Today I'm here to share the coordinating blenders and solids that match Curiosities, which is arriving in shops now! Art Gallery Fabrics has lots of beautiful blenders that work well with this collection.


Pure Elements: PE-405 Cherry Lipgloss, PE-404 Festival Fuchsia, PE-450 Grapefruit, PE-420 Crystal Pink, PE-406 Burnt Orange, PE-449 Mandarin, PE-448 Canary, PE-412 Tender Green, PE-452 Spruce, PE-424 Mirage Blue, PE-451 Icy Mint, PE-455 Royal Cobalt, PE-428 Nocturnal, PE-445 Mink, PE-440 Macchiato, PE-433 Snow.


Prisma Elements: PRE-805 Passion Garnet, PRE-803 Soft Wulfenite, PRE-806 Apricot Sunstone, PRE-807 Solar Quartz, PRE-808 Larimar Sea, PRE-810 Sapphire Sparkle, PRE-801 Matte Zirconia, PRE-802 Albite Latte, PRE-811 Pearland Gold.


Squared Elements: SE-608 Pomegranate, SE-601 Rosewater, SE-615 Mandarin, SE-609 Citrine, SE-604 Seafoam, SE-605 Turquoise, SE-611 Navy, SE-614 Almondette, SE-616 Carbon.


Oval Elements: OE-913 Cranberry, OE-922 Parfait Pink, OE-911 Golden, OE-936 Sage Meadow, OE-920 Mist, OE-900 Peacock, OE-916 Mood Indigo, OE-931 French Vanilla, OE-912 Cappuccino.


Nature Elements: NE-117 Hibiscus, NE-111 Hot Pink, NE-109 Veiled Rose, NE-106 Orange Peel, NE-105 Mimosa, NE-113 Blue Green, NE-118 Caribbean Blue, NE-115 Biscotti, NE-104 Natural.


Floral Elements:FE-528 Bubblegum, FE-518 Ballerina, FE-525 Tangerine, FE-520 Custard, FE-519 Icy Blue, FE-510 Lapis Lazuli, FE-516 Khaki, FE-522 Cookie Dough, FE-533 Winter Wheat.



Other: A number of threads in my Favorite Things Aurifil Thread Collection coordinate with Curiosities. Don't forget Aurifil embroidery floss is available in the same colors as their regular threads! I was also able to find coordinating zippers from Zipit, and the pom-poms have been collected over the years.

If you're a shop interested in carrying Curiosities, it can be ordered through Art Gallery Fabrics.  Find your sales rep here, call toll-free (888) 420-5399, or visit artgalleryfabrics.com.

International Pattern Shop News

Happy Monday! I have some great news today for all of my international customers! I've finally had the time to properly vet all of my options to make my PDF patterns available to everyone, including those of you living in the EU. I've done a few things to make my patterns more accessible.

All physical paper copies of my patterns are available in my Big Cartel shop to ship anywhere around the world.

For PDFs, my patterns are available in my Big Cartel shop for all non-EU customers!


For my customers living in the EU, I finally have an option just for you! I've opened a Payhip shop to serve your needs. You'll find a link to it at the top of every page of my Big Cartel shop, for future reference! Thank you for your patience as I've worked through these changes! I really appreciate it!

Thank you to everyone who reads my blog, follows me on social media, purchases my fabric, patterns, threads, takes classes from me and comes out to hear me speak. You're awesome, and I couldn't do all of this without you!

Have an awesome week!

Favorites

1. muses 5 whole quilt, 2. Sea Glass quilt, 3. Louisiana Traveling Quilt, 4. Medley of Jen (Kingwell), 5. Pineapple Tidbits improv pineapple log cabin quilt, 6. Tiffany Quilt, 7. Scrappy Trip Along Quilt, 8. Triple Goosed, 9. P1100958

Every week I go through my favorite photos on Flickr, and choose nine sewing/quilting related projects to showcase here. These photos and projects are not my own, you can find the original images and creators by clicking the coordinating links! If for any reason you do not want your project featured here, please email me and I'll remove it!

Happy Weekend!

Zip Top Tote + Curiosities Canvas

Have you picked up Anna Graham's book, Handmade Style, yet? It is SO good. No surprise, because Anna is incredibly talented, and simply a lovely human being. I was really itching to get my hands on her book with Lucky Spool, especially after being able to see the projects in person at The Sewcial Lounge this past Spring. I promised myself the first thing I'd make was the pincushion, but I got distracted, there are too many good projects in this book. The pincushion will have to be next up!


There is such a huge variety of projects including bags, pouches, a few garments, pillows, quilts, and other goods for the home. The first thing I made was the Zip Top Tote, it's the perfect sized tote for me! When Art Gallery announced that they'd be adding canvas to their lineup, I knew I'd want to make something from Handmade Style. Anna uses a lot of canvas and home dec fabrics for her projects, so I was excited to use my own print for this project.


