Have Yourself a Quilty Little Christmas

I have joined Lori Holt's quilt along on Instagram.  
I'm having so much fun stitching these! 
I've had friends that follow my Instagram ask about these cute little blocks so I thought I would share them here.

She is using her book Quilty Fun book for the block construction with added border measurements on IG.  

I am using all scraps and stash fabric which makes this project even more fun!

I ordered my book a while ago but 
I noticed the other day that Joann's now sells it.  

My candy cottage with a peppermint wreath!

A cup of hot cocoa.  I live on hot cocoa in the winter!

Warm woolly mittens. I wish I had a real pair of these!

There are also bonus blocks with complete tutorials on IG.  This tree is a free block. It would be so sweet as a table runner or place mat. 

This sweet Gingerbread man is also a free block.  I have to say this little Mr. Cookie had the tiniest blocks I've ever pieced, but it came together easily.  Wouldn't he be cute with a bunch of cookie friends in a wall hanging. 

You can join the fun by following @beelori1 on IG  #haveyourselfamerrylittlechristmas

 I can't wait to see what's next!

 


Cherilyn

Lots of Hexies!

I am hooked on hexies!

I stitched a few while watching the Olymics and ran out of papers.

I made 100 of the cute little things and I couldn't find EPP papers in my area.

I posted a picture of my pretty stack of Hexies on Instagram and a fellow quilter came to the rescue. 

 (I love the online quilting community they are amazingly generous and friendly!)

She told me about this tool.

Fiskars X-Large Hexagon Squeeze Punch

It makes perfect 1 inch hexies!  

I found my punch at my local craft store in the scrapbook section.

I even used a coupon!

Woohoo!

This size is great for using precuts.

All you need is a 2 1/2inch square!

That means you can get:

1 hexie per candy square

4 hexies per charm square

16 hexies per layer cake square

17 hexies per jelly roll strip

This little tool is just too good not to share.

Happy Stitching!

Cherilyn

P.S.  I am loving Instagram!  You can follow me at FARMWIFEJOURNAL.

Twisty Pinwheel Valentine's Quilt

I am excited about my Little Twisty Pinwheel Quilt.  

One of my goals this year is to use/try the quilty tools and books I have collected. 

(Hmm...more like hoarded over the years.) 

A few months ago I bought the Lil' Twister tool (tool #1) at a Shop Hop. 

I used Connie's easy to follow tutorial for the Lil Twist Heart. 

I used stash fabric for this little project. 

(Another goal to shop my stash.)  

Here is my heart before I cut into it.  

I have to say it took some courage to cut this up into little squares.  

What if I messed up and cut too much?  

My small rotary cutter (tool #2) was a very useful tool on this project.  

I highly recommend using one! 

Connie's tip is to cut and sew one row at a time

Great advise!  

It would be easy to get these little pinwheels going the wrong direction.  

After sewing my Little Twisty Pinwheel Heart together it measured 14 inches.  

 

 I added a border strip to make it 16 1/2 inches so that I could try out Lori Holt's 4-Patch scrappy Boarder from her book Quilty Fun.

(tool #3...Books are tools too right?)

 The instructions were easy to follow and results are so cute!

 I can't wait to try more of the projects in the book.

I stippled the quilt on my home machine.  

My favorite tools are my quilting gloves (tool #4).  

They help grip the quilt and keep the stitches even.  

I like to add a little hand quilting to my projects.  

Big stitches in red were next.

Stitched on the binding and tested out my new aqua binding clips (tool #5).  How did I ever bind anything before these great clips came out?  

In the past my hand would have all sorts of little pricks from the pins holding the binding in place.  

Ouch!  

Binding clips are so worth it!!!

 

Here it is my Twisty Pinwheel Valentine's Quilt!  

5 tools used,

2 new quilting techniques tried 

and shopped my stash.  

Who knew keeping goals can be so fun!

Cherilyn

Link Parties:
http://www.conniekresin.com/2014/02/linky-tuesday.html?showComment=1391546263940#c5143126050214848681