March 19, 2024

How To Make A Daisy Chain Banner

I take the childcare littles to the library every week or two, and a few weeks ago the 3 year old picked out Bear Wants More, by Karma Wilson. It's a cute little book, with adorable illustrations by Jane Chapman. In a few of the illustrations, there's a daisy chain strung along the wall of Bear's den that I kept staring at.
Illustration from Bear Wants More, by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman
A couple of times I found myself opening the book just to look at the daisy chain again, and thinking about how I could make one for myself. Then, while making the Hope block for the Moments with Jesus QAL, I realized that one of the applique flower templates would work for a daisy chain, too.

I made a test flower, which I loved so much I immediately dove in to making enough flowers to string up in the sewing room. Now this colourful daisy chain makes me ridiculously happy every time I set foot in the sewing room, or even just glance in from the hallway.
Daisy Chain banner tutorial | DevotedQuilter.com
Taking pictures of the whole side of a room is hard! How do home décor bloggers make their pictures look so nice?
Daisy Chain banner tutorial | DevotedQuilter.com

Daisy Chain banner tutorial | DevotedQuilter.com
As I made my daisy chain banner, I took pictures of my process so I could share a tutorial with you. While I adore mine in my sewing room, I picture it in little girl bedrooms or playrooms, too.

What you'll need


  • A flower template. Enter your email address below to get the link to download mine or draw your own.

  • Scraps of fabric in your chosen colours for the flowers. I used pink, purple, and teal. For my template, the scraps need to be about 4 1/2" square.
  • Scraps for the flower centers. I used yellows for mine, and for my template, these scraps need to be about 1" square
  • White fabric
  • Fusible adhesive like Heat N Bond (what I used) or Lite Steam A Seam 2
  • Thread to match your fabrics or to contrast with them. I chose black so the stitching would stand out on all the fabrics.
  • Ribbon - mine is 1/8" wide
  • Glue - I used a glue stick

Make your flowers


How many flowers you'll need will depend on how long you want the chain to be and how closely you position your flowers. I used 31 flowers to cover about 17' of wall, but I used more than 17' of ribbon to allow for the draping. I didn't think to measure how long the ribbon actually was before putting it up on the wall.

Trace your flowers and flower centers onto the paper side of your fusible adhesive, nesting them close together. Cut them out roughly.
Daisy Chain banner tutorial | DevotedQuilter.com
Following the manufacturer's instructions, fuse the flowers and flower centers to the back of your chosen fabrics.
Daisy Chain banner tutorial | DevotedQuilter.com
Here my new sewing room mascot is showing why I keep scraps as small as 1" square. Sometimes they're the perfect size for a flower center! Side note, this guy is still in need of a name...any suggestions?
Sewing room mascot | DevotedQuilter.com
He's a blue, sparkly dragon! How could I resist?
 Cut out the flowers and flower centers directly on the lines.
Daisy Chain banner tutorial | DevotedQuilter.com
Position the flowers with the adhesive side down on the white fabric. I nested them pretty closely to conserve fabric, while leaving a little bit of space around each one so I could cut them out with margin of white. Position the flower centers in the center of each flower. Again following the manufacturer's instructions, fuse the flowers to the white fabric.
Daisy Chain banner tutorial | DevotedQuilter.com
Stitch around the flowers and flower centers, just inside the edge. Do this before you cut the flowers apart, to make it easier to handle them. I used my free motion foot so I wouldn't have to turn the appliques as I stitched, but you can use a straight stitch if you prefer. If you're using a straight stitch, I recommend reducing the stitch length a bit, stitching slowly, and stopping often with the needle down to turn the flowers slightly to get smooth curves.
Daisy Chain banner tutorial | DevotedQuilter.com
I stitched around each flower and flower center twice, purposely not trying to travel over the first stitched line perfectly as I went around the second time. I find when I only stitch around once all the wobbles are super noticeable, especially when I'm using such a high contrast thread colour. Stitching around a second time adds more wobbles, which somehow makes it all look intentional and gives it a charming sketched quality.
Daisy Chain banner tutorial | DevotedQuilter.com

