Category Archives: Quilt Stash

Tutorial Tuesday: Machine Embroidered & Quilted Mug Rug

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MugRugTutorial

I am having a blast with my new embroidery/sewing machine!  It’s been sitting in its box since I received it because I didn’t have room to set it up until I moved to my quilt studio.  For my first project, I made an embroidered and quilted mug rug…then thought of all sorts of people I wanted to make one for.  I might even make them for imaginary people, it’s that much fun!

Ahem.  On with the show….errr, tutorial!

Supplies

  • Fabric for embroidery
  • Stabilizer for embroidery
  • Scrap fabric for borders, backing & binding
  • Batting

Tutorial

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Cut the fabric and stabilizer for the embroidery about 2″ wider than your embroidery hoop.

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Insert your fabric and stabilizer into your embroidery hoop, pulling the fabric so that it does not have any puckers or wrinkles on it.  Secure it in the hoop and tighten the hoop so the fabric does not move around.

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Set your hoop up in your embroidery machine and choose an embroidery pattern.  Then, let the embroidery machine do all the embroidery work for you!

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Once your embroidery machine is finished, remove your fabric and stabilizer from the hoop and press flat.

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Square up your embroidery and trim the excess fabric away.

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Using fabric scraps, cut the left and right borders to your embroidery to whatever size you’d like to make your mug rug (adding in your seam allowances).

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Sew the left and right borders to your embroidered center.

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Press your left and right borders toward the scrap fabric.

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Repeat the same process with the top and bottom borders.

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Press and lightly starch the finished mug rug top.

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Create your quilt sandwich with your embroidered top, batting and backing.

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Securely pin your quilt sandwich.

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Machine quilt your mug rug in whatever pattern you prefer.

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Trim your mug rug so that the top, batting and backing are all the same size.

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Prepare your binding and bind your mug rug.

MugRugTutorial

Congratulations!  Now you have a lovely mug rug to use or gift to someone!

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Tutorial Tuesday: Sew N’Slash Scrappy Pennant Points

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The purpose of making a scrappy quilt is…using up your quilt scraps.  Right?  Keeping that in mind, my tutorial today is doing just that – and ending up with some pretty rad quilt blocks, too!

I developed my Sew N’Slashâ„¢ method of making quilt blocks in 2009 and have had a blast employing it ever since.  It’s almost fool-proof and it makes putting quilt blocks together so much easier than all that precise measuring, cutting and piecing.  The key, with Sew N’Slashâ„¢ is all in the final block cuts.

Think of Sew N’Slashâ„¢ in terms of piecing a paper-pieced quilt block except without the paper.  That’s how I approach it when I use it.  Without further ado, let’s get started!

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Begin by choosing various fabric pieces for your blocks.  While these fabrics I’ve chosen are scraps, they are all from the same colorway.  That isn’t necessary.  The scrappier, the better!

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Determine the size you want to make your pennant point.  I decided on 60° angles and about 4 1/2″ unfinished height.

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Choose the fabrics you would like to flank your pennant point.  Lay them out with your pennant point to make sure your scrap is big enough, by length and width, to create your desired finished block size.  I found these two squares so cut them diagonally, corner-to-corner, ONE (1) time.  I only need ONE (1) green and ONE (1) blue triangle for a single Pennant Point block.

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Because I am dealing with triangles that are cut on the bias, I like to starch and press each piece of fabric before doing anything else, to reduce the chances of the fabric stretching.  Then, pin the green fabric to the pennant point and sew together with a 1/4″ seam allowance.  Once done, press toward the pennant point.

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Repeat the same sewing process to the opposite side of the pennant point (pins optional).

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Once pressed, this is what your pennant point looks like with the two flanks sewn on.

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It’s time to trim the excess fabric!  My unfinished block size is 3 1/2″ wide by 4 1/2″ long.  Using my rotating cutting board (such a quilt-fabulous invention!), I square up my block to my desired dimensions.

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After another quick spray of starch and pressing it with a hot iron, this is the finished Pennant Point block!  Repeat the process and make another one (or more).  It is always quicker to chain piece a number of blocks but if you are trying to perfect your own Sew N’Slashâ„¢ abilities, just make one or two at a time.  It does get much easier with practice!

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Ta-da!  Two Pennant Point blocks using my Sew N’Slashâ„¢ method.

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Pin the two Pennant Point blocks, right sides together, and sew them together with a 1/4″ seam allowance.

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This time, press the seams open.  It reduces the bulk for your finished Pennant Point block and makes sewing multiple blocks together a breeze without lumps and bumps.

PennantPoints-block

The finished Pennant Point block using my Sew N’Slashâ„¢ method.

