Easter Mini

Lately, I can't seem to get enough of all things miniature!  So with Easter right around the corner, I thought it was high time that I made an Easter mini.

I designed this simple little 6" project around the Easter egg buttons.  Aren't they darling?!

They're Just Another Button Company buttons, specifically the "small blue," "small pink," and "small lavender egg(s)."  I've had these buttons for a while now, waiting for the perfect opportunity to use them, and I'm thrilled with how they look tucked into a wool appliqué basket.

I thought about framing my project, but decided instead to layer it with batting and backing fabric, and to bind it with a wide binding that does double duty as an outer border.  I'm so happy I did, because I just love the look of the wide binding!  This is my first time using single fold binding as a wide binding and it turns out that it was super easy!  For the half-inch wide binding, I cut my fabric strip 2¼" wide.

To display my little project, I decided to attach a length of the gingham ribbon to the back of the mini so I can hang it wherever I like—preferably directly in front of me!  

Here's a link to the pattern for the Easter basket. And if you don't happen to have gorgeous Easter egg buttons in your stash yet, don't despair!  I think this project would also be cute with little wool eggs, maybe even embellished with a bit of embroidery.  Hmm... now my wheels are turning again!

Happy Easter and Happy Stitching!

Just for Fun

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of teaching a beginner's log cabin class at the Upper Valley Food Co-op's Sew-op.  The women I was teaching were all friends and we had a great time chatting and sewing (ok, mostly chatting!).  At one point during the class, one of the women asked me if I still quilt for fun or if it's just for work and while I answered that quilting is always a joy for me, I realized that it's been too long since I made a project just for fun and just for me.

The solution:  a mini orange peel quilt!  I've always wanted to make an orange peel quilt and I love all things miniature, so I'm going to combine the two and make it with fabrics leftover from my log cabin class.

After a couple of nights of prepping leaf appliqués, here's what I've got:

Aren't the colors gorgeous?! I just love these batiks!

Each finished leaf block is going to be 2" square.  My mom will think I'm crazy, but I can't help myself; I LOVE small blocks.  Not sure what I'm going to do for a border yet, but hey, there are no rules here!  This is just for fun — appliqué here I come! 

I'll keep you posted...

Merry and Bright - Day 12!

❄❄❄Update:  The complete pattern for Merry and Bright is now available for download on my Etsy shop.  The pattern includes material requirements, cutting chart, step-by-step instructions, full color diagrams, paper piecing foundation patterns and embroidery templates to help you on your way.  Click here to view the pattern.❄❄❄


Welcome back for the final day of the Merry and Bright Quilt-along!

Today we're going to talk about finishing touches and, drum roll please, here's a look at my finished Merry and Bright quilt!

I have to be honest—I adore this quilt!  The color palette is so cheery and I love the combination of the simple, graphic blocks and the sweet, pretty embroidery.  This one is definitely one of my faves!

On to the finishing:

Basting Backing Fabric to Quilt Top/Batting Sandwich:

The next step in the process is to layer your quilt top/batting sandwich with a backing fabric panel measuring at least 34" x 40".  Once again, I chose to use spray basting adhesive to baste the backing fabric to my quilt sandwich.  I smoothed the backing fabric out on a flat surface with the wrong side up and used masking tape to hold it taut.  Then I lightly sprayed the surface with the basting spray, placed the quilt top/batting sandwich on top of it with the batting side down, and smoothed it out, starting in the center and working outwards.  Then I pulled up the tape, flipped all three layers of the quilt sandwich over, and made sure it was nice and smooth on the back side.

If you'd like to use a different method of basting your quilt, please feel free to do so!  One way or the other, it's time to baste the backing to the back of your quilt sandwich.

Quilting Inner Border:

I quilted my inner background fabric border using two colors of embroidery floss and a big running stitch.  This method matches the look of the embroidery that we used on the sashing strips, but it is actually quilting because we're stitching through all three layers now.  This helps to hold the layers of the quilt together and because it's a running stitch, it looks just fine on the back of your quilt.

After placing my quilt sandwich in a quilting hoop (basically a big embroidery hoop), I used two strands of floss and the same needle that I used for all of my embroidery to do the big stitch quilting.  I stitched ¼" inside the background fabric inner border seams.  You can mark your lines prior to stitching if you like, but I could actually see the shadow of my seam allowances through the background fabric and just ran my stitching along those lines.  Easy peasy!

Your stitches should measure between ⅛" and ¼", but really the stitch length matters less than keeping them consistent.  And finally, as in regular quilting, bury your knots between the layers of your quilt.

Final Touches:

The last thing I did before binding my quilt, was to machine quilt in the ditch on either side of the 4 embroidered sashing strips with a walking foot and white thread to match my background fabric.  This quilting doesn't really show up much, but I added it to help hold the layers of the quilt together.  Then I decided that because my quilt was sufficiently stabilized and charmingly embellished, it was (finally!!) time to bind!

If you'd like to further quilt or embellish your quilt, please do so!  My mom is thinking of adding a star button to the top of one or more of her Christmas trees and for a while contemplated decorating the trees with additional embroidery (if you choose to add more embroidery, make sure you do it before you layer the backing onto your quilt).  You could also use quilting to add texture to the trees, the ornaments or even the house roofs.  The options are many and an opportunity for you to further personalize your quilt. Or maybe, like me, you'll step back and think "that'll do!"

So that wraps up my 2016 Merry and Bright Quilt-along!  (please excuse the little Christmas pun, but I've been waiting all month to write that!!)  I have truly enjoyed sharing this project with you all and I've especially loved connecting with you via email, Facebook and Instagram!  What a treat to be able to see your progress and to know that we were actually quilting along together!

I'd love to see pictures of your quilts when they're finished!  You can email them to me at jendalyquilts@gmail.com or please tag me @jendalyquilts when you post your pics on Instagram or Facebook.

In the meantime, thank you all so much for following along with this year's quilt-along!  Happy Holidays and may all your days be Merry and Bright!

Cheers!  Jen

In Search of Christmas Spirit - Day 6

Day 6:  O Christmas Tree

As I drove home at 6:45 tonight having been out since 7:30 this morning, I was beginning to despair that I could come up with something Christmassy to do today.

I'd hoped that we'd be able to get our Christmas tree yesterday and that I'd be decorating it tonight, but even if the sketchy roads hadn't doubled our hockey drive time, the poor trees would have been full of snow and wet with rain.  To top it off, with my husband traveling for work this week, I knew that our next opportunity to get a tree would be the following weekend -- only 10 days before Christmas -- not exactly in keeping with my plan to increase my Christmas spirit.  Sigh.

But when I pulled into the driveway, there in the glow of the garage Christmas lights (see Day 4:  Exterior Illumination), I could just make out the shape of a Christmas tree in the back of my husband's truck.

With my daughter and I otherwise engaged, my husband and two boys had taken it upon themselves to venture out into the dark and cold (17° to be exact) to pick out a tree.

"It's a  Fraser Fir!" my husband exclaimed when I walked in the door.

And now that Fraser Fir is standing in the corner of our family room, and as it melts, its branches are gradually opening up and the room smells like Christmas.

It may not be the tallest tree and it does have one slightly wonky branch, but it's beautifully full, tomorrow it will be ready to decorate, and hey, at least the star will fit on top without any trouble!