PIF finally

Pay it Forward. Remember me volunteering to do that. You know the thing I had a year to complete. Now, just where the heck did that year go?????  I had the idea, and had the fabrics, then something horrible must have swallowed em all up in my sewing room, because it vanished!  Can you imagine?

So I went for that bakers dozen idea. 13 months, after all it's close to a year now isn't it?

Last week I mailed off my 2 packages (finally). Paul and Lynne, I sure didn't mean for this much time to go by, but I hope you both enjoy your little surprise.

You know with all my trivet tuxedos, I just had to come up with a special trivet for you. When I stumbled across this fun pattern from Ami Simms.

That's Amore!

(Click HERE for the link)

I knew I was on to something.

 This little guy made his way into the mix too.

After all, he fits right in.

So to round out the package, I added all the fixin's to make their very own pizzas. Nothing beats prepackaged pizza crusts, when your in a hurry!

 I hope you two enjoy. On pizza night throw in a beer or two for me. I just couldn't figure out how to ship them along too. 

Sorry!

:-)

December Trivet Tux

DECEMBER!!!!!

Am I the only one who has blinked and found that it's December already?
Whew, did this year fly by.

I know it's a crazy time of year for everyone, so our trivet tux is going to be a quick and easy one this time! 

Thanks, to Sindy over at Fat Cat Patterns!  Click HERE to download one for yourself.
I did reduce this pattern by 50%, as her original pattern was for a 12 1/2 block.



I've found lately that leftover batting scraps make for wonderful beards for Santa, or even the fur trimmings on his coat.  I added eyes to by little guy and I blushed his cheeks to give him a bit of personality. So there you go, fast easy and done. Ready to start enjoying the holidays with.

Hope you all have a wonderful Holiday Season!

PS: if your new to my blog you can find the tutorial for the trivet tux's HERE !

November Trivet Tuxedo

                               TURKEY TIME

Can you believe we are here already!

What better way to celebrate Thanksgiving, than a Turkey Tux!

This little guy was a take off, of a coloring book page that you can find HERE.

Free online coloring book pages are the greatest ways to start fusible quilts.

We will get back to him in a few minutes, but first I want to show you how to make his tail feathers. Have you ever used the Easy Dresden Quilt ruler?      Click HERE     for the EZ Quilt tutorial. You won't believe how fast and EZ it really is, !

Using their directions we put together our feathers. Fold over the edges 1/4" at both ends.

Lay your tail feathers on your background piece,  (you will find the information for that in my tutorials, if you haven't been keeping up with us) and stitch em down.  We are going to need to trim off the excess, towards the bottom.

Now, back to our Turkey.

I have reversed the pattern and broke it down into pieces for you. So your ready to trace onto your favorite fusible. If you click on the photo, it should make it large enough to print out at scale. I have drawn a 1" square on the page to help you make sure. (I hope this works out. It's first for me!!) 

Trace, fuse, and stitch around your raw edges . You can then, put your cover together.

Voila!

Your done, and with plenty of time to spare, to start thinking about that delicious meal

 that will go with him!

If your lucky enough to not be doing the cooking this year,

consider taking one of these little guys to your hostess!

Enjoy!!

Note: When I tried to print the pattern from here, it only came out at about 75% of the correct size. If anyone knows how to make it print at 100% let me know and I will fix it!

Sorry!

October is here... October is here

My absolute favorite time of the year. With that being said, it was very difficult to decide of a Tuxedo for our tiles this month. So many choices and I am the biggest Halloween fanatic around.  You will likely see a few different tuxes this month, but lets kick it off with this one.

Again I found a pattern over at Quilt Blocks Galore, my favorite web site and "FREE" can you say Hallelujah, I struck gold!!  :-)  

Tesselcats! Now is that perfect for a not so scary Halloween treat!  Call it the bright colors, the easy paper piecing, great scrap buster or whatever, but make sure you check out this pattern. Click HERE to be magically transported to this fun little guy. 

