Winter Night Pillow - HCB week 3

How's your Holiday Craft Bash going?  Have you made anything yet?  Don't forget to add your projects to the Flickr group to be eligible for prizes each week and the Grand Prize.  Check Meredith's blog for more details.

This week is pillow week.  Be sure to click over and see what Jessica (yesterday), Meredith (Wednesday) and Jacey (Thursday) have created.  By lucky coincidence, I got to meet Jacey at Quilt Market a few days ago.  We had a great time putting a face with a name and talking about getting all our projects for the Holiday Craft Bash finished each week :)

On to the project!  Since pillows aren't as closely identified with Christmas as stockings and tree skirts, I decided to take this opportunity to make a winter-themed project.  The icy blues of a winter night always appeal to me.  In fact I have made two other winter night projects.  I couldn't resist making the tree top yellow - the idea of light and warmth in the winter night seems so happy to me.  However, if you'd like, you could substitute white fabric for the yellow to continue the color of the tree itself.

Winter Night Pillow (16")

Supplies:

All Kona solids

Navy: 5¼" x 16½"
One 2.5" strip x WOF each of Nightfall, Marine Blue, Deep Blue, Ocean and Surf
White: one 2" strip x WOF and one 2½" strip x WOF
Slate: 1¼" x 7½"
Yellow (misc from my stash): 2 1½" squares
Back:  2 12" x 16½" pieces

To try and avoid confusion about which blue is which, instead of referring to them by color name, I'm going to start at the top of the pillow with "Blue 1" and continue to the bottom with "Blue 6".  If you are using the colors I used, here is the key:

Blue 1 = Navy

Blue 2 = Nightfall

Blue 3 = Marine

Blue 4 = Deep Blue

Blue 5 = Ocean

Blue 5 =  Surf

Cutting:

Blue 1 does not need cutting

Blue 2:  1 2½"square, 1¼" x 6", 1¼" x 10", 2 x 3½", 2 x 7½"

Blue 3:  1 2½"square, 1¼" x 6", 1¼" x 10", 2" x 2", 2" x 6"

Blue 4:  1 2½"square, 1¼" x 6", 1¼" x 10", 2" x 4½"

Blue 5:  1 2½"square, 1¼" x 6", 1¼" x 10", 2" x 3¼"

Blue 6:  1 2½"square, 1¼" x 6", 1¼" x 10", 2" x 2", ¾" x 16½"

White:

Cut 5 2½" squares from the 2½" strip.

From the 2" strip and the leftover of the 2½" strip, cut pieces 2" x 3½", 2" x 6½", 2" x 9½", 2" x 12½", 2" x 13½"

Slate:  Cut 5 1¼" x 1½" pieces

Yellow:  2 1½" squares

Construction:

Draw a diagonal line on the back of the white 2½" squares.  Place them right sides together with the 2½" squares from Blues 2-6.

Sew ¼" from the line on each side of the line.  Cut along the line.  Press.

This will give you 10 Half Square Triangle (HST) blocks.  Set aside one of the HST blocks made with Blues #5 and 6.  You won't need these for this project.

Lay out the rest of the pieces according to the diagram.  (Click here for a larger diagram).

Sew the pieces together into rows and sew the rows together into the pillow top.

Appliqué the two yellow squares, one on top of another, at the top of the tree using your favorite appliqué method.  I used two squares to lessen the effect of the dark blue behind the lighter yellow.

Back:

Press under 1/4" twice on the long edges of both pillow back pieces.  Stitch along the fold.

Place the pillow front right side up and layer both back pieces, right sides down on top of the front, matching raw edges and having the hemmed edges overlapping in the center.

Stitch a 1/2" seam all the way around.

Turn right side out, press, and insert a 16" pillow form.

North Pole Tree Skirt

Welcome to Tree Skirt Week of the Holiday Craft Bash!  Don't forget to check out the tree skirts by Jessica (yesterday), Meredith (Wednesday) and Jacey (Thursday) and add your project to the Flickr group to be entered to win prizes each week and a grand prize at the end.  Meredith will post some sneak peeks of next week's pillows on Friday.

I can't seem to think of holiday decorating without using stars.  Bright stars in a cold winter night sky is a classic image for holiday time.  This time, I set my stars in a pretty green (Kona Peridot to be exact) and used white scraps for the stars.  The four half square triangles that I added remind me of four compass points so I'm calling my tree skirt the North Pole Tree Skirt.

