18 pretty patchwork.

I always crave super simple projects that I can finish right away in between the long, more difficult ones. It doesn't get much simpler than patchwork, but I still love the look of it.

I cut a bunch of 5" charms and stitched them together last night, connected the rows during lunch today, et voila, I have a finished quilt top.

The fabric is mostly Indian Summer (available at Pink Castle Fabrics, Stash Fabrics, and Fat Quarter Shop) with some Essex yarn dyed linen in Flax and some chambray scraps leftover from these quilts.  I'm kind of wishing I had bought a bolt of that fabric when I found it, because I don't think JoAnn sells it anymore.

 I really, really love some of the prints in this line.  That animal print is my favorite!

The finished top feels very light and airy to me, which is a nice change compared to some of the other things I've been making lately.

I am very happy with the way my seams matched up on this quilt top!  I find myself being a lot more picky when it comes to misaligned seams lately, actually taking the time to rip them out and do it over if I'm not happy with them.  Thankfully I didn't have to do that much here!

This quilt will get a simple backing, most likely some crosshatch quilting, and be shipped off to a new baby very soon.  We had two new babies arrive within our family and friends last week!

5 Quilts for Boston.

Since I'm in Boston this week, I thought it was a good time to share some information about the Quilts for Boston relief effort being put on by Boston Modern Quilt Guild.  The goal is to make at least 50 quilts for those directly affected by the Boston Marathon bombings.  To do so, the BMQG is asking for help making quilt blocks in the color scheme of gray, white, blue, and yellow.

I pulled some fabrics from my stash and scrap bins to make my blocks.

I finished up two blocks this weekend, just in time to hand deliver them to Natalie this week!

This one has a little improv heart applique.

And this one is just random improv, although I do see a heart shape in it that was totally unplanned.

If you're interested in making blocks to help out, please check out the details here.  Blocks need to be shipped by May 24th.

There's also an effort being put on by the Vancouver Modern Quilt Guild called To Boston With Love, in which they are asking for flag buntings to be flown somewhere in Boston this summer.  I haven't made my flags just yet but I definitely plan to!  Details of that effort can be found here.  Flags need to be shipped by May 21st, and you can find the shipping information here.

I hope some of you can find the time to help out with these efforts! 

4 sunday stash.

Lots of new fabric in the mail this week!  First, Robert Kaufman sent me a huge stack of Holiday Sweet Treats by Laurie Wisbrun.  These will be shipping to stores in June.  I was lucky enough to spend some time with Laurie at QuiltCon, and she is seriously awesome!  Love her.

I see a Christmas quilt in my future!  The mint color just so happens to match my living room.

Those cardinals are just so cute!  I love that these prints are not overly Christmas-y.

Another gorgeous new line came this week too from Michael Miller, Edges by Laura Gunn!  I am so excited for this collection.  Laura was sweet enough to send me this line to play with, even after my last quilt made from her fabrics took seven months to finish :)

I've always loved Laura's Painter's Canvas and I'm happy to see so many other great stash builders all in one collection.  The textures of these prints are amazing.  The ombre circle print is my favorite!  You can find Edges at Fat Quarter Shop.

I'm brainstorming a new quilt to be made out of these as well.  Any recommendations for a good charm pack quilt pattern?

Last but not least, some Field Study Linens!  I picked these up at Pink Castle Fabrics.  3 yards of the feather print for some new pillows for the couch, and a yard of each of the others, just because I love them.  The scale of these prints is huge!  

I need to do some catch up in sharing my stash!  So many new fabrics arriving lately, and they're all so pretty!  I think that also means a destash should be coming soon :)

15 Clementine Kites.

My Clementine Kites quilt is finished!

This quilt was made for Dear Stella's booth at Quilt Market, out of their Clementine collection.  I used the Must Stash pattern from the book Modern Designs for Classic Quilts (speaking of which, I'll be giving away a copy of the book very soon!).  

I quilted straight lines across each of the diamonds to resemble kites, and then did free motion loops through the sashing to look like the kite strings.  The FMQ was definitely a learning experience for me, but after practicing on some scraps, I did get the hang of it.  It's not perfect but thankfully the quilting is dense enough to mask most of my mistakes (or at least, that's what I'm telling myself!).  The quilting really made the diamonds pop off the background.

It's bound in the same Stella Solid White as the sashing to blend in with the background.

The back is this gorgeous Summer Floral print from the collection, which gives a nice contrast to the white on the front of the quilt!

I'm really hoping someone will take a picture of this hanging up at market for me, since I'm not going to be able to go!

Thanks Dear Stella for the opportunity to make this quilt!  Check out their post on this quilt on their blog.

You can find Clementine at Fat Quarter Shop.

8 pondering fabric choices.

Just another pretty stack of fabric today, sorry for the lack of exciting content around here lately!  The last couple weeks have been packed full and I'm looking forward to relaxing a bit next week, and making something out of this stack just for fun.  Well, technically it's for a belated birthday gift for my sister really, but it counts as fun since it is exactly what I feel like making right now.  Thankfully my sister Gaby and I have very similar styles when it comes to colors and prints.

