Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Great Granny Along...Week 4...


Good morning!
I'm back from my camping trip:)
We had so much fun at the lake 
with our friends!!
 Now I'm rested...
 and ready to get back in my studio
 for more fun.

Today is week 4 of 


I wanted to show you some of the blocks that will be going into a lap size quilt.
I am making 20 blocks total for the quilt and I have most of them done...
but today I'm only showing you
 9 of them...because that's how many will fit on the design board in my studio!
Below are close ups of a few favorite's.






Are you all still having fun 
sewing your great grannies?
I am!!!
Beside's being fun and addictive...
another plus is that I am 
really making a big dent 
in my leftover pre cuts.
 I love me a quilt made from leftovers!!!


Okay...onto another tip.
Remember the tutorial that I did a while back on making my design boards?
I don't know if I told you that I often make two of the same size to use 
in transporting my blocks when I go 
on retreat or sew day...
But they work great for that too!
I just sandwich my blocks in-between 
the two boards so that they will 
lay flat and stay protected during travel. 


In the past I have always tied ribbon around the two boards to hold them together...
but a while ago...
 I came across these giant rubber bands
 in the office supplies at Target...



 And I just knew that they would be
 perfect to use instead of ribbon!
They cost only 3.00 and there are 
several different designs and colors.


In my next post...
I'll show you a new project that 
I worked on while camping...
the above photo is a sneak peek:)
Until then...
have a quilty kind of day!
xx
Lori

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

The Great Granny Along...Week 3


Yay!!!!...It's week 3 of the 


I'm so thrilled with all of the blocks
 and finished quilt tops that have 
been posted on the 
all of you are sew awesome!!!



This morning I wanted to show 
you 6 more 
Great Granny blocks
 that I made... 


I used the light gray solid from 
Millie's Closet as the background.


I'm going to be making a long
 table runner with these blocks.
                                                                 
                           
                             
    
                
I used a solid red for all of the 
"babies" and a different solid for 
     the "mama's" in each of the blocks.                                                   


And once again...
I used leftover pre cuts from
 Sew Cherry and Millie's.

I spent the weekend loading up 
the trailer...and this morning 
we are on the way up to the mountains 
for a week of camping at 
 beautiful Fish Lake.

We go every summer with lots of our
 friends and it's by far our very 
favorite camping trip of the summer!

So while I'm away...
keep on Great Grannyin' Along and 
I'll post more next week when I get back!

xx
Lori



Thursday, July 19, 2012

The Super Penguin Quilt Along...


I joined my friend Ayumi's quilt along!
Ayumi is my friend from Japan 
that I've told you about before...
she is so super talented as well
 as an absolute sweetie pie.

I was so excited last week when
 she announced her quilt along...
I love everything that Ayumi does 
so of course I quickly 
jumped right on board!

Ayumi has teamed up with 
 and they are offering one
 block a month for a year...
designed by Ayumi and sold at 
Super Buzzy...hence the name...

All 12 blocks will go into a
 quilt when complete.
 With the hot month of July
 being the first month...
Ayumi designed these yummy 
popsicles to cool us off!

Today I'm showing you my versions
 of her lovely designs. 


Strawberry/Banana popsicle


Vanilla Bean/Marshmallow Fudge Bar


Blueberry/Lime Popsicle


Three popsicles together = the July Block


Ayumi is so generous...
she gave us 4 different 
popsicles in the pattern to choose from. 

I couldn't stop at just 3 so 
I made this one too.
I call it my
 Watermelon/Kiwi Popsicle:)


A tutti-frutti row of popsicles:) 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
I'll be spending mine 
with friends and family...
and trying to soak up all of the
 yummy summer that I can!
xx
Lori

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

The Great Granny Along Week Two...


I bound my first Great Granny quilt 
over the weekend!
I'm happy with the way it turned out...
and for those of you who are 
making this size also...
here are the measurements
 that I used for the sashing 
between the blocks 
and the outside border.

Cut 6 - 1 1/2" x 12 1/2"
 and join the blocks together 
into 3 rows of 3 each.

Cut 2 - 1 1/2" x 38 1/2"
 and sew one onto each side
 of your middle row.

