Gingercake

Piped Pot Holders Tutorial

We have some picnics to go to this weekend and although I may make box brownies as my contribution, I decided to make handmade cute pot holders to go with my dish to give to the hostess.  This may be my summer staple since I had fun making these and they look really cute!

I love a nice potholder.  But my issues with doing a nice binding keep getting in my way!  I don't want to take the time to hand sew it and I can't seem to get a nice machine stitched binding.  It may look great on the front but messy on the back.  

On the other hand, piping and I are great friends.  I realized maybe my pot holders just needed piping instead of that traditional binding.  They turned out great!

Here is how you can make one too~

~You need to find a 8.5" circle to trace.  I used an embroidery hoop but a plate or whatever will work too.  9" is fine too and 8" is OK but getting a little small.

~cut 2 pieces of 100% cotton fabric (i used quilting weight) and 2 pieces of insulbrite- all 4 pieces need to be 8.5" round.

~ 30" of piping rope.  Mine is about 1/4" thick (or sometimes I just cheat and cover a store bought binding if I don't have any rope but the store bought is a little skinny for this project.)

~32" strip of 1.5" cordinating fabric cut on the bias

~ 6" strip of 1.5" fabric that is the same fabric as the circles.  This will be your loop.  Fold this piece in binding and iron flat.  It can be on the bias or just with the grain of the fabric.

~You will also need a sewing machine, scissors. pins, cordinating thread, an iron and ironing board.

Fold the 32" fabric strip over the 30" of piping rope.  Pin every 6".   Sew down along the strip to enclose the rope and make piping.  See the photo above.

Next, take one of your fabric circles, and sew the piping around the edge of the circles.  Have your rope facing in toward the middle of the circle.  I don't use pins here since I find it easier to sew a little, adjust, sew a little, adjust, etc.  But you can do whatever feels comfortable.  Sew along the line you made to enclose the rope in the last step.

Once you sew all the way around the circle, overlap the piping and sew through the layers.  See the picture above.  Trim off the excess piping and set this piece aside.

Take that 6" piece of binding and sew it closed.  This will be your loop to hang your pot holder.  

Cross the loop over and pin it to the top of the circle without the piping on it.  Layer the 2 circles of insulbrite beneath the circle of fabric.  Sew the loop on and trim the extra binding off to match the edge of the circles.  6" will give you enough length to make the loop small or a little longer.  See the picture above as reference.

Now pin together the 2 sides- one with the loop and 2 layers of insulbrite and the other with the piping sewn on.  Right sides of the fabric should be facing each other.  The side with the piping should be facing up.  The line of stitches you made to attach the piping will guide you to sew the 2 sides together.  This way, your piping will be perfectly even all around your pot holder.  See the above picture as your guide for how your project should look at this point.  There needs to be an openning of about 3" to turn the pot holder right sides out.  Backstitch at both edges of the opening.

Now trim all your seams down a little smaller than 1/4" except at the opening.  See the picture above.

Turn your piece right sides out through the opening.  Iron nice and flat and fold under the opening to match your edges.  See picture above.

At this point you have lots of options to finish up your pot holder.  You can just sew a seam around the edge to close up the opening and flatten the edges or you can do a little quilting design like I did.  I did this by marking the center and 4 even sections with pins.  Then I just free quilted some loops that crossed over each other to close up the opening.

That is some wonky quilting but it was fun!  With some practice and planning, you could make this part really pretty!  I did loops, circles, and ups and downs.  Lots of possibilites to have fun with your quilting designs!

Hostess gifts for the weekend complete!  I plan on making more for myself too and finally throw out those old ugly ones!  I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.  Please do not sell pot holders you make from this tutorial.  Contact me if you want to do them for a fundraiser or something like that.  If you do make one, I would love to see it in my Gingercake Tutorials Flickr group.  Thanks!!  

Have a happy holiday weekend!

