In Garden Dreamer Canvas : :

Since my last blog post I have been sewing nonstop with Garden Dreamer! Bags and pouches and pillows and even a completely finished quilt, all in just two days! Today I'm taking a little break to quickly share the last remaining member of my Garden Dreamer family -- the canvas!

With each new collection comes one new canvas and this canvas, named Moment in Time Dim, is my favorite one yet!



My roll arrived a few days before the quilting cottons and over the busy holiday Haila, my niece Ceci, and I found just enough time for us to stitch up new Easy Tote bags featuring this new canvas. The girls each made a slightly smaller version, paired with a Nightfall Moon Stories quilting cotton, and had such a blast sewing together!





I chose to wait to finish my bag once the rest of Garden Dreamer arrived, and paired the medium weight canvas bag exterior & pocket with my quilting cotton print Climbing Posies in Blush for the lining, and used a heavy weight, solid textured colored denim in Scarlet Brick that I had on hand for the handles.







Once again we followed the wonderful bag tutorial on the Purl Bee Blog for their Easy, Easier, and Easiest Totes, opting for the "Easy" one that includes French seams, a tote bag lining fabric, a handy pocket, and roomy boxed out bottom. I prefer to finish my bags with a boxed bottom, but mostly chose this Easy version so I could combine two pretty Garden Dreamer fabrics into one bag!



I am loving sewing with this new collection and I hope you'll love it, too! I'm excited to share that both of my sponsors Circa 15, Lady Belle Fabrics & Llama Fabrics are already carrying the entire collection and I'll have lots of Garden Dreamer inspiration to share with you all next week!

xo Maureen

p.s. I'm having a Flash Sample Sale in my Etsy Shop! Use coupon code: FLASH20 for an additional 20% off on Easy Totes, handmade stockings, pillows, scrap bundles, and even a few quilts!! https://www.etsy.com/shop/maureencracknell

A Night Sky Easy Tote : :

Confession: I've become a little consumed with making these bags. I've already made SIX since Thursday! If you've been following long you'll know it's not in my nature to make the same thing twice, so this is quite an achievement for me! So far I've only photographed two, the first one I blogged at the end of last week and this one for today. The others I'll hold off on sharing one day during the Nightfall Parade I'm planning. I think whomever wins the BIG Giveaway I'm scheming for the finale will receive their prize in one of these handy Nightfall Easy Totes. I just love em'! And, making them apparently!

These are the fabric pairings I had set aside for my first three Easy Totes!



Today's tote features one color from AGF's new line of Crosshatch Textured Denims in Clouded Horizon for the main bag fabric, a Solid Smooth Denim in Wicked Sky for the handles & inner pocket, and it's lined with my very own Moon Stories in Ash print from Nightfall! I love the night-sky theme of this fabric combination!





The lining is my favorite part of this one! I think it's just a really fun match to the classic look of the bag exterior, and I love the combination of colors. The quilting cotton adds a little softness to the very structured, heavier weight of the Crosshatch Textured Denim, and I love that!



To make and attach the handles and to assemble the rest of the bag I used an Aurifil 50wt from my Bohemian Garden thread set in Medium Juniper and it's nearly invisible. It makes for such a beautiful finish!





I'm going to keep working away on my Nightfall Parade plans this afternoon! I'm putting together some new tutorials to go along with the projects I'm making, so we can sew with Nightfall together. I can't wait to show you!

♡ Maureen  

A Denim & Nightfall Easy Tote : :

This morning I stitched up the first of three Easy Tote bags that I decided to make using my favorite new AGF denim, Crosshatch Textured. I paired up each of the three heavyweight denims with a Nightfall quilting cotton print and a lighter weight solid smooth colored denim. This first tote combo includes Crosshatch Texture in Rainy Night, Magical Gust in Fog from Nightfall, and the pretty peach Nextarine Sunrise Solid Smooth!



For this bag pattern I followed a tutorial on the Purl Bee Blog for their Easy, Easier, and Easiest Totes, opting for the "Easy" one that includes French seams, a tote bag lining fabric, a handy pocket, and roomy boxed out bottom. I prefer to finish my bags with a boxed bottom, but mostly chose this Easy version so I could showcase how pretty my Nightfall prints look with this amazing denim!



I stitched my bag together using the dark blue Aurifil 50wt from my Bohemian Garden thread set. While I love the contrast of the navy thread with the soft peach denim, I equally love how this particular shade of blue blends in so perfectly with the Rainy Night denim I used for the main tote bag fabric, it's nearly invisible!





Making and attaching the sweet little pocket to the tote lining was my favorite part of this bag's construction. The tip provided for creasing the lining fabric to ensure a nicely centered pocket made this step easy and fast!





The tutorial author estimates that this bag pattern can be made in just about an hours time and that was right on for me! I'm excited to make two more this afternoon before school's out!



Be sure to let me know if you give these totes a go!

xo Maureen

Scrap Chat : :

Yesterday, on a whim, I decided to offer up some of my fabric scraps to those ordering felt during my sale. A win, win for sure! But once I had the day's orders all laid out and I began sorting through my scraps, I became completely overwhelmed!

What's too small? What's too big? Should I press them? They're kind of wrinkled from being shoved in my drawer! Should I square them up so they look nice and neat?

My goodness, I was seriously stressing out over this?! In the end, I ended up with these answers --
I will send a variety of sizes, I will square them up a little, and I will definitely press them!



Back when I was avoiding packing for the BIG move into our new home, I started making these Simple Color Totes, with my Simply Color Layer Cake. I love, love the idea of organizing my scraps by color! I accomplished four before I had run out of my procrastination time, and I still plan to finish out that rainbow eventually!





The majority of my scraps presently dwell in the large bottom drawer of my most favorite dresser, stuffed to the brim! Which is why I'm happy, thrilled actually, to offer some up!



So, when I saw that my friend Alia had ordered, creator of this beautiful, felt needle book of mine, I decided to send her a nice variety!



A little improv scattering of scraps for another order!



And, when Mara asked so sweetly for orange and purple scraps, if I could please, I was happy to share!



One day I will eventually get around to beginning that second scraps quilt!



But with each new sewing day, comes more and MORE scraps than I could ever imagine using all on my own!

So today, I'm asking all of you -- What do you keep? What do you consider useful scraps? Do you keep your selvages, as well? And, how do you store your own scraps?

I'll continue sending out my scraps with all the Wool Blend Felt orders I receive during my sale, and I may even use your super helpful answers to offer up some fabric scrap bundles in my Etsy shop at some point, as well!

As always, thanks so much taking the time to stop by!   ♥, Maureen