Well here it is...a tutorial for one of my favorite techniques...Faux Cathedral Windows. This method is very different from the traditional method. It is done from beginning to end by machine and uses a fraction of the fabric needed when doing the traditional method. I also think that when done in the way I'm about to show you, the end product comes out more polished looking in a fraction of the time it would take to do this using the traditional method. It is a great method for beginners as it is a simple straightforward process yet engaging enough for the long quilter too. For this tutorial I'm going to show you how to make a pincushion like the one shown above. SUPPLIES (8) 2 1/2" squares in various prints for "foundations and windows" (8) 2 1/2" squares for "frames" Roxanne's Glue Baste-It (1) 4 1/2" square for pincushion back (2) 4 1/2" squares of fusible fleece (not pictured) Polyester Fiberfill (2) buttons (not pictured) STEP ONE Press your eight "frame" squares in half on the diagonal and press and then select four squares from the print pile for your "foundations" (Pic 1). Pic 1 STEP TWO Using your Roxanne's Glue Baste-It, apply small dots of glue to one foundation as shown in Pic 2. Pic 2 STEP THREE Place one pressed "frame" onto the foundation matching corners and press into place (Pic 3). Pay special attention to make sure all corners and points meet squarely. Pic 3 Repeat with the other half with another "frame" so that your unit now looks like Pic 4.  Pic 4 Repeat this step with the remaining three "frames" and "foundations". STEP FOUR Next sew 1/8" seam around all four glue basted units as shown in Pic 5.  Pic 5 STEP FIVE Arrange your four units as shown in Pic 6 and sew into a four-patch (Pic 7) and press. Pic 6 Pic 7 NOTE: To reduce bulk in the center of your four-patch, it is important to spin the seams (Pic 8). Pic 8 STEP SIX Apply dots of glue to three corners of each of the four remaining print squares (Pic 9). These will become your "windows".  Pic 9 Next, place the "windows" atop each side of your four-patch unit, making sure their edges are 1/8" inch from the folded edge of the "frames"(Pic 10). Press each "window" in place. Pic 10 STEP SEVEN Trim away the fabric hanging off the edge (Pic 11).  Pic 11 Then apply a few glue dots to the trimmed edge (Pic 12) and press. Pic 12 STEP EIGHT Apply several glue dots to the edge of the left "frame" of one "window" (Pic 13).  Pic 13 Turn over the edge and press in place so that the outer end of the curve starts/stops 1/4" from the outer edge of your four-patch unit (Pic 14). Pic 14 The inner end of the curve should just meet the center of the four-patch unit (Pic 15).  Pic 15 Repeat this process for the other three "windows". It should now look like Pic 15. STEP NINE Repeat the process from Step Eight for the right side of each "window". Make sure to overlap the left curve when pressing down the right curve so that it leave no raw edge exposed (Pic 16). Pic 16 STEP TEN Using the thread color of your choice (matching or not), straight stitch down the edge of each frame as shown in Pic 17. Be sure to sew to the ends of each point to permanently secure them.  Pic 17 It should now look like this (Pic 18).  Pic 18 STEP ELEVEN  Next, iron the two 4 1/2" fusible fleece squares to the wrong side of the 4 1/2" backing square and the finished Cathedral Window unit. Pic 19  With right sides together sew a 1/4" seam all the way around leave a 2" opening on one side and trim the corners (Pic 20). Turn right side out. Pic 20 NOTE: Be sure to backstitch and the beginning and end of this seam. STEP TWELVE Lastly, stuff your pincushion and sew it closed (Pic 21).  Pic 21 Add buttons if desired and you're done! Front and back views As you can see this is a quick and easy method for doing Cathedral Windows. The windows are easily adjustable to any size...just like my large Cathedral Window Pillows which used 8 1/2" squares to make a 16" pillow. One thing to note about how I made these pillows. Instead of using 8 1/2" squares in the windows and having a bunch of waste trimmed off, I cut one 16 1/2" square (the measurement of one side of the Cathedral Window unit) and then cut it on the diagonal twice to create the four windows. This rule would hold true with a unit size. I encourage you to play around with your color placements to. Be it coordinated or scrappy it doesn't matter. Go wild! Last thing to note about this technique, for a symmetrical finish you need to work in multiples of Cathedral Window units (aka four-patch units). Otherwise you'll have one edge of your project looking one way and the other looking completeley different. You can put those four-patch units together creating the "X" like I showed you or you can turn them one quarter turn and create a diamond with the lines created by the folds. Either way works. And don't forget to continue spinning your seams throughout. I hope y'all have found this tutorial useful. If something is unclear or you need further clarification, feel free to send me an email with your questions and I'll answer your back and tweak the tutorial post if needed. Till next time...

