LMS

Boxy Blooms for P&B Textiles

I once again had the opportunity to work with P&B Textiles to design a couple quilts for their new fabric lines released at Quilt Market.

Breezy is a great line of fabric–full of painterly florals and great basics like polka dots and cross hatches.  Several of the fabrics are large scale florals which I really enjoyed working with.  I designed this quilt to showcase and take full advantage of the large splashy floral prints.

If you are looking for a quilt to display some larger scale prints, this design works very well.  You can find the free pattern here.

Here it is done up in Mama Said Sew by Sweetwater for Moda.  You can see how changing up the sashing/block border fabrics can really change up the design.

Boxy Blooms Quilt using Mama Said Sew Fabric

I wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving Weekend!

Block #12

Our last Birdie Stitches block folks!  This month our birdies are celebrating Christmas. =)

Block #12

 Block Construction(All blocks will be constructed in the same manner):

Center square: 8.5″ square

 Border Squares: (20) 2.5″ squares

I like to assemble the block before doing the embroidery work–it’s just a little bit easier to hoop it up.  Sew together 2 sets of (4) 2.5″ squares–these strips will measure 8.5″long–sew one set to the top and bottom of the 8.5″ center square.  Sew the remaining 2.5″ squares into two sets of  6.  These will measure 12.5″ long–sew one strip on each side of the block.  And Voila! a 12.5″ square block all ready for embroidery.  You will find the embroidery pattern below in pdf format.

Birdie Stitches Block #12

A couple embroidery notes:  Unless noted I used all 6 strands of floss for my embroidery.  This pattern incorporates a simple back stitch and french knots.  Please note, as I used 6 strands of floss I only wrap the needle once for my french knots.  I used a water erasable marker to transfer the embroidery pattern onto my fabric–this was done after the block was assembled.

I hope that you have all enjoyed my Birdie Stitches patterns!  I have enjoyed designing and sharing them with all of you. =)

I will share the quilt finishing instructions soon so keep an eye out. =)

Birdie Stitches Block #11

Almost there folks!  Stitching is so much fun when the weather turns cooler and you are stuck inside anyways–not to mention when the hubster is watching sports and you need a little tv time activity! =)

Block Construction(All blocks will be constructed in the same manner):

Center square: 8.5″ square

 Border Squares: (20) 2.5″ squares

I like to assemble the block before doing the embroidery work–it’s just a little bit easier to hoop it up.  Sew together 2 sets of (4) 2.5″ squares–these strips will measure 8.5″long–sew one set to the top and bottom of the 8.5″ center square.  Sew the remaining 2.5″ squares into two sets of  6.  These will measure 12.5″ long–sew one strip on each side of the block.  And Voila! a 12.5″ square block all ready for embroidery.  You will find the embroidery pattern below in pdf format.

Birdie Stitches Block #11

(Note:  If you ever have trouble with the size your pattern is printing out at, be sure that your page scaling is set to “none’ prior to printing).

A couple embroidery notes:  I used 6 strands of thread for all of the embroidery.  This pattern incorporates a simple back stitch and french knots.  Please note, as I used 6 strands of floss I only wrap the needle once for my french knots.  I used a water erasable marker to transfer the embroidery pattern onto my fabric–this was done after the block was assembled.

We have some stellar blocks over in the flickr group.  Be sure to add yours–I really enjoy seeing them!

Mr. Reindeer has been finished–binding all sewn down.  Thanks for all of your machine binding tips!–One great thing about sewing binding on pillows is it sure goes a heck of a lot faster than it does for a quilt. =p

And now on to our thread winners:

I have finished up the quilting on my reindeer pillow and the binding has been sewn down.  Has anyone had any luck machine sewing down binding?  I have tried several different popular machine sewing binding tutorials and I am never happy with the way it turns out.  Unless, the front and the back stitching line up perfectly I am just not happy with it.  Any tips or tutorials that worked for you?  Until then I will be hand sewing my binding…plodding along… =p

For the quilting on this pillow, I did an all over stipple, not over Mr. Reindeer, and then I did something a little bit different(for me).  Aurifil sent me a fantastic package of thread to try out several weeks ago.  One of the things that I have been playing with since receiving my fun thread package  is using the heavier 12 weight thread to straight line machine quilt.  I had planned to hand quilt the straight lines over the stippling but instead, I machine quilted them.  I used a longer stitch length for the straight lines but other than that I didn’t make any changes to my machine/needle.  I am so pleased with the way that it turned out.  Totally makes me want to try doing a white whole cloth quilt using straight line quilting and a rainbow of 12 weight Aurifil thread–how pretty would that be!–and since Aurifil thread comes in 100s of colors it would be a breeze to choose some pretty ones.

