Category: Tutorials

Make a Reusable Grocery Bag

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Do you want to make a positive difference for the earth? Try using a reusable grocery bag! Making a reusable grocery bag is fun and easy! You may never use the plastic store bags again! Let me show you how you can make your own reusable grocery bag. Let’s get started!

Reusable grocery bag

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Reusable Grocery Bag Supply List

Supplies and Tools

Making your straps

Reusable Grocery Bag - making the straps

Following the cutting measurements, cut your tote straps and tote body. Trim those to size. 

Take your straps to the ironing board and press out any wrinkles. Next, fold your straps in half, lengthwise. Open this back up and then take each long side and fold towards the middle.  turn and press each short end in at a 1/4 inch. Fold in both long sides and clip at the ends to secure. 

Sew each strap closed being sure that you back stitch at the beginning and the end.

Make the body of your bag

Body of Bag - Reusable Grocery Bag

Now that we have our straps done, we can set those aside and work on the body of the tote bag. Give it a nice pressing and then take each end and pin or clip together. We’re going to use a 1/2 inch seam allowance and the easiest way to do this is to use a magnetic seam guide.  Sew both ends together, leaving the top open. Press the seams open and then with your seam guage, fold the top edge down by 1 inch and press then clip.  Fold a second time so that your raw edge is enclosed. Press and clip and sew this down. Remove your magnetic seam guide and sew the top edge just 1/8 of an inch away from the bottom fold.

Assemble your bag

Assemble tote bag - Reusable Grocery Bag

Now it’s time to add the straps. Our tote body is still inside out.  Reference your Reusable Grocery Bag Pattern to determine the placement of your straps.   Align the bottom of the strap with the bottom fold and clip in place. Be careful that your strap is not twisted. Let’s take this to the sewing machine and sew a boxed pattern to help secure each strap.

Sewing a boxed pattern is easy. First, you will begin by back stitching and then sew a square. Once you’ve reached the corner of your origin then you will make diagonal stitching to the opposite corner. Stitch your way to the next side and make another diagonal stitch. Be sure to backstitch when you’re finished.  Do this boxed pattern stitch for each strap end. Turn your bag right side out and set it aside.

Add a design to your bag

Add a design - reusable grocery bag

Design Supply List

Positioning and Placing the design

Position the design - Reusable Grocery Bag

I’ve added this cute design to my online shop you can download those to import into your cutting system. I’m going to use iron on vinyl and my Cricut Maker. Once I have my artwork imported, I will go through the motions of welding items so that they don’t end up in random places on my cutting mat.  Since we have text on this particular design, it’s super important that you select the mirror option. You should select that option on all of the mats because they will interact and fit into each other for this particular design.  Once you have the images how you’d like them on your mat, will select the every day iron on material option and I always like to set the pressure to more.  Now that all the vinyl has been cut, it’s time to do a little weeding. I like to use my Daylight Company Wafer One Light Box whenever I weed my vinyl. The lightbox helps me see exactly where I need to begin weeding.  After I’ve weeded all of the vinyl, I’m going to cut apart this first piece because there are several layers that need to be positioned on the project.

Finishing the Reusable Grocery Bag

Using a Lightbox for weeding - reusable grocery bag

This design has three layers of vinyl. Now that I have my base layer in place, I can add the ocean and the land which is part of the globe design. There is also a couple fill our spots for the arrows that circle the globe.  Adding the second and third layers is quite simple. You just need to take your time and align everything. It’s kind of like working on a puzzle. The last pieces are the blue arrows that circle the globe. I am attaching those one at a time. I’m pressing everything again with my Teflon sheet for good measure.

Watch the Video Tutorial

I hope you have fun making your own reusable grocery bag! If you shop as much as my family, you will need quite a few of these! Be sure to share your bags in my Bag Makers Facebook Group! I can’t wait to see what you make!

Happy Sewing!

