Quilt Block Charms and More Sunnyside Avenue Projects

I have been making some fun things with Sunnyside Avenue fabrics designed by Amy Smart. This is her second fabric line and it is such a fun and cheerful collection. I have been playing with them and made a couple things in the last few month.

Have you had a chance to take a look at the bag I made back in June? If you missed it, here is the link to the tutorial.

I also couldn't resist maing some bottle cap pincushions with them. Aren't they so cute together? This is such an easy project to do and perfect addition to the Christmas gift exchange with your quilter/seamstress friends.

Now, I made some quit block charms. The idea popped in my head and I couldn't resist. You can make this with pretty much any quilt block designs you desire, but I recommend picking ones with a simpler design. It gets trickier to work with seams, since the blocks are so small.

Here are the four charms that I created and the measurements for them.

*PinWheel (finished size 3 1/4" x 3 1/4")

Cut 2- 2 1/4" x 2 1/4" squares from light fabric
Cut 2- 2 1/4" x 2 1/4" squares from dark fabric

Amy has a great tutorial about Half Square Triangle Short Cut on her blog. With that, you can just piece them together to create the pinwheel.

*Simplex Star (finished size 3 1/2" x 3 1/2 ")

To make 4 half square triangles
Cut 2 - 2"x 2" squares from red polka dot fabric
Cut 2 - 2"x 2" squares from Blue background with white flower fabric

Cut 4 - 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" squares from red and white fabric for corners
Cut 1 - 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" square from red polka dot fabric for center

*Aunt Ruth's Fancy Finished size 2 3/4 "x 2 3/4")

Cut 2 - 1 1/2" x 3" strips from white background with yellow flowers
Cut 1 - 3/4" x 3" Strips from navy fabric
Piece them together Navy fabric in between the white fabrics. Cut in half.

Cut 1 - 3/4" x 3/4" sauare from white back ground with yellow flowers
Cut 2 - 3/4" x 1 1/2" strips from navy fabric
Piece them together white fabric in between the navy strips

Use the picture as a guide; piece all the pieces you made and finish the block


*Log Cabin (finished size 3" x 3")

I started with a red square in the middle, which I cut in to a 1 1/4"x 1 1/4" square. Cut the same size of green fabric and piece them together. Then you can keep adding the 1 1/4" wide strips to create a log cabin look.

After I completed the blocks, I finished them with the same steps that I finish a quilt, except, I didn't add batting in between the top and the backing. It will add extra bulk and it is going be harder to quilt. The string is actually elastic, so it is easier to put it on purse handles and such. The scissor charm and little wooden spools are an extra touch which is a completely personal choice on whether to add them or not.

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed the post today!

Let Them be Little Baby Quilt (Giveaway!!)

Have you had a chance to take a look at a adorable new fabric line by Simple Simon and Company? It is called Let Them Be Little (When I heard the name of the new line, I already knew I would love it!!).

As you can guess by the name, it is geared towards babies and toddlers, but I see some designs are very much suitable to create whatever your heart desires.

I had a chance to create something fun with them and I decided to make a baby quilt. If you are a long time reader, you know that I don't have a baby at home...guess what? I
am giving away the quilt!!! I will let you know how to enter at the end of the post, but let me tell you how I made the quilt.

I drew out the pattern and made the quilt. I don't have a pattern for you to purchase or to download, but here is what I did.



Gingham Baby Quilt
finished size 40 1/2" x 58 1/2"

*What you will need

Black --- 1 1/2 yard (3/4 yard for the top and 1/2 yard to make bias tape)
Gray --- 1 1/4 yard
White --- 1/2 yard
Backing, batting, thread and proper equipment to make a quilt

*How to

1. Cut 35-5"x 5" pieces from the black fabric, 58-5"x 5" pieces from the gray fabric and 24-5"x 5" pieces from the white fabric.

2. Use the picture as a guide, lay the squares out and piece them together. (using an iron for between piecing will help the finished top come out much nicer)

3. Base the quilt, quilt, and bind.

*Here is the link to how to make bias tape if you know how.


Ta-da! And here is the finished quilt. Now, are you interested in finding out about the giveaway???

