My (not so) little brother is getting married tomorrow, which of course means that my house is full of flowers.

His little chicky (aka fiancee) wanted to be surrounded with purple, yellow, and white on her big day.

So naturally, her wish is our command.

My house smells glorious, and I’m gearing up to make a billion boutonierres and bouquets.

Right after I go have some yummy food at the dinner in their honor.

This event will also explain why I’ve been a little distracted…I’ve been altering wedding and bridesmaids dresses all week.

But don’t worry, I still love you. And I still have a bunch of quilts and projects to show you, too.

Just as soon as I can breathe.

xoxo

April

I quilted this version of Grammy’s Scrap Basket for my awesome neighbor and friend, Stephanie. I LOVE the colors she chose. I asked her what she wanted me to do, and she said I could do whatever I wanted. She knew I was just getting started with this machine and said I could practice.

I love that.

So, I decided to take each section of the quilt and do something different on it.

Some things worked out better than others, but all of it was fun.

I also love that she just used scraps from her stash to make this.

I mean, that was the idea behind Grammy’s Scrap Basket in the first place.

I made the original with a Honey Bun, but those aren’t being made anymore. And obviously, that’s okay since all this quilt takes are 1½” strips. A great way to use up leftovers from other projects.

I am so glad Stephanie let me play with her quilt, and have fun trying out some different patterns. It turned out so pretty! Plus, it’s always fun for me to see quilts people have made from one of my patterns. Thanks again, Steph!

xoxo

April

PS Did you see the free quilt pattern I designed for the Moda Bake Shop this month? I’m working on a really great version of it with a twist. Check back later today to see a sneak peek! Anyone want to join me?

If you can believe it, I have never made a quilt for myself.

Until now.

I called it the Positively Perfect Nap Quilt, in the hopes that my dreams of napping would materialize.

It may have just worked once or twice.

You can find the pattern and step-by-step details over at the Moda Bake Shop today. Be sure to stop over and tell me what you think! And if you’re here from the Moda Bake Shop, welcome! Look around and stay a while, I’m so glad you’re here.

Since I was dreaming of all the lovely naps I would take with this quilt, I figured a pillow was in order. (Plus, there were a few scraps of my Hometown Jelly Roll left.)

It turned out so cute, I thought I would share!

The Positively Perfect Pillow Pattern.

Quick, easy, and oh so darling. (Click the link above to download a printable PDF.)

Do you need a nap today?

PS There are a limited number of kits  to make the quilt over in my shop. And by limited, I mean LIM-I-TED. So grab one quick, before they’re gone! (The kit will give you almost everything you need to make the pillow, too. Just snag a little extra cream fabric and some pillow batting, and you’re golden.)

Or a lot carried away.

Sometimes, I start a project thinking it will be no big deal. That it will only take an hour to make 14 million zip pouches.

In the middle of this project, I asked the Mister why it was that I start huge projects and don’t realize how huge they are until I am in the middle of them. He just smiled, because I always do this, and he always warns me.

The conversation went something (exactly) like this:

Me: “Am I just really dense or something? Do I just live in a complete fantasy land? Am I just really full of myself and think I can do super human things? What is my problem??”

Him: “No, not any of those things. Really, I just think you have no concept of space and time.”

I couldn’t stop laughing.

And now (much to his dismay) I can’t stop quoting him. Not because his assessment is particularly flattering to me. But because it is so, SO true.

When I get a creative idea, it is so large and full of newness and excitement for me that I tend to overlook critical factors.

Like, hypothetically, if the longarm machine will actually fit in our house.

Or like if there are actually enough hours between now and the craft night before Christmas to make fourteen zip pouches and still have time to sleep and eat. (Let alone enjoy the holiday with my kids.)

Turns out, the answer was Yes, just barely to the longarm question, and yes, just barely to the pouch question too.

Someday I would like to say that I have a better concept of space and time. But until then, I’ll be very, very grateful for patterns like this one, that go together in a snap and have perfect instructions for the novice and expert alike.

And believe me, if there had a been a problem, I would know. I made fourteen in the space of about 36 hours.

Thanks for the great pattern, Elizabeth. You saved my tail feathers.

If you’d like to make a pouch or two (or fourteen), you can find Elizabeth Hartman’s Perfect Zip Bags pattern here or here.

PS: I made these pouches exclusively from scraps I had sitting around. The only thing I bought new were the zippers. The twill and denim came from pairs of my husbands old pants that I couldn’t figure out what to do with but felt bad throwing away. The back of each pouch is made from a piece of solid twill or denim to match the solid strip at the bottom on the front.

