Exploring Creativity: My First Alphabet summed up! + SALE!

This post is a part of the Exploring Creativity series. You can read all about it HERE. And HERE is the post sharing the pattern for this month, My First Alphabet.  

I meant to post his yesterday but I got TOTALLY distracted with the October's Exploring Creativity pattern!! It's going to be awesome!!! (Actually, they're going to be awesome!! As I was updating the pattern I originally picked for this month, I couldn't help but play around some more and came up with a spin off pattern from it which has turned into it's own pattern and well, I'll share more tomorrow! Stay tuned for the announcement and flash sale! You know I can't resist those flash sales.)

BUT of course before we move on, I want to sum up what I learned from making my My First Alphabet projects! (Which I'm still finishing up... heehee. I have two tops complete, and then the phrase with the 60-something letters is still in progress... I made 108 letters total! WOAH! I still think they are fun though, and could totally keep going!)

Alright, I am in a rambling mood, so let's just skip ahead to my projects...

I have been wanting to make an alphabet mini ever since I made this pattern. It just hasn't ever happened, until now! I couldn't resist using the 6 inch alphabet pattern to make these!! SO fun! I think I like the 6 inch pattern even more than the 3 inch pattern... though I don't think I can really say that and be honest. They both have their place. 

All prints are by Anna Maria Horner. I used kona cotton white for the background, but through in some random low volume prints (cotton + steel, Lizzy House, Karen Lewis. I love how it turned out and can't wait to get this quilted up!

With this project I tried really hard to get the rainbow just perfect. Though what I really learned from this was to let go and just let it happen. I tend to be a control freak, but as I was assembling the Love is Made of Hearts quilt, it was so liberating to join all of these random blocks together and see how completely perfect it turned out!! There is no way I could have made it any better. That process taught me a lot about using the different variations of the prints and colors to add interest and beauty to the quilt, rather than seeing those as imperfections. I'll call it the journey of scrappiness.

So This was a good project to practice some scrappiness. and I'm really happy with how it turned out. (If you are on IG and liked this, thank you!!! I appreciate all the love!)

The second top I made is this one I drew up in orange and blue. I did like it in the colors that I originally saw it in, but I'm glad I changed it. Especially since copying someone else doesn't entail much exploration or creativity. lol.

I used this project to help me fine tune my own style and what I like, and help me figure out where I want to go with my own unique style. I used colors that I love, and decided to copy this disappearing 9-patch design that I used in this mini quilt - which I was really surprised at how much I love it!

I am going to do matchstick quilting on this quilt - with the lines super close together. It takes forever, but I LOVE the finished result.

And of course I love the message of this quote. What I take from it is how important it is that I am myself. Completely and entirely me. And only when I am ME, can I truly believe in myself. The two are inseparable, and I think integrity, personal integrity, is a big HUGE part of that.  Otherwise that belief can't be anchored, because without that integrity, what you're attempting to believe in isn't real. And there isn't anything to anchor to in the first place. So to me it's a beautiful message of purity, freedom, and strength.


P.s. I have to add, that my husband loves me so much!! He removed all of the paper off of both of these projects for me!! I am totally spoiled! ;) Thank you Mr. Bohn! You're the best!


What did you learn and experience this month?
Did you find growth and direction as you worked on your projects, or even just planned or dreamed about what you would make?
I'd LOVE to hear your experience! (Seriously! I really want to hear it! I hope you'll share (If you blog about it or share on IG, you can link your post to the linky, or share in the comments below). And if you didn't really think about it last month, I hope you'll join me this month and notice where you're creative journey takes you!)

Summary of this months Tips:

• Use scraps, and Piecing with dark fabrics HERE
• Sizing tips, chart for 3 inch letters, and a new FREEBIE  HERE 
• Color tips HERE
• Links to my different paper piecing tutorials HERE
• My new favorite paper piecing tip when not using cutting templates HERE! As well as tips and sizing chart for the 6 inch letters

Let's end with some awesome sauce news!!!

Since I made a 6 inch pattern for the letters, of course I had to make a 6 inch version of the numbers and punctuation marks too!!

