Win a Pattern!!

Now that all four of my Polka Dot Crossing quilts are complete and patterns available on Craftsy, I thought it would be grand to do a contest -- to win a free pattern.

Check out these four designs, which include:
Shoe Shop, Flower Shop, Barber Shop, and Fabric Shop

SHOE SHOP

FLOWER SHOP

BARBER SHOP

FABRIC SHOP

Contest closed.

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Shoes and Handbags

Polka Dot Fabrics

Here are the four polka dot fabrics that I have in my stash that I will be using in my little quilts. They were originally my mother’s; and then given to me some years ago (five or six or maybe more). I haven’t really done much with them; as I really did want to save them for a special project.

[Brown, Green, Yellow, Red]

 

SHOES Quilt

Now that my little SHOES quilt is well underway, it’s time to give you a sneak peek at some of the construction process…

 

Quilt Top with Borders Added

To begin, I had to decide on the main fabric colors for the background.  This was accomplished with some purple precut blocks I had in my stash. They were leftover four-inch squares from a baby quilt I had made in 2003. As I was going to use the brown and white polka dot fabric. I chose brown to go with the purple blocks.

Then, not wanting a boring outside border (trying to be more creative here); I decided on using black and white -- black lettering on white fabric; my projected vision of it.  

 

 

Templates--Fusible Web Ready for Fabric

Using fusible web, the templates have been traced and are ready for fusing to the fabric. It seems to be a rather messy process when I get out my fabric scraps and contemplate on colors and fabric choices. However, once that is done, the fun begins!

 

Initial Layout of Appliques

After the appliques are ready for the blocks, it was time to figure out their placement. This can also be time consuming; however, it’s best to just begin and see what comes of it. This is where a ready-made design speeds the process because the designer has already worked through all this.

I did change the order from what is shown here; however, you’ll see it next time once the lettering is completed. And you can decide if it works for you!

 

 

Auditioning Paper Lettering

After I had all the fused elements stitched down; I was ready to audition font styles and sizes that would best fit on the white border. 

 

 

Stitching the Letters with Zigzag Stitch

Once that was decided upon, I was ready to stitch the letters on the borders. [I used a zigzag stitch (2.0/0.5) in colors closely matching the fabric pieces.]

In most cases, I’d only need to change the bobbin thread if the top thread was changed from a lighter color to a darker color or vice versa. This allowed me to use the same bobbin thread on many of the applique design pieces.

 

TO COME:
   1.  Adding the embellishments I have in mind.
   2.  Final decision on fabric for the binding.
   3.  Creating a PDF pattern of this quilt project.
 

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Polka Dot Inspiration

It was on a hot summer day (near the end of June) when I just needed to get away from the heat… My approach to such a dilemma—would be to find a cool, shady spot to escape the heat; and either read a book or take a nap.

However, since that wasn’t going to happen any time soon, I figured it was as good a time as any to just create a silly little quilt to pass the time, until the heat would somehow dissipate. What a great idea! It took me on an adventure away from the time spent on previous projects and into something new….

And that silly little quilt was all about SHOES!!

Then the inspiration came—it involved using polka dot fabric—both in the quilt top and relating to the wording added to the borders.

Now there are more silly little quilt ideas dancing in my head. That also gave me the idea to use some of the wording from the new quilt; in my blog name. Okay, so now I don’t care if there are way too many hot days or rainy days keeping me inside. As long as the electricity stays on and the fans work, I can do this.

Hope you visit often, and when the desire hits you to take time to write a comment, I’d love to read them. If you haven’t the time or energy, thanks for stopping by.

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