Loving the new Sparkling Rose Gold fabric by Riley Blake!

My niece Lindsay is headed to college this Fall and she has asked for quilt throw for her dorm room with rose gold.  She is doing her entire dorm room in rose gold and white.  Apparently it's the latest colors.  She is very stylish and even has her own YouTube Channel.  She is a star in my humble opinion.  Her educational goals is journalism and acting.  So I set out to find some fabric to do the job  I was so excited to find Riley Blake just came out with a new fabric called Sparkling Rose Gold (they also have gold ones too).  As you can see, Boris loves the new quilt top!   The boys (cats babies) always climb up to see what I'm doing and even help me!

They also have a sparkle GOLD collection so make sure you pick between the rose gold and the gold fabrics!  I got mine from this Etsy seller but I have seen it now at FatQuarterShop.  I am sure many more vendors with start carrying this wonderful line as it releases.    

This is my niece Lindsay.  She is headed to Towson State in Maryland and she plans on studying journalism.  She is already a public figure by having her own YouTube channel.  It's called "LindsayMurrayBeauty".  It's for high school girls or college age women.  She is such a sweet girl with a good spirit.  She teaches make up and shows clothing ideas.  Captain of her cheerleading high school team, honor roll, volunteer at SPCA of Maryland, nice to everyone and adorable.  Love her so much.  

I used freezer paper applique techniqe to make the monogram letters and the circle the letters will be appliqued on.  How did I do it?  I downloaded a free font from the internet and printed it out on paper and then traced the reverse side of the letters onto the freezer paper.  I cut the shapes out and then ironed them onto the back side of the hashtag fabric.  Then I cut the fabric slightly larger than the shaped (about 1/8") for purposes of turning it to the back.  The extra fabric then was glued with a glue stick to the back of the letters, making small cuts in the 1/8" fabric wherever turning needing assistance for pleating the fabric more easily.  I used a toothpick to add the glue and for folding the 1/8" edge to the back of the letter.  I then left the letter to dry under a heavy book.  The next day I appliqued the letters to the quilt top.  After it was attached, I cut a slit into the back of the fabric it was appliqued to so I could remove the paper.  Wetting it under warm water made the glue melt and allowed the paper to be removed perfectly.  Below shows the completed results!  Love it!

I used every piece of the fat quarters I bought!  There is lots of piecing going on here to use all the stash.  I have decided to use the hashtags for the binding.  Stay tuned for the final product.  I will be machine quilting this one since it's going to be well used in the dorm and I don't think it will be a collectors piece.  

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High School Graduation

Preschool to High School

Prom dress

Congratulations to my beautiful niece on her high school graduation!

Starting her dorm room quilt now!  Can't wait.  

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Quilt Label Tutorial

Quilt Labels by Stephanie Hughes 

I always sign my quilts with a hand embroidered label that is personalized for the recipient.

LABEL TURORITAL

1.  Decide what you want to say on your label.  I use my word documents to create a template.  I type out what I want to say in the document and then play around with size of the letters and the Font that I want to use on the label.  Center your design.  I saved space for a big heart.  For this label I used Adobe Casion Pro Font, size 46 for the larger letters and for my name is used size 23.   I printed it on an 8.5 x 11 inch paper.  My final label size was 7 x 8 inches completed.  

Use a word document for centering your design

2.  Pick your fabric for the front of the label.  I used Kona Premium cotton fabric in bleached white.  Cut out a piece of fabric bigger than your label.  It needs to be big enough to use an embroidery hoop.  

3.  Trace the words and font design on to the fabric.  I used a pink lead quilting pencil.  Some people like to use the blue markers that dissolve after getting them wet but I like to use a find point because it gives me the opportunity to draw the fine details of the Font little curves and to color in the areas I want to fill in.  

Trace the design onto the fabric.  I use a pink chalk pencil

4.  Now you need to prepare the label for embroidering.  I use batting to back the thin fabric so my knots and linking stitches don't show through the front of the fabric.  I use "warm and natural" batting for all my quilts.  Lay your fabric for the label on the batting and cut the same size.  

5.  Baste the two layers together with red thread.  Using a bright colored thread makes it easier to remove later when your embroidery is completed.  I baste from the center and work my way out to the edges to minimize wrinkles.  

6.  Now that it is basted, put on your embroidery hoop and begin embroidering.  If you don't know stitches, look them up on Pinterest.  There are many beginner stitches.  Pick your DMC Floss colors.  I use 3 strands for letters and 6 strands for items I want to appear thicker (like hearts and borders).  

A pink chalk pencil is used to draw my design on the fabric

7.  Once the label is completed you need to finish it to attach it to your quilt.  I always finish my quilt first and then add the label last.  First, remove the red thread you added to baste the fabric to the batting.  I make a pillow out of the label and then quilt it separately and then baste it to the back only.  How I do this is by cutting a piece of the Kona fabric that I used for the label to create a back of the label.  I put the ride sides together and sew it together leaving a small area in one side to turn it inside out.  This creates 4 finished sides.  Sometimes I use binding around all 4 sides like a separate little quilt.  In this case I made a pillow and then secured the part that isn't sewed once turning it inside out.  

8.  I attached the label to the bottom left hand side of the back of the quilt.  I gently quilted the label through only the back of he quilt by stitching around the edges of the quilt.  This secured the label to the back but didn't allow any of the stitching to be seen on the front of the quilt.  

Label placement is usually on the back left

Feed sack Quilt by Stephanie Hughes

hand quilted

This quilt was made with feed sacks that I have been collecting for years.  I found most of them on Etsy and Ebay but once in a while I would find one at an antique shop.  Here is a link to my original post with the dimensions and layout of this quilt.  I hope you enjoyed my tutorial.  Check out my other tutorials here.   Let me know if you have any questions.  Thanks,