Lovely Little Patchwork Blog Tour

I'm so excited to be a part of the Lovely Little Patchwork blog tour. I first "met" Kerri on Instagram while doing a fun swap! I have admired Kerri's amazing use of fabric and was so excited when one of her lovely pillows made it's way to my house. I was thrilled when I found out she was writing a book and sharing her wonderful style!

I was lucky and received a copy of the book way back in March, and I have had a chance to make a few cute projects from the book.

For the tour, I was definitely influenced by fall, and decided to make the cute Apple Tree project. It was so much fun going through all my red and pink scraps to make this fun tree. I made mine into a mini quilt and would love to see it framed! But for now, the stripey binding makes me happy!! These apples were perfect for a little fussy cutting fun!!

The book has 18 fun projects for you to choose from that include paper piecing, emnbroiery, applique and patchwork. There are pillows, mini quilts, aprons and more. You will love this book!

This is the first project I made back in March. I love the bunting on the sailboat and was the perfect project for Daysail!

Here is the list of lovely bloggers who are making super cute things to share!!

08/28/2016	Sarah Edgar	@sarahedgarprettyfabrics	alittlehappyplace.blogspot.co.uk
08/29/2016	Heidi Staples	@fabricmutt	fabricmutt.blogspot.com
08/30/2016	Megan Jimenez	@QuiltStoryMeg	quiltstory.blogspot.com
09/02/2016	Cheri Lehnow	@tinkerellen	tinkerwiththis.blogspot.com
09/03/2016	Ange Hamilton	@alittlepatchwork	alittlepatchwork.wordpress.com
09/04/2016	Sedef Imer	@downgrapevinelane	downgrapevinelane.com
09/05/2016	Kimberly Jolly	@fatquartershop	fatquartershop.blogspot.com
09/06/2016	Samantha Dorn	@aqua_paisley	aquapaisleystudio.com
09/07/2016	Ayda Algın	@cafenohut	cafenohut.blogspot.com
09/08/2016	LeAnne Ballard	@everydaycelebrations	everydaycelebrate.blogspot.com
09/09/2016	Sharon Burgess	@lilabellelane	lilabellelane.blogspot.com
09/10/2016	Lauren Wright	@mollyandmama	mollyandmama.com.au
09/11/2016	Kate May	@thehomemakery	thehomemakery.co.uk/blog/
09/12/2016	Debbie Homick	@happylittlecottage1	happylittlecottage.blogspot.com
09/13/2016	Wynn Tan	@zakkaart	zakkaart.blogspot.com
09/14/2016	Kim Kruzich	@retro_mama	retro-mama.blogspot.com
09/15/2016	Jennie Pickett	@cloverandviolet	cloverandviolet.com
09/16/2016	Veronica AM	@VividFelicity	vividfelicity.wordpress.com
09/17/2016	Nadra Ridgeway	@ellisandhiggs	ellisandhiggs.com
09/18/2016	Amanda Woodruff	@acraftyfox_amanda	acraftyfox.net
09/19/2016	Minki Kim	@zeriano	minkikim.com
09/20/2016	Sharon Yeager	@daisycottagequilting	Instagram
09/21/2016	Peta Peace	@shequiltsalot	shequiltsalot.com
09/22/2016	Sarah Scott	@piccolostudio_sarah	piccolostudio.com.au
09/23/2016	Kristin Cobb	@goobadesigns	Instagram
09/24/2016	Erin Cox	@whynotsewquilts	whynotsew.blogspot.com
09/25/2016	Kerri Horsley	@sewdeerlyloved	lovelylittlehandmades.blogspot.com

 

Posy Garden Blog Tour

Hello there! I am super excited to be a part of the Posy Garden Blog Tour!! In case you don't know, Posy Garden is the latest fabric designed by the amazing Carina Gardner for Riley Blake Designs.

I've had the pleasure of sewing with this fabric for most of the summer, and there couldn't be a prettier fabric to sew with!

A million ideas went through my mind and I really wanted to make all the the things! But I knew for sure that I wanted to make a Sew Together Bag with this adorable fabric.

