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

An Autumn Vibes Friendship Braid Quilt : :

I'm so excited to share this new quilt, my Autumn Vibes Friendship Braid Quilt!



Before I share a tutorial for this new Quick Quilt As You Go, first I have to share my pretty, newly finished quilt featuring my brand new Autumn Vibes collection for Art Gallery Fabrics!



When I designed this collection I tried so hard to capture the warmth and coziness of Autumn, full of prints and colors that would create the perfect quilt to leave on the sofa all season long!

This Autumn Vibes Friendship Brand Quilt is definitely the one for me!



Since we're still a few weeks away from when the Fall foliage is in full flourish, on Friday I stopped by the local Farmer's Market to pick up these gorgeous, colorful Dahlia's and Zinnias to use in my photos.







Yesterday afternoon we were able to sneak out to a favorite local spot for photographs just before the rain. The weather was changing fast and the light & cool breeze were perfect, I wish you all could have been there!



See that backing fabric peeking out? Well, that's my Autumn Vibes Harvest Trails in Walnut and I think it's my new favorite quilt backing fabric!



I set out to create a design reminiscent of a vintage Kilim poncho, with a woven look and texture, and I'm so happy with how this print turned out!



Mister Goat agrees!

I especially LOVE the way it looks from afar in this full shot!



In recent weeks I've been quite obsessed with quilting using the built-in wavy stitch that's a feature of my Janome Quilt Maker 15000. It adds just the right amount of quilty goodness without much effort, which is just perfect for me! These days I'm so busy designing fabric collections that I don't often finish a quilt without having to send it out to a long-arm quilter, if I even get that far. This stitch, PLUS quick quilt as you go, makes for a very achievable quilt finish from start to finish. LOVE that!









I'm already ready to make another!

How about you, do you think you'll give this Friendship Braid QAYG pattern a try?

Autumn Vibes Friendship Braid Quilt Details:

Available for purchase: HERE
Measures: 60" x 72"
Fabrics: Autumn Vibes
Batting: Tuscany Cotton by Hobbs Quilt Batting
Thread: Aurifil 50wt cotton 

xo Maureen

Loved to Pieces Blog Party!

Busy, busy, July was quite the month! In my last blog post I shared how happy I was to be back in this space and I had a major backlog of news and projects that I was planning to share. But the day after that last post, my husband woke up early and knew right away that things weren't right after not feeling well with flu-like symptoms for several weeks. He had Bell's Palsy, temporary face paralysis on the right side of his face and we learned shortly after that, that he had two tick-borne diseases, Lyme and Babesiosis. He's been taking the appropriate medications and today he's doing much better and is back to work. So here I am, excited to share my project for my talented friend, Mathew Boudreaux aka Mister Domestic's Loved to Pieces Blog Party!





This year Mathew joined the Art Gallery Fabrics family as an Angles by AGF designer and released his very first fabric collection, Loved to Pieces. Inspired by his daughter Helena's love for flowers and his love for paper piecing, Loved to Pieces is florals meet EPP geometrics in an array of blues with touches of vibrant pinks and subtle greens. It was an absolute joy to sew with! So much so that I couldn't stop. With everything that had been going on in my life I didn't want to commit to a big project that I couldn't finish in time to share as part of this blog tour, so I started by making one of my favorite go-to makes -- one quilt as you go flat bottom lined zipper pouch, and then I made nineteen more!





The front side of each bag is made with 2" strips of Loved to Pieces and the friendship braid Quick Quilt As You Go pattern that I've been experimenting with more recently, that I hope to share a tutorial for soon. Each bag has a cushiony layer of Hobbs cotton batting, a colorful zipper, a fuchsia faux suede zipper pull and is lined with a Loved to Pieces print or coordinating solid for a really nice finish!





Each bag measures a generous 9"x 9" and reverses to a striping of  Loved to Pieces prints. I made sure that both colorways of this new collection are used for each bag. This collection is so good for 
scrappy patchwork!





The zipper colors I chose were inspired by the blues and greens in this pretty collection. I added a silk tiered tassel charm to this one and I love it!





One bag has been filled with goodies and will be offered in a special Giveaway today on my Instagram, one I'll be sending to Mathew as a thank you/congratulatory gift, and the remaining eighteen bags will be available for purchase in my Etsy shop! Each bag in my shop will come with a surprise freebee gift and a small scrap pack of leftover Loved to Pieces 2" strips! I also have ten silk tassel charms available if you'd like to add one to your bag purchase, just be sure to let me know on Etsy when you order!



For today's special Giveaway prize I'm offering everything shown below -- a Loved to Pieces flat bottom zipper pouch bag with a silk tiered tassel charm, a six-piece bundle of Loved to Pieces prints, a spool of fuchsia Aurifil 40 wt perfect for hand piecing, an Omnigrid ruler, Dritz seam ripper, vintage needlecase kit, fabric quilt labels, a variety of EPP papers from Love, Patchwork & Quilting magazine and Dritz, plus a notepad, quilters graph paper notebook and sticker set from Art Gallery Fabrics!



Can you believe that everything shown here fits inside one of my bags!



