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Holley's Raves & Reviews
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
WELCOME
2013
HAPPY
NEW YEAR!
I am not one for resolutions, but I have made this one .
. . to be a better blogger, get more organized, and create . . . oh, well, 3
then.
HERE’S
HOPING ALL OF YOU HAVE A HAPPY, HEALTHY, PRODUCTIVE, CREATIVE, AND PROSPEROUS NEW
YEAR!
“Respect
the old, when you are young.
Help
the weak, when you are strong.
Confess
the fault, when you are right.
Because
one day in life,
You
will be Old, Weak, and Wrong!”
--Anonymous
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Hello! I know that I am not alone having a heavy heart and shock at the recent shootings at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticutt. I am in disbelief for the victims and their families and friends for this tragedy will be a huge burden to carry and to overcome. The survivors will also have to deal with this tragic event emotionally.
Quilter's Corner in New Milford, Connecticutt, announced on Facebook that they would like for people across the country to make and send them pillowcases for the children that survived. Hopefully, this will bring them some kind of comfort over the days, weeks, months, ahead. If you would like to make a pillowcase for these children (please do) mail it to
For those of you that have not made pillowcases before, you might feel a little intimidated, but please don't. These instructions are simple and will cover all your seams such as French seams would. This method is called the Hot Dog Pillowcase pattern and you can Google Hot Dog Pillowcase and get a written pattern if that would help. Once you have cut your fabric, it takes about 15 minutes to sew together. Quick! Now choose some bright fabrics and get started.
Please make one, two, three or more for these little children if you can. And if you need assistance or help in anyway e-mail me at holleyandbuddy@bellsouth.net or holley.downs@gmail.com. I hope that I haven't left anything out or made this too hard to understand. . .if so, just let me know!
Thanks so much for taking time to do this for Newtown children!
Quilter's Corner in New Milford, Connecticutt, announced on Facebook that they would like for people across the country to make and send them pillowcases for the children that survived. Hopefully, this will bring them some kind of comfort over the days, weeks, months, ahead. If you would like to make a pillowcase for these children (please do) mail it to
QUILTER'S CORNER
312 DANBURY ROAD
NEW MILFORD, CONNECTICUTT 06776
For those of you that have not made pillowcases before, you might feel a little intimidated, but please don't. These instructions are simple and will cover all your seams such as French seams would. This method is called the Hot Dog Pillowcase pattern and you can Google Hot Dog Pillowcase and get a written pattern if that would help. Once you have cut your fabric, it takes about 15 minutes to sew together. Quick! Now choose some bright fabrics and get started.
HOG DOG PILLOWCASE
Body: 40.5" by 24.5"
Cuff: 40.5" by 12.5"
For these pillowcases I do not use trim, but if you want to make some for your use or gifts, cut
Trim: 3" x 40.5"
The cuff fabric is the "BUN". Place it right side up on your table.
Now lay your Body fabric on top of the Cuff fabric right side down.
Roll up the body fabric forming the "WIENER". Pin well making sure to keep the boby fabric away from your stitching as you do not want to catch it in the cuff stitching.
Sew along the pinned edge removing your pins as you go. I usually use a 1/4" seam allowance here, but go with what you want. After sewing I press the seam flat to set the stitches. Now the fun part!
Pull the body out from inside the cuff . . .
Pull till you have all of it out and then press flat.
Be sure to press flat on both sides!!
Fold in half -- wrong sides together (that's right, WRONG SIDES TOGETHER) -- and stitch a 1/4" seam on the side and back. Trim seam some to get rid of the loose threads. Turn inside out. Using something pointy (a knitting needle works well, but I love using my bone folder) and push out the corners gently to define the seam edges.
PRESS WELL!
Now stitch a 1/4 seam being careful not to catch the previous seam. Turn right side out, press, and you are done. Oh, wait, if you are donating this pillowcase you need to wash with a fragrance free detergent. Some quilters/sewers choose to pre-wash fabrics before sewing, but I choose to do the project and then wash. This really helps in making sure ALL the pins are out of the fabric and I personally like sewing on fabric with a little body.
If you choose, you can say a blessing over the pillowcase asking that the recipient gets comfort from this gift!
Final product is a beautiful, colorful
Please make one, two, three or more for these little children if you can. And if you need assistance or help in anyway e-mail me at holleyandbuddy@bellsouth.net or holley.downs@gmail.com. I hope that I haven't left anything out or made this too hard to understand. . .if so, just let me know!
Thanks so much for taking time to do this for Newtown children!
"Give a little love to a child and you get a great deal back."
--John Ruskin
Saturday, December 8, 2012
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
What a day! Our quilt guild, Big Springs, had our annual
Christmas luncheon and gift exchange today.
