Tamarinis

Christmas in July Project Hop - Double Dutch in Snow Village and Rustic Village Christmas from Benartex

Welcome to the last stop on the Christmas in July Project Hop!  Are you as wowed as I am with not only the amazing, adorable fabric lines (that are now on my "must purchase" list!) but with the clever, must-make projects by all those talented designers?

I can't decide which I want to make first.  Big or small, there are really beautiful projects to choose from.  Decisions, decisions.

While you are deciding, let me show you my Christmas in July project!

 

Fun, right?  This is called Double Dutch. And not to worry - no curved piecing at ALL in this project!  Promise!

Isn't this fabric just adorable?  The project is done in a mix of fabrics.  The border print is from the Snow Village line by Beth Albert.  Doesn't that repeating row print with the wonderful sentiments printed out just make the best border?!  

 

The other fabrics are from Rustic Village, which is where the charming checks and snowflakes come from. The two lines are just meant to be used together!

 

I can't wait for Christmas time!  The warm, cozy colors and happy snowflakes are the perfect accent for Christmas tea and cookies!

I'm so glad you dropped by to take a peek at my fun little Christmas project!  If you want to make Double Dutch yourself, you can preorder the pattern here on my website.  It uses the same technique as my After the Rain pattern, and is similar (but not the same!) to Dutch Windmills.  

 

Christmas in July Quilting Project Schedule 

Just in case you have missed any of the other posts in the Christmas in July Project Hop sponsored by Benartex, here is the whole schedule!

Monday July 20^th – Nancy Scott, Winterberry http://masterpiecequilting.blogspot.com/

Tuesday July 21^st – Heidi Pridemore, Rejoice https://heidipridemore.blogspot.com/

Wednesday July 22^nd – Laura Piland, First Frost http://www.sliceofpiquilts.com/

Thursday July 23^rd – Lisa Ruble, Camp Joy https://lovetocolormyworld.blogspot.com/

Friday July 24^th – Debby Kratovil, Festive Chickadees https://debbykratovilquilts.blogspot.com/

Saturday July 25^th – Wendy Sheppard, Ode to Joy https://ivoryspring.wordpress.com/

Sunday July 26^th – Debby Brown, River’s End https://www.debbybrownquilts.com/

Monday July 27^th – Charisma Horton, Deer Festival http://charismascorner.com/

Tuesday July 28^th – Sandra Walker, Better Not Pout https://www.mmmquilts.com/

Wednesday July 29^th – Kate Colleran, Joy https://seamslikeadream.com/

Thursday July 30^th – Tammy Silvers, Snow Village & Rustic Village Christmas https://www.tamarinis.com/

 

Like what you see here, and want to hear more from Tamarinis? Like me on Facebook, follow me on Instagram, and sign up for my newsletter at www.tamarinis.com!  

Following is one way to demonstrate your interest in my projects, patterns, and partnerships.  Your comments are also GREATLY appreciated, and provide valuable feedback regarding what inspires you, as well as what you'd like to see explored in future posts.  

And did you know?  I travel and teach!  Contact me to schedule a trunk show and/or workshop!  I can offer both in-person lectures and workshops AND online lectures and workshops!

 

 

 

 

 

Exploring the Basics: Making a Four Patch

The humble four patch block is a building block for many other blocks.  It is simple, yet essential for many more complex blocks, and can stand on its own for simple quilts as well.  Let's look at the basics of the block.

Constructing a Four Patch Block

A four patch block is....well, a block made of four patches or pieces (I would say squares, but you'll see why I hesitate at that word in just a minute).  You can make it by cutting four units or pieces and stitching them together.

But....if you read my post from a few weeks ago, you may also remember that you can quickly and easily strip piece a four patch block!  By sewing two strips together in the size and fabric as determined by the pattern - or by your personal choice - you can then cut the resulting strip set into units to sew together to create your four patch!

This four patch is made up of four equal size units, resulting not only in a square block, but in a balanced four patch.

