tutorial – Page 5 – Sew Bittersweet Designs

Tutorial – How to Add a Button to a Blog Post

A Lovely Year of Finishes, Fiber of All Sorts, tutorial / By Melissa Dunworth

This is a tutorial for those people who use WordPress as a blogging platform. For a tutorial on adding a button to a blog post using Blogger, check out Shanna from Fiber of All Sorts, she has you covered!

Start by copying the code in the box for the button you want to add.

In order to add a button you will need to go into the HTML editor for the post.

Next you will click on the tab labeled [code]

Next you will want to paste the code that you copied and then click on the [/code] button.

Next you will want to click on the Visual Tab at the top to go back to the normal editor. Then click on the image and center it.

And….you’re done!

And now you know how to add a button to your blog posts!

If you are joining us in A Lovely Year of Finishes you will need to add the button to your link up posts – as we are trying to spread the love as far as possible. Can’t wait for the first linky party on January 1, 2013!

Tutorial – Add a Button to Your Sidebar

9 Comments / A Lovely Year of Finishes, Fiber of All Sorts, tutorial / By Melissa Dunworth

This is a tutorial for those people who use WordPress as a blogging platform. For a tutorial on adding a button to your sidebar using Blogger, check out Shanna from Fiber of All Sorts, she has you covered!

Next, go to your Dashboard and under “Appearance” Select “Widgets”

Next click on “Text – Arbitrary text or HTML” You will want to drag it over to your sidebar.

Paste the code you copied in the first step in the text box.

Next you can add a Title if you like, but it is not necessary. Click Save and Close the box.

Go to your blog’s homepage and view your button!

Congratulations on adding a button to your sidebar!!!

Now go ahead and add ours today for A Lovely Year of Finishes!!!

Tutorial – Leftovers Pillow

10 Comments / tutorial / By Melissa Dunworth

This post was originally a guest post over at Quilter in the Gap as part of the 3rd quarter wrap up for the Finish-A-Long. I thought it might be good to re-post it now as the days left until Christmas are quickly dwindling. This tutorial will show you how to breathe new life into a leftover quilt block.

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Today I have a fun pillow tutorial for you. I am calling it the “Leftovers Pillow”. I thought this project couldn’t be more perfect for the Finish-A-Long, this project, with the exception of the pillow form, was made entirely from leftovers from projects I’ve made this quarter!

For this tutorial I will not be giving you measurements, aside from seam allowances, because I want you to know that you can make this pillow with ANY SIZE block!

Supplies:

Leftover Quilt Block
Leftover Strips for block border
Leftover batting from previous quilt (at least 2.5” larger than block on all sides)
Leftover Muslin from quilt backing
Leftover Scrap for Zipper – 2” x 4”
Zipper – leftover from a purse project that ended up not needing a zipper
Pillow form – size will depend on your finished quilt block (my block was 15.5” x 15.5” – I added a 1.5” border all the way around to finish the block out at 17.5” – I bought a 18” pillow form so my pillow would be extra full and squishy.)

Let’s Get Sewing!

Step 1: Baste your quilt block – this project is so small that I decided to pin baste my block.

Step 2: Quilt your block to your heart’s content.
Step 3: Add your borders – I added mine to the block after I finished the quilting

Step 4: Prepare Zipper

Step 5: Prep Backing fabric – mine was significantly larger than my quilted piece. I cut it to be as wide as the block – in my case 17.5” wide and then I cut it in half, not worrying about the length yet, you will trim the whole backing down to size after you have installed the zipper.

Step 6: Trim backing down to same size as quilt block – make sure you OPEN the zipper!!!

Step 7: Pin and all the way around and sew using ¼” seam, trim corners

Step 8: Turn Through the zipper and use something to push out the corners – I used my purple thang, but almost anything will work!

Step 9: Insert the pillow form, zip and enjoy!!!

Have fun with your Holiday Sewing!

Hexagon Star Burst Tutorial

9 Comments / Quilting Lodge, tutorial / By Melissa Dunworth

When I was working on my friend Shanna’s Stripper Row, I knew it had to be triangles but I wanted to include some hexagons. I found the 6 Pointed Star in the Electric Quilt Block Library and decided to switch out the center six 60⁰ triangles for a hexagon.

