Cracker Lattice Quilt Tutorial in London Fog

Back in June, I  introduced my first quilt pattern for Camelot Fabrics called Cracker Lattice which is available as a free download.   (My first post about the pattern can be found here.)

Camelot Fabrics has now re-released the pattern using the London Fog collection and I like the quilt rendered in this collection even better (I love blues)!  If you like it, you can download the free Cracker Lattice quilt in London Fog here.

Boy Scout Badge Display Tutorial

My seven year old son just finished his first year of Cub Scouts.  I was very good about sewing on his badges that went on his uniform but was unsure what to do with all of his miscellaneous badges from camping trips, popcorn sales, etc.  They do not go on a uniform, but I wanted to display them somehow so that they did not just wind up as a pile of badges in a drawer.  I decided to make a simple display for his badges and took some pictures along the way so you could make one too if you would like.

For the display you will need:

• A large poster sized picture frame (I had one old one in my closet but you could buy one from JoAnn's, Hobby Lobby, or the like).  The one shown below is 16" x 20"
• Batting at least as big as the frame plus 2" on each side
• Fabric at least as big as the frame plus 2" on each side.
• Duct tape

For my batting I just used some bamboo batting leftovers from a recent quilt.  Because I work at a textile company, I have an entire roll (so heavy I can't really lift it) of a dark blue twill fabric used in Dickies garments.  It was free and looks very similar to the dark blue of a Boy Scout uniform so it fit the bill (though any quilting cotton or decor weight fabric would work just fine).

Step 1 - Disassemble the frame keeping the actual frame, the backing material (usually corrugated cardboard), and the hanging hard wear.

Step 2 - Arrange on the floor in order:

1. Fabric right side down
2. Batting
3. Frame backing

Step 3 - Wrap the batting and fabric around the cardboard and tape in place with duct tape (similar to recovering a chair cushion).  I first taped down a first pair of opposite sides, then the second pair of opposite sides, then put duct tape all along the fabric edge to keep everything smooth and the front free of wrinkles.

Step 4 - Place the wrapped frame backing into the frame, secure in place and attach hanging hardware. Congrats, you now have a great display for all of those Boy Scout badges (or any other badges or other display items).  

You can use any of your favorite methods to attach the badges.  I used duct tape on some and fabric glue on others and both methods seem to work just fine.

In another variation, you could wrap a cork board instead of the frame backing for a custom fabric covered cork board where you could attach badges and pins.

I am linking up to Link a Finish Friday, Whoop Whoop Friday, Thank Goodness Its Finished Friday, Finish It Up Friday, Fabric Frenzy Friday,  Sewjo @ My Go Go Life, and Show Off Saturday @ Sew She Can.

Foothills Mystery Quilt - July - My Fabric Selections

I am hosting a mystery quilt-a-long through my local guild (Foothills Piecemakers Quilt Guild) and online here.  All of the posts and instructions for this mystery quilt can be found on the tab above and the introductory post can be found here.

For July, the instructions gave out some general information about the quilt-a-long and fabric requirements. The quilt will use 3 sets of fabrics:

Fabric Set A - fabrics forming the main pattern of the quilt
Fabric Set B - fabrics forming the background of the quilt
Fabric Set C - fabrics forming a highlight portion of the quilt

When I designed the quilt, after playing around with different fabric combinations, I decided that I would use a combination of pink and green solids and prints as Set A, white solid fabric as Set B, and dark gray charcoal fabric as Set C.

Over the past few weeks as I looked at the stack I have started to get a little bored with my choices.  I almost always use white as the background in my quilts (I admit that I get twitchy when I have less than 10 yards on hand) and while that fabrics I selected would look nice and would work well for the quilt, I was not really pushing myself outside of my comfort zone...so I decided to scrap that color scheme and start anew.

I have been ogling quilts with low volume backgrounds and collecting low volume fabrics for a while now but have never had the courage to use them in a quilt, mixing all of those patterns is not comfortable for me.  So the new plan is to use a bunch of bright colored fabrics for Set A, low volume fabrics for Set B, and black solid fabric for Set C (many thanks to my IG friends who helped me select the various fabrics).