The Candied Lollies in Mint from Curiosities was selected for my canvas print! I used this for the outside pockets of the bag, and paired it with some chambray for the main exterior. For interfacing I used Pellon's SF101 Shape Flex and FF77 Flex-foam. I stitched it up with my standby #2024 Aurifil 50wt thread.


I recently used metal zippers for the first time (still need to share that project!), and liked the idea of using one on this bag to add a little something extra special. I need to make a tie for that pull still! I even used a metal zipper for the interior zippered pocket. I normally would have been lazy and done a slip pocket instead, but wanted to go whole hog on this bag and do it right. I did make it a little smaller, based on the interior pocket in my favorite purse. The Spherical Buds in Aqua print from Geometric Bliss was a great match for the inside!

I bought my metal zippers from Zipit.


For the handles, I originally wanted to use leather like the one in the book, but didn't have any on hand and wanted to finish the bag before my trip to Ohio. I ended up making handles with some natural 1" cotton webbing. I like how they turned out! I might pick up some that's a little wider to do this again in the future.



I love how this bag turned out. Anna's instructions were easy to follow and the finished product is beautiful and functional. I can't wait to put it to use. I think it's going to be a great summer bag! I'm excited to sew more with the canvas prints from Art Gallery as well, it stitched up great, and the weight is really nice. I want to recover my mini ironing board in this print when I get yardage! Soon, I hope!

Happy Sewing!

Favorites

1. Hop and Skip Quilted Pillows, 2. FO: strippy strings, 3. Tote bag making for June's @citizensoftextile. #citizensoftextile #comingsoon, 4. Blue Redux, 5. Optimism Quilt by Rossie, 6. Tattoo Quilt, 7. Inchworm (front), 8. Bee Quilt, 9. Quilt with feet (reminds me of an eggcup with feet). Mostly Anna Maria Horner Dowry and True Colors.

Every week I go through my favorite photos on Flickr, and choose nine sewing/quilting related projects to showcase here. These photos and projects are not my own, you can find the original images and creators by clicking the coordinating links! If for any reason you do not want your project featured here, please email me and I'll remove it!

Happy Weekend!

June So Far

June in snippets: fresh strawberries, eaten plain and made into freezer jam. YUM.


Took inventory of my pincushion collection, this is most of it right now.


Had a trunk show, which means pulling out all the quilts!


Black bunny tape!!


Managed to come home early for an NBA Finals game. Until next year, Cavs!


Thrift find of the week: set of 8 Vera cloth napkins in perfect condition.


Singer Sewing Machine Model 20 from my Grandpa, and in the box! So tiny!!


Lemon squares and BBQ. I love this recipe.


George bunny sweet!

Happy Summer!

I'm Teaching at QuiltCon!

I'm excited to share with you all that I will be teaching at QuiltCon in 2016, February 18-21! I have never been to QuiltCon, so I'm looking forward to the experience as well. The workshop catalog went out earlier in the month, and I wanted to share the workshops that I'm teaching! Registration for workshops opens up on June 25th, and you can find the full catalog here.


I'm teaching two full-day workshops, and the first is the Shining Stars Sampler. We'll explore a variety of patchwork techniques throughout the workshop to create six different stars in two sizes each. We'll work towards a throw sized quilt using my Shining Stars Sampler Pattern! I'm currently making a version of this quilt in all solids, totally outside my comfort zone!


My second full-day workshop covers Equilateral Triangles. I'll show you how to cut triangles without a special ruler or template and piece them accurately. We'll also chat about the math behind designing your own quilt and creating a custom template. You can choose a quilt size of your choice, from my Triangularity pattern! I'm hoping to finish my throw size Geometric Bliss version in time to bring!


I'm teaching two half-day workshops, both from my book, Patchwork Essentials: The Half-Square Triangle. The first is called Mastering the Half-Square Triangle. I'll show you three different methods for making HSTs, as well as tips for pressing, trimming, and 1/4" seams. We'll make four quilt blocks from the book!


The second half-day workshop I'm teaching is Creative Half-Square Triangle Piecing. In this workshop we'll explore creative methods for adding a twist to the basic HST. We'll work from my book, Patchwork Essentials: The Half-Square Triangle to make patchwork HST quilt blocks. I had fun stitching up some sample blocks using green/blue/purple prints from my collections.

Hope to see you there! I can't wait to be somewhere warm in the middle of winter! :)

Favorites

1. Queen Size Tile Quilt, 2. Woodland Improv, a baby quilt, 3. Green Strings, 4. Lemonade, 5. Super Scrappy Single Irish Chain, 6. Finding Jade, 7. Postmodern Sampler, 8. Pineapple Wallhanging, 9. Improv strip-piecing

Every week I go through my favorite photos on Flickr, and choose nine sewing/quilting related projects to showcase here. These photos and projects are not my own, you can find the original images and creators by clicking the coordinating links! If for any reason you do not want your project featured here, please email me and I'll remove it!

