Fall Leaves

I joined a swap group this morning that needed one more member.  The theme was Fall/Thanksgiving.  So even though the deadline is Oct 31, I decided to get them done today.  I took pictures along the way, so you can see how this block is made.

I love this quick way of making half-square triangles!  I needed 48 – 1 inch finished half square triangles for my 12 leaf blocks.  So I added one inch to the finished size and measured out a 2 inch grid.  24 squares (6 by 4) yields 48 half square triangles.

Draw a grid on the back of the light fabric, add in the diagonal lines, and sew on 1/4 inch on either side of all the diagonals.  Cut apart on the lines with a rotary cutter.  And voila!  48 half square triangles are done in no time.

The part that takes the longest is the trimming to make them just the right size.  I like to make them a smidge too big, so that I can trim them up to just the perfect size.

It does take a while though…

I needed some chocolate to get through it…

Then I got the stems all sewn.  Just a ribbon sew down the diagonal of the square…easy.

Here are all the  parts, ready to be sewn together.

They made a pretty cool pattern when I put them all up on the design wall together!

 

They’re all ready to pop in the mail.  And now I’ll be getting fun mail all month as all the fall swap blocks start arriving!

Card Exchange–September

From sewing a pouch to sewing cards.  Here’s this month’s. 

Sewing fix

I came across a tutorial today.  I was intrigued and had to try it out.  I love zipper pouches.  They are a quick sewing project that is so functional. This one had a different zipper technique.

I love how it turned out and how wide it opens up! I can see more of these in my future.

Now it’s time to clean up the fabric and get the paper out for the cards that need to be made by Thursday!

Placemats

I swap 3.5 inch blocks on Flickr.  Here is what I did with my Trees and Houses blocks.

Summer

What a fun and busy summer. I’ve just been focusing on my kids and enjoying every minute. But now as we are winding down our summer and getting ready for school to start I’m looking forward to getting back to the sewing machine and to this space as well!

The Bitty Block Committee swapped trees in July. Here are mine. They required a special trip to the quilt shop to pick out this sky and water fabric.

And these are my July blocks for my sampler class. Bowties with inset seams. Fun!

And since school is starting and band camp is underway, that means it’s time to sew color guard flags as well!

Hope to see you again soon!

Miss K and The Birthday Quilt

Miss K wanted to make a quilt for her best friend.

She picked out the fabrics.

She pressed, I cut, she arranged…

We sewed.

She was so happy with the result and her friend was happy too!

Bitty Block Committee–Houses

Here are the little houses I made for the house swap.  I let everyone pick their house and mailed it off to them.

And these are the blocks I’ve received so far.  Still waiting for 3 more.

Here are the black and white plus a little color blocks I received last month:

Mine is the red spool. 

We’ve done both these themes before, so that will be nice to have some more blocks of the same theme for a project at some point!