For the Road : :

I'm thrilled to say that the last of my Birthday Crown orders are all packaged up and ready to be shipped out today! I had closed my Esty shop a couple of weeks ago, and it might stay that way for the rest of the Summer? I'm going to see how I feel after our family vacation. I don't share these crowns too often, but believe me folks -- there are alot of them being made each day!


Recently I was invited to be a guest on American Patchwork & Quilting Radio with Pat Sloan. I had such a great time chatting with Pat! It's not very often that I get to share my passion for sewing with spoken words, and although I was nervous, it was so exciting for me!  Did you happen to listen?

Well, yesterday I received a very sweet email from Pat letting me know that I was included in her Top Ten "can't miss em"  interviews. As you can imagine, I was surprised and so appreciative of her kindness, thank you Pat! You can see her top 10 post here on Sew, Mama, Sew! and, have a listen here!

I had mentioned that the photo of Haila running with her new Nordika Zig Zag quilt was one of my very favorites from our photo shoot. As I looked through the comments left under that post I read that it was a favorite of so many of yours, as well. Thanks! I thought I'd share all the ones I took of her running through the grass with her new quilt that day, just for fun! I have to share that one of my very favorite parts of making a quilt is the opportunity for the fun photo shoot that follows. I never saw myself as a skilled photographer before and still don't. But I can tell I'm slowly improving and that there is definitely a passion there!



Okay, now I need some advice! Tomorrow we leave for a 9-10 hr. road trip from Pa to Va and I need to pack some travel projects up today. I bought these four skeins of yarn on my recent trip to Philly, so they'll definitely be coming along.



They're all wound and ready, I just need to decide on what they should become? I was thinking a Summer scarf or cowl, maybe? Something easy and pretty!





I would also love to bring along a needlework project or two in my cute new project bag. Do you have any ideas? Maybe a project you've made, seen, or even pinned recently that you thought would make a great beach/pool side project?! I'm up for anything!!

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!  ♥,  Maureen 

A Quilt Top : :

I finished this quilt top yesterday around noonish. I am so pleased with it! I know it's nothing special and it's very simple, but I do love it!



As I mentioned last week, I had started playing around with my coral and aqua fabrics and wasn't sure where I should go with it all. I asked you for your thoughts and now I have this quilt(top). This will be my very first finished quilt! Can you believe it!?



It's going to be a car quilt for my daughter. The finished size of the top is about 40"x 48". I didn't actually follow a specific pattern, I just made sure that everything would be nice an symmetrical and that every piece of fabric I was cutting from my stashed yardage would be used.  Turns out, I love this technique. I can't stand to have random size pieces of fabrics left after projects. The fabrics are from Pink Castle Fabrics, some stashed Moda Chyrsalis, and Joann Fabrics.



Some photos just make me so happy. This is one of those.



I completed the quilting last night and I can't believe how well it went! I think it might be one of my very favorite things I've ever made! I have about eight other things I need to do today. Oh well. I'm off to tackle the binding!

Studio Update : :

Late last week I had mentioned how messy my studio was becoming and added a few pictures of the clutter here. I ended up spending a good part of that day making some changes -- I took some new photos yesterday, and thought today that I should share.

So, once again, come on in...



That door straight ahead really needs some curtains, doesn't it? I decided to make my main shelf here just for my fabrics.



I made a little space dedicated to just the new fabrics... they deserve their own spot, don't they?



Where I use to have my home decs wasn't working, so I added them to the fabric shelf as well and turned that drying rack into a make-shift shelf for my buttons, sewing and knitting books, and the hoops that my boys had made last year.



Here is what it all looks like from my sewing desk... Much nicer than this, I think.



Across the room, I rehung the project piping clothes line and made room for my bottled rainbows atop my yarn shelf.



You can see all the photos I took of my room here, these are a few of my favorites...











During all of the picture taking I could hear someone little rustling under my desk, trying not to giggle, waiting for just the right moment to frighten his mama...



He thinks he's scary? c'mon



Yes, there is always something happening in this room of mine -- lots of messes will continue to be made and that makes me very happy!

Come On In : :

This little room of mine is finally starting to come together. It is very much a work in progress, but I thought I would share a little peek of my space with you today and as it changes along the way. It's pretty much a blank canvas...









I actually feel a little nervous and a bit shy about sharing it, isn't that silly? I guess because it's nothing fancy, like so many of the studio's that I have seen (here, here and here) and admire, and also because this space means so much to me. To be honest, I've been stalling on photographing it - I'm not a fan of the blue paint or carpet and was going to wait until I had art up on the walls, new curtains, and was hoping to have my new camera first. But... here it is. My little room.