Be sure to check out my Etsy shop for even more!

Happy Quilting!
Rachel

I have been turning a lot of my applique designs into iron on transfers. These are made with patterned designs so it almost looks like fabric on your shirt, but it’s so much easier!! Of course all my applique patterns are still available if you want to use those to make a quilt or to make shirts with your own fabric. I still love the look of fabric on a shirt, but iron on transfers do make the process nice and quick! I have designed a few for Hanukkah and Christmas, and even though these holidays are close, since my designs are printables, there is still plenty of time to pick one up and make a special shirt for the holiday.

8 Crazy Nights Hanukkah Printable Iron on Transfer Design

Hanukkah Menorah Printable Iron on Transfer Design

Christmas Ornaments Printable Iron on Transfer Design

Christmas Lights Printable Iron on Transfer Design

I also have a bunch more Christmas designs in the shop, as well as a few non-Christmas designs:

Owl Printable Iron on Transfer Design

Drama Queen Printable Iron on Transfer Design

Right now I only have about 17 printable iron on transfer designs listed in the shop, but I am slowly listing one for each pattern, so if you like these, be sure to keep an eye on the shop as I add more!

Happy Quilting!
Rachel

If you haven’t checked out my applique pattern store over at Etsy yet, I would highly recommend it. I recently changed the name to match my business name here, so it is officially Scrapendipity Designs now! You can visit the shop here:

Scrapendipity Designs on Etsy

I have been designing and posting like crazy lately and now have over 103 patterns in my shop! Every time I make a new one, it becomes my favorite. I have 10 sections in my shop (Etsy only allows 10, which is just a pain, but I deal with it since I have to!), here are a few of my newer items:

Animal Applique Patterns Section
Sheep Applique Template

Fish in a Bag Applique Pattern

Christmas / Winter Applique Patterns
Santa Gnome Applique Template

Santa Loves Me Applique Pattern

Food Applique Patterns
Chocolate Covered Strawberry Applique Template

I Want S’More Applique Pattern

Other Applique Patterns
Zombie Survival Kit Applique Pattern

Matchstick Zombie Survival Applique Template

This is just a small sampling of what I have made, so be sure to check out my shop to see more!!

Happy Quilting!
Rachel

Today I wanted to share a few new PDF applique patterns I created. I am having so much fun coming up with ideas. I have a whole book of ideas that I haven’t even drawn up yet, and more that I have drawn, but not uploaded! But let’s look at some I did upload.

Monkey Applique Pattern
This adorable monkey is one of many animal patterns I have in my shop now. Wouldn’t he look so cute on a toddler’s t-shirt?

Ninja Applique Pattern
A crime fighting ninja is always a good addition to the family!

Thanksgiving Applique Pattern
Doing some holiday sewing? Wouldn’t this guy look awesome on an apron for the Thanksgiving chef?

Alice in Wonderland Applique Pattern
I am working on a fairy Tale series of patterns, and this is one from Alice in Wonderland.

Pirate Applique Pattern
Yargh! How’s a pirate hit ya matey?

These are just a few of the new ones I have added. To see them all, check out my shop over at Etsy … Scrapendipity Designs.

I haven’t really done an applique tutorial on this blog yet, but I am hoping to do that soon. I am just having too much fun designing to stop and sew!! If you do purchase one of my patterns and you aren’t sure how to do applique, please just let me know and I would be happy to send along some links to good tutorials I have found.

Also, be sure to sign up for my newsletter. You can do so in the right hand side of this blog. I am planning on sending out periodic emails featuring the new patterns I add to my shop. That is probably the best way to keep up to date on what I am adding!

Happy Quilting (and scootering)!
Rachel

Here is a rocketship. I fussy cut a fun fabric for the guys in the windows. Hubby was impressed with that easy little bit of work.

Here is the Mickey Ice Cream Pop. I love how this turned out. My favorite part of it is the bit of chocolate left on the popsicle stick from when it was dipped.

