I just love these  fabrics! Sunshine Resort fabrics by Loralie for Quilting Treasures are just adorable with Loralie’s ladies at the beach.  The colors and motifs of ice cream, sun and surf all make for fun summer memories. And flip flops are definitely a summer wardrobe staple although in the south, we wear them for a while longer.

I designed this fun quilt pattern for Quilting Treasures website . It’s available for free download from their site with just a quick click - Loralie Sunshine Resort Quilt.  The pattern is very easy and can be sewn quickly.

So check it out and create a fun quilt to enjoy for years to come!

Here’s to a great summer and fun quilting!

Phyllis

I love sewing and quilting with beautiful fabrics, so its fun to design projects for Quilting Treasure’s website with some of their newest fabrics. I have finished several quilt and sewing designs for free download from their website and wanted to share them with you. Using the red, white and blue fabrics from Studio 8′s collection Monaco, these aprons can be made in a blue or red color combination. The aprons are sassy with two layers for the skirt to include a little overskirt. The top band of the bodice is ruched for extra detail.

This quilt is easy to sew and is made with the red colors of the collection. The blocks have a random arrangement of fabrics.

The patterns are free for downloading.  Just go to the Quilting Treasures website for these and many more projects.  Please check back as I will post some of the other projects I designed for them.

Happy sewing!

Phyllis

The heat is bad enough, but when you add lots of humidity, its time to stay inside and remain cool and refreshed.  This is also the time for iced tea or lemonade, both of which I have been guzzling!  Adding lots of cool fruits and salads completes my daily menu  (plus a little chocolate of course).

What better timing for completing my quilt book. The heat makes it much easier to be focused and content to stay inside, especially since I have been buried working on instructions and graphics. All the quilts are finished and the book is almost finished as well.  It will be out the door in a week.  I will be giving details very soon as well as photos from the photography session in absolutely the most wonderful and charming studio.

Stay cool and enjoy some iced tea, ice cream or anything iced!

Phyllis

I have been buried under piles of fabrics the past few months!  I have been working on a new quilt book to be published this fall in time for the fall International Quilt Market in Houston.  I’m really excited about this book and just love all the quilts.

I took pictures of the fabrics when I first got them in before I started cutting away.  It was a heavenly delight with all the wonderful array of colors.

I can’t say too much about the book now, but I will tell the focus of the book and lots more about it soon.  Like most of my designs, it will have some whimsy. And again, I’m so excited about this book!

Have a day filled with inspiration and creativity!

Phyllis

Doesn’t this Nurse Central fabric collection designed by Loralie Designs for Quilting Treasures make a gorgeous quilt!  In addition to designing fabrics for Cranston Printworks (with new lines coming out 2011), I also design some quilt patterns for their free project sheets on their websites.  I designed this quilt using this really fun fabric collection and want to share it with you.

This pattern is available for free download from their Quilting Treasures division. The quilt is pieced in a block layout. Check out all the patterns on their website and you will see that there are many wonderful free quilt patterns for you to enjoy sewing.

I love books and while browsing through books, I found these 2 that are fabulous for creating spectacular gift wrapping. The books have different methods of creating wraps and I fell in love with both of them. And they offer fantastic wrapping techniques that can be used right now during “the wrapping season”.

Uniquely Gifted by Eleanor J. Leinen with beautiful photography by Marc Vaughn shows you how to create a work of art with each gift. Whether you are a crafter or not, you can find yourself creating beautiful gifts with things you already have on hand or can easily purchase. Items such as ribbons, fabrics and papers are combined with such items as old jewelry, tassels, trims, beads, silk flowers, beads, and many more items to create these beautiful wrappings.

Since each wrapping is very unique, instructions are not provided. But with all the “stuff” we have in our stashes, we can follow Eleanor’s inspiration to create our own works of art. Creating them with a box or giftbag that can be opened without damage to our artistic endeavors will allow our work of art to remain intact and a gift in itself. This is a fun book and I plan to create works of art with my wrapping from now on!

The Wrapping Scarf Revolution by Patricia Lee offers a different method of wrapping by creating gorgeous wrapping scarfs from fabrics. The wrapping scarf can be used over and over which is very economical.

The book is filled with easy-to-follow diagrams of the many different styles of wraps, including wrap bags. You just choose the fabric you want and start creating wraps adding embellishments as you desire. I have a huge stash of fabric and plan to also put the techniques in this book to use.

A wrapping scarf can also allow you to create a tradition when swapping presents back and forth using a special scarf – from friend to friend, mother to daughter, sister to sister.

I love both books so please check back. I will show you projects that I create using the techniques of both books. (My mind is already whirling away with ideas!)

