Hazel Hedgehog QAL

 

Welcome to the Hazel Hedgehog Quilt-a-Long Blog Hop...

 

The gorgeous Angie at Gnome Angel kicked off the Hazel Hedgehog Quilt-a-Long last week and asked if I would be her guest blogger for today.  How could I say no?  We all love Angie and we all love Hazel the Hedgehog!  Before we get going I wanted to extend a very special hello to all new visitors who are blog hopping today.  If you would like to follow my blog there is an email subscription option and a Bloglovin button on the right hand side.  I promise not to spam you!

 

Today I would like to show you a few tips on how to make the regular sized Hazel Hedgehog quilt block and the Hazel Hedgehog Glasses.  You will need to purchase a copy of the pattern from Elizabeth Hartman (see below for how to save 25% off the cost of your pattern/s).

 

Selecting Fabrics

 

Choosing fabric can sometimes be one of the hardest parts about making a quilt or quilt block.  Lately I have been experimenting with bright fabrics and I recently purchased some Kaffe Fassett prints.  I'm not a huge fan of all of his designs but some of them are just amazing, especially this particular colour combination.  One of my current favourites is called "Curly Baskets".  This fabric features beautiful large blue and purple swirls called Curly Baskets.  It also has touches of teal and mint swirled through it.   I decided to let this fabric be the hero of my Hazels and would use it for the hedgehog spines.  As I only had a fat quarter of this fabric I decided to make 3 hedgehogs (based on the first Hazel Hedgehog pattern release.  These quilt blocks will measure 8" x 9" or can be turned into 12" blocks by adding sashing - refer to page 5 of the pattern).

 

Curly Baskets by Phillip Jacobs for Kaffe Fassett for Westminster fabrics. 

I sorted through my collection of solids and found three coordinating sets of colours to match my print - Mint, Purple & Blue.  Don't forget that you will need a light fabric for the faces and a medium fabric for the bodies, so I grabbed two shades of each.  I also grabbed some black for the eyes & nose and for the background I chose to use some black Essex Linen.

 

My fabric pull.

Some Tips to Piecing Which Will Give You Better Accuracy

 

Making the Block: After you have cut all of your pieces, I strongly advise you to label all of your pieces.  When you move them from your cutting area to your machine, do remeasure to ensure that you label the correct pieces as many look similar to the naked eye.  This will save you from growing a few grey hairs and a lot of unpicking (yes I speak from experience)!



Make the Spines Unit - Step 5.  Does your Hazel have a wonky ear?  Use a pencil or a water erasable pen to mark a diagonal on the reverse side of piece E so that you have a straight line to sew on.   Can you see how wonky my sewing line was before I accurately marked it from corner to corner with a ruler.  It was only a few millimetres out but just a few millimetres here and there can make a huge difference to your finished hedgehog.



Now my Hazel has a lovely straight ear.

Finish the Block Step 1 - When sewing the Spines Unit to the top of the Head Unit.  Use pins to line up your seams.  Where the red arrows are I have poked pins from the top layer to the bottom layer where the seam allowance is to ensure that they line up.  You want the bottom of the ears to match up with the inner top corners of the C's (yep the rectangles above the eyes).  I have then secured the fabric by pinning it (see the three other pins).  The top pins marked with arrows were removed prior to sewing.

Here is another view of that same photo.  As you can see the top pins are just poked through the two layers to check for alignment.  Before I remove them for sewing I have secured the fabric by pinning it in place using flat quilters pins.

 

Finish the Block Step 2.  Sew the Side Units to the left and right sides to finish the block.  I have used a pin to align the top and bottom layers of fabric.  You need to make sure that the join of the top of the body (G) lines up with the lower left (or right) corner of the ear.  Once you have correctly aligned your fabric, pin it in place with flat quilters pins and remove the pin (marked with the red arrow). 

Making the Glasses

I've decided to add glasses to my minty green Hazel

I have used a product called "Therm O Web Heat N Bond Ultrahold"  It is an ultra strong paper backed iron-on adhesive designed specifically for all no-sew apparel, craft & home decorating projects.  Unlike other fusible web products, HeatnBond's solid layer of glue provides three times more bonding strength and requires less heat and shorter pressing time.  With HeatnBond Ultrahold, materials won't lift or pucker.  Edges don't need to be sealed. Materials can be machine washed. 

