Studio New: Thrifted Basket!

I spent all day yesterday at my studio rearranging the work side of my space and I finally unpacked everything in the second room. You guys, I have way too much stuff! I shared the display side of my new studio earlier this month and later this week I plan to blog about the work side. It's so wonderful having so much space to work in now, but organization is the key to keeping it all looking nice and I'm so excited to share my recent thrift store find with you all today!



As part of my contract, Art Gallery Fabrics sends me a roll with fifteen yards of each print that I design -- that's all twenty quilting cottons plus a roll of each of the knits, rayon and canvas. When these boxes of fabric arrive it's better than Christmas, I can't even describe it! The last thing I want to do is put them in a closet, hidden somewhere. I've always had them out where I can enjoy them and easily cut from the rolls what I need for my daily sewing. But just like dominos, several times now either a studio visitor or I have bumped into one of them and down they all go! So, when on a recent trip to our local thrift store I spotted this giant hamper style basket for just $20, I had to have it! It's the best thing I've found in a long time and completely worthy a blog post!



I was hoping it would keep contained a collection or two, so you can imaged how thrilled I was when it fit nearly sixty rolls of my fabrics!!



When I share photos of the rest of my work side later this week, you'll see how the rest of my prints are scattered in smaller round baskets throughout the studio. It's a great solution since I reach for these rolls pretty much daily!

Along with new studio pictures & our first Community Sampler sew-along block pattern, this week I have a new set of zipper pouch bags to share. Here's a pretty, little peek! These are right up there with some of my most favorite makes EVER!



For my next set I'm using AGF's brand new, adorable camping themed collection, Campsite! Have you seen this new line of Capsules? With designs that include deer, fox, fireflies in jars, feathers and marshmallows on sticks, just to name a few, it's perfect for both boys & girls and is so fun for fussy cutting. I love these prints and I can't wait to finish these bags up to share soon!



I wish you all a happy Monday & a wonderful new week of sewing! xo Maureen

Pretty New : :

Happy September 1st!

This week I enjoyed folding and photographing my newly stashed Lambkin collection by fellow AGF designer, Bonnie Christine. Bonnie has such a such a beautiful, sweet style that I really admire. Each print had me sighing and wishing my kiddos were small again. Lambkin is the first collection that would have been perfect to sew with for all three of my children when they were littles!



For Haila -- Pretty Twiggy, Keeping Watch Mist, and My Darlings in these soft peachy pinks would have matched her little girl room perfectly!



Jacob, my camping and forest loving boy would have loved Valley View Echo and Keeping Watch Dim! And for Kaiden, who loves birds and used to LOVE bugs and beetles just as much, Wind Observer and Little Entomologist!



These were also the days when for a little while I would knit just as much as I sewed and would have loved a little knitting bag in Lambkin Sir Wooly. It would have made the most perfect bag for carrying around my wool hat projects!



If you think these are as perfect and pretty as I do, you can find Lambkin newly available at Lady Belle Fabrics, Fat Quarter Shop and Fabric.com! I'm sure I'll have a Lambkin project or three to share soon, as well. I think I'll surprise my ten, thirteen, and fourteen year olds with pillowcases to remind them of those years when we still held hands when we crossed the street, and spent our days picking wildflower bouquets and looking under rocks. I'm sure they will tease me when they discover them on their beds, but I guarantee they'll use and love them!



This week I also added a Dahlia and Brown Eyed Susan to my collection of sunflower family pencil sketches. I can't begin to describe just how much I'm enjoying drawing like this again! There was a time when it was all I did, every chance I had. Those were the days before parenting, knitting, sewing, blogging and designing. I didn't realize how much I've missed it. It's become such a nice addition to my creative time and I'm really hoping to stick with it. Perhaps these will be available on future fabric designs or maybe in some other form. Either way, it feels worthwhile to give drawing some time again during my work days.



And since I have a preference for even numbers, I'll have to add at least one more to my collection. Any suggestions?



xo Maureen

AGF Stash -- Observer : :

There's nothing that sparks my creativity more than a fresh bundle of fabric! When April Rhodes' new Observer collection first arrived earlier this month, I wasted no time turning those beauties into a new quilt top! Using big 18" squares of each Observer print and the "Eight At a Time" method for making eight half square triangles at once, I quickly had more than enough HSTs needed to create the quilt top I had sketched out, with plenty of 8" trimmed & ready-to-sew units leftover.