Now available in 6 inches tall! 

Perfect companion to the 6 inch tall letters!

ON SALE NOW!!! 

15% OFF

From now until Friday October 7th, midnight PST

If you subscribe to my newsletter.... make sure you check your inbox later tonight!!! Hint, hint!

 

And of course don't forget to read the newsletter from Saturday night to see the winning quilt for this month!!

Not signed up? You can sign up HERE.

Have a wonderful Tuesday!! 

P.s. Don't forget to come back tomorrow to find out October's pattern!!

Last Day for 40% OFF! Plus more Tips!

Hey! It's me, again! Look at all this blogging I'm doing. It's crazy sauce! ;) lol.

I just want to let you know really quick that

  

today is the last day for 40% OFF the 

My First Alphabet 6 inch pattern! 

Make sure to click on the drop down menu and select the 6 inch Alphabet option.  
(sale is for the 6 inch size only. no coupon necessary - which means for my Creative Explorer peeps, aka, if you are on my newsletter list, you just might have a coupon that you could add on to that for extra savings... if you're not on the list, you can sign up by clicking the button on the sidebar for an instant coupon! ;) Just saying.)


Anyway....

I wanted to also share my A's with you!

Aren't these pretty?! I'll be making a whole bunch of letters this weekend, so I'm glad to be starting off with good results and positive energy, which will hopefully help carry me through the rest of them... ;) (I have 82 letters for my 2 projects plus I decided to do an alphabet mini with the 6 inch letters and a pouch for my son, so that's another 26 letters plus 7. I have 3 done so far! but I'm not going to think about that. though I will think about how in all of those letters I only have 4 S's! so that's awesome! lol.) ;)

In the photo, from left to right: 6 inch letter from the new 6 inch alphabet, 3 inch letter from the original pattern, and a 2 inch letter which I shrunk down from the 3 inch pattern (I show you how to do that in this post).

As I was piecing my A's I did discover a new tip that I want to share with you as well! I'm pretty excited about this one! :)

If you know me, you know I LOVE using cutting templates when I paper piece. But cutting templates with these letters would be pretty ridiculous.

I shared one tip in my last post about cutting long strips for the letter sections. I'll tell you here how I figured out how wide to cut the strips: measure the width of the letter section, and then add 3/8 inch to each side,

width of the letter section + 3/4 inch = width to cut your strips

By letter section I mean the single line of the letter. You can see that in the A there are two different lines that come down each side of the letter, and then one small line that goes across. Find the width of one of those lines (or the height of the horizontal line).

Then cut those strips to length for the sections you are piecing. Super quick and easy!

 

Ok, that wasn't actually my tip. lol. Here's my tip:

Some sections are weird shaped and can be a little harder to figure out exactly where/how to fold your fabric to cover the entire section. Here's a super quick and easy way to get it right the first time WITHOUT needing to unpick anything!


First make sure that your fabric piece is large enough to cover the entire section PLUS 1/4" on all sides.

Lay it right side down on the BACK of the pattern template - the printed side. Align the fabric so it's aligned nicely with all the surrounding edges. Don't worry about the stitch line just yet.

Now fold the fabric to the back, or to the wrong side of the fabric, and align the fold with the stitch line, making sure not to shift the fabric (it still needs to cover all the other edges by at least a 1/4", or as in these images the seam allowance). Crease the fold.

Now flip the pattern template and fabric piece over so both are right sides up, keeping the fabric folded.

If you glue baste, draw a line of glue just to the inside of the stitch line.

With fabric still folded, align it on the stitch line so the edges cover all the edges of the section and overlap by a minimum of 1/4".

Unfold the fabric without letting it shift (this is why I like glue basting, it doesn't shift!) Then piece like normal.  Trim around the block, leaving the 1/4" seam allowance.

You'll have a little more fabric waste than you do when using cutting templates, but it's so quick and easy that it's ok! :)

While I'm sharing, here's a quick scale chart if you are starting out with the 6 inch pattern. REMEMBER, if you make the pattern smaller, you MUST adjust the seam allowances as they will be toooooo small. ;) (see this post for instructions). If you enlarge the pattern, the seam allowances will be too wide.

