Haila's Fox : :

This past week we had such a houseful, but on Saturday for just an hour or so, Haila and I found ourselves a little stretch of sewing time. A promise was made that we'd sew over Thanksgiving break, and this was our big chance!

First I asked her to choose from my pile of random quilt blocks what would be the center of a new quilted pillow. She opted for a little fabric fox appliqued onto a light gray PE solid. She's always loved my fox pillows and was thrilled for this chance to make one of her very own. She decided right away to surround little fox with pretty flowers, so that's what she did!











I really love this pillow - the colors, those sweet florals, and my girl's effortful stitching. It's always so fun watching her work, understanding each step with such delight, it's exciting to see!

As long as she keep requesting these sewing sessions, I will happily oblige. It's a pleasure!

♡  Maureen

Handmade ♥ : :

Hello! Gosh, I'm so behind on photographing my things to share here! I have a quilt finish, some more Making Rows quilt panels, a new quilt pattern in the works, and lots of Birthday Crown & Fox pillow orders all waiting for me to share, but instead today I want to show off a few of the wonderful handmade things I've received or have collected for birthday/holiday gift giving recently!



First, there's this beautiful fabric organizer/portfolio gifted to me by my friend Heidi. It was a complete surprise when it arrived yesterday in the mail, I love it! This Fort Firefly fabric by Birch Fabrics is one collection I can't wait to stash. It's so pretty!





To have received something so special from my talented friend made my week! Thank you so much Heidi!!





This sweet, pieced Fox Zip Pouch is made by Small Town Thread. I ordered this one for my little girl Haila, who's ready to start sewing!



This summer she got to play around on my machine a little and has asked for a machine of her own for her birthday in December. Having this chance to pick out some sewing supplies with her in mind is about as awesome as it gets!



Sew Fantastic makes these super cute Crayon Wallets, along with an amazing & colorful variety of pouches and other handy wallets! The best place to shop Terri's things is here, on Instagram. I bought myself a wallet from her a month or so ago and it's one of my most favorite things ever!





These Crayon Wallets I'm saving for Christmas, they go so perfectly with the new sketchbooks I ordered from Stubby Pencil Studios!



This year, I'm making an extra effort to make & support handmade even more than in years past. I'm getting so close to reaching my goal of making each of my children, nieces, and nephews their own quilt to give at Christmas, and I'm hoping to have enough time to make at least one more for whoever I get in our family gift exchange. How about you, are you planning to give a little handmade this holiday season? I'd love more ideas, so feel free to share your shop link or one you happen to favorite! I have lots of people on my gift list!!

♥ Maureen

Baby Quilt Planning : :

Just a few days after I shared my last fabric stash post I received these adorable new bundles in the mail -- this Reminisce Inspired Pure Element Solids bundle from Stash Fabrics and this super cute & cozy FQ bundle of FanFare flannel by Rae Hoekstra for Cloud9 Fabrics.



Since I love the way these two bundles look together, I decided to begin a new baby quilt-as-you-go with these as my starting point.  I've always wanted to incorporate my fox applique pillow design into a quilt somehow and this is the perfect opportunity!



While thinking up additional applique blocks for this quilt, I remembered these elephant applique pillows I made back in 2011, and thought this design might make a cute block to add in, too!





After making my Stitched Typography Quilt and my recent Butterfly Quilt, I'm really excited for this chance to experiment with applique & quilt-as-you-go once again! Here's a little peek at the progress I made last night.



And now I've decided my fox needs a crown!

I'm thinking of adding in an owl applique block, because I love owls, and maybe a tree block or two, as well. What else do you think would be cute? I always love reading your ideas!

♥  Maureen

Crown Cuteness : :

I've been busy making Birthday Crowns! Sometimes making all these crowns can seem pretty repetitive, particularly my most popular crown style. Then other times, the variety of cute applique opportunities I receive is so, SO fun and enjoyable! These are the orders that seem to come at just the right time, giving me the relief I need from the monotony!











Today, I'm feeling caught up just enough to work on my Carnaby Quilt. I do have two, new quilt ideas completely planned out -- a solids quilt made with only Pure Elements and another with Shelburne Falls, that I can not wait to begin!

