Personalized Quilt Banners : :

Last week I shared in my Instagram Stories this fun personalized quilt banner project that is so perfect for this Alphabet painted letter panel by Bari J for Art Gallery Fabrics! This print is a must have for your fabric stash -- from simple monogramed tea towels to alphabet quilts and everything in between, my ideas for this print are endless!





To make these little letter quilts I mostly use up scraps -- batting scraps, fabric scraps and quilt binding scraps. I start by trimming up natural fiber batting rectangles to measure around 9" x 11". It's important to use natural fiber batting such as cotton, bamboo, silk or wool anytime you qayg so you can use a hot iron and press right onto the batting. Next I spray baste or use a little glue to stick each fussy cut letter to the center or slightly off-center to each batting square. Then using a variety of fabric scrap strips I use Quick Quilt As You Go and the log cabin style to make each letter quilt. I finish by backing each, attaching the backing fabrics by adding a little quilting, and then I finish with machine quilt binding. Easy and fun!



For the Quinn banner I made and shared in my stories last week, I combined each letter with a variety of my own painted florals and new Love Story prints!



This sweet banner is for my niece to match her big sister Sylvia's banner that I made for her Birthday party this past Summer. I'm excited for the girls to have these to hang in their bedrooms and to hang on special occasions that celebrate each of them!



To attach each little letter quilt I used a long length of leftover Soulful fabrics binding. I used pins to hold each letter quilt in place and sewed to attach, making sure to catch the inner edge of the binding on both sides.



On both ends of the banner I made a simple loop for hanging. I love how this Quinn banner came together!





For Sylvia's banner I used mostly scraps leftover from pillows I had made in Sew Caroline's Chalk & Paint collection for AGF, along with scraps from my own collections, Wild & Free and Fleet & Flourish!





I hope these personalized quilt banners inspire you to sew with these fun fabrics! I'm so behind on sharing here all that I've been sewing these past couple of weeks. I look forward to playing catch-up over the holiday!

xo Maureen

Inspired Patchwork : :

I made half a dozen of these pretty patchwork pillows a few weeks back, but I've been so busy making since then that I'm just now finally sharing them here!



Each print that I pulled from stash to stitch up these pillows was inspired by a beautiful Swan Patchwork cushion by artist, Carola van Dyke. I completely fell in love with her lovely combination of color and the sketch stitching style of her applique that I often use myself. And, since I prefer my pillows to come in pairs, I decided to try my best to make my own patchwork pillows to match!





Right away I thought of AGF designer, Bonnie Christine's collection Hello, Ollie that's full of sweet swan motifs. From there I chose prints completely based on Carola's sense of color and in the end most of my stack included Bonnie Christine prints. A very happy discovery!



I even added my own sketch stitched applique swan to each pillow!



I've been using a variety of Hobbs batting for mostly all of my projects since they sponsored the Sewcial Bee Sampler. For this pillow I used their wool batting and it's extra squishy, which I love! Because it's a natural fiber I can use it for quilt as you go, which is how I made my pillow tops and finished my envelope style pillow backs.







I plan to keep a few of these Swan Patchwork pillow sets and to add a few to my Etsy shop soon. I really love how they turned out!

xx Maureen

Holiday Princess Flower Crowns : :

I took some time this week to design a pretty new Holiday Flower Crown to offer a limited amount of in one last special sale here and on Instagram this weekend! These colors are some of my very favorites -- sweet peachy pink, garnet, dusty rose, teal, blues and buttery yellows to name a few!



Slightly different than the made-to-order personalized themed crowns you can find year-round in my Etsy shop, I've created a limited amount of this style that can be customized with a full name or initial of your choosing!



All crowns ordered today will ship next Friday, December 15th. They are $26 a piece plus shipping. International friends are welcome to these crowns, as well, shipping price will be $10 for a first class international envelope. You can visit me on my Instagram, email me at maureencracknell@hotmail.com or order right here by leaving a comment with your Paypal email address to claim, along with the name or the initial you'd like added to the crown. These crowns are such a wonderful handmade, personalized/custom, special gift/stocking stuffer for the little princesses in your life!! They are very adjustable and fit ages newborn to 9/10 years old so they can be worn year after year for dress-up play and birthdays. If you have any questions please feel free to leave me a comment!



♥ Maureen

Soulful + Boho + Nightfall Zipper Bags : :

I've enjoyed making zip pouches so much these past few weeks that I decided to order more zippers to keep on making! In the future I plan to make more of the Love Story & Indie Folk bags that I shared last week, I love that fabric combo so much, but this week I decided to switch up fabrics to include the custom bundle I had put together a few months back, choosing a pretty combination of prints from Soulful, Nightfall & Boho Fusions!



