log cabin napkin tutorial

Today, I'm so thrilled to have a project featured on the Fat Quarterly blog! Please stop on by to learn how to make your own log cabin napkins and see all of the other projects created by talented sewists using Melody Miller's amazing fabric.

quilts for charity

Though these quilts have been done for ages (like, since before I moved to North Carolina), I'm just now getting around to photographing them and sending them off to their new homes. Both quilts are currently on their way to Duke Children's Hospital, where I hope they give some comfort to two children and their families during the holiday season.

{Both quilts were made using this Made by Rae tutorial (a super fast and fun pattern!), from fabric entirely from my stash, including the fun Japanese print on the back of the pink and yellow quilt.}

embroidery project: labyrinths

For my dad's birthday last month, I stitched up a pair of labyrinths for him to hang in his meditation space:

{Stitched onto scraps of linen and chambray using iron-on embroidery patterns designed by Sublime Stitching.}

happy thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my lovely followers!

{Two fabric pinecones I made while hanging out with new friends (!) last weekend. Tutorial can be found here.}

quilting project: red and aqua quilt

Remember this stack of fabrics? Using this tutorial, it became this quilt top...

 ...which then made its way to Texas last week to join the Central Texas Wildfire Quilt Drive, organized by Modern Day Quilts.

cross-stitch project: more custom dog bandannas

A few more custom cross-stitch dog bandannas for a client:

{Made with yellow gingham and purple embroidery floss. See past bandannas here and here.}

atlanta

A few pictures from a surprise trip to Atlanta this past weekend:

{Ferris wheel at Music Midtown, mural at the World of Coca-Cola, and sign outside of the Ebenezer Baptist Church.}

carnations

{Pretty carnations from the grocery store.}

cross-stitch project: custom dog bandanna

Though quilting has definitely occupied much of my time the past few months, stitching has not stopped:

{Detail shot of a custom dog bandanna made from purple gingham for an October wedding. The original bandanna I made appeared both online and in Brides magazine this fall.}

presents for luna

While we were in Texas over Labor Day weekend, my husband and I finally had the chance to meet Luna, the almost-seven-month-old daughter of some dear friends (This is the quilt I made for her after she was born in February.). We obviously couldn't arrive for our visit empty-handed:

{A puzzle ball, made from the pattern found in Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts, and the most adorable pair of mini, teal Converse All-Stars.}

>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<

On a personal note, I will be participating in the Walk to End Alzheimer's here in Durham this Saturday. This is a cause that is near and dear to my heart, and I'm overwhelmed by the amount of support my family and friends have already shown for my walking team. If you're at all interested in participating in a walk (they're being held all over the country), or donating to the cause, I hope you'll visit the Alzheimer's Association's web site. My personal team page can be found here.

salty oat cookies

A quick trip to Texas over Labor Day weekend obviously had to include a stop at Quack's Bakery in Austin for some salty oat cookies:

stash report: sale fabrics

I couldn't resist the sale at Sew, Mama, Sew! a few weeks ago:

{Bottom to top: Heath in Black by Alexander Henry, Summersault Raindrops in Midnight by Erin McMorris, 1001 Peeps Pearl Bracelet in Green by Lizzy House, Summersault Pixie Stick Posies in Turquoise by Erin McMorris, and Summersault Raindrops in Turquoise by Erin McMorris}

modern crosses quilt

A much-deserved house-warming gift for my parents:

 
{Made entirely from fabrics--new, vintage, and thrifted--in my stash (so proud!), using the pattern featured on the cover of the excellent Modern Log Cabin Quilting by Susan Beal. A few more photos of my quilt can be seen on the Triangle Modern Quilt Guild's Flickr page, here and here.}

scrap swap: what i received

Using her scraps and mine, Katie made me this amazing patchwork tote bag for our recent swap:

{Here's Katie's post about our swap and here's what I made for Katie.}

stash report: daisy pillowcase

Pretty vintage pillowcase covered in daisies:

{Found at Dolly's Vintage, Durham, NC.}

scrap swap: what i sent

Katie and I recently sent each other boxes filled with our fabric scraps, and this is what resulted:

{A pair of quilted place mats made using Katie's scraps, my scraps, and linen from Ikea.}

stash report: red and aqua fabrics

Fabric cutting commenced this past weekend for a red and aqua quilt:

 

{Most of the fabrics are from Spoonflower, with the exception of a fat quarter from Purl Soho.}

quilting project: log cabin pillow

A log cabin pillow made for my sister-in-law's June birthday:

{Made using this Sew Mama Sew! tutorial and pink and green fabrics pulled entirely from my stash, with a bit of hand quilting thrown in.} 

quilting project: heather ross travel pillow

Soon after moving to North Carolina, I joined the Triangle Modern Quilt Guild (which has been a lot of fun to be a part of). For this past month's meeting, I participated in a travel pillow swap and created a pillow for my swap partner, John, of Quilt Dad fame. 

Using Ashley's quilt block tutorial as a starting point, I created the pillow from limited-edition Heather Ross for Spoonflower fabric and coordinating solids. I opted for an envelope-style back and straight-line quilting for the front. All in all, I was pleased with how it turned out.

P.S. Have you seen Heather's newest line, Far Far Away III? Love!

quilting inspiration

Amish quilt spotted at the American Folk Art Museum in New York City last weekend.

quilting project: ziggity mug rug

When I spotted John's tutorial for an adorable mug rug over on Sew Mama Sew!, I was instantly inspired and decided to whip one up. Which I did. In one evening.

I opted to use all solid scraps on the front, and a floral thrift-store print on the back. This literally took me three hours to make (that included picking fabric, piecing, and hand-sewing the binding), which made it such a fun and satisfying project. 

quilting project: zig-zag quilt

Back in February, my friends had the most adorable baby girl named Luna Maria. I, of course, wanted to make a quilt to mark the special occasion. Using this tutorial from the Purl Bee, which I'd been eyeing for quite some time, I created this zig-zag quilt for her. 

I stuck to solids on the front (most of them from my stash) and a 1920s/30s reproduction kids' print on the back that I picked up at G Street Fabrics. I quilted it on my machine, used a solid turquoise fabric for the binding, and added a hand-embroidered tag to the back with Luna's name and birthday. 

I really love working with solids (and half-square triangles!), and was so pleased with how this quilt turned out.

potholder swap: what i sent

So my dear blogging friend Adaiha and I recently decided it was time for another swap. (We've done a few successful crafty swaps in the past.) This time, we decided to swap potholders. I figured this would be the perfect opportunity for me to use up some of my scraps (I love scrap-busting projects!) and practice the English paper-piecing skills I picked up in a hand-quilting class I took at Spool in Philadelphia a few months ago. So using little one-inch hexagons, I made Adaiha a blue and green potholder, lined with thermal fleece. 

I then used this tutorial to assemble the back of the potholder. Everything was completely hand sewn---a first for me in a very long time!---and I was really pleased with the results.