I had heard of the Have It All wallet by Straight Stitch Society from Amanda when she made hers and I was inspired.  Using an Amy Butler print and some coordinating prints from my stash, I made it last week and I love it so much!

The instructions were really straight forward and easy to follow.  The hardest part was definitely picking out the fabrics!  I used a magnetic snap, using Noodlehead’s tutorial, because I’ve had one laying around for a long time and this seemed a good use of it.

If you’re looking to make a new wallet, I highly recommend this one!

I realized lately how many handmade bags and things I carry in my tiny purse.  Add a large wallet to that, and I think I’ll have to upgrade soon. (Another hand painted Laura Lashley one, perhaps?)

From top left of handmade things: pouch of girl products, zippered pouch of cotton swabs and band aids, zippered pouch with a paper pieced travel sewing project, a travel tissue holder, a tea wallet, a business card holder, and a bobby pin holder.  Add to that a car charger for my phone, nail polish, lip liner, eyeliner, chapstick, lipstick, a pen, lip stain (you’d think I’d make a make up pouch!), sunglasses, headphones, keys, and lotion and my little purse can’t hold a new wallet!

My birthday was back on May 17th and to celebrate, Ian and I went camping on Ocracoke Island on the Outer Banks. It’s a bit of a trek, at least 7 hours including a ferry ride, but it was so worth it.

This was our campsite when we arrived.  Right up that path on the left was the ocean.

We did our best to eat well.  There was not open fires allowed so we had to use a grill but made it work.  We had sausage with caramelized onion, garlic, beans, and roasted corn, we went to a fish market in town and got fresh Mahi and made tacos, and I made chocolate cake in an orange peel (an old Boy Scouts recipe) and brought homemade marshmallows and graham crackers.

Also, thanks to a hand grinder and pour over supplies from Krankies (where I work), we were able to make really good iced coffee, a must for the two of us :)

The highlights of the trip were two things I was not able to photograph.  The first night we saw bioluminescent waves and it was the most magical thing I’ve ever seen. Ian had told me about it on the drive out there and I kinda didn’t believe him but it’s a real thing!  Then the second night there was a huge thunderhead out over the ocean with nearly constant lightening flashing inside the cloud, with only a few streaks coming down to the water.  It lasted late into the night; it was weird to wake up in the tent and see a sky full of stars yet flashes of light to the east.

It was a really fun trip and I look forward to going out there again.  The town on the island was really cute, definitely touristy, but not in the humongous beach mansion kind of way.  It’d be fun to rent a bungalow there with some friends for a week.  I am determined to make this a multiple camping and beach trip year!

I bound this one by machine.  I don’t like it as much as a hand stitched one but the binding has begun to come off on a couple older quilts of mine, what with the heavy wear of having two dogs that like to pull quilts from their places.  Hopefully machine sewn binding will stand the test of time and I’ll keep getting better at it.

I’m excited to say that this quilt is available for sale at the Little General! Hopefully the first of many, Gina is graciously showing and selling some of my quilts made of fabric from her beautiful shop.  If you’re in or around Winston Salem, be sure to stop by!

two quilt tops on Monday,

started a new quilt,

and started two new shirts!

I’m super excited about all of it.

After the mini I made for Tara, I wanted to do more straight line quilting. I did a spiral echo design in the white areas and while I’m still not totally confident in my straight line skills, this was good practice. The back is pretty puffy in the un-quilted parts, but I’m really happy with how it came out!

It’s backed in more scraps, bound in Flea Market Fancy seed print in grey, and labelled.

I was so happy to take photos in the park on my block, pinned to a dogwood tree.  Happy spring!

I pieced the tiny houses from scraps, raw edge appliqued a key in one block, quilted it in a boxy meander with their name in one corner, backed it in a vintage sheet with my label, and bound it in white with a couple scraps.

Congratulations on the new home, dear friends!

My long time friend Tara got married recently so I made her a little wall hanging.

Her bridesmaids dresses were yellow so I pulled a few yellows and greys, drew up the plan, and put this together in a day.

I have been inspired by Megan at Canoe Ridge Creations lately, her simple patchwork, her straight line quilting, her mini quilts.  This is the first time I’ve quilted something this heavily and I love it.  I can’t imagine quilting a large quilt like this but it was great for this little lady.

I backed it in a yellow floral I’ve had for a long time and bound it in more yellow with a tiny bit of heath in black. I’m really happy with it and hope they are too.

Congratulations Tara and Jeremy!

I made this pillow a while ago but never blogged about it.  It is now my friend Lindsay‘s and I made it to thank her for her kindness and friendship.

I used Anna Maria Horner’s feather bed quilt block and her Field Study fabric scraps, surrounded them with FreeSpirit light jade, added an exposed zipper, bound it, and left it behind as a little surprise.

Thanks for being awesome, Lindsay!

I received a fat eighth pack of Jay McCarroll’s Habitat line for a MQG challenge quilt awhile ago and I fell in love with it so I ordered more and got to work on the Swoon quilt. It’s a bit of a tedious pattern so it languished in a box for awhile until I got the burst of inspiration I needed to get it finished.

I pieced a back with the scraps I had, quilted it in Virginia with a flourish pattern called Denali in a pale mint green thread, bound it in Kona berry, and labeled it.

It was a windy and very sunny day when I photographed it, which makes for washed out pictures, but big thanks to Denise and Austin for helping out and holding it up for me!

I trimmed it down to 45″ square, backed it with a vintage sheet I love, quilted it in Virginia with a needle and thread pattern, machine bound it in musical notes, added a hanging sleeve, and now it adorns my studio wall!

I attempted to make a sewing machine cover a few years ago but never quite got the math right.  I took another stab at it though and this time it was a breeze!  I used some flying geese I’ve had for a long time for one side and an (Amy Butler?) home dec print for the other.  I think I like the orange side better, it’s so cheery!

I made a set of coasters I made years ago (incorrectly, I might add) that I always hated so I just threw them out and made a few more.  I used the stack-and-whack method, based on the coaster pattern from Denyse Schmidt’s Quilts but I only used 4 fabrics and cut each 5″ by 7″ (instead of 5 by 8). I wanted to pull from both the green wall and the orange sewing machine cover.

When I made an ironing board cover a year or so ago, I cut it too small but never took the time to fix it.  I finally tore out the old stitching and added another channel for the rope and it fits so much better!  No more coming off the board when I’m ironing fabric and pulling it towards me.

I’ve spent the last three weeks redoing my sewing studio.  I used to have, among other things, a combination of free standing shelves and a portable project wall which have now become a rail and bracket shelving system to the ceiling, a permanent 8′ square project wall (using this tutorial), a peg board, and yarn cubes!As it turns out, drilling into nearly 100 year old brick covered in concrete is a PAIN IN THE ASS.  Even with the right tools, finally, it took 5 trips to the hardware store to get everything I needed.  I’d say it was worth all the work!The shelves are 7″ deep at the bottom and 20″ at the very top with a couple other sizes in between.  I had the cubes already and used a studio-mates’ yarn winder to re-ball all my yarn so they stack neatly.  Vinyl is rolled and stored in a large shipping tube.  I spent about $300 all told, and I’m really happy with it.

I also finished my color wheel quilt from last year’s Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts project!  I hung it high up in the small community space of the studio and I love it there.  I will take better photos of it and show it off soon.Currently, my Field Study kaleidoscope quilt is on the project wall, something I am more than ready to get back to work on!