Alice Caroline Fabrics and a Christmas Cheer Advent Calendar

Have you been introduced to Alice Caroline?  You know I love Liberty of London fabrics and one place that stocks a wonderful and beautiful range of these fabrics is Alice Caroline fabrics located in the UK.

Alice Caroline has long been one of my favourite "Go-to" stores for Liberty fabrics to add to my collection.  With their range full of the latest Liberty fabrics available as well as fabrics such as Interior and Linens. Kits, Patterns and even  scrap packs and notebooks. This beautiful bundle of Christmas inspired Tana Lawns was perfect to create one of my latest patterns with - the Christmas Cheer Advent Calendar.

Traditional Reds and Greens are my "Christmas Colours" and these prints were perfect with their striking prints and patterns.  These little pockets are perfect for hiding special treats as you countdown each day till Santa's arrival.

The Christmas Cheer Advent Calendar mixes sewing with Appliqué - you can of course Appliqué your Calendar however you choose but for this one I have used a Triple stitch on my machine.

This is a great Advent Calendar to involve the whole family.  Whether you fill it with treats, lollies, chocolates, trinkets or even beautiful notes this will be a treasured creation for many years to come.  Handmade to treasure as you countdown the days to Santa's visit. 

Jemima x 

F-A-N-C-Y Foxes!

I started Elizabeth Hartmans Fancy Fox quilt a little while ago and it was certainly time to get it quilted and bound and completed.  I must say I am not usually a purple lover but as this quilt is for a special young lady I am pretty sure she will love all the shades and purple prints.  

Having recently upgraded my sewing machine I could not wait to use one of the features my new Pfaff Performance 5.0 had that my older Pfaff did not.  With 5cm wide stitches machine quilting this quilt was a breeze as the machine was making the large wavy stitch with me only having to guide it through.  All sewn and Quilted using my favourite Aurifil Thread - #2024.

While it is hard to capture the Andover Chambray used for the background it has the most amazing silver metallic thread through it giving this quilt a glimmer that is beautiful.  The Chambray came from Hawthorne Threads and while I thought it may fray terribly - it didn't at all and even with the metallic threads through it, it was a dream to sew with.  Teamed with all the Purple Liberty prints I hope this quilt will be treasured for years to come.  

Jemima x 

Heart You Mini Quilt - Tutorial

Heart You Mini Quilt Tutorial

Lets just start by saying I love Liberty London fabrics!  I have been collecting them for a while and just adore working with them.  So when you are lucky enough to put together a Tutorial for the Liberty London Blog - life pretty much is ever so sweet.

You can check out my Tutorial and Interview here!

Deciding which idea to go with from those I had put together was hard.  I wanted a project that would look striking, wouldn't require yardage for those who are starting to collect or for those who already have lots of Liberty fabric - a great project that could showcase some of their favourites.

I don't believe there is such a thing as Liberty scraps - rather Liberty treasures and this project is just perfect for those smaller pieces, smaller prints and even some fussy cutting if you like.

Finished Size – 20in x 20in (51cm x 51cm)

¼ inch seam allowance included

Read all instructions before starting

Fabric measurements based on fabric 42in/110cm wide (WOF)

REQUIREMENTS

6.5in x 6.5in of 18 different Liberty Prints

16in  (40cm) white fabric

6in binding fabric

26in x 26in  (60cm x 60cm) Batting

26in x 26in Backing fabric

Cotton sewing thread

Pencil

Hand quilting embroidery cotton (I have used Aurifil 12t)

Rotary Cutter, ruler and mat

General sewing supplies

Sewing machine with ¼ inch and walking foot

For sewing the Mini Quilt I used Aurifil 50wt #2024 - This is a great white thread.  This was also used for the quilting lines on the top of the quilt.  For the Backstitch I used Aurifil 12wt #2530.  I love this shade of hot pink.

Cutting Instructions

From the White

Cut 8 –1.5in strips x WOF.  Cross cut into 224 – 1.5in x 1.5in squares

Cut 1 – 2.25in strip x WOF.  Cross cut into 16 – 2.25in x 2.25in squares

From each of the 18 Liberty fabrics

Cut 8 – 1.5in squares.  You need 144 squares in total

Cut 1 – 2.25in square.  You only need 16 in total.

Binding

Cut 2 – 2.25in strips x WOF

Step 1 - Cut out as per cutting instructions.

Step 2 -To make the Half Square Triangles (HST) – take the 2.25in white squares and with a pencil mark a diagonal line from one corner to the other.  Place one Liberty 2.25in square with right sides facing a white 2.25in square.  Pin together.  Sew ¼ in, along either side of this marked line on your white square.

If you mark and pin them all up you can chain piece these to speed up this step.  You will have 2 Liberty Squares left over, as you only need 16.

      Cut along the diagonal line and press the seam toward to coloured fabric. 

Trim these HST to be 1.5in squares.  Repeat until you have made 32 HST’s in total.

Step 3 - Lay out your white squares and Liberty prints in the Heart pattern (following the diagram) so that you make 20 columns by 20 rows.  Play with the placement of the Liberty fabrics to create a pleasing look to your mini quilt top so that you do not have too many of the same fabrics or colours together.  The HST blocks will form the shape/sides of your Heart.

    Note: Diagram above is to scale - 1 square = 1.5in unfinished square

Step 4 - Sew up the squares and HST by sewing each of the 20 squares together the make a row.

Step 5 - Press the seams in the same direction.  Continue sewing each of the rows together pressing alternate rows in the same direction.

As you have pressed the rows in opposite directions the seams will “nest” when you sew the rows together.  This will make it easy to pin the squares in place. 

     

Step 6 - Once you have sewn all of the rows, sew them together to complete your mini quilt top.

Step 7 - Draw the word "love" onto the mini quilt top with a pencil.  Using Backstitch - sew the lettering using your hand embroidery thread onto the mini quilt top.

Step 8 - Sandwich your Mini Quilt

Lay your backing fabric right side down, then centre the wadding and lay the quilt top right side up over the top.  Smooth out the quilt top and pin the three layers together.

Step 9 - Quilting

I machined quilted the quilt in the ditch around the heart.  I used a white cotton thread to sew the lines and then I echoed the shape of the heart out from the centre to make a heart shape with my quilting lines.

Step 10 - Binding

Take the binding strips and join them with right sides facing.

Mark the diagonal and sew along this line.  Trim and press the seam open. 

Then press the entire strip in half length ways with wrong sides facing. 

Start about half of the way along one side of the mini quilt sew the binding strip to the right side of the mini quilt, mitring the corners as you go. 

Stop about 6 inches from where you started.  Join the ends and cut off excess.  Continue sewing the binding to the min quilt top.  Trim the backing and wadding.

Fold over the binding and slip stitch into place along the back seam line.

I would love to see your Heart You Mini Quilts.  You can send pictures to me at 

tiedwitharibbon@gmail.com

Or you can link them over on Instagram with the #heartyouminiquilt

Or you can even send me a message on Facebook or post them on my wall.

Happy Sewing and I can't wait to see all your stunning Heart You Mini Quilts

Jemima x x