Five years ago, my book Patchwork Essentials: The Half-Square Triangle was published! I can't believe it's been that long already. I've written about it extensively here on the blog, including sharing all the quilts that are included. You can find all those posts here: My Book. I'm still really proud of this book. It was an incredible amount of work, a project I'll never forget!


To celebrate this anniversary, I have a special promotion running this weekend! From today through Sunday (9/13), all signed book orders in my online shop come with a free paper pattern, while supplies last! Just let me know in the notes at checkout what pattern you want! Otherwise I'll choose one I think you'd like.

You can find it in my online shop here: Patchwork Essentials: The Half Square Triangle Book.

Thank you for your support, and Happy Quilting! 

August Monthly Report

Happy September! It's time for August's monthly report. See past reports here.


The weather has finally started to break and it is making me feel more like sewing. It's been incredibly hot here the last two months which has made it tough to find the motivation to have the iron and sewing machine running! That being said, I actually sewed quite a bit this month. No big finishes to show for it (except one quilt that I'll share soon), but progress is being made so that's good.

These pretty Dreamin' Vintage* half-square triangle rows are now a finished quilt top, yay!


I made some more masks! I used this tutorial: Fabric Face Mask with Ties


I picked up some knitting this month too! I've been working on these color work mittens, just have the linings left. Need to get a move on these so that I can wear them this Fall. They're living in one of my favorite (project size) drawstring bags I've made.

Bag pattern: Lined Drawstring Bag Pattern
Mitten pattern: Sweet Nectar Mitts


With the heat and my arthritis flare-up this Summer, I've been sewing in the dining room the last few months. This meant my sewing room got neglected and was really turning into a mess. I spent some time this month cleaning it up and getting it organized again. Hoping I can move back upstairs sometime this month. At least now it's ready for me!


To keep myself accountable for my stash goals, I track my yardage for fabric and yarn each month. Read more about how I track here. Here is how I did in August:

August Fabric
Used up: 1.5 yards
Brought in: 0 yards
Net: -1.5 yards
Year to date: -10 yards

August Yarn
Used up: 0 yards
Brought in: 0 yards
Net: 0 yards
Year to date: 0 yards

Not much fabric came in or out last month!


Last year I posted this artwork in a rather large ornate frame (see it in this post: Recent Thrifting Finds) that I thrifted for a few bucks. Well I finally got around to re-framing it! I love how it turned out. It's an original painting on an art store canvas, which is pretty cool. Glad I was able to rescue it from the thrift store!


I baked a cake for Michael's half Birthday in early August. My Mom used to bake half a cake for us when we were kids so I decided to surprise him with his own half cake. It's just a single layer cut in half and stacked. I made the coconut cake + coconut frosting from Smitten Kitchen Every Day*. It was tasty!


George the bun, always so cute.

Have a great month!

*Note: Any links marked with an asterisk in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click through and buy something, I make a small commission, at no extra cost to you.

Black and White Heart Quilt for Amanda

Happy Friday! I have another finished quilt to share with you today, and this one is extra special!


This Spring I had the privilege to help put together a quilt for my dear friend Amanda. She got married in May and a group of us wanted to make a quilt special for the occasion! A few of us were originally supposed to attend, so the intention was to give it to her in person, but the universe had other plans. Instead it was a big box of happy mail!


We decided to make heart blocks using a tutorial by Alison Harris of Cluck Cluck Sew. You can find it here: Making Heart Blocks in Multiple Sizes. We made 10" blocks and groups of 5" blocks. We kept it to black and white for the colors, which is very much Amanda's style. Above you have see the blocks I made for the quilt!

A huge thank you to everyone who contributed blocks: Anna, Amanda Jean, Beth, Brianne, Christina, Deedrie, Emily, and Jacey.


I waited until all the blocks arrived and then figured out a good layout and how many more blocks needed to be made to get it all together. I really love the little groups of small blocks!


Christina Lane of Sometimes Crafter graciously did the quilting! She used this beautiful starry, swirling quilting design which I think fits the quilt and Amanda very well.


Around here no quilt can be gifted without a big drawstring bag to match! I love doing this especially for quilts because they can be stored in the bag too, so it's fun when it matches!

This is the laundry size bag from my pattern which can be found here: Lined Drawstring Bag Pattern.


For the backing and binding I kept things really simple. Yarn Dyed Essex Linen in black by Robert Kaufman and a black solid from my stash for the binding.

It's always special to make a quilt specifically for someone you love. This quilt was a pleasure to make along with friends, for our friend! The best kind of making.

Happy Quilting!

Keep on Turning Quilt

Photo used with permission from Quilts & More magazine. ©2020 Meredith Corporation. All rights reserved.

Happy Thursday! Today I have a finished quilt to share, that I made this past Spring.


The pattern for this quilt can be found in the Fall 2020 issue of Quilts & More Magazine, which is on newsstands now! It's also available to order a paper copy from the APQ Shop here: Quilts & More Fall 2020. You can also order digital issues from Zinio here: Digital Back Issues of Quilts & More Magazine.


As I mentionted, I made this quilt this past Spring, shortly after we started quaruntining. It was a nice distration to work with some nice rich, Fall inspired colors. That season also make me want to reach for more textured fabrics, so I choose Essex Linen in Natural for the background fabric. The prints are a mix of new and old from my stash.


Photo used with permission from Quilts & More magazine. ©2020 Meredith Corporation. All rights reserved.

This quilt can be made with jelly roll strips, fat quarters, or yardage. You can really just use what you have! Especially since we can't easily get to the store these days, sometimes it's nice to have some projects that are adpatable. I challenged myself to only use what I had on hand already when making this quilt!


One of the fun things about using things you already have, is that you get to discover new fabric pairings. I've been holding onto this backing fabric for nearly 10 years, and it ended up going perfectly with the binding I chose which I just picked up last year! The backing was just waiting for it's moment, and it finally came together in this quilt. I don't use a lot of brown these days, so it was really nice to use it up.


The quilting on this is extra simple. I wanted to do as little quilting as possible so that the linen would get all soft and a bit fluffy. Ideally I would have emphasized this even more by using wool batting, but I didn't have any on hand. I guess I felt like I needed extra comfort while making it, which resulted in a pretty cozy looking quilt if you ask me!

Happy Quilting!