You can make this project with fused scraps, or by selecting the fabrics that you desire from your own stash. I would suggest that you choose 6-8 different fabrics that are the same value, but have contrasting colors, so that when you make your design, the colors will pop when placed side by side.

Materials
• 1/2 yard of wool blended felt
• Fused scraps
• Mistyfuse
• Goddess sheet or parchment paper
• Thread for free motion machine quilting
• Adhesive Velcro
• 2 straight pins
• Comfort Rotary Cutter
• 8″ Havel’s Scissors for precision cutting

1. Cut 2 pieces of wool blended felt 17 1/2″ long by 6″ wide
with a rotary cutter on a mat with a ruler. Set aside.



2. If you don’t have any fused fabrics, you can use Mistyfuse – lay the fusible web on the wrong side of the fabric, making sure none of it goes over the sides.



3. Cover with parchment paper or a Goddess sheet and press with a dry iron on the wool setting. Pull the parchment paper or Goddess sheet away immediately.
Let cool, and then trim the edges with a pair of Havel’s scissors
for precision cutting, so that the fusible goes to the edges.



4. Scraps – I store all of my scraps by color in bin drawers.



5. In looking at your fabric selection, find the one that stands out the most for the 2 sticks that you will use at the end. My selection was lime green fabric,
and they are cut 2” long by 1/4″ wide, cut 8 pieces.



6. Proceed to cut your fabrics into a variety of squares and rectangles from 1” to 2”,
with either a rotary cutter or a pair of scissors.



7. Begin placing the cut fabrics onto one piece of wool blended felt. You can overlap the edges with the fabrics. When you have the design that you like, iron them into place.



8. Add the fused sticks throughout the design.



9. Flip the piece over and trim excess fabric from the edges with scissors.



10. Cut a piece of Mistyfuse to put between the 2 pieces of wool blended felt and iron into place, like a sandwich. Iron both sides to keep it from separating.



11. Press the fused fabric side with your iron, so it remains flat.



12. Thread your sewing machine with your thread selection. I used black thread for this project. Lay the fused piece under the foot, and anchor your first stitches into place,
and then proceed to zig-zag all around the piece to secure the edges.



13. With a free motion foot, anchor your starting stitch by sewing it into place,
backwards and forwards. For free motion quilting, I sewed free flowing stitches
of leaves and stems, over the entire piece.



14. See the detail stitching on the fabric side.



15. See detail stitching from the felt side.



16. Get your Kindle out, and place it on the inside (the felt side),
and measure the flap, it should fit just over the keyboard, about 2”.



17. Pin into place, remove Kindle, and sew the sides using the zig-zag stitch
on your sewing machine.



18. Cut the adhesive Velcro 2” long, and trim it just slightly lengthwise.



19. Flip the cover down towards the tab to measure where the Velcro
will meet up, and adhere into place.



20. Let each Velcro piece cure separately to the fabric for a bit, by pressing it
under a book for about 30 minutes before closing them onto each other.



Now you have a great cover for your Kindle or to give as a gift.
Here is another one that I made using silk scraps.

Jamie Fingal is an award winning artist who lives in Orange, California and the author of “Embellished Mini Quilts”. Her whimsical and abstract work has been juried into International quilt exhibitions and featured in many books. She has written articles for Quilting Arts, Cloth Paper Scissors, Gifts, and Studios magazines, and she has two instructional DVD’s. She’s been a guest on Quilting Arts TV in Series 200, 400, 700, 900, and is most known for her playful approach to quilt making with zippers, houses, abstract and faces. Her work is in private, public and corporate collections. She is also a grown up Girl Scout and her artwork is featured on an Ecco-Bag for ABC Bakers for the 2010 Cookie Sales. Her piece “Soul Sisters” won the grand prize in the contest for the Alliance for American Quilts in 2011. Jamie says, “I believe in giving back, and coordinate the “Welcome Home” house quilt project with Furnishing Hope. I also co-curate art quilt exhibits and teach at the National level with Leslie Tucker Jenison for Dinner at Eight Artists.”