Happy Weekend!

Curiosities Quilt Market Booth

I can't believe it's already been nearly a month since Quilt Market! Time has absolutely flown by since then. I have been preparing to be in Ohio for a week and a half, so a few things fell by the wayside, including posting about my Curiosities booth! Today I want to share some photos! I'll got into detail about the projects later this month.


I had an exterior wall of the large Art Gallery Fabrics booth. It's really nice to be able to decorate a flat wall vs. a three dimensional booth. It was great being able to drive and bring my own furniture without having to worry about going to Ikea or bringing things in my suitcase. I wanted the projects to really pop, so I went with navy for the walls. I kept the projects sweet and simple. I felt that this best represented the cheerful, playful nature of the collection. Plus, with limited time and resources, it made the most sense anyways!

Okay, let's just get to the photos!


This section of the wall had more of the smaller projects, including my new quilted logo, some embroidery hoops, and a "Just Today" print I'll be sharing as a free download soon!


I made this inspiration board out of an old frame and some chicken wire. It was a fun project, and I have it hanging in our hallway now with other photos. For the booth I used it to display some inspiration photos, including the photo of George I used to create his print! You can find a tutorial for it here.


A few more small projects, including a tiny drawstring bag! The pincushions will be a tutorial next month!


A full shot of my new mini pattern, Offset. I quilted it my machine with some straight lines and then finished it up by tying in each square.


George's pillow, and his friend! Also I made a baby version of Geese in Flight!


A couple of fun throw pillows, one using my Mystery Quilted Pillow Pattern, and even one made from knits!


I used some of the knits from the collection for the simple t-shirt (which is a Scout Tee by Grainline Studio done in knit), and some City Gym Shorts. I also made a knit drawstring bag!


A sweet pillow made from a single block from my Florette pattern.


One of my favorite projects I made for the booth was this quilt-as-you-go duffle bag. I used Simplicity 2274. (You can also buy it as a PDF here.) I reviewed the pattern a few years back, here.

If you're a shop interested in carrying Curiosities, it can be ordered through Art Gallery Fabrics.  Find your sales rep here, call toll-free (888) 420-5399, or visit artgalleryfabrics.com.

Irish Chain Quilts Blog Hop

I love a good twist on traditional quilting designs, so when Melissa Corry asked if I'd like to participate in a blog hop featuring her new book, Irish Chain Quilts, I was excited! Something about the simplicity of this classic design is so attractive and comforting to me. Melissa has turned this design on it's head in her book, exploring new ways to play with it.


The book is split into four parts: Twists on Tradition, Modern Patchwork, Improvisational Piecing, and Appliquéd Chains. So there is something for everyone!


There are 15 different quilt patterns in this book, using a variety of shapes to accomplish the chain. We were each asked to feature a single quilt from the book. I would have had a difficult time choosing one, but the Coins in the Fountain quilt features my Nordika fabric collection, so that made it relatively easy!


This particular quilt features chains made from rectangles, and they're scrappy too! Melissa is putting together a quilt to be donated to Primary Children's Hospital. Each hop participant made a block to add to the quilt. I loved this idea, it was a fun excuse to sew something from the book and sew for charity. I chose to make my block in purples, surprise I know!

Make sure and check out the other stops on the hop! Also, comment on Melissa's introduction post to enter her grand prize giveaway!

June 8th -   Happy Quilting - Blog Hop Intro

June 9th -   Moda Lissa - Lissa Alexander + Fat Quarter Shop - Jocelyn Ueng

June 10th -  Piece N Quilt - Natalia Bonner + In Color Order - Jeni Baker

June 11th -  Amy's Creative Side - Amy Ellis + Sew Kind of Wonderful - Jenny Pedigo

June 12th -  Quilt Story - Megan Jimenez + Diary of a Quilter - Amy Smart

June 15th -  Freshly Pieced - Lee Heinrich + Christa Quilts - Christa Watson

June 16th -  Moda Cutting Table - Carrie Nelson + Little Miss Shabby - Corey Yoder

June 17th -  Fresh Lemons - Faith Jones + V and Co.  - Vanessa Christenson

June 18th -  A Quilting Life - Sherri McConnell + Stitch This! - Jenny Wilding Cardon

June 19th -  Happy Quilting - Wrap Up & Grand Prizes


You can get Irish Chain Quilts from the following: Personalized and Autographed Copies from Melissa, Martingale (get a free E-copy with your order), and Amazon (there is a Kindle version international friends).