red and white trees!

I made the first block for this quilt LAST year on December 20th, because I'm brilliant like that.....hahaha! Over the weekend I finished the last two blocks and assembled the top. It was a TREAT to have only 9 blocks to sew together to make that happen. Woohoo! The plan is to back it with the red and white polka dots (shocking, eh?) and one of the red fabrics shown will be the binding. I hope to finish it up this year yet and hang it in my entryway. The nice thing about the restrained color scheme is that I can get away with leaving it up well into February. Or all year round, really. The pattern is called Trees! and can be found here or here.

Are you doing any Christmas sewing? If you are, I'd love to hear about it in the comments. If you are already done, I'd love to hear your secrets to making that happen! ;)

Happy Monday to you!

denim scrappy goodness

The wonderful thing about having multiple projects going at once is that you can (almost always) find something to finish in a short time frame. We had company over for most of the holiday weekend, but I did find a few minutes to finish up this pillow cover anyway. It's made from denim and tiny scraps that I just couldn't bear to part with. I love how it turned out!!!!

I used an envelope backing, so the cover is removable and washable. Envelope backings are so easy! I like to make my own pillow forms so that they are filled to my liking. I might be a little particular about my pillows. Hahaha! The pillow cover and the pillow form are both about 24" square. This is scrap project #187!

(The backing is good neighbors fabric, which happens to be on sale! :))

I had a few leftovers after making the pillow top, so I turned them into a thread catcher! It was better than throwing the leftovers away, or finding a place to store them. This is scrap project #188!  

I do love a good two-for-one project, don't you?

Happy Monday to you!

good neighbors fabric winners

I've picked the winners of my good neighbors fabric giveaway! Deborah is the winner of the warm bundle and Ginger Marien is the winner of the cool bundle. Ladies, please send me your addresses so I can ship your fabric to you. Thanks to all of you who entered! Happy Monday to you!

good neighbors fabric giveaway

It's been one year since my good neighbors fabric was released. That may be a silly thing to celebrate, but I, for one, am excited that it is still available in both yardage and pre-cuts. I have enjoyed seeing how others have used the fabric. I also enjoyed working it into all kinds of projects...from quilt backings to pincushions. To celebrate, I'm going to give away two bundles of good neighbors fabric...one in a warm colorway, one in a cool colorway. The giveaway is open to all. International entries are welcome with the stipulation that you will be willing to cover shipping costs, should you win a bundle. If you would like to throw your name into the hat, please leave me a comment in this post. In your comment, I would like to know if you tend to gravitate toward warm colors or cool colors when you are making projects and also where you are from. If you have made something with good neighbors fabric, I'd love to hear about that, too. :) I will pick a winner in a few days!

cafe umbrellas quilt

This quilt has been finished since July...and I've had it back in hand for a few weeks already, but I never found the time to blog about it. (It's so difficult not to share things in real time!) This one was named by my friend Stephanie...who thought it looked like café umbrellas. Isn't that a fitting name?(Thank you, Stephanie!)

All of the fabrics in the front of the quilt are from my good neighbors fabric line. (I added solid white, which is also from Connecting Threads.) The idea was to design a block where the stripes make a diamond design. There is quite a bit of extra fabric leftover because the triangles are cut twice on the diagonal (rather than once) so the stripes form the pattern. The fabulous free-motion quilting was done by Steffani K. Burton. She does SUCH a nice job!

I have big plans for the leftover triangles...they will be some sort of flying geese some day. Probably in another year or two! Ha!

For the backing, I used 8 different 1/2 yard fabrics from my stash in colors that match the front of the quilt. There was a lot of auditioning to get just the right mix, but it was worth it! I love using up stash for quilt backs.

Polka dots, pigs and stripes...

 ...more polka dots in various sizes and a fun text print.

The scale of the teal dots (also from the good neighbors line) work so well for binding!

I thought twice about using this large gray dot on the back, because I wanted to hoard it until the end of time...but the scale was too perfect not to use! I'm glad that I did use it. After all, that's what the fabric is for, right? (I need the reminder sometimes!)

I really enjoyed piecing this quilt! It was fun to make something a little more traditional and I love the secondary design that the blocks make. There is a pattern for the café umbrellas quilt here, if you are interested. Connecting Threads has kits for this quilt on sale (today only!) for 50% off while supplies last. It's a great bargain!

