Lego Birthday Party!

I love celebrating birthdays! It has always been fun to go all out one day a year for my kiddo. I love spending time planning birthday parties. I've mastered the food- going with a Nacho Bar, fruit and veggie trays pretty much guarantees that all the party guests will have something to choose from regardless of need or preference. (GF, Vegan, Paleo, etc) 

This year my 5 year old wanted a Lego themed party. I was thrilled because I was intrigued by the Lego cakes I'd seen on Pinterest. There were many cakes that inspired me. Some were shaped like numbers, some were giant lego block, others were construction scenes. I read many tutorials and watch videos trying to perfect my approach to the lego cake. I loved every minute of it!

Z decided that he'd like to have a square lego construction cake with one tier being chocolate with cookies and cream filling and the other tier would be chocolate with mint chocolate chip filling. I use a fabulous chocolate cake recipe from Sweetapolita. I have yet to have it fail, in fact, I use many of her cake recipes and find them wonderful. You should check out her blog for sure. The filling/frosting was a Swiss Meringue Buttercream that I added crushed Oreo cookies to. To make the mint cookies and cream filling (it tastes EXACTLY like a Thin Mint cookie) I made Swiss Meringue Buttercream and added the Oreo cookies, peppermint extract, and green food coloring. It was amazing! 

Making the individual lego blocks seemed daunting at first, but then I found a tutorial by Kathy over at Merriementdesign.com . She did a great job explaining how to use a baseplate as a texture roller to create the lego bricks. It was so slick and worked like a dream. The rest of the bricks on the side I used legos to measure the thickness and then cut varying lengths from a variety of colors. It looks complicated, but it went together easily. 

Aside from the cake, I also made some decorations using Mega Blocks, poster board,  plastic table clothes, construction paper, and crepe paper. Using the Mega Blocks, I made letters to spell out Z's name. Using the poster board, plastic table clothes, and construction paper, I made giant Lego bricks. It was far cheaper and easier to purchase the table clothes than primary colored wrapping paper. I used the crepe paper to jazz up our wooden banister and draw the primary colors together throughout the house. 

I like to have a few organized activities for the littles to work on. This year, I had three stations for kiddos. The first was a decorate your own MiniFig station. The second was a Building Station where little built race cars. The third and last station was a racing station. I propped a board up and put a yoga mat over top to create a race track. The kiddos LOVED racing their newly built creations down the ramp.

Ever since the Lego Cake, my brain has been focused on all things cake! I'm currently working on a baby shower cake. Hopefully, I'll be ready to share a success story next week!

So long for now!
J

New Quilt Design: Use Fusible Interfacing to get those PERFECT POINTS!

Hello Quilters-

I'm excited to share with you a big quilt block pattern that I designed. The finished product is 32X32.  I hope you enjoy!

Fabric: 

Dark: 4 fat quarters

Lights: 4 fat quarters

White: 2 fat quarters

2 1/4 yds ultralight weight fusible web 

21”X 21” light solid- muslin, flannel, cotton- We are going to 

mark a grid on this

*Because of the scrappy nature of the quilt block, you will have leftover fabric.

Cutting instructions:

From the Dark fat quarters:

Cut 100- 2.5” inch squares- Be sure to cut from a variety of fabrics. 

Cut 3- 6 inch squares- Be sure to cut from a variety of fabrics

From the Light fat quarters:

Cut 23- 6” squares

From the White: 

Cut 52 -white 2.5” squares

Cut 2- 6” squares

From the Fusible Web cut 4- 20X20 inch squares

Half Square Triangle Sewing Instructions:

This method of creating Half Square Triangles yields 8 Half Square Triangles per square combination.

1)Pair up the 6 inch square fabrics right sides together in the following combinations:   

3 sets of dark/light 

2 sets of white/light

9 sets of light/light

2)Mark an X going from corner to corner on one side of each 6” square pair. 

