Dance in Paris

Dance in Paris, designed by Brigitte Heitland of Zen Chic, with fabric also designed by her, is one of those quilts you just enjoy from beginning to end. The original pattern name is Spring in Paris, but the fabric I used is her Dance in Paris collection.

I really love piecing hexagons made of 60 degree triangles, and this one is no exception! When I think about what makes a quilt fun to piece, two things come to mind: how much I like the fabric, and how fun the pattern is. Happily, both are true for this quilt.

I wanted to keep the quilting design very simple in the colored fabrics, just some simple geometrics. This is my go-to option for prints.

I am usually a bit intimidated when encountering large swaths of negative space, because they represent so much potential. For this quilt I did something I don't usually do: marking. I marked up all the hexagons so that I could quilt them into the white space as a series of ghost blocks.

I had 3 different quilting designs for this quilt and I actually stared at them for weeks, unsure which one to pick. I finally picked this design because it made the quilt feel the most balanced, and I'm glad I did, because I think the end result is quite beautiful!

Heartland Backpack and Pearce Crossbody Bag

I'm not sure when, but suddenly it seems crossbody mini bags have become trendy. Suddenly, I see them everywhere, and then just as suddenly, I'm seized with the urge to sew one for myself. Or, in this case, two.

The first bag I made is the Heartland Backpack from Sew Sweetness's League of Extraordinary Bagmakers Vol 1. This bag was a bit of a choose-your-own adventure and it had multiple options, and I ended up taking up every single option. If I'm going to put in the effort, I might as well go all out!

As a result, this bag has quite a few pockets, as well as a back pocket that's great for cash or things I want to keep against my body.

The second bag I made is the Pearce Crossbody Bag from the League of Extraordinary Bagmakers Vol 2. I had some leftovers of this gorgeous fabric from my Sky Harbor Tote that I was dying to use up, and it was perfect for this little beauty.

Due to its small size and the many tight curves, this bag was definitely a bit of a challenge, more than Heartland, but I'm so happy with it when it's done!

I really enjoyed making both of these. As usual, some bits toward the end were quite challenging, but when I look at the end result, I'm filled with so much pride and joy, and my next thought is ... more!

Postcard Row

I went through a phase a few years ago where I was obsessed with house quilts. I made quite a few during that time, but my favorite of those is probably Postcard Row. That's mostly because it features some of my favorite fabrics by Natalie Barnes!

The original pattern is called Painted Ladies by Eye Candy Quilts. I absolutely hated the name though! I know the pattern was inspired by the famous row houses in San Francisco that's named Painted Ladies, but I did some quick Googling and discovered another name for those houses is called Postcard Row, and so that's what I named my quilt.

I like to add a little something extra to each quilt if I can, and for this quilt, it's to add a little whimsy to each of the houses by giving them different roof designs.

I kept the quilting consistent otherwise, with just vertical lines for the house walls to simulate sidings, and in the open space I switched up swirls and wavy lines.

And at last, another one of my favorite quilt tops is done. I loved everything about this quilt, from the super fun piecing, to the quilting. The only problem is, I actually made another quilt top using the same pattern because it was so fun, and now I will have to come up with a new quilting design! Oh well, that's a problem for another day.

Solstice

I almost couldn't believe it, but apparently I made the quilt top for Solstice more than 5 years ago! It felt like I had made it much more recently than that, so that's kind of crazy.

Solstice is designed by Rebecca Bryan, and this was part of a quilt-along that I joined. I was enamored by the color scheme, which looked like a sunset explosion.

I knew for a long time how I wanted to quilt this, so there was no hesitation once I started, and it was just a matter of actually doing it. I wanted the star in the center to be highlighted by geometric designs and lots of straight-line designs.

The solid background space of course has to be filled by swirls. I didn't want the background to take any attention away from the star in the center.

