Just arrived in my shop!

Exciting arrivals have found their way into my shop!   My mind is overloaded with ideas as to what to make with all these beautiful fabrics!!  

Let's take a look, shall we?

All the way from Denmark...Pure!  From STOF

Simply Color - Sew 4 Home

New exciting additions to the shop !!

V and Co - Simply Color - 

Lime Green and Graphite Grey

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OMG!!  I'm soooo LOVING this line by Vanessa Christenson (V and Co.) for Moda Fabrics !!  

I can't wait to begin some projects with these fabrics!!! 

 Have you ever hear of the website called Sew 4 Home?   I sooo love that website!  

It's an amazing website with tips, projects, tutorials and more!  

In fact, that is where I found these awesome tutorials featuring 

Vanessa Christenson's Simply Color Fabrics for Moda Fabrics.   

This was her dubut collection  ~  WOW!!  ABSOLUTE  L.O.V.E  !!!  

Simply click on this link to take you to the tutorial for the Garment Covers.  

Or how about these reusable grocery bags?  Beautiful huh? It will make me want to go grocery shopping just so that I can show off my beautiful reusable bag!! 

  I'm looking forward to making one of these with a 

couple of the Simply Color fabrics in gray and green series. 

I will make sure to share that with you :) 

Look how beautifully the Greys coordinates with the Greens in this collection! 

 I really love Vanessa's debut fabric line for Moda !

What a cute bag  this will make! It's a fold over tote!  

I love it!!!  I can't wait to make one !  

These will make great gifts!!! 

I hope you find yourself inspired and are off to begin a project or two....
I hope you have a chance to check out the Sew 4 Home website.

til next time....  Jan

Mug Rug Tutorial

Do you have a pile of scraps and/or strips of fabric that you wonder what you could make with?

Do you just have a little time for a quick project?   How about a Mug Rug??  Yeah !!

I love grey and yellow combinations!  I know these colors have been quite the rage lately. 

I've been itching to make something with my small pile of yellows and grays.

I began by just cutting strips of fabric ~ I varied the width of my strips anywhere between 1.5" - 1.75"

Strip lovelies!!   Looks so pretty!

I then sewed a few strips together ~ don't put too much thought into this ~ just sew :)

After sewing a few strips ~ approximately 14 - 18 strips (depending on how wide your strips are)

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Cut the uneven edges off

After ironing the seams open 

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Take the quilted piece and place your ruler on a 45 degree angle  ~ and then cut away

(I know this is a scary part) 

 Place your ruler along the first cut edge , matching up edges

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Hold the ruler firmly in place so you don't slip with the rotary cutter ~ 

Make sure it's lined up nicely ~   cut away at 4" 

This is what you should have after cutting both sides 

Position your ruler at it's perpendicular grid ~ slice away your 4" squares

Repeat the above steps until you have four pieces of 4" squares 

Decide on the placement of your four squares ~  here is a couple of ideas 

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The placement that I decided on for my mug rug is shown below

 Being careful ~  pick up your pieces ~ making sure that when you sew them

 together that you are sewing them together as you would like them to appear in your mug rug

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Sew the top 2 together 

and then sew the bottom 2 together ...

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Try to place your top piece and bottom piece so that the center part of the mug rug matches up nicely

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Sew your top piece to your bottom piece

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Somehow I got my placement mixed up ~ but nevertheless I love how they are placed!

This is how my mug rug looked after I pieced the 4 blocks together

Cut a 10" square piece of the fabric that you would like to use for your backing 

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I decided on the gray and white houndstooth

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Cut a 10" square piece of batting

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Now we are going to make a quilt sandwich (not edible)

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Lay your batting piece onto the wrong side of the backing

then lay your quilted piece (right side up)  on top of the batting

making sure that it's centered nicely

Now you are ready to machine quilt  :) 

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Starting at the center of the top piece, begin machine quilting going around in circles

using your sewing foot as a guide  ~ matching up the edge of the foot to the 

previous sewn line in the circle 

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Continue sewing in circles until you have quilted your entire top piece

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I realized that I didn't start enough into the center of the top piece 

So upon completion of my quilted circles ~ I went back to the center and quilted accordingly.

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Can you see the circles??   Cool!

This is the back of my mug rug  ~  I don't know if you can see the quilted spiraled circles

For the binding ~  Cut a 2" strip of fabric which is about 1 yard long

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I used a Bias Tape Maker to make my bias tape 

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However, if you don't have a bias tape maker...No problem !   

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You can just press the entire strip length wise in half 

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Open up the seam  

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fold in the edge to match up with the center seam and then press  -  you should now have a long 36" piece that measures approximately 1/2 inch wide

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I totally forgot to take a picture on how I attach the bias to this mug rug ...sorry

However, you can find a lot of information online in regards to attaching a bias to a quilted piece

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Lastly, I topstitched the attached bias all the way around the mug rug

 The backing of my mug rug..