Other Types of Four Patch Blocks

But any four units sewn together TECHNICALLY create a four patch.  The block above is made up of two squares (medium teal and dark teal) and two rectangles (light lime and medium lime).  Sewn together they make up a four patch block.

Ah-ha!  Now you may be thinking of other blocks that you didn't originally think of as four patches!

One of my favorites, the pinwheel block, is at it's core a four patch block.  See?  It is made up of FOUR half square triangle units!  This applies to other similar blocks (Broken Dishes, Double Four Patch and so on).

But wait - how is a DOUBLE four patch still a four patch?  Well, dear friend - because the smaller four patch units (dark and light teal - above) make up TWO patches in the overall block.  Ah....making sense now, right?

Some Four Patch Quilt Examples

Here is a simple example of a basic four patch quilt - just a few simple four patches and some large spacer blocks - quick, easy and super sweet.

Putting those same simple blocks on point makes it a bit more interesting!

The uneven four patch blocks can make for interesting, yet easy designs as well!

And look at what happens with the uneven four patch block when you make the large square AND the background or spacer squares the same fabric.  Fun!

I could go on and on - the basic four patch is really anything BUT basic!  It is definitely a building block for other more complex blocks.  

Head over to Kate's blog to get some additional tips and ideas on strip piecing.

Like what you see here, and want to hear more from Tamarinis? Like me on Facebook, follow me on Instagram, and sign up for my newsletter at www.tamarinis.com!  Following is one way to demonstrate your interest in my projects, patterns, and partnerships.  Your comments are also GREATLY appreciated, and provide valuable feedback regarding what inspires you, as well as what you'd like to see explored in future posts.  And did you know?  I travel and teach!  Contact me to schedule a trunk show and/or workshop!

Quilt Designer Shop Hop Day Five

Today is the final day of the Quilt Designer Shop Hop!  Hopefully you have visited all of the amazing shops, signed up for newsletters, and are following these talented ladies on social media.  You are, right?!  Good!

Today you'll want to visit Swan Sheridan of Swan Amity and Cherry Guidry of Cherry Blossom Quilting and see what they created just for you!

Just for visiting the blog today: a special discount!  $5 off a $25 purchase of eligible products with the code QDSH FIVE (good through July 17th)!

In case you missed any, here is the full line up for the week:

July 13 Tamarinis                    https://www.tamarinis.com
July 13 Laura Piland               http://www.sliceofpiquilts.com/
July 14 Sherry Shish              https://poweredbyquilting.com
July 14 Amy Friend                 https://www.duringquiettime.com/
July 15 Kate Colleran             https://seamslikeadream.shop
July 15 Becky Jorgensen       https://www.patchworkposse.com/quilt-designer-shop-hop/
July 16  Leanne Parsons        https://www.devotedquilter.com   
July 16 Patti Carey                 https://pattispatchwork.com/
July 17 Swan Sheridan          https://www.swanamity.com     
July 17 Cherry Guidry            https://www.cherryblossomsquilting.com/  

Remember - you'll need to visit each designer's blog to get access to their block, and the blocks are available for free only through July 18th.

Like what you see here, and want to hear more from Tamarinis? Like me on Facebook, follow me on Instagram, and sign up for my newsletter at www.tamarinis.com!  Following is one way to demonstrate your interest in my projects, patterns, and partnerships.  Your comments are also GREATLY appreciated, and provide valuable feedback regarding what inspires you, as well as what you'd like to see explored in future posts.  And did you know?  I travel and teach!  Contact me to schedule a trunk show and/or workshop!

Quilt Designer Blog Hop Day Four

 

Can you believe we are almost done with this fun blog hop? It is Day Four of the Quilt Designer Shop Hop!  Did you visit the shops and blogs from earlier this week?  Tamarinis,Slice of Pi Quilts, Powered by Quilting, During Quiet Time, Seams Like a Dream and Patchwork Posse?  Don't forget to sign up for their newsletters, subscribe to their blogs and follow them on social media so you don't miss a single thing they are doing!

Today, you will want to visit Leanne Parsons of Devoted Quilter and Patti Carey of Patti's Patchwork to see their inspired blocks!

