Fairy Lights

Hello There,
We are very excited to have another quilt in Mccall's Quilting in the upcoming issue. It is called Fairy Lights designed using batiks fabrics from the Tonga Pashmina Collection by Timeless Treasures The colors of the quilt create a luminous look to the quilt.

I created the quilt using one block that has all the prints in the one block. By using all the fabrics in one block that is repeated over and over throughout the quilt, it creates a consistent spread of color and helps balance the design.

To add some more interest to the quilt I rotated the block in a random manner to create a unique path that travels through the quilt.


I hope you enjoy making our newest quilt as much as we did making it.

If you want to make it just like ours, McCalls has a fabric kit available. See below for details.

Kit Offer
A kit of fabrics for quilt top and binding is available while supplies last for $139.99 (MQK15106). Call 877-269-8024, or shop online at ShopMcCallsQuilting.com Backing fabric is $54.99 (MQK15106B).

Until Next Time.......

Our Newest FREE Pattern Winter Forest with AccuQuilt and P&B Textiles

I am so excited to share with you our first FREE pattern, I designed using the AccuQuilt Go! Big Electric Fabric Cutter and Dash fabric from P&B Textiles.

When the ladies at P&B Textiles and AccuQuilt first brought the idea of our three companies working together to create a free pattern each month for all of our customers, I thought what a wonderful way to share our different talents and products with you.

I hope you will follow along with me as I explore the GO! Big Electric Fabric Cutter & Dies while using P&B Textiles fabrics to create a fun and free pattern each month. Together we can discover why this is such a wonderful product to add to our studios to make creating more fun.

Make sure to visit my blog each month where I will share with you some tips and tricks on cutting and assembling of the project of the month along with posting the free pattern on our website www.TheWhimsicalWorkshop.com  You can also see our pattern and post at www.pbtex.com and www.accuquilt.com

 

Winter Forest
30" x 36"
Designed by Heidi Pridemore

 So without further ado, here is our first Free Pattern in our AccuQuilt & P&B Textiles series.  This month I focused on using the Go! Flying Geese 3 ½” x 6 ½” die that came with the GO! Big Electric Fabric Cutter and the theme I used for this month’s project was Christmas in July. 

The pattern for this month is called Winter Forest. For the project I used the Go! Flying Geese 3 ½” x 6 ½” die to make the trees and the outer border for the quilt. After creating the pieced quilt, I felt it needed a little bit of appliqué so I used the Go! Crazy Petals die to make snowflakes.

I wanted to make a quilt that would work well for our theme of Christmas in July, and something you could make for any season just by changing the colors and removing the snowflakes. You could add flowers to make it a spring or summer quilt or use fall colors for a Autumn quilt. My idea behind this pattern was to create a starting point, so you could be as creative as you wish to make it your own. I would love to see what you come up with so feel free to send me a photo of your finished quilts and I will share with everyone!

The instructions that you will download will have all the directions on what to cut and how to assemble the quilt. So I wanted to use this post to share some tips and tricks I used to assemble the quilt.

First Tip- I always cut all the pieces for the project first and then I label everything. For a project that requires traditional cutting and die cutting, I cut the pieces that require a ruler and rotary cutter first. For the pieces that will need to be die-cut, I have already measured the dies to decide how large the pieces of fabric need to be before die cutting and they are listed in the cutting directions on the downloadable pattern.  

Once I have all the traditional cutting done, it is time to break out the GO! Big Electric Fabric Cutter to die-cut the rest of the pieces. Completing one task before starting another makes the project go smoothly and helps you stay organized throughout the project.

Second Tip- I wanted to go over how to make the flying geese units even thought these instructions are also included in the pattern. First, place one small triangle on top of the large triangle, aligning the diagonal edges. Using a ¼” seam allowance, sew the two pieces together.  Press open the smaller triangle. (I usually press towards the smaller triangle.)  Next, place a second small triangle on the other side of the large triangle. Sew in place and press to complete one Flying Goose unit.

I recommend sewing all the small triangles on one side of all the larger triangles, matching the colors as directed in the pattern, press and then repeating with the other side and the second small triangles. 

Third Tip- Because I like to do all of one task before starting the next one, I like to stage all my pieces for each unit before sewing. To do this, I match up the pieces as directed and layer them next to the sewing machine before I start sewing. This lets me check to make sure all the pieces are going in the right direction and I can also double check that I have enough pieces cut for the project before starting. I find that when I do this step, the project seems to go together faster and I tend to make fewer mistakes.

Forth Tip- To make the snowflakes for this pattern, I cut the background pieces from the silver fabric as directed in the pattern and then following the manufacturer’s instructions, press the fusible web onto the wrong side of the remaining silver fabric. Once the fabric is prepared with fusible web, cut rectangle and square pieces as listed in the cutting directions for the snowflakes. You can then layer four pieces of fabric with fusible at a time onto each shape on the Go! Crazy Petal Die and run them through the machine. For my quilt, I made all my snowflakes look the same as the placement drawing included in our pattern but with the different sizes on the Go! Crazy Petals die, you could design all kinds of different snowflakes for your quilt.

Fifth Tip- To assemble the snowflakes, Use the placement drawing in the pattern along with an Applique Pressing Sheet. An Applique Pressing Sheet is a heat resistant plastic sheet that is treated with Teflon so nothing will stick to it. Place the Applique Pressing Sheet over the placement drawing and assemble snowflake pieces following the drawing for placement. Press the pieces together. Once the pieces have cooled, peel up the completed snowflake which is now ready to position and press onto the quilt top. This technique takes the guesswork out of positioning the small pieces to make a larger shape. If you need an Applique Pressing Sheet, we have them available on our website

www.TheWhimsicalWorkshop.com

I hope you have enjoyed our first free project from The WhimsicalWorkshop using the GO! Big Electric Fabric Cutter and the Dash Fabric Collection from P&B Textiles. Check back next month for our next free project!

Happy Quilting

Please visit us at www.TheWhimsicalWorkshop.com to see all of our patterns and fabrics.