Series "Handmade-Home Cooked w/ Love"...Songbird Casserole Trivet for Entertaining

 Hey quilters...happy Sunday. I hope y'all are having a great weekend and weather. I'Im sharing with you today a fun project using your scraps for entertaining. I say entertaining but this would make a great gift as well. I love to make a handmade gift any chance I can and using my scraps of this beautiful collection of Songbird was the inspiration. In my previous post I was blessed to be part of the Songbird Blog Hop w/ curlicuecreations.com Jennifer Thomas new fabric collection "Songbird" for Lumin Fabrics designed by Jerry Khiev. This collection is stunning. The entire time as I was designing my project then cutting the fabric all I could think of what I was going to do with the scraps. With all the colors and prints my brain went into a fun trivet for entertaining. Which inspired my new home decor series that I'll be sharing seasonally. The project is very simple and beginner friendly. You can use the instructions below and adjust to fit your desired casserole dish. Mine was the large oblong size, and my scraps were perfect then made strips from the lighter print for the lattice strips. I made a "cobbler" that I'll be sharing soon on my cooking blog with y'all as well. What I love about this fun design is it's very versatile for any occasion just by changing the fabrics. I'm sharing the instructions today while Skully and Stella are working on their own creative projects. Alot going on in my sewing room :-) Check back soon for more adventures of Skully and Stella. Enjoy!

Blessed Quilting from My Home to Yours,

Cat

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Songbird Casserole Trivet...est. finish at 10 1/4 x 14 1/4

Here's all you need...

* Songbird fabric scraps to your desired measurements.

* Thermoweb Heatnbond Lite

* Insul-Bright 

* Pellon fusible fleece

*Aurifil 50 weight #2520

* Olfa rotary cutter w/pinking blade

* Oliso iron

* Brother sewing machine

Here's all you do...

* Rotary cut your front fabric and backing to desired size (mine 10 x 14)... set aside.

* Rotary cut Pellon fusible fleece to the size of your front fabric.

* Fuse following manufacturer's directions. Set aside.

* Rotary cut your fabric for lattice strips and heatnbond lite to desired size and fuse following manufacturer's directions.

* Using your rotary cutter with pinking blade...cut strips 1/2" x desired lengths. 

Tip....I cut mine long then squared up even with front fabric after I weaved the strips.

* Peel off backing of strips :-) 

Yup...I did it...had my lattice strips perfect then realized I forgot to peel off the paper backing. UGH!

* Place strips as desired on front fabric...forming the weave of a pie crust (under/over) as desired then fuse following manufactures directions.

* Square up even with front if needed.

* Quilt a running stitch on lattice strips to secure or quilt as desired.

* Place backing...right side down then heatnbond lite then top....secure with clips.

Tip...I like to do a fast-basting stitch all around my trivet using my Brother sewing machine before adding the binding. Helps hold strips in place. 

Bind as desired or...

My binding method of rotary cutting strips 2" x desired length. 

Start at front (top) sew with right side together using a 1/4" seam allowance. Press.

Repeat for bottom...then left/right side.

Starting at top...fold strip to back then tuck in half to secure raw edge...clip to secure and top stitch on front of fabric. 

Repeat same method with bottom...then left and right sides.

Note...this is a fun time to play with decorative stitches on your machine for the top stitching on front.

Just make sure you catch the back fold to secure binding.

Songbird Trivet front...

Songbird Trivet back...

Enjoy!

Check back this week on cooking blog (link upper right on home page) for the cobbler recipe. 

Sneak Peek....Fall entertaining project using Songbird scraps!

 Hey quilters...can you believe it's fall season already? I don't know about y'all but I'm ready for some coolish weather. I love it when the leaves start turning colors and the air even smells crisp. Even the birds seem to chirp a bit more too. Along with all the fun fall decor comes with one of my favorite things to do and that is bake. So this coming weekend I'll be sharing a project using your Songbird fabric scraps for entertaining. I might even throw in a recipe too. That was a hug hint of what's to come :-) Below is a sneak peek of how beautiful this fabric collection "Songbird" designed by Jerry Khiev of Lumin Fabrics for Jennifer Thomas of @curlicuecreations. I'm using my scraps from previous project when featured using the collection for @curlicuecreations recent blog hop. You can see below of why I wanted to use all of this fabric. Way too pretty! Talk soon.

Blessed Quilting from My Home to Yours,

Cat

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Songbird fabric sneak peek...

My apologies...Video below can be viewed on facebook...

and sew it begins....Skully's girlfriend Stella!

