May 18th, 2010
“Ruby for Women is an online Christian women’s magazine for women of all ages and stages of life. The current issue of Ruby for Women is filled with so many wonderful ideas for your home and family, you won’t want to miss out!
If you are a gardener, you will love Aunt Dot’s article on springtime gardening. And if you like to crochet, you’ll find a sweet little headband pattern from Jaybird Designs tucked into this issue. As always, there is inspiring poetry from Keith Wallis, and devotionals from Lynn Mosher, and you will also find “Mama’s Craft Corner” from one of our newest writers, Carolyn Arnold.
Of course, there are always the paper doll and coloring pages from Rochelle Martin, but we are now also featuring one of her quilt designs, “Gardener’s Delight.” In every issue for the next eight issues, Rochelle will teach you how to make a new block for this beautiful quilted wall hanging. Don’t miss a single issue so that you can complete this lovely quilt over the next several months.
Also in this issue of Ruby for Women is “Ask Ms. Beth” where you can read Ms. Beth’s advice on teaching our children the importance of household chores; a tutorial on making your own Journal of Gratitude; and advice for building a home business from “Ask Sue of Indiesmiles.” We have started a couple of new columns with this issue, one is “Spotlight On . . . . ” where we feature a woman who has built a home-based business, and “Through Another’s Eyes” in which we will be sharing personal stories of women who have encountered struggles and heartache in life and who have triumphed through God’s amazing grace.
In this issue of Ruby for Women you will also find advice for home-school families along with hands-on projects that we can all do with our kids this summer, all from our resident Home School Mom, Heather Miller. One of our newest writers, Amanda Johnson, writes about hearing God call her into missions, and she shares with us her adventure in Balcony Gardening from her little second-floor apartment. For a bride on a budget, there is a tutorial for creating your own hand-embellished bridal shoes and handbag, and there are some great recipes for summer drinks from Jennifer Cirka of Jaybird Designs, as well as ideas for Frugal Family Fun from Lisa Moore Gee.
Vintage Mama has sent along a few old-fashioned recipes that she discovered in some vintage cookbooks, as well as a few newer recipes for creating delicious sugar-free desserts for your family. And if you are looking for a fun project to make this summer for the county fair, you’ll also find a complete eBook pattern for making a Country Girl Apron by upcycling a pair of bib overalls, from mamas*little*treasures.
Visit the Ruby for Women blog at www.rubyforwomen.com“
To subscribe to Ruby click on the button on the upper right corner of this blog. Once you get to the Ruby blog, click on the subscribe link at the top of the page.
Tags: crafts, ezine, poetry, receipes, women, writing
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May 9th, 2010
Rose Filigree Wall hanging
Quilter’s World Magazine has pubished our wall hanging in their digital version of the current June/July issue! You can also find reference to it in the print version now out on the stands.
The size is 42″ square-just right for a wall focal point. I personally love blue and white accents so this design was a joy to make and now enjoy in our home! The quilting motif is also included in the pattern. Many thanks to Robert Kaufman for providing the fusion fabric collection.
Tags: Quilter's World magazine, Robert Kaufman fabrics, roses, wall hanging
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May 3rd, 2010
Leftovers as in batting, of course!
Here’s what I do with the wide, long strips trimmed off from bed sized quilts:
1. Trim the long edges with a ruler and rotary cutter on my mat.
Batting Pieced Trimmed
2. Butt the long edges together and sew a wide zigzag stitch across the butted edges.
Batting Pieced Joined
3. Use the joined pieces for tablerunner, wall hanging or throw sized quilts.
This is a great way to double the money you spend on batting. And if you keep the leftover pieces in the bag they came in you can identify what you have and join the same batting type pieces together. I usually buy the same type of batting for this reason. And I have found that batting pieces joined like this will hold up in quilts that are placed in longarm machine quilting frames.
Happy quilting-Rochelle
Tags: batting, leftovers, quilts
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April 21st, 2010
Are you a beginner at quilting and would like to make a dramatic quilt? Shimmering Stars is our newest quilt. AND the pattern has the bonus of instructions and yardage for a pieced star banded pillowcase.
Shimmering Stars throw
Here is the throw size with yardages and instructions to make a twin too. Refer to the catalog page in the pieced designs section to see the pillowcase photo.
The beginner/intermediate will love the easy piecing of strip blocks and friendship stars in two sizes. Just pick three blue fabrics and you are ready to make your own midnight sky for your bedroom!
Tags: pillowcase, quilt, stars, throw, twin
Posted in Quilt projects | 2 Comments »
April 11th, 2010
Are you a gardener? Maybe a patio garden or full sized estate vegetable and flowers gardens? Our newest pattern, Gardener’s Delight will be published starting in the next issue of Ruby, the women’s ezine. Each issue for the next 8 issues will feature one of the blocks starting with the tulip block. The last issue will give border instructions. It would make a great throw or wall hanging!
