Wordless Wednesday - Festival Edition

High Hampton Inn Apple Festival

Hello!  I hope you all are having a great weekend!  This weekend in Cashiers, North Carolina is the 2nd Annual High Hampton Inn Apple Festival.  For more information, click here.

If you are in the area, please stop by and say hello!

Blogger's Bar Hop Quilt Along

Good Morning!  Welcome to my stop on the Blogger's Bar Hop Quilt Along!  You can find the original post introducing the quilt along here.

When I was thinking about what block to design, I wanted a more abstract concept of bars (or rectangles).  I was looking everywhere for inspiration.  I finally found it in a most unlikely place...a tissue box.

I was really drawn to the graphics on this box and after looking at the fabrics supplied for the quilt along, I decided I wanted to make a version of this design using Fall colors.  These were the fabrics that were provided:

We were allowed to add either one print and one solid or two solids.  I decided to add one print and no solids because the two neutrals were so similar in value.  I added a pop of orange!

Here are the directions for making this block (disclaimer...I wanted this to be very organic, so you can change the measurements to fit your block and your style).

Start by cutting your two neutral fabrics into strips (bars) of various widths. 

Sew these strips together in a random order using a 1/4" seam.

Keep adding the strips until you have a piece that measures approximately 11-1/2" x 11-1/2".  This does not have to be exact.  We are just making the background, which should look something like this when finished:

Press all of your seams to your preference.  I pressed mine to one side.

Now we are going to add the stems.  Cut two strips from your brown fabric.  These need to be at least 1" wide to finish at 1/2", but they can be bigger if you prefer.  I cut one of mine at 1" and one at 1-1/2" because I didn't want them to be the same.

Lay your brown strips on top of your finished background piece and decide where you would like the placement of your stems to be.  I wanted mine to be asymmetrical, but you can make yours any way you like!

Once you decide your placement for the stems, use your rotary cutter and ruler to make the cuts into your background fabric to insert the stems.  Sew your stems into the background fabric using a 1/4" seam:

Here is how mine looked after I had sewn in the first stem:

When I wanted to insert my second stem, I decided to flip the background fabric to make the background a little more random, but you can keep it the same if you like.

Sew second stem into the background fabric using a 1/4" seam.  Your piece should look something like this:

Trim your block to measure 12-1/2" x 12-1/2".  The leaves are appliqué, so we won't need to piece anything else.  Here is the fun part!  Take the remaining fabric, use the template, and cut out your leaves!

*A note about the template.  I used the template to cut out my leaves for raw edge appliqué.  If you want to use the template for needle turn appliqué, please add a seam allowance.  Also, you can experiment with the size of your leaves by setting your printer to print at different percentages.  

After you appliqué your leaves, your block is finished!

So, did our inspiration match our final product?

I am very pleased with how this block turned out!  If you make this block, please send me a photo, I would love to see it!  

I hope all of you have a great weekend!!!

Baby Love

I have so many things for show and tell today!  ***WARNING*** Picture heavy post!

I am continuing to work on my baby quilts for the festival.  I am so in LOVE (pun intended) with the baby girl quilt that I have been working on.  Lately, I am really drawn to words in quilts and on fabrics.  Anything with text, and I am in!  I decided to piece the letters for LOVE after seeing Tonya Ricucci's book "Word Play Quilts".  I haven't purchased the book yet, but after trying these letters, I want a copy so bad!

I was thinking of words that apply to babies, and what better word than LOVE?  

This is more of a "statement" quilt than an exercise in piecing, so the entire quilt is the panel and some large borders.

This is an up close shot of the border fabric:

And I'm thinking about this for the backing, but I'm not completely sold...I think it might be too much of the same:

Any thoughts???  I can't wait to finish this to show you all!  It reminds me of sweet babies and pink lemonade!

I have also made a couple more half aprons in Christmas fabric:

And a full apron:

Three cross-body bags.  These are perfect for traveling, I use mine all of the time!

Halloween coasters!  I really want to make some of these for myself!

Christmas coasters!  I also want some of these for myself!

And some patchwork coasters!  These are so fun!

*please don't judge...I haven't had time to trim these up and make them look pretty!

With Halloween coming up, I thought I would make some tote bags that could be used for Trick-Or-Treat:

I have a laundry bag that I always use when traveling.  It is so handy for keeping everything that is dirty from everything that is clean.  So, I made some laundry bags based on that one.  They are fully lined and hold so much laundry!  The best part is, that when they start to get dirty, you can wash them as well!

 Here is a close up of one of my favorites - I love the striped lining:

Tonight I need to finish one last baby quilt.  This will be my more neutral (as in not boy or girl specific) quilt.  I'm going to make it really scrappy and use the quilt as you go method.  I have started with red squares for the centers and I have all of my batting squares cut:

I'm linking up to WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced.  I hope you all have a great day!

Don't forget to come back on Friday for my stop on the Blogger's Bar Hop Quilt Along!

Quilt for a Baby Boy

Hello!  I hope that you all had an excellent weekend!!!  It is finally starting to feel like Fall here and I could not be happier!  Fall is my absolute favorite season!

I have still been sewing like mad for the festival and I have lots to show you later this week - I haven't had time to take photographs of everything!

But, I did photograph this sweet quilt top that I made for a baby boy:

This was so fun to put together!  And QUICK!  I pulled fabrics (from STASH!!!) and cut them, sewed the individual blocks and then the quilt top in about an hour and a half!

Here are some close ups of my favorite blocks:

I will be back later with lots more photos!  Hope you all have a great Monday!!!