Alright... I'd love to stay and chat, but I have some letters to make!

Don't forget the sale!!!

Exploring Creativity: Sizing, Tips, a SALE! and Freebies!!

This post is a part of the Exploring Creativity series. You can read all about it HERE. And HERE is the post sharing the pattern for this month, My First Alphabet. 

Have you linked up your old projects using the My First Alphabet pattern yet? or tagged them on Instagram? (use tags: #fbpMyFirstAlphabet, #fbpExploreCreativity, and #fbpPatterns) Don't forget! The month is passing quickly! ;) (you can link them up at the bottom of this post for your chance to win $10 credit to my shop as well as $25 to Llama Fabrics! - and be sure to sign up for my newsletter so you can know if you win!)

Here is a pouch I made a few years ago for my oldest.

If you're just starting on something now, how is it coming along??? Have you started yet? I have my letters printed and cut out, and I'll be starting tonight. (Is that bad that I haven't even started yet?? lol. too many things to do at once! I'll share those other things soon!)

If you haven't started yet, you're in luck!! I have some great freebies and info to share with you to help you along! Make sure to read to the bottom, because the good stuff is at the end!! ;)

First let's talk about sizing!

The My First Alphabet letters finish at 3 inches tall, and vary in width by letter (because "I" is definitely a lot narrower than "W" lol). If you want to shrink or enlarge the pattern, it's really not that hard, though there are a few things you'll want to do to adjust for the change in size.

Adjusting the size can definitely make for some really fun projects!!! You can make name pillows, monogram bags, make them smaller for coin purses or pincushions, pencil pouches. The options are seriously endless!

Let's talk technical for a moment:

You can change the size in the printing dialog box when you go to print. I print mine from Preview on my Mac, so that's where my screenshots are from. The print dialog box may be different on your computer, but the main features will be there, you just might need to look for them.

To keep the pattern at the correct size (3 inches tall), make sure that your settings are set to 100%, or it may say "no scale". 

If you would like to change the size of your pattern, here are some different percentages that you can scale your pattern to.

THIS IS IMPORTANT!!!

If you do scale your pattern by even the smallest amount, the seam allowance will no longer be an accurate 1/4 inch. Included in the pattern is instructions on how to adjust this. I did take a few pictures yesterday of when I made my pattern pieces 2 inch tall.

First I scaled down the pattern in the print dialog before printing to 67% and then printed it.

To adjust the seam allowance, align the 1/4" mark on your ruler with the INSIDE line (I drew over it in green) of the seam allowance (SA - the shaded area). Draw a line all the way down the side (it will be larger than the printed SA if you scaled down, and inside the SA if you scaled up).

*** Which reminds me. If you scaled your pattern larger, you really don't have to redraw the SA. Since it is big enough, it's easy to trim down once you are done piecing it. You will have more scraps left over, but it will save time. So pick your benefit, right?! :)

*** The reason why I highly recommend redrawing them if you scale down is because if you don't extend your fabrics far enough past the seam allowance, it's going to make for some real trouble when you go to join your letters or sew them to other fabric. I would fail miserably if I committed myself to remembering to add extra fabric around the outside as I pieced. I know that's how some people make their patterns and/or paper piece. And that's great if that works for you. But I want to use my brain as little as possible while I'm piecing to avoid messing up as much as possible. If I know my SA are accurate ahead of time, that's one less thing I have to think about while I'm piecing.

So... repeat that step of aligning your ruler with the inside line, and then drawing a line down the entire side of the pattern template, until you have done that on all sides.

Next I shade in all of the new SA so I know exactly what is what.

Then cut out around the SA. Now I have a 2" (finished) letter with a 1/4" SA.

For letters that have multiple sections, you'll need to print out a copy for each section, since the pieces are so close together the new SA will overlap (unless you didn't scale it down by much, they might still fit.)

Now you have small letters with an accurate seam allowance! Hooray!