Just for visiting the blog today: a special discount!  $5 off a $25 purchase of eligible products with the code QDSH FIVE (good through July 17th)!

Remember - you'll need to visit each designer's blog to get access to their block, and the blocks are available for free only through July 18th.

Like what you see here, and want to hear more from Tamarinis? Like me on Facebook, follow me on Instagram, and sign up for my newsletter at www.tamarinis.com!  Following is one way to demonstrate your interest in my projects, patterns, and partnerships.  Your comments are also GREATLY appreciated, and provide valuable feedback regarding what inspires you, as well as what you'd like to see explored in future posts.  And did you know?  I travel and teach!  Contact me to schedule a trunk show and/or workshop!

Christmas In July Pattern Parade Blog Hop

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Ready for a one day whirlwind of holiday awesomeness?!  Each participant is bringing you all sorts of holiday fun and magic.  There are traditional projects, modern projects, large and small projects.  I'm sharing with you a favorite of mine - turning my favorite appliqués and die cuts into quick holiday ornaments!

Here is the ornament I created especially for you!  And the best part? It was quick and easy!  Let's look at how I created this ornament (and you can download an instruction sheet at the end of the post).  I'll also share some other applique inspired ornaments.  You'll be stitching up a tree full of ornaments in no time!

The entire ornament was created using Crafter's Edge Snowflake die.  The snowflake was cut from this adorable snowflake print fabric (I couldn't resist!) from Benartex's Rustic Christmas collection.  I sprayed the back of the die cut snowflake with Odif's 606 spray and fused it to the first layer of the base.

The base was cut from the other part of the die, and I cut not one but TWO bases from felted wool.  FYI - I find that two layers of wool give the ornament enough body that it will hang nice and flat and not curl on you!

While stitching is not required (since I fused it to the wool base with Odif 606 spray), it does add some nice texture and interest to the ornament.  I used Aurifil 12wt, which is a nice, heavy thread, perfect for embellishment!  If using a 12wt, make sure you increase your needle size to at least a 90/14 needle AND loose your top thread tension to avoid fraying.

Notice that I did the stitching through the fused snowflake and the first base only.  This is so I can neatly tie off all of my threads and have a tidy ornament back!

I thought it would be fun to add some beading to the ornament as well - just a tiny bit of sparkle!  The beads were hand stitched on after the machine embellishment was done (yes, before adding the second base).

Because I added the beads, I used a wool pressing mat for the next stage of the process.  First, I pressed the stitched ornament flat.  Next I sprayed the wrong side of the second base with Odif 606 spray.  I cut a length of baker's twine and knotted it to form a hanging loop, and layered it between the two bases, and then fused the stitched base to the back base.  And that's it!  Ornament done!

I mentioned turning a favorite die (like the snowflake die in the first ornament) or a favorite applique into an ornament.  Here's an example of an applique I turned into an ornament.  This is from my Your Love Gives Me Wings pattern.  This time the base is a simple oval, and I did some additional stitching around the base to add some more detail.  Don't you just love the little tassel stitched to the bottom of it?

When I said this was a favorite technique, I wasn't kidding!  Here are two more - both in my Kismet fabric line from Island Batik, and pulled from some of my applique patterns.  The Peacock Ornament (left) is using smaller portions of applique elements from one of my tea towel applique patterns, while the God's Eye Ornament uses the center portion of one of the appliqués from my Good Fortune pattern.

Hint: when pulling from existing applique patterns, remember that you don't have to use the entire applique.  Just pull elements from the applique that you really like!

Match your base shape and size to the applique.  With the Peacock Ornament, I thought a round base looked best and suited the shape.  With the God's Eye, an oval mimicked the shape of the eye and fit the applique pieces nicely.

While I chose to stitch around the edges of all my applique shapes, you could make it even quicker and easier and just fuse the shapes into place.  Find what works best for you and suits your individual style.

Want to start creating your own appliquéd ornaments?  Here is a little Download Applique or Die Based Ornament Instructions outlining the basic steps to take!

