Owl You Need Is Love

In December, I was busy working on two new Valentine's Day designs for AccuQuilt (my regular readers may remember seeing a couple sneak peeks)....and I am super excited that I can finally share them with you. I created a pair of patterns/samples that are sure to fill your heart with love - one is traditional piecing and one is piecing with machine applique. I had quite a bit of fun designing these two projects and working with the lovely Robert Kaufman Fabrics (pinks and reds always brighten a mood)!

First up is the GO! Log Cabin Love Wall Hanging. This log cabin heart might look a bit complicated, but it truly is easier than you may think...it uses one cutting die for the entire quilt top - the GO! Log Cabin-12" Finished Square by Leslie Main.  Twelve 12" log cabin quilt blocks fit together to make a large heart wall hanging that measures 48" x 36". The GO! Log Cabin cutting die cuts makes it SUPER simple to cut the quilt blocks...and to make this project go even more smoothly, be sure to keep your cut pieces organized and follow the images in the pattern (the instructions breakdown each block and the layout).  For added convenience, I used the GO! Strip Cutter-2 1/2" (2" Finished) to cut my binding strips.

...and for a little cute overload, here is my GO! Owl You Need is Love Wall Hanging. This heartfelt machine applique project give you a chance to be a little creative with the layout. It utilizes the following cutting dies:

• GO! Owl
• GO! Queen of Hearts
• GO! Heart-2", 3", 4"
• GO! Value Die
• GO! Stems & Leaves
• GO! Strip Cutter-1 1/2" (1" Finished)
• GO! Strip Cutter-2 1/2" (2" Finished) (binding)

Be sure to iron on your fusible web before cutting the applique shapes and you will have this super sweet wall hanging complete in plenty of time for Valentine's Day!

You can find both these patterns (along with several other new valentine projects) on the AccuQuilt website...and for a limited time, they are FREE...so visit the following links to download the patterns and make a couple heart-filled projects for February!

GO! Log Cabin Love Wall Hanging Pattern

GO! Owl You Need is Love Wall Hanging Pattern

Nancy Zieman's Fall Table Runner Challenge

Those of you who follow my blog regularly may remember (last spring) when I entered Nancy Zieman's Pillow Challenge and your votes helped me win first prize...well, a couple weeks ago, I was SUPER excited to see a new challenge was posted...this time for fall table runners. Table runner entries could feature any fall occasion, color palette, or size that fits on a kitchen or dining room table and you could enter up to four different table runners that have been sewn within the last year.  We all know how much sewing and quilting I get accomplished...so, of course I entered the maximum of four projects by uploading photos and details on the Nancy Zieman blog with a chance to win some FABULOUS prizes!!

I hope you will support my entries by voting...it truly only takes a second - you don't have to register - all you have to do is find my four images on the voting page (they are shown randomly)  and click on the "heart" in the top right-hand corner of each one - it is that easy - and you can cast up to FIVE unique votes (which means you could vote one time for each of my entries) during the voting period! Here are the images/titles of my entries:

Harvest Home

Pumpkins and Spice

Halloween at the Cabin

Pick of the Patch Table Runner

There are MANY wonderful entries that deserve your votes, but I hope you will take a moment and vote for my four table runners (click on the title below the image above for individual details and more images). Here are the simple voting instructions:

1. Visit: http://www.nancyzieman.com/blog/quilting-2/table-runner-challenge-voting-begins/
2. Find the images of my table runners shown above (they are in random order on the voting page).
3. Simply click the "heart" in the upper right hand corner of your favorite thumbnail image(s) to cast your vote (I hope you will vote for each of my four entries).
4. You may vote for up-to five different entries.
5. Voting is open September 15th - 19th.

Thank you so much for taking a few minutes to vote for my entries! While you are visiting the voting page, I am sure you will be inspired - there are tons of images showcasing a wide variety of skills!

About Nancy Zieman:
I'm sure most of my visitors are familiar with Nancy Zieman - she is the host and driving force behind the popular sewing program "Sewing With Nancy" (the longest running sewing program on North American television)...she is also an author, designer, and founder of  Nancy's Notions, a direct mail company specializing in sewing notions, supplies, and accessories. I am one of many that grew up watching Nancy on PBS, learning sewing skills and techniques from her extensive catalog of Sewing With Nancy programs...her books are in my collection...her catalog is one of my favorites...her sewing notions are in my studio...and her blog is in my daily reader...I am a fan!

Halloween at the Cabin

I'm back today to share a very fun Halloween finish! I really enjoyed creating this custom Halloween table topper for one of my repeat customers (she happily keeps me busy!). I had to search and search for Halloween fabrics that were to her liking and I finally found this wonderful collection from Maywood Studio - it is called "Black Cat Crossing"...and it worked perfectly. She had a log cabin block in mind...so I pulled up my EQ7 software, scanned in the fabrics, and immediately started working on a design. I already had a custom block drawn/saved that was created specifically for my AccuQuilt GO! Log Cabin-12" Finished Square die by Leslie Main - I created it in an assortment of sizes for various uses (this particular die cuts logs to make 5", 6", 7", 8", 9", 10", 11" and 12" finished Log Cabin blocks) - I decided the 9" block would work best for her table size. I added some border strips to get it sized to fit her table measurements just right...and the end result, I titled "Halloween at the Cabin". The quilting was enjoyable too - I used a large zig-zag which gave it a little extra spooky Halloween embellishment (you can see some of the quilting in the block image below). I was quite happy with how this project turned out and I look forward to using my log cabin cutting die more in the future...and (shocker!) I just may have to order more of this specific fabric line, as I only have some smaller pieces leftover...

I continue to sew/quilt by day and stitch in the evening...that seems to work best with my hectic schedule. I managed to finish up several additional projects this week and I will make time to share with you real soon...I have been in "create" mode and loving every minute of it...I just wish I could stretch a few more hours out of each day!