A Tutorial: Whole Cloth Quilted Journal Covers!

I've been away from this space for a few weeks while family has been visiting and we all traveled to Corolla, NC for our annual beach vacation. While I was away I missed sharing here and today I’m so excited to jump back in with this fun, kid friendly tutorial that I created as part of Janome’s Summer Sewing Camp!

These Whole Cloth Journal Covers are a new favorite make of mine, are a great project to get beginner sewists of any age comfortable with machine quilting and in the end, you’ll have a useful and pretty project to enjoy!



For this set of Whole Cloth Quilted Journals I used my Sisterhood and Blooming Ground Luscious prints from my brand new Flower Child fabric collection for Art Gallery Fabrics. I chose to make these covers whole cloth vs the pieced and stitched patchwork projects you're used to seeing from me to showcase the beauty of these favorite Flower Child prints of mine! I hope that choosing pretty fabrics to make your own journals will be your favorite part of the process!

In addition to choosing the perfect fabrics to feature as the journal cover fronts, you'll need a coordinating lining fabric, thread, Hobbs Tuscany 100% cotton batting and standard composition notebooks.





As a Janome Maker I recently started sewing with the Janome Horizon Quilt Maker Memory Craft 15000, an amazing sewing and embroidery machine full of built-in stitches and incredible features! For this tutorial I used a built-in wavy quilting stitch set at different stitch widths and lengths to give the look of free-motion quilting done effortlessly with my Janome machine!





You can follow this link -- Whole Cloth Quilted Journal Covers to download the complete instructions for my Summer Camp project! While you're there, be sure to check out the full list of Janome 2018 Sewing Summer Camp projects created by my fellow Janome Makers!



I hope you love making these journals as much as I do! Be sure to let me know if you give them a go and be sure to tag me @MaureenCracknell and add #MaureenCracknell & #JanomeCamp18 when you share. If you'd like to make some of your own using Flower Child, you can find these fabrics widely available in your favorite online fabric shop. If you're need of help finding any of my fabrics, you can leave me a comment anytime!



I'm so happy to back in this space, I've missed it! I hope you're all having a wonderful Summer!

xo  Maureen 

A Sweet Dreams Pillow { Tutorial } : :

Happy Valentine's Day!



Today I'm excited to share that my Sweet Dreams Pillow Tutorial is now live and available for download on Janome's Inspire project page!

This project tutorial is for my Sweet Dreams Pillow pattern, featuring my Love Garden print from my Garden Dreamer fabric collection with Art Gallery Fabrics and a variety of AGF Denim Studio denims and linen. I used a raw edge reverse applique technique featuring Janome's satin stitch and my Quick Quilt As You Go method to create this beautiful throw pillow that's both fun and easy to make!









I hope you love making this pillow as much as I did!

As always, be sure to let me know if you give it a go! Feel free to find & tag me on Instagram if you make & share one of your own, or you're always welcome to share the things you make using my project ideas and/or fabrics on my Facebook page Maureen Cracknell Handmade!

Happy sewing, friends!  ♡ Maureen

A Reverie Quilt Pattern { Tutorial } : :

I'm excited to share with all of you that you can find my newest tutorial on the Janome Blog today for my Reverie Quilt pattern!




This quilt tutorial features prints from my new Nightfall collection and the Playground collection by Amy Sinibaldi for Art Gallery Fabrics. A combination of simple half square triangles and patchwork in these pretty prints reveal a beautiful quilt design, that is fat quarter friendly, and is so fun to make!



Quilt blocks sew up quick to a cute 9.5" unfinished square, a wonderful size for making both small and large quilts!



You can find this new tutorial on the Janome Project Center page right HERE as a PDF for you to download and enjoy!







I really hope you all enjoy this quilt tutorial! As always, be sure to let me know if you give it a go! Feel free to find & tag me on Instagram, be sure to add #NightfallReverieQuilt or you're always welcome to share the things you make using my project ideas and/or fabrics on my Facebook page Maureen Cracknell Handmade!

Happy sewing, friends!  ♡ Maureen

Reverie Quilt Top : :

Reverie: a state of dreamy meditation or fanciful musing; a daydream.

After a busy Summer with very little quilt-making, along with the awaited release of Nightfall, that's exactly what creating this quilt was for me!



One week ago I felt the overwhelming amount of tasks ahead of me as we entered upon the arrival of the new school year for the kids and the return of a regular work schedule for me. But rather than working my way down the ever-growing todo list, I indulged in the making of this quilt. It was exactly what I needed! A little gift to myself, creative, colorful bliss.



I had just designed this pattern, along with a few others,  to consider as one of the free pdf quilt pattern to couple with my next fabric collection due to release this January.  When we chose one of the other options, I swapped out those digital print swatches with Nightfall and several of Amy Sinibald's Playground fabrics, just to see how it might look, and I fell in love with the combination of these dreamy colors and prints!



