Mama's got a Brand New Bag!

OK, so when I create a pattern I usually end up making a few. I never design a pattern I am not going to use, so yes, my new purse is a Midtown. The beautiful pink one was made for someone else, but I could not get that fabric out of my head, so I ended up finding the citrus colorway on fabric.com and making this sweet one for summer for me!

I am a fabric fanatic. I will admit to being a fabricaholic. I get really excited when new fabric lines launch, and follow the blogs of my favorite designers and those that sew for them. I have favorite lines of fabric I keep fatquarters of for years because I know you can't buy them in a store anymore and I want to keep a piece just in case. 

This season, I am totally in love with Jenean Morrison's Lovelorn. Check it out at the link. She is a designer with FreeSpirit Fabrics (of course, they carry most of my favorites, Joel Dewberry, Denyse Schmidt and Anna Maria Horner among them). I have made a few things already using this collection, including the bag featured in The Midtown pattern photos. This is one of the few fabric collections I love every colorway equally! It was really hard for me to decide which colorway to use for my personal bag, and after receiving a gift certificate for Fabric.com which is carrying the whole collection, I settled on orange for summer. 

As a fabric line, this has everything a sewist desires. There are beautiful large prints that lend themselves to home dec, clothing and big bags. There is a small ovals print that reads as a solid for quilting. There is a fun modern floral, there are 2 small prints for balance and this great arch print that adds movement to any project. The variety of scale, bold use of colors, and graphic nature of this collection make it the need to have collection for all your projects this season! 

While the orange and pink colorway are exciting and happy, the blue colorway keeps things cool and subdued, which is why I chose it for a baby boy quilt. 

One of the blocks

Close up of the ovals used as background, the hexies used as a border, and the large scale paisley as binding. Longarm services provided by Quilts2aT Studio. 

Toddler Time made from the pink color way. I know I put the arches with the floral together on each bag so far, but I love the look!

Sew, what is your favorite fabric line this season?

Happy Sewing!

So Proud of my Evie!

My 8 year old has been sewing for a while, and has made plenty stuffies and pillows and little things. We started working on her quilt about a year ago, taking 6 by 6 squares from my scrap stash and piecing them together. It was hard for her at first to keep a straight 1/4 inch seam, so a few of the blocks are wonky, but after working on it for a while she got the hang of it!

She finished the piecing a few weeks ago, and we took it to Teresa Pino at Quilts to a T studio. Teresa quilted Evie's quilt for 2 weeks allowance! It was so sweet. We also owe Teresa gratitude for giving Evie a sewing machine last year for Christmas! It has been the machine she sewed her quilt top with.

Evie was so serious picking out her quilting design and thread, deciding on big loopy heart shaped leaves and lime green thread!

She signed her work order and then waited... sometimes not so patiently...

Then ta-da! It came out beautifully! It did take us a while to bind the quilt, but now she has it in her room! She brings it out to watch TV with. We are so proud of her and she is so proud of her accomplishment! Go Evie!

Happy Sewing!