Patchwork Clock

Sorry its been sooo long since I blogged, but my daughter got the flu, then me. I would call myself 'barely functional' at this point, but life must go on! I didn't plan on many home made gifts this year because I new I'd be finishing orders up until last week. Thats when I got sick. See, the Lord knew that I would only stop sewing and take a break if I was sick, so I got a nice rest. Holly and I watched 'Elf" and I quilted this block for a clock. (I still LOL at the escalator scene, my favorite!!) I found a similar one in the magazine "Stitch", but it was bigger, had letters, etc. I took my inspiration from that and found a block in Elizabeth Hartman's new book "The Practical Guide to Patchwork" which I HIGHLY recommend~ and found a 12x12 star block I could make in Meadowsweet/Farmers Market fabric in the Superstar quilt. I added a 2.5" border all the way around in the Vintage Paisley fabric, quilted it, then attached to a 12" painters canvas I bought at Joann's. I used a staple gun to staple it to the wood frame and had my handy husband put the clock kit in, battery added and voila! He said the clock kit was super easy to put in. That's just his department in our house! I'm going to make one for my new sewing room, but at this time I am so overwhelmed at which 3 fabrics to choose out of the thousands (yes, I believe I have at least a thousand different fabrics which is why I'm getting a new sewing room!!). So, over the next few days I will be thinking and rethinking. Or maybe I'll do a different block that uses more?? Endless possibilities! Hope you and yours have a very Merry Christmas & I'll see you back next week! xo, Monique

Swap Received!

I did a Christmas swap through http://littlemissshabby.blogspot.com/ and got paired with Nadine. Look what she sent me!!!! I really wanted handmade ornaments for my entry way tree & she sent 2! The card has a brooch that I can wear & she sent both chocolates and my fav toffee treats. I can't wait to hang up the gorgeous kitchen towel. I got a great jelly roll with batik fabric which is a fun addition to my stash~ I'm severely lacking in that department. Thanks for the wonderful package, Nadine! Check out her cute blog & you can see what I sent her http://apronvalleyroad.blogspot.com/2010/12/little-miss-shabby-swap.html This was my first swap & I loved it!!

Got Soul Blossoms?

I ordered my Soul Blossoms from http://hawthornethreads.com & had fun playing with the combos. Some new Jennifer Paganelli & Patty Young goes nicely with them. There are just so many prints, that I didn't order all, but still felt like I got a TON! My favorite is the Peony, so I posted those combos. Other combos are on my flickr site. Enjoy, try not to drool!!! :)

Whats Going On Wednesday

Here's whats going on today! Top pic is soon to be 56x64 random patch & minky blanket for Angie's mom for Christmas. I figured out the tray method works for this kind of project. As I've mentioned before I don't use a 'pattern', just lay out the fabric patches in a pleasing combo in the length & width needed. I set up the top row and left row and then fill in the middle. I need to organize by size and color so when the next patch is needed, I have in my mind which color & size & then I can easily find it with this method. It will be waaaaaay easier when I have more space in my new sewing rm~ which brings us to the bottom pic. The gold walls are my family room~ obviously not currently in use! The framed room next to it will be the exercize/utility room. My new sewing room will be on top of these rooms. They think the framing of that room will be Thurs/Fri, so I just can't wait! BTW, it was so cold last night with that roof off of the family room. Our bedrooms are upstairs, so at least we had a buffer from the cold. The furnace turned on at 2am, so my husband had to run into the garage last night and unplug it!!!! Not much sleep. :( Hopefully, the sheeting will go up today!

Monogram Pillow Covers

These were so much fun to make! I found a curly font on my computer & enlarged it. I traced the initial backwards on a piece of fusible interfacing. I ironed on the Swirly Buds fabric, cut it out & used a glue stick on the back to just hold the place while I used my blanket stitch on my machine to attach to the Marie square. It is an 18" cover, so I figured out the Vintage Dot border dimensions, attached , then quilted 1/4" from the pieces. My Loopy Vintage ruffle was cut at 4", folded in half, then run through my ruffling foot (love that accessory!!). An envelope back in Michal completes this fun project.