Just a few tips. When piecing this, start with either piece 3 or 5, piece across for the ears then add piece 6 the body. This block is a 6" block. If you add a 1" strip around all sides, it will fit our 6" tiles perfectly. I painted my eyes on with regular acrylic paints, but applique (fusible or needle turn would work just great!  You can even stitch a few little whiskers if you like.  So what do you think. Ready to jump in and try it?  Or better yet,  how about a fun little wall hanging with a bunch of these guys?

Make sure, you share your projects with us all. We love to see every ones different take on things. You can post them in our Flickr account by using the link on the left side of my blog.

                                                  Now show me what you got!  :-)

Sept Trivet Tuxedo

Wahoo, we survived the summer. I know it was quite an interesting one, for many with all the different weather issues across the nation this year. Hope you are all well, and ready for cooler weather. That always make me want to start sorting out my fabrics, in preparation for a "quilt in", during those cold winter days.

While deciding just what it was I wanted to do for my September tux, I ran across this delightful block over at Quilt Block Galore.  I'm not sure if was the simplicity of the block or the colors that speak fall to me, but it reminded me of some batik sunflower fabric in my stash, and I knew this was the block.  Twin Darts is the name of this block.  You can click HERE to go directly to the pattern. You will need to print out 2 copies of the templates for this block.

It's simple paper piecing, again one of those blocks you should be able to finish quickly. Just a reminder that you need to start with piece 2 or 3. Piece 4  is the last one you attach. Can you image this block in a fall lap quilt. Yum!!

Don't forget it's just a few  short hours away before I pick the winner of the Accuquilt Baby GO. Double check to make sure your are NOT a no reply blogger. You definately want me to be able to get ahold of you tomorrow if your the winner!!  I'm so excited...

Happy Stitchin 

August Tile Tuxedo

While it's hotter than blazes across most of the US, I decided to go with a beachy theme fabric for this month. Trust me the beachy theme looks much better on the fabric, than on my derrière, if you know what I mean!  :-)

So this time I have chosen "The Three Martini Star" from QuiltersCache.com , to celebrate my birthday last week. Not that I am a Martini kind of girl, I celebrated at "On the Border" with a giant frozen  Sangria/Margarita swirl. Now that's my kind of drink, but they didn't have a block with that name, so we settle for next best, right? 

It's paper piecing, but it's an easy one with only 4 parts. This one piece is really the only one you are going to have to watch. You are going to start with the star points. See the glue glob on the paper? Ask me how I know, you start with the star points?? :-)

Here are the 4 pieces all stitched up and ready to put together.

Once my block was together. I cut a 3/4" strip for piping, folded it in half and ironed it, then attached it along my 4 sides. Our block is 6 1/2" square right now.   If you remember from the original directions, we are going to need our block to be 7" wide, so I have cut 3/4" red strips to bring our block up to size.  There you have it. A great trivet tux for the hot month of August. If your new to trivet tuxes, there is a link on the tutorials bar on the right side of my blog that will take you to the general directions for them.

I love this block. This would make a great quilt or mug rug. I'll be playing with this block again, that's for sure.

Happy stitching and stay cool out there!

Patriotic Trivet Tux

Happy 4th of July

Or soon to be anyway... and what better, than to celebrate with a patriotic trivet tux this month.  Again, summer is hectic for us all, so fast and easy is the name of the game.

You are going to need  the following:

1   3-1/4" x 3-1/4" square of white

1  3-1/4" x 3-1/4" square of blue

each of these cut on the diagonal twice

2   2-7/8" X 2-7/8" squares of red

 cut on the diagonal once

Stitch your blue and white's together like this.  Careful of what side the white goes on. Ask me why???  I am sure the tell-tale signs shows up here! My pinwheels were not going to spin the way I was wanting them to.  :-(

Add the red triangles.
We have 4 blocks now.

Stitch them together and you have a 4 1/2" square.  I cut sashing pieces 1 3/4" wide to get the 7" width we need for our tuxedo.

Fast--Easy--Done

Don't forget you can access the rest of the directions for the tux under the tutorial link on the right side bar on my blog.

