6 Feeling Inspired.

I'm not sure what it is about that start of a new year that gets me so inspired. I've been making stuff lately, much more frequently than usual, which is pretty awesome! Part of it is that my busy season for photography has come to an end so I have more free time, but part of it is that I just have this desire to make. all. the. things. lately!

I picked up some Bluebird and Alison Glass Handcrafted Indigo since I've been loving the indigo and blues. The colors are just so beautiful! I got started on a new quilt design this week using these and have been really enjoying the process!

I finished up a scrappy trip quilt top a few weeks ago, which I started in November at a local sewing retreat. It's made with Alexia Abegg's Paper Bandana collection for Cotton & Steel. The squares finish at 1.5", they're pretty teeny!

Cloud 9 sent me some digital yardage of my Brush Strokes collection (releasing in June) so I could start stitching up some samples. I made a fun triangle quilt with it at the Stitch Supply Co sewing retreat last month. It was so nice to get together with my friends and sew!

I made a quick wonky log cabin quilt last week after starting it at another local quilting class (maybe the trick for me is to go to sewing events so I'm forced to sit down and sew?!). This is probably the fourth quilt I've made with Violet Craft's Brambleberry Ridge. It's just so pretty!

I've got a stack of unfinished quilts taunting me now. I used to be so good at quilting them right away! Not sure what happened there. I hope to start finishing these very soon! Right after I make another quilt top :)

7 Brush Strokes.

There are some big changes happening in my life lately. Some good and some not so good. But one of the most exciting things going on is that I have my first fabric line coming out with Cloud9 Fabrics next spring!  I am so grateful to be a part of the Cloud9 family, they are such a great company to work with! You can read my designer bio on the Cloud9 website here. The collection is called Brush Strokes and will be shipping to stores in June.

Brush Strokes is a playful collection of graphic blooms and geometric prints painted in vivid shades of watercolor. It includes 16 prints on organic quilting weight cotton. It also coordinates really well with Cloud9's Cirrus Solids. I'll give more details on that in the spring!

I had so much fun painting all of these patterns! I can't wait to see them on fabric. Thanks to Cloud9 for such an amazing opportunity! 

I will have the collection available to purchase once it's released. If you're a fabric shop owner looking to purchase the collection, please contact Cloud9 Fabrics to order!

11 Bloomsbury Quilt.

I've been meaning to share this sample of my Bloomsbury Quilt pattern with you for awhile now.  It's a very late gift for a friend of mine who got married last fall. I used mostly Cotton & Steel fabrics with some Carolyn Friedlander prints mixed in. I hope my friend likes the bright and scrappy look!

I used some Essex yarn dyed linen in two different colors for the background fabric, which probably doesn't surprise you since I use it all the time! I just love the extra texture and softness it gives to a quilt.

It's quilted in a loose crosshatch pattern, which was kind of a pain to mark on the quilt (I used a hera marker as usual) but I'm happy with how it looks finished.

It's bound in a favorite green Cookie Book print by Kim Kight, and backed in a pretty teal print from Carolyn's Doe collection.

You can find the Bloomsbury Quilt pattern in my shop, here!

34 Good Neighbors Pincushion Party.

Did you know my friend Amanda from Crazy Mom Quilts has a new fabric collection that just released? It's called Good Neighbors, and is available through Connecting Threads. I first met Amanda at our annual sewing retreat in Madison last year, and she is one of the nicest people I have met! She loves scraps and we've joked that I should just start sending my buckets of scraps to her since I can't stand them :)

This Pincushion Party was the perfect excuse for me to sit down and make another pincushion for myself. I only owned one pincushion until my friend Jeni made me another recently! So after making this one, I now have three! I opted to stitch up the pincushion from Anna's book, Handmade Style, and it was so much fun to make. I love all the little pockets!

This cushion will be great to have on my sewing table right next to my machine. I stuffed it with crushed walnut shells, which give it a nice weight and sharpens the pins that you stick in it. I'm excited to have something I can use while I'm hand stitching on the couch too, to hold all my small supplies in one place!

Amanda's collection is so perfectly her. It's bright, happy, and awesome for chopping up into little scrappy bits! I decided use little strips on the top of my pincushion to showcase a bunch of her pretty prints.

Make sure to head over to Connecting Threads to get some of Amanda's Good Neighbors collection, and check out all the other adorable pincushions every day in September!

9/1/2015 Amanda Jean – Crazy Mom Quilts

9/2/2015 Anna – Noodlehead

9/3/2015 Mary – Mary on Lake Pulaski

9/4/2015 Svetlana – Sotak Handmade

9/5/2015 Debbie – Esch House Quilts

9/6/2015 Holly – Bijou Lovely

9/7/2015 Carla – Grace and Favour

9/8/2015 Faith – Fresh Lemons Quilts

9/9/2015 Vanessa –  V and Co.

