Quick and Easy Binding Technique

I have to admit, when it comes to binding a quilt, it is NOT my favorite thing to do. In fact, I think for most quilters, it’s their LEAST favorite thing. Maybe it’s the fear of having to miter the pieces to make one continuous strip, or maybe it’s the annoying (to me at least) idea of having to HAND STITCH the binding to the back of the quilt. Most quilters will tell you that they will sew the binding to the front of the quilt on the machine, and then fold it over and hand stitch it on the back while they watch TV. Well, I don’t have a TV. And I really think I have better things to do with my time besides hand stitch binding. Also, when I make quilts, I expect them to be loved, used, messed up and WASHED and I want the binding that holds the edge of the quilt in to LAST. I have a quilt my grandmother made and she had it machine quilted, but she hand sewed the binding (both front and back) and I have to admit that I have washed it in the washing machine and the binding is now coming off. (Please refrain from the lectures about washing a quilt in the machine, I used the gentle cycle) OK, so I don’t want to rant about the differences, to each their own, and FOR SURE a quilt with machine sewn binding will NEVER be “show worthy” at least not a show that is judged. But that’s OK because none of those quilts I make will ever be entered into a show. They will be given away to people who want and need them. NOW, to the good stuff. While I was using my nifty Bias Tape maker to make my second binding in TWO DAYS I thought “I should really do a tutorial on this” but guess what? Lindsay Conner (and Mary ) over at Craft Buds had that brilliant idea first!! So HERE is their tutorial which is JUST as good as anything I could have done (or even better).  Click the image to view the tutorial on their blog.

I really love it when great minds think alike!! Thanks for sharing that Craft Buds! So, if you’d like to PRE ORDER one of those nifty bias tape makers (I used the 1″ size), please let me know by e-mailing me.

So tell me, what is your preference when doing binding? (Or do you have a fabulous friend who does all your binding for you?)

Happy Stitches,

Anna

>Spring Spruce Up: Fabric Folding Tutorial

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I wanted to post the video directly here in the post but it’s not working! So try clicking here for a direct link to the video on my flickr page.

Sorry about that!

Here’s a little video-torial I created to show how to fold fabric for storing on your shelf. I hope you enjoy it and find it helpful. Thanks to the Happy Zombie (Monica Solorio Snow) who posted this first in a photo tutorial.

Happy Stitches,
Anna

Linking up to:

Friday Follow, New Friend Friday, Feature Yourself

>Super Sponsor Sunday!

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Today I’m featuring a guest post from one of our sponsors, Jill from Women Who Do It All.

Hello readers of the Crafty Girls Workshop! I am so excited to be guest blogging here today! Love their products! Well first a little introduction to me and my blog I am Jill from Women Who Do It All. I have a sweet little guy, Sam, who is three months old. I started my blog because I wanted to make a kind of community where women who “do it all” (and let’s be honest, that’s all of us) could share ideas and build friendships. I keep my blog hopping with fun craft ideas and motivating health and fitness tips. I also love to share great recipes and have lots of fun giveaways (the best part of blogging, right?) I’ve got two great giveaways going on right now.

One for a Cricut (shown in the picture) [EDIT: The Cricut giveaway has concluded but Jilll still wants to give one away when she reaches 2500 followers, head over and help her out!] and one for a $50 gift certificate for the JC Penny Portrait Studio. These end in just a couple days so head on over and check them out

I had a hard time choosing just one post to feature here, but I ended up settling on my tutorial for an adorable baby mobile just because it’s fun and could save you lots of money not having to buy one from the store, plus my son LOVES it!

Head on over to Women Who Do It All for a tutorial for how to make one yourself!

Thanks for the guest post Jill. We will be stopping by soon!

Happy Stitches to all,

Anna

>Yes, she DOES sew

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And yes, she IS obsessed with red and aqua! Look at these adorable pincushion cuffs I made today! I made one for myself and decided they were sew easy that I’d make another one for Regina at the same time! I used the Lil Plane Jane Aqua and Red and White Dot from Michael Miller. They were SUPER DUPER easy to make and so fun and fast! I dug around in some buttons I inherited from my grandmother and found a really cool white pearly one and one that had a little flower crocheted in the center. Can you see it in this picture?

The neatest trick I learned while making these was to add an old cut up credit card behind the pincushion part, on the wrist band to protect my arm from stray pins! Neat idea! Thanks KeykaLou Patterns for this great tutorial! It feels so good to have actually fininshed something from start to finish today. Yesterday I managed to get most of a quilt top finished too. I just need to grab some more fabric to finish the outside border, backing and binding, of course. I call it the Love U Charm Quilt because I used 1 Love U Charm pack and 1 yard of Bella Solid Mint for the sashing.

I think this will be a great blanket for a little boy (or girl), the fabrics are so fun and cute! I can’t wait to go to Regina’s tomorrow to get the rest of the fabric. That’s the update for now. We have some yardage of Martinique coming in soon and Make Life from Sweetwater, which is going to be super adorable for those of you who enjoy scrapbooking.

Happy Stitches to You!

Anna

I am SEW proud to be able to link this up to i made it! Blog party Thursday over at Everything Etsy!

Also linking to V.O.T.W.

And while I’m at it, a jump on next week:

Can you tell I just discovered the LINKY LOVE of link parties??

>Another Sweet Moda Bakeshop Tutorial and CGW KIT

> It looks like Kim Walus from Bitty Bits and Pieces (a very cute blog, by the way) has written an AWESOME tutorial to make up some adorable Valentines holders just in time for V-day! Of course this is a tute that’s over on Moda Bake Shop and I was looking at the materials and it turns out Crafty Girls Workshop has EVERYTHING you need to create this cute Valentine holder for your kids (or yourself). A month or two ago, we ordered an entire bolt of Peltex and Fusible Fleece, just to get an idea of what this Peltex stuff was. It’s a very stiff stabilizer that is rather tricky to work with, mostly if you’re using it for lining a bag, but I think it would be perfect for the Valentine holder in the tutorial. So click here for the KIT for this cute tutorial. I hope you’ll take a look. We’ve also listed some GREAT ric rac that we’ve had for awhile and it would make a great embellishment for this exact project.

Happy Crafting!
Anna

>Children’s Activity Tote KIT is Available!

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Since there was a lot of interest in the tutorial, I decided to create a kit of supplies to go with it! Turns out we have all the stuff you need to make it, including the snaps! We’ll even be happy to switch out charm packs or Bella Solids if you’d prefer, just let us know in the message to seller at checkout. Thanks Moda Bake Shop and Melissa Ann Stramel from Lilac Lane for this tutorial!

Wouldn’t this be a great and fast go-to gift for birthday parties? I love educational gifts like this.

Happy Stitches to You,

Anna

>Check out this Cute Tutorial!

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Moda Bakeshop has a cute tutorial for using those ADORABLE Love U Charm packs. It calls for one charm pack and coordinating yardage. We have several solid colors that would be perfect for the lining. How about the Mint Green Bella Solid or the pretty Baby Yellow Bella Solid? The best part? 1 charm pack and 1/2 yard of fabric makes 2 bags! Make one for your child and one for a friend or if you have more than one child, they can each have their own, and reduce the chance of them getting into fights. I think these bags are just awesome and can’t wait to try making one myself, and I don’t even have any kids! And what a sweet sentiment to make one or up of these up in the L’Amour fabrics to show a special child they are loved for Valentine’s Day or even for a birthday. If you choose to purchase the supplies to make this tote bag, just leave us a note in the message to seller and we’ll print off and include a copy of the tutorial for you with your purchase.

Happy Stitching!

Anna