Fort in a bucket

For my sister’s kids’ Christmas present, I made them a Family Fort Kit. I wanted to do something that they could all enjoy together and help build memories. I loved building blanket forts as a kid (who didn’t?) and thought it would be fun to put everything they might need for their fort in a big bucket and send it off to them.

I included vinyl tablecloths, twine, clothespins, suction cup hooks, binder clips for building their fort and games, books, and popcorn for enjoying in their fort once it’s built. I used my Cricut to cut the vinyl lettering for the lid. Now I just have to get it shipped.

Baby Girl Gift and Chevron Striped Quilt Top How To

Another friend is getting ready for the arrival of a baby girl and I’ve just finished her gift. I did a simple burp cloth and onesie and made a couple of headbands too. My favorite part is the chevron striped quilt I made. I love the way it turned out.

So cute, right? I did a scrappy back because I didn’t have enough of one fabric to do a solid one. I just used the fabric strips I had left from the front mixed in with some white flannel that I had lying around and I think it turned out really cute too. You can kind of see from the back that I just outlined the chevron stripes for my quilting.

I didn’t have a pattern for the chevron stripes, but they are really easy to do. Here is a basic rundown on how I did mine if you are interested and already familiar with the basics of quilting. It would be an easy beginner project.

• Cut your fabric into 4” strips, then cut the strips into 4” squares. Obviously you can make your squares bigger or smaller if you want bigger or smaller stripes. You will need at least 2 different contrasting colors of fabrics.

• Cut your squares in half to make half-square triangles.

• Sew the light triangles to the dark triangles, right sides together, along the long side of the triangles. Press your seams toward the darker fabric.

• Arrange your newly sewn squares into the layout as show in the photo below:

• Sew the top two squares together for all of your blocks. Then sew the bottom two squares together. Press the top seam in the opposite direction that you press the bottom seam.

• Sew the top rectangles to the bottom rectangles, press the seam, and you have your finished quilt squares.

• Sew your squares together to make rows. Make sure you keep the squares all facing the same direction when you do this or the pattern won’t turn out right. Press all your seams for each row in the same direction, but alternate the direction of the seam for each row.

• Sew your rows together, again making sure that the rows are all facing the same direction, press your seams anyway you want, and your quilt top is done.

Now the real work of actually quilting and binding the quilt begins. Have fun!

I am linking up at:
http://tatertotsandjello.com/2011