Author Archives: Bernie

Springtime

We had a really fun weekend. Lots of chores but also a good dose of family time. Have to balance things out, right? The biggest project happening at our house is ripping out the lower deck. On the east side of the house we have decks that run the length of the house both upstairs and downstairs. My husband has had his eye on the lower deck for a while now because he knew the redwood was getting old and starting to rot.

He talked to a cement contractor and they came up with a plan to pour a patio and get rid of the redwood deck. If you have a wooden deck, you know how much maintenance they can be – it is a ton of work to keep the railings painted. Especially in our climate where the summers are quite hot and winters very cold. The paint just peels constantly with the contraction and expansion of the wood each season.

To save on the cost, Ray is tearing out the deck and getting rid of the piles of wood he is removing. It is a lot of work, but also a lot of money saved. My father came over Saturday to help with stacking the bad wood and cleaning any re-usable boards (pulling the nails and stacking in a different spot.) My job was to clean the junk off the deck, and provide lots of water and lunch. (I know, I got off easy!)

By Sunday afternoon, Ray had made significant progress. He thinks he is just over 30% done. He has two more weekends to finish and then they will start to build the patio in the beginning of June. I am really excited about this project. It is going to be so pretty. We have mature rhododendrons, camellias and azaleas that will form a lush border along the edge of the patio.

Other activities this weekend included celebrating Julia’s birthday and Julia’s Junior Prom. She went to prom with a group of kids in her class and had a wonderful time. I am sharing a picture of Julia and her sweet friend, posing with their shoes. My daughter is very pragmatic and said she didn’t want to wear heels because they would hurt by the end of the night. Try as I might, I couldn’t convince her otherwise (she is a person who knows her mind and this is actually something I admire in her!) What do you think?

Julia fears the cake is a disaster!

For her birthday, Julia asked for a vanilla cake with strawberry filling and chocolate frosting. I got to work on what turned out to be one of the ugliest cakes ever made! (More importantly, it tasted delicious). The problem was I tried to split the round layers and the cake crumbled. I had cheated and used a cake mix (c’mon, it was such a busy day!). Making a cake from scratch would have resulted in a denser cake and probably would have split fine. This cake was too light and didn’t hold up to ‘construction’.

We were laughing so hard at this point. It was hysterical. Once I got to this stage, I put it in the fridge for a while to let it firm up a bit before icing it. Also, I was praying that somehow a miraculous repair would occur and the cake would no longer look such a mess!

Icing the cake helped a little bit but If I am honest, the cake ended up looking like a six year old made it. The walnut cake plate Ray made for me added some beauty to an otherwise ugly dessert!

No matter though, it tasted really good and we had fun singing to Julia for her 17th birthday. As always, I found myself wondering how 17 years could possibly have gone by.

Each year on Mother’s Day, I have conflicting feelings of joy and bittersweet nostalgia. Back in 1994, my first husband (my boys’ dad) passed away suddenly from an aneurysm in his brain stem. He was only 36 and it was tragic beyond description. I haven’t ever mentioned it here. because how does one fit this sort of story in? Anyway, to make awful things even worse, he died on Mother’s Day. For his mother, this was truly awful. Time went by, I remarried and we had Julia. When I found out I was due the second week of May, it sort of nagged at me. I kept thinking I didn’t want her to be born on May 8th because that was the day my husband passed away. One day I was talking about this fear to my mother in law (the second one, I am lucky to have two great mother in laws!). She very wisely told me I shouldn’t worry. She said the birth of this baby was going to take this sad time of year and make it joyful. She was exactly, completely, and utterly correct and I am forever grateful to her for her wise words. Celebrating Julia’s birthday each year, sometimes actually on Mother’s Day, has turned the whole thing around and made this a very joyful season for me.

I hope you also had a great weekend. I haven’t done any sewing since last week. Yesterday was spent with a migraine so I am hoping today or tomorrow I will find my way into the sewing room. I have projects all over that I want to be working on!! Just look at the mess that is my sewing space! I need to take control in there and get things cleared up.