 

 

 

3 Layer Clutch is Now Available in the Pattern Shop!

Whew!  I finally got it done and I love this pattern so much.  I love the layers and the zipper section and how functional and pretty it is.  It was fun and challenging to write- not becasue it is hard but because I wanted to make it clear and full of pictures so there was lots of photo editing and proofreading!  

It is 21 pages long and includes 56 pictures!!!!!  That seems excessive and daunting when I write it down but really, the length makes it easier to understand since most of the pattern is explained in pictures.  I have been trying out other people's patterns and tutorials lately to get a good idea of what makes a pattern enjoyable to follow (since we all know this is about having a good time creating and not about pulling your hair out with confusing wordy instruction), and having descriptive photos seems to be the answer above everything else.  I wouldn't recommend printing it out though!  Instead, it can be easily viewed from your computer or tablet.

The pattern teaches you how to make the pink one with the gathered flap and rick rack braid (fabric is Joel Dewberry) and the other brown and yellow one (amy butler mid west modern fabric) is the one that I am using for myself!  They are same inside.  I am really liking my clutch- my wallet, zippered pouch and then notebook all in one!  I admit that my purse can become a big mess pretty quickly and having all this together helping me be more organized.

Are you ready to sew one up yourself?  The pattern is in the shop and ready to go.  It is a project that takes a few hours the first time you make it but the next one is faster since the concepts are simple and easy to master.  You are welcome to sell these in your etsy shops as long as I am given credit for the pattern!  

For you, my special blog friends, use the coupon code 56PHOTOS to get 25% off the 3 layer clutch.  This sale will last a week- until Thursday March 1st at midnight EST.  Awesome.  Can you tell I am excited and I really want you to try it out?  Let me know how it goes and help me spread the word on the sale this week!  

Distractions

Today I needed a distraction from pattern writing and Cal and I needed to get out of the house. We paid a quick trip to the thrift store and although I was looking for other things, I ended up in the t-shirt section.  I don't usually shop the clothes since I am a bad clothes shopper in general (my poor mother has experienced this over and over and over!), but since I was looking at clothes to repurpose I actually did OK over there!

Elsie has decided jeans are no longer acceptable in her wardrobe.  In an effort to make it through this stage without so many tears before school in the morning, I bought these nice LL Bean tees at the thrift store ($3 each!) and used the Lil Blue Boo Leggings pattern that I already bought last year.  That is one easy and quick pattern!  

I know I could have gone to Old Navy or Target to buy leggings very cheaply but those places are pretty far for me to drive and the Goodwill is only about 5 minutes away.

She's stylin and I had a break from the computer screen!  The shirts were extra large so I just used the existing hem.  When I make this pattern again, I will make sure the knit is more stretchy since she had trouble pulling them on.  Once they are on though, they are mighty cute and comfortable!

Crazy and disheveled little sister wanted to get in on the picture taking action...

There was plenty of left over fabric and I used a new grey tee shirt and a green thrift store tee shirt to make a quick dress for Anne.  I used this tutorial as inspiration.  The seams on the outside are genuis since they hide imperfections and I like the look.  This was REALLY fast and the result is great.  Knits are very forgiving and easy with the right tools.

 and here she is in rock star pose (which I guess is just mad face)...

and finally some freckles and whispy orange hair to go with your coffee this morning...

This dress is a great beginner project.  The hard part would be making that tee shirt top and it is already done for you since you just cut up a plain tee shirt!  I used my ball point needle and just a regular straight stitch.  No need for the serger with either of these projects.  Also, be sure to try that lettuce edge hem!  That is so fun and easy!  Just zig zag along the edge and you get that darling hem.  

I hope you feel inspired to try something new!  Let me know how it goes!

 

Hooped Valentines

Whenever I see embroidery hoops at the thrift store, i gather them up in my basket.  They are addictive!  I have too many now and it is time to start using them up.  I thought Valentine's day would be the perfect time to get started!

