Don't Call Me Betsy

Spring Quilt Market 2013: Portlandia

2013-05-22T07:28:00.001-04:00

Portland was a great place for Spring Market this year. I'd never been to Portland before, so it was exciting to get to see a new place, and to experience it with so many great people. If you haven't visited Portland before, make sure to arrive with an empty stomach - the food is unbelievable!

Mother's Bistro was a great breakfast spot, with quite possibly the best french toast I've ever had. Granted, I haven't been to Paris or anything, but I thought they were amazing. It could be in part because I haven't had the luxury of having french toast in a long time, but the ambiance in the restaurant was also really cool.

AnneMarie and I also walked on over to Frank's Noodle House for dinner one night, with their amazing homemade noodles and super tasty dumplings. It was a really interesting little place, and the food was just delicious. Definitely two thumbs up.

And who knew that Portland had awesome ice cream?!? Not me! After the Modern Domestic Happy Hour Friday night, a group of us walked over to Salt & Straw, a super fresh ice cream shop with very unique flavors, ranging from arbequina olive oil to more classic flavors like chocolate with gooey brownies. I had a mixed scoop of the chocolate with gooey brownies and the sea salt with caramel ribbon ice cream. Definitely an amazing match up! Even if it made the mild weather feel nearly arctic afterward ;)

awesome photo of us in line *yes there was a line!* at Salt & Straw by Jamie

l-r: me, AnneMarie, Jen, Sukie, and Lee

The other thing you'll need when you go to Portland is your wallet, because there are so many great fabric stores! On Thursday, AnneMarie and I managed to get out to a few fabric stores, thanks to our hotel shuttle and the kindness of strangers. We headed to Bolt, which was a beautiful little shop. Gorgeous fabrics, lots of modern finds, and lots of crossweaves as well. Definitely an inspiring kind of space. I picked up a few goodies there, and at the cutting counter, stumbled upon a kind stranger who was heading to Fabric Depot next. AnneMarie and I had planned to venture out to the public transit system to get out there, but our kindly new friends offered to drive us. How nice!

Our new friends were Susan, the fabulous owner of The Quilt Asylum in McKinney, Texas, and her daughter, Audrey. Thanks again, girls! Fabric Depot was definitely an interesting experience - kind of Wal-Mart meets quilt shop, with loads, and loads of bolts of quilting cottons ranging from solids to popular collections. They even had a bridal fabric section! Definitely lots of variety there. I picked up some great stash builders there, as well as some fabric to put together a Super Tote for Jacquie with her signature color, orange, and a fun dark denim I found.

Last but not least, I did a bit of shopping at the Modern Domestic Happy Hour, breaking my no-fat-quarters rule, because they were too cute to pass up. If you get up to the Portland area, definitely be sure to check out the Modern Domestic class schedule, their teaching space is just breathtaking!

Don't you just love checking out quilt shops in other cities? I know it's something I look forward to when I travel to new places. Have a great day today. Happy Wednesday to you!

Spring Quilt Market 2013: Fabric sneak peeks!

2013-05-20T07:15:00.000-04:00

Though I'm happy to be home, Portland was really wonderful. From the awesome people to the great food and gorgeous scenery, it was a great trip, not to mention all that fabric! And thankfully, I brought my camera, so I can share it all with you guys :)

Today, I'm going to share the great booths and fabrics that I saw at Market, starting with....

Violet Craft's booth! Violet was sharing her upcoming Waterfront Park collection for Michael Miller, which should be arriving in stores this summer. Violet has such a bubbly, infectious personality, it was fun getting to visit with her. I especially adored the bridges quilt behind her, it's really stunning in person.

Also in the Michael Miller booth, I spotted a great upcoming line from Emily Herrick. I especially loved the movie theater seats that Emily recovered in her new line, Technicolor. I adore the colors in this line, it's so bright and cheerful.

I was also really excited to see Mo Bedell's booth. Mo is such a sweetheart! She featured her newest line, Full Moon Lagoon, in her booth as well as her next line, Hothouse Flowers, shown in swatches to the right of the seahorse quilt. Mo won a ribbon for her beautiful booth, for best new exhibitor. So exciting for her!

Another line I was pumped to see was Denyse Schmidt's upcoming Florence line, which should be in stores at the end of the summer. No surprise here, but it's gorgeous and brimming with all of the things we love about Denyse's past collections: beautiful, rich colors, small prints that are so easy to use, gorgeous stripes, and a fantastic vintage feel. I will definitely be getting lots of this collection!

The Kokka booth was also outstanding, full of Melody Miller, Echino, and Ellen Luckett Baker fabulousness. Melody's next line even has a small cameo of the viewfinders from her first line that have been so beloved and impossible to get. Melody also wore a fabulous dress made of the arrow print while she was at Market, but I didn't manage to get a good picture.

I also enjoyed seeing Jeni Baker's new line, Nordika. While the colors aren't colors I would normally attribute to her, as soon as you see the fabrics, the collection is totally Jeni. I loved the embroidery hoops hanging in her booth and the mix of both fun garments and quilts showcasing the new line.

The Cloud 9 booth was so cheerful. It's entirely possible that it's mostly due to a big dose of Pigeon. Oh yes, Mo Willems's famous Pigeon from his books has made it to fabric! I know my son would love to have a pigeon quilt on his bed.

The other fantastic thing I saw in the Cloud 9 booth was Rashida Coleman-Hale's upcoming line Koi. Rashida's booth featured booth Koi and her current line, Tsuru, but Koi definitely was the showstopper of the booth. With a similar color palette to her super-popular Washi line, but fresh, new prints. Rashida's sunny personality really comes through in this line, which will be available in both quilting cottons and voile.

And those are the fabric collections that I saw that really inspired and struck me. I'll write some more about the fabric shops I got to visit in Portland next in another couple of days, and I've also got lots of photos to share from an amazing trunk show by Jacquie Gering, too. First up on the lengthy To Do list I've returned to: laundry! Wish me luck! Have a great day :)

To Market, To Market...with a new bag!

2013-05-15T07:26:00.004-04:00

Whenever I travel, especially on quilty adventures, I feel the need to make a new bag. And usually this feeling doesn't come over me until the last possible moment, so right on schedule yesterday, I found myself desiring a Super Tote. Have you seen these bags? It's probably Kelly's fault, because she made a gorgeous one adorned with applique leaves for Tracey, come to think of it. All the same, Anna, as always, wrote an amazingly easy to follow pattern that yields beautiful, professional looking results. I am super excited to board a plane to Portland today carrying my new bag. I love this bag.

It's huge. I could probably even fit my laptop in here, but I'm not going to try on this trip. Inspired by Kelly, I made a few changes to the bag - I added the exterior pocket to both the front and back of the bag, because I like pockets and I added a crossbody strap rather than two shorter straps. At Market, you wind up lugging a bunch of stuff around, so I figured the crossbody strap would be way more comfortable.

