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Graffiti Quilting my Karlee Porter Panel

I know I already posted about attending the Karlee Porter workshop that SAMQG hosted a few months ago–but I really need to post about this as well!  Karlee has some really awesome panels that she designed, and if you haven’t felt them in person, they are buttery soft.  This one is called “Explosion” (picture is from Karlee Porter’s website), and if you want one, click HERE to order your own!  And FYI, this one is ginormous!  

“Explosion” printed tapestry designed by Karlee Porter (picture from Karlee’s website)



I love sewing and piecing and constructing quilt tops as much as the next person, but seriously…it is so awesome to load a quilt top and not worry about the hours, days, weeks it took to piece it.  Especially when you get to skip that part entirely.  There’s nothing better that just mindlessly losing yourself in a quilt while quilting.  This is my ultimate stress reliever.

The back of the quilt (Tula Pink wide back)


I haven’t hung this one yet, as I haven’t bound the edges, but I will update this blog post once it’s finally finished.  

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Charity quilt for SAPD

The back of the quilt

So on my birthday this year, only five days after bringing our little girl home from the hospital from being born, I have the tv turned on to some inconsequential show to help me forget how tired I am.  A news story comes on about a police officer in San Antonio being shot and killed while writing someone a ticket.  It is really disturbing that we keep having incidents like this happen, and even more so when you just had your first child.  It’s so discouraging thinking that this will be the world she grows up in–where good people who lay their life on the line on a daily basis are killed without rhyme or reason.  

The front


I am happy though, that I am part of a guild that has such a heart for charity and outreach.  I won’t name the individual who organized everything and made this happen, but I am so glad she did.  This is one of the quilts that was put together by members of the San Antonio Modern Quilt guild for the officer’s surviving family members.  I really felt priveleged to have a hand in this (even if all I did was the quilting–check out the appliqued back!).  I hope that the family is brought some small measure of comfort, or even feels a little appreciation for what their family member worked for.  And hopefully the good that people do will overpower the wicked people in this world. 
meandering heart quilting

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Valentine’s Day Oven Mitt Tutorial

Are you looking for a great project to showcase that one print that you may not have much of? 


Check out the tutorial that I teamed up with Janome to bring you by clicking HERE!  I know that I just love Liberty of London prints, but gosh…they’re pretty proud of them, am I right?  It’s not often I spend $40+ per yard on fabric…but I will admit to purchasing a couple of “swatches” from fabric.com for a few bucks a piece.  I could almost never bring myself to sew with them, especially considering each piece that I had was less than a fat eighth…hello…!  Not many patterns allow for this!  


So I whipped up this cute oven mitt tutorial and thought that Liberty fabric I had been hoarding for so long would be perfect for the little reverse applique window!  


It’s a great project for showcasing your favorite prints, and also for using up scraps of low volume fabrics (or any scraps, really!)

Have the happiest of Valentine’s Days and take this project into the kitchen to bake up some yummy sweets for the one you love 🙂

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Alison Glass Ventana Quilt

I usually am not such a sucker for holiday deals and sales…but when Alison Glass had her twelve days of Christmas, I couldn’t resist.  I ordered the pattern below (picture from Alison Glass’s website) in the kit format.  And I have to say…I have NEVER purchased a quilt kit before.  I take immense pleasure in selecting fabrics and design for a quilt, but it was so nice to not have to think about those things for once.  I opened the pattern, cut up all the fabric that was sent to me, and I whipped this quilt top up in about 4 days.  

