Go! Ahead & Show Some Love

Have you seen the Go! Ahead and Show Some Love Blog Hop? Paulette from Sweet Pea Quilting and Creations is hosting it in conjunction with the Quilters With Modern Tools group. This months blog hop is all about the color red, Valentine Day and the Accuquilt cutting system. And today it's my turn on the hop!







The project I made for this blog hop is my Dresden Love hot pad. It's kinda big for a mug rug, but kinda small for a table topper, but is the perfect size for a hot pad.

This is a simple dresden fan using a 22.5 degree ruler. For those of you that are new to my blog, I do a monthly series on Nifty Notions rulers and the ruler of the month in January was the 22.5 degree wedge. Check out all the ruler tutorials I have done for you here.

You will need
1 - 2.5" x WOF red fabric
1 - 2.5" x WOF pink fabric
1 - 5" square red fabric
1 - 8" square white fabric for background
Steam-a-Seam
1 - 1.5" x WOF pink fabric for border
2 - 2.25" x WOF red for binding
1 - 12" square red fabric for backing
1 - 12" square batting


To make this hot pad you will first need to figure out what size fan pieces to cut. 


1. Decide on the size of the fan/plate you want. For this project I wanted the fan to measure 7" across the diameter. For those of you who failed HS geometry the diameter is the size of the line drawn thru the center of a circle. 

2. Once you know how big of a fan/plate you want you can figure out what size pieces you will need. It's a pretty easy formula:

Take the diameter and subtract 2 and then divide by 2. So if you want a 7" plate/fan it works this way... 7 - 2 = 5/2 = 2.5. So the strip you cut your wedges from need to be 2.5".

3. Now that we know what size strips to use it's time to cut the strips. If you are using 2 different fabrics for the plate/fan cut your strips the desired size and then lay them out one on top of the other with right sides together. Place the ruler on the strip with the Logo face up (so you can read it). Line up the top edge with the line that corresponds to the size of the strip. Trim the left side and cut along the right side to make your first wedge.

4. Then flip the ruler over so the small edge is at the top. Line the left edge of the ruler with the left edge of the strip and cut along the right side of the ruler.

5. To figure out how many pieces to cut divide 360 by the degree of the ruler. In this case
360 ÷ 22.5 = 16. So you will need to cut 16 pieces or 8 sets of wedges. This formula applies to any wedge you are using.

You will now have 16 cut pieces like this. 

6. Once you have all your wedge pieces cut you will be sewing them to make a point at the top. Here's how:

Fold the wedge in half like so.

7. Then sew using a quarter inch seam along the larger straight line

 8. Then turn the piece right side out to form a point. You can use a stiletto or other pointy object to push the point out. Here's what you will have now

9. Then sew the pieces together. Start at the part closest part to the point and sew using a quarter inch seam to the bottom. Sew them in 2's, making sure the same fabric is always on the top.

10. Continue sewing pieces together, pressing the seams open as you go till you have a full circle (made with 16 wedges).

11. Now it's time to put it all together. You will need the 3" circle die, some double sided web interfacing (I use Steam-a-Seam). Following the directions affix the Steam-a-Seam to the back of the piece of fabric you will be making your circle with. In this case the red fabric.

12. Using your Accuquilt cut a 3" circle out. Also cut a 5" circle out of the Steam-a-Seam alone.

13. Affix the 5" circle to the back of the dresden fan. Then take the paper backing off press the dresden fan onto your background fabric.

14. Peel the paper off the back of the 3" red circle and affix it to the center of the fan.

15. Cut the border fabric into 2 - 1.5" x 8" and 2 - 1.5" x 10" rectangles.

16. Sew the 8" strips to the top and bottom sides of the background fabric and the 10" strips to the sides of the background.

17. Make a quilt sandwich with the backing face down, the batting and the top face up. Pin to keep it together.

18. Using a blanket stitch on your machine sew around the circle to finish the edges. Or you can hand sew a blanket stitch if you prefer.