- Gardener’s Delight
The subscription button is above in the right sidebar of this blog. You can subscribe for an issue at a time or a full year’s worth of issues.
The pattern features four flower blocks-one for each season! Then if you like using landscape fabrics use grass, stones, sky and woodgrain fabrics in the quilt. You can find all of these fabrics at http://www.quiltshops.com/index.html if your local shop doesn’t carry them.
In each ezine issue will be my finished block, instructions, templates and a block design. The first issue in May will have the yardage for the entire quilt which measures 47″ x 67″.
So get out your sewing machine, rotary cutter and fabrics and join us in making a garden!
Tags: fabric, flowers, garden, grass, quilt, woodgrain
Posted in Quilt projects | 1 Comment »
April 2nd, 2010
Our first Quilted Cat Mystery 64 page book will be ready to be shipped by the end of May. Meet Isabelle and Tara Reed along with George, Isabelle’s fat orange cat who are about to solve their first quilt mystery.
Then find 10 quilt projects including Isabelle’s quilt from story and nine short and easy projects using your stash, scraps or fabric from your favorite quilt store!
Preorder now until May 31st to save 20% off the listed book price!
Tags: flying geese units, quilt mystery, quilts
Posted in Story Blocks Project | 2 Comments »
March 20th, 2010
Find buttons at FindAQuiltPattern.com and win prizes!
Click on this link to register:
http://www.findaquiltpattern.com
The game runs from April 17th to May 1st! Instructions to play the game are on the site. AND you will find 293 quilt patterns by 39 designers as you play the game.
Register today!
Tags: buttons, game, prizes, quilt patterns
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March 19th, 2010
Patchwork Comforters, Throws and Quilts published by House of White Birches has just been released with one of our quilts!
Our contribution to the book’s collection is Oak Lodge made from homespun fabrics, with a beginner skill level. Doreen Clink, from Caro, machine quilted Oak Lodge. I designed the quilting motif in the plain blocks which is included in the book.
Oak Lodge
Didn’t they take a wonderful photo? The book is full of gorgeous quilts-most of them in beginner skill levels. Baby quilts, pieced, appliquéd, new classics, quilts using precut fabrics such as layer cakes and jelly rolls-a wonderful assortment. Jeanne Stauffer and Sandra L. Hatch, the editors, have published another wonderful book!
Tags: beginner, House of White Birches, Oak Lodge, quilts
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March 13th, 2010
Are you learning the art of quilting? Below is a lesson for beginners:
Here’s an important step in making your sewing time easier and your quilt blocks join together perfectly: use a consistent 1/4″ seam allowance!
Star block with 1/4" seam allowance
My first attempts at quilting were difficult because that step wasn’t made clear to me. But when I learned it-the quilting projects became easy to do. I devoured every quilting magazine and book I came across and joined the local quilt guild.
The diagram above shows a star block sewn together with the 1/4″ seam allowance showing on each side with the dotted line. Each of the nine patches in the block have their own seam allowance when you sew them together. Below is a corner square before it’s sewn to the other patches.
Corner star block patch
All pieced block patterns include the 1/4″ seam allowance in the cutting instructions. For example a corner square in a 9 1/2″ (unfinished size) star block would be cut out as a 3 1/2″ square. The other patches in the block also need to be 3 1/2″ before they are all sewn together.
Most appliqué shapes are put into patterns without the seam allowance because of the many different appliqué methods that are used. Fusible web applique shapes don’t need the seam allowance-they just need to be reversed so that they can be traced on the paper side of the fusible web, cut out with a margin of free space and fused to the back of the fabric. Then the shape is cut out on the penciled line and then fused again to the quilt top or block.
Oak Leaf Reel block with appliqué edges turned under
Hand appliqué or freezer paper appliqué methods need to have the 1/4″ seam allowance added so the seam allowance can be turned under leaving a finished edge to the shape. The appliqué shape is then sewn to the quilt block as seen above.
Hopefully this lesson has made quilt piecing clearer for you. Let me know if you have any questions.
Tags: applique, pieced, quilt blocks, seam allowance
Posted in Sewing Techniques | 1 Comment »
February 28th, 2010
Autumn Days (full size)
Are you looking for a gorgeous and easy quilt in autumn colors?
Autumn Days was published in the October 2009 issue of Quilter’s World and is now available in our pattern catalog. Not everyone has a subscription to the magazine so I have made it available here. The pattern has full, queen and king sizes. The log cabin and point blocks are easy to make. I used batiks from Robert Kaufman fabrics but there are many beautiful batiks and fabrics that look like these.
You can find Autumn Days in our catalog with this link:
http://www.cottagequiltdesigns.info/catalog.php?item=109&catid=4&ret=catalog.php%3Fcategory%3D4
Happy quilting,
Rochelle
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