Make an extra, to take to someone special, at your BBQ!!!

Have a Happy 4th and be careful with those sparklers.

June Trivet

June is a busy month. Kids getting out of school, planning summer vacations, yard work, gardening, etc,etc,etc.  We need a fast project for this month with everything we have to do.



It doesn't get my faster than this one. You only need a couple of fabrics, and 2,  3-7/8" squares of each to complete this block. Cut them each on the diagonal and piece them back together. Easy as that.

With our yards greening up, I choose green for my background color and added a this adorable lady bug, who's pattern can be found, free online at Squidoo.com. They have loads of designs that can easily be adapted to applique. Be sure to check them out.
http://parenting.leehansen.com/downloads/coloring/flowers/ladybug.htm will take you right to the lady bug I used.

 If you look real close I  played with my tensions and managed to get the green bobbin thread to peak thru on the top. I love the look and have had some great fun playing with tension. I remember "oh so well" the days I kringed at touching them, but really fun things happen when you learn to not be scared!  :-)

This would make a great hostess gift for a summer BBQ. Imagine it combined with a kitchen towel with the little bug on it too. And some place mats, what a great outdoor set up. What do you think? Got a few minutes to play???? 

Something this fast and easy will allow you all the time you need for other projects this month. Be sure you post your completed trivets on our Flickr page. There is a link for it on the right side bar of my blog. Looking forward to seeing your projects!

PS: for all of you who are not on the seasons, we in the States are, like my friends in Australia, think next year!  :-)  :-)

May Flowers Trivet Cover

April showers bring May flowers. I know many of you have had much more than showers, and are probably about done with all the rain. I hope you are safe from the flooding and horrendous storms. Here in Colorado, though we continue to be very dry. Forest and grass fires are a constant worry. Mother Nature sure hadn't been kind to any of us it seems this year.

      Lets focus on something a little more positive... Like a lovely  "May"  Flowers Trivet Cover this month.

                                       For this we are going to cut the following:


                                             Background (mine is purple)

                                             1  -  1 1/2" x 2 1/2" rectangle
                                             1  -  1 1/2" square
                                             2  -  2 7/8" squares cut on the diagonal once
                                             3  -  2 1/2" squares

                                               Flower (mine is floral print)

                                             1  -  2 7/8" square cut on the diagonal once
                                             2  -  2 1/2" square

                                          Flower center (mine is yellow print)
          
                                              1  -  1 1/2" square

                                                  Leaves  (mine are green)
                                    
                                              1  -  2 7/8" square cut on the diagonal

                                     NOTE: my photo shows more, I got carried away!

                                                  Sashing to make 7" square

                                                Here's the assembly order.                    

And there you have it. Your very own spring-y, tile tux!!  :-)

Note the new link for our Flicker group. When you have completed your Tux's, add them to the photos. We all love to see each others works of art!!!   Enjoy...

Bunny Tales

Just one more Easter trivet cover. This one is for a 12" tile and you can find the pattern over at Quilters Cache. If your not familiar with their web site, it is the best place ever to find patterns for quilt blocks. They have loads of them and it's all free. Click HERE for the pattern for this little cutie. I made my basic block a little larger so I had plenty of play. It was a good thing, as there was a lot more bulk than what I have had with past blocks, and I ended up needing it. I might add that I did not piece mine as the pattern shows but I stitched it to a base of my batting/backing and a muslin top.I just did the old stitch and press over method. It seemed easier than stitching with such small strips of fabric alone. If you cut your basic block 14" you will be just fine. You can always trim down what you don't need.

I found that the back was a perfect place to practice my free motion quilting. I have been stuck in a box, as of lately. I get comfortable with one style and seem to default to that all the time. This was a great way to try out something new, practice and play. The size is really nice for allowing you to finish in a sitting too, which always makes me happy.

I found a stray piece of hand dyed fabric that seemed to just fit the project. You have to love those kind of moments!

Hoppin down the bunny trail Trivet

April is on us already?  Didn't March just start, where does time go??

