjoyable to make them but with the rise in postage I just don't send cards anymore. So it's been a fun few weeks making them here and there. Here is a sample of some I made.

Linking with Sew and Tell Monday, Design Wall Monday and Monday Musings.

Towel Topper-Christmas in July with Accuquilt

 Accuquilt sent me a new die to try out, it's the Towel Topper die. How fun and quick is this...really quick and fun! This die debuted on the Accuquilt live video yesterday and is for Pre-Order now on their website.

They also sent me the June Tailor Towel Topper kit which includes the towel, batting and instructions. I will be using my gingerbread cookie die for the applique along with my scallop die for the towel trim. I am all set for a little tutorial for you to see how easy this is! 

In addition to the dies/mats you will need your fabrics (I used three different ones). Cut two main fabrics 12” x 8” and two 7” x 3” of accent fabric. 

Let's take a look at the Towel Topper die... it's a little different than other Accuquilt dies as this one has a fold line on it.

 Fold the 12”x 8” fabrics in half to 12”x 4”, press. If you are using the June Tailor kit the batting is preprinted, I folded it in half lining up the preprinted lines. Lay the fold of your fabrics on the fold line of the die, add the 6"x10" mat and run through your cutter.

 Fold the 7”x 3” accent fabrics in half to 7”x 1 ½ ”, press. Lay the 7”x 1 ½ ” accent fabrics on top of the towel topper right sides together with raw edges together and stitch ¼" seam. Press one to the accent fabric and one to the towel topper fabric.

Lay the above pieces right side together and batting on top. Use pins or clips to hold it together while you sew. Sew around with ¼" seam leaving the accent fabric open. Clip the corners and turn right side out, press. Set aside.

Preparing the towel: After washing, it’s time to add a trim to the bottom. You can use ric-rac, ribbon or such in place of fabric. I chose to use my scallop Accuquilt die and appliqued it on the bottom of the towel. Trim and hem towel to desired length, I trimmed to 20”x 14”. 

Applique the gingerbread cookie onto the towel. Did you know that Accuquilt has free embroidery designs to go with the applique dies? Or you can just applique with your sewing machine like I did.

It’s time to pleat your towel to 7” wide and insert into the topper at the accent fabric opening. Topstitch in place.

Add a button closure. And you are ready to hang your towel. What about making several for gifts or selling at a craft show! Think of all the different fabrics and appliques you could use for it!

And here is my finished towel! Wasn't that easy?

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. If you make one please tag me @vickiscraftsandquilting and @AccuQuilt on Instagram. And use #AccuQuiltBuilt so we get to see your creation!

If you are interested in pre-ordering this die I would love it if you used my affiliate links. There is no extra charge for you but I will receive a small commission. 

Thank you Accuquilt for this die!

Linking with Wednesday Wait Loss, Midweek Makers, NTT, Finished or Not Friday, TGIFF, Off The Wall Friday and Tips and Tutorials on the 22nd

2024 Donation Quilts

If you have been following me this year you know that I have been working on several UFO quilts for donation. Some I pieced over the last few years, some were in multiple stages which made them UFO's. I managed to get seven of them to flimsy stage and have been quilting them up in the last couple weeks. I had to order batting in order to finish them all. 

Here is my parade of 2024 donation quilts...

These elongated string blocks were started many years ago, ahem 2018! When my grandsons were over we worked on them off and on and then I finished a bunch myself. These strings are sewn onto phonebook pages, I taped two together to get a long strip. This first one was pieced to flimsy stage a couple years ago.

As you can see we had a rainbow of string blocks and enough for two quilts. The blocks were pieced a couple years ago and I brought it to flimsy stage, quilted and bound it this year.  An elephant print flannel was perfect for the back of this one.

Another type of string quilt was pieced and into flimsy stage when I left off with it many years ago. I couldn't decide back then if I wanted to make it bigger.  This year I found the answer. Nope I did not, LOL. I wanted it quilted and out the door into the hands of someone that needed a quilty hug. 

This one is a free pattern from A Bright Corner called Preppy and was pieced in 2021 and quilted recently. This one has a fleece backing and no batting for a soft cuddly quilt.

I talked more about this nine patch one HERE.

More info on this one HERE

I found a panel in the stash that someone had given me a while back and it worked perfectly for the backing!

This was never a UFO as I pieced it in June and quilted in July. The pattern is White Cloud from Villa Rosa Designs. You might remember I made a Yellow and Gray one with the same pattern. They really look different don't they!  That's all seven quilts that I have ready to send back with my daughter-in-law this weekend, she takes them with her church group to Minneapolis to hand out to the needy.  I still have more I would like to finish up, three of which only need quilting but I ran out of time and energy for it right now.  

In the evenings I have been hand knitting kid slippers to send with her also. I have a dozen ready.

Linking with TGIFF, Finished or Not Friday, Off The Wall Friday, Beauties Pageant and Oh Scrap!

Accuquilt sale---July 11-31 (affiliate link)

Christmas in July -- 25% off + free ground shipping when you spend $99 (Use Code: JULY25)

Working ahead for fall

Looking ahead at what I need to get done for fall is always fun. I love working with fall colors. First I chose to work with a panel I bought last fall and didn't get time then to use it. I fell in love with it at first site and had to order it right away.  