This is a busy time of the year, but we still managed to have about 17
present. I cannot begin to express how
important this Guild and the members are to me!
They are a talented and sweet group of ladies! I am so fortunate to have them in my life.
We made some
pictures of our get together today and thought I would share them with you.
We decided to give our hand-made gifts to each other and below are some of the gifts we received. . .
Beautiful quilted table runner!
Pieced table mat. Lovely.
Mod Podge Christmas ornament made from scraps.
Mini Dresden plate mug rug! Stunning!
Machine embroidered snowflake ornaments!
Knitted scarf. Cozy!
The above is a 10 minute table runner! What a great quick gift!
The center of the small quilt above was achieved by pounding flowers into
fabric (one way to work out your frustration and/or stress) and quilted around.
Lovely!
Some of the pictures believe it or not did not turn out well . . . eyes shut, mouth wide open, etc. So sorry if I missed anyone.
A group picture of the members that could
come today! We really missed those of you that
could not come! See you next year!
FOOD WAS DELICIOUS!
Again this was a great day! Good Food! Great Friends!
I am looking forward to 2013 and spending time with each of you each month!
AGAIN, MERRY CHRISTMAS and a VERY HAPPY and HEALTHY
NEW YEAR!
"The heart of the giver makes the gift dear and precious."
--Martin Luther
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Made it through
Thanksgiving and now getting ready for the Christmas holidays! The fun is just beginning. I have, however, been busy since October
working on Christmas wall hangings, potholders, candle mats, table runners,
ornaments, coasters, etc. In other
words, I’ve been sewing my behind off!
One of the many
go-to projects that I do for quick gifts are coasters. These coasters are fast, quick, and super
cute and functional! I first heard about
these coasters from our local quilt shop at the time. I didn’t sew much then and they looked so
complicated that I almost didn’t try them.
One of the owners showed me in steps how easy they were and I bet I’ve made
30 sets since then. They make a
wonderful hostess gift, teacher gift, or just to give to someone that is
special to you. And especially make
several sets for yourself. They wash up
beautifully and work great keeping “rings” off of your furniture.
I’m not sure
exactly who came up with this idea but I have seen several on the internet each
with different names. My personal
favorite is the Criss Cross Coasters.
Now get out some scraps or a charm pack and let’s get started.
Materials: 5” squares or charms from your charm pack
To make a set of
four, you will need 16 squares.
Muslin cut into 5”
squares and for a set of 4 you will need 8.
4 pieces of
batting cut to 5” squares
Sewing machine,
thread to match (or not), and the usual sewing supplies.
Begin by taking
your 5” squares from your charm pack or scraps and press in half.
Next layer in this
order
1) Muslin
square
2) Batting
square
3) Muslin
square
4) And
now your 4 squares of fabric that you have pressed in half illustrated below.
This is the fun part. . .if you used a charm pack you know
that all sides have pinked edges. . .lay your pressed rectangles with the raw
(pinked) edges facing out. The best way to do
this is to lay top and bottom rectangles on your muslin base and then lifting
top right hand corner lay another rectangle and then raising the bottom left
rectangle place your last rectangle. . .this is why they call this the criss
cross coasters. Look at the pictures
below to get a better idea.
Now sew around the outside edges of this “sandwich” using a
¼” seam. DO NOT LEAVE AN OPENING FOR
TURNING!
Clip the corners and I usually
trim a little off around the edges to control some of the bulk and turn inside
out.
Looking at the picture below, you will see that you will turn your coaster
beginning from the center out. . .this looks confusing and wrong, but trust me
it will work out. Keep on till you have
the entire coaster turned out and using a pointed object such as a knitting
needle or bone folder (which I always use as the point is a little blunt) push
your points out gently.
My trusty bone folder . . .
PRESS with steam
and using your bone folder gently push on your corners a little more. Press again.
Now repeat 3 (or as many as you want in your set) more times and you have a neat little hand-made
gift for someone special. You can use
raffia, ribbon, or my personal favorite twine to tie them together with a
little card and you are good to go.
These are great to assembly-line make and I promise it doesn’t take long
at all.
Now you can decide if you want to quilt your finished coasters or not. . . here is a sample of the quilted coaster. . .
FINISHED . . .
These can be customized to match the décor, holiday, season,
or can be just plain scrappy! You can
enlarge your square to 10” and when finished you will have a candle mat, hot
pad, or a small table decoration. Your
imagination is the limit. Oh, yes, you
can even make them round. . .after you have made your sandwich draw a circle
and cut out. You will turn it out just
the same and instead of square, you will have a circle coaster.
Have fun and see you back here next time with another quick
project.
“The
heart of the giver makes the gift dear and precious.”