I have yet to quilt the top…I’m thinking of adding some applique to the center of the white parts of the quilt to add a little more to it, but haven’t quite decided yet.  I had allowed myself a few days of selfish sewing prior to the end of 2016, and this was the project I chose to do.  It’s a great pattern–especially if you want to just follow someone else’s instructions (the blocks are foundation paper pieced), and you don’t even have to worry about being too mindful of the piecing process.  
foundation paper pieced blocks ready to be assembled
The kit I purchased came with Alison’s newest line of fabric-Seventy Six.  I added a few blocks to the standard pattern to increase the dimensions slightly.  I really didn’t think this pattern would come together as quickly as it did, and didn’t really have a backing in mind for it when I finished.  So I just wanted to share my bit of selfish sewing for 2016.  And while this isn’t really a pattern review, I have to say the pattern is extremely easy to follow (and the kit even came with enough fabric for me to make 12 extra blocks–increasing the size from a 5×6 layout to a 6×7 block layout.) and such a pleasure to make.  

My nearly finished quilt top 

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Making connections with t shirt quilts

I know that t-shirt quilts aren’t considered to be the most glamorous form of creating in the quilt world, but they have always held a special place in my heart.  The first quilt I ever made was a t-shirt quilt.  And I definitely won’t post pictures of that quilt here (I had no idea what a 1/4″ seam allowance was or that knit fabric stretched when you sewed it…), I still have the quilt and use it often.  Honestly, you could more appropriately call it a blanket.  But I digress…

I want to talk about this fabulous t-shirt quilt I was asked to finish for a customer.  Her son attended the same high school that I went to, ran cross country and track (as I did), and attended the same University!  This person was 5 or 6 years behind me in all these things…nevertheless, making this quilt was almost like making it for myself.  His mother even embroidered symbols from the university to put as cornerstones on the border of the quilt.  It turned out really cool!
I love seeing t-shirts being re-purposed, and it is really cool to see how many were saved and the duration they were saved for! 


Here is the finished quilt–It was so much fun getting to work on this and think about my college days (and I seriously can’t believe that was 10 years ago!!!)

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Mock Stained Glass Mini Quilt Tutorial

Happy New Year!  Well, this post is a day late and a dollar short, but it’s here 🙂
I usually post on Tuesdays, but this one got away from me!  

Sometimes winter blues can get you down (although here, in Texas, it was nearly 80 degrees yesterday and looked WAY more like spring than winter!) and it helps to have some fun and easy projects to get you through the weather.  I hope you’ll take a look at the free tutorial I teamed up with Janome to create.  It’s listed on the APQS blog and is a great free pattern for a mini quilt–or– if you prefer not to quilt it, hang it in a window that gets lots of light for a stained glass effect.  Either way, it’s a great way to add another technique to your arsenal of skills.  



Find the free tut HERE

Have a great week!

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The first MQG mini quilt swap-are you in?

Who doesn’t love a great sewing swap?  I started my first with a swap hosted by The Sewing Loft.  Soon after, I found out about the Schnitzelandboo mini quilt swap.  I think I started on the second round of that swap and have stayed in it ever since.  I even participated in another smaller themed sewing swap that was a lot of fun.  And in October of 2016, The Modern Quilt Guild announced its first mini quilt swap, open to members worldwide.

To be honest, I was really bummed when I first heard about the swap.  I recently quit my real job to sew and quilt as my full time job and (as I type this) am about to be a new mom.  The odds of me signing up for this swap didn’t look too good.  But then I started thinking about it, and realized I needed something to look forward to in the first few months of being a new mom.  I don’t want to lose myself entirely in my new role and hopefully I will find bits and pieces of time to work on this for my partner (sorry partner… ;).

So I signed up.  I got my partner assignment, and wouldn’t you know…their instagram profile is PRIVATE.   GRRRRRRRR…….Seriously.  If you’re going to do a swap, have a public profile.  You’re ruining the surprise.  Or at least include some other form of social media where you post your preferences.  I was a little miffed.  But my swap fairy came through for me and managed to get a Pinterest profile for me.  This provided tons of inspiration and so I’m currently working on tweaking some things I’ve found to make it my own.

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Quilting for Market with Urban Artifacts Fabrics by Leslie Tucker Jenison

So I guess this is part 2 of my Quilt Market preparations posts…The quilting edition!  