My favorite part of making Sew Together Bags is designing the exterior. The insides are always pretty much the same, but the exterior can be almost anything you would like. It's a fun way to play with patchwork on a small scale. I used 3" mini granny squares to start with, and added cute patchwork borders. I really love the navy blue as binding.

I also made a baby quilt using this pattern. I found out that a friend of mine is going to have a sweet baby granddaughter, and her daughter's favorite colors just happen to be all the colors of Posy Garden. Pinwheels on a crisp white background is possibly one of my most favorite quilt designs.

I added a 2.5" border all the way around and once again I used my favorite wavy quilting and am happy with the texture and feel of the quilt.

I used the navy blue dot as a binding on the quilt too! It keeps it from being too girly and little more modern. Just like the baby's mama!

There are lots of amazing bloggers making lots of cute things with Posy Garden! Here is the list so you can be inspired!!


Monday, August 1st: My Sewing Haven with Carla Peicheff
Tuesday, August 2nd Happy Little Cottage with Debbie Homick
Tuesday, August 2nd The Family Hearth with Bridgette McNay
Wednesday, August 3rd Fort Worth Fabric Studio with Lindsey Weight
Wednesday, August 3rd Happy Quilting Melissa with Melissa Corry
Thursday, August 4th Pretty By Hand with Kristyne Czepuryk
Thursday, August 4th Out of the Blue with Sondra Davison
Friday, August 5th Samelia’s Mom with Anorina Morris
Friday, August 5th Free Time Frolics with Adrienne Woods
Monday, August 8th Flamingo Toes with Bev McCullough
Monday, August 8th Silly Mama Quilts with Brooke Sellmann
Tuesday, August 9th Snickerdoodle Stew with Jessica Stewart
Tuesday, August 9th A Little Patchwork with Ange Hamilton
Wednesday, August 10th Ameroonie Designs with Amy Chappell
Thursday, August 11th One Little Pooh with Tina
Thursday, August 11th Jedi Craft Girl with Amanda Neiderhauser
Friday, August 12th Stitching Revival with Christine Cook

Happy sewing!!

The 2 1/2" Square Series - Mug Rug

If you've hung around with me for any length of time either here or on Instagram, you know that #ilovelittlesquares. The 2 1/2" square is without question my favorite shape. There are an abundance of projects you can make with them, and over the course of the next months they're going to be the focus of some weekend inspiration.

Today lets use them in their natural state. Simple patchwork!

Today I am going to show you how to make an easy peasy mug rug that you will use all the time. Do you want to know a secret? I will share how to "piece" all of these little squares without breaking a sweat.

1. Here's what you'll need
(16) 2.5" squares (mini charms or cut scraps)
(1) 10" piece of fusible featherweight interfacing. You can get some that is printed with grids to keep things super straight, but I like to live on the edge :)
(1) 10" square of batting (SAVE THOSE SCRAPS!!)
(1) 8.5" square coordinating fabric
(1) Package medium ric rac

2. Grab your interfacing, and with the bumpy side facing up, place all of your squares with edges touching and as even as you can. Make it cute and iron them in place once you're happy with the arrangement.

3. Here's the fun part. Fold the strip over right sides facing and sew a 1/4" seam.

4.Repeat twice more.

 
5. Then using a small pair of scissors, cut the center of the seam.

6. Open it up and press. Repeat the steps 3-6 going the next direction.

See! Easy peasy patchwork.

7. Now take your batting scrap and place it underneath your cute little patchwork. Quilt as desired. You are only quilting the top and batting. The bottom layer will come later.

Trim and square up your little quilt.

8.Cut your ric rac in 4 pieces slightly longer than your square. I baste mine to the edge so it's easier to sew on the backing. Simply match the edge of the ric rac with the edge of your patchwork.