--Martin Luther
Monday, November 12, 2012
Hi
everybody! Christmas is going to be here
before we know it. I don’t know about
you, but I love to make small gifts for my friends and while looking through
this month’s Quilter’s World December 2012, I found just the right
project. This project is quick, easy,
and festive!
A Gift-Card Holder
The designer
is Carolyn S.. Vagts for The Village Pattern Company. She did a great job of writing this pattern
and I know you will find it easy to follow.
I will share with you how I made these and you can see by the pictures
just how easy they were. It takes very
little in the way of materials. . .you need fabric (2-5 x 9” pieces), fusible
web, thread, 5 x 9 piece of freezer paper, and of course your basic sewing
tools.
I chose two
fabrics, one for the exterior and one for the lining. You could, however, just use the same fabric
for both. I made 6 of these in about an
hour.
First you
fuse your fabrics wrong sides together.
Then make a copy of the Holder Pattern that is included onto freezer paper.
Iron the freezer paper onto your fabric and cut out. You can reuse this freezer paper several
times which is great!
After you
have cut out your Card Holder you will make a slit in the fabric where
indicated on the freezer paper. I used my rotary cutter to do this. REMOVE
freezer paper!
I
Then you will
fold up the card holder on No. 1 Fold Line and sew around the holder as
indicated on the pattern. After you have
sewn around the holder, fold down the top and slide into the slit and you have
your Gift-Card Holder. QUICK, EASY, AND
SUPER CUTE!I
These can be
used for all sorts of things, love notes, business cards, favorite pictures,
etc. Just change up your fabric and have
FUN!
Oh, I thought you might want to see the lining. I like using two coordinating fabrics.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
I’m back!!! I think I now have my computer issues (virus)
resolved and time to begin again with my blogging.
I haven’t blogged
since the election in July…busy, regrouping, grandchildren, you name it. I guess, you could say that I needed to get
it back together after such a long, hot summer!
I really missed the creating and sewing everyday and when I finally got
back to it, well, I just went a little nuts!
The first big day
for our family after July was Emily’s 9th birthday and Lisa’s ___th
birthday. We always celebrate those two
together since one is the 21st and the other is the 22nd. I will have to mention that our youngest
grandchild had her birthday on August 1st, turning 6, and her daddy
our youngest son, had his birthday on August 8th. Somehow the pictures for those events are
lost somewhere in computerland. I do,
however, have some of Emily and Lisa.
AND THESE ARE ALL MY GIRLS EXCEPT FOR ASHLEY AND TIFFANY WHO COULDN'T COME . . .
I love Halloween
and decorating for this spooky holiday and I thought I would share some of my
Halloween projects with you. I know,
Halloween’s over, but I’ll show them anyway.
These are some
Trick or Treat bags that I found the pattern for in one of my magazines. I made four cat bags for the girls and a
Frankenstein bag for Avery.
I made the
Halloween pumpkin pillow a couple years ago at a class that I took at Dragonfly
Quilt Shop and the Haunted Tree Pillow, I found in a magazine featuring Patrick
Lose. Love Patrick Lose's applique!
This is Patrick Lose's design!
This birdhouse was
made by my husband and I decorated it for the Halloween birds.
This painted
pumpkin was inspired from Alisa Burke’s blog.
Hers are much better!!!
The stuffed
pumpkin came from one of my favorite artists, Nancy Halversen. I will have to say I have all of her books
and each and everyone of them are GREAT!
This ticker tape
wall hanging I made using Halloween fabric scraps. I cut a piece of muslin and cut squares and
rectangles out of my Halloween fabric scraps. I then sew them around the edges to the muslin piece
with batting on the back. After I
finish sewing the fabric scraps to the muslin, I put a back on and sew it
together with the front by sewing between the squares. I finish off with binding and hanging
tabs. I found a square piece of wood in
my husband’s workshop, painted it, and after it was dried, hung up my Halloween
Ticker Tape Quilt. I have since made one
for Fall and will make one for Christmas, etc.
FUN!
Also using scraps,
I made this Halloween fabric bowl. I will
do a tutorial at a later date on how to make these easy and decorative bowls.
This Halloween
ornament is made with a clear glass ornament, small fabric scraps, and Mod
Podge (one of my favorite products).
Just glue your scraps onto the glass ornament covering the entire all,
and hang on an ornament holder. I also wired a decorative button to the ornament. I also
made one of these for each of the coming seasons.
Finally, I made an
Alisa Burke inspired tablescape. Cute,
HUH?
I think I will
stop here with the Halloween projects. I
truly hope all of you had a great holiday and will enjoy the Thanksgiving and
Christmas season coming up. I will say
Bye for now leaving you with this quote,
“I am beginning to learn that it is
the sweet, simple things
of life which are the real ones after
all.”
-Laura Ingalls
Wilder
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