Plus Kisses Boo Boo Pack

1 Twirl charm pack

A few cups of uncooked medium grain rice

Hi there! I’m Jennifer Rodriguez from All Things Belle.  I post about quilting, crochet, and life with our crazy daughters. Even though it’s snowing outside here in Utah, I’m dreaming of hot summer afternoons playing in the yard. I don’t know about you but when my girls play in the summer, we tend to need boo boo packs for skinned knees and more.

I absolutely adore the Twirl charm pack: it’s full of assorted fun colors and is perfect for a summer project. With just one charm pack, I’ll show you how you can create a rainbow assortment of Plus Kisses Boo Boo Packs.  The design is paper pieced which is my favorite way to quilt. This tutorial will include a brief segment on paper piecing and I have a more in depth instructions here.

Step One: Print out the paper piece design {included in the Printer Friendly Version}. I suggest lightly coloring in the pattern as a reminder for the fabric you want use.

Step Two: You will then need to cut the lettered sections from each other: A, B, and C.

For paper piece foundation quilting, I recommend the following tools:

*old credit card or something of that shape and weight

*rotary cutter

*cutting mat

*extra fine seam ripper

*tape

*iron

*add a 1/4″ ruler

*tweezers

*glue stick

Step Three: Pick out fabrics from the charm pack that you would like to use in the design. You will need 2 charms of the same design for the background and 1 for the plus sign. Place a small dab of glue on the wrong side of the fabric for A1 and adhere to the back of the paper. The fabric will always be worked on the back of the paper and sewn from the top. 

Then using your 1/4″ ruler, trim down the piece following the pattern grid.

Step Four: Reduce your stitch length to 1.5 – this will make it much easier to tear off the paper later.

Step Five: Line up the fabric for A2, seams matching A1 and right sides together. Then sew exactly down the line that borders A1 and A2. Press seam and trim A2 with the 1/4″ ruler.

Step Six: Sew the sections together in alphabetical order (A to B, AB to C). Press and you can now remove the paper pattern from the back.

Choose another charm to use as the back of the boo boo pack.

Step Seven: Pin the front and back together with right sides together.

Step Eight: With a 1/4″, stitch around the perimeter and leaving a 2″ space open. Clip the corners close to the stitches.

Step Nine: Pull the right side of fabric out through the 2″ opening and press. 

Step Ten: Place a funnel into the opening and fill with rice.

Don’t stuff it too full. Leave about 1/2″ of space at the top of the pack.

Step Eleven: Close the opening by hand with a ladder stitch or you should be able to top stitch it closed on your machine since the pack is not completely full.

One Twirl pack will be enough to create several boo boo packs. The exact number will depend on your fabric selection for the top. 

I hope that you have fun making these boo boo packs. You can use them for so many things! You can pop them in the microwave for about 1 minute for some warm soothing or place them in freezer to cool down skinned knees. In addition to using them as pain relief, they are a fabulous way to warm or cool down your bed before bedtime. We love to use ours when we camp to heat our toes in the sleeping bag.

Thank you again and I would love for you to stop by my blog, All Things Belle, for more quilting fun!

Jennifer Rodriguez
{All Things Belle}

Ribbon Candy Tree Skirt

1 Jelly Roll – Bella Solids Natural

1 1/3 yard – Bella Solid Natural (990039)

1 1/3 yard – cream felt

Happy Holidays! I’m Jennifer Rodriguez from All Things Belle. While my regular cup of tea is pieced quilt patterns, during the holidays I’m always feeling rushed to make more projects in less amount of time. Today I’m going to show you how to make a dramatic and classic tree skirt that is so simple. I love how it resembles Christmas ribbon candy. This tree skirt would be easy to match your decor; all you would have to do is change the Bella Solid jelly roll or serger thread.

In my project I used both my serger and ruffler foot. These accessories are not necessary to complete this tree skirt and I will give you tips how to work without them.

Step One: You will first need to decide on your color scheme for the skirt. Our Christmas tree is full of colorful ornaments and I didn’t want the skirt to be too bright. I choose to work with the Bella Solids natural and green serger thread.

Step Two: You will serge both sides of every jelly roll strip. If you don’t want to lose any width to your fabric, you can choose to not use the blade in your serger. However, I find you get a smoother serged edge if you have it cut the fabric as well.

*If you do not have a serger, you can zigzag the sides of all the strips. The sewn sides are decorative and to minimize any unraveling.

When you are done, you will have a very large pile of jelly roll strips.

Step Three: You will cut both the Bella Natural fabric and the felt into a very large circle with a 42″ diameter. Find the center of the circles and cut a 21″ slit -this will be the opening that will fit around your tree base.

Step Four: Spray or pin baste the two circles together; serge them together. This is will be your tree skirt base.

*If you do not have a serger, you can do a straight stitch to sew them together and bind them together with bias tape.

Step Five: With your ruffler foot set at 12:1 (twelve stitches for every ruffle), place the strips so that the needle will sew down the middle. Please refer to picture below.

*If you do not have a ruffler foot, you can sew a long running stitch and gather by hand. This will create a slightly different ruffle, but will still be adorable.

Step Six: Once you have ruffled/gathered every strip, pin the strips in a circular manner on the skirt base. The strips will not be long enough for the circumference for the outer rows – simply pin another strip on top of end of the last.

Continue in this manner until the tree skirt base is covered.

Step Seven: With a long elongated serpentine stitch, sew the strips in place.

I did a serpentine stitch to give it a more decorative look to the strips.

When you start and end the strips, fold the raw edges under about 1/4-1/2″.

And that’s it! Can you believe it? This project is so amazingly easy, but it provides a dramatic result.

With this color combination, it’s complementary to our very colorful tree but does not provide a glaring contrast.

