Christmas in July Tutorials: Day 2

It's Day 2 of our Christmas in July blog hop...sit down with a refreshing glass of lemonade steaming mug of hot cocoa and enjoy! Today's tutorial, presented by the Benartex Blog Design Team, uses holiday colored Bali batiks in a strippy herringbone table runner--easy to sew and fast to finish!

Our strippy runner, in all its green and red glory:

The batiks we used light and dark reds and greens with a few golds mixed in for contrast: 

Materials and Cutting:

• 1/4 yard each of 6 batiks
• 3/4 yard of a green batik (for strips, center square and binding)
• 1 yard batik print for backing
• 18" x 70" batting piece

From the 6 batiks, cut strips in a variety of widths (ours were between 1-1/2" and 3" wide)

From the green batik, cut (1) 10-1/2" square, (5) 2-1/4" x 42" strips for binding, and a few various width strips for piecing

Step 1: Choose your first strip and sew to one side of the 10-1/2" green square. Press open and trim.

Step 2: Sew the remaining strip to an adjacent side, press open, and trim.

Step 3: In the same manner, sew strips to the remaining sides of the green square. Line a ruler up so the 45-degree line aligns with the seam between the red and green and the ruler straight edge is 1/2" past the green corner. Trim as shown. Repeat on opposite corner. This will give you a cushion for trimming later after all the strips are added.

Step 4: Choose a different color and width strip and sew to one side of the the unit. Press open and trim just past the trimmed corner.

Step 5: Repeat on adjoining side using the remainder of the same strip. Press open and trim past the trimmed corner. 

Step 6: Continue adding strips in colors and widths desired, trimming each strip past the trimmed corners. Tip: For more efficient piecing, work off both sides of the center square at the same time. (In other words, do as we say, not as we did!) You can sew a strip to opposite sides of the center square, press open, trim, and then return to your sewing machine and sew the coordinating strip to each adjacent side.

Step 7: As you add strips, line up the ruler along the original trimmed corners and mark the extended line with chalk. This way you'll know that each strip is long enough without too much waste. 

See the digitally enhanced chalk lines?

Step 8: Continue adding strips to both sides to make the runner the desired length. Our runner measures approximately 64" long, using 10 strips per side. You can either eyeball the length on each side of the center square to ensure they're similar, or you can measure and trim the outermost set of strips so the pieced ends of the runner measure the same length. Tip: As you add strips in pairs, use a ruler to ensure that the "points" of each strip set remain aligned with the points of the center square.

Step 9: Align the ruler so the 45-degree line aligns between the red and green and the ruler's straight edge is 1/4" past the green point. Trim. Continue trimming along this line the length of the runner. Repeat on opposite side.

Here's a close-up of half of our pieced runner:

And the entire runner again:

Step 10: Layer the runner top with batting and backing fabric cut and pieced to fit. Quilt as desired and use the (5) 2-1/4" x 42" green strips for binding. Enjoy decorating your holiday table!


Would you like to win a fat quarter bundle of Holiday Balis? It's easy! Simply sign up to follow the Benartex blog (use the email or Bloglovin' buttons in the right hand side bar and leave a comment letting us know that you do). In the comment, let us know--how often do you sew with batiks? For a second chance to win, follow our Sew Interesting page on Facebook and leave a comment here letting us know you do. The giveaway is open through Saturday, July 26 at 11:59 EST and the winner's name will be randomly selected and announced next week on the blog. 

Check out the rest of our Christmas in July tutorials:
Day 1: Debby from Debby Kratovil Quilts and Season's Greetings

Day 3: Lisa from Stubbornly Crafty with Christmas Pure & Simple
Day 4: Wendy from Ivory Spring with Holiday Magic

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Christmas in July Tutorials: Day 1

Welcome to Day 1 of our Christmas in July blog hop! Get out of the sun, crank up the air conditioning, turn on the Christmas carols and get in the mood for some holiday inspiration! Today Debby Kratovil of Debby Kratovil Quilts is sharing not just one, but three different ideas for the classic gold-accented Season's Greetings collection. Enjoy!

