Red Poppies Flower Tutorial and Napkins

One of my all time favorite flowers are Red Poppies. It was up to me there will be fresh cut poppies around the house at all time - unfortunately they don't make good cut flowers. So here's my compromise:



Fabric Red Poppies :). I had a bit of red fabric and some time on Friday to create something new for the home so I figure I'll make something I really enjoy but don't get to see that often.

These are sitting pretty in the little wooden crate. Originally designed to be part of a napkin topper for decoration:

Here's a quick tutorial of how to make these poppies (makes 6):

Materials:

• 6 strips of red fabric cut 4.5" x 14"
• 6 black fabrics scraps (~4" x 4" each) 
• 6 black fabric strips (1/3" x 6")
• 6 strips of green fabric cut 1.5" x 14"
• 6 bamboo sticks/skewers about 6" each
• hot glue gun
• scissor

Technique:

1. Prep the poppy stem: Wrap each stick with one of the green fabrics - leave about 1/2" exposed where the flower would be attached later on

2. Make the poppy center.  
• Place one of the black fabric scraps on a flat surface and place some stuffing in the middle (I used some cut up fabric scraps).  

• Scrunch up the fabric around the stuffing to make a ball and tie the 'ball' with a strip of the black fabric.  Cut off the excess fabric.

3. Attach the poppy center to the exposed end of the poppy stem with some hot glue

4. Prep the poppy petals.   Cut wavy lines on one of the long sides of each of the red fabric strips.  The cutting doesn't have to be precise to give it a more unique look for each poppy.

5. Attach the poppy petal to the stem.  
• Start with one of the the red fabric strip.  Hot glue a corner against the exposed poppy pen.  Make sure that the wavy end is facing upwards.

• Hot glue a small line against the long uncut end of the fabric strip - pinch and hot glue (if needed) against the poppy stem.  Continue this until the whole red fabric strip is against the step.  Make sure that the exposed stem area is completely covered by the poppy petal and the petal goes all around the stem.  Use a  little bit of hot glue to blue the start of the petal to the end so it forms a neatly enclosed poppy

And voila!  A beautiful poppy.  Make a few or make a bunch.  These are great alone or to use for decor.


Bunch them up for a nice bouquet:


Thanks for visiting and I'll be sharing this tutorial at these lovely LINKY PARTIES.

-Q

Weekend Wrapup and Washcloth Tutorial

This past weekend was very easy going.  We spent most of Saturday out and about - hanging out with great friends and enjoying the beautiful weather.  Sunday was family time and spending time around the house.

One of the small projects I'm working on are washcloths/burp-cloths.  I don't know why, but I LOVE making these things.  I guess they are like teeny tiny little blankets :).



And the results? A super cute, super soft, all-purpose...did I mention super cute??...washcloth/burp-cloth/all-purpose-cloth :). For the front I use some of my favorite fabrics around the studio - all 100% quality cotton of course. For the backing I used an French Terry 100% organic cotton.

Have you ever worked with French Terry before? It is the softest , coziest terry cloth I have ever used. Though I must say - it is a little troublesome to work with. The ends curl up a bit if you try to pull on it too much. The key is to keep it from pulling in any one direction too much and keep it flat. Here's an example of the curling:



Don't worry the curling isn't permanent and doesn't happen once the fabric is securely sewn in place.

I cut each of the fabrics - backing and front into rectangles - 10" x 15". The finished washcloth is about 9.5" by 14.5".



Put the right sides together, sew edges with 1/4" seam allowance leaving an opening about 6 inches wide. Using the opening flip the washcloth right side out, press all corners and edges flat and sew about 1/8" all the way around.

With a little bit of practice you too can make these little guys - great for use around the house, makes for a great baby gift and definitely eye candy for any room :).

-Q

I will be sharing these at THESE lovely Linking Parties.

Simplicity Pillow: Bloom Cherry Blossoms

Pillows are great and you can never have enough of them.  Swap them out according to season, room decor or even to match your mood.  There are many reasons why you can never have enough of them around.  Personally, I don't think I have enough pillows - actually barely any.  I usually admire the ones in the stores or in peoples' homes but I realized that my own home is lacking pillows.


That's why I'm dedicating my next few smaller projects to PILLOWS :).  I have a few ideas in mind - in this post I will share my first:  Simplicity Pillow.  Here's my first one (I made quite a few of these since I love that fabric):




As the name implies, it is simple.  Well I should say Simple and FABULOUS.  Because besides from being a simple pillow to make, you have to first find yourself a FABULOUS piece of fabric you absolutely adore.  Can't be too hard these days since there are so many great ones out there.  Here's my quick tutorial on how to create the Simplicity Pillow.