These are on our stocking nails which I thought was the perfect place.  The idea began as just hearts with fun fabrics and I could practice my embroidery stitches.  I then changed them into including envelopes to encourage valentine notes (more about this later).

I made Cal's first.  I also tried chain stitch for the first time.  Remember when I made the quilt I said I was trying to flex my crafty muscles?  Well this is about doing that again.  The stitching is a little messy and the fabric choices are a little more country than I usually like.  I was going for boyish though so this is what I got...

Not bad.  He likes it- especially the truck.

Next came Elsie's valentine hoop.  She is 7 and loving purple, pink & girlyness in general (You would never know she loves getting dirty in the garden and pushing kids over on the soccer field).

Again, I wanted to practice some new things here so I used Jessica's felt flower tutorial (fun and EASY) and worked again on the chain stitch.  It turned out nicer this time!  Loving the chain stitch.  I also told Amy recently that I didn't know how to use trim so I stuck some trim ribbon in the corner.  Hmmm?  Not sure about that choice but I DID use some trim!

Finally came Anne's which is my favorite.  She wanted (after my suggestion!) a rainbow theme.  I tried all sorts of different ways to get the look I wanted and then remembered this technique that I saw on pinterest.  It worked great and I loved the final look.

The rainbow and thrifted crochet doily took up the entire hoop so I added this simple duck cloth envelope to the bottom.  The heart is made from wool felt and then I used my embroidery threads to do a simple stitch to mimic the rainbow colors.  Whole lotta cuteness.  

And one more shot of the rainbow.  Wouldn't this make the sweetest baby quilt on a biger scale?  

The kids are really excited about these.  Valentine making and giving has been at an all time high.

Aren't they cute?  You would never know with all this love going around that I had a crazy meltdown last night after I had to clean up yet another HUGE valentine making mess.  This time included glitter EVERYWHERE.  I yelled at them that I was going to throw it all away and that I was done with all of this!  They looked at me with shocked little faces and then we (aka Me) decided to create some valentine making boundaries- no more paint or glitter and only small pieces of paper.  Of course Anne's painted and glittered one up there is so beautiful that we all know I am going to crack and open it all up again.  YACK! 

What do you think?  I liked the idea of having the valentine giving be constant the next couple of weeks.  Compliments and lovey notes are pretty fabulous really- especially in the dead of winter when we are all cooped up in the house together.  The kids are asking where my hoop and their dad's hoop is.  Hopefully I'll get around to that!  

Here are some details- I used 10" hoops.  I used the full embroidery thread-all 6 strands.  On Cal's and Elsie's I made the top with cotton fabrics and wool felt pieces.  I did not use interfacing on the envelopes although with Elsie's fabric envelope it would have been better if I had since it is a little thin.  I backed Elsie and Cal's tops with 100% cotton fusible interfacing to firm them up.  Anne's blue "sky" fabric was lightweight and when I used the interfacing it puckered around the name embroidery, so I just backed it with an extra layer of white cotton fabric and it worked fine too.  For the back of the hoops, I ironed the fabric back and then glued it down.  Easy peasy!  If you have questions, feel free to leave a comment or email me and I will try to answer!  

What do you have cooking for V day?  Are you trying some new techiques to flex your crafty muscles?  Let me know about it so I can keep up my work out!

Nine Minute Everyday Napkins Tutorial

For a while I have been using cloth napkins that I made using this mitered corner tutorial. I love using them- not only for the nice feeling they have or how much prettier my table looks, but because I know I am doing a small thing to help reduce waste.  A wise friend once told me that every little thing you do adds up to make a difference.  So although I could be doing MUCH more, here is small thing that helps and makes your table look prettier every night too!  I admit that I get pretty psyched about a nice looking table at dinner even when I am serving kid stuff all the time.

The napkins I made last year are great except making them was kinda a pain in the neck with all the ironing and looking for little folds, etc.  Don't get me wrong, that Katy is brilliant!  I also used the same method to make my scrap color baby quilt backing.  When I decided to give these as gifts for christmas this year, I discovered an even faster way to do the corners which makes the whole project a snap! 

