Category Archives: Sewing

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Spring is Here with Chirp, Chirp, Chirp!

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With warm weather, I’ve been in the yard daily getting fresh air and sunshine. The noise can be quite chirpy with all the birds flying around! And I’ve watched all the baby birds, from blue birds, cardinals to sparrows, hopping and flying about as they learn to test their wings. As I sit or stand still, they get a little closer allowing me to watch a little better. With birds on my mind, I thought I would show you the quilts I’ve designed that focus on birds. With these, you can bring birds inside to enjoy. These patterns are all available in my Etsy Whimsycolor shop.

This first quilt pattern, Bird on a Limb, uses pieced quilt blocks. This quilt can use your scraps for a scrap quilt. This quilt is made with 20 blocks and is 64″ wide x 76″ high. It is easy to adjust the size if you want a larger or smaller quilt. You can also use the blocks to make a table runner or pillows.

This pattern, Spring Arrival, uses applique blocks and is made with 2 different blocks. One block has 2 baby birds in a nest and the other block is the mama bird holding a worm for her babies. You can also use your scraps for the applique pieces. The size is 58″ x 70 1/2″. You can also easily adjust the size to make it smaller or larger as well as creating other items with the blocks.

I also have a hummingbird block pattern for applique. I’m showing this block in 2 color combinations. The finished size of this block is 9″ x 9″. Use it alone to create your quilt or other project, or combine it with other blocks.

I would love to see your quilt project if you use one of these patterns!

I hope you take the time to listen to all the chirps!

Phyllis

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Making a “Crazy” Mask with Scraps

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I save all my fabric scraps! Don’t you? There is so much you can use them for. They are beautiful pieces of fabric I just can’t throw away unless they’re really tiny.

My friend, Kim Green, has been making masks for over a month for those who are working with the public during this shutdown. She showed a beautiful heart that she made with her scraps. That gave me the idea to use some of my scraps to make a mask in a “crazy quilt” style.

The first step is to gather scraps and sew them together with random fabrics such as above. I chose fabrics in a turquoise and purplish color range. I made 2, one each for each mask side so I could position each side of the pattern when cutting.

Then I cut the pieces out using this pattern. I sewed the pieces and lining to make my mask. You may want to make your “crazy quilt” mask for yourself or a gift. If you are bulk mask making, I don’t recommend this “crazy quilt” method as it’s much more time consuming and cuts down on production. I also didn’t add embroidery stitches as I figured that the added texture may hold any virus, plus they will be washed a lot. I turned the ends of the ribbon under and stitched back and forth so they would not ravel when washed.

And while in the stitching-scraps-together mode, I decided to make another one in a different color combination. I chose pink, orange and green for this one.

I have always loved crazy quilting and love applying it to more modern type products. It works great for masks. I have many other crazy quilt projects that I have been working on the past several months – I just need to add the finishing touches.

I hope you are finding ways to stay productive and creative during the shut down. At first, it was hard to focus and saw that this was the case for just about everybody. Then, my need to stay busy with my hands and mind kicked in. So the result has been sewing masks, embroidery, creating new art, creating content for ArtBizJam Abundance (with Lori Siebert) and taking some creative online classes, mostly with Procreate. But I really, really miss being with family and friends.

I hope you are all staying safe and well. It has been a struggle with all of us as life goes on and we feel that aren’t fully participating like we have always done. Maybe we will be getting back to that soon.

Phyllis

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Love a Nurse!

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Everyone has a favorite nurse! I have several – family and friends – who are nurses, from one who is nursing school, some who are currently practicing to some who have retired from nursing. They contribute so much to our health and well being!

To celebrate nurses, I designed a fabric pattern “Love a Nurse” that is available in several colors as shown plus charcoal gray. National Nurse Day for 2020 is May 6. Something sewn or quilted for a nurse will be a good way to thank that special nurse.

This fabric, along with the cheater quilt below is in my Spoonflower shop. Spoonflower is a great place to find beautiful and niche fabrics. You can choose from several types of fabrics: cotton, jersey, poplin, velvet, chiffon, canvas and more as well as wallpaper.

