Fairy Garden Craft Kit

After months tied up in a crazy busy schedule, I'm so happy to be able to get back into sewing for fun with my friends' beautiful new collections. This week I sat down with a few cute prints from Lori Whitlock's new Fairy Garden line.

These prints are so sweet and girly -- just the sort of thing my daughters love!

For ages now I've been wanting to make a miniature version of the Double-Zip Clutch from my book Sew Organized for the Busy Girl which could work as a craft kit for a child, and this was my chance. I added a few extra slots to the inner pockets for crayons or colored pencils. The pockets are perfect for holding extra goodies or tools like pom-poms, brads, erasers, scissors, washi tape, or glue sticks. Tuck one of these in a bag with a coloring book or sketch pad, and you'll have something to keep a little one busy on everything from a family vacation to an afternoon at Grandma's house. I love quick gifts like this that take me an hour or less to make!

Melissa Mortenson (PolkaDot Chair), Christopher Thompson (The Tattooed Quilter) & me

Speaking of trips, last weekend we headed off to Houston so that I could be at Quilt Market, and what a joy it was to visit everyone there! Getting the chance to see all the new fabrics up close is so much fun, but it's the people that I love most. My husband was a sweetheart and took our daughters to the space center AND the American Girl store while I was working. What a guy. I honestly don't know who had more fun this year -- me or the girls.

My third collection, Shortcake, made its debut in the Riley Blake Designs booth, and I love it so much. I'm counting the days until February when it will be out in the world for all of you to make beautiful things! Be sure to ask your local quilt shop to carry it. I'm so excited to share more with you about the story behind these prints in the months ahead...

If you haven't yet, be sure to hurry over to Riley Blake Designs' Instagram feed (@rileyblakedesigns), where they're giving away a full half bundle of my Date Night collection to one lucky winner. Entries are welcome from all over the world, but the giveaway closes tonight at 9pm MDT, so run -- don't walk -- to get your name in the hat. And definitely stop by the RBD blog here to read a little more about me in their Meet This Maker feature. I had a whole lot of fun answering their prompts for this one!

Happy week to you, dear friends!

Soulful Sewing

Last month I had the chance to make a few small projects for my friend Maureen's booth for Quilt Market using her new Soulful collection which is just starting to hit stores now. Maureen is the queen of bohemian chic, and this collection proves it. Her designs are organic and lovely and remind me of exotic destinations. The coin pouch above is probably my favorite sample. Those patchwork squares finish at 1", and I love the rounded edges on the bottom corners.

Two larger zipper pouches show off more patchwork. I love pairing the quilting cottons with AGF denim.

This log cabin block makes a sweet tiny pincushion.

For my last two projects, I used a few of my own tutorials. Pixie Baskets are always handy.

And I loved featuring one of Maureen's global inspired prints at the top of this Pinnie Pennant. Instead of twine or string, I used leather cord for the loop at the top which felt like a good match with these prints.

Soulful seems like just the thing for summer sewing. Be sure to check out the whole collection here!

Five & Dime Goes to Market

My Five & Dime fabric made it's debut at Quilt Market last weekend. I wasn't able to attend, but the dear people at Riley Blake/Penny Rose were kind enough to let me have a corner of the main booth for a small display. I spent several weeks sewing up as many things as I could before everything had to be mailed off. It was so much fun to finally get to play with my own fabric!

I love the Girl Friday Sewing Case from my book which you see at the top of the post. It has so much room inside for tools and projects on the go!

This Trinket Case was the perfect chance for fussy cutting. I spotted that gum ball machine charm at Hobby Lobby and just couldn't resist!

I had to make a Deluxe Pincushion (also from my book) with all my tiniest fussy cut pieces.

These baby shoes make my heart melt. The pattern is from Zakka Handmades by Amy Morinaka.

This Boardwalk Mini Tote is from the Fast Fabric Gifts booklet I did for Issue 41 of Love Patchwork & Quilting last year. It makes such a fun reusable gift bag.

I can never get enough patchwork pillows. This cover features a large courthouse steps block.

