Simple & Modern Baby Quilt Tutorial

This month, Kristy at Hopeful Threads and my lovely friend Melissa from SewBitterSweet Designs are teaming up to run a baby love drive of quilts and blankets to be delivered to the local Children's Hospital NICU & PICU. This is a cause that is very dear to my heart as I have spent countless hours in a Children's Hospital during my lifetime. It can be scary to be in a place with loud machines, needles and strangers walking in and out of your room on a continual basis. Providing a small quilt for these patients not only provides comfort and some sense of normalcy to an awful situation for the children, but also comforts the family as well. This token of love gives the patients & their families strength they need to deal with their medical problems.

Anyway, as part of this drive I have written a very easy and modern baby quilt tutorial that measures at 44x44 which is perfect for the PICU and can easily be altered to a smaller size for the NICU. Even if you choose not to follow my pattern, I hope that you take a few hours out of your schedule this month and make a handmade blanket for the children who have to spend their holidays in the hospital instead of playing at home with their families and friends.

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Supplies:

2/3 yard light peach fabric

1 yard dark peach fabric

3/4 yard light gray fabric

3/4 yard dark gray fabric 

Cutting Instructions:

From light peach fabric:

(3) strips 1.5" x width of fabric 

(2) squares 5.75" x 5.75"

From dark peach fabric:

(3) strips 1.5" x width of fabric 

(3) squares 5.75" x 5.75"

Instructions

1. Sew 6 strips of fabric together lengthwise, alternating between light and dark peach. Be sure to press with seams open. Cut into (5) 5.75" x 5.75" squares.

2. Make half square triangles by placing 1 solid piece of light peach fabric & 1 striped square on top of each other right sides together. Draw a line diagonally down the middle of the peach square & sew 1/4" on both side of the lines. Cut on the drawn line.

3. Press each square. Repeat for all of solid squares.

4. Assemble squares in groups of four as shown & sew.

5. Sew blocks together as shown.

6. Place borders. Be creative -- this is an excellent opportunity to use your scraps and make the quilt to whatever size you so desire - improv is the name of the game! 

7. Quilt & bind as desired.

Viola! Finished quilt in under 2 hours!

Update via Instagram

Do you instagram? If so, I'd love to follow you. I find it is a fun and quick way to stay updated with our friends and stay connected with the sewing community. Follow me on instagram @PurplePandaQuilts

Studying in a box & other things

I apologize for my absence on this lovely blog but my summer semester is coming to an end and I have been quite busy studying for finals & writing research papers.

I am so focused on my work that I even study in a box while my husband lovingly puts together a new chair for me to use in the office. Surprisingly, it was quite comfortable and I had everything I needed for a successful study session: snacks, water, pillows, sticky notes, books (lots of books) & colorful pens.

I am hoping to finish everything soon and be able to have some time to sew & share all the new projects I have been working on. In the meantime, here is a picture of some fabric I ordered the other day while on a study break...I couldn't pass up Brenda's awesome golden ticket deal over at Pink Castle Fabrics. There are so many fun collections coming out, I think I will reward myself with another purchase once I finish up the semester...

what fabric line are you currently most excited about?

Fat Quarter Friday

My LQS had a fantastic sale on fat quarters this week, so of course I had to go pay them a visit. I came back with a nice little stack of fat quarters and I must say that I am extremely happy with my purchases. I love text prints so this Sweetwater print on top was a nice find. And of course, I couldn't go wrong with some comma fabric and a few grays & blues to round out my stash.

I don't normally buy fat quarters, and instead prefer to buy by the half yard. I find this gives me enough to do a variety of projects. Or if I am buying for a specific project I get just what I need (unless I happen to L-O-V-E the fabric then I buy more for my stash).

How do you prefer to buy your fabric?

Pixelated Peace Pillow Template!

Hi friends! I have been asked by many people to share my letter template for the Pixelated Peace Pillow. You can find the pattern below. I hope you have fun making your pillows & would love it if you could please post pictures of your completed projects on the PurplePandaQuilts flickr page. 

Without further ado...here's the template

Click here for the template!

Quilt as you go

There is something satisfying about quilting as you go. It is quite gratifying - you get the beautiful straight line quilting without having to wrestle your quilt through the sewing machine.

To be fair, my experience with this type of thing is somewhat limited. I like to make quilts with all sorts of designs, not just log cabins, but after making these blocks for the do.good stitches bee I almost couldn't stop. If only I didn't have school I would've made them all day long!

This is like instant gratification. Or at least almost instant.

Low Volume Stars!

Last month for the do.good stitches bee, we were asked to make wonky stars in bright colors with low volume prints for the background. I was so excited to make this block -- I LOVE low volume prints. Of course I don't have very many in my stash at the moment but that was okay since it gave me a chance to visit my local quilt shop where I picked up these beauties:

I am especially fond of the prints from the architextures line (2nd & 4th from the bottom) as well as my sparkly one on the bottom. With these new beauties in hand, I set to work on my wonky stars right away. 

I love how they turned out and think a quilt with bright bold stars and low volume prints needs to be in my future.

Market Tote!

Awhile back I participated in this fun swap involving reusable grocery bags. After scouring the internet for tutorials on how to make a reusable tote, I came across this wonderful Market Tote Tutorial over at Bijou Lovely. I highly recommend this tutorial - it is easy to follow and it did not take very long to make this bag at all. I love the fact that it can stand on it's own and is super durable. Since my partner is a fan of orange I used a DS flower fabric for the outside with a coordinating print for the inside. Of course I could not resist adding a solid so I finally settled on a Kona solid for the handles and bottom. I am so glad that my partner likes it!

Do you have a go-to quick bag tutorial that you use a lot? Share it in the comments below!