For full disclosure, I purchased both books.

Here’s to pretty wrappings and a happy holidays!

Phyllis

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

Christmas is such a special time of the year with all the activities and gatherings of family and friends. Keep the memories of your Chistmas holiday each year by journaling in a Christmas journal.

Our 4th week of the Sizzix Triple Play blog hop is the Frame and Frame back die by Eileen Hull. There are so many uses for this die, especially this time of the year for Christmas photos.  I chose to use it to create and decorate a Christmas journal.

To make the journal, you will need the following materials:

Frame and Frame Back, 3D Pro Scoreboards Die #656835 by Eileen Hull

Heavy card stock

Journal

Green fabric

Red and green acrylic paints

Adhesive – Zip Dry by Beacon

Instructions:

Cut the fabric 2″ larger than the opened journal on all sides.  Center the journal and fold the fabric edges to the inside the cover, fold the raw edge back and glue. Cut fabric pieces out along the edge of the spine.

Paint the frame pieces solid red, red stripes and red dots.

Paint a Christmas tree or other motif centered on the bottom frame.  Align the frame pieces and glue them together.  Turn the small red frame turned catercorner. Glue the completed frame centered on the journal.

Be sure to hop to the other blogs to see an assortment of outstanding and unique uses for this die.  Just click on the Sizzix button in the sidebar and hop forward to the next blog.

Thanks for visiting and enjoy the hop!

Phyllis

What a fun project – the twist box created with Sizzix’s die by Karen Burniston can be decorated so many ways.  I decided to create a colorful ornament that would also make a fun addition to a birthday card.

This was easy to make with a few embellishment items.

Materials:

Sizzix Twist Cube Die

DCWV black card stock

Large 1 1/4″ button

Assorted multi-color buttons

Rick rack

Rat tail cording – 2 pieces 14″

Beacon Paper Tac glue

Fabric – 1-1/2″ x 24″ strip

Instructions:

1. Cut and make box from black heavyweight paper.

2. Thread one piece of cording through 2 holes on the large button so that the ends of the cords are on the back side of the button. Thread the other piece of cording through the remaining 2 holes. Pull ends so that they are even and insert through hole in the top of the box by 1/2″. Glue the ends to the top inside of the box.

3. Sew a gathering stitch on one long edge of the fabric 1/4″ from edge. Cut to fringe on the opposite side edge. Do not cut through the stitches. Pull gathers to 6″ and tie off.

4. Wrap the gathered edge on the top of the box around the opening with the cords. Glue as you wrap. After the glue dries thoroughly, slide the button down the cording to sit on top of the fringe. Tie an overhand knot with the cord on top of the button.

5. Glue 2 rows of rick rack around the box, 1/2″ from the top and bottom edges. Glue buttons around box.

There are 60 designers participating in this Sizzix Triple Play Blog Hop. Please check out their projects – they were all amazing last week and I know they be amazing again this week. Just click on the Sizzix blog button in the side bar to go back or forward.

Enjoy the hopping! (and check back next week).

Phyllis

I was so overwhelmed with all I saw at Quilt Market.  I’m still sifting through all my notes. If you missed my first post about Quilt Market, please check it out for some fabulous quilts and booths.

I loved this booth, Fiber Art Furniture.  It was fun with some pretty whimsy furniture as you can see below. The chairs were especially appropriate as it was Halloween. Check out their website for more fun furniture. I guarantee it will make you smile.

There were several book signings.  My talented friend Pearl Krush of Pearl Louise Designs was signing her book Quilting at the Village published by All American Crafts. Pearl, who designs fabrics and patterns, also has a fabulous Quilt shop, Thimble Cottage Quilt Village in Rapid City, SD. The book also tells a lot about her shop and I can’t wait to visit it some day.

I was walking by Amy Butler‘s booth as they announced the best booth awards.  Here is a picture of Amy in her booth just after she won first prize.  I love the greens and turquoises of her booth.

The Leilani Arts‘ booth was a visual treat with a beautiful display of all the silk yarns spilling from baskets. They were so lucious!

And here are more fabulous quilts from the exhibits.  I wish I could have seen all of the quilts exhibited there but there were just so many and I ran out of time.  The quilts looked like art and they were – quilted art.

Facade by Melissa Sobotka of Richardson, TX

Lunacy of a Starry Night by Annette Hendricks of Grayslake, IL

Lava by Lta Ziv of  Pardes Hana, Israel

Tidepool Treasure by Betsy Abbott of Andover, MA

Forest Walk by Pat Durbin of Eureka, CA

I hope you enjoyed seeing some of Quilt Market. I’m already looking forward to Spring Market.

Phyllis