Tuesday Inspiration : :

Purple + Green + Yellow + Blue

Photos via Pinterest

I really never buy purple anything for myself (for my daughter yes), but me? Nope, never. So I really surprised myself last week when I saw this lightweight, cream fabric with shades of purples, yellow, greens and blue at the fabric shop and had to bring it home. After I pulled some coordinating quilting weight cottons from my stash, right away I started sewing.



Using this palette and my new Simple Scarf Tutorial from last week, with just a few measurement adjustments, I made myself a new Fall scarf.



It's not very heavy and I like that. I'm not ready to layer on the wool until after the leaves have fallen. And, this way I can reach for it in the Spring again. The front is just an improv patchwork piecing of some of my favorite fabrics in these colors. I kept the width of the front 9" and kept piecing until the scarf length measured about 73". The back is made up of two pieces of the lightweight fabric sewn together to measure 9" x 73". I sewed the front and back pieces together right sides facing each other using a 1/2" seam allowance all the way around, turned it out, pressed and stitched all the way around again -- when finished this scarf measures 8" x 72".

It's not something I'll wear everyday. But making scarfs whether by knitting or sewing is just
so easy, quick, and satisfying it's just nice to do every once in a while, wouldn't you agree?



I'll be entering this scarf in the Wearables category of Celebrate Color. Which makes me giggle because I know that I am not a very good garment sewist. Regardless, it's fun just to join in! You should too!!!

How about you? What color combinations are you loving these days?

One 1001 Peeps Placemat : :

I just received this lovely bundle of 1001 Peeps from The Intrepid Thread, and aren't they sweet!? I love the peachy pink, coral colors with the grey and purple tones that make up these fabrics. I thought that they might be perfect for my daughter's birthday party this year.



So I pulled from my stash some coordinating solids and thread to begin work, when as usual Lily wasn't having any of it. See here from last week. Lately she has to get in the shot by either laying next to or in this case, standing in front of whatever I'm pointing my camera lens at. She really is becoming quite the ham!



Oh and then I had quite a time with this little placemat project. It looks simple enough I'm sure, but it was the worst sewing experience I have had to date! I began by cutting and planning the piecing for six of these placemats at once. The pieces kept getting stepped on by my children, laid upon by Lily, and therefor wrinkled...and therefor more ironing. I decided at a point to just complete one and call it a night. Which turned into seam-ripping in the morning. Then cutting away ric rac that was running a-muck around the perimeter of this first one. It was a mess! And so not meant to be for this lady who sews because it d-stresses me.



The quilting went smoothly. The pocket turned out nice. I added Haila's name. And I think this one finished placemat will be a special thing for her to have out at lunchtime, now that it's just us these afternoons with her brothers at school.



She said she likes it and that's good enough for me! This time, I'm going to just quit while I'm ahead! Actually, now that I have all these other pieces cut, I think I'm going to quilt while I'm ahead. hehe



Today Haila, my Mom, and I are headed out the door, a few hours away, for a little girl's day shopping trip and a Dr's check-up for my little girl. Say a little prayer for her. k.  ~ Maureen

p.s. There's a new fabric giveaway (here's a peek) happening here tomorrow, so please do stop back!

Teal Quilt Block : :

My Teal Block for my Bottled Rainbow Quilt is finished!

This block was a bit challenge for me! Mostly because I just didn't have the scraps. Back when we "bottled our rainbows" the pieces I had considered teal all had the right color but also many others? After sticking so closely to my kona solid color for the other blocks I had to break my rule this time and cut into some stashed fabrics. My new 1001 Peeps!

I experimented with some new shapes for this, as well. I'm using a Mandala inspired theme for each block, starting out with one center shape to work from. I sort-of  mimicked the hexagon shape in the 1001 Peeps print for this and then I used my new GO! Baby fabric cutter and my favorite flower die to help me with some more tricky shapes. It worked!!!

Zig-zag stitching around the really curvy pieces was a little tricky, too -- it definitely wasn't easy!

Look matching nails!

My Teal Block makes four finished! I've made room in my studio closet for all of them.

Here you can see the others -- my Pumpkin Petals, my Buttercup Sunburst, and my Ruby Love birds.

How about you -- what are you working on these days? I'd love to see!

Stashed : :

I have to say that I am really loving the blue-green colors of my new little stashing of 1001 Peeps by Lizzy House.  These came from my lovely sponsor Pink Castle Fabrics, they have a wonderful selection of this line available in their etsy shop. Since I have a tendency to stash either brights -- reds, oranges, yellows, aquas or neutrals in earthy prints -- I thought this would be a great middle and something completely new to add to the options around my studio.

My favorite print in the stack is this gorgeous middle fabric, the blueish-turquoise/black chevron-y print, Illusion in Blue. It's such a cool geometric design! I'm not sure what I'm going to use these for just yet, I'm thinking I might just have to pick up the other colors in this print before I know for sure.

The greens are so pretty!

The quality of Andover Fabrics is really very nice and it's super soft too!

Yup, I LOVE my 1001 Peeps!

What fabrics/fabric lines are you loving right now? I'd love to know!