Tutorial: Valentine's Day Fabric Postcards

Every year I start thinking about fun projects to do for Valentine's Day on about February 11th. This year I started earlier...a whole week! (Well, I made the project about 2 weeks ago, but it took me a while to put the tutorial together.)

Mail some fabric love out this Valentine's Day. I love the idea of fabric postcards. You can actually mail them, and I think they'd be such a neat surprise to receive in the mail! (In fact, let me give you my mailing address...!)
I have two versions here. One uses basic fusible applique, and the other gets a little fancier.

Triple Heart Postcard

Hint: The fabric really makes the project here. I love this striped batik I had in my stash.

You'll need: 

6'' square of pink fabric

4'' square of coordinating fabric

6'' x 8'' rectangle of background fabric

10'' square piece Pellon® 805 Wonder-Under®

5'' x 7'' rectangle of Pellon® 40 stabilizer

6'' x 8'' rectangle of batting

8-1/2'' x 11'' fabric sheet for inkjet printer

To make the triple heart postcard:

1. Print all three heart templates. (Click here to download the template pdf.) 

2. Trace one of each size heart template onto the paper side of the Wonder-Under®. Cut out roughly around traced shape.

3. Lay the Wonder-Under® large heart template piece on the wrong side of the 6'' pink fabric square. Lay the Wonder-Under® small and medium heart template pieces on the wrong side of the 4'' square of coordinating fabric.

4. Fuse the Wonder-Under® template pieces to the fabric scraps. Let cool. Cut out each shape, peel the paper away from the fabric and set aside. I like to loosen the edge of the paper before cutting the shape to avoid potential fraying as you separate the layers.

5. Position all three heart shapes on the 6'' x 8'' background rectangle. I angled them and overlapped two of the hearts. The background fabric will be trimmed after quilting, so keep pieces away from fabric edge.

6. Fuse the hearts in place following the manufacturer's instructions. Let cool.

7. Layer postcard top with batting and baste with pins.

8. Applique the hearts to secure using a zigzag, buttonhole, or other decorative stitch. I used my new favorite zigzag variation and black thread, so that the stitching looked like it blended into my background fabric.

9. Quilt the background as desired.

10. Trim postcard front to measure 5'' x 7''.

11. Scroll down to the Assembly directions under the patchwork postcard. Both designs are assembled the same way. 

Patchwork Postcard

You'll need:

Twenty 1-1/2'' squares of assorted red and pink prints

6'' x 8'' rectangle of background fabric

10'' square piece Pellon® 805 Wonder-Under®

5'' x 7'' rectangle of Pellon® 40 stabilizer

6'' x 8'' rectangle of batting

8.5'' x 11'' fabric sheet for inkjet printer

To make the patchwork postcard:

1. Arrange the twenty 1-1/2'' red and pink print squares into four rows of five squares each. Sew the squares into rows and join the rows.

(Have you noticed how much smaller the margin of error is when you're sewing tiny pieces?!?!)

2. Print large heart template. (Click here to download the template pdf.) 

3. Trace the heart template onto the paper side of the Wonder-Under®.

4. Cut around the outside of the heart shape ½'' past the drawn line. Cut around the inside of the heart shape ¼'' inside the line. Position on the background fabric, centered from top to bottom and tilted slightly to one side, and fuse in place. Let cool.

5. Cut out along the line on the inside of the heart, creating a negative space heart shape. Peel the paper away from the fabric and set aside. Again, I like to loosen the edge of the paper before cutting the shape to avoid fraying problems.

6. Position this negative space heart shape fusible side down onto the red/pink patchwork. Rotate as desired to show preferred patchwork areas and/or tilt the angle of the patchwork that shows through.

7. Fuse the background fabric in place following the manufacturer's instructions. Let cool.

8. Applique the heart edge to secure using a zigzag, buttonhole, or other decorative stitch. Turn over and trim excess patchwork fabric.

9. Layer postcard top with batting and baste with pins.

10. Quilt the background as desired.

A quick word about quilting thread color here. I auditioned several different colors--a pink/red, a gray (thinking neutral) and the light aqua I ended up using. I was worried the aqua would stand out too much on the pink/red patchwork, but that was much less obvious than the way the other colors stood out on the aqua! 

11. Trim postcard front to measure 5'' x 7''.

Assembly (for either postcard)

1. Print the postcard back pdf (click here to download pdf) onto the fabric side of a fabric sheet. Cut out one postcard back just inside the lines. Remove the paper backing.

