Recapping March-No April Fools Here!

It’s April…finally.  March was about to kick my butt.  There were so many things that came up, but such is life, right?  Needless to say, I’m too tired for a good April Fools joke today.  So how about a recap?

This month was a whirlwind for my household.  I had 3 client quilts delivered, a 6 year old’s birthday party – which included a quilt request of her own, mechanical problems with our car – which is still at the mechanic and this makes 3 almost 4 weeks there…the yard needed severe help with blackberry bushes taking over my flowerbeds…the list goes on…

With all of the world’s problems and issues in society today, sewing and quilting and creating has become my stress reliever.  Sometimes just going to the local quilt shop – Quilters Crossing – and looking at all the fabrics can reduce my stress level greatly!  It’s not my only stress reliever, but Quilters Crossing isn’t open 24/7.  Maybe I could talk them into giving me a key?  LOL.  Oh, boy!  Wouldn’t that be amazing!

My sewing tales for this month were heavily in playing with new blocks for my sampler quilt!  I’m ecstatic too that I found more wonderful fabrics in my quilt colors at another great quilt shop that just opened up in Chappell Hill, Texas – Carol’s Quilt Shop.  I LOVE IT!  If you ever get a chance, go by and see Carol herself.  Tell her I said hi.  Or better yet – I’ll meet you there!

You’ll see my new fabrics in next month’s block for Block of the Month!

I tried something new to me this month – Machine Applique.  I was really shocked at how easy it was…I may not have been doing it the proper way, but I figured it out enough and without even looking up YouTube!  That’s got to be a huge accomplishment, right?  Everyone looks there now for help.

Did you see the deer wall-hanging quilt I made for my 6 year old?  Her request….for her deer themed birthday party!  She wanted all the deer to have horns/antlers but the colors were pink and purple.  No challenge there?

I dug into her fabric stash (yes she has one) and found some very bright and colorful fabrics (that she stole from my stash for her quilt).  I cut 2.5″ strips with my AccuQuilt Fabric Cutter and then cut them again varying in sizes – but still in strips.  I sewed the strips together.

(**Depending on your fabrics, you may want to apply interfacing here to the strip set sewn together.  I found this helped hold the image stiff while I tried to sew it on the block.)

I found an image on Pinterest (free, of course) and cut it out by hand – NOT MY FABRIC SCISSORS!  I pinned the image/graphic to the strips that were sewn together and traced around using a Frixion (from Pilot) pen/marker.  This pen will erase when I put the iron back on the fabric.  Then I hand cut the image out with my fabric scissors.

I did pin the deer onto the fabric.  I thought about using fabric adhesive, but I couldn’t do it in my space without getting the glue everywhere so I just pinned it to the fabric.  For the blue background fabric – I simply cut out a 12.5″ square block.  I centered the deer as best I could with the help of a ruler and pinned as best I could.

I made another 12.5″ square block out of a marbled purple and then sewed the 3 blocks together.  Before I knew it, I had all 4 deer appliqued to the fabric and the quilt top pieced together!

I decided to do a checkerboard pattern with the blue and purple blocks.  I did also decide to use the extra strips to make my binding and used all of the different fabrics in varying lengths for it.  I think it turned out great!  And best of all, so does the 6 year old!

For an extra touch, you can quilt the blocks without the applique…I found these antlers online and wanted to quilt them into the blocks, but due to time…wasn’t able to do them.

For this wall-hanging size quilt, I only did stitch in the ditch quilting.  I wanted to do more, but time was my enemy.  I only had two days to get this done and I barely made that deadline with Bailey running around me.

The marbled fabrics make it look more quilted than it is…but that’s okay with me!  The binding isn’t perfect, but it’s done…and the 6 year old is very happy with it!  She told me she wants it to stay where it is, in the dining area.

I plan on taking it to my next guild meeting!  I’m pretty proud of it…

What were some of your sewing projects that you worked on in March?  Did any of them help relieve some stress like mine did?  Share your tricks and tips!  How’s Block of the Month going for you?