Quick Lanyard Project

Today I thought I would share a little lanyard I made for my mom a while back. Last Mother's Day I gave my mom, grandmother, and mother-in-law a lanyard like this one. Along with the lanyard, I also made them a little pouch (that I didn't take pictures of...) and included a little charm pack and these adorable Gingher Stork Embroidery Scissors. I also have these scissors and keep them on a lanyard around my neck when I am sewing. They are perfect for cutting thread and little things as you work. They are also so pretty to look at! 

For my mom's lanyard I used Anna Maria Horner's Sinister Swarm in Vivacious print from her Field Study line. For the snap I used my Babyville Boutique Snap Pliers. I blogged more info on them in this post. I bought them to use on a baby project but have been using them a lot on non-baby projects. The snaps are such fun colors!

I can't remember my exact measurements, but I think I cut a 2"xWOF strip of fabric to begin with.

I then ironed it in half, wrong sides together, and used the crease made as a guide to fold my raw edges into the center and ironed again. The strip was now 2 layers thick and 1" wide.

The ends still had raw edges, so I folded those about an inch in before folding the whole strip in half on the original crease. The strip was now 4 layers thick and 0.5" wide.

I top stitched around the edge to keep it closed.

I then overlaid one end of the strip on top of the strip about 4" above the end, as you can see above, and added one half of a snap.

I added the other half of the snap at the bottom of the other end. This way you can loop scissors through!

The whole project took me about 30 minutes or less!

PB&J Disappearing 9-Patch Baby Boy Quilt

Here's another precious quilt that my mom made not too long ago.

She also made a sweet little pillow to match.

The fabric she used for this little 9-patch quilt is from the PB&J line by Basic Grey for Moda Fabrics.

For the backing she used Grunge Jelly yardage from the same line.

My mom used a disappearing 9-patch pattern to achieve this look. 

It looks so much harder to put together than it actually is!

There's little Presley coming in the back door!

My mom used the seams as her guide for straight line quilting.

This turned out to be such a sweet baby boy quilt! Way to go mom!

Tutorial: Fat Quarter Half Square Triangle Baby Quilt

This quilt was inspired by the modern looking quilts by Crafty Blossom. Aren't the colors Erica picked out for this quilt amazing?! The piecing is simple and dynamic. I'm not sure what her method is for piecing, but this is what I came up with. Its super simple!

Materials

Half Square Triangle Blocks

     6 Fat Quarters (Mine were all different colors)

Fabric for Backing

Batting

Fabric for Binding

          

1. Take your 6 fat quarters and square them up to be 18"x18".

2. Cut your 18"x18" squares into fourths. This leaves you with four 9" squares of each color.

3. Pair up all the squares, right sides together. You can mix the colors around if you'd like. I did not.

4. Sew around all four sides of your 9" square sandwiches and then cut into fourths diagonally. 

5. Once pressed open, you have perfect little half square triangles!

6. Once you've pressed them all open, you're left with 48 squares or 96 triangles! Now piece your half square triangles together randomly; 8 rows and 6 columns.

7. Now you just need to baste, quilt, and bind! I chose a bright orange pattern for my binding. I thought it really popped against the blue tones.

For the backing I chose a neutral fabric. I honestly cannot remember the name of this fabric. I bought it before I started jotting down what fabric I use. I know I bought all of the fabric used in this quilt at City Craft. For the quilting, I used a free-motion meandering pattern. Elizabeth Hartman has a great tutorial on this kind of quilting if you aren't familiar with it. 

The finished size is about 31"x42.5".  

All in all, such a fun quilt. I will definitely be using this pattern again in the future!

Please let me know if you have any questions or if you catch any mistakes I may have made! Thanks.

Related Posts:

HST Quilt Complete

Square Quilt Tutorial

Chicopee Potholder

I thought I'd share a little potholder I made for my mom a while back. I just used a current potholder I had as a template. I made it at least an inch bigger all the way around. I quilted two sandwiches bigger than I would need and then I cut them down to size. I didn't have heat resistant batting on hand so I just used two layers of batting. It seems to have worked for her!

I mostly used scraps I had left over from piecing this quilt that I am hand quilting. I haven't worked on that quilt in such a long time! The fabric is from the Chicopee line from Denise Schmidt. I love the saturated colors! 

It was a quick project that has been useful to mom ever since. I love projects that get a lot of use once finished!

Related Posts:

Jelly Roll Quilt

Tutorial: Square Baby Quilt

I love the way this baby quilt turned out. So simple and sweet. I decided to create a tutorial for how I went about putting it together. This definitely isn't the only way. Let me know if you have any questions!

Materials

Square Blocks
     32 - 4" Squares
          For my quilt, I used the below colors and amounts of each.
          11 - Blue (Bella Solids Aqua)
            9 - Dark Gray (Bella Solids Stone)
          12 - Green (Kona Cotton Mint)

          You can get 4" Squares from the following:
                    One 12"xWOF (WOF=Width of Fabric or 44") piece of fabric
                    32 Charm Pack Squares (Most charm packs come with 42 pieces of fabric.)
                    2 Fat Quarters (You can cut 20 4" squares from one fat quarter.)
                    32 scraps that are at least 4"x4"

Borders and Sashing Fabric
     3/4 yard - Light Gray Fabric (I can't remember what I used, just be sure it's lighter than your dark                gray squares)
     1 yard - White Fabric (Bella Solids White)

Backing Fabric
     Stripe Gray from the Lost and Found 2 collection by Mind's Eye for Riley Blake

Binding Fabric
     Ticklish Tipsy Turquoise Laughing Stripes

Cutting Your Fabric

(I didn't use the orange pictured above and additionally used a light gray and white fabric.)

