I know its May and the weather is getting hot, but its not too early to start thinking about your Christmas quilting with this free quilt pattern that I designed!  Think “Let it Snow” to cool down with this adorable fabric collection from Quilting Treasures based on the art of Debra Jordan Bryan.

It was a treat to design this quilt with the fun, colorful fabric.  At 43 1/2″ x 48 1/4″, its a perfect size for a wall hanging, a lap quilt or for a little one to cuddle with. The quilt is pieced and is topped with appliqued green and red mittens in the wide border area. Buttons are used for accents on the mittens. The quilt center is a snowman panel with other snowman pieces in the corners. Its easy to piece and is a great project for beginners as well as all skill levels.

When you check out this pattern, look through all the other free quilt patterns from Quilting Treasures. I’m sure you will find several that you will love!

Happy quilting and stay cool!

Phyllis

If you are like me, you have a lot of clothing hanging in your closet that you no longer wear. But there is something you still love about these pieces – the color, fabric design, etc. Repurpose or upcycle it to give it a new life. I repurposed a pair of capri pants made with fabric that I loved into a decorative pillow for a guest blog post on FaveCrafts for Earth Week. I had never worn these pants and think that I bought them just for the fabric.

Although I chose to make a decorative pillow, you can make many different type projects using this technique. I added detail to the pillow top by sewing multiple wavy lines of both non-metallic and metallic Gutermann threads vertically to quilt the fabric to a piece of cotton batting.  I used different shades of both turquoise and coral threads in addition to a black thread. I also sewed turquoise, red and yellow beads randomly and to the flowers. Please visit the FaveCrafts blog post for full tutorial instructions as well as additional photos.

In addition to your closet, you can locate fabulous finds at thrift stores or yard sales to repurpose. I’m a fabric junkie so I always keep my eyes peeled for fabrics, as well as sweaters and other items I can sew into something else or use in other type of crafts.

Phyllis

During the photography session for my new quilt book Asymmetrical Quilts, I also took pictures of the session, photographing the photographer. Sometimes a photography session can be a little boring during the actual photography, but not with Becky Stayner of Sunny House Studio.  She is a fantastic photographer and has an amazing studio in the most charming house as you will see from some of the pictures I took and from the photographs in the book. All of the quilts were photographed flat, then were shot throughout the studio.

This photograph was in the main living room.  I fell in love with the fireplace as well as the bottles on the mantle!

The kitchen was filled with so many wonderful pieces of antique class and ceramics, some in turquoise and greens.

And as you can see, the kitchen was a perfect area for photographing this quilt. The turquoise chairs were a perfect accent.

In addition to the wonderful interior, the outside decks were a great location for several of the quilts. The back deck has a jasmine covered arbor.

Looking up at the jasmine arbor…..

I loved the table setting under the arbor which also made for a perfect location for a photo.

This shot was taken at the side edge of the wrap around deck.

Becky is setting up for this photo on a picnic table on the side porch. Another turquoise chair adds a great accent. (I was delighted that Becky shares a love of the color turquoise!)

Who says photography can’t be hazardous?? Becky stood on the top of a ladder to get the flat shots of each quilt.

The quilts are all stacked ready for each shot.

I hope you enjoyed seeing some of Becky’s studio and the photography session.  She’s fantastic and I look forward to working with her again.

Phyllis

Its so exciting that my new quilt book Asymmetrical Quilts from Leisure Arts has been published and is ready for shipping. Instructions and patterns for 9 quilts are included in this book, all with an off-centered design. I created each quilt to be unique and all are made with wonderful fabrics. The designs use a combination of traditional and nontraditional blocks in nontraditional arrangements, with several of the quilts adorned with whimsy applique.

My copies are on the way to me and I can’t wait to get them. It was a lot of work putting this book together, but I enjoyed every second of it. The photographs were all taken in the wonderful studio of Becky Stayner.  I will be showing some of the photos I took of the photography sessions so check back to see these and her studio (hint – its in a really quaint house).

I owe a special thanks also to Lisa Mullins of  Wandering Stitches Quilting Studio for an amazing job in quilting the quilts. She added the touch of whimsy where needed to keep the theme of each quilt.

I hope you will check out the book and find that you can’t live without it!

Phyllis

The Olympic themed fabric collection Go for the Gold is one of Quilting Treasures latest fabric collections and is in time for the Summer 2012 Olympic Games in London. I  enjoyed designing several sewing and quilting patterns for free download from Quilting Treasures website. The fabric features the most popular summer games and is perfect for all sports lovers!

The tote bag is extra large and is roomy enough to carry all your gym or workout clothes and accessories at 24″ wide and 20″ high. The tote is lined inside with the beautiful flag fabric showing the flags of all the countries. The roll up yoga or exercise mat cover is available in two colorways.  The yoga mat carry bag has a carry sling strap so that you can easily carry your rolled up mat and cover hands free.

You can follow the preparations for the London 2012 summer games that will be held in July and August – its actually not that far off. Start sewing and you will be all set to help celebrate the games!

Phyllis

I just received a copy of a beautiful new quilt book Bed Runners & More and am trilled that I have 2 quilts featured in this book. Bed runners add such a dramatic decorative touch to a bed and bedroom! Published by House of White Birches and edited by Carolyn S. Vagts, this book has instructions and patterns for 9 bed runners with some coordinating shams for different looks for the bedroom. The theme of the book is seasonal, with bed runners for the different seasons of the year.

