My Happy Quilt

Used Field Study ribbon and pom poms to decorate the lampshades

Pillow made from "Pillow Pop"

I decided when I was starting chemo that I 'deserved' a new quilt for my bed. One that was different than the one I had made before with fall colors. I wanted something that made me happy since I would be spending lots of time there! Starting with scraps I had from Circa, I pulled the colors out~ brighter reds, greens, yellows and a touch of brown. Blue was a new color introduction into my room. I love how it came out!! I used my favorite Jennifer Paganelli prints~ including the now super expensive Loopy Vintage Floral & Elizabeth Rose. I recently bought the brown damask from her Girlfriends line on ebay and I got a whole bolt! The Long Ladies from Marie Madeline had a scrap sale & I was able to get some of the out of print Nicole floral. I have always loved Tanya Whelan's Darla so I included it in there as well as some from her other lines. I like the fun Japanese print with the pastries on it & the text fabric from Moda. I bought some vintage sheets to add to it as well. An eclectic group!

On the back I used large squares of Denyse Schmidt's line from JoAnn fabrics with the intersections accented by more favorite scraps

I will be making more pillows when Circa yardage comes out, but right now I have a Field Study print which isn't in the quilt but looks great all mixed up with the group

Overall, I love the look with the bright pastels and snippets of favorite fabrics to look at every time I'm in bed!

Swoon Along

I was really intrigued by this block as part of the Swoon pattern by Camille Roskelley. I had seen many quilters I admire tackle it and I decided I wanted to try it myself. I chose Loopy Vintage Floral in brown, Carrie in green (both Jennifer Paganelli) & Plaid in cream (Tanya Whelan Sugar Hill). My goal was to finish one block and if it was too much for me, it would be a pillow or wallhanging. This block is 23 1/2", so it could definitely stand alone. I purchased & downloaded the pattern here and began my cutting. There is A LOT of cutting and cutting the 7/8" for the half square triangles threw me off at first, but now I've got the hang of it. My new goal since I made one block and enjoyed it is to make a quilt for my bed for the summer. I'd like to hand quilt around each star and then machine quilt the rest. I figured if I sew one block a week and when finished hand quilt each week one star, that would be 18 weeks which brings me to the summer. Perfect timing if I can keep up that pace! So, in other words, the block is not quick, but so satisfying! It is truly addicting because it takes patience and care and you just grow to love it in the end! If you are up for the Swoon Along hosted by Katy you can join the flickr group as well to be inspired and there are lots of forums for questions there as well that are really helpful!

Quilt from Recycled Crib Bedding

The best of Jennifer Paganelli fabrics

Marie in blue from West Indies

random patchwork twin size

patchwork sham to match

I was given an exciting opportunity recently to take a crib skirt from a previously made (not by me) crib set and make it into a quilt. Amanda contacted me because she had seen my work on Jennifer Paganelli's blog (thank you, Jennifer!) and thought I might be interested in taking on this project. I said, 'yes, yes, yes!!!!' couldn't wait! The print from the skirt is Nicole in blue from a discontinued line called Mod Girls. There was also a fitted sheet in the Eliza Stripe that she wanted to incorporate, but since I had some that was brand new, we decided to use my stash for that.  I pulled from my extensive JP stash to get all the colors from the main print including Bell Bottoms, Flower Power, Pretty Please, So St Croix, Poodle,  Queen Street, and West Indies. The backing is Marie from West Indies and the binding & sham ruffle is the Eliza Stripe. I free motion quilted in Aurifil thread using a variegated fuchsia thread in a scroll pattern. I hope Amanda and her daughter enjoy it as  much as I enjoyed making it for them! 

West Indies Blankie

Had to play with my West Indies stack and came up with this baby blanket. Its almost like instant gratification with this size. The brown Chandler damask will be seen all over my home shortly. Just love that one! As you can see West Indies blends well with Jennifer's other fabric lines~ great for a fan like me! :) This one will be in the shop shortly.

Couch Recovered

This couch is sooooo old, handed down from my mom with cat scratches from her cat on the upholstery. This is its 3rd time being recovered. It just really serves a purpose in our bedroom, so we keep it. My MIL had a bolt of this mustard courderoy so I used that for the base and then used Loopy Vintage floral from Jennifer Paganelli for accents on the couch and piping on the pillows. The bird print is from French General's Pom Pom de Paris and is called Le France. We'll see how long this recover lasts!

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/

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/

New Sewing Room!!

I am so excited because we are adding on a larger sewing room for me!! You can see the plans in the first pic labeled 'new sitting room' because its off the master. Notice it will be bigger than our bedroom! :) I will be painting the walls the second color on the color chip based around Jennifer Paganelli's Loopy Vintage blue. I am also going to incorporate pink & green. I'm excited because my whole house is a dark red, olive & wheat. This will be a fun, creative area where I can use brights & vintage finds that are in my closet with no place to go (yet!).

Under that is half of my fabric closet in my old sewing room, then my unused old sewing room & then my dining room turned sewing room that drives everyone in my house nuts! I have been reading 'Studios' by Cloth, Paper, Scissors & would like to get 'Where Women Create' to get some ideas. Also, I have been favoriting sewing room pics on flickr. So far my wish list includes:

*Wall of cubbies for fabric organization

*Cutting table to fit my large 70x40 cutting mat

*Large 2'x5' ironing board

*Some sort of rod to hang ironed fabrics over

*Sewing table oriented towards back of room to look out the window

*12x12 laminated floor tiles to act as another measurement tool for laying out quilts & bumpers

(originally it was going to be wood, but loved the idea I saw about using the floor as a measuring tool!)

*Desk area with my computer, printer, etc.

*Fleece covered movable design board

*Counter space around half of the room to spread out & work on multiple projects

Sooo, what are your favorite things in your sewing room that you think I could incorporate in my 14X19 room?? I would love to hear any and all. If you have a link to a well organized sewing room I would love to see that, too! We are starting in October, most likely. Can't wait!!!!