Here is a creepy pair of Halloween eyes. I thought they really popped off the black fabric, makes them look like they are lurking in the dark waiting to pounce on you.

I am having so much fun making patterns. Yesterday I had a flurry of ideas for future patterns and I am excited to make them up. I also have about 15 patterns I have already made, but haven’t posted for sale yet. So hopefully there will be plenty of choices of patterns to choose from!

Happy Quilting!
Rachel

I have created quite a few new patterns. You can pick any of them up at my Etsy shop or my Craftsy shop. These are all fabric applique patterns. They are sold as templates only. Here are a few new ones I have added, I will post some of the actual fabric blocks tomorrow as well.

First up we have a large pack of alien monsters. These guys would look great as a whole quilt. The pack, however, only includes the templates not quilt instructions, so use your imagination to build something fun!! All these patterns are also sold individually.

Next up I have something based on our recent trip to Disney World. These Mickey ice cream pops were everywhere and really signified that you had arrived. This one has a big bite out of it, but I also have one with no bite in my shop.

To go with the alien monsters, I also created a few space themed applique patterns like this rocketship. I think these would look great sprinkled in with the monsters as well!

And lastly, I know it’s a bit odd to see food as a fabric applique, but I just thought it would be fun to see a quilt made of classic foods!! This pizza slice is one of the ones I have in my shop.

These are just a couple examples, I have more in my shop, so be sure to check them all out!! Tomorrow I will have some examples of what these look like when made out of actual fabric!!

Happy Quilting!
Rachel

First up is some wordage. I love words in quilts, and of course Halloween words are just the best. I started with two smaller words eek ….

and boo …

Both words are included in one pattern, and I provided the right side and reverse pattern as well. The pattern can be found here:

Eek-Boo Halloween Pattern at Etsy
Eek-Boo Halloween Pattern at Craftsy

The second pattern is a fun monster who is looking not too happy.

I had fun making this little guy. I had a hard time deciding on the eyebrows, but ultimately I liked his angry look. Of course you can feel free to change the eyebrow placement to get a whole slew of expressions! The pattern for this guy can be found here:

Cute Monster Halloween Pattern at Etsy
Cute Monster Halloween Pattern at Craftsy

The third pattern is a fun and playful Frankenstein.

Since I went angry with the monster, I decided to make Franky a little more playful. I guess he is just happy to be alive!! The pattern for Franky can be found here:

Frankenstein Halloween Pattern at Etsy
Frankenstein Halloween Pattern at Craftsy

And last for today is a bubbling Witch’s Cauldron.

I have always loved the look of a bubbling witch’s brew. Is she making spells and potions, or just dinner? You can get the pattern for the cauldron here:

Witch’s Cauldron Halloween Pattern at Etsy
Witch’s Cauldron Halloween Pattern at Craftsy

That’s it for today!! I have a few more in the works that will get posted soon, but I had so much fun making these ones. I hope other people enjoy them as much as me.

Happy Quilting!
Rachel

I had so much fun last month, and I hope others will be joining me too this time around! This is very laid back, no real rules, just loads of sewing and encouragement. Here are the guidelines:
 
 
If you will be sewing today too, let me know. You can do this by putting together a post on your blog with your goals for the day (and link back to this post so others can join in too!). Then come and leave me a comment with a link to your post so I can see what you are working on. If you do not have a blog, just leave your goals right in my comments.

At the end of the day, be sure to give us a full update either by a new blog post with pics or by commenting below. Did you reach your goals?
 
 
My goals for today are:

1. Sew at least one block in my “Alice” quilt
2. Sew at least 10 block in my solids quilt
3. Work on a WIP that hasn’t been touched in a while

So what will you be working on? be sure to check my blog often as we will be offering up loads of encouragement right here in the comments!

