Sigh. Does it seem like there is never anything in the mailbox but bills? Are you longing for some fun and excitement? Well, have I got some news for you! (Grin) (This post contains affiliate links. Click here for my full disclosure.) I just found out about the quilting community called "Quilty Box" and I'm so excited to tell you about it! We don't have quilting bees much anymore, but this online community comes pretty close!
Quilty Box is a monthly subscription (long term commitment optional) that lands a fabulous box of goodies in your mailbox (or on your porch, or wherever.....make sure you get to it before your woofie finds it!) and their online community on Instagram is a treasure trove of inspiration and fun!
That's a photo of a typical Mini Quilty Box; those are smaller packages for on-the-go or even for beginner quilters, at a smaller price!
That is a photo of a "QuiltyBox Classic," and they are available for one, three, six, or twelve month subscriptions!
Top designers think and noodle (and pat fabric, I'm sure) and put together inspiring packages that fly to your doorstep from Montana... That one is a Jinny Beyer palette! The head of the company is Patrick, and he tells his story on the site: "As the son of a quilter, I learned about the community of quilting at a young age.....quilting is just as much about sharing as it is about the actual process...." Very true, Patrick! Here is the low down on the boxes: each box for the month includes a pre-cut pack of fabric (layer cake, fat quarter pack, several charm packs, or a jelly roll), a pattern or two, and two other items....these could be thread or a template. Each month's box has a retail value over $60. Check out the postings on Instagram -- quilters post pictures of what they received, and of what they made!
And listen to this: You can get $10 off any Classic subscription by signing up for their newsletter!! Once you are on the homepage, just scroll down to the window for sign-up.... Click on this link to get there! I hope you will use my links to click over and see all the fun -- I never recommend a product unless I truly believe in it -- and the Quilty Box folks are awesome! (In fact, a portion of their sales is donated to the Quilts for Kids program!) You will also find sales of past boxes (you can check out the quilty awesomeness before you sign up!), notions, thread, and much more! If you should want to click through later, I've placed a button on the top right-hand side of my blog -- just come to the Lilypad and click there! Here's to more quilty awesomeness! Love,
I have had so much fun on this little project. And it really IS small, just a tabletopper! There may be affiliate links in this post....just click here for my full disclosure! Let me go back a few days.... I used my Accuquilt GoBaby to cut out the pieces to make shamrocks -- using the heart die for them. I love my cutter -- I cranked out these pieces in under five minutes! Talk about instant gratification!
You can cut three different sizes of hearts from the one heart die....see up there? I drew around the edges of the hearts with a permanent paint pen, to show myself where they were. Then I can pile my fabric on top of just one of the hearts and get three identical pieces to make a shamrock! I ironed the Heat n Bond Lite on before running it through the GoBaby! and it cut perfectly!
Turn the handle.....
Then peel and place and iron.....ready to stitch! Well, almost.....gotta put them in their places.
And I got this pile of scraps already fused with Heat n Bond Lite, to cut the stems from, for the shamrocks!
Once that was done, I ironed them down. At the last moment, I decided some little hearts that I cut freehand from the orange dot fabric would be perfect accompaniment for the shamrocks. I just pinned those down to stay until I free motion quilted. I figured I would stitch them down at that time.
I enjoyed quilting this, nothing fancy, just echo quilting around the shapes.
There's one of the hearts, stitched in place.
Now my topper is ready for binding! I think that orange dot will be perfect -- check this out:
I'll be back soon and show you the finish....for now, I'm off to celebrate! Yes, it is St. Paddy's day -- but it's also the day that Mr. Snoodles and I will celebrate our fortieth anniversary!
Can't imagine that we'd forget our anniversary -- the whole world celebrates with us! Heehee! Be back soon! Love,
Not only is it National Craft Month, but our newest sponsor, Thermoweb, is having an awesome party! (Before the merriment and mayhem begins, I'm required to tell you that this post may contain affiliate links....click here for my full disclosure.) Use the code in the graphic above, or click on the image at the top right-hand side of the Lilypad blog...... and then check out the great products there!
I love my Thermoweb Heat n Bond Lite -- use it all the time -- and I'd like for you to try it out, too! I have great results with my applique, and it sews beautifully. It's just sturdy enough to give the thinnest fabrics the body needed for me to buttonhole stitch around them....and it's light enough to seemingly disappear after the project is done! (And it cuts beautifully in my Accuquilt Go!Baby, too!) I've a project ongoing and I wanted to give you a sneak peek:
(We'll have clear instructions and photos next time.... the hints are "green" and "Irish." Oh, I made it too easy, didn't I?) Click on that linkie and join me, OK? Let's applique! Love,
(Before the merriment and mayhem begins, I'm required to tell you that this post may contain affiliate links....click here for my full disclosure.) It's Spelling Bee Saturday again! Howdy, ya'll! Welcome back to the Lilypad! We're happy to be participating in the Fat Quarter Shop Spelling Bee hop! Now, right here at the start, they tell me I need to let you know...... there will be links in this post (like that photo up there) that are called affiliate links! If you click on one, it will whisk you away through cyberspace to our sponsor -- but don't get scared! It's painless! (The tiny amount of commission that I earn if you purchase something is painless, too, and doesn't raise your price even one penny!!) Ahem. Now that we have that out of the way, let's look at today's project! You may recall that we are working with these lovely fabrics:
And that I have the "help" of these boyz, when they are not diving in my buttons....