Let's begin by choosing our fabric and how much to use.   To switch your family over to fabric napkins you need to make at least 8 napkins and 12 is even better.  We have 5 in our family and 12 works great so that I wash every few days.  To make 12 you need 2.7 yards of 100% cotton fabric.  I like to make my napkins 16" x 16".  This is a good size for grown ups and kids.  If you have only grown ups and teenagers using the napkins, then you could go up to 18" x 18".  That is too big for the little hands in our house right now.

Using a rotary cutter, self healing mat, and a large clear ruler, cut squares that are 16" x 16".  Try to make your squares as "square" as possible!

Next you will mark off a 45 degree angle on each corner of the fabric piece.  Do this on the wrong side of the fabric.  Most self healing mats will have markings to guide you.  I just use a pencil to make this mark 1 inch down from the corner tip.  I don't like how chalk rubs off and you need to be able to see this line in several steps.

Make this mark on all 4 corners.

Fold the corner edge together (to make a right triangle) and put a pin through to mark the middle and hold it in place.

Below is the other side view of that pinned corner.  See how the line is on both sides?

 Now over to your sewing machine.  Sew a short line from the fabric fold edge to the pin you placed in the middle of the line you made in the last step.  Make sure you do a backstitch at the beginning and end of this small stitched line.  It will only be about 1/2".

You need to repeat this on all 4 corners.  Instead of stopping and clipping my threads after each small corner stitch, I just give my piece a pull, make the thread long enough and move to the next corner.  Then I just do all my thread cuts in the next step!  Easy and time saving.  See the picture below.

Next, with your scissors, clip off each corner about 3/16" above your corner guide line. In this step, also clip off those threads from the stitches of the last step.  Clip all 4 corners.

Use a chopstick or some type of blunt tip to poke each corner right side out like in the picture below.

Poke out all four corners and and napkin should look like the picture below.  You are still working on the wrong side of the fabric.

Next over to your ironing board.  You can see in the picture above how the corners make the edges of the napkin roll in.  Use your fingers to pull it a little taunt and then iron that edge flat like in the picture below.  The corners will not iron perfectly flat but that will work out in the next step. 

Now that you have ironed all 4 sides, go back and fold that edge under again to make a hem that is about 3/8" wide.  Take advantage of how the edge naturally folds under from when you made the corner.  

Iron the hem nice an flat.  The corners should lay flat too.  It there is a slight imperfection, don't fuss too much since it works out nicely in the end.

See slight imperfection below?  A bump after it has been ironed.  But it will sew flat in the next step.

Now, if you feel like you can't live without pins here, go ahead and use some, but i think it is easier to not use pins and let the fabric make natural adjustments as you sew around your edges.  Begin a couple inches above one of your corners (starting at a corner usually ends up badly!), and sew around all four sides of your napkin until you overlap where you began.  Clip your threads and move on the next napkin! 

I made this batch of napkins as gifts for friends and family this year.  I ironed them really well and then made some clip art which you are welcome to use for personal gifts too!

Download 6everyday napkins

I printed out the page on cardstock and then cut out the shapes.  I then used a small hole punch and strung some bakers twine (yes!  I am now officially a user of bakers twine.  I don't really get what the big deal is but since i bought so much, you'll be seeing lots of it here!) through to make this cute presentation.

 I actually did time myself and the napkin took only 9 minutes to make!!  That will take a little practice but you will probably have it down by your 3rd napkin.  If you make them assembly line style it could take even less time!  6 napkins in less than an hour is pretty awesome.

You may use this method to sell all the handmade napkins you would like.  The clip art is for personal use only please!  I hope this may be the final push to make those napkins you have been putting off making for yourself.  Say goodbye to buying all those paper napkins and hello to pretty fabric and less waste!