3)Sew 1/4” seam on either side of both diagonal lines.

4)Cut on the horizontal and vertical axis. DO NOT MOVE BETWEEN CUTS. 

  

5)Now cut on the diagonals in both directions. You can use the chalk marks as a guide for cutting.  Again DO NOT MOVE PIECES BETWEEN CUTS

6)Press Half Square Triangles Open and trim down to 2.5” square.

You should have: 

24 Dark/Light Combo

16 White/Light Combo

72 Light/Light Combo 

With your solid light muslin create a grid using a framing square or your long quilting ruler. Measure and draw a 20 X20 inch square. Then mark every 2.5 inches along the vertical and horizontal lines. Connect the marks to create an grid. 

Perfect Piecing with Fusible Interfacing

Step One:

Lay your fusible piece bumpy side up on the grid. Be sure to line up your edges to the outer lines of your grid. 

Step Two:

Arrange your half square triangles and squares on the grid according to the block arrangement diagram. They do not need to be perfectly aligned with the grid lines. Be sure that the fabrics don’t overlap- a little space between the squares is ideal. 

Step Three:

DOUBLE CHECK your fabric arrangement!!! You can’t go back once you’ve ironed them in place. 

Step 4:

Iron your pieces in place. Be sure to press your iron and hold for a few seconds. Then pick it up and move it to the next spot. DO NOT SLIDE the iron around because your pieces will move. Once you’ve set the fabrics then go back and iron once more to make sure that everything is held in place. 

Step 5:

Move over to your sewing machine. Fold the first row over and sew a 1/4 seam along the length.   Repeat with the remaining rows. Repeat for all blocks.

Step 6: 

Cut the fold off of each seam using your rotary cutter or scissors. Then press open the seams. 

Step 7:

Return to your sewing machine and fold over the first row going the opposite direction and sew a 1/4 seam along the length. Repeat with remaining rows. Repeat for all blocks.

Step 8: Again cut off the fold of each seam using your rotary cutter or scissors. Press seams open. 

Step 9: Arrange your blocks. Pin two together checking for seam alignment. Then sew 1/4 along the length. Repeat for the second set. Iron seams in opposite directions. 

Step10: Pin the two rows together. (I like to pin from the middle out to) Check to make sure your seams align. Iron open and ADMIRE your gorgeous block!

Off Set Blocks- 5 full and 2 halves

Finishing your block- There are several ways that you could finish your block off. You could simply sandwich and quilt to create a beautiful wall hanging. Or you could create some more blocks and end up with a gorgeous throw or twin quilt. I am going to go the wall hanging route, but I've put together some images of what the block would look like if you expanded the design. 

Single Block with borders

Four Block Pattern

QAYG 2: Working with Spray Baste

Dear Quilters-

Week 2 of the QAYG is here! If you are like me, then the least favorite part of whole quilting process is the sandwiching quilt together. I hate pinning...the pokes and pricks, the sore callus you get from opening and closing the pins (though my father-in-law made an awesome tool which has helped incredibly) not to mention the pins become a hassle when you are quilting because you constantly have to stop to take them out. I've heard some other quilters talk about using spray basting to speed up the process, so this week I decided to give the 505 Spray Baste a go. 

It went okay. I wouldn't say that it eliminated the hassle, it just changed it. I struggled to get the right amount of spray evenly across the batting. I wouldn't get enough and the backing wouldn't stick to the batting or I would get too much and it was difficult to reposition and smooth out. I also still pinned around the outer edge of the quilt sandwich. 

I would probably use it it again, but am not sure how it would work on larger pieces. 

Anyway- down to the quilting. I picked a curvy overall quilting motif for this block. I was searching through different quilting books I got for Christmas and found that I really liked the Fandangle motif in Christina Cameli's book Step-by-step Free Motion Quilting.  It was pretty similar to the orange peel I did on the last one, so the U shape was familiar, but the addition of the swirl within the U shape was new to me. 

