Great Granny Sew Along - Week One - Basket Filled with Yarn!!!...

YaY!

Today is the first day of the

 Great Granny Sew Along:)

This first week is hosted by Pam…

And by Erin…

and also Sherri

Click on their names to see their versions 

of my filled with yarn basket block…

and to get this weeks PDF download.

Also go visit the

 Jolly Jabber blog 

to see Kimberly's and Debbie's

filled basket blocks! 

This is my version of my basket block...

 before it was quilted in to 

"Mama's Crochet"

I hope you are all having fun

 using GG Squared as your manual!

For this week's giveaway…

Fat Quarter Shop 

is generously giving away

3 sets… yes 3!!!…

 of my favorite embroidery scissors and 

my very favorite pink point protectors.

The point protectors come 

in different shapes and sizes…and 

are made for the 

points of knitting needles…

 but I have always used them for

 the points of my pointy quilty tools

like my scissors…

seam ripper and tailors awl.

I love them so much I even did a

 YouTube segment about them:)

So whip up your own basket block 

and load it up on the new

Great Granny Squared flickr group 

so that you can win a set of your own!

I can't wait to see your blocks:)

Have a great granny kind of day!

xx

Lori

A New Sew Along - YaY!!!...

I'm so excited to tell you 

about a new sew along!

I was going to post this 

on Monday but I just couldn't wait:)

We will be using my book

Great Granny Squared

as the manual for this sew along ...

just like we did with the 

Quilty Fun Sew Along ...

so if you want to play along

 you will need a copy of your own:)

The Great Granny Sew Along will begin on 

Monday April 21st and will go for 5 weeks:)

All of the details for the sew along will be posted 

Monday, April 14th on the

 Jolly Jabber 

YaY!

They will be hosting once again…

 because they are awesome like that:)

There will also be 12 amazing bloggers hosting as well…

it's going to be fun and full of fabulous giveaways as well!

The purpose of my post today is to

 show you the quilt that I designed for the sew along

and give you a heads up on yardage so that you will be 

all ready and set to sew!!!

The quilt celebrates the art of crochet

(after all…crochet was the inspiration for the great granny blocks)

It finishes at 40" x 52" and I named it

"Mama's Crochet"

It uses both of the label blocks in the book

 as well as the mama blocks:)

We will also be making a happy scrappy

 Great Granny Block

from the book to use as the label!

You could use one particular fabric collection for your quilt…

 or it's a perfect project to use up some of your scrappy stash.

I used mostly Denyse Schmidt fabrics 

from several different collections for mine.

We will be using 2 1/2" squares for the

 mama blocks and the great granny blocks

so working with leftover 2 1/2" strips or

 5" squares would be perfect.

There is really no yardage requirements for the blocks…

just use your scrappy stash.

When you are choosing for larger than 2 1/2" cuts 

like the basket and the balls of yarn...

 you can see what size all of the blocks are cut 

by using your manual.

As for the background, backing and borders though…

this is what you will need.

For the background you will need 1 3/4 yards.

I used Swiss Dots in aqua by Riley Blake Designs.

For the back of the quilt you will need

 a length of 44" wide x 56" fabric.

I used aqua words from my Polka Dot Stitches collection.

For the inner border you will need 1/4 yard.

I used orange DS Quilts fabric for mine.

And for the outer border you will need 3/4 yards.

I used aqua DS fabric for mine as well.

When it's time for binding you will need 1/2 yard.

I used apple green with aqua dots from

 my Bake Sale collection for my binding.

This quilt also looks very Easter -ish to me ...

 the basket of yarn could double for easter eggs!

What a cute spring pillow idea:)

This quilt was easy and super fast to put together.

I pulled fabrics from my stash 4 days ago ...

sewed it all together in one day and had it bound by this morning:)

I'm "sew" excited ...are you?

Tell me if you're ready to

 have some more 

scrappy happy stitching with me!

xx

Lori

The Quilty Fun Sew Along - Week 20 - The Big Finish!!! ...

Hello cute people!

Today the big finish of the

Quilty Fun Sew Along

 is here at last.

A big thank you to all

 of you quilty fun-ers out there,

and to all of those who

 played a sew along hostess with the most-est! 

And of course Kimberly and the girls at 

Fat Quarter Shop

 for being large and in charge 

and for 

sponsoring all of the giveaways!

Quilty Fun

Lessons in Scrappy Patchwork

I've had so much fun seeing everyone

 playing with all of the blocks in my book:)

It has given me such a thrill 

knowing that you all have been 

choosing your fabrics ...

cutting them all up into

 cute little pieces ...

and then sewing away 
to make cute little blocks
  each and every week.

Hasn't it been a blast 

having lots of 

 *quilty fun* together???

So now onto the last steps!

When all of your blocks and 

inner sashings are complete ...

It's time to make the borders!

Click here for download 20…

the borders instruction PDF. 

Now let's talk a little about the binding!

I used my 2 1/2" scrappy stash basket 

to pull fabrics for my scrappy binding:)

I just love a scrappy binding don't you?

I didn't join these strips on the diagonal ...

but just straight seams:)

Remember to press the seams 

open after sewing for less bulk:)

If you need a refresher 

on how I do my binding ...

click here

and

click here

 for my binding tutorials:)

Once your scrappy binding is prepared ...

put it in a safe place until you are ready to sew it on.

So now lets talk about my scrappy backing!

Of course you don't need to make a scrappy backing …

you can just do one fabric and make the label just like the PDF instructions.

But if you want to make a 

scrappy back like me ...

here is how I did mine:)

I used 24 fat quarters of what I have always called

 "busy backgrounds" fabric.

this means fabric with an assortment of prints

 on a white or cream background.

I cut each fat quarter into 16 1/2" square ...

for a total of 24.

*(a 16 1/2" square ruler works perfectly for this)

Click here for download 21...

  the free label pattern that I designed especially for this quilt along!

(embroidery close-up)

After you have finished your 

"bee in my bonnet" label ...

it will measure 16 1/2" square.

Sew all of the busy background squares together 

with the label in the center.

Make sure that when you or your quilter is preparing to quilt ...

that the backing is on straight and centered with the quilt front.

After quilting ...

when you trim off the excess backing fabric it will look like this!

I love how the scrappy backing looks

 with the scrappy binding...

YaY!

Congratulations!!! ...

 you are finished with your 

Quilty Fun Sampler:)

But wait!!! ...

 you are not finished 

sewing along with me ...

because one week from today 

I will be announcing the next 

Bee in my Bonnet Sew Along

and we will be using 

Great Granny Squared

as our instruction manual:)

YaY!!!

Until then…

have a quilty kind of day ...

and I hope that you had fun

 being the boss of your own quilt:)

xx

Lori

P.S. Don't forget to upload your photos

to the Flickr group to enter onto this weeks giveaways which are ...

Two of the large size Aurifil

 Bee in my Bonnet "Happy Colors" 

along with ... 

Two sets of Alphabitties:)

***Choose + cut + sew + upload = WIN

YaY!