Love a Nurse Quilt

I have also created a line of Love a Nurse cheater quilt tops in several colors for my Spoonflower shop. They are a generous size of 36″ wide x 42″ high. All you need to do is make your quilt sandwich, quilt it and add the binding and you have a quick and beautiful gift for a special nurse. You can increase the size by adding multiple borders as was done by one special customer – I really love the borders she added to create such a thoughtful gift.

Other sewn projects created by customers include the beautiful bags below. The red really pops!

Red nurse tote bag

Another customer made this Love a Nurse Travel mug! There is no shortage of talent and I love see photos of items that talented artisans made with my fabrics!

A great gift for a nurse to carry her things to work or other places is a Love a Nurse tote bag personalized with her (or his) name! This tote bag is available from my shop on Zazzle and can be personalized very easily with a name or other words. This tote is available in other colors!

The Love a Nurse art is also available on assorted products as well in my Zazzle store that make great gifts for nurses. Many can be personalized with the nurse’s name or other words. Nurses can always use a Love a Nurse notebook!

Be sure to always have a compliment and kind word to all the nurses you know or meet! Let them know how special they are!

Phyllis

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Gift the Gift of a Wedding Quilt

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Give a unique and wonderful wedding quilt to be treasured for years to come! The Dove and Heart Wedding quilt will provide a special accent to hang on a wall and be a reminder of that special day or drape it on a bed, chair or sofa.

Dove and Heart Wedding Quilt Pattern

Crafting News honored this pattern by choosing it for one of their “21 Wedding Quilt Patterns”! Check out the article to see more special occasion wedding quilts!

The Dove and Heart Wedding quilt is a great size at 42″ x 42″. All pieces can be rotary cut except the hearts and doves which are appliquéd to the quilt. Space is left in the center block for embroidering the bride and groom’s names or initials and date of the wedding.

The pattern includes fabric and cutting charts, step-by-step instructions, color block assembly diagrams, quilt assembly diagrams and full size applique heart and dove patterns. Available in my Etsy Whimsycolor shop, it is an instant pdf download pattern.

I would love to see your quilt made from this pattern! Its easy to make and can be made in less than a day!

Happy quilting!

Phyllis

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Love this Nurse Tote!

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I love to hear from any of you, and especially love it when you send me a picture of how you used any of my patterns or fabrics.  I love this tote sewn by Lisa Brooks Smets of Quilted Horse Designs.  She created it as a custom order that was being given as a gift. The red color really makes this bag pop!

Red nurse tote bag

The fabric she used was the red Love A Nurse fabric in my Spoonflower shop.  This fabric is available with several different background colors. This collection also small 5″ blocks with the words “Love A Nurse”surrounded by a border and in a 42″ x 36” cheater quilt layouts in 3 color backgrounds. I think Lisa did a terrific job sewing this tote. She does other sewing and can be reached for custom orders through her Quilted Horse Designs website.

I would love to hear from any of you! And if you purchase any of my fabrics, whether from Spoonflower or elsewhere, I would love to see what you make!

Phyllis

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Seasons of Fall – Falling Leaves Quilt Pattern

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I love the colors of fall leaves and it’s that time of year again. I can’t believe leaves are already falling heavily as everything, including the trees, is still so green. But a daily sweep of leaves from my deck is required to keep them from accumulating. Watching the gradual color change inspired me to create this quilt pattern “Seasons of Fall”.

Seasons of Fall Falling Leaves

The quilt is created with both piecing and appliquéing.  The size is 56″ x 68″ but you can easily adjust it to make it larger or smaller so that you can use it as a lap quilt, wall hanging or bed quilt.  With the appliqué, you can use your scraps or precut fabrics.  The pattern is available in my Etsy online shop for easy immediate download.

I’m headed to the International Quilt Market in Houston next week.  While the leaves are still green, I know they will change drastically while I’m gone. When I leave for a few days in both the spring and fall, I always return to a different landscape.

I hope you are enjoying a colorful change and spend cooler days inside quilting!