Happy Quilting!
Rachel

Today I will be showing off one of my more popular quilts using Dr. Seuss fabrics, but first I wanted to remind everyone about the Virtual Sew Day I will be hosting this Sunday, May 20th. I hosted one last month as well and it was a lot of fun! I would love to see more people join us this time though. There are no rules!! We just post our goals for the day (you can do so on your blog or in the comments of my post on Sunday if you don’t have a blog), then check in every so often through out the day. It’s a great way to get some sewing done and have support while you are doing it! If you are interested, be sure to check back here on Sunday for my official post. You can follow my blog’s RSS by your own feed reader, or I have a way to follow by email on the right there. You can also sign up for my newsletter over there. This way you can get updates and be reminded to sew with us … virtually!

Okay so now on to my quilt …

This quilt was made for a pregnant co-worker/friend that was moving back to Australia. At the time we didn’t know the sex of the baby, so I decided to use my stash of Dr. Seuss fabrics to make her something special.

These Dr. Seuss fabrics were the first time I had bought every single fabric in a line. I have been in love with Dr. Seuss for a long, long time. In high school I actually joined one of those subscription book clubs just to start collecting Dr. Seuss books for my future children. I dragged them around with me for 4 years through college before that baby was born! So when I saw these fabrics, I knew I had to have them. They have made some wonderful quilts for me so far.

The backing is a dot fabric that I had intended for another project, but it fit so well for this quilt that I decided to abandon the other project. It was going to be a purse, but I probably never would have made it anyway. LOL

I did a simple meander on the quilt to tie everything together. I love the look of a good all over quilting design.

And I bound the quilt in the same grey that is used on the front. I think it really ties everything together and frames the whole quilt.

This is one of my most popular quilts on my site, and I am happy to say that my friend’s son is now old enough to be getting loads of tummy time on this quilt. Recently I turned this quilt design into a pattern, if you are interested in seeing that I have it available in my Craftsy shop or on Etsy.

Thank you for visiting my blog today and I can’t wait to get more inspiration for Amy’s Quilt Festival!

Happy quilting!
Rachel

Speaking of, will you be joining me next Sunday?

Last time I had so much fun and I hope we can get a few more quilters to join us. To read what Virtual Sew Day is all about, you can check out the details from our first one here. I hope you can join in!!

In other news, I was able to get my first pattern, So Whimsy, to go live. If you are interested in purchasing this pattern …

I have it available in my Craftsy shop or on Etsy.

I think that is all for now!

Happy quilting!
Rachel

This is my first attempt at pattern writing, so I would love it if someone could try it out to see if it makes sense. Even if you don’t have time to actually make the quilt, I would be happy even for a read through to make sure the wording makes sense and that there are no spelling errors. I am hoping to get some feedback within the next week as I would like to make this pattern for sale soon.

If you can help me, just leave me a comment here and I will email the pattern out to you. Or you can email me directly at athenagwis at hotmail dot com. I really appreciate any help I can get.

Update: I now have this pattern for sale! You can buy it in my Craftsy shop here or on Etsy.

Happy Quilting!
Rachel

I only had black fabric at the time, but I love how it looks and it’s very different from other Irish Chains I have seen. I really should take the time to get some new pictures of it, but for now, I will just teach you how to make your own!

*One side note, this tutorial will have solid borders, but mine has pieced borders. I couldn’t figure out how put that together in EQ7, so I just stuck with the solid borders. Someday I will figure out how to describe the pieced borders for you.

Tip: When you are making a new pattern, I would highly suggest making a test of each block first to be sure that the instructions are correct before you cut into all your fabric. Pattern writers try their best to make no mistakes, but no one is perfect and it’s best to find out there is a mistake when you have only cut a small amount of fabric than after you cut it all. This also gives you the chance to test the technique and understand how it works before you have to assemble the whole thing.

Materials Needed
Based on fabrics that are 42 inches wide

3 Yards background fabric
3 Yards scrappy fabric

Finished Quilt Size
56.5 inches x 79 inches

Directions
This quilt is made up of 2 blocks.

Block A

Block B

We will be putting these two blocks together to form the whole quilt.
 