The quilt measures 59 1/2" x 76 1/2", which is a nice lap size. It's nice and bright and cheery, unlike the weather today. :)

Happy Monday to you!

just four fun

This is a simple little quilt made up of 4 patch blocks, but sometimes simple is good! This quilt can be made from fat eighths, scraps, a charm pack, a few mini charm packs OR a combination of all 4. Plus, you only need 1 1/2 yards of background fabric! For the quilt shown, I used good neighbors fabric and white background fabric, both from Connecting Threads. It is quilted with an all over loop pattern. The quilt finishes at 42" x 48", so it's a nice baby size.

For the backing I used this lovely orange dear stella print that was aging nicely in my stash. I like it a lot! I finished things off with a sunny yellow striped binding.

Mary tested the pattern for me and she used 4 April Showers mini charm packs to make her quilt. She added wide borders (cut at 4 3/4") to make it into a lap size quilt. I thought that was a great idea! Thanks, Mary, for testing my pattern and for letting me share your beautiful quilt!

I have a free pattern here, if you'd like to make one of your own--without having to do the math! :)

ladder leap in good neighbors

Several of my quilts came home from Connecting Threads this week, which was exciting! Shipping quilts makes me nervous and I am always more than a little relieved when they come home safely. I thought it would be a good time to share my second version of the ladder leap quilt, this time sewn up in good neighbors fabric. The gray solid is from Connecting Threads as well. 

It's interesting to me to see how a pattern looks sewn up in different fabrics. The solids version and this version are pretty close, all things considered...but they still have their own look and feel. For this version, I used a lighter gray solid as a background than the solids version. I like that it creates a softer look, but there is still enough contrast between the blocks and background.

 I backed the majority of the quilt with these fabulous orange dots (Spot On by Robert Kaufman)....

....and of course some scraps from the front made an appearance in this backing as well.

For the quilting, I did the same treatment as the solids version...which is a combination of free motion quilting and straight line quilting. If it isn't broke, you don't need to fix it! :) I loved making those loop-de-loops! Once you get in the groove, it's so much fun.

And here are both versions together. I love them as a pair!!! I think that my boys will be happy to sleep under them! Each quilt measures about 64" x 88".

pincushion party update and a winner!

Good morning! Have you been keeping up with the pincushion party? I've been enjoying seeing what others make....so much creativity! It's been an absolute delight to see everyone's work so far and I thought it would be nice to have a round up a few times during the party. If you have a few minutes, check out the amazing pincushions by these fabulous sewists: Anna, Mary, Svetlana, Debbie, Holly, Carla, and Faith. (I've added direct links to make it easier to navigate.) Thank you so much to my talented friends for being a part of the party!

 

Also, I've decided to do a little retroactive giveaway. I've used the random number generator to pick a winner from the commenters in my kick off post. KaHolly, you've won a charm pack of my new good neighbors fabric! I hope you have fun playing with it!

One last thing....I've gotten a lot of comments and emails about international shipping. I'm working on sorting out how to offer (for a very limited time) bundles for those of you who live outside of the US and Canada. It may take me a few weeks, but I'll keep you posted!

a pincushion party!

The kind folks at Connecting Threads and I decided that it would be fun to celebrate the release of my good neighbors fabric with a pincushion party! I've asked a bunch of my friends to participate and several of them said yes! So, every day during the month of September there will be a new pincushion to ooooh and ahhhh over. I think that it's going to be a lot of fun! As you know, I do love a good pincushion!

Today I'm excited to kick off the party! I couldn't make just one...no...that wouldn't do! I made two. And I bet there will be more before the month is through! (Ok, I'll stop. I sound like Dr. Seuss! Haha!) The first pincushion I made is a tiny kaleidoscope block. It was inspired by this quilt in progress, and it features one of my favorite fabrics in the whole line. I can't get enough of those polka dots! (They make good binding, too!) I hand quilted around the triangle shapes and I added a button because my center point was far from perfect. It looks better with the button than without, so it all works out in the end! Hurray!

