Is There Anything Cuter than This Little Mouse?

Well, okay, maybe babies and kittens could be cuter -

- but that's all, I'm sure of it!

This is one of four paper-piecing designs newly released by my friend Juliet at The Tartankiwi - you remember the oh-so-talented designer of my recent Mini-Seahorse?

So Juliet has been up to her designing tricks once again - designers gonna design, you know what I mean?  This time she has released the cutest patterns ever in her new Mini Woodland Bundle!  And stick around to the bottom of this post because I'm going to tell you how you can WIN lots of really cool quilty prizes by joining in her Mini Woodland QAL!!!

Photo courtesy of ©The Tartankiwi

Each of the four patterns in the bundle come in four sizes - 4", 5", 6" and 8" - so you can go really really mini if you love mini's like me, or you can save your sanity and go bigger like a few of my friends :*)  These are quick little projects - I sewed up several in one day!  I love having a quick project to play with when time doesn't allow work on something more complicated, don't you?

Here are my little quilt tops - I made mine 5".....

Mouse - I have to show it again cuz it's my favorite!!!!!

Badger - so bold and brave!

Squirrel - I think he's just slightly nutty .... (I can hear you groaning!)

Bunny - Omigosh that tiny pink nose!!!

As with every Tartankiwi pattern I've sewn, these little quilts went together like butter!  Juliet's sections match up perfectly, and everything is easy to follow, and for me sewing up a stress-free pattern is FUN!  Right?

So I know you're all anxious to find out how to win those great prizes just for having a blast sewing up some cuter-than-cute Woodland creatures - right?  Well you can read all the details HERE and see all the prizes HERE in Juliet's announcement of the QAL, but basically, for each Mini Woodland Bundle creature you complete and use in a finished project, you will get a chance at the prizes!  Easy-peasy, right?  Juliet suggests, mini coasters like her original little quilts, or a fun pouch.... How about a wall quilt using all four designs - you would get four chances with that project!

I know I will be thinking hard about how I want to sew up my adorable little Woodland creatures...  What shall they be?  Hmmmm.......  Gosh!  There are so many possibilities for these sweet babies!!!

How would you use them?  Head on over to Juliet's Etsy, Payhip or Craftsy stores to purchase your Mini Woodland Bundle pattern set - ON SALE for the duration of the QAL at just $7.50 for the bundle!!!  (Note there may be very slight currency differences.)  That price is too good to pass up even if you don't intend to join in the QAL, right?  Then have fun stitching up your own little bunnies, and mousies, and ... well, you get the picture :*)

The QAL is being hosted on Instagram, so in order to win just share your finished projects on Instagram and tag @tartankiwi along with the hashtag #woodlandqa.  And if you haven't yet joined Instagram, well then, now's a good time to get started!  It's a very easy and fun site.  No long blog posts to slog through (who me?????) - just lovely pictures to stroll through and a fun giveaway once in a while.

So now I'm off to see what I can create with my sweet Woodland creatures!  I hope to see some of yours on Instagram!

I wish you all a lovely week and plenty of whatever gives you great Joy!!!!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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So Many Projects!!!

I thought I'd share a few of the projects that are getting the lion's share of my attention lately.  I've got so many quilting irons in the fire right now!  But I think I really work best when I have a lot going on.  It keeps me energized and inspired to have lots of different projects to choose from on any given day.  There's always something in the works that trips my trigger and makes me want to play in the studio!!!

Blue Collection is one of my Dinosaur UFO's - it's been in process since 2008!!!  It's my focus project for this year, and I've been steadily plugging along on it.  I'm happy to say that I've finally added the 3D tree in the center!  This tree has been a stumbling block for me from the beginning.  I've been dreading it!  But it got to the point that I couldn't add other elements until the tree was stitched down, so I finally bit the bullet and went for it!

