Free Puppy Patterns # 3 - Vintage 1940's Embroidery Designs

It has been quite awhile since I posted a free vintage embroidery pattern.  This is the third in a series of six.

I really love vintage sewing patterns, especially those for children.   I think this third Playful Pup motif would look adorable if the pups holding their umbrella were embroidered on the collar of this little girl's coat.   (It would look better to leave off the faucet, which I suppose was meant to be used on a towel.) 

Simplicity 6949

Don't you just love the little girl's hat?  It reminds me of Canterbury Bell flowers or Lily of the Valley.

Below is the embroidery pattern.  Just click to enlarge and then copy and paste.

Paulette (The Way I Sew It) just asked me a good question about how to turn this into an embroidery transfer.  This was something I wondered about too.  You could use a light box or window and trace it onto your fabric. In my very first embroidery post I talked about a product I had found called Transfer-eze.  It's for making a transfer sheet using your printer:  
Free Puppy Patterns # 1

While I'm at it, here is the link to 
Free Puppy Patterns # 2

Superior Transfers - Playful Puppy Motifs

Thanks for visiting and come back soon!
Lara

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!

Snowflake Snowalong Table Runner

Snowalong Table Runner with Fairy Frost Fabric Snowflakes

It was so much fun to make these paper pieced snowflake blocks! This is the perfect time of year to give them a try too!  

I was a little late joining in for Joanne's (Canuck Quilter) Snowalong Sew-along, but that didn't matter, because she has her wonderful patterns in her Craftsy shop.  How great that we can find them and not miss out on the sew-along, no matter how much later we join!  The coolest thing is that with each pattern, you can make at least three different snowflakes.

This table runner is a surprise thank you gift for my sister-in-law Cindy, who acted as my in-house editor for my upcoming book.  (My husband Jim was the outhouse editor. Hee hee)  Cindy went over everything I wrote (twice!) with a fine eye for being grammatically correct and clear.   She has told me she will try not to peek at BuzzinBumble, until I give her the all clear, but when she does look again I want to say:  

THANK YOU CINDY! 

Snowalong table runner fabrics:
Background is Winter frost by Jan Schade Beach for Henry Glass
Snowflakes are Glimmer Fairy Frost by Michael Miller

The first time I saw the snowflakes was while visiting my friend Sandra's blog: Musings of a Menopausal Melon.  She has actually made Quite a Few Snowalong Blocks and they are so beautiful that I just had to click on the links to find out more about them.  That is how I found Joanne.  

You can tell that Joanne put a lot of thought into what she would like to see in a PP pattern and then worked to make her patterns perfect.  Truly, she is a paper piecing genius!  Her directions are very thorough and consistent.  Her patterns have clipped corners that make lining up the sections so easy.  I didn't even flub it up once, which is something I usually have trouble with.   And the pre cutting instructions were great.  Very little fabric waste.  She even included a coloring page with each pattern, so you can test out your own color schemes. 

Joanne, you did an AMAZING job creating these patterns!  

An especially Frosty rocking chair.

How many of you have little helpers when you sew?  I bet many of you have had a child, grandchild, or pet cuddling up in the folds of a quilt before you even have it completed.  I have two such helpers.  You can see here that our dog Pip and I have a "binding contract" to that effect.  She has to sit in my lap and keep peeking over the edge while I hand sew the binding.  Heh, Heh - We go through a lot of lint rollers.  Please excuse the Fuzzy Focus, I snapped the photo with my phone and just missed the way she sits there with her little tongue sticking out.  She makes me laugh every day.

Pip "helping" me sew.

Linking up to Kelly's Needle and Thread Thursday
Linking up to Connie's Linky Tuesday at Free Motion by the River

Thanks for visiting and come back soon!
Lara

Shotgun Wedding

Shotgun Wedding - by Lara B.

Talk about a blast from the past, Arr Arr.  This is a quilt I made two years ago, from a Lynda Hall pattern.  Since I am currently eyeball deep in Things That Can't Be Shown Yet (because the giftees might see it too soon if I post it here) I thought it would be fun to share this instead. 

There probably isn't a quilting style I don't like or love.  It is so fun to see what people are creating on their blogs and I must have a bucket list a mile long now.  I do have a predilection though for warm, autumny colors, especially reds.  

This particular quilt is one of my favorites because of both the colors and the pattern.  It is done in 1800's reproduction fabrics and might be considered a primitive scrappy / country style piece.  Like a lot of Lynda's patterns though, if you change the fabrics up , you could easily have a more modern style quilt.  

I was insecure about getting the pieces to line up right, so I converted the pattern into a paper piecing pattern and also tweaked it so that the starburst points went further, into the outer border.  This quilt was a lot of fun to make, so much so that I hope to remake it someday!  Usually I just want to move on and try something new.  Are you like that?  Or do you prefer to make a few versions of each quilt you make?  

Click on this link: Lynda Hall's Quilt Patterns, if you would like to have a few chuckles.  The way she names her quilt patterns and the little stories she comes up with to go with the patterns sure tickle my funny bone!  "One Ringy Dingy", "Jeepers Creepers", and "Holy Matchimony Thing" are just a few that crack me up.  I would love to meet Lynda in person; she must have a great sense of humor.  

Although I am braver now, at the time, I was too lily-livered to try quilting the top after I got it pieced, so I gladly turned it over to my friend Julie DeGrave to quilt.  She did a fabulous job, as always.

Here are two pictures, so you can see how even the most straightforward quilting really brings a quilt to life:

Shotgun Wedding: the flimsy, before quilting.

Shotgun Wedding: sunlit so you can see Julie's quilting.

Linking up to Sarah's Whoop Whoop Friday at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Linking up to Connie's Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River

Linking up to Lorna's  Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts

Thanks for visiting and come back soon!
Lara