I used Essex Yarn Dyed in Flax for the linen bits, Melody Miller's amazing viewfinders in aqua for the exterior pockets, Madrona Road Sprout in Straw for the lining mixed with an old Kumari Garden print called Tarika for the lining gusset. I only wish I'd bought a whole bolt of the viewfinders when they came out, now that they're out of print!

All in all, I'm really happy with how this turned out and have plans to make a second one for Jacquie. She jokingly asked me to make her one to bring to Market, but rather than rush through it, I'm going to make it for her after I get home. She can use it to cart some of her necessities to all of her wonderful classes that she's teaching these days. You should check to see if she's teaching near you, because she's seriously awesome!

I'll be back with loads of pictures from my trip next week, and I will indeed be posting to Instagram (with my terrible camera phone) while I'm away if you want to follow the #quiltmarket fun. Have a wonderful rest of your week!

Hope Valley Progress!

2013-05-10T06:38:00.003-04:00

Thank you all so much for all of your well wishes on my book news. I'm still pinching myself over the whole thing! I'm so touched by the things you guys have said to me, I really appreciate all the support. As soon as it's listed for pre-order, I will be sure to let you guys all know! In the meantime, I've got some good news to share on my Hope Valley improv quilt today: I finished the quilt top. Yay! It's officially big enough to fit on my queen-sized bed, and because of that, it's nearly impossible to photograph. But, I love it so far. :) You can read a little more about my work on this quilt right here.

The bad news? Now I have to baste the darned thing! Yikes. My weekend clearly is going to include a heck of a lot of quality time with my 505. And I need to shop for some Aurifil thread to match the yarn-dyed Essex to quilt it with - thankfully my MQG meeting is tomorrow at Inspire Quilting & Sewing, where they stock boatloads of Aurifil! Hope you have a great weekend!

Coming Soon: Becoming a Confident Quilter, the book!

2013-05-08T16:19:00.001-04:00

I have started and deleted and started this post over at least five times now, so maybe the sixth time's the charm...I have really something big to tell you guys. I kind of wrote a book.

I really did write a book. Omg, omg, I can hardly believe it. Becoming a Confident Quilter will be out this September and it's chock full of tips, techniques, and exercises to stretch and build your quilting skills. There are fourteen quilt patterns, and I can't wait to show you every last one of them, but I have to keep them under my hat for now.

I can tell you this much - I've wanted to be an author since I was six years old. I still have the very first book I ever wrote, a delightful tale I called Bunnies, about a family of bunnies, so this is a really big deal to me. It nearly makes me cry when I think of the idea of running into a copy of my book in reality at a bookstore someday in the not-too-distant future. I cannot begin to tell you how much this whole experience has meant to me, and I can't wait to share more about it with all of you, including loads of pictures and stories about the quilts over the next several months. Suffice it say, I'm beyond excited. And proud. And joyful. It's a good day :)

Divide and Conquer: A finish and a free pattern!

2013-05-07T07:53:00.000-04:00

Need a little easy-to-finish springy quilt for your spring picnics? Or a quick quilt to whip up for Mother's Day this weekend? The Divide and Conquer quilt will totally hit the spot!

I just finished this quilt and wrote a simple pattern for it that you can download from Pellon's website. This is a quilt that you can easily finish in a day or a weekend.

Using some simple stitch-and-flip corners and cutting some large prints, you can create a vibrant, but really simple to assemble quilt. As much as I love intricate quilts, sometimes it's a lot of fun to put something together that takes less thought!

I'm really loving the color palette I used for this quilt - I seem to be gravitating to it a lot lately, now that I think about it. There's just something about the coral and aqua and yellow together that just says spring to me!

The quilty photoshoot couldn't have been more perfectly Florida-ish unless there was a plastic flamingo in the shot - a lizard jumped on as I hung the quilt, and it took some serious encouragement to get him out of the way. He was just enjoying the combination of the sunshine and the beautiful quilt, I think, a bit too much to move.

I quilted this quilt using two different stitches to create a really cool effect on the back. I decided to try something new and used a curved stitch to emphasize the stitched-and-flipped corners, and creating a curved diamond. I then stippled the remaining parts of the block, using white Aurifil 50 wt thread. I really love the finished look, and I will definitely do more of this curved free-motion stitching.

Quilt Stats
name: Divide and Conquer
size: 60" x 72"
fabrics: Sketch in Coral, Pearl Bracelet in Yellow, Outfoxed Jewels in Teal, Outfoxed Foxglove in Ruby, Linda Lace in Peach, Frida's Dream in Cool, Henna Stripe in Gray, Eyelet in Gray, Flowerpop in Zesty, Houndstooth in Yellow, La Dee Da Floradots in Aqua, Imperial in Turquoise, Quilt Blocks Xs
pattern: Divide and Conquer, free pattern by me, download right here
quilting: Meandering stipple and arcs, in white 50 wt Aurifil thread
binding: Kona Azure, 2 1/2" straight-grain strips
backing: Meteor Shower in Sunset

If you make a quilt using this quickie pattern, please be sure to share it in the Stitching with Don't Call Me Betsy Flickr Group and/or Threadbias Group, I'd love to see it! Have a wonderful day today!

Modern Gears: A quilt finish in Modern Quilts Unlimited

2013-05-03T07:09:00.001-04:00

I'm really excited to finally share this quilt with you. Modern Gears is a new quilt that I made and that is now available as a pattern in the Spring issue of Modern Quilts Unlimited. This quilt was a long time in the making - the first sketch I did for this one is three graph paper notebooks ago, back in the beginning of 2012. I didn't jot down the source of my inspiration at the time, but I believe it was the cover of a book with gears on it that got my brain thinking about patchwork gears.

The fabrics in this quilt are from Carolyn Friedlander's beautiful Architextures collection, which still sits near the top of my favorite fabrics list. I especially love the one gear with the fuchsia center - that block was actually a bit of an oops turned awesome design element. I ran out of the blueprint fabric, thanks to a dopey cutting mistake I made, so I had to improvise. I decided to throw in one different color, an accent, if you will, and I'm so glad I did. I think it makes the quilt even more interesting than it would be otherwise.

You can still find Architextures in stock at Marmalade Fabrics, Pink Castle Fabrics, and Stash Modern Fabrics.

If you haven't picked up a copy of Modern Quilts Unlimited before, I highly recommend it. The photography is just stunning, the patterns are well-written with lots of diagrams, and the articles are quite enjoyable as well. You can usually find it at local bookstores, Barnes & Nobles, some Jo-Ann Fabrics stores, and Pink Chalk Fabrics. You can also order digital and print copies at their website right here.