9. Now we're ready to add the backing. Cut your backing fabric 8.5" square.

10. Put your quilt and backing wrong sides facing and pin or use your clover clips to hold together. Leave about a  3" opening for turning. Stitch, using a 1/4" seam. Clip the corners and any bulky ric rac that might be in the corners. Turn your patchwork right side out through the opening and give it a good press, paying special attention to the opening.

11.Top stitch all the edges and give it another press.

12. Jump up and down that you have a cute little mug rug for your sewing space!!

Hope you'll give this a try and make a bunch for you and for your non-quilty friends!!

Happy Holiday Weekend!!

Weekend Inspiration - Everyday Hipster

Happy Friday!! It's time for some weekend inspiration and I have to admit that I am on a bag kick!! Today I am sharing two really cute patterns in one project!!

First up is the sewing illustration by Minki Kim. I changed it up just a bit because free motion handwriting is scary!! :)  How cute is this mason jar?? I totally cheated and just left my regular foot on my machine, and stitched around the jar. I also traced the design onto the lid and top of the jar with a Frixion pen, and just stitched over the lines. If you are a confident FMQer, you could have fun adding more designs. If you need help Minki has lots of information on her blog. You can find the pattern for the mason jar here. It is actually part of a pincushion, which I really want to make. But as soon as I saw it I knew it had to be on the flap of the Everyday Hipster.

The Everyday Hipster by Three Owls Handmade is one of those cute and small bags that you will use all summer long. Trips to zoo, amusement park or farmer's market will leave you hands free. There is enough room for your phone, keys and a coin purse.

The flap portion of the bag is so fun as you can customize it any way you would like. Hexies or patchwork would be so cute. I decided to make a pocket and use the cute mason jar applique.
You could also make this super simple and make the entire bag in one of your favorite prints!

The pattern is really well written, and a confident beginner would have no problem making this as their first bag without any modifications. An advanced sewist would have fun making this as scrappy as they would like. You can find the pattern here.

Scrappy handles are a must! Fabric is Fog City Kitty by Pam Kitty Morning. Linen is from Joann Fabrics.

Happy sewing!!

Great Granny Twist Blog Hop

It's the most wonderful time of the year!!! One more week to finish up your Christmas gifts and I am so happy to be able to share a few ideas that you might want to use. I'm also super excited to be a part of the Great Granny Twist Blog Hop !!  I just love sewing along with Miss Bee.

If you have the book, you know that the Great Granny Square is made up of 4 generations of squares: the baby, the mama, the granny and the great granny. If you don't have the book go here right this very second :)

I have had so much fun sewing cute things from this book over the past few years. I made a table topper with the mama size blocks, but the whole point of this blog tour is to use the blocks in unexpected ways and give them a little twist!

I had some scraps of adorable Christmas fabric that I didn't want to waste and I decided to make three cute baby blocks and make a sew together bag. I used 1 1/2" squares to start, and my blocks ended up at an adorable 3" (finished). Little Joys fabric can be found here.

Great Granny Squared is full of really fun projects, and thanks to this blog tour, you now have inspiration to make so many more things! Lori's directions are so complete and fool proof, and really are beginner friendly!!

I'm in the company of three of my most favorite sewing friends today! Please go visit Tina of Emily Ann's Kloset, Trish of Notes of Sincerity and Renee of Sewn with Grace.

You can also head here to find out how the Lori, Kimberly and the girls at Fat Quarter Shop made a really fun twist on the block!

For the list of the other amazing bloggers that are sewing along this week visit here to find the list and be inspired!!

Happy Sewing!

Lori Holt's Cozy Calendar Blog Hop!!

Welcome to my stop on the Cozy Cottage Blog Tour!! You can only imagine my excitement when I heard that my cute friend Lori Holt was coming out with her own calendar in partnership with Fat Quarter Shop. Especially since the name of the calendar was the Cozy COTTAGE calendar. They did an amazing job and I almost can't wait for 2016 to hang this cute calendar in my sewing space! It is full of THE cutest photos of Lori's amazing cottage as well as a pattern for a cozy cottage block!