Partner, when you said you like handquilting I hope you reallllly meant it. Oh, and I hope you don't mind that I've never done it before either.

Top US quilting blog, Diary of a Quilter, shares their No-Waste method fo make Flying Geese Block and 8 point Sawtooth Star Quilt Block. Click here now!

In a recent blog post I told you that my friend Connie had been looking for a cutter quilt. After that post I had several people write and ask, “What is a cutter quilt?” I call any quil…

Wait until you see some of the cutest li’l pincushions out there. Maybe you collect them and need a new one to add to the bunch, or maybe you need the perfect gift for a friend who loves to sew, or maybe you just want one for you sewing pin needs! I have to say this […]

"WOWL" Recently, two of the guilds I attend had pincushion exchanges. Everyone should have a basketful of cuteness in their sewing room! There are such adorable pincushion patterns out there! Love the little Owl I made yesterday from an online "Tutowlrial" ←(click for link) by Moonstitches.  SLC Modern Quilt Guild Pincushion Exchange - critters and bright graphic shapes.  Heber Valley Quilters Pin Cushion Exchange - delicious! My Collection - how many chickens? And now my personal stash of pincushions has grown since I took the photo...they keep multiplying somehow! the little Owl (with a repaired beak) hangs out under Lila Tueller's Shroom←(click for free pattern); Tooth Fairy Monster Pillow ←(click for link to tutorial) doubles as a pincushion. I especially ♥ chickens (tutorial HERE), they're my peeps. Another cutie - this one's for Fran. Happy B-Day! Quilters around the world are talking about their pincushions: QUILTER'S BOARD

my unfinished quilt My mind has turned back to quilting lately. My quilt, that I started so long ago , still sits patiently waiting to be f...

I am loving reading all the comments that are coming in for the GIVEAWAY! One of the prevalent themes of why we blog is inspiration. No matter what our form of creativity is, blogs are such a wonderful resource. We post pictures of things we make and little do we know that we are inspiring someone else to pull out the sewing machine, pick up the crochet hook or knitting needles, and start to make something beautiful for themselves. Sometimes we even inspire someone to start their own blog. The pincushion above was inspired by this. Some of you also mentioned motivation. And I was nodding my head up and down. My blog motivates me to finish projects, so that I have something to blog about!! Even though I am always working on my etsy shop, I don't always have something new to show you, and that really keeps me motivated to find and make projects that I love and that I hope you will like too! If you haven't left a comment yet, please do. I love getting to "meet" some of you who are new to the blog, or have never left a message! If you want to enter the giveaway, click HERE!

Regardez le joli pinkeep que j'ai eu la surprise de recevoir en provenance des USA : Molly, qui venait visiter la France, avait besoin de bonnes adresses broderies et balades. Je lui ai concocté un petit parcours et voici ce que j'ai reçu quelque temps...

This week we’re going to talk about adding a machine-done binding to finish you project. Next week we’ll finish by talking about hand-done bias-binding. Pick whichever option works best for you! A neat binding makes the quilt look professional, crisp and finished. It can also provide a cute ‘frame’ for the design. When I...Read More

Last Saturday I was honored to be asked to be the guest speaker at the MMQG Super Saturday Sewing event. Why is it super? Well for starters...