Please share your ornaments with me - I'd love to see what you create!  And as a thank you for visiting during the blog hop, here is a 10% off coupon code (but hurry - it is only good through Friday, July 17th!): CIJPP.

Visit the other talented designers that are sharing their holiday creations with you as well!  Here's the list of participants and the categories for their projects:

 

Table Toppers, Home and Kitchen
Inquiring Quilter
Duck Creek Mountain Quilting
Cooking Up Quilts
The Quilted Diary
Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Morning Glory Designs
Scrapdash
Days Filled With Joy

Small Projects
Geeky Bobbin
Sunburnt Quilts
Tamarinis
Tuning My Heart Quilts
Prairie Sewn Studios
Puppy Girl Designs
Ladybug Buzz
Dragonfly's Quilting Design Studio

Traditional and Modern Quilt Patterns
Ms P Designs USA
Quilt 2 End ALZ
Patti's Patchwork
Cotton Street Commons
Brown Bird Designs
From My Carolina Home

 

Like what you see here, and want to hear more from Tamarinis? Like me on Facebook, follow me on Instagram, and sign up for my newsletter at www.tamarinis.com!  Following is one way to demonstrate your interest in my projects, patterns, and partnerships.  Your comments are also GREATLY appreciated, and provide valuable feedback regarding what inspires you, as well as what you'd like to see explored in future posts.  And did you know?  I travel and teach!  Contact me to schedule a trunk show and/or workshop!

 

Quilt Designer Shop Hop Day Three

Guess what? It is Day Three of the Quilt Designer Shop Hop!  Did you visit the shops and blogs from Monday and Tuesday?  Tamarinis,Slice of Pi Quilts, Powered by Quilting and During Quiet Time?  Don't forget to sign up for their newsletters, subscribe to their blogs and follow them on social media so you don't miss a single thing they are doing!

Today, you will want to visit Kate Colleran of Seams Like A Dream and Becky Jorgensen of Patchwork Posse to see their inspired blocks!

Here's a special discount for you, just for visiting the blog today: 10% off all eligible products today only, with code TEN4U.

Remember - you'll need to visit each designer's blog to get access to their block, and the blocks are available for free only through July 18th.

Like what you see here, and want to hear more from Tamarinis? Like me on Facebook, follow me on Instagram, and sign up for my newsletter at www.tamarinis.com!  Following is one way to demonstrate your interest in my projects, patterns, and partnerships.  Your comments are also GREATLY appreciated, and provide valuable feedback regarding what inspires you, as well as what you'd like to see explored in future posts.  And did you know?  I travel and teach!  Contact me to schedule a trunk show and/or workshop!

Quilt Designer Shop Hop Day Two

 

Hey folks! It is Day Two of the Quilt Designer Shop Hop!  Did you visit the shops and blogs from Monday?  Tamarinis and Slice of Pi Quilts?  Don't forget to sign up for their newsletters, subscribe to their blogs and follow them on social media so you don't miss a single thing they are doing!

Today, you will want to visit Sherry Shish of Powered by Quilting and Amy Friend of During Quiet Time to see their inspired blocks!

Just for visiting the blog today: a special discount!  $5 off a $25 purchase of eligible products with the code QDSH FIVE (good through July 17th)!

Remember - you'll need to visit each designer's blog to get access to their block, and the blocks are available for free only through July 18th.

Like what you see here, and want to hear more from Tamarinis? Like me on Facebook, follow me on Instagram, and sign up for my newsletter at www.tamarinis.com!  Following is one way to demonstrate your interest in my projects, patterns, and partnerships.  Your comments are also GREATLY appreciated, and provide valuable feedback regarding what inspires you, as well as what you'd like to see explored in future posts.  And did you know?  I travel and teach!  Contact me to schedule a trunk show and/or workshop!

Quilt Designer Shop Hop - Day One

 

Welcome to Day One of the Quilt Designer Shop Hop!  What is it?  Well......10 different quilt pattern designers got together and, under the theme of moving forward, separate but working together, inspired by life under quarantine, and created 10 different 12" finished blocks.