And if you know me you might have guessed I would be cutting it apart and making several wall hangings with it. I used my 8" Accuquilt cube companion angles to make the triangle in a square. That yielded me 4" blocks to add after I brought the pumpkin panel up to size with orange coping strips. Then adding a dark gray border before adding the triangles. 

Triangles in a square were also added to the bottom of the panel for a little more dramatic look;) The plaid outer border was from a purchase the year before and never used and it went p.e.r.f.e.c.t.l.y. with it!

Stitching in the ditch around the orange and gray small borders was needed. From there the pumpkin panel needed the hook swirl freehand design while the triangles received wishbones. When it came to the plaid border I simply followed the plaid for a piano key type design.

And there you have it with the first design for the fall season. I'll show you another next week. Stay tuned Friday for UFO finishes! Next up for me is to work on a tutorial for Accuquilt which goes live next Tuesday. 

Linking with these fun and inspirational parties:

Midweek Makers

Wednesday Wait Loss

NTT

There is always a sale going on at Accuquilt- right now this is happening

for July 10th only- AccuQuilt Days -- Save an Extra 30% on Your Order (Use Code: AQDAYS)

Happy July

Last year our local longarm group decided on a challenge. We were to all use the same pattern to make a wall hanging size quilt. Any color could be added to a neutral fabric. Our group bought three types of batting, bamboo, silk and wool. We each got to pick which we would like to work with. I choose bamboo. The idea was to see how it quilted up. We used a tutorial from Missouri Star to piece this, but for the life of me I cannot recall the name of it. 

We could quilt it however we wanted. For the large neutral corner squares I used a template for the center star and then used a ruler to stitch 1/2" away from that for the next round and then another 1/2" away from that for the third round. 

The four patch units called for two rows of continuous curve stitching with a template. The blue star points were three straight lines made with a ruler and echoing the triangles. The red has two curved lines to coordinate with the four patches.

Linking up with Joy's Table Scraps June challenge to make something with blue scraps and a watermelon theme.  It's obvious I used blue scraps, but how to fit in the watermelon theme... You could use this on your picnic table for the 4th of July while eating watermelon!! 

Also linking with Design Wall Monday, Monday Musings and Sew and Tell Monday. 

Happy 4th of July!  What will you be doing on the 4th?  Do you enjoy going to see the fireworks display in your area?  We love the fireworks and plan to go. 

Nine Patches

Once upon a time a friend gave me a bag of squares to do something with. The squares were not all perfectly cut so I recut them into 2.25 inch squares and added a neutral fabric to make nine patches. I even started making a few blocks and then back into the baggies to wait their turn to come out to play again. 

In the interest of getting some UFO's to flimsy stage, I took these blocks/scraps out of storage and made more blocks with more of the scraps. In the end I sashed them with a lighter blue solid fabric and ended up with this child size quilt. This will become another donation quilt. The coloring is really off in the photo below, I had to take it during a rainy day so I could get it off my design wall. 

Linking with Off The Wall Friday, TGIFF, Finished Or Not Friday Beauties Pageant, and Oh Scrap!

On 6/30/24 Accuquilt will have free ground shipping with CODE: no code needed

Have a great weekend! Will you be sewing/quilting or something else? 

A string tip

I am guessing we all are having the same problem-strings all over the place!  On the ironing board and on the design wall especially. One can't avoid the strings getting left behind when we press our fabrics, blocks, or flimsies as we put them together. 

I should have taken a before and after of my design wall, but I didn't think about it until after I cleaned it and put the next set of blocks up on it. My ironing board will have to do:)  This pink silicone dish scrubber works great for swiping across those strings.  It's easy to grab the strings from the silicone and toss the little bundle into the trash and the sponge is washable. 

I found it on Amazon (I am not an affiliate). This is my tip to link with Kathleen's Tips and Tutorials on the 22nd. Also linking with Monday Musings, Design Wall Monday and Sew and Tell Monday.

Starry UFO

It all began so innocently with 5 inch darks, 5 inch neutrals and 2.75" neutrals all from the scrap bins. 

Which quickly became these. And I bet you can guess what came next. Did you guess they went into another bin and there they sat for a few years? If so you would be correct. 

Out they came after finishing the last UFO to flimsy stage. The next thing I knew I had the beginnings of another flimsy taking place. 

The light neutral sashing helps set the stars apart from the outer border.  The next photo is a precut bin of strings approximately 5 inches or a bit more. They are all different widths. Can you see where I am going with this?

Another pieced piano key border. The strips were sewn together in long rows and then trimmed to 4.5".  I added neutral squares in the corners. I love how this came out. This will head into the 'to be quilted' donation pile. My flimsy pile is definitely growing even if the scrap bins are not showing any change.

Linking with our inspiring Linky parties-I appreciate you ladies for hosting these each week!

Midweek Makers

Wednesday Wait Loss

Put Your Foot Down

NTT

Swirling Stars

So much fun to make these patriotic swirling stars again.  I have had this patriotic word half yard piece for a while and didn't know how I wanted to use it. This worked perfectly!

Always fun to try different fabric combinations. Some on the white/modern side and some on the cream/country side.

When the first two sold I got busy right away and made more with even more different prints. This is a free pattern from Krista Moser.

Yes I have a large bin of patriotic prints :) I love this striped for a binding. I made these in between working on another UFO, I hope to share that in a few days.

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Linking with the Monday linky parties:

Sew and Tell Monday

Monday Musings

Design Wall Monday