Wonderland Quilt Along Block #10: The Hookah

Welcome to the latest installment of the Wonderland Quilt Along. I've enjoyed seeing everyone's blocks in the Facebook Group and at #WonderlandQuiltAlong on Instagram. Some genius ideas have cropped up including glow in the dark fabric for the Cheshire cat's mouth and embroidered labels for the bottle and cake. This month I'm bringing out a few new tricks to push your skills including curved piecing and turning a tube.

Grab your free pattern for the Hookah. If you've just arrived, check out the previous posts for the other blocks. It's not too late to catch up! There's going to be a grand sharing of finished quilts with a chance to win incredible prizes. Hint: Aurifil thread! 💕 Stay tuned for more awesomeness. Don't worry, you don't have to make every block just as I have. Feel free to make it your own. Swap some of my blocks for those of your own creation, design you own layout, or use one of the blocks to create an entirely unique project (such as the mushroom as part of a gnome quilt, or the flamingo with lawn chairs and flip flops).

Now, about those curves; line up just the very top part. Take a few stitches and stop with the needle down.

Lift the presser foot while leaving the needle down.

Guide the bottom fabric with your right hand. Lift the top fabric with your left hand. Realign the raw edges of the fabric, and lower the presser foot. Take a few more stitches. Continue alternating between realigning the edges and taking a few stitches until you finish the seam.

Snip the seam and press.

Now let's talk some strip piecing. There are two sets of identical rows (rows with C & D and K & L) in the hookah, so I've given you instructions to make the process faster by cross-cutting. Cut two background pieces 5" x 4" for C and two background pieces 3" x 3" for K. Cut a 1 1/2" x 4" piece of a different fabric for D and a 5 1/2" x 3" piece of another non-background fabric for L. Sew a C piece to both 4" sides of D and a K piece to both 3" sides of L.

After you sew the pieces together, you will have the makings for two rows per unit.

Cut the CDC unit into two 2" sections and the KLK unit into two identical 1 1/2" sections. Use the pattern diagram to locate where these rows are positioned.

Sew together each row, and then connect the rows.

For the hose, cut a 2 1/2" bias strip.

I cut two strips from a fat quarter and connected the ends, making sure to overlap so the edges met at the quarter inch mark. Then I folded the strip in half so the long edges meet and stitched 1/4" from the edge of the long side, pressed the seam open, and stitched one of the short ends.

I used a Dritz Quick Turn to reverse the tube. You put the big tube part in the open end.

Push it to the closed end.

Poke the end of the fabric tube into the plastic tube using the wooden stick.

Keep shoving and scrunching the fabric tube onto the plastic tube until you can push the sewn end of the fabric tube through the open end using the stick.

After pressing the tube flat, I used a glue stick to position it how I liked on the background fabric, which i cut oversized. I machine appliquéd it down using Aurifil clear monofilament thread with a 50 wt thread that matched the top fabric in the bobbin. Here's what the stitch looks like from the stabilizer side, as you can't actually see the stitches on the top.

Don't sew the two parts together yet. You'll need to attach the Mushroom block to the left side of the Hookah body first. Then stitch the hose part to the Mushroom/ Hookah Body unit.

Thanks for joining me. Sorry I haven't been very responsive to comments. I hadn't realized they weren't coming to my inbox. Thankfully, that's fixed now.

Wonderland Quilt Along Block #9: The Cheshire

Hello fellow Wonderland Quilt Alongers! It's been so much fun seeing what everyone is making in the Facebook group and on IG. This time around, we'll be pulling both machine appliqué and paper-piecing techniques overviewed from previous blocks.

Go ahead and grab your paper-piecing pattern and appliqué templates. Make your paper-pieced units. Don't forget to cut the filler pieces for the side of the cat. I cut off the paw unit in this photo since I placed it upside down originally and don't want to lead you astray. Check with the diagram. Do as I say, not as I do.

If you will be placing light fabrics above darker or patterned fabrics within your appliqué work, it is advisable to fuse an extra layer of solid white underneath each shape to prevent shadowing. I apply a section of fusible to the white that is larger than the shape. I peel off the paper backing and fuse it to the wrong side of the intended fabric, grouping shapes by color as you see below. (Both the teeth and eyeballs are together.) I fuse my outlined and bubble cut fusible shapes to the white fabric before cutting out on the line. Confession: Those dark green pupils didn't need lined with the white, as they are darker than the solid white eyeballs. I just got carried away.