 Hey quilters...happy Sunday! Well, you just never know what is going to happen in my sewing room. Yesterday Skully's girlfriend Stella arrived with clothes to be altered. First of all, I didn't know Skully had a girlfriend, that was news to me. Second...she already knew how to sew! Stella couldn't wait to alter her clothes using my Brother sewing machine. She was having a blast using the stitch regulator and my Aurifil 50# thread black matched perfectly. I'm thrilled that Stella is here to help Skully and me with all the Halloween projects we have planned. She couldn't have arrived at a better time. Tis the Season for Skully & Stella!

Blessed Quilting from My Home to Yours,

Cat

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Stella having a blast!...

Tis the Season for Skully....suspender fitting gone wrong! :-)

 Hey quilters...happy Friday! I"ve had an eventful week so far. Starting calm...Skully and me planning a fun event coming soon, then my sweet cat Lottie enters the sewing room. I love my sweet Lottie. She usually watches me sew...we have eventful conversations...she plays with my Aurifil thread. All this is normal but yesterday was a different adventure for us. Skully wanted suspenders for his upcoming event. I guess this is normal for a skeleton to look his best??? As I was fitting Skully for his suspenders my sweet cat Lottie jumps on my cutting table and decides to help. I will admit at first it was so sweet...she was trying to help hold the suspenders for me...I think. Then she was maybe getting a bit too close to Skully's neck area. Just so y'all know at this time I couldn't resist grabbing my phone to snap a few pics. But little did I know what was next. I guess Lottie might be a bit jealous of the attention Skully is getting. I don't know you be the judge ;-) Everything seemed so innocent until I heard "crunch." Yup...my sweet almost 90 (in cat years) bit Skully's arm. Seriously! I was snapping a few cute photos then it happened. Wow!!! Lottie bit Skully's arm. First, I didn't know cats could be jealous of a skeleton...right? But...it's on camera! I did laugh then after the fact, but I guess we'll be a bit more careful in the future until they finally bond. :-) I hope! Skully didn't get hurt but his ego was bruised a bit. In the meantime, Skully is preparing for a fun event coming soon so check back for all the details. Wishing y'all a great stitching weekend.

Blessed Quilting from My Home to Yours,

Cat

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Skully's suspender fitting gone wrong!...

THEN...

Tis the Season for Skully..."Spook-tacular Entertaining!"

 Hey quilters...hope you have weekend sewing plans. Well Skully is sharing his first spook-tacular project that will definitely get you in the holiday spirit. Skully made his first hexagon trivet for entertaining & as you can see by picture below, he is very proud. I wanted to teach him the basics of sewing and quilting but on a small scale and techniques that "anyone" can accomplish. He learned to fussy cut using a hexagon ruler...binding with hexagon angles...spider web quilting and quilting in the ditch. Small projects can be sew fun especially when using great quality projects. He has a lot more fun projects to share with y'all so keep checking back to see what's next for Skully. He's even learning time-saving techniques too. Skully may be new to sewing but no bones about it...he's having a blast. Enjoy!

Blessed Quilting from My Home to Yours,

Cat

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Here's all you need...

* Fons & Porter 3" Finished Hexagon Template

* White Owl Textiles "Hauntingly Yours" & Spider Web batik by Lumin Fabrics.

* Aurifil 50# thread (2692 Black)

* Insul-bright

* Pellon 987F (fusible fleece)

* Brother sewing machine

* Oliso iron

* Basic sewing tools

Here's all you do...

* Press fabric using Oliso iron.

* Using a rotary cutter...Fussy cut your fabric as desired using the hexagon template.

Note...

Sewing border strips (you will be sewing strips clockwise starting at top of hexagon

and sewing with right sides together using a 1/4" seam allowance.)

Press and square up after each strip.

Tip...strips are cut a bit longer than needed than squared up...less stress :-)

* Rotary cut border strips 1.5 x 4, 1.5 x 5, 1.5 x 5.5, 1.5 x 5.5, 1.5 x 5.5, 1.5 x 6

* Press and square up.

Tip....Skully used the 30* angles on the cutting mat to square up the hexagon along the way. :-)

* Rotary cut Pellon 987F to the size of hexagon block and fuse to wrong side of block (back) following manufacturer's directions. 

Quilt as desired.

*Skully used Piece n Quilt 4N1 Ruler to mark his lines w/ a heat away pen. You do what's easier for you. He marked his first line than followed the previous lines to create the spider-web design. 

Bind as desired or add my border/binding technique... 

Using the same sewing method as above....