Tomorrow I will share the May Blogger Bundle. Curated by Jayne Willis of Twiggy & Opal, it is another beautiful bundle! See you tomorrow.

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Little Pillowcases

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About a month ago, my daughter in law texted me to ask if I would make some small pillowcases for my grand baby. She has recently taken to sleeping with a tiny pillow (which is so darn cute!) So a few cute pillowcases were needed. Of course I am happy to make whatever I can. I am unsure why I didn’t get these done sooner because they are so simple.

Serenghetti Beasties

I made two – each one quite different from the other. The first one is made with some fabric by Clothworks. It is an organic cotton and the line is called Serenghetti Beasties. (It is available in y shop and you can find it here.) I love the name! There are all sorts of safari animals like giraffes, zebras, hippos and lions on a crisp white background. This fabric is so nice and soft, making it perfect for a pillow case.

The back is a coordinate from this line. The dusty blue and white triangular pattern has little pops of yellow. I made standard, envelope style pillowcases and both finished at about 14 1/2″ x 19″.

Here is the second one I made. I thought I would choose something more girlish in style. This is also an organic line but it is produced by Windham Fabrics. The line is called Paint the Town and it just came in about a week ago. It has a heavier weight to it but is still soft and cozy. There are masses of flowers and a sweet gray kitty hiding among the blooms. (Look for her next to the blue flowers.) This piece looks a bit like a watercolor to me. I think this will be a fun one because the kids have two cats. My sweet grand daughter really loves the cats and I am hoping she might have fun looking for the kitty when she uses this.

When I made this, I ran into a bit of a snag. The fabric is directional, with each kitty facing the same way. I didn’t cut a piece large enough to have the cats going the right way on both the front and back. So, I cheated and on the back side the kitties are going the wrong way. I thought about it for all of 10 seconds and decided it wasn’t necessary to cut more fabric. (Really, I am supposed to sell the fabric, not consume it all myself!)

These were really a quick make. Cut, sewn and finished in a little over an hour. I did finish the seams with a zig zag stitch so they won’t fray with a lot of laundering. They should hold up well and be nice and cozy for my girl.

I am linking up to all sorts of places. Check them out at the top of the page, under Link Ups.

Also, if you haven’t yet signed up for the Needle & Foot newsletter, I hope you will. It is sent out about every six weeks and contain updates on the new fabrics or events going happening in the shop. You can sign up by clicking here or using the link at the upper right side of the page.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Me Made May

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Do any of you follow, or get involved in, Me Made May each year? This event is one to encourage garment sewing and was started years ago. Now in its ninth year, it is a very popular sewing celebration that happens on many social media platforms. It is the creation of Zoe from So Zo, What Do You Know. She is a sewist living in the UK and she often blogs about garment sewing and sustainable sewing.

Me Made May is a unique event in that each participant really sets up their own challenge. Many, many of the sewists will challenge themselves to wear only their handmade clothing each day of the month (some even take it as far as handmade underwear, camisoles and/or bras). Others may set a personal challenge to wear something handmade once each week. Others might set out to create some handmade garments during the month. There really isn’t a right or wrong way to go about it. I also like that there is no judging, no voting, no huge prizes driving everyone. People share their makes, their sewing ideas and plans with each other – usually on Instagram #mmm18 or #memademay2018 or by blogging. (Just to give some perspective on the size of this event, it began 6 days ago. As of this writing on Sunday afternoon, there are over 4,000 posts in#memademay2018.) It celebrates a mutual love of sewing – be it incredibly intricate and fitted garments, or a basic t-shirt.

Which is exactly what I made last week!

Several months ago, I thrifted a bolt (yep, I have a lot of it) of this mauve stretch knit fabric. I had no idea what I would do with it at the time but I figured I would think of something. The fabric in general is in great condition. There are a few spots on the selvage that have a small hole which don’t really cause any issue since they are on the selvage. Thinking I wanted to make a t-shirt, I scouted the internet and posed the question on Facebook, asking for pattern recommendations. One pattern designer that was recommended is Blank Slate Patterns. I liked both the look and simplicity of the Blanc T Shirt. You can buy the pattern, or if you are a member of their Facebook group, it is a free download.