9/10/2015 Anna –  Thimbleanna

9/11/2015 Krista –  Poppy Print Creates

9/12/2015 Erin –  Why Not Sew

9/13/2015 Lee –  May Chappell

9/14/2015 Alex –  Tea Ginny Designs

9/15/2015 Cheryl –  Nap Time Quilter

9/16/2015 Penny –  Sew Take a Hike

9/17/2015 Amy –  During Quilt Time

9/18/2015 Debbie –  A Quilter’s Table

9/19/2015 Anne –  Spring Leaf Studios

9/20/2015 Melissa Corry –  Happy Quilting

9/21/2015 Amber –  One Shabby Chick

9/22/2015 Nettie –  A Quilt is Nice

9/23/2015 Adrianne – Little Bluebell

9/24/2015 Cindy –  Live a Colorful Life

9/25/2015 Amy –  Diary of a Quilter

9/26/2015 Chase –  Quarter Inch Mark

9/27/2015 Rene –  Rene Creates

9/28/2015 Erin –  House on Hill Road

9/29/2015 Nicole –  Modern Handcraft

9/30/2015 Teri –  Connecting Threads

8 Bound Quilt.

So I haven't blogged in months, oops! This summer got away from me, I can't believe it's already September! I've spent most of the past few months taking senior portraits, but I've got some really exciting things coming up that I can't wait to share here very soon! In the meantime though, I've got a few quilts to share here, starting with this baby quilt that I just finished this week.

I was able to finally meet April Rhodes this past spring at Quilt Market, and she is just the sweetest! She asked if I'd be interested in sewing with some of her new line, Bound, and of course I said yes. Her prints just really speak to me! I mixed up the Morning palette with some prints from her last line, Wanderer and a bunch of Leah Duncan prints. Their fabrics go so well together! I had to mix in a bit of Essex yarn dyed linen in a couple colors too to give some spots for the eye to rest.

 
Anna and I narrowed down the fabrics I was going to use at our annual sewing retreat, and she suggested that I make a log cabin quilt with them. I love log cabins so I thought that was a great idea!

Since I only had FQs of some of the prints, I had to get creative with the piecing as the strips got longer, and just started adding on other random strips. I really like the easy, relaxed look it gives the quilt!

Piecing this quilt was so much fun, I want to make a million more of these. It's just so easy to cut all the strips ahead of time and add a few here and there!

I kept with the easy theme with the quilting, and just stitched in a square pattern starting from the center and through each strip. It looks nice, took no time at all and makes the quilt really soft.

It's backed in my favorite print from Bound, Painting Celebration and bound in April's Coming Home Spring print and ready to gift to it's new owner as soon as she makes her arrival!

Thanks so much for sharing your beautiful fabric with me April!

14 Fantastic Quilt Voyage: Nicke's Quilt.

Last month was the first round of working on quilt blocks for Fantastic Quilt Voyage, a traveling quilt bee that I am in with some friends. Nicke's quilt came to me first, and she was asking for quiet and calm blocks in black and white with touches of gold. She's a girl after my own heart! I was excited to get started and after looking through her pinterest board, found this pin.

I quickly drew a version of the photo up in Illustrator, made freezer paper templates and a test block, cut out my fabric and got sewing! The blocks were tiny and had y-seams so they took a few days to make, but I really enjoyed the process.

 I was excited for an excuse to add in a few gold fabrics from my stash!

I am really happy with how the finished block turned out. I'm tempted to make a whole quilt like this now for myself!

I am always reminded that y-seams really aren't that scary when I make something with them! If you haven't tried them yet, you should. 

 Nicke's quilt is going to be so pretty! I can't wait to see it finished.

You can follow along with the quilt bee by checking out the #fantasticquiltvoyage hashtag on IG!

8 Experimenting.

I've been experimenting a bit with block printing and hand painting fabric lately. It's really fun!

I've been really into simple, graphic, imperfect looking patterns lately, so I printed some up to include in a new quilt.

I love how they looked mixed in with these pretty prints!

These fabrics will all be included in a new traveling quilt project I am doing with a few friends.  I stitched up two starter blocks for the quilt and shipped them off this week to start the project. I've had this first block design in my head for awhile, just some simple pieced stripes with a gold heart appliqued on top!

My second block was improv pieced.  Just strips put together on different angles.  I mixed in my own prints in this one, which was fun!  Now I want to make an entire quilt like this.

Pretty happy with how these turned out!  I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone else makes to add to the quilt.  You can follow along on Instagram under the #fantasticquiltvoyage hashtag.