The rule is simple, just leave a comment here and tell me your favorite things to sew. That is it! It is easier for me to do a giveaway at one place, so I encourage you to 1.follow me on instagram and 2. to leave a comment on my giveaway post there (that counts as two entries!). But, if you choose to leave a comment here, I will count that in. ;)
I will close the giveaway midnight Friday MDT, and announce the winner on Saturday morning. Good luck everyone!

Quilted Bag + Mini Quilt Block Charm

Summer is here and in full swing, I bet many of you are going places; local or far from home vacations. One of the things that is always nice and useful is a large bag you can throw things in and take it everywhere you go. I decided to do a tutorial of such a bag using fabrics designed by Amy from Diary of a Quilter. Sunny Side Avenue is her second fabric line from Riley Blake Designs. Hop over and check them out!

I decided to use these fabrics from her line for this project.

So, here is what you need:

*You will need

Two different green fabrics --- 1/2 yard each

Two different Blue fabrics --- one 1/3 yard, the other one 1 yard

Batting and muslin

Matching thread


How to

1. Cut 3 - 3"strips from each one of the fabrics and lay them out in the order you want. Once you have decided, sew them together. Open the seam and press with an iron.

2. Once you finished piecing 7 to 8 strips together, cut out 3" strips diagonally. To figure out the first line, I used the 30 degree angle line of the cutting tool and marked it with a pencil and started cutting.

3. Lay all the diagonal strips out to see the design before piecing them together. Once you are done piecing, it will look like this:

Open the seam and press with iron.

4. Cut off the ends. It is best to match the fabrics on both sides, so when you sew them together, the half diamond becomes one and gives a nicer finish.

5. Layer the muslin, cotton batting and pieced top together and baste. I used safety pins to secured them.

6. I can't tell you enough how much I love my new Aria sewing machine from Babylock. I should have a post just dedicated for this quilting feature someday! Anyways... I just did straight stitches on both sides of the seam. Cut off the excess.

7. Fold the quilted fabric in half right sides together. Sew the sides.

8. Create boxed bottom. Pinch the bottom corner and draw a 5" line (2 1/2" on one side of the seam and 2 1/2" seam on the other) and sew.

9. Sew liner. Cut 18 1/2" x 30" rectangle out of the blue fabric that is 1 yard. Also, cut 6" x 8" rectangle to create a pocket. Fold both sides and the bottom of the fabric, press with iron and fold the top twice 1/2" each time and sew. Sew it on to the large fabric. Sew the large fabric to make the liner in the same manner as you sewed the outer bag.

10. Sew handles. Cut 3" x 20 1/2" strips out of the left over strips you have already pieced to create the bag. I added fusible interfacing to strengthen the handle. Fold the fabric in half right sides together and sew. Turn inside out, press with iron. Using 1/8" seam stitch both sides.

11. Put the outer bag, liner and handles together and pin. Leaving a 4"opening, sew all around the top. Turn the fabric inside out, press with iron and give a good top stitch to finished it off.

I just gave quick steps for how I made this bag. If you are new to sewing and need more detailed instructions, you can visit my other tutorials such as She Carries Flowers or Reversable Crossbody Bag.

I made a mini quilt block to accessorize the bag... the idea popped in my head and I just couldn't resist! I am planning on doing a tutorials for this in the near future, stay tuned!

I am going to have a very exciting (and a little scary because this is a bit of out of my comfort zone...) week and I am going to let you know in a future post. Happy Summer everyone!

Rustic Romance Pincushions

Look at this gorgeous new fabric line Rustic Romance from Riley Blake Designs. I had several ideas of what to create with these beauties and I finally decided to make pincushions.

My most favorite fabrics are these. I wanted to come up with the designs to showcase them better. I created small and large pincushions. I created a downloadable PDF for the hexagon in case you need it.

* Small Pincushion

1. Download the PDF and cut out the template. It would be great if you have thin plastic sheets to make the templates, but if not, you could still make the pincushion. Cut out 2 hexagon pieces for the top and the bottom and one 2"x 8" strip (seam allowance included).

2. Sew the strip to the hexagon pieces. Leave a small opening for stuffing. Slip stitch to close.

3. I added beads, ribbons and buttons to embellish the pincushions, but this step is totally a personal preference.


* Large Pincushion

I thought I would play with the hexagon for a little more and created this large pincushion.

1. Cut out 6 hexagon pieces, one 2 1/2"x 23 1/2" strip and 2 large circles for the top and the bottom. Again, you can use the printable PDF I have created.