 

I just followed the manufacturer's instructions and the easy to follow instructions on Elizabeth Hartman's FREE download for the Hazel Hedgehog Glasses.  This was so much easier than I imagined!

And now my Hazel looks like a Librarian! ;0)

My completed top

How Did I finish off my Hazels?

I used a polyester batting and stitched around the ditch of my hazels to make them nice & puffy.  I ended up ordering some extra Kaffe Fassett fabric so that I could bind my quilt in the same fabric.  My finished quilt measured 12.5" x 31" which is an ideal size for a table runner or a long mini quilt.

Table Runner

Hazel and the Hedgehogs



Hazel and the Hedgehogs

Thank you for joining me today.  I hope that you will find these tips useful and that it will encourage more of you to try Hazel's glasses. 

 

Would you like to save 25% off the purchase of the Hazel Hedgehog patterns from Elizabeth Hartman? 

 

Would you like to save 20% off your next fabric purchase from Cotton Factory (Australia) or Gotham Quilts (USA)? 

 

Would you like to make your own Hazel the Hedgehog and win a prize? 

 

If so, please visit Angie's blog post at Gnome Angel (links below):

KEY DATES WITH BLOGGERS

Ø WED 04 FEB – Hazel Quilt-a-Long Begins @ GnomeAngel.com

Ø FRI 06 FEB – Interview with Elizabeth Hartman @ GnomeAngel.com

Ø MON 09 FEB – Fiona @ Bendigo Lioness

Ø WED 11 FEB – Anita @ Daydreams of Quilts

Ø FRI 13 FEB – Raylee @ Sunflower Quilting

Ø MON 16 FEB – Brandy @ M3 Quilts

Ø WED 18 FEB – Melissa @ Ms Midge

Ø FRI 20 FEB – Tara @ Simply Crafted

Ø MON 23 FEB – Cassie @ Cassandra Madge

Ø WED 25 FEB – Kate @ Stitched with Love

Ø FRI 27 FEB – Link Up @ GnomeAngel.com & Gotham Quilts

During the Hazel Hedgehog Quilt-a-Long, the hashtag that we are using for all social media is: #HazelQAL  Other hashtags are #hazelhedgehogquilt and #hazelhedgehog - however only "compulsory" hashtag is #HazelQAL

Whimsical Woodland Mug Rug Swap

 

I recently participated in the "Whimsical Woodland Mug Rug Swap" which was hosted by So Charming.

 

We were asked to create a mug rug for our swap partner and to include a few extra little goodies.  Unlike other swaps this one had a spending cap of USD10 (approximately AUD12 - AUD15) retail on the extras and all extras had to follow the theme of the swap.  I loved this idea.  I loved that we had a limit to stick to which meant that we had to be creative! 

 

All photos on Instagram were posted with the hashtags #whimsicalwoodlandmugrug  & #jensstitches  There are some amazing photos in this feed so please check them out when you have time to do so. 

 

Our partners are secret so we do not know who is making for us - at least we won't know until our parcel arrives.  And who we make for may not be the same person who is making for us.  Our dispatch deadline was 25 January for international posting, or 2 February for domestic parcels.

 

My swap partner was Louisa Watts @loubeelou76 who lives in Western Australia.  I was told that Louisa likes pink, green, and autumn colours.  Her favourite woodland creatures are: fox, squirrel, hedgehog & owl. 

 

This is Louisa's inspiration mosaic

Louisa's parcel of awesomeness:

  

This is what I sent to Louisa.

 

Louisa's mug rug was 3 owls sitting on a branch, and there is a 4th owl who is about to land on the right hand side.  I also made her a zippered pouch and a key fob.  All of the fabrics used were from my stash.  I only had to purchase the ribbon, a zip and I buy the key fob hardware in bulk.

The back of the mug rug

This year I am printing labels for all my swaps.

I included some stickers

A lovely hedgehog card made by my friend Libby at Willow Fox Designs.

 

I didn't know if Louisa was a tea or coffee drinker so I included both.