A Berry good day to you, sweet peas! 😀🍓 I have made many wool strawberries and have even made a cross stitch berry or two, but I have never designed my own berry. So with a bit of sweet encouragement , I decided to give it a whirl. ( Thank you, Sharon; I sure hope you like this berry🤗). 🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓 I decided to stitch something simple . It is no secret that I love baskets and blooms so I created a little basket of flowers surrounded by buzzing bees- something that can be whipped up in a couple of hours. This stitch is called Mary's Basket Strawberry Pinkeep in memory of my Granny. Granny lived in a little log cabin deep in the woods. She often would explore her property and relocate flowers to whatever container she had available for planting . She certainly had a green thumb. Mary's Basket before being finished as a berry. Mary's Basket Strawberry, Freedom Saltbox , and Lucinda Hawkin's Liberty House ( I haven't shared this one yet. ) If you are interested in stitching Mary's Basket Berry ,grab the images below. Many of ya'll know but I always encourage you to read my little disclaimer and note about getting my charts. NOTE: Normally I have been able to create links to the charts and instructions which were in JPG form. For some reason, recent updates on Google Docs. has prevented me from doing that and I am not able to create a pdf without having to deal with storage issues. Many dear stitchers say they right click, save the image and then print. I think some have copied and pasted it to a Word document that they can print off as well. I hope you are able to find a way to enjoy this chart. You will have to click each page to save. Thank you so much for your patience and understanding and for all of the helpful tips and ideas. I stitch my little designs for fun and to decorate my home. I feel very blessed by this community and love sharing my little charts, but I am not a professional designer. And I do not have professional software. Thank you for understanding . I am always grateful for your kind encouragement , your visits, and for stitching my little designs. For printing tips, refer to the post Tips for Printing which has loads of tips from my sweet friends. I stitched my berry on 14 count aida that I tea / coffee dyed ( Click here to see how I tea dye my fabric) . You certainly do not have to finish Mary's Basket as a strawberry. But if you do decide to finish it as a strawberry there are many great tutorials on the web and Youtube on how to turn your cross stitch into a strawberry finish. Below are 2 sweet ladies that have videos on Youtube. If you know of any others, please let me know. GREAT TUTORIALS OS STRAWBERRY MAKING 1. Vonna Pfeiffer- Making your cross stitch into a Strawberry - Vonna, The Twisted Stitcher 2. Helen D. - Flosstube Extra: Strawberry Tutorial 🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓🍓 THIS IS HOW I CREATE MY STRAWBERRY. Now, ya'll, I am not an expert and I have been known to take thrifty shortcuts. Lol. But here goes..... 1. Iron the piece. 2. To the backside , add a light Pellon interfacing such as P44F. ( When I do not have interfacing , I make a lining for the strawberry from scrap lightweight fabric. ) 3. I have provided a strawberry template. You may need to resize it to fit your stitched piece. 1/4" seam allowance needs to be added when cutting the fabric. 4. Center the strawberry template over the stitch. Be aware of where you want the design to go when centering the template . I used a pencil to draw the strawberry design onto the back of the stitch. This will be my sewing line. Cut 1/4 " around the strawberry shape. 5. Sew the sides together. I slightly curve the tip rather than making it pointy. 6. Turn the strawberry to the right side and using a blunt instrument such as a chopstick to smooth out the point. 7. Along the top of the stitch with needle and thread create a long running stitch for gathering later. 8. I stuff my strawberries with sawdust and polyfil. Where do I get my sawdust? From Mr. Pinker's workshop. As I stuff, I use my wooden chopstick to pack the material. 9. I begin by packing the tip with sawdust and then add layers of fluffed polyfil and sawdust. 10. When I have the strawberry stuffed, I pull the thread along the top of my strawberry and draw it to where it is almost closed . 11. I then tie it and begin adding more stuffing and sawdust using the chopstick to stuff the gathers along the top of the strawberry as much as possible. 12. Once that I am satisfied with how the strawberry is filled. I close the small hole at the top . 13. I then add the cap . This is where you can be creative as you want to be. I added a wool cap to my strawberry and used the blanket stitch to attach the wool to the strawberry. I embellished the top with a large button and a jute twin bow. You can add lace, ribbons, flowers- whatever you imagine!!! 14 .Afterwards, I used a 2 strands of floss and created large x's along the seam in the back of the strawberry. WahLah! Your berry is completed!!! I am in hopes that bigger berries are on the horizon , but I am quite happy with my first berry. And I am even happier that you stopped by to see my sweet berry. Have a sweet day, my friends and ... As Always... Happy quilting and stitching, y'all Melisa Hugs and Stitches!!! 🤗❤🧵 The bloom may be brief but the memory of its beauty will last a lifetime. - Doe Zantamata Just a few more stitches and this basket will be complete. I will be sharing it on Friday. I hope you will drop by to see it. Hugs. Dedicated to my dear sister, Amy .I miss you , Amo . Love ya.