The tree is made from three tapered bias strips of brown fabrics that are braided together and then loosely arranged on the quilt center, with lots of little branches and leaves sprouting out from it.  (Rocky felt that this particular strip should be his - we had a little bit of a disagreement about it, but happily I finally won ☺)

I had to piece together the blocks in the center section of the quilt with their blue-and-white checkerboard sashing before I could begin to make the tree.

When I appliqued that bottom pot, I left a section open so that I could slip the tree limbs down inside ....

I'm doing hand-stitched applique on this quilt, and it's pretty difficult work handling this large center section to stitch down the tree and all those little remaining leaves, but there was just no way around it.  Of course, this little guy with his curious little nose in everything I'm doing doesn't help LOL!!!  This picture was taken just seconds before he snatched the whole piece off my lap and tried to run for it!

There are quite a few wonderful little details stitched into this quilt ....

And lots of stitching remaining to be done!  But I can't tell you how excited I am to have gotten this far on my Blue Collection project!  I will try my best to post about my progress more often :*)

I usually try to have at least one project all set up and ready to stitch at the machine, so that when I have a spare few minutes I can use it stitching.  This is a paper-pieced project in progress called Diamonds Are Forever from a class I took at guild several years ago.

Lots and lots of scrap strips are going into this fun quilt, and it is amazing how quickly these blocks add up!

Happily, I also have an almost finish to show you!!!  Notice Rocky photo-bombing in the top right?  Believe me, he's not going to miss a quilt-on-the-floor opportunity!!!

Calypso is a kit My Guy bought for me quite a few years ago at a local quilt shop that is no longer in business.  I made the quilt top and then put it on my flimsy shelf to be quilted - and it has remained there for way too long.  I decided to put it on my Guild UFO Challenge list, and it's number came up for this month.  My friend Joanne let me use her long-arm machine so I could git 'er done ...

This will be a feel-good finish for me - I love whittling down that flimsy shelf!

Tomorrow my plan is to quilt and bind my little 14" Fractured Seahorse.  The fabric on the bottom is my backing fabric, and I'm thinking to use a scrappy hot pink binding.  This one is going to go in my stand-up frame in the living room for the summer!

After all the sewing I've been doing on my Janome 6600P, it was finally time to send it off to the spa for a good cleaning and to check the timing, etc.  While it was gone, Rocky found a new favorite place to sit and watch me as I putter around the studio ....

He's such a fun little guy, and I love how he keeps us smiling and laughing!

I'll be linking up with lots of fun parties this week:

Slow Sunday Stitching

Design Wall Monday
Main Crush Monday 

Oh Scrap!

I May Have a Scrap Problem

Linky Tuesday Party
WIPs Be Gone 

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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A Horse is a Horse, of course ....

.... Unless it's a Seahorse!

Design by ©The Tartankiwi

I spent my weekend happily paper piecing, testing this wonderful pattern designed by Juliet at The Tartankiwi.  Juliet is one very talented designer!!!  This is her mini-Seahorse pattern, finishing up at 14 inches square.  It went together like butter - you will love working with her patterns if you like to paper piece.

I really recommend that you go to her website HERE and check out her other designs.  For instance, she has a full-sized Seahorse HERE.  It took my breath away the first time I saw it!  The pattern for the full-sized Seahorse will be available on her site soon - I can't wait!  I'll be sure to let you know when both patterns become available.  Her newest release is a full-sized Zebra - Oh my!  You've got to go see that one!!!

I was like a kid with a new toy when Juliet sent me the mini-Seahorse to test for her!  Pulling fabrics for a new project is my absolute favorite part of quilting!  As you can see, I got a little help with this one.....

Okay Mom - that's enough fabrics for TEN quilts - enough already!!!

Rocky even chose his favorite fabric .... he was pretty darn persistent that this piece of fabric was now his and I couldn't have it LOL!!!

Paper-piecing is one of my favorite piecing techniques.  But I do tend to end up with a mess ....

I admit I'm pretty hopeless at keeping the fabrics neat while in the middle of a project, but one of the things I like to do to keep my piecing organized is to color in the different sections so I can see at a glance which fabric comes next....