Materials:

• beautiful cotton print fabric - cut 16.5" x 17": Bloom Cherry blossoms by Studio E
• Solid coordinating fabric - cut 16.5" x 17": Amy Butler Solid Periwinkle
• Batting - cut 16.5" x 17": Natural Cotton
• Thread: One to match cotton print, one to match darker solid fabric

1. Composing the pillow top quilt: Layer the  cotton print, batting and solid together in that order.  Make sure the cotton print is right side up.

2. Going in one direction, mark quilt lines about 4 inches apart - leaving the extra fabric (since the length is either 6.5" or 7") on the outer strip.  For small projects I just 1/4" quilting tape.

3. Quilt on either side of the marked lines - about 1/4" apart.  If you are using the tape, make sure you don't quilt on the tape, it's a pain to remove.
4. Going the other direction, mark quilt top 4" apart - 90 degrees from the previously quilted lines and quilt the same in the same fashion.

5. Attaching a zipper:  For this pillow top I used an 'invisible' zipper.  Tutorial for attaching zippers are found HERE.  Attach the zipper along the shorter length of the pillow top and bottom.

6. After zipper is attachment to one side of the pillow, face right sides of the fabrics together and double sew 1/4" along the 3 other sides.
7. Carefully turn out all four corners and then the whole pillow right side out.

Enjoy :).  I'm going to make this pillow pattern with a few more fabrics that I think will go very nice with this simple design. 



I am sharing this pillow at these lovely linking parties. 



-Q

Tutorial: Attaching Zipper to Pillow

Adding a Zipper to a Pillow:



With a little bit of practice, attaching a zipper to a pillow could be a pretty fast process. I usually use 'invisible' zippers that are nicely tucked in once attached, so it's barely visible once the pillow is completed. Zippers keeps the pillow nicely enclosed without the worry of a flap or other enclosure types.

Here's my method for attachment a zipper to a pillow top:
Use this method after pillow top is completed (quilting etc).  The pillow bottom should be of the same dimensions.

1. Face pillow top and pillow bottom, right side together (wrong side facing out).  
2. Stitch long stitches (I use setting 5 on the sewing machine) with 1/3" seam allowance against one side 
3. Press open the seam

4. Lay the pressed seam open and move the pillow top and bottom to the left side
5. Pin down right side of the zipper and attach to the open right side seam made in the previous step and sew down as closely as possible to the zipper teeth.  If the zipper grip is in the way, go ahead and unzip to move it out of the way.  Double stitch zipper to make sure it's on extra tight :).

6. Move the pillow top and bottom to the right side of the open seam, and attach the left side of the zipper to the left side of the open seam.  Double sew as closely to the zipper teeth as possible.
7. Once zipper is securely sewn on both seams open up the pillow top and bottom and face right side up.  
8. Take a seam ripper and remove the stitches about an inch from each end where the zipper is.

9. Fold the pillow top and bottom back on top of each other with wrong sides together, and stitch back and forth on each end of the zipper.  This will secure each the ends of the zipper to the pillow top and bottom.

That's it :).  It may seem a little complicated - haha at least to me when I first tried this, but after a couple of trial and errors I finally got the hang out it...and so will you.  I add zippers to most of my pillows.  Makes for super easy cleaning and even with the roughest of play the pillow cover stays secure :).

-Q

Child's Play Quilt Pattern Now Available

I am super excited about this...my FIRST completed Quilt pattern!!!!  I've been known to design on paper, napkins, kid's coloring books...  Even my most 'formal' designs are all informally typed in a fashion that only I understand...haha I'm sure some of you could relate.  So writing up a design that I had to share with others was a HUGE step for me :).

So without further ado - here's the super neat, super organized pattern for Child's Play:

available on my Etsy Shop.

I would love to hear your feedback on this pattern and the instructions...hopefully they are nice and clear :P.  To complement this pattern and future ones I am also starting a Tutorial & Tips section here.  You may have already noticed the 'Tutorial & Tips' tab beneath the blog header.  I'm hoping to get the first set of tutorials ready by the end of this week...I'll keep everyone posted :).  The first few sets will go over binding - cutting for, assembling and attaching it to a quilt.

I am very excited and happy about all the new additions to JAQS Studio and hopefully will continue to expand as time goes on.

I am also thankful for all the support from all you fellow craft/quilt/design/beauty/design-enthusiast out there.  It's great to chat and share ideas from like-minded people.  THANK YOU!

-Q

Quilt Top Finishing Touches

After all the piecing and pressing it's time to put together the quilt sandwich correct?  Not quite.  I like to give my quilt top (and bottom if it's pieced) a little TLC before sandwiching. This ensures the quilt top measurements are accurate, all loose threads and debris are gone and the all seams are pressed down.

The process and tools:

(1) Mark any areas that need to be trimmed with a ruler and non-staining marking pencil or chalk.



(2) Trim off all the marked areas from step (1). I usually use fabric scissors for this step for larger quilts but for smaller projects I use my rotary cutter and mat. Have your ruler handy to make sure all cuts are accurate.



