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

Three More Patterns...

I have 3 more patterns to show you! 

This first one is fun and easy 

and made from one 10" square of each 

of the

 Millie's Closet prints...

along with tiny pinwheels 

in each corner sashing:)

I named this quilt after my 

Great Aunt Isabelle

 who just lived down the road 

a few houses from me 

in the small town (Herriman)

where I grew up.

She was my Grandma Millie's 

oldest sister

 and was a wonderful cook as well

 as a wonderful quilter.

She was a very kind lady who worked hard to take good care of her large family.

I have very fond memories of 

Aunt Isabelle and I was in her home often...

I was in charge of taking her 

extra cream from our cows:)

Her home always smelled so good because she always had bread baking and something wonderful cooking on her 

old fashioned stove...

which she still preferred to use 

even after my Uncle Elt bought her a

 brand new modern range:)

"Aunt Isabelle's

Pinwheel Square's"

by 

Lori Holt 

of 

Bee in my Bonnet

Next up is a mini quilt and pillows named after my Great Aunt Marjorie who was also one of my Grandma Millie's 5 sisters.

Aunt Marge lived in Riverton with my 

Uncle Tom and their children.

(she actually lived a few houses away 

from Mr. Honey whom I didn't meet

 until we were both 12)

Riverton was 5 miles away from Herriman!

Because my Grandma and

 her sisters were very close...

I saw her often and I especially 

remember her being very 

put together

 at all times and up with 

the latest in fashion.

Her home was always spotless

 as was her garden and her aprons!

I also remember her lovely embroidery 

and her tiny quilting stitches 

that she prided herself on...

9 to the inch to be exact:)

"Fashion Fun"

by 

Lori Holt 

of

 Bee in my Bonnet

Next up are covered hangers.

Each are made from one fat quarter 

along with a few buttons on some and

 some different trim on others.

I thought it would be fun to

 sew up a bunch in honor of the theme  "Millie's Closet".

It was really fun to quickly

 stitch up a covered hanger using

 each and every print in the line!

I crocheted some lace on the

 bottom of a few...

Bound the bottom edges of some and 

topped them off with a fabric flower with a covered button center.

On some I used trim from the

 Riley Blake Sew Together:)

Of course the directions for each hanger...

trim... and flowers 

are included in the pattern.

"Cute Covers"

by

Lori Holt

of

Bee in my Bonnet

If you are interested in the patterns...

you may

 click here to purchase:)

I hope you all are having a nice summer and finding some time to get a

 little quilting done!

I will be out of town this week with 

my quilty friends in beautiful Logan 

teaching my workshop...

when I get back...

I'll show you the remaining 3 

of my new patterns!

xx

Lori

Cute and Easy Laundry Bag...

Good Morning cute people!!

Today I wanted to share with you 

a quick little project that 

Kassidy and I made in preparation

 of her girls camp coming up next week.

We went to Target (our fav)...

 and bought some laundry bags.

You can get 2 bags in a package

 for 3 or 4 dollars.

They're made of nylon mesh and 

measure about 15" x 18".

Of course we decided to 

sweeten them up a bit!...

we added fabric binding 

around the edges.

I'll show you how we did it...

quick and easy.

Cut two - 2 1/2"x Width of Fabric strips.

Cut off the selvedge ends and stitch

 together on the diagonal.

Press the seams open.

This will give you plenty to go around

 the outside edges of one bag....

(you will have about 10" left over)

Press the strip in half with

 wrong sides together...

And then use your center fold as a guide 

to fold and press one side into the center.

Then repeat for the other side...

both sides now folded and

 pressed to the center.

Then fold in half and press again...

now you're ready to stitch 

your strip onto 

the edges of your laundry bag.

Simply fold it over the edge

 and sew using a zig-zag stitch.

When you get to the end...

 fold over the raw edge ends and 

continue to zig-zag...

and then backstitch to finish!

You will have to ease in 

the excess a little when you

 sew around the corners.

If you cut your 2 1/2" strips 

on the bias it will lay nicer 

around the curves...

 But I wanted to use leftover strips

 that I already had cut...

and we thought that they 

worked out fine considering.

"Cute and Easy Laundry Bag"

Of course...

now that you have a 

cute little mesh bag...

you don't have to use it

 just for laundry...

You can use them as a bag to

 make a gift extra special...

Or as a cute project bag to take

 on your next Sew Day...

or...

 you can use them to keep your

 sewing room organized.

The possibilities are endless!

I can honestly say that they are 

the easiest bags that 

I've ever made...

considering that 

they are already made! 

 (We just added a little bit of cuteness!)

Until next time...

have a quilty kind of day my friends;

xx

Lori