And before long, I have a finished section!

I'm a huge seahorse fan - I've loved them since I was a small child when my grandmother took me every summer to Ocean City MD.  It used to be pretty difficult to find seahorse things to collect, but happily they've become more popular in recent years.  They always remind me of my sweet Granny!

While I was happily stitching along, My Guy and Rocky came up to keep me company and watch golf....

Well, actually, it turns out Rocky doesn't seem to share our enthusiasm for golf.  He thought it was a great time for a nap on his favorite quilt!  Of course, when he woke up, then it was play time.....

Let's see what I can knock down from here - wow this is high!!!

I'm heading out to sit-n-sew with some friends this morning - I hope you have plans to do something fun and creative as well!!!

Linking up:

Design Wall Monday

Tuesday Linky Party
Let's Bee Social

Oh Scrap!

Can I Get a Whoop! Whoop!

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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Loving Me Some Rainbows!!!

Pretty little BLUE crumb blocks in the SNOW!!!!  Yes,  my friends, we got SNOW here in Nashville last night!  Oh JOY :*)  Okay, so it was only about half an inch, and it was gone by noon, but it was a real, true-to-life, bonafide, honest to goodness SNOW!  And it was so lovely on the ground when I awoke this morning, I just had to run out and take a picture of my crumb blocks in it before it melted :*)

One of my favorite blog parties is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge with Angela at So Scrappy, and I was delighted when she said she would be hostessing again this year.  I decided that the crumb jars would figure in my plan of attack, so I dumped out this month's color jar - BLUE! - and got to work (or should I say play?) ....

Every jar in every color is full to overflowing, so something's got to be done with them.  I love the freedom and mindless sewing of stitching up all these fun leftover pieces into a serendipitous quilt that will be loved and cuddled up in just like the planned quilts that were made from the original yardages :)

I love the "anything goes" mentality - stripes and solids, plaids and florals - throw them all in there and make something sparkling and new!

These are a great start, and we have another week yet to play with our BLUEs before a new color is announced.  All my pieces are still poured out next to my machine, ready for any spare moments I may find to churn out more lovely little crumb blocks :)

And speaking of RAINBOWS- I made a good start on the first block of my Arcadia Avenue quilt this week!

Click on the button in the sidebar to learn more about this quilt :)

I hit a little bump in the road as I started to cut the pieces for this first block - one of my fabrics was only a fat quarter instead of a half yard!  Apparently I had never unfolded it to be sure.  Duh!

So I had to go back to the stash and on the right is the fabric I chose to replace it.  I loved the orange elements in the first fabric, but I wasn't sure where I had bought it (I suspect in NC), and the online pictures were not close enough for me to be sure I would be ordering the same exact colorway.  As small as these pieces will end up being cut, I'm thinking it will be fine.  I actually ended up exchanging several fabrics for those I had originally picked ....

I'm using all stash for this quilt except for the Dark Raspberry which will be my medium constant, and the soft gray polka dot, which is my light constant.  The black is my dark constant from my stash.

I'm loving the fact that this project is paper pieced!  It's been so long since I had the pleasure of making a paper-pieced quilt.  I think one thing that appeals to me is the flow of it.  I always work on multiple sections at a time and chain piece ....

..... and having all the pieces laid out ready to stitch appeals to my organizational soul :)

Of course, I was quickly reminded that it is not very wise to try to watch TV and chain piece a paper-pieced project .... LOL!!!

This is going to be such a fun quilt and I am glad to finally get started on it :)  Sassafras Lane is hosting a Quilt Along for anyone working on this quilt, so if you're interested, you can go HERE to get all the juicy details ♥

In the meantime, be sure to go HERE to see all the other lovely BLUE blocks shared in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this week!

Also linking up with BOM's Away HERE and Tuesday Linky Party at Freemotion by the River:)

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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DWM: A Tutorial–Fussy Cut Paper-piecing

During the Dots on Dots Blog Hop, I promised to put together a tutorial to show you how I fussy cut fabrics for paper-piecing.  