I used the clear vinyl to audition the motif and thought it would work. I tried it different sizes and variations and settled on two passes across the row. One was too big and three was too small. (Just like the three bears right?)

I wanted to practice drawing out the pattern, so I found this great tool called Sketch Toy. It is a free online drawing app...check it out! I played with it for a bit practicing the design I'd chosen. (Click on the pictures to view the methods for each)

My quilting is improving with each little bit of practice...hopefully I can get to the point where it isn't SO nerve racking to start. With each little trick I learn, I know I am one step closer to making that a reality!

Hope you find these tools as useful as I do!!

J

Half Square Triangle Lifesaver

Okay Quilters-

The Saturday Sampler group that I attend has been doing the Go Big Blocks. Each month there are TONS of HSTs. I have been doing the semi-traditional method- yielding 2 HST for each block.

When we, my sister-in-law and I, got the pattern for this month, there were 56 HST. I know in the long run this isn't a lot, but I was tired of them and it seemed like so many. My sister-in-law was over and she was also tired of the monotonous HST method we were using. So we did some research....i.e. go to Pinterest.

We found several solutions to quickly assembling many HST here and here.  The first tutorial is for making big batches- 18 HST at once. The second is for making 8 HST at one go. After adjusting our pattern for big batches, we found that with the fabric from our kit we were limited to the 8 at one time HST method.

We decided to give it a try. It was so much faster to do 8 at once. It actually cut our time in half. I am looking forward to giving the 18 HST method a try soon!!

It is so fun to find different ways to get the same thing accomplished in sewing. I have two more Saturday Sampler meetings at Glenwood Sewing Center, so maybe I'll find another method I like better, but for now. These two are my go to HST methods!

Until next week-
Jesslyn


Our HST triangles were going to be 4.5" blocks.

1) Cut out your 10 inch squares

2) Mark the diagonal in both directions.
















3) Sew 1/4'' on both sides of the diagonal in both directions.

4) Cut the block in half horizontally and vertically. ( I was so glad that I had a spinning rotary mat for this process, because it is important to leave your square in place for both the horizontal and vertical cut.) Then cut between the sewn lines on the diagonal in both directions.

Vertical/ horizontal cuts

Diagonal cuts

4) Iron open and trim to 4.5" blocks. This is another instance were having a spinning rotary mat comes in very handy. It makes trimming blocks a breeze!

New Year...New Projects

Happy New Year Quilters!

As the new year begins... my goal setting and list making starts in earnest. Let me be clear- I AM A TO DO LIST JUNKIE. I thrive on making to do lists. It is such a thrill to cross something off the list that sometimes I will add an extra to the list just so I can cross it off or break down a larger item so I have more to cross off!

This year I have a "To Do List" of quilts. I want to make 12 different quilts this year. Each quilt will fall in a focus group: color, quilting, design, or technique. 

-Color- Color plays a huge role in how a pattern plays out in a quilt. It amazes me how a quilt can change simply based on the different colors chosen. Besides playing with the different colors, you also have to take in to consideration the values of those fabrics. So in the Twister quilt, I'll be playing with colors and in the Neutral Quilt, I'm going to play with values. 

Twister Quilt- Color Play

Neutral Quilt

-Quilting- I have many quilt tops that are in limbo. I get the top pieced, but then can't decide how to quilt the top. It is almost as if I am paralyzed with the fear of ruining a quilt top. I want to be comfortable with quilting designs that this is no longer a huge struggle.

As I peruse Pinterest, I'm drawn to the beautiful quilts quilted by Angela Walters and Judi Madsen. Their designs are not only beautiful, but I'd say make the quilts stand out. I aspire to quilt as beautifully as either of these women. Of course, in order to do that one must practice, practice, practice. But on these quilts I'll pay special attention to the quilting.

