Mason Jar Tea Cozy

I can never get enough tea in the winter, and love to use quart-sized mason jars to fuel my addiction.  These jars are designed for canning, so adding boiling water is perfectly safe! This tea cozy insulates the jar (and protects your hands!) nicely, and it is also great in the summer for keeping your drink cold and preventing your glass from sweating.

Extra bonus – screw the lid on for a handy, spill-proof travel mug. Double-extra bonus – it’s perfect to make with scraps if you don’t have Charm squares handy!

These make a great holiday gift, especially paired with a box of your favorite tea! I’ve got a few more simple holiday gift ideas coming up soon at my blog at WaterPenny.net.

8 Charm squares – or an equivalent measure of scraps

Two pieces of batting measuring 14″ x 6″ and 5” square.

Extra fabric for optional accents

Button

Assemble the sides – finished sides should measure 13×5. Gather your fabric and batting:

Sew together three charms and trim down to 13×5 inches. 

Optional: OR, you can piece the fabric as desired, as long as the end product is 13×5. If adding applique or other fabric design, do so at this stage.

Layer outside fabric with quilt batting and sew layers together, quilting as desired. I did a quick wonky checkmark pattern, but this is a great place to try something new. (Note: You can pin before sewing, but I find ironing the layers together makes them hold quite nicely in a project this small.)

Trim off any extra batting.

• Sew the short ends of the outside fabric (right sides together) to form a loop. Use a generous quarter inch seam (as opposed to a scant quarter inch).
•  Repeat with the inside fabric to create a 13×5 piece of fabric sewn with the ends sewn together to form a loop (right sides together).

Assemble the bottom:

• Cut out two 4″ circles from charms and one circle from your batting. I trace a four inch embroidery hoop for this step.

• Fold circles in half twice and iron to create folded lines as shown below (top right) – with the crease lines marking four equal quarters.
• Layer your outside bottom circle with the batting as shown below (bottom right).

• Now take the side pieces from the previous step, and fold these in half twice; iron to create four fold lines – marking four equal quarters.

• Next, line up your four fold lines on your bottom circle and your side piece (right sides together). Pin where fold lines meet.

 

• After I have my fold lines pinned together, I add a lot more pins! 

Note: In the outside layer, which has a layer of batting in the bottom circle, take care when pinning to make sure you are catching both the fabric layers and the batting layer together.

• Everything pinned? Sew the bottom layer to the sides, pulling the pins out as you go. This is the trickiest part. But you’re almost done!

 

Put it all together:

• Turn the inside piece right side out.  Tuck this inside piece into the outer layer, so that right sides are together and the batting is on the outside. Pin along the top  at the fold lines.

• Sew along the top of the two pieces, using a quarter inch seam allowance. But wait! BE SURE to leave a two inch gap unsewn:

• Now reach in there to pull your piece right side out through the two inch gap you left unsewn at the top. You’re almost there!

• Tuck the inner lining in. I usually iron the top for a nicer finish, folding in the unsewn seams.
• Topstitch around the outer edge to finish.

Optional: Attach a cute vintage button to hang your teabag from so it doesn’t get lost in your mason jar!

Make it your own! 

You can add binding around the top – just like a quilt! One the cozy below on the right, I used Aneela Hoey’s Sew Stitchy Spools, and added a fat binding using standard quilting methods to the top.

One Mason Jar Tea Cozy

Let me know if you have any questions! I’d love to see your own spin on the cozy mason jar cover!

Happy Sewing! 

Dana Kuhnline

waterpenny.net

All Things Equal Quilt

Hi! This is my first project for Moda Bake Shop, so I’m a newbie! My name is Kaelin Telschow, and I blog over at The Plaid Scottie (aptly named after my Scottish Terrier Sir Whiskers MacTavish, who oversees [read: sleeps on] all my craft projects).

The top of this quilt requires nothing but jelly rolls, and the large blocks come together easily to make a good size quilt in a short amount of time. The soft, sweet colors make it perfect for little ones. If you choose to make your quilt the same size as mine, you’ll also have about half of your jell roll left over, so you could actually make two of these quilt tops from one printed jelly roll (you’d need an extra solid jelly roll though).

• 1 Print Jelly Roll (Walk in the Woods)
• 1 Solid Jelly Roll (or 2 3/4 yards) (Zen Grey)
• 5 yards of Backing Material (Girl & Tree in Whisper)
• 1/2 yard of Binding Material (Line Print in Poppy Whisper)
• Cotton Batting (I used prepackaged Twin size batting which is 72″ x 90″)

Step 1: Pull out 24 strips from your print jelly roll and group them in pairs. I tried to group mine according to color and scale (one large scale + one small scale print per pair…if I couldn’t find a good large/small pairing, I tried to pair a novelty print with a coordinate).