The pattern has two pieces. Well actually, it is a pdf download and there are 20 pages to print. But 16 of those pages create two pattern pieces. It is sized from XS to XL. Really, this is a simple process – just takes a little bit of tape and scissors. Not a big deal.

I decided this first round would be a practice session. I purposely cut it out as a size large because it is easier to size down than up. Plus I was hoping for a loose, kind of flowy look? Is flowy a word? Probably not but you know what I mean.

It takes no time to sew front to back. Once I tried it on and decided I liked the fit, I ran a loose zig zag stitch over each seam to finish it off. Really I should have set up the serger to do this and get a nice finish but you know… it was in the closet…. the sewing table was a mess…. it just seemed like to much work. Maybe next time.

After finishing the seams, all that was left was a bit of finish works. Hemming the bottom and the sleeves came next. Finally I finished the neckline with purchased bias tape. The only hiccup in the project was the bottom hem. I ran two lines of stitching and there are several wobbles in the second line. I am not sure why it happened. It doesn’t bother me enough to rip it out though. If I were to want a double stitched line I think I would try using a double needle. I bought one a long time ago but have not yet practiced with it.

I love these little projects because of the quick finish. It is really satisfying to cut out a couple of pieces and then have a t-shirt to wear the next day. I am going to make one more in this pretty black knit that I bought. My plan after that is to make something a bit more challenging. I have two patterns sitting out that I keep looking at and debating which to try first. Stay tuned for more in Me Made May!

Linking up all over the place. Check out the link parties I enjoy! They are listed at the top of the page, under Link Ups.

Fabric Kits for Fire Burst Mystery QAL

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Remember last week when I mentioned I had never done a mystery quilt along? It was in the post about the April blogger bundle curated by Cheryl Brickey. I said that mystery quilts made me nervous since I didn’t get to see the overall pattern for the quilt. Well I am making progress! I am involved in the new Fire Burst Mystery Quiltalong hosted by Tish Stemple.

However I should explain. Tish took the mystery out of it for me when she asked me to curate two different kits of fabric for the event. She had a few readers mentioning to her how picking the fabrics was a challenge for them, not knowing what the quilt was to look like. She thought offering a few kits might appease the nerves of some of the participants. This sounded like a lot of fun for me so I got to work.

With lots of emailing back and forth between Tish and I (or is it me??) there are now two different kits available in the shop for the event! I really like them both. I created each one to be quite different from the other so the color choices would appeal to a wide variety of taste.

The first one! This kit appeals to me with the jewel tones standing out most. The dark blue and fuschia fabrics are from the 76 line by Alison Glass. Along with those, are two fabrics from Amy Gibon’s Meriwether line made by Windham Fabrics.

I set up the kit so that the background fabric is the creamy off-white print with the little stars. The floral is also from that line and it looks great with the Alison Glass fabrics. So this kit is as follows:

Background Fabric: Twinkle Farmhouse by Amy Gibson (the creamy off-white stars)
Fabric 1: Stitched in Violet by Alison Glass (the dark fuchsia)
Fabric 2: Frolic in Farmhouse by Amy Gibson (the lovely floral on creamy off-white)
Fabric 3: Numbered in Peacock by Alison Glass (the dark blue)

Kit number two is quite different. For this one, I selected a subtle print for the background. Called Dancing Daisies, it is from the Camping collection by Art Gallery Fabric. I really like the pale green, soft little daisies and the pop of orange in the center of each flower.

Because I used a print as the background, I stayed with solids for the other three fabrics. Drawing from the colors of the print, I chose three pieces from Art Gallery’s Pure Elements solid fabrics. I love both shades of orange and how the daisy centers are enhanced by them. I think this is a really pleasing but bold combination.