My opinion has always been that print fabric quilts have the soul in the prints, but solid pattern quilts don't have soul (no matter how beautiful) until the quilting is added. I haven't changed my mind about that, but I'm happy that now the soul has been added to Solstice! I really love it.

Cosquilla and Dogwood Pouch

It's official ... I'm slowly but surely replacing every store bought bag or pouch in my house with something handmade. There is simply no comparison to the joy and pride I feel seeing something I made myself, in the fabric of my choice, every time I use it. While making bags is frequently no picnic, and there are usually a few hairy bits in the process, it's all worth it when it's finished, and I can use it for a long time.

The Cosquilla Pouch is a combination fabric / vinyl pouch that has 2 compartments, and I plan to use it for my travel toiletries bag. I love the fabric I picked out for it so much, and the quilting on the bottom and side panel gives it some great texture.

The second pouch I finished is the Dogwood Pouch. I have many pouch patterns, but what drew me to the Dogwood Pouch is the pattern hack: an optional tool wrap. I had been using the Enigma Pouch to store my makeup, and while it works great, I realized I wanted a smaller makeup bag for just the bare essentials, and the tool wrap is perfect for makeup brushes and such.

As always, the patterns and video workships are by Sara Lawson of Sew Sweetness. Sara is basically my Yoda on my bagmaking journey.

And of course, the final stitches are barely completed for a day before I start dreaming about my next bag project ...

North Star

I originally intended to quilt North Star last year, but December was such a busy month for me that I did not end up having time, and in a way I'm glad, North Star is one of my absolutely favorite quilts (a 5-star for sure) that I would not want to rush!

Both the fabric and pattern is by Libs Elliott, featuring one of my favorite collections ever by her, Tattooed North. This was a very easy and pleasant sew because it's basically a quilt consisting of half-square triangles. I absolutely love the pops of the gold fabric, it makes this quilt truly shine!

My vision for the quilt is simple: keep to simple geometric designs in the stars, and quilt pockets of more dense swirls for some added texture and specialness.

I assigned a design to each block and executed it consistently, but the quad-star blocks definitely made things more interesting!

I really love the effect of the pockets of swirls I added! I use swirls on 95% of my quilts, and they're without a doubt my favorite filler.

While the metallic fabric definitely caused some issues while quilting, when I look at the end result, I completely forget all the pain. I'm very much in love with the finished quilt, and I'm so happy to start the year with a 5-star quilt top!

Arcade Game

When I first saw Arcade Game by Jaybird Quilts, I thought the quilt was absolutely adorable and definitely had the 3D effect it was going for. I waited to make this until I had a kit though, because I knew color placement was absolutely critical.

Piecing this quilt was very fun because I like any excuse to use a specialty ruler, and Jaybird's rulers are so fun to use! Piecing was easy, and the only part I had to be careful of was to make sure I didn't mess up the color placement, or the effect would be ruined.

Although the quilt had fun jaggedy edges, I wasn't in the mood to use bias binding to finish this, so I chickened out and added black filler triangles to make it a rectangular quilt. Maybe next time!

I had an idea in quilting this to make sure the 3D effect stands out, and I quilted the top "panel" of every cubes the same with echoing lines, but switched up the designs on the sides. It was fun to pick different designs for every block!

Since I only wanted to use a single color of thread, I quilted more densely on lighter colored blocks and less densely on darker colored blocks.

I meant to finish this quilt in October, but I got so busy with other things that I didn't touch the longarm for nearly a month. (I was also very wrapped up in piecing another quilt by Jaybird Quilts, and her quilts are downright addictive.) Once I started this however, it went fairly quickly, and I love the finished quilt!

I rarely take staged photos anymore because ... actually I don't have a good reason. But this quilt demanded to be hung from some railing and taken a photo of! So, I had to follow that call.

Allium & Renegade #2 (Bag)

Last year I made a lot of bag projects just because I wanted to, with no consideration of usage (though they almost *all* ended up being used!) but this year, most of the bags I made had a specific purpose, and I intended to use them. These two bags are my last two of the year, and yes, I've used them both enough so they have been field tested! Once again, all patterns by Sara Lawson of Sew Sweetness.

