Free Quilt Pattern Designed with Mary Engelbreit Fabrics

“A Friend is a Gift” is the basis of Mary Engelbreit’s newest fabric collection for Quilting Treasures in their VIP Exclusive fabric line.  I designed this quilt and instructions for Quilting Treasures for their website. The quilt is designed around a central panel of “A Friend is a Gift to Give Yourself” tea party. Applique teapots are stitched in top and bottom borders to go with the tea party theme. The quilt size is 51″ x 57″, a perfect size for a wall hanging or to use for a throw with the cool weather arrives. (I’m down south, so the cool weather is not here yet.) To find this pattern, scroll down the selection of free quilt patterns. You may also be tempted to try some of the numerous other free patterns as there is large selection.

Mary Engelbreit Free Quilt Pattern from Quilting Treasures

I designed another quilt pattern based on Mary’s Sleeping Beauty fabrics that is also available for a free download from VIP Exclusive. Read about it in my prior blog post. With this great selection of patterns, you should be busy quilting!

Phyllis

Redux – Sew a Spider Apron for Halloween

Halloween is rapidly approaching. It always gets here before I’m ready and I have to make a mad dash the day before to stock up on candy for the trick or treaters. Thinking that I would be more prepared this year, I decided to repost my apron pattern for this Spider Halloween apron in advance to give you plenty of time to sew one.

This pattern is available at Etsy WhimsyColor.

Spider Halloween Apron Free Pattern

The body is the spider is a pocket and rick rack is used for the legs. Jumbo orange rick rack embellishes the bottom edge. The apron is easy to make and can be sewn in just a couple of hours (you can even make it Halloween morning or the day before). You can wear it if you are helping your kids with Halloween festivities at school or elsewhere or just as an accent while walking with your own trick or treaters.

Have a creative day!

Phyllis

Off to the Creative Connection Event!

I am looking forward with excitement to The Creative Connection Event, co-founded by Jo Packham, Editor in Chief of “Where Women Create” and “Where Women Cook”.  Held in St. Paul, MN starting September 17, this is the 2nd year of the Event. I decided to attent after hearing great things about last year’s event.

Creative Connection Event by Where Women Create

Geared toward creative women, the event focuses on handmade and on food and cooking. I guess I don’t have to tell you that since I had to choose one direction, I chose handmade. In addiiton, a day will be devoted to social media and blogging.

And, Pitch Slam slams are being held one afternoon where one can pitch a product or literary idea to a panel of professionals for each of several fields. The Pitch Slams are limited to 9 people for each category, with the 9 people selected randomly.  It was a “whoohoo!” moment for me when I found out that I was selected for one of the pitch slams. So, I am busy working on my “product” to pitch in a time frame of 3 to 4 minutes.

The Creative Connection Event will also have a market place and a book store, 2 of my favorites for any event!

I haven’t been to St. Paul, but have been to Minneapolis a few times and love the area. I’m especially looking forward to visiting the area and attending the event! All this plus some good friends who are also attending should all combine for an inspirational few days, learning new things and great networking.

Check back as I will write all about my experiences at TCC!

Phyllis

 

Free Quilt Pattern for Mary Engelbreit Sleeping Beauty Fabrics

Ah, the romance of fairy tales!  I have always loved them and especially Sleeping Beauty.  Mary Engelbreit’s newest fabrics for Quilting Treasures feature her wonderful illustrations of this favorite classic for her Sleeping Beauty fabric collection.

I enjoyed working with these beautiful fabrics to create this quilt pattern for Quilting Treasures.  Sized to fit a twin size bed, it will make any  girl feel like a princess! I think the colors are wonderful and very feminine.

The quilt is composed of two quilt blocks, both simple so that you can easily complete your quilt.

Mary Engelbreit's Sleeping Beauty fabrics free quilt pattern

Have a beautiful fairy tale of a day!

Phyllis

Free Pattern for a fun summer quilt – Sunshine Resort fabrics by Loralie!

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.

Free quilt pattern for Quilting Treasures Sunshine Resort fabrics

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

 

Free Patterns for Aprons and Quilts

Please note that this apron pattern is no longer available through Quilting Treasures website.  However due to the demand for it, I have recreated another pattern similar to this. It can be found on the Etsy Whimsicolor.  

Note also – The Rails quilt pattern below is also no longer available through Quilting treasures and has been redesigned.  It can also be found on the Etsy WhimsyColor.

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 Quilting Treasures that can be downloaded free 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.

Aprons in red or blue colors

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

Free quilt pattern designed by Phyllis Dobbs for Quilting Treasures

Happy sewing!

Phyllis

Staying Cool During these Hot, Hot Days!

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.

cutting quilt border

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

Phyllis

New Quilt Book!

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.  Stack of fabrics for Quilt bookI’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. Fabric pile for quilt book

Fabric stash for quilt bookI 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

Nurse Central Quilt – Free Quilt pattern by Quilting Treasures

Loralie Nurse Central quiltDoesn’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.

T’is the Season for gift wrapping – 2 books for unique wrapping!

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”.

Unique gift wrapping BookUniquely 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!

Wrapping scarf book

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