Making HST's using the method for making eight at a time has become a favorite of mine, you may have noticed! For me, the process of creating using repetitive steps is like a deep meditation practice. With it comes a clearer mind, and more often than not, a release from my problems, worry, & stress, even if for just a little while. A refresh and refocus that feels so good.







I plan to share that goodness in the form of a tutorial for making both these blocks & quilt top, so be sure to keep an eye out!



Finishing all fifty-six blocks and assembling the top took just a couple days sewing time, and by early Saturday evening my husband was helping me take these photos to share!





I should have the instructions finished and ready to share next week.  Until then, I'd love to know if you plan to make one for yourself!

♡ Maureen  

A Diamond Weave Quilt Block { Tutorial } : :

I'm excited to share with all of you that you can find my newest tutorial on the Janome Blog for my Diamond Weave Quilt Block!



This quilt block tutorial is from my Diamond Weave Quilt that I shared just last week, made using a variety of prints from my Wild & Free and Fleet & Flourish fabric collections. Just by separating red, peach, and coral value prints from ones colored navy, aqua, and blue, a fantastic quilt design is revealed!



These simple quilt blocks sew up quick to an 11" unfinished square, a wonderful size for making both small and large quilts!





You can find this new tutorial on the Janome Project Center page right HERE!



I really hope you all enjoy this quilt tutorial! As always, be sure to let me know if you give it a go! Feel free to find & tag me on Instagram, be sure to add #DiamondWeaveQuilt or you're always welcome to share the things you make using my project ideas and/or fabrics on my Facebook page Maureen Cracknell Handmade!

Happy sewing, friends!  ♡ Maureen

A Decending Zig Zag Quilt { Tutorial } : :

Today I'm sharing my newest quilt tutorial! I'm still seeing such wonderful feedback, lots of pins, and comments on my recent Herringbone Quilt Tutorial, I owe you all a HUGE thanks!! Tutorials are a lot of work, and receiving such an amazing response always makes the effort worth it! Seeing that first Herringbone QAYG finish, made by one of you, was the best! Thank you!

You might remember seeing this quilt shared here back in July, along with a special Nordika fabric Giveaway. Well, I'm excited to finally share that I've created a free pattern/tutorial to share with all of you and with Janome fans, as a Janome Artisan!


This project tutorial is for a simply pieced, descending zig zag quilt pattern made by separating darker value fabrics from lighter ones to reveal a fantastic design!



These quilt blocks sew up quick to an 8.5" unfinished square, a wonderful size for making both small and large quilts!







You can find this new tutorial on the Janome Project Center page right HERE!



I really hope you all enjoy this quilt tutorial! As always -- be sure to let me know if you give this one a go!!

Happy sewing!!
♥ Maureen

A Stitched Typography Quilt & Family Photoshoot : :

A little more that a week ago we took a quick drive out to Cherry Springs State Park for a new quilt photo-shoot and some Sunday fun. It was a sweatshirt warm afternoon, but up in the woods there were still a few lingering piles of snow that we knew the kids would love to play in. If photographing in a field of newly bloomed flowers isn't possible, at least the ashy forest of a late-to-arrive Potter County Spring would match my neutral quilt well!



This quilt is a new favorite of all of ours, which is a surprise for how much we all love color! It's made in the quilt-as-you-go style I shared here, in shades of blacks, greys, creams, and whites, with some stitched typography using the built-in letter stitches my Janome offers, as well as some fun applique using Melody's Typewriters!



From the beginning I had planned to bind it in a black & white stripe, but in the end this aqua Pezzy print won out! The back is finished with a one yd cut of Silver Crosshatch from Angela's new Textures collection for AGF and a modge podge of a few other large cuts of black, greys, and whites that I had in my stash.





You can find this full quilt tutorial on the Janome site, in their Project Center here.  I really hope you check it out, and if you do give this tutorial a go at anytime, be sure to share on my Facebook page or in my Maureen Cracknell Handmade Flickr group! I'd love to see it!!

Last night after the kids were in bed, I finally went through all the pictures we took that afternoon, as I watched the news. All I could think about was how lucky I am to have my family and how grateful I am for these times we have together. We had taken turns with my camera until my memory card was full that day. These are just a few of my favorites!

It was such a great day! More and more I've been wanting to add in just a little bit more of our family life here . Having this little guy who's about to turn nine on Sunday, a marriage that's about to turn eleven on Saturday, feeling so blessed for our full, good, simple life. I really should take advantage of having this space to share these moments, even if it's just to remind me to treasure them a bit more. Today it feels necessary to share and to savor the beauty and happiness I felt looking at these photos, along with the new quilt ones, and the fun we had taking them together as a family.  

Thanks so much for stopping by!  ♥,  Maureen