Saying Good-bye...

The last Quilt 'Til You Wilt was our dear Annie's last day with us at the Parish for a while, we hope! She's off to have her baby. We had a wonderful shower for her. Here are some of the photos!

Thanks to all who came to help us wish her well! Hopefully she'll be back soon. We'll be letting folks know when this new addition arrives! Happy sewing and may your bobbins always be full!

Happy New Year!

The New Year is literally around the corner and I am just looking back over the year in awe! I began this year with a new sewing machine and wanting to make "girly" clothes for my baby girl. I had no idea of the journey I was beginning.

In January I took my first class at Parkland Parish to make the "Pretty Ditty" Apron from Ann. I just wanted to get back into sewing again since it had been years since I had sewed anything. From there I was talked into doing Block of the Month and my journey had begun. I remember attending my first BOM class and thinking, "what on earth was I thinking?!" So I quickly enrolled in the first Parish Academy class, finished that class and enrolled in the second. By now my addiction was strongly taking hold!!

Through teaching from Ann, the help and support from Kathy and Tracey I can now call myself a quilter. I love this new hobby and the friends I have made over the past year. As I look to this new year before me I hope to learn more and pick up new skills and techniques. I plan to take on embroidery and applique and hope to share my journey here with you.

I would love it if you would comment and let me know what you would find helpful and what things you would like to see us do. With the help of Tracey, I hope to offer lots of projects, tutorials and maybe even a quilt along. Please feel free to share your projects, thoughts and suggestions with us!! You can comment here on the blog, Facebook or send us an email at parklandparish@gmail.com.

If you haven't "liked" us on Facebook, please do! We love to share your projects! They inspire all of us! We hope you had a wonderful Christmas and we wish you all the best in the new year! I hope you share 2013 with us...

Happy sewing and may your bobbins aways be full!!


The Christmas quilt I made for my church raffle.

Quick Little Wallet

Need a last minute quick gift? These quick little wallets make great stocking stuffer! Add a gift card inside and have a complete gift that is sure to bring a smile!

You can use some scrap fabric or some fat quarters. Here are the dimensions you need.

The cover measures 8" x 6", largest pocket 4.5" x 6", middle pocket 4.25" x 6, bottom pocket 3.75" x 6".  You will also need a piece of fusible interfacing that measures 8" x 6" and some snaps.


So here we go...

I cut a template out of template plastic. After you make one, you'll want to just whip them out! You can't make just one.

Once you get your fabric and interfacing all cut out you will need to fuse the interfacing to the largest piece. This will create your outer part of the wallet. You should have two pieces of fabric for each part of the wallet.

Then you you need to sew the top of each of the pockets. Then press them.

 

Do this for each of the three pockets. Then you will layer each pocket on top of the largest piece that you fused your interfacing to.

 

 

 

Be sure to line up all your pockets so that the bottoms are all even. Once you have everything layered you will place the other large piece right sides together on top of your layered bunch. Stitch them all together leaving an opening on the side to turn your wallet out.

 



 

 

Once you get them all sewn together using 1/4 inch seam, trim the corners so you can poke them out to get a nicely finished edge.

 



 

 

Lastly press your wallet and then top stitch the top of the wallet. Add your snaps and you're done. If you'd like to use riveted snaps you'll want to attach them before your sew your pocket sandwich together.

 



Aren't they cute? Great last minute gift! Happy stitching and may your bobbins always be full!

Reflections of Santa's Workshop...

Last Sunday we had a fun day a of sewing at our Santa's Workshop. We made lots of fun projects and there's still time if you need a little stocking stuffer. Some of them I will be doing as tutorials over the next few days, so you can get them done for those special people in your life.

It was a fun day! We still have some kits available so give us a call and we can help you!

Happy stitching and may your bobbins always be full!

Quickie pot of gold...

Need a little treat bowl/pot for the holidays? I made these cute little pots of gold for my guys for St. Nicholas Day today. However, you could use them for any little gift. If you used ribbon you could cinch them up to make a cute gift sack.

Here's what I did...

You will need two different fat quarters. I cut my fabric into 7 x 7 inch squares.

Next I placed my 7 x 7 squares right sides together and sewed a pocket. Leaving an opening so that I could flip them out.

Once I got them sewn and flipped, I then top stitched around the square to close the opening and give it a more finished look.

Next I stitched up each side about half way up on each side like so...

This was my first one and decided later to reverse the fabrics, so keep that in mind. After you have this little pouch, flip it again so the sewn edges are on the inside. I then tacked down the corners of the "star" and you get a little pot. You could thread some ribbon under the little flaps if you'd like to cinch it up.

 

 

Hope you're enjoying your holiday preparations.

Happy stitching and may your bobbins always be full!

Scavenger Hunt...

Have you been taking part in our Scavenger Hunt Give-a-Way? Each week we've been giving out a clue and at the end of the week the winner gets 20% off their entire order! If you'd like to take part there's still time.

This week's clue is:

What blog post project takes only 3 fat quarters?

 

Send your answer to parklandparish@gmail.com by 8pm Thursday, November 29th. Winner will be announced on Friday through our email newsletter and on FaceBook. In two weeks we will have our Grand Prize Drawing for a fabulous Fat Quarter Tower!

 

 

I think that we will be back to our regularly scheduled craziness! We have more tutorials, an interview with Grand Champion Quilter Norma Jean Nyman and more so stay tuned...

 

Happy stitching and may your bobbins always be full!

 

Check out our website at www.parklandparishquilts.com to sign up for deals at The Parish!



Tucker Block...

Have you heard or seen the newest block on the street? It's called the Tucker Block. A gal came into the shop a few weeks ago with and we thought we'd give it a go. Here's how it turned out...

This block is done in the new Windsor Lane fabrics.

You can make this block with 6, 7, 8 or 9 inch squares. For this example she used 6 inch squares. Make a four patch, sewing your four 6 inch squares together. Be sure to nest your seams so the corners meet nicely.

 

 

 

Next sub cut your four patch by cutting a 1 3/4 inch strip on each side of your middle seams.

 

 You'll now have some thing that looks like this...

 

 

Now you do the flip...

 

 

 



 

Do you see what she did there? You just flip the sub cuts to be the opposite of the block it touches. Now sew your block back together and this is what you'll get...

 

 

Here are some variations...

 

 

Here's a whole quilt! Cool huh? Give it a try and send us photos or bring it in for us to see!

 

 

 

Happy stitching and may your bobbins always be full!