Did you handmake any gifts this Christmas?   How good are you at figuring out how long something will take? Please tell me I’m not the only one.

xoxo

April

My sweet friend Susan made three darling pieces for Christmas and told me I could quilt them however I wanted. I was so excited to try some new things! (I went a little crazy.)

First, this really fun table runner.     Susan thought it would be fun to have a giant swirl in the middle of the ornaments, so that is what I did. Then, in the remaining background space, I echo quilted around the ornaments. That echo quilting is harder than I thought! By the end I had gotten the hang of it, but let just say at the beginning there were a few lines that got unpicked. I did a loose weave-type pattern in the borders, which was a lot of fun.

Second, this long wall hanging.        I outlined each of the panel prints, and did some loop-de-loops in the frames and swirls in the borders. I even tried my hand at micro-stippling, which is much harder than it looks, and also takes a lot of muscle control.

Finally, the one I went crazy on. This wall hanging was so cute, and had so many different places to have fun with! I did a different design in each of the panel backgrounds, and then some fun swag borders around each of the panels. Some figure eights in the borders, and voila! The back looks pretty cool, too. Looking at it now, I wonder if I should have dome something to the actual images in the panels, but at the time I wasn’t sure what to do. What do you think?

Especially because she was quite adamant in saying she didn’t want anything (which is of course not acceptable).

She doesn’t need anything.

But she’s always cold.

Turns out, that, I know how to fix.

A darling layer cake of American Jane’s Fairy Tale Friends (thanks Moda!) some really snuggly backing, and a few hours later?

Voila.

She loved it.

“Oh, I’ve just never felt something so soft!”

It just might have been the only gift that got her to smile this year.

But I might be biased.

It now lives on her bed along with the matching pillowcase.

That, my friends, is what quilting is all about.

xoxo

April

A heartfelt thank you for all the kindness you have shown me as I learn about and grow my business.

A whole lot of love for these goobers, who inspire me every day to be more “me”.

A bunch of kisses for this guy, who smiles through my hare-brained ideas and loves me anyway.

A heck-of-a-lot of excitement and anticipation for an amazing year to come.

What are you excited about in 2012?

Mwa!

April

I machine quilted this cute version of my Prep School Knockout pattern made by my sweet pattern tester, Lynnette. She made it for me nearly a year ago, and I just haven’t had the chance to get it done. At first, I thought I would try big squared off spirals in each of the squares made by the ric rac intersecting. I gave it a shot on the first row of squares and realized it’s really, really hard. Apparently, it’s much easier to make curvy lines on a longarm, and straight lines on a conventional machine.

The things you learn!

I was persistent, though, and kept at it, hoping I would get better as I went. It was definitely slow going, and I wasn’t super happy with how it looked. I mean, the straight lines weren’t really…straight. You may not know this about me, but that kind of thing drives me crazy.

I forced myself to keep at it, knowing that it takes practice, and that this quilt was staying with me so I wasn’t disappointing anyone. Then, I advanced the quilt, and realized the tension was AWFUL on the back. Aha! An excuse to undo the unevenness! I spent the next 2 days unpicking the nearly 900 square inches of yucky not straight lines. Call me crazy.

I started over doing a double spiral, which I have done a million times on my little Bernina. It was so fun, and easy, and looks awesome! Guess I shouldn’t have forced the straight lines. It worked out great, too, because the spirals could fit in the curves of the ric rac, making it puff out a bit. I love it!

So there you go, the double spiral. Also, the adventures and misadventures of a newbie longarm quilter!

xoxo

April

PS The fabric on this quilt is Bliss from the lovely Bonnie and Camille for Moda. Such an awesome line! You probably can’t find much of it around anymore, but their new line Ruby is equally darling, and is in stores now.

Sue has been coming to my weekly craft night for a few months, now. After a time or two, she decided she wanted to pull out a quilt she started in the 80′s and finally, finally finish it! And, boy is that girl fast! Once she put her mind to it, she was unstoppable! (She’s finished another quilt and cut out another since.)

Lucky me, she let me try out my brand new machine on her quilt first! (She’s brave like that.) So I loaded it on up, got a feel for it, and got to work!

She said she just wanted a simple allover quilting design that wouldn’t compete with the busy-ness of the piecing, so I went with the classic stipple. Plus, that seemed like a good starting point to get a feel for the machine.

I think it turned out really fun, and Sue loved it (Yay!) Not bad for a first attempt, eh?

xoxo

April