...or making lassos from my trims.....gotta play cowboys and round up those steers, don't ya know?
I'd like to introduce those of you who've not visited before, to our little world..... Here in the corner of our sewing room is a recent project that we helped tell everyone about....the Jelly Roll Railway pattern from the Fat Quarter Shop.
Here are my faithful sewing companions. Nora is my circa 1950 sewing machine, and the lovely lamp beside here is named Emmy, for the Mary Engelbreit decorations on her!
Now, I hope that you are sewing along with us, because I think Spelling Bee is the best book from Lori at Bee In My Bonnet yet!! Sew much fun!
There, in all its glory, is my lower case "r"!! It went together very easily, with the clear instructions in the book. Like I said before, I love how the book lies flat, even with the pages turned back to your selected letter:
I can think of so many cute projects for these letters....and the other patterns in the book are inspiring, too...
Warning! Picture-heavy post ahead! Are ya ready? In that picture above, you can see all the parts of my lil owl friend, all cut out and ready to roll.... you can see the thought process behind this lil guy's creation and links to pattern possibilities at this post. You can see the stripe is for the main body, and for the back, and will also be used for the pocket on the front. I thought the eyes would sparkle better against that blue dot fabric, and the yellow is going to make a pop as the feet and the beak. Let's roll! Here are the two wings....four pieces were cut, and I quickly spray-basted some Warm and Natural batting to one side, then sewed right-sides together and turned out. The openings on the left side are where I turned it out. Pressed a bit, then sewed lines to make it look a lil more "wingy." This bad boy is not really supposed to look like an owl in the wild -- kinda stylized or cartoonish, if you ask me. (After all, how many striped owls with blue polka dot wings have YOU seen?)
The feet were prepped in much the same way, right sides together, clip the curves (you recall that from home-ec classes, no?), and turn right sides out. These will be lightly stuffed with polyfil later on.
Now, a word to the wise, here, on clipping the curves. You want to use the tips of your scissors to clip about every quarter inch on tight curves, less on milder curves. Hear that? The tips of the scissors:
Please do NOT use the main part of the scissor blades, like so:
It's WAY TOO EASY to cut right through your stitching. Yep. Shhhhhh. Don't ask. Ahem. Moving along, let's work on the body....
You can see that I cut out a blue piece and simply laid it over the stripe, then ran a line of straight stitching to secure it. Also, the arrow marks where I stitched to hold the blue and the striped fabric together at the top. That will be helpful when we put the body together in a few minutes.
Here is a better look at the stitching along that edge. You can also see here that I've pinned the front pocket to the body. Remember that Pepper Cory video that I told you about? I learned a trick there....I have always pinned from the outside toward the inside until now.....she made it a point (pun intended!) to pin from the inside of the project. That way if I forget and a pin makes it under my needle, there's less chance of an accident, since the skinny end can be more easily pushed aside and gone past. Cool! Even an old codger like me can learn something new!
Couldn't help myself; at this point, I stuck a remote in the pocket just to see! You may be able to see that line of stitching in the middle. Here is a better look:
I folded the fabric in the middle and creased it with my finger, then ran a line of stitching up and then back down to the bottom edge....I think dividing the pocket into two sections will make the remotes stay upright in the pocket when we are done!
Remember I mentioned a pouch of pellets? The kinda heavy ones, like in the plushies that sit where you flomp 'em down.... that's it up there. I eye-balled the measurements, and made it to fit snugly in the bottom of Mr. Owl, and (gasp!) didn't even turn it right side out.....just filled it and sewed it shut. It won't be seen....no need to get fancy here.
I laid out the eyes and eyelids a couple of times, and experimented with having his eyes look in different directions. I also wanted to make certain he had a contented, if not happy, look. You know how important placement is, on that front. You can get a scowl as an expression, if you aren't careful! (Grin) Went to my more modern machine to buttonhole stitch those....after that, took the beak that was lightly stuffed with fiber, and stitched from the underneath to attach to the face.
At this point, you will put the front and back of the body together, with the wings inside, so that their raw edges are caught in the seam (sorry, I should have photo'd that step) and stitch carefully around. I've marked where I started and stopped, leaving an opening for stuffing the bird. Here is what I consider a Very Important Step. It's called "boxing the corners" and you can seea youtube that makes the whole process very clear. It's going to make him sit better!
See that stitching? It will make the finished corner look like this:
...and that will help him sit up nicely. Now you are ready to stuff him with polyfil. I really packed it in there at the bottom, to give him a nice base. And he is pretty full the rest of the way up, too. I packed stuffing into the "ears" and then finally closed the opening on the side. Here he is from the back, after stitching the opening shut:
I stitched on buttons for his eyes, and attached his feet with tiny stitches. Also, I ran a stitch or two through his wingtips and attached them to the front of the pocket. Ready for the reveal? Here he is!
Be. Still. My. Heart. I think I'm in love. He's adorable! I think I heard a "SQUEEE!" from across the interwebs - y'all like him, too? (Grin) You will have to excuse me; I was so excited with how he turned out, that I went crazy taking pictures.....
Just look at that face!
Here he is, doing his job, holding the remote so we can find it easily!
I hope that if you decide to make this lil guy, you will post pictures! And I hope you enjoyed this process as much as I did! Love,