Linking to http://quiltstory.blogspot.com/

Magazine Worthy Blanket

I am still so excited about this photo shoot! I made the Fruit Punch patchwork and minky blanket on the crib and 2 pillows on the couch (Loopy Vintage Floral in fuschia) for Sonja and her home was featured in an emagazine called Adore. Her home actually made the front cover! She is an amazing decorator & the magazine features so many beautiful homes! Here is the link to the magazine: http://www.adoremagazine.com/ What a fun time to have a new baby girl and to have your home featured in a magazine!!!

Fall is Still Here!

I guess winter doesn't start until Dec 21, but the trees here in CA still say 'fall' to me. I walked down to the park and found this amazing tree with orange leaves and knew it would look pretty with this blanket. Peachy pinks, corals and sage green are an amazing color combination. I like the pop of blue sky. That color would have looked good in the blanket, too! Gods color combinations are a constant source of inspiration to me!

My Purple Phase

Well, it all started with Anna Maria Horner's Small Gathering in plum, then Far Far Away (which I haven't cut into yet), then Glam Garden and then Sonoma by Franchelle Contreras. Ahhhh, I have always loved violet, lavender, plum etc. When my husband and I first married I decorated our room in violet and forest green. The duvet was from Pottery Barn and looked so much like the purple print on the bottom of the blanket with the roses~ complete with matching shams. I eventually changed that to Laura Ashley's Toile print in dark purple with a cream background. I made a whole cloth quilt with it, shams, etc. Then I changed over to red, wheat & olive, but am now missing my purple! I decided to make a baby size blanket from the leftover blocks from Nicole's blanket (on flickr) and found all sorts of pretty nooks in my yard despite the dirt piles, broken concrete, rebar, etc. floating around the back yard. I'm pretty sure the workers thought I was strange clothespinning this blanket to my apricot tree & sitting on a mound of tarped dirt to get this shot! Oh, what we do to capture the perfect picture! Have you ever gone to great lengths to photograph something???

And Here's the Matching Bag . . .

I made a bag to match the quilt. I strip pieced the front flap and back pocket & used "Jodi" on the sides, Dolin in the front and fussy cut Madeline for the top of the strap and used Maeve for the underside from Queen Street. Pockets are Kat Stripe & Casey Scroll & Sally used in the flap from previous Jennifer Paganelli lines. Back and inside pics on my flickr page & will be in my shop tonight! :)

Orange and Fuschia Queen St Quilt

Just finished this beautiful color combination quilt inspired by Jennifer Paganelli's new Queen Street line. The large floral on the ends in the top photo is called Madeline and it inspired the color palette. Tangerine, Fuschia and red is an electric combination. I thought a couple shots of yellow would break up the combo a bit. Since the Madeline print is essentially a stripe, I used 12" strips of coordinates for the back. I outline quilted the blocks and freemotion quilted the Madeline section of the quilt in fuschia thread. The binding is Siobhan in fuschia. Will be available in my shop soon~ a baby or lap size 34x61. I'm working on a diaper bag to match . . .

Ahhh Parisville!

This new line by Tula Pink has been highly anticipated in the blog world! We all got to drool over her amazing booth at Quilt Market. Some of those pictures are favorited on my flickr page. Her blog, http://tulapink.com/ shows how she drew the amazing Cameo print with the lady with a rat (or mouse??) on her head. Kinda funny! Print #4 above has small mice in the print as well. The Eyedropper print #3 has so many possibilities. I have it in 2 colorways, but will order the third the next time I buy fabric. I love the details she puts into every print. She is a true artist!!

Twin Quilt Finished!

