Honey Goat Milk Soap

Posted on October 31, 2012 by thequiltedcat

My aunt recently requested some more of my homemade goat’s milk soap. Goat milk is very nourishing for the skin and contains rich vitamins. Since this soap has a low pH level, it really helps protect dry skin. This soap is also great for sensitive skin or acne-prone skin.

I made a large batch of regular goat milk soap with a little added honey fragrance. The result is a slightly sweet and light soap!

Honey Goat Milk Bar Soap

I also created an extra batch using my gingerbread person mold for a fun holiday soap!

Gingerbread Man Shaped Goat Milk Soap

I will be placing just a few of each type – the bar and the gingerbread man – for sale in my Etsy shop today. These make great holiday gifts.

Enjoy!
~Jennifer

Finished Christmas Tree and Presents Mini Wall Hanging

Posted on October 29, 2012 by thequiltedcat

In my last post, I talked about making a little quilted wall hanging by using small blocks designed by Carol Doak.

The wall hanging turned out so cute! I used just 3 blocks, plus inner and outer borders to make the entire project. The finished wall hanging is approximately 14 inches tall by 10.5 inches wide. I used some pearly white snowflake buttons as accents, added some reindeer ribbon trim as hangers, and used a branch off my plum tree for the mini quilt rack. The end result is a rustic little Christmas Tree and Presents mini wall hanging that I will use as part of my holiday decorations this year.

Finished Christmas Tree and Presents Mini Wall Hanging

I did very minimal quilting using my regular sewing machine. The presents are the exact same size, but I used a dark brown print for a border around one present and a tan around the other. If I make this project again, I’d probably choose a different border for the first present to give it more contrast against the black outer border.

Little Reindeer Gifts

A few years ago, I found this fun reindeer printed ribbon at a local craft store. I thought that it would accent the little reindeer gifts pretty well.

Reindeer Ribbon

I found it pretty enjoyable to work on a mini project that I could finish in just a few hours! This project is a great one to use up some of my scraps.

Enjoy!
~Jennifer~

Funky Tree Christmas Block

Posted on October 24, 2012 by thequiltedcat

I’ve been thinking about making a small, simple quilt that I can put into a table stand to display during the holiday season. I really wanted to use a tree as the focal point with some accent blocks.

I got inspired by Carol Doak’s book, 50 Little Paper-Pieced Blocks. You can purchase this book directly from Carol’s website or from Amazon for about $10.

There are several different tree patterns in this book, but I opted to use the Funky Tree block on page 28. All the blocks in this book are small – just 3 inches square finished. For my project, I wanted a larger center block. I increased the block 200% so the finished block would be 6 inches square. I then added a small border to the block.

Funky Tree Christmas Block

As you can see, this block uses 5 different green fabrics to create the little tree. I’m keeping my color palette muted for this particular project. The background fabric is actually more cream colored than the photo shows with delicate little snowflakes. The burgundy red border also has a snowflake pattern.

Naturally, what should go under a Christmas tree but some cute little presents?

I used the Gift block on page 38, kept the 3 inch finished size, and added a small border.

Gift Christmas Block

The gift block uses a Moda print (Seasonal Gatherings Tan Burgundy 1068) that I fussy-cut so a reindeer would show on either side of the center ribbon. The center ribbon is a burgundy red print and the background is a Moda cream print (#30150) that perfectly complements both the gift block and the background of the funky tree block.

My next step is to create more of the 3 inch blocks to go around the tree block. Stay tuned for an update on this fun and quick holiday project!

Happy piecing!
~Jennifer~

Little Honu (Turtle) Quilted Bag

Posted on October 20, 2012 by thequiltedcat

In September, I visited the NW Quilting Expo in Portland. I found some gorgeous turtle batik fabric that I just knew I needed to have!!! The vendor for the turtle batik is Quilt Passions and you can buy the fabric online.

While continuing to browse the expo, I came across another vendor who had a bunch of cute bag patterns that only require 6 fat quarters and some fusible fleece to make. After pondering the bag patterns, I selected the Half Moon Bay one because I thought I could modify it to use my turtle batik fabric.

Honu Batik Fabric and Bag Pattern

This past week, I had the chance to make the bag. I fussy-cut the larger squares in the pattern to feature a turtle from the batik print. I also used a lovely batik that looked like water for the background and handles. The accent fabrics are a dark blue batik, a dark green print batik with a slight turtle pattern, and a light green batik.

As accent items, I purchased some little honu (turtle) charms cut from koa wood from Etsy. I hand sewed 1 honu charm to each light green batik squre and sewed additional charms along the top portion of the finished bag.

Honu Charms from Koa Wood

Here are some pics of the completed project:

Completed Little Honu Bag (Inside)

Completed Little Honu Bag

Since I did modify the pattern a bit, I used more than 1 fat quarter of the turtle batik fabric to fuzzy cut the squares and to use it for my lining. I used 2 fat quarters of the batik water print, 2 fat quarters of the dark blue batik, and portions of 1 fat quarter each of the dark green batik and light green batik.