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T-Shirt Quilt WP Blog Header

Make a T-Shirt Quilt

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Making a T-shirt quilt is easier than you think. Have you been saving all of your shirts? Do you have a pile of garments that you don’t know what to do with but you really want to save? Make a T-shirt quilt! Check out the step-by-step article and don’t forget to watch the video at the end!  Let’s make a T-shirt quilt!

Gather your garments

Gather your T-shirts to make a T-shirt Quilt

You might be wondering what kind of garments or materials that you can use for a T-shirt quilt. Obviously, you’ll want to use T-shirts. You can also use sports jerseys, hoodies or sweatshirts. Regular button down shirts or even baby clothes. You’ll find all sorts of things that you can use and I’m sure you’ve saved a ton of it. Gather those up and make sure they are laundered. I would recommend skipping the fabric softener as it makes it a little more difficult to fuse interface to softened fabrics.

Choose your T-Shirt Quilt Design

Grid Style T-Shirt quilt

The next thing to consider is how you want to design your quilt. There are several options out there. One of the most popular is the grid quilt. That’s just squares made out of your various materials or T-shirts.  You could have these made with sashing. Sashing is the fabric in between the shirts to separate the blocks. You can even add a border around everything, which is the fabric around the perimeter of your quilt.  

Mosaic Style T-Shirt Quilt Design

Another design option is a mosaic quilt. A Mosaic quilt has a variation of block sizes put together. Then the blocks are justified and sewn into vertical rows.  Have fun designing your quilt with the materials you have!

Tools and Supplies

Tools and supplies needed to make a T-Shirt Quilt

You might think you need a lot of fancy equipment and supplies to make a T-shirt quilt but you really don’t. I use my Juki TL 2010 Q and it works wonders. Before I had my Juki, are used a hand me down 30 or old Kenmore. Click this link if you’re looking for a full list of tools supplies and materials to make your own T-shirt quilt.

Cut & Prep Materials

Create your blocks for your T-shirt Quilt

This is the fun part! Turning those shirts and materials into quilt blocks! There’s a variety of ways that you can do this. The simplest way is to just interface a shirt and cut it to the size of your design.  Sometimes a T-shirt doesn’t have a centered logo and you can certainly do that by cutting your shirt apart and sewing it back together in just the right manner. Other times you can combine garments to make a single block. Another fun way to use your garments is to sew other materials like quilting cotton to blocks to make them the size you need. Have fun using the garments you have and find creative ways to fit them into your overall quilt design!

Assemble the Quilt Top

Assemble your T-Shirt Quilt

Adding vertical sashing to your quilt is a great way to showcase your quilt blocks and it also helps to enlarge the overall size of your quilt.  There is some “Quilty math” involved because you have to make all of your blocks fit together. We cover all the “Quilty math” in my T-Shirt Quilt Academy online sewing course. If you’re going to add vertical sashing, you might as well add horizontal Sashing as well. This makes for a very nice design on your overall quilt.
If you’re looking to make your quilt top larger, or you just want to finish it off around the edge, consider adding a border to your T-shirt quilt.  The wider the border strip, the larger your overall quilt will become. It’s a good idea to do all of that “quilty math” ahead of time (in the design process).

Making your Quilt backing

Create a backing for a T-Shirt Quilt

Once you finish your quilt top, you need to create a backing fabric. Measure your finished quilt-top and do your “Quilty math” to determine the correct size of your backing. Once you determine the size of your backing, you can decide if you want to either piece your backing or use a wide back fabric. There are several options to making your backing, but the most common is to piece your backing fabric.

Choose your Batting

Choose your batting for your T-shirt Quilt.

Just when you think all of the quilt decisions have been made, you need to consider the batting. Do you like a thick, heavy quilt or do you like a lighter quilt? Is this T-shirt quilt going to be used all year or just in certain seasons. Consider the recipient of the T-shirt quilt to know if they sleep hot or if they require lots and lots of warmth while they sleep. Choosing the right batting is going to make a difference in your finished quilt.