Happy New Year friends!

Sewing a Gift for my Dad : Heating Pad Pillow

I have had so much fun making this gift for my dad.  I also realize that I have never sewed anything for him before!  My dad loves to read and this pillow will go on his dark blue reading chair in his study.  He is the youngest 81 year old I have ever met!  He met and married my mom when she was 25 and he was 39.  They met in September, got engaged in December, and were married in February!  It was his first marriage and now they have been together for almost 42 years!  

Dad's back has been bothering him a little and I thought this pillow, with a heating pad insert would be perfect for him.

We tease him a lot about saying "i'll do it when I feel like it!"  He likes to act all grumpy on the outside but we all know he is a real softie on the inside.  I followed this method to embroider the words.  It was so fun and easy!  I printed out the phrase I wanted with the font I wanted and then just embroidered right through the paper!  It was awesome.

Here is another view of the opening for the heating pad.

The heating pad is 12" x 15".  The pillow is 16" x 16".  The backing is a 16" square and then I cut out a 16" to be the first layer of the front of my pillow. I made the finished pillow top be 15" x 16".  I also gave the pillow top a flannel backing so the heating pad wouldn't get too hot through the fabric.  Finally, I made a simple elastic cord and button closure.  I love how it turned out and how nice it works!

I followed House on Hill Road's tutorial for putting in a zipper opening for your pillow.  It was really nice and I learned a great new skill!  I will always do that now when I make a pillow.  I used a sturdy blue duck cloth for the back.  The zipper really adds a professional touch and makes cleaning even easier.  

Hopefully my dad won't read this blog post before Christmas!  He doesn't really do lots of "interneting" so I think I will be OK.  Have you ever sewn for your dad?  What would you like to make for him?  Sewing for men is real challenge!

Sprucing up Your Wreath

I was decorating my outside wreath and realized I have not shared this on the blog before!  This is a super easy way to spruce up your old fake wreath to make it fresh and beautful.  I guess my camera is starting to have some issues so please forgive the little bit of blurriness :(

 

When we get our tree there is usually a pile of trimmed branches and I grab a few nice ones from different tree types- fraser firs, douglas firs, & white pines.  When I am ready to do my wreath, I get a few more textures from the yard- yews, boxwoods and if I still lived in the south I would be all over the magnolias!  In the past I have searched the woods for berries but this year it's all about simplifying and I think just the greens is still beautiful.

Then I have my garden gloves and clippers and I go to town snipping and layering!  I start the dark green background greens and shove them into the fake green- using the wired fakeys to hold them in if needed.  My little man helped me by chatting away and handing over branches.

Keep layering more greens until you have a full wreath.

I add the green "bling" at the end- boxwood and gold juniper.  Small pieces of those make a nice contrast. Stick a fluffy bow in there and you have an elegant wreath!  

See?  No sign at all of the fake underneath.  We had rain and snow last night too and it still looks great!  This work well for garland too.  I have done it on my bansiter many times.  What are your holiday decorating tricks?   Tell me some good tips!

Trimmed Trees Tutorial!

I have a bin full of trims that have been gathered for various projects and from the thrift store.  All those bits and pieces have been piling up for years!  I was organizing them by color and noticed how nice the textures all look together.  These trimmed trees are the result!  They are a cute addition to your mantle or a table top.  I chose to use a light green Kona Cotton for these 3 but I am dying to find a moment to make a smaller pink and turquoise to finish up the look!

Want to make this simple project too?  Begin by printing out the pattern pieces

Download Trimmed trees pattern pieces.

Materials needed:

1 fat quater of solid cotton fabric in your color choice

Fusible interfacing to back your cotton fabric

Trims (rick rack, ribbon, bias tape, zippers, seam binding, etc.)

