Appleton Dance

Nametag/Document pouch to wear around your neck Cynthia Wilsher of the Greater Ann Arbor Quilt Guild shared her pattern for her "Gotta Have It Bag" that she uses to hold her guild nametag. The little bag has three pockets and a clear pouch on the front to hold a nametag or entrance ticket to an event. I made eight of these bags for the goodie bags we distributed on our friends trip to the Shipshewana Quilt Festival in Shipshewana, Indiana on June 26. The construction technique is fast and easy and the little bags are fun to make from scrap fabrics. I changed the design to make my bags slightly larger than the original, about 5 x 7-inches; I also added interfacing and used a different finish for the binding. I rewrote the directions and photographed the process; see below. All the how-to photos were taken by Alisa. Materials: Cut from clear plastic 5.5 x 3.5-inch piece (Note: you can use document covers available at office supply stores, or you can use hea...

I've been working on the "Hot Cross Stars" a Cut Loose Press design by Kathy Seal of The Quilt Patch in Tecumseh, Michigan  using the   4.5-inch 90-degree double-strip ruler by Creative Grids. . Kathy Seal demos this process on YouTube at " Quilting Tutorial: Hot Cross Stars and More Double-Strip Ruler Quilts"  .  This process is another of those techniques that transforms fabric quickly by stitching fabric strips together then cutting the stitched strips using the special ruler. You end up with patches featuring three fabrics that can be arranged in various design blocks. The block I made is Kathy Seal's "Hot Cross Stars". I made these scrap patches using fabrics from my stash and displayed here on my design wall. The technique is very, very fast and easy and so much fun! Close up of four "Hot Cross Star" patches. Close up of single patch (red and blue). Close up of single patch (red and green). I'm using the patches ...

Materials Note: Use upholstery-weight fabric, heavy cotton duckcloth or denim, OR two layers of lighter cotton, OR lightweight fabric reinforced with iron-on interfacing. Use a number 16 heavy-weight needle in sewing machine. Fabric 19 x 22-inches to cut two identical pattern pieces for the pillow top and bottom. Fabric (identical, or to coordinate with the pillow top/bottom fabric) 8 x 70-inches for pillow gusset 7.5-inches 5/8-inch wide fusible hook and loop tape for closure 8 inches woven belting for handle or make strap from 4x8-inch scrap of fabric reinforced with fusible interfacing (Fold fabric longways, press, fold edges to center, press. You will have a folded strip of fabric 1x8-inches. Unfold. Cut interfacing 2 x 8-inches long and fuse to center of fabric. Fold-in edges, fold down center and press. Topstitch 1/4 -inch from both edges to form handle.) 4 pounds buckwheat hulls OR 16-oz bag Morning Glory Cluster Stuff fiber to stuff pillow Directions ...

My friend Kathy S. made this cute appliqued banner for her daughter's wedding this summer. She said: The pinks and green fabrics were just cotton duck fabric. The navy and yellow were outdoor fabrics. I got the design from my computer clip art -- just enlarged it to make it work for the flag and made a pattern from newsprint. . . . The finished dimensions are 29" x 42" but I would add a few inches to both the width and length if I were making this again.

I fell in love months ago with this baby blanket at Aesthetic Nest .  When I found out my sister-in-law was expecting I couldn't wait to make one as a gift.  Because I didn't know the sex of the baby I thought that a navy, white and pale yellow combo would be perfect. I ordered up my supplies from Fabric.com .  One and one-half yards each of  Premier Prints ZigZag Twill Blue , Solid Flannel Navy , Solid Flannel White  and Solid Flannel Yellow . (See also "Cotton chenille" post.) Anneliese's tutorial is great, I followed it exactly...except for the part where I had it quilted by a friend with a long-arm machine after I realized that sewing zigzags across 45" square of thick twill layered with flannel wasn't going to work on my machine. (Thanks Gail!). I layered the white, yellow and blue flannel over the wrong side of the chevron twill fabric and trimmed the whole thing to about 48" square.  Once the quilting was done, it was a snap to sn...

Photo by Alisa Theil Since Alisa bought the patterns for this tote for me, I thought it was only fair to make one for her birthday present. I fell in love with the Ghastlie Family Reunion fabric from The Alexander Henry Fabrics Collection, 2011, especially the gray color option shown here. The bag is lined with Ghastlie Bramble, also in the gray color option -- seen above as the back of two large pockets inset in the front of the bag. I purchased my fabric from Creative Quilt Kits in Brighton, Michigan. The "ghastlie" series is available for $10.90 a yard from their online store at  http://www.creativequiltkits.com/quilt-fabrics/manufacturer/alexander-henry-1.html . The SKU for the fabric I used is SKU: AH-7596B. Alisa purchased the tote patterns for me from Geta Grama's Romanian Quilt Studio website. She bought the "Amalie" and "Belle" patterns, and the "Nicole" pattern was included as a bonus (total cost $19). I received the patter...

I found a hand-drawn pattern for this "Kangaroo Pocket Apron" in my files when I reorganized my  workroom. The directions were typed and signed Linda Theil, 1978. The original called for hemmed edges and ribbon ties. For this version, I made self ties and cut a full facing to finish the top of the apron. I seamed the pocket right side to wrong side and turned the pocket to the front to finish all the edges. This method left a chancy bit where the pocket and the top facing met, but not enough for me to worry about. I think if I made this again I'd just make it with a full lining and a smaller, applied pocket. The apron is generously sized, and can be adjusted to fit all sizes with an adjustable neck tie and wrap-around waist ties. You will need 2-1/4 yards of fabric and a D-ring set for the neck tie. If you want a contrasting pocket and ties, use a different fabric 3/4 yards in length for those pieces. You will also need a bodkin to turn the apron neck tie and waist ti...