Be sure to check out Jamie’s blog jamiefingaldesigns.blogspot.com,
and if you’d like to contact her, you may email her at jamie.fingal@gmail.com
or snail mail: 960 N. Tustin Street #253, Orange, CA 92867

To see more free quilt projects click here.

For a printable PDF of this project, click here.

You’ll thank me later….

If you are a beginner to quilting, the tools you need are few. There are, literally, thousands of tools for quilting available to the stitcher…it can be very confusing. So, to simplify, here is a list of the most essential things you will need to start quilting.

Marking Tools
You will use a marking tool for appliqué, marking fusible web, placement of appliqués on fabric, placement of embellishments on fabric and marking quilt lines.

For Permanent Lines
• Micron Pigma Pen: an archival acid free pen, like the pens for scrap booking.
• Fine Point Sharpies: and when I take a hot iron to the marks they become permanent.
• Color Pencils: can be used as they can be matched to the colors of fabric used. Then there isn’t a harsh black line to worry about.
• Fabric Markers: are the best because they come in colors, are permanent and are made for fabric…however they can be expensive. So, if you buy just the primary colors individually from an art or hobby store you can save expense. Store all markers on their side to keep them from spilling ink or drying out.



For Temporary Lines
• Chalk Pencils: and markers are good.
• Wash Away Pens: however, if you live in a very humid area, the marks may disappear before you want them to.







Rotary Cutter/Mat/Ruler
The single most important tool for the quilter has become the rotary cutter. In one step, you can measure and cut perfect straight strips for making patchwork. It has replaced the need for patchwork templates and the ability to cut perfectly straight lines with scissors.
The acrylic ruler is essential to the rotary cutter. Metal rulers ruin the blade and wooden rulers dull the blade. The acrylic rulers not only have measuring lines, but marks also for cutting various angles.
The cutting mat is very necessary – it holds the fabric still, protects table surfaces from the sharp blade and it prevents the blade from becoming dull.

How to Use a Rotary Cutter
Lay your fabric on the mat, line up the edge of the fabric to the lines on the mat.
Place the ruler along the fabric where you will make your cut.
Place one hand flat on the ruler.
Hold the rotary cutter against the ruler at a bit of an angle and cut away from your body. You may have to reposition your hand holding the ruler down so that the ruler doesn’t slip on the fabric.
If this is your first time using a rotary cutter, practice on some junk fabric. It took me
several tries.





Best Scissors
• Havel’s 8” Sewing/Quilting Scissors to cut fabric
• Havel’s 5 ½” Curved Tip Sewing Scissors for appliqué
• 5 1/4” Ultimate Embroidery Scissors at the sewing machine






Sewing Machine
It should be in good working order. If it hasn’t been used in a while, it should probably be serviced.
Good working order means that the thread tensions work well. When you make a straight stitch on the machine, it is a smooth, even stitch with no puckers.
A clean machine is very important. Lint can build up in the bobbin area and wreck the timing of the machine and prevent good stitching.
Be sure to follow the instructions in your owner’s manual for the care and cleaning of your machine.
If you have a new machine, use the owner’s manual and become familiar with your machine before starting to quilt. When I acquire a new machine, I always do this. I will spend a day (or longer) learning all about my machine and go through every operation that my machine will perform so that I understand it.

If you are thinking of buying a new sewing machine:
Ask someone you know and admire and who sews beautifully – what does she suggest?
You want a good dealer. It is just like buying a car: you won’t be happy with your purchase if the sewing shop doesn’t support you with classes, service and supplies for your machine.
I use a Bernina.


Machine Embroidery Needles
Be sure you buy the sewing machine needles that fit your machine. Believe it or not, sewing machine needles come in different lengths. The company that makes your machine will have the best advice for the needles for your machine. Don’t buy cheap needles – they are bad needles.



Paint Brush
Keep a soft bristle paint brush by your machine. Clean out the bobbin area and the needle area several times a day when you are doing a lot of stitching. The lint that builds up will affect the quality of your stitches.






Quilt Pins
These are long pins with a plastic ball head. They are long to be able to go through several layers of fabric and the heads make them easy to pick up and to find.