I hope you will try this skirt. It’s easy to alter to fit your personal style. Wouldn’t this be fabulous in black and white? Or maybe orange and black for a little kitsch Halloween tree next year? The possibilities are endless!

A 42″ round tree skirt that is so adorable you will be hesitant to let Santa cover it up with presents!

Thank you so much for spending this time with me. I wish you a very happy holiday season! I would love to see if you make one of these skirts. Please feel free to share it in my All Things Belle Flickr group.

Jennifer Rodriguez

{allthingsbelle.blogspot.com}

High Flying Dreams Baby Quilt

1 layer cake of Circa 1934

2/3 yard of Circa 1934 (Red)

1/2 yard of Circa 1934 (Cream)
cotton batting

4 1/4 yards of black quilt binding bias tape

Hi ya’ll! My name is Jennifer Rodriguez from All Things Belle. I’m so excited to share with you my High Flying Dreams baby quilt. I fell in love with Cosmo Cricket’s Circa 1934 fabric line the minute I saw it at Quilt Market earlier this year. I was flooded with ideas of the circus, balloons, and more. It was the perfect fabric to create a retro hot air balloon! I designed this paper pieced foundation quilt with my baby’s first birthday in mind. I wanted something that would be exciting to her eyes and fun for her to cuddle with.

This quilt has a single paper pieced block with a delightful pieced back. You are sure to enjoy the piecing and quilting, while your baby will love the fanciful design! I will briefly go over the basics of paper piece foundation quilting, but I do have a more detailed tutorial here.

Step One: Print out the paper piece block. The pattern can be downloaded here and is also included in the Printer Friendly Version at the bottom of the post. I suggest coloring in the pattern as a reminder for the fabric you want to use.
Step Two: You will then cut the different lettered sections apart, A from B, etc.
For paper piece foundation quilting, I recommend the following tools:

*old credit card or something of that shape and weight
*rotary cutter
*cutting mat
*extra fine seam ripper
*tape
*iron
*add a 1/4″ ruler
*tweezers
*glue stick

Step Three: Pick out fabrics from the layer cake that you would like to use in the balloon block. Place a small dab of glue on the wrong side of the fabric for A1 and adhere to the back of the paper. The fabric will always be worked on the back of the paper and sewn from the top. Then using your 1/4″ ruler, trim down the piece following the pattern grid.

Step Four: Reduce your stitch length to 1.5 – this will make it much easier to tear off the paper later.
Step Five: Line up the fabric for A2, seams matching A1 and right sides together. Then sew exactly down the line that borders A1 and A2.
Step Six: Press the new seam and again use your 1/4″ ruler to trim the piece down. You will continue in this manner for all sections of the pattern. Again, if you need more assistance with learning how to paper piece, please see my tutorial here. *Remember to use that 1/4″ ruler on every side of the pattern, including the border – that is your seam allowance.
Here is how my pattern lined up after all sections were completed. When you paper piece, your finished project will be a mirror image of your original print out. Do not tear the paper yet; this will help guide you with the next step.
Step Seven: Sew the sections together in order, press, and you can now remove the paper pattern from the back.
Step Eight: Now cut the following lengths from your red and cream fabric.

Red – 8.5″ x 36″

Red – 5.5″ x 36″

Red – 6.5″ x 7.5″

Red – 7.5″ x 21.25″

Cream – 9.5″ x 36″

Cream – 7.0″ x 36″

I have a visual representation of how to piece the top here.

With a 1/4″ seam allowance, sew the 8.5″ x 36″ red strip to the 9.5″x 36″ cream strip.

Then sew the other side of the 9.5″ x 36″ cream strip to 5.5″ x 36″ red strip.

Your quilt should now look like the image below.
You will now piece the block into the quilt.

With a 1/4″ seam allowance, sew the 6.5″ x 7.5″ red strip to the top of the balloon square. You will match up the 7.5″ sides together.

Now on the bottom off the balloon square, you will match up the 7.5″ x 20.75″ red strip and sew together.

Step Nine:

Pull out 16 pieces from the layer cake to create your pieced back; there will be 4 rows of 4.

I choose the pieces that had numbers and letters. Since this was a quilt for my baby, I wanted fabric that would be visually exciting for her.

With right sides together, sew 4 pieces together with a 1/4″ seam allowance; create a total of 4 rows.

Step Ten:

Play with the placement of the rows. I wanted them to be slightly askew from each other. I placed down my yardstick in the middle so that I could be sure that in the end I would have a 36″ square.

Once you are happy with the end result, pin the rows together and sew together with a 1/4″seam allowance.

Step Eleven:

Create your quilt sandwich (back, batting, and top) and pin baste.
Step Twelve: Quilt as desired. I did minimal quilting in the balloon – just lines in the balloon segments to help create the 3D effect. I also tried to mimic the effect of air, and quilted long,windy air streams throughout the rest of the quilt.

Bind the quilt as desired. I machine bound it with binding bias tape. I knew my girls would be using this quilt frequently, and I wanted something that would stand up to lots of machine washing.
Here it is completed! I do not prewash my quilt fabrics. I love the crinkly soft look that comes from washing after quilting!
Here is the easy, playful pieced back. So much fun!
Up, up, and away..

May your little baby dreams take you to far away places..

One 36″ square baby blanket perfect for dolly picnics, snuggling with a book, or napping in the afternoon.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. I’m very passionate about paper piece foundation quilting, and I really hope that you are encouraged to try it. Thank you so much for spending this time with me and I hope you are encouraged to try paper piecing. It can be so rewarding and fun! If you make a High Flying Dreams quilt, please add it to my Flickr group.

Jennifer Rodriguez

{*All Things Belle*}