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That's it!  ~  I hope this inspires you to make a mug rug for yourself  ~ These make great gifts!

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Here's my Mug Rug!  I am off to enjoy my cup of coffee 

with coconut macaroons from Trader Joe's! 

  YUM!!

New Arrivals in my shop!

Bonnie & Camille's Marmalade from Moda Fabrics

Gorgeous Palette of Raspberry, Tangerine, Cream and Leaf Green!  I'm TOTALLY Loving this!!  

Marmalade Fat Quarter Bundle to be arriving soon ...

         

The Simple Life by Tasha Noel for Riley Blake Designs -  

So So Cute!!!   Darling for quilts, pillows, aprons, dresses and girly projects!  Make a bunting!!

And for the Boys ....  

Pirate Matey's Fat Quarters Bundles by Emily Taylor have arrived! 

Just a few of the fabrics from this collection

I love Emily Taylor Designs!   I am so happy to be carrying her fabrics in my shop!



                       

Velocity City Scape and Chevron by Jessica Hogarth 

Jessica Hogarth has added charm and whimsy to her modern bustling metropolis fabric line.The main print cityscape is supported by a more abstract and linear city building print.  A graphic zigzag stripe print compliments it quite nicely!

           

And last ... but not the least ...

Gallery Fiori fabric by artist Karen Tusinski

This is Artist Karen Tusinski's first fabric line!  WOW!  How GORGEOUS!!!!  Just like her paintings!

Thank you for reading about my new fabric additions to my etsy shop, Bee Yourself Fabrics.  Stay tuned for more to come!

til next time ..... Jan

Polka Dot Fat Quarters!

I know how overwhelming it can be when shopping for fabrics online. There are thousands of fabrics to choose from! Where do we begin?  It can be quite daunting when trying to match one fabric with another as each computer monitor displays colors differently.   Sometimes it helps to purchase a fat quarter or a 'fat quarter bundle'.

What are Fat Quarters?  What are Fat Quarter Bundles? 

Generally speaking,  1/4 of a yard will give you a strip of fabric which measures about  9" x 44"

However, a fat quarter is cut differently ....  see below

Fat quarters are very popular among quilters and crafters because

 they offer more versatility especially for patchwork and appliqué

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A Fat Quarter bundle is just a collection of fat quarters.  

In the next few upcoming weeks,  you will find me adding 

exciting Fat Quarter Bundles in my shop

Riley Blake Designs's MEDIUM Dots ...  LOVE!!

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The SMALL Dots Collection is a great basis fabric to have on hand for all of your sewing needs!

There's just something about polka dots.... I love them!!

I would love to hear about what you like to make with Fat Quarters.  

I will be sharing with you some Fat Quarter projects in the next few weeks. 

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Stay tuned for more Fat Quarter Bundle arrivals at Bee Yourself Fabrics

...til next time

~ Jan

Bee Yourself Fabrics Shop Announcement

Welcome to my blog!  While I am not new to blogging ~  I'm new to blogging about my fabric shop!

Being AWOL can sometimes be a good thing.... Why?  Well... there have been some changes here on the home/work front.  After much thought and pondering,  I have finally decided to close down my Laptop and Gadget Covers shop on Etsy and now have an online fabric shop called Bee Yourself Fabrics!  It has been nothing but an enjoyable ride!  I love it when my customers share with me their beautiful creations from fabrics purchased from my shop!

You will now find me posting about fabric, fabric, FABRIC!  Yes, Fabric!  I just absolutely love it when new bolts of fabric arrive on my doorstep!  It's almost like opening a present!  Really!  I feel like a kid in a candy store!  I'm sure a lot of you can surely relate to that!  

I am in constant awe of all the gorgeous fabrics that are available to us today!  And ~ with the help from the Internet and postal services ~  it enables us the opportunity to have access to these gorgeous fabrics worldwide!

For starters, let's talk Chevron!  Chevron have been the RAVE !  Seriously!  I mean the RAVE!  It has been the top seller in my shop for some time.  My shop is stocked with Chevrons fabrics in both the Home Decor weights and the Quilting weights in many different colors.

Here are a few snippets of Home Decor Weight Chevrons  ....

These fabrics are great for pillows, curtains, tote bags, accessories, and so much more!!

The orange and natural zig zag would be great for your halloween decorating projects!  How about a table runner?  a trick or treat bag? make a stuffed pumpkin...   just throwing out ideas...

Just a few Quilting Weight Chevrons.....

The Quilting weights are great for clothing, baby bibs, burp cloths, quilts, tote bags, and oh gee...

seriously.... just about anything!