Friday, November 30, 2018

Vintage Christmas Sew Along!!


Well hello again!


I hope you have had time to 
fit in a little block sewing 
while you are busy as bee's 
shopping and decking the halls:)

If you are just joining us...
to find out all about this sew along:)


I for sure know that 
there are enough projects in 
to keep you busy during 
this sew along and after!

Today I'll be showing you the 
5 blocks for this week...


But first...
I thought you might want to sew
 some of the quilts up close! 
to watch me talk to Cindy 
about the book and the fabric
 for the sew along...
and several of the quilts.

Okay...onto the blocks!


REINDEER HOOVES BLOCK


SNOWFLAKE BLOCK


SHINE BLOCK


STAINED GLASS BLOCK 


SPARKLE SHINE


The 12" Stained Glass Window Block is 
used in the bottom of this 
Holiday Expess Quilt...
look at all those vintage toys!


Snowflake Block in both sizes
 in the Aqua 2 color quilt.


Sparkle Block in both sizes here as well!


12" Shine Block on a new 
Cozy Christmas Design Board.


And here is Shine again in both sizes.


Snowflake...Sparkle and Christmas Star 
playing in the snow:)


More Snowflake blocks!
This is a quilt for winter...
not just for Christmas of course:)


Can you see the Reindeer Hooves Block 
behind this platter of vintage ornaments?


Sparkle Blocks in both sizes
 in front of the 
Christmas Star Quilt:)


Shine Block in 6" and 12"


Super cute 2 color pillows 
on my vintage church bench:)


Click HERE to visit 
this weeks guest bloggers!


Until next week...
I'm wishing you 
xx
Lori

Friday, November 23, 2018

Vintage Christmas Sew Along!!


It's time for more 
VINTAGE CHRISTMAS fun!!
If you are just joining in...
to find out all about the sew along:)


So grab your 


Your Cozy Christmas Fabric...


And let's continue having 
#aVeryVintageChristmas


One of todays blocks is
 NEW PUPPY
I have memories of getting a
 new puppy under the tree 

and I also gave my kids 
a new puppy several years back...

I put her in the top of a stocking
 and boy were they surprised!

I just had to add a new puppy block
 in the book for these reasons:)


POINSETTIA BLOCK
We always had one on the 
kitchen table for the centerpiece
 during Christmas when I was growing up...
my grandma always had a 
HUGE pink one on a round table
 in the corner of her front room.


So of course I needed a
 poinsettia table runner:)


Sew Pretty!!


Next up is
 MR. COOKIE BLOCK
Oh how versatile is this block!!
So many ways to decorate
 with a gingerbread man:)


Here he is hangin out on a stack of Cozy Christmas Design Boards.
Don't forget the Cute Little Buttons 
and small 
Vintage Trim in CLOUD color 
for his frosting:)


Gingerbread bakery...YUM!


I have lots of Christmas Memories
 baking these cuties:)
The border fabric on this quilt
 is of course from Cozy Christmas 
and is a real recipe 
for my grandma's gingerbread cookies!

 Directions and ingredients 
are included on there so that 
you can bake some too:)


I even "baked" some out of wood
 for the photo shoot.
I used paint and my small Vintage Trim
 and my Cute Little Buttons to decorate.


And here we have none other than 
OLD ST. NICK
Isn't he jolly?
Ho Ho Ho!!!


Here he is sporting the 
latest fashion in placemats 
for all of your kids and grandkids!


Of course you have all 42 blocks
 from the book to choose from...
and I just used 3 of them 
for the photoshoot:)

These are so fun to make!

The napkins are made from the
 fat quarter panels in the
 Cozy Christmas Fabric Collection
and tied with large Vintage Trim.


Last but not least is
MR. SNOWMAN!


Here is is in a starring role...
chillin out inside the
 SNO-GLOBE PILLOW:)


And also starring in his own 
Christmas Memories Quilt!
You can choose any of the blocks 
to make this quilt...
you can choose from 
your own Christmas Memories:)


I used my Aurifloss and
 Cute Little Buttons 
to build Mr. Snowman:)


Now it's time to 
 to see the schedule and to 
visit this weeks guests
 for our sew along:)


Thanks for sewing with me this week:)
I'll see you next time and remember...
Have a Very Vintage Christmas!
xx
Lori










Sunday, November 18, 2018

Fall Flower Pots Quilt Tutorial!!


I just got my
Fall Flowers Quilt 
back from my friend Juli
 who does my quilting and always
 does such a fabulous job! 

Now I want to show you how I made it:)


The blocks are super fast and easy
 to prepare for appliqué...
and I decided to applique by machine
 to make it even faster!


I used my Autumn Love fabric collection 
and was able to use a lot of 
the leftover bits and pieces 
from the sew along...
especially for the flower petals.


