Today is the first day in Fat Quarter Shop’s Spooky Delights Table Runner Sew Along, and I will be one of the bloggers showing my own twist on the design. I will be posting my progress every Monday morning for the next three weeks.

I thought the whole concept sounded fun, and I do need more Halloween decor!! Maybe you do too?

Today is just a nice welcome post to share the fabric requirements with you, which can be found here, and to show you the fabric’s I picked out.

I decided not to go with the fabrics shown in the sample piece, since it’s not really my taste. To each their own. Instead I pulled from my own fabric stash.

The top fabric, which is from the Downton Abbey from Andover Fabrics, will be for the bats and some of the squares in border #2.

The second one down, which is Tucker Prairie by One Canoe Two for Moda Fabrics, will be my pumpkin and some of the squares.

The third down, which is from the Mischief Night by Dinara Mirtalipova for Windham Fabrics, will be the pumpkins door and again, some of the squares.

The bottom fabric, which is by Alison Glass for Andover Fabrics, will be my moon and of course some of the squares.

The top fabric, which is Kona Cotton in Silver, will be my background fabric.

The second down, which is Andover Fabrics Chambray in Caramel, will be my pumpkin stem, window pinwheel and some of the blocks.

The third down, which is Architextures by Carolyn Friedlander in grey, will be the second half of the pinwheel window and some of the squares.

The fourth one down, which is from the Botanics line by Carolyn Friedlander, will be the outside border.

The fifth fabric down, which is Sprinkle in black by Cotton + Steel, will be the binding.

The last fabric, which is Kona Cotton in Charcoal, will be the backing.

Whew!

If you like the fabrics in the sample table runner, you can buy the kit here.

Now make sure to check back next Monday morning to see my progress on the runner, get the link to the first half of the pattern, and read any helpful tips I MIGHT have (I can’t promise I’ll have any, but you never know)

This post was sponsored by the Fat Quarter shop, and I was compensated for my time.

For any new readers who would like to get updates on any of my new posts you can follow me on InstaGram, add me on Bloglovin or follow Art School Dropout on Facebook (Blog posts show up there an hour after they go live)

I’d love your thoughts!

Here is just a small sampling of what I’ve been working on lately, and what I’ve been posting on InstaGram. I am itching to finish most of these projects and I can’t wait to share them with you all here!

Check out the Sizzix Blog for more details.

This week on the Sewing Party blog I show my step by step process for using my sewing machine to bind a quilt! It’s a perfect technique for when you just don’t want to spend hours hand sewing the binding on or you are crunched for time!

I have received very good feedback about the post so far, so please go check it out too!

Art Gallery Fabrics reached out to numerous bloggers and asked them to make a project using one of their newest lines as part of Sewing Month! After browsing through their app (yes, they have a fabric app!) I chose Bari J’s newest line Anna Elise and made CT a new, toddler sized quilt to cuddle up with.

Before we start talking about the in’s and out’s of the quilt, let me first state that all of the fabric used in this project was provided courtesy of Art Gallery Fabrics. So this is pretty much a sponsored post. However, I would have still made this quilt on my own dime because it really is so perfect for my daughter. I never work on projects or with companies I don’t already love.

OK, now that that is all out of the way, let’s talk quilting!

The fabrics used in this quilt are not 100% up my taste alley, however they ARE up my daughters! She loves everything dainty and flowery. It’s just an added bonus that bunnies are involved too. She loves bunnies.

I kept all of that in mind when designing the quilt pattern. I still wanted a little of my taste in the mix, because I like the idea of when you look at a quilt, you know I made it. So I decided to basically divide the design in half. Added bonus, it looks like a sunrise over a sea of hexagons!!! The finished dimensions are 45″x60″, a perfect size for a small child to wrap up in and drag around the house.

The bottom half is almost all Bari J’s Anna Elise line, I think it’s only missing two prints? I used Sizzix’s Full Hexagon Die with 5″ sides to perfectly cut out all the pieces, and pieced them together using Y-seams. I decided half hexagons would have jumbled those pretty fabrics up too much. I still stand by that decision because I just love how clean and awesome those huge hexagons look together.

I decided to do some petal like leaves as the quilting. I’m not very good at feathers, so this is my version, haha. I only quilted the bottom half in this style, to help define the two halves.

The top half is a nice mix of Art Gallery Fabrics solids and blender in different tones of blues. To be more specific, I used Pure Elements Solid is Warm Wave, Prisma Elements in Subtle Turquoise and Larimar Sea, and Oval Elements in Zephyr. I pieced them together using a quick pattern I drew up that looked like the rays of the sun right before the sun rises. If anyone is interested in the templates, let me know and I’ll draft them up as PDF’s. I actually had mine printed as large blueprints at Fedex because I despise taping patterns!

For the quilting, I wanted to do a wavy cloud like design. So I mimicked the way I always draw clouds in my own illustrations. It turned out denser than I originally imaged, but I’m happy with the results. Also, it matches the density of the petals on the bottom. so it will crinkle nicely in the wash.

I backed the quilt entirely using Wind Melody Soft from Bari J’s line and then bound it using Art Gallery’s Pure Elements Solid in Verve Violet.

I am just so in love with the way this all came together! It was outside my comfort zone, but I am so glad I made it. I needed some change from my black, white, blue and purple (though I did sneak big chunks of blues in there!).

I’ve decided to start something fun to go along with these quilt posts! I have so many photo’s that just don’t go along with the writing or they are just too ridiculous not to share, so here is the first installment of…

Behind the Scenes and Outtakes:

Here you can see the quilt on the long arm and then me adding the biding on! I always take these photos with my phone, since I have it on hand, because you never know if you’ll need to go back and look at these steps. Plus, everyone loves work in progress shots. Or is that just me?