(3) Use little trimming scissors to trim off any access threads. You want to make all the threads are trimmed before quilting because loose threads can get quilted onto the quilt and difficult to trim off later.



(4) Make sure all loose threads are picked off. I use a lint brush for this because thread tends to cling to everything and somehow find itself back on the quilt top if not properly disposed of.



(5) Have your iron board and iron out again for a final pass to make sure all seams are securely pressed down. Having seams flat ensures a nice even quilt top without any weird lumps. It also makes for easier quilting.



After ALL these steps on both the quilt top and quilt bottom, I am now ready for some sandwiching :).

-Q

Sewing Room Apron & Tutorial

Ever since I got my cutting table I have become ultra paranoid about my shirts running against the table - and yes, I was cutting fabrics on the floor before :P.  So to help with this new problem I have made myself a Sewing Room Apron:


Simple apron that would cover above the belly button and about half way down the thigh - perfect for using around the sewing room. 

Here's how I did it:

1. Cut your fabrics:
• Top fabric: ~21" x 17"
• Lining fabric: ~19" x 13"
• Ties: 2 pieces 21" x 2.5"

2. Make the 2 ties: Fold and sew raw edges 1/4" and fold together to form two strips for the ties

3.  Put together the apron top:
• Fold 1/4" and sew down all raw edges of the lining and top fabric
• With the top fabric right side down , place the liner right side up on top of the top fabric.  Make sure that the liner fabric is about 1 inch lower than the top fabric.  
• Fold down the two short edges of the top fabric over the liner and sew down.  Make sure that the top fabric is sewn so that the edge of the liner fabric is completely covered
• Fold down top edge of the top fabric about 1" over the liner fabric.  Insert a tie on each end of the folded top.  Sew down the top edge and the inserted ties.

4. Voila!  All done :)

I use this apron ALL the time.  I try not to get it all greasy and yucky so I resist using it in the kitchen (hehe save my kitchen apron for that job).  Now I am free to lean up against my cutting table all I want without having to worry about wearing down my shirts.

Thanks for stopping by and remember I like to share my projects at these creative linking parties.



Project Details:

Sewing Room Apron

Fabrics: Robert Kaufman's Metro Cafe, Natural Moda Solid, Sky Blue from Moda

-Q

Simple Valentine

So this Thursday while I was dropping my little ones off at preschool, the teacher brought up how the kids were exchanging Valentines THE NEXT DAY!  EEEK!  After a full day at work, cooking dinner, and getting the kids all setup after preschool - I get to making a Simple Valentine.  (yes yes I could have just picked some up at a store, but you know me - I like homemade :)).

Here's my version of a Simple Little Valentine:




Step 1:
Gather up some construction paper and cut circles (as many as you need Valentines) and a ton of hearts.



Step 2:
Recruit a 4 year old to help 'design' each Valentine arrangement. The circle being the 'card' and the hearts as the decor.


Step 3:
Glue the hearts on.


Step 4:
Attach yarn.


ALL DONE :). They all turned out great. My son was smiling and having fun throughout the whole process and that's what it is all about right? :)

Have a sweet Valentines day.

As usual, I love to share my project @ these linking parties.

-Q

Week 8 of the 12 Weeks of Christmas - Christmas Wreath

Between gifts, food, decorating and just general holiday spending, my wallet and I are a little tired of spending.  So when it I remembered that we retired our holiday wreath last year, I was not happy about having to purchase a new one.  But fear not, re-purposing to the rescue :) - cheesy I know!

With some creativity and work you could make a Christmas wreath like this for practically nothing.



Here's what you do:

1. Take some Christmas tree branches - you know the ones they or you cut off when you get a Christmas tree?  You could use the trimmings from your tree or stop by your local tree farm because they usually throw out the branch trimmings and happy to give it to you for free.
   
   
2. Find decorative things around the house or outside that you could use on the wreath. I found some old pine cones from a trip we took up a few years ago (FREE!), old Christmas ribbon, some of the Snowflakes I made last week, and short string of battery operated lights I got on sale @ Target.
   
3. I form the tree trimmings to look like a wreath by overlaying the branch together and then tying it all down with some string then some ribbon.
   
   
   
4. Attach the decorations using ribbons or thin metal wiring. Try to hide as much as the brown branches as possible :).
   
   
5. If you have any holiday lights attach them last - after all the other decoration has gone up.
   
   
6. Use the rest of the ribbon to loop through the center of the finished wreath and tie off to create loop so the wreath could be hung from a hook.

Voila! A handmade Christmas wreath :). Mine cost about $4 to make because of the little string of lights I put on and the ribbon cost me about $1 from last year at a clearance holiday sale. Not bad huh? :) Decorating for the holidays don't have to cost a fortune.



Sharing this at these wonderful sites.