Here's what to do to make one of your own:

You'll need:

Green:  1¼ yards

White:  ½ yard or 7 8" squares or 26 4" squares

White for binding:  ½ yard

Ribbon for ties:  3 yards 1/4" ribbon

Backing:  1¼ yards

Batting:  45" x 45"
24" ribbon or string

Cutting Info:

Cut your white fabric to make 26 4" squares.  If you are using one fabric, 3 4" strips, subcut to 4" squares will do it.  I substituted 4 black/white print squares for 4 of the plain white ones just for some variety.

From the green, cut:

3 4" strips - subcut these to 26 4" squares

2 3½" strips - subcut to 16 3½" squares

1 12½" strip - subcut to 1 12½" square, 4 3½" x 12½" strips and 4 2½" x 12½" strips

1 6½" strip - subcut to 4 6½" squares and 4 3½" x 6½" strips

1 3½" strip - subcut to 4 3½" x 9½" strips

Half Square Triangles (HSTs):

Draw a diagonal line on the back of each of the white squares.

Place each square right sides together with a green square with the white square on top.

Sew ¼" away from the drawn line on each side of the line.  I chain stitch about ten squares at a time sewing one side first.  Then I flip the whole chain around and sew the other side.

Press.  Cut along the line.  (I use scissors since an exact ¼" seam allowance is not important at this point).

Press seam open.

Blocks:

Lay out your HSTs and 4 of the 3½"  green squares (corners) according to the photo.  Sew the squares together into rows and then the rows into blocks.  

Make 4.

Compass Point blocks:

These are a little tricky since you have to make two pairs that are opposites.  Pay close attention to the pictures and the orientation of your pieces.

Sew a 3½" x 6½" strip to one of the white edges of your HST.  Two of these are sewn to one white edge and two are sewn to the other white edge.  Just keep turning your pieces until they look like the picture.

Next, sew a 3½" x 9½" strip to the long side of the previous piece where the green triangle is. (Click on the diagram to read the words if this isn't clear).

Now, aligning the top raw edges (as in the lower two blocks), sew a 6½" square onto the other white side of the HST.  

Sew the 3½" x 12½" strip along the top edge of all three pieces.  You should end up with four compass point blocks like this:

Block layout:
Lay your blocks out as follows:
Compass Point block, Star block, Compass Point block;
Star block, 12½" square of green, Star block;
Compass Point block, star block, Compass Point block.

Sew these blocks together into rows.  Now, before you sew your rows together, add the 2½" x 12½" strips to the outer edges of the stars.  (I added mine after I sewed the rows together when it became obvious that I needed more background there).

Sew the three rows together.

Your top is done!  Before we make the sandwich and quilt, we need to mark the final cutting lines for the tree skirt.  As with most quilt marking, it is easier to do this before you have the bulk of the batting and backing added.  So, press your top and spread it out on a hard surface.

Measure 6" from the top and left sides of the center 12" block and mark this point (the center of the block).

Tie some ribbon or string (not the three yards) around a marking pencil.  Measure 18" from the pencil and place a pin in the ribbon/string at this point.

Place the pin at the center point you marked earlier and, keeping the ribbon/string tight, draw an 18" diameter circle to mark the outer edge of the tree skirt.  Do your best to keep the pin and pencil in the same position while you are drawing.  Repeat this process with the pin 2½" from the pencil to mark the inner circle.  Next, line up your ruler with one end at the center mark and the long edge running between a star block and a compass point and draw a line.  This will be where you cut to fit your skirt around the tree.  See the finished picture above if this is confusing.  I tried to take pictures of these marks but they would not show up at all.

Don't cut on these lines yet!!  Sandwich your backing, batting and top and quilt the tree skirt.  I quilted mine along the diagonal lines made by the triangles in the star blocks and compass points.  When you are finished quilting, cut along the outer circle, along the inner circle and the line connecting them.

Ties:

Fold the 3 yards of ribbon in half 4 times and cut at the loops to make 8 roughly equal pieces of ribbon.

On the back of the tree skirt, place a piece of ribbon 1" from the inner and outer edges of the skirt on each side of the opening.  Place the other four pieces about 5" apart.  Baste in place.

Binding:
We definitely need bias binding here with all these curves!  Cut 7 2½" wide bias binding strips from your binding fabric.  Join them together and apply them to your skirt as you would to any quilt.

All these steps make this look kind of hard, but it really isn't.  Basically you make a strangely shaped quilt top, quilt it, cut openings and bind it. You can do that!  Don't forget to add your projects to the Flickr group to win prizes!  Come back next week for pillows :)

Fall For Solids contest

My first quilt from solids!

