Happy February! It's time for January's monthly report. See past reports here.


It's hard to believe the first month of the year has already come and gone! I didn't have a super productive month, but there were a few extenuating circumstances. Michael was off on holiday break until the 7th of January, which was amazing. It was so nice to have a full week to just hang out and relax at home. I've also been battling a swollen knee, so that's slowed me down a bit.

I did make progress on my pineapple blocks and finished a couple small things, like a pillow with the block shown above! Will share the finished project soon.


I made a goal this year to make a project from my scraps each month. This month I made a patchwork drawstring bag! The squares are pink and red Minny Muu prints that I cut out of leftovers from my Prism Quilt. I even managed to find a big enough scrap for two accent pieces! This is the project size from my Lined Drawstring Bag Pattern. And here are instructions for a patchwork version: Patchwork Drawstring Bag Tutorial.


I'm slowly plugging away on my hand quilting. I go for long stretches without working on it. I know if I worked on it more often I'd be much further. Hoping to really buckle down and work on it more this coming month. It's going to be so soft and wonderful when it's done!


I finished a knitting project this month! This was actually a one day knit, I started and finished it on New Year's Day. Michael had been asking for a thicker hat, so I picked up this bulky weight yarn when we were in Maryland. I used the free Super Soft Merino Hats for Everyone pattern from Purl Soho. More info on my Ravelry.


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 January:

January Fabric
Used up: 3 yards
Brought in: 4.5 yards
Net: +1.5 yards
Year to date: +1.5 yards

January Yarn
Used up: 78 yards
Brought in: 0 yards
Net: -78 yards
Year to date: -78 yards

I didn't exactly plan on buying any fabric this month, but ended up ordering some fabrics during a Stitch Supply Co sale. A few prints for my Christmas quilt and a low volume print for a quilt background. Hoping to have more in the "used up" column in February! I'm very happy to be down for yarn already this year! Let's hope that's a good sign.


As I was looking through my photos the other day, I found this picture of some beautiful handmade pins I received from Jackie of Viajoy! They sit on the shelves above my machine, so I see them everyday, and they always make me smile! You can find her pin shop here.


We've been making an effort to try new recipes this year, and a few weekends ago we made marshmallows for the first time! It was really fun and they were super tasty. The texture is so different from store bought marshmallows, so much softer! We made the mint chocolate chip marshmallows from the Joy the Baker Cookbook.


George the bunny, always looking so handmade! He loves to sit on this pillow when he runs around! :)

Have a Great Month!

Patchwork Essentials: Vast Quilt

Time to share another quilt from my book, Patchwork Essentials: The Half-Square Triangle! You can find all the posts about Patchwork Essentials using the MY BOOK link at the top of every page, or here.


I'm slowly going to share each quilt, in order, with the exception of a few that I've already shared. We've made it to the relative size chapter, and the first quilt is Vast!

For more on how the book is structured see this post.


Need a copy of the book? Buy a signed one here: Patchwork Essentials: The Half-Square Triangle


Photo © 2015 Lauren Hunt for Lucky Spool Media.

I knew when I first had the idea for the book that I wanted to include a quilt that used supersized half-square triangles. I've played a lot with the idea in other quilts, like my Giant Vintage Star Quilt, so I wanted to include another variation on the idea.


Photo © 2015 Lauren Hunt for Lucky Spool Media.

I wanted to play with all solids for at least one quilt in the book, as a personal challenge. I haven't made a lot of all solids quilts, but it felt like the right way to make this already bold design feel even bolder. I used Pure Solids by Art Gallery Fabrics for this quilt. I used the following colors: Raspberry Rose, Coral Reef, Empire Yellow, Sweet Mint, Blueberry Zest, Mauvelous, Verve Violet, and Snow.


The absolutely gorgeous quilting was done custom by Melissa of Sew Shabby Quilting. I asked her to choose a different design for each color! This way it almost gives the solid colors a print feel, especially when you look at it from a distance. I love all the variety of design, it turned out just how I envisioned.


I kept things pretty simple for the backing and binding. Another solid for the binding, and a blender from Minimalista for the back! I remember stocking up on clearance fabrics for backings before I started working on the book quilts. It didn't take long to go through most of my stashed backing fabric.


Photo © 2015 Lauren Hunt for Lucky Spool Media.

I recently finished up the variation quilt top that is shown in the book, so I'll be sharing that quilt finish soon too!


Happy Quilting!

Log Cabin Quilted Floor Pillow

Happy Tuesday! Today I have a long overdue share! The two years have been such a whirlwind, and I've neglected to properly share all the projects I've made. I recently pulled a few out to finally photograph them and plan to sprinkle them in with more recent finishes. First up, a big floor pillow!


I made this pillow using Heather Givan's Literary fabric collection for the Fall 2017 issue of Quilts and More magazine. I knew I wanted to lean into the book theme for my project. I like sitting on the floor when I look through books, so a big fluffy floor pillow seemed like the perfect project for these fabrics! Design-wise, I liked the idea of playing with a quilt block in the center of a log cabin block.


With all the straight horizontal and vertical lines in the piecing, I decided to use diagonal lines for the quilting. Also, I love quilting diagonal lines! I started with a big X across the pillow top, then echoed those lines about every 1".


Every so often I like to finish my quilted pillows with binding. Using another low-volume print for the binding gave the pillow a nice frame. It's finished with a simple envelope closure on the back.


The pillow finishes at 24" square, and has a nice big form in it. To make it look extra filled out, I added some loose fiberfill to the corners.


I'm glad that I finally pulled this project back out and stuck a form in it. Michael's has been using it, which makes me smile!

Happy Sewing!

Lined Drawstring Gift Bags

Happy Thursday! It's time for a parade of lined drawstring bags! I always make a few at the last minute to wrap gifts for the holidays. I wanted to quickly document them before we got too far into 2019! Make sure and check out my post with tips for using drawstring bags to wrap gifts, if you're interested!

First up, an Everything Bag (tutorial size)! This held some sweet treats. It's made with a star print from Heather Bailey's Hello Love collection and a print from my Curiosities collection. It's finished with paracord ties.


Another Everything Bag (tutorial size) for sweet treats. It's made with two prints by Carolyn Friedlander, a print from Carkai and one of her Crosshatch prints. It's finished with paracord ties.


Next up, a Artist Bag (pattern size)! Perfect size for gifting a baby quilt. This bag is made with three prints from my Geometric Bliss collection. It's finished with paracord ties.


One of two Laundry Bags (pattern size), for gifting throw quilts. This one is made with prints from my Curiosities collection. It's finished with paracord ties.


And finally, one more Laundry Bag (pattern size). This one is made with the panel and matching prints from my Nordika collection. It's finished with paracord ties.

Find the tutorial and pattern here:
Lined Drawstring Bag Tutorial
Lined Drawstring Bag Pattern

Happy Sewing!