Friday, August 29, 2014

Friday Funnies

Friday Funnies brings us Funny Man Gene Wilder when he played the role of the Candy Man.

I love that color purple!!!



#quilts #fabric #purple #genewilder #candyman #lovequilting

Do what you love - love what you do - Lovequilting.com

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Thursday, August 28, 2014

National Dog Day and Throw Back Thursday Quilts

Today is Throw Back Thursday and this week was National Dog Day, so this post is about dogs and quilts from the past.  We had a rescue Chihuahua for a short time.  We didn’t know his name, so we named him Max – for 2 reasons.  First because of the sarcasm with calling a small dog max and secondly because we name all our pets after cartoon characters and Max is the loveable dog from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.  Max bonded with me immediately and always jumped into my lap every chance he got.  I noticed that whatever the temperature, Max was always shaking or shivering, so I decided he needed a quilt.  I knew what I wanted this quilt to look like, but in 2006, I didn’t have any paper piecing skills.  So, I started cutting fabric and sewing it together to come up with the look I was after, eventually making a template so they would all look alike.



As I mentioned above, we only had Max for a short time because it turned out he was a biter and my kids were young and small at the time.  We found a loving home for Max with a retired couple who completely spoil him.

A couple of years ago, one of my aunts rescued a small dog – I’m not sure of the exact breed or breeds, but it is a small dog.  I so enjoyed reading her posts on facebook about the adventures of her little Emmi going out in the snow.  It was such a cute relationship that they developed and I once again decided that Emmi needed a quilt.  I made the fun tilted blocks quilt along with a matching tote for my aunt and dog walk bag that held potty bags.






I have posted a free tutorial for making the tilted blocks on the website.  http://www.lovequilting.com/shop/free-lovequilting-com-exclusive/tilted-block/

Consider making a small quilt for your favorite pooch – check out the fun whimsical Loralie dog fabric and coordinates.  http://www.lovequilting.com/product-category/fabric/?filtering=1&filter_manufacturer=201

#nationaldogday #weloveourdog #fabric #happydog #quilting #loraliefabric #lovequilting

Do what you love - love what you do - Lovequilting.com

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Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Hawaiian Applique Kits

Lovequilting.com has die cut Hawaiian applique kits available. Each kit includes both the positive and the negative die cut on pre-fused 100% cotton fabric along with complete instructions. The Dancing Dolphins features the dolphins in black as a silhouette against an ombre background of oranges/yellows of a sunset or blues of a sunrise. 

http://www.lovequilting.com/product-category/kits/

The Hawaiian Hula Flower kit is available customized to your preference - you tell us which of our 100% cotton fabrics you want your Hula Flower and we will custom cut it for you

http://www.lovequilting.com/shop/kits/hawaiian-hula-flower/


The newest kit - Santa on his Way is made with some of our newest batiks - the Hoffman Diamond collection. The applique is cut from All Over Diamonds Cherry and set on background of All Over Diamonds Oyster.


http://www.lovequilting.com/shop/kits/santa-way-kit/






These kits each produce two 18" blocks that can be used as blocks in a quilt, a table runner, made into pillows, front and back of a tote, placemats, or your very own imaginative creation!



This week's 30% off sale is a great time to stock up on kits! Be sure to use coupon code THIRTY at checkout to receive 30%.


#hawaiianapplique #hawaiianappliquekits #quiltkits #fabric #quilting #lovequilting #dancingdolphins #hulaflower #santaonhisway

Do what you love - love what you do - Lovequilting.com

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Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Free Tutorial Tuesday

Happy Free Tutorial Tuesday.  Today's free tutorial is another Lovequilting.com exclusive, which was inspired by a newly received line of fabric.


When we received a new collection of fabric in the shop called Italian Vineyards from Elizabeth's Studios, I fell in love with it. As I was putting other fabric away, some watercolor batiks were stacked near the new fabric and I had a WOW moment when I saw how well they coordinated. It's as though they were meant to be together. I just had to come up with a project using the screen print Italian Vineyards with the batiks.


This free pattern, which can be downloaded by clicking here: http://www.lovequilting.com/shop/free-lovequilting-com-exclusive/italian-vineyards-table-runner/ 
includes everything you need, including the template for the ring and circle. There is also a kit available, by clicking here: http://www.lovequilting.com/shop/kits/italian-vineyards-table-runner-kit/ 
which includes a pre-fused, pre-cut (die cut) circle and ring.

With autumn right around the corner, this table runner looks fabulous on my table and it's sure to look great on yours too!
Enjoy this free pattern and please send pictures of your completed table runner!

