Primitive Sunflower Tutorial and a bit about Craftsy

Back in 2016...seems like yesterday...i posted a free tutorial 'how to Make Primitive Sunflowers' on Craftsy.  Remember Craftsy? 

If you remember...Craftsy was taken over by the new and 'improved' (or so they inferred) Bluprint owned by NBC Universal. 

Many of the Craftsy community was not impressed and if you had a Craftsy Pattern Store it was a wonderful place to share free downloads and sell patterns, but unfortunately not the case with Bluprint.

Once Bluprint took over, i received notice that most of the content in my Craftsy Pattern Store was going away...and to top if off (and ticked me off) the blog posts I wrote for Craftsy were completely redone in Bluprint fashion.  My name remained, but the posts were altered and other names were added as publishers.  These were my submitted ideas, written and photographed posts and welcomed by Craftsy.  Craftsy also had editors to critique and edit my posts beforehand, which i welcomed.
Hum...i'm sure in some small print, I gave all my rights away when i wrote the posts, but it did leave a yuk feeling.  

Bluprint announced recently that TN Marketing purchased Bluprint's assets and it looks like 'Craftsy' will be returning in September.  We'll see what that looks like.  

So, what prompted me to spew all of this?  LOL

I was contacted by Donna today asking where she could find my primitive sunflower free download.  I went to Bluprint and there was the listing for my Tea Stained Sunflower tutorial, but no option to download it. 

So i decided it was high time to take back my content and post it on my own blog.  You'll find the instructions after all these fun Fall pictures.

PieBird Hot Pad with Primitive Sunflowers

Aren't those primitive sunflowers great?  

Below is my PieBird runner pattern found on Etsy, it includes the hot pad pattern shown below the runner.  Pattern is  available instantly or mailed copy...in case you wondered.  LOl.

oh those legs...

Finally...the instructions for Tea Stained Sunflowers and how to print just the instructions using the Printfriendly button below. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!! Please come back again.   

For more current updates, visit my Instagram site @laughyourselfintostitches 

How to use Print Friendly**  

If you would like to use the green 'print friendly' button, i recommend clicking on the Post Title first (so you only print the post you want...and not the entire blog).  
Once the print friendly option is open on your screen, the post can be printed in a number of pages.  You can select just the pages you wish to print.  Page numbers will be listed at the bottom of each page.  You'll want to select 'All' or 'Custom'.  
Only want to print one page?...click 'Custom' and select the desired page number... example:  only want to print page 3?  You'll want to enter 3-3.  Want to print pages 3-6?  The enter 3-6, etc..

New Strawberry Patches Quilt Pattern and Tutorial

Introducing a new pattern called 

Strawberry Patches!

The photo below is my mock up//practice quilt.  Grabbing what i have from my stash, testing strawberry shapes, adding a leaf, eliminating a seam or 2...deciding which way to press what...

All the things that go on behind the scenes...

Then the hardest part!  Writing instructions.  Hours go into that piece.  Sitting at my computer, blurry eyed after reworking, finding mistakes...so many numbers, words...does it make sense?  Did i forget an important part or measurement?  Did i write the measurement correctly?  

I called a couple quilting friends to tear apart every detail!  Jean is a retired math teacher and Susan retired from years of secretarial work.  A great combination for scrutinizing the pattern!!

In the final quilt there will be a chunky berry and a pointy berry.  
This is Jean's chunky strawberry in batiks!

The instructions are now complete with one minor omission.   The actual quilt!

The final quilt will look like the diagram below.  The brown I have chosen will make its debut in June.  It's from Renee Nanneman's new line called Pumpkin Patch Plaids.  You'll want to stock up!

I am making all my strawberries scrappy...30 different reds with a few brown toned pinks thrown in.  

Until the brown arrives, i'm not sure what greens i will use.  

And below is the background i have picked out...provided it goes well with the brown.  I can't imagine why it would not...cuz it's so darn cute!!

It's from Edyta Sitar's Little Sweetheart line called Bubbles.

And now for the Pictorial piece...

There are a couple places in the Strawberry Patch quilt that require an irregular triangle. I did not want to get into cutting templates (yuk) so i figured i could accomplish my goal through rectangles.

I can cut those!  Lol

The strawberries have a triangle in each lower corner.  One cut from this direction

And the other from this direction.
(if you stack two rectangles as shown in the first photo...and cut diagonally, you'll get 2 of each)

In the instructions, you will be asked to lay a triangle in the bottom corners of the strawberry fabric.  The right angles will match with the tall end of the triangle along the side with the shorter end along the bottom.  Like shown below.

This triangle placed incorrectly.

Place a little mark where the arrows are located (following the measurements in the instructions) and draw a diagonal line.

 Place the correct triangle in the correct corner

 With right sides together, line it up with the drawn line. Do a little flip test to make sure when sewn, it covers the entire corner.

Pin in place and sew 1/4 seam

Once sewn, flip it over and press...but do not trim yet.
Add the other triangle to the opposite corner and do the same.

Once both are sewn and pressed, it will look like this.

Flip the unit over to the backside and trim, making sure the strawberry fabric remains its original size. 

There will be excess fabric underneath

Trim to 1/4 seam under both triangles.

In addition to the strawberry triangles, there are also irregular triangles that create a diamond shape in the quilt.  The same principle applies when adding them.

Instead of waiting for the brown fabric to arrive and making the final quilt...Strawberry Season is upon us now!!
  
So I have listed Strawberry Patches in my Etsy shop in digital form for only $8.  View the listing for more color options!

It will not have an official cover, because i have no final quilt to photograph yet. And hard copies will not be available until i do. 
So take advantage of this opportunity to save a little $ and make your very own Strawberry Patch. 

Photo taken in the 1960's of our family strawberry patch...one of many Strawberry patches!

Sale Runs through May 1st! Tomorrow!

This will be the only sale on Farmer's Wife Classes this year!  So don't miss out!  

Learn to make all the blocks from the 1920's Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt book using modern methods!  

Need more information about the classes?  I have a recent blog post explaining the details!

Happy Farming!
~karen