The Village Quilt Along

Starting February 1, I will be hosting a quilt along making The Village quilt I designed for Free Spirit fabrics & Jennifer Paganellli's Hotel Frederiksted line. You can download the pattern in my shop for $1 here . The finished size is 46x60, great for a throw size or large wall hanging. Fabric requirements are 1/2 yard each of the 18 HF prints, 1/2 yard for binding, 1 3/4 background fabric (I used Free Spirit's Winter White solid), 3 yards for backing. I will be posting here, instagram (@sewfunbymonique) and Facebook on my shop page sewfunbymonique. Hope you can quilt along with us. We will finish by the end of April, in time for a Mother's day gift. Some people have said they are making a halloween themed one, and of course a Christmas one would be gorgeous!

The Village Pattern is Available!

I finally got the final instructions from Free Spirit to offer to you as a download! The Village can be purchased for $1 as that is the lowest amount I can charge in the shop for it to go through paypal or credit card routes. I'd love to see what you create with this pattern, my first published pattern!

Hotel Frederiksted is Enchanting!

I have become enchanted with the new Hotel Frederiksted line. There's something about this color combination of vintage red, vibrant green and bright blue that just sings. Jennifer knows how to put colors together, I just sew it up! There are also touches of orange and I love the Krysta print with the white background. It just lights up the group! 

I sewed my usual random patchwork pattern for Jennifer,  but this time I got to design & sew a quilt for Free Spirit  using this line! It's called the Village and I had so much fun designing it. It will be available from Free Spirit as a download sometime in November from their website. It will also be hanging at Quilt Market in Houston!! I'm so excited!! I hope someone can get a photo for me as I can't be there to see it.

I thought doing a hotel & bungalow theme worked well with the fabric line name and added the selvage for a touch of whimsy! Jennifer showed my ideas to Free Spirit and they wanted a whole quilt. I added 2 different trees & made a scrappy brick path between rows and now you have a Village with a Hotel Frederiksted on each street!

Terrie is the cute tiny diamond shaped print that is so perfectly awesome as a roof. Since this was for Quilt Market, I had a bungalow represent Free Spirit

Here is the Jennifer Paganelli bungalow! The smaller scale prints make cute details on this quilt.

Once the pattern is made available I will let you know & look forward to seeing what you create with it!

You can order a patchwork & minky blanket made in Hotel Frederiksted here

Finished Dorm!

 Here are photos from the final setup in Holly's dorm. Even though it felt like we brought so much, everything fit perfectly & she even had a little space left! Holly has the gift of organization & was able to figure out every part of her dorm ahead of time. As soon as we got there, we unpacked and put everything in its place and we were done in about 2 hours~ unbelievable!!

She is all set and ready for the new school year!

Her roommates side came out super cute, too! She chose Lilly Pulitzer bedding.

The Handmade Dorm

My daughter Holly is heading off to Pepperdine this fall & she I had so much fun making things for her dorm that I thought I'd share our creations with you. When you make it yourself, you are able to put in your own unique style! We started off with a purchased duvet from Pottery Barn Teen in a deep navy with white pattern. We then went to my fabric stash & picked out fabrics for her patchwork & minky throw that will be at the end of her bed. You can find a listing to order one yourself from my shop here & I can customize it with your colors!

We created some custom pillows pulling fabrics from her blanket. We used a print from Hawthorne Threads called Cascading Border for one of them

This pillow I used Anna Maria Horner's pattern in her pattern booklet called Love from A-Z  & bordered it with a print that is out of print from Sarah Watts.

We found a really cute doily at Barn House Chicks that matched her bedding perfectly & I sewed it to a solid navy fabric & used piping from Hawthorne Threads called Arrows in peacock

Holly picked out a verse that had meaning to her but also gave a nod to Pepperdine as a Wave. She painted the canvas a deep navy & then glued letters & hand wrote some words in aqua. 

We both got into embroidering, so Holly had bought a pattern from Sublime Stitching with treats on it & since she loves to bake & used to work at an ice cream shop, this pattern group was perfect! She told me what she wanted written & so I did the small hoop that says "Lord Let them see you in me". The P is from the Moda Alphabet called "Spell it with Fabric" that was available as a download & thought it would be great in Pepperdine colors & I embroidered 'Go Waves' in aqua thread.

An obvious, easy make was a tie blanket made from 2 yards of Pepperdine colors tied together while we watched a movie together. We bought these at Joann Fabrics.

These thrift store finds painted aqua will be great for some free downloads she printed out from French Press Mornings "Encouraging Wednesdays" for the scripture.

Holly is ready to go to Pepperdine, but am I ready to send her?? I will post a finished dorm picture.

Coming Soon to My Shop!

Color Brigade random patchwork blanket is in the shop, ready for pre order. Fabrics are due to arrive in May! http://www.sewfunbymonique.com/listing/269665090/preorder-jennifer-paganelli-color

I am trying out the new Etsy Pattern shop model & purchased my own domain, sewfunbymonique.com. Check it out and let me know what you think! It's fun & exciting to have a new format. I like that both Etsy Etsy shop & Etsy Pattern give me more sections. I think Pattern is organized better for shopping. What do you think? I'd love to know your thoughts!

These colors glow in the shadows. Jennifer is a color genius! I have different sizes available within the listing. Baby size is 32x32, Toddler 32x48, Throw is 40x56 & large Throw is 56x64.

Love the olive green with pink. Here's a combo that will be in my shop once the fabrics arrive.

Top left print is one of my favorites! The butterfly adds a pretty touch.  Look for this in my shop next month!

Fantasia by Sara Lawson

I had the opportunity to work with Sara Lawson of Sew Sweetness new fabric line called Fantasia recently. I love the feel of Art Gallery fabrics, they were a pleasure to work with! I wanted a picture with Holly in it because she is 5'5" and I wanted you to see how far it hangs.

My favorite print is definitely the unicorn in the grey color way. It resembles a chalk board and I love the storybook quality! The cute novelty prints in this line are the mushrooms & horseshoes~ great for fussy cutting and accents.

 The small floral is so pretty, I put it inside the bag. It comes in both pink and teal & would make great clothing. Thank you Sara for letting me play with your new collection! The bag will be listed in my shop in the next few days here. The collection should be available by the end of this month!