It's so great to see a spectrum of all the colors and prints in one place on this pillow cover, and I love the way they look against the gray background. These diamonds can be pieced so quickly, making for a great fast finish.

My last project was a quick half apron in my Packaging print, complete with a bow and pom-pom trim.

Thanks to Cindy Cloward, I was able to get a glimpse of my display on Instagram. The biggest project in my display was my new Storefronts Quilt, which will be a free pattern on my blog. Would you believe that I was in such a rush to get it bound and mailed off to St. Louis that I completely forgot to take a finished photo? But I'll have a photo (and a pattern) for you coming soon...promise!

Quilt Market Sewing (Spring 2016)

I did more Quilt Market sample sewing this spring than ever before, and it was quite the stitching marathon here for a few months. It's always such an honor to sew for friends of mine who are debuting their work at Market. Here's a whirlwind tour of what came out of my sewing room and traveled off to Utah for the show...

The Planetary Mini Medallion Quilt above was made using Felice Regina's Luna Sol collection for Windham. This is Felice's first fabric collection, and I'm so thrilled for her! The colors in this line are so gorgeous, and I love those little bunnies. There will be a tutorial for this mini quilt in the fall when the fabric starts hitting stores.

Amy Sinibaldi asked me to make a mini quilt for her Playground booth for Art Gallery Fabrics. This collection is so sweet, and I love the color range. Since I was working with tiny pieces of fabric, I decided to sew hexagons on a background of Adobe Clay denim. It was such a fun project!

Sharon Holland and I worked together for weeks to coordinate ideas for the projects I would make for her Tapestry booth for Art Gallery Fabrics. This collection is somehow rustic and modern at the same time, and it feels like a soft breath of summer every time I look at these prints. I made a number of items from this fabric starting with the Spectrum Clutch, a free tutorial here on my blog.

I love this large tote bag, so perfect for a day at the beach. And yes, those are a few of my Pixie Baskets with it!

Leather made such a great accent for these prints. I used it with almost every project. This little tote bag even has a leather label on the front sporting the initials FM -- for Fabric Mutt, of course. I'm so delighted that AGF is making linen and denim now. They pair beautifully with colorful prints like this one.

This clutch was so simple to make but looks far more intricate thanks to that embroidery print. Aren't those printed stitches lovely?

Almost all of these projects are just developed as I go, and I really enjoy the chance to experiment with new ideas. This was a combination tote bag and backpack made with Sharon's canvas, and I love the way it turned out. My daughters all wanted to use it immediately!

I sewed a bunch of little things for Maureen Cracknell's Nightfall booth for Art Gallery Fabrics. Maureen's collections are always so whimsical, and it's fun to try to match that in the projects I make for her. My favorite project of those above was definitely the little owl that I made using the Sleepy-Time Friend pattern from my book. I also sewed a pillow cover, Deluxe Pincushion (also from my book), Pocket Mending Book, and Stationery Kit.

I've been sewing samples for my friends at Birch Fabrics for years now. I made a log cabin pillow and a Girl Friday Sewing Case (from my book) using their new Swan Lake collection.

My biggest challenge, though, was making Tiffy Turtle, a giant floor pillow. There will be a tutorial for a slightly smaller version coming out this summer. Tiffy was definitely the hardest sample to relinquish when I was done. We all fell in love with her!

I also made a giant Pixie Basket and two potholders using the Birch Farm Fresh collection. These prints are so happy and bright!

You never realize how much you've sewn until you're finished, I guess. As I'm looking at these pictures now, I'm a little amazed at how much I was able to get done these past few months. It's been a lot of fun as always, but now I think I'm ready to move on to some slow summer sewing...

Fleet & Flourish Projects

I was so happy to make a few Quilt Market samples for my friend Maureen this month, using her new Fleet & Flourish collection for Art Gallery Fabrics. You can see pictures of her stunningly beautiful booth in this wonderful post she wrote about her experience at Market last weekend. Maureen is one of the most talented people I know, and I'm so thrilled to see her thriving in this new career as a fabric designer!