2. I did paper piecing method for this one, so cut out 6 hexagon papers without the seam allowance.

3. Piece the hexagon side by side.

4. Place the pieced hexagon onto the circle piece and pin. The fabric I wanted to use for this wasn't wide enough, so I came up with the design and pieced it, but it will be much easier to do one solid piece for this. Stitch the hexagon pieces to the fabric.

5. Leaving an opening a few inches wide, sew the long strip to the top and the bottom circle pieces. Turn the fabric inside out and stuff. Slip stitch closed.

I think it would be fun to make a bunch of small ones as a gift for your sewing/quilting friends. With different combinations of fabrics and embellishments, you can totally make them unique. Thank you for visiting, and I hope you enjoyed the tutorial!

Tutorial ~ Book Lady's Library Bag

There are many things I love to do. Besides spending my time with my family, I love to design, sew, cook, create and read. I always liked to read while growing up and read several books every day to my children. I know many people love their books in digital form now a days, but I still love the actual books on my shelf.

I love the soft muted color of the new fabric line "Once Upon A Rhyme" from Riley Blake designs. Then, when I saw the book shelf fabric I immediately fell in love with it! There are a couple other color themes I had hard time choosing from, but I decided to go with blue. I thought it would be so fun and fitting to make a library bag with this fabric for my daughter.

*Material and cutting

1/2 yard of Once Upon A Rhyme Books Blue fabric --- Cut 2 pieces of 14"x 16" for the outer bag, 2 pieces of 3"x 20" for the handles, 1 piece of 6"x 9" for the pocket

1/2 yard of Once Upon A Rhyme Toss Blue --- Cut 2 pieces of 14"x 16" for the inner bag

1/2 yard of Pellon fusible interfacing (Heavy weight)--- Cut 2 pieces of 14"x 16", 2 pieces of 1"x 20" strips

1 1/2" x 8" of thin fusible interfacing

7" zipper

Matching thread>

*How to
1.Fuse the thin interfacing to the back of the pocket, 1/2" from the edge of the top of the pocket piece. Draw a 7" line in the middle of the interfacing and from the tip of the line draw short (a little shy of 1/4") diagonal lines to the left and right.

2. Cut on the lines. Then, fold the edges about 1/4" and press with the iron. Be careful not to melt the interfacing.

3. Pin the zipper, switch the presser foot on your machine and sew it on. Trim the excess material from the zipper on the sides and press 1/4" around the edges on the pocket. Set aside.

4. Follow the manufacturer's instructions and fuse the interfacing on the wrong side of the 14"x 16" fabrics to make the inner bag.

5. Sew the pocket piece from step 3 onto one of the inner fabric from step 4. Make sure that the center of the pocket and the center of the fabric matches and place the top edge of the pocket 3" from the edge of the inner bag fabric.

6. Put together the inner fabrics right sides together and sew.

7. To make the boxed bottom, pinch the bottom and side seam together. Make sure the seams line up perfectly. Pin and measure 3" (1 1/2" from each side of the center line) and draw a line and sew. Cut off the excess. Do the same to the other side.

8. Sew the outer bag in the same manner as steps 6 and 7.

9. Make handles. Fold the 3" x 20" strips in half horizontally and fuse the interfacing along the folded line. Sew and turn it inside out. It will make the job easier to use a tube turner. Press with the iron and sew both sides with 1/8" seam.

10. Put together the outer bag and inner bag right sides together. Insert the handles between both layers where the picture is showing, and pin. I left 1/2" out from the edge, so when you turn the fabric inside out and do the top stitches, you will go over the handles again. This way, the handles are more securely sewn.

11. Leaving a few inches for opening, sew the top edge.

12. Turn it inside out. Press the opening, pin and do the top stitches around the edge. Then, sew another top stitch 1/2" from the first top stitches.

I am pretty happy with how the inner pocket turned out. This will be convenient for a library card and some cash.

It is finished! I added tassels I made last week to add a touch of detail. If you are interested in how to make them, you can find the tutorial here.

This book shelf fabric is such a brilliant design. You can make so many fun things (skirt, pouch, book cover, pillows for your reading nook and more!) for yourself or your book lover friends. Can you imagine making some Christmas gifts for your book group friends? My daughter, who finally got into reading last year, loves her new library bag and this was a perfect gift for her!