Quilting your T-Shirt Quilt

You can either send your quilt to your favorite long armer, or you can quilt your own quilt. If you’re choosing to quilter One quilt venue knead to based your quilt. Whether you choose to spray baste your quilt (with a spray adhesive) or if you prefer to use safety pins for basting, either way both steps help you to prepare for your next step. Quilting! One of the simplest ways to quilt is a free motion meandering design. Choose a quilting method that you’re most comfortable with and enjoy the process.

Binding your T-Shirt Quilt

The last thing to do is bind your quilt. Once you trim your quilt, then you’ll measure your quilt again. Using more of your quilting math, will determine how much binding to cut and make. Once you make an attach your binding, you can either do the hand binding method which is very beautiful and rewarding, or you can choose to do the machine binding which works wonderfully as well. Once you’re finished your binding, then your T-shirt quilt is finished!

Watch a quick video
Learn about T-Shirt Quilt Academy

Let’s make a T-Shirt Quilt!

I’ve been making T-shirt quilts for years and years and I always get asked questions about how to make these. I’m so excited to finally offer an online sewing course so you can make your own T-shirt quilts too!

I’m calling a T-shirt Quilt Academy and it’s open right now. 

Learn about T-Shirt Quilt Academy

The Bunny Quilt Block

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The Bunny Quilt Block is such a cheerful block!  Super cute and easy to sew together.  After you make one, you will want to make more!  Make them in your favorite springtime color palette!  Let me show all about the Bunny Quilt Block!

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Material List

Supply List

Cutting out your Bunny Quilt Block

It doesn’t take much fabric to make just one block. In fact, it takes less than a Fat Quarter of your Bunny Face fabric and less than a Fat Quarter of your background fabric.

I used some really fun solids from my online fabric shop. My original plan was to only make enough Bunny Quilt Blocks for a table runner, but I found the process so enjoyable that I ended up cutting fabric for 30 blocks!

Making the Bunny Quilt Block

A majority of the block construction is snowballing the ears and the face. The rest of it is just adding rectangles and pressing your seams. Since I was making so many Bunny Quilt Blocks, I decided to sew these together in the assembly style method. I would make all my stitches for snowballing and then I would trim the excess of all blocks and then press them all at once. It was a very methodical process and found it to be very relaxing. I was able to sew and watch one of my favorite movies on Amazon Prime in the process!

I decided to make a Quilt Top

This was easy enough to do without a full blown quilt pattern. Simply using more of the Bunny Face fabric (Rice Paper) to add 2 inch sashing in between each block and in between each row. I think the tricky part was deciding how to layout all my Bunny Blocks so that the different colors would look the best. I used some computer software to play with the color arrangement and came up with this:

I’m very pleased with this layout because I was able to use all the colors of the rainbow, even if they were the pastel hue. The layout also worked well because none of the same colors “touched”. Yay!

I was able to sew together all the sashing in no time because my sewing machine was set to “bunny” instead of “turtle”. While learning to operate it, the Juki TL 2010Q can be set to sew as slow as 200 stitches per minute. As the user’s skill level improves, the speed can be increased until it reaches the maximum speed of 1500 stitches per minute. I also sew with a quarter inch presser foot, which helps me keep the perfect quarter inch seam allowance.

It’s no secret that I like to sew at night. Because of this, my studio can become quite dim. I am so grateful to have my Daylight Company Slimline 3 table lamp. This light provides spectacular illumination of my project and doesn’t make my eyes tired! If you are in need of additional light for your sewing machine – be sure to check out the Slimline 3 Lamp from the Daylight Company!

I need to iron this again!

The entire quilt came together very quickly, but I am still deliberating over the border. It would be great to have this on our bed next spring, but this means adding about twelve inches on three sides. I have an idea of what I want to do, but still need to see what that might look like by either sketching it out or mocking it up on my computer. I also want to add some embroidered Bunny Faces before I quilt it. That will take some time, so I’m glad I got this started now and can work on this during the evenings (when we don’t have a baseball game).

Grab yourself a Bunny Block Quilt Pattern and make one (or more) of these fun and satisfying blocks today!

Happy Quilting!