When I first began paper-piecing I struggled with centering a motif in a particular section because of the way seam allowances are trimmed before pieces are sewn together.  Without a lot of shifting, which often left another area uncovered, I just couldn't place my fabrics exactly where I wanted them.  My results were often haphazard.  However, once I learned this trick, I can now put any motif exactly where I want it on any paper-pieced design!

So on my Design Wall today is this little teapot block.  I’ll show you how I planned my fabric placement so that the flowers are centered perfectly in their section of the block.

Find this cute Teapot pattern here -
http://www.craftsy.com/pattern/quilting/other/tea-pot-paper-pieced-block/17870

Please note that this tutorial will assume that you already know how to paper piece.  If you are new to paper-piecing, there are many tutorials available on the web to help you learn.

In addition to my normal paper piecing supplies, fabrics and pattern, I also used a light box.

Section 5 is the area that I want to fussy cut.

First I turned the paper pattern over.  On the back I marked the line between Sections 1 and 5 where I would be sewing, as well as the left & right side lines, with a pencil so I could see it clearly - see picture below....  

Then I laid my pattern piece right side up on the light box and positioned the fabric, also right side up, on top of the pattern, placing it the way I want it to look in the finished block.  Can you see how the lines of the pattern show through the fabric so I can audition placement of the motif I am fussy cutting?

Place a small amount of fabric glue on the paper and stick the fabric to it in the desired placement position.  My fabric glue stick goes on blue and disappears as it dries.  

This is only a temporary process to hold the fabric in place while you prepare it.  You will unstick it soon, so do not use a lot of glue, just enough to hold it in place without shifting.

Using a pair of scissors, I trimmed the fabric generously around the lines of the section - DO NOT TRIM THE PAPER, JUST THE FABRIC.  Since the fabric is glued down it will not shift while you do this.  Also note that this is not the time to get frugal with fabric!  Make sure you have plenty of fabric around the edges of the section.

Next I placed everything on my cutting board, fabric side down, and using my straight edge, folded the paper back on the sewing line.  Then I used my 1/4" ruler & rotary cutter to trim the 1/4" seam allowance for the fabric.  This is where you veer away from normal paper piece technique for a minute.  The fabric is still wrong side to the right side of the pattern.  But do not be concerned; it will go back to the normal positioning of right sides together before you sew :*)

My fabric now has only the 1/4" seam allowance remaining over the line where I will be sewing:

Next I lifted the fabric up and made small pencil marks on the back of it at each line, left & right of the sewing line, so I would know where to position it when I turn it right sides together to sew.  This is the mark I had on each side on the back of my fabric.  

Now I was able to gently unstick the fabric from the pattern.

I then paper pieced sections 1-4 as I normally would,  trimming my 1/4" allowance on Section 1 to which I would sew my fussy-cut Section 5.  

As I placed my Section 5 fabric right sides together in position to sew it to Section 1, I already knew my motif would be in perfect position top to bottom because I had cut my 1/4" seam allowance while it was glued perfectly in place on the pattern.  Now my pencil marks on the back of the fabric will line up with the lines on the pattern, so I can be sure that the motif is centered right to left as well.

See how the lines meet in the picture below at the red dots?  When I was satisfied that I had the fabric correctly centered left to right, I sewed on my line as I normally would.

Now see how neatly the motif fits in the desired section!  I have already added the top Section #6 in this picture so you can get the full picture of how nicely the motif is centered.

And here is my finished result!

A perfectly fussy cut flower motif!!!

I hope this tutorial helped you!  If you have questions, please feel free to email me and I'll do my best to answer them.  

Please go to Patchwork Times to see what others have on their Design Walls today =^..^=

I also wanted to give you a nice head's up that Barbara over at Cat Patches is having a wonderful giveaway to celebrate 700 followers!  Go HERE to see the goodies you could win :*)

Hugs & Blessings!

Teresa

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