The Little Red Hen

Stringing Along

I've really been using up the scraps this week. I'm making six inch (finished) string blocks. I need to make 130 blocks for the twin size quilt I have planned.  I'm using quite a mix of fabrics. Leftovers from a skirt for P, a sunhat I made for D when he was little, scraps from kid pajamas, scraps from other people, new scraps - do you see some Jeniffer Paganelli in there? A couple of the blocks even have scraps from a dress I made for myself when I was in middle school. Pretty much anything goes. I am not using the very pale or mostly white fabrics so there's not too much value contrast. These are just like the string blocks I made for this quilt and this quilt. I plan to do something different with these though.  I'll be sure to show you when I get to that step.
four six inch string blocks:

Here's my method for making these blocks.

Because I want there to be a visual direction to the blocks I use strings, or long skinny scraps. I often have strips of quilt backs after trimming, extra strips or parts of strips from cutting quilt pieces and they work great for these blocks. I am making these blocks 6 inches because that is the size of my ruler.  I work with the ruler right next to me.
First I cut a bunch of strips to length.

Fatter scraps are cut to narrower strip widths.

Short pieces are sewn together to make strips that are long enough for the block. I usually work with scissors for a more "organic" look to the piecing but I sometimes trim one edge of these pieced strips with the rotary cutter to make it easier to sew them to the block in progress.

I sew these strips together to make a chunck of fabric that is large enough for a block. As I sew each strip on I lay it where I want the seam to be on the block below. I often place it a little askew to get wedge shaped strings. I sew along the straight edge of the new strip and then trim the extra fabric away. Sometimes the bit that is cut away is wide enough to sew to another block.

It is best to press before adding each new strip. I work in big batches of sewing and then pressing.

Here and here are a couple of other quilts that use a similar string piecing technique.

'Tis the season to bust those scraps! String piecing is quick and easy. You should give it a try!

Brenda's Stars - and a giveaway

I finished and washed my latest quilt, Brenda's Stars. It is heavily quilted in the linen look background and the star centers. The sashing and star points are not quilted.

Here's the full view.

50 by 62 inches. It shrank a bit in the quilting and washing.
If you like this quilt you can find it here in my shop.

I got the fabrics from Pink Castle Fabrics. It was fun to browse through Brenda's great selection and put these fabrics together.  Brenda has put together a bundle of just what you'll need to make your own quilt top like this. You'll get the fabric shown below for the blocks plus some Free Spirit Jade for the sashing. She also has fat quarter bundles of these fabrics if you want to try your own design.

Here are some basic directions for the quilt as I made it.
I prewash all fabrics.
Starch the fabrics before cutting. You will be cutting quarter square triangles with bias cuts on two sides. Starch will help stabilize the fabric for piecing.

Cut from the fabrics:

large floral         - 20  6 1/8 inch squares
fat quarter spots - 50   5 1/4 inch squares
                           30   1 1/2 inch squares
quilter's linen      - 80  4 1/2 inch squares
                           20  5 1/4 inch squares

Cut all of the 5 1/4 inch squares on the diagonals as shown to make quarter square triangles.

Lay out the blocks as shown.

You will be piecing the block into diagonal chunks. Sew the first groups together as shown. Be careful not to stretch the pieces as you sew and press.

I pressed the seams toward the linen triangle and away from the linen square.

Continue sewing the pieces together into sections as shown.

Sew the last two seams to make the block.

Here you can see how I pressed the seams. I wanted all the seams around the center square to be pressed toward the center because this gives a straighter edge to the center piece of the block.

Measure the size of your completed block (mine measured 12 1/2 inches). Cut 49 1 1/2 inch wide rectangles the length of your completed block (12 1/2 inches).

Lay the quilt out the way you want it to be sewn together.

Sew the top together, sandwich with the batting, and quilt as desired.

Now for the give away! Brenda is giving away a fat quarter bundle of all of these fabrics to one of you lucky readers! Since it's a giveaway and giveaways should be fun and I like to read fun and interesting comments I'm asking you to tell me a joke.  To enter the contest tell me a funny, clean joke that is fit for a six year old. I'd like to be able to share them with P. 

This is her favorite joke:
Why was 6 afraid of 7?

Because 7 ate 9.

Ha, ha.

