Wednesday Sewing - Quilted Pinwheel Table Runner

I've been wanting to make something using pinwheel quilt blocks and finally figured out what I wanted - a table runner for fall!  

Materials:
*fat quarters of fall themed fabric in two different colorways (I used a leaf pattern with a black background and a tan background)
*fat quarter of a coordinating plain fabric, I used cream - Fabric A
*1yard each of two coordinating plain fabrics, I used rust (Fabric B) and brown (Fabric C).  If you buy bias tape instead of making it, you'll only need a fat quarter of Fabric C.
*fusible felt or quilt batting

Cut the following:
2 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch rectangles - 12 from each of the fall fabric colorways and 24 from fabric A
1 1/2 x 2 1/2 inch squares - 24 from fabric A and 26 fabric B
9 x 2 1/2 inch rectangles - 7 from fabric C

1.  See this tutorial on making flying geese (steps 2 and 3).  Using one of the colorways of the fall fabric and fabrics A and B, make 4 flying geese.  Use a 1/4 inch seam throughout and press each seam to one side after you sew it.

2.  Sew a rectangle of fabric A onto the top of each of the flying geese blocks you just made.

3.  Sew together as shown below.

4.  Sew those two together as shown below to make one pinwheel block. 

5.  Sew one fabric C rectangle to the left side of the block.  Repeat with the rest of that colorway to make 3 blocks.  Repeat with the other colorway, without adding a fabric C rectangle.

6.  Sew together as shown below.  Repeat until you have three colorway blocks.

7.  Sew together 2 fabric C rectangles and 1 fabric B square as shown below to make a dividing strip.

8.  Sew this dividing strip to the bottom of one of the colorway blocks.

9.  Matching seams ...

10.  ... sew to another colorway block.

11.  Add another dividing strip and then the final colorway block.

12.  Cut one piece of fusible felt (or quilt batting) and one piece of fabric B a little larger than your pinwheel top (should be about 20 x 30 inches).  Layer the felt in between the top and fabric B, iron to attach fusible felt, and pin to hold in place.

13.  Quilt by stitching in the ditch over each seam.  See this tutorial for an explanation of this technique (step 10).

15.  Add bias tape - I made mine from fabric C.  (See this past post for how to make and add bias tape)

Happy Creating!  Deborah

Monday Project - Thinking of Fall ....

Mmmm - the mornings and evenings are starting to cool off and it feels wonderful!  Even though our leaves won't turn until around Thanksgiving, it makes me think of fall.  I went on an ice dyeing frenzy last weekend and ended up with some gorgeous fall colored fabric!  See this past post for a tutorial on ice dyeing.

Procion powdered dyes:  Scarlet, Rust Orange, Rust Brown, Golden Yellow, Golden Brown, Forest Green, Chamois, Terracotta, and Peach.

Happy Creating!  Deborah

Friday Inspiration - Interesting Felt Art

It had been awhile since I spent time searching for felt art, so I decided to do just that yesterday afternoon .... and found some pretty amazing pieces!

Okay - I have quite a few food allergies so most ready made food is out for me.  That's probably why I love felt food - especially desserts!  Just the cover of this Japanese craft book has me hooked.  And these croissants ...... they're all made by needle felting.  The book's ISBN is 978-4-529-004415-8 and is titled "Wool Felt Sweets." 

A lot of my work is inspired by nature and I love the felted dress designs by Horst Couture.  This one is titled Avocado and reminds me of trees in a forest - the really old kind with long, twisted roots.  Their website has lots of other designs that are fun to look at!



And while I'm really not sure yet how one would go about making something like this, there may be a cat cave in my cat's future!  This one is the creation of the German artist Dornroeschen Filzunikate.  She has this cat cave and others for sale on this website.

Happy Creating!  Deborah

Wednesday Sewing - Felt Pumpkin Finger Puppets

Another of the ideas I never got to last Halloween!  It's been a long time since I sang this children's song, but I think it goes something like this:

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate,

The first one said, "Oh my, it's getting late!"

The second one said, "There are witches in the air!"

The third one said, "But we don't care!"

The fourth one said, "Let's run and run and run!"

The fifth one said, "It's Halloween fun!"

Woooooo went the wind and

OUT went the light!

And the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight!

Materials:

*felt - orange, black and green

*felt glue

*small glue-on eyes

*patterns found here

Using pattern, cut two of each pumpkin from orange, and five green stems.  Sandwich the stem in between two pumpkin pieces and pin in place.

Sew around the edges - I put the stitch length to 3.5.

Glue on googly eyes ....

... then cut noses and mouths from black and glue onto the pumpkin faces.

Happy Creating!  Deborah