I had the opportunity to quilt a couple of quilts for my friend Leslie’s quilt market booth.  I’m going to be brief here…
The first one was an awesome quilt designed by Liberty Worth.  It’s pretty modern and gave me tons of inspiration with the quilting.  Below are pictures:

Putting the binding on…
Quilt designed by Liberty Worth with Urban Artifacts by Leslie Tucker Jenison

Quilt designed by Liberty Worth with Urban Artifacts fabrics by Leslie Tucker Jenison

The next quilt was designed by Allison Chambers of the San Antonio Modern Quilt Guild and was inspired by mid-century modern style.  I love this quilt!  I was aiming to keep the quilting modern but understated and used a blending thread instead of a highly contrasting one.  I did some geometric ruler work with stitch in the ditch on this one.  

Quilt designed by Allison Chambers using Urban Artifacts Fabric by Leslie Tucker Jenison

Quilt designed by Allison Chambers using Urban Artifacts Fabric by Leslie Tucker Jenison
I got to quilt 2 other amazing quilts that were designed by Leslie, but those are patterns that are not yet released, so no pictures of those yet!  I am so blown away by the talent and creativity.  I really wish I could have attended Quilt Market this year, but like I said…life happens.  There’s always next year!

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Quilt market prep- with hand bags for Leslie Tucker Jenison

So many people in the sewing community are working hard to prep for market in and around the month of October.  I know when I first got an instagram account, I was so jealous of everyone posting the #secretsewing or #marketprep or whatever the hashtag was and hoped that someday I could get in on the action too!  In my local MQG, one of our members-Leslie Tucker Jenison-recently got a fabric line with RJR fabrics and I was asked to quilt a few items and make some bags from her amaing fabric line, Urban Artifacts!  Naturally, I jumped at the chance, and couldn’t wait to get started.  I know this is December and quilt market was in October…life happens, guys!

Reisende Bag in Urban Artifacts Fabric by Leslie Tucker Jenison for RJR Fabrics, pattern by Sew Sweetness

So Leslie selected three really awesome bag patterns for her market booth and the first one was the Reisende bag-a Sew Sweetness pattern.  I really love the look of these fabrics with this pattern and I cannot wait for them to be at my LQS!!!


The next bag Leslie had chosen was the Nora Doctor bag by Swoon patterns.  This pattern is seriously so cool.  I love the vintage looking patterns and these fabrics are also amazing.  

Nora Doctor Bag-Swoon Pattern in Urban Artifacts Fabrics by Leslie Tucker Jenison for RJR fabrics

The final bag I made for Leslie’s booth was the Betty Bowler, also a Swoon Pattern.  Such a great pattern to showcase Leslie’s new fabric line, and I couldn’t be happier with how they all turned out.  I’m so excited that my sweet friend had this opportunity to show off her amazing artistic talents and share her art with everyone!  

Betty Bowler by Swoon Patterns in Urban Artifacts by Leslie Tucker Jenison for RJR Fabrics


If you haven’t tried your hand at making some of these store-quality bags with these awesome patterns, I highly recommend that you grab some great fabric and try one!  I don’t think you’d be disappointed with the results!  Plus, you should go check out Leslie’s fabric line and buy the prints.  Pictured below is Leslie’s full line.  I am SO inspired by the grey/steel color way!


Leslie’s complete line-photo taken from leslietuckerjenison.com 
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Free Christmas Stocking tutorial

It’s time for another free tutorial!  I got to team up with Janome again to bring you an awesome Christmas stocking tutorial 🙂

Be sure to check it out on the Janome website !

These stockings are super easy to whip up!  All you have to do is sew some strips of fabric together (jelly roll strips would be perfect!), then use the template to cut the stockings out.  You can add some decorative stitching to the seams where the fabric is joined for a little extra oompf!  Start and finish in an afternoon and make some awesome new stockings for the family 🙂  Merry Christmas!