Here are my two failed attempts at using super strong magnets to attach the quilt to the playground equipment down the street! The photos aren’t TOO bad, but they weren’t what I was looking for. Though that one on the right looks like a child tried to take a quilt photo.

These two were me trying to use my new photo backdrop holder for the first time down at the train yard. The yard is right next to the Potomac River, so the wind is kind of bad. Also the clamps I bought to hold the quilt didn’t fit over the bars, so I thought using wooden pants holders was a good idea. It wasn’t!! I can only imagine how funny I looked to the commuters getting off the MARC train. The things we do for good quilt photos (and I still feel I could have done better with this one!)

The last one didn’t come out too bad, however I had accidentally switched my camera over to low resolution. So this is the biggest this photo will ever get!!!! 440px wide!!!!! I am soooo upset over this one.

Oh well, lessons learned!

Thank you again to Art Gallery Fabrics for providing the supplies to make this quilt for my daughter. She seriously loves it so much.

I hope you enjoyed the photos of the quilt, and the behind the scenes outtakes. I know it’s close to the end of the month, but you still have 5 days to make the most of Sewing Month. Get to sewing!

CT’s first day of Kindergarten was this past week. It was a HUGE milestone for both of us, so of course I had to take loads of photos.

I also figured I should make a little sign so we never forget it was the first day of school.

Then after much thought I decided on a second piece that can be detached that says which year of school shes starting.

All of this snowballed into the fabric banner above! It’s 8″ square with marine grade vinyl letters cut out using my Sizzix Fabi and the Block Talk Alphabet Die Set. The background is Andover Fabrics chambray in black. I made it pretty much the exact same way as my Appliqued Vinyl Letter Pillow.

I also added snaps to the bottom of the banner so I could make an attachment for each year she is in school. I plan on making all the grades later this week when things have calmed down around here and putting this in a safe place.

The idea of her using this every year makes me all teary eyed! Can you imagine her in 12th grade holding this little banner?!?!?

As you may be able to tell, I’m a complete mess over her going to school. Yes I gained 8 uninterrupted hours each weekday, but I still miss her soooooooooo much. Does it get easier?!?

So if you’re looking for a quick gift or decoration, then go check out the post,! (Theres way more photos too!)

Also, if you are already a Silhouette user, then make sure to check out the Silhouette Design Team Blog Hop Giveaways! Theres just one more day left to enter.

My favorite product is the Silhouette brand Sewable Fabric Interfacing. I use it in every fabric project I make for their blog, plus a load of personal projects for myself. It’s a great time saver that adds a special personal touch to your sewing projects. I use it to personalize quilted pieces or cut super intricate designs. It’s also great for kids clothes and any type of sewn gift.

I chose a personalized stocking as the project to showcase the Sewable Interfacing because it’s been on my to do list for YEARS! I started three, one for each of us, but was only able to finish the one shown due to my sewing machine malfunctioning. I’m hoping to share the other two, that my family helped design, later in the month.

I wanted to show each of our very different personalities in a quilted sock form. Mine shows my love for shapes, polka dots, fabric with writing on it and the color gray. The Honeycomb Background design file would have taken forever to cut by hand, but with my Silhouette CAMEO it only took a few minutes.

I also love how it looks super complicated, but was super easy to put together!

I used the Stocking design file and enlarged it as big I could to fit on the 12″x24″ cutting mat. I cut just the basic stocking shape out of card stock. I then opened the Honeycomb Background file and tilted it slightly so the edge near the toe made it look like a sock with those different colored toe tips. I clicked on “Release Compound Path” so all of the honeycomb lines were separated. I deleted a few hexagons here and there so some would be solid. I used some awesome rainbow speckled denim and I wanted to showcase it here and there.

Once I was happy with the file, I grouped it back together. I prepped and cut it as a I usually do (my full tutorial on the Silhouette blog can be found here) and ironed it onto my already cut out stocking. I also cut out a basic stocking piece for the back. I then spray basted both pieces to separate cotton batting and quilted them up like I would any quilt. I cut the lining out of the cute black and gray polka dotted fabric and sewed all of them together, just like you would a zipper pouch!

After everything was sewn and turned inside out, I folded down the top cuff and added my name using the Lovely Day Font (found in the Silhouette Design Store) and some solid gray fabric to finish it off.

It took me about two hours total to finish this one stocking. Not Bad, right?!!

Now onto the GIVEAWAY!

On Silhouette’s behalf, I will be giving away one pack of Silhouette Brand Sewable Interfacing and one Fabric Blade. To enter you NEED to follow Silhouette America and myself on Instagram. To earn additional entries you can follow me on Bloglovin and/or leave a comment letting me know what kind of projects you’d like to see on here in 2015!

Rules, Guidelines & Disclaimers:

This giveaway is being hosted by me, Jessee M / Art School Dropout, as part of the Silhouette Design Team Blog Hop. There will be only one winner chosen by Rafflecopter. This giveaway is open to US/Canada Residents, 18 & older.  Void where prohibited. This giveaway is not associated with Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest. Prizes will be fulfilled by Silhouette America. Winner cannot have won another Silhouette America giveaway in the past 90 days. Winners should expect their prize to arrive within 4-6 weeks. Only one entry per reader, period. Only the first comment posted will be counted. Giveaway starts at midnight December 1st, 2014 and will end at 11:59PM (EST) December 5th, 2014. Whew, I think that’s it!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Luck to everyone who enters. Please head on over to Guiseppa Gubler’s blog to find out what she’s giving away. Then from there hop on over to the next one and the next. If all works out you should finish up right back here where you started. If you’d like to start at the begging then go check out the Blog Hop Giveaway post on the Silhouette America Blog.

Updated:

Here’s a list of ALL of the Silhouette Design Team Blog Hop Posts in case you think you may have missed one!…