First Finish of 2016 + Some Exciting News

For our family, 2016 is going to be an exciting year. We found out shortly after Thanksgiving last year that I was expecting, and just this week we went in for an ultrasound and found out that our baby is a BOY! Due in early August. After 2 girls close together, followed by a 6 year gap, it's going to be fun to have a baby in our home again and we are thrilled to find out that it's a boy. So that means I finally get the excuse to use up all of the darling blue, nautical fabric I've been hoarding for years! :)
My first trimester was filled with lots of nausea and not much desire to sew, so I haven't had too much to show over here on the ole blog, but I just finished my first make of 2016. It's just a small mini quilt for a swap that I was a part of, but it felt good to turn on my sewing machine and put the petal to the metal after weeks spent lying on the couch feeling blah. ;) My second trimesters are always much easier for me, so I am doing my best to take advantage of the surge of energy I've been having... And because it would be just too simple to sew one large quilt at time, I've jumped in and am in the middle of sewing 2 queen sized and 1 king sized quilt at once. My sewing room is kinda a disaster with three projects going on at once, but its fun. :)

Back to my mini quilt... This was such a fun little project to make. I love foundation paper piecing. I feel like it is the only way that I will take on intricate quit blocks because I can be so precise doing it that way. This cute little envelope block can be found in darling book Patchwork Please by Ayumi Takahashi. It may be the only book that I have that I actually like every single pattern included in the book, so I always feel totally justified in recommending it to a friend. Ayumi is just one of the most kind, and talented people that I know. Everything that she comes up with, from fabric to pattern to pretty much anything she touches is seriously GOLD in my eyes. (ok... I'll quit gushing now. ha ha)

This pattern is perfect for fussy cutting small pieces of fabric into the insides of the envelopes. I used cute bits of fabric by Tasha Noel from her Vintage Market and The Simple Life lines, and then bits of Bonnie + Camille and a handful of other fabrics I had in my stash for the envelopes. Firefly in Whisper from Bonnie Christine's Hello Bear line was the perfect low volume background. 

Well I hope that y'all are having a great day. Thanks for taking the time to stop by and read my exciting news. :)
Happy Sewing!
xoxo, Ashley

Cotton + Steel Mini Quilt Swap

 Quilt swaps are all the rage on Instagram right now! It seems like every week, there is a signup for a new swap. One of the things that is so fun about the swaps is that most of them are open to anyone who wants to join. It is a great way to make new sewing friends and participate- whether you are a blogger, or just love to sew. 

If you have never done a swap before, you should try it. It is a lot of fun! Once you sign up, you are given a partner to create a mini quilt for (someone different will be making one for you). In each swap I have been in, the partners have been kept secret so that you don't know who will be creating your mini and your partner won't know that you are creating the mini for them. In larger quilt swaps, you are put into a smaller group and each group has a "swap mama" who is in charge of making sure that things run smoothly. The group usually has a separate hashtag, so when you search that hashtag you know that one of the quilts in that hashtag will be sent your way. 

This was my third swap and I definitely plan to do more in the future! :) The best way to stay in the loop and hear about upcoming swaps is to follow all of your favorite quilters/sewing friends on IG. Word usually gets around pretty quick once a new swap is announced. (You could also search hashtags for mini swaps too.) Each swap is different and has different rules, so just make sure you read the rules before you sign up to make sure it is going to be a good fit for you. :) 

A few months back, there was a signup for the Cotton + Steel Mini Quilt Swap (#cottonandsteelminiquiltswap), hosted by Modern Stitchin Mama. I love Cotton + Steel, so I knew it would be a fun swap. I have been wanting to create a mini sampler quilt, so it was the perfect time. It was definitely a labor of love and took a while to make, but I loved making each block. 

A lot of people have asked on IG if there is a pattern to make this quilt and the answer is yes... and no.  I used a pattern for several of the blocks, but I also improved and made some without patterns too.

So I thought I would link y'all to the blocks that DO have patterns for them. 

(Most of them are foundation paper piecing patterns.) 

Gemology Block by Sarah Rose Quilts

Glitter Block from Jen Kingwell's Quilt Lovely Book

 January Quilt block by Lady Harvatine (I printed mine at 50% so it's 6" square)

Feather by Sometimes Crafter

For my rainbow, I used 2 striped pattern pieces from the Pickle Dish pattern from Kaffe Fassett's Quilt Romance book and then pieced them together like a rainbow and then appliquéd the rainbow to the quilt block.

For the crazy patch quilt label, I used this pattern. 

When the quilt was all finished, I wasn't sure that I would be able to part with it! ha ha But alas, the mailing date came and it was time for my mini to go to a new home. 

Even though it was so hard to part with my mini quilt, I was sent the most gorgeous mini in return from Crystal @keystonecharmquilts. I am so head over heels for this mini! It's absolutely perfect in every way! I love the way that she switched the fabric placement and did a different take on a traditional kaleidoscope quilt block! I can't wait to hang it on my wall!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Sewing! 

xoxo, Ashley

P.S. Happy 4th of July to my friends that live in the USA! I hope that y'all have a wonderful weekend celebrating our great country!