Season's Greetings Collection by Benartex

Here's Debby:

Yes, I know it's summer, but Christmas is just around the corner, right? Well, the holiday fabrics have arrived in the quilt shops and a fabulous collection is Season's Greetings. It includes wonderful panels with beautiful motifs and words that make them look like expensive holiday cards. That got my creative juices flowing. I LOVE panel prints.

I started out by revisiting ideas from a fabric postcards class I used to teach several years ago. Basically, I cut out a few panels (I was able to get 7-1/2" squares) and then squares of card stock and batting:

Notice I allowed for 1/4" seams around the panel

 Lovely gold etching!

All 3 parts cut 7-1/2" x 7-1/2"

I used a gold colored rayon thread to quilt the panel and the batting.

Panel and batting quilted

Then I stitched the panel/batting layer to the card stock. (Probably should have used my sewing machine's walking foot, but I was lazy, I guess.) Now it's time to trim using a wavy edged rotary cutting blade:

Shave just the slightest bit from the raw edges

Here are two of the greeting cards I made . . .

Greeting Card #1

Greeting Card #2

And here is what it looks like from the back. I am putting these aside for Christmas and will write a personal note to someone (once I find an envelope to fit it!)

Back of Greeting Card

I didn't stop there, though! My mind was going in all directions and actually started several separate projects. I have a weak spot for any fabrics that have gold etching. These are just so rich and color drenched.

Two panels I selected for another project

I decided to revisit a pattern I created several years ago that can either be a large placemat or a candle mat to protect your table. I cut out two more panels that have black backgrounds and gold printed designs - a tree and bells. You can find the cutting measurements below.

Add 3 triangles from one fabric and two triangles from a second

The key is to select fabrics with good contrast, especially the fabric that will touch the black panel. I chose the large scale red and white roses fabric for this. These are cut from 8-1/4" squares (see the diagram above). The green floral triangles are cut from a 4-3/8" square. Notice that the rose fabric squares are cut TWICE on the diagonals and the green squares are cut ONCE on a diagonal.

And how does it look all together? First, the sections . . .

Three sections of Candle Mat

And with this awesome striped binding . . .

14" high; 29" point to point

I did one last thing which I'll give you a sneak peek of. This is a Lone Star block from my book Supersize 'Em Quilts and will be an independent pattern soon. But I thought you'd like to see it as I was starting to quilt it at the local quilt shop who also is a Handi Quilter dealer.

19-1/2" Block, all rotary cut

And then this is what the center looks like after I quilted it with simple loops:

Lone Star center

See the panels in the four corners? I trimmed them a little, down to 6-1/2" square and they make an awesome statement at the end of those triple stripped borders. I took that center strip from the fabric that is a border print. This collection has so many possibilities, as you can see!

Thanks, Debby!

Would you like to win a fat quarter bundle of the Season's Greetings line? It's easy! Simply sign up to follow the Benartex blog (use the email or Bloglovin' buttons in the right hand side bar and leave a comment letting us know that you do. In the comment, let us know--have you made fabric postcards before? For a second chance to win, follow our Sew Interesting page on Facebook and leave a comment here letting us know you do. The giveaway is open through Saturday, July 26 at 11:59 EST and the winner's name will be randomly selected and announced next week on the blog. And be sure to head over to Debby's blog to see more of her creative ideas!

Be sure to visit our other holiday-themed tutorials this week!

Day 2: Benartex Blog Design Team with Holiday Balis

Day 3: Lisa from Stubbornly Crafty with Christmas Pure & Simple
Day 4: Wendy from Ivory Spring with Holiday Magic

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Christmas in July Tutorials

Christmas is 5 months away...it's the perfect time to get started on some early holiday projects rather than scrambling at the last minute in December! Be sure to stop back here every day this week starting Tuesday for tutorials using our new Christmas lines and enter for a chance to win some of these fabrics for yourself!

