Riley Blake Union Jack Quilt Tutorial

Cheers!  I am so excited to be participating in Riley Blake's Union Jack Blog Hop!  I am in love with the fun colors of this Union Jack panel!  My friend, Karen, loves all things British: Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, the Royal Family, Sticky Toffee Pudding, Fish 'n Chips, Beef Wellington, The Cure & Adele….her husband served a mission in England, AND here is Harper, their adorable baby girl with a trendy British name!  Harper is the cutest baby ever and this quilt is for her.  

This quilt is the perfect size for a wallhanging or baby quilt

Finished quilt 38.5" x 30.5"

Here's how you can make your own "Harper Girl" quilt.

Supplies:

1 Union Jack print

assorted jelly roll strips of prints and white - or yardage to cut strips

Heat n Bond Lite Printable sheets

batting

1 yard backing fabric

1/3 yard binding

Cut the white fabric and assorted prints into 2.5" strips x WOF

I used 1 strip of each of the 8 colors, cut 16 white strips

Now cut each WOF strip in half

Sew into strip sets of (5) total.  I just picked random colors and didn't try and lay out the pattern.  Make 3 sets with white beginning and ending and 3 sets with prints beginning and ending as pictured:

Press toward the prints.

Cut the strip sets into 2.5" sub sets:

Make 2 piles: one with the white on the outside and one with the patterned fabric on the outside:

Now comes the fun part - grab and sew!  Once again, I didn't try and lay out a pattern, I just grabbed 2 strip sets and sewed together.  Make sure the intersections of the seams sandwich together nicely.

Make 9 of these blocks: 5 blocks with patterned corners, 4 blocks with white corners.

Fussy cut one of the Union Jack blocks, leaving a 1/4" seam allowance around the print.

Find a font you like and print it in reverse on one of these Heat n Bond EZ print sheets - you could also use a silhouette, but I am not that advanced!  

 Cut out the letters and peel off the backing paper.  Cut a piece of white fabric 9.25" wide (the width of the Union Jack) x 19.5"   Place the letters and iron in place.  Straight stitch around each letter twice.  

Sew the Union Jack to the white fabric.

Lay out your blocks in this pattern: 2 rows of 3 blocks, then the Union Jack strip, then 1 row of 3 blocks.  Square up the white fabric if there is a little excess on the end.

Quilt as desired

Vintage Bunny Skirt Tutorial

The bunnies keep multiplying!  I knew they would make a darling skirt (what's next, throw pillows & tote bags??) This is a simple tutorial for a girls skirt size 6/7 that sews up in no time!  The tutorial is being featured over at the Therm o Web blog.  Click HERE to check it out!!

Burlap Bunny Pillows

I can't get enough of these appliqué bunnies in the Anna Griffin Grace fabrics!!  I had some left over from my Bunny Bricks Quilt so I thought I would make a few burlap pillows for gifts.  They are so cute and sew up really fast.  

Here's how you can make one:

• Cut 2 pieces of burlap 8" x 11"
• I already had the Heat n Bond Lite fused to the bunny, so I just ironed it to the center of the burlap.
• Stitch around the bunny twice using brown thread.
• Pin the two pieces of burlap wrong sides together.  
• Cut a 17" piece of lace and pin in place, tucking the raw edges inside the pillow.
• Sew 1/2" seam around the pillow leaving an opening at the bottom to stuff.  Stuff with fiber-fill and top stitch the opening closed.

They are so cute, and did I mention I love bunnies?  They are the cats of Easter :)

Bunny Bricks Quilt Tutorial

I am so excited for spring and Easter and flowers and bunnies and sunshine!  I am a cat person by nature, but when spring rolls around my obsession with cats turns into an obsession with rabbits.   I have rabbit "nick-nacks" all over the house!!!  A new bunny wall quilt is long over due!  When I came across this amazing line of fabric from Anna Griffin, called Grace, I fell in love.  It feels like vintage spring!!!!  I paired the rectangle "bricks" with a bunny silhouete appliqué from Sizzix.  I'm in love!  

Here's how you can make one:

Supplies: 15 assorted prints, fat quarters or 1/4 yard cuts
1 yard of cream solid cotton
Heat n Bond Lite by Therm O Web for appliqué
1/2 yard fabric for binding
1 1/3 yard fabric for quilt back
cotton batting

Assemble the Bricks:
Cut the 15 assorted prints into 3" strips x WOF
Sub cut the strips into 6.5" bricks

The bricks measure 3" x 6.5" each.  Stack them into piles.

Begin making pairs out of the bricks and chain piecing them;  leave about 12 single bricks.  Pair up 12 of the pairs with 12 pairs, and so on.  The goal is to have 12 rows of 7 bricks.  I went pretty random and did not lay the pattern out ahead of time.

Here you can see my 12 rows.  The rows will be sewn into sets of 3's.

Press the seams of the bricks to one side.  To sew the rows together the bricks need to be offset just like in real masonry work.  Align one of the rows on your cutting mat.  Each brick should measure 6" (except for the end ones.)  Align both seams of the brick with the 6" marks on the cutting mat.  Take the next row and align the seam along the 3" mark which is the center of the first brick.  Put right sides together, pin, and sew using 1/4" seams.

Continue sewing the rows together in sets of 3's.  The ends of each row will be uneven because we are offsetting the rows.  Once the rows are sewn, press seams to one side and "square up" the edges (below).

Cut the cream cotton into (3) strips 8" x 39.5".  This will be the bunny appliqué pieces.

Prepare the appliqué:

Cut the bunny fabric and Heat n Bond roughly the size of the Sizzix Die.  Iron Heat n Bond Lite to the wrong side of the fabric.  Run the fused piece through the Sizzix to cut the bunny.  I cut 2 at a time.

I was completely in love with each and every bunny that I cranked out!!

Peel the backing off the Heat n Bond Lite and position the bunnies as desired.  I alternated the direction of the bunnies in each row.

Iron the bunnies into place and top stitch twice around each bunny using black thread.

Once all the bunnies are finished, lay out the quilt and sew the rows together.  (I have little papers pinned to number my rows.)

Now that the quilt top is finished, quilt as desired!  I quilted straight lines in the "brick" part and "loop-de-loos" in the bunny part.

I am so happy every time I see it!