I designed Summer Blossoms runner with 2 pillow shams. I adore and love these hot and spicy colors in the Penny Lane fabric collection from Quilting Treasures. They definitely say “summer time”! This runner is 81″ x 27″ and the shams fit regular size pillows. The fuchsia flowers are appliqued.

My other quilt is Warm Splendor made with the beautiful warm and cozy fall colors in the Cornucopia fabric collection by Quilting Treasures. The size of this bed runner is 77 1/2″ x 30″ plus the prairie points on each end. Both of these quilt runners are easy to make and make great projects for a beginner quilter as well as the experienced quilter.

I hope you look for this book for the other fabulous projects included. It was fun designing my projects as well as sewing and quilting them, so I hope you will give them a try!

Happy Quilting!

Phyllis

I just received a copy of Quilted Gifts from your Scraps & Stash, by House of White Birches.  Its a book filled with all types and sizes of quilted projects, from quilts, backpacks, pot holders to pillows and much more for 40 great projects for you to make. I’m delighted that one of my quilt designs is included in this book.

Daisy Pocket Quilt is the perfect size to use as either a wall hanging or bed quilt. The diagonal striped blocks are pockets so that kids can store their favorite items while adding a splash of color to their room. I used the bright, colorful fabric “Kids go Green” by Kari Pearson from Quilting Treasures to compete the quilt. The quilt is pieced with the large daisies fused and appliqued. I hope you will make one for the kid in your life – its an easy and fun quilt to make.

Happy Quilting

Phyllis

I love getting new books, especially quilt books and especially if it contains one of my quilt designs.  I just received a copy of Log Cabins Today by House of White Birches. I designed this scrappy bed runner quilt for the book using the beautiful fabrics by Brenda Pinnick from herColour Vie fabric collection for Henry Glass & Co Fabrics. I love the way the fabrics worked up in this quilt. Log cabin blocks are easy to make and are so versatile since they can be made in a variety of combinations.

Log Cabins Today is a fresh take on the popular log cabin design, with fresh, modern, contemporary, wonky and traditional designs all included. Instructions are included to make all of the beautiful quilts.

I hope you will watch for this book! Happy quilting!

Phyllis

Create a treat bag topper to add a special touch to your gift bags! This week for our Sizzix Triple Play blog hop, we are using Eileen Hull’s Treat Bag topper die. There are so many possibilities for uses with this die with its versatility. I love it!

I also love decoupaging so I decoupaged my topper to give it texture and color. I like the marbleized look that resulted, although the paper napkin I used was a floral pattern.

The materials I used included:

Die for Treat Bag Toppers Bigz XL Die #656774 by Eileen Hull for Sizzix

Heavy card stock

Mod Podge

Paper Napkin with a pattern

Cabochon bead

Pink oil paint stick

Green acrylic paint

2 pink rhinestone brads

Glue dots

Glue – Beacon Zip Dry

Treat Bag

Instructions:

1.Tear the paper napkin into small pieces and decoupage to the treat topper with Mod Podge. Use the Mod Podge to glue the napkin to the topper and to seal the top of the paper. I used several layers of the napkin to get more texture.

2. Paint the large medallion pink. I used an oil paint stick to paint it – I like the pearled look of the paint. I then painted a smaller oval medallion green.

3. Glue the the green oval centered to the pink medallion and glue the cabochon bead centered on the green medallion. I used glue dots to attach the medallion to the bag topper so that it stands out.

4. Use the rhinestone brads to attach the topper to the bag (after you have added your goodie to the bag!).

Be sure to check the all the other fantastic projects in the Triple Play blog hop by clicking on the forward or back button in the sidebar. This is the last week of this hop and it has been so much fun. I’ve had a blast working on the hop projects and dies.

Thanks for visiting the Triple Play Blog Hop! Please visit the TriplePlay blog for more fun ideas from Brenda Pinnick, Karen Burniston, Eileen Hull and friends. If you have enjoyed seeing all of the inspiring ideas on the blog hop, please “like” Triple Play on Facebook.

Have a great time  hopping!

Send a warm message in a special greeting card you make! This week for the Sizzix blog hop, I created a colorful and fun card with Brenda Pinnick’s Album die from Sizzix, the featured die in this week’s hop. I also used fabric from Brenda’s Couleur Vie fabric collection from Henry Glass.

All you need is these few materials:

Album, Brackets, Bigz XL Die #656053 by Brenda Pinnick from Sizzix

Card stock, felt and fabric for the dies

Card or card stock

Felt (Felt in project from National Nonwovens)

Turquoise colored rhinestone brads

Glue (Beacon Zip Dry)

Fusible Web (Steam a Seam 2 from The Warm Company)

Instructions:

Cut each layer from the dies, alternating with cardstock, fabric and felt. The fabric was fused to the layer below with fusible web and the cardstock and felt were adhered with glue.  Punch holes in the corners and add rhinestone brads.  Glue the die layer stack to the front of a card and add your message.

For an alternative use for the die stack, add it to a present instead of a bow for a really unique look.

Be sure to hop to the other blogs to see all the fabulous projects.  Just click forward or back in the Sizzix button in the sidebar.

Wishing you a warm day – its cold here!

Phyllis