This month I've got a bright springy basket block "trivet tuxedo" for you. So here we go. For this block we are going to need 3 colors. One for the background (mine is the cream color with multi spots) and 2 for the basket. I used a green and a purple.

Background color
 1  - 2" square
                          
 1  - 4 1/4" square cut twice on                                               
                  the diagonal
                          
 2  - 2" x 3 1/2" rectangles
 1  - 3 7/8" square cut once on 
                  the diagonal

Basket bottom color   1  - 3 7/8" square cut once
                                                   on the diagonal
                                  2  - 2 3/8" squares cut once
                                                   on the diagonal

Basket top color     2  - 2 3/8" squares cut once on
                                               the diagonal
                              1  - 3 7/8" square cut once on
                                               the diagonal

Here is the layout of the pieces. You are going to have some left over pieces from this one. Just stash them away for a future project!

And now we start putting the block together.

                 It's really not hard at all.

So here you have it! My springy/Easter Trivet Tux. I added a little bunny for Easter. I found it in one of my old scrap book, idea books. If your a scrap booker, you probably have loads of these books and magazines yourself. I look them mine occasionally and am amazed at how many great ideas I get from them that works well with my quilting projects!

NOTE:  This is for a 6" block, and to make it fit nicely on our 6" tiles, I add a 1" strip around the edges of it and trim it down to a 7" square. You can catch the more detailed instructions on past posts. The original instructions are listed under Tutorials and trivets, and all the tux instructions are under Labels and Trivet Tuxedo's.

As always don't forget to share you completed project with us all!

It's a sickness I tell you!

I know you have all seen the trivets that I seem to be addicted to as of lately, but here is a new batch I just have to share!

 For some strange reason, I just can't seem to stop coming up with new ideas and things to play with.

This little guy here is actually the center block for my civil war mini quilt that I did a few weeks back.  The little mini quilts make a perfect format for tiles. I have gone to larger 12" tiles for all of these. I like the larger size. They are really nice for larger casseroles and pans. No balancing act with these big guys!

This went to my son who loves whales. It almost didn't make it to him, I liked it so well. I see a wall hanging for myself soon!

I went thru my embroidery designs to come up with this one. A few scraps of this and that and you have something fun to use.

Lastly my Dresden plate template and a few scraps made for this little cutie.

Give you any ideas?  Grab something you haven't used lately and see what you come up with.

And be sure to share them with me. I can hardly wait to see them!  :-)

Just one more St Patty's trivet cover

I love fusible applique, and this little guy was just about as fast as it can get.

One of the best places to find applique "treasures" is online. If you search for coloring book pages, you will be surprised what you find. You can click HERE for this one. I took it to a copy machine and reduced it to 78% the size of the original and it worked out nicely for our 6" tile.

If you have a few minutes this weekend, you might want to whip one up for yourselves!

Wearin-O-the Green - Trivet Tuxedo

Well, it's that time again. With St Patty's day right around the corner, our Trivet Tux is going to get us ready to celebrate the season.

For this one we are going to need only 2 fabrics. Your background (mine is black) and some green. This is truly one of those scrap box finds for the green. I had a piece that was only about 3" x 12" and I have leftovers!  :-)  That always makes me happy! This block is called the Rolling Stone.

 From your background you need to cut:

8 -  1 7/8" squares (cut these once on the diagonal)

4 -  1 1/2" x 2 1/2" squares

1 -  2 1/2" square

for your Green you need to cut:

4 -  2" squares

4 -  1 1/2" x 2 1/2" squares

You can see the layout for our sewing. The hardest part to piece is the corner triangles. If you take them step at a time, you will have no problems. I find it easier to line up my pieces so they are straight if I take the time to fold each piece in half and finger press them. That way everything goes where you need them to go.

Stitch 2 opposing sides first and press open before you sew the other 2.

Once you get them all stitched and pressed open trim to a 2 1/2" square. Notice on mine, that I have a directional print. Keep that in mind,if needed, as you sew your block together. I rotated my squares to face each other.