I posted this fabric pull on Instagram today and Anna commented that the colors we such "Holly" colors.  I do agree that this stack is very "me", but I don't really know why!  This is not the first time I've heard that and I think it's funny how everyone else can define things that are "me" so much easier than I can!  Is it the brights plus black and white combo that makes it "me"?  The text plus geometric print combination?  The addition of those pink-ish purples?  I do seem to add those to just about everything lately.

All I know is, if I could make a career out of just coming up with color combos and fabric stacks, I would be the happiest person on the planet!  Anyone want to hire me? :)

10 quilting, quilting.

I've been working hard on a new quilt recently!  In a new color scheme for me, which is kind of refreshing.  I never would have expected these colors to work so well together.

A lot of straight line quilting happening too.

Lots of lines left to quilt on this one.  I love and hate straight line quilting all at the same time :)

170 MicroMod His & Hers Sew-Along.

Welcome to my stop on the microMod His & Hers Sew-Along!  I was so excited when Alexia asked me to be a part of this tour.  I love microMod and had been hoping to get my hands on this versatile collection!

Before I show you what I made, here's a little Q&A, Newlywed Game style with Alexia and Rob.  These two are a successful couple, so I wanted to know what they thought was their spouse's biggest accomplishment.

Rob:  Alexia's biggest recent accomplishment is writing the book, something she did at the same time as we were buying a house and moving!
Alexia:  My biggest accomplishment is starting our pattern & design company with Rob and my mom, Michelle! It is something that was a dream for so long, and we just stuck with it and did all that we could to make it happen.

Alexia: Rob's biggest accomplishment is our house...we bought a 20's era fixer-upper last year and have been working on it since! He has done SO much to the house, all while having his first fabric line!
Rob:  My biggest accomplishment is wooing Alexia!

Okay Rob, that is pretty much the sweetest answer!  I think you win this round! :)

Now, onto the sewing!  I had been looking for an excuse to make the Around Town Tote from Alexia's book, Liberty Love, and it made perfect sense to combine it with microMod for this project.

For the girl version of the tote, I used the MicroMod Seaweed in Purple for the colored stripes, and my favorite yarn dyed Essex linen in Black for the gray stripes.  I used a thrifted gray leather belt for the handle, and opted to keep the buckle on because I liked the gold mixed with the gray and purple.

For the guy version, I decreased the size of the stripes to fit my husband's Macbook Air.  I added a flap with magnetic snaps to close it.  The blue stripes are Micromod Seaweed in Teal, and the gray is more yard dyed Essex linen.

The insides of both bags are the Vertigo print from Micromod, in Teal for the guy version and Purple for the girl version.

Now for the giveaway!  Alexia, Rob, and Cloud 9 are offering one of you a fat quarter bundle of microMod, and the Lots of Dots quilt pattern from the Green Bee Pattern shop!

To enter, simply leave a comment here!  Please make sure to leave a way for me to contact you in your comment, or you will not be eligible to win.  I'll pick a winner on Monday (4/15).

Update:  Congrats to our winner, The Bumble Girl!  Thanks to everyone who entered!

Make sure to stop by the rest of the stops for more microMod sewing inspiration and giveaways, and at the end there is an amazing grand prize. You could win a fat quarter stack of microMod by Rob Bancroft from Cloud9 fabrics, the entire Green Bee Patterns collection, a microMod sewing bag, and a Singer Heavy Duty Sewing Machine! (US only for the grand prize).

April 2 - Alexia & Rob Green Bee http://alexiaabegg.squarespace.com/
April 3 - Kelly at Kelbysews http://kelbysews.blogspot.com/
April 5 - Amanda at the Craft Junky http://www.thecraftjunky.blogspot.com/
April 6 - Rachael at Imagine Gnats http://imaginegnats.blogspot.com/
April 8 - Heather at alamode http://alamodefabric.blogspot.com/
April 10 - Holly at Bijou Lovely http://www.bijoulovelydesigns.com/
April 13 - Alexia, Michelle & Rob Green Bee http://alexiaabegg.squarespace.com/
April 17 - Faith at Fresh Lemons http://www.freshlemonsquilts.com/
April 18 - Katie at Swim Bike Quilt http://swimbikequilt.com/
April 19 - Deborah at Whipstitch http://whipstitchfabrics.com/blog/
April 20 - Jacey at Jaceycraft http://jaceycraft.blogspot.com/
April 24 - Jenny at the Southern Institute http://thesoutherninstitute.com/
April 25 - Amy from sukie don't ya know http://sukiedontyaknow.com/
April 26 - Jen from Betty Crocker Ass http://www.bettycrockerass.com/
April 27 - Sara from Sew Sweetness http://www.sewsweetness.com/
April 28 - Krista at Krista Withers Quilting http://kristawithersquilting.blogspot.com/
April 29 - Katy from I'm a Ginger Monkey http://imagingermonkey.blogspot.com/
April 30 - Amber from One Shabby Chick http://oneshabbychick.typepad.com/
May 1 - Alexia & Rob Green Bee GRAND PRIZE http://alexiaabegg.squarespace.com/