Long Overdue

Well it has been a bit of a busy week. I made another monogrammed zipper pouch for the friend who checked in on our furry babies while we were on vacation....I also included a $25 gift certificate to spend at a LQS ;) She was pretty happy! On my last day of vacation, I managed to finish cutting all the pieces for the Midnight Mystery Quilt-A-Long hosted by Meadow Mist Designs.

More instructions will be sent in about a week! I may have to take my pieces with me on my sewing vacation!

Next I decided to finally make the quilt sandwich for my Modern Lattice baby quilt. Thanks to Lorna @ Sew Fresh Quilts for this great FREE pattern! You can go here to download the Modern Lattice pattern. I had this top assembled a while ago. I just didn't have the ambition to get it done. But I picked up some creative steam after my vacation and I'm happy to say it is all quilted!

I used my walking foot and just followed along the straight seam and then followed the seam line on the diamonds.

Cozy flannel with cute bulldogs with a bone on the back.

Close-Up of the quilting.

I'm hoping the parents-to-be will like it as much as I do :) 

Now to figure out what to use for the binding.....

 I'm linking up with Lorna @ Sew Fresh Quilts for Let's Bee Social #83

Have a look at all the great blogs out there :)

Sunday Stash....Vacation Style

I just arrived home today from being away for one week....one full week away from my sewing machine....I had a great time but I fear I may have gone a little overboard with some fabric shopping. Last Friday, I received two squishy packages. One was my order from Missouri Star Quilt Co. and the other was my monthly Bargain Lover's package from Sew Sisters. If you follow my blog, you know I've been less than impressed with the Bargain Lover's Club lately. This month, there was some excitement!

Check out the colours! Colours that bring life to my sewing soul!

And such a cute text print!

So after getting excited about these, I opened my order from Missouri Star Quilt Co.

This is the first time I ordered from this company. Very happy with the service. And right now they are offering $10 shipping to Canada! If you sign up for their newsletter, there is a daily deal every day! That Cold Spell jelly roll was half off! So the jelly roll was added to my cart first and then I added a few mini-charms, True Luck and Cold Spell. And then one package of True Luck Charm Squares.

After admiring my newly acquired fabrics, I started to get ready for my vacation to Prince Edward Island. I did a quick search to locate some fabric stores nearby....I found more than I had anticipated! My first fabric stop was The Quilt Gallery. Great shop! Lots of fabric. I browsed the Quilt Gallery but I always leave those areas feeling sad. All the quilts that are there are never to be touched or used. I always make quilts because I want people to enjoy them, use them, comfort them. I wouldn't want to own any of those quilts. It's just not my thing to have a quilt but to never USE IT! 

I browsed the shop for about an hour and I was extremely good. Even my husband was shocked! 

I purchased this Sand Surf Sun panel from Timeless Treasures. I have been looking for this panel for a few weeks since a quilt pattern appeared in Quick Quilts using it. At The Shore quilt pattern caught my
attention :) Not sure when I'll get to make it but havingthe panel is a great start!

The second quilt shop was in Charlottetown called Island Fabric Outlet. This shop has a good selection of quilting cottons and tons of upholstery fabrics. I picked up a few more fabrics here.

There's a couple of Michael Miller prints in there. And some Wilmington prints. 

Also picked up some self-threading needles. I didn't even know those existed before watching

a tutorial a few weeks ago! Definitely trying these babies out next time I have to bury some threads.

Then there was a stop at the Quilting B & More in downtown Charlottetown. Picked up a few fabrics here and browsed around that cute and cozy shop.

Love the Anchor print! I'm almost regretting that I didn't buy more of it. It is Holiday Banners by The RBD Designers for Riley Blake Designs. I'm also thinking of some special projects for the Pink Ribbon fabric.

And the Frozen print will be turned into a special something for a special little girl ;)

The following day, I drove to the Fabric Outlet. Lots and lots of fabrics in there. So trip #1 (there were multiple trips) yielded these stash building fabrics.

Don't you love those bundles! There is a plan for those colourful dot fabrics....a far, far away plan but there is a plan!

Trip #2

So you see that Red Dot bundle in the back....That was suppose to be the only fabric I was 

returning to this store to purchase....I just can't help myself.

Trip #3

This cute little bundle was discovered after I had already paid for my purchase on Trip #2.

I couldn't stop thinking about that bundle all night. So I returned to the store the following afternoon and it was still there. Buried a bit but still there ;)

I think my husband may plan a vacation spot for next year that is free of fabric shops....I did have a great time!

Linking up with Molli Sparkles support group.

Quick Monogrammed Pouch

I seen a tutorial for a monogrammed pouch pop up on my bloglovin feed on Wednesday and knew I wanted to make one for me to take on vacation. If I can't take all my pretty fabric with me, then at least I should make something to remind me of all the pretty fabric I have....you know to stop me from buying all the pretty fabric I see while on vacation.

So the tutorial is by Crystal @ Stitched by Crystal who was over visiting at Make It & Love It. These pouches are completely adorable. And they can be done quickly. The longest part for me was finding a letter template and sizing it.

Here is the pouch I made :)

Don't you love it! This is the front. And the letter "J" was fused on and then stitched quickly around. 

So it will fray a bit on the edges but I think I will like that look. I'm also thinking of trying reverse appliqué

for the letter sometime.

The back.

It's pretty roomy in there. Mine is roughly 8.5" x 4". 

I'll definitely be making a few more of these. Would be perfect for gifts! 