Coordinating thread or clear thread

hand sewing needle and thread

scissors

sewing machine

plastic grocery bags / or polyfil stuffing and rice 

Begin by adding your first trim about 1" from the bottom.  Ribbon, bias tape & seam binding (that cute lacy stuff) should be sewn on both the top and the bottom of the trim.  Rick rack and zipper halves are fine with just 1 line of stitching.  The bottom trim is important since it serves as a guide to adding the rest of the trims.  Maybe draw a line with chalk or use pins to mark where it should begin and end.

I wanted my trees to have a more randomly decorated look so I tried not to use a specific order.  You can see in the picture above that I am adding tiny rick rack.  Allow yourself to use a good fabric glue if you are not up for testing your skills with a tiny rick rack!   Make sure to backstitch and clip your threads at the end of each line.

Once you have sewed on all your trims, fold your piece in half to make a cone shape.  Start pining at the top and go down to the base.  Sew the sides together with a 1/4" seam allowance.  Leave a 3 inch opening to turn the tree inside out.  See the picture below.  Again, make sure you backstitch so that the side seams won't unravel when you turn it inside out!

In the picture above, I alread sewed on the base and trimed the side seams.  These steps are next!  Take your base circle and pin it to your cone.  Sew the 2 pieces toether with a 1/4" seam allowance.

Trim your seams down to 1/8" except at the side openning.  Turn your tree inside out and use a chopstick to poke out the tip.  I used plastic grocery bags to stuff my trees!  I liked how they made it sturdier and it used up so many bags!   If you choose to use polyfil stuffing instead, pour some rice/beans/popcorn in the bottom first to make sure your tree is bottom weighted enough to stand up.  

Above left is the tip of my tree and on the right is where I stitched up the opening of my tree with a blind stitch.  You can see that the trims did not line up perfectly. You can make adjustments to get yours to be  perfect if you would like.

My original thought was that these would go on our mantle but they also look cute in this little village setting too!

Such a fun project!  And I used up some of that trim pile AND pesky grocery bags.  If you make some of these cuties, I would love to see them in my gingercake tutorials flickr group.  Trimmed trees is for personal use only- please do not sell trees made from this tutorial.  

Happy decorating friends!  Is your house all fixed up yet?  Mine is still a huge mess but my cookie party is this weekend so i have to get busy!

 

 

Kitty Cat Princess Hat and Show Details

Anne chose to be a kitty Cat princess for Halloween.  Suuuu weeet!  Dress up bin accesories, thrifted pink taffeta gown (which was so pretty and well made!!) and I made a cute fleece kitty hat.

This hat was so simple.  I am planning to make a couple more for my baby nieces as christmas presents.  It is basically a rectangle of fleece with the sides sewn together and then the ears are made by sewing the curve of the head.  I also put a dart in the middle to make it more head shaped.

I am hoping to get a quick tutorial made for this after I am finished with my shows!  Who is intersted in making more kitty hats with me???

This coming weekend I will be in Atlanta for Marist Holiday Traditions.  Marist was my High School and they do a really lovely show every november.  I get to visit my parents and sister while doing my show!!  Please come and see me if you live in the Atlanta area!  

Next weekend, Novemeber 12th, I will back in Pittsburgh and doing the handmade arcade again.  LOVE the Handmade arcade.  It is so cool and I feel so fortunate to be involved again.  It will be their biggest and best show yet so be sure to come if you live close by!

Whoo Hoo!!  Novemeber here we come.  Everybody ready to sew up some cute stuff for the Holidays?? 

Scrap Color Baby Quilt Tutorial

Hi again!  As I mentioned earlier today, what I like about these quilts is the ease of coordinating the colors.  In decorating, I love it when a whole room is all blue or green and even though the greens or blues may not be exactly the same, the design works since the basic color carries throughout the room.  That is the thinking behind these little quilts too.  And, you get to use up a lot of those pesky fabric scraps that are cluttering up your sewing room!

Begin by getting out your bag of scraps in your chosen color.  Don't have enough scraps in one color or you don't organize scraps by color?  Just gather a bunch of fabrics in one color and don't think too much about how well they do or do not coordinate.

