It's Party Time With A Mini Quilt

In my humble opinion, a party isn't a party without cake. I prefer chocolate, but I never turndown a slice of deliciousness. Diets go out the window when someone sets a piece of cake in front of me with ooey-gooey frosting. I'm weak that way!

It's Party Time!

6" x 12" mini quilt

I'll take a piece of the red one (it's the biggest)!

I love the ease of using HeatnBond EZ Print Lite Sheets in my inkjet printer for my applique designs. No tracing or lightbox needed!

The Ackfeld Manufacturing stands are perfect for mini quilts (I have three different sizes), but you can easily add a dowel to the back for hanging on a wall. Any small quilt is easy to hang with pockets and a dowel on the back.

A great way to stabilize the fabric behind applique is by using Heat n Bond LightWeight Non-Woven Interfacing. Stitches lay smoother without puckering, which is great for those smaller fabric pieces.

The mini Oliso iron is an awesome tool when working on smaller projects. Using a heatproof mat and your applique key helps get the applique pieces in just the right spot.

Stitching around applique doesn't need to be hard. You can use a straight, zig-zag, or blanket stitch...whichever one is easiest for you!

Spray n Bond Basting Adhesive and Stitch n Sew High Loft Fleece combined make adding a layer between your front and back fabrics a breeze. Light spray the layers, let dry, and your ready to quilt. No pinning all those layers!

Quilting all those layers can be as simple as stitching straight lines or using fancy designs stitches.

You can find the pattern for "It's Party Time" HERE.

ThermOWeb carries the perfect products to make your sewing time easier. Check out their online store HERE. Their blog has amazing projects in both fabric and paper that are just right for you! Check the blog out HERE.

Watch Out For "UFOs" This Week!

Joan at Moosestash Quilting knows we all have a few/lot of UFO's in our closet, so she had the brilliant idea to create a blog hop to get us motivated to finish them. Way to go, Joan! It's the first day (and my day) for the "UFO Blog Hop"!

Entering my closet in search of UFOs was just the beginning. I was shocked to actually count the many unfinished projects I had hanging up. 

There were more in my sewing room and in containers! I couldn't even face the kits that were screaming at me to work on them. Way too many! The only way I was going to meet this challenge was to focus on the easiest ones to finish first.

This one was totally quilted and only need binding. It's embarrassing to admit that I made this in January 2016 when I took a class during a retreat from the amazing Deonn from Quiltscapes. To think it only needed binding to be finished is crazy!

Finished!

I was part of a BOM design team in 2016 for the "In Our Garden" quilt. I finished it on time, had it quilted in February 2017, and then set it aside to add binding. That never happened! Luckily, I still had some matching fabric in my stash so I could finish it. Nowadays I make the binding before quilting, but in the olden days I didn't. 

Finished!

In June of 2016 I went on a retreat to Utah with some friends. I finished a quilt top along with a lot of laughing, eating, and sleeping. It was so fun! I had it quilted and then, again, set it aside for binding that never happened. I don't hate binding a quilt, really I don't, but for some reason all these pretties didn't get binding.

Finished!

My quilting friends got together in April of this year to sew a jelly roll quilt. I finished the top, but other things got in the way of quilting it. I had the binding ready for this one, so I quilted it and put the binding on. I love having all these quilts finished!

Finished!

I still have lots of UFOs to work on, but this is still a good feeling! Check out all the other blogs this week to see what was pulled out of hidden corners, closets, and boxes for finishes.

Monday July 25

Just Let Me Quilt

Lianne Makes Stuff

Karrin’s Crazy World

Ms P Designs USA

Time4Stitchn

Scrapdash

 

Tuesday July 26

Creatin' in the Sticks

Quilted Delights

Days Filled With Joy

Kathys Kwilts and More

Food For Thought

 

Wednesday July 27

Stitching Farm Girl

BeaQuilter

SelinaQuilts

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Quilt Doodle Designs

Quilting Gail

 

Thursday July 28

Patchouli Moon Studio

Quilt Schmilt

Lynns Blog

Becky’s Adventures in Quilting and Travel

Home Sewn by Us

 

Friday July 29

Homespun Hannah's Blog

Inflorescence

Words & Stitches

Just Sew Quilter

MooseStashQuilting

New Blog Hop Sign-Ups Are Happening Now

You have the chance to sign-up for three blog hops!

I'll be hosting "Queen of Gadgets" in September and would love to have you play along!

The challenge is:

Use your favorite sewing tool to create a project. 

Tell us and show us why you love it.

