Little Red House By The Sea

Do you have a sewing machine? Can you sew a straight seam? If your answer is yes you can make this quilt! You will also need an iron, some thread, a cutting mat and a rotary cutter. A seam ripper might come in handy too! And some old denim. Much old denim!  I like having many different shades so that my quilt ends up like the one in the photo. But, use what you have! I’ve made 6 full size denim quilts, and I’m planning at least 2 more in the next couple of years, so my family and friends are always giving me their old jeans. I’m very grateful, but it takes up so much room. I have denim stashed in so many places in my sewing room! I’ve also cut up a couple of skirts and a jacket to use in denim quilts. As you’ll see when you get into this project, very little material is wasted here. Most jeans now have some spandex in them, and that is fine for this string quilt. However if you think you might like to make a rag denim quilt at some point, keep any denim that is spande...

There is nothing in the world as good as a partridgeberry. AKA lingonberries if you are from Scandinavia. They grow wild here in Newfoundland and at this time of year we take to the woods to get our winter supply. I have to admit I haven't picked any yet this year. My 81-year-old father picked 3 gallons for me! Aren't they beautiful! If you aren't lucky enough to have your own supply of these in your back yard, you can substitute cranberries in the recipe. The scones won't be as good, but you work with what you've got right? Scones are pretty forgiving when you are making them, and they allow for lots of substitutions, which I will get to as I go along. The recipe will list exactly what I used today, which is the best of the various ingredients that you can use. First things first. Lift the shelf in your oven to the highest possible position. Yes I mean the one that almost touches the top element (if your oven is old like mine and still has an expo...

Well Newfoundland is not known for its apple production and never will be. However, we do have some beautiful crab apple trees. The fruit from some of those trees is so bitter that it will take your breath away if you take a bite. I’m lucky that the tree in my garden gives not only beauty in the spring, but also yields tasty yellow apples that are small but great for cooking. I made unsweetened applesauce, apple pie filling and apple salsa a couple of weeks ago before I started my blog, so unfortunately I have no pictures. It’s easy to get applesauce and pie filling recipes online, but the apple salsa is my own recipe and it is DELICIOUS, so I’ll share it at the bottom of the post. But for now...the Relish. This is my Aunt Roz’s recipe, and I think she got it from her friend Jean who got it from...that’s the way of Newfoundland Recipes! First you peel and slice 4 cups of onion. Make sure your pieces are bite sized. You put the onion in a pot with  2 cups...

The last section of the tutorial. If you're making as you're reading, almost there! Now we have to sew on the binding. I explained how I make bias tape binding in a post titled 'Make your own bias tape binding'. After I finish this tutorial I'm going to figure out how to put in a link for that and then come back and edit! Just a reminder, you will need seven 1 3/4 inch pieces of the brown fabric to make enough bias tape to bind all 4 placemats.   The first thing to do is cut the edge of your bias tape on an angle and finger press over about a quarter of an inch. See where the edge of the fabric falls over the edge of the bias tape? Fold that under and finger press down to be sure that all edges are hidden. Then let the fold up and carefully trim the corner you just folded so that you don't have multiple layers of fabric. Then sew the folder edge under. Now place your binding about 2/3 of the way down one of your edges. I use quilter's clips t...

Now we're ready to make our quilt sandwiches. Place one side of the placemat wrong side down on a flat surface. Cover with a piece of batting, and then place the other side of the placemat on top. Check to see that your corners are lined up, and pin. Normally you pin a quilt starting at the middle, and you can do that here as long as your corners stay lined up. After all 4 sandwiches are made, you have to decide how you are going to quilt. I decided to outline the pumpkins and then use a combination of free motion leaves and stippling. I used brown thread, which blended in on the pumpkin side, but was quite noticeable on parts of the other side. I quite like the effect since it highlighted the quilting on the non-pumpkin side. After you have finished quilting, carefully trim your placemats, using the lines on your cutting mat to insure that they are square.  The last step is putting on the binding. I've already added a post showing how I make m...

 I make my bias tape using this great little tool You need strips of fabric 1 3/4" wide. I'll be binding a set of placemats, so I'm going to need 7 strips. The first thing to do it sew your strips of fabric together. Place 2 strips right sides together perpendicular to each other, and sew from the top left corner of the top strip to the bottom right corner of the bottom strip, as in the photo. Repeat until all strips are sewn together. Then trim the edges. Fold back and iron. Now we're  ready to make the bias tape.  With the right side of fabric down, feel it through the bias tape tool . Pin the tape to the left side of your ironing board, and slowly pull the tool to the left as you iron the now folded strip of fabric.   When you get to the left side of the ironing board, go back to the right side of the ironing board, fold the bias tape in half, and iron again.  Now you need to roll you...

 The last two tops are done. There's not a lot to add because they are made the same way as the others. With the one in the picture to the right, you have to be careful to make your centre pumpkin joins as close as you can. The first thing you should do is iron the seams on the middle pumpkin to be opposite from the ones to the right and left of it. Then pin as in the earlier post. You will make it easier on yourself if you sew from the side where you can see the seam for the pumpkin. If you want a sharp corner, your new seam will meet at this point but won't cut into any of the corner. If you trimmed your edges to just a hair over a quarter inch away from the seam like Jenny suggested in the video, that will also make it easier for you to keep a sharp corner. If you lose a bit of your corner, don't fret! Practice makes perfect, and you can always get out your trusty seam ripper! Remember when you are putting this together that you have to add half a...