This little honu bag brings a smile to my face!

Enjoy!
~Jennifer~

October Mystery BOM

Posted on October 14, 2012 by thequiltedcat

I found some time this week to complete my October mystery block-of-the-month. This is part of a year long mystery by Carol Doak on her Yahoo group board. You can join the group for free and catch up with the group! You can read about my September block here.

This block is called Posey Ring:

October Mystery BOM

I really like how the dark blue star fabric pops along the outside edges and the inner posey ring!

The group has now completed 6 of the blocks.

Here’s a pic of my first 6 blocks. I wanted to take this photo outside for greater contrast and to pull the colors out a bit more. But, it has finally rained here in western Oregon after a long dry period!

First 6 Mystery Blocks

Happy paper piecing!
~Jennifer~

Completed Happy Halloween Quilt!

Posted on October 11, 2012 by thequiltedcat

I added the finishing touches to my Happy Halloween quilt this week. This quilt is designed by Amy Bradley and you can read about my progress in earlier posts here.

I hand-stitched the binding to the quilt back over several evenings this week (while watching movies with the family). Once the binding was completed, I then hand-stitched on the button eyes for each character. I still need to create a quilt label and add it to the quilt back.

Here’s a photo of the completed quilt:

Completed Happy Halloween Quilt

And, of course, another photo with my outdoor “quilting” cat. He likes to supervise any and all outdoor projects, including the photographing of said projects. In this photo, he had just given his sniff of approval to the quilt!

Cat Approved Halloween Quilt

I hope you’ve enjoyed following my progress on this quilt! I’ve also been working on a Christmas block-of-the-month project from a different designer. I will soon post about that project as it’s nearly complete, but it will be really close if I finish it by this Christmas.

Enjoy!
~Jennifer~

Halloween Witch Cat Quilted Wallhanging Surprise!

Posted on October 9, 2012 by thequiltedcat

This past Saturday, while I was feeling a little under-the-weather from a cold, I trudged out to the mailbox. The sunshine and warm October weather perked me up a bit, but what I found inside really made me smile! My sister had made me a cute little Halloween quilted wall-hanging as a surprise and mailed it to me!

As her inspiration, she used a free cat-in-the-pumpkin pattern from Carol Doak. Then, she modified the cat so it now includes a body and a little witch’s hat. She added some yellow embroidery for the cat’s collar and the hat’s brim. The quilt is then accented with beautiful autumn colored borders and binding.

Isn’t this an adorable Halloween quilt? I’m going to display it all month long!

Halloween Witch Cat Quilted Wallhanging

It’s always great to get a surprise in the mail. What crafty item have you sent to a family member or friend?

Enjoy!
~Jennifer~

Werewolf, Death, Mummy, and Cat Halloween Quilt Blocks – the Final Row!

Posted on October 5, 2012 by thequiltedcat

Yippee – I recently completed the final row in my “Happy Halloween” quilt designed by Amy Bradley. This final row features 4 adorable little critters! They are without their eye buttons for now, but I hope to be able to get the whole thing quilted this weekend.

Go to this post for earlier pictures and details about this fun project.

Here’s Mr. Werewolf and Mr. Death’s up close photo:

Werewolf and Death Close-Ups

And the Mummy and Cat close-up photo. The black line detail on the mummy are actual stitching lines over a piece of white fabric!

Mummy and Cat Close-Up

Now that I have all the Halloween critters assembled, I sewed them together into one large rectangle with a “Happy Halloween” row separating the 1st character row from the 2nd character row.

Here is the quilt top before I added the borders. There will be a small black and white inner border and then a larger purple polka-dotted outer border.

Happy Halloween Quilt Before Borders

I will post again showing what the finished project looks like with the borders, quilting, binding, eyes, and other finishing details. This has been such a fun project for me and a great way to use up some of my Halloween fabric stash. All the different colors that you see in the various critters are little individual pieces of fabric appliqued onto a background block.

Enjoy!
~Jennifer~

Old Truck Photographs and Pictorial Quilts

Posted on October 3, 2012 by thequiltedcat

Last weekend, my family and I went for a nice, long hike. We did an 8-mile loop through old growth forest, went past silvery waterfalls, and even encountered old abandoned mines and equipment.

These old, rusty trucks caught my eye. They have such character, even sitting broken-down in the cool greens depths of an Oregon forest. What stories do they have to tell? I had an idea to take the photographs and, perhaps, turn them into a pictorial quilt someday.

This old truck appears to have a grin.

Grinning Old Truck

The red paint on this one contrasts so well with the surrounding green forest. The snow chains are still on the tires!

Old Red Truck

And here’s a row of tired old trucks, sagging into nature:

Row of Tired Old Trucks

Have you ever turned a photograph into a pictorial quilt? I’ve done it once before with a picture that I took of Delicate Arch in Arches National Park. It is a very individual and creative process, but I might one day help these old trucks find a new life in fabric.