Day Two!!
Today is day two of the Fabulous Freebies Blog Hop, hosted by the fantastically fabulous and FUN Joan of Moosestash Quilting! Thank you, Joan, for hosting this fun blog hop!!
We all love free patterns, don’t we? I know I do! Today I will share with you some of my favorite places to find free patterns – not just quilting, but sewing and crafting as well!
Overall, if you are looking for a TON of free patterns, sign up at AllFreeSewing.com. Here you can choose the lists you would like to receive in your inbox. All kinds of FREE patterns can be found for clothing, purses, quilts, home decor, and more! Check them out!
A few years ago, I found this pattern from one of the links from AllFree and fell in love with it! AllFreeSewing linked me up to The Wooden Bear!
I had so much fun making this basket that I made several for a craft show in which I was vending last year. They were popular. I also gave some as gifts with some embroidered towels rolled and placed inside. Here is one of the two I had left from last year!
While perusing The Wooden Bear’s Free Downloads page, I found another great, similar pattern – for a “bucket” instead of a mason jar!! There are also some great little printable recipe cards on this page! How nice!!
(Photo from web page)
Having remembered reading how much our host loves Halloween, I couldn’t resist making a quilted bucket pattern with Halloween-ish (is that even a word?) fabric!! I started with my favorite Moda Grunge dots and the new Moda Grunge stars fabrics for the outside, lining and binding. Then added the cute little monster fabric for the top drawstring cover.
The pattern calls for Annie’s Soft & Stable, which I happen to have on hand. But, again, recalling one of Joan’s earlier blog posts, she recommended using headliner foam from Joann’s Fabrics for such projects!! I don’t have any of that, but I am sure it will work just as well and probably costs a little less! When I run out of Soft & Stable, I will be giving it a try!!
After cutting out all the pieces, I started by doing some simple quilting with my domestic for the sides, bottom, and handle.
After trimming all the pieces to the sizes specified in the pattern, I began stitching the drawstring top. No problems here!! The next step was to stitch the sides together and then stitch the sides (round) to the bottom (square)!!! Now I’ve always been told you can’t put a square peg in a round hole – BUT – with a little fenagling, er, fudging, er finessing – YES – finessing(!), I made it happen. WHEW!! That was a challenge, and honestly, you can’t really tell from the pics, but I had between 1/2 and 1 inch extra side! I have emailed The Wooden Bear to inquire what I might have done wrong differently to make it come out even, and Kelly responded very quickly that she had had another customer with the same problem. She suggested trimming the bottom a little larger, or taking a 3/4 inch seam instead of 1/2 inch and see if that works. I think I’ll try a larger bottom next time!!
Hmmmmm! 
SERIOUSLY???!!!
Next, I added the drawstring top!
The handle then had to be trimmed and bound. I used one of my decorative machine stitches to hold the binding in place! I hand-stitched the button to the handle and bucket. This way it’s loose enough to let the handle down to get to the goodies inside!!
I then added binding to the bucket itself – also using a decorative stitch to hold the binding in place. I wish I had used orange thread to really make it pop! Alas, hindsight is 20/20!! LOL
I got a clean coffee can and placed it down inside the “quilted bucket.” I only had white and light pink tissue paper, but orange and purple would have been a great add to this. All it needs now is some cookies to go inside that bucket – or maybe some yummy candy!! Hmmm, I’ll have to talk to my baker (my DH, Gary, aka Mr. Left Brain, who loves to bake!)
I hope you have enjoyed my Fabulous Freebie today! And, I hope you will visit all the other bloggers in this fun blog hop! You can find them all below!