2. Layer the postcard right side down, 5'' x 7'' stabilizer rectangle, and quilted postcard right side up. Pin layers together.

3. Using a dense zigzag, stitch around the entire outer edge of postcard.

4. Use a fabric pen to write a note and either mail or deliver to a friend!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! I had a brainstorm this weekend and am working on a second Valentine's Day-themed tutorial, so come back soon!

Winner!

Thanks to everyone who left a comment on my Modern Dresden post! It was so much fun to read each person's thoughts on the binding. I need to set aside some time to audition different options; maybe when my mom comes to visit in a few weeks (always nice to have another set of eyes!).

Now for the winner of my little dresden and the six fat quarters. Random number generator chose:

Congratulations, Lou! I'm sending you an email for your mailing address.

I've been busy at work on a Valentine's Day fabric postcard tutorial. Hoping I'll get it up soon! 

I finished my Valentine's Day fabric postcard tutorial! Check it out here. 

p.s. Thanks also to those who commented with suggestions of patterns and fabric lines for kids' quilts. Keep those ideas coming! I appreciate it!

February Goal + Looking for recommendations

With success at reaching my January goal in the Lovely Year of Finishes, I'm excited about February!
I had trouble picking a goal, because a) it's a busy month for me (speaking at my guild...yikes!, planning a 4-year-old birthday party, finishing a few tutorials I've promised people, on top of all the usual day-to day fun of work and home life) and b) because I was torn between what I want to do vs. what I should do. So ultimately I'm going with another seasonal choice, because after February I am not going to care about a snowman quilt.

February's goal: Finish quilting and then bind my snowman quilt.

And now I'm looking for recommendations. I am helping a mom friend of mine who is not a quilter make quilts for her two children, a 4-year-old boy and a 9-month old girl. I'm looking for suggestions of  easy quilt patterns (either tutorials or patterns from magazines, books, single pattern purchases, etc.) you really like that would be great for kids' quilts.

 I'd also love to hear about any fabric collections you particularly love with the kids' ages and genders in mind. My friend would like these quilts to last (I don't mean durability, but more that she wants them still to appeal to the children as they age.).

Please share your recommendations in the comments section!

Thanks so much!

Dare to Dresden

Welcome! Happy Thursday! Today is the last day of the Dare to Dresden blog hop over at Sew We Quilt. It's been so much fun seeing everyone's project over the past week while busily trying to finish my own. (Which I did, at noon on Wednesday!)

Thanks so much to the always enthusiastic and cheerful Christine from Quilt Monster in My Closet for being the hop cheerleader, and to Madame Samm for hosting all these great blog hops.

I purchased this bundle of batik fat quarters at Quilt Festival at least six years ago. 

The glow of the original project I had in mind had faded. So when the Dresden hop was announced, I knew these fabrics had found their purpose!

Keep reading the novel below to learn more about how this came together. 

To skip all that (I won't be offended...I know I'm long-winded!) and find the links for today's other participating blogs and to find out to enter my giveaway, scroll to the bottom.

 I didn't start with that exact idea. I knew I wanted to make a more modern Dresden. I start piecing strip sets, and cut blades from those as well as from plain fabric. Here was one of my first attempts. 
Just wasn't feelin' it.

I tried a *few* other variations. Still nothin' I loved.

 Ultimately, I came up with what you see here. Some of it was dumb luck. Like the fact that the orange sections butt up against each other in both areas. I just cut widths to make a strip set without doing math. What are the chances?! It's a happy accident that I like.

Monday night I pieced three of the quarter-circles. Then I unpieced the fourth quarter-circle that I'd pieced (badly) earlier. It's amazing what a difference a miniscule amount of error makes in a Dresden!

I pinned the completed Dresden to a square of Kona Tangerine (yum!), added backing, and quilted 1/4" on either side of the blade allowances. In the photo below, you can see the stitch lines through the center. I knew it wouldn't matter since I'd be covering it up with a center circle. 

But I really liked how the light blue thread looked on the orange. So I ultimately used that look to echo quilt the background. (Love the texture this creates!) I stitched on a bias binding to cover the outside raw edges of the Dresden, and made a circle using the interfacing technique for the inner circle. 

If I'd finished this quilt three days earlier or two days later, you'd see pristine white snow in the background. But it's been 50 degrees the last two days and all you see are brown leaves and mud. Good thing my quilt is so bright that the background scenery faces away!