Step 2: Take your 12 large-scale strips (or whichever printed strips you want toward the outside of each block) and leave them folded in half. Trim the ends off so it’s exactly 21″ long, and then cut in the center so that you have two 10.5″ sections (once you peel the cut pieces apart, you’ll have a total of four 10.5″ pieces per jelly roll strip)

Step 3: Find your 12 (small-scale) strips and, leaving folded in half, cut a 6.5″ section from the end. Pull apart your two pieces, and set aside the remainder of the jelly roll strip.

Step 4: If you’re using a jelly roll of solid material, cut the strips as follows (if you have yardage of your solid instead, cut into (38) 2.5″ strips first and then follow the instructions below):

• Using 12 strips, cut into 18.5″ pieces (2 pieces per jelly roll strip, for a total of 24). 
• Using 12 strips, cut into 14.5″ pieces (2 pieces per jelly roll strip, for a total of 24).
• Using 12 strips, cut into 10.5″ pieces (4 pieces per jelly roll strip, for a total of 48)
• Using 2 strips, cut into 6.5″ pieces (6 pieces per jelly roll strip, for a total of 12) 

Step 5: Once all the fabric is cut, it’s time to start assembling the blocks. Below is a diagram of what a finished block will look like.

Find your 12 sets (2 per set) of 6.5″ printed pieces, and twelve 6.5″ solid pieces.

Step 6: To make the center pieces for your blocks, sew the printed pieces to either side of the solid strips.

Step 7: Find your (48) 10.5″ printed pieces (12 sets of 4), and (48) 10.5″ solid pieces. Pair up one printed piece with one solid piece, and sew together along the long edge.

To make each block, you’ll need one of the 6.5″ centers, and four of the 10.5″ pairs that you just sewed. Before you begin sewing your blocks, group the centers & 10.5″ pairs based on the groupings you made in Step 1 (see photo below).

Step 8:  To make your first block, take a 6.5″ center piece and one of the four coordinating 10.5″ pieces. Line up the end of the 10.5″ piece (solid side at the top) with the top left corner of the center piece.

Pin in place, and sew a partial seam between 3″ to 4″ long.

Open at the seam and press only the area where they’re attached.

Step 9: Grab a second 10.5″ piece, and line it up with the left edge of the pieces you just sewed together. They should line up perfectly. Sew, open, and press.

Step 10: Find your 3rd 10.5″ piece, and line it up with the bottom. Pin, sew and open to press.

Step 11: Fold back the loose end of the top 10.5″ piece so that it’s out of the way, and pin your last 10.5″ piece along the right side. Pin, sew and open to press.

Step 12: Now we can go back and finish off that partial seam. Fold the top piece down and pin the loose ends together.

Sew together, open and press the side you just sewed (the other half has already been pressed).

The interior of your block is now finished, and all you have to do is add the sashing!

Step 13: Pull two 14.5″ pieces and two 18.5″ solid pieces from your stacks. Sew the two 14.5″ pieces to the top and bottom of your block, and then add the two 18.5″ pieces to the sides.

Ta da! Now you have your first finished block! Each finished block will measure 18.5″ square, and you have enough fabric to make 12 blocks total.

You can organize your blocks however you like. For this particular quilt I grouped mine into rows by color….

…and then sewed the quilt top together.

But here’s a photo of an alternate layout I did before sewing the top together – you can scramble up the blocks for a more random color distribution if you’d like to mix things up a bit 😉

For the backing, cut your yardage into two equal pieces, trim the selvages, and sew together down the long edge. Baste, quilt and bind.

One 54″ x 72″ quilt, perfect for babies, snuggling, napping or picnics 🙂

Kaelin Telschow
{www.theplaidscottie.com}

Dashes in the Woods

I’m Michelle Marr and I blog at Michelle’s Romantic Tangle. Little Red Riding Hood has always been one of my favorite fairy tales, so as soon as I saw A Walk in the Woods, I wanted to play with it. It’s such a fun collection, and it makes a wonderful big girl quilt — which was supposed to be mine, but was stolen by my teenage daughter as soon as I got the binding on!

1 “A Walk in the Woods” Jelly Roll

1 “A Walk in the Woods” Charm Pack

3 1/2 yards Zen Grey Moda Solid for background

4 yards fabric for backing

3/4 yard fabric for binding

Cutting:

Before you start cutting, unroll your Jelly Roll and remove any strips that do not contrast well with your background fabric. To make the churn dash blocks stand out from the background, I removed all of the grey prints. Because I didn’t want to leave out the adorable little foxes, I did use the grey fox print in the center checkerboard. You can make the quilt with just a Jelly Roll, but without the grey fabric, there’s not a lot to spare so I added the charm pack as insurance against cutting errors.

