Apple and Pear and Paper Piecing Tutes

So I'm off to a pretty good start this month!  I just finished potholders for the potholder swap.  The apple is a free tute on my blog.  I'll also put the pear pattern and tute on my blog soon.  This one has "Y" seams but they are pretty easy once you get the hang of it.

My interest in quilting has been a life long one but I just actually started about a year ago.  I found my passion in paper piecing!  It was challenging at the start and still is, but with practice and reading some tutorials, you can master it, too.

Kerry at VeryKerryBerry has a list of tutorials.  Her tutes are wonderful and I highly recommend reading them before starting you project.  You can find them here.

Kerry is teaching paper piecing methods at the Fat Quarterly Retreat in London in June.  I wish I could be there!!

Have a wonderful Weekend! 

Sew Out Loud Quilt Along

Do you love text fabrics?  How about sewing themed quilt blocks?

I invite you to join the Sew Out Loud Quilt Along.  I'm fortunate to be one of the designers along with 10 incredibly talented sewists!

You can join here on Kirie's blog - Shape Moth.   And if you do there is a kick off give away. 

The two prizes are Electric Quilt Company software and a FQ bundle for Stoffsalon.  You have until February 11th to join the QAL and win these fabulous prizes.  


I hope you will join in on the fun!

Finished Pillow and a Sneak Peek

I've joined a potholder swap for the month of February.  We chose our theme and then we were assigned secret partners.  I love the surprise.  Here is a little peek of what I'm working on for my partner.

I will have a tute and pattern on my blog soon so you can make a pear to go with your apple!
I can't wait to get my new potholders.  The ones I use right now are so gross.  Really, they are awful.  I'll post a pic when I get my new ones!!

I also made the Cozy Cottage in to a pillow!

You can find the pattern for the paper pieced cottage in the newest issue of Fat Quarterly, Here.

Happy Monday!

Cozy Cottage

I'm incredibly excited to have my first pattern published!  You can find my "Cozy Cottage" in the new "Paper" issue 8 of Fat Quarterly right here.  It will be available on January 31st!

The issue is full of wonderful projects. 

I'm absolutely obsessed with houses and love making them in fabric. I made two because I wanted to illustrate how you can change the fabric and the theme of your cottage.  This would be a great gingerbread house, cooking cottage or Santa's workshop for kids.

This project allows for lots of fussy cutting and filling the windows with fun images!

If you make a cottage please include your photos in my new Flickr Group - Charise Creates Projects and in the Fat Quarterly Flickr Group. 

*****Tea Time Pattern*****

I'm really excited to have this block available as a pattern on my Etsy Site!

I made this teapot last summer for a bee block.  I changed it a bit - added a teacup and changed the shape of the teapot a bit. The original is below.  I'm thinking this will become either a mug rug or pillow.  The fabrics are some of my favorites.  Suzuko Koseki buttons, Kumiko Fujita text print (thanks Ayumi) and DS Quilts line.

I have lots of sewing to do.  Potholders for a  swap and a "Pippi Longstocking" block for Muriel in the Cocorico bee! I'm also working on another free paper piecing block and more patterns for my shop!

Happy Creating to You!!!!!

*******************************************************************************

Christmas In January

Strange you may think -making Chrismas items in January......... but Melinda in my Cocorico Bee asked for Christmas quilt blocks!

It was actually perfect timing as the holidays just ended and my mind was filled with ideas.  I decided to make stockings for her family.

I don't know about you,  but I am tired after the holiday scramble!  It makes me think that maybe I should start my hand made Chrismas gifts now rather than waiting for December : )

Happy Creating to you!

< * < 2011 > * >

I was pleasantly surprised to see the results of my  2011 mosaic of finished projects.  Most were bee block but I did make a few pouches and bags and I finished one pillow.  My biggest goal for 2012 is to finish a quilt.

I'm really looking forward to the New Year.

  I was invited to join a new bee which put me over the moon as I admire all the wonderful ladies in the bee and their incredible work! Many of the members I know from the Cocorico bee and am excited to make some new friends.

 I'll have a block published at the beginning of the year.....so exciting!!!!

Wishing you a fruitful and joyful 2012!