Day 1: Debby from Debby Kratovil Quilts and Season's Greetings
Day 2: Benartex Blog Design team with Holiday Balis
Day 3: Lisa from Stubbornly Crafty with Christmas Pure & Simple
Day 4: Wendy from Ivory Spring with Holiday Magic
Day 5: Bonus free project round-up

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Christmas in July Preview!

Next week, we'll be sharing some holiday-inspired tutorials in our Christmas in July blog hop. We're starting with a preview today, introducing you to this year's Christmas fabric collections, some of which you'll see again in next week's tutorials. Be sure to stop back each day next week for some fantastic holiday decor ideas (and fabric giveaways!).

See the entire collection here.

See the entire collection here.

See the entire collection here. 

See the entire collection here.

See the entire collection here.

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Feeling Tropical: Lizards, fish, frogs and more!

Feeling tropical isn't just about batiks! It's mid July and we're in the mood for some more bright, summery prints! Luckily, Kanvas has plenty of options to keep us focused on fun, starting with these tropical-themed collections.

Rainbow Tropics:

Fish, lizards and toucans--no need to visit the rainforest when the rainforest can come to you! We're thinking pillows, backpacks and fun little zipper bags and sacks for kids or kids at heart.

Tropic Rainforest III:

Same idea with a more realistic touch--lizards, frogs, snakes and butterflies in both brights on black and a camouflage-type colorway.


Match these prints up with the subtle patterns of Pat Cambell's Fossil Ferns prints--100+ in all, so you're sure to find the perfect hue to match! We've picked a few of our favorites to match Rainbow Tropics and Tropic Rainforest here:

See the Rainbow Tropics collection here.
See the Tropic Rainforest collection here.
See all of the Fossil Fern colors here.

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Thinking Tropical with Batiks

It's July and we're thinking tropical!
Thinking tropical means surrounding yourself in color-saturated batiks! With so many batiks (in so many colors and designs!), how do you decide where to start? We can help.

Those beautiful sunny summer days are calling your name, so now is the perfect time for a quick and easy small project! Wendy Sheppard had exactly that in mind when she created the "Song of Praise" pillow for the August/September issue of The Quilter magazine. 

"Song of Praise" pillow by Wendy Sheppard;
featured in The Quilter magazine Aug-Sept 2014;
photo by Wendy Sheppard

Why do you like working with batiks?

I like that batiks shows different colorings and textures all across a certain piece of fabric.  Batiks sure give a project great visual interest when used.

Do you have any applique tips to share?

If you haven't appliqed before, this is a great introductory project! I have written about machine fusible applique (that's what I used) here and here.

How did you come up with the design?

I wanted this pillow project to be a quick-and-easy-to-finish design because quilters have more going on in the summer months.  Thus the minimal piecing as well as applique.  I thought stitching countless numbers of leaves around stems is not "quick" -- so, I cheated by substituting the leaves with buttons around the stems for a fun and different look.  How's that for quick and easy?! :)

Why do you love making pillows?

Pillows are great as they make great gifts, and home decor accents!  I actually have amassed quite a few pillow cases that I have made over the years to fit pillow forms of the same size.  I am able to easily achieve quick seasonal makeovers for my pillows with a quick change of the pillow cases.

Tell us about the bird you appliquéd.

 So, my husband noticed the bird was "feet-less".  My bird is feet-less because I wanted it to look "artistic", but to my husband, the bird looks exactly that, "feet-less"!  He pointed out a feet-less bird is more appropriately call a martlet.  Things one learn being in a family who loves trivia.  Click here if you want to read more about the significance of martlet!  It is actually quite interesting.

See all of the Rainbow Bright Bali collection here.

Learn more about Wendy and read more about her Song of Praise pillow here.

Find The Quilter magazine here.

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Ready to Think Pink?

This new fabric line from Kanvas is all about girl power! 

We love Think Pink!

Looking for some coordinates? Try these vibrant prints from Fleurish in matching colors:

What to make with these pink and black prints?
How about a cosmetic bag (find patterns here, here, here, and here)
or an iPad/iPhone/e-reader case (find tutorials here, here, here, and here)

Let us know what you would make with these fun fabrics!

Find the Think Pink collection here.
See all the Fleurish prints here.

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