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Lucky Clover Mug Rug

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Making a Lucky Clover Mug Rug is fun and easy!  These mug rugs are the perfect project for St. Patrick’s Day.  In this tutorial, I show you a couple different designs you can make.  The first is with the Cricut Machine and the second is by utilizing a solid fabrics to make a rainbow design.  I will also share how to quilt and attach your binding.  Be sure to check out the bottom of this article where I link my video tutorial.  Let’s get started making a Lucky Clover Mug Rug!

Making a Lucky Clover Mug Rug is fun and easy!  These mug rugs are the perfect project for St. Patrick's Day.

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Supply List

 

Material List

Using the Cricut Machine

For our first Lucky Clover Mug Rug, we will use the Cricut Machine to add this fun text design to our Lucky Clover Mug Rug. 

Making a Lucky Clover Mug Rug is fun and easy!  These mug rugs are the perfect project for St. Patrick's Day. I used my Cricut Maker to embellish one side of this mug rug! #mugrugs #mugrug #coasters #handmade #sewing #quiltingismytherapy #SnackMat

I found this text design on the Cricut Design Space. This was a free pattern and I think it’s just perfect for this mug rug. Re-size the size of the design so it will fit nicely on the square piece of fabric.  Adjust the pressure to ‘more’, even though you are only using the iron on vinyl. We don’t want to forget to mirror my image so that it will appear the correct way at the end of the process. Load up your mat and let the cutting begin. 

Using my Cricut weeding tool, I removed the excess vinyl from the carrier sheet. This design has quite a few areas that need weeding so I like to use my Daylight Company Lightbox to help me see the microscopic cut lines.  I love my lightbox for a variety of things in my sewing room and weeding is just one of them.

Take your vinyl text design and center it on your project. I like to use a small Teflon sheet to cover the project before I apply the heat from my iron.  Carefully peel the carrier sheet away from the lettering.

Making a rainbow panel design

This rainbow design is super simple to achieve. Just grab some rainbow fabrics, like the ones I have in my online fabric shop. 

Making a Lucky Clover Mug Rug is fun and easy!  These mug rugs are the perfect project for St. Patrick's Day. This is fun rainbow panel I made as an embellishment. #mugrugs #mugrug #coasters #handmade #sewing #quiltingismytherapy #SnackMat

I’ve cut these into 1 inch strips and sew them together in rainbow order. Altogether, I made three sets of these strips and sewed them together to make a rainbow panel. After I sewed them all together, I used my Oliso Mini Iron to press the seams open. I can get my seams really flat when I use a hot iron, a Wool Pressing Mat, and I also like to use the Best Press Spray Starch as well. 

 

Laying out the rainbows at a diagonal (instead of a horizontal or vertical layout) was a fun design choice. In order to get an easy diagonal layout, get a ruler that has a 45° mark and lay that against the bottom edge of your rainbow panel.

Make the first cut at a 45° angle and then measure your next cut 5 1/2 inches perpendicular to that. You’ll be basically making a 5 1/2 inch, square to match the size of your unfinished Lucky Clover Quilt Block.  Now sew your cut rainbow panel design to your quilt block. 

Quilting your Mug Rug

Now it’s time to quilt your mug rugs. Lay your backing fabric wrong side up and cover this with some batting. I’m using some leftover batting from a quilt I had recently finished.  Since I’ve made several mug rugs I’m going to be laying these all out at the same time. This helps me to eliminate waste. Next I’m going to spray some fabric adhesive to help keep my mug rug in place while I prepare to quilt them. 

Once I have these in place, I’ll take my acrylic ruler and rotary cutter and separate these into single units. When I’m cutting these out, I’m careful to leave an a small excess of fabric around the perimeter of each mug rug. I’d say about an inch or so will do just fine. 

Straight-line Quilting on the Grid

Now you can quilt this mug rugs anyway that you’d like, but I think an easy solution is to draw a 1 inch grid with a chalk marker.  These refillable chalk pens are super handy and come in a variety of chalk colors. 