1. Cut out all of your 32 4" squares and set aside.

2. From your light gray fabric:

Cut 10 2" x WOF strips.
We are going to use these strips to chain piece. If you'd prefer not to chain piece, you can cut the following (I highly recommend chain piecing! It saves time and thread):
24 - 2"x8" strips
24 - 2"x4" strips

Subcut 16 - 2"x7" strips from 3 of them.

3. From your white fabric:

Cut 13 2" x WOF strips.
We are going to use these strips to chain piece. If you'd prefer not to chain piece, you can cut the following (I highly recommend chain piecing! It saves time and thread):
40 - 2"x8" strips
40 - 2"x4" strips

Subcut 9 - 2"x7" strips from 2 of your 2" x WOF strips.

Also, cut one 5" x WOF strip. Take your 5" strip and sub cut into six 5"x7" rectangles.

Creating the Blocks

Now that our fabric is cut, we are going to separate our squares into two groups. One group will be bordered in white fabric while the other with be bordered in gray fabric.

4. Group One (will be bordered in gray fabric):

Gather 12 squares. For mine I took 3 blue squares, 5 gray squares, and 4 green squares.

5. Group Two (will be bordered in white fabric):

Gather 20 squares. For mine I took 8 blue squares, 4 gray squares, and 8 green squares.

6. Take Group One and use your gray 2"xWOF strips to chain piece down one side of your 4" squares. When chain piecing, try to leave no more than a half inch gap between squares. (If you decided not to chain piece, use 12 of your 2"x4" strips.) 

7. Once you've sewn the gray strip of fabric down one side of your 12 squares in group one, cut the remaining gray strip of fabric off at the end. You can cut apart each square or just turn the whole thing around and chain piece again the same way down the opposite side. (If you are not chain piecing, use the remaining 12 gray 2"x4" strips here.)

8. Once you've finished chain piecing the gray strips of fabric down two opposing sides of your squares, cut them apart, set your seams, and press them open. Once pressed open, use your square piece of fabric as a guide for squaring up the strip you sewed on.

9. Take another 2" gray strip of fabric and repeat steps 6-8 on the other two sides of your squares. (Use your 2"x8" strips for this if you are not chain piecing.) Once the squares are bordered, square them up to 6.5".

10. Take Group Two and repeat steps 1-4 with your white strips of fabric. (If you are not chain piecing, use your 40 2"x4" strips for the first two sides and your 40 2"x8" strips for the last two sides.)

11. Once all of your squares are bordered in your gray and white fabric, you should be left with 32 6.5"x6.5" blocks!

Creating the Rows

Now that we have all of our blocks created, it's time to sew them into rows! We will have 4 rows of 5 blocks bordered in white and 3 rows of 4 blocks bordered in gray.

12. Sew 4 White Block Rows:

Each white block row includes 5 white blocks and 4 2"x8" gray strips.
Sew each row in this order: 
White block, gray strip, white block, gray strip, white block, gray strip, white block gray strip, white block. 

Once the row is sewn together, trim the sashing strips to the same height as the blocks.

13. Sew 3 Gray Block Rows:

Each gray block row includes 4 gray blocks, 3 2"x8" white strips, and 2 5"x7" white rectangles.
Sew each row in this order: 
White 5" x 7" rectangle, gray block, white strip, gray block, white strip, gray block, white strip, gray block, white 5" x 7" rectangle.

Once the row is sewn together, trim the sashing strips and rectangles to the same height as the blocks.

Piecing the Top

Now that we have all our rows sewn, all we have to do is sew them together!

14. Sew rows together on top of one another alternating white rows and gray rows.

Completing Your Quilt

You've now complete piecing the top! Way to go! Now you just have to baste, quilt, and bind. I quilted this in a free-motion meandering quilt pattern.

When I started this quilt, I wasn't exactly sure how wide it would end up being. Luckily, it's narrow enough that you can use one piece of fabric for the back. I love not having to piece backing fabric together. I know a lot of quilters take a time and care in thinking about the back of the quilt, but once I finish completing the top of mine, I'm ready to move on to the next one! So, anything that will push me to complete the whole thing is a bonus.

I've found using a neutral backing fabric really makes the front pop. For the backing I used a gray and white striped fabric called Stripe Gray from the Lost and Found 2 collection by Mind's Eye for Riley Blake. For the binding, I used a cute blue and white striped fabric called Ticklish Tipsy Turquoise Laughing Stripe.

Finished!

We're now completely finished with our square baby quilt! Thanks for following along this tutorial. Please let me know if you have any questions or if there are any mistakes I've made while putting this together. I'm certain someone will find something :)

Related Posts:

Square Quilt Complete

Square Quilt Pieced

Square Quilt WIP

Square Quilt Blocks

HST Quilt Tutorial