Daisy Chain banner tutorial | DevotedQuilter.com
I'm always amazed how different applique looks before and after stitching!
Daisy Chain banner tutorial | DevotedQuilter.com
After you've stitched around all the flowers, cut them apart, leaving about 1/8" of white fabric all the way around. I love how they look a bit like stickers!
Daisy Chain banner tutorial | DevotedQuilter.com
After I made a bunch of flowers, I laid them out on the floor in a rough approximation of how I wanted them to look on the wall, so I could see how many more I needed to make. That also allowed me to get a feel for the balance of colours, and made me even more excited to get it finished and up on the wall.

Once all my flowers were finished, I clipped them to the ribbon and then taped the ribbon to the wall to check the fit.
Daisy Chain banner tutorial | DevotedQuilter.com
Once I was happy with the positions, I glued the ribbon to the backs of the flowers. I only glued approximately the width of the flower center, not all the way across the flower.
Daisy Chain banner tutorial | DevotedQuilter.com
I wasn't sure a glue stick would be strong enough, but it was all I had and I was too impatient to wait until I could buy something different. After the first couple dried, I did shake them a little to be sure they would hold through the manipulation required to get them on the wall. They've been up for a few days now, and none of the flowers have fallen, so I guess they're good. I also don't expect them to be handled much (if at all) now that they're in place.
Daisy Chain banner tutorial | DevotedQuilter.com
I had my husband help me put them on the wall. Before we started, I stacked all the flowers neatly so they were easier to handle. I stood on the floor holding the stack of flowers while he stood on a stool to reach near the ceiling, and I stayed close to him so there were only a few flowers dangling at any given time. That way they weren't getting caught on anything or tangled around each other.

He used a thumbtack to poke a hole in the drywall, then used a short sewing pin to hold the ribbon. I could have just used the thumbtacks to hold it up, but I didn't have white ones and they're quite a bit larger than the heads of the pins we used, so the pins are less noticeable. 

And that's it! Once the daisy chain is up on the wall, you may find yourself tempted to stand and grin at it, or at least that's what I did! 
Daisy Chain banner tutorial | DevotedQuilter.com

March 18, 2024

God's Varied Grace

Devotion for the week...

Mostly when we talk about grace, we do so in terms of forgiveness, but the Bible also uses the word grace when talking about the gifts God has given us. It’s so easy to focus on the gifts other people have, while feeling like we don’t have any special gifts at all. The Bible is clear that isn’t the case, though. Peter wrote, "As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace" (1 Peter 4:10). 
 
We learn two things from this one verse. First, we all have some gift or talent. Notice that Peter wrote, 'as each has received a gift' and not 'those select few who have received a gift'. That’s because God didn’t leave any of us out, even if sometimes we feel otherwise. What are you good at? It may not be a thing that gets much attention, but that doesn’t mean it’s not valuable. Sometimes we don’t recognize our gifts because they come to us so easily that we just think everyone can do what we do. That is definitely not true!
 
Second, we are to use the gifts we have to serve one another. They were never meant for us alone, but were given to us to serve a purpose in this world. Some of us will serve a few people in our immediate circle of influence. Some will serve hundreds, and some will serve even more. How many people we reach with our gift isn’t a reflection of the value of the gift (or the person!), but only of the purpose God had for it.
We are to use the gifts we have to serve one another | DevotedQuilter.com
I love that Peter refers to it as us being good stewards of God’s grace. Stewards don’t own the thing they’re stewarding. They’re like the caretaker of it, doing the best they can with it for the one who does own it. In our case, we have God’s grace given to us in the form of a skill or talent we can use to benefit others. We are to do the best we can with our gift, in service to others, for the glory of the One who gave it to us.