19. Quilt and bind. I quilted in the ditch between the background and the border until I got to the corners. I marked 1" in from each side and used painters tape to show the line to sew on. This gave it a slightly framed look.

There you go a Dresden Love Hot Pad.

I hope you like this tutorial. Be sure to check out all the other blog hop stops in the Go! Ahead and Show Some Love Blog Hop.

If you are looking for the Accuquilt cutting system and dies they can be found here.

Till Next Time

Go! Ahead & Show Some Love

Have you seen the Go! Ahead and Show Some Love Blog Hop? Paulette from Sweet Pea Quilting and Creations is hosting it in conjunction with the Quilters With Modern Tools group. This months blog hop is all about the color red, Valentine Day and the Accuquilt cutting system. And today it's my turn on the hop!







The project I made for this blog hop is my Dresden Love hot pad. It's kinda big for a mug rug, but kinda small for a table topper, but is the perfect size for a hot pad.

This is a simple dresden fan using a 22.5 degree ruler. For those of you that are new to my blog, I do a monthly series on Nifty Notions rulers and the ruler of the month in January was the 22.5 degree wedge. Check out all the ruler tutorials I have done for you here.

You will need
1 - 2.5" x WOF red fabric
1 - 2.5" x WOF pink fabric
1 - 5" square red fabric
1 - 8" square white fabric for background
Steam-a-Seam
1 - 1.5" x WOF pink fabric for border
2 - 2.25" x WOF red for binding
1 - 12" square red fabric for backing
1 - 12" square batting


To make this hot pad you will first need to figure out what size fan pieces to cut. 


1. Decide on the size of the fan/plate you want. For this project I wanted the fan to measure 7" across the diameter. For those of you who failed HS geometry the diameter is the size of the line drawn thru the center of a circle. 

2. Once you know how big of a fan/plate you want you can figure out what size pieces you will need. It's a pretty easy formula:

Take the diameter and subtract 2 and then divide by 2. So if you want a 7" plate/fan it works this way... 7 - 2 = 5/2 = 2.5. So the strip you cut your wedges from need to be 2.5".

3. Now that we know what size strips to use it's time to cut the strips. If you are using 2 different fabrics for the plate/fan cut your strips the desired size and then lay them out one on top of the other with right sides together. Place the ruler on the strip with the Logo face up (so you can read it). Line up the top edge with the line that corresponds to the size of the strip. Trim the left side and cut along the right side to make your first wedge.

4. Then flip the ruler over so the small edge is at the top. Line the left edge of the ruler with the left edge of the strip and cut along the right side of the ruler.

5. To figure out how many pieces to cut divide 360 by the degree of the ruler. In this case
360 ÷ 22.5 = 16. So you will need to cut 16 pieces or 8 sets of wedges. This formula applies to any wedge you are using.

You will now have 16 cut pieces like this. 

6. Once you have all your wedge pieces cut you will be sewing them to make a point at the top. Here's how:

Fold the wedge in half like so.

7. Then sew using a quarter inch seam along the larger straight line

 8. Then turn the piece right side out to form a point. You can use a stiletto or other pointy object to push the point out. Here's what you will have now

9. Then sew the pieces together. Start at the part closest part to the point and sew using a quarter inch seam to the bottom. Sew them in 2's, making sure the same fabric is always on the top.

10. Continue sewing pieces together, pressing the seams open as you go till you have a full circle (made with 16 wedges).

11. Now it's time to put it all together. You will need the 3" circle die, some double sided web interfacing (I use Steam-a-Seam). Following the directions affix the Steam-a-Seam to the back of the piece of fabric you will be making your circle with. In this case the red fabric.

12. Using your Accuquilt cut a 3" circle out. Also cut a 5" circle out of the Steam-a-Seam alone.

13. Affix the 5" circle to the back of the dresden fan. Then take the paper backing off press the dresden fan onto your background fabric.

