Think Crafts Blog – Craft Ideas and Projects – CreateForLess

By Crafts-a lot Contributor, Mable who is an avid reader of craft blogs & magazines and is always looking to improve her crafting skills. Join Mable on Facebook to socialize and share with other crafters!

Last weekend, here in Portland, quilters and manufacturers from all over the country had the opportunity to meet up and share what they love. Here are some of the highlights:

Right when we walked in to the quilt market, there were so many beautiful quilts hanging up around the booths. I absolutely loved the watercolor appearance of this quilt, with the intricate floral stitching. It’s absolutely gorgeous!

We very quickly started to notice a theme with all of the lovely quilts hanging up, lots and lots of color! There were bright neons and rainbow quilts everywhere!

This quilt quickly caught my eye. It is so colorful and I love the pointillism effect used with the background. I also love the fact that quilts don’t necessarily have to be about piecing together blocks of fabric anymore. You can create a scene and really tell a story with them.

Once we got into the booths, we had a lot of fun trying out the Sizzix Big Shot  and AccuQuilt Go Die they make cutting your fabric so easy and precise!

A lot of the booths had more fun notions and products than imaginable. It was so fun to look through all of the ribbons and trims that Cheep Trims has to offer.

The award for booth creativity definitely goes to Fairfield Batting. All of the decorations are made entirely from quilt batting!

 They dyed, felted, crimped, and ironed everything together to create this beautiful forest scene. It was really inspiring to see a creative way to use batting outside of quilting. Fairfield carries natural cotton batting, which they said was the easiest to dye. It’s so hard to believe those flowers are made from felted and dyed batting.

After many hours spent looking at new products, playing with new tools, and chatting with quilters, I think this photo best sums up how we felt when we left:

This decal was too cute!

By Betsy Sue Sews, a member of the CreateForLess Craft Crew, who spends her time sewing, reading about sewing, or blogging about sewing!

My kitchen has white cupboards, walls and stove top. I wanted to add some color and accessorize my oven with some fun color and prints. To start I made pot holders. You don’t need much fabric for this project, fat quarters work great to make these. You can even use fleece, an old pot holder, or a small piece of batting to line this cute and practical kitchen accessory!

Start with 4 pieces of fabric that are 6″ by 8″, and 2-4 pieces of an inside insulator material. I used 2 pieces of fleece. With RIGHT sides together sew around 3 sides leaving a small side open for turning.

After sewing around the edges, turn you pouch so your pattern is facing out. Lay down and straighten your insulator material inside.

Next press the open seems inside your pouch so there are no raw edges. You can either sew this seem shut now, or after you’ve quilted your this side of the pot holder.  I just did straight lines, be creative, quilt how’d you like.

Now for the top 2 flaps of the pot holder, repeat above stops with fabric pieces 4″ by 6″ and line, quilt and finish the edges. Make a loop to hang your pot holder by cutting a piece of fabric 1″ by 3″ and sew so right sides are out and there is a pretty seam.

I’d suggest sewing the loop to the large quilted piece first, before sewing on the small flaps. Sew the loop to a corner on a diagonal. After the loop is attached all that’s left if sewing on the top flaps so the pot holder stays on. Just match edges so the small flaps cover the bottom and top half.

By Guest Blogger, Betsy Sue Sews. Look for Betsy Sue Sews on Facebook and join the fun of socializing with other crafters.

I’ve been a fan of the Stitchin’ Post since I first started sewing. I especially like their quilt kits and patterns. It’s located in Central Oregon, and most quilters are familiar with the Stitchin’ Post and their products. If you are ever in the Sisters, OR area they offer sewing and quilting classes and have a huge selection of quilting and craft notions. Plus the most quilting fabric I’ve ever seen in one place! I’m fortunate enough to have a vacation home in Central Oregon that my parents maintain year round (and the house I grew up in!) so I try to stop by to see what’s new any chance I get.