I am most excited about the QAYG quilting sampler. For the Saturday Sampler at Glenwood Sew this year, they've been teaching big blocks. I've decided to take each of those blocks and focus on quilting using different designs in a few new books that I got for Christmas. The idea is that each block being 36" square will be the perfect size to focus on quilting and overall design. Then I'll connect them to make one beautiful quilt. 

QAYG- Quilting Sampler

Hexagon Quilt- Halloween

Saturday Sampler- Green and Purple

Quilt Blue Scrappy

-Design- I want to stretch my imagination and design two original quilts. It may not seem like much to only design two quilts, but for me it will be a challenge. I find so many beautiful patterns out there that I think that my originality and creativity are stifled because it is far easier for me to buy a pattern than to sit down and create. 

Original Design Quilt

Monster Quilt 

-Technique- Every quilter has a desire to get better, to broaden their horizons and find new or different ways to create the same block. I'd like to explore some of these different techniques and find one or maybe a few that I like enough to be my go to techniques. 

Flying Geese

Double Disappearing Nine Patch

Drunkard’s Path Baby Quilt

-Seasonal- I want to make quilts for each season, starting with Winter. 

Snowman Quilt

I look forward to sharing with you my progress for the year. I hope you join me in creating a "To Do List" of Quilts to complete this year as well. 

Can't wait to see the creative juices flow!!
Until next time-

Jesslyn

Scrappy Happy Speed Quilting

"Go Big Block 13"- Pieced using this AWESOME technique!

Hey There Fellow Quilters-

I hope you've had a wonderful Christmas and are gearing up for the New Year! I hope that you've kept all of your scraps left over from the Christmas rush because I've discovered a wonderful way to bust through them. This technique isn't limited to just scraps- I've used it on various different blocks and it works like a dream.






About a year ago, I decided that my scraps were out of control and I needed to organize my studio and make my fabric more accessible. I ended up going through ALL of my fabric and cutting it down into pre-cuts.  2 1/2 in, 5 in, and 10 inch squares, Fat Quarters, and 2 1/2 inch X WOF strips. I also left yardages of over a yard untouched. That left me with TONS of little squares.

Ahh! So embarrassed to even show
this. It is so poorly pieced! But at least it
gives you an idea of how incredible this
technique is!

Now my fabric was usable and I knew what I had, but I was overwhelmed by the little squares. How on earth was I going to get through them all? I found several quilt tops that I liked a lot, but my piecing left a lot to be desired.

I also couldn't imagine how long it would take me to get a top pieced. Those two problems combined stalled out my productivity.





I found the answer to my problem here. Elizabeth Hartman walks you through a great tutorial. It is crazy how fast the piecing goes using this tutorial. The quilt pictured below took only a few days to put together and it is an oversized queen! (I didn't sew all day either! I just sewed in the evenings or when my little was napping.)

I applied Elizabeth Hartman's technique
to "Growing up Odd" by Wedding Dress Blue. 

After I completed this quilt using Hartman's technique, it got me thinking. Could I use this same technique to piece HST and maintain perfect points? I gave it a go using the Saturday Sampler pattern I had to complete for December "Go Big Block 13".  I was blown away with the results! I couldn't believe how fast the block went together and how perfectly it was pieced!

 First you need to determine the size of the block you are going to make- in my case 9"X 13 1/2". Lay out your HST in the
pattern desired.

Then iron your blocks in place. It is imperative that you PRESS your iron without moving it to set your blocks in place.

Fold your block along the longest side and sew a 1/4" seam. Press. (Hartman's tutorial instructs you to trim off the seam and press seam open. I didn't find that necessary.) Sewing the long seam first leaves you with a perfect 1/4" seam allowance between each row.

Folded along longest side

1/4" seam allowance. 

Now fold the along the short side and sew the length using a 1/4" seam . Repeat until all rows are sewn. Press open.

Ta-Da! Perfect Points !

I loved using this technique and hope you find it as useful as I did! Happy quilting!!