Midnight Mystery Quilt by Meadow Mist Designs

Among all the WIPs and the never ending quilty list, I decided to join Meadow Mist Designs Midnight Mystery Quilt-A-long. Me + Early Morning blog reading = Joining a Mystery Quilt-A-Long. One part of me is screaming saying you already have enough projects to get done! The other part of me is saying Go For It! So the going for it part of me won :)

After receiving the instructions from Cheryl, I went to select my fabric selections....I'm hoping this is the scariest part. I first went in search of Fabric D. I'm really trying to use my stash....I am feeling that it has grown a bit too much. The first fabric that I choose was not enough to fulfill the requirements of Fabric D but was enough to fulfill the requirements of Fabric B.

Fabric B

Beautiful Trees by Melissa Marie for Camelot Cottons

Then I was on the search once again for Fabric D. I decided to go with this print for Fabric D.

Fabric D

Foliage in Blue by Mag & Mimi Designs for David Textiles

Then it was onto selecting fabric C which had to have contrast from Fabric B and Fabric C. This one was a bit more difficult to decide on. Buying fabric that I love is easy....selecting fabric without a knowledge of the pattern is difficult! After a great debate, I went with this print for Fabric C:

Fabric C

Winter Solstice by Jason Yenter for In The Beginning fabrics

And yes there are two cuts of this fabric....apparently I had bought some and then months later bought some more not realizing that I already had this fabric in my stash....shhhhh don't tell my husband.

And finally the selection of Fabric A. Only a yard is required for Fabric A so I had options....

I decided on this print.

Fabric A

Free to Grow by Nancy Mims for Robert Kaufman fabrics

So after all this, I looked at some of the fabric selections from other bloggers participating in the challenge and started to freak out! Why you ask? I started to fear that my Fabric A and Fabric D were just too close. So back to my stash. I decided to keep Fabric C and Fabric D since I had enough of those prints from my stash. And then the search continued for Fabric A and B........

I auditioned this fabric selection....

 Not bad but I didn't feel like there was enough of a contrast between Fabric A (on the left) and Fabric D (on the right). 

The second pull gave me this....

And this gave me the feeling of comfort but no excitement! 

The final search allowed me to come up with this selection....

So now I have better contrast between Fabric A and Fabric D. This whole process of selecting fabric without seeing the pattern is nerve wrecking! I never realized how much until I started to doubt my first choice. 

So Fabric A will be...

Karma Baby by Mint Blossom for Northcott

And Fabric B will be....

Urbanista by Belinda for Studio E Fabrics

I'm still a bit terrified of the unknown but with these fabrics, I think I'll be ok......

Anyone else feel like joining along?

Visit Meadow Mist Designs to join in on the fun....or the unknown....there's also an option to see the quilt pattern if you don't like mystery :)

Now to pick up all the fabrics that didn't make the cut....

Sunday Stash

I've been trying to curb my fabric buying....I know I'm still purchasing but I'm not purchasing as much. I seen Ty Pennington Impressions collection come up for clearance on Sew Sisters....and decided I needed some of it :)

From left to right is Shima, Abbey, Flora and Celeste.

I also roped my sister in to purchasing them with me. The clearance fabrics has a minimum of a one metre cut. I didn't want to spend too much money so I offered to make up two bundles if she wanted to go splits on the cost. Here they are.

Love making my own bundles!

Any new additions to your stash this week?

Linking up with Molli Sparkles for Sunday Stash #134 

Thanks to Jenn @ A Quarter Inch from the Edge for mentioning the link-up to me :)

All Wrapped Up

Well I finished the binding on all six placemats between late last night and this evening. Feels so good to have this gift finished!

First placemat complete :)

For the binding, I decided to use the same fabric that I used for the backing for two reasons. #1 I wanted to use fabric from my stash and #2 I had enough of it to do the binding without having to purchase more. This is the first time I have done this and I'm happy with the result.

Close-up of the Decorative Stitching on the binding.

The decorative box I purchased to store the placemats and napkins.

And finally the whole package :)

Now to figure out my next project to finish......

Placemat Progress & A Finish!

Well I haven't had much sewing time in the last week but I still managed to finish the quilting on all six placemats. I also decided to buy napkins instead of making them after getting some advice from Jenn @ Quarter Inch from the Edge. She had mentioned that buying them sometimes is less expensive than making them. So I found something that I liked and picked up 8 napkins. Plus this will free up some time for me to do other things :)

And one of those other things was making this basket.

It's the 1 Hour Basket designed by Kelly @ Kelbysews!

I first seen this basket over at Quarter Inch from the Edge. And I really needed to have a finish to inspire me. I felt like I had WIPs every where and not many finishes lately. And guess what! This pattern was super easy!

First pick out your fabrics, iron them, then cut, fuse and sew.

I took pictures of the most difficult parts of making this bag....

After sewing the lining pieces RST and the exterior pieces RST, you cut out the 3" square on the bottom of the basket. Then pin seam to seam for the corners and sew.

Here's the next difficult part....

Sewing the lining and exterior pieces together.

Seriously this pattern is one of the easiest ones I've ever done. Love this pattern. Thanks so much to Kelly for sharing it! Here is the link to the 1 Hour Basket Tutorial if you would like to make your own :)

I'll definitely be making more baskets in the future. So useful and such a great feeling to have a finish quickly. 

And look how much space you have in them!

Two thumbs up for this pattern! Did I mention how much I love this pattern?!