And last but not least, I owe you two winners for the Quiltmaker 100 Blocks Volume 7 giveaway! Drum roll, please....our winners are: #32, Carol Stearns, and #203, HelenMarie. I will be contacting you both via email today to square away your prize. Congratulations to you both, and thanks to everyone who entered! I've got lots of great new block inspiration thanks to all your comments :) Have a great weekend everyone!

Lucky Stars Block of the Month: May Block

2013-05-01T07:07:00.001-04:00

If you're a Lucky Stars Block of the Month subscriber, your May block should be sitting in your inbox right now. If it's not, please check your junk or spa folder, and if you don't see it there, please email me! And if you're not yet a subscriber, you can join right here.

This month's block is the Spotlight Star. My block features fabrics from Architextures, Washi, Summersville, It's a Hoot, Rhapsodia, and Les Amis.

I really enjoyed seeing all of the April blocks popping up, especially with the two different layouts. Here's a few of my favorites.

1. Black Hole Star, 2. Lucky Stars BOM - April, 3. #luckystarsbom April block @dontcallmebetsy, 4. Lucky Stars BOM - April, 5. Untitled, 6. Lucky Stars BOM - April, 7. Lucky Stars: Black Hole Star, 8. Finally finished my April #luckystarsbom (just in time to get my May block pattern tomorrow ), 9. Lucy Start BOM April - "Black Hole Star"

Don't forget to share your finished Lucky Stars blocks in the Flickr group and/or Threadbias group! Have a great day!

Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Volume 7: A Divided Flock block

2013-04-30T06:55:00.001-04:00

Good morning! Welcome to my stop on the Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks blog tour for volume seven. I'm super excited to share my block with you today. It even made the cover, on the bottom left hand side!

My block, #658 found on page 50, is called A Divided Flock and was inspired by a pattern on a sweater that I saw and sketched in my design notebook eons ago. The colors, however, were inspired by a mess of my own creation in my sewing room. I love these rich, vibrant colors together, especially set off by the black.

One of the things I love about this block is that it's forgiving - because of the stripes in between the sets of flying geese units, your points don't have to match perfectly, which is nice.

I also love how this block can be used in so many different ways, to create so many different looks, like this one with Summersville Spring, available at Pink Chalk Fabrics...

And this one, with Zen Chic's Comma, available at I Don't Do Dishes, Intrepid Thead, Marmalade Fabrics, Pink Castle Fabrics, and Stash Modern Fabrics...

And this one, with Boho by Urban Chiks, available at Pink Castle Fabrics...

And lastly, this one with Road 15, the fall collection coming soon from Sweetwater...

You can see another take on my block in the Block Tester's Gallery at the back of the issue - found on page 88. Marti Dyer-Allison made a quilt using my block in Shelburne Falls. I like how she turned just one block to give a little surprise pop to the quilt. I also really like the shade of blue she used for the background. You can pop on over to the Quiltmaker blog to see lots more sneak peeks of blocks before the issue hits newsstands on May 7th.

Would you like to win a copy of this issue? There's tons of wonderful designs in here, and I'm so excited to see so many friends in this issue like AnneMarie Chany of Gen X Quilters, Amy Smart of Diary of a Quilter, Faith Jones of Fresh Lemons Quilts, and Cindy Lammon of Hyacinth Quilt Designs, and many, many more. One randomly selected winner will receive a copy of this issue. To enter the giveaway, simply tell me about your favorite quilt block, whether it's modern or traditional or somewhere in between. Two winners will be selected on Friday morning. THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. Good luck, and have a great day!

Slicing and dicing

2013-04-29T07:25:00.002-04:00

It was a pretty busy weekend in my neck of the woods, but I did manage to find a bit of time to do some sewing. I'm really starting to make some progress on my Hope Valley improv quilt, it's actually starting to look like something, which is exciting. Especially after the initial dread I felt after chopping it up into pieces. Do you have a fabric collection that you can't bear to cut into? Hope Valley is one of those lines for me, I've been hoarding it, just waiting for the perfect project for it, until I decided that I just wanted to use it. I wanted something made out of it that I can enjoy, rather than walking by where it sits on my fabric shelves and eyeing it longingly.

So I chopped it up. Eek! I'm using a pattern in Quilting Modern by Jacquie Gering and Katie Pedersen, one of my favorite quilting books. This pattern is found in the modern crazy piecing section, which is the section of the book where I want to make every single quilt! This one is called Winter Windows, and is done up in beautiful muted blues and grays in the book, so I'm hoping that my bright color scheme won't totally ruin this quilt.

I'm happy with how it's working out so far. I've gotten to the point now where I'm starting to assembly the crazy pieced strips with background fabric and then with the accent solids. I'm loving these solids together - I think I might just have to do another project with this color scheme at some point!

My background fabric is Essex Yarn Dyed Linen in Flax. I had initially intended to do a mix of fabrics for the background, subbing in some Essex Linen in Natural and maybe another light colored chambray, but I didn't like how they looked together ultimately. The colors are quite similar, but the other linens just don't sparkle the way the yarn-dyed one does, so I'm sticking with it.

I'm nearly halfway through putting the two swaths of crazy pieces together, so that means hopefully that I'll have a quilt top to share soon! Stay tuned! I hope you all had a great weekend, and have a wonderful Monday :)

Feeding my stash and my heart

2013-04-26T06:03:00.000-04:00

The last few days have been spent feeding my stash and my heart, quite literally. There's a few quilty drives going on to support the people of Boston after the horrific events that occurred last week, and I wanted to make sure to take part. Like so many of you, I was glued to the news last week and it left me feeling not only saddened and hurt for those affected by the violence, but it left me feeling rather helpless. Enter two wonderfully generous charity drives led by two modern quilt guilds.

The Boston Modern Quilt Guild is collecting quilt blocks made in blues, yellows, grays, and whites measuring 12 1/2" x however wide you'd like. You can read more about the drive right here: Quilts for Boston. I've made two blocks so far, and might just make another before I send them off. I made a simple Mod Nine Patch block, based on my Moda Bake Shop tutorial from last year, and then I made a Double-Flip HST block, based on my old tutorial.

The second project I worked on for Boston was a simple bunting flag for a great project that the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild has put together, called To Boston with Love. My local MQG is working on putting together several flags and I'm hoping to make a few more before we send ours off. All flags must be in Boston by May 31st. You can read more and get more inspiration right here.

In other lighter news, it seems my stash, although quite healthy in its own right, has been quite hungry lately, and I've been feeding it a steady diet of modern stash builders.

I was introduced to a great new stash basic, the tweed texture print from JennSki's Mod Century collection for Moda, by the super creative Marla of Sew Hungry at The Stash Bash. Marla used one of the tweed texture prints in her Happy Pills quilt, and after she found the selvage, I knew I had to have some.