I'll leave the comments open until Tuesday at midnight.

Mustard Melody

Here's the finished quilt Mustard Melody.

It is made with a fat quarter bundle of Jennifer Paganelli's Poodle line and 2.5 yards of a Robert Kaufman Carolina Chambray in a mustard color. I don't know what the actual color name is.

It has been quilted, bound, and washed. I used a half inch binding for a little bigger than usual frame around the design.

Here's the full view.

The block, birds in the air, finishes at 10.5 inches.
The large piece in the block is cut 7.5 inches square. The half square triangles are 4 and 3/8 inch squares cut on the diagonal. Sew them together as shown below.

There are 48 blocks in the quilt. I mostly used the largest prints for the big squares but added in a few of the smaller prints to make all 48 blocks.

The quilt shrank up a little with quilting and washing and now measures 59 by 77 inches.

Book Binding Tutorial

Over the last few days I have been working on making books from the cover papers that we made in art club last week. This is how I did it:

Materials needed:
Decorated paper for cover (these were papers "painted" with colored tissue paper)
Mat board or heavy cardboard (frame shops may have scrap mat pieces)
plain white paper (or other paper for pages)
paste glue (I used Yes glue)
colored duct tape

First,  make the pages to insert in the book. I used ten sheets of regular copy paper. Fold the paper stack in half and stitch (on a long basting stitch) along the fold line.

Next, cover the mat board with the decorated paper. I neglected to take photos of this procedure. I hope you can figure out what I did. 

Cut each decorated paper in half and used half for the front cover and half for the back. Next, glue the mat board to the paper leaving 1.5 inches on three sides and trimming the fourth side (spine of the book) even. I then trimmed the two outer corners at a 45 degree angle so that when the edges were turned in and glued down they fit together in a pretty miter.

Duct tape is used for the spine to hold the two halves of the book togther. Lay a piece of duct tape sticky side up on the work surface and then place the book covers on the tape as shown. Make sure to leave about a quarter of an inch between the edges of the cover so that there is space for the section of pages to go.

Next, fold down the ends of the duct tape.

Spread glue over the front and back of the page secton and place it even with the inside edge of the back cover. Carefully close the front cover so that the edges of the book are even. Press firmly together.

I am thrilled with how these turned out.

Most of the students made papers with many colors on them.

A few students used warm or cool colors for their covers.

This was a fun project. Older children would be able to complete the books on their own but I thought that was asking a lot of the K-2 age group.

I hope the students will enjoy having these blank books to keep.

Painting with Tissue Paper

This week in Art Club we painted with tissue paper.  The technique is really fun and easy. All you need is some heavy paper that can take getting wet, tissue paper that will bleed (spectra tissue works really well), and a spray bottle of water.

The first step is to tear the colored tissue into smallish pieces and arrange them on the heavy paper.

Next, spray the project with water. Make sure that all of the tissue is wet and touching the paper (the color will only transfer where the tissue touches the paper).

The last step requires patience. - Let dry.  As the tissue dries the color will bleed onto the paper below. Anywhere that the tissue colors overlap will give a blend of color that is sort of magical to watch.

After the project is dry it is time to remove the tissue paper. If you remove the tissue too soon, the paper underneath may get damaged or torn.

We plan to use these papers to make covers for books that the students will take home at the end of the year.  I have sewn blank papers (copy paper folded in half) together for the middle section of the book. The covers will be mat board covered in our tissue painted papers. I think we will use black duct tape for the spine.

I'll be sure to show you some of the finished books.

Before I do any more on the books I need to make some graduation announcements and senior recital invitations for M.  There is never a dull moment here on the farm.

Flock of Turkeys

I am glad P is around to remind us of the importance of family holidays even when it is just the five of us here. She loves all of the little details that set a holiday apart from any other day.  Last year when we had Thanksgiving dinner with friends, there were place cards for each of us on the table. P remembered this and set to work yesterday morning making place cards for our table.

I had a quick idea of a way to add a turkey to spiff them up. Here is a quick tutorial if you want to make your own (If we had thought of this before Thanksgiving day I would have posted it earlier. You can just file this idea away for next year.)

First, gather your tools. We used a two inch flower punch, a one inch circle punch, a standar hole punch, glue, and a fine point marker.

You will also need some fancy paper. Double sided craft paper works best for the tail section.