I'm guest posting over at Pink Castle Fabrics today about how much I love solids. If you haven't heard about Brenda's Fall For Solids contest, go check it out! There are prizes for the best mini quilt and pillow made from solids. Brenda knows how much I love solids, so she asked me to be one of the judges.  Sounds like fun to me!  The contest runs through Nov 26.


PS  I hate to do this, but I'm going to have to turn the comment word verification back on.  The increase in spam comments lately has been dramatic.

A Scrappy Classic Stocking

Hi everyone!  Welcome to my first project for the Holiday Craft Bash.  We are going to have so much fun over the next six weeks!  I hope you get a chance to make some of the projects that Meredith, Jacey, Jessica and I will be sharing with you.  If you do, don't forget to add them to the Flickr group - there will be a prize each week drawn from those sharing on Flickr.  Also, feel free to grab our blog button over there on the left :)

Scrappy neutrals are one of  my quilting loves - they make me happy every time I see them.  You can see some other scrappy neutrals I've created here, here, here and here.  I chose a classic creamy neutrals and deep red color scheme as it goes well with my fairly traditional family room.  My living room is more modern, but the fireplace is in the family room :)

A note about a couple of options for you before we dive into the tutorial.  I didn't quilt this stocking as I felt it had enough body with all the piecing seams.  If you would like to quilt your stocking, I would recommend using a very lightweight batting or flannel as you don't want it to get too stiff and hard to manipulate.  An alternative to the appliqué would be to embroider the name on the stocking.  It would also be fun to substitute some cute ribbon for the fabric hanger I used.  OK - here it is:

Materials:
Assorted scraps for the body of the stocking:  1/2 - 1 yard

Cuff:  15 1/4" x 8"

Appliqué fabric for name:  2" x 6"

Hanger:  6" x 1"

Lining:  2 10" x 15" pieces of fabric

2" x 6" two sided fusible webbing such as Steam-A-Seam

Hint:  If you don't often use the free arm on your machine, this is a good time to do it :)

Stocking Body

Piece your scraps together until you get two pieces of made fabric that measure about 10" x 15".  I pieced my scrap strips together into three sets of four and then cross cut them to strips from 1" wide to 2 1/4" wide.

Print out the PDF templates and tape them together where the lines cross.  Cut out on the line.

Place your two pieces for the stocking body right sides together, lay the template on top and trace around it.  Cut out the stocking.

Repeat for the lining.

Sew the stocking pieces right sides together, leaving the top of the stocking open.

Repeat for the lining.

Turn the stocking body right side out.  Press.  Insert the lining (wrong sides out) inside the stocking matching seams.  Baste the top raw edges together.

Cuff and appliqué.

Using a removable marking pencil or some tape, mark a rectangle that is 1" and 7" from the left short edge of your cuff and 1" and 3" up from the bottom edge of the cuff.  This leaves a 2" x 6" space for appliquéing your name.

From your computer, print out the name you wish to appliqué.  I used Segoe Script font at 100 point.  You may need to adjust the size depending on the font you choose and/or the length of your name.

Normally, you need to reverse an image when you use fusible appliqué.  My computer does not like to reverse text so here's how I get around it.  Usually when you trace your appliqué design onto the fusible, you trace it onto the side that is stuck to the webbing the most (because you remove the other paper to stick it to the fabric).  So, instead, I traced my name in normal orientation onto the paper that removes the most easily.  Then, I flip the fusible over and trace through the fusible onto the paper side that is stuck to the webbing the most.  Next, remove the paper side that is easiest to remove - with the name in readable orientation and stick the web to the wrong side of your appliqué fabric.

Cut out the name and fuse it to the cuff.

Stitch in place.  Because the writing is so narrow and a stocking will not receive a lot of wear, I just straight stitched along the center of the letters.

Press under 1/4" twice on the long edge under the name.  Stitch in place.

Place the short ends right sides together and stitch.  Turn the cuff right side out.

Stocking Assembly

Place the stocking cuff around the stocking so that both right sides are facing out.  Stitch around the stocking edge, matching the cuff seam with the back seam of the stocking.  Press.

Fold the cuff so that the hem just covers the body/cuff seam. (see the picture at the top of the post)

Hanger

Fold your hanger in half lengthwise, press. 

Open it out and fold the long raw edges in to meet the first fold.