You can find the Mod Century tweed textures in stock at Marmalade Fabrics (although I'm sorry to say I bought up all the gray!).

The other modern basic I picked up is this fun print from Alice Kennedy's Matilda collection for Timeless Treasures. The chevron has a very sketchy quality to it, and I think it would not only make a great print to use in a quilt, but it would also make a great binding!

You can find Matilda in stock at Fat Quarter Shop and Hawthorne Threads.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend :)

Beginning Free Motion Quilting Class coming up on Friday

2013-04-24T07:28:00.001-04:00

I am really enjoying teaching these days! It's so much fun to share my love of quilting with other people, and to share things that I've learned along my quilting journey. And quilty people really are the best people, so it's great to get to spend a morning with other fabric lovers. If you happen to be in the area, my monthly Beginning Free Motion Quilting class is coming up this Friday morning at Inspire Quilting & Sewing in Plant City, FL.

You'll see more of this project soon, I promise!

In this class, we get down and dirty with your machine to find and fix any free-motion troubles you may be experiencing, whether it's tension issues, needle issues, you name it. We also practice four to five different free motion stitches, two of which are all-over designs and three of which are linear designs. This gives you the opportunity to stretch both sides of your brain and find what feels more comfortable for you.

Clamshell Loop FMQ tutorial right here

Practice is the name of the game when you're getting starting with free-motioning. The first quilt I ever free-motioned seriously looks like it's quilted with creepy, long fingers all over it. You have to push through, and keep trying, rather than getting frustrated and defeated by your first attempts. They may not be pretty, but they're going to be, with practice and effort.

My first quilt, three years ago!

We talk a lot in class about different tips and tricks for making your early attempts at free-motion as smooth as possible, from choosing the right needle and thread for your machine to different techniques for holding and moving your quilt as you free-motion.

There's just a few seats left in my class this week, but if you're interested in joining in the fun, you can sign up for the class by calling the good folks at Inspire Quilting & Sewing at 813-704-4867. In the meantime, I'm going to be having fun stitching up a crazy piecing project I started at The Stash Bash, using one of my favorite fabric lines ever, Denyse Schmidt's Hope Valley. Have a great day!

A recipe for Blueberry Buckle

2013-04-22T06:34:00.002-04:00

It's officially blueberry season here in Florida, and at our house that means it's time to make all things blueberry, from muffins to pancakes to a cake we call Blueberry Buckle. The local blueberry farm not only offers up blueberry plants that you can grow at home, but they also offer U-Pick, allowing regular old folks to come pick from their bountiful trees.

This year's crop is quite beautiful, and on Friday morning, I headed over to the farm to pick a few pounds of blueberries. Almost all the berries are bright purple now, so it was easy to find loads of great blueberries, and quite a few of my son's favorite type of berries, "monster" berries - ridiculously large berries.

On Saturday, my son and I donned our aprons and got to work making blueberrry buckle, a simple coffee cake style cake with blueberries. This recipe works beautifully with fresh or even store-bought frozen blueberries and is a simple treat to whip up. The tastiest part of this recipe, by far, is the streusel topping. And blueberries are chock full of healthy vitamins and minerals, so that makes this kind of a cake a bit of a healthier option than a slice of chocolate cake, right???

Blueberry Buckle

Makes approximately 16 slices of cake, and freezes well

Ingredients:
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup softened unsalted butter
1 egg
1/2 cup milk of your choice
2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 cups blueberries

Streusel topping:
1/4 cup softened unsalted butter
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease an 8x8 or 9x9 square pan.
2. Cream softened butter and granulated sugar until well blended. Add egg and mix well.
3. In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients well with a fork or whisk. Add to butter/sugar/egg mixture, 1/3 at a time, alternating with your milk. Gently fold in blueberries with a rubber spatula, then transfer batter to your greased square pan.
4. To make the streusel topping: Mix brown sugar, granulated sugar, flour, cinnamon and butter well. This mixture will be a bit crumbly. Sprinkle mixture over the top of your batter.
5. Bake at 375 for 28-30 minutes. Let cool before serving.

I hope you have a great day today!

Loads of progress, not to mention fun!

2013-04-19T08:07:00.001-04:00

I promise this is my last Stash Bash post! I'm starting to feel my hangover fully wear off, now that I've gotten everything unpacked and put away at long last. :)

Firstly, I have to tell you I sat with some seriously cool and fun people at The Stash Bash, who worked on some awesome projects. I sat with the Birmingham MQG gang of Katie, Marla, and Kim. Katie whipped up the beautiful quilt on the left here using Les Amis (and basted and quilted it!) and Marla stitched up the one on the right, from Elizabeth Hartman's Modern Patchwork book. These girls literally kept me in stitches throughout the weekend. So glad I got to meet them and hang out with them!

I also got some beautiful goodies from Katie, including this beautiful pouch, stuffed with a fun charm pack of Happy Go Lucky by Bonnie & Camille, in the pouch swap on Saturday. Katie also gave me a twin to this pouch along with a fabric covered clipboard. Seriously, how did she know that I love clipboards?!?! So sweet!

As for me, I packed a bunch of projects with me to work on at The Stash Bash, not sure of what I'd be in the mood to work on. Once I arrived at the sunny, yet cool and quiet location in Hampton, GA, I unpacked my car and set up my sewing machine.

I started right in on my Aeroplane bag first, and knocked it right out before we even had dinner that first day!

After the bag, I wanted to work on a new quilt, using some of the Urban Chiks' Dream On yardage and charm packs I've been hoarding for a long time. I used Jeni's great patchwork chevron tutorial from the Moda Bake Shop, but I upsized the quilt a bit to make it large enough to cover my bed. I haven't gotten a good picture of the whole thing yet because it's so big, but once I quilt it, I'll make sure to get some better pictures.

By Day 2 of the retreat, I shifted gears and worked for a bit on an improv project using Denyse Schmidt's Hope Valley. I didn't get very far on this one before my quilty ADD kicked in and the desire to work on something else drove me to another project.

My husband has requested I make him a mariner's compass quilt, using the same Madrona Road Memoir print I used in my A Light in the Dark mariner's compass mini, so I packed up some fabrics and templates to get started on that for him at The Stash Bash. I managed to get through one block, Which Way North. I haven't spent a ton of time plotting this quilt out, so I'm not sure exactly how many blocks I'll do just yet, but I would guess at least 16 or so, so you'll be seeing lots more blocks like this one in the coming weeks.

Last but not least, I worked on a little bee block, using some beautiful Ruby by Bonnie & Camille. I made a simple zig zag block, and I can't wait to see how the whole quilt comes together soon. I got a sneak peek at the other blocks, and I can tell it's going to be a stunner!

