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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!




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A little more FMQ


I love the understated look of Superior Threads’ So fine thread for busier quilts.  There’s just enough substance there to make the quilting do its job, but not so much that the quilt is overwhelmed.  


This isn’t a super involved post–I just wanted to share a quilt that some of the ladies in the San Antonio Modern Quilt Guild put together for our past president who moved out of state.  This quilt was designed by Emily Robbins using some of the modern quilt block guides put out by Love Patchwork and Quilting this year.  Cotton + Steel prints were used in combination with various shades of grey.  It’s pretty difficult to see the quilting, but the real star is the quilt design and the fabrics.  

This was the finished quilt prior to the binding being put on.  Love the design, and I think Emily did a great job!

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Sewing for BABY part 2 with Anna Maria Horner fabrics


So there are really only 2 more items I wanted to talk about on this topic, then I promise, I will move on from the baby talk!  

Find the fabric for this projects HERE and the pattern for the Belle Baby Bag HERE
Diaper bags.  Are. Outrageously. Expensive.  If you can sew, there is no excuse for buying a diaper bag (in my opinion).  I spent weeks looking for the perfect diaper bag pattern, and low and behold…Alicia from Swoon Patterns is miraculously pregnant at the same time that I am!!!  Which means she released a diaper bag pattern in the nick of time for me!!!  I mean, not really for me.  More for her, I’m sure.  But I’ll take it!  

My pile of Belle Baby Bag pieces cut and ready to go!

So I adore the “Passage” in Pomegranate from AMH’s Mod Corsage collection.  Such vibrant colors.  Seriously, pictures really don’t do the print justice.  I didn’t want to pair the fabrics with a solid, so I went with some Michael Miller’s Painter’s Canvas in a blue-grey color.  I feel like it really gave a little added texture and made the bag really POP.  

This is the shoulder strap for the bag–using Passage in pomegranate.  You can’t find a store bought diaper bag in fabrics this gorgeous.  Won’t happen.  

And then this is the nearly finished bag (I was waiting for the strap hardware to come in).  The pattern is very well written (thank you Alicia!), and I couldn’t be more happy with the fabric (thank you Anna Maria!!!).  I’m not going to lie…I started carrying it as my purse as soon as I got the rest of the hardware in.  It’s going to be a great diaper bag–there are pockets everywhere, and there are even stroller clips (not shown in picture) that attach to the handle of the stroller.  So there’s the diaper bag.  

The last thing I’m going to gush about for the time being is the wall hanging I made for Gemma’s room.  If you haven’t heard of Vanessa at Fabric Confetti, run–don’t walk–to her website.  Her embroidery-applique designs are awesome!  I purchased the Elemenopea embroidery design package (it also comes with SVG files to load into your cutter).  I was originally going to hand embroider “Gemma” onto a big wall hanging, but…ain’t nobody got time for that!  Find the embroidery files to purchase HERE on the Fabric Confetti website.

Elemenopea Embroidery package-picture from the Fabric Confetti website


So this comes in two different sizes (I swear–I didn’t get paid anything to promote either of these products.  I just love them.  I purchased them both myself and didn’t ask for any kind of payment from any designer mentioned in this post.)  I bought the larger size.  And yes, it is a bit pricey.  But…so worth it.  


I embroidered/appliqued each letter in “Gemma” separately and cut them out so I could set them at wonky angles on the wall hanging.  Note the reappearance of “Passage” in pomegranate!  The solid fabric on the bottom portion of the letters and also seen in the border of the wall hanging is a shot cotton by Studio E.  The prints in the top portion of the letters are all various prints from Mod Corsage.  



