This past weekend, I headed to the Toronto area to visit with family. My nieces had their first ballet recital. Lucy is 6 years old and Alice is 3.5 years old. They were absolutely adorable in their performances. They looked like princesses in their beautiful dresses.

Photos taken by their Auntie Jennie.

Please join me in welcoming today’s guest Jennifer Rodriguez from All Things Belle. She’s sharing a really cute and easy idea for including crochet and fabric with adorable results.

Good morning, I’m Jennifer Rodriguez from All Things Belle. I’m very excited to be sharing a sweet little crochet & fabric technique with you today.

It’s almost time for the International Quilt Market in Kansas City. I can hardly wait! This is my second time attending and I have been missing the excitement since the last one. Are you going? What are you excited to see? For me it’s a dream come true, it’s an amazing combination of so many things that I love. The show is filled with endless rows of new fabrics to adore, new patterns to want, and just about every designer that you would love to meet.

I attend the Market to be inspired, to shop, and of course to connect. This past week I eagerly received my latest shipment of business cards to take with me. All of a sudden my cards did not seem enough. I had just finished reading about how a friend of mine, Topsy Turvy, had created 300 cake pops to go along with her business cards for a blogging conference. I was inspired and realized that I wanted to go above and beyond as well. At Market you receive so many cards and literature, it can be overwhelming. I knew that for a few personal contacts, I wanted my business card to stand out in their mind.

This past year I have been obsessed with crochet surface treatments on fabric and quilting projects. I love the dimension and versatility of this mixed media form. I thought it would be appropriate if I could create a meaningful way to present my card that incorporated both fabric and crochet.

What do you think? I love its sweet and classic touch.

Would you like to learn how to make one? It’s very simple and could easily hold a number of little treasures.

Materials needed:

A small, plain muslin drawstring bag
Soft pink embroidery floss
1.5mm crochet hook
embroidery needle

Directions:

1. Thread a length of the embroidery floss into the needle, following the stitched seams of the bag, embroider a back stitch.



2. With your crochet hook and the same embroidery floss, slip stitch into the first back stitch. Then single crochet into each stitch all the way around.
3. In each stitch you just completed, make a single chain and then flip your work. In the same stitch work a single crochet, half double crochet, single crochet. Then create two single chains, skip the next stitch, and then repeat the picot (single crochet, half double crochet, single crochet). Continue this pattern up until the last stitch, at the end you will slipstitch and weave in your ends.

And that’s it! I adore working crochet into my quilts and you could easily use this method along the binding of a quilt for a feminine touch. The extra color and texture can really make the difference.

I’m hoping to make a few dozen of these before Quilt Market begins tomorrow. If you will be attending and you spot me, be sure to say hi!

Thank you for spending this time with me. If you are interested in seeing more quilting & crochet inspiration, I would love for you to visit my blog, All Things Belle.

The theme for this week’s contest is Wind, Earth, Fire & Water. You are free to interpret this theme as you see fit. Your quilt does not have to represent all four of the elements. Any quilting style is acceptable. You can submit quilts, wall hangings, pillows, etc. as long as the item you enter is completely finished (i.e. bound and quilted).

Our sponsor this week is Vicki Welsh who creates gorgeous hand dyed fabrics. She has donated a Stash Pack of hand dyed fabrics containing 10 fat eighths and a Goddess Sheet Teflon pressing sheet from Mistyfuse for this week’s winner. Plus everyone can save using the coupon code below too.

Vicki Welsh – Hand Dyed Fabrics

Hi Everyone!

I’m so happy to be back at the Quilting Gallery for a great new weekly contest. Since I was last here, I’ve been on a productivity mission. I have this fabulous long-arm quilting machine and I wasn’t using it enough. Back in March, I decided that I would quilt for one hour every day. I even decided to schedule it for 5pm. It’s worked a treat.

For one thing, if I happen to be wasting time in the afternoon I now stop at 5 to do a bit of quilting. I also find that I don’t want to stop at 6 so I am heading to my sewing room more often in the evenings. Productivity has soared! Since I started my one hour a day commitment I’ve finished two quilts each month! If you’ve been having some focus issues, try dedicating a specific amount of time every day, even ten minutes will give you more than an hour a week of additional productivity.

I’ve also been busy in my sewing room and have added a great new line of shibori fabrics. These fabrics are much more labor-intensive than my other fabrics but are so worth the extra time!

I also have a great collection of feature fabrics this month. This collection is based on the colors of the Monarch butterfly.

Field of Greens is the gradient and it’s available with this coordinating fabric palette.

As with all of my featured fabric palettes, it’s the colors that are on sale. You can get your fabrics in any combination or patterning of the colors. Check them out here and all of my other fabrics in my shop.

You can find me in all these places on the web:

• Web store
• Blog (with lots of tutorials)
• Facebook
• Google+
• Pinterest

Let’s get to the prize!

I will give away a hand dyed fabric Stash Pack from my shop and a Goddess Sheet Teflon pressing sheet from Mistyfuse. The winner will get to select the Stash Pack of their choice.

Bonus savings for everyone: I am also offering a special 15% discount for Quilting Gallery readers through May 24th. Use coupon code MAY15.

Enter the Contest

Get your cameras out! To enter the weekly contest, read the rules and guidelines, then submit your quilt photo by Thursday evening (EST). Voting will start on Friday and last until Sunday night.

Weekly Quilt Contest Links

• Guidelines
• Submit your photo
• 2012 Themes, Winners & Sponsors
• Sponsor a contest – Check available dates – only a few left

Last Week’s Quilt Contest

Thanks to everyone who entered last week’s Quilts for Mom contest. The Fat Quarter Shop donated two $35 gift certificates. Congratulations to the winners:

Nellie

Shirley Bartee