I’ve been extra productive lately! I finished a quilt top last week,
two quilt tops on Monday,
started a new quilt,
and started two new shirts!
I’m super excited about all of it.
So productive!
Reply
Tag Archives: gifts
Gifts for friends.
My friends Austin and Erin, the people who graciously let me live with them last year after a break up, recently bought a house so I made them this mini quilt.
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!
For Mom.
I am embarrassed to admit how long I was a quilter before I made one for my Mom and how long ago I started this particular quilt. But all that aside, it’s finally finished and received and we are both so pleased with it.
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!
Some quilts.
I spent a lovely and snowy weekend in Roanoke with Lindsay and Ursula working on a few quilts.
I took two with me and finished up a third one while I was there. 
I left behind a feather pillow (made from Anna Maria Horner’s block pattern found here) as a gift to Lindsay for all her help and willingness to let me use Ursula. And of course, for her friendship.
Some things!
This last week has been one of the most productive in a while. I’ve been pleasantly busy making some gifts.
My friend Sarah asked me almost a year ago to make her a Kindle case and it finally happened. She told me she loves the tiny clothes fabric by Aneela Hooey so I pulled some coordinating scraps and used this pattern with a couple minor adjustments.
This pillow is for my best friend Catherine. She accompanied me to the Little General last year and bought some fabric that she left with me. I used the Virginia star from Carol Doak’s 50 Fabulous Paper-Pieced Stars because Virginia is where we met and became friends (though I now live in NC and she in KY).
I started with the Anna Maria Horner velveteen and pulled coordinating fabrics. The velveteen was definitely a little harder to work with but it made for a really cozy pillow. I fussy cut a few sections but you can’t really tell.
It has an envelope closure and measures 18″ square.
I made another pillow as a sneak peek of a quilt for a baby shower. I didn’t have the quilt done in time but I wanted to send them something useful instead of just a picture so I made this small pillow.
It’s based on the Baby Roller Rink pattern from Modern Patchwork by Elizabeth Hartman using blue and green scraps. The pillow made it to California just in time (I photographed it at the post office!) and was loved. I’m hopeful they’ll love the quilt too, which I’m sending off on Monday.
It has an envelope closure and measures a very snug 12″ x 14″.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
I made this a few months ago but I thought it would be a fitting to show you today. I got the idea from Stitched Gifts by Jessica Marquez.
I embroidered the words onto muslin, folded it in half with stitching to the inside, sewed a banner shape with the short, straight end open, turned it inside out, and hand sewed a ribbon onto the end while closing the opening.
I cleaned out an old vanilla extract jar, carved a wine bottle cork down with a box cutter (I wouldn’t recommend this!), and voila! I left it on his pillow the morning I left for California at Christmas, for him to find when he came back from taking me to the airport.
Happy Valentine’s Day to you!
Mark Your Calendars!
Do you live in or near Winston Salem and the Triad area?
I’ll be selling at two craft fairs next month and I’d love if you came!
Finally: Sewing Summit, a gift, & a quilt
It’s been so long since I’ve made myself sit down to write. It’s so hard to make the time sometimes! I have a lot to catch up on.
Sewing Summit this year was fun. It wasn’t as great as last year but I had a great time traveling with Caitlin and getting to wander around the city a little bit more than last year.
Class registration was a bit of a mess this year so I got 7 lectures and one hands on, a class in which I made a maxi skirt. It was taught by the lovely Leanne Barlow and the skirt was so easy and is so comfortable that I want to make many more. I loved Mena Trott‘s class on a handmade wardrobe and I’m so inspired to keep sewing clothing and to one day fill my whole closet.
Funny story: the one person I really wanted to meet at Summit was Katy from I’m A Ginger Monkey. We crossed paths a couple of times but never really introduced ourselves. A couple days after I’d returned home, she tweeted at me that she, and a girl named Laura, has a girl crush on me and that she was nervous to talk to me because she thought I was way too cool. I couldn’t believe it! I totally though she was the cool kid! It bums me out that we didn’t both put our anxiety aside and talked to each other! We could have been best friends! Oh well; we will continue on in the internet world and one day we will meet again.
I left Salt Lake City so inspired and ready to sew. It’s been hard to get myself into the studio but I’ve made a couple things. My dear friend Rose wrote to me recently saying she’s beginning to do some embroidery. She is in a band that tours a lot so I made her a travel embroidery kit with my favorite Aneela Hooey fabric and some sparkly linen.
There is a needle book with pockets for 5 embroidery thread spools and a pocket in the back, a pincushion (using the pattern from Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts), and a bag to carry it all in. I went with kind of a weird color scheme but I’m loving the green Chicopee print with the grey. I hope she likes it!
One of my favorite little details is the pull tab of a book with an elephant on the cover :)
I also finished a baby quilt that I was supposed to have completed a long time ago. I really hope to make commissions a larger part of my work but I need to get better about sticking to deadlines and communicating (including saying no sometimes).
They wanted trees to be part of the design and I had a hard time coming up with a way to create that and still stick to my aesthetic. When I saw this quilt kit at a shop, I thought I had the design. I bought the Lotta Jansdotter’s Belle collection but not wanting to to be too Halloween-y, I added fabrics (including some of Denyse Schmidt’s Chicopee, Lizzy House’s pearl bracelet, and Amy Butler, to name a few) on the pattern adding a few other fabrics until I came up with this, which I love.
It is 5 by 6 blocks measuring 50″ by 60″. It’s backed with an assortment of fabrics from the front, quilted with a meandering pattern in pale grey thread, bound in Belle’s scattered dot in charcoal, and simply labeled with one of my little tags. 
I also whipped up something I had seen on Pinterest a long time ago. I used some red vinyl I’ve had for a while and covered my Moleskine notebook I use to design quilts and make lists. I love it!
Pincushion for a friend.
I made this Frankenstein pincushion for my friend Ian for his birthday this week. I found some images online and made a small paper piecing pattern and put it together in a couple hours. Ian has a space in the same studio as I do and makes these awesome stuffed alien creatures, and until now, his poor little straight pins just hung out in a box. He is also into science fiction and horror and the like so this seemed like the perfect gift. Happy birthday Ian!
I did it!
I finished that quilt just in time! The bulk of it was done (everything but the binding) in four days in my studio, including about 12 hours of quilting alone, and I love how it turned out!
It’s based on the Ice Pops pattern from Denyse Schmidt’s Quilts. I really don’t like how she uses pattern pieces for everything so I made these log cabin, chain piecing style and then trimmed them all a little wonky. The fabric is Indie by Pat Bravo for Art Gallery Fabrics purchased from Stash Modern Fabric and FreeSpirit solids in Spark Gold, Grey, and Arctic White from The Little General.
I quilted it in a khaki colored thread with a loops and leaves pattern and bound it in mustard, with a little bit of print.
Amanda received the quilt for her birthday on Sunday and I got a string of enthusiastic text messages of thanks afterwards :) Sam, her husband who commissioned me to make the quilt for her, kindly took some photographs for me.
She asked how I could make it with fabric that was so perfect for her, which is a big compliment. All Sam had told me was that her favorite color was yellow (which I took to mean mustard, since that’s the yellow I love) and went with it. I’m so glad she likes it!