Appleton Dance

by Linda Theil  I saw a Shabby Fabrics advertisement for a mug rug with an autumn leaf motif made from a scrappy bear-paw block that was so cute I had to try it for myself. I watched the advertisement video for the mug rug kit, and I looked up a free bear-paw pattern on the Fat Quarter Shop site.  One of the tips from the video was to use a design board to keep your bear-paw pieees organized and placed correctly. I used my cutting mat as the design board for my prototype. But you can also make a quick and easy design board by clipping a piece of batting to a large clipboard. Shows makeshift design board  with design from another project. I gathered up some autumn colored and themed scraps and cut out the following pieces to make my bear-paw/leaf mug rug. My final mug rug is smaller than the one in the video; mine turned out to be 13 x 7 3/4-inches. Cut for mat: backing 15 inches wide x 8-inches high front 6 inches wide by 8 inches high batting 15 x 8-inches 1.5 yards 1-3/4-inch strip

 by Linda Theil I needed to make a heart block, and I could have just done a nice raw-edge applique, and that would have been fine; but, I wanted to make something with a little more heart in it. I thought I might have a paper-pieced pattern for a heart, so I pulled out my paper-piecing box and, sure enough, there was a nice heart I had downloaded free from the Crafty Gemini site on the Internet. I even had several made-up samples in my box, and they looked very nice so I decided to paper piece my heart block. This pink and gray heart was one of my samples made using the paper-piecing pattern from Crafty Gemini. I really like paper-piecing. My problem is that years ago I took a paper-piecing class from Kathy Groves who taught us how to work on one side of the pattern without all the flipping back and forth that seems so troublesome to me. But I can't actually remember from one time to the next how to do it correctly. So while I was putzing around with this heart pattern, it occurre

by Linda Theil Every time I make this classic "Clamshell Sling" belt-bag designed by Diane Spencer-Ogg, I say it is the best bag I've ever made. Even though the sling seems a very simple and basic design, every aspect is carefully planned for beauty and utility. And, although the bag is not difficult to assemble, every process demands exquisite attention to detail. Constructing this bag is a demanding and rewarding make in my experience. This version of the sling is constructed of faux waxed canvas purchased at Sally Tomato , and lined and bound with cotton from the "Seedling" collection by Katarina Roccella for Art Gallery Fabrics. I added my AppletonDance badge to the slip pocked on the back of the bag. The belt is 1.5-inch-wide cotton webbing purchased on Amazon, and the hardware is from Wawak . All construction pieces were stabilized with Pellon mid-weight, non-woven, fusible interfacing. I added a double-zip closure and rawhide zipper pulls along with my

by Linda Theil I just finished making the "Crafted Life Companion" notebook-cover designed by Australian Ali Phillips of Arabesque Scissors . I've made several of Phillips' patterns and have come to experience Phillips as creating at the same stratospheric level as English designer Diane Spencer Ogg for brilliant design innovation and attention to minute specificity in their patterns. Both creators are also highly professional and skilled presenters in their step-by-step demonstration videos for every design. Please see Phillips' video at the end of this post. The Arabesque notebook cover is designed to fit an A5 notebook size, and includes a sleeve for notepads up to 4 x 8-inches. Other pocket options are included in the pattern -- most of which I left out in my first version. I did take advantage of a marvelously useful innovation Phillips provided: a beautifully designed "coloring page" that helped enormously to keep all my pattern pieces organized.