Playing with Value

I found a wonderful quilting pattern on Ebay from Alice Brooks.  I made this block for my last round of the 4 x 5 bee and have been wanting to try this block with different values. 
Here is Dictionary.com's definition of Value:

	in painting, drawing, etc
	a.a gradation of tone from light to dark or of colour luminosity
	b.the relation of one of these elements to another or to the whole picture

This is the block idea I've had in my head for awhile. I was inspired by this quilt from Kumiko Fujita's book "From the Quilter's Studio" -  the dark ground, white text and pops of color.

The Bee blocks I did, had less change in value.  They more or less had similar values- light to medium - like this one here with the lighter cross almost matching the white ground:

A little trick I learned to help "see" value is to squint your eyes and look at the subject.  In other words make the shapes blurry so you can just see the differnce in value or darkness and lightness.

Hope you are enjoying this Holiday Week!

Happy Sewing! x

Hoping you had A Happy Holiday!

We had a wonderful holiday here at the Randell House : )

My mom loved her wallet!   She is one to save things instead of use them, so I promptly had her help me move the contents from her old wallet to her new one.    I hope she wears it out so I have an excuse to maker her another one.  She told me her mom would tie a scarf under her chin, just like the kerchief girl, when she was a little girl.  She is a wonderful cook, so I added as many cooking themed fabrics as possible.

I added a zipper pocket and found a cute little notebook at my favorite bookstore in Seattle.

I made dad an art bag to hold his watercolor supplies.  It has a pocket for the watercolor wheel and a water bottle and pockets for his brushes and perfectly fits a 6" x 9" sketchbook or watercolor paper.

The boys got matching p.j's again this year.  Unfortunately, I don't have a good pic!  I miscut one of the p.j. bottoms so I didn't have enough fabric to make the matching top!  I'm going back this evening to get more fabric and finish the project.  Luckily, I found the tops in the pic at a store close by  and added some applique patches to match the pants.

I hope you had a lovely Holiday!

Christmas Gifts

I just spoke with my mom and the phone and she said "You will not Buy a gift for me or your dad."

But I'm thinking MAKING isn't buying, He, he!  I actually made this cute little organizer for myself and thought, what a perfect gift for mom!  You can find the tute here.  It is from Leila and I love all her beautiful creations!! 

I added the button and loop and a little ric rac.

I added the zipper pocket so I can put my change in there.

I'll make my moms with kitchen themed fabric instead of sewing theme fabric.  She is a wonderful cook and is creative in the kitchen!

My plan for dad is a bag we designed together to carry his watercolors when he is out and about making art.  We designed it in the Spring and I think it is high time I finally make it!!

It will have a special little pocket for the watercolor wheel and is just the perfect size for a 6" x 9" notebook.  I think the Echino fabric is perfect!  It is "manly" and my dad loves to ride his bike.

Happy Creating and Happy Holidays to you! 

Fresh Sewing Day *** November 2011

I'm so late on this one.  Lynne over at Lily's Quilts invites other bloggers to share what they have been up to the past month.  I've been so crazy busy I am just now sharing my November accomplishments!

All images can be found on my Flickr Here.

I finished my Cocorico Bee block for Krista, made some dumpling pouches (you can find the tute Here), worked on a secret project, and created a tute and pattern for my little apples.

Must go sew : )

Hope you are enjoying this holiday season!

Apple Tutorial and Pattern Here!!

I finally finished the pattern for these little apples.  Link to the Pattern Here!

If you have any questions/ comments, please leave a comment on this post and I will answer here so everyone can see the response. Tks!!

Paper pieced apple tutorial:

1)   First,   I like to print out a copy of the pattern for reference.

Photo copy the Fabric Cutting Template onto freezer paper, dull side.

Carefully cut out your pattern pieces on the black lines.

I like to sort the pieces in groups by fabric.

2) Iron the pieces to your fabric, right side.

Leave at least a 1/4" s.a. around each piece.

3)    Print out your Foundation Paper Piecing Templates onto copy paper

or Vellum. I have also used heavy wt. tracing paper.

Pls note *** these templates are the mirror image of the actual block.