I hope you've had a great week, and I hope you have a wonderful Friday!

It's my Aeroplane!

2013-04-17T06:54:00.000-04:00

Did I just put that Red Hot Chili Peppers song in your head? You're welcome ;) It was in my head the entire time I worked on a bag I've been looking forward to making, the Aeroplane bag, pattern by Sara/Sew Sweetness.

My Aeroplane bag was the first project I attempted to tackle at The Stash Bash over the weekend. I had spent a few hours piecing together a patchwork panel for the front and back of the bag, and quilting-it-as-I-went, and prepped all of my interfacing and other pieces before I headed up to Georgia.

I was really surprised at how fast it came together once I got my sewing area all set up in the sewing room. I think it probably took no more than three or four hours to put the whole thing together, which is probably how much time I spent making the patchwork panels, so this is definitely the kind of bag you could tackle making in a weekend.

I made the Long size of the Aeroplane bag, and it is truly humongous. The Regular size is just as tall, just slightly less long. I can easily fit everything I need for a weekend trip in this bag, no problem, with room to spare. I also really like how long the handles are, it's quite easy to carry around.

The directions for the pattern were supremely clear and easy to follow. The bag is literally assembled much like a zippered pouch, so it was fairly simple to put together. This was my first time working with Annie's Soft and Stable, which was really easy to use and did give the bag a lot of additional body. I will definitely choose to use it again for another bag in the future.

Thinking about the construction of this bag versus the Weekender is a little bit tough - I used my Juki to put the Aeroplane bag together, and I used my Sapphire to put my Weekender together, so it's a bit like apples and oranges. The Juki is definitely way more cut out for bag-making, though. No broken needles, no difficulty shoving thick layers through the machine, just smooth sewing. I will say this: there are way fewer pattern pieces, no piping, and there are two inside zippered pockets in this bag that the Weekender lacks (though you could improvise and add them). I would say that this pattern is something that an adventurous beginner can tackle. And it's even more fun to tackle at a sewing retreat, for the record :)

I hope you have a wonderful day!

I've got a serious Stash Bash hangover

2013-04-15T07:03:00.000-04:00

I had such a fantastic time this weekend at The Stash Bash in lovely Hampton, GA! In fact, I had such a good time, that I'm literally feeling hung over this morning from all of the fun. There's lots to tell, but I'm going to start today with the stash side of things. A stash report, if you will, of all of the things that are now a part of my stash after this wonderful trip...

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On Saturday, we visited a beautiful quilt shop in McDonough, GA called A Scarlet Thread. It's a gorgeous shop, full of beautiful fabrics, sample quilts, and lots of fun, colorful DIY decor. I took tons of pictures of this shop because I enjoyed so much of the visual appeal of the shop.

And naturally, I couldn't walk into a fabric store without buying fabric! I picked up some yardage of a Moda Bella solid for a quilt I was working on at The Stash Bash (stay tuned for more on that!), as well as some cuts of Dear Stella Ostara Stripe, Tim & Beck Bungle Jungle Ivory Stationary, Penelope Calligraphy, Penelope Salon, and Silent Cinema Starlet in Pink.

We also played an enthusiastic round of fat quarter swapping - modeled after LCR, if you're familiar with that. There was some vicious back and forth over a fat quarter of Constellations between myself and Amy/Needledfig! It was all in good fun, of course. Since I wound up with it, I think I might just make a little something for Amy with it, as a little Stash Bash keepsake.

top-bottom: Madrona Road Memoir in Black, Constellations Phases in Teal, Lilly Belle Lilly Bouquet in Light, Mama Said Sew The Block in Black, Splendor 1920 Knotted Trellis in Olive, and Madrona Road Morning Glory in Charcoal

And the sweet Beth of Stash Fabrics was not only a Stash Bash sponsor but she was also there in person, with lots of her shop's beautiful fabrics. I took home a boatload of it to lighten her load on her way home!

top row L-R: Essex Yarn Dyed in Flax, Timber and Leaf Pine Stickers in Yellow and Pink, Summersville Spring Bloomsbury, Nursery Versery Piggies, Geekly Chic Glasses, Indian Summer Native Band in Apricot and Jade,

bottom row L-R: Pearl Bracelets in Swiss Chard, Indian Summer Shimmer Creek Blue, Full Moon Lagoon Sea Vines in Purple, Full Moon Lagoon Bubbles bundle, and some fun scraps

While the road trip to Stash Bash was great, the road trip home was less than great. Between the nasty weather and the ticket I got for speeding in Georgia, the drive kind of sucked. But, thanks to a serious downpour, I did take a little side trip to a quilt shop in Lake City, FL called the Fabric Art Shop, which cheered me up a good bit. They had lots of fabric and notions to look at and I snagged a few fun stash prints.

L to R: P&B Textiles Color Weave in Teal, Mod Century Tweed Texture in Leaf, Boho Texture in Scarlet, and Juicy Blossoms Gray Dot

I can tell I'm going to be spending some quality time unpacking and putting stuff away today! I better get started!

A road trip playlist

2013-04-12T05:49:00.000-04:00

I'm hitting the road this morning for The Stash Bash retreat, and I couldn't be more excited. I love road trips. Just me, the open road, and lots of great music to keep me company. Here's hoping I don't hit much traffic! And in case you need some tunes for the weekend, here's what's on my playlist for this morning...

The Unlikely Candidates - Follow My Feet

Imagine Dragons - Radioactive

Dan Croll - From Nowhere

The Postal Service - A Tattered Line of String

M83 - Midnight City

Tegan and Sara - Closer

The Mowglis - San Francisco

One Republic - Can't Stop

30 Seconds to Mars - This is War

Benjamin Gibbard & Feist - Train Song

Fall Out Boy - The Phoenix

OneRepublic - Counting Stars

Justin Timberlake - Mirrors

30 Seconds to Mars - Up in the Air

Grouplove - Tongue Tied

The Postal Service - Turn Around

OneRepublic - Something's Gotta Give

Have a great weekend!

Farmhouse Patchwork Quilt

2013-04-10T06:46:00.000-04:00

I'm gearing up for heading to Atlanta on Friday for the Stash Bash, so I haven't been doing a ton of sewing this week, but I do have another finish to share today! Back in January, I worked up a quilt for Quilt Magazine, and it's featured in their June/July issue, on stands now. Say hello to Farmhouse Patchwork!

This quilt pattern, also called Farmhouse Patchwork, is a super easy, scrappy quilt that you can easily put together in a weekend. The small patchwork squares are all pieced using simple, speedy strip-piecing, so this quilt blocks come together quite quickly and easily.

