LMP+QG september challenge: color wheel quilt

Each month, my friend Kait and I are making a project from the book, Last-Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts ("LMP+QG" for short). You can see previous projects here.

For September, Kait and I decided to make the iconic Color Wheel Quilt from LMP+QG. While I love the original pattern, I decided to change things up a bit since the idea of sorting through my scraps and selecting and arranging 52 fabric wedges in color order quickly overwhelmed me. Instead, I decided to shrink the pattern down and stick to one color. Thanks to this Purl Bee tutorial, based on the Color Wheel Quilt, I was able to print out smaller templates for my mini version.

I typically don't work with purple, but since I decided this would be a birthday gift for a good friend who loves purple, I decided to give the color a shot. Thanks to some creative piecing, I managed to scrounge up 16 unique purple wedges.

Though the piecing is not perfect (there was definitely some bubbling due to all of the bias-cut edges stretching), I love the results and am particularly smitten with the purple---I'm surprised at how well all of those scraps work with one another. I can't wait to quilt it and turn it into a wall hanging!

Coming up next month: Sewing Summit! We'll be back in November with Bird Ornaments.

P.S. Want your own hand-stitched cross-stitch button? I'm sending one to everyone who donates to our team for the Walk to End Alzheimer's and leaves a comment! Details here. 

UPDATE: And here's the finished purple color wheel mini quilt!

leather + canvas foldover clutch

Since I'll be traveling a lot this fall (Salt Lake City, Austin, New York and DC are on the list!),  I wanted to make myself a cute clutch for nights out on the town. Inspired by the tutorials I've seen floating around blogs, I decided to make myself a foldover clutch with a metal zipper using a combination of these two tutorials.

Thanks to an afternoon sewing session with a friend, I managed to start and finish the clutch in a day. I used black and white fabric from Ikea (look familiar?) and leather from another friend for the outside of the clutch.

And for the inside, I used a print from Erin McMorris's Summersault line, which I picked up from Sew Mama Sew! last year.

For someone with no zipper experience, this was an easy project with super polished results. I can't wait to use it during my travels!

P.S. We're almost halfway to our fundraising goal for the Walk to End Alzheimer's in October, and I'm sending handmade cross-stitch buttons to everyone that donates! Details here. 

do. Good Stitches: August Blocks

For the month of August, I was in charge of designing the quilt for the Wish Circle of do. Good Stitches. I fell in love with the banner blocks that Ellen from The Long Thread made for an Etsy project, so I decided that I wanted our group to create a similar quilt using only primary colors---red, yellow, and blue; my blue blocks are above. I've received almost all of the blocks from group members and will start assembling the top soon!

P.S. We're almost halfway to our fundraising goal for the Walk to End Alzheimer's! I'm sending handmade buttons to everyone who donates!

before and after: piggy bank

In an effort to make our bedroom look a bit more like adults live there, I decided it was time to update the pink piggy bank from my freshman year of college, which I have sitting on my dresser. One coat of gold spray paint later, I was done (and in love):

P.S. I'm sending handmade cross-stitch buttons to everyone who donates to our Alzheimer's walk in October! Details here. 

walk to end alzheimer's + cross-stitch buttons

For the second year in a row, my husband and I will be doing the Walk to End Alzheimer's. This is a huge event, which happens in cities and towns all over the US; this year, we'll be walking on the National Mall in Washington, DC.

The event raises money for the Alzheimer's Association, an organization that offers support to those affected by Alzheimer's, sponsors research, and promotes brain health. My own father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's last year, at the age of 58, so this is a cause that is very, very important to me.

As part of our participation, my husband and I hope to raise at least $3,000 for the Association, and we could use your support. For any blog readers that make a donation of $5 or more---Just $5! The price of a fancy coffee drink!---I will send them a cross-stitch pinback button as a token of my appreciation. Here's how it'll work:

1. Check out our team page or my personal page and make a donation of $5 or more (every little bit helps!) before the walk on Saturday, October 27.

2. Come back here and leave a comment on this post telling me that you've made a donation to the walk and what letter you'd like stitched on your button (You get to choose the letter, but the color combo will be a surprise!).

3. I'll verify with the Alzheimer's Association that you've made a donation and send your button on its merry way! I'll use the mailing address that you gave to the Association when you made the donation, unless you tell me otherwise.

Questions? Let me know! And thank you so, so much for your support!

happy labor day!

Last year, while on a trip to Baltimore, I stumbled across Kathreen Ricketson's Little Bits Quilting Bee in a bookstore and was immediately inspired by the patterns I saw. I plan to make many of the book's quilts, and this past weekend, I finished the top (and backing!) for my first one: Prismatic. I'm starting to stockpile quilts for this winter, and this one is destined for our bed. My stash of light blue fabrics was beginning to get out of control, so I put them to good use for this project, and thankfully they'll coordinate well with our bedroom decor. Now, I just need to figure out how to quilt it. Straight lines or orange peel?