Quilting along the chalk marks is super easy. I use a 3 inch stitch length and a 50 weight cotton thread. Since the lines are already marked, you can quilt these up in no time.   Take your acrylic ruler and rotary cutter to trim off the excess batting and backing. 

Attaching the Binding

For the binding, I simply cut a width of the fabric by 2 1/4 and then folded and pressed in half.  Leaving about a 6 inch tail at the beginning, I stitched the binding to the perimeter of the mug rug being sure to miter each corner as demonstrated. I like using my quarter inch presser foot for attaching the binding.  I also like using a stiletto to help manage the thread when it comes to the corners.

When we come to about 6 inches from where we started, simply stop sewing and connect the two ends of your binding strip. 

Bring your longest binding strip and nest it next to the beginning seam of the shortest strip.  Using a frixion pen, make a mark at this nesting point and cut the longest strip at the mark.  Now, measure the opposite strip to your original binding width.  Remember, mine was 2 1/4 inches.  Mark this and trim the strip.   Start removing stitches from your shortest binding strip until both strips are unsewn evenly.  Fold your project, right sides together and place a clip about an inch back from the starting seams.  Open and align your seams as demonstrated in my video below.

I like to make a mark to help determine where my sewing line needs to be.  I’m using a 1″ x 6″ acrylic ruler and a frixion pen for this.  Use sewing pins to hold your strips in  place and stitch the two strips together.  Take out your clip and ensure the strip is the right length before your trim off the excess fabric.  I am using a seam roller to open this seam.  You can also use an iron.  Now, stitch the remaining binding to your project.  Using your fabric scissors, trim the excess from the corners. Be careful not to cut the binding strips.

Finishing your Mug Rugs

The last thing to do is to finish the binding. You can either do hand binding or machine binding. It’s really up to your personal preference. I have video tutorials on both techniques and have hyperlinked them in the previous sentences.

Watch the Video

Be sure to share your Lucky Clover Mug Rugs in my Facebook Group!

Happy Sewing!

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Drunkard’s Path Quilt Block Tutorial

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The Drunkard’s Path Quilt block is a fun and versatile quilt block!  While the Drunkards Path Quilt Block is a traditional block, you can use it in a variety of ways to make it modern! Many people shy away from the Drunkard’s Path Quilt Block because of the curved seam.  Don’t let that prevent you from trying this out yourself.  As you will see in my video below, I breakdown the construction and assembly of this quilt block and share some tips and tricks along the way.  All you need is a good pattern, a few tips, and some practice and you will be well on your way to loving the Drunkard’s Path Quilt Block.

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Materials List

Supply List

Assemble Drunkard’s Path Quilt Block

Mark your seam allowance on one of your pieces.  I have always found it useful to sew along a marked line.  When sewing curves, it is especially helpful!  I used a #2 pencil for this marking, but you can use a chalk pen, invisible ink or even a frixion pen if you wanted!

You can never have too many sewing pins when assembling the Drunkard’s Path Quilt Block!  Of course, this will force you to slow down as you take them out during the sewing process.  Luckily – this isn’t a race.  Take your time and do your best to sew around the curve while maintaining your 1/4″ seam allowance.

After you’ve sewn your block together, you can decide which way you want to press your seam.  I try to look at my next block and how these will come together.  Pressing seams so that you can eventually nest your seams should stay in the back of your mind.  Use a wool pressing mat and spray starch to help your block lay flat.

The amount of fabric needed will depend on the number of blocks and the size of blocks you make.  This pattern has 5 different sizes to choose from!

Check out this video to give you an idea of how to make the quilt block.  You will love how easy it is to make and want to make more!

Be sure to show your completed Drunkard’s Path Quilt Blocks projects in my Facebook Group!

We would love to see your work! Until next time, Happy Quilting!

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Lucky Clover Quilt Block - PDF Pattern Download in three sizes with a free video tutorial

Lucky Clover Quilt Block

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The Lucky Clover quilt block is the perfect block for St. Patrick’s Day or any day you are feeling a little lucky. You’ll find that this simple four patch block is easy to cut and assemble. The lucky clover quilt block is made mostly of snowballed sections with a fun little stem. The pattern includes measurements for 3 different sizes so your making options are limitless!  Let me show you how it’s done!