Fold again along the first fold so that the raw edges are inside.  Stitch down along the edge.

Fold the hanger in half and stitch to the inside back seam of the cuff.  (Pay special attention to your bobbin thread color here if you want to hide it as much as possible).

Admire your stocking for a while and then hide it away so you can surprise your loved ones when the time comes to pull out the stockings :) 

Be sure to check out Meredith, Jacey, and Jessica's stockings too.  How long have you been meaning to make new ones?  (Several years for me!)

Another way to EHQ

Esch House Quilts patterns are now available through Checker Distributors.  So, if you are a shop owner, head on over and place your order :)

Those of you who aren't shop owners can keep ordering patterns from me directly through my Etsy, Craftsy and PatternSpot shops as usual.

What can you make with bias?

1. Summer Sunrise pillow, 2. Curried Plums, 3. Daisy Chain Table Topper, 4. Coffeehouse, 5. Biltmore Bias, 6. CelebrationTableRunner, 7. Ephemeral Elegance, 8. An Evergreen Bias, 9. Sudoku Streetlight

Regular readers of my blog will know how much I love working with bias strips.  It occurred to me recently that it would be fun to put all my bias projects together in one place.  I created a new set on Flickr that includes many of my bias projects.  A mosaic of the highlights is above.  

Why do I keep coming back to this technique?  I guess what appeals to me the most about bias is the ability to draw a line with fabric (Just a note that I am hopeless at drawing with a pencil).  The way bias takes curves makes it perfect for all kinds of organic shapes.  I haven't tried writing with bias, but I'd love to try that soon.  I also tend not to fill in the shapes the bias makes, but that adds another dimension to any project.  You can see what I mean in the far right coffee cup in my header.  See how it looks like you can see the inside of the mug?

Another thing I love about bias - once it is prepared, it can be either hand or machine appliquéd.  If I had all the time in the world, I'd hand appliqué everything :)  Since I don't, I really like it that I don't have to change my mind about a project due to a lack of time.

If you want to join the fun, you have two chances coming up to take my Bias Appliqué class.  The first starts next Tuesday, Oct 16 at MakerWorks here in Ann Arbor.  The second is at QuiltCon on Sunday, Feb 24.  I hope to see some of you there!

Holiday Craft Bash

Do you want some amazing ideas and tutorials for the holidays?  Of course you do!

Well, we have you covered.  Meredith of Olivia Jane Handcrafted has organized four bloggers to put on the Holiday Craft Bash.  From Oct 15 - Nov 26, Meredith, Jessica of a little gray, Jacey of Jaceycraft and I will be posting projects and tutorials for your holiday crafting pleasure :)

Each week Jessica will post on Mondays, I'll post on Tuesdays, Meredith will post on Wednesdays and Jacey on Thursdays.  Meredith will post on Fridays too with a sneak peek of what is up for the following week and supply list info so you can gather what you'll need for the projects.  We'll be starting next Monday, October 15 with Stockings.  Other weeks will include projects for pillows, tree skirts, placemats/table runners, decor items and more.

So grab a blog button and play along!  Be sure to add your projects to the Holiday Craft Bash Flickr Group too.  You know we all want to see what you are making.  'Cause the only thing more fun than making stuff yourself is seeing what everyone else is making!  Are you in?

Quilt on the Grand

Just a quick note to let Michigan folks know I'll be vending at the Quilts on the Grand quilt show Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  It's a good sized quilt show put on by the West Michigan Quilt Guild at the Deltaplex in Grand Rapids, MI.  I'll try to get some pictures today to share later.

Linked Pillow-Along Winner!

Lyn's pillow

Another late giveaway winner announcement!  I knew I'd have trouble remembering to pick the winner of the Linked Pillow-Along finishers. I set the deadline of September 15, put it on my to-do list/calendar and promptly didn't look at the calendar again!

Anyway, three lovely people finished their pillows by the deadline and Mr. Random Number Generator picked #1, Lyn of regentin2012.  Lyn has won a charm pack of Mama Said Sew by Sweetwater for Moda.  I just love this line!  So many great prints including text prints, bias gingham, circle medallions and mini zig zags all in a limited color palette of cream, red, grey and black.  Yum!

Thanks to Lyn and everyone else who participated in my first quilt along!  Of course, you can still add pictures of your pillows to the Linked Pillow-Along Flickr group and you can always add pictures of any of your quilts made from my patterns or tutorials to my EHQ Flickr group too.  I love to see how you all make them your own!