Gudrun´s World

Blog Hoppers.....welcome!

Hello friends and welcome to the Minnesota Designer blog hop. For those of you that are new here, I would like to tell you a little bit about myself. My name is Gudrun and I am actually a Minnesota transplant! I am originally from Iceland and just moved to Chanhassen, Minnesota 6 years ago with my husband Torir and 3 kids; son Atli (now 16), son Gisli (9) and daughter Svana (7 going on 17). My pattern company GE Designs was started in Iceland with my pattern designs in Icelandic only and since being in the States I have designed books and patterns in english. In 2006 I designed my first fabric line with Red Rooster Fabrics and last quilt market in May we just introduced fabric line number 7 called Glow, which will be in stores this fall. Working from home, doing something I absolutely love is such a blessing for me. We love being in Minnesota and my kids are talking like true Minnesotan's already.... ya you betcha!!

I decided to do a "Quilt As You Go" pattern for my tutorial in the blog hop to celebrate my new book that just came out last month, Fast & Furious - quilting as you go. It has 17 smaller projects in it that are all done with the quilt as you go method. Included are table runners, baby quilts, placemats, bags and coasters and many of them are done with the precut fabric cuts out there (charms, jelly rolls, honey buns....)

Be sure to say hi in the comments to be able to win a kit to make 4 of the Anytime Placemats out of my Glow fabric along with a Fast & Furious book!! And if you visit all the other designers in the hop and post your comment, you will be eligible for the grand prize drawing.

Enjoy the Anytime Placemats!!

  

Fabric Requirements for 2 placemats

Fabric A: Fat Quarter

Fabric B: Fat Quarter

Fabric C: Fat Eight

Fabric D: 2/3 yd.

Backing: 1/2 yd.

Batting: Two 15" x 18" rectangles

 

Cutting for 2 placemats:

Fabric A: Cut Two 8-1/2" x 12-1/2" rectangles.

Fabric B: Cut Four 5-1/2" squares, Four 3-1/2" squares and Four 1-1/2" squares.

Fabric C: Cut Four 4-1/2" squares and Four 2-1/2" squares.

Fabric D: Cut Eight 2-1/2" strips.

 

Baste your backing and batting together using fusible batting or with a basting spray. Center a fabric A rectangle on the batting, right side up and pin down.

 

Draw a line on the back of all the squares cut from fabric B and C. Layer two 5-1/2" fabric B squares on two corners of the fabric A rectangle, right sides together, exactly as shown. Pin down.

 

Using a walking foot on your machine and a bobbin thread matching your backing, stitch on the lines. When starting and ending each seam, sew a few stitches in the same place to secure threads.

 

Trim the seam allowance to a 1/4" with scissors and press out.

 

Layer two 4-1/2" fabric C squares on the two corners with the fabric B triangles, right sides together, exactly as shown. Pin down. Sew on the line, trim and press.

 

Follow the same method as before with the 3-1/2" fabric B squares on top of the fabric C triangles by sewing, trimming and pressing.

 

Do the same with the 2-1/2" fabric C squares and then the 1-1/2" fabric B squares. Press.

 

Layer a 2-1/2" border strip on the top and bottom edge of your center units, trim them to the right length and stitch down with a 1/4" seam allowance. Press out.

Repeat with the two sides of the placemat and press.

 

Sew the rest of the 2-1/2" strips together into a long strip, press it in half lengthwise and add binding to the placemat.

I hope you enjoyed the Anytime Placemat tutorial. Remember to comment to be able to win the prize!!

Signing Blocks

I have gotten a couple of e-mails from my "Strip Stars" asking about signing the star blocks. I thought  that was a perfect opportunity to give a tiny little tutorial on signing blocks or fabrics.

What you will need first and foremost is a good permanent pen with a fine point. It needs to be perfectly waterproof and it also can't bleed into the fabric as you are writing. I have a couple of different pens myself, a Sakura pigma pen, a Faber Castell pen. Some people have even used a fine tip sharpie with good results. One of the challenges with writing on fabric is that it tends to pucker and move too much and the writing doesn't look all that good. A great tip for that problem is to take a piece of Freezer paper and iron on to the back side of the fabric you want to write on. That stabilizes the fabric and makes it very easy to write on. Then you can easily peel the freezer paper off once you are done.

For those of you making the star blocks for me, I would love for you to write your name in the center rectangle and then your state and/or Country below your name. It is so neat to see all the different parts of the world this quilt will come together from. I was so excited, I got the first block from one of my strip stars yesterday in the mail. Thanks so much.

  The sewing trip to the cabin was great and very productive. I finished my large queen size quilt which will be my new full color pattern for spring market and that will go to the longarm quilter tomorrow. We also got two new strip quilts done!! I promised a sneak peek.....here it is.....more details later.