Wow! I didn't realize how many of us like pears, or pear pincushions! Cool! It would take forever to email everyone who asked for a ...

Look at all this French General loveliness. I received these gorgeous gifts from Sandi for my birthday earlier this year. The bag is adorable ... I love the saying Sandi choose ... and the cute pockets with ric-rac inside. Hexies are another thing I love so you can imagine how delighted I was with this needlebook. I love how Sandi fussy cut the white fabric ... and it just happens to be one of my favourtie FG fabrics ever. Inside there are pockets for threads, scissors etc. This little thread basket is sooo cute. I haven't had one before so this will get lots of use. I've left the best to last. I LOVE this turtle pincushion .. way too cute to stick pins into. Thank you, Sandi. I love all my gifts.

Good afternoon, ya'll and happy Pumpkin Tuesday! Hmmm! I wonder. 🤔🎃Can you really ever have too many pumpkins? Today I am canning pumpkins- or a pumpkin - with this little stitch called Autumn Jar Pinkeep. It is great match for Pumpkin Picker that I shared last week. This little crow named Cawlie matches though she is a little thinner. Are you wondering what's up with me and crows. Lol. I just love them especially come fall time. I have been collecting crows for years and decorate my hall in crows. Click here to see last year's crow foyer tour. Well , Cawlie has not picked a pumpkin, but an acorn. She is however perched on a big ole' pumpkin in a mason jar. Autumn Jar paired with Fall 1869 Crock . If you would like to stitch her , just check out the pdfs below and you can have an Autumn jar filled with fall goodness! Many of you know , but I always like to leave this little disclaimer. I stitch my little designs for fun and to decorate my home. I feel very blessed by this community and love sharing my little charts, but I am not a professional designer. And I do not have professional software. Thank you for understanding that I have to put each page on separate pdf downloads because of the devices I use. I apologize for that. And I am always grateful for your kind encouragement , your visits, and stitching my little designs. Click here for the instruction page. Click here for the colored chart. Click here for the black and white chart. I finished mine into a simple little pillow. The trim is 2 pieces of white chenille trim that I tea / coffee dyed. One piece was dyed lightly; the other stayed in the tea/coffee dye overnight. I simply twisted them and whip stitched them onto the pillow. Thank you so much for taking a gander at my Autumn Jar Pinkeep. I hope there will be more Jar Pinkeeps in my future. Have a beautiful day, my pumpkins and as always... Happy stitching, ya'll Melisa Whatever spices your pumpkin !!! Hugs and Stitches!!!

The Pretty Pincushion Tutorial & Remix is a new take on a fast and fun pincushion project I designed back in March 2016. Enjoy some pincushion eye candy!

They Also Can be Used as Pincushions! Choose your prettiest scraps for these sweet little birds and put them on display every spring. They’ll be fun tucked into a centerpiece, with or without the matching nest. You can also add a hanging loop and add them to an Easter egg tree. Or, tuck them into …

Learn how to make a five pointed star pincushion with an easy tutorial and nice fabrics

