Appleton Dance

by Linda Theil Since the "summer tote" I made using the June Tailor Quilt As You Go preprinted batting turned out to be one of my favorite totes; I thought it would be fun to make a quilt-as-you-go tote with pockets on the outside. I love the CAPSULES "Stargazer" fabric line from Art Gallery Fabrics Studio , and had in my stash a fat-quarter bundle along with a yard each of two of my favorite prints from that collection. For the quilt backing/tote lining, I used a multicolored print from Contempo's "Daily Zen" line from Benartex. The June Tailor preprinted batting for various totes, placemats, bibs, and mug rugs is available at fabric stores and online. Several videos of the quilt-as-you-go technique are available on YouTube, and more tips and techniques are available in the weblog post for my original tote at "Summer tote using preprinted batting"  . I learned how to make the quilt-as-you-go pocket from a YouTube tutorial for ...

  Last week I watched  Pepper Cory  on a PBS Create channel program called Quilting Arts. Cory made a small gift item she called a "Zakka Potholder" using fabric scraps and batting. She used a seamless patchwork technique that looked like fun, and I thought would make cute vignettes, or mug rugs. Cory finished her projects by machine, but I finished mine with hand stitching, making the entire project portable. A very nice PDF showing her process is available here . The video is available at the Quilting Daily site. Here is how I made mine! To make a seamless patchwork mug rug, you will need: One 10-inch square for backing One 8-inch square of batting One five-inch or six-inch square for central motif four 6.5-inch squares folded in half to make triangles for patchwork. You can experiment with the size of the squares, if desired. #8 perle coton for stitching  Lay 10-inch square wrong side up on surface. Place batting square in center of backing ...

by Alisa In January, I found out that a friend was about to have a baby boy. I had to make her something to celebrate!  I wanted it to be baby boy-ish and modern. I loved the idea of hugs and kisses for a baby so I chose to do a variation on the X's and O's block from Missouri Star. I picked the Delfina line from Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts for Andover Fabric . I used the Single Scoops  charm pack  for the body and Confetti Blue Moon  yardage for the binding and backing. I also ordered a yard of the Lady Bug Ivory yardage for a border, but ended up keeping the quilt borderless. I made the blocks following the tutorial from Missouri Star. I pulled out the blue and beige colors from 2 charm packs (leaving the medium tan patterns behind) and made the blocks by 'snowballing' the light patterns on each side of the blues. I used my new Diagonal Seam Tape by Cluck Cluck Sew to guide my seam. I played around with a couple of layout options ...