 
Assembling Block A

We will be making 35 of these blocks. Cut 140, 2-inch squares from the background fabric. From various scraps cut, 735, 2-inch squares.

For one block, you will need 4 pieces of background fabric, and 21 pieces of scrap fabric.

Refer to the image above for the correct placement of the pieces. When sewing try to press the seams for each row all in one direction. Then alternate the direction for each row, this will make assembling the rows much easier. Here is a guide for sewing.

BF=Background fabric
SF=Scrap Fabric
> or < = Direction to press seams

Row 1
SF > SF > BF > SF > SF

Row 2
SF < SF < SF < SF < SF

Row 3
BF > SF > SF > SF > BF

Row 4
SF < SF < SF < SF < SF

Row 5
SF > SF > BF > SF > SF
 
 
Now sew the 5 rows together, I find it easier to sew in pairs rather than just adding one row at a time. Here is my method:

Step 1: Sew together 1 + 2; 3 + 4
Step 2: Sew together 3&4 + 5
Step 3: Sew the last 2 sections together

You will have 35, 7.5 inch blocks when you are done.
 
 
Assembling Block B

We will be making 35 of these blocks. Cut 70, 2 x 5 inch rectangles and 35, 5 x 8 inch rectangles from background fabric. From various scraps, cut 140, 2 inch blocks.

For one block, you will need 4 pieces of scrappy fabric, 2, 2 x 5 pieces of background fabric, and 1, 5 x 8 piece of background fabric.

Refer to the image above for the correct placement of the pieces. To each end of the 2 x 5 rectangle, sew one scrappy square. You will make 70 of these pieces. Take two of these, and sew them to each side of the 5 x 8 rectangles.

You will have 35, 7.5 inch blocks when you are done.
 
 
Assembling the Quilt

To assemble the blocks, you will be alternating the blocks in each row. There will be 7 blocks in a row, with each row starting with the opposite block as the one above it. Please refer to the picture as a guide, but here is a placement guide as well.

A B A B A B A
B A B A B A B
A B A B A B A
B A B A B A B
A B A B A B A
B A B A B A B
A B A B A B A
B A B A B A B
A B A B A B A
B A B A B A B

Once each row is assembled, sew them all together. Once again, I like to sew the rows together in pairs. This will make assembly much easier than sewing one row on at a time. Be sure to match up the seams as you are sewing as well. My method of sewing these rows together is as follows:

Step 1: Sew together 1 + 2; 3 + 4; 5 + 6; 7 + 8; 9 + 10
Step 2: Sew together 1&2 + 3&4; 5&6 + 7&8
Step 3: Sew together 5&6&7&8 + 9&10
Step 4: Sew the last 2 sections together
 
 
Assembling the Borders
For the borders, cut 7, 2.5 inch strips from background fabric, selvedge to selvedge. This will give you 7 strips approximately 42 inches long. Trim the actual selvedge part from all the strips, squaring up the ends in the process.

Take two strips and sew them together end to end to form a strip that is about 84 inches long. Repeat. You will now have 2, 84 inch strips. Sew these strips to the left and right sides of the quilt. The strips will be larger than the quilt on the top and bottom. When pinning, be sure to leave a little extra on each side for easing in. Start pinning the borders on in the middle of the quilt and work your way out. Be careful not to stretch the blocks as you are pinning. Once the borders are sewn on, trim the ends so they are square with the top and bottom of the quilt.

Take one more strip and cut it in half, sew each half to another strip forming two strips that are about 63 inches long. Attach these to the top and bottom of the quilt in the same manner as above.
 
 
And your top is done! Now just use your preferred method of basting, quilting, and binding your quilt. Then take a step back and enjoy all your hard work!

If there are any questions about this tutorial or if I have made any mistakes, please feel free to let me know! I considered turning this into a PDF as well, if that would be useful to anyone, let me know in the comments and I will get on that.

Happy Quilting!
Rachel