Simply Mini Swap

The #SimplyMiniSwap was hosted by @purplepoppyquilts, and it was meant to be simply a mini quilt - no extras. This was a really fun swap for me, because as soon as I saw my partner's mosaic, I knew exactly what I wanted to make for her. She had all blues and greens in her pictures (which are my current favorites), and she also said she likes stars. I had been wanting to make a New York Beauty for a while, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity.

This was the first time I had ever tried piecing curves, so I went hunting for some advice online. Luckily I found an awesome tutorial for piecing a New York Beauty by Kati at From The Blue Chair. Her pointers helped immensely, and the whole process was a complete success. All of the seams lined up pretty much perfectly. 

This quilt was really hard to give away! It's my favorite piece that I've ever made. Every time I posted a picture of my progress on Instagram, my swap partner always commented that she liked it, even though she didn't know it was for her. I'm so glad this quilt went to her!

The quilt I received from my swap maker is so incredible, and I couldn't believe it when I got the package! 

I had been admiring her posts on this quilt while she showed her progress on Instagram. I never dreamed it would actually be mine! Cassandra (@cassandra.beaver) designed this quilt herself, and there are 83 different fabrics! Everything about it is gorgeous, right down to the intricate quilting. I'm a very lucky partner!

Sew My Stash Swap

If you haven't checked out the #sewmystash2015 hashtag on Instagram, you should. And you should use it! It's great to see what people are making with what they have in their stash. I think a lot of us have a tendency to hoard fabric (Guilty!), and it's nice to be able to pull and make something without having to go purchase anything new.

The Sew My Stash Mini Swap required that you use at least 75% stash to make a mini quilt for your swap partner. I was able to use 100%! (As long as you don't count the pattern: I purchased that specifically for this swap.) 

My swap partner had this pattern in her inspiration mosaic, and I've been wanting to make it, so it was easy to settle on a plan. This is the Take Wing Pattern by lillyella. It's a great pattern that allows for a lot of customization based on color choice, and it also makes a nice size mini to hang or use as a centerpiece. 

I was so excited when I opened the mini I received in return! Lucy (@pearhugstudio) did a great job. I love greens & blues together, low volume prints, and I really dig geometric paper piecing patterns. This will hang in my sewing space. 

The Sew My Stash Mini Quilt Swap was hosted by @projectleasa. 

September Stitch Tease

Hello! It's been too long...

I have only one excuse, and I think it's rather spectacular: Mr. Sexy Pants and I welcomed our own tiny human into the world in May! Needless to say, blogging has not been high on the priority list these past four months. Now it's time to play a little catch up. 

September marked the kick off of a new round of the Stitch Tease Bee. First up was Nicky from the UK. She gave us an awesome color palette and asked for any blocks inspired by Islamic art. She provided a great Pinterest board for ideas. Here are the fabrics I pulled based on Nicky's beautiful color palette, but I only used a few of them. 

I was really nervous to make these blocks; typically I like more direction and less freedom with bee blocks. In these cases I get nervous that they might not like what I make. As it happens, I'm quite happy with how mine turned out this time around. These are two paper piecing patterns that I drafted myself. 

I love how a very simple geometric block (such as the one that makes up one-quarter of this 2nd block for Nicky) can make such interesting designs when multiplied and placed together. I'm anxious to see this one done with more colors  to see how different shapes within the block can be emphasized. 

In the spirit of catching up, I must also include the blocks I made for our Stitch Tease Bee founder, Di back in June. She asked for intersection blocks made from a tutorial by Film in the Fridge. These were fun and fast to make, and I also loved her color palette. This will be a gorgeous quilt. 

We took a couple months off this summer, which was especially convenient for me after having the babe. I'm very excited that we've started up again, though. I look forward to making these blocks every month. 

Halloween Hanger Paper Piecing Pattern

I'm pretty excited about getting my Project Quilting Challenge #3 done early this week! The theme for this challenge is candy. I suppose the logical thing to do given the time of year would have been to make something Valentine-related. I'm not much of a Hallmark Holiday kind of gal, however, so my thoughts on candy geared me to Halloween! I love Halloween. Although I haven't been to any costume parties in the last couple years, it's still my favorite holiday. Maybe I should convince Sexy Pants to throw a party this year. :)

I woke up with a Halloween-inspired idea yesterday morning and immediately set to work with my graph paper, trusty MacBook, and a pot of coffee. A little while later I had three new paper piecing patterns, so I headed down to the shop to stitch them up. I thought these would make a cute hanger for the door during Halloween season, so I just put them together into a column, added a border, and proceeded to finish a mini quilt hanger. I was so excited about the result that I decided to write the pattern. This project is so fast and fun! You can get the pattern (which includes the paper-piecing templates and quilt assembly instructions) on my Craftsy Pattern Page or in my Etsy shop by clicking either of those links. The pattern does not include instructions on how to paper piece; you must already know how to do that or refer to a tutorial.