The folks over at Aurifil were also kind enough to send over 5 thread samplers for me to give away to 5 of my readers.  So, If you’d like to try out some fun thread leave me a comment.  If you aren’t into machine quilting, the 50 weight thread is perfect for piecing–some threads mess with your seam allowance just a bit which doesn’t seem like a big deal until you start putting together all the blocks.  Even 1/16 inch adds up over the piecing of a whole quilt.  US entries only please for this giveaway.

I’ve been working on the next pillow for my last class of this year.  This little guy is made using Sweetwater’s Countdown to Christmas fabric & has a fun little stitchy appliqued reindeer.  This type of applique is so easy and I think it’s a great introduction to anyone interested in trying applique.

I sketched up the reindeer to look similiar to the reindeers in the fabric–I think he’s pretty darn cute.  I hope to finish up the pillow this week.  I think I’m going to stipple it–I might add a little bit of hand quilting–we’ll see how my week goes.

I’ll be glad to have this finished up–my poor hubster has really had to hold down the fort lately with magazine deadlines, book deadlines, & then my class projects.  I feel like I haven’t had much to share with you but since, September I have made two quilts, 8 pillows, & a set of placemats…it’s been a little bit crazy but I have almost reached the finish line!

Birdie Stitches Block #9

Well, last month at this time I was talking about not wanting to send little miss Chloe off to 1st grade.  We are now on day #8 of first grade which started out “slick” as Chloe called it, we got a little bit of drama on day #4, which carried over with a few tears on day #5 (nothing too major & all was well once Chloe actually got to school).  On day #5 Chloe also announced that 1st grade was way too much school(she went every other day in Kindy) & wondered how many more days until the end of school–she was not thrilled with my response of “200ish?”.  Days #6 & #7 have been fabulous as she has been chatting it up with her best friend about a little sleepover she is having on Friday.  Whew!…a lot has gone down in the first week of school–it’ll be interesting to see what the rest of the year brings!

Birdie Stitches Block #9

Block Construction(All blocks will be constructed in the same manner):

Center square: 8.5″ square

 Border Squares: (20) 2.5″ squares

I like to assemble the block before doing the embroidery work–it’s just a little bit easier to hoop it up.  Sew together 2 sets of (4) 2.5″ squares–these strips will measure 8.5″long–sew one set to the top and bottom of the 8.5″ center square.  Sew the remaining 2.5″ squares into two sets of  6.  These will measure 12.5″ long–sew one strip on each side of the block.  And Voila! a 12.5″ square block all ready for embroidery.  You will find the embroidery pattern below in pdf format.

Birdie Stitches Block #9

(Note:  If you ever have trouble with the size your pattern is printing out at, be sure that your page scaling is set to “none’ prior to printing)

A couple embroidery notes:  I used 6 strands of thread for all of the embroidery.  This pattern incorporates a simple back stitch and french knots.  Please note, as I used 6 strands of floss I only wrap the needle once for my french knots.  I used a water erasable marker to transfer the embroidery pattern onto my fabric–this was done after the block was assembled.

We have some stellar blocks over in the flickr group.  Be sure to add yours–I really enjoy seeing them!

Birdie Stitches Block #8

So I am excited to be sharing Block #8 with you however, not so excited about the fact that this means that it is August….blah…school will be starting and my little Chloe will be going every day.  Last year Chloe went to school every other day and then every other Friday–so, at most, she went 3 days a week—surely this year it would only stand to reason that at most she attend school 4 days a week, right?!? =p

Anyhoo, I know that you all aren’t hear to listen to “my little girl is growing up” woes so on to  Block #8!  Summer always reminds me of sunflowers so here ya go:

Birdie Stitches Block #8

Block Construction(All blocks will be constructed in the same manner):