Tip:

Here's a tip. If you know me, you know I LOVE using cutting templates when I paper piece. But can you imagine cutting out cutting templates for all these letters? I only love them so much. ;)

To make piecing these letters easier, here's a quick tip:

All of the letter sections in this pattern are a pretty consistent width. This means that you can cut strips that are 1 1/4" wide or wider, and then cut those strips to length depending on the letter you are piecing. If you are using the same fabric for the letters, you can simply cut a few 1 1/4"+ strips, and go from there! It will save you time by not needing to stop and cut every step along the way. No one has time for that!

These strips will be enough to cover all of the vertical letter sections. I will need a few more strips for the horizontal sections. If you are using directional prints, but the fabric 1 1/4"+ tall, and then trim the width based on the section.

I hope that is helpful!

Now on to the good stuff!!

FREEBIE!!

Especially if you are making a large phrase, it can be quite the task to figure out how many of each letter you need to print. And with the new pages in the pattern, with multiple copies of the same letter per page, it can be even more confusing to know which pages to print.

To make it easier for you I made this cute and simple Tally Sheet!

You simply write out your word(s) and/or phrase at the top (since I'm making two different projects I simply wrote them both at the top so I could print out all the letters at once).

Then, count up the total number of letters that you just wrote down.

Next, go through your word/phrase and tally how many of each letter you will need.

Then, add up all of those numbers. This number should match the number you wrote next to your phrase. If it doesn't, you'll know that you either missed some letters (if the number is lower) or you counted some numbers twice (if the number is higher). It's an easy way to check to make sure you counted all of the letters right.

Once the numbers are the same, check the box to make yourself feel good!! (because it made me feel good for knowing how to count and add! lol). :)

You can get the My First Alphabet Tally Sheet here! 

Simply click on the drop down menu and click on Letter Tally Sheet. Once it's up and it shows that it's FREE, you can easily add it to your cart and checkout!

Now that you can easily see how many letters you need, you can figure out which pages to print and how many. With the new page options in the pattern, you can easily use a combination of pages to get the letters you need! If you need a lot of E's, you can print the sheet with only E's. I only need 1 F and 1 G, so I will print the page that has D-G on it, instead of getting too many extra F's and G's.

 You get the idea. It's easy to look at the sheet and see how many of each letter you need, and go from there to figure out the best combination of pages to print. :)

If you end up printing extra pattern templates, simply store them in a sandwich bag for a later time! (It's a great pattern! I'm sure you'll want to use it again!) ;)

So I talked about shrinking the pattern, but I didn't really mention enlarging the pattern. That's because making the letters bigger, is much more of a hassle. At least in my PDF viewer, Preview on the Mac, I can't specify how my enlarged image fits in the printing area, so if I enlarge my pattern, it just centers it and I don't get any complete letters.

You can print them all out, cut them out, scan them all back in one by one and then scale/print from there, or even skip the scanning and just scale and copy the pattern templates. But that's a lot of work. If you like that kind of thing, awesome!! High fives all around.

But I don't like work. (Ok, I do, but not unnecessary work.) So here's what I decided to do instead...

I made a 6 inch version of the My First Alphabet pattern!!!

What??????

Yep. I went ahead and scaled the pattern templates up, cleaned them up even more, and now they are available to you in a 6 inch size! You can still scale them down to get a smaller size, but I also made them centered on the page so you can easily enlarge them to an even bigger size if you want!

I get that you might already own the pattern, and maybe you don't want to pay full price for the same pattern, so here's what I'm going to do...

For a very limited time, like until this Friday, I am going to offer this pattern for 40% off!! That's crazy good! I never, or very very rarely ever offer patterns at that kind of discount.

So, if you think you'd like to make something with the larger pattern without the work, here's your chance to make your crafting life a lot easier. BUT you definitely don't have to. Like I said, it's very possible to do this with the 3 inch version, but I just figured that perhaps some people would enjoy this new option. :)

Get your 6 inch My First Alphabet pattern for 40% off 

until Friday at midnight PST

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Alright, that was a lot of info in one post! I'll get better at breaking things up more, but I didn't want to put off any of that any longer since the month is zooming by! 