I used the new Charleston Farmhouse fabric collection by Felicity Miller for this quilt, mixed with a few Free Spirit Designer Solids. I just love the shade of coral in this collection, it's a gorgeous color that's sometimes hard to find in quality quilting cottons, and the Plumberry print, available in several colors, is a great stash print. You can find Charleston Farmhouse in stock at Pink Castle Fabrics.

So, head on out and pick up a copy of the new issue of Quilt magazine! I found my copy at my local grocery store, but I've also seen Quilt on stands on Barnes & Noble and Jo-Ann's. Have a great day!

A quilt to show we care

2013-04-08T06:41:00.000-04:00

I've been working on a quilt for the past week for a friend of the family who's just begun cancer treatment. Working on it has been a really tough process for me. Cancer hits close to home, way too close. My dad died of complications from lung cancer ten years ago this summer, and honestly, sometimes it feels like it just happened yesterday. I've been thinking of him a lot this week while I've worked on this quilt, and a part of me feels awfully guilty for that. A part of me feels like this quilt should just be about helping this family friend, but then another part of me recognizes that I didn't take the opportunity to do something like this to show my dad how much I cared, so it's normal for him to be on my mind right now. I was a selfish twenty-something when he got sick, fresh out of college and hugely unaware of how little time he had left. There's lots of things I wish I did differently. But I'm thankful for the time that I had with him, and the things that he taught me. He taught me to care about people, and to show them that care, and that's what this quilt is about right now, and I think that's okay.

I finished up the quilt on Saturday morning, and took it outside to get some finished photos before gifting the quilt. The weather was positively beautiful, after a few days of dark clouds and rain. My munchkin insisted on getting in on the quilty photoshoot fun, and was surprisingly helpful at keeping the quilt still despite the breezy conditions.

I quilted this quilt in a simple stipple, in 50 wt white Aurifil thread, from my very first mondo-sized Aurifil cone. Aurifil thread is fantastic no matter what size the spool is, but I have to say, the mondo-sized cone moves so darned smoothly off the cone. It was a thing of beauty to watch it unfurling as my machine whizzed away.

For the binding, I used one of my favorite prints in the history of ever, Sandi Henderson's Peony Plaid from Meadowsweet 2. I love the colors in this plaid, and they worked perfectly with the bright, summery strings in the heart on this quilt.

I hope you have a wonderful Monday :)

Quilt Stats
name: Michelle's quilt
size: 50" x 60"
pattern: String Heart block, with lots of negative space
fabrics: Various strings from my string bin mixed with Michael Miller Cotton Couture in Luna, available at I Don't Do Dishes, Pink Castle Fabrics, and Stash Modern Fabrics
quilting: All-over stipple in white 50 wt Aurifil thread
backing: yellow yardage from my stash, a print from Flock and a print from Charleston Farmhouse,
binding: Peony Plaid from Sandi Henderson's Meadowsweet 2

Update from the Duffel Trenches #2: A finish!

2013-04-05T06:35:00.003-04:00

I'm a bit surprised to tell you that I've finished up my StudioCherie duffel! I was fully expecting that it would be a more way more time-consuming and frustrating process than it was. I'm quite pleased with the finished bag, though if I were to make the bag again another time, I would probably use a heavier batting, like upholstery weight, to create a stiffer finished bag. On my bag, I used Pellon Legacy 100% cotton batting, which yields a softer finished bag with less body, but when it's stuffed to the brim, like it is in the photos, there's plenty of body.

After my last update, I first tackled the straps, which was a relatively painless step. Installing them was equally straight-forward. Even installing the top zipper was a cinch...I didn't get tripped up in the pattern until I got to Step 9 with the zipper stop tabs. I broke one of the cardinal rules of sewing a bag pattern - I didn't read the entire pattern before getting started, so I didn't realize that there were actual pattern pieces at the back at the pattern, as there were rotary cutting instructions for the bag. Whoops! I actually asked another person who blogged about having made this bag, Sara of Knottygnome, who helped me figure out the step 9 instructions before I discovered the pattern pieces. The pattern pieces would have made everything make perfect sense.

Step Eleven was the only truly maddening step - lining up all of the bag parts and sewing them together was not exactly fun, but it was also not the horror that lining up all of the pieces of my Weekender was. There's a few less layers in this bag, so it wasn't anywhere near as challenging. I also used my Juki for all of the straight stitching on this duffel, and it sewed right through those layers as though it was just two layers of quilting cotton. No broken needles, no hesitation - this machine is perfect for bag-making!

So, now that it's done, what can I tell you about this bag...well, first off, this thing is huge! I fully expect that I'll be able to pack not only my projects for the Stash Bash retreat next week but also all my clothes in this bag. I tested it out with quilts inside and found that it can easily fit four lap sized quilts, maybe even more. This is a great bag for a weekend trip, and I believe the size is an acceptable carry-on for most airlines.

I also love the fabric I used - I wasn't sure about the orange Sketch for the handles, but it really does work nicely with the penguins, so I'm pleased with it. And these penguins always seem to make me smile.

The main thing I don't love about this bag are the raw edges on the inside of the bag, which I couldn't seem to get a decent picture of. I overcast the edges as best I could with my Viking, but admittedly, I stink at overcasting, so it's not a perfect job. Then again, how often am I going to be looking at the interior of the bag? Probably not very often, so it's definitely something I can live with.

Another thing I'd do differently next time is repeat the pockets that are written to be just on two of the four sides of the bag. I would repeat the zipper pocket that is on one short side of the bag on the other short side of the bag, and I'd also repeat the small pocket between the handles on both long sides of the bag. You can never have too many pockets :)

I've gotten a lot of questions about where I sourced all the materials for this bag, especially the long zippers and the jute, so here's the rundown on where I got everything:

Main fabric: Penguins in Blue by Nancy Wolff

Straps: Timeless Treasures Sketch in Orange

Zippers: Purl Soho

Jute: SugarScout on Etsy

But all in all, I'm going to be a very happy camper carrying this bag around when I travel! I may even make another manly version at some point for my husband, since he travels infinitely more than I do. I hope you all have a wonderful Friday and a great weekend!

Charm Madness: The Double Hourglass Pouch Tutorial

2013-04-03T06:24:00.002-04:00

Welcome to my stop on the Charm Madness blog hop, hosted by Sew Lux Fabrics! To catch up on previous Charm Madness posts and enter the weekly giveaway, visit the Sew Lux blog. Today, I'm sharing a simple tutorial to create a great zippered pouch, perfect for carting around a hand sewing project or for packing in your suitcase for your next trip. Today's project will use a total of just 16 charms, plus a fat quarter for your lining and a fat eighth for your sashing.