Phyllis

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How Many UFO’s (Unfinished Object Projects) do you have hiding away?

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I love needlework! But somehow this little piece ended up unfinished, a small UFO, sitting in my closet with more UFO’s.

Unfinished Ribbon Embroidery Project

During the years that I was a member of the Embroider’s Guild of America, EGA, I took every class offered and attended regional retreats. As a result, I ended up with a lot of UFO’s in addition to the finished projects. But, all was not lost with UFO’s!  I enjoyed every stitch that I did complete and learned so much about embroidery and other forms of needlework and canvas work.  In addition, I loved spending time with  friends and the conversations we had while sitting and stitching.

The stitching of this little project is finished. I started tearing away the paper but something distracted me and I didn’t finish the project. I will most likely turn it into a small sachet pillow or frame it, so I hope to post the finished piece shortly!  I’m also feeling guilty about my other UFO’s so will pull them out and work on them while being a couch potato at night. That will also limit my couch potato guilt!

I hope you pull out your UFO’s and give them a little love!

Phyllis

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Its a Dog’s Life Teal Tea Towel

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Its a Dog’s Life!  My last post was about cats (along with some embroidery).  I’m equal with cats and dogs in my love of them and have always had one or the other for a pet. For my Spoonflower shop, I chose dogs to give equal time with cats to create this tea towel to celebrate dogs!

Is A Dogs Life Tea Towel

These whimsy dogs are in various stages of a “human” life – gardening, shopping, walking, wrapped in a quilt, playing at the beach, cooking, being a sheriff, and just being an angel. The background is turquoise teal green with a darker teal border. I designed this tea towel based on my fabric collection “Its a Dog’s Life”.

The tea towels are available from Roostery for purchase, while I have coordinating fabrics available from Spoonflower and direct from Phyllis.

Woof!

Phyllis

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Support Your Bees with a Whimsy Honey Bee Quilt!

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I love bees! And while not a beekeeper, I had my own personal honey bee hive. Unfortunately, it was in the eave of my house. It took a while to find a beekeeper who will relocate it safely due to the hive being in the eaves plus the distance from the ground. I will miss them in my flowers but they have  a new home in an actual hive.Whimsy Honey Bee Quilt Phyllis Dobbs

I had created a whimsy fabric collection “Bee Yourself” to celebrate bees that included fabrics plus a panel of 12 bee blocks – honey bee, spelling bee, busy bee, fashion bee, beach bee, worker bee, quilting bee, sewing bee, queen bee, bee yourself and others.  This is a whole cloth “cheater quilt” I designed based on my fabric collection “Bee Yourself”.

This quilt is in my Spoonflower fabric shop and is made from the same art. The size is 36″ x 42″ and is available as a yard of fabric. It’s ready to sew into a quilt. You can also use it as a quilt panel to create a focal point in a larger quilt by adding borders. I know you will be able to come up with other uses as well.

Coordinating bee fabrics are available in my Spoonflower shop and I also have the bee panel and other fabrics available direct from my studio.

Love your bees and protect them!

Phyllis

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Fabric Love for New Sewing and Quilting Projects!

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I look at fabric as mini pieces of art!  I’m enthralled with the colors and patterns and cannot resist touching and feeling fabrics. I love designing fabrics as well as buying fabrics I find in the marketplace. I have attended the Modern Quilt Guild convention, QuiltCon, a couple of times and am headed there again next February. In addition to enjoying the classes and lectures, I do a lot of shopping!  Its irresistible and so fun!

Fabrics for new projects

I bought a lot of the above fabrics at Quiltcon’s (plus one is my design). I’m currently working on projects with these fabrics and think I will add some embroidery, another love! I can’t tell you what the finished projects will be at this time, but will post as soon as I can.

Enjoy thinking about your little pieces of art as you make something wonderful with them. Sometimes, I really hate to cut the fabrics, but then remind myself of the beautiful creation that will result.

Are you one of “those” people like me who can’t resist touching any kind of fabric, to feel the softness, weight and textures?

Phyllis