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...

CLICK HERE

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 

Great Granny Along Flickr group

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

Debbie@Happy Little Cottage 

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

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

Nancy Zieman 

sent me a copy of her

 new book and asked me 

to try it out!

Nancy's book is called

30 Minute Doll Clothes

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!

CLICK HERE

 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...

CLICK HERE 

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

The Great Granny Along!!!...

Good morning cute people!

I'm sew excited to share my 

very first quilt along with you...

and of course...

you are ALL invited to

 join in with me:)

(Oh!...I "sew" hope you do!)

How do you play you ask?

Well, you simply make a block...

 or two...or nine...haha 

(however many you want)

Then join the flickr group and

 post your photos!

Click below to join the club!!! 

Great Granny Along

 Flickr group  

Let me and all of the other
 members be inspired by your 
fabric choices, blocks and  

finished quilts! 

 I will be posting more about the GGA every Tuesday for the rest of the summer:)

I also asked my good friend 

Jodi from Pleasant Home 

to partner up with me for the

"Great Granny Along" 

Just for me...she designed a 

Great Granny Along button... 

and set up the 

Great Granny Along flickr group...

 and she has posted 

a fantastic "how to join flickr" tutorial

 for those of you who have never

 used flickr before...

what a sweetie!

Click here

 to visit Jodi and her flickr tutorial.

(source)

please PIN above photo from original source...thanks:)

So about me and granny squares...

they were the very first thing

 that my Grandma Ewell taught me

 how to crochet when I was a girl.

 I made a ton of them using leftover

 bits of yarn that she gave me.

I fell in love with the scrappy look 

of granny squares even way back then!

I still love to crochet them...

but this time...

I'm making them with fabric

 instead of yarn:)

So here is the scoop on how 

my idea for the quilt along started.

Last year I saw in a few magazines

 some pieced granny blocks
 (inspired by crochet granny squares)
and then in a few months time 
I started to see some on several blogs
 and then I even pinned some on

Pinterest

I thought the blocks were sew cute and
 would really be

 a fun way to use up 

some of my leftover fabric!

However...

I decided I wanted my blocks 

to be bigger...

 (to use up more scrap fabric)

So I added another round of squares

 on my block and the

 "Great Granny Block"

was born!!!

My block consists of a center square

 and 3 surrounding rows 

which I call a round

(a crochet term which the granny block stems from)

I named the center square (aqua) 

"The Baby"

The round of 4 squares surrounding 

the baby(green gingham)...

I appropriately named

"The Mama"

I then named the round with 8 squares 

surrounding the mama (red & white)

"The Granny"

And the final round surrounding 

the granny (gray) 

is of course...

"The Great Granny"

As I told you...

my reason for wanting to make a 

"great granny block"  

was to use up leftover fabrics. 

Most of my leftover fabric are precuts

 from my fabric lines 

that have been piling up

in my studio

 over the last year.

Do you have orphaned precuts too?

YAY!!!!

This block is perfect for precuts!!!

 Simply because you can 

cut squares from 

each precut size 

with absolutely no waste!

(mom & grandma will be so proud)

As you can see...

I always use a 

portable design board

 when I cut and sew blocks...

I really wouldn't

want to be without one!

If you haven't made one yet...

CLICK HERE 

for my tutorial on how 

and why I make them.

The design board pictured 

measures 18" x 24"

Here is my quilt that I made

 using 9 blocks....very scrappy!

I just need to bind it and 

then I can hang it...

or use it as a

 table topper...

which is why I chose to

 make it square.

To help you get started in the

 Great Granny Along...

I am giving away a 

"granny roll"

of Millie's Closet.

Just leave me a comment letting me

 know that you are joining the

 "Great Granny Along" 

and that you have also joined 

the flickr group.

I just can't wait 

to see your blocks:)

Have a quilty kind of day my friends!

xx

Lori

EDITED January 16, 2014;

My new book called 

Great Granny Squared 

is now available for pre-order

CLICK HERE