Thanks for reading and sharing your makes!!

e

Exploring Creativity: Color Combinations

This post is a part of the Exploring Creativity series. You can read all about it HERE. And HERE is the post sharing the pattern for this month, My First Alphabet.

 Last week I thought a lot about what phrases I wanted to make most with the My First Alphabet pattern. I shared some ideas on Instagram and in the Facebook group. Thanks for sharing your ideas too! I love them!<3 p="">

Today I want to share my fabric pull, and chat about what works and what doesn't so much in regards to fabric choices and this pattern. Because no one wants a ho-hum finished project, and trust me, I've had those before.

First I want to direct you to THIS POST. I wrote this as part of the Celestial Star Quilt Along I hosted back in 2014. The post is pretty detailed in the discussion of Color & Design, so I'm not going to cover all of that again here. If you want to see how I applied that information in designing my Celstial Star blocks, you can read about that HERE.  The posts are geared toward the Celestial Star pattern, but the information can be applied to any pattern or design concept.

If you don't want to read those, here's a quick summary:

• Hue is color. Value is the light or dark of that color. Contrast in hue and/or value helps to make your design POP! The higher the contrast, the more the design will stand out. The less contrast, the more the design will blend in with the background or surrounding elements.
• The easiest way to see the contrast between fabrics is to take a picture of them next to each other in black and white. If they look the same in the picture, then there isn't a lot of contrast, and when you use them next to each other in a design with high detail, or smaller pieces (like the My First Alphabet pattern) then it will be harder for your eye to read the words, or distinguish between the two prints in the final project.
• Whatever you decide to do, do it on purpose! There are no right or wrong answers! If you want a soft design, do it on purpose! If you want a design that POPs! do it on purpose! Both are correct if that's what you want! :)

These things are especially important if you want your word or message to be easily legible. You can see some fantastic examples of how people have done this in the Instagram hashtag #fbpMyFirstAlphabet, and there are even more examples if you scroll through #fbpPatterns!

Here are my two projects that I have decided to make:

The first one is one I saw an image of a few years ago. I wish I had the source so I could share it. If you know where it came from, will you share with me so I can share it with everyone? thanks!

Not the best mockup. But this way you'll be super impressed with the finished result. ;)

First line:     BELIEVE IN
Second line: YOURSELF

 But the BE and YOU are a different color, so it also says BE YOU. I love that! I love that in order to believe in yourself, you must be you! and only in being you can you truly believe in yourself!

I've been wanting to make this mini for quite a while now! But I just can't decide on which fabric to use for the rest of the words. I want to use this orange for the background and white for BE YOU. But I don't know about the rest. I was thinking this blue print, but I don't know that I want that on my wall.... I'm just not excited about it.

(The orange and blue prints are by Carolyn Friedlander.)

So then I pulled these prints, the blue for the background with a yellow for the rest of the phrase, still using white for BE YOU.

I wasn't sure which yellow to use, what do you think? My hubby gave me his input already, and I think he's right. But I'd still like to see what you think? ;)

I'm actually not sure I'm sold on the blue either... so, maybe I'll change directions entirely and use a low volume (value) print for the background and something bold for the letters. What would you do? I'm struggling! lol.

My second project is this quote by Thomas S Monson. (You can find his address here.)

I decided that I want to make this one really pretty! :) I am going to use the print on the bottom for the words, with white as the background. Then I'm going to border it with a bunch of appliqued flowers, and use the yellows as kind of a shadow border to separate the flowers from the letters since they are similar prints/colors. The top teal print will be the binding. I really love these colors and prints and think this will be gorgeous!! :)

All prints are Anna Maria Horner.

So now that I have my plan in place, next up is printing out the pattern pieces and cutting fabric!! and of course making it. 

I'll share some more tips next week! Until then, be sure to link up your finished projects below! They can be new or old projects!! You can link up blog posts, instagram posts, whatever! I'll pick a winner for the giveaway in my newsletter on September 30th. (You can find out all the details here.)

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Would you like to join in, but don't yet own the pattern? You can find it by clicking the button below.

Happy Quilting & Happy Creating!