Monday, August 23, 2021

A Christmas Gnome And His Dog

When Paintbrush Studios (PBS) offered some of it's fabric to the ThermOWeb designers, I was really excited about the beautiful designs they had to choose from. As a dog lover, I went for the "Happy Howlidays" by Richelle Lynn Garn. It came in a full yard panel of four fat quarters.

Because it is a celebration of gnomes this week at ThermOWeb, I thought I'd combine a gnome with this adorable puppy fabric.


Santa has a tight grip on his puppy...must be a wild one!


There are a lot of adorable puppies in the fabric along with other fun items and sayings. If you look close, you can see some dog bones and Christmas accents.


Adding the applique was so easy thanks to ThermOWeb's Heat n Bond Lite Iron-on Adhesive. The backing easily peels of when you're ready to place it on your fabric.


For stability when sewing small pieces on applique, iron Heat n Bond Light Weight Non-Woven Interfacing to the wrong side of the fabric that will be behind your applique.


There are several stitches you can use to hold down your applique. I like to use the blanket stitch.


I never use pins to baste my quilt together because I love the way Spray n Bond Basting Adhesive holds my layers together. Heat n Bond High Loft Fleece makes a nice and light layer to table mats like "Santa and His Dog."


ThermOWeb has a lot of products that make sewing and quilting so much easier. They also have a blog with some amazing designers of fabric and paper. You should check it out!

Is it Christmas yet?

You can find the pattern HERE.


Sunday, August 15, 2021

"Orange You Glad" To Blog Hop With Us

I'm glad you've decided to visit me today for the "Orange You Glad" blog hop! This hop is hosted by that amazing and talented Carla from Creatin' in the Sticks. Thanks for all you do, Carla!

I love starting off a blog hop and in fact, it makes me feel so wickedly special. My witch feels the same way!

Perfectly Wicked
35" x 40"

Carla's "Orange You Glad" blog hop challenge was to "Create something inspired by the color orange. Think orange, think citrus, think orange peel, or maybe the joke about 'orange you glad we didn't say banana!' Anything orange. You decide."


The color orange always brings out the Halloween in me (probably no surprise to some of you.) Well, to be real here, almost any color makes me think of Halloween, but that's just who I am.

As a new project designer for Benartex, they let me pick the fabrics I wanted for this blog hop. When I saw Benartex's Marbella Orange, I was in love and knew this was the line of fabric I had to have. Thank you Benartex!

Marbella Orange is bright and swirly...perfect for this hop! "Orange" you loving it, too! It looks amazing on the back of this quilt.


The orange scalloped border was the Marbella Orange


I was so crazy about the Benartex Marbella fabrics, they were the only fabrics used for this
(except for Benartex Vanilla for the face and hand.) 


The other Benartex Marbella fabrics in the quilt are: Tangerine, Black, Purple, Iris, Magenta, Stone, Black, Flame, and Lime.


This close-up captures the swirls in the Marbella Orange and Purple


Of course there's a spider!


Her hair was a combination of Marbella Orange and Flame.


I feel a cackle coming on just looking at the Tangerine background and Stone moon!


You can find the "Perfectly Wicked" pattern in my Etsy store HERE.


Creepy Bunny approved of Benartex's Marbella orange and offered to 
hold the giveaway prize for this picture. 



Benartex has generously offered one yard of the Marbella Orange to one giveaway winner!
How cool is that! 

WINNER, WINNER, WINNER!
 Rebecca Smith said...

The oranges are perfect for your witch


Lucky me that I get to share this blog hop with some amazing and creative bloggers!
Check out what they've made:

Monday, August 16th


Tuesday, August 17th


Wednesday, August 18th


Thursday, August 19th


Thank you for stopping by!


Tuesday, August 10, 2021

Riley Blake Designs Make It Modern Project Tour

I love using Riley Blake Designs Basics for any project, and the Swiss Dots were no exception. They are so fun to sew with and worked perfectly for the Make It Modern project tour! Using just four colors, Peacock, Lime, Black, and white, a chevron quilt became the background for a few visitors.


My mind can be a crazy place now and then, mainly because my imagination runs wild when I'm designing a quilt. As I looked at those zig-zaggy lines, they reminded me of frequency patterns. But what if there was an alien, or two, tampering with our frequencies. And there it was..."Alien Frequencies" was created. 



