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Secret Garden Trapunto Quilt Pattern

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I spent almost a year to get it up here and on my daughter’s bed, from idea to drawing, to the actual quilt then to this pattern and tutorial sharing. The reason behind this long stretch of time is because I have too many tasks on hand. I was being carried away with and lost my sense of priority. In early last year, we bought a new condominium (yes, we are moving from a landed double story house to a condo, crazy!) so that we could have a place of our own. The quilting idea emerging into my mind and I told myself that I am going to make each of my kids at least a quilted blanket for their new bedrooms. A quilt that they can remember for their whole life and perhaps can make it a heirloom piece to show the next generation “See, this is designed and made by your grandma.”… ok, may be just a photo to show if the quilt is too tattered to display…

I bought a Bernina B550 QE (quilter’s edition) from Bernina Malaysia and million thanks to Kelvin who came all the way up to Penang to demonstrate how to use the machine to the fullest. I really love this machine as it has a cruise control on the sewing speed, the BSR stitch regulator, the hand-free foot lifter and many more….. not to mention the reliability of the machine which is well known to be able to pass down for generations. Love love love it!

Hope you will quilt one soon. I am almost finished with my son’s quilt, the “Road Runner”…… stay tuned!

{Get full pattern and tutorial on next page.}

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Secret Garden Font Applique Patterns

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This is the last part of the “Secret Garden Quilt” applique patterns before we get into the how-to-quilt section. If you have missed out the previous applique patterns, here are the links:

1. Flower Applique Patterns
2. Ladybug, Butterfly & Snail Applique Patterns
3. Songbird, Tree & Sun Applique Patterns

It has been months since I finished quilting this Secret Garden Quilt for my daughter’s bedroom of our new house. I didn’t meant to drag it this long and as anxiously as you are, I wanted to share it out as soon as I can. Time is running fast and 24 hours a day, 7 days a week seems a little hectic for my super long to-do list.

When I rushed, I made more mistakes in many decisions and processes. Apart those from the renovations, one of the mistakes related to this post is I saved the photos into a newly yet wrongly formatted external hard disk. It was really frustrated when I was unable to retrieve the photos in the wrong format external hard disk, where I can only be able to open the photos in MAC and not the Windows PC in my office. So, I have to wait until I am back home, copy all the photos from the hard disk (more than thousand of them which are huge RAW files) to another temporary hard disk, reformat the hard disk so that it works on both MAC and WIN systems, then copy all the files back to it. It took me a night and a morning to do it….. really a great lesson to learn.

After showing all the 4 sets of applique patterns above, I am sure you already be able to guess how the quilt will look like. I hope that I can update the how-to-quilt tutorial by next week. Please stay tuned!

{Get full pattern and tutorials on next page.}

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Songbird Tree Sun Applique Patterns

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Count down to the Secret Garden Quilt pattern and tutorial, here is another group of applique pattern: the Songbird, Tree and Sun. From “Flowers“, “Ladybug, Butterfly & Snail“, this, and one more applique to go before we move into the final assembly of the quilt. Can’t wait to share it as soon as possible.

Have I told you before that due to the considerable bountiful design of the Secret Garden Quilt, I have to split the tutorial into a few parts. By doing so, it also gives me more time to prepare the proper pattern in downloadable and printable pdf form. Besides the huge quilt I’d design and quilt, this is also my biggest challenge in pattern and tutorial sharing. Hope it gets more “LIKES” and “LOVES” from you all!!!

Ciao, need to prepare the next tutorial of the quilt [font for the Secret Garden word] and prepare my new house for moving in More updates coming your way!

{Get Pattern & Tutorial details on next page.}

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Ladybug Butterfly Snail Applique Patterns

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Hi there, I am back with the 2nd group of applique patterns for the Secret Garden Quilt, this time they are the Ladybug, Butterfly and Snail Applique Patterns. Similar to the Flower applique, these little cuties were made with iron on raw edge applique and quilt with trapunto method.

During my previous post, I mentioned that my daughter was sick and I am so glad to receive bundles of love and best wishes from you all, she is recovering well, thank you. My daily routine is about to go back to normal and now I need to really search for a perfect adhesive to glue my butt down so that I can sit still and update my pattern and tutorial more often. I knew that I am running a little late in updating, but I am sure this is gonna be a calm before a storm, YES, more good stuffs are coming your way…. Hint: I am quilting another blanket, this time for my son…. Looking forward to see it?

Also, a little update about my new craft studio, I am happy to tell you that it is 90% completed. I am going to move in 2 weeks later but will be still running between both house for another month or 2 until everything can be settled down (including my kid’s school transfer).

Stay tuned for my next update on the applique pattern, songbirds, tree & sun & font for Secret Garden title. And, don’t forget to participate in the giveaway of World Map Wall Decor [Closed]!