Use rotary cutters, scissors, rippers, die cutters, etc. and show us what you made.

Email me if you want to add your name to the list.

Include your name, blog name, and blog URL.

Sign-ups have begun for "See Ya Later, Alligator"!

Carla will be hosting a blog hop called, "See Ya Later Alligator" in August.

The challenge is: 

Travel...anything from places to go, to how you get there, and anything in between.

Maybe even an alligator?

Contact her if you want to play in this hop.

Joan might have a few openings in the UFO blog hop this month. 

Hurry and check with her!

The challenge is: 

Finish a UFO or two (or three, four, or five.)

If you want to play along, drop her an email.

World UFO Day July 2nd

Yes, it is World UFO Day...I never knew such a thing existed! July 2nd is the approximate date in 1947 that aliens landed in Roswell, New Mexico. Apparently people go out to watch the skies for UFOs. Interesting, though I think I'd freak out if I actually saw something!

I have made a few alien quilts over the last few years, so it seems appropriate to reshare them today.

A UFO in the quilting world is an unfinished object like a quilt that's not quite completed. Most quilters have numerous ones of those in their closets or drawers.

Joan at Moosestash Quilting is having an UFO blog hop this month. I'm sure we'll see lots of amazing finished projects, maybe even some with aliens on them. She might have some openings...check with her to see!

I have an UFO from 2016 I put yellow binding on yesterday. It's ready for the blog hop. That was all it needed and I just didn't around to it. I have a couple of those...crazy!

Happy sky watching tonight!

Cackling Stitches Creepy Critters July BOM

Joan from Moosestash Quilting, Carla from Creatin' in the Sticks, and I put our wickedly 

crazy heads together to create a Halloween BOM for Cackling Stitches on Facebook.

"Creepy Critters" Block of the Month ends this month and we're already planning on

a frightfully fun BOM for 2023. We're excited about that one, too! 

The July pattern for "Creepy Critters" includes the final assembly instructions.

Check out our Facebook page, Cackling Stitches, HERE, for all the info.

This is my version of "Creepy Critters" 

Here's how the BOM works at Cackling Stitches:

The BOM will run from February 1st to August 30th.

On the 1st day of each month we will release block patterns that will be free until

the next block(s) is released.

Once new blocks are released, the previous month's blocks will no longer be free.

They will be available in our Etsy stores at a cost of $2.

On September 1st the entire pattern will be combined and sold in our Etsy stores for $10.

We hope you appreciate the time we put into creating the BOM quilt and understand that we are keeping the costs to a minimum. If you're quick to get the patterns during the month they are free,

there will be no cost to you.

February - Rotary Rita can be found in my Etsy store, HERE.

March - Petey the Poltergeist by Joan can be found in her Etsy store HERE.

March - Jackie the Jockey by Carla can be found in her Etsy store HERE.

April - Tabitha by Joan can be found HERE.

April - Boo The Black Cat by Carla can be found HERE.

May - Melvin the Mummy by Joan can be found HERE

May - Frankie Lights the Way by Carla can be found HERE

June - Skully and Friend by me can be found HERE

June - Wolfman Wally by me can be found HERE

We'd love to have you join us!

Freedom Flight Mini Quilt

With June just around the corner, it is time to show some patriotic love for the freedom we enjoy.  Stars and stripes on display is a sweet way to show respect for our country. At only 6" x 12" in size, the "Freedom Flight" mini quilt was quickly assembled using my favorite products by ThermOWeb. 

"Freedom Flight"

These are my favorite go-to products from ThermOWeb:

Heat n Bond Lite Iron-on Adhesive or Heat n Bond Lite EZ Print Sheets

Spray n Bond Basting Adhesive

Stitch n Sew High Loft Fleece

Heat n Bond Light Weight Non-Woven Interfacing

Ironing Heat n Bond Light Weight Non-Woven Interfacing to the wrong side of fabric used in applique blocks can add stability and make stitching small pieces easier.

Once you cut out your designs, an Oliso iron makes the job of applying it to fabric a breeze! Place the shiny side down and press each area about 6 seconds.

Using Aurifil thread to stitch around the edges of your applique is a great way to show off those designs.

Adding Stitch n Sew High Loft Fleece to the middle of your mini quilt gives it just the right amount of loft.

The quilt holder is made by Ackfeld Manufacturing and measures 6" x 12".

You can find it on their website HERE.

You can find the PDF download for "Freedom Flight" HERE.

Check out the ThermOWeb blog for more project ideas.

Thanks for stopping by!