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Category Archive
I spent some time this week working on a new project. Our order for Kona Ash Gray was finally filled so I figured I would take advantage of a couple of yards. I decided on this quilt pattern from Cluck.Cluck.Sew called Chain Reaction.
I’m using all of the Art Gallery fabrics that we have in stock for a modern, scrappy feel. I like it so far!
Not only did the Kona Ash arrive, but also several new patterns, including Who’s Place Owl Place Mats.
And On A Whim by Thimble Blossoms.
The Riley Blake Chevron‘s arrived in the shop but have literally flown off the shelf! We have a couple of the 1/2 yard bundles left until the new bolts arrive.
It’s supposed to be nice here this weekend, so I’m betting my patio will be calling my name for a couple of days. Hopefully, more progress next week on the Chain Reaction. Enjoy your weekend everyone!
Finished and ready for quilting! I love how it turned out. It looks like two purple cone flowers stealing all the glory away from a garden of pink flowers.
Sassafras was mostly made using Kaffe fabrics from the shop and our stash. One of my favorite parts of the quilt is the “light” cluster of blocks. It’s as though the littlest cone flower is reaching up for the sun.
It was another beautiful day so I took full advantage of taking the pics outside. Once again receiving a raised eyebrow from my neighbors:) After it’s quilted and bound, I think I’ll take it to the gardens at the college and photograph it there also. It deserves a great shot with all the flowers in bloom. Although,I think the real flowers might be a little jealous, don’t you?
Where have I been? On my patio of course! It’s been in the 80’s in Chicago and I’m certainly taking advantage. I’m being very lazy! It’s hard to focus on working in the studio right now. The birds are singing, flowers are blooming. I’ve had my air on for about a week now. Is that crazy or what? It’s March!
I do already have unwanted guests though…mosquitoes. I have 5 bite marks on my feet from eating dinner outside the other evening. I kept swatting at bugs thinking they must be gnats because there’s no way mosquitoes would be out this early. Boy, was I wrong. They even got me through my socks! I’m afraid they’re going to be so big this year, they’ll be able to carry us away.
We did start a new quilt this past Sunday called Sassafras by Thimble Blossoms. It’s a new pattern we got into the shop last week. It takes a jelly roll but we decided to use some scraps and fat quarters with a lot of Kaffe fabrics. I’m very excited to see how this one turns out.
We also have this spring cutie called Wonky Little Houses Pillow Pattern.
And some new bolts from Art Gallery.
Delicate Duet Plum & Rhythmic Lilac from the Poetica Line.
And a couple of fun prints called Retro Harmony in Sugar & Cocoa.
BackYard Baby Kit is also available now. Kit includes everything needed to complete the entire quilt except your batting, including a FREE pattern. Quilt measures 40″ x 40″ and is only $32.99.
All of these are available on Etsy. Enjoy your weekend everyone!
Thanks to everyone who came out to the Pride of the Prairie Quilt Show this weekend. It was a huge success and Paige and I had a great time! They have a wonderful guild and were very welcoming. We met a lot of new people.
We set up in a small classroom. I was really proud of us for getting everything loaded in an Altima, setting up 2 hours before the show and doing such a great job of displaying everything without pipe and drape this time. 
It’s fun to work quilt shows especially since we are an online shop . It gives us a chance to meet new people and even see returning customers. We get a feeling for what excites and inspires them. We enjoy helping people with color choices and bringing ideas to life. Here’s a grouping we helped one of the ladies put together.Very cheerful!
We revealed Paige’s new design called Cannon Beach, named after a trip she took there a couple of years ago. We hung it outside the door in the hallway. It definitely was an eye catcher and brought in traffic to the shop.
The quilt was made using the Hope Valley by Denyse Schmidt. The line is out of production but we came up with another one so that we could kit it for the show. We used mostly Midnight Garden by Sandi Henderson. Here’s a little peek of it in the corner. I’ll get around to showing y’all more pics when we get it quilted and bound.
We sold all the kits we had made for this. It’s very exciting when people love what you’ve worked hard at designing and creating! We will have the pattern available on Etsy & SewModDesigns as soon as we put the PDF together.
Here’s a few of the other quilts that were on display.
Now I’ve gotta get back to putting the studio back together and deciding what my next project will be. I’m thinking houses….
It feels sooo good to mark something off the list as finished. There was a whole lotta that going on around here this week! Three to be precise.
BackYard Baby Quilted, bound & kitted.
I kitted these for our upcoming show in the sand pails with a shovel. After all it is called BackYard Baby. So cute! Hopefully it will draw some attention into the booth.
Wonky WildFlowers Borders on, quilted and bound. Super cute!
Paige meandered the center around the embroidery work to make it pop out.
And I did a little wonkiness in the log cabins.
Spring Dresden Table Runner
We made this with the new fabric line Lush by Patty Young using our pattern, North Garden Dresden Table Runner.
A pretty, butter yellow background with bright creamsicle & pink dresdens.
We fussy cut the Flower Shop fabric for the dresden centers.
Bright and cheery! The perfect project during winter while wishing for spring. And I kitted these inside flower pots and added a cute yellow daisy.
These kits should be available at Etsy and SewModDesigns soon.
Now, on to cutting out my next project. Talk to ya tomorrow:)
I made another weekend finish, Wonky Wildflowers. Have you ever seen anything soo dang cute!
I really enjoyed doing this. This pattern has many techniques in it that kept me interested. Embroidery of course, applique, both hand and machine, making the hexagons, and using the easy dresden to make all the wedges for the grass and the sun. The one thing I had never done was make the wonky log cabins. I saved them for last and as you can tell by this middle blue and pink one, my first attempt was a little not so wonky.