I hope you've enjoyed my stop on Mister Domestic's Loved to Pieces Blog Tour! It's such an honor to be amongst this amazing line up of designers:

• Monday July 16: Amanda Woodruff of A Crafty Fox
• Tuesday July 17: Sharon Holland of Sharon Holland Designs
• Wednesday July 18: Angela Wolf of Angela Wolf Pattern Collection
• Thursday July 19: Brittany Jones of Brittany Jones
• Friday July 20: Sharon McConnell of Color Girl Quilts
• Saturday July 21: Elina Temmes of Elina Temmes
• Monday July 23: Meghan Buchanan of Then Came June
• Tuesday July 24: Nicole Daksiewicz of Modern Handcraft
• Wednesday July 25: Cristy Stuhldreher of I Love You Sew
• Thursday July 26: Kate Basti of Quilt with Kate
• Friday July 27: Courtney Davis posting at Melly Sews
• Sunday July 29: Mimi Goodwin of Mimi G Style
• Monday July 30: Kim Niedzwiecki of Go Go Kim
• Tuesday July 31: Tara Curtis of Wefty Needle
• Wednesday August 1: Saija Kiiskinen of Saija Kiiskinen
• Thursday August 2: Jodi Godfrey of Tales of Cloth
• Sunday August 5: Brett Lewis of Natural Born Quilter
• Monday August 6: Karen Tripp of The DIY Addict
• Tuesday August 7: Tracy Martin of Tracy Bug Creative
• Wednesday August 8: Sharon Burgess of Lilabelle Lane Creations
• Thursday August 9: Maureen Cracknell of Maureen Cracknell Handmade
• Friday August 10: Kylie Gersekowski of Little Moo Designs

I hope that we all inspire you to sew with Loved to Pieces!

Be sure to visit my Etsy Shop if you're interesting in ordering one of my Loved to Pieces Bags and be sure to visit my Instagram today at noon EST to enter my special Loved to Pieces GIVEAWAY!



xo Maureen

Campsite Sewing : :

Have you seen Art Gallery Fabric's Campsite Capsules collection?

At first site, I had to have it! Foxes, feathers, wildflowers, stars and so many more adorable motifs create this ten piece collection that is perfect if you love woodland themed prints just as much as I do!



Oh yes, and a print full of canning jars that keep sparkly metallic sprinkled fireflies captive! So much cuteness!



For my first Campsite project I decided on a set of zipper pouch bags that I plan to sell with a handcrafted journal and rustic twig pencil. I think it will make a really cute gift for any camp-loving kiddos, like my own three kids!

My bag fronts began with fussy cut Sneaky Little Foxes and from there I added patches and strips of each camp inspired print!



For the reverse side, I fussy cut a single Fireflies Glow jar for each piece and made quick quilt as you go style log cabin blocks. The Campfire Sweets toasted marshmallow print makes for a super cute stripe!



Laying together both styles of qayg blocks that I made for these bag fronts and backs, I could see either pattern making super cute baby or children quilts!





I'm hoping to finish up these bag sets to share later on this week! How about you, what are you working on this week?

xo Maureen

Love Story & Indie Folk Friendship Braids Quilt

I'm so excited to share my first quilt finish of 2018 -- A Friendship Braids QAYG Quilt made in my recently released Love Story collection for Art Gallery Fabrics + Pat Bravo's beautiful Indie Folk collection for AGF. These romantic, boho prints and saturated colors speak to me like no other. You may have noticed my affection for them over the past few weeks, I can't stop reaching for them for bags, pillows and this first quilt of the new year!



This quilt started back in November when I came up with this new qayg idea using the Quick Quilt As You Go method that I teach in my Craftsy class. To make this quilt top I used all twenty Indie Folk quilting cottons, several of my Love Story prints cut into strips measuring 3" x WOF, plus forty 8" x 15" cotton batting rectangles.



Once each rectangle cut of batting was covered with fabric edge to edge, I trimmed away the access fabric and batting to measure 7.5" x 14". I stitched the pretty blocks together first in pairs using just slightly larger than a 1/4" seam allowance and then I stitched them all together to finish a quilt top measuring approximately 56" x 68", a wonderful throw size!





I finished the quilt by attaching the backing fabric, my favorite Indie Folk print Khokhloma Burgundia, sewing through each layer a 1/4" from both sides of where my blocks were sewn together. Video instructions for finishing this style of qayg quilts can be found in my Craftsy class. I just love how quickly this style of quilt comes together, with such a beautiful finish each time!







I chose to bind this quilt using Pat's colorful, unique take on a stripe, Indie Folk's Trinket Vivid. I tend to use stripe prints for my binding and this one fits this finish so nicely!



I sold this quilt during my holiday sale back in December, but I've been so tempted to add this quilt as a made to order item in my Etsy shop since I sold this one, that I decided to give it a try!  It's truly one that I would love the chance to make again and again and again...



I tried my best to include details for those of you who are interested in making a Friendship Braids QAYG quilt of your own, but by all means, please feel free to ask any questions you may have in the comments anytime. Sharon Holland and I have been busy preparing our next sampler quilt-along, otherwise I would have loved to share a quick tutorial. I still would love to, if I can find a little extra time this month. In case you missed our announcement, be sure to check it out on my Instagram! We had such a wonderful experience co-hosting last year's Sewcial Bee Sampler together that we decided to do another, with a new pattern and a new name. I'll be back with details soon!

xo Maureen