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And this is an illustration of what a quilt top would look like if you wanted to create a quilt using Pennant Point blocks made with my Sew N’Slashâ„¢ method.  It definitely would be MUCH more fun with scrappier fabric choices.


My Stash Rabbits

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Ahem.  I have decided that my quilt fabric stash is multiplying like little rabbits.  It just keeps growing and growing, almost outgrowing the space I have for it!  I love to look at such beautiful eye candy, stroke the fabrics, make plans for the fabric and just know that if I need to start a new quilt, I (hopefully) have just the right fabrics for the job.

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My ultimate goal is to have enough stash yardage that I can separate it into colors.  A lot more stash yardage is required for that to happen…but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy what I have right in front of me!


Stashbusters and UFO’s R Us!

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How’s your stash looking?  Are you adding more than you’re using?  I had to laugh at a lady who is in our local quilt group.  I am no longer able to attend the meetings but the group lives on and this friend is still part of the group.  Anyway, after two or three years, I realized she had never made a quilt block, never a quilt.  She showed off a number of projects she’d done such as cross-stitched Christmas stockings and dresses for her granddaughters…but no quilty projects!  I started teasing her about it.  She maintained she was still in the ‘gathering’ stage.  Okay, I can respect that.  I get in that stage sometimes, too.  I know what I want to make but the fabric that I have on hand just doesn’t speak to me as a fabric to go into that project.  So, I gather.  I find a fabric here and there and everywhere, buy small quantities (maybe just a fat quarter) and once I have all of the fabrics together, I test a block to see if my vision is actually coming through with those fabrics.  I may feel all is well and complete the project.  I may feel like I am missing one or two fabrics, so I keep gathering.

Then I have all of these small bits and pieces of fabric and they end up in a stash basket.  And I fill up my stash basket and have to go purchase more.  And then I realize my stash baskets are taking over my sewing room…my house…the world!!!

On the other hand, I have this block that isn’t exactly what I want for the quilt in question, so the block goes on another shelf, waiting for me to do something with it.  After six months, I notice the dust on that block so I pull it down, shake it out…and put it right back where I found it.  Wait a minute.  That’s not how this is supposed to work!  I am not doing anything with those misfit blocks except adding to the pile and dusting them off.  I need to either pass them along to someone who can do something with them or put them to use in a quilt project of some sort.  As embarrassing as it is, I have blocks I made five and six years ago that STILL don’t have a quilty home – except for the piles on my shelves.

NOW what do I do?

I turned to my longarm quilter, Meloney Funk, to find out how she deals with her stash and her UFO’s.  Surely I’m not the only one who has been overcome with more stash than are needed and more UFO’s than are wanted.

Meloney says, “I belong to a number of Yahoo groups. Stashbusters has been the one to help me focus on not buying material and using up what I have.  They have a yearly UFO challenge which requires me to be accountable to the group on what I’ve accomplished.  This year they are having us make our UFO list and then they pick 2 numbers from the list for us to work on.”

“The Sampler Society UFO challenge is a little different.” Meloney continues, “They have you pick 6 UFOs to work on and then draw numbers of which one is to be worked on.  This caused me to complete 6 UFOs last year that might never have come to the top of my list.  The accountability makes me want to focus and finish.  I’ve finished 14 small UFOs in the month of January.”

Aha!  It appears that the key is to be accountable to others, to help motivate you to tackle both your stash and your UFO’s.  You don’t want to look bad to your fellow quilters and you want to make sure you are using up the fabrics you probably won’t use in the near future as well as finish your UFO’s.  Meloney has wisdom.  I need to learn from her!

Well, I would except – do you remember that “Jack and the Beanstock” book?

JackBeanstalk

Yeah, that’s the one – plant the special bean seeds and it’ll take you to the giant in the sky.  Ummm, well…I can’t see over my shelves because my stash and UFO’s have grown so high that they’re pushing against the ceiling.  I’ll see you l…a……t…….e……….r……………


When You Wish Upon a Star…

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I promise you that you will have that song in your head and/or on your lips for the rest of the day!  You’re welcome :-).

There are SO many star quilt blocks that I’d just show you a few to help you with the hitch in your getalong.  Again, you’re welcome :-).

I have a friend who always makes her scraps into HST’s or fabric squares.  She has bags of HST’s as well as 2″ squares.  She uses these as either fillers for the quilts she makes or to just make a quilt out of them, once she has enough.  A lot of times, she uses the HST’s to make stars for her quilts.  I admire that.  I really do!  Her awesomeness in that area of her quilt life is lost on me.  I either stuff the unused fabric into a basket on a shelf and occasionally pull it out and use whatever I need.  When I finish a quilt, I don’t want to even think about making HST’s or 2″ fabric squares – I want the quilt done and nothing more!

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What do YOU do with your leftover fabric from a quilt project?