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The first bag I made is the Allium Bag. I intended to make the Allium Bag my theme park bag. I used to carry a bigger bag to parks, but I realized just how annoying it was, on rides that required me to put my bag away, to stuff a bigger bag into a tiny locker. Now, with Allium, it fits into the lockers great, and it carries all my theme park essentials.

I absolutely love this fabric, which I picked up on a trip to Missouri Star, and had been saving it for a long, long time. I was a little nervous to use it with an untested bag pattern, but I'm really glad I did!

And then there's the Renegade Bag. This is actually my second Renegade Bag, as I made my first one a few years ago, and my mom has it now. One thing I wanted to remedy on my second Renegade Bag is actually using rivets on the straps.

Due to my inexperience, I actually messed up the rivets positioning the first time, so I had to recut and resew the outer panels, luckily I had enough fabric. Though it cost me a few extra hours, it was worth it, as I plan to carry this for my daily carrier for awhile, so I needed to be happy with it!

And I am, I am so happy with these projects. Usually at the end of a bag project, I'm sweating and swearing, and I say to myself, I'm gonna need a break before I do another one. But usually, mere hours later, around the time I've photographed it, I'm already wanting to start my next bag ...

Polaris

I went through a phase a few years ago where I was completely obsessed with star quilts, so naturally when I saw the pattern Faded by Brigitte Heitland of Zen Chic, I was intrigued. It was a star quilt, but modern, and the sample was made using her lovely fabrics.

However, when I went through my fabric collection, I found something else I decided to use instead ... a collection I picked up from my local quilt shop (back when it existed) that I didn't know the name of. It had lovely greens and blues with whites, and mixed with a near-solid black, I knew it'd be perfect for this quilt.

Since the pattern is basically half-square triangles, this was a super easy quilt to put together. What made it so fun was the pattern itself, as it's called Faded, so parts of the star "faded" away in random locations, making it look like it's missing pieces.

With blocks like these that are "missing" sections, I always like to use the quilting to give those sections back. I used a similar quilting technique in Dawn Star that I finished earlier this year.

This is a really special quilt to me and I wanted to put in the work, so I filled the background of the stars with swirls, but since I'm using a darker thread to match the background, I absolutely kept the quilting minimal on the foreground blocks, as I've never liked the look of dark thread on lighter fabrics.

Half of this quilt is negative space, so I decided to draw a big intricate star, and then surround it with wavy lines. I named this quilt Polaris because the star I drew reminded me a bit of the North Star.

And wow, I love this quilt! I already named a favorite for the year (Star-Crossed) but I'm starting to wonder if this quilt is a close second place.

It's A Bit Supernatural

Recently I bought some Spoonflower fabrics inspired by the TV show Supernatural, and I decided to make some projects with it.

When I found this panel fabric of symbols from the show, I knew that mug rugs were the perfect project for it. I loaded the whole piece on my longarm and since the background has a wood-grain design, I quilted a wood-grain for the first time ever. I think it turned out well!

I ended up with a dozen that I had to bind one-by-one (not very fun), but they will make great gifts for my friends at the conventions I attend several times a year. Oh, and I will be keeping one for myself, of course!

I also found this black fabric that's inspired by the Angel / Demon tablets on the show, and I decided to make another convention tote bag with it. I decided to use the Tudor Bag pattern from Sew Sweetness for this purpose, as it allows the focal fabric to shine beautifully, has a front zipper pocket, and has both handles and a shoulder strap for extra versatility.

The interior has a recessed zipper and built-in pockets, though I'd no doubt still use it with one of my Mustang Purse Organizers. I've sewn a lot of Sara's bags at this point, and though I've gained a lot of experience, I can still say this was one of the easier bags I've made.

Now, I'm ready for my next convention!