Fandango

 I wasn't sure I would ever be able to write this post. This quilt was quite nearly my undoing. Everything went fine until 3/4 of the quilting was finished and I discovered the most horrendous puckers! And at that point it was either unpick all my quilting, splice, or discard. It threw me into a complete sewing funk. So I tossed it in a corner and ignored it for about six months. Then my mom stepped in and helped me figure out the issues, and voila a finished Fandango quilt.

 My favorite part of this quilt is the quilting through the patchwork. Actually I made this quilt specifically for the quilting. I love how quilting in the negative space makes the colored blocks pop.

And the back, which was fun!
Hooray for another one crossed off the list.

Covered Button Ring Tutorial

 I've made a few of these rings but hadn't thought of posting about them on the blog, until a friend suggested it. So I thought I'd put together a little tutorial of how I make them.

What you'll need-

ring blank with a flat pad (I got mine here)
cover button kit (I used 3/4" for the yellow, green & blue, 1" for the elephant; I get mine at JoAnn's)
scrap of fabric
hot glue gun & glue

 Start with one uncovered button and back.

 Remove the metal loop on the back. I do this by wiggling and moving it around until it slips out, you could also use needle nose pliers.

 Cut a circle of fabric the size indicated on the cover button box- if you have an image be sure to center it in the circle.

 Then create the button (if you haven't done this before, the box that the cover buttons come in has good instructions). As you do this be careful to keep your image centered- which is more difficult than you'd think- as you can see, my elephant isn't perfect, but I've had worse.

 Now grab your ring blank and heated hot glue gun. I squeeze enough glue into the back of the button to fill it, but not overflow. Then press the ring blank pad into the hot glue and hold until cooled.

 There, you have a darling custom make ring.

Now, go forth and make 1... or 4!

Obviously I'm not a hand model, but I wanted to include this picture for perspective on the size of the button.