Monday August 20
Just Let Me Quilt
Elizabeth Coughlin Designs
Days Filled With Joy
Tu-Na Quilts, Travels and Eats
Quilt Fabrication
Tuesday August 21
Life in the Scrapatch
Songbird Designs
Sew Many Yarns
Samelia’s Mum
Vroomans Quilts
Wednesday August 22
Bejeweled Quilts by Barb
Creatin’ in the Sticks
Just Because Quilts
Hazel’s Daughter
Adventurous Applique and Quilting
BeaQuilter
Thursday August 23
Words & Stitches
Patchouli Moon Studio
Something Rose Made
Sew Golden A Chance
Clever Chameleon
Friday August 24
Seams to be Sew
That Fabric Feeling
Selina Quilts
Quarter Inch Crafter
Yanicka Quilt
MooseStashQuilting
Thank you all for visiting my blog today. I’d love to hear your comments!! And, thanks again, Joan, for letting me be part of this really fun blog hop!!
I’ll be sharing with my favorite linkies as they become available this week:
- Linky Tuesday @ Freemotion by the River
- The Chameleon’s Colour Part @ The Clever Chameleon
- Wednesday Weight Loss @ Inquiring Quilter
- Midweek Makers @ Quilt Fabrication
- Needle and Thread Thursday @ My Quilt Infatuation
- Can I Get a Whoop Whoop Friday @ Confessions of a Scrap Addict
Oh I just love those baskets, they are adorable! So glad you shared this with us, I “need” to go and make some!! xx
Love your basket; I have made quite a few myself! Just picked up some fabric today for a possible ‘nother! Great fabric choices too, and thanks for the link!
Thank you for the wonderful link. Small gifts are always handy to have.
What a cute basket Brenda and beautiful stitching on the band! Thanks for sharing.
I love your Halloween bucket !! thanks for sharing 🙂
How thoughtful of you to make this in Halloween colours in honour of Joan! 🙂 My brain wants to say they should be filled with fresh scones ready for morning tea. Perhaps DH can rustle you up a batch.
I think these bags are so cute along with the font you use in the blog. I can’t wait to make some of these. Thanks!
Those are definitely very cute baskets. I love them. Thanks for sharing where to find the pattern and all the fun ideas. Love that bucket to, so much fun!!
Thank you for sharing! My daughter makes me buckets all the time – and I always find a good use for them! Yours are so cute! No wonder they were popular!
Such cute little buckets! Thanks for the pattern. I really like that half moon decorative stitch. What kind of sewing machine do you have?
Fun Project! Fabulous Freebies! Thanks for the links … 🙂 Pat
love your beautiful patterns I can not wait to try them
Those are so cute! Thanks for sharing how to make them
I like those buckets and that stitching on the handle!
Oh my gosh, these are just the cutest baskets! Thank you for showing off your baskets and sharing the link.
Love your handled containers! The big buttons really add a super touch, too 🙂
Those are as cute as can be!
What a super cute project. Thank you for the link!
These are the cutest baskets and buckets. Perfect for gift giving. Thank you so much for sharing them.
Oh my gosh, those are adorable…..gotta make some.
Really cute buckets/containers. Love that you added that decorative stitch to the handle – it was perfect.
Love your baskets, they are all so cute
Very good idea!!! Those baskets are beautiful! I’ve never made a fabric basket/tote so I just might have to. Great post! And thanks for the link to AllFreeSewing.
Well now…I’m just not to sure who is spreading rumors that I LOVE Halloween, but they are all true! LOL!!! What a Fabulous post. I do love your baskets and am thinking about retreat gifts, as well as holidays. Thanks for sharing these fabulous baskets! You rock!!!
oh how sweet your little totes are. thank you for sharing today and for sharing the site with us all.
What a cute project. I really like that you can give a jar of homemade goodness in such a cute container. Thanks.
These are awesome projects and to think they are FREEeeee! I imagine they would be great sellers at a craft show. Yours are especially well made…I’ll have to try a few myself! Thanks!
What great ideas. Love the drawstring tote. Will need to give that a try. The list of things I need to try is already getting too long and it’s only Tuesday yikes.
Really cute baskets! I bookmarked that mason jar holder pattern myself years ago, but never made it lol.
Thank you for the links. I absolutely love your fabric buckets!