I always feel so good after finishing a quilt! Erica asked me to make a twin size quilt for her daughter using the colors in this quilt http://www.flickr.com/photos/sewfunbymonique/4458714106/in/set-72157623112818493/

but adding orange. I used Jenean Morrison's Mingle in beetroot (center square) to bridge the colors. I grabbed some of my Joel Dewberry's Woodgrain in orange, Valori Wells butterflies in orange (for the binding, too), Tanya Whelan's Marilyn from Dolce, Amy Butler's Floating Buds & Robert Kaufman's Crazy for Dots which also has all the colors including the burgundy. The rest is mostly Flora and Fauna and Mezzanine from Patty Young, but I also included Jennifer Paganelli (of course!) Matt's Tux, Pop Garden from Heather Bailey & Anna Maria's Filigree in green. My favorite combinations are mixing up the best from each designer! Hope Erica loves it! Linking up with quiltstory: http://www.quiltstory.blogspot.com/

Patchwork Bag

I am just in love with this color combination! Liz originally wanted a minky blanket with these fabrics, which I previously finished: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sewfunbymonique/5132977045/ but then decided to add a patchwork bag and here it is! Normally I just use interfacing on all the pieces, but this time I added batting and quilted the pieces. It was definately thicker and more difficult to go through the layers when putting it all together. I used my walking foot and pressed on! More pics on my flickr page. I am linking to Sew and Tell Fridays!

Baby Quilt

I never tire of making quilts, and baby quilts are so sweet to make. This is part of a set I have been working on for Megan. I ventured back to my MIL's yard since mine is torn up with construction. Its just peaceful there, and a perfect place to show off the colors in this quilt. Valori Well's Bird Paisley print has been so popular with baby items. It can be boy, girl, or gender neutral. She is a true artist, check out her blog for inspiration in photography, painting, sewing. http://valoriwells.typepad.com/valori_wells/

Sewing Rm Construction Day 1

I can't believe we are finally starting! In the picture above, you can see my master bedroom balcony that will soon be my sewing rm. Downstairs, the future excercize rm will meet up with the garage wall (next to gate) & my sewing rm upstairs will be 3 ft short of that due to city restrictions on setbacks! To make up for that, the room will stick out 3 ft going the other way (towards us in the pic) for a finished size of 14' deep by 19' wide~ woo hoo!! My current sewing rm is 10x10, and is actually only used for storing fabric and supplies. I am currently in our dining rm and we can't have anyone over for dinner because I have too much stuff to just move it for a few hours. I hope to move into my new sewing rm by the end of the year!

New Patchwork Bible Cover

You will just have to excuse me whilst I cover everything with Queen Street! I ordered a slimline Bible because my study Bible is like taking a suitcase everywhere, so this beauty can fit in my purse. Ever the online shopper, I ordered this thinking it was going to have a purple leather cover. It was more like blue with ever so slight purple undertones. My daughter said it looked like a boy's Bible! I got my Queen Street fabrics in the same day and made it look like a girl's Bible, don't you think?? Get to take it for a trial run this morning! Have a blessed Sunday!

Queen Street Baby Blanket

This size blanket falls under the 'instant gratification' category. Couldn't wait to sew this up and see how it all looked together. I used 8" squares in a 4x4 pattern with medium pink minky on the back. Will be listing it in the shop tonight. Other pics on my flickr. :)

Love Love Queen Street!

Jennifer Paganelli's fabrics never disappoint me! I got Queen Street in the mail today from http://hawthornethreads.com and did my usual~ what do they go with?? Everything!! Lots of my Casey Scroll coordinates as well as all her other lines. My favorite print is Dolin which is the upper left in each picture. Its an amazing vintage looking print. Then there's the dots~ Siobhan~ a modern touch. I can always use more dots!! Then the romantic damask~ Ellen, groovy Madeline. She covers all the bases. I am already cutting some out!!!! (More combos posted on my flickr)

Custom Bedding for Mary

Mary asked me to make her a queen coverlet and matching shams using mostly Jennifer Paganelli fabrics~ her favorites being Loopy Vintage Floral, Tanya & Siobhan. We ended up with the ruffle on the sides later and I think it makes the set look sweeter! Its got patchwork on one side, Loopy Vintage on the other, no batting in between. It was a pleasure working with some of my favorite fabrics! Hope she loves it!