14. Peel the paper off the back of the 3" red circle and affix it to the center of the fan.

15. Cut the border fabric into 2 - 1.5" x 8" and 2 - 1.5" x 10" rectangles.

16. Sew the 8" strips to the top and bottom sides of the background fabric and the 10" strips to the sides of the background.

17. Make a quilt sandwich with the backing face down, the batting and the top face up. Pin to keep it together.

18. Using a blanket stitch on your machine sew around the circle to finish the edges. Or you can hand sew a blanket stitch if you prefer.

19. Quilt and bind. I quilted in the ditch between the background and the border until I got to the corners. I marked 1" in from each side and used painters tape to show the line to sew on. This gave it a slightly framed look.

There you go a Dresden Love Hot Pad.

I hope you like this tutorial. Be sure to check out all the other blog hop stops in the Go! Ahead and Show Some Love Blog Hop.

If you are looking for the Accuquilt cutting system and dies they can be found here.

Till Next Time

Welcome to Breast Cancer Awareness Week

This week I have some wonderful guest bloggers who will share with you their projects in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Well really to increase awareness of all cancers. Along with my guest blogger of the day a different web site will be highlighted to educate us all. 

A few weeks ago I asked some friends to make something for this week with ribbons I cut for them with my Accuquilt. Here's the link if you want this die.

To start the week Brie from Little Creatable has a great way to honor all kinds of cancer with a ribbon project. 

Hey Everyone!

I can’t tell you how excited I am to be featured here on the lovely Miss Sha’s blog *squeal*!

As you know its Breast Cancer Month and even if hasn’t affected you directly chances are you know someone who it has affected. Well my 2 {of 5} of my grandmothers have had this strength building cancer. Thankfully they have both lived through it, and I still have them with me today.

So when Miss Sha was asking for volunteers to speak/make something using these super cool AccuQuilt Ribbons I was all hands up in the air.

So when these little ribbons arrived on my door step I knew exactly what to do.

A ring of hope J because really when encountering any kind of Cancer that’s what you need.

HOPE

Unfortunately I haven’t be able to finish it the way I wanted to I’ve spent most of this month trying to reorganise my life, think about what is important and what I want etc.

Have any of ever had to deal with Breast Cancer in one form or another?

How do you cope?

Brest Cancer runs in my family so there it’s high likely I will get it too. I figure CANCER is not a death sentence. So I try and re-evaluate my life as often as possible, live here and now because after all here is all the now you have ;)

Thank you Sha for letting me take over.

Thanks Brie! I love that ring of hope idea. I can see that being made with different color ribbons to support all different kind of cancers.

The link today is the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month page. There you will find info for those who have just been diagnosed, survivors and their families and friends.

Sha :)

Welcome to Breast Cancer Awareness Week

This week I have some wonderful guest bloggers who will share with you their projects in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Well really to increase awareness of all cancers. Along with my guest blogger of the day a different web site will be highlighted to educate us all. 

A few weeks ago I asked some friends to make something for this week with ribbons I cut for them with my Accuquilt. Here's the link if you want this die.

To start the week Brie from Little Creatable has a great way to honor all kinds of cancer with a ribbon project. 

Hey Everyone!

I can’t tell you how excited I am to be featured here on the lovely Miss Sha’s blog *squeal*!

As you know its Breast Cancer Month and even if hasn’t affected you directly chances are you know someone who it has affected. Well my 2 {of 5} of my grandmothers have had this strength building cancer. Thankfully they have both lived through it, and I still have them with me today.

So when Miss Sha was asking for volunteers to speak/make something using these super cool AccuQuilt Ribbons I was all hands up in the air.

So when these little ribbons arrived on my door step I knew exactly what to do.

A ring of hope J because really when encountering any kind of Cancer that’s what you need.

HOPE

Unfortunately I haven’t be able to finish it the way I wanted to I’ve spent most of this month trying to reorganise my life, think about what is important and what I want etc.

Have any of ever had to deal with Breast Cancer in one form or another?

How do you cope?