{Get detail Pattern & Tutorial on next page.}

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Flower Applique Pattern

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As I have promised before, once I have done my daughter’s “Secret Garden” quilt blanket, I will post all the details here to share. Without a doubt, this blanket took a lot of preparations, from idea to paper, to blanket, and now to tutorial & pattern sharing. Due to it’s intricacy design that involved a lot of appliques, I have to share the detail part by part when necessary.

This flower applique pattern is part of the tutorials of the “Secret Garden” Quilt Blanket, but it is not limit to this application, you may adapt the pattern to do other craft. In this tutorial, I also included the trapunto method to make the appliqued flowers “pop up”. Coming up next will be the other applique patterns for butterfly, ladybug, snails, songbirds, tree, sun & font of Secret Garden etc…. so please stay tuned.

{Get detail Pattern & Tutorial on next page.}

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make-decorative-candlestick

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This is an easy and quick project to build, all you need to do is glue all the parts and distressed it to add some antique look. Not only that, it is cheap to make too, range from $3 to $6 each.

Besides using the tower stand as candlestick, it can be used as a display stand for small festive items, e.g. pine cones, small Christmas ornaments, Easter eggs, small pumpkins, cup cakes, cake pops etc.

Happy making!!!

{Get full tutorial on next page.}

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Valentine Scrapbooking with Washi Tape

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I have some awesome washi tapes and tags from Downtown Tape lying on my desk, so I made a scrapbook project for this upcoming Valentine’s Day. It is so fun and colorful to work with washi tape, basically, this is a fail-proof project. Even kids can do this for their parents

Working with washi tape is easy, the tape is tacky and at the same time it is adjustable. If you stick it at the wrong position, simply lift it up and stick again immediately. No trace of glue line left behind and it won’t hurt your paper as well. The colorful prints and patterns are great for decorations too.

With the template I have prepared for this project (in pdf format), just download it and print it on your plain card-stock and you are good to create a pretty pinkish Valentine’s Scrapbooking Display with the tutorial on next page.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

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Quick Fusible Applique Method

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I am sewing a full size super single blanket, “The Secret Garden”, that was specially designed for my daughter. The 62″ x 84″ blanket has lots of appliques, if I wasn’t miscounted, there are a total of 360 pieces of them (the photo shown below is only part of the applique I did). I was slapping my forehead and feel a little regret to be so enthusiastic on the design when I realized how time consuming it was to trace every single applique by hand. Well, project must go on and I need to think of a way to make things go faster before I surrender on it. Through out the process, I’ve come out this method that make things a lot easier and faster for me.

Click page 2 to go to the tutorial and I hope that you find it useful for your fusible applique project too.

{Get full tutorial on next page.}

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Pinwheel Quilt Block Pattern

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Here is the pinwheel quilt block pattern and tutorial I have promised to show you in the Snowman Quilted Pillow Cover and how to piece Half Square Triangle (Easy Quick Method). Finally, I’ve gotten it done within my busy schedule between crafting and renovating of my new house. YAY!!!

This simple Pinwheel Quilt Block is constructed by 4 pieces of Half Square Triangle (HST) units. Arrange HSTs in such a way to resemble a pattern of revolving triangles, just like a pinwheel.

Hope that you will try it out soon!!!

I am currently working on my daughter’s full size super single blanket, hope to be able to update you on the progress soon. The new house is waiting for a DIY on a plank wall, build-in cabinets, furniture and decorations, and we will be ready to move in. Can’t wait!

{Get full tutorials on next page.}

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Tree Quilt Block

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When I sewed the Quilted Snowman Pillow covers, I wanted to make 3 of them a little different, so, I added some pine tree quilt blocks at the side panels on one of the snowman pillows. You have seen the one with bird prints at the previous tutorial, now, this is the tutorial to quilt a tree block with Half Square Triangles (HST). Coming up next is the pinwheel piecing. Piecing up a tree block has never been so easy with the basic half square triangle units, don’t trust me but see it for yourself on the next page!

In fact, I have a question floating on my head while sewing this: Has anyone seen this technique to piece a tree quilt block from HST before? May be from books or other website? I was scratching my head and squeezing some brain juices to come out with this pine tree shape. I hope it is something new that haven’t been published before. If it is an old technique, I wish I knew it earlier to save my time to design it

It could be too late for 2012 Christmas….lol…. it sure is too late for 2012, but, plenty of time for 2013 Christmas to piece up a tree quilt block. Save up this tutorial either in you browser’s bookmark or pin it on your Pinterest board.  I love Pinterest as I can see clearly what I had pinned with a picture to show. Hope to see you sewing something with this tree block soon. Remember, time flies, in a blink of an eye, Christmas will be just around the corner.

{Get full details on next page.}