#tablerunner #italianvineyards #freepattern #fabric #lovequilting
http://www.lovequilting.com/
 

Monday, August 25, 2014

Huge August Blow Out Sale

Huge August Blow Out Sale starts today! 

Enter coupon code THIRTY at checkout and receive 30% off your ENTIRE purchase.  No exceptions!  Orders over $50 - remember to choose the Free Shipping option!

Sale runs through Friday, August 29th.  This is a great opportunity to get ready for your holiday projects, add some of the newest fabrics to your collection or stock up on fabric for quilt backs.

Be sure to check out our free patterns for inspiring project ideas.

Start shopping now!

#fabricsale #fabric #quilting #lovequilting #hugeblowoutsale

Do what you love - love what you do - Lovequilting.com

http://www.lovequilting.com/
  



Friday, August 22, 2014

Friday Funnies

Who doesn't LOVE Lucy?  Anyone remember this episode where Lucy rented a sewing machine and was going to teach herself to sew by reading the manual that came with the machine? 

In this scene, the first step was to identify the bobbin.






Have a fabulous weekend!

#ilovelucy #sewing #fabric #quilting #lovequilting

Do what you love - love what you do - Lovequilting.com

http://www.lovequilting.com/
 

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Throw Back Thursday Quilt

This week's Throw Back Thursday Quilt is a Haunted House Wall Hanging that I made in 2005.

This Haunted House features folded fabric techniques to add depth and dimension to the mansard roofs, door, windows and outer border.  The door and windows have hardware, including hinges at the door to enable them to be open or kept shut.  When you open them, there is a spooky surprise inside.  I chose Halloween embroideries including a moon and bats flying outside the house, but you can fussy cut your favorite fabrics to place inside the shutters.

I also added a row of scary ghost buttons hovering at the roof lines.  There are lots of possibilities for embellishments with this fun quilt!  Maybe your haunted house has a witch on the prowl!



This pattern is available as a Free Download by clicking here.

#halloween #hauntedhouse #freepattern #quilting #quilt #lovequilting

Do what you love - love what you do - Lovequilting.com

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Wednesday, August 20, 2014

What's Trending - Fall Colors 2014

As we inch closer to fall and need to re-stock our fall wardrobes, AND we start back to school shopping, I was curious as to what is trending for fall colors this year.

According to the Pantone Fashion Fall 2014 report, we are seeing colors such as Royal Blue to Sangria, and Cobalt Blue to Orchid.

Wow - love these colors!!!

http://www.lovequilting.com/





Have you considered a new purse, tote or string backpack to match each outfit?  This would also be a good start for planning those Christmas gifts.

http://www.lovequilting.com/product-category/kits/




http://www.lovequilting.com/product-category/patterns/bagspurses/


Happy Shopping!

#fabric #trendingfallcolors #stringbackpack #totes #purses #royalblue #sangria #cobaltblue #orchid #lovequilting

Do what you love - love what you do - Lovequilting.com

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Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Free Tutorial Tuesday

Free Tutorial Tuesday - Ta Da - the much anticipated String Backpack tutorial is tested, complete and published!

This string backpack features a zippered outer pocket, fully lined with no exposed seams, 2 inside pockets and a key clip.

Click here for your free downloadable pattern.

http://www.lovequilting.com/shop/free-lovequilting-com-exclusive/string-backpack-fully-lined-zippered-outside-pocket/

Please send a picture of your completed backpack!

#stringbackpack #fabric #lovequilting #freeproject #quilting

Do what you love - love what you do - Lovequilting.com



http://www.lovequilting.com/
 

Monday, August 18, 2014

What's on Sale This Week?

The summer is rushing by, which leads us into fall.  This is a great time to start planning for Halloween, whether it's decor or simple totes for trick or treating.  Recently we have found some fun free projects.  A couple of simple and quick table runners are pictured below.  We also have some others that will be posted later this week.

To get ready for autumn and Halloween projects, www.lovequilting.com has put all the black fabrics on sale.  Some of them are as low as $5.25/yard!

 Start Shopping . . .

http://www.lovequilting.com/product-category/fabric/whats-on-sale/

http://www.lovequilting.com/product-category/patterns/free-quilt-patterns/






What are you working on?


#halloween #blackfabric #lovequilting #tablerunners #freepatterns

 Do what you love - love what you do - Lovequilting.com

http://www.lovequilting.com/

Friday, August 15, 2014

Friday Funnies

We all received sad news this week when we heard about Robin Williams' passing.  He was such a wonderful entertainer.  People young and old are familiar with him.

Going forward, whenever I watch one of his movies I will be grateful that he shared his entertaining nature with us for the time that he did.

One of my favorite roles of his, certainly not the only favorite, was as Genie in Aladdin.  From the first time I saw that movie, I thought it sounded like a blast to have been on the set of the voice over taping.