I use Steam-A-Seam II Lite by The Warm Company since it is slightly tacky, but completely re-positionable until fused.

Don't forget stabilizer. I like an iron-on tear away. Get it out of there before sandwiching your quilt or it will be crunchy. For harder to remove places, gently scratch the back with a seam ripper. Don't get carried away and jab a hole through. Confession: I did this on the card suits. If you do this, touch up with Fray Check on a cheap watercolor brush. Patch the hole on the wrong side of the block with white fabric that has fusible applied.

I used a fabric marker to draw the teeth lines. As another option, striped fabric may be able to do the work for you.

50 wt Aurifil threads are my choice for the appliqué. Any smaller number for the weight is thicker than you need and will pile on itself when you have such a short stitch length. My chosen beauties are Light Emerald 2860, White 2024, and Light Blush 2420 (Formerly known as Fleshy Pink. However, I will no longer be using this term, with the exception of the Zombie Collection. For the record, I have not secured official endorsement of the aforementioned product.)  Matching the bobbin thread prevents any peeks of a different color from pulling to the top in case the tension isn't perfect. It's also better to have the top thread pull a bit to the back, rather than the other way around.

And there you have it. If you want a curved stripe like my original cat, cut a square 10" x 10" or bigger. Cut a curve across the middle with a Quick Curve Ruler or other specialized equipment (aka dinner plate).  Cut an arc about 3" wide out of the fabric you want to use for the stripe with the same curved instrument. Piece in the stripe. Then use this as if it were a solid fabric for the first piece of the body unit (C) when paper piecing. Make sure the stripe isn't aligned all cattywampus. (You make cheer for my clever little pun. Or groan. Whatever.)

And now...I bring you a clever photo beauty trick. If you don't want me to spoil the magic and leave you a sentiment of disillusionment, this is your warning. Click an affiliate link above and go buy something instead of sticking around to have your world rocked by the deliberate fakeness of my lovely oak backgrounds.

So you're still here, eh? Even after my bad pun. Whoa! In that case, pick out some enticing backgrounds from Dollar Tree. You'll need Con-Tact shelf liner (2 rolls per desired pattern) and Foam Board. Peel the paper backing from one corner of the shelf liner. Start at one corner of the foam board, align the two sides of the liner with the foam board, and adhere the Con-Tact shelf liner. Gently alternate unpeeling, smoothing out any air bubbles, and checking edge alignment. If things get wacky, pull the liner back a little, and try again. It's very repositionable.

Cut a skinny rectangle to fill the space, making sure the pattern goes the same direction. Use a gentle curve to blend in the new piece. Eyes are drawn to straight lines more than curved ones. At least, that's my theory. Peel and apply.

You'll have some overhang (not like my post-pregnancy kind, so don't panic). Flip the board over and cut it off with your rotary cutter.

Now use this as your photo background. Fool everyone into thinking you have well-lit wooden floors, or marble. Except me, that is. And everyone who didn't run off to get some pretty Aurifil threads. Now you can't even look at the following picture the same way, can you? Well, don't say I didn't warn you.

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Connecting Threads has 20% off everything with promo code MEMDAY18. Who hoo!

C&T has 50% 0ff all ebooks. Now's the perfect time to pick up Making Connections or Modern Plus Sign Quilts.

Craftsy is offering deep discounts on their branded items. Click the image below while supplies last.

It's also a great time for those with wee ones to take advantage of unlimited Craftsy classes. To see the latest free goodies included with an annual subscription, click the image. Too bad for my son, I already subscribed. He would have loved this!

At least I can console him by letting him watch "Cooking with MasterChef Junior". Though right now I feel more like:

Michael's is offering 20% off everything with Promo Code 20SAVE2718, $2.95 flat shipping or free shipping for over $50, or (if you want to get started NOW) free same-day pickup in-store for many items purchased online.

Fabric.com has a bundle up and save sale. I've picked some of my favorites.

Crimson Tate is 25% off with promo code SUMMERCOOKOUT.

Have you discovered any other irresistible sales?