And because I love helping a fellow fabric addict like myself- 

Lady Belle Fabrics is having a great sale! Head over to shop their deep discounts and sale section! Use code july4 to receive free shipping on orders over $50. Sale and code ends Monday July 6, 2015 end of day.

Happy Mail Mini Quilt Swap

One of my very favorite things to make and receive are mini quilts. I love them because they are the perfect way to try out a block or two of a quilt you've been wanting to make, or the perfect size to design something intricate that you may not want or have the time to do in a full size quilt.

I joined a couple mini quilt swaps this year and have had such a fun time with them that I decided to host my own. I wanted it to be small, just a handful of friends. I named it the Happy Mail Mini Quilt Swap, because who doesn’t love a bit of happy mail?!

It has been so much fun! Big swaps are fun too of course, but this one was extra fun because I knew everyone involved. 

Once the partners were divvied up, I found out that the friend I would be creating a mini for was Ayumi of Pink Penguin. Talk about intimidating! She is incredible! She just came out with her very own fabric line! (Lighthearted Fabric) Ayumi is one of the very first "sewing bloggers" that I started following when I started blogging/sewing. She is sooo talented, so to say I was nervous to create something for her, is an understatement! 

As I was planning the mini I wanted to create, I remembered a picture that I came across 2 years ago on Pinterest. At the time, the picture that I had pinned didn't have a link. So with the help of friends on IG, I discovered that it was a picture from the Japanese magazine Couturier. I don't speak Japanese, so I am not sure what is said about the quilt, but I decided to make something that was inspired by this image. 

Image Source 

I started by making 5 inch quilt blocks. (I made roughly 16 but only 12 made the cut.)  After each block was made, I took the block, batting, and 5 inch square of backing fabric and put them right sides together and then stitched around the entire block leaving a 3 inch opening to turn the block right side out. Then I whip stitched the opening closed (I know I should have done a ladder stitch, but for some reason I just can't get the hang of it.) Then I hand quilted each block with 12 wt white aurifil thread. 

Essentially I had 12 coasters when I was all done. 

I arranged them in the order I wanted and then it was time to stitch them together. I took my blocks, starting with 2, and put them right sides together and whip stitched the edge. If you have done EPP, you will probably know what I am talking about. (the trick was just catching the front quilt block fabric- I'll explain later.) Once the two were connected, I opened up the blocks and added the next one on. I created 3 rows of 4. Once the rows were assembled, I put the rows right sides together and did the same thing all along the edges to connect them- again, just catching the front fabric with my needle and taking small, tight whip stitches. Once the rows were all sewn together, I laid the quilt face down on a table and carefully whip stitched the back of the blocks together.  

This probably doesn't make a lot of sense as you are reading it, but the reason I did it this way was because just like in EPP, you don't want your stitches to be visible from the front when you are looking at it. So with piecing the blocks together just like EPP, the stitches aren't visible- the only difference is the back wouldn't be "hidden" with a quilt back, so that is why the whip stitches were necessary on the back, they kinda "closed up" the seams and hid my first whip stitches in between the blocks. 

In the end, this quilt is pretty much all hand pieced, with the exception of using my machine to sew around the edges of the blocks as mentioned before. 

I had so much fun creating the blocks. Most of them were hand appliqued, but all of them were of my own design. If I wanted to create something- like this pink penguin (a nod to Ayumi's blog), I just found a picture online to eyeball and drew out my pieces by hand to create my tiny patchwork. The blocks aren't perfect by any means, but overall I love the effect of the quilt. 

I hope my directions make sense! Be sure to let me know if you have any questions and I will be sure to answer them! 

Hope y'all have a wonderful week! 

Happy Sewing!

xoxo, Ashley

Seeing Rainbow

{photo by me}

I can not believe it is May already! April and March have been such a whirlwind for me! I had family come into town to visit for a couple weeks- which meant road trips all over the South, sightseeing and showing everyone a good time. Then we found out that we will be moving back to the midwest at the end of the summer, which somehow crazily resulted in a spur of the moment "book a flight the day before the trip" house hunting excursion last weekend- which was a lot of fun but also somewhat stressful and tiring! ;) Plus, regular everyday living has been busy busy busy- but I'm not complaining! Life is good and I am so blessed.

{gemology block pattern}

  I've been sewing off and on through it all, but everything is still in a WIP {work in progress} state so I haven't had much to show here on the good ole blog....... Soooooo.... I decided that I better do a "What I've been working on lately" post for those of you that aren't cruising around on Instagram seeing the progress.  

{feather pattern}

Over the last few weeks I've done a bit of work on my La Passacaglia, sewed a Quilted Suitcase for quilt market, but the biggest things that I have been working on as of late are a couple mini quilt swaps- one that I am doing with a few close IG friends, and the other is the #cottonandsteelminiquiltswap. Both are pushing me to create something that will be loved and appreciated by the recipients.

{Rainbow is a improvised version of the Pickle Dish mini I made, the January block is scaled down to 50% which makes it roughly 6" square. }

Here is the progress on my Cotton + Steel mini. It is looking like it will be a sampler mini quilt of sorts, but I still have a few more elements to add and then will start to figure out placements of each block and whatnot. The colors are so vibrant and I love each of the blocks! I'm gonna have a hard time sending this mini to it's new home! 

I hope y'all have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Sewing!

xoxo, Ashley