Design Wall or Layout Area
When I lived in a teeny tiny home with no room at all to lay out a quilt, I used my bed as a layout space. I would pin sections of my quilt to a sheet (which was spread out on the top of the bed) to help me see how the quilt would look. If I needed to see it hanging up, I would hang the sheet from the top of a window’s curtain rod.
There are many fancy solutions for this need. I use flannel backed vinyl (tablecloth material) tacked to a wall in my stitch studio with upholstery tacks.




Iron
I use an inexpensive iron that gets very hot…unfortunately, I’m very clumsy and I drop my irons. I also use hobby irons and travel irons for small areas of pressing. I find that the small irons get very hot and are very easy to manipulate in small sections of work.
I don’t use steam for the most part in my work. Steam can distort the fabric.





Ironing Surface
I made a large surface that I put onto my ironing board. I followed Sharon Schamber’s instructions: I started with a large section of OSB or MDF plywood board (your local home improvement place will know what this is and it isn’t expensive) cut to the size I wanted. Layer this with low loft cotton batting and cotton duck fabric. Then, pull the fabrics to the back and secure with a staple gun. This gives me a large and very flat surface which is perfect for pressing quilts.


Pressing Cloth
Especially if you are using fusible webs, paints, or materials made with metal threads or nylon. Simply, a pressing cloth can be an old sheet or pillow case or a piece of muslin that will protect both the iron’s surface and the fabric’s surface.

Lint roller
Can be used to clean my design wall, my ironing surface and even stray threads on my quilt.




Hand needles
Hand Needles called “Betweens” work well for burying threads, use in stitching binding and rod pockets to a quilt and doing any hand stitching that may be required.

Next: Essential Materials for the Beginning Quilter

See Terry’s latest project The Happy Christmas Tree Photo Album Cover, just click here, and you’ll be on your way to making a memorable Christmas album for the whole family.

…and for a downloadable PDF of this blog, click here.

Make the Bookmark



1. Start with a piece of fabric with fusible web applied and the paper backing torn off.
In this case, I used the leftovers from the labels.



2. Fold the fabric onto itself with fused sides together. This creates a two-sided fabric
with lots of body. The double fusing adds strength to the piece.



3. After cutting the piece into a rectangle using the Rotary Pinking Blade,
I used the Rotary Skip Blade to perforate two lines down the center of the bookmark.



You can see the perforations when I pull the fabric a little. This won’t fray; the double fusing strengthens the fabric. So, this technique has all kinds of applications!



4. Use a big tapestry needle to thread purple metallic ribbon through the perforations.



5. Cut two stars from fabric with fusible web on it. Don’t fuse them before cutting them out.



6. Place purple ribbon on top of a green star (fusible side up). Place the other star on top,
then iron, fusing the purple ribbon between the green star shapes.



7. Do the same for the purple stars.

I really hope that you had as much fun making this project as I did designing it.
I would like to appreciate my supporting cast in this project…without which
it just would not be the same…the 12 days of Havel’s Scissors!

For a printable PDF, please click here.

Finish the Edge

1. Use the same thread in the top and the bobbin of your sewing machine. Choose a nice edge finish stitch. I use an edge foot because the stitch seems to look so much better with it.



Snip-A-Stitch is a great tool for any kind of work on the sewing machine. You can see the little notch in the blade…this notch gets you very close to the fabric to cut the end threads without cutting the fabric.



This is what the edge of the album cover looks like.

2. Position your album on the cover and mark where the folds should be. This cover is just like the book covers we made as kids to cover our school books. Press the folds with an iron.

Here is the album inserted in the fold of the cover.

Here is the back of the album cover.

Here is the side view of the album cover.

Next: On The Twelfth Day Of Havel’s,
My True Love Is The Rotary Skip Blade

For a printable PDF, please click here.

Make the Back Label and the Spine Label

1. Apply fusible web to fabric before cutting.
This will keep the back label and spine label from fraying.



2. When using this blade, be sure to hold it upright so that both sides of the blade cut through.



I used an archival permanent drawing pen to write on the labels.

Then, positioned and fused them in place.

Next: On The Eleventh Day Of Havel’s,
My True Love Is The Snip-A-Stitch

For a printable PDF, please click here.