I also included some washi tape and a rogue charm square that I found lurking in my fabric stash.

I used the left over ribbon from the key fob & the zipper bag to wrap part of her present.

 

Louisa's gifts were wrapped in woodland themed wrapping paper.

This has been one of my favourite swaps so far this year.  I really liked the idea of having a spending cap because it forced us to be creative.  Instead of just buying "stuff" to fluff up the parcel, how could we best invest our money and make something wonderful for our partner.  It's amazing what you can make with ribbon, zips and fabric!

I love stalking my partners - purely to find out enough about them to personalise their gifts, and of course to check if and when the parcels arrive.  It gave me so much pleasure to read Louisa's comments when she received her parcel:

At the time of writing this post I am yet to receive my own Whimsical Woodlands Mug Rug parcel but when I do I will write a separate post about it.  I have no idea who my partner is but there are so many gorgeous creations posted on Instagram under this swap's hashtags!

Schnitzel & Boo Mini Quilt Swap (Round 3)

 

I recently participated in the "Schnitzel and Boo Mini Quilt Swap" (round 3) which was hosted by Schnitzel & Boo.  As there were over 950 participants this year, we were divided into groups and I was in Nicole Young's group (@lillyellasworld).

 

This was a worldwide swap for people of all skill levels and our partners were kept secret (we did not know who was making for us - at least we wouldn't know until our parcel arrived - and the person who sends to us may not be the same person we are sending to).  The deadline for international shipping was 16 January or 23 January for domestic shipping.

 

All photos on Instagram were posted with the hashtags #schnitzelandboominiquiltswap  & #makeaquiltmakeafriend and #mofanicole (for Nicole's group)  There are some amazing photos in these feeds so please check them out when you have time to do so. 

 

When we registered for the swap we were required to complete a questionnaire about ourselves answering questions about our likes and dislikes and we were encouraged to post an inspiration mosaic board on Instagram to assist our swap buddy.

 

 

My swap partner was Fiona Tchan @fionamadeit who lives in New South Wales.  I was told that Fiona likes modern quilts, low volume fabrics and rainbow minis.  Her favourite colours are blue & green and yellow & grey.  There were a few other snippets of information a bit more personal in nature which I will not share on here.  We are encouraged to include a few extras in our parcels and one of the things that Fiona requested was sewing notions.

 

This is Fiona's inspiration mosaic

 

I noticed that most of the quilts that Fiona liked featured flying geese; so I decided to go with the rainbow theme and feature flying geese.  I chose to make "Right Round"  - a pattern by Janice Zellar Ryan of Better off Thread.  It is part Dresden, part New York Beauty and all geese (foundation paper pieced).  The quilt measured approximately 22" squared.

 

Choosing threads to applique the centre circle and to quilt with

Pin basting in preparation for quilting

Quilting time.  I stitched the ditch around all of the geese and sewed a circle echo around the background of the main circle

About to bury the threads

Completed - yet to be blocked.

The quilt label - printed on the computer.

Me holding the finished quilt.  We were asked to post a finished picture on Instagram so that our swap mamas could tick us off the list.

 Fiona's parcel of awesomeness:

  

This is the parcel of goodies that I sent to Fiona

 

A home made card featuring some Aunty Cookie fabric

 

a Quiltworx Quilt Dot badge in her favourite colours (not the best photo)

 

Sewing notions - a strawberry pin cushion and some Wonder Clips

Some Washi tape

A Key Fob in her favourite colours & a "Fiona" key chain

the back of the "Fiona" key chain

Some Lindt chocolate

And I made Fiona a Bruce crafty carrier in her favourite colours. 

One of the joys of participating in a quilt swap is the fun of stalking your partner and trying to personalise the gifts that you make for them to their style and taste.  Sometimes this can be challenging but I really enjoyed making these for Fiona.  It was an anxious wait once I had posted the parcel to see if and when it arrived, but it did, and she posted these:   

 

I have to admit I had a little giggle when I read her post.  I can imagine the mix up as we both have the same name - silly Mr Postman.

Since typing up this post my own Schnitzel & Boo parcel of awesomeness has arrived YAYNESS!!!  I will post about this separately.