From that first half yard bundle of Observer, all that remained was a pile of narrow strip scraps and a whole lotta HSTs. While I was trying to figure out a way to combine the leftover HSTs with these scraps, a commenter either here or on my Instagram mentioned what an amazing Diamond Weave Quilt this collection would make. Yes!! That idea was such a great one that my mind has been stuck there ever since! But, I'd need MORE Observer...

More for Diamond Weave quilt making.



More for backing my first Observer quilt.



More for Observer quilt bindings.



And, even a little Observer canvas for pillow backings and an upholstery project I'm hoping to tackle soon.



I think these Observer fabrics will keep me busy for a little while, and I hope you're inspired by these amazing fabrics that are so inspiring me!

My kiddos head back to school this Thursday, so I'm not looking to find much sewing time until then. It's been a wonderful, fun, & busy Summer, but I have to say -- I'm really looking forward to the return of a routine schedule! Who's with me?

XO Maureen  

Mercer ♥ : :

In addition to the Fabric Giveaway Fridays I organize with my wonderful sponsors to share at the end of each week, this year I'm teaming up with many of our favorite fabric manufacturing companies to present, highlight, & offer special giveaways for the new collections not yet or newly released to this beautiful fabric world of ours! This week, I'm very excited to showcase & possibly introduce to you for the first time, Mercer by Dear Stella!



This collection includes so many of my favorite classic prints! Chevrons, one simple & strong in crisp navy and one made by soft by the fine lines that create the pattern in pale peachy & grey tones, three stunning florals each with a unique pattern and scale in a dreamy palette of smoke, indigo, cream and melon, a whimsical feather print, quite possibly my most favorite among the group, and basic yet modern polka-dots and solids that fuse each print together to form a lovely and cohesive collection!





When these fabrics arrived I decided on making a quilt right away! My process for designing this quilt and for all of my projects, usually begins with me fanning out the fabrics, sometimes separating them into color-stories, and then I simply begin sketching out my idea onto paper.  Almost always it takes just one sketch for me to settle on an idea to use as my guide. For these I was inspired to make something traditional and sweet, with a repetitive block design and sashing!





I'm sixteen blocks in and am so happy with how it's coming together! I'm still a bit undecided on my sashing, but if today goes well, I'll have a finished quilt top to show you all very soon!


 
You can find this gorgeous Dear Stella Mercer fabric collection available at both Pink Castle Fabrics here and the Fat Quarter Shop here! Be sure to visit Dear Stella Designs, to follow them on Facebook or Instagram, and to keep an eye out for a Mercer fabric giveaway right here just as soon as I finish up my quilt!

You can see a few more pretty quilt ideas for this collection right here! How about you, what would you make with Mercer?

♥  Maureen 

Bark & Branch : :

In my last post I shared just a peek at this collection, Bark & Branch, a new release by Eloise Renouf for Cloud9 Fabrics. Unsure of which new fabric bundle I should cut into first, I untied the pretty bow wrapping this collection to get those good project ideas flowing, and decided these needed to become pillows a.s.a.p!  I snapped these photos quickly before beginning and just as soon as I had finished the phone rang, our luck had run out, my first kiddo had the flu! Since, they've all come down with it and are all home again today keeping me company and extra busy! While my sewing plans are still on hold, I thought you might like to see a closer look at Bark & Branch, as well!















I can't pick a favorite, I really love each print! With names like Winter Wonderland, Nature Trail, Passing Clouds, and Birdsong, they're fabric perfection for these cold, winter days! I'm really looking forward to turning them into a stack of quilted pillows combined with some Essex Linen. What do they inspire you to make? I always love reading your ideas!

Feel free to send healthy vibes our way, it's been a rough week for all of us! Be sure to stop back tomorrow for an awesome Fabric Giveaway Friday with Bobbie Lou Fabrics, with hopefully another giveaway to follow on Monday for some Cloud9 Fabrics goodness and a Bark & Branch pillow show & tell!

Take care!  ♥  Maureen

Super Stashy : :

After not sewing a single stitch yesterday, once the kids were off to school this morning I dove right into a new project -- making use of all those pretty Tule Sunset scraps!



But want I really want to share today is my ironing board full of goodness! Just check out this wonderful, HUGE stack of fabric!!



I took major advantage of the 40% OFF sale happening at Sprightly Fabrics, stashing 64 different Art Gallery Fabric prints! Yes, Bijoux, Carnaby Street, Floressence, Lux in Bloom, Splendor 1920, & Reminisce is all here!



At the top of my stack sits more Art Gallery Fabrics -- Angela Walters' new Legacy collection, more Tule, and the pretty coral & cool black prints from AGF's new Minimalista!