Tutorial: Pixelated Peace Pillow

Happy Christmas in July! Welcome to my stop on the Christmas in July blog hop & sewing challenge hosted by Christen from Love by Hand. All the details about the Sewing Challenge can be found here.

For this challenge, Chrissy from Sew Lux Fabrics sent me this lovely fat quarter bundle of Winter's Lane, which is 10% off right now, no coupon needed!

I LOVE this line, it is so perfect for the holidays! The reds are perfect shade of red and the prints are holiday without screaming holiday. I think that this line is perfect for home decor and my first thought went to make some holidays pillows.

So without further ado, I give you my pixelated peace pillow project!

Supplies:

66 1.5x1.5 inch squares from assorted winters lane fabrics
1/2 yard of pillow backing/front (I used essex linen from my stash but highly suggest this print if you don't have any on hand)
1/2 yard fusible interfacing

Directions:

1. Cut the following from winter's lane: (66) 1.5" x 1.5" squares (1) 12.5" x 5" piece for letters. From fusible web cut (1) 12.5" x 5" piece. From the background fabric cut (1) 5.5" x 15.5" and (11) strips 1.5"by various lengths. See the below diagram for all the cutting info.

all units are in inches

2. Layout your squares in a layout according to the diagram above. Sew each row together.

3. Next, sew each row together. Then sew the 5.5" x 15.5" piece of linen to the bottom of the patchwork piece. Then trim to 15" square.

4. Now we are going to applique the words onto the pillow top. First, using your word-processor choose a font and print out a stencil. I made my letters approximately 4.5" tall. If there is interest I can post a pdf of my template. ETA: Here is a link to the template

5. Cut out the letters and then iron the fusible webbing to the 5.5" x 12.5" piece of fabric.

6. Trace the letters onto the paper side of the fusible web. IMPORTANT NOTE: Be sure to flip over your letters & trace them so they are a mirror image. This is important because the right side of the fabric (in this case red) needs to be the front.

7. Lay the letters onto the pillow front and then iron them on one by one. Make sure you leave at least a quarter inch seam allowance on all sides.

8. Applique the letters in your preferred method. I use a small zig zag stitch and use the needle down function on my sewing machine.

9. Voila! Your pillow top is finished.

10. Make the back of the pillow in your preferred way & then insert your pillow form. I used a 14 x 14 inch pillow form. If you have any questions, I can post how I did my no zipper back.

I hope that you enjoy this tutorial! I had plenty of fabric left over from my bundle and could easily make 2 more.

Christmas in July!

Christmas is my favorite holiday, so when Christen over at Love by Hand asked if I would be interested in participating in her Christmas in July blog hop it was a no brainer. I mean, why wait 'til December to start celebrating the best time of the year when you can celebrate it now?!

Seriously though here's the 411 on this awesome event:

Each week, two bloggers will use the same 8 FQs to share their own unique project tutorial to inspire you to get sewing.  The blog hop kicks off July 8!


July 8 – Christen, Love by Hand
July 10 – Sarah, Stitching & Bacon
July 15 – Kelly, Kelby Sews
July 17 – Lyanna, Purple Panda Quilts
July 22 – Tessa, The Sewing Chick
July 24 – Kristen, KD Quilts


Then, during the month of July, start and finish your own holiday sewing project to link up July 26-30 for a chance to win one of three amazing prize packs from these amazing sponsors!

Grand Prize

$40 gift certificate to Sew Lux Fabric
Pearle Cotton Sampler from Sew Lux Fabric
3 Sewing Prints from Pen & Paint
Paloma FQ bundle from Dear Stella
1 pattern from LBG Studio

Second Prize

FQ Bundle from Michael Miller
2 sewing prints from Pen & Paint
Pearle Cotton Sampler from Sew Lux Fabric
1 pattern from LBG Studio

Third Prize

Havana FQ Bundle from Monaluna
1 sewing print from Pen & Paint
Pearle Cotton Sampler from Sew Lux Fabric


Winners will be selected by the judges, which will consist of all of the bloggers plus Chrissy from Sew Lux Fabric. Entries will close on Tuesday, July 30 and winners will be announced on Friday, August 1. 


How To Enter: The Details: Enter any project you’ve made during July to get ahead of your holiday sewing. It can be anything (not just the projects we post here) and can include any fabric – it doesn’t have to be Christmas fabrics or colors.

Starting July 26, you'll be able to link up your entry at Love By Hand. You'll have until 10:00 PM EST on July 30 to add your entry – one entry per person. Link a new post from your blog, your Flickr account or your Threadbias account – you don’t have to have a blog to enter!

City Sampler Sew Along!

Don't forget that tonight is the city sampler sew along over at Quilting Adventures in Richmond from 6-8:30 PM. All you need to bring is your fabric, your City Sampler Book, your sewing machine, rotary cutter, ruler, and some inspiration! 

Hope to see you there!

Mini City

I finally finished my mini city quilt inspired by Tula Pink's City Sampler book, and I really like how it came out.

I used some of my favorite fabrics from Tsuru, Architextures, Lizzy House, Art Gallery, and blenders from my stash for the blocks in mustard, navy, light gray and raspberry. For the background and the back I used shot cottons. I am contemplating doing an entire city sampler in shot cottons.

I pieced together some of the shot cottons for the back, because I didn't want to waste them.

I can't decide if my favorite part is the colored strip in the binding, the background, or the blocks themselves. It's all just so fun!

To see my progress on this quilt click here and here

I am linking up to Jennifer's mini quilt challenge over at Ellison Lane. Be sure to check out the gorgeous mini quilts other people have made!

On my Cutting Table: Seeing Stars

What's on your cutting table?