Next, cut out one of each size circle for the turkey body parts. From left to right they are the tail, body, and head.

Fold the largest circle so that the back edge peeks out behind the front. Glue the folded paper together and then add the body and head as shown. Use the marker to make a face.

Lastly you will glue the turkey to the card and add legs.

The legs can add quite a bit of character to the turkeys.

 

P's Super Easy Cat Bean Bag Tutorial

P made another cat bag today. 

We thought we'd share a tutorial. Here is the pattern It is on one inch grid so that you can draw your own. I hope you can follow P's directions.

 

1. Fold the fabric over and put the cat on top of the folded part and then cut it out. Then take the pattern off.

 

2. Put pink thread on your sewing machine.  Sew around the cat. Leave a little hole on the bottom.

 

3. Turn it right side out. Make the face with a permanent marker.

4. Stuff it with rice. (about 3 tablespoons). Sew the hole on the bottom closed.

 

5. Hold the cat upside down by the bottom corners.

 

6. Put one corner under the other.

 

7. Stitch them together.

 

Another kitty for the set.

 

There you go. Super cute and you can even wear it on your fingers.

Happy Spring!

Happy Spring!

I love spring. I love the excitement of new flowers, new growth, the earth coming back to life after the long winter. 
The egg has been a symbol of rebirth of the earth for more than two thousand years.  In honor of the first day of spring we decorated these "Tie Dyed Eggs" last night. It was easy peasy to get these fabulous designs. We used some old thrifted silk ties and the easy to follow tutorial at Our Best Bites.

I only had five white eggs on hand so we only dyed five. I'll be saving up the white eggs and dying more.  I think they turned out great. Next time I will try starting with wet silk fabric because I think there were some air bubbles that kept the dye from transferring properly in places.

I picked up a few more 25 cent silk ties today! I think we'll have an egg dying event later this week!

Try it! You will love this project!

Edit to add. A new and updated link for directions here.

Play Capes

Last week I made four new play capes for P's preschool. It was a great way to use up some fabric I had gotten at garage sales and it helped clean out the sewing room!

My original plan involved doing a little tutorial to post with them. I tried taking pictures as I was making these but the pictures didn't really show what I was doing very well.
I can share my pattern and a description of how it goes together.

These are really fun to make as you can use almost any fabric. You can make them short like a capelet or long and flowing to the ground. I like that they can be used for many kinds of play.

This is the pattern and how it should be placed on the fabric. If the selvedge edge of the fabric looks nice, place the front of the hood on the selvedge edge of the fabric and there is no need to hem.
The length of the cape is determined by the height of the child or the length of the fabric on hand. The fold edge of the pattern goes from the neck down the back of the cape.

1. Cut out as shown above.
2. Sew the two hood pieces together on the curved edge.  I use a flat felled seam for better looks and longer wear.
3. Hem and add any desired trim to the outside edge of the cape (all except the neck edge.)
4. Gather the neck edge of the cape and sew to the bottom of the hood. I either stitch the seam allowance to the hood or cover the seam with bias tape for longer wear.
5. Sew velcro tabs to the edge at the neck seam and embellish with a fancy button.
Here is a cape I made for P last year.
 

(please do not sell items made from this pattern)

Marking Fabric for Embroidery

I thought I would share my easy, peasy, low tech method for marking my embroidery designs on fabric.
I use freezer paper for a lot of things in my sewing room, such as, marking designs for embroidery.  First, I draw or trace out a design in pencil.   Once I have the design finalized I trace it onto the dull side of a piece of freezer paper.  I go over the design with an ultra fine point sharpie pen so that it is very dark.

Next, I place the shiny side of the freezer paper on the fabric and press until the freezer paper adheres to the fabric.  Then, I hold or tape the fabric up to a window and draw over the design with a fine point pencil. A mechanical pencil with a 0.5 mm lead works well. The freezer paper acts as a stiffener for the fabric and the fabric doesn't wiggle while you draw the design.

This method works great for small designs. My mother always said one should "make hay while the sun shines." With this method that is very true. I make sure I have my fabric marked before the sun goes down if I want to stitch in the evening.  Also, the design ends up reversed with this method.  If this matters you should trace onto the freezer paper with the original pattern reversed.

Here is the finished cat from this drawing.