A bundle of Cloud9's soon to be released Up, Up, and Away by Skinny laMinx. I've designed a free quilt pattern for these that will be available just as soon as this collection is!



And, I couldn't resist these Domino Dots by Violet Craft. I love the colors!



Lovely piles, aren't they?! Now my only problem is that I cannot decide which to cut into first!

How about you, have you stashed anything new lately?  ♥  Maureen

Promised Quilts : :

I have nine quilts left to make for gift giving this coming Christmas. Yes, nine! I think by now you all know how successful I am at sticking to my plans without getting distracted, so... you know they'll be others too! I'm excited and have decided to begin with the two quilts I have planned for my nephews, Owen & Ben.

An "ant farm" themed quilt for Owen! Using several Backyard Baby prints, some Riley Blake Cotton Dots, and Pure Element Solids.



A nautical themed quilt for Ben! Using some Michael Miller Ahoy Matey ocean themed prints, lots of Pure Elements, some newly stashed orange fabrics from Form & Fabric, along with some older stashed fabrics.



I'm really excited about this large Making Waves panel print I ordered just for the quilt backing!



And as my bonus, totally selfish quilt project -- a gorgeous Koi quilt must be made as soon as possible, as well! Just like with Tsuru, I fell completely in love with Rashida's new collection for Cloud9 at first peek!!



I never mentioned this here before, but back in January things got pretty tough for me. I had been having complications with my Autoimmune skin disease since last July and just when I thought things were getting better, a bad bronchial infection along with a high fever seemed to trigger a really bad flareup. It was extremely painful, especially emotionally, and I'm glad those days are behind me. Of course I understand that Autoimmune disease can be a very mysterious thing, with no rhyme or reason as to why these things do happen to so many, but accepting that doesn't just make the desire to know what the cause of these problems is just go away. So during those difficult days at a visit with one of my doctors, we were going over everything that he knew might possibly trigger such a long lasting widespread issue. Blood work revealed nothing that's usually associated with my skin problems, allergy tests showed no link, reaction to all the medications I had tried throughout the last couple of years -- ruled out. Then he asked, "You say you sew? Do you do that often?" Me, "Oh, yes!" Then, for the first time he seriously discussed with me that although it's rare, there has been reported links to the skin disease I have as a sensitive reaction to dyes, possibly dyes used in fabric. Can you imagine how hearing that felt? I can't even begin to try to share in words what that did to me. I will share that I took that notion serious, it felt very possible, and I even began to believe that it was the reason for awhile. He decided to refer me to a new Autoimmune Dermatologists to get her opinion, as well. My appointment was scheduled and I had about three months to think about all of this. What would I do if I couldn't sew anymore? I thought about that for about a day and then I thought, well I can still sew now! If you look back at my blog from late January on, you'll see that I made a pretty big sewing shift to focus on quilt work at that time. Along with that shift came a promise to make each of my favorite kids, mine and my nieces and nephews all a special quilt. They all responded with some really fun ideas, from princess to peace signs to ant farm themed quilts. Thankfully, I can report that at my last appointment it was decided that dye wasn't the culprit, and although unfortunately we still don't know what is, I now have these special quilts to focus on finishing by Christmas time this year. I have three finished, the Stitched Typography quilt for my Jacob, the ABC quilt for a new niece or nephew due in September, my most recent Zig Zag quilt for Haila, and just nine more to go! That's all, no big deal, ahem. So that's the very summed up story of why I finally decided to and completely fell in love with making quilts this year. An unexpected push, from this strange and crazy ordeal, gave me the confidence I was missing to finally cut into these fabrics I love so much with quilt plans in mind, and I'm grateful. I learned a lot about myself during those several months, a made some quilts that I'm really proud of, and most importantly I remembered to trust that no matter how things turn out, they will always turn out exactly as they should.

♥ Maureen 

Power Sewing : :

I woke up this morning so ready to get back into my regular routine, and just after the kids went off to school, the power went out? Gah!! Well, it's finally back on and I have so much sewing to do!

I finished up the last of my pillow orders yesterday, mailed some things out for Quilt Market, and moved right on to my crown orders.





I'm hoping to find some time to add some new, felt-y things to my shop soon. Like this felt flower headband I recently made Haila, she loves it!



But first, I must continue plugging away on my orders today, keeping my most recent fabric splurges close by my work area to keep me on task and dreaming of what they might become.

Mecca for Moderns by Alexander Henry from Contemporary Cloth!



And that lovely Text Me Maybe bundle from Stash Fabrics, you might recognize it from one of my recent giveaways, along with my favorite Shelburne Falls plaid!



I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday!! ♥,  Maureen