* Rotary cut strips 1 3/4 x 5, 1 3/4 x 6.5, 1 3/4 x 6,5, 1 3/4 x 6.5, 1 3/4 x 6.5, 1 3/4 x 8

* Starting at top....sew strips to center hexagon using the clockwise direction...press and square up as you go.

* Rotary cut your Insul-Bright & Backing fabric to the size of hexagon block.

* Layer backing fabric (right side down)

* Hexagon block (right side up) facing you :-)

* Starting at top in clockwise direction. Fold back the border/binding strip to back...leaving a 1/4" border on the front. Tuck in raw edges on back...clip to secure.

* Repeat same method on all edges of hexagon block.

Tip...double check on back to make sure all edges are secured/clipped nicely.

* Stitch in the ditch on front of Hexagon block to secure binding...removing clips as you sew. 

This method secures the binding on back without the fuss....less stress :-)

Enjoy! 

Perfect trivet for your spook-tacular entertaining.

Talk soon,

Cat & Skully

Tis the Season for Spook-tacular fun!

 Hey quilters...do you love Halloween stitching like me? Well, I have a sweet friend "Skully" that I'm teaching the basics of sewing and quilting. I always say you're never too old to learn. We learned yesterday to always use the best products. If you're going to take the time to create then use items that you know will help your projects last. We're learning Spider-web quilting today sewing on a small scale is the best way to start then we'll get better and then quilting the "BOO-ville." We'll be sharing more fun photos and tips along the way. I just love his enthusiasm to learn sewing and quilting. We're having a blast together and i hope he's a fast learner so we can get my Spook-tacular projects finished :-) Tis the Season y'all for spook-tacular fun! Wishing y'all a great sewing weekend and talk soon.

Blessed Quilting from My Home to Yours,

Cat

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Skully learning the best tools of the trade...Brother sewing machine, Aurifil thread, Lumin Fabrics and White Owl Textiles....

Skully sitting on my lap as I teach him spider-web quilting. We're using Aurifil 50# Black. Sew fun!

"BOO-ville!" Mystery Spook-a-long...Finale!

 Hey quilters...happy Saturday & "BOO-ville!" finale. I'm thrilled to share my final stage of "BOO-ville!" with you. I've had a blast sewing/creating with the BOO BASH collection by Lumin Fabrics. I love it when fabric inspires creativity, but little did, I know what else it inspired. The design is full of fun, family Halloween times with my daughter's family and especially my grandson. He loves Halloween and especially scaring his "Gege"...me! We loved to shop at the Halloween stores together because they always had it set up for scaring Gege. When he was little his favorite thing to say way "it's not going to scare you Gege." Hmmm....yes, I fell for it every time. These fun memories will always be dear to my heart in hopes he continues these memories with his family one day. But little did I know that "BOO-ville!" would be the first of many traditions designed on a quilt. I'm excited to share that starting mid-September we'll be hosting "Traditions" a Christmas Quilt-a-long. I love designing quilts to pass down for generations, quilts that you can personalize to your family traditions is my new series. I hope you enjoyed "BOO-ville!" and you're at the final stage of where you get to put your own spin on the design. You can easily enlarge the design just by adding additional borders or a wide border like I did. I'm currently quilting mine with "spider webs" so wish me luck. My wide border stated additional words "TRICK OR TREAT" and "OCTOBER 31 SPOOKY" all using the Accuquilt Classic 2" Alphabet and Numbers/Symbols die. I've had a blast creating with Accuquilt and will admit using the die cut machine saves sew much time. I thank y'all so much for following a long on my creative sewing journey. Enjoy!

Blessed Quilting from My Home to Yours,

Cat

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"BOO-ville!" finale...

Tip...press your quilt top before you add your borders. Measure the length and width in 3 areas to get the overall size that you'll be cutting your strips. Square up if needed but be careful of not cutting into the design. I always cut my strips longer than what I need then square up after sewing. Less stress. If you need longer strips than what your fabric measures just miter join your strips to desired length. 

My design will have a finished 3" border so I rotary cut my strips 3.5 to the width and length that I needed and the 2 corner squares are 3.5 x 3.5 for a finished 3" square. I joined my top/bottom strips first then added the corner squares to the left and right borders then joined to the quilt top matching seams. All using a 1/4" seam allowance. 

Once you have achieved your desired border then do a overall meaure of quilt top for your backing fabric and batting cuts. I always add an additonal 4-6 inches to allow for any shrinkage during quilting.

Once quilted...press if needed and square up.

Bind as desired.

Enjoy snuggling up with your family memories!

Talk soon.

Cat