How about you, what are you working on this week?    ♥,  Maureen

Orange Jewel Fox : :

Yesterday was all about Birthday Crown making, with time to make just one new fox pillow! This time I used a little of my Jewels in Orange by Lizzy House and some soft, dark purple wool.



These Jewel prints are one of my all time favorites! Aren't they pretty?! After doing a quick search with my sponsors, I found that Hawthorne Threads has a pretty nice selection still available!



Orange & Purple is so fun for Fall decorating, I just couldn't resist!



I asked last night on facebook for a little approval of my fabric choice for finishing, and mostly everyone agreed! If you chimed in, thank you!!



I think it was a good choice! I actually had just enough fabric to finish the back, so it seemed too perfect not to finally use it up.



This new fox pillow is finished and headed to my etsy!



Today, I'm going over to the new house with my best friend, to measure and begin to make decorating plans. I'll try to get some good before pics to share of what my new sewing space will look like. I can tell you, it's about 3-4 times bigger than what I have now!

I even scored this perfect furniture piece for new fabric storage -- $40!! How amazing is that?!



Currently, it's a home for some of my Pyrex with a bunch of random things set on top. We've started packing, so everything is out of sorts right now. Including me!!

Take care! ♥,  Maureen 

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Put A Fox On It : :

Wow everyone!! I have to first THANK YOU all today for being so sweet and supportive in light of our HOME news!! I am a nervous ball of emotions, as you can imagine. I can't wait to share all the details, photos, and decorating ideas as this all plays out. Right now we're looking at closing sometime within the next 6-8 weeks, so I'm going to be super busy...but still sewing all the while, maybe with a few decorating inspiration posts, too?! It's going to be fun, I promise.

So yes, this post is inspired by the silly genius that is Portlandia's Put A Bird On It! That hilarious video actually became a running joke around here between my husband and I. Well that, and the amount of pillows we have! It's ridiculous, and I love it! I am certain that my crazy pillow making will never stop, it's true, and putting birds on things is likely to continue, as well. But today is all about cute little fox things! Want to see?!

It's been quite a while since I made a fox pillow. I love simple applique projects, especially when making pillows, and this adorable fox design is always a fun one for me to make! 



I actually chose an image from my fox pillow making for the front of one of my new mini Moo business cards!



It's one of my favorite fox pillow pictures ever and now it lives on about 300 of these cute, little cards!



On the back is just a list of my sites and contact email. I do plan to share a post sometime soon including what I had ordered a few weeks back to prepare for making, selling, and blogging full time. I was so bad about carrying and giving out my business info before. But not anymore! It really helps to have cards that you love and that represent you well!



While in fox making mode, I decided to make my very first quilted version. Reaching for a few prints from my Simply Color Layer Cake from Southern Fabrics. I love the bright colors and leafy designs in this collection by V and Co., and have been wanting to make something combining blues and orange for a while, so this was perfect!



I added my felt fox applique to the pillow front, and backed it with a layer of soft batting.



I think it turned out cute?! Haila and Jacob both love it, so that made me happy. It's always nice to find things to make that work for both boys and girls. I'm hoping someone will snatch this up from my little etsy shop! SOLD, woohoo!



The back is finished with more blues and orange, in some of my favorite Full Moon Polka-dot from Moona and a little more Simply Color.



So, that's the extent of me "putting a fox on it" for now. Today, I'm off to work on a new, very special quilt top. More on that soon, but first -- I had to make one of these! I just couldn't stop myself!!

LOL!! Happy Thursday, friends! ♥  Maureen 

p.s...my HUGE Willow Giveaway continues HERE today! And, I have a new custom bundle Giveaway beginning early tomorrow, around 7-ish (est)!! Don't forget!

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Hello Fox : :

More Fox Pillows! Yup, that's all I have for today! I had a color inspiration post planned to share this morning, but I put the wrong date in for a scheduled posting --whoops! I left for the morning and had no idea. I decided to save it and share what I've been busy sewing up. How about you, did you find any sewing time today?

Happy Day, friends! ♥ Maureen