These blocks are all available to you for the length of the hop - so not very long!  Blocks will be available for free download through Saturday, July 18th.  AFTER July 18th, blocks will be available for purchase from the individual designers at a cost of $2.00 each.  So you'll want to grab your blocks while you can!

Here is my block, Sunshine.  Why sunshine?  For me, sunshine represents hope and togetherness.  Think about it - no matter the circumstances, the sun will rise tomorrow.  Over all of us, uniting all of us in its bright, warming rays.  Here is your bit of sunshine to brighten your day and remind you that things will be better and brighter soon!

Sunshine is paper pieced, and since many of the rays are small, it is a wonderful opportunity to bust some scrap stash.  I pulled from my Kismet line from Island Batik to stitch up a bright cheerful sun.  It was a great opportunity to use up some of those skinny scraps from other Kismet quilts!

The pattern has a planned color placement, but you can alter it to suit your personal preferences, or to bust those scraps!

While I LOVE all of the blocks that everyone designed, I don't have time to make all 10 blocks.  So I thought I'd share with you how I decided to finish out my Sunshine block!  First, I added some borders (more on that later).  

Then I added some stitched embellishment using my Aurifil Kismet Thread Collection to add some additional interest and color!  I love how the 28wt shows up beautifully on the batik fabrics!

 

Here is why I added borders:  I will wrap the finished block around a blank canvas.  If you want to do the same, you want to add enough border to accommodate your seam allowance (1/4" on EACH side), plus the thickness of the canvas (mine was 1" thick, so 1" on EACH side), plus room to staple on the back.  I cut my borders at 3", which is crazy generous.  You could easily add 2" borders if you are working with a 1" deep canvas.

If you are going to wrap a canvas, your next step would be to wrap the block around the canvas and tape it to the back to check your placement.

Since my block (finished size) and my canvas are the same size, I need to make sure the seam lines and the edges of the canvas line up.  As you can see from the picture above, I need to make some adjustments to make that happen!

Once you are happy with the placement, begin stapling the block to the back of the canvas.  I work from the middle out on two sides.  Don't go all the way to the end, as you'll need some working room for folding those corners!

As you can see, the back may be a bit messy, but take your time and work the corners to get a smooth look and neat corners!  

 

Side note: I chose to add my borders and THEN do my embellishment to add a bit of interest and color to the sides of the canvas!  You could easily stitch first and then add borders - which ever works best for you.  But doesn't it amazing when the stitching wraps around the edges?!

 

Yes, the stitching is optional if you are wrapping a canvas, but I do love how it adds some texture and additional color to the block!

 

Whether you use the block individually or stitch up all 10 designer blocks, I hope you enjoy Sunshine!  You can find the Designer Shop Hop Sunshine block here in my Pattern Shop (remember it is a free pattern to "purchase" through July 18th).  Please note that while the pattern for the block is free through July 18th, you will have to add it to your shopping cart and "check out" to download it.

If you want to make your Sunshine block in my Kismet fabrics, I do have a limited number of kits available as well!  You can find them here in my Pattern Shop as well!

 

How can you put ten different 12" finished blocks together in a quilt?  Oh - there are sooooo many ways!  And several of the designers will offer some awesome suggestions.  I've worked up one fun, but easy layout for you to put all ten blocks into a finished quilt.  If you like this layout, you can find the pattern for the layout here.

You'll want to head over to Laura Piland of Slice of Pi Quilts to see her amazing block and hear her story behind her super fun block!

Here is the full line up for the week:

July 13 Tamarinis                    https://www.tamarinis.com
July 13 Laura Piland               http://www.sliceofpiquilts.com/
July 14 Sherry Shish              https://poweredbyquilting.com
July 14 Amy Friend                 https://www.duringquiettime.com/
July 15 Kate Colleran             https://seamslikeadream.shop
July 15 Becky Jorgensen       https://patchworkposse.com
July 16  Leanne Parsons        https://www.devotedquilter.com   
July 16 Patti Carey                 https://pattispatchwork.com/
July 17 Swan Sheridan          https://www.swanamity.com     
July 17 Cherry Guidry            https://www.cherryblossomsquilting.com/  

Remember - you'll need to visit each designer's blog to get access to their block, and the blocks are available for free only through July 18th.

