Summercrafter

It's here! The Christmas in July Blog Hop has started and I am stop #3 on the hop, so make sure you see what Amy and The Patchsmith have made so far.     I love a charm pack, it's a tiny sampler of a great fabric collection! I'd like to show you how to make this whimsical door or wall hanging for Christmas, it's an easy pattern to repeat with any Charm Pack.      What you will need besides fabric, sewing machine & thread! 1 Charms Square pack 2 Fat Quarters that coordinate with your charms and applique graphic Backing Fabric Lite Seam to Seam for applique (2-3 sheets) or whatever other fusible product you like Embellishments like buttons, Rick Rack or ribbon (depending on your project) Neutral (white) 2 1/2" strips for borders (4)   The  finished size is about 12" x 36" unless you add more sashing or borders.     The first thing you do is unwrap your charms pack and la...

For the Simply Retro Quilt Along  I'm participating in at Jana's blog, we are starting on the third project in the book.  But first I wanted to bring you up to speed with the progress of the first two I have started. You can also check out more of Simply Retro on Flickr . My first Simply Retro project "Swell"  which I did in red, white and blue had been delayed in the quilting department. I decided to quilt it in the Baptist Fan design, but I wasn't happy with how it was turning out with the machine. SInce I had to spend a day in a hospital waiting room, I decided that I would quilt it by hand (a first for me)  and so it's taking a while to finish. See how it's turning out.     The other project in the works is "Retro" a great block with a splash of color popping in the quilt.     This is a baby quilt, and I have a feeling I'll be delivering this quilt after the baby arrives. I am waiting for this gre...

  Hey, you Christmas Lovers, have I got news for you! If you need a little holiday inspiration to cool you off this summer, you'll want to stop by The Crafty Quilter's Blog starting July 12th and see what a few little blogging elves are up to.  Each day a new Christmas tutorial will be posted by these lovely ladies for your Christmas Crafting enjoyment.   July 12:  Amy – Amy Made That! July 13:  Amanda – The Patchsmilth July 14;  Elaine – Summercrafter (that's me!) July 15:  Sarah –   Sarah Rose Quilts July 16:  Patricia – Quiltinglines July 17:  Sheri – Sunshine in the Attic July 18:  Julie –  The Crafty Quilter    July 19:  Wrap Up and prizes     Here's a sneak peek at my starting point. ; )   And if you are not the crafty/quilty type, they sure make for some great Christmas eye candy. And they'll be giveaways! And who doesn't like free stuff? ...

I am so glad that I signed up for this quilt along.          Thanks Jana! Check out her blog and see what it's all about! There are lots of pics of other great projects, take a look here , here  and on flickr !   I am not going to tell you that it's easy to keep up with these weekly postings but it's a great excuse to lose sleep! I am really enjoying myself working on these projects as well as learning new things and moving along very quickly.  The funny thing is every time I look ahead at the next project, I know exactly who is going to get it!    Here is the second project in the book. If you are a quilter, a beginning quilter, this book is the perfect place to start working with patterns. Easy, Peasy!!   You start with squares.    Lots of squares.     Group your squares.   Turn some into Half square Triangles.     Before you...