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Materials List

Supply List

Let’s Start Assembly

Once you’ve cut your fabrics to size we’re going to first create these snowballed corners. Take your smallest blue pieces and arrange them on top of your green blocks. I like to prepare my blocks for sewing by using Elmers washable school glue. I’m using a micro tipped bottle to add minimal amounts of glue to each piece. Once you have your glue in place you’ll just arrange the blue squares over the glue dots.  Take a hot iron to all these glued pieces.  This will speed up the glue drying process.  You’ll do the same thing for the stem block. I’m using just a little bit more glue because that piece is bigger. If you don’t want to use glue, that’s OK you can always  try to keep things stable while sewing or use sewing pins as well.

Sewing your Quilt Block

Taking all of these pieces to the sewing machine, we will stitch these corner squares into place on the diagonal. I’ve laid down a piece of blue painters tape with a line down the middle. This helps me to avoid marking each piece. Instead, I’m just keeping the small fabric piece aligned from the top diagonal to the bottom while I’m stitching in place. I’m doing this with some chain piecing, which makes the process go that much faster. 

For the larger stem block, I’ve marked my diagonal line with a ruler and a chalk marker. Once I have all of my stitching done, I cut off the excess fabric by using my fabric scissors. For the larger stem Block, I use a small ruler and rotary cutter.

It’s a Pressing Matter

Now it’s time to press our seams open. I love using my wool pressing mat and my Oliso mini iron. 

After pressing all of the seams open, you’ll add the other blue piece to the opposite side of your stem block. Draw another chalk line and stitch this into place. Cut off the excess and press those seams open as well.

Combining all the blocks

Now it’s time to assemble our blocks. I changed from a regular presser foot to a quarter inch seam foot. This helps me achieve a perfect 1/4 inch seam allowance. Once you’ve sewn on the top unit and the bottom unit, press your seams in the opposite direction. Next your seams and sew those units together. Press that final seam open and you have yourself a lucky clover quilt block!

Watch the Video Tutorial

Make a few Lucky Clover Quilt Blocks for a small project or make more for a table runner or lap quilt. Remember, this pattern comes in three different sizes. head over to the link in my description to get your pattern and start making these fun Lucky Clover blocks today!

Valentines Day Mug Rug

Valentines Day Mug Rug

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I love Valentines Day!  Not just because it is a day dedicated just to LOVE, but also because this special day is a great reason to make something for someone you love!  Making a Valentine’s Day Mug Rug is a great way to show someone you care.  These fun and simple sewing projects are just the thing to make for your special Valentine!  Let me show you how!

Valentines Day Mug Rug Main Picture

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materials LIst

Basic Supply List

Valentines Day mug rug Making the dresden PLATE

One of the cutest things about these mug rugs are the Dresden plates!  These are super easy to make.  Just use your acrylic template and cut out as many as you would like.  For each Valentines Day Mug Rug, you will need approximately 7-8 Dresden Blades.  If you plan to make a bunch of mug rugs you can cut out lots more!  You can get 1-2 blades out of each Charm Square.  Be sure to cut a variety to make your project even more interesting!

Valentines Day Mug Rug Step 1

Once you cut out the Dresden blades, you will fold the right sides together and sew a straight line across the top.  I like to chain piece these together.  The sewing goes quickly and before you know it, you will have a garland string of dresden blades!

Valentines Day Mug Rug Step 2

Clip the threads between each blade and turn the top of each blade right side out.  Use your Purple Thang to achieve a nice crisp point at the top.  Press each blade and then sew them together as shown below.

Valentines Day Mug Rug Step 3

machine APPLIQUÉ

Once you have about 7-8 of these blades sewn together, you can machine appliqué them onto your background fabric.  The amount of blades you use in each mug is relative to the size of your background fabric.  I typically cut my background fabric to 10″ x 8″.  It’s okay if the blades extend past the background fabric.  We will trim that down later.

