Yay, I finished my Rosemary quilt, from the book "The Seedlings Quilts" by Jodi Godfrey.

My friend Nedra and I made  our quilts together on our sew days.  She used her beautiful Charlie Harper prints and I used my cherished and coveted Heather Bailey (Fresh Cut) and two Amy Butler prints.

This is Nedra's Charlie Harper quilt, isn't it beautiful?

The quilt shows off the large print fabrics in the big rectangles.  I made mine bigger with an extra row along the bottom and on the side.

The rosemary blocks are paper pieced with shapes I had never sewn before.  I've only sewn hexagons.  I savored the time I spent hand sewing the paper pieces.  I find it very relaxing to sew by hand.

I  bound the quilt with the bright berry colored fabric, as it stands out the most.

I used my large leftover pieces of fabric and pieced the back.  I love this fabric so much and used every opportunity to show it off in the quilt.  I think I've had this fabric for about 10 years, waiting for the perfect project! 

I also enjoyed machine quilting this quilt.  I used an all over flower design which I haven't tried before and I pebble stitched the negative area around the rosemaries so that they would pop!  

I think you can see the flower design I used below.

I'm proud to say that this quilt makes #14 in the grandchildren pile.  I'm going to make some extras in case parents want to choose and to have variety for the grandchildren who will have to choose last.  It's okay, they're pretty young and probably not too particular!

Thanks for following me in my quilting adventures ❤️

Rosemary quilt

 My friend Nedra and I try to get together once a week to sew. We decided to make the "Rosemary" quilt together, it's from the book "The Seedlings Quilt" by Jodi Godfrey.  We loved this quilt because it shows off big prints that you really don't want to cut up.  Here is the photo of the Rosemary quilt in the book. 

There are some paper pieced blocks in the quilt.  I added an extra row of blocks along the side and the bottom to make the quilt a little larger.  There would normally be 8 paper pieced blocks, and I added two more.  I've never paper pieced these shapes before, and really enjoyed it.  I bought the pieces from an online shop called Paper Pieces.

Here is my finished quilt top.  I used mostly Heather Bailey fabrics that I had been stashing for years.  Fresh Cut and Nicey Jane, and two Amy Butler prints which pair perfectly with Heather Bailey.

At first I thought the colors might be too soft, but I love how it turned out! Pinks, greens, yellows and blues, with a few pops of light red.

I'm going to try to machine quilt it this week.

This is Nedra's quilt, isn't it gorgeous!  She used  Charlie Harper prints, except for some of the paper piecing.  I really love the color scheme.  Maybe we've inspired you to check out this quilt pattern?

Claira and Clancy, a sewing pattern

I love making stuffed animals, although the thought of it is often intimidating to me.

The detailed instructions and photos were so easy to follow.

The pattern pieces were printed on one side of the paper only, so there was no tracing involved, I just cut the pattern pieces out.

That saved me a lot of time!

I cut out all the pattern pieces, began sewing and stuffing.

The arms are pinned, ready for me to hand sew them closed.

Lots of extra cute details too.

See those water soluble blue pen marks?

Those are the markings for their dimpled arms and legs :)

The bodies are completely sewn, and the legs are sewn into the body seam.

I just need to stuff them, easy peasy!!!

Notice their little noses?

Another detail is the snout, which will be stuffed and sewn on later.

Ta Da!  All stuffed, with the snout sewn on and the arms attached.

The only thing that worried me, were the arms.

I used a doll needle (about 6" long) and attached one arm through the body, to the opposite arm, and though the buttons.

I sewed back and forth quite a few times.

I think these little pigs are meant more for a bedroom decoration and mild play, rather than being touted around by a young child.

The arms did come loose after some play and needed some general surgery to reattach them!

I am in love with the felt eyes, with a little bead in the middle.

The pattern had instructions for lazy daisy eyelashes, but I preferred mine without them.

The felt flower adornments and ribbon are precious too, they add a loving touch.

Clancy's eyes are a different color than Claira's, and isn't his corsage adorable?

What a lovely couple Claira and Clancy make!
Both dolls are 24" tall.

 I used all of Heather Bailey's fabric for these pigs, except for Claira's dress and bloomers....I used Lori Holt's Flower Patch fabric.
The hoofs aren't Heather Bailey either, I don't know who designed that fabric.

My grandaughter's name is Charlotte, she's 4 years old.

I bought this pattern for her about 3 years ago, but waited until Charlotte was a little older to make them for her.

I liked the pigs because of the story "Charlotte's Web", and because Charlotte loves stuffed animals.

I fell in love with the pattern the moment I saw it!!!

I had no doubt that Charlotte would fall in love with Claira and Clancy, just as I did :)

Charlotte is the cutest girl, full of spunk and happiness!

I knew that she would appreciate these little pigs :)

Handmade Birthday Club 2014

It's Amy's birthday month, I made her a Heather Bailey Smarty Girl book bag.

I've made a lot of these bags and they are a lot of fun to make :)

I love the length that they hang, and the wide strap sits snug on my shoulder.

All the fabric I used was designed by Heather Bailey.

I love her modern, feminine designs and colors.

The bag is completely lined and is perfect for holding magazines and 8 l/2" X 11" notebooks.

I have one and it's great for carrying my iPad.

Amy made me a sweet little mini quilt for my birthday month, you can see it here.

DresdenI

I chose these fabrics to make my daughter a Dresden table topper.
These fabrics are mostly Heather Bailey and Amy Butler.

I know that she loves mint green :)

Have you ever made one of these dresdens?

I put the petals on the design board in the order I want them.

I sewed all the petals together and placed them on a linen background.

I stitched the petals and center circle onto the background fabric with a little zigzag stitch and some invisible thread.

I prepared the block for machine quilting.

I used my favorite thread, Aurifil.

I stitched in the ditch on the dresden petals, did a pebble stitch on the back ground, with a little swirl in the center.

The name of the mint green solid is Kona pond.  

I really like it!

I love the back too :)

These dresden blocks are a lot of fun to make!

Smarty Girl Book Bag

Heather Bailey's Smarty Girl Book Bag.  I really love this pattern, I have made 7 of them! (Only 4 of them are featured.) I love the size, it holds magazines, notebooks, textbooks, lots of fun things.
There aren't any pockets on the inside, I guess that's why it's called a book bag.  It doesn't hurt that Heather Bailey is one of my favorite designers.  I love all of  her designs.

Did I mention that these bags are a lot of fun to make? Choosing fabric for a project is one of the best parts.  I like this bag with its contrasting colors and prints.

I like the surprise blue on the inside!  

The colors match on this bag but the prints are contrasting.

With all the reds and greens, this could almost be a Christmas bag.

Notice how comfortably the magazine sits in the bag. Lots of room.

I love the butterfly prints, the orange and the aqua,with hints of red.

Lots of polka dots too!

I did something a little different under the flap, I lined it with selvages.  I have a whole box full of selvages that are waiting for a project on my "to do" list.  Do you notice that the lining is different from the butterfly fabric?

The bag strap is very comfortable, it is long and never falls off my shoulder.  I like to wear the Smarty Girl Book Bag across my shoulder too.

This bag is very "pink"!!! A girl can never have too much pink :)     I like the yellow and minty green against the pink.  

Green......with pink peonies, my favorite flower.

I hope you have enjoyed my Smarty Girl Book Bags as much as I enjoyed making them.  Maybe I should make some more!