Update: check out Jennifer's colorful new blog & the post she did on the bedding: http://www.sisboom.com/blog/

Hobo Bag for Robin

Just finished a hobo bag for my sweet friend, Robin. I used a pdf pattern from Sweet Pea Totes. I purchased it from http://pinkchalkfabrics.com. (You can also get it directly from http://www.etsy.com/shop/sweetpeatotes ) Kathy has a great selection of patterns that I love browsing. I've made her mail bag before and loved it. What I love about pdfs is you can have it up on your computer and follow along with pictures. So great for people like me who love to have a visual! I posted more pics on my flickr & you can see Tina Givens' Opal Owl on the back~ a beautiful surprise & compliment to the Glam Garden, Bubble Burst & Henna Garden all picked out by Robin.

Saturday Night Finish

Hey! Wouldn't it be great if I could finish one order a day?? I'm on a roll, watch out! :) I just finished this set and hate to ship it out because I love it so much!!! Jennifer Paganelli, Anna Maria Horner, Joel Dewberry & Amy Butler~ how can you go wrong? This is one of my patchwork & minky blankets that have no batting in between & are topstitched around the edge twice. The sham has a quilted front, ruffle & envelope back. Its getting mailed out on Monday. I love creating these random patch lovlies! The fabrics are a work of art themselves!

Friday Finish

I started working on this selvedge edge & patchwork dresser in August. It has taken a while for me to figure out which fabrics to highlight on the drawers & of course some time to add all the selvedges to the dresser exterior. This was an idea I came up with while in the shower. I seem to have the best uninterrupted time then, that and when I'm trying to fall asleep. :) I am in the process of adding on a bigger sewing room and thought this old dresser needed a facelift, and have been so inspired by people who've been creative with selvedge edges. I was going to do the same to the drawers, but being a quilter at heart, this was a great opportunity to put quilted pieces on the front.

For the dresser exterior, I spray glued each selvedge edge starting at either the top or bottom and working my way up or down overlapping on the previous. I found that I liked when I left a little fabric attached to the selvedge. I really learned as I went. Then I mod podged all the strips in place.

For the drawers, I sewed scrap strips together, put batting on the back and just attached the layers in a few places 1/4" from the seams. Then I attached a selvedge edge and quilted that down along the sides of the selvedge. I either applied spray glue or elmers to the drawer front~ either worked fine. I marked and snipped the spot where the knob was going to be before I glued the patchwork. Once the glue dried, I just used a staple gun to attach it to the drawer.

For the knobs I tried a few different ways. I first glued some of them to the knob then cinched it to the knob base with embroidery thread tied. Then I did it without the glue & first tied the fabric to the knob (as pictured) with cotton cording & then cut off the excess. The last technique was the easiest. I just screwed the knob back on and then the drawer was ready to go. Hope you enjoy seeing your fav designers on this dresser~ I know I will! Linking to amy's Sew & Tell friday! http://www.amylouwho.com/

WIPs of the Week

Thought I'd share what I'm working on this week~ and one finish! :) Woo Hoo to the dish towels! Actually, it is something to celebrate because they are for someone's JUNE bday!! They have a spanish style house & I thought Fandango by Kate Spain would be perfect for their kitchen. I have decided not to use flour sack towels in the future. They are just not square, and it drives me nuts!! The random patch blanket is going to have a matching pillow sham when its all done. Hope to finish by this weekend. Finally, the bird block has more additions of 1.5" strips to add to make an 18" pillow cover to match a throw I've made with another Valori Wells fabric. Just thought I'd try to sell a set rather than just a throw. Love the pinky~peaches, lavenders, gold & red together. What are you working on this week?

