I took this collection along with me over an extended stay with my daughter to help her with the birth of her second child in Kentucky. I am blessed to have a sewing area in their basement where I can easily pick up projects and relax. I sew on my Grandmother’s Bernina, and I have a small Koala cabinet from my mom that permanently resides at my daughter’s home. My heart is full when I am sewing there – especially as I get frequent drop in visits from my granddaughter who is almost five and then of course I get lots of baby snuggles with the youngest.

These were fun projects to pick up when time permitted, and I would estimate that I spent between 90 – 120 minutes on each. They lend themselves to quilting on a domestic machine using straight line stitching or stitching in the ditch. You could also use your embroidery machine and quilt with a small embroidery design. I absolutely fell in love with the backdrop files from Designs by Juju.  We found there to be plenty of fabric in the kits, and you could add a border around the block if you wanted to make them larger. Another idea would be to assemble all the banners together in a calendar quilt, using the extra fabric for sashing between the blocks.

Each completes at 12 x 14 inches. We have attached a few pictures so you can see some of the banners included in this subscription.

We have a banner holder that you can use to display these monthly projects. I also think they would be great on a front door (especially if I had a glass screen door to protect them from the rain), or for someone who lives at an independent living complex where they have an inside entry area to decorate by their front door.

Some other projects that we would like to share are table runners which are also seasonal. We have a carrot and an eggplant table runner. These two projects can be completed quilt as you go, or you could also do quilting once the main section is pieced by stitching in the ditch, free motion quilting, or for those that have their own longarm, you have many options. For the Eggplant Table Runner which was done with purple batiks, we purchased Summer Veggies, longarm design from Intelligent Quilting  to complete the quilting. I picked the eggplant as the second kit in this developing series as I love purple and eggplant parmesan. I have requests for watermelon and lemons… so this series of kits may become branded as Julie’s Jams & Vegetables.

We have another option for a Spring Table Runner and this is CCQ Karen Montgomery Carrot Table Runner. The pattern and kit are available at Cupcake Quilts. This pattern also uses the 15 Degree Creative Grid Ruler for the carrots and the background between the carrots. A little trivia for you, the greens above the actual carrots are known as carrot greens and are edible and taste like parsley.

Use your imagination with the carrot greens. We used narrow strips cut on the bias, varying the length of each strip and just randomly sewing them down the center. You could also use chenille and brush so that the carrot green has texture, or snip on both sides every ¼ inch to add dimension.

We have more fruits and vegetable table runners planned … so stay tuned.

Come by and see us at the store. We are open 7 days a week, Monday thru Saturday hours are 9:30 – 5 p.m. and then on Sundays, we are here from 12-4. If you are not local, you can visit virtually online at www.cupcakequilts.com or join us on Facebook for our lives, typically on Tuesdays at 2 p.m. and Thursdays at 3 p.m. We also have an app available in the App Store or Google Store depending on what type of phone you have.