Just this morning I sewed up another deluxe pincushion! (You can see my first one here.) This adorable pattern is in the book Sew Organized for the Busy Girl by Heidi Staples. I'm pretty smitten with this version as well! It was fun to pick and choose 9 fabrics for the center and I love how the linen lets the bright colors shine! It's so happy!

I get a lot of questions about filling and construction when it comes to pincushions, so I thought I would share a few tips. First off, I almost always quilt my pin cushion top onto a scrap of batting. It's a nice way to add some dimension and depth to the patchwork. It uses up some of the batting scraps that seem to multiply overnight, too! I like to interface the backing fabric with Pellon SF 101. It's a woven interfacing that isn't crispy at all and it adds just the right amount of stability to the fabric, and it prevents the need for a liner of any sort. I like to fill my smaller pincushions-like the kaleidoscope one shown above-with crushed walnut shells, which are sold as lizard litter at larger pet stores. If the pincushion is larger-like the deluxe pincushion-I usually use polyester fiberfill. I have a 9 patch pincushion tutorial here that illustrates the steps visually, if you care to check that out. I hope that answers any pincushion constructions questions you may have!

Here is the entire schedule....I hope you enjoy the party!

Date	Blogger Name	Blog URL
9/1/2015	Amanda Jean	http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/
9/2/2015	Anna	http://www.noodle-head.com/
9/3/2015	Mary	http://maryonlakepulaski.blogspot.com/
9/4/2015	Svetlana	http://sotakhandmade.blogspot.com/
9/5/2015	Debbie	http://www.eschhousequilts.com/
9/6/2015	Holly	http://www.bijoulovelydesigns.com/
9/7/2015	Carla	http://carla-graceandfavour.blogspot.com/
9/8/2015	Faith	www.FreshLemonsQuilts.com
9/9/2015	Vanessa	http://www.vanessachristenson.com/
9/10/2015	Anna	http://www.thimbleanna.com/
9/11/2015	Krista	http://poppyprintcreates.blogspot.com/
9/12/2015	Erin	http://whynotsew.blogspot.com/
9/13/2015	Lee	http://www.maychappell.com/
9/14/2015	Alex	http://teaginnydesigns.blogspot.com/
9/15/2015	Cheryl	http://naptimequilter.blogspot.com/
9/16/2015	Penny	http://sewtakeahike.typepad.com/
9/17/2015	Amy	http://duringquiettime.com/
9/18/2015	Debbie	http://aquilterstable.blogspot.com/
9/19/2015	Anne	http://www.springleafstudios.com/
9/20/2015	Melissa Corry	http://www.happyquiltingmelissa.com/
9/21/2015	Amber	http://www.oneshabbychick.typepad.com/
9/22/2015	Nettie	http://aquiltisnice.blogspot.com/
9/23/2015	Adrianne	http://www.littlebluebell.com/
9/24/2015	Cindy	http://www.liveacolorfullife.net/
9/25/2015	Amy	http://www.diaryofaquilter.com/
9/26/2015	Chase	http://quarterinchmark.blogspot.com/
9/27/2015	Rene	http://www.renecreates.com/
9/28/2015	Erin	http://www.houseonhillroad.com/
9/29/2015	Nicole	http://modernhandcraft.com/
9/30/2015	Teri	http://blog.connectingthreads.com/

it's a big, BIG day

Well, today is a big day in my household on two counts. It's the first day of school. My oldest started high school (!!!) today. I can't even begin to tell you how funny that makes me feel inside. At this point it's pretty much "hold on for the ride!" Sigh. I may have shed a few tears....

The other big news today is the release of my new fabric line! Yep, that's right. Good Neighbors is now for sale exclusively at Connecting Threads! (You can buy it by the yard or in bundles/pre-cuts.) This has been in the works since May of 2014 and I am so excited that release day is finally here! I can sincerely say, I can not wait to see what you make!

Thank you ALL so much for your excitement and your kind comments about good neighbors so far. I never dreamed I would ever see my name on a selvage, but I'm so thankful that I had the opportunity to try my hand at fabric design. I appreciate your support more than I can say. xoxo

Happy Monday to you!

a quilting marathon

Welcome to finish it up Friday!

I finished 5 quilts this week! 2 minis, one baby, one lap and one twin size. That's not crazy at ALL, is it? Ha! (I'm exhausted!!!)

