Quilting Block: Tilted Squares

Here is what I am working on with my Crazy Eight Reindeer Panel quilt - tilted squares! It adds a great "twist" to your quilt.

1. Add a border fabric to your middle square. (I added honey bun strips). After adding the border, make sure each block is the same size. In my case, I made all of mine 6 1/2". 

2. On my cutting board, I made a chalk mark where the 1/2" line would be since there is none. Then, I lined my bottom left corner with the 2" mark, and my bottom right corner on the 1/2" chalk mark. 

3. Mark all of your cut lines before cutting. Just remember the goal is to have straight lines even though the square in the middle is becoming tilted! I use my ruler as a guide from the bottom left corner and along the 2" line. See how it creates a straight line? It's also important here to mark before you cut because then you can see how your quilt block will come out before any cutting is done.

4. Below are all of my chalk marks. I put the ruler on the right side to show how you would line it up in order to mark all sides. Basically you start from the corner and go straight! For instance, I used the 2" line on the bottom, the 6 1/2" line on the right side, the 8" line on the top, and the 1/2" line for the left side. 

5. Now cut, and if you started out with a 6 1/2" square like me, you should now have a 6" x 6" finished square. 

These make for very whimsical and cute quilting blocks! You can view them within a quilt here.

Add A Decorative Touch To Your Quilt

I bought this panel (awhile ago) called, "Crazy Eight Reindeer Panel". I saw the quilt put together and LOVED this detail: stitching! As you can see, I added snowflakes falling down from the sky. I also outlined a few items (like the striped blue hat below) to give the panel a 3D affect as well as to help hide the fact that this is indeed a panel! I'm not a huge fan of them, but this one is really cute. You can view the whole panel here. It comes with the large picture with the reindeer, and all of the squares you see with Christmas decor (ie. holly, Christmas tree, snowman, ornament, etc.) I plan to make up my own version of this quilt and have some cute quilting block ideas for you, so check back!

To stitch these falling snowflakes in, along with outlining items on the panel, I used cross stitch thread (all strands) and a needle. 

Dish Towel Bib

This bib is quick, easy, and affordable. You can use older dish towels, or buy them brand new (but I would only pay $1 for each one). It's best for kids 6 months or older. I personally like these because they cover the shoulders, are long in the front, and even cover the backside!

1. Take a normal kitchen dish towel, then measure and mark eight inches from the top as well as halfway across. (simply fold it in half to get the halfway mark)

2. Fold the top of the cloth down at the 8" mark.

3. Fold in half (hot dog style)

4. Cut at a 3" angle along the inside fold (where your 8" and halfway marks are will be directly under where my 3" mark is on my measuring tape shown below)

Here is what your towel will look like after cutting:

5. Cut your ribbing. I made mine 14" long. One way to test if it's big enough is to pin the end and where you're thinking of cutting, then see if it fits over your head. Once cut, fold it in half length-wise.

6. Take the two ends of your ribbing - on one side fold it inward so there's no raw edge, then tuck the other end inside of it.

7. Insert four pins total on the top, bottom and sides of your circle.

 8. Pin in ribbing at the four points on the front side of your towel. It stretches so it won't fit on exactly and that's okay!

9. Start on one pin and sew. I have a hemstitch on my sewing machine so that's what I used. If you only have a basic machine do a zig-zag stitch so it will hold better. The best option is to use a serger. 

**You will have to stretch the ribbing to make it fit. Sart at one pin, put your needle in the down position, and stretch your fabric to fit to the next pin. 

You're done! Here's a view of the back:

And the front:

Denim Flowers

After hemming a pair of jeans, I had about 3 - 4 inches of denim left and thought; surely there's something I can make with this! So I cut three different sizes of circles, stitched on a button, and kabam! 

I made seven little flowers to put on clips for my hair, my daughter's hair, or a headband. 

Or I can stitch them onto a shirt, a hat, a decorative towel, or onto a quilt top. 

I used quilter's thread to put on the buttons because it is thicker/stronger and therefore you don't need to thread through the button as much to make sure it holds.

Here are the clips I bought: I bought these kind of clips because they lay more flat against a head & head band. Hot glue works to attach the flowers - but I used super glue.

 I think it will work better, if not I'll let you know!

The denim will fray a little sooner or later, but will only add to the cuteness of these flowers.

Here's my daughter sporting her new flower clip!

Hemming Jeans

There are different ways to hem jeans, but I found this way the easiest to understand and do! 

Follow these steps:

1. Try the jeans on with shoes you most often wear or size them up against another pair of jeans that you like the length of. 

2. Fold the jeans up to the length you desire (I just did one side but you can do both if you like).

3. Iron the folded section to create a crease in the jeans.

4. Unfold and mark that crease with chalk or soap - whatever you will be able to see.

5. Then measure 1" down and mark a new line. You'll fold the fabric under to create a new hem OR you can roll the whole hem under. If you choose the latter than skip to step 8.

6. Cut jeans on the line you marked in step 5.

7. Fold jeans under twice at a 1/2" fold each time. Iron each time you fold for easier pinning. Yep, you guessed it, now pin!

8. Sew your new seam! Don't forget to use thread that matches what was used on the jeans already. I also used a specific needle for sewing with denim. You can buy needles at Tacony Corporation Klasse Jeans/Denim Machine Needles-100/16 5/Pkg. Also, when sewing, make sure you backstitch but start sewing   near the side of the pant leg so it's not so obvious.

Here is the finished product on the outside:

And from the inside:

**If you had at least 3 inches of denim you cut off... don't throw it away! I have a project to do with it coming up next!!**