Center square: 8.5″ square

 Border Squares: (20) 2.5″ squares

I like to assemble the block before doing the embroidery work–it’s just a little bit easier to hoop it up.  Sew together 2 sets of (4) 2.5″ squares–these strips will measure 8.5″long–sew one set to the top and bottom of the 8.5″ center square.  Sew the remaining 2.5″ squares into two sets of  6.  These will measure 12.5″ long–sew one strip on each side of the block.  And Voila! a 12.5″ square block all ready for embroidery.  You will find the embroidery pattern below in pdf format

Birdie Stitches Block #8

(Note:  If you ever have trouble with the size your pattern is printing out at, be sure that your page scaling is set to “none’ prior to printing)

A couple embroidery notes:  I used 6 strands of thread for all of the embroidery.  This pattern incorporates a simple back stitch and french knots.  Please note, as I used 6 strands of floss I only wrap the needle once for my french knots.  I used a water erasable marker to transfer the embroidery pattern onto my fabric–this was done after the block was assembled.

And here we have our completed blocks so far:

Completed Blocks

We have some stellar blocks over in the flickr group.  Be sure to add yours–I really enjoy seeing them!

For those of you following along with Birdie Stitches–if you would like to receive email notifications when I post on my blog you can now sign up to receive them.  I had numerous requests about adding this feature so there ya go. =)

Birdie Stitches Block #6

I hope that everyone had a wonderful weekend filled with lots of friends, food, & fun.  We had a nice relaxing weekend–Game night Friday night, Chloe had a game Saturday, & a cookout on Monday.  It’s been nice having Chloe home all the time…so far, a little bit more refereeing than usual when it’s just me and Elonie at home. =)  That’s to be expected I suppose. 

Are you all ready for Block #6?..I love this little typography block…it was one of the first ideas that I had when I was planning this BOM and I think it is just the cutest little thing. =)

Birdie Stitches Block #6

Block Construction(All blocks will be constructed in the same manner):

Center square: 8.5″ square

 Border Squares: (20) 2.5″ squares

I like to assemble the block before doing the embroidery work–it’s just a little bit easier to hoop it up.  Sew together 2 sets of (4) 2.5″ squares–these strips will measure 8.5″long–sew one set to the top and bottom of the 8.5″ center square.  Sew the remaining 2.5″ squares into two sets of  6.  These will measure 12.5″ long–sew one strip on each side of the block.  And Voila! a 12.5″ square block all ready for embroidery.  You will find the embroidery pattern below in pdf format.

Birdie Stitches Block #6 Pattern

A couple embroidery notes:  I alternated 6 strands of floss & 3 strands of floss for the stitching on this block.  I used 3 strands for “Chirp”, “Tweet”, “Grace”, the vine & flowers across the bottom, & the grey flowers.  I used 6 strands of floss for everything else.  This pattern incorporates a simple back stitch and french knots.  Please note, as I used 6 strands of floss I only wrap the needle once for my french knots.  I used a water erasable marker to transfer the embroidery pattern onto my fabric–this was done after the block was assembled.

  I’d love to see your blocks in the flickr group if you’d like to share. =)

Happy Stitching!

Birdie Stitches Block #5

Birdie Stitches Block #5 12.5" x 12.5"

Block Construction(All blocks will be constructed in the same manner):

Center square: 8.5″ square

 Border Squares: (20) 2.5″ squares

I like to assemble the block before doing the embroidery work–it’s just a little bit easier to hoop it up.  Sew together 2 sets of (4) 2.5″ squares–these strips will measure 8.5″long–sew one set to the top and bottom of the 8.5″ center square.  Sew the remaining 2.5″ squares into two sets of  6.  These will measure 12.5″ long–sew one strip on each side of the block.  And Voila! a 12.5″ square block all ready for embroidery.  You will find the embroidery pattern below in pdf format.

 Birdie Stitches Block #5

You’ll notice that I opted to leave the little flowers off the breast of the birdie.  I think they are super cute but I just decided to omit them–it’s your call how you do your little birdie!

A couple embroidery notes:  I used 6 strands of floss for all of the stitching on this block.  This pattern incorporates a simple back stitch and french knots.  Please note, as I used 6 strands of floss I only wrap the needle once for my french knots.  I used a water erasable marker to transfer the embroidery pattern onto my fabric–this was done after the block was assembled.

  I’d love to see your blocks in the flickr group if you’d like to share. =)

Happy Stitching!