Here is the finished block, this was assembled using the Hex N More Ruler:

Using your Hex N More Ruler cut the following pieces (Note: I am not demonstrating how to cut the individual pieces, the ruler instructions do an excellent job of that):

For the 4 white sections, cut 8” x 3.5” white pieces and then use the 60⁰ triangle to cut on edge of each piece at a 60⁰ angle.

I fussy cut the center hexagon block. Take you white hexagon and cut it in half on the flat edges. Do not cut point to point.

Sew first triangle on one of the white sections as pictured.

Sew first triangle to center hexagon. Line up as pictured in the picture below.

Press triangle away from the hexagon as pictured below.

Line up your sections below as pictured.

Pin and sew with a ¼” seam.

Press to the side.

Attach other side in the same manner.

Next assemble the top and bottom sections following the picture sequence below.

Trim the block down to 12.5” x 12.5”

There you have it, how to assemble the gorgeous block above. I hope you have fun playing with the Hex N More Ruler, which you can purchase from my wonderful sponsor, Quilting Lodge.

Also, if you are wondering where I have been the last week, come back tomorrow and I will explain the saga that was last week. On the upside it has a happy ending but it sure was a ROUGH one.

Glorious Autumn Block Party

85 Comments / Blog Hop, Quilting Gallery, tutorial / By Melissa Dunworth

Welcome! Today is my stop on the Quilting Gallery Glorious Autumn Quilter’s Block Party and I can’t tell you how excited I am! I would like to take a moment and thank Michele for all of her hard work putting all of this together for us, due to her hard work of gathering some AMAZING designers there are 45 free block designs available for you! In addition to 45 new block designs, Michele has also arranged Quilter Super Deals, so make sure you head over to Quilting Gallery and check them out. While you are over there make sure you check out my Designer Profile, you can see a picture of the first quilt I ever made! I haven’t been able to share it before because I never took pictures until this summer!!!

On with the block making! My block is called Mirrored Diamonds (pdf of tutorial: Mirrored Diamonds Tutorial):

The cool thing about this block is that in order to make one, you actually make two! Two blocks for the price of one!

You will start by cutting the following: (the fabrics on the left are for your QSTs, the fabrics on the right are for HSTs)

Next you will want to pair up your fabrics that will become your eventual Quarter Square Triangles (QSTs), prepare them for sewing by drawing a diagonal line corner to corner. Sew ¼” one either side of the line. Note: when you construct QSTs the first step is always to make Half Square Triangles (HSTs).

Time Saving Tip: Chain piece all of your HSTs and QSTs, and then snip them apart before you cut them in half!

Cut them along the line that you drew and press to the side. You will have 16 HSTs that are destined to become QSTs:

Next take your squares measuring 4 1/8” and draw a line corner to corner as you would for HSTs (for my block this is the solid orange and the stripe fabric pictured). Then you will want to center the already made HSTs (which will become your QSTs) on the square right sides together. You will want to make sure that you are making an X. The seam from your HST should cross the drawn line diagonally; you DO NOT want them to line up!!!

Sew ¼” one either side of the drawn line on the 4 1/8” square.

Note: I was using smaller measurements when I sewed these two blocks (4.25 for the QST fabric, and I found that going to a larger size made a world of difference). That is why mine seem a touch off, yours will not if you are cutting your QST fabrics to 4.5”.

Again, chain piece these to make the process go by faster, snip them apart, cut along the drawn diagonal and press to the side. Then you will be ready to layout your blocks!

Not keen on this design, you can play with it and switch it up. There are endless possibilities. Here are 4 blocks I have made with this design.

If you totally love the mirrored image design, here is an example of a quilt that could be made using the first two blocks pictured above:

If you decide to sew this block, make sure you upload it to the Flickr Group so everyone can check it out!

Make sure you take the time this week to check out the other two amazing designers that are presenting block on Wednesday and Thursday:

Wednesday, Nov. 14
Soma – Whims and Fancies
http://www.whimsandfancies.com/

Thursday, Nov. 15
Mickey … It’s a Fiber Life
http://www.itsafiberlife.blogspot.com/

Now just for coming by and having some fun with me today! I have a fun giveaway for you! I am giving away 2 charm packs, so there will be 2 winners!

Enter using the Rafflecopter below and Good luck! I will leave this giveaway open until Monday, November 19, 2012 at 9 pm Pacific Time.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you so much for stopping by today!!!