A Winter Patchwork Pillow : :

I love the combination of fabrics that I chose to make yesterday's patchwork stockings so much, that I had to make a patchwork pillow, too!











This one will join my stockings and the other items I've recently listed in my Etsy!

I wish you all a lovely weekend! ♡ Maureen

New Storage : :

One afternoon during the long Memorial Day weekend, we spent some time together moving things around in my sewing room and did some major organizing of all our art supplies. Since we moved here in November,  my sewing room has worked great as a shared craft space for the kids, but soon with the the four of us together each day, it was time to do some shuffling around. I have a few more things yet to figure out and then I plan to share what we've done!

The amount of colored pencils we've acquired alone since we moved is pretty astounding, but I don't worry -- with my crew, they'll be useful!



I had things looking pretty tidy, and then as usual, just as soon as everything was nice and neat the kids got everything out again! This happens in your house too, I assume?

Later that day I stopped in at our local thrift shop to pick up these beautiful, large wooden spools I had left behind on my last visit. Perfect for quilt binding, right?!



While I was there I spotted this piece right away! It had just come into the shop and was something I was looking for, for years!! It had a great price and my friend who owns the shop was willing to give me an even better deal. But still, it was a lot of money to spend on a random Sunday, after telling Kevin that I was running to the store and then the thrift shop to pick up a few $3 spools.

I'm excited to share, that with the encouragement of my Instagram friends and a husband who understands that I would be kicking myself, and him, forever if I had passed on it -- I brought it home! And, I love it!!

Kevin even cleaned it all up for me, he's the best!!

Can you tell how huge it is? It's really, really big!



Since, I swapped out the knobs with these pretty, white porcelain knobs from the 20's, and filled each of the label areas with a bright, fabric/washi tape tag.







I'm so happy with it, it's such a special piece! Each of the drawers is made with extra large dovetails and it's got such a great handmade look. I think it's a good fit here!





I'm curious, are you all interested in thrifting and collecting, as well? I bet that's another thing most of us have in common! If so, I might just have to share more of my finds here throughout the Summer! Feel free to share your own favorite pieces for storage, I love seeing creative uses for thrift finds! How about collections, do you have any??  I love chatting about this stuff just as much as I love chatting about sewing!!

And, if you would like to listen to me do that for a few minutes, I was a guest this past Monday on the American Patchwork & Quilting Radio Show with Pat Sloan. I was really nervous, but it was a lot of fun! I'd love for you to listen if you get the chance!   ♥,  Maureen

HOMEmade -- A Butterfly Appliqued Curtain : :

Making a curtain is a super satisfying thing, it always leaves me with a good feeling! Besides being so simple, it's functional and likely more affordable to go the handmade curtain route. Of course, we LOVE that!



I'm hoping at least a few of you understand just how tricky it might have been to take a photograph of a hanging curtain, on a bright winter day, in a not-so-large bedroom, with a not-so-wide camera lens? It wasn't easy and I can't say that I ever really figured it out. When I went through my pictures I was a little disappointed, it looks so much prettier in real life, I promise! Yet my dedication to sharing my first "HOMEmade" project for this new home of ours pressed on, and I really hope you like it!



I only made one curtain and I'm still trying to decide if this window really needs two? What do you think?

This one was made with some simple, large improv piecing of several Pure Element solids from my stash and scraps left over from this qayg project, one of my favorite Summerlove prints Daydreaming in Sunshine (still available at @Hawthorne, Moona, & FQS), and a second curtain layer made up of lots of LillyBelle Garden Rocket in Turquoise.



I love seeing that sweet LillyBelle print peek through! Still the appliqued layer can be lifted or swept to the side, once we choose a Tie-Back, to reveal that gorgeous print. I chose to do it this way just for fun really, I thought the layers would look really sweet and girly, plus I knew we wouldn't reverse the finished drape often.



I added a quick Butterfly applique to match my girl's bedding!



Machine stitched with an Aurifil 12WT in a brown, and a hand-stitched loop-de-loop with pearl cotton floss.



It was a lot of fun to make this curtain and is definitely not the worst thing in the world to finish something and the only struggling part be the photographing that comes after!



When we first moved in I loved all the white shutters on the windows so much, I was rather opposed to having curtains on most of them. It was so lovely to see clearly outside! But now that we're deep into the winter months it's feeling a little bare. If I find time and a stronger urge in the weeks ahead, a few more windows in this home might just get a treatment after-all -- we'll see if I improve!  ♥, Maureen