I used 4 of the 
Autumn Love Sew Simple Shapes:
F3 for the flower center
F10 for the leaves
F20 for the petals
F33 for the flower pots


The petals are really easy to make
 because you just sew one F20 shape...
cut it in half ...
and you have two petals!




I used all of the prints and 
divided them into piles of colors.
For each flower you need 7 petals.



I used all of the green prints
 to make the leaves and stems.
You need 2 leaves for each flower.

Each stem is cut 5" long after preparing 
and I used the 1/4" bias tape maker
 so that they measure 1/4" wide:)



I started out using only the 
browns and grays for the centers
 and then added more colors later.

At this point I was not sure 
if I was going to make a runner or
 a quilt so I didn't know 
how many blocks I would end up making.



I used all of the color prints 
in the collection
to make the flower pots.



For the background I chose to use
 the new linen by Riley Blake Designs.

This color is called natural.
I cut my background blocks 
10" x 18"
 and later trimmed them down to
 8 1/2" x 16 1/2" 
after the applique.



I started with this pile all ready to go!
I prepared all of my appliqués
 just like I always do 
with my sew along quilts.
If you have not used
 my method before...
to watch the Autumn Love week one 
video where I show you how.



First I pressed my background in half
 so that I had a nice center line.

I pinned and glue basted the 
flower pot 1 1/2" up from the 
bottom edge of my background 
and then glue basted 
the stem down the center..
tucking 1/4" under the flower pot.

Because I cut my stems 5" long...
by the time I tucked the top edge
 under the flower center by 1/4"...
the length of stem showing is 4 1/2" long.



After I pinned my circle...
 I tucked the raw edges of the
 petals underneath it
 starting at the top and centering
 that petal and then working my way around.

The flower petal at the top 
measured about 1 1/2" down from
 the top edge of the background.



After I glue...
I remove all of the applique pins 
and layer my ruler on top 
and then my bumble bee to 
weight it down while 
drying for a few minutes.









All dry and ready for applique!



I took it to the machine and
 decided to just do a
 "top-stitch applique"
 by going around the
 edges of each piece.

I sewed about 1/8" inside the edge
 and used a neutral thread
for all that matched the linen.



I backstitched a little 
when I stopped and started.



On the flower top...
I did all of the petals first and 
then finished up with the circle.



Easy peasy...
and one block took me about
 10 minutes to machine applique!



All of my flowers were about 
14 1/2" tall from top of petal
 to bottom of pot.


I used my 8 1/2" Trim It Ruler 
and trimmed it 8 1/2" wide
 by starting at the bottom 
and using the center line 
on the ruler to line up with 
the center of my pot and the stem...
and trimmed the sides



Like this.



Easy peasy!!



Then I trimmed off the top and the bottom
 so that the block measures 
16 1/2" tall now:)



Fall Flower Pot Block
8 1/2" x 16 1/2" unfinished
Ready to sew into the 
quilt or runner:)



At this point is where I decided to
 make more blocks and do an
 entire quilt because they were 
so fast and easy and it was fun 
to make all different 
color and print combinations:)
Yes ...lol...
I'm a quilter and I like to 
play with fabric!!



My potted flowers kept growing...


And growing...


Until I had 25 Blocks!



I started to lay them out and
 decided that off setting them 
like this would be fun way to finish:)



I cut 6 - 8 1/2" squares of the linen
 to add to the top and bottom 
of those rows where they are offset. 
I really loved the way they 
looked on the natural linen:)


I sewed 4 long rows of 4 flower pots
 and 3 rows of 3 flower pots  
and those 3 shorter rows are the ones 
that I added the 8 1/2" squares to.


 I decided to use the linen as 
the borders as well!
YES! I love it!
I cut  2 side borders 
6 1/2" x 64 1/2" 
and added them first.
The top and bottom borders are cut
 6 1/2" x 68 1/2"


The quilt measures 68 x 76 
and I'm sew happy with it!

I decided to add a scrappy binding...


And so I grabbed a 
2 1/2" strip roll and used some
 of the strips to make it. 
Cut the pieces about 6-7 inches long 
and join on the diagonal until 
you have at least 300".


I think the scrappy binding really
 adds the perfect finishing touch
 against the linen.
The linen is a dream to work with...
and in fact I'm using it 
for the background in my next sew along...
Farm Sweet Farm!

When working with linen
 you should probably
 pre-wash it for shrinkage purposes.

It doesn't shrink a lot but it will
 shrink at a different
 rate than the fabric...
which by the way I do not prewash.


I super love the 
scrappy happy look of my
 Fall Flower Pots Quilt!


It really was so fun to make 
and adds so much vintage goodness
 to my fall decor.
It's also versatile enough
 to use year round!


It was such a beautiful fall day today...
blue skys and all!
I hung my quilt over the gate where the colors of my barn and shed 
look so cute with it:)

I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Thursday is Thanksgiving
and I am sew grateful for all of you wonderful and amazing quilters.
Thank you so much as always 
for sewing along with me:)
xx
Lori