A Winter Woods Beacon Quilt!

Last Friday I released my new Beacon quilt pattern in my shop, and it's been such a whirlwind few days that I didn't yet get a chance to blog the different versions of my Beacon quilt that I made while working on the pattern. I've made FIVE already and I love each one so much that I want to share each in their very own post!

I started with the Enchanted Voyage cover quilt when I released the pattern last week and today I want to share this Winter Woods version that I made with the gorgeous custom bundle that Fabric Stork curated and since sold out of in their shop. The Winter Woods bundle included all AGF prints designed by myself and fellow AGF fabric designers. I didn't get to include all of the prints in the bundle, but many of my favorites made it in. It's just so pretty!



It was impossible not to make a beautiful quilt with these fabrics! The combination of blues, gold and low volume print worked perfectly for the Beacon quilt pattern!

You can see in this photo of my Beacon quilt blocks that I swapped the gold floral for Bonnie Christine's Wandering with Doe print from her Open Road collection and I paid careful to the direction of that print when I cut my fabrics to be sure all the adorable little creatures were facing the right way. I love looking at each block made with these gorgeous Winter Woods themed prints and picking out my favorite design details!



Once my blocks are all stitched together one of my favorite things to do is to snap that quilt top swirl pic and I especially love how the Beacon pattern looks when swirled!



I sent all five of the Beacon quilts that I made to Brooke at Lady Belle Fabric & Quilting to work her long arm quilting magic! For this version we chose an edge to edge design with a four-point star that looked to sparkle to me called Gemma and I think it's perfect for the theme of this quilt!



When I get to have a quilt finished by Brooke it adds another beautiful layer of design and artistry to my quilts, it's so special! Which is why I'm having a Giveaway on my Instagram for those of you who've purchased my Beacon quilt pattern to have a chance to have your Beacon quilted by Brooke, as well! You can enter thru today (12/4) by clicking the image below!



I bound this Winter Woods version in another Bonnie Christine print, a warm and rustic plaid from her Lambkin collection, Wooly Umber, that I love so much!





Up next I plan to share the Merry & Bright Beacon I made, a very cheery & classic Christmas version that I've decided to keep for our family! After all, I have dreamt of making a Christmas quilt for us since I began quilting nearly ten years ago!

Both my Enchanted Voyage Beacon and this Winter Woods Beacon are available for sale in my shop with Free Shipping, where you can find the Beacon PDF pattern to make your own and lots of other newly added handmade goodies, as well!

xo Maureen

New Bags!

I 've mentioned before that this year started off rough with me badly injuring my right knee. In between my sprained ligaments healing and reconstruction surgery, there were a couple of weeks where I was able to sew, very slowly, and during that time I had challenged myself to try my best to make a bag a day. I came pretty close to that goal and it was just what I needed to stay creative and feeling somewhat productive. The bag challenge was helpful and I realized just how much I love to make them, which absolutely kept my spirits up during such a difficult time! The bags I make aren't very complicated, which makes them fun. Often times they're made from scraps leftover from larger projects which feels good to use, the construction is simple and they're always quilted. Today I thought I'd share a few of my recent quilted bag finishes!



Inspired by tomorrow's Friday Fabric Giveaway with my new sponsor Fabric Stork for Alexandra Bordallo's adorable Dew & Moss collection for AGF, I pulled a few favorites from my Dew & Moss bundle and added in some colorful prints by Sharon Holland, Pat Bravo and Amy Sinibaldi to make a cheerful new drawstring bag!



I love the way the photo of my fabric pull was arranged so much that I decided to keep the prints in the same order while piecing my bag. Such a pretty ombre effect, don't you think!? You may have seen the drawstring bag I shared last week made in this same style and I should let you know that I've decided to make at least six to display on a vintage accordion peg rack that I have in the shop side of my studio that I've been working on filling with inventory. Besides the zip bags I often make, I love making these non-zip, drawstring bags with handles!



I still haven't sourced or made the perfect drawstrings just yet, but I'm getting closer! For these I used an AGF denim and finished the ends of them with Dritz Fray Check, to seals the unfinished ends of my drawstrings. When the Fray Check dries, which I left over night to dry after they were threaded through my bag, the ends harden slightly and think this may be the way I go from now on. I'll definitely keep you updated on that!



The other three bags I made are zipper pouch bags using my Quick Quilt As You technique. This first one I shared on my Instagram yesterday and received lots of love! I've made several using this pattern that's a modified version of a qayg quilt block I made for my Craftsy (now Bluprint class). I love the combination of the flying geese with fabric strips. This is definitely a pattern I plan to make into a quilt!



The back features prints from my Mystical Land and Nightfall collections combined with a few prints from the Lugu collection by Jessica Swift. I adore Jessica's moths and owls!



The final two bags include many of the same fabrics but this time I used my Friendship Braid QAYG! Each strip is pieced and straight line quilted to a layer of Hobbs cotton batting with an aqua 50wt Aurifil thread that I finally just ran out of. I swear those large spools last forever!