 I knew right away that I wanted to use my Holly's Tree Farm fabric to make a cute holiday cozy cottage. Aren't the matching wonder clips perfect?? This is also the first time I've used my Alphabitties for a project and they kept all of my pieces organized and looking cute at the same time!

The block comes in 2 different sizes for all kinds of fun projects. The calendar includes instructions for a cozy cottage pillow, which I chose to make, as well as a mini quilt!! How cute is this flying geese border??? As usual, Lori's instructions are so complete and detailed that she makes it easy to complete the projects with amazing results.

There is still time to order your own calendar to get yourself ready for a cozy and creative 2016!!!

Summer Sewing????

Our weather here in Ohio has been more like fall than summer, so I thought I might as well play with some cute Halloween fabrics. These are by Maude Asbury for Blend Fabrics and are "Spooktacular". I wanted to make something to take advantage of the large scale prints, and decided on a tote bag.

I used a fun pattern by Sotak Handmade and you can find the pattern here.

This was easy to put together and really lets the fabric take center stage. This is a big bag and will hold lots of candy..... Or knitting..... Or would be fun to use a tote bag during the month of October. I'd love to make a few more of these in a smaller size for a few little trick or treaters that I know. This one has been claimed by my son's girlfriend, who absolutely adores owls.

Next up.... Christmas????

It's Baking Day

Hi Everyone! It's another Farmgirl Friday and time to make something cute! I'm in charge of the Baking Day block. How cute are these bowls and wooden spoon??? Are your bowls vintage Pyrex? Or maybe they're from World Market...or Anthropologie?

Lori Holt has written another amazing book, and each block is cuter than the other. I love that you have your choice of block size, either 6" or 12". The 6" size is so cute and perfect for pot holders, or I was thinking of a pocket on an apron! Or sew all of them to make the super cute Farmgirl Vintage Sampler Quilt!!

My first thought for fabric for the farmgirl blocks was going to be 1930's repro fabrics, but Lori's fabrics are just so perfect! Fat Quarter shop has a Farmgirl Vintage bundle hand picked by Miss Bee!!

I hope you'll keep sewing along with us! You can find a list of all of the amazing bloggers who are sewing along here.. You can also check out #farmgirlfridays on Instagram to see lots and lots and lots of cute Farmgirl blocks.

Think Spring!!

Hi Everyone! I received a sweet email from Kerry asking if I would PLEASE update my blog! So here I am popping in to say Hello! Even though I'm not here on the blog, I am still sewing and being creative. If you're ever curious and want to see what I'm sewing, just pop over to Instagram. I am happylittlecottage1. I have also moved my shop to a new venue. You can find these cute bags here.

My obsession at the moment is making bags! Zipper pouches and cute tote bags. The tote bag is call the tessa basket pattern by greenletterday on instagram.  It looks so cute in different fabrics and is a great scrap buster. Can I just say how much I love Feed Company by Sweetwater????  I have a layer cake waiting to be sewn into something cute. Maybe another tote, or a zipper pouch, or a table topper? Time will tell.

This week I will be sewing pillows for my house. Becky asked for fabric for her birthday to be sewn into pillows. Just waiting for the package.

Hope you are all sewing and crafting and beating the winter blues! 2 more weeks til Spring!! YIPPEE!!!

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Fat Quarter Style

Hi!! Happy Summer!!! To celebrate all the fun of summer...bbq's, beach time, pool time, flip flops and corn on the cob, lets add a fun giveaway!

The sweet ladies over at the Fat Quarter Shop sent me TWO copies of their new book by It's So Emma called Fat Quarter Style.  One for me, and one for YOU!!!

This book is so amazing. It has patterns for 12 delicious quilts and each one is prettier than the other. All the patterns are written for beginner quilters, though seasoned quilters will love them too. Lots of eye candy pictures, and plenty of solid information for you to complete a quilt will will be proud of and love for years to come.

All you need to do to enter is to leave me comment here telling me what you are working on this summer. A quilt? Making Jam? Your tan?

I will pick a name from a hat on August 2nd and announce the winner so that you can follow along on their blog tour!! Good Luck!!!

GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.