Brest Cancer runs in my family so there it’s high likely I will get it too. I figure CANCER is not a death sentence. So I try and re-evaluate my life as often as possible, live here and now because after all here is all the now you have ;)

Thank you Sha for letting me take over.

Thanks Brie! I love that ring of hope idea. I can see that being made with different color ribbons to support all different kind of cancers.

The link today is the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month page. There you will find info for those who have just been diagnosed, survivors and their families and friends.

Sha :)

A giveaway a day late

Yesterday I showed you my Fall themed project made with my Accuquilt Go! If you missed it here's a pic of the finished project. To see the whole post just scroll down.

I got so many great comments about the mini quilt that I decided to do a little giveaway. I will send the winner 4 fat quarters of breast cancer awareness fabric and 4 appliqued ribbons cut with the Accuquilt die. this will be enough for you to make something special too.

To enter first of all you MUST be a follower.
For your entry please tell me what breast cancer awareness means to you.
There you have it 1 entry per person only.
Mr. Random will pick a winner on Saturday, October 1st.

Today the blog hop is at Sunshower Quilts. She has made a adorable table runner that you won't want to miss!

Sha :)

A giveaway a day late

Yesterday I showed you my Fall themed project made with my Accuquilt Go! If you missed it here's a pic of the finished project. To see the whole post just scroll down.

I got so many great comments about the mini quilt that I decided to do a little giveaway. I will send the winner 4 fat quarters of breast cancer awareness fabric and 4 appliqued ribbons cut with the Accuquilt die. this will be enough for you to make something special too.

To enter first of all you MUST be a follower.
For your entry please tell me what breast cancer awareness means to you.
There you have it 1 entry per person only.
Mr. Random will pick a winner on Saturday, October 1st.

Today the blog hop is at Sunshower Quilts. She has made a adorable table runner that you won't want to miss!

Sha :)

Here's my Fall Project...

I'm super excited today to be part of the Accuquilt Fall Blog Hop! I'm part of the Quilters With Modern Tools group and guess what? As of yesterday I became a quilter with 2 modern tools! You'll have to wait and see which one I just got :)

The theme for this blog hop is Fall and the only specific instruction we received was that it had to be made with something cut with our Accuquilt Go! or Baby Go! You know me I have to be different so I started thinking. I didn't have to think to much because I know October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and since October is in the Fall and I had just gotten the Accuquilt Go! Ribbon die it was a perfect fit.

I was lucky enough to find some great Breast Cancer fabric for this project, even though I had no idea what this project was until this past Sunday. I was very torn about what to make. First I was going to make a zipper bag, but I didn't have enough fusible fleece and didn't want to go to any store so scratch that idea. Then I decided on a mug rug.

Since I knew I needed a few applique ribbons cut out with my Go! I started there. I used Steam-A-Seam 2 on the back of the ribbon fabric. Its so easy to use, just place the part without the paper on the back of your fabric and press for 10 seconds. Then I simply used the Go! the same way as I usually would and it came out perfect.

That's when inspiration hit me. I decided to make a frame out of fabric and put the ribons in the center. Here's what I came up with for the ribbon layout. Actually I had wanted to use 3 ribbons to signify Mind, Body and Spirit, but that didn't work.

The frame part of the mug rug came together in my mind pretty easy. I fussy cut the words used for the inside frame. Here's a word at the top that has significant meaning to me. My Mother-in-law had breast cancer 9 years ago and was in remission for 8 years before she was diagnosed with lung cancer. We lost her 3 months ago tomorrow (June 28, 2011). Here's one of my favorite pics from June 2010 of my Hub's and his Mom.

Here's my finished project. You can't tell from this pic but I used a curly stitch along the inside of the frame. It was fun doing something different than a straight stitch.It's a bit big to be a mug rug so it ended up being a mini quilt.

Here's a close look at the center of the ribbons. I'm not sure if you can tell but theres a butterfly stitched by machine in the center and the center of the 2 ribbons too. My Mother-in-law loved butterflies.