I figure that it is only fabric and with each quilt I learn and stretch myself as a quilter.  This is just the first month so there is plenty of time to join in :)

I'm linking up to  Sew Cute Tuesday @ Blossom Heart Quilts, Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story, Let's Bee Social @ Sew Fresh Quilts, Needle and Thread Thursday @ My Quilt Infatuation, and WIP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced.

New Blogger's Group Bee - July

As part of the New Blogger's Hop hosted by Beth of Plum and June a number of bees were created by the members.  I know that a New Zealand / Australia bee was formed and I joined a US based bee that we are calling the New Blogger's Group Bee.

For this bee, the queen of the month sends out block instructions and we make two blocks from our own fabrics and send them to her by the end of the month.

This month, the queen bee was Pam of Sewing Wilde who sent out instructions on a variation on a log cabin block having a solid fabric combined with print fabrics having a white background that read as "light".

I thought that I was doing well, finishing my blocks by the 15th of July, but it turns out that I am one of the last two people to send in their blocks.  I never would have guessed that I would be the slacker sending my blocks in half way through the month :)

So here are my two blocks.  I will try to post a picture of Beth's finished quilt or quilt top when she sews it up.

College Blog Hop

Hi and Welcome to Day 6 of the College Days Blog Hop hosted by the wonderful Soma of Whims and Fancies!   I was so excited when Soma asked me to be part of her upcoming blog hop.  I said yes before I even knew what the hop's theme.

For college, I went to Carnegie Mellow University over in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for Chemical Engineering.  When I heard the theme of the hop I immediately thought of the late nights studying and all of the 101, 201, etc classes we all took.

There are some paper piecing super stars in this hop and I have been in awe of their designs. Being a new paper piece designer, I designed a very beginner friendly College 101 block.  There are two versions of the block:

Version 1 - Block with paper pieced 101 and embroidered "College"

Version 2 - Block with paper pieced 101 (for those that do not wish to add the embroidery.

The block (both versions are included in the pattern) can be downloaded for free on Craftsy right here.

For my version, I used Kona White as the background, some shot cotton (sorry I don't remember the color) for the letters, and some gray thread for the embroidery.

This 10" (finished) block can be used as one block in your college hop quilt or separately as a pillow, book cover, mini quilt, wall hanging, or tote bag.

Please head over to Whims and Fancies to check out the rest of the patterns!

Foothills Mystery Quilt - July - Fabric Selection and Requirements

Hi and welcome to the first set of instructions for the Foothills Mystery Quilt-A-Long!  These instructions will cover the intro to the quilt as well as fabric selections and requirements.

Each month's instructions can be found in the tab above.

Just a reminder on the Mystery Quilt:

*Update - I forgot to add in this post that the finished quilt will be 54” x 72”, 

a nice lap sized quilt.**

I designed this mystery quilt to be at an advanced beginner level containing half square triangles, square in a square, and basic patchwork.  (There is no applique, Y-seams, or paper piecing in the pattern.)

The mystery quilt-a-long will begin in July 2014 and end with a quilt reveal in April 2015 (approximate end date).  Instructions will be sent out the weekend following the first Thursday of each month.

For this pattern, the width of fabrics (WOF) is assumed to be at least 41 inches and a scant quarter inch (a thread width smaller than 1/4”) seam is to be used throughout the construction of the quilt.

The quilt construction instructions are different from typical patterns so that the design of the finished quilt remains a mystery as long as possible.

Any questions – please contact me at cheryljbrickey (at) gmail (dot) com

Quilt Fabric Selections

This quilt requires three sets of fabrics. 

Fabric Set A	Main fabrics forming the main “design” of the quilt	Shown as blues and greens in the instructions^
Fabric Set B	Background fabrics	Shown as white in the instructions^
Fabric Set C	Highlight fabrics.  These fabrics form a smaller portion of the quilt pattern	Shown as dark gray in the instructions^

^ for the instructions to follow in future months

For each of these fabric sets (A, B, and C), you may use a single fabric or a combination of fabrics for a more scrappy quilt top.  The most important thing about selecting the fabric sets is to insure that there is good contrast between each of the fabric sets.

