This quilt was so simple to make – it was just vertical strips.  A simple pattern deserves a bold print.  I made this quilt for a friend of mine who just had a baby.  At first I thought the fabric was too “serious” for a baby, but after I made the quilt I thought it looked like a sophisticated baby quilt.  And since my friend is very sophisticated, this quilt was perfect.

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I have never used fabric like this before: bold, large prints.  I designed this quilt myself – it is  just rectangles – no triangles or curves.  I have started making quilts that are simple in design, since piecing is not my favorite part of quilting; the quilting is my favorite part.  The simpler the design, the faster the quilt comes together, the faster I can get to quilting it.

I machine quilted this.  I quilted large “retro” flowers, which I thought matched the look and feel of the fabric.

The corners of the binding gave me a little bit of trouble; but every quilt needs to have a few mistakes – it proves it is homemade, right?

I made this quilt for a friend of mine to celebrate her divorce from her husband who was a complete ass.  Good riddance!

I love the New York Beauty block.  It is a block that has been around for a long time, but it has a modern look to it.  It is also a paper pieced block, which makes it easy to get such sharp points.  Sewing the curve is challenging for me.

If you are new to paper piecing a good block to start with is Flying Geese or Square in a Square.  These blocks are simpler than the New York Beauty block.

I use Electric Quilt to make my NYB patterns.  I can make them any size, changing the number of points etc., very easily.

Here is a NYB block pattern I created using EQ7.  You can enlarge it to make a larger sized block, but if you print it without changing the size, it will be a 6 inch block. (Keep in mind that when you print a pdf document, make sure the page scaling is set to “NONE” if you want this to be a 6 inch block).

My favorite New York Beauty block is this “sunset” small quilt I created when I first experimenting with the block.  It is hanging on my “inspiration” wall in my craft room.

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I made this ornament using Fast 2 Fuse stiff interfacing and silk fabric I purchased at fabric.com.  I cut the pattern out of the Fast 2 Fuse. I fused the red fabric to the interfacing and then cut the fabric out around it.   I used a small zigzag stitch around the entire dress.  I got the pattern for the dress online – I think from the “free patterns” section in Cloth, Paper, Scissors.

I used silvr tulle on the front, gathered it and stitched it together and then hid the stitches under black silk – I used the selvage from black silk fabric so it would not unravel.  I made a necklace out of silver glitter glue and glued a small glass stone in the middle.  My necklace looks little sloppy – I”m not that good with glitter glue.

For the hanger I used some thin wire and tacked it to the back.  I think if I make this again, I will put the hanger on under the fabric on the back side, then tack it down and then fuse the fabric.  The only issue would be cutting out the fabric once it is fused to the Fast 2 Fuse; that might be difficult with the hanger in the way – but I think it might look neater in the long run (see photo to the right)

ATCs or Artist Trading Cards are little 2.5 x 3.5 inch “art cards” that you make and trade with other artists, or give as
gifts to your non-artist friends.  Some people make the cards 2.5 x 3.75 inches.  Either way – they are pretty small.

I have decided to give these little art projects a try because they are so tiny – how can you screw up something that is only 2.5 x. 3.5 inches?  Here is a photo of my first ATC.

I made this using a double sided, very stiff interfacing called Fast 2Fuse. I used a small zig zag stitch around the sides.  I cut out the shape of a bird from some sheet music from an old church hymnal.  I  wrapped the card with various ribbons I had.   I put some blue glitter on the bird and some gold glitter around the edges.  I printed “Joy to the World” on velum paper and stitched it on the bottom.

There are lots of examples on the web of ATCs.  You can make them out of fabric, paper or any other material you like.   You could make Christmas tree ornaments out of them.  You could make a banner out of them – although I like the look of upside down triangles instead of squares for banners.  This is a really cute example of a triangle banner.  You can use scrapbook eyelets to create holes in your ATCs or small triangles.

I also found a template for making an envelope for ATCs.  It would be fun to make one of these out of freezer paper (be sure to use glue that is transparent when it dries).

Here is the website with the template for the envelope for your ATC.

Here is the template in PDF form in case the website takes it down.

I wanted to make my own coffee sleeve, that I could reuse.  I saw an article in Cloth, Paper, Scissors and it inspired me to try it myself.

I first took an old wool sweater and washed it in hot water to shrink it – and “felt” it.  The wool is a nice insulator to protect your hand.

I cut it using a pinking shears so that the wool would be less likely to unravel.  I then decorated it with some ribbon.  Finally, I tacked on a metal charm, that I heated in some boiling water so I could easily bend it so it would fit the cup a little bit better.  I just needed a slight slope to it.

I then sewed it closed, but you could close it with a button, or Velcro.

For a template, I just used a Starbucks sleeve, but made it a little bit wider.   The sleeve should have a slight curve to it, which is why you should use the Starbucks sleeve as a template.  If you just cut a straight rectangle, it won’t fit the cup as well.