Monday, November 26, 2012

Polka Dot Posies - A New Pattern!!!...


This morning I am introducing another new pattern...yay!!!


 I love basket quilts and
 I have designed many and made several over the years...
and I just had to do another one with my latest line...

Because this line celebrates embroidery...
I was inspired by the many vintage embroidery patterns with baskets of flowers.

Take a look at my quilty version...



9 baskets...each holding a polka dot posy...
and a posy block in each intersection:-)



The baskets are are rotary cut and machine pieced...
using my easy corner triangle method that you all know so well by now!


The sashings are cut from a 
Polka Dot Stitches Rolie Polie with
 1 1/2" "words" strips in the middle.
(at Riley Blake, we call 2 1/2" strips Rolie Polie's and 
we call the 5" and 10" pre-cut squares "stackers")



The border consists of 5" squares and
 "words" in gray for the easy corner triangles...



The posy block consists of a pieced background including the stem...



And the posie and leaves are sewn with a 
super easy machine appliquéd method...
and at the center of each posy is a yo-yo!


The circle and yo-yo pillow pattern is also included...


As well as the instructions for the basket pillow.
Both pillows are made from leftover bits from making the quilt:-)


All posies and leaves are cut from these 3 designer cloth circles in my 
Polka Dot Stitches line...
the circles are 2 1/2" round in real size.


I used all of the circles for flowers and yo-yo's...


I used the gray and green designer cloth for the leaves.


Each circle on the cloth consists of a print from the line on a 
smaller scale and in different colors...
 I even included some designs from my
 Sew Cherry line in a smaller scale too!


60" x 60"
by Lori Holt
of
Bee in my Bonnet


The pillows are fun and the quilt is a nice size for a wallhanging...
a lap quilt...a crib quilt...
or folded on the back of a sofa or chair.
(I always layer lots of quilts in each room of my cottage 
for a cozy quilty home...and I'm sure you do too!)



 I used 5 solid colors to make the baskets.
2 of the solid's that I used are Jade (green) and Daisy (yellow)...
and are not included in my
 Polka Dot Stitches line but go with it very nicely because I like to use the same pantones in all of my lines.
(included in Polka Dot Stitches are the red, aqua and pewter gray)

As you know...I always use solids in my quilt designs. 
I love the way that they go with the prints and give the eye a rest....don't you?


For those of you who have been asking...
here is a list of the
in the order of my photo...
that I have used with
 ALL of my fabric lines so far;

Clean White C100-01
Lt. Gray C100-05
Pewter Gray C100-12
Teddy Bear C100-22
Waterfall C100-33
(not much difference between these 
two aqua's so either will work)
Bear Lake C100-34
Ocean Blue C100-36
Jade C100-43
Green C100-44
Pepper C100-51
Daisy C100-62
Beehive C100-63
Peony C100-82
Hot Pink C100-85

I hope you find this list helpful.
I have been thinking about offering a 
Fat Quarter bundle of these
"Bee in my Bonnet"
solids in my new etsy shop
 so that you can use them when playing with any of my fabric and patterns...
please let me know what you think?


I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and that you will have a quilty kind of day!!!
xx
Lori




Wednesday, November 21, 2012

The Bee in my Bonnet Row Along - Row 7...Leaves!!!


Happy morning everyone!
Today is row 7 of the


Around these parts we are in the tail end of the autumn season...
so I thought it would be fitting to make a cute row of colorful falling leaves!
(Or swirling or twirling or blowing around in the chilly autumn wind leaves :-)



Start by choosing your leaf colors.
Choose fabrics and pair them up in the same colors because each leaf is one color but with 2 different fun fabrics!


Cut your squares...
and set them aside for a bit while we make the cute little stems.





Now onto sewing the stems.
Sew a brown strip to one white strip with a scant 1/4" seam allowance....
press towards the white!


Sew the remaining white strip onto the other side of the brown and press towards the white like this.



Now cut!!!

And there you go!
One easy peasy stem done.



Continue cutting.
Now set them aside and let's sew a couple of leaves.


Keep your squares paired up and cut them each in half.


Now you have rectangles.
2 rectangles make 1 leaf.



Sew the paired up sets together and press the seam open.


You will use squares to sew Easy Corner Triangles for leaves.



Sew from corner to corner on one side...


Trim ...and press towards the triangles.


Now repeat for the other side making sure you sew in the direction that will form the shape of the leaf.


Trim and press again.


Now you can sew a stem to the bottom of each leaf.
Press seam towards the stem.


Now sew a white strip to each side.


Press the seam towards the white strips.


Now that you have sewn a few leaves and you know the drill..


You can chain sew the remaining leaves to make it even faster!


Turn each leaf in a different direction as you sew them into your row so that they are twirling in the wind;-)


Sew a white strip onto each row end and trim your row so that it measures like all of the others.



YAY!!!
Now celebrate!!!
You have 7 rows complete...you are awesome!!!


I love these little leaves....do you?


The colors of autumn leaves are always so beautiful...


Our quilt is growing...


I'm looking forward to seeing all of your pictures on the
There is so much inspiration there!


I hope every one is enjoying the last little bits of autumn...I know I am.
What a beautiful world we live in!
Have a Happy Thanksgiving my friends...
xx
Lori

***edit July 2013
The pattern and instructions for the
BIMB Row Along Quilt are in my new book
"Quilty Fun"
to reserve your copy today:)

Friday, November 16, 2012

A New Pattern - Sewing Scissors!!!...


This morning I am happy to announce the release of the first of my new patterns that I designed for my Polka Dot Stitches fall market display.

Yay!!!

It feels so good to be getting them into pattern form...
which is always the hardest part for me because I really try to write very detailed instructions for you...
and that takes a while:)


My quilt has 9 pair of quilty scissors...


One inch buttons where the blades cross...


They go upside down and right side up...


And of course I included a pair with red gingham handles:)



I made running stitches in between each row of scissors...



And finished it off with a cross-stitch border.


I loved making the X blocks... 
so I made a few more for a pillow with white jumbo pom-pom's:)




I used a few Sew Cherry and Millie's Closet fabrics along with my Polka Dot Stitches line...
 all 3 lines work together nicely don't you think?




Introducing...
by Lori Holt of Bee in my Bonnet


I had sew much fun making this quilt...
it's a perfect companion to my 

Many thanks to all of you who have emailed me asking about my new patterns.
I have so appreciated your patience as I try to get them all completed...
you are all really amazing and so sweet...
thank you again.

Have a quilty weekend:)
xx
Lori