Position piece #1 over the template. If you are using copy paper, you will have to

hold the fabric up to a light or window to see through the paper to postion the piece correctly.

Pin your fabric in place

.

4)   Place piece #2 onto piece one matcing your seam line.

Lift piece #2 to and use your freezer paper edge to help match up the seams and pin into place.

 5)  Flip your template over and stitch on the seam line between piece #1 & #2.

I use a small stitch and back tack at the end of each seam line.

 6)  This is how your pieces will look after sewing.

7)   Fold your template back and trim your seam allowance to 3/16".

8)   Continue around piece #1 until you have your apple sewn together.

9)   ****Note that A7 and A8 are stitched together before stitching to A3****

 10)   When you are finished sewing, you will have two apple halves.  Match and pin at seams.  Stitch down the center for your completed apple. 

I added a border and some seeds with a lazy daisy stitch!

Pls comment with any questions and I'll be sure to answer you : )

Marken House for Leila

I just finished my Patchwork Patterns 318 Bee block for Leila.  She requested house blocks and is from the Netherlands  so I did a little research on Dutch architecture.  I came across some incredible houses in the Netherlands that live on the island of Marken. 

 My little house is very loosely based on actual Marken houses.  They don't have button towers and tend to have white trim.  But they do have red roofs and are dark in color!

Of course, in Leila's house there is lots of sewing going on!

She makes the most amazing quilty items : )

  Image of Marken found here. 

Apple and Pear

I've been working on writing a paper piecing pattern for the apple and pear.  I hope to have them up on my blog for free as well as a tutorial. I'll keep you posted!

I'm doing this as a practice run for a more complicated pattern I'm working on.

In other holiday related family news - we got our xmas tree on Sunday.  We started a new family tradition a few years back and drive to the mountains to cut down our tree. 

Every year I underestimate the size of the tree we cut down.  This year I thought we found the perfect size tree but once we got it home we cut off another 3 feet!

It was pretty warm on Sunday so we trudged through the rain and over a small river to hunt down our tree.  I always hope for the idyllic Christmas memory but by the time we got back to the car my four year old was wimpering from being so cold. You can bet, when they are older, they will recall this as an awful miserable tradition : )

  

Friday Favorites

Some lovelies from Flickr that are inspiring to me.

Details here

I made another dumpling

This one is going to live with a lovely Flickr friend.

 I'm just now starting the skirt for Anna's sew along.  Anna's turned out soooo cute!

The sew along ended today, but I hope to get my skirt done this weekend.

I hope to start working on a special paper piecing  project this weekend (I'm so excited and can't wait to share the details) as well as attend a quilt show Here,  and this exhibit at the Nordic Heritage Museum. 

Happy Creating to you!

Ski Chalet

The latest theme for the Cocorico Bee is "Let,s Hit the Slopes" requested by Krista.

I'm embarrassed to say I live in the Pacific NW in Seattle but I don't ski!!   Yep, I can see the Olympics and Cascades from my neighborhood and the mountains are only a few hours away.   I skied a few times as a little girl but never really liked it. I think it was the cold and my fear of falling and hurting myself. So.... when Krista requested her ski theme blocks, I had a super duper hard time coming up with something.   My bee mates are so talented and set the bar really high. Meg made the most amazing ski boot, Amy made a skier - yes an actual person skiing! And Melinda made the cutest ski sweater you've ever seen!!

I visited the Swiss Alps years ago and thought a Swiss Ski Chalet would be fun to make.

This is what I came up with..................

I hope she likes it - it was fun to make.

Happy Sewing to you!

Little Dumplings and a busy October

I've been obsessed about making bags and pouches these days.  My latest is from Keyka Lou.  I love this pattern.  It is super easy and they are so cute -  as in tiny.  This "Dumpling" measures 5.5" x 3.5".  I made it for a special Flickr friend.  I hope she likes it.

I'm also participating in Lynne's small blog meet.

I made a mosaic of my sewing projects for the month.  I have done absolutely nada with my Farmer's Wife blocks.  I miss the farmer - think it is time for a little visit : )

I think, all in all, it was a pretty productive month.  See....lots of bags and pouches with a few bee blocks thrown in.

Have a wonderful day and happy sewing!