From the Jelly Roll, cut:

128 print half square triangles for Churn Dash blocks (see instructions below)

160 2 1/2″ squares for Churn Dash blocks

200 2 1/2″ squares for center checkerboard

From background fabric, cut:

16 4 1/2″ squares for Churn Dash blocks

64 4 1/2 x 2 1/2″ strips for Churn Dash blocks

64 half square triangles for Churn Dash blocks (see instructions below)

200 2 1/2″ squares for center checkerboard

16 2 1/2 x 12 12 1/2″ strips for sashing between Churn Dash Blocks

2 2 1/2″ x 40 1/2″ strips for border of center checkerboard

2 2 1/2″ x 44 1/2″ strips for border of center checkerboard

Using the Easy Angle or other similar ruler, cut 128 half square triangles from 2 1/2″ Jelly Roll strips (4 each from 32 different strips) and 64 half square triangles from 4 1/2″ strips of background fabric.

Sew two of the small print triangles to a square to form a larger triangle. Then add a white triangle to form a square. Press. Make four units for each churn dash block, sixty-four total.

For the bars of the churn dash blocks, sew two 2 1/2″ squares together. Press open and sew to a 2 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ strip to form a square. Press. Make four units for each churn dash block, sixty-four total.

Using four scrappy half square triangles, four bar units, and a 4 1/2″ background squares for the center section for each block, assemble sixteen churn dash blocks.

For the center checkerboard section, sew 200 print squares and 200 background squares into 100 four-patch units. Arrange in ten rows of ten. (40 1/2″ unfinished size)

Border with 2 1/2 strips. The bordered checkerboard section should measure 44 1/2″

Using the churn dash blocks and 2 1/2 x 12 1/2″ strips, assemble the outer border. You will make four strips as pictured — two with three churn dash blocks and two with five blocks.

Add the borders to the center checkerboard section.

Quilt, bind and snuggle up on your next trip to Grandma’s House!

one 68″ square quilt

Michelle Marr
{mychellem.blogspot.com}

Patchwork Chevron Quilt

Hello all! I’m Jeni from In Color Order! I’m very excited to be here today to share a fun and quick lap quilt with you!

This quilt was inspired by a serious love for patchwork; it just makes everything better! I have loved working with Aneela Hoey’s previous fabric collections, and a Walk in the Woods did not disappoint! I had fun showcasing the sweet prints in this quilt!

– 4 charm packs of A Walk in the Woods by Aneela Hoey
– 2 1/2 yards of Moda Bella White 9900 97
– 5/8 yard of A Walk in the Woods 18525 13 (circles on gray) for binding
– 5 yards of A Walk in the Woods 18522 13 (birds on gray) for backing

*Note: Use 1/4″ seam allowances throughout

Cutting

From Moda Bella solid:
– Cut 6 strips: 14″ x width of fabric
– From those strips, cut (3) 14″ squares from each, for a total of 18 squares.


Take apart your 4 charm packs. Pick out 6 squares and set them aside, you won’t need them for this quilt!

Piecing 9-Patch Blocks

First we’ll be piecing traditional 9-patch blocks to make the patchwork!

Grab 9 squares and arrange them in a simple 3×3 layout, making sure to get plenty of variety in prints.

Piece the squares together in each row. Press seams open.

Sew the three rows together to complete the 9-patch block.  Press seams open.

Make a total of (18) 9-patch blocks!

If you’d like to chain-piece the rows for these 9-patch blocks, you’ll need to first separate your squares into two piles: 108 squares and 54 squares. Piece the 108 squares into pairs.  Now join each pair with a single square (from the other pile!).  This will give you 54 rows that can be pieced into 18 blocks!

Piecing Half-Square Triangle Blocks

Now that you’ve completed your 9-patch blocks, we’ll be using them to make half-square triangles!

Take your 14″ solid squares and draw a line diagonally from corner to corner using a ruler and pencil. Do this to all 18 squares.

Place a 9-patch block and solid square together, with your pencil marked side facing up. Pin in place.

Sew 1/4″ on either side of the pencil line.

Using your rotary cutter (or scissors), cut along the pencil line, separating your half-square triangles. 

Press seams toward the solid triangle to reduce bulk. Repeat with remaining squares until you have a total of 36 half-square triangle blocks.

Finishing

Arrange your blocks, 6 rows of 6 blocks, in a chevron pattern as shown in the diagram below:

Piece your rows together, pressing seams in alternating directions.  Pin your rows together, matching up the block seams. Don’t worry about the patchwork seams; they won’t match up! Sew your rows together and press seams open. Your quilt top is done!

To piece your backing, first cut your backing yardage in half. Press. Carefully trim off the selvedges and sew your pieces together lengthwise. 

Now you’re ready to baste and quilt! I quilted mine using a doodle-like free motion quilting pattern. I wanted something fun and whimsical to play with the sweet prints in this line! Finish off your quilt with binding made from the gray circle fabric! Yay, you’re done! 🙂

 A cheerful lap quilt! Before washing it should measure approximately 78″x78″.

Throw it in the wash for wrinkly goodness!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial! Happy Sewing! 🙂

Cheers,

Jeni Baker
{In Color Order}