Riley Blake Designs Matilda Blog Tour

Riley Blake Design's new fabric, Matilda, is full of beautiful designs based on the
book written by Roald Dahl. Of course, the movie "Matilda" totally won my heart with the
story line and the wonderful cast of characters. Miss Trunchbull was very scary, though!

"Matilda is a sweet, exceptional young girl, but her parents think she's just a nuisance. 
She expects school to be different but there she has to face Miss Trunchbull, a kid-hating
 terror of a headmistress. When Matilda is attacked by the Trunchbull she suddenly discovers 
she has a remarkable power with which to fight back. It'll take a superhuman genius to give 
Miss Trunchbull what she deserves and Matilda may be just the one to do it!"
"Matilda will surely go straight to children's hearts." —The New York Times Book Review

"Egghead" seems to be enjoying his book with Matilda by his side.

This fabric is just as magical as Matilda!

This quilt measures 58" x 64" and would be a perfect to snuggle up with a good book.
The panel is large and ready to be surrounded by applique and blocks.

Confetti Cottons has a lot of colors to choose
 from, so it was easy to find fabrics to match Matilda.

Some cuddly fabric on the back made this quilt totally ready for snuggle and reading time!

I'm wondering what to read next, too, Matilda.

There are lots of colorful books on this panel!

The fabric line also includes a book to sew...how fun!

Be sure to visit Center Street Quilts to see what other Matilda project you can make.

November 13 - Center Street Quilts

You can find this quilt pattern HERE.

I Like Thursdays Post #2

This is sort of post #2 for I Like Thursdays, because my first post was really on Friday.

 Not Afraid of Color started "I Like Thursdays" and I've been enjoying reading all the likes
on other bloggers posts. Lots of fun things out there to learn about them!

I like my little old dog, Bruster, and how he jumps on my lap and pushes my iPad away.
He loves to snuggle!

I like finding good deals at Target like this already assembled gingerbread house.
No more broken houses...hopefully!

I like when I can use some of my stash for applique, which I love.
This is for a sew along happening pretty soon at Therm O Web.

I like when my husband jumps in to create a useful sewing thing for me.
He saw all my thread and made a pegboard for me.

I like blog hops. Actually, I love blog hops and how much fun I have with them.

These little bags were in my post this week for a blog hop. 

They are really small, which was my plan. Smaller gifts this year for famly!

I like looking at old photos of me and remembering the moments.
This one was taken in Hawaii in 1971...a long, long, time ago.

I like that my poor husband was good about taking a photo of me that I needed for something.

I DON'T like having my pictures taken, so it wasn't easy for him. Ugh!

Finally, I like that others share their likes so I can get to know them.
Visit Not Afraid of Color to see more likes!

Stitch It And Gift It Blog Hop Day

I love blog hops because it gives me the pleasure of visiting my favorite bloggers and soak in 

their inspiring creations. It's like being a part of a quilt guild without leaving home! This blog hop, Stitch It and Give It, is a wonderful hop created by my friend, Carla at Creatin' in the Sticks. 

She always rocks my world with her creativity!

Coming up with something to stitch and give wasn't hard at all. Most of my quilts end

up in the hands of other people anyway. I've given quilts to almost all my nieces and their

children, so I decided it was Beth's turn to get a quilt. She wanted shabby chic. Hmm...

What stumped me about the shabby chic thing was that though Beth has been called a
"Princess" from time to time, she's a police officer that I definitely wouldn't want to mess with.
I love this feminine side of her!

Riley Blake Designs "Granny Chic" seemed like a perfect fit for this quilt.

It has been years since I've shown an unfinished project, so I apologize on this one.
It was bigger than I could quilt and the quilt shop has a nine week back-up on quilting.
Whoops...I waited too long! Luckily, we stopped at the park for a quick photo
of it before I dropped it off for quilting. I'll show it when it gets finished.

I used my new Crafter's Edge Crossover II to cut my favorite border pieces.
The squares and rectangles were perfect and then sewed together without any misshapes.
I love how small the dies are and how easy they are to use and store.

There's been a few Christmas celebrations where I went big on the gifts, but we've also had
our share of small gift giving. Sometimes it's because of money, or lack there of, or because
 we just wanted to keep things small and not have it be overwhelming.
That's what I want this year.

I've made these small bags and whatever will fit in them is what they will get.
Of course, I might throw an extra gift or two towards the youngest of the Monkey Boys.
They might not understand small gifts from grandma.

They are big enough for a gift card, ornament, money, or a note telling them to
"go to the garage for your new car." LOL That's not happening at my house!

The bags can be made any size but because I wanted small, I cut my squares at 6 1/2" x 6 1/2".

What you’ll need: 

1 fat quarter or scrap of fabric at least 6½” x 6½”

Fabric cutting instructions: 

Cut 2 – 6½” x 6½” square

Sewing: 

All seams are sewn 1/4” unless otherwise noted.

Draw Strings: 

Ribbon or string, 1/4" to 3/4’ wide, cut one 20”

Be sure to visit the other blogs for some amazing gift ideas to sew!