My assignment was to make bags and clutches for her booth. Maureen sent me a mailing envelope stuffed full of Fleet & Flourish strike-off pieces as well as a good number of AGF basic prints and solids. It was really fun to just be creative and make things up as I went along.

Since she was going for a romantic, bohemian vibe, I added lace and leather details wherever possible. I haven't really sewn with lace accents before, but it was a fun challenge. Leather always pairs well with patchwork. I use leather straps as zipper pulls on all my pouches now, and I actually cut one longer purse strap into two pieces for the handles on this mini tote bag. 

My favorite project is probably the laptop bag I made using her canvas Roadside Guides print. I definitely need to make another one of these some time. This was my first time working with AGF canvas, and I was really impressed. This is the some of the softest canvas I've ever seen. 

This tablet case was inspired by a clutch I had seen on Pinterest. I liked the mosaic effect of sewing pieces together with thin sashing and then tilting it all a bit to one side. 

And yes, I couldn't resist adding a Deluxe Pincushion to the stack of projects. I just love fussy cutting the tiniest scraps for these pincushions. It's such fun!

You can check out the entire line of Fleet & Flourish at the AGF website here. I have no doubt that you'll enjoy sewing with it as much as I did!

3 Things I Learned at Quilt Market

April Rhodes had everyone who visited her Art Gallery booth add a strand or two to the weaving on her wall. Could there be a lovelier way to display the heart of the quilting community?

My first Quilt Market made quite an impression on me.

Sadly, this is the only picture my fabulous roommate Becca and I took together last week. I couldn't have survived without this girl around to show me the ropes at my first Quilt Market.

First, let me say that when people tell you they're tired after getting home from Market, they aren't kidding. It's an unbelievably exhausting experience. Between walking everywhere, lugging around your stuff, the good but tiring stress that comes with being "on" for several days straight, and the experience of spending hours packed into the sardine cans that pass for today's airplanes -- well, it took me at least two days after I got home to feel like a human being again.

I can't wait to sew with these beauties...

But that's really all I have in the negative column. If you ever get the chance to go to Quilt Market, do it. The fabric and other goodies are pretty amazing, and Sample Spree is a riot -- in every sense of the word. I took advantage of my long arms to get through the mob surrounding the Cotton + Steel booth that night and was able to reach between two ladies to grab the canvas bundle I wanted...only to find that my hand wouldn't fit between them anymore with the fabric clutched in my fingers. Of course, they couldn't hear me saying, "Excuse me! Excuse me!" due to all the noise. I stood there for at least a full minute until they noticed me and quickly stepped apart so I could get my hand out. I wasn't letting go without that fabric!

No booth captured my heart quite as fully as Cotton + Steel. Oh, that vintage style...

It's surreal to see people passing by whom you know from your online blog reader. I saw faces that I instantly recognized, people whose work and lives were as familiar to me as my own even though we'd never actually met. Some of them noticed me before I saw them, and sometimes it was the other way around. Rather than putting faces to names, it was fun to put voices to faces as I got to speak to these people for the first time. And let me tell you, there are many, many kind people in the quilting industry.

A Lizzy House rainbow at the Andover booth...

I feel like Quilt Market gave me a new perspective in some ways. Here are three thoughts that came to mind during my trip...

Alison Glass is a bonafide color genius and one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. And I really want that stack of Childcraft Encyclopedias...

1. It's business. When quilting is your hobby and you find your way into this creative community -- either online or in person -- you kind of forget that the quilting industry is a business. What struck me more than anything on that first day of Schoolhouse presentations was how serious everyone looked, but as Becca reminded me, "It's their business." It was a fact that humbled me. I know what it's like to work for a small business, the joys and the hardships of it. Knowing that these people are willing to carry my book in their stores, to let me be a part of what they do to provide for themselves and their families...it's an honor. It makes me want to do the best work I possibly can, and it makes me want to support every local quilt shop I have access to. After all, if we don't, who will?

Pat Bravo is a talented artist but also such a gracious lady.