Valentines Day Mug Rug Applique 1

You can cut a circle from one of your charm squares to add your center.  I like to zig-zag appliqué those in place.  Use whatever fancy stitches that your machine can do.  You will want to make sure you cover the exposed dresden tips at the bottom.

Valentines Day Mug Rug Applique 5

Valentine’s Day mug rug – the finishing touch

Trim around the background fabric to your desired mug rug size.  Sandwich your batting between your Mug Rug top and backing.  Add your binding and before you know it – you have a really cute Valentines Gift!

Valentines Day Mug Rug Finished 1 Valentines Day Mug Rug Finished 1 Valentines Day Mug Rug Finished 1 Valentines Day Mug Rug Finished 1

Valentines Day Mug Rug

You really don’t need to have a Valentine to make these fun Mug Rugs!  These make great gifts for everyday as well!  Use up your scraps and make one for everyday use!  Check out these fun and scrappy Dresden Blade Mug Rugs!

Scrappy Dresden Blade Mug Rug

Cant you tell that I have a thing for Cotton + Steel fabric and Starbucks YAH Mugs?  I keep most of my fabric scraps and have well over 20 different YAH (You Are Here) mugs!  I love the black background on this one!  What about that striped binding!  Hello Tula Pink!!!

Scrappy Dresden Blade Mug Rug with fun prints

Make a fun and EASY Mug Rug with your scrap fabric! Using the Dresden Plate Design - your options are limitless! #forBeginners #Easy #ForTheHome #DIY #Sewing #ForGifts #Beginner #simple #Free #Fun #quick #Hip #Trendy #SewMuchMoore #SewMuchMooreInStore #MugRug

If your scrap pile is anything like mine – I bet you will have plenty of materials for these little projects!  Grab your acrylic template and start making some today!  Let me know how it went for you in the comments below!

Happy Sewing!

These fun and simple sewing projects are just the thing to make for your special Valentine!  Let me show you how #forBeginners #Easy #ForTheHome #DIY #Sewing #ForGifts #Beginner #simple #Free #Fun #quick #Hip #Trendy #SewMuchMoore #SewMuchMooreInStore !

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Smart Travel Lamp - take your retreat lighting to the next level!

Perfect Retreat Lighting

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I was doing a search for the perfect retreat lighting.  I was planning to attend a quilting retreat with some of my Quilting friends and wanted to have a better sewing experience than I’ve had in the past.  You see, in the past, whenever I go on retreats, the lighting hasn’t been as good as it could be in my own sewing room at home. I was looking for a compact lighting solution to enhance my experience at retreat. The Daylight Company recommended the Smart Travel Lamp so I gave it a try. Let me tell you what I thought about it!

The Smart Travel Lamp is perfect for sewing and quilting retreats!

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Bring all the things

Whenever I go on a sewing or quilting retreat, I tend to bring a ton of things. My Juki TL2010Q already takes up quite a bit of space, but I also try to think of every notion I might need and I bring lots of projects. I have even been known to even bring my own chair!

The car is packed and I am ready for Quilt Retreat! Take a look at the travel lamp I am bringing!

If I’m going to take the time and effort to pack everything up, and sew at a different location, I want to make it as an enjoyable experience as possible.

Space Saver Lighting

One of the things I find enjoyable about sewing in my own space is the lighting that I have at my home sewing station. As you may know, I have the Slimline 3 Table Lamp, which produces an amazing amount of light for my sewing space. I wanted to see if I could get a comparable lighting option for retreat. I thought it was important that this option be compact and lightweight, since I will already be packing a ton of things for the upcoming trip.

Did I mention it’s rechargeable?

One of my favorite features about the Smart Travel Lamp is that it is a wireless/rechargeable solution. I love that a single full charge can last me 5 to 6 hours. And because the included charging cable is longer than most cell phone chargers, I can easily plug it in when I’m ready for a recharge.