So this is the nearly finished project–loaded onto the longarm and being quilted.  So these are just a few of the things I’ve made for the nursery, and I’m happy with the few items I did make…even though my original plan was to basically stress myself out to the point of no return by making crib sheets, changing pad covers, lots of baby clothes, etc.  Nope.  Didn’t happen.  ðŸ™‚  

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Sewing for BABY with Anna Maria Horner fabrics


As I said in my post a few weeks ago…we have a little girl on the way (I’m typing this in October, so I’m half way hoping she’s already been born by the time this goes live!).  My husband and I come from a long line of handmade people…my father in law made Gemma’s crib and dresser, my mother in law hand painted baby blocks for her and even wove some handles on a wooden basket to keep the blocks in.  So I wanted some other handmade items in the nursery too!

When I first found out I was pregnant, I had all these grand illusions of what I wanted the nursery to look like.  I was dreaming of a little girl.  We found out that was the case, and I knew immediately I didn’t want a sickening pepto pink bedroom for her.  

Pinterest was my BFF and I was pinning tons of color schemes and baby patterns.  I decided to make a short list of things I knew I would have time to make prior to her arrival and planned them out.  I started out with Alison Glass fabrics because I LOVE the saturated colors.  But I couldn’t pick a color scheme.  So I moved on to AMH and fell in love with the Mod Corsage line and Fibs and Fables.   I love how complex the colors are in Anna Maria’s lines.  The color schemes are very sophisticated, but they all manage to work with her other lines.  So I’m just going to do a quick run through of the items I’ve made so far for sweet baby girl’s room.  

Handmade burp cloths from cloth diapers and AMH Mod Corsage

 So this style isn’t typical of the burp cloths I used to make and sell in my Etsy shop, but I think these will be much more absorbent.  We shall see!!!  At the very least, they’ll be beautiful until they are snotted on and spit up on 🙂  Get the tutorial HERE (and better yet, this tutorial is labeled for beginner sewing!

Hour Baskets in Mod Corsage for baby organization

And have you seen how expensive simple little organizing baskets are???  Enter the hour baskets by kelbysews.  These literally took me 30 minutes from start to finish, and they hold the burp cloths like a champ.  I think I made 6 of these, and I love them all!  Get the pattern HERE

Tummy time mat made with Mod Corsage and Fibs and Fables AND batting scraps

And this ethereal print from Mod corsage with the bouquets…to die for.  I wasn’t sure what I was going to use this fabric for, but I knew I wanted it showcased.  And I loved this dressmaker print from the AMH Fibs and Fables line.  So I made a simple tummy time mat.  Another great thing about making this was that I used up a TON of batting scraps that I didn’t have any plan for.  I quilted this mat pretty heavily, so I stacked the batting scraps 3 layers deep.  This is the cushiest thing you could ever lay a baby on.  And I love that I put those smaller batting scraps to good use.  I squared it up after quilting, rounded the corners to give it a little more style, and bound it.  It’s small enough that I can roll it up and take to grandma’s house or wherever but big enough that I don’t have to worry about other people’s dirty floors 🙂  
There’s no pattern for this to link to, but it’s basically just a whole cloth quilt with tons of batting scraps layered in between the two pieces of fabric–enough to make 3 layers thick with batting.  Quilt as desired.  Trim/square up into whatever shape you desire.  I rounded the corners because I didn’t want them square, and then I slapped some binding on that sucker.  I did machine bind–in the event that this got pooped on or spit up on a ton and needed to be laundered a lot–so if you love hand binding as much as I do, you may want to rethink that!

I’m going to make this a two part post to talk a little more in depth about the other items (so I can credit other people’s designs).  Continued to next week–when I will hopefully have this baby out of my body if I don’t already!!!


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Hot Pad Hostess Gift! Sewing for a hostess…



So I got to team up with Janome to offer a free tutorial for a quick and cute hostess gift!  If you aren’t the main cook in charge of Thanksgiving, but a guest at someone else’s table–you don’t want to show up empty handed!  Whip up one of these cute hot pads with a little recipe card and a cooking utensil and you’ll be sure to be invited back!  Get the free pattern at the AQS Blog !  And also–Happy Thanksgiving!!!