Hope you have many hours of watching Robin Williams' films in your future!

#robinwilliams #genie #aladdin #sewing #quilting #lovequilting

Do what you love - love what you do - Lovequilting.com

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Thursday, August 14, 2014

Throw Back Thursday Quilt

Throw Back Thursday Quilt

This quilt was a free pattern download from Northcott.net from 9 years ago.  I checked their archive patterns, but wasn't able to find it again.  What I fell in love with about it was the brightly colored fish.  It was simple, yet striking.

I added a lot of brightly colored embroidered fish to this quilt in between rows and on the borders.

I used a bright variegated thread for quilting in the fish areas, filling it with fish, coral and sea plants.  In the solid areas and borders the quilting represents the motion of the ocean, rippley waves sort of.

With wool batting and flannel on the back, this quilt resides in my car and is used at every one of my son's hockey games!  It's big enough to wrap right around myself, or share with my daughter.





Do what you love - love what you do - Lovequilting.com

http://www.lovequilting.com/
 

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Wise Words Wednesday - The Right Tool for the Job

My husband works in construction, so he is very familiar with tools.  He can never walk past the power tool section of a home improvement store without stopping, and drooling!  He brings home new power tools probably more often than most, and he always predicates the reason for having to have it with, "you have to have the right tool for the job".

I didn't quite understand that fully until I started to quilt.  As quilters, we have many tools available to us as well and each one is designed with a purpose.  

When I'm working on a project, sometimes I don't have the right tool at my fingertips so I make do with what I do have, then I usually regret it.  Most recently, I was adding embellishments to a quilt - mainly sequins and beads.  I pulled out as thin of a needle as I had on hand and I struggled to get any beading accomplished.  About 1 out of 10 beads actually fit over the eye of the needle.

The very next day, I went out and purchased "beading needles" and wow is that much more productive!  Threading the needle is a bit of a challenge - maybe I should once again get the right tool for that job and buy thinner thread!





#beading #quilt #tools #righttoolforthejob #lovequilting

Do what you love - love what you do - Lovequilting.com

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Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Free Tutorial Tuesday

Happy Tuesday!  I have another free tutorial to share this week.

I absolutely love fabric - it is available in so many colors, shades, prints and combinations.  Fabric can help express a mood or a season in clothing, accessories or decor.

Recently, I visited my dad who is recovering from several surgeries, in fact he is having another one today.  He's currently in a rehab facility and is having to learn to walk and perform many daily routines all over again.  While I was there, I noticed a lot of people using canes.  And, as I often do, I was also daydreaming about all my lovely fabric and what I can make with it.  Suddenly, I thought, why couldn't I make a simple fabric cover for these canes to spruce them up?

When I got home, I set straight to work on that.  You could have a fabric cane cover to match every outfit, express your mood or be festive with holiday or seasonal fabric.  They could also be embellished with crystals, beads, appliques, bells, buttons, or anything that the imagination comes up with.  Options are endless!

Today's tutorial is for a very simple fabric cane cover.  If you don't know someone who uses a cane, how about making a few for a local assisted living facility or nursing home?  They take just a small piece of fabric and a small amount of elastic.  This would be a great item to make and sell at a craft show.





Click here for free tutorial.

#fabriccanecover #canecover #expressyourself #wishingdadwellinsurgery #craftshow

Do what you love - love what you do - Lovequilting.com

http://www.lovequilting.com/
 

 

Monday, August 11, 2014

Lost Quilt - FOUND!!!

Happy Monday!  What are you working on?

I have a quilt that's been a work in progress for quite some time.  It is a McKenna Ryan design called Seabreeze.  I purchased the whole kit including all the embellishments.  I started piecing the top in January 2010.  The top was complete by March 2010.  Then I wasn't quite sure how to quilt it.  I would pull it out occasionally and contemplate the quilting, but nothing would come to me.  Finally in 2013, I had a plan!  It actually worked out well that I waiting that long, because by then, the software for my long arm had been updated to include some really neat new features which I used extensively on this quilt.  I was quite happy with the results.

After quilting, it went to my trusty friend Del who always does my bindings.  She's so much better at it than me and she enjoys it way more than I do.

Once the binding was done, all that was left was the embellishments.  We went on a family camping trip about a year ago and that was the perfect project to bring with me.  I did accomplish to get some done, but I remember really windy afternoons which made beading and stuff very difficult.

About 7 months ago, I was looking for my Seabreeze quilt and couldn't find it anywhere.  I looked everywhere - twice.  How could this happen?  How could you lose a quilt?  It's not like a small gizmo that you put in a drawer.  I considered that perhaps it was in the trailer from our camping trip.  My husband looked, but said it wasn't there either.

