Crossroads and Circa 2016 Quilt Alongs

The Fat Quarter Shop is hosting the Crossroads Quilt Along to benefit the March of Dimes.

There are only 4 house blocks in the pattern, but they're so cute, I made a few more.  This is the first block released.

You can go to the Fat Quarter Shop to find out more about this quilt along.

 I've admired items from the Temecula Quilt Co. for a long time.

  So I was excited to join the free Circa 2016 Quilt Along

 

This quilt along has been going on for a month, but I actually sewed all of these blocks today, so it won't take much more time to catch up.  It's very enjoyable sewing these small blocks.

You can find out more about this Quilt Along here.

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts

Merry Christmas Corner February 2016!

Welcome to Christmas Corner, a place to share Christmas projects throughout the year.

Have you begun or continued any Christmas sewing?  Or is it much too early to be in the mood?

I'm so excited to tell you of progress on some Christmas UFO's and even a new Cozy Kitten to go with the Cozy Catz quilt along!

Valentine Cozy Cat got a little Christmas kitten sister complete with a tutorial below!  Note:  the gift block portion is adapted from the Boxes-N-Bows tutorial by Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts.

This mini quilt stand from Connecting Threads is just right for displaying the 10 1/2 x 13 1/2"Cozy Kitten wall hanging.  The stand is 20% off so I bought one.  I didn't buy the decorative header, but the Christmas tree or holly one would both look nice so I may spring for it.

 Here's a little progress on:

Big Scrappy Christmas Stars Quilt

From 14 to 22 stars is pretty good progress.  Still need about 3 or 4 more rows.

Quilt Doodle quilt I made back in 2014

Quilting completed, red batik binding made since this quilt is mostly batiks 

AND TA DA!

It's all done!

The back is a flannel deer print for extra warmth and cuteness on a chilly night!

And this is my own Pieced Santa and Reindeer; you can find cutting instructions here.

Linking up with Donna at Funtastic Friday , Charly and Bens Crafty Corner, Crazy Mom Quilts and Kelly at Needle and Thread Thursday.

Read on for the Cozy Kitten Tutorial

Tucker's Diamonds Baby Quilt

I made a quilt for my niece, Tessa's new baby.

I found some cute novelty fabrics at JoAnn's and added some I had for brightness and variety.

I cut 4 inch strips the width of the fabric and sewed them together.  Then laid the ruler with the 60 degree line along the edge and cut 4" strips at an angle.

Then I sewed the strips together as shown, which created a diamond pattern.  I cut some diamond shapes slightly bigger, sliced in half vertically for the side edges and horizontally for the bottom and top edges, sewed to the last diamond of the row, which created the edges of the quilt.

All sewn together.  It's busy but I hope the baby will enjoy the pictures and bright colors.

The Quilt top all ironed and folded and ready to quilt, laying on top of the flannel backing, which you can see matches a couple of the prints.  I prewashed and dried the flannel.

Quilted with a loopy swirl and bound with black & white diagonal stripe.  Label applied before quilting (similar to the one for Malcolm's quilt, see details here).  Finishes at 43 x 45".

Quilt in the garden on a lovely spring day in February.  It's supposed to rain tomorrow, which we still need, as the drought has not been called off yet!

Thanks for stopping by!  Sheri

Linking up with Sew Cute Tuesday and Crazy Mom Quilts.

Valentine's Day Gifts and Cozy Catz Quilt Along

Are you making Valentine's Day gifts?  Here are a few ideas to make:

I used Amy's pattern to make this cute heart mug rug.

Here's a little zipper pouch I made last year.  Check out the original post and link to the pouch pattern I used.

ANNOUNCING A QUILT ALONG

This block is 16 1/2 x 14 1/4".  Click here to find out more about this Quilt Along

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts.

Cozy Catz Quilt Along

If you know a cat lover, I hope you'll quilt along with me this year to make Cozy Catz (cats on quilted cushions).  These can be made in holiday colors or favorite colors.  There will be at least 6 different Cozy Catz blocks.  Hope you will join me!  Let me know if you complete a block so I can feature it in a future Cozy Catz Post!