4 out of 5 of the quilts that I finished are for my upcoming fabric line Good Neighbors for Connecting Threads. It was deadline week, if you couldn't tell. :) The fabric is scheduled to be released in early September and I'm starting to get a little excited. (And a little nervous!) I love a stack of quilts...even if just the backs are showing. It felt SO good to get these finished!!! (I'm also very happy with how the teal polka dots work for binding! Yay!)

I'm a part of the Minneapolis Modern Quilt guild and we did an optional scrap swap challenge. Last night was reveal night...and it was fabulous! I'm so glad I joined in. When it comes to scraps, it's hard for me to say no!

I made a sparkle punch mini quilt for my partner. It measures about 18" x 20". This is a pattern that has been on my "to make" list for a long time. I love this quilt and I had a blast making it! It was hard to let go, but I think that's a good sign. Right? I thoroughly enjoyed the color palette of scraps I had to work with!

(I cut the squares at 3" for this version, so the individual block pieces finish at 2.5".)

I started by quilting inside the stars, but the thread just blended in, so I switched gears and I quilted just outside the stars instead. So much better! I like the accent of big stitch hand quilting, even if the stitches aren't perfect.

Here's a little peek at the back. This print is from my upcoming good neighbors line and it was a perfect match to the front! This fabric will be available in regular width (44" wide) and in extra wide (108") for backing. I can't wait to back ALL kinds of quilts with it! I think it will be pretty all quilted up.

I was so focused on what I needed to MAKE for the scrap swap that I kind of forgot that I would get something in return. :) Colby had my scraps and made me this awesome zip pouch. I love it so very much! The lining is pink polka dots. It's pretty much perfect all around. I love that it has my initials on it, so no one else can claim it as their own! Thanks, Colby!!!

 

And one last thing for today....

I didn't make this, but my friend Cindy did. I am not sure why she thought of me when she found this license plate fabric (ha!) but I'm so glad that she did. She made me this wonderful pouch using the flora supply case pattern by Clover and Violet.

It has a zipper pouch in the middle and two sides of pockets...even some mesh pockets, which makes it harder to lose things in. Bonus! :)

Cindy is the selvage queen and she included a bunch of them on the outside of the zip pouch section. I love that!! I've already been using it for carrying around my hand stitching supplies. It's so handy! Thanks so much, Cindy, for a wonderful, thoughtful (and practical) gift!

Ok! Now it's your turn! Please link up your finishes for the week. Thanks for joining me for finish it up Friday! Hope you have a great weekend. I'm going to go take a nap!

good neighbors fabric in hand

Welcome to finish it up Friday!

 

This has to rank right up there as one of my favorite finishes. Ever!

I received strike offs (a sample printing) of my good neighbor's fabric this week!!!! I still can't believe this is happening!!!

I found the box on my front step on Tuesday and I squealed a little bit. (Just a little. ha!) It took me an hour and 15 minutes to work up the nerve to open the box....because there is only one moment in your life when you get to see your very first line of fabric in person! I was not disappointed in the least! The colors are so vibrant and so much better than I had hoped for. I've been staring at these on the computer screen for so long--it is such a treat to see finally see them come to life in fabric form!

It was a year ago (almost exactly!) that Connecting Threads and I started discussing the idea of me designing a fabric line for them. I'm so glad that I had the chance and that I didn't chicken out. I set out to design a line of fabric that I would like to sew with. I think I did it!!!

Last night I took a little time (while I was cooking dinner!) to sew up a little pin cushion using the red dot from the line...it's got to be one of my favorites! I thought it would be hard to cut into my fabric, but it was a delight!

Good Neighbors will be available exclusively through Connecting Threads and will be released sometime this fall.

Now it's your turn! Please link up your finishes for the week. Thank for joining me for finish it up Friday!

good neighbors fabric

I'm happy to announce that I have designed a fabric line for Connecting Threads! Good neighbors is a collection of colorful and simple prints that will work well (or "get along", if you will) with many other fabrics. This is just a quick peek to let the cat out of the bag, but I'll share more soon! I can't wait to sew with them!!! The collection is scheduled to release this fall.

Happy Monday to you!