Here are the details for Kit 2:
Background Fabric: Dancing Daisies, made by Art Gallery Fabrics.
Fabric 1: Tiger Lily (the dark orange)
Fabric 2: Mandarin (the light orange)
Fabric 3: Emerald (the dark green

I have to say, this was such a fun project. I am trying to decide which kit I will use when I sew along with this, my first, mystery QAL! I know, it is like I cheated because I got to see the pattern. But baby steps, right? Baby steps. 🙂

I hope you will go check out Tish’s post today. Whether you are participating or not in the Fire Burst Mystery QAL, her post is full of great ideas about color selection. I really like how she explained it and found it quite helpful.

What do you think of these two choices? Which is your favorite? I would love to know because it is helpful to me for these kinds of projects as they come up in the future. Also, are you participating in the QAL? Hope so, it is going to be a lot of fun. The schedule is very relaxed and the quilt pattern is doable for quilters of all skill levels.

If you have ay questions about the kits, leave a comment and I will get back to you. Both are available in the shop in two sizes, baby quilt (32″ square) and lap quilt (64″ square).

Spread the Love Update

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It has been a while since the culmination of my Spread the Love event that happened in February this year. (If this is the first you heard of it, you can read more here and here.) I wanted to share an update with you.

First of all, Amy, owner and creator of A Doll Like Me, continues to receive quilts regularly. She is grateful beyond words for all of the quilts, doll clothes and financial contributions she has received because of all of you quilters! The unique creativity and incredible energies put into the quilts is really wonderful. The notes sent by some of you with the quilts and other donations have been really special. Many of you relate to Amy’s work in a special way due to situations in your family. Others have expressed deep joy and gratitude to have such a special cause to sew for. It has added meaning to the process of quilting for for many of you which makes quilting even more special!

So far Amy has distributed over 50 quilts. This amazes me since it is only April so she hasn’t had the quilts for very long yet. She gave many to children for whom she didn’t have a quilt available when she sent their dolls. It was such a happy surprise for the kids to receive something new for their Doll Like Me.

She sent some quilts to a family in Europe who had adopted a child with limb differences from an orphanage in Romania. This little one is seven years old, yet had no experience with dolls and playing with, or taking care of, them. They taught her to wrap up her baby in her quilt. Isn’t it wonderful to think she is playing with and caring for her baby in a quilt one of you made? I love it!

We never know exactly how a quilt sent to a child will be used. But in this family, their sweet girl sleeps under hers with her dolly next to her. She looks so cozy!

This is the doll that was sent with the patchwork quilt you see covering the child in her crib.

Another child who received a quilt was a boy of about ten years. He suffered a terrible burn and has had many, many surgeries and still has many to endure. He loves sports so Amy made his Doll Like Me to have similar scarring, plus a basketball jersey and shoes. Of course she sent a quilt that was sport themed.

When in the hospital, naturally he brings his doll but for this the doll wears a hospital gown, just like his owner! This provides some comfort, a fun distraction and a great reflection of himself in the doll.

I love that the doll has the necessary wardrobe for being home and feeling good as well as being in the hospital. Isn’t it wonderful?

I was curious about how Amy managed to mimic the scarring on the doll so he could be just like the boy.

She said she uses a mix of paints, both latex and fabric paint., as well as alcohol markers and makeup! Pretty creative.

I am so happy that Amy stays in touch with me. A number of you have volunteered to make a specially themed quilt for a child who might need it. She really appreciates it. I am going to try to make some doll outfits for her soon. She gave me some measurements for the dolls she creates. I think it will be fun to sew a few things for them. Thanks to all of you who made quilts or gowns and who continue to do so. You are a special bunch of people!! Thank you for all of your generosity.

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April Blogger Bundle, by Cheryl Brickey

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It is time again! I have a new blogger bundle to share with you. This month’s bundle was curated by the talented Cheryl Brickey of Meadow Mist Designs. Many of you know Cheryl through her wildly popular mystery quilt event that she hosts annually. I have a confession. I haven’t done one of these yet because I feel intimidated by the process. I know, kinda weird but it’s true. I may have to jump on board with the next one though because I have always loved seeing the amazing quilts made by the participants of these events! Cheryl is an engineer by day, a very talented quilter and pattern designer by night and a wife and mom 24 x 7. Many of the patterns in her shop are modern takes on some classic blocks. She also recently co-authored the book, Modern Plus Quilts, with Paige Alexander. Cheryl must be incredibly organized to be able to accomplish all that she does!

