Nine Patch Quilt-A-Long Tutorial

I have been trying to find new ways to use up my scraps & make fun quilts for my Quilted Hugs Project!

Today I counted and so far I have 13 finished Quilts!!
I also have 18 finished quilt tops!
That makes a total of 31 quilts! WOW! I cannot believe that I have made so many already.
Go me!

After finishing sewing the binding on my last few quilts today I decided to find a way to use more scraps and make some more quilt tops.
I have enough fabric to make another Stringy Quilt.
Those come together soooo fast!

I like changing things up. I can not seem to make more than two quilts in any one pattern or method  before it just seems boring.

SO....
I decided to do a Quilt-A-Long (QAL).
I have tons of strips of fabric in my scrap basket and they seem to be constantly multiplying.
I don't like to use any strips larger than 3 inches, so those tend to sit on the bottom of the basket and just get in my way.
I decided to pull them out and see how many I had.
I was very surprised that I have sooo many large and long strips of fabric 3 inches wide or larger.

SEW... I decided to do a Nine Patch-A-Day QAL!
These are so easy and it's not hard to make one nine patch per day.

The fun will start on July 5th!
That gives you a week to get your fabric together, match up fabrics, cut any scraps to the required size, etc. (Note: If you have a jelly roll feel free to use that. Your blocks will finish a little smaller, but it will still turn out GREAT!!)

Here is a quick tutorial on how to make a nine patch for our QAL...

Materials Needed:
Aprox 3 yards of
Scrap fabric 3 inches by at least 18 inches long
(You can also use a jelly roll and your blocks will turn out smaller. Just make sure to cut your pieces
 2 1/2 inches wherever it says to cut 3 inches in the tutorial.)

1. Sew strips aprox. 9 inches down the length of the fabric, right sides together.

You should end up with this. 

2. Cut sewn strip into Three 3 inch sections.

3. Out of the remaining fabric cut two 3 inch squares out of fabric A and one 3 inch square out of fabric B

4. Sew the 3 inch squares onto your pieces making three alternating sections. (See picture above)

5. Press seams towards the darker fabric.

6. Sew the three sections together to make a nine patch block. Make sure to match your seams.

7. Press open seams.

Your yield should be one nine patch block that finishes at 7 3/4. 

I am going to make one block per day for the next 36 days.
That will give me enough blocks to make a nice lap quilt for my Quilted Hugs Project!

Please join me and leave a comment to let me know that you are playing along.
I would love to see your progress so please follow my blog and then post about this fun Nine Patch QAL!!

I will post soon about how to turn these blocks into a quilt top.

Hugs,
Lisa 

Simply Stringy Quilts ~ Process Pledge Update

I have been working on a new way to use up all of my scraps. 

I started searching the web for inspiration and stumbled on this. 

Bonnie Hunter calls this "string piecing". 

The thought is that these pieces of fabric are to small to be strips or scraps, they are just strings left over from other projects. 

SEW.... 

I started with this...

 My basket of strings.

Then I sewed a bunch of my "strings" together and cut them into 5 inch lengths 

 and sewed those into one long line.

I made a tube out of that and then I got out my...

Super Triangle Rulerand I started cutting!

I ended up with a whole stack of these...

Then I ironed them out and placed them up on my design wall. The problem is that I can't decide how I want the finished quilt to be...

There are lots of ways to lay them out! 

What do you think I should do??

With all of our "Staycation" time in the car, I have been working on my cross stitching project. 

It's coming along.I am LOVING working on this. I have found myself enjoying hand sewing more and more. 

I think I might even hand quilt next!!

My Orange Squares Quilt has been coming along. I have the nine main blocks squared us and sewn together. After playing around with some more fabric scraps, I have come up with some ideas for a few borders. I think this will be finished quickly!

Hugs, 

Lisa 

Just Keep Sewing...

I have been steadily working on my scrap bin. 

I am determined to make lots of quilts out of my scraps. 

Here is one that I threw on the design wall to see if I liked it... and I do like it! 

Here is an update of my other scrap quilt that I am working on. The blocks are growing and growing.

Soon I will have them big enough to square up and make a top out of. 

I have been using my scrappy strips for this, but the bin doesn't seem to be shrinking. 

This is always a GREAT leaders and enders project. 

I have also decided to work on some cross-stitching.I found a pattern at Wal-mart (of all places right?) and I have been working on this in the car and while "watching movies or TV". 

Here is my quilt top finished. I like that all of the columns are pretty close to being the same size. This quilt top reminds me of a Chinese coin quilt pattern. 

Also, I saw this post and it inspired me to spruce up my body pillow. 

I had this fabric mostly sewn together in my scrap bin from a purse that I made over two years ago.   

All that I had to do was change the pattern to fit my style (I didn't want tie's on both ends and I didn't want the fabric to be multiple sizes.) & voila.... I have a new body pillow cover. 

Now I can enjoy cuddling to my Moda fabric at night (in my bed) and during the day (in my sewing room). 

Hugs, 

Lisa  

Process Pledge ~ Quilted Hugs Update

I have been a busy little bee! 

I am so thrilled with all of the great changes in my sewing world! 

I bought so many great fabrics from the "Fabric sale". 

I did not even picture ALL of the GREAT things that I bought! 

I couldn't even put them on my Newly cleaned and organized shelves... 

I went straight to cutting and sewing! 

Here is a great kids quilt that I made. 