Make the Border



1. Choose your border fabric. The color you choose will frame the project,
so it can be subdued, or as I chose, something that would be bright!

2. Measure the size of your borders and add 1/2″ for overlap.
The wavy edge will overlap your design area.



3. Apply fusible web to your border fabric and tear off the backing paper before cutting.
This way you will avoid fraying.



4. You only need the wave design on the inside of each border. Cut the outside edge with Havel’s Jumbo Rotary Cutter for a straight finish. For the center area, cut both edges out with the Wave Blade. Press the borders to the lining and the overlap of the design areas.

On The Tenth Day Of Havel’s,
My True Love Is The Rotary Pinking Blade

For a printable PDF, please click here.

Make the Lining

1. I used polyester taffeta lining fabric for the lining. I traced the correct size of the lining onto the fabric with a fine line marker and then cut it out with serrated scissors.



Havel’s serrated scissors are wonderful for cutting slippery fabrics because
the teeth bite and hold the fabric as they cut.

2. Cut the fabric for the back of the album 14″ square.

Back of Album

3. Layout the front and the back of the album onto the lining.

Front of Album

Next: On The Ninth Day Of Havel’s,
My True Love Is The Rotary Wave Blade

For a printable PDF, please click here.

Make the Ornaments



1. Use a fine line marker and draw the ornaments’ hang wires onto the tree.



2. Position buttons on the tree to see how you want the different sizes and shapes to look.
Place them on top of your tree pattern to maintain your idea as you stitch the buttons on.



3. Hand stitch each button into place with red thread.



4. Use a multi-colored pearl cotton thread to simply stitch a straight line
for each hang wire. I used three or four stitches for each one.

Dura-Snips fit perfectly with your portable hand work tools.
You can use them to snip all types of yarn and threads.

Next: On The Eighth Day Of Havel’s,
My True Love Is The 7″ Serrated Sewing/Quilting Scissors

For a printable PDF, please click here.

Make the Garland

1. Trace the design of the garland onto the tree.

When I want to trace a line from a pattern, I trace the lines onto a piece of paper.



I cut away along the line I want. Trace the line, and then cut the next outline and so on.



I use Havel’s Teflon Coated Scissors to cut out the paper pattern.



2. Use Havel’s Snip-Eze to cut purple metallic ribbon pieces.
Each ribbon section should be cut 4 inches longer than the design.



3. Use the bar-tack on your sewing machine to stitch the garland down.
I used a purple rayon thread.



4. Use the closed Snip-Eze to pull up a little ribbon between
each bar-tack to make it look loopy.



Use a tapestry needle to secure the ribbons to the back of the work.

Next: On The Seventh Day Of Havel’s,
My True Love Is The 4 3/4″ Dura-Snips On A Neck Strap

For a printable PDF, please click here.

Make the Stars



1. Make templates of the stars from cardstock or template plastic.
I like to use the plastic from empty milk containers for templates.



Cut flat sections from the carton with Havel’s 6 1/2″ Teflon Coated Serrated Scissors. Use a fine point Sharpie to trace the star shapes on the plastic. Cut the stars out of the plastic.



2. Trace star shapes onto yellow felt with an orange marker.



This yellow tulle has a rainbow metallic thread woven in a diamond pattern.
This will add extra shiny color to this project.



3. Use a light spray of spray adhesive on the felt and adhere some glittery tulle to the felt.
Use newspaper to protect surfaces from the sticky spray.



4. Stitch the tulle to the felt. Use a marigold rayon thread to outline the shape three times.
You can use a long straight stitch or you can do free-motion stitching.

5. Cut out star shapes a scant 1/8″ outside of the stitched lines with Havel’s Teflon Scissors. Teflon scissors are great when working with sticky glues or paints. There are several sizes of these scissors which are great tools for the mixed media artist.



6. Glue the stars in position on the design. Put a book on the stars to press them flat
as they dry. Outline the stars with a deep pink fine point marker.

I didn’t glue the treetop star onto the design until after putting the border on
because I made it a little too big for the space.

Next: On The Sixth Day Of Havel’s,
My True Love Is Snip-Eze Blunt Tips

For a printable PDF, please click here.