I was excited when Cheryl agreed to curate a bundle for me because I so admire her style. The bundle does not disappoint. She chose a selection made entirely by Art Gallery Fabrics. Designers of these pieces include Maureen Cracknell, Katarina Roccella, Angela Walters, Pat Bravo and Sharon Holland.

The palette of black, white, navy and yellow is sophisticated and modern. But the blue piece from Sharon Holland’s Bountiful line softens it just the right amount.

Another aspect of this collection that is really pleasing is the relationship between the Scenic Blue Sky fabric and the yellow Terra Firma Sunlit. The bits of yellow used to accent the cozy farmhouses on the blue print is emphasized when placed with the yellow of the Terra Firma Sunlit piece. I love this because it just pulls everything together. Kudos to Cheryl on the selection of such a pretty bundle.

As before, this bundle is listed in my shop in both fat quarter cuts and 1/2 yard cuts. The price is reduced by 20% today through Saturday. Also, Cheryl is holding a giveaway on her site so one lucky reader will win a fat quarter bundle. Be sure to go check out the project Cheryl made with these fabrics. It will be fun for you to see how she utilized the fabrics.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this collection. Leave me a note in the comments!

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Planning the Week

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Happy Monday everyone! I hope the weekend treated you well. Last week my husband and I had our 20th wedding anniversary. It was a crazy day which culminated in a meal of scrambled eggs for dinner. Not really the best way to honor twenty years of marriage! But we did get to celebrate a few days late. We took the weekend off and went to our little house in Downieville together.

Hiking along the river in Downieville.

We had a great time on our ‘twenty-moon’ and hated to see the weekend end. Saturday was gorgeous outside, maybe 75 degrees or so? We hiked along the river and enjoyed some gorgeous scenery.

We really love our little bungalow up on the river. Each time we are there I we wonder why we don’t get up there more frequently but you know how that goes. So many things competing for our weekend time! As we drove home Sunday afternoon, Ray was saying he needed to hop on the mower and get the hillside and yard mowed. This is a weekly chore during the spring and early summer which takes quite a chunk of time (he mows about two acres.). But surprise! Our youngest son (who came to hang out with Julia while we were gone) had mowed for him. An anniversary gift of the best kind and a very thoughtful gesture.

These shelves are packed!

This is the main project I am working on this week! My shelves are completely full (with the exception of the one in the top, left corner. I have two orders of fabric delivering this week, one from Windham Fabric and the other from Andover. (I am so excited!!) Anyway, there is no room for more.

This is the space opposite the fabric shelves. I need to clean it out and get the desk out of the room. (It is a beast – solid oak which makes it huge and quite heavy). I don’t use it other than to stack junk on. So, the junk is going, the desk is being listed on Craigslist and I am putting shelving on this wall. I have the shelving so that part will be easy. But getting rid of all of this might take a little time! I am excited to have the area available though. Decluttering the space is actually very motivating and I should be able to get most of this done today. I am not exactly sure how we will get the desk out of there though. It really is monstrous. I think Ray will have to take it apart to move it. (I am lucky to have him!)

Scrap Pack of Art Gallery Fabrics

As I clean up the shop, I am putting together some scrap packs. Here is one filled with eight ounces of Art Gallery pieces, some of which are designed by Sharon Holland, Pat Bravo and Maureen Cracknell. There is only one of them but if it appeals to you, hop over to the shop!

Olive loves her belly rubs!

Here is a picture of Julia and Olive. This piglet loves a good belly rub. She is so sweet-natured which becomes apparent when she sees Julia. She flips to her back and waits for the petting. She has a little smile on her face when they are together. Julia is actually a bit concerned because she doesn’t want Olive to flip to her back for a scratch when Julia is competing with her in the ring for showmanship! Clearly it may take a bit of training and practice to keep Olive up and moving when she is supposed to be.

Finally, on Wednesday this week I will be sharing the April Blogger Bundle. It was curated by Cheryl Brickey of Meadow Mist Designs. Don’t miss it, this is a lovely collection! See you Wednesday.