I already owned the green and blue and I went to the sale specifically looking for a Bright Yellow to put with these fabrics. 

When I found this I just KNEW that it was PERFECT!! 

I also bought the bright green FQ's for only $.50 each!! 

I am really pleased with the end result. The "darker" green fabric has bright yellow stars on it. It goes great when you see it up close, but the colors aren't "true" in the photo!

I was also able to piece a scrappy backing with the left over fabric from the quilt top. I only had to add a few white scraps to make it big enough! 

I mostly listen to books on CD while sewing, but I was blessed with LIVE music recently... 

He is so cute! 

I moved my sewing room around, so that I could sew... but still rest (per the Dr's orders). 

I am not thrilled with the results. 

I will move it around again soon. 

Something just seems to be missing.

This is the view from the door.

Don't you love my HUGE design wall?? 

I sure do! 

I bought 7 of these blocks at the fabric sale for only $.50!! 

Sew... I made 2 matching blocks from scrap fabric and 

TADA!! 

I was able to whip up this quilt top within minutes!

 I just added two borders (from stash fabric) and I had a whole quilt top!

Lisa S and I both bought a few books from the sale and I have lots of quilts planned from the patterns that I found. I decided to sort my scraps by color. 

I think this will help me to make some new "Planned Scrap Quilts"! 

Now I need to take these piles and further divide them into lights and darks! 

I was thinking of doing a scrappy log cabin quilt. 

What do you think??

Here is another quilt that is in progress. The pink fabric has Elmo on it with Letters in Primary colors. 

I love this "Rail Fence" pattern. 

This pattern is so basic and whips together so quickly!

I pray that you are having as much fun sewing as I am, or doing whatever it is that makes you smile! 

Hugs, 

Lisa 

Quilting, Quilting, and More Quilting

I have been quilting up a storm!

I am loving making all of these scrap quilts!

Part of my Process Pledge is that I will show what I am in the process of doing, not just showing finished products!

I went through my stash and filled these two bins with fabric that I can part with.

I am going to use these to make some more quilts for my Quilted Hugs project!

Here is Jackson in my sewing room. I made him this pillow and I stuffed it with scraps that were too small to keep!

He loves it!
He either sleeps here or under my chair while I am sewing.

This quilt is a round robin that I really want to finish in time for summer!This is a ME project!

I replanted my garden.Only a few things are shooting up, but soon it will be covered in GREEN!

Also, I have added to my row of shrubs.I am hoping that they start to fill out soon!

As I was downloading the pictures onto my laptop, Jasmin had to come and check out what I was doing. I haven't posted any pictures of her lately, but she is just so cute- I had to fix that!

I feel so blessed today!

My hubby is still home and we are getting so much done around the house.

We have been working on the yard and working on my "honey do" list!

I am so thankful for a hubby who wants to do things for me.

I pray that you have a GREAT DAY!!

Hugs,

Lisa

Ragtop Quilt Tutorial!

Here is a GREAT tutorial from Crazy Mom Quilts!

She is one of my favorite bloggers.

I have used quite a few of her tutorials!

I used one of her tutorials to make this quilt for Sissy's 10th Birthday!  

This is almost exactly the way I make "Ragtop" Quilts!

The only difference is that I dont add the batting. Being in Florida, it really is not necessary to have the extra bulk!

Also, this is a great way to use some of those scraps.

The tutorial uses flannel, but you can also use cotton to make a great looking ragtop!

Go Check it out: http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/2012/02/crazy-mom-quilts-one-way-to-make.html

Quilt Giveaway

check out this awesome quilt giveaway... http://anartnest.squarespace.com/art-nest/2011/12/1/quilt-giveaway.html

Head on over to enter to win this scrappy quilt!

I love giveaways, even though I hardly ever win them! It just makes me feel warm and fuzzy that people are out there just giving stuff away!

(Happy Sigh!)

-Lisa

Scrap Quilt!!

I think quilters around the world have caught the "Scrap Quilt Fever"! Some of this may be new or some of us may have been secret scrap collectors and are just now coming clean!!

I have been working on my postage stamp quilt for over a year!! I have been cutting my scraps into 2" squares and sewing them together! I use them as leaders and enders of all of my other projects so it has been a slow, but steady project. For you non-quilters: leaders and enders means.... when I finish sewing two pieces of fabric together I stick some of my two inch squares under the needle instead of pulling all that thread out and cutting it = waisting thread!! I only waste aprox 1/4 in. of thread between blocks!! Yeah!!

I went ahead and laid out all of my blocks to see how far I was getting... I was shocked at how many I had!! I stopped laying them out when I ran out of room in my sewing room!! I think this quilt is going to turn out so good!!

I have been working on LOTS of Swaps!! Here are some of the blocks that I am working on!

I have signed up for a few more swaps!! I love getting squishy's in the mail!! aka... packages with fabric in them... get it they are squishy!! I have been working ALOT on applique'! Who knew it was so easy?

My next project is this!! A RAG RUG!! I have enlisted my kids! We are going to braid one rug and then I am going to try and crochet a rug!! We will see how they turn out! I need rugs for the garage anyways so even if they turn out horrible I will still be able to use them in the garage!! If they turn out GREAT (which I hope they do) I will be making some "extra's"!! I cant wait to get started!! I have all of these clothes that dont fit me anymore and some of them arent "pass on" worthy!! So I will Re-Purpose them!! Yeah!!

These are some of my inspirations!!