March 14, 2024

Pinwheel Irish Chain (Take Two)

Back in 2019 I made my Pinwheel Irish Chain quilt top for an Island Batik ambassador challenge. Then, as part of Sarah's Hands 2 Help Comfort Quilt Challenge, I donated the top to Victoria's Quilts Canada, a group that accepts only quilt tops, then finishes them to give to people going through cancer treatments. 

Since then, every few months I get a request from someone looking for the pattern, but I hadn't written the pattern. And since I had donated the top, I also didn't have pictures of a finished quilt to use for the cover of a pattern. I knew I'd have to remake the quilt someday, and now I'm happy to say that day has finally arrived! Here is my Pinwheel Irish Chain (take two).
Pinwheel Irish Chain quilt | DevotedQuilter.com
The weather hasn't been great for outdoor pictures, but Nathan and I did manage to get out to the backyard one afternoon.
Pinwheel Irish Chain quilt | DevotedQuilter.com
Not only did I remake the quilt, I also finished the pattern, and Pinwheel Irish Chain is the Stash Artists pattern for March. If you're not a Stash Artists member yet, we'd love to have you join us when the doors open again in a few months. You can get on the waitlist here so you'll be notified when the doors are open. Stash Artists is for quilters who love stash-friendly patterns like this one.

I cut the the squares for the Irish Chain blocks using child labour, aka the childcare littles. They love to use my Accuquilt Go!, so they think it's great fun when I suggest we do some fabric cutting. I kept a ziptop bag for the blue squares and they helped me cut them from my scraps over a few cutting sessions. We were able to cut all the white squares for the chain blocks from my scraps, too. I have no idea how many different solid whites made their way into the quilt, but I know there are a few. 
Pinwheel Irish Chain quilt | DevotedQuilter.com
One of my favourite things about scrap quilts is remembering where all the fabrics came from or where I've used them before. Some of the blues in this picture are from my time as an Island Batik ambassador, some are from quilts I made for Riley Blake blog hops, and the light blue with leafy shapes was donated when I sent out a call for quilt blocks after the senior's home across the road burned down back in 2017. That blue backed at least one of the many quilts made with the donated blocks, and I kept the strips trimmed off the sides after the quilting was done. There are fun fabric memories scattered all over this quilt!
Pinwheel Irish Chain quilt | DevotedQuilter.com
With the Irish Chain done in blues, I used every colour except blue for the pinwheels. I love the bright, fun prints.
Pinwheel Irish Chain quilt | DevotedQuilter.com
I started a new cone of Aurifil 2024 (white) for the quilting, and chose my go-to double loop design. It just seems to suit pinwheels so well. If you use thread cones, do you keep track of when you first use them? It's absolutely useless information, but I love knowing how long I've been using the same cone. I write the date on a piece of tape and stick it to the inside of the plastic cone.
Aurifil thread cone start | DevotedQuilter.com
I usually try to avoid piecing backs, but I decided to put in the extra time on this one. I used three different blue solids, plus a fun strawberry fabric from Island Batik. 
Pieced quilt back | DevotedQuilter.com
Pieced quilt back | DevotedQuilter.com
And, of course, there's a label on one corner.
Devoted Quilter quilt label | DevotedQuilter.com
When it came time for the binding, I knew I wanted a scrappy binding, but couldn't decide if it should use all the colours or only blues. I put the question out on social media, where the responses were split pretty evenly, with a few people suggesting either a stripe or a single colour. One person asked if I wanted the binding to draw the eye (in which case use all the colours) or blend in with the Irish Chain (in which case use just blues). I found that so helpful! I decided I didn't want the binding to draw the eye, so I went with the blues, and I'm very happy with the result.
Scrappy blue quilt binding | DevotedQuilter.com
Now when people ask if there's a pattern for the Pinwheel Irish Chain, I can finally say yes (and invite them to become a Stash Artists member when the doors are open 😉).
Pinwheel Irish Chain quilt | DevotedQuilter.com