This block finished to 6 1/2" and if your using a 6" tile, your going to want to add a sashing around it to make it a 7" block. I cut 1" strips to bump mine out. It was easier to make it a little larger and trim it down than work with a strip that was any smaller.

So here you have it. A St Patty's day Tuxedo! Enjoy and keep that Green Beer consumption under control!

:-)  :-)

Trivets-Another great finish

It is a banner week for me this week. Yet another great finish from a blogger who took the challenge. This one comes from Danielle over at http://yetheabidethfaithful.blogspot.com/ 
I just love the old fashioned Valentines center on this beauty. Does it just remind you of all those great Valentines we used to exchange in school? You know the ones you spent hours making the perfect shoe box to contain. My boys have been out of school for so long now that I don't even know if kids these days do that sort of thing anymore. Gheez, did that make me sound old!  :-)

Anyway Danielle, I was thrilled to get this photo, and hope you will follow along the rest of the year for new clothes for your tile!  Can't wait to see what else you come up with.

On that note, if you are working on the tile project with me, please send photos. I would love to post them and show off your work!

Wahoo moment

It's always one of those fabulous  Wahoo moments, when you open your email to find a great photo like this.

These gals are from a quilt group in Sterling Colorado, who took my challenge and made it thru my Trivet tutorial. By the looks on their faces, they had a good time, and all managed to make it thru my directions. Not a hate mail in my inbox, which was a relief. I am thrilled to see the finished projects and smiling faces. Better yet, to see how different every ones are and how fantastic they all look.  Hope they will continue and make more of those special Tux's through out the year with me.

Great job girls, and thank you so much for sharing your photo with me!

12" Trivet

I  have no orphan blocks for this tile????  Really in all my mess, no extra block. So off I go, to Quilter Cache, to remedy this situation! I find this great scrap buster block- Goose Creek, that I can hardly wait to make a quilt into, and put together 1 block for my tile. Now I gathered up my 12" tile and put the not so orphan block on it, only to decide that the block, did no justice to the lovely Continental beige tile. It has real possibilities in a quilt, but as "this" one block, it was pretty boring.  It did however give me a chance to play with free motion quilting. I messed with my tensions, which would usually be a big no-no, but I wanted to see if I could get the bottom thread to pull up just enough to show a little on the top. I know most of you work very hard to make sure that doesn't happen. What can I say. I stomp my feet and say I want to do it different sometimes! :-) It will work just fine for a trivet, and no tears shed if it gets something spilled on it.

                                      But

 back to the drawing board I went and found a paper pieced pattern that worked out just great. This is Wild Goose Chase 2. Now this is more like it. It makes my heart sing! If your a paper piecing fan, it really is an easy block to do. And I have to say, if anyone spills on this trivet, you will see a river of tears!!!!  So I ask you, does this make it "not" a practical block like the top one for the purpose???

Hummmm I have to think on this one! 

Hope to have inspired you. Now get out there and clothe your trivet! I want to see what you do.

                                 :-)

PS: Don't forget that, I try to always have links to things I refer to, so you can click on the words and it should take you right there.  :-)

Another little Valentines Trivet Tuxedo

 Hope you all enjoyed my post at Stash Manicure. As I promised there will be a "Tuxedo" or two posted every month for a year. For those who love pieced blocks, here is another Valentines outfit just for you!

This block will be a 6" block so it will need a smaller sashing to fit the tile. I chose to make mine 1" and trim it down when it was done. It is just to difficult to work with pieces smaller than that. Remember we are needing a 7" square for a 6" tile.

So lets get started. 
For the background (mine is black) you will need 2,  2 7/8" squares cut once on the diagonal, and 1,  3 1/4" block cut twice on the diagonal.
The Red on my block requires 4, 2 7/8" blocks cut once on the diagonal. The Pink is 1,  3 1/4" block cut twice on the diagonal, and 1, 2 1/2" block for the center.

This will show you what it looks like once everything is cut.

And the layout for piecing.

Follow the original instructions for the trivet cover and your on your way!