The back is just a simple striping of the same fabrics but this time I used a wavy stitch that comes as a built-in stitch on my Janome. I set the stitch length and width at the greatest options and it goes super quick and looks great!



Now you'll all have to let me know which of these new bags is your favorite? It will help me decide which to make more of for my shop, which I really appreciate!

xo Maureen

Mystical Land Quilt Tops!

Earlier this month I enjoyed making not one, but two new Mystical Land fabric quilt tops! The one above I began in the Spring by making hourglass quilt blocks combining ML with AGF's new Element or blender, Decostitch, but once the kids Summer break from school started in late May this project got tucked away with my other unfinished projects. When I finally returned to my studio a few weeks back I was thrilled to discover that I only needed a dozen or so more to piece together this quilt top and that same evening I brought it along to the lake for pictures!



This is the sixth Hourglass quilt top I've made over the years and my new favorite! Although I now have a spacious studio, I still don't have a design wall, so I made room on the floor so I could arrange my blocks in a thoughtful way that would showcase my inspiration for both my Mystical Land collection and this quilt top -- the beautiful glow and magic of dusk, my favorite time of day!



The transition from the pale blues, creams, and golden yellows into the moody and saturated blues, violet and fuchsia prints is so pretty and was a very fun challenge and chance for me to play with their values. I did quite a bit of rearranging on the floor to get it right and I'm so happy with how closely this quilt top resembles my initial vision!



When I make Hourglass quilt blocks I start with square cuts of fabric and had cut WAY too many for the top above. Not wanting those to go to waste or to begin another hourglass quilt top right away, I decided to pair contracting colors together to make large HSTs from those leftover square cuts. Although in these photos it very much looks like these are hourglass blocks,as well, each block that makes up this top is made of four HSTs. This quilt top is also quite a bit bigger than the first quilt top a made -- I suppose that's a happy side effect of not doing math before I began the first top!



The combination of colors in this one is really interesting to me because of how the berry + orchid purples and the Sunglow Decostitch prints jump out at me. I really love it!



Both of these quilt tops, along with a few others, are in the hands of Brooke Becker of  Lady Belle Quilting to work her edge to edge quilting magic. I saw a peek of one already and I cannot wait to get them back to bind and photograph this Fall, my favorite season!

This is the first full week of school for my kids and it feels good to be back to a schedule. We were all ready! I immediately began redoing my studio to open up as a small gift shop, to offer lessons and to host craft nights before the year ends. That's where I'm spending most of my time right now, but I've made sure to make time for sewing as well and I have lots to share. It feels so good to be back in this space today!

How about you, what are you working on these days?

xo  Maureen

A Mystical Land GIVEAWAY with Lady Belle Fabric!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

My sponsor Lady Belle Fabric is run by husband and wife team, Rob & Brooke! In their shop you'll find both bundles and single cuts of handpicked fabrics that are fresh, modern, and fun! Designer fabrics include many of our favorites -- Art Gallery Fabrics, Free Spirit, & Moda, just to name a few! Lady Belle Fabric's goal is to offer the most gorgeous lines of fabric, as quickly as they can! 
   
SHOP  *  Instagram  *  FACEBOOK  *  Pinterest  
 

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

We hope you enjoy visiting the Lady Belle Fabric sites!! 

For this week's special Fabric Giveaway Friday, Lady Belle Fabric is offering the winner my newest collection for Art Gallery Fabrics, MYSTICAL LAND! This bundle prize will include all TWENTY quilting cottons that make up this beautiful, colorful collection!



You're all invited to checkout MYSTICAL LAND along with a special discount of  20% OFF anything in the Lady Belle Fabric shop with Coupon Code: spring20 

PLUS,  Be sure to check out Lady Belle's Last Chance Section to find OOP/hard to find fabrics, there you'll even find a couple bundles of my Fleet & Flourish and Soulful in there!

Enter to win!

Here's how,

1. Simply leave a comment here in this post! (one entry)

2. Follow Lady Belle Fabric on Facebook or on Instagram! Just be sure to let me know you do by making a separate comment here for an extra entry! (optional extra entry)

3. My followers get a third entry! Just let me know that you do by making a separate comment here to record that entry. (optional extra entry)
4. Help spread the word!! I know that many of you already do, so I thought it would be nice to add that as another way to enter! Whether by Instagram, tweet, facebook, pin, blog, etc... (optional extra entry) 

That’s 4 possible entries! Enter now through Monday, April 29th!! The winner will be picked at random and I will announce their name at the bottom of this post here on the blog!

* Note * This giveaway is open to EVERYONE! If you're a "no reply" or anonymous commenter, please remember to include your email address in your comment! 

A BIG thanks to all who entered our Giveaway! The random winning commenter is, Bunny Wilson! Congratulations and please check you email for a message from me!

xo Maureen