I'm in love...

... with my new quilt top. I am just thrilled. Isn't she lovely?

I just had to lay down and test out the length. You know, purely experimental.

Don't you love the "dutiful husband holding the quilt" shot? It is always my favorite.

This quilt top features only my favorite Heather Ross fabrics. I think it is such a beautiful way to showcase them. My absolute favorites? The gnomes, mushrooms, vw buses, and Calypso. I also love the seagulls and bikes.

This quilt was inspired completely by the tablecloth quilt by Oh Fransson. Aren't her quilts amazing? The coins are 2x6" , sashing is 2", and borders are 3" (all finished dimensions). The sashing/borders are Essex linen/cotton blend in putty. I haven't chosen the backing or binding yet, but as soon as I finish up with my Christmas gift quilts, I'll come back to this one. I can't wait to use it during the upcoming snowy months.

PS - I think I may try to machine quilt the binding of the KJR/mushroom quilt. I've always done it by hand, so we'll see how it goes. Any advice?

What I should be working on: the binding of this Christmas gift. The back of it is ready to be sewn by hand. As much as I adore the quilt and how the binding fabric frames it so nicely, I've been putting it off. It is my least favorite part of the quilting process.

What I've been working on: my new Heather Ross coin quilt! I took these photos the other day, it is a pile of the coins all sewn together... aren't they pretty? I finished the quilt top today, so I'll try to get some pictures up soon. I'm not allowing myself to work on it anymore until I finish up the previously mentioned binding.


Also, a picture from today. I've been so busy with my rag quilts that I haven't done any free motion quilting in awhile. That is the method I will use for my coin quilt, so I thought I'd get a little practice in. I almost forgot how fun it is!

I hope that you have a blessed Monday!

Yay!

Raggedy Owl was featured in two front page treasuries in one day... That is a first! Yay! This second treasury was created by my dear friends at The Brick Kiln. Their store is amazing, check it out!

Happy Monday!

It is only 11Am and what a wonderful Monday it has already been. I started out the morning with a nice (but grueling) 5 mile run. This used to be a common occurance, something done 3-5 times a week, but I've haven't done as much the past month or two.

After that, I was welcomed by two nice surprises. First of all, my Mod Zoo travel quilt was on the front page. It was featured in this beautiful treasury by TheNightJar:



And the second fun surprise... my Harvest Collection crochet cloths are featured on handmadeinPA.net. It is an awesome site promoting Pennsylvania artists. Check out this awesome link.

Hope that you all are having a fabulous Monday. Blessings to you. :)

Projects.

Along with the new quilts recently listed in my shop, I have been working on several projects. I've been really enjoying myself. Here are some updates.

Christmas gift #1 is coming along nicely. The quilting is pretty much done, I ordered the binding this morning, and I cannot wait to see this completed. The problem: I really want to keep it for myself. Here is a sneak peek:

I am slowly cutting fabric for that Heather Ross coin quilt for myself. I mentioned it several posts ago, but haven't had much time to work on it. Here are the coins I cut this past week. As you can see, I've gotten through the pinks, oranges, yellows, and am now starting on the blues.

And last, I decided to start a new project today. I just love crocheting afghans in the fall and winter months, and since the weather is starting to cool, I thought I'd get started. Don't you just LOVE this color combo?

PS - Can you tell this is my favorite crochet hook? Though I have many, I've been using this one for probably 10 years now. I had to take a picture of it... can see how the color is wearing out? :)

Yay!

I just found out some good news: my latest crochet cloth set, the Harvest Collection, is currently being featured in the Under $20 Etsy Gift Guide. Go check it out!

Also, a couple of fun pictures: new travel quilts I started this afternoon. They should be ready for the shop Friday. What a pretty stack of fabric!

Don't you just LOVE those hedgies???

Winner!

The winner of the Heather Ross autograph and charm pack giveaway, according to trusty old random.org, is ..... Angela, the face behind the blog My Three Sons!!! I will email you this evening in order to get your info for shipping. Congrats to you, and a big thanks to all of you who entered!!!

PS.... A little heads up: I spent the weekend with Heather AND Denyse.... can you guess what my next giveaway is going to be???

Happy Sunday!

Good morning! Baby Elijah (I know, 19 months doesn't really qualify as baby) was up bright and early at 6:30AM. After a little bit of rocking, he was ready to go back to sleep. I, on the other hand, was wide awake. So what did I do? I spent some time quilting, of course!