It’s more difficult than you think to make something not straight! I did let go and not be so uptight when it came to whacking off my edges and finally got the hang of it. But I did notice when I was finished that all my blocks tend to only wonk to one side:)
The only thing left to finish this up is the border. I spent all day Sunday hem hawing over which fabric to use. If you know me, that can be tedious. It has to be right or forget it. After all, I spent all that time and love making it. I’m not going to settle. I did really want to use something from my stash. I had one tiny scrap piece of fabric from the Favorites collection by Me And My Sister and it had to be that.
I had to order it. So I should be able to complete this adorable little wall hanging this week. Then of course the dreaded quilting..ugh! Let the whining begin:)
Can’t wait to show off the finished piece. That will be my motivation!
Next Wonky is…Wonky Winter.
The SewMod group is going to tackle this as a sew-in project hopefully in March. This will be exciting to see all the different versions from our talented group. I already have an idea for mine!
The Wonky Wildflowers sample has been on my list of to-do’s so yesterday I got myself in the mood to make it happen.
I dragged out my 2 tubs of scraps, convinced I could make this entire quilt from what I already had. Scraps need homes too!
First up was to make the hexagon strip that separates the sun from the sky. Now, I’ve done many, many hexies so, I thought I’d give you a little how-to.There are lots of different ways to do these. Some with glue sticks, some with plastic templates and so on, but I’m going to just give you the way I prefer best after trying some of the other methods over the years.
1.) Trace the template provided on a sheet of regular copier paper.
Mine called for a 1-1/4″ hexie. The way to measure a hexagon is from point to point along one side as shown.
2.) After you’ve cut the paper templates out, gather your fabrics and cut at least a 1/4″ around on all sides of the template for easy turning. Use a small pin to secure the paper to the fabric.
3.) Either finger press or if it makes you feel more comfortable until you get the hang of it, iron down all the sides. Once you’ve mastered the hexies you’ll no longer need to iron.
4.) Thread your needle and make a small knot. Starting on one of the points work your way in and out around the hexagon and through the paper.
5.) It’s as easy as that! Hexagons are a great project to pre-cut, stash in a small bag and take with you while your waiting for the kids or to take on a trip!
6.) To attach the hexagons, layer right sides together and whip stitch, grabbing just enough fabric to keep them together, but not going through the paper this time.
Tiny whip stitches make all the difference to make sure your stitching is barely visible from the front. Practice, practice:)
7.) Once your hexagons are attached to one another, clip the threads and release the paper. Iron back into shape.
And here’s the progress I’ve made so far. Hopefully this weekend I’ll have the embroidery done and on my way to another finish!
Have a great weekend everyone!
As promised a little show ‘n’ tell of what I’ve been busy with this week. This quilt only took me a about an hour to get together and it turned out just adorable for a little boy.I made it from the Hootie & Friends pattern that we have but left off the applique. Super easy!
I added an orange flange to separate the charm squares and keep the outer border from blending in and I’m going to use the same fabric for the binding. I do believe it adds just the right amount of pop to the quilt. Isn’t that border fabric just the cutest? I can’t wait till Paige gets it quilted so I can show you the finished quilt. We’ll be taking these kits with us to the Pride of the Prairie Quilt Show in March.
I spent some time with Shelley over at Elsie’s Girl this week and worked on a couple of pot holder samples from this pattern.
Very fast, easy and turned out pretty darn cute!
Sorry for the lack of blogging. Last week I was a little under the weather. Had a bit of a cold that really left me drained. I did do some work though. I finished the binding on a quilt top that I brought home from my mom’s when I was home for Christmas. She hand appliqued this entire quilt in scrappy 30’s prints. Paige was generous enough to quilt the top and and now it’s on it’s way back to OKC.
This Sunday was our SewMod Sew-In and I have to share with you the desserts we snacked on. Pattie is our talented cookie maker. Delish! Beautifully decorated and always tastes sooo yummy. Pattie, if you were missing a couple when you got home, Russell said he snagged 3 of them! I can’t really blame him though:) Vicki brought the cute little Lemon Tarts and the fabulous Valentine Cheesecakes.
We’ve also been working on a commission quilt for one of Paige’s friends. A real outdoorsy, cabin quilt. Lots of greens, browns, blues and reds and some appliqued forest friends. We finished that project up during our Sew-In.
We all made pretty good progress on our projects. This weeks to-do’s are a baby quilt to be kitted with the BackYard Baby line and potholder samples for an upcoming show. So be sure to check back later for those pics. Here’s hoping everyone has a great sewing week!
During Christmas break Paige and I decided to do something totally un-work related and for ourselves. So we picked a day and a project...The Seasons, from the book Material Obsession 2. I love both book 1 & 2. Lot’s of inspiring works of art. We love how she takes traditional ideas and uses modern fabrics to bring new life to quilts and projects.
We chose to do a season each instead of the whole quilt so that both of us would have a little wall hanging of our work. I made summer. But we decided that we liked Night & Day for our quilts instead of Summer & Winter.
I found the perfect background in my stash, cute little birdies! And I’d have to say some pretty perfect grass! I added some little crochet flowers and green embroidery to spruce it up. I even added french knots in the border along some of the orange flowers.
Most of my fabrics were Central Park & Fandango by Kate Spain. I made the tree leaves from just a charm pack. And trees can’t grow without sunshine, right?
Paige chose winter for her project. Deep, rich colors with a winters night background. p.s., don’t mind the wobbly binding. It’s pinned on. Ran outta time:(
She added a wool black kitty. He’s out for his evening stroll.
I wish the camera picked up all the beading she added to her quilt. It’s along the grass line, the kitty’s eyes, and in the leaves.
This project was a lot of fun & would make a really fun class for a quilt shop. We used the Easy Dresden tool instead of the paper template. We had it completed and the leaves appliqued in just one sewing day!
SewMod