Valentine Cozy Cat is the first block.

Block is 14 1/4 x 16 1/2 Tutorial is below

Christmas Cozy Kitten is Block Two of the series

Tutorial is here.

Valentine Cozy Cat Cutting Instructions

Cut the following pieces:
From cat fabric
Ears 2 7/8" square, cut in half diagonally
Face 5 1/2" square
Lower body 2 1/2 x 6 1/2"
Tail 2 1/2 x 3 1/2"
Haunch 3 1/2 x 8 1/2"
Right neck piece 1 1/2" square
(2) 2" squares for half square triangles for upper heart
3 7/8" square cut diagonally to border the lower heart

From background
Left upper border 3 1/2 x 11 1/2"
Left lower border 3 1/2 x 1 1/2" not shown
Right lower border  2 1/2 x 8 1/2"
Upper right background 6 1/2" square
Tail rounding pieces 1 7/8" squ. and 2 7/8" square.  Cut each square diagonally once (need only one of each size triangle)
Back of ears 2 1/2 x 5 1/2"
To round the haunch 3 7/8" square cut diagonally once (need only one triangle)
Left and right cushion border 2 1/2" squares (2) (not shown)
Four 1" squares to round the cushion (not shown)

Heart block.  

(5) 2" red squares (2 for HSTs and 3 cut diagonally -- see picture below)

1 1/2 x 6" strips of reds,

Constructing the heart block  (there are some instuctions on the cutting diagram above or use the following instructions)

Sew 2 sets of the 1 1/2" strips together, leaving one alone.

Make 4 half square triangles (HSTs) by drawing a diagonal line along the 2 red 2" squares.  Place a red and white square with right sides together and sew 1/4" to each side of the diagonal line. 

Cut the squares apart and then cut along the diagonal lines.

Press open and square up as shown, placing your ruler's 45 degree line along the diagonal seam and trimming each side until you have a 1 1/2" HST

Now you can lay out your pieces to make your heart (disregard the extra HSTs (you only need 4).  Cut the remaining 2" red squares diagonally to get 6 more red triangles.

Lay out pieces for heart as shown here and sew all pieces together as shown in the following photos.  

 Press heart block and square up to 6 1/2".

 Pinwheels  (For the cushion)
Cut six 3" squares of two fabrics each for each pinwheel

Place 3" squares together and sew around the perimeter.  Cut each diagonally twice.

 Press open half square triangle (HST) and square up to 1 1/2". Then sew together as shown to make the pinwheels

Sew 6 pinwheels together to make the cushion.  Round the 4 outside corners by placing a 1" square on each corner and sewing along the diagonal line.

Ears
Take 2 1/2 x 5 1/2" background piece and lay triangles (cut from 2 7/8" cat fabric square that was cut diagonally to form 2 triangles) as shown.

Lay triangles onto background as shown so points extend over edge about 1/4".  

Sew 1/4" seam

Press open as shown.  Trim to 2 1/2 x 5 1/2"

Haunch Section
Place background triangle (from 3 7/8" square) on 3 1/2 x 8 1/2" cat haunch piece as shown.  (Note photo of background triangle is not accurate -- the triangle will be larger.)

Sew using 1/4" seam.  Trim, press open, square to 3 1/2" x 8 1/2"

Tail section

Place the 1 7/8" triangle on the tail piece as shown and sew 1/4" seam.  Trim and press open.

Repeat process with bigger triangle.  Trim, press open and squ. up to 2 1/2 x 3 1/2"

Sew sections in this order:
1.  Ears to head.
2.  Head section to right background.
3.  Heart section to bottom cat.
4.  Tail to left lower background.
5. Haunch to right lower background.
6.  Tail section to left upper background
7.  Sew the 3 colums together
8.  Side background pieces to cushion section and cushion section to completed cat section.

This picture doesn't show cushion rounded.  And the haunch is inaccurate.

Block would also be cute for pillow or wall hanging or come back soon for the instructions for the next Cozy Catz quilt block!