Christmas quilt #1 is coming along very well. I spent Friday's naptime piecing the backing, layering, basting, and quilting. An awesome green sheet from Ikea along with a pieced row of Katie Jump Rope is the backing, and I decide to shadow quilt this one. Now I just have to pick out the binding.

We had a wonderful day yesterday. It was the last day of the local country fair, so spent the morning at the parade and the evening eating yummy fair food. A couple shots from the parade...

I'll be back this afternoon with the giveaway winner!

Shop update for the boys.

Though I have two little guys at home, I tend to make more little girl quilts. The girly fabric gives me a break from a day full of trains, blocks, trucks and dirt. This week, however, was all about the boys. Here are my latest quilts, just for the little guys, and they are now available in the shop.

Travel quilts:

Baby rag quilts:

And good news! I was able to find some more yardage for my best (and fastest) selling quilt, Love a Tree. There are two available right now.

And finally, the Heather Ross autograph and fabric giveaway is officially over! Please check back tomorrow to find out who the lucky lady is... :)

planning for Christmas.

I started working on Christmas gifts this past month. My goal this year is to give only handmade gifts, whether they are created by me or someone else. I am swapping several sets of crochet cloths for pottery by my good friends at The Brick Kiln. I am also making several quilts. I am finishing up the binding on a country apple lap quilt for my mother-in-law, and I just started a framed square quilt for my sister-in-law. I've been working on it for the past few days, and this morning I finished sewing the last block (of 56), pressed them, and spent an hour trimming the blocks... phew.

My inspiration is this lovely mushroom fabric... Isn't it the cutest?

I decided to pair it up with the blues and greens from Denyse Schmidt's Katie Jump Rope line, along with just a little bit of her vines from Flea Market Fancy.

My sewing plans for the week? Sewing this quilt top together, along with several new rag quilts and travel quilts for my shop. Sounds like a good week to me.

Are any of you working on Christmas quilts?

Heather Ross Giveaway!!!

Howdy friends! I am so excited to announce my latest giveaway! As you know, I spent this past weekend sewing in Vermont with my two favorite fabric designers, Heather Ross and Denyse Schmidt. Not only did Heather sign my personal copy of Weekend Sewing, she also gave me an autograph to give away!!!

Up for grabs is a Heather Ross autograph (with a super cute snail sketch!) along with a thirty piece, 5-inch square charm pack from my own collection. I included all of my personal favorites, like the yellow and blue gnomes, mushrooms, VW buses, bikes, goldfish, and more.

How do you enter?
Leave a comment on this post (include your email address).

Want a second entry? Become a follower of this blog.

A third? Blog about this giveaway on your own blog, and be sure to tell me so that I can check it out.

This Heather Ross giveaway will end on Saturday, September 12th at noon, so be sure to stop back then. Good luck! :)

Inspired.

As I sit here typing away on my laptop, I face a daunting task. How can I possibly describe my sewing weekend trip? In one word: inspiring. But I know that you all want the details, so I will give it a try.

My trip started Friday morning at 7 AM. This Mama of two does not get to experience peaceful road trips very often, so I really enjoyed the ride. Eight and a half hours and one audiobook later, I pulled into Blueberry Hill Inn.

I loved getting to know Heather and Denyse. They were both kind, funny, easy to talk to, and completely real. It is funny... You know how you get an idea of who an artist is by their artwork? That was definitely the case here. Their art speaks volumes about who they both are.

So what did we do all weekend? We sewed, of course. We also dined on gourmet food, shopped at antique stores, visited an art gallery, talked for hours over coffee and wine, snacked on Vermont cheeses... We crammed a lot of fun into one too short weekend.

Throughout the weekend, I made a few projects from Heather's Weekend Sewing book (a tote, a baby kimono, and bloomers) and a improv zipper bag with Denyse. I left feeling feed and inspired, not only from them, but all of the other amazing ladies there. With definite plans to return to Vermont for another weekend sewing retreat...

If you'd like to see more pictures of this weekend, check out here and here. And some exciting news... I have two big giveaway coming up! It involves autographs and fabric, so don't forget to check back this Friday for all of the details. :)

Front page.

Here's the latest front page treasury that my little shop has been included in, wonderfully curated by Etsy staff. Isn't it lovely? Makes me crave fall and all of its beauty. The nights here are already getting cold, time to break out the hoodies!