Work in Progress: Vintage Sheet Bear Paw Quilt

Wednesday, May 22, 2019


Happy Wednesday! Last month I started a new quilt, and I'm here to share my progress with you today!


Ever since I finished my last vintage sheet quilt (it's this one: Vintage Sheet Four Patch Quilt), I've been itching to make another. Working with vintage sheets makes me really happy. The colors and patterns are so cheerful and fun. Plus they make super soft quilts.


One afternoon last month I came up with a block idea and stitched up the first block right away. It's nothing complicated, just a bear paw block without the center square and sashing. Each paw is a single color, made up of two fabrics plus a coordinating background fabric. These are scrappy and I'm making them each as I go. No pre-cutting, no pre-planning. I have no idea how many I need to make or how big the quilt will be. I'm just going to make blocks (about one a week) until I'm tired of them.

Here's a look at my first six blocks:


I don't normally work without a plan, but making these blocks has been really nice. They're pretty fast and just the kind of project I want to work on right now!

Happy Quilting!

FIGO Fabrics Spring 2019 Lookbook

Thursday, May 16, 2019


Photo © 2019 FIGO Fabrics

Happy Thursday! Today I want to share a couple projects made from my patterns by the lovely folks over at Figo Fabrics to promote their Spring 2019 collections!

You can find their entire lookbook with all the pretty new collections that they're showing this weekend at Quilt Market on their website, here.


Photos © 2019 FIGO Fabrics

Pattern: Geese in Flight Quilt Pattern
Fabric Collection: Midsommar by Pippa Shaw, shipping January 2020


Photos © 2019 FIGO Fabrics

Pattern: The Elemental Tote Pattern
Fabric Collection: Sunkissed by Lemonni, shipping November 2019

A big thanks to the Figo Fabrics team for featuring my patterns in their lookbook! Make sure to check out their Instagram (@figofabrics) to keep up with their new releases and Quilt Market booth this weekend!

Happy Sewing!

Woodcut Mini Quilt

Tuesday, May 14, 2019


Happy Tuesday! Today I want to share the mini quilt that I made my Mom for Mother's Day!


My Mom has a wall in her sewing room that she is filling with mini quilts. I've made her a few, and I thought she could use another! She loves pink so I went all pink for this mini and dug into my scrap bin.


I decided to make a block from my friend Holly DeGroot's Woodcut Quilt Pattern. You can find it for sale in her online shop Bijou Lovely along with lots of beautiful fabrics and gifts!


I knew this block would be great for using scraps, plus it came together quickly! The center block is paper pieced, and I framed it with one of my Dreamin' Vintage florals.


Keeping with the pink theme I ended up using another Dreamin' Vintage print for the binding. It can be hard mixing pinks, there is such a huge range between warm and cool toned pinks.


I kept the quilting really simple (as always, pretty much!) and did some shadow quilting within the block. I added a few straight lines in the corners and it was done!

You can find the pattern here: Woodcut Quilt Pattern by Bijou Lovely

Happy Quilting!

Bluebird Sew Together Bag

Thursday, May 9, 2019


Happy Thursday! Today I have a new sew together bag to share!


This is my 11th bag made from the Sew Together Bag Pattern by Sew Demented. I think I'm finally ready for a bit of a break after this one! These bags are really fun to make and give. I made this bag for my Aunt Karen, for her birthday!

Here are all the sew together bags I've made:
Dreamin' Vintage Sew Together Bags
Nordika Sew Together Bag
Geometric Bliss Sew Together Bag
Carolyn Friedlander + Paris Map Sew Together Bags
Indigo and Black + White Sew Together Bags
Paper + Denim Sew Together Bags


The color palette for this bag was centered around the tulip print from Bluebird by Cotton and Steel. The whole line was blue and cream with pops of red. I knew I wanted to add pops of red for that reason.

I pulled prints from all fabric different lines. I used two different grid prints from Carolyn Friedlander and two other mystery prints from my stash.

All the zippers are YKK from Zipit.


You can find the pattern to make these bags here: Sew Together Bag Pattern by Sew Demented

Happy Sewing!

April Monthly Report

Tuesday, May 7, 2019


Happy May! It's time for April's monthly report. See past reports here.

I didn't edit this photo of our backyard at all, can you believe how blue the sky is? Spring is such an  amazing season. I love how everything comes back to life!


My sewing this month was a bit all over the place, but one constant as always is drawstring bags. I am still slowly working on experimenting with different ideas for my expansion pattern. This one involved playing with quilt as you go to make a scrappy patchwork bag!

I'm very pleased with how it turned out and it was also my scrap project for the month. This is the project size from the Lined Drawstring Bag Pattern.


I also decided to cut into some of my hoarded bunny fabrics for an Easter bag! This one is the everything size, same as the tutorial size!


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 April:

April Fabric
Used up: 3.75 yards
Brought in: 0 yards
Net: -3.75 yards
Year to date: -15 yards

April Yarn
Used up: 0 yards
Brought in: 0 yards
Net: 0 yards
Year to date: +196 yards

I brought in ZERO fabric in the month of April!! Partway through the month I realized I hadn't bought anything and challenged myself to continue through the rest of the month. It felt great. I didn't use up too much this month, but that's okay. I started a new vintage sheet quilt and also made a big fabric art piece, both of which I'll be sharing soon! 


After a few different tries I finally can make a really good bagel. I used the Water Bagels Recipe from King Arthur Flour. It's quick and straightforward, I didn't change anything. These are chewy and the crust is great. I think I made a batch every week last month! It's definitely worth buying the non-diastatic malt powder that the recipe calls for. On my first batch I tried substituting barley malt syrup and they were very malty tasting.



Two George pictures because he is such a sweetie. I took him in for his yearly checkup this month and he did really well! Love this little guy so much.

Hope you have a great month!