Now join the top row and the 
bottom row to the middle row.

Cut 5 - 3 1/2" x Width of Fabric strips
 Join them together on the diagonal.
Out of this long strip...
 Cut 2 - 3 1/2" x 38 1/2" 
and sew to each side of your quilt.
Now cut 2 - 3 1/2" x 44 1/2" 
and sew to the top and the bottom 
of your quilt for the finish!
***NOTE...especially because the edges 
of the blocks are on the bias...
 make sure that you cut the outside borders
 to the measurements that I have given you
 and pin from the center out...
making it fit and easing in where needed.

If you just sew strips onto the sides 
and then trim them off...
your borders will be ruffled and 
will not be pretty or lay flat...
making it very difficult 
for the quilting process!



If you haven't yet joined
 The Great Granny Along...


For this quilt I used a 
combination of my 
Sew Cherry fabric line...
along with my 
Millie's Closet fabric line.
I think they go together well!








I backed and also bound my quilt in this red/pink houndstooth from Millie's.
Below is a close up of a few of the
 Great Granny blocks in my quilt:)





I just get more and more excited 
every time that I see each and every
 one of your blocks on the 
YAY!!!!
...this is "sew" fun to sew along
 with all of you!


Thank you all so much for all of 
your sweetie pie comments...
 I wish that I could have
 drawn every one of your names...
but of course there can only be one winner...and the winner of my 
Millie's Closet "granny roll"
is
Congratulations to Debbie!!!


And if you would like to 
enter another "great granny" giveaway...
go over and visit Jodi!
She is giving away some great granny candy!

Until next time my friends...
have a quilty kind of day:)
xx
Lori





Monday, July 16, 2012

18" Doll Dress and a Giveaway!!!



                   

On Friday I sewed a new dress for Pansy.
 Pansy is an 18" Daisy Kingdom doll
 from way back several years...I'm sure many of you remember them! 
 I keep Pansy at my house
(along with a few others)
 for Sophie to play with when she comes over.

I wanted to make her a 
new dress because
sent me a copy of her
 new book and asked me 
to try it out!

Nancy's book is called


There are 10 basic easy sew 
outfits in the book
 that you can stitch up as is...
or you can add your own embellishments for an 
even larger wardrobe variety for the 18" dolls in your world:)

They fit the American Girl dolls perfectly but I chose to sew one for Pansy because all of Kassidy's American Girls are packed away for her own little girl someday:)

I decided to sew the 
"Tea Time" dress for Pansy 
on page 8 and I also decided to use my 
Daisy Cottage fabric line for the dress.


I changed it up just a little...
 by adding a wide hem on the bottom 
of the Tea Time dress.  
I simply cut a 4 1/2" x 40" strip of fabric
 out of a Daisy Cottage stripe...


Then I pressed a 1/4"hem down 
both long sides of the strip and then
 I pressed it in half.
I then unfolded it and inserted the
 floral dress skirt inside...


And topstitched into place like this.


I stitched the bodice sections and 
straps as per the instructions...

                        

And finished up the dress!
Fun and Easy.
I can see why the book is called 
30 Minute Doll Clothes because that's how long it took me to make the Tea Time dress.


I decided to make a large 
flower clip that would
 be easy for Sophie to add and to 
remove when she wanted to.


I cut a 3" x 22" strip of Pewter Gray 
solid and folded it in half.
I gathered it using a needle and thread...
and fairly large stitches.


I pulled up the gathers so that the 
strip formed a circle...
and then took some tucks in 
the center here and there
 to make the flower puff up a bit!
I added a 1 1/8" covered button for the center.



Thanks so much to Nancy for 
sending the book to me...
I found the instructions very clear
 and easy to follow.

And for your info...
Nancy is having a giveaway 
to celebrate the release of her book!



 for the details and to enter.

On a side note...
thanks so much to everyone who has
joined The Great Granny Along fun!
I have "sew" loved seeing all of your 
 blocks over on the Flickr group...
so many beautiful fabric combinations!


It is NOT too late to join...
for my block tutorial and all of
The Great Granny Along details. 

Tomorrow morning I will announce the
 winner of my Millie's Closet 
"granny roll"
good luck to everyone!
xx
Lori







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