The Double Hourglass Pouch

**Use a scant 1/4" seam unless otherwise noted**

You'll need:

(8) 5" charm squares of white/neutral fabric

(2) 5" charm squares of four different prints, total of (8) charm squares
I used prints from Cosmo Cricket's 2wenty-Thr3e collection

fat eighth of sashing, cut into:
(2) 1 1/2" x 8"
(1) 3 1/2" x 10 1/2""
(1) 1 1/2" x 10 1/2"

10" zipper

fat quarter of lining, cut into:
(2) 10 1/2" x 12"
1/3 yd Pellon Craft Fuse, cut into:
(2) 10 1/2" x 12"

To piece the patchwork for pouch front:

1) To begin, cut two planks measuring 1 3/4" tall by 5" wide from each of your charms, creating a total of 16 white planks and 16 print planks. Don't toss aside the skinny remaining strip of your printed charms, we will use some to make the zipper tabs.

2) Take four matching print planks and four white planks and sew together in pairs, print to white. If your prints are directional, keep in mind that you want two identical pairs with the print on top, and two pairs where the print is on the bottom. Press seams open.

3) Bring assembled pairs to your cutting table, and using the 45 degree marking on your ruler, trim. Align the 45 degree marking along the raw edge of the bottom of your patchwork, and trim. Flip the ruler to create the opposite side of the triangle, and trim. You're now left with a triangle. Discard the scraps and repeat with the three remaining patchwork sets, creating two sets of identical triangles as shown.

4) Lay out your block and assemble, pairing two opposite triangles together and joining, pressing seams open, and then joining the two halves of the unit to create a whole patchwork block. Use pins at to assist you in making your seams meet, as needed.

5) Repeat with remaining print and white planks to create four double hourglass blocks.

6) Lay out your four blocks as desired, twisting and turning them if you like. Sew the blocks together first in rows, then join the rows. Press seams open.

7) Join a skinny sashing 1 1/2" x 8" strip on the right and left of the block. Press seams open.

8) Sew the skinnier of the two remaining sashing pieces to the top of the block, then sew the larger, 3 1/2" x 10 1/2" piece to the bottom.

9) Next, take one piece of Craft Fuse and place the shiny side with the wrong side of the pouch front. Using a hot iron, fuse the Craft Fuse in place. Repeat for the pouch back.

To install the zipper:

1) First, we need to trim the zipper to size. The zipper should be exactly 1 1/2" shorter than the top of the pouch, so trim as needed. I trimmed off from the zipper stop side of the zipper, rather than the top of the zipper.

2) Next, choose two leftover print planks and trim to 2 1/2" long. Press each of the two pieces first in half, then fold in half and press a second time, much like a double-fold binding.

3) Open the zipper tab sandwich and insert the end of your zipper, taking care to align the end of the zipper inside the sandwich. Sew the sandwich closed, topstitching about 1/8" from the sandwich edge.

4) Repeat step 3 for the top edge of the zipper, first unzipping the zipper to get the pull out of your way.

5) Trim zipper tabs even with the length of the zipper.

6) Next, align up one of your lining pieces, right side up, on your cutting mat, lining up the sides of the of the lining piece with the lines on your cutting mat. Place the zipper on top, zipper pull up, centering the zipper so that the zipper is approximately 3/4" from both the right and left edges of the lining. Put some pins in place, close to the zipper teeth, to keep the zipper in place and bring to your sewing machine. Set the stitch length at 5.0 mm and baste the zipper in place, sewing very close to the raw edge of the fabric.

7) Bring the zipper/lining unit back to your cutting mat and align the raw edges of your pouch front with the lining, right sides together. Pin in place, and try to get those pins as close to the zipper teeth as possible.

8) At your machine, adjust the stitch length back to a 1.5-2.0 mm stitch, whatever you normally sew with. Rather than starting at the raw edge, start about 3-4" down - away from the zipper pull. We'll go back and attach that section in a moment. Sew the pouch front, zipper, and lining together, using your zipper foot. Sew all the way to the end of the zipper, then clip the threads.

9) Open up your pouch so far, so the right sides of your fabric face you, and unzip that zipper. Get the zipper out of your way, then close the pouch back up, line up the raw edges again, and sew the remaining part of the zipper in place. Make sure to backstitch when you reach your first line of stitching.

10) Using a hot iron, press the pouch front and lining away from the zipper, then topstitch in place.

11) Next, we'll attach the remaining pouch parts. First, line up the remaining lining piece, just as we did in step 6, and align the zipper (now attached to the pouch front and one piece of lining) with the raw edge of the lining, again centering the zipper, with the lining right sides together. Pin as needed.

12) Baste the zipper and second piece of lining together, using that longer stitch length, then align the pouch back, right sides together with the pouch front, and pin as needed. Sew the zipper in place, using the same method we did in steps 8-9, sewing part of the zipper in place, and then opening the zipper to get it out of your way.

Alternately, you can attempt to open the zipper while sewing, lifting your presser foot, and rotating your pouch to finagle the zipper. Use whichever method works best for you.

13) Press the pouch back and lining away from the zipper and topstitch.

Finishing the pouch:

1) Now that the zipper is fully installed, we can finish up the pouch. This is the most important step of this tutorial - open the zipper at least 3/4 of the way. If you open it up all the way, the zipper pull may get in your way, so I usually open the zipper right about 3/4 of the way open.

2) Next, line up the raw edges of the lining with each other, right sides together, and ditto for the pouch front and back. Pin the raw edges together, leaving a gap on the lining bottom about 5" long - enough for you to shove your hand in and pull the right sides of your pouch out. I mark the start and stop of the gap with two pins, so that I know where to start and stop my sewing.

3) At the zipper, match up the raw edges, and pin. Push the zipper tabs toward the lining to keep them out of your way. Sew together, using a 1/2" seam allowance, and taking a moment to backstitch at the lining gap start and stop.

4) Reach into the lining through the gap we left in step 14, and reach for the pouch front. Pull the fabric through the gap, turning the pouch right side out. As you do this, make sure to push the corners out. Feel free to use a wooden turning tool, or even a pencil eraser, to try to push the corners out fully. Make sure also to push out the corners at the zipper end of the pouch. Repeat for the lining once you get the pouch front/back squared away.

3) You'll notice that the gap that you left in the lining already wants to close up, and may even start to align itself properly. Take a moment to fold the raw edges under, approximately 1/2", and sew the gap closed, either via handstitching or topstitching. I almost always topstitch, just for added security at the bottom of my pouches.

4) Finally, push the lining into the pouch, and marvel at your finished pouch!

If you make a pouch using this tutorial, be sure to post it to my Flickr group or Threadbias group, I'd love to see it!

Don't forget that Charm Madness is still underway - you can link up your own project made from charm squares here, enter the weekly giveaway at the Sew Lux blog on Sunday, and enter the Grand Prize Giveaway by tallying up all the charm squares used in the Charm Madness tutorials, also at the Sew Lux blog. Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Update from the Duffel Trenches #1

2013-04-01T08:43:00.000-04:00

I've spent the last several days off an on working on my StudioCherie duffel bag. I've officially made it to step 4 of the pattern, strap preparation, so I'm going to share how the first few steps have gone.