We took a trip to a dry lake that was close by to take photos. Yes, the temperatures were still scorching hot even though it was after 7 p.m., but I felt this was a perfect landing spot for my quilt. My crew didn't necessarily agree because not only was it hot, but it was windy.



Though littering is not a good thing, there was an interesting "alien" object sitting on the dry lake bed just waiting for me to drape my quilt on it. It was just an abandoned pop up shade frame, but it looked alien enough for me!


It looked like it was ready to walk away with my quilt with those spider looking legs! 


The recent rains left the soil cracked and unearthly looking. Okay, not really, but my husband thought it was funny that I was fascinated by all the cracked dirt. We both grew up with Las Vegas dirt looking like this after a rain, but it still had me checking it out.


Riley Blake Designs Swiss Dots come in a variety of colors and they are all 100 per cent cotton. They are great for quilts, clothing, or anything else your imagination can think of.


The Peacock and Lime Swiss Dots were calling my name...I love both of them! The black and white dots are striking, too.


The visitors from space looked amazing in those dots and RBD's Confetti Cotton Black and White were great for accent pieces. Yikes...he's going for the frequency switch!


This guy chose to hover above the chaos that was going to happen below him. He's the smart one!


Riley Blake has an amazing selection of stripes in all sorts of widths and colors. The black and white stripes are among my favorites and worked great for alien body parts.


The stripes were awesome for binding, too!


You can find "Alien Frequencies" in my Etsy shop HERE.

Check out the Riley Blake Blog for some incredible ideas for quilting and sewing!


The pattern for "Alien Frequencies" includes instructions for cutting out the half square triangles, but did you know that Crafter's Edge has triangles for their die cutting machine? They do! You can use the Crossover II or the Accuquilt Go with an adapter to cut out the shapes. So easy!


I'm so glad you stopped by!

Sunday, August 8, 2021

Updated Bellagosa's Favorite Hats For A Class

Lucky me! I get to teach again at Sew Yeah Quilting on August 20th. I had so much fun at the last class with the Christmas project and was ready to do it again. This time it will be a Halloween project, an updated version of Bellagosa's Favorite Hats. You know I love Halloween!

Bellagosa's Favorite Hats


The fabrics are by Art Gallery Fabrics (AGF), their Spooky n’ Sweeter line. People can use their own fabrics, but these were definitely fun to sew with!

This is the original Bellagosa's Favorite Hats...I love the traditional Halloween colors in it, too.


It probably won't be the same crazy-fun class it was with Joan there, but I'm sure the ladies in the class will still be amazing like the last group.

Tuesday, August 3, 2021

Cackling Stitches "Hagatha's House" August BOM Blocks

It's the second to the last month for Hagatha's House block of the month. It's been really fun seeing the variety of fabrics used in the blocks. We're already planning out next year's BOM because this one has been such a wicked blast!

Uncle Morty - August


Hagatha - August


Here's how "Hagatha's House" BOM works at our Facebook Cackling Stitches group:


The BOM will run from March 1st to September 1st.

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 for each month's worth of blocks.

On October 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.

You can find the supply list HERE if you want to join along with the rest of us wickedly crazy Halloween lovers.

My version of the Hagatha's House BOMs


Joan's version of the Hagatha's House BOMs


March BOM - Hagatha's House - Find it HERE
Created by Joan Kawano from Moosestash Quilting


April BOMs - The Butler Did It - Find It HERE



May BOMs - Ghostly Stitches - Find it HERE
Created by Carol Swift from Just Let Me Quilt


May BOMs - Gorf - Find it HERE
Created by Joan Kawano from Moosestash Quilting


June BOMs - Going Batty - Find it HERE
Created by Carol Swift from Just Let Me Quilt


June BOMs - Frankie - Find it HERE
Created by Joan Kawano from Moosestash Quilting


July BOMs - Fat Jack - Find it HERE
Created by Carol Swift from Just Let Me Quilt


July BOMs - Hagatha's Daughter - Find it HERE
Created by Joan Kawano from Moosestash Quilting


August BOMs - Uncle Morty - Find it HERE
Created by Carol Swift from Just Let Me Quilt


August BOMs - Hagatha - Find it HERE
Created by Joan Kawano from Moosestash Quilting

Be sure to join our Facebook page, "Cackling Stitches" for updates and new blocks!
Thanks for stopping by!

Bona Lisa BOM April Block Release

The first of the month means a new block for Bona Lisa's Sweater Emporium. It's just Joan sharing her spooktacular talent this month...