Like what you see here, and want to hear more from Tamarinis? Like me on Facebook, follow me on Instagram, and sign up for my newsletter at www.tamarinis.com!  Following is one way to demonstrate your interest in my projects, patterns, and partnerships.  Your comments are also GREATLY appreciated, and provide valuable feedback regarding what inspires you, as well as what you'd like to see explored in future posts.  And did you know?  I travel and teach!  Contact me to schedule a trunk show and/or workshop!

   

Exploring the Basics: Strip Piecing

Rotary cutting revolutionized quilting, making it super quick and easy to accurately cut strips and shapes for quilting.  It is no surprise that strip piecing, the process of sewing strips of fabric together and then cutting apart in determined sizes, quickly followed.

Let's look at some basic strip piecing.  Often, but not always, strip piecing is done with complete, or full strips of fabric cut from the width of the fabric (selvedge edge to selvedge edge, generally considered to be 40" of usable fabric). 

Keep in mind as we go through the examples that the number of strips in a strip set may vary depending upon the block.

Rail Fence - 3 Rails

Rail fence blocks and quilts can be formed from two fabrics in a strip set up to...well, as many as you want.

Here is a simple rail fence strip set - pink, lime, pink.  

Once the strip set (the two lime strips and the single pink strip) are sewn together AND pressed, they are ready for sub-cutting - the process of cutting into smaller units.

Rail Fence Blocks

In the example above, the strip shown is being cut into 5 separate rail fence units.

 

You can put four rail fence units together and make a rail fence block.  Above is just one variation of a three rail unit. So what would that look like in a quilt?

Rail Fence Quilts

Here is a simple layout - the rail fence block from above, repeated 20 times.  But wait - one of the fun aspects of rail fence blocks is their versatility!

Here is the same layout, but with half of the blocks flipped.  Fun, right?

Here is another rail fence layout.  Notice that this time the rail fence units have four rows of piecing.  Simply rotating the blocks 90 degrees each time creates a fun zig zag pattern.  Ah....your creative juices are flowing now, aren't they?  You are seeing the possibilities.

And keep in mind that the rails (the strips, the rows) don't have to be the same size.  Look at how using different size strips in your rail fence can add some extra interest in the quilt above!

Other Strip Pieced Blocks

Let's look at a block and determine what the strip sets would be to make the block.  

The uneven 9 patch block above can be made from two different strip sets - a narrow red, wide yellow, narrow red set and a narrow yellow, wide red, narrow yellow strip set.

Many blocks can be fully or partially constructed using strip piecing!  This speeds up the piecing, which means the blocks are finished faster and the quilt can be put together that much quicker.

Here's another example for you - the Money Wrench block.  Let's break it apart to see what we can strip piece.

Look at the piecing for this monkey wrench block.  When we break the block apart, we can see that the block is made up of HSTs (half square triangles - see more on making HSTs in this blog post), two different strip pieced units (lime/yellow and pink/yellow), and a solid pink square.  

Using strip piecing to make the lime/yellow and pink/yellow units is faster and when rotary cut, are more accurate.

These are just a few examples of how you can use strip piecing.  Kate and I will be exploring more strip piecing when we look at four patch blocks and nine patch blocks in future posts!

Head over to Kate's blog to get some additional tips and ideas on strip piecing.

Like what you see here, and want to hear more from Tamarinis? Like me on Facebook, follow me on Instagram, and sign up for my newsletter at www.tamarinis.com!  Following is one way to demonstrate your interest in my projects, patterns, and partnerships.  Your comments are also GREATLY appreciated, and provide valuable feedback regarding what inspires you, as well as what you'd like to see explored in future posts.  And did you know?  I travel and teach!  Contact me to schedule a trunk show and/or workshop!