Wireless Rechargeable Smart Travel Lamp

Adjustable Lighting Settings

Not only is this compact travel lamp super bright, but you can also adjust the level of brightness by simply holding down the on off button. You simply hold down the button to dim the light. This is great if you need another option besides full blast. I personally love full blast but it’s nice to have options.

A Coupon Code For You!

I have a special coupon code to pass along so you can receive 20% off your entire purchase from the Daylight Company. Simply use coupon code SEW20 and take advantage of this special pricing. This coupon code will work on the Smart Travel Lamp and any other item you decide to add to your Daylight Company shopping cart.

Watch my video to see this lamp in action!

Cheers to a bright sewing space!

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Valentine’s Day Quilt

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I just love sewing for Valentine’s Day!  The fabrics are so fun and cheerful!  I have been working through my list of UFO’s, which include utilizing some fabric that I purchased a LONG LONG time ago (like 2-3 years ago).  When I came across a fun and free heart block tutorial by Cluck Cluck Sew, I was inspired to use my beloved fabric panel in this quilt.  Let me share with you how I made this fantastic Valentine’s Day Quilt!

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. ? Read my full disclosure policy here.

Materials List

Supply List

Making my Valentine’s Day Quilt

Using Allison’s tutorial was super fun and easy.  The hearts came together easily.  I knew they would be perfect for my Valentine’s Day Quilt! The fabric that I used for the hearts really worked well for the Fabric Panel in the middle.  I used the medium size heart block to frame the bordered panel and it turned out cute!  I would highly recommend using a Frixon Pen for the snowballing and also squaring up your hearts before you sew them together.  That just makes for a nice and straight quilt top!  I made several blocks and even had a few left over.

I loved using my Juki 350QVP to finish this quilt.  I also used my Quilting Disks to help me move the quilt under my needle.  If you haven’t learned about my fantastic Long Arm Quilting Machine, you can read more about that HERE.  I simply love using it!

Since I had some leftover blocks, I decided to use these in the back of the quilt.  This worked out perfectly because I was a little short on the backing anyway.  I used a quick and simply loopy free motion quilting design.

When my husband asked me who I made the for, I told him that I honestly didn’t have an intended recipient just yet.  But for now, our cat is enjoying it as she perches on the back of our couch!

Happy Quilting!

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Hugs and Kisses Quilt Block

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The Hugs and Kisses Quilt block is a fun and versatile quilt block!  These blocks have also been called “X & O”.  How cute!  You can make an entire quilt with either the ‘X’ quilt block or an entire quilt of the ‘O’ quilt block.  It is even better when you mix up the quilt pattern with a little bit of both!  Check out the materials list and get your pattern and let’s make some fun quilt blocks!

To get your cutting measurements and specific sewing directions, you have a couple of choices:

Option 1: Download for free.

To download the cutting measurements & specific sewing instructions for free, you can subscribe to the Sew Much Moore Newsletter.  AFTER you sign up, you’ll get a confirmation email – and you have to confirm or my email service can’t send you the free pattern access email. But once you do confirm, you’ll get access to not just this but several other free patterns. Woot!

(PS – if you have trouble finding the pattern as a subscriber, please contact me)

Option 2: Purchase this PDF pattern

Use this link to purchase a pattern file. You’ll be emailed a download link for a file that references the instructions in this tutorial and provides the cutting measurements for this pattern.  You’ll also be able to download this file in my shop.

Hugs and Kisses X BlockHug and Kisses O Block

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. ? Read my full disclosure policy here.

Hugs & Kisses QUILT BLOCK SUPPLY LIST

BASIC SEWING SUPPLIES NEEDED

This amount of fabric will make more than (2) quilt blocks, but that’s ok!  We love extra fabric!!!

Check out this video to give you an idea of how to make the quilt block.  You will love how easy it is to make and want to make more!

What about doing an entire quilt?  Wouldn’t that be great??!!??

Hugs and Kisses Quilt Top

Be sure to show your completed Hugs and Kisses Quilt Blocks in my Facebook Group!

We would love to see your work!

Modern Quilt Block of the Month Group

Until next time, Happy Quilting!

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