Dresden Baskets, another UFO

As I  dug through the UFO bins last week I ran across 2 dresden basket blocks I started designing months ago.   With Easter right around the corner it only seemed appropriate to get this one finished.  The Moda Bandana charm pack by Me and My Sister Designs played well with some other fabrics hidden in my stash.  In the block below there are 3 fabrics that are not part of this line.  The handle, the pink basket and the print to the far left.

One of the advantages to working on UFO's is brewing time.  It seems after they have time to fester in my brain for awhile, and take up much needed space in my studio they go together much quicker.  Making several more basket blocks seemed so time consuming.  I needed a new design with fewer blocks but using up all the partial dresden rings.

I've used this applique method of making a mock wedding ring before in a quilt called Hillbilly Hook-up that you can find here.

psst... the white fabric to the left of the cherries and the sashing isn't from this line either.

The hardest part is deciding what will hide the fabric edges.  

In true Podunk style I added a simple flower.  How cute is that?  A fun little twist to the standard double wedding ring.

Hmmm... what do you think about a scalloped border that follows the curve of the wedding rings followed by the sashing fabric for the binding?

Just a few more hours of pedal to metal invisible machine applique and she'll be ready for the needs to be quilted pile(mountain).

~ Lea Anne ~

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Boonie Blooms

 Good Monday Morning!  Hows everyone out there in bloggy quilty land?  I missed each and everyone of you so much!! ((((((HUGS)))))  I can't tell you how happy it makes me to be home for a few days!  And what better way to recharge than to start a new little quilt.

The plan for the Moda 30's Playtime by Chloe's Closet charm pack has changed, something  simple and quick is what I need right now.  Working with one charm pack can be a challenge, but doable.  Originally I thought about making another Dresden quilt.   That involves to much cutting and I've already designed a pattern using a Dresden and a charm pack(with some yardage).  My Cherry Blossom Marmalade quilt uses one charm pack.  The tutorial can be found the the Tutorials tab at the top of the page.

This one will have a little leftover fabric, SCRAPS, YEAH!  

Here's a quick little peek.  Now you see where this is going.  What can I say...I'm a sucker for flowers.  So grab a charm pack or cut up your scraps to make your own because this one will be ready to share soon!

Linking this post to 

Design Wall Monday

Monday Makers

Main Crush Monday

~ Lea Anne ~

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Enough for one more...

After making a lap quilt and a table topper, there's enough scraps left for one more small project from the Moda L'Amour charm pack.  Here's a sneak peak at the last little cutie.    Do you keep making projects until all the scraps are gone from the original project or do stash them away?  This is a first for me.  Maybe I should do this more often.   It's a great way to keep those scrap bins under control.

The Miss Kate quilt is coming along.  After two cups of coffee, an eye crossing quilt staring session and making a huge mess pulling fabrics for a border, I think this quilt will be fine without a border but with a colorful binding.  Now comes the hard part of stitching down all the applique. Sounds like an all day job and a lot of coffee!  

Guess what?  there's scraps...I see another Miss Kate project in the near future.

The designing wheels are already turning.  Maybe this applique can wait.

~ Lea Anne ~

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Simply Sweet Table topper and Marti Michell inset triangle ruler review

Last week I made a quilt top using Moda's L'Amour Charm pack.  If you missed it you can read about it here.  Believe it or not I made a lap quilt and had enough scrap 2.5" charms leftover for a small project.  This was a great opportunity for me to try out my new Marti Michell Diagonal Set Triangle Ruler and write a free small quick pattern to share with you.  Don't worry, if you don't have this ruler, the instruction for my Simply Sweet Table topper has directions with or without the ruler.  The link to the pattern will be at the end of this post.

Before starting the ruler review I'd also like to let you know that my background fabric is also quilt border scraps from the Amour de Cerise quilt.  

As most of you know when making a quilt set on point those set in side and corner triangles can be quite tricky.  In the past we needed to cut a huge square  and then cut on the diagonal twice.  Most of the time our standard 6 x 24 ruler was to short and the measurements were odd.

Not anymore!  This ruler is great.  No more counting those 8th's and 16th's marks for that huge awkward square.  Just line up the bottom of your fabric on any line on your cutting mat.  Then on the ruler find the FINISHED size(in quilt) of your block and line it up with the bottom of your fabric.  For this project my finished block will be 6 inches. Carefully line up a straight ruler at the top of the inset ruler using the markings on the cutting mat.

Slide the set in ruler out of the way and cut.  So simple!

To cut your side set in triangles  place the ruler back on the strip and cut.

Making the corner triangles is just as easy.  From the same strip of fabric line up your ruler on the block size you need at the bottom and then line up the edge with the vertical line that is off center.

Trim away the corners on all pieces, it makes piecing them so much easier.

Look how lovely they line up!  No wings to clip and its perfectly centered.  I love this ruler!  It's not one that I'll use everyday but it's one that when I need it I'm glad I have it.  Well worth the money spent.  The best thing is I can use smaller pieces of scraps instead of needing yardage.

The free pattern for my Simply Sweet table topper can be found here.  The instruction are with and without this ruler.  Enjoy!

~ Lea Anne ~

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Design OH NO!

Hi-didly-O Quity friends!  It's so nice of you to stop by today for a peak at my design mistake.  Oh it's not too terribly awful, just poor planning that will mean extra sewing.  It'll give me extra practice on that perfect quarter inch seam.

 Can you see the design flaw in the picture below?

 I know its hard to see.  If your like me your to busy looking at the Miss Kate prints and could really care less about my design blunder.  Can't say that I blame you.  So lets wipe the Miss Kate drool from our chins and really look at this top.  It's a simple plan of petals and squares that make a chain pattern.  Okay... because I want the points of the petals to line up perfectly with the 4 patches I'm adding them after the blocks are sewn together and will machine stitch them to the background.  See that red X? (Pretend the next row is attached).  That's where I would draw a line to line up the petal applique. So tell me why did I even cut the blocks and sashing?  I could have cut one long piece of fabric(the red box).  Slap in the forehead moment.  Of course this only occurred to me after cutting all the blocks and sashing. 

Maybe I can work those sashing seams into the quilting design.

Oh well, I still love the overall look of the quilt.  

Playing with the Miss Kate fabrics are the best part!

I'm linking up with Judy@Patchworktimes for design wall Monday and
Hugabit for Monday Makers.
Hop on over for inspirations!

~ Lea Anne ~

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