I hope you like my Fall project. I havent decided what to do with this mini quilt yet, for now its staying with me, but I might donate it at some point to help raise funds for the Susan G Komen Association.

Here's the full list for the blog hop. Be sure to visit everyones blog and tell them Sha sent you!

Monday Sept 26th
Darlene (SewCalGal) - www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com

Tuesday, September 27th

Terrie (Bits & Pieces) www.terriesandelin.blogspot.com
Sharon (Craizee Corners) www.craizeecorner.blogspot.com

Wednesday, September 28th
Katrina (Sunshower Quilts) www.sunshowerquilts.blogspot.com

Thursday, September 29th
Connie (Quilting by the River) www.conniekresin.blogspot.com
Mary (the Tulip Patch) http://www.tulip-patch.blogspot.com/

Friday, September 30th
Polly (Polly's Porch) www.auntpollysporch.blogspot.com

Sha :)

Here's my Fall Project...

I'm super excited today to be part of the Accuquilt Fall Blog Hop! I'm part of the Quilters With Modern Tools group and guess what? As of yesterday I became a quilter with 2 modern tools! You'll have to wait and see which one I just got :)

The theme for this blog hop is Fall and the only specific instruction we received was that it had to be made with something cut with our Accuquilt Go! or Baby Go! You know me I have to be different so I started thinking. I didn't have to think to much because I know October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and since October is in the Fall and I had just gotten the Accuquilt Go! Ribbon die it was a perfect fit.

I was lucky enough to find some great Breast Cancer fabric for this project, even though I had no idea what this project was until this past Sunday. I was very torn about what to make. First I was going to make a zipper bag, but I didn't have enough fusible fleece and didn't want to go to any store so scratch that idea. Then I decided on a mug rug.

Since I knew I needed a few applique ribbons cut out with my Go! I started there. I used Steam-A-Seam 2 on the back of the ribbon fabric. Its so easy to use, just place the part without the paper on the back of your fabric and press for 10 seconds. Then I simply used the Go! the same way as I usually would and it came out perfect.

That's when inspiration hit me. I decided to make a frame out of fabric and put the ribons in the center. Here's what I came up with for the ribbon layout. Actually I had wanted to use 3 ribbons to signify Mind, Body and Spirit, but that didn't work.

The frame part of the mug rug came together in my mind pretty easy. I fussy cut the words used for the inside frame. Here's a word at the top that has significant meaning to me. My Mother-in-law had breast cancer 9 years ago and was in remission for 8 years before she was diagnosed with lung cancer. We lost her 3 months ago tomorrow (June 28, 2011). Here's one of my favorite pics from June 2010 of my Hub's and his Mom.

Here's my finished project. You can't tell from this pic but I used a curly stitch along the inside of the frame. It was fun doing something different than a straight stitch.It's a bit big to be a mug rug so it ended up being a mini quilt.

Here's a close look at the center of the ribbons. I'm not sure if you can tell but theres a butterfly stitched by machine in the center and the center of the 2 ribbons too. My Mother-in-law loved butterflies.

I hope you like my Fall project. I havent decided what to do with this mini quilt yet, for now its staying with me, but I might donate it at some point to help raise funds for the Susan G Komen Association.

Here's the full list for the blog hop. Be sure to visit everyones blog and tell them Sha sent you!

Monday Sept 26th
Darlene (SewCalGal) - www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com

Tuesday, September 27th

Terrie (Bits & Pieces) www.terriesandelin.blogspot.com
Sharon (Craizee Corners) www.craizeecorner.blogspot.com

Wednesday, September 28th
Katrina (Sunshower Quilts) www.sunshowerquilts.blogspot.com

Thursday, September 29th
Connie (Quilting by the River) www.conniekresin.blogspot.com
Mary (the Tulip Patch) http://www.tulip-patch.blogspot.com/

Friday, September 30th
Polly (Polly's Porch) www.auntpollysporch.blogspot.com

Sha :)