Monday, November 11th

Just Let Me Quilt

Selina Quilts

Homespun Hannah's Blog

QuiltFabrication
Domestic Felicity
VroomansQuilts
Karrin's Crazy World
Storied Quilts

Tuesday, November 12th

Life in the Scrapatch

Alycia Quilts

Kaholly

Words & Stitches
Quilt’n Party 
Patchwork Breeze
desertskyquilts

Wednesday, November 13th

MooseStashQuilting

Pampered Pettit
Mary Mack Made Mine
The Quilted Snail
Days Filled With Joy
Melva Loves Scraps

Limeleaves

Thursday, November 14th

Beaquilter

RidgeTopQuilts

Cynthia's Creating Ark
Songbird Designs
Farm Quilter
Kathy's Kwilts and More
Bumbleberry Stitches
Quilt Schmilt

Friday, November 15th

Quilted Delights

Seams To Be Sew
Ms P Designs USA
Just Because Quilts
Inquiring Quilter
Susie’s World
Creatin' in the Sticks

I'm so glad you stopped by!

Friday Likes Because I Missed Thursday Likes

Thursday in blog world is such a pleasure because of postings of "likes" by so many people.

Leeann at Not Afraid of Color started a series called "I Like Thursdays" that has bloggers 

sharing all kinds of likes...fabric, flowers, pets, grandchildren, etc. Have you seen these posts?

Reading them makes me relax and enjoy the positive things in life.

Though I may not always comment (yes, I am just a stalker sometimes), I love the posts.

In my mind, I always think "next Thursday I'm going to post things I like." I just can't seem to 

get it together to do it. Maybe I need to set an alarm on Wednesday to remind me.

I'd probably forget to set the alarm.

I missed Thursday (of course) so here's a late I like Thursdays on Friday list.

I like that my daughter takes me on some of her adventures (she takes a lot of them.)

She found a cave, but since she was alone at the time she wouldn't go in.

Her dad and I were more than willing to go with her to check it out.

It was actually no big deal and didn't go anywhere except a small cavern inside.

The graffiti and litter were disgusting. What's wrong with people!

If it can be climbed, she will climb it. She's over 40, but you wouldn't know it by all the

adventurous things she does. I wish I'd been more like her at that age.

I like that Ron can be just as adventurous at his "young age."

I like that my family loves Halloween as much as I do.

My adventurous daughter doctored up the family pic for Halloween.

I like that my youngest daughter makes sure she dresses her family appropriately for Halloween.

Villains and superheroes rock! 

I like this Monkey Boy's pose and that he always makes us smile.

I like that my daughter took me on this adventure to a petting zoo near Zion. 

This Monkey Boy liked it too!

I like when I run into random flowers in a mess of weeds.

I like when these two cuties come to visit and make me laugh.

We were at Chuck-A-Rama, one of their favorite eating places.

I love new toys. This Crafter's Edge Crossover has been fun to play with!

Thanks for stopping by to see my likes. Hopefully, I'll remember to do it again.

Riley Blake Designs Blog Tour Of Designer Knits

Riley Blake Designs has gorgeous cotton fabrics, but they also have Designer Knits 

 that are 100 per cent cotton, soft, stretchy, and are perfect for quilting, apparel and home

decor. I used "Something Borrowed" by Christopher Thompson for my projects.

This nightgown and pillow using "Something Borrowed" are ready to snuggle a size
five little girl. The fabric is beautiful in navy, gray, blue, and white.

My mother was the queen of sewing with knits. She made clothes, but also nightgowns
and pajamas for my children with knits and flannels. They loved them! She would
have loved all the amazing choices of knits by Riley Blake Designs.

The pattern for the nightgown is McCall's 7221 and was very easy to put together.
When sewing with knits, it is recommended to use a serger and/or a narrow zig-zag stitch.

The pillow is 20" x 20" and I used Heat n Bond iron-on adhesive for the flowers. To make sewing
 knits easier in pillows and quilts, use a light weight interfacing on the wrong side of the fabric.

I used three different knits in the pillow and nightgown:

Something Borrowed Main Gray

Something Borrowed Main Navy

Something Borrowed Petal Gray

If you want to see more beautiful projects using knits, visit Riley Blake Designs blog HERE.

Thank you for stopping by!

Fat Quarter Shop Remix With A Rotary Cutter

The Fat Quarter Shop has a remix happening with some of their older projects that were popular
and well liked. This is a fun and HUGE rotary cutter that is easy to make and looks fabulous in
solids or prints. I used my favorite solids, Riley Blake Confetti Cottons to create my rotary cutter.

The solid fabrics I used in this rotary cutter remix is a great match for the smaller version of the 

Ruby Red 40th Anniversary Rotary Cutter by Olfa. I love Confetti Cottons for sewing

and you can find an amazing variety of them at the Fat Quarter Shop!

I used four Confetti Cotton colors in my rotary cutter:

Riley Blake Confetti Cottons Black

Riley Blake Confetti Cottons Cranberry

Riley Blake Confetti Cottons Silver

Riley Blake Confetti Cottons Putty

A big rotary cutter requires a big pair of scissors!

You can find Fat Quarter Shop's remix rotary cutter pattern HERE
and more remix information HERE.

Thanks for stopping by!