2. It's personal. The new fabric gets a lot of hype at Quilt Market -- and for good reason! -- but what I remember most is the people. When you spend time talking with designers, authors, and those who represent them, you see how deeply personal this business is. There are countless hours of dreaming, planning, writing, and sewing behind each collection, book, and booth. Yes, everyone is hoping to make a living from their work, but they're also wanting to touch lives and create beauty. It's a wonderful but terrifying experience to lay your heart out on fabric and paper for others to see and critique. So whatever I may think about a fabric collection or a sewing book, I can be kind in what I say -- or don't say -- because I know that someone invested a piece of themselves when they shared their work with me.

I've always felt that Anna Maria Horner has a gift for marrying traditional and modern fabric designs in a way that appeals to people in both camps. Her new Loominous collection can't be fully appreciated until you see it with your own eyes.

3. There's room for everyone. There are so many different kinds of people involved with the quilting community these days, and it reminds me of the dynamics you find in a big family. You have your quiet ones and your noisy ones, the ones who glow in the spotlight and those who are more comfortable behind-the-scenes. Last week, I met traditional quilters, modern quilters, and lots of people who fall somewhere in between. The beauty of it is that there's room for all of us! It's okay for us to not all like the same stuff, but it's also okay for us to bond over the things we have in common. This industry has grown to a point where it can support so many different styles of creativity, and that's such a wonderful thing because it gives us more freedom than I think we've ever had before.

It's not as if I didn't already know these things, of course, but when you see the people's faces and hear their words and feel their passion, you understand it in a way that you just can't quite grasp through a computer screen. And you can't help but bring that warm feeling home with you, tucked in a corner of your heart.

So Quilt Market...yeah...such a good idea.

Market Case

Over the past few years of sewing, I've discovered a little quirk about myself: I rarely sew the same thing twice. Most of the projects you see in my book were a one-time deal -- the first time I made it was the only time. The same is true of my tutorials. For instance, I adore the Ellie Travel Case and have loved seeing all the creative versions of this little bag popping up on Instagram lately, but would you believe that I don't actually own one myself? I made a single bag for the tutorial which I then gave away as a birthday present. One of these days I need to make another for myself, but there just always seems to be something else on my list of things to sew that comes first. I guess that's why it sometimes takes me longer than expected to finish a project that I'm creating from scratch. Rather than make a prototype, adjust details, and then keep remaking the project until I get what I want, I usually spend a ton of time processing those details on paper and in my head so that I can do it right the first time. At least 75% of the time, it seems to work out okay...so far, anyway.

Over a month ago, I decided to make a new bag to take with me to Spring Quilt Market this week, but my idea of what that bag should look like must have changed at least a dozen times. I wanted something that had only zipper closures so that nothing would fall out and get lost while I was traveling. It needed to be small enough to use as a purse, but large enough to carry everything I wanted to take with me on the plane. I had originally planned to make a crossbody style bag, but due to some recent neck pain from hauling around too much in my everyday purse, I decided to go with shorter handles instead. After weeks of tinkering with the pattern, here's the result: my Market Case.

The front pocket is made of a hexagon panel that I sewed by hand, and I adore the way it looks with chocolate brown yarn dyed linen from Robert Kaufman. The front pocket and main interior are lined with prints from the new Natural History collection by Lizzy House. Those butterflies are a personal favorite of mine. I added an inner pocket made from the linen as well, knowing how handy those can be. Since I was running out of time, I decided to do a zig zag stitch along the inner seams rather than bind them. I've found that I really don't mind the look of seams finished this way, and it takes less than half the time which, to me, is more than worth it.

I am completely delighted with how this bag turned out. It's exactly what I needed -- even if it wasn't what I first envisioned. And if you happen to spot it while you're walking the floor at Quilt Market, please come over to say hi! Since every bag needs a buddy, I made a rainbow badge holder using Monica's brilliant pattern to go along with it. It's so good to have these projects finished and ready to go in time!

For those of you going to Quilt Market, I'll be doing a Schoolhouse session on Thursday at 1pm in room 211B and signing books at the C&T Publishing Booth (#1440) on Friday at 4pm. You can follow me on Instagram at @fabricmutt too where I'll be posting often. I'll only be at Market for those two days, but I'd love to see as many of you as possible while I'm there!