For these bags I'm quilting fabrics to a layer of batting using my herringbone qayg on one side, a fussy cut owl with patchwork on the reverse side, and a colorful zipper with a handmade felt and Soulful fabric zipper pull. I spend hours making these flowers for my Soulful Qult Market booth and I'm so happy to have found the perfect use for them!





I love the scrappy style of these bags and I hope you do, too!



Each one measure a little bigger than 8" x 8" finished and have a boxy bottom making them perfect for makeup, travel, art supplies, knitting & epp project, and more!






I offered these new bags yesterday on my Instagram as my last Holiday Bag Sale of this season and I still have a few left am SOLD OUT! Hooray! A BIG thanks to everyone who has purchased from me during my sale, I appreciate it so, so much!!

Up next, I plan to share a special sale for the personalized crowns that make and sell in my Etsy shop! If you have a little girl in your life who would love a pretty crown to wear, be sure to stop back!  

xo Maureen

Utility-Style Quilts for Everyday Living Blog Tour & GIVEAWAY!

When my dear friend, Sharon Holland invited me to join the blog tour for her first quilt book Utility-Style Quilts for Everyday Living (Landauer 2017) I was so excited, and today I have the pleasure of sharing a bit about this beautiful book with all of you!

The friendship Sharon and I share is so special! I'm fairly certain we text each other at least once a day. Mostly to share our creative plans and to ask for or offer one another advice, which I've come to both treasure and depend on. Our friendship gave me quite the behind the scenes look at the process and work Sharon poured into Utility-Style. I learned just how talented Sharon is, she's incredible, truly. The end product is proof, Utility-Style is an amazing collection of quilts that are meant to be used and loved. Sharon is just as conscious about how she envisions using each project, as she is to creating amazing quality patterns, furthering the quality of this book. She shares not just sewing patterns, but inspiration with beautiful photography of how to use each project throughout your home. To me, Utility-Style feels more like a lifestyle book and I love that!

Before I share the pretty Flower Child quilt Sharon made using the Goose Chase pattern from Utility-Style, I chose two favorite images from the book to showcase just what I mean above about the way Sharon presents each project with stunning, creative photography. I find each page of her book enchanting, down to every last detail. What is particularly special is how this book shares such a sense of Sharon's warmth and personal handmade style, that's both inspiring and attainable for any quilter.





One of the things I love most about the patterns that Sharon created for Utility-Style is that I'm reminded of the infinite possibilities of just one pattern. The quilt I'm showcasing today is the perfect testimony to how many ways one quilt pattern can be translated to something completely new by a change of prints and color. In her book the Goose Chase pattern is made using a combination of vintage and new fabrics to create a timeless quilt.



For my Flower Child Quilt Market booth Sharon used several prints from the collection and this same pattern to create a quilt that became one of the star projects in my display. The large HSTs and placing of bright solids present so perfectly the colors and a few of my favorite prints in this next collection of mine, due out in April 2018. It was exciting to see how the Goose Chase pattern worked equally well for the vintage style of the original quilt and for my brand new collection that's more trendy and modern.

I'm so in love with this quilt!



Signed copies of Utility-Style Quilts for Everyday Living can be purchased by US residents directly from Sharon in her new STORE and you can also get the book through Amazon!

Before I end with a special Utility-Style for Everyday Living GIVEAWAY, I want to share and invite you all to follow the rest of the tour for more project inspiration and chances to win this amazing book!

Monday 12/4  Heidi Staples - Fabric Mutt

Tuesday 12/5  Amy Friend - During Quiet Time

Wednesday 12/6  Maureen Cracknell - Maureen Cracknell Handmade

Thursday 12/7  Amber Johnson - Gigi's Thimble

Friday 12/8  Karen O'Connor - Lady K Quilts Designs

Saturday 12/9  Kori Turner-Goodhart - Olive Grace Studios

Sunday 12/10  Silvia Sutters - A Stranger View

Monday 12/11  Sarah Maxwell - Designs by Sarah J

Tuesday 12/12  Jessica Swift - Jessica Swift

Wednesday 12/13  Lisa Ruble - Love to Color My World

Thursday 12/14  Cindy Wiens - Live a Colorfullife

Friday 12/15  Eleri Kerian - Sew and Tell Project

Saturday 12/16  Anjeanette Klinder - Anjeanette K

Sunday 12/17  Stephanie Kendron - Modern Sewciety

Monday 12/18  Christopher Thompson - The Tattooed Quilter

Tuesday 12/19  Susan Playsted - Hopewood Home

And now, I'm so thrilled to be able to offer a copy of this book in a special GIVEAWAY to one of my readers!

