Monday, February 13, 2017

Happy Galentine's Day!

You haven't heard?  It's Galentine's Day!  The day before Valentine's, and a day to celebrate your "gal" friends.  The special women in your life who support you and are there for you. It's not an official holiday yet (I have hopes, lol) but it was made up by Leslie Knope, a character from the TV show, “Parks and Recreation”.

Island Batik asked the Ambassadors to celebrate by making mug rugs or postcards, and sent us a pretty FQ bundle of pink, red and cream baitks. Mine featured cherries, lemons, and some fun polka dots. Yes, dotty batiks! If you love dots, you'll have to look for this. The cherry print and other fruit will be featured soon.
Why do I forget to take a photo of my bundle before I cut?? lol I guess I can't wait to play!

I decided to make 2 heart blocks. I cut out the following pieces:
Cream/pink dot background: 2 6" squares, and 4 2 1/2" squares.
Pink Fruit: 1 6" square.
Red Cherries: 1 6" square
Assorted other pink and reds: 12 total 2 1/2" squares.

Step 1: Draw diagonal lines from corner to corner on the 2 6" cream blocks. Place right sides together with the pink and red 6" blocks, and sew down 1/4" away from the drawn lines, in both directions. You should have 4 seams per block. Cut along drawn lines, and also along the center square (3" line), both ways, to make 8 triangles. Trim, using the Quilt In A Day Triangle Square Up ruler, along the 2 1/2" line, so they finish at 2", and trim dog ears. Press the pink to the cream side, and press the red/cream to the red side.

Arrange the squares in a 4 by 4 array to make the heart block. Sew columns 1 and 2 together, chain piecing, and not clipping the connecting threads. Add Column 3, then 4, then sew the rows, alternating the direction of the seams. The block should measure 8 1/2" now. I added 2 1/2" wide strips for a border. Love the dots! I didn't take photos of the steps, but I do the HST like Eleanor Burns of Quilt In A day (there are free tutorials on how to do it, and use the ruler). I like making 8 at a time, and in this case, it was perfect to make 2 blocks, so I could alternate the colors and make it look more scrappy.

I layered it with batting and backing, and quilted with Aurifil 50wt Mako cotton thread. The backing is cute. It has little hearts. My Gal pal Christine had given me vintage afabric she got from an estate. I think this piece was included, so it's only fitting that some goes back to her, on the back of the mug rug.

I used another Island Batik fabric I had that matched, as the binding.

For the second heart, I only added borders on 2 sides.

This one is for me. I need a new makeup bag, and figured a heart would be cute!
I cut the same vintage heart print for the lining, and added a wrist strap. This will look really cute in my bathroom, because the towels and accents are pink. I even had a great pink zipper in my supply.

I quilted the bag front, and the back (a solid piece of pink Island Batik) with hearts and feathers, using the same pink Aurifil thread.



Christine will get her Mug Rug when she comes to have a sew day with me. I hope she comes before all the cupcakes are gone. I baked Red Velvet Cupcakes, but didn't use red food coloring (I limit my artificial ingredients, and wanted to just use the colored sugar). I added a heart shape of red sugar crystals to the top, using the heart cookie cutter from Pampered Chef as a stencil. I just shook the sugar into the heart, after putting it on the icing. Fun, and festive! A great way to celebrate friendship!



I hope you visit the Island Batik Facebook page and look for more inspiration and fun for Galentine's and Valentine's from the Ambassadors. There are so many cute projects!
Thanks for visiting! Have a great week, and I'll be back soon with some kennel quilts.



Maryellen