Jingle Bell Dance Quilting Pattern Revisited

Jingle Bell Dance Panto

Here’s a better photo of the Jingle Bell Dance panto on Roxy’s quilt. I pieced an “Urban Cabin” pattern (by Atkinson Designs) in Christmas fabrics, and I plan on using this pattern on that quilt as well.

Jingle Bell Dance Quilting Pattern

I’m LOVING this new pattern that the IQ is sewing out today. It’s called ‘Jingle Bell Dance’ by Judy Lyon, and I found it at Legacy Quilting. Doesn’t it look wonderful on Roxy’s beautiful Christmas Block of the Month?? I set it up at 6-1/2″ high, flipped “Y” on the alternate rows, and offset it 50%. (That’s the technical stuff for all the robotic quilters out there – if you have no idea what I just said, don’t worry about it, it’s not something you need to know! LOL) I’m using Signature Mustard thread and Quilter’s Dream Poly batting. I hope Roxy likes it as well as I do, if not, maybe she’ll wrap it up for me for Christmas!!!

Please forgive the lousy color on this, I took it with my phone. The colors are MUCH prettier in person – rich reds, greens and golds.

Now I’d better get back to filling mail orders. It’s been VERY busy on the website today! People are LOVIN’ the Caddy Pads and Cut Up kits. And don’t forget all Christmas fabrics are 30% off!

For the Quilter on the Go….

Serious quilters aren’t content to stay home and work by themselves. No, we love to pack up all of our belongings and travel to classes and retreats and workshops. Well, I’m not sure we *love* the PACKING and HAULING part. But attending a quilting related event with other like-minded souls is worth the inconvenience. Of course we do try to find easy ways to tote our entire sewing rooms with us – rolling bags for sewing machines, oversized tote bags for mats and rulers, tool boxes for cutters and rippers and other notions.

One age-old dilemma is how to pack up your iron to go home at the end of the day while it’s still warm. Do you realize it only takes about 90 seconds for your iron to heat up, but about 3 days to cool off???? (Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating with the 3 day thing. But it does seem to take forever when the only thing you have left to pack in your car is the iron, and you’re afraid of leaving a triangle shaped mark in the upholstery…….or your leg. If it’s winter time you can put it outside and it will cool faster that way……Unless you live in Florida. Then I don’t think it would help……but I’m not sure – I’ve never lived in Florida in the winter…..but I’m sure willing to try if anyone needs a roommate!)

Ah, but I digress. So, back to how to solve the problem of the warm iron when traveling? Wouldn’t you know some clever quilter figured that out. And no, it wasn’t me. I’m not THAT clever. This is what they came up with – it’s called the Caddy Pad Ironing Caddy:

It looks like a cute little purse. But see that little bit of silvery gray peeking out from the inside? That’s actually heat-resistant fabric!

Here you can see the iron is nestled all snug in it’s bed, while visions of sugarplums…….oh, wait, wrong story.

And the Caddy Pad lies flat so you can press on it when you’re at your workshop! How clever is that????

I whipped up one of these at retreat in pretty much no time! Fast, fun project, and makes a great gift for a quilty friend. The patterns come with the heat-resistant fabric included. I also have kits that include insulated batting and the fabric shown. All you add is buttons, elastic and thread. (Sorry, I no longer sell these.)

Your iron works hard for you pressing all those seams nice and flat. Doesn’t it deserve a nice little place to call it’s own?

What gifts are you sewing for people this year?

Back in the (Piecing) Saddle Again…..

This summer I didn’t do much piecing. I don’t know if I just preferred being outdoors while the weather was nice, or if I was somewhat burned out on quilting. But now that the gardening/camping season is over, I’ve been piecing up a storm! Here’s one quilt I finished recently:

The pattern is called the ‘Cut Up’ quilt by Pieced Tree Designs. The fabric is a layer cake from Moda called Little Gatherings. I really fell in love with these fabrics when I saw them. Originally I only ordered the layer cakes, but once I worked with them I had to order charm packs and jelly rolls as well! I wanted to keep a masculine feeling to this quilt, so I used a panto that looks like woodgrain. The panto is called Mahogany, and in it’s original form all of the lines flow horizontally. But I modified it so every other block is vertical. I’m really happy with how it turned out, what do you think?

If you love these fabrics too, you can find them on my website. There are kits available too.

I started another quilt using a jelly roll in these fabrics, and I’m also working on a Christmas quilt. I’ll try and show you more tomorrow. What have you been working on?