For my quilt, I am using a large number of fabrics for fabric set A and one fabric each for sets B and C.

Fabric Requirements

The fabric yardages listed below can be fulfilled by a single fabric or a combination of fabrics that equal the yardages listed. (If using smaller scraps you may need slightly more yardage due to cutting waste.)

Fabric Set A – 1¾ yards

Fabric Set B – 3 yards

Fabric Set C – ⅝ yard

Charity Quilt Finish and Mystery Quilt-A-Long Announcement

As part of the Foothills Piecemakers Quilt Guild, we make philanthropy quilts with members making blocks, making quilt tops, and/or quilting the quilts for various charities.  I did not make this quilt top but offered to quilt and bind it.  I believe that the quilt top was made using some new Coats & Clark fabrics which were donated to the guild.

Charity quilts are wonderful quilts to practice new quilting and binding techniques.  It is a win for the quilter to practice a skill and a win for the guild to have some of the quilt tops finished into quilts.  (My previous charity quilt I used to learn a flower fmq pattern.)

For this quilt I quilted a simple meander because I was running out of time (I already had the sandwich prepared for 4 weeks), but for the first time, I used the backing to make the binding.  

I trimmed and squared the top and batting and then trimmed the backing to extend three quarters of an inch around the quilt top.  I folded in the backing once (so that the raw edge of the backing was adjacent the quilt top and then folded it over again onto the quilt top.  I was able to quickly machine quilt down the binding right on the folded edge.  I don't think that it looks too bad for a first attempt and it was very quick.

The only real hard part was making sure that when I was trimming the quilt top and batting that I did not accidentally cut the backing (I did cut the backing at one little spot but a quick zigzag fixed it).

My other news is that I was volunteered to be chair of the Mystery Quilt for the Foothills Piecemakers Quilt Guild 2014/2015.  I am going to post all of the quilt-a-long instructions and my progress pictures here so that you can join in too :)

The quilt-a-long is going to be at a very leisurely pace, starting this month with fabric selections with one post every month (posted the weekend after the first Thursday of the month) and ending with a reveal in April-ish.

This mystery quilt is an advanced beginner level containing half square triangles, square in a square, and some basic patchwork.  (No applique, Y-seams, or paper piecing).  The quilt construction instructions are different from typical patterns so that the design of the finished quilt remains a mystery as long as possible.

I hope that you decide to join in!  I will be posting the first set of instructions this Saturday or Sunday and I will be also posting my progress along the way. (I will even try to make a button for those participating as soon as I figure out how to make one.)

I am linking up to Link a Finish Friday, Whoop Whoop Friday, Thank Goodness Its Finished Friday, Finish It Up Friday, Off the Wall Fridays,Fabric Frenzy Friday,  Sewjo @ My Go Go Life, and Show Off Saturday @ Sew She Can.

WIP Wednesday - first Wednesday of July

I have not joined in on a WIP for a while so I thought that I would share a new quilt project I am starting.  I have all of the fabric now so I am officially calling it a WIP.

This wonderful rainbow of Kona goodness was sent to me from Bear Creek Quilting Company as I recently became a blog contributor for them. 

I will be transforming these strips into a quilt for my son (who loves rainbows and all colors) and will be sharing the finished quilt and tutorial for you over at Bear Creek Quilting Company in mid to late August.

Coincidentally, Bear Creek Quilts is having a major giveaway right now, a Big Kahuna Giveaway to celebrate the new Kahuna Batik collection and  new patterns by Stephanie Prescott from A Quilter's Dream.  Check it out if you have time and love batiks :)

Happy sewing!

I'm linking up to  Sew Cute Tuesday @ Blossom Heart Quilts, Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story, Let's Bee Social @ Sew Fresh Quilts, Needle and Thread Thursday @ My Quilt Infatuation, and WIP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced.