My DrEAMi Moment for March

My DrEAMi Moment For March

The squirrels outside have been enjoying an early spring here 

and have been chasing each other up and down and all around

the trees in our backyard.

My indoor quilty kitties have spent hours watching

squirrel-vision out the windows. 

The quilty ideas have been squirreling around with my quilty muse.

I know you have seen a lot of this little guy on my blog this month,

but he is getting a few more posts.

On review, I realized he was very much my

  "Drop Everything and Make it" project of the month.

March 1st Found These Fabrics

sitting on my cutting table 

with a squirrel running around in my head to 

make them into a pillow to send to My Girl.

It feels like a long time since I visited her last December and

have been feeling far away from my daughter

who is feeling far away from family

while my SIL is serving his country overseas

and wanted to do something with her. 

Somehow this lead to our writing a quilt block pattern together and

was created.

Here is the Finished Pillow in its new Home 

I see porgs and droids and yoda in that basket but no squirrels,

There are no squirrels in Star Wars, I guess.

Star Wars needs a squirrel critter ... maybe next series? 

I have squirreled off topic.

This is a Free-For-Personal-Use-Only-Pattern

Bone Broth for the Little One ~ Free .pdf Pattern Here

I have also posted a series of 

How-To Make This Block and Pillow Tutorials

~ ~ ~ 

I am also giving my February DrEAMi! Moment another smile... 

Life in the Scrapatch made this Sweet Lily Cushion

DrEAmI! 38 Post

Thank you, 

Sandra @ mmm! Quilts

for hosting and posting.

I hope to see you joining us in the Linky Part this month.

Be well and safe <3 

Bone Broth for the Little One Tutorials ~ Part 3 ~ Quilting the Applique Block

This is my pillow top panel ready to add to my pillow cover.



The Finished Pillow was posted Here

There are two types of quilting here,
both stitched on my regular sewing machine
with the built in walking foot on my Janome 6600p.
Most sewing machines do not have this built in and it is a separate attachment.

If you have a walking foot it looks something like this.
It is also called and even feet foot.
What it does is work together with the regular feed dogs under the fabric
 to help pull heavy fabrics or a quilt sandwich evenly under the needle.

Here is a beginner video of how this works

I actually quilted my first quilts without the benefit of this
attachment even though I had one.
One day, I found it tucked into the foam padding in the bottom of the box
 of my old basic Brother sewing machine.
It is very helpful.
If you have never used or do not have this foot, give it a quilty try.



I added Pellon fusible fleece to the back of my 18" applique block
to stabilize it.  I did not add a back layer of fabric as with a traditional quilt sandwich
as the fleece backed block moves easily with my feed dogs.
You may want to add square of cotton to the back of your fused block.
If you add the back layer of fabric,  a few safety pins would hold it in place, if you want.
I do not add safety pins to my quilt sandwich ... personal preference.
Most things in quilting are personal preferences.
Find what works for you in your happy quilty place.

I started by adding a round of outline quilting about 1/2" way from the
blanket stitch edge of my applique.

I continued added rounds of ripple quilting.

I started my rounds of quilting in a different place along the bottom edge of my applique shape and overlapped the stitches to stop.

I always pull my bobbin thread to the top when I start a quilting line.

Here is a How-to video ~ Pulling Up the Bobbin Thread

This helps avoid thread nests on the back of your quilting.

I actually also do this whenever I start my applique stitching
and any time I start stitching in the middle of my top fabric.

I added ripple quilting out to the edge of my oversized block.

Here is the back fusible fleece showing this quilting.

I could have used this as my pillow top, but we decided make the center a 12" finished block.
We auditioned border fabric and decided on the basketweave for visual interest.

I did not cut my block to 12.5"

I measured a 12" center and added the outer border on top of my quilted block.
This is not the usual way of adding borders to a block or quilt
but in this case it worked for me.

This is my 18" block with the borders added.

The I quilted straight lines about 1/2" apart in the borders from edge to edge.

This created a grid in the corners of my finished quilting.

This is my pillow top ready to be go into my pillow cover.

Bone Broth for the Little One ~ Part 4 ~ Making the Pillow Back
should be posted tomorrow.

Here are the other links in the series: 

 Part 1 ~ Gathering Supplies and Getting Started

Part 2 ~ The Fine Details of the Applique ~ Click Here

More Quilting Ideas

These are similar quilting motifs that are easily done on a regular sewing machine 

with a walking foot ...

Outline quilting on the applique blocks of this

Baby Giraffe Quilt

This is an example of my earliest efforts to quilt my quilts.

  To do this I outline the shape and then echo this stitch line with filler lines within the block which helps to make the applique shape stand out.

Similar to outline and echo quilting is a while quilt method of stitching ... 

Spiral Quilting on my Eye of the Eagle Quilt

I used my walking foot and started by making a circle around the eye of the eagle 

and continued to quilt expanding circles around the center outward.

I hope my readers find this series of posts helpful.

Thank you for following along on my quilty journey! 

Bone Broth for the Little One ~ Tutorial Part 2 ~ Fine Details of the Applique

This post covers the fine applique details

 in my series of tutorials for how I made  my

Bone Broth for the Little One  

pillow for my daughter's Star Wars Reading Corner.

If you have to make one for your home or a gift you may

Download This Free Pattern Here

Click Here for Part 1 in the Series ~ Getting Started

Trying to bring those eyes and face to life was very intimidating for me.

My Girl and I went back and forth on how they should look.

I worried about my applique skills being up to the task.

Here is an alternate audition of white details.

We settled on these small silver slivers.

Usually I just add critter eyes onto my applique by fusing the large iris first 

and then the pupils directly onto the block.

This time I was really worried about messing it up and having to start over.

So I chose an alternate method ...

I made the eyes first keeping the brown irises on the applique paper backing

and adding the black pupils  and silver slivers

and then cutting them out of the paper backing.

I set my machine to use a zig zag stitch to add the black pupils and sliver slivers

as this was easier to turn and secure than my usual blanket stitch. 

Here is a work in progress image of the back of the eyes.

After cutting them out I used my seam ripper to cut and pull away the 

paper backing before I fused them to the face.

Then I blanket stitched the completed eyes to the block.

This worked well for me and I will do this again to add small details

to machine applique blocks.

Then it was time to add the brow lines with a regular straight stitch.

I went back to my practice piece and drew with a Frixon pen

and practiced stitching.

I was still a little worried about messing it up.

Sometimes applique stitches show when you pick them out 

because of the stiffness of the fusible.

Then I took the plunge and did my best.

I forgot to take in process photos,

but I can say I outlined the eyes first,

then added the brows over each eye,

then the forehead line

and finally the hint of a nose.

I am very happy with how this worked up. 

Not perfect ... but this may be my best machine applique ever!

Here is the back of my applique.

Very neat for me.

Then I cut a 19" square of the Pellon Fusible Fleece.

Following the manufacturer's directions, I pressed my block 

with a dry iron to the fleece 

by starting at center and slowly moving outward.

My block is now ready for quilting.

Part 3 ~ Quilting My Block

 on my regular sewing machine 

will be posted tomorrow. 

If you have any questions, you may email me to

scrapatches@gmail.com

and I will do my best to help.

Happy Quilting!

"Bone Broth For the Little One" Tutorial Series ~ #1 ~ Gathering Materials and Getting Started

Bone Broth For the Little One ~ How To Make This Project

~ Getting Started ~

It is easy to machine applique this design to make this pillow.

This is Part 1 of a series of tutorials on how to make this applique block and pillow. 

I am designing these tutorials to help Baby Yoda Fans 

who may want to have one of these pillows but are not sure where to start. 

The first thing you need is the pattern.

Bone Broth For the Little One by Me & My Girl Designs

It is free for personal use and may be downloaded in the above link.

There are nine sheets in this pattern.

There is a cover photo of the completed pillow project, 

three information sheets, a full color layout sheet,

three printable applique pattern sheets

and a black and white layout sheet numbered in order to fuse the applique pieces. 

When printing this pattern, 

it is very important to set your printer to print to actual size.

Printer settings may say "no scaling" or "print actual size" or a variation of this.

To check that you have printed the applique pieces to actual size,

a 1" square appears on each printable pattern sheet.

Check this with your cutting ruler grid for accuracy

before using pieces. 

You will need a sewing machine with a straight stitch
and either a zig zag or blanket stitch.
You will need basic sewing tools like a cutting mat, cutting ruler,
rotary cutter, sharp scissors and an iron and pressing mat.

Read the fabric requirements on page two and

then gather your fabrics for the entire pillow cover project ... 

and other supplies. 

I used Pellon Fusible Fleece to back my pillow pieces.

This is available wherever fabrics are sold, sometimes on the bolt,

or in packages like this via Amazon.

I also use Heat n Bond EZ Print Lite to print my applique pattern sheets 

with my HP OfficeJet Pro printer. 

I saves having to cut and trace the applique pieces.

This is also available anywhere quilting supplies are sold, including Amazon. 

These are the fabrics I picked from my stash to make the applique block.

It combines solids, prints, wovens and even a metallic print

for adding textural and visual interest to the design.

I always cut my background fabric oversized.
For a 12" finished block, I cut a 14" square.
This allows for easy squaring and cutting down to size
 before sewing into my quilt or project.

Since I designed as I went along on this project
and I knew I wanted a pillow cover for an 18" pillow,
I cut my background to 20" square and centered my applique.

To find the center before fusing my first pieces,
I fold my background square in quarters
and press the center with my iron.
This temporary crease will disappear when I fuse my applique pieces.

These are the fabrics and my printed applique sheets.

I like to leave a paper border around my pieces and cut them to size after I fuse

so that I have a nice clean edge to my applique pieces.

This photo also shows that you must fuse the applique shapes 

to the back of your fabric.

In the case of solids and these solid wovens 

there is no intelligible difference from back to front of the fabric. 

My pink is a solid.

 My green is a printed "shabby" type fabric so it has a front and back.

Fuse by following the manufacturer's recommended settings and directions

for your chosen fusible.

I use a dry iron set to high and press and hold for 10-15 seconds,

starting in the center and slowly moving and holding my iron as I go outward.

I check to make sure all my edges are well fused.

and let my fabrics cool. 

I fused these three large pieces and went to my sewing machine.

I try not to leave my iron in one place for too long so as to not scorch my fabric.
If you are new to this and get a brownish scorch stain, do not get upset.
It happens to everyone sometimes.
You may have to cut new pieces,  but try this first ...

I keep a few of these near my sewing machine.
Put a folded paper towel or scrap fabric under the scorch mark
and wipe with one of these a few times and see if it lifts the stain.
Good cotton quilting fabric is  easy to work with but it is also tough stuff.
Use good quality fabrics, bought from a quilt shop and shop the sales.
You will want your project to last and wash well. 

Before stitching my applique block, 

I always make a "practice" piece for testing my threads and stitches.

I use scrap pieces cut off the edges of my fused applique sheets. 

I use a machine blanket stitch for most of my pieces.
Many quilters prefer a zig zag stitch,
which I use sometimes for smaller pieces.

My machine is a ten year old Janome Memory Craft 6600p

and this is my usual applique setting for cotton fabrics.  

I will set the stitch smaller for the smallest pieces.

This test piece was especially important this time for me because it is the first time I have appliqued a woven fabric, which is thicker and inclined to fray. 

I started by quilting the large robe piece which was a cotton woven,

the kind of soft natural fabric I think a Jedi might wear. 

I stitch very slowly to ease around the curves.

My machine has a speed set and a push button start and stop

 which I love as it makes for very consistent stitching.

For a foot pedal, just ease your foot down to go slow. 

The next applique pieces I fused and stitched were the collar and the bowl.

The arms and eyes are not fused in this photo, but I used them to help
with the placement of the soup bowl. 

This is the end of Part 1 of this how to tutorial series.

If you have any questions please email me 
at scrapatches@gmail.com

For Part 2 ~ The Fine Details of the Applique ~ Click Here

Part 2 shows how I made the eyes and added the stitch details for the head.

My first quilts were made on a very basic sewing machine with a foot pedal
and I learned to quilt them on my small machine myself.
My tutorials show what works for me.
Adapt this info to find what works for you.

If you have foot pedal machine and have never done machine applique before, 

make a few  practice pieces to get used to your eye and hand and foot coordination.

Relax and you will have fun. 

Always follow your own quilty muse in your happy sewing place.

I hope you are enjoying these tutorials.

More Tomorrow ... :)