Cut out 2 pieces of paper- one should be 5 x 5" and the other 5 x 2.75".  You need to cut 28 of the 5"x 5" and 56 of the 5" x 2.75".   Make sure you cut consistently.

You will also need 1 yard of UNWASHED cotton flannel, an iron, sewing machine, rotary cutter and mat, and coordinating thread.

Cut your scraps with the grain!  Try to stick with cotton.  Sometimes I mix in some vintage sheet scraps that are a poly/ cotton blend and although it works out OK, they do not lay as flat or consistently as the 100% cotton scraps and in the end are a bit more poofy. 

Lay your 5" x 5" pieces out on the floor or a big table top. 7 rows and 4 big blocks to a row.  Leave space for the smaller pieces in between.  It should look like the photo below.  Although I said earlier not to pay too much attention to the colors, do use some strategy about lights and darks, prints, stripes, polka dots, etc.  Make a quick attempt to spread them out evenly.

Next add the smaller pieces.  I like to alternate the small pieces going horizontal on one row and then vertical on the next.   Just adds a little more interest!  Again, use some quick strategy about lights and darks.  See the picture below...

Next start sewing your pieces all together.  Attempt to keep the design intact as you sew, starting with the bottom row and then moving on to the next one.  I usually move the entire row up to my sewing desk, complete the row, place it back on the floor and move on to the next row.  Sew all pieces together with a 1/4" seam allowance.  BE CONSISTENT with your seam allowance.  This really helps all you pieces come together nicely in the end.  Also, back stitch and clip your threads as you go.

I like to finger press my seam out as I go since it makes for easy ironing in the end.

Once you have moved through all 7 rows, you will need to attach them all together.  I usually do 2 at a time and then attach the sections together until I have the entire quilt top finished.

Iron out the entire quilt top until all your seams are laying nice and flat.  Since your worked your way through systematically and you were consistent with the 1/4" seam allowance, everything should have fit together nicely.  I admit that I usually have some seams that don't fit together perfectly and if it is more than a 1/4" off, I usually go back with my seam ripper and fit is up.  Otherwise, just keep moving through and it really wont make a big difference.

Next, cut out a piece of cotton batting that is 1/4- 1/2 bigger than the quilt top all around the edge. Iron these 2 pieces together and use your hand to spread the quilt top over the batting so it is nice and flat.  

Pin the 2 pieces together all around the edge and some in the middle- may be about 15 to 20 pins all together.  

Over to your sewing machine and do a large zig zag stitch all around the outside of the quilt top to attach it to the cotton batting.

Take your rotary cutter and trim the cotton batting so it is nice and straight and the corners are 90 degrees.

Next, take your yard of UNWASHED flannel and lay it on the floor or big table.  Iron it if it is wrinkled.  Ue your hands to make sure it is nice and flat .  Lay the quilt top (attached to the batting now) on top.  I usually line it up to a corner, and measure 1.5" away.  The flannel needs to be 1.5" larger than the quilt top all the way around.  I use a pencil and my large, clear ruler to mark a straight line.  Have your 3 year old play with his tractors and your felt scraps while you work :). 

Now cut the flannel along those pencil line you drew.  Change all those pins to go through the flannel also.  Move over to your ironing board and we will create the binding by folding this extra flannel over the quilt top.  Beginning on one side iron the flannel down toward the quilt top so that the raw edges face each other.  See the picture below...

 
Then iron it over again so that the flannel folds over the raw edge of the quilt top.

 Nice!  Move to another edge and do the same.  Make sure you iron the corners well since you need to use the creases made by the iron to make your mitered corners.

Sorry my ironing board cover is so busy and distracting!  Once you have all 4 sides ironed this way, choose one of the corners and unfold it back out.

See all those creases made by the iron?  They will come in handy here.  Next, fold the flannel back under so that the corner is now a straight diagonal line.