Fiddle Dee Dee

There are so many popular themes out there~ owls, birds, large florals, mod. Its fun to play with those because the fabrics are easy to find! I was contacted by Mel to make a random patchwork quilt using the new Gone With The Wind fabrics~ I excitedly accepted. I ordered the Scarlet Toile, Movie Poster & #2 damask and added the rest from my stash. I can't wait to play with these fabrics!!

Grape Crush Throw Finished!

I posted my WIP earlier this week playing with the new Innocent Crush fabrics. Looooooove them! I guess I'm on a purple kick lately. I'm excited that so many new lines are including different shades of purple. Love it with blues!! This one has reds, too for a kick. I combined Innocent Crush with some Amy Butlers, Valori Wells and the woodgrain is Moda. I kept it mostly Anna's fabrics including Garden Party, Good Folks & Drawing Room. They all play nicely together. I went back and forth~ minky or a traditional quilt? I ended up with the minky backing using the thicker fleece minky since we are coming into cooler weather & this would be a great snuggler. More pics posted on my flickr. Happy Friday! Linking to Amy's Sew & Tell~

http://www.amylouwho.com/

Fall Wardrobe

One of my favorite quick & easy projects is appliqueing fabric to tshirts. My mom uniform consists of jeans & a tee or sweats and a tee, so I enjoy adding beautiful prints to the shirts. Paired with a coordinating cardigan or zip sweatshirt and I'm good to go! Fabric lines I used from top left: Nest by Valori Wells, Glam Garden by Josephine Kimberling, Innocent Crush by Anna Maria Horner, Bliss by Bonnie & Camille and Bell Bottoms by Jennifer Paganelli. Its all raw edge applique & I use thread to attach in the same color as the tee with a zigzag around the edge. The Bliss & Bell Bottoms I used pinking shears & then just straight stitched just inside the design so the edges fray a little. Which one will I wear today??

Grape Crush

Got my order in from Whipstitch Fabrics and Hawthorne Threads with Anna Maria Horner's Innocent Crush line. I have to say, these colors do not disappoint!! Even though I am really partial to this grape group, I love all of them!! I am really drawn to the plum/navy/ice blue combo, so I was excited to piece some of the fabrics together. As soon as I got Lovesme Lovesmenot #1), I knew my plum woodgrain fabric would look awesome with it~ its from Basic Grey's Eva. These fabrics would look great on a fall bag or throw~ even baby bedding for adventurous moms!! Can't wait to see the rest of the line~ home dec, voile, velveteen.

Sew & Tell #2

At the last minute yesterday I thought I'd try the Everyday Reversible Shopper from the Style Stitches book. Since the Teardrop bag was tricky, I wanted something fun & easy. This bag is both of those!!! It is humungous. There are large inside & outside pockets & I can fit everything in it for projects to take to different places. I used Full Moon Dot & some new prints from Kristian Howell that I bought at http://www.hawthornethreads.com/fabric/designer/khristian_a_howell/high_society I enjoyed this so much~ it would be great for gifts. :)

Sew & Tell Challenge Finished!

Finished the Teardrop Bag from Amy Butler's Style Stitches book for the Sew & Tell Challenge. I thought the pattern was a bit challenging as nothing seemed to fit nicely. I gave up on her way of sewing the strap & reverted to what I always do for straps. She had you leave an opening on the side & use a safety pin attached to the end & pull it through the hole. It wouldn't! I threw out the strap & sewed it on the 2 long sides leaving the 2 ends open, then pulled one end through the other. Perfect! :) I used Josephine Kimberling's Glam Garden for the main bag exterior fabric, Amy B's Coriander for the top edges & 'hips'. The stripe is a Robert Kaufman, inside Pie Basket from Denyse Schmidt, inside pocket Jennifer Paganelli's Kate's Wish in fuschia. I always have to mix up the designers fabrics for the best combo! One down~ 20 something to go in the book! :)
check out all the fun things people made for the challenge: http://www.amylouwho.com/