Scrappy Log Cabin Pinnie Tutorial

A few years ago I did a Log Cabin Pincushion Tutorial. I like to make these little pinnies to give as bonus gifts with swaps, bee blocks, at sew days, etc. It's a quick project, and it's a great way to use up tiny scraps.

Project Quilting Challenge 9.6 this week is "SCRAPtastic". I'm running low on my stash of pin cushions, so I decided to make a new rainbow batch. This time around I decided to use muslin as a foundation to make the process quicker and easier (less trimming and fuss this way). Here's another quick tutorial on how to make this version of my scrappy log cabin pincushions.

Supplies:
One 5" x 5" piece of muslin or white/cream fabric for the foundation.
One 5" x 5" piece of fabric for bottom.
A bunch of small scraps.
Poly-Fil

You'll also need general sewing tools & notions such as:
Sewing Machine
Iron
Thread
Scissors
Quilting Ruler
Rotary Cutter
Hand-sewing needle
Pins 

Finished size after stuffing: approximately 4" x 4"

*Note: I like to roughly trim my scraps into square/rectangular shapes for this method. The pieces and seam allowance don't have to be perfect. That's the beauty of using the foundation.

Step 1:
Select two similarly sized small scraps. Place them right sides together, aligning the raw edges on one side, onto the foundation near the center. Stitch along that lined-up raw edge with 1/4" seam allowance.

Step 2:
Turn & Press.

Step 3: 
Working clockwise (or counterclockwise if you prefer), select another scrap that is approximately the length of the first two after they have been stitched together and pressed. Place the third scrap right sides together, perpendicular to the first seam and line up the raw edges along one side. Stitch. Turn & Press.

Step 4:
Continue in this manner until you have worked all the way around and covered the entire foundation. It's OK to go over the edges of the foundation.

Step 5:
Trim back down to 5" x 5".

Step 6:
Place the log cabin rights sides together with a 5" x 5" piece of fabric for the bottom. Stitch around all four sides, leaving a small opening in the center of one side for turning. Clip the corners.

Step 7:
Turn right sides out through the opening. Gently poke out the corners with a turning tool (knitting needle, chopstick, etc). Fold in the seam allowance at the opening. Press.

Step 8:
Fill with Poly-Fill.

Step 9:
Hand-stitch the opening closed with a slip stitch (ladder stitch) for an invisible seam.

Hooray! You're done! Tag me on Instagram @trina_peterson. I'd love to see your awesome Pinnie. :)

Slopes: a Tutorial

One of the Modern Quilt Guild Quilt Con challenges this year was to use a Darlene Zimmerman triangle template to make an original quilt design. I signed up for the challenge and got the 45 degree (2.5") template in the mail, and this is what I came up with.

I named it "Slopes", because it reminds me of a ski hill. Please ignore the sub-par quilting; I'm still a novice free-motion-quilter. But hey! At least I'm trying, am I right?! 

My goal was to make a simple quilt that would make a fun design for kids. I thought these small bits of printed fabric strewn across a solid quilt would be fun for a kid to explore. Although my choice of white might not be ideal for kids, this quilt design could be made up in any color. I just had a lot of white kicking around, and I thought it would look great with some blue scraps. Personally, I'm OK with my son getting stains all over it as long as he enjoys it.

The finished Slopes quilt measures about 42" x 60", and here's how you do it:

1. Cut 30 (2.5" x width of fabric) strips from your solid. 

2. Use your triangle template to cut 30 triangles from print scraps.

3. Lay out your strips and use your template to cut out one triangle from each strip in random spots. Replace each solid triangle you just removed with a print triangle, and piece it (sew) in place.

4. Sew your strips together lengthwise: 1 strip = 1 row. 30 rows total with one triangle randomly placed in each. 

5. Voilà! You're done with the top! Now just quilt and bind as desired.  

This quilt is so easy and fast, and it would make a great baby gift. 

I think it would also make a fun Jelly Roll quilt. You could reverse the pattern to use prints for the strips and solid triangles. 

You can get an acrylic triangle template like mine here. Or you can make your own with some cardboard by drawing a 2.5" tall triangle with two 45 degree corners on the bottom (use the 45 degree line on your quilting ruler). 

If you decide to make your own Slopes quilt, I'd love to see it! Tag me on Instagram or send me a pic!  

October Stitch Tease

October was Jennifer's month in the Stitch Tease Bee, and she chose Bottled Rainbow blocks. These are ticker-tape blocks that are really fun to do, and they are perfect for using up those scraps. We used the tutorial by Stitched in Color. These blocks can be done using Quilt As You Go (which we did for Jennifer). Each block finishes at 16" x 20", so we only made one this month. Everyone did a different color, and I did dark green. I can't wait to see this quilt put together, and it's definitely a quilt I'm going to put on my "to do someday" list. Hopefully "someday" I'll find the time.

Rainbow Runner - Project Quilting Challenge #1

It's been too long friends! I feel like the holiday season hit like a hurricane, and now I'm left dazed and confused, spun dizzy, drenched, and picking the leaves out of my hair.

But alas! It's a whole new year!

At the first 2014 meeting of the MadModQuiltGuild this week, a fellow member introduced us all to an ongoing phenomenon known as "Project Quilting". Apparently this is a wonderful challenge set forth by Kim at Persimon Dreams. The 5th season of said challenge kicked off this week, and I'm just barely squeaking in my entry at almost the last second. Click here to go to the Project Quilting Challenge page.

This challenge revolves around strings. To enter, a string quilt must be produced (start to finish) within this week of the challenge and submitted by noon today. Eek! I better get typing.

So here she is, henceforth and forever more called: Rainbow Runner.

Finished size: 59" x 11.5"

All of the colors in this project came from my scrap bin, and all are strings measuring 2.5" wide or less. I foundation pieced them onto 8.5" muslin squares. I had just purchased some Robert Kaufman Essex Linen this week, so I thought that would be great to use since I love the stuff. The sashing/border is all from 2" (1.5" finished) strings. The binding is a straight-grain 2.5" double-fold, and hand-stitched to the back. The backing is also made with the Essex Linen.

I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that this was the first time I've free-motion-quilted with my Juki 2010Q. The process just reinforced how much I LOVE HER! Not a single thread break.
Best. Machine. Ever.

Made and Photographed (in the snow) here in lovely Sun Prairie, Wisconsin

I'm already excited about the next challenge! I hope some of you will join in on the fun. Have a great week my friends. :)