Step 1: Quilting and sizing the quilted pieces
Admittedly, I probably went overboard with the quilting. The instructions regarding the quilting were quite sparse, and I like quilting, so I spent a good bit of time adding lots of quilted flair to the two pieces that were intended to the be quilted. I've got straight-line quilting, I've got cross-hatch quilting, there's some scrolls, some clamshells, some stippling, really a little bit of everything. The quilting went rather well, until I got to the sizing. After quilting, I simply didn't have the size I needed to trim to, so I'm going to have to alter the pattern as I go. Next time (if there's a next time) I make one of these duffels, I will cut my feature fabric, batting, and lining at least 1-2" larger all the way around to allow for some shifting and such on the large piece. The smaller quilt seemed to come out just fine, so perhaps I wouldn't do that with that one, but I've made a note on my copy of the pattern.

The instructions then indicate to either serge the edges of the quilted pieces or to add binding to them. I thought (for about two seconds) about binding them, because the way I understand the construction of this bag, the edges will be visible from the interior of the bag, but decided against it and zigzagged the edges with my Viking.

Steps 2 & 3: Marking the big quilted piece and Marking the small quilted piece
Marking was relatively easy and painless. The pattern gives some great visual cues on how to properly mark the pieces, so I think I'm all set on this front. We'll see how it goes when I actually need to see my markings in a few steps!

Next up is the strap preparation. This will be my first time working with jute for bag straps, so it should prove to be interesting. I wasn't able to source my jute webbing locally, I had to buy it online, so the color isn't quite what I would have wanted if I'd found it in person, but I think it will work out okay. Now that I've trimmed up my orange Sketch fabric for my straps, I'm liking it much better, and I think it will be a nice accent to my penguins. Stay tuned for more gory details as I make my way through this bag! Have a great day :)

Threadbias Quilt Design Tool Winner!

2013-03-31T09:40:00.003-04:00

Congratulations to lucky commenter #36 - Amanda Reilly! You're the winner of a one-month trial of the Threadbias Quilt Design Tool. Thanks to everyone for entering :)

I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend! I know I'm hoping to get to my sewing machine today after a bit of craft room spring cleaning. It's a bit of a disaster zone at the moment, with too many projects strewn everywhere to get much of anything done, but I'm hoping to do a bit of duffle sewing today, now that the Lucky Stars block for April is all set up and ready to go out to club members tomorrow. If you're not already a club member, you can absolutely still join us, and receive all of the previous blocks as well as April's block tomorrow - you can sign up right here. Have a great Sunday!

Digging into my zipper stash

2013-03-29T06:29:00.002-04:00

In just two short weeks, my road trip to the Stash Bash retreat will begin, and I'm definitely not heading there empty-handed. We're planning to do a little pouch swap, and there's a few people that I want to bring a special something to as well, so I decided to dig into my zipper stash and make a pile of pouches. I just finished my last pouch yesterday, so that's one more thing I can check off my to do list, yay!

The first pouch I worked on is for the pouch swap. I wanted to do some teeny tiny piecing, and I wanted to use one of my Lucky Stars blocks, so I decided to use the new April block, which will be arriving to club members' inboxes first thing Monday morning. This teeny tiny version of the block finished at 3 1/2" - throughout the piecing, I felt like I needed smaller hands to work with these tiny pieces of fabric!

I sashed the block with some Essex linen in Steel, and decided to add a pinstripe effect with some simple quilting on the pouch. I wanted a bright, fun color for the zipper, so I picked out a fun green zipper, Washi triangles for the lining. On this pouch, I wanted a softer look, so I used Pellon fusible fleece. It's still definitely durable, but would be good for holding a Kindle or a camera, since it's a bit more padded.

For the second pouch, I wanted to try to use some of my Anna Maria Horner scraps. I've destashed a lot of my Anna Maria Horner fabric, and used a lot of it, too, so all that's left is scraps. I decided to use an Anna Maria Horner to go with my bits and strings of fabric, her feather pattern, but there was no way that I had enough to make the full-size feather, so I shrunk it. I used the copier function of my printer to shrink the pattern by 50%, and I was able to put together enough strings to make a darling little feather. I used Essex Yarn Dyed Linen in Black for the stem of the feather, and paired it with a mostly low-volume print from Art Gallery's new Urban Mod collection called Triangularity. Isn't that a fun word??? I added a bit more of the Triangularity print around the feather to create a nice rectangular size, and turned it into a pouch.

I found a red zipper in my stash that had a cute pull already attached to it, and installed that for the pouch. The lining of this one is from my biggest AMH leftover scrap, a print from her Innocent Crush line, and I used Pellon Craft Fuse for the interfacing on this one - I've used Craft Fuse on several pouches, and I like the crisp look it gives.

You're going to get to see much more of the third pouch on Tuesday, when I will be sharing a quick tutorial for it. For now, I'll give you a quick tease :)

Stay tuned on Monday for my first update on my duffle progress, and have a great weekend!

Big plans to travel handmade

2013-03-27T06:08:00.003-04:00

I'm super excited to be heading to The Stash Bash next month in Georgia, and there's nothing like travelling handmade, having something totally unique and totally you to carry your stuff in. So, I've got big plans over these next few weeks, not only to make a Studio Cherie Quilted Travel Duffle, but I'm also hoping to eek out enough time to put together my Sew Sweetness Aeroplane Bag.

six-hour road trip: here I come!

The Duffle comes first, because I'm lacking a duffle, and because I'm fully expecting that I'm going to need a duffle, stuffed full of fabric to use throughout the retreat weekend! I'm using a super fun Kokka print by Nancy Wolff, but I had a hard time figuring out what to pair it with. Tentatively, I'm planning to use an orange Sketch print for the bag's accent straps, but I'm not sure if it works. What do you think? Is the orange too bold?

For my Aeroplane bag, I'm totally going with a QAYG exterior, with either some fun patchwork or some of my Melody Miller stash, like these viewfinders. If I don't get to work on it before the retreat, it's definitely coming with me as a project to work on at the retreat!

Do you like to sew bags? Do you want to hear all the gory details of putting these two bags together, like I did when I made my Weekender? Bags are definitely not my forte, they take a lot of brainpower for me to process the idea of making something 3D as opposed to a nice 2D quilt, but I'm always so happy with the results. First up on the bag-making agenda: cutting a zillion and twelve pieces of fabric and interfacing, wish me luck! And don't forget to enter the Threadbias Quilt Design Tool giveaway, it's still open until tomorrow at midnight. Have a great day :)