Now here's my question: Would you bind it in orange or in navy? 
I couldn't decide so I haven't done it yet. 

And here's my giveaway: 
Leave me a comment telling me your vote: orange binding or navy?

 If you're not a follower, I'd love for you to consider becoming one (and let me know in your comment!). I will randomly choose one random comment and send that person this cute little quilt I made a few weeks ago (my first Dresden attempt...read more here!) and the six fat quarters below. 

The giveaway is open through Monday, February 4th at 11:59 EST.   

Thanks so much for stopping by! Make sure you check out all the other blogs posting today:

January 31^th, 2013

Quilting Prolifically

Patchouli Moon Studio

Mountain Quiltworks

In Ga

Dachsies with Moxie

Color My World --You're Here!

Shepody Mountain Crafter

Christa Quilts

Moosestash Quilting

Lavender Quilts

Never 2 Many Quilts

Cathy's Chatter

Clothes and Crafts  

Madame Samm

p.s. Linking to Confessions of a Fabric Addict's Can I get a whoop whoop Friday? and Quilt Story's Fabric Tuesday.

It's beginning to look a lot like...Christmas?

Are you sick of red, green, and all things Christmas? I am.

That feeling is compounded by my almost 4-year-old, who truly caught on to the "Santa is watching to see if you deserve presents" concept right around December 26th. So he's stilllllll telling me, "Momma, Santa is going to bring a present because I gave my brother his blankey" and so on. Newsflash, kid: I'm sure you're going to do enough naughty things in the next 300+ days to negate any good behavior in January.

Here is my last Christmas-y post for many months, and I have the Lovely Year of Finishes to thank for it. There is NO WAY I would have completed my kids' stockings in January without this deadline egging me on.

So here we go!

You can read the initial story of these stockings here and then my original Lovely Year of Finishes January post here. 

 Close-ups of both stockings. I didn't do the embroidery myself. I originally had another, more geometric print planned for where you see the trees. But with the angled piecing, no matter what I did, it looked like a mistake because of the straight lines of the geometric design. So I scrapped that idea and went with the trees. I love having the stripes in the piecing on the bias, too. The stocking body is just basic straight line machine quilting.

A peek inside the stocking. I love this dot fabric!

So happy to have these complete! It will be a joy to pull them out next December.

Now it's time to start thinking about my February goal...










Also sharing over at Quilt Story's Fabric Tuesday.

Snowman Friday

Just a one photo post today...
Check out my progress!

I am assembling this in a quilt-as-you-go style. Just the inner and outer borders left to attach! I got the center panel appliqued last night and then started sewing on the strips. I love how fast it's going together!

And side note: check out our snow! We have at least 10" now. Definitely sledding tomorrow. And trading off project time with my husband. He wants to build shelves in the basement. I want to, obviously, sew. Our plan is to take turns entertaining the boys and working on our own projects!

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict's Can I get a whoop whoop? Friday.

WIP Wednesday: What aren't I working on???

WIP Wednesday actually stands for Works In Progress, right?

Cause that's what I've got. I've been flitting about, working on several projects at once since last Friday. In no particular order, here's what's on my design wall (and/or studio floor!)

 I'm part of the Dare to Dresden blog hop over at Sew We Quilt. It actually starts tomorrow, but I'm not scheduled until the last day, January 31st. So actually, I'm starting this early, right? You can see the hop's entire schedule here.

I asked for a Marilyn Doheny's 9-degree circle wedge ruler for my birthday. I thought I'd play around with it to create a modern Dresden, inspired by some quilts I've pinned. I'm glad that I have another week to work on this, because not only am I not crazy about it yet, but this quarter circle is supposed to measure 90 degrees and it doesn't. I'm looking forward to seeing how this design idea evolves.

Piecing some red and pink patchwork for a Valentine's Day tutorial. Watch for it next week!

Cutting squares and laying out this charity quilt, made with donated blocks. It was strange to go from working with 1-1/2"squares (the v-day patchwork) to 12-1/2" squares! Talk about different scale!

 The applique portion of my snowman quilt. I need to get the appliqueing done so I can assemble. I'm going to quilt it as I go, so I think it'll go together really quickly!

My January "Year of Lovely Finishes" project, my kids' stockings. I finished quilting the teal one this morning, so now it's assembly time!

Maybe, just maybe I would finish a project if I focused on just one at a time!
:)