Enter to Win!

Here's how,

Just leave a comment below and you'll be entered into the drawing! This giveaway is only available to US residents due to shipping costs. (So sorry international readers -- you know we love you!) I'll choose a random winner on Friday, December 8th!

A big thanks to all who stopped by and to those of you who entered my Giveaway! The lucky winner is commenter, Linda Williamson! Please check your email for a message from me!

Thank you, Sharon. Thank you for creating such a beautiful book, for your endless inspiration and encouragement, for your continued friendship and for trusting me to share with while on your journey. 

xo Maureen

Little Town + Les Petits Stockings : :

When it came time to begin my holiday sewing I had to include my friend Amy Sinibaldi's beautiful winter themed collection for Art Gallery Fabrics, Little Town, an adorable collection that captures so perfectly the joy and beauty of the season!



Isn't this such a sweet collection for holiday sewing?! Right when these fabrics arrived I envisioned using Little Town & Amy's Les Petits collection of blenders that she designed to coordinate effortlessly with her lines, to make a set of new stockings and I'm so glad that I made time to stitch a few up!



I couple of years ago I created my go-to stocking pattern by tracing an x-large stocking that I had purchased before I began sewing. The shape and generous size of this style of stocking is by far my favorite that I've seen. I don't mind one bit using the same pattern over and over again, year after year because the fun comes from the different patchwork that I use for each. For these Little Town stockings I used the new Friendship Braid qayg that I've been experimenting with lately. I really love how these turned out!



For each stocking I made one of my flower cluster ornaments using Amy's fabrics, wool blend felt, AGF linen, ric rac and handmade fabric twine. These extra embellishments take some time to make, but I love the way the look hanging from each stocking loop!





I ended up making four more of these Little Town + Les Petits stockings and this morning added them to my Etsy shop. I'm so glad I wasted no time to begin my holiday sewing this year, because now I have time to make lots more of these pretty stockings!



Now through December 5th I'm offering free shipping on all domestic orders in my Etsy shop with coupon code: FREESHIP! This includes these new holiday stockings, handmade pillows & quilts, 1yd scrap bundles, birthday crowns, etc.. I plan to add new items daily throughout the sale, I hope you'll stop by!

xo Maureen 

Handmade Buffalo Check : :

Happy December 1st! I'm having the most fun sewing at my new studio these days! You may have noticed that I've been keeping pretty busy stitching items to sell this holiday season. While I've been sewing I've spent so much time thinking about what I plan to offer at my new studio, once I'm able to open the doors to invite people in. Local shopping, lessons and sewing get-togethers are all at the top of my list, but lately I'm feeling most excited about this new opportunity to sell the things I make. I enjoy so much making and selling in my Etsy shop, as well as having the occasional Instagram or special sale right here. Now that my work space is so much larger, for the first time I'm able to offer large batches of each new item I stich up and it's really exciting! I'm hoping to continue this new assembly line sewing trend I'm in to completely stock my new studio with as many gift items as I can for once I'm ready to open. But for now, my focus is on sewing for this holiday and I'm in love with today's new item up for sale!



These Handmade Buffalo Check Zipper bags were completely inspired by the holiday stockings that I made last year this time, using Art Gallery Fabrics Solid Textured Denim in Scarlet Brick, a heavy weight cotton denim, paired with AGF Pure Elements Caviar and Aurora Red!



So much of our house becomes covered with red and black plaid during the winter months. From kitchen towels to bed sheets, it's the Cracknell's favorite print this time of year!

To make my own to turn into bags I cut 2" strips of both the denim and the solid cottons to make my patchwork and then I used qayg to quilt them to a layer of cotton batting. The combination of the heavy weight denim with the layer of batting on both sides, make these bags nice and sturdy. And for the lining I used my brand new Love Story Daring Tribal Noir print that goes perfectly!



These bags reverse to the same handmade buffalo plaid on both sides and they're each finished with a cherry red felted wool ball zipper pull!





I shared a peek of these in my Instagram stories last night and already sold a bunch, hooray! I have just eight remaining for $25 each. They measure 8" x 8" and have a bottom with boxed corners making them perfect for gift-giving and roomy enough for makeup, travel, art supplies, epp & knitting projects, etc... and I can see my boys and husband using these for their travel needs, as well!

If you're interest in placing an order you can leave your Paypal email in the comments or you can email me at maureencracknell@hotmail.com anytime!

So how about you, are you busy sewing anything to gift or sell this holiday season?

xo Maureen