Sketchbook Summer Dress

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We had a great weekend! I love a weekend combined with family time, sewing time and outside time. That is the perfect combination for me.

My great-nephew and the quilt I made for him.

The family time consisted a of great visit Sunday morning with my niece and her family. She and her husband live in the Bay Area and have three children. Her youngest is about 15 months old and this is the first time I have met him. I did make him a quilt last year though. Isn’t he adorable? Somehow life gets busy, migraines derail plans, and it just never worked out. for me to meet him until yesterday. He was a delightful, happy little boy. They stayed up at my parents for the night. The kids had not yet experienced snow and were really excited to play in the snow, making snowballs and trying to make snow angels. Mom doesn’t have snow just now but if they drove up the highway about 20 minutes they would be able to find some. This is a very busy family with three kids, ages six, four and one. I remember those days as both joyful and tiring.

Sewing time was used to finish up a sundress and bloomers for my grand daughter. This was a really fun project. I recently received an order from Art Gallery Fabric which included a selection of Sketchbook. This line was designed by the talented Sharon Holland and features fabrics that look as though they were reproduced from her notebook full of doodles. I love the colors; navy, with dusty greens, blues, yellows and pinks. I have a quilt show coming up the first weekend of May so I am preparing for it. I will make a few samples to better display the fabrics I am bringing. I offered to make a sundress for my grand daughter and asked my DIL to select two fabrics from this line.

Such a sweet outfit for summer!

She chose a sweet combination of the large floral piece, Ink Outburst Atelier for the dress and Speckled Lapis for the lining and bloomers. The choice is great. I love the large scale floral – the colors are great for a toddler but not the typical juvenile fabric. With no zippers or buttons needed, this is one fast outfit. I used a McCall’s pattern, number M6912. The sundress is totally reversible – might come in handy at some point. If she spills on the front of her dress, just take it off and turn it inside out!

The bloomers are also a quick sew. I love the bit of ruffle at the thighs. I used a wide bias tape to make the casing for the elastic. If you sew it just above the hem of the leg, it gathers nicely and makes the sweet ruffle. When I was in Vermont a few weeks ago, I measured my grand baby’s chubby legs so I would have an idea for the length of elastic. I think it is nice and loose so it doesn’t get uncomfortable. My DIL does have a sewing machine so she can adjust the elastic if needed.

I put a little label on the back so it is easier to tell the front from the back. I hope it isn’t itchy though. Again, it is easily removed if necessary. I look forward to seeing the outfit on her, maybe when we are on vacation this summer.

As for the outside time portion of the weekend, we took Julia to select another piglet to raise and show at the county fair in August. She really loved doing this last year. She and my husband got the pen all ready for her new piggie on Saturday morning.

Checking out a litter of piglets with the breeder.

Sunday we drove out to the breeder’s ranch about 25 miles from our home. This breeder is just a great guy. He is very knowledgeable and relates very well to teenagers. He and Julia took some time to look at all of the piglets and choose one with good physical structure and a (hopefully) easy going temperament. The litter in this pen are about eight weeks old.

Welcoming her new piglet to the pen.

Julia quickly gravitated to this little gilt. She was born in February and is currently about 60 pounds.

Letting Olive check out her new home.

Her name is Olive and she is very curious. Julia has a calm presence with her, making Olive feel calm and secure. She was sniffing and rooting everywhere.

When she discovered her neighbors in the chicken coop, Olive became really vocal. She was happy though – I guess she was just making friends with the hens (who wouldn’t give her the time of day!) Julia is thrilled with her choice and I think the two of the will be good buddies.

The weekend was full and so enjoyable. I hope yours was the same. I will be linking up all over quilting blogland. Please be sure to check out the link ups I use at the top of the page, under Link Ups.

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Catching up on RSC18

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First of all, thanks to everyone for the get well wishes. I am feeling better and have spent the last day or two getting caught up on things. Whenever I spend time down due to some illness or other, it is always so satisfying to get back to normal and have a regular day. Do you know what I mean? It makes me appreciate normal.