The autumn days are warm and sunny here again at the moment and everywhere is looking colourful and beautiful...........as part of my autumn decorating i have hung up some little mushrooms.... ...........i made these decorative mushrooms for my book pretty patchwork gifts here......... .........and here they are in the book.......there are full instructions for making them and a choice of templates......once i have designed a template, i often enlarge or reduce it in a photocopier to make different sized versions so now i have made mushrooms ranging from huge to tiny............ ..........you can also use the templates for applique shapes like the mushroom cushion below................ ..........i made this one with a mix of fabrics which i decided needed either to have spots in the design or to feature the colour red :).............. i backed the patchwork front with fusible wadding and quilted round each patch, adding red stitching round the mushroom ........and a red and white spotty button.. ............some close ups of the project.........some cute buttons on a sewing theme too....... ............for the back of the cushion i used a fabric printed with tiny mushrooms.......i bought it in several colour ways and used the pink version for my toadstool cushion in last month's crafts beautiful magazine........ ............i love the little prints and will be making some more patchwork gifts using them soon..... ............my elder daughter sarah and i went on a lovely big city centre shopping trip a couple of weekends ago, as she had birthday money to spend........ and i went foraging for mushrooms in cath kidston, as you can see..........love my new tea towels :)........... ...........i have now cut into my lovely old new 30's fabrics from sew and quilt and made a sixteen patch block..........i love these pretty florals so much..........not sure yet if this will be for a cushion or a whole quilt, as i think a set of cushions in these fabrics would be lovely for our spare bedroom.... .........................the roses on blue reminded me of some of my china collection............. .............i've been busy finishing off some design projects and magazine work this week, as we are going on a little trip away to the countryside first thing tomorrow for a mid week break............... i've been packing my little case and selecting a quilt or two to take.......looking forward to long autumn walks in the country, staying in a cute little cottage, lighting log fires in the evening and having a nice rest for a few days.........and doing some crochet and quilting of course :).................. .............i will leave you with some pretty hydrangeas from our garden........they have grown enormously this year, it must have been the perfect weather for them :).............thank you for visiting me here, lovely readers, and for your sweet comments and emails............i hope you have a happy sunny creative week..........back soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxoooooooooooxxxxxxxxxxx

It was lovely to catch up with my class girls yesterday and to see what they have been up to over the holidays. There was so much to see in the afternoon. Lynn has been so busy. She finished her gorgeous pencil case from Anni's newest little book and has almost finished the delightful little project bag as well. They both look so good. Lynn had also finished her journal cover too. Karen stunned us with all the lovely things she has finished over the holidays. Her little pin cushion from Red Home is so lovely. She used a kit from Hobbysew and the colours they have chosen work so well. She has also finished her gorgeous little turtle pin cushion too. This needlecase is so beautiful. Such a lot of lovely embroidery creating a really special needlecase. And to top it all off she has completely finished the quilt she was working on in December. It has been beautifully quilted once again by Robyn. It was so lovely to see all these wonderful finished projects.

My Tiny Baskets quilt pattern is finally completed. I'm thinking there are a few more Tiny Basket quilts on the cover than you were expe...

Whenever I have made pincushions in the past, I have always just used polyfil to stuff them, and it has worked out fine. But for these new tetrahedron shaped pincusions that I have been making, I wanted to use something different, and I had two goals in mind... I wanted the material to be natural, keeping with the whole idea of rural retro living, and I also wanted the stuffing to give some weight and firmness to the pincushion, similar to the feel of those old-fashioned tomato pincushions most of us have had at one time or another. I know that traditionally often either sawdust, sand or metal shavings were used to fill pincushions. The weight of the filling helped keep small size pincushions from moving around when inserting and pulling out the pins, and they also helped to keep the pins sharp. Now, I have no idea where to get metal shavings and saw dust seems just plain messy to me. Sand is easy enough to come by, but it's so... well I don't know, sticky? Invasive? It just seems that if you spill some, you are sweeping it up it for days! After I did a bit of research on the internet though, I discovered another option... pulverized english walnut shells! Have you heard of this before? I didn't know such a product even existed. From what I read this is a favorite pincushion stuffing for a lot of sewers and the tiny grains help to keep the pins sharp.(Just one word of caution... this product should not be used by folks who have nut allergies, especially walnut allergies). Now, where do you find pulverized walnut shells? The pet store of course! It seems to be used for both bird and reptile, (in exactly what way I am not completely sure, floor and bedding I think). I found a 5.5 lb bag in the reptile section for under $8.00. Plenty enough to stuff lots of pincushions! It's kind of pretty, isn't it? You can see in this photo that it is really ground up very well. The grains are tiny, much like sand, but not as sticky. (I spilled some and had no trouble quickly sweeping it up, and the grains never stuck to my skin as sand does). I was worried that getting the tiny bits of walnut shell inside the opening of the pincushion would be a challenge, but all I had to do was pour some in a paper cup, pinch the edge of the cup, and pour right in. The shells packed down nicely and in no time at all I had a nice solid feeling pincushion. It even makes for a super-duper paperweight! ........................... Update on this post: I now have a fully illustrated, easy to follow pattern for this pincushion available in my shop. You can find the pattern here if interested!

Sew a safe spot to stow your pins with one of these cute and clever pincushion patterns, ranging from basic shapes to tempting treats.