I considered filing a police report that someone broke into my house, unknowingly to any of us, and stole only that Seabreeze quilt.

As we make preparations to embark on another camping trip coming up in a few weeks for my son's hockey tournament, my husband went to our trailer again to do some work and said he found my quilt!  I guess in the 2 places it could possibly have been in the trailer, previously he only looked in one of those places!

So my Seabreeze quilt is back home with me!  Glad I didn't file that police report!  And now on with the embellishing and then it can finally be hung on a wall!!!  Hint:  Use a beading needle when applying beads!





#lostquilt #foundquilt #seabreeze #mckennaryan #lovequilting

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Friday, August 8, 2014

Friday Funnies

Happy Friday!  The weather here has been gorgeous and looks like it will continue that way right into the weekend.  I'm hoping to finalize plans to have a beach day tomorrow carried into an evening with a fire pit and weenie roast.  

As quilters, we have all been misinterpreted at times.  When I first bought my long arm, I was talking to a woman at an insurance company about getting an insurance policy for the machine and she repeatedly referred to my long arm as a "knitting machine".  I had to bite my tongue!!!

This picture made me laugh when I saw it because I can definately relate!





#quilts #harrypotter #fabric #lovequilting

Do what you love - love what you do - Lovequilting.com

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Thursday, August 7, 2014

This was posted on So-Sew-Easy's face book page yesterday.  Don''t you just love the way this bag turned out?  Lovequilting.com had sponsored a contest at So-Sew-Easy and the winner purchased this fabric from our shop and made this wonderful bag.  She is obviously VERY talented!

So-Sew-Easy offers many great tutorials and free pattern downloads, including the one pictured below!
 
Dawn was one of the winners in the Make It Yours bag sewing contest, and chose the Carry All Bag as one of her prizes. She combined the pattern with some of the fabric she won from Lovequilting.com, and the purse hardware from 3d Hardwares, and loves her new Carry All Bag. Thanks for sharing Dawn. Want to make your own bag? - pattern here - http://so-sew-easy.com/carry-all-bag-pattern/

So Sew Easy's photo.
So Sew Easy's photo.



So Sew Easy's photo.

#freeprojects #fabric #so-sew-easy #lovequilting

Do what you love - love what you do - Lovequilting.com

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Throw Back Thursday Quilt

It's Thursday already - gosh the weeks just fly by!  Today I'm sharing a photo of one of the first quilts I ever made.  It's called Flip Floppin and I still love it!  My technique has greatly improved since I made this quilt in 2005, but this quilt still has a special place to hang every summer.

Each pair of flip flops is unique and the shopping for this quilt - fabric, ribbons and buttons - was great fun.  Of course I changed my mind about a few through the shopping process, but I'm pleased with the final choices.  

Just to point out something special - on the watermelon flip flops (top center), I had found these tiny little ant buttons that I sewed above and below this pair of flip flops.

Enjoy and happy quilting!



#quilt #flipflops #throwbackthursday #lovequilting
 
Do what you love - love what you do - Lovequilting.com

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Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Manhattan Modern to Italian Vineyards

Manhattan Modern is one of the newest collections in the shop and it is fun, exciting and full of energy! These larger scale prints are bold enough to stand on their own or they can be complemented with bright solids. How about using Carousel Bright or City Blocks, add a border and have a bright modern table runner?


Manhattan Modern (1)

Be sure to check out the free Modern Living pattern featuring the Manhattan Modern collection shown in an alternate colorway.


Modern Living


Also new in the shop is the Italian Vineyards collection by Elizabeth’s Studioshttp://www.lovequilting.com/product-category/fabric/?filtering=1&filter_collection=831. This wonderful screen print fabric is absolutely gorgeous and will have you dreaming of your own escape to the hillsides of Italy.


An interesting thing happened as we were checking in this fabric, waiting to be put away were some of our luscious watercolor batiks alongside this fabric. It was a real “WOW” moment when I noticed these fabrics together and realized that they are perfect for each other, so we have bundled a half yard set of all 6 fabrics.


Italian Vineyard Set


For this collection, we like patterns that have larger pieces so we can show off the detail such as the postcards and grapes.


Stargazing

big-bang

Ciao Bella Market Tote Brochure


Other happenings – we are participating in the August Fab Shop Hop. You can register to join the virtual shop hop by clicking here. You may become eligible to win some wonderful prizes. Be sure to watch for Fab Shop specials!



foundit_chop13


#manhattanmodern #italianvineyards #fabric #quilt #quiltfabric #lovefabric #lovequilting #quilting

Do what you love – love what you do – lovequilting.com!