I told you the fabric selection is huge, and that’s just one corner of this store! I just got the Messenger Bag and Quilted Lap Top Pattern by the Stitchin’ Post. I’m excited to pick out fabric and get started on my bag! I’ll let you know how my bag turns out.

At the Stitchin’ Post website they have free quilt patterns to download. Additional patterns for other bags and purses, wallets, skirts and more are sold at CreateForLess.

Congratulations to Judi who was randomly selected as the winner of Free Stuff Friday and the 8 Pieced Tree Tiny Patterns!

These little 3 1/2″x 5 1/2″ laminated pattern card are such a quick and easy way to start a project! Each pattern design is on the front to view and the directions are on the back. Each pattern design is on the front to view and the directions are on the back. You will love these little pattern cards to create quilt kits with fat quarters and leftover fabrics. These tiny patterns make table toppers or table runners.  

Judi’s winning answer to “What is favorite Halloween candy” was…

“Chocolate of course but not those nasty Halloween themed chocolates wrapped in foil. The real stuff like M&Ms!!”

Enter to win 8 Pieced Tree Tiny Patterns! These little 3 1/2″x 5 1/2″ laminated pattern card are such a quick and easy way to start a project! Each pattern design is on the front to view and the directions are on the back.

Each pattern design is on the front to view and the directions are on the back. You will love these little pattern cards to create quilt kits with fat quarters and leftover fabrics. These tiny patterns make table toppers or table runners.  

Every Friday we’ll post a giveaway on Think Crafts and all you have to do is comment on the blog post answering the question of the week. We’ll pick the winner and contact them via email. Deadline is midnight tonight and the winner will be announced Monday. One entry per person please.

Question of week: What is favorite Halloween candy?

If the comment box is not below, scroll to the top and click “comments”.

Congratulations to Laura Keane who was randomly selected as the winner of Free Stuff Friday and the Quilting Designs Books!

With the Ricky Tims Celtic Fantasy Book add drama to your quilts with flowing Celtic appliqué designs like knots, trees, flowers and more. You get a full-size freezer paper pattern, plus 9 bonus quilt “skeletons” and 25 Celtic appliqué designs.

Adaptable Quilting Designs has quilting patterns were made specifically to address the need to do more than stitch-in-the-ditch in problem areas such as strips, squares, corners, and triangles. This much-needed addition to any quilter’s quilting pattern library is formatted for ease of shrinking or enlarging every design to fit the tricky spaces that happen on all quilts. Minimal text provides maximum space for inspiration or tracing. Over 2 dozen color photos provide additional visual instruction for the quiltmaker.

Laura’s winning answer to ”What is your favorite summer time treat was” …

“I love the red, white and blue popsicles that used to be called “bomb pops.”

Calling all quilters! We’ve got a giveaway for you! Enter to win two quilting design books, the C&T Publishing Ricky Tims Celtic Fantasy Book and  Adaptable Quilting Designs by Sue Patten.

With the Ricky Tims Celtic Fantasy Book add drama to your quilts with flowing Celtic appliqué designs like knots, trees, flowers and more. You get a full-size freezer paper pattern, plus 9 bonus quilt “skeletons” and 25 Celtic appliqué designs.

Adaptable Quilting Designs has quilting patterns were made specifically to address the need to do more than stitch-in-the-ditch in problem areas such as strips, squares, corners, and triangles. This much-needed addition to any quilter’s quilting pattern library is formatted for ease of shrinking or enlarging every design to fit the tricky spaces that happen on all quilts. Minimal text provides maximum space for inspiration or tracing. Over 2 dozen color photos provide additional visual instruction for the quiltmaker.

Every Friday we’ll post a giveaway on Think Crafts and all you have to do is comment on the blog post answering the question of the week. We’ll pick the winner and contact them via email. Deadline is midnight tonight and the winner will be announced Monday. One entry per person please. Contest opened to all US residents.

Question of week: What is your favorite summer time treat?