Unfold it again and you will have created another useful crease.

In the picture above I have the quilt top folded down but that diagonal crease lines up perfectly with the corner of the quilt top.  Make this fold on all 4 corners of the quilt.  

Next, pinch the corners together, facing away from the quilt top, and place a pin to hold it together at the crease in the middle of the pinch.  That sounds confusing but just pinch it backward and hold in place with a pin where the crease goes through the middle

Go over to your sewing machine and sew along the diagonal crease from the folded edge to the pin.  The quilt top is still attached but just folded away to make room to sew down the corner. Backstitch and clip your threads. 

Trim off the top edge and do a tiny trim at the corner.

Now lay the quilt top back down and use your finger and a chopstick to poke the corner out.

What a pretty mitered corner we are making!  over at the ironing board, before you iron it should look like this...

and then when ironed back to its original folds, it should look like this...

Lovely!  The first time I did this, I used this tutorial for cloth napkin corners.  It is well explained if you feel confused by my instructions.  I had to look at it over and over again to finally get it right.  Once you do it correctly though, you realize how simple it is!

Do all 4 corners the same way.  This step is optional but helpful- take out all your pins and iron the piece flat again.  Watch for too much material under a binding fold or too little.  Make adjustment if needed.  There isn't usually much, especially if your ironed well before and used enough pins and used your hands to smooth things out several time.  When everything is smooth again, put the pins back in again, plus some more!  You should have pins about every 6 inches to hold the layers together.

If you have a walking foot (special foot for quilting) use it now to do your own quilting job.  I don't have one (although I keep meaning to get one and they aren't expensive) and I just use lots of pins and hold the piece down as I sew.  

Start with the binding.  I do not use any pins on the binding since the un washed flannel lays nice and flat.  I also think the binding kinda needs to move a little to accomoadte the quilt top and the pins hold it in place unnaturally.  Sew on with a 1/8" seam allowance.  Just a theory though so pin away if you would like!

Once your have the binding sewn on around all 4 sides,  Now you can start on the quilt top.  I usually just "stitch in the ditch" since I don't have a walking foot and I am not an expert quilter!  Plus, I like the tidy squares it makes on the flannel side.  Start at the first seam between 2 of your cotton squares.  Use your fingers to push up that little edge you made on the binding stitch so you begin a little under the binding.

Stitch all the way down that "ditch" to the binding on the other side.  Lift that side of the binding up a little and finish your line there with a backstitch.  Clip your threads.

 Go all the way across your quilt where the seams of the large squares and the 2.75" x 5" rectangles meet.  Then turn the quilt 90 degrees and do the same down those "ditches".  When you are finished, you will have a nice boxy grid on the flannel side of your quilt and the quilt will be all sewn together.

IF you have some areas that are not lying flat and there seems to be too much fabric, don't fret too much.  

This mostly happens to me where I add some of the poly/ cotton blend pieces as you can see in the picture above with the piece of vintage sheet on my green quilt.  Try to spread out the extra fabric instead of having a single larger pinched area.  Do this by moving the fabric with your fingers under the sewing machine needle.  When you wash the piece after you have it all sewn together, the flannel shrinks a bit and makes these types of areas barely noticeable.  

The final step is to wash and dry your quilt.  I give mine one last good ironing after the drying and it looks great!

Hope you have some time to make one.  It's really fun to create something beautiful out of a pile of fabric scraps!  I love to think of all my old projects while I am cutting all the quilt pieces out too.  You can also get an idea of your personal style and favorite colors.  

My favorite this time around was the blue one I made.  My mom asked if I had anything sewn for boys since she needed a gift for a new baby and I told her that no, I didn't, and besides, boy fabrics just are not as cute.  I proved myself wrong when I put together all the fabrics in my blue scrap bag...

Cute!  Please feel free to make as many of these as you would like for family and friends.  If you do make one, I would love to see it in my Gingercake tutorials Flickr Group.