All in a day - from idea to reality.

Happy Halloween!!….in 8 months. :)

There's no time like the present to prepare!

Needle Book

Ever since I learned how to use a sewing machine , the thought or mention of hand-stitching inevitably produced a grimace on my face.  Who would want to spend all that time sewing by hand when you can zip through a project on a machine at lightening speed?

As I've come to expand my horizon, an appreciation for a little hand-stitching has developed.  I have to admit that it kind of snuck up on me.  The first couple quilt bindings I did on the machine looked absolutely dreadful.  A few months ago, I finally gave in and hand-stitched a binding on a small wall quilt (Keef's quilt: previously showcased).  It wasn't perfect, but I certainly saw potential in that almost invisible stitch.  The cosmetic case I made and wrote about a couple weeks ago was another recent "finished by hand" project.  When I saw Lindsay Rhodes's instructions to finish the case by hand, I'll admit to putting the project on the back burner.  But eventually I gave in, because it's just too cute a thing to ignore.  The result made me smile, and I made 2 more cases the following day.  I must confess that I did machine-stitch some fold-over-elastic for the binding on one of the 2 extra cases.  It didn't look nearly as nice as the two that were hand-stitched with a traditional binding.  That's what I get for being impatient.

Hexies were another thing I dreaded.  Thanks to my local Modern Quilt Guild Chapter, I was sort of forced into giving those a go as well.  The gang at PaperPieces.com were generous enough to donate a whole stack of little hexie templates to our guild a while back.  Our Events Officer handed them out at a monthly meeting at the beginning of the summer and challenged us to try them out and make a hand-stitched project to show in September.  Those who participate in the challenge will be entered for a prize drawing at our September meeting.  I ended up appliquéing a couple of my hexie flowers onto one of my Cinch-It-Up Market Bags.  They are just too cute and incredibly addictive.  What a great little project to take along on a road trip or to the in-laws for the weekend (where I am sadly deprived of my sewing machines and don't know what to do with myself when I don't have a piece of fabric in my hands - I'm sure they think I'm crazy).

Wow, I really can go on about almost nothing, can't I?  I should get to the point of this whole story which is...

This evening I made this:

It makes me so happy that I get a funny little tickle in my tummy.  I'll be off to Sewing Summit in a couple weeks, and I was determined to have an incredibly fancy Needle Book to take with me.  I stitched up a plain and boring one a few months ago when I got hooked on the hexies, but this one is infinitely better.

I gather that drinking tea is a little trendy almost everywhere nowadays - must be all the antioxidants and the increasing obsession with health food.  Growing up in New England, however, means that coffee  (the anti-tea) was somewhat foreign to me.  When you go to visit friends and relations in Maine, the first thing they offer you when you arrive is a cuppa tea and somethin' sweet to go with it.  I get a kick out of watching Downton Abby with all the tea-times, because that is what it was like for me in Maine (except without all the fancy hats and sitting straight as a board with your ankles crossed).  And we drink our tea in mugs.  I will admit to having a strong affinity for fancy tea cups and pots, though.  Frannie ("Queenie") surprised me last summer by letting me have most of her (now 54-year-old) Bone China tea sets that were her wedding gifts.  They are (collectively) one of my favorite things.  Once in a while when I'm feeling the need for something a little fancy I make an entire pot of tea (in a fancy teapot) and take it down to the shop with a fancy little teacup.  It goes great with the Oreos.

Blah blah blah...hence the teacup paper piecing patterns on my new Needle Book.  I love teacups.  There you have it.  They don't have much to do with sewing, but what the heck.  They're cute.  I drink tea while I sew, so I guess tea and sewing go together in my world.

I found the teacup paper piecing patterns for free at PieceByNumber.com.  Click here for the direct link.  I used Lindsay's vinyl zipper pocket method from the Cosmetic Case.  Instead of the traditional Button & Loop closure you find on most needle books, I used a couple Poly-Resin snaps, because they are fun and I have a ga-jillion of them.

Cheers!