Today I am sharing my RSC18 projects to date. I finished the green blocks on the last day of March but never took pictures or posted them. The block for March is called Red Cross and dates to 1897. I don’t get the name but it is a fun block to make. Luckily I didn’t sew any bits together with the green HST’s pointing the wrong way (unusual for me, I know!) The color was to be light or bright green and this was easy as my green tub is truly overflowing. Like January and February, I tried to keep to the same scrap for each of the Squared Away blocks. Two of the greens look very similar (the lower two) but I am fine with this.

This green and yellow fabric is striking -somehow I have no idea where it came from. Usually I can remember but not this time! I love sampler quilts but sometimes they have a very busy look to them. I think using the gray background and keeping the fabric the same within each block is going to add order to the quilt.

Here are the blocks together, though none have been squared yet. There is a third purple block but my OCD self couldn’t take the picture with an extra block hanging out in space. Oh dear, what is wrong with me anyway??

I have said this before but it bears repeating. Mari, designer of the quilt for Squared Away, does an excellent tutorial and I appreciate the bit of information she provides about each block. If you haven’t sewn along with her before, I highly recommend her block of the month projects. Organizing, writing, preparing for this sort of event has to be incredibly time consuming. Thank you Mari!

As I make the Squared Away blocks, I have also been pulling smaller scraps from the bins and making nine patch blocks. These finish at nine inches each. In February I did a few wonky stars to go with the purple set. I really like these and will make more as I go along. I am unsure what I will do with these. Maybe just sash them in black and use it as a donation quilt. The nine patch blocks are a breeze and this uses up more of the small scraps in each bin.

The wonky star blocks add interest to this project.

I need to pull yellow scraps for April. This could be a challenge because I have so few yellow scraps. There are some charm squares I might be able to utilize, depending on the cutting instructions for the April block.

Another project I worked on this week was cleaning up my shop. I have deliveries tomorrow and next week. Hurray for new fabric!! There was a stack of 1/2 and one yard cuts that were end of the bolt so I did some measuring and pricing. Each of these is listed in the Bargain section of the shop. Come take a look, maybe you will find something you like!

Enough for now. I have lots to do. Hope you are all enjoying a ‘normal’ day too.

Linking up with a number of blogs, including Finished or Not Friday. See the list up at the top of the page, under Link Ups.

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Sewing for Safelight

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Earlier this week, I shared this picture on Instagram. I haven’t been feeling well thus very little has occurred in the sewing room. Soon after returning from Vermont, I began to feel that sense of doom when you know you are coming down with a bug. Yesterday I had a chest x-ray to confirm I have pneumonia. Yuk. Not a whole lot of fun and way more than a lot of coughing is happening.

Not all is lost though. I have been wanting to make a contribution to the annual event that is happening now at From My Carolina Home. Carole is very supportive of her local domestic violence organization, Safelight. Called Omiyage for Safelight, Carole is asking us to make a set of matching cosmetic bag and sunglass case. She fills the cosmetic bags with some basic necessities and adds sunglasses to the case before donating them to Safelight. I really like the idea of providing a small, pretty gift to women going through a rough time, hopefully letting them know people do care about them.

Carole’s version of the pouch and sunglasses case is a fun and easy make. Even while not feeling well, this came together nicely. I used two coordinating fat quarters from Riley Blake to make this set. I think the pale pink plaid on the exterior is lovely and feminine.

For the interior, I chose the gold raindrops on a creamy off-white background.

She has a document here for you to download with all of the information. Using Velcro instead of a zipper is a great idea. So simple! If you have a free hour or so, I encourage you to make a set. I love sewing for others because it is such an easy way to share the love, right? The only thing I had to purchase was the Velcro because I only had black strips and that wouldn’t look nice now would it?

Carole is really hoping for a few more sets to arrive before the last of April. She wants to fill them and then gift them at the first of May. Please consider supporting her event. She even has a few nice giveaways planned for those who contribute!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Finally, we are going to have a very rainy weekend which is perfect. I will be recuperating and plan to take advantage of this sale over at Craftsy! How about you?