Desktop Medallion Quilt & Other Points of Interest

I was shocked when I checked my Instagram feed tonight and saw that I started working on this quilt almost exactly a year ago. Has it really been that long? I originally intended this Desktop Medallion Quilt to have at least two more rows around it, but life happened, as it so often does. There were other projects and holidays and responsibilities, and these blocks were stuffed in a drawer and forgotten. Several weeks ago I pulled them out and decided that it was time for this little quilt to have a life. I still owed my niece a quilt for her toddler bed, so I added borders to the top and bottom and finished it off. Though a large medallion quilt would have been fun, I haven't one shred of regret for turning this into a gift for my niece as it is. As Angela Walters says, "A finished quilt is better than a perfect quilt top." (For more of her wisdom, by the way, you must check out this wonderful post.)

This quilt uses pencil and envelope blocks from my friend Ayumi's brilliant book Patchwork, Please! which I adjusted slightly for the purpose of the medallion format. It also features an extensive amount of fabric from my precious Heather Ross stash. I backed the quilt in a favorite floral print in warm shades from Jeni Baker's Dreamin' Vintage collection, and I kept the quilting very simple since the top was so busy, just stitching around each row of blocks. The quilt is bound with a green floral print from the A is For... collection. As you can see below, my assistant Miss Bunny was not quite ready to part with it at the end of our photo session.

I'm linking this up with Sew the Library over at Tales of Cloth, where you must read Jodi's beautiful post for this month. It brought tears to my eyes. Remember that you have till the end of the month to link up a project you've made from a book or magazine!

A few other points of interest before I leave you today...

1. My book has just started to ship out from C&T Publishing and Amazon. I've gotten some wonderful messages from a few of you who have read the book, and I can't tell you how much they mean to me. Thank you, my friends! I wrote this book for you, and I really hope that you'll find it helpful. If you have the time or desire, I would love for any of you who have read it to leave a review on Amazon. Reviews always help me decide if a sewing book is right for me, so I know your thoughts would be useful to others!

2. If you would like an autographed bookplate for your copy of Sew Organized for the Busy Girl, send me an email at hjstaples@gmail.com with your full name and mailing address, and I'll be happy to send you one!

3. The winner of the Just for You giveaway is hart44. I've sent you an email!

4. And finally, if you live in the Southern California area, I'll be having a book signing and trunk show at The Quilt Loft in Upland on Wednesday, April 8th from 5 to 7pm. I would absolutely love to see you there!

Happy sewing!

Sew the Library: Deluxe Pincushion

Yes, you knew I had to use Sew Organized for the Busy Girl for one of these posts eventually. It's such a strange but wonderful thing to have this book in my hands and to actually be sewing from a pattern inside it!

Choosing a favorite project from your own book is like picking a favorite child. How can you possibly do it? But if I absolutely had to, it might just be the Deluxe Pincushion. This little project embodies everything I wanted the projects in my book to be: simple, quick, and very useful. I love being able to indulge in a bit of patchwork with my tiniest scraps, and I'm always crazy about projects that I can finish in a hurry (I began working on this after the girls started their morning classes today and was finished before lunch!). Most of the prints are from the adorable Milk, Sugar & Flower collection by Elea Lutz for Penny Rose Fabrics. I added a Sweetwater text print and a little dotty fabric too, since I always love to add some black and white to any project. A side loop out of Cotton + Steel twill tape was the finishing touch.

This would be such a fun pincushion to bring to a retreat or sew-in. All your notions tuck neatly into the pocket, and off you go!

I'm linking up with the rest of the Sew the Library crowd at Weekend Doings. You still have a week before February is over. Come join us!

Sew the Library: Spring Pincushion

Today kicks off our very first Sew the Library Link-up of the year. Rather than tackling one of the big projects I've been wanting to sew, I decided to start small with a cheerful little pincushion based on a pillow from Sherri McConnell's lovely book, Fresh Family Traditions.

Sherri's book is packed full of traditional projects made a little more modern thanks to fabric choices and block settings. I absolutely adore the Kitchen Sink quilt on the cover which I'm hoping to tackle later this year when I have a bit more time. Her Spring Flowers Pillow is a wonderfully simple design made of half square triangles. I shrank the finished size of the squares down to 1 3/4" and made only nine blocks, giving me a pincushion just under 6" square. I paired one of my favorite color schemes (pink, orange, yellow, and purple) with plenty of black and white text prints. It all comes together to make the sort of project I adore: simple, colorful, and oh so useful.

The back of the pincushion is a favorite piece from Lori Holt's Flower Patch collection. I adore this print and will definitely be ordering more.

With spring on my radar already, I think this pincushion will look perfect next to my new terrarium. They're both already making my sewing room a happier place!

So what did you sew from a book or magazine this month or last? (We're including December in this first round!) You can link up your Sew the Library projects below through January 31st by clicking on the Inlinkz button below and following the directions. Be sure to visit at least a few other posts and share the love by leaving encouraging comments along the way!

Sew the Library Monthly Link-up: Coming in January!

It seems that I'm not the only one with a shelf of neglected sewing books. Several of you mentioned that you were also hoping to sew through your own libraries in 2015, and a few of you even asked me to start a monthly link-up to keep us all gently accountable. As a result, we're officially launching a Sew the Library Monthly Link-up in January!

From the 20th until the last day of each month, you can link up any project you've made from a sewing book or magazine during that same month. We'll make an exception in January and let you include anything from December too, since I'm hoping you'll get some Christmas goodies that you can use for this! In your post, be sure to mention the book you used and feel free to include a photo or a link to where it can be purchased so that others can easily find it too. The January link-up will be here at Fabric Mutt. In February, we'll be linking up at Martha's blog Weekend Doings, and in March, you'll be linking up with Jodi at Tickle & Hide. I'm so grateful to these sweet, talented friends of mine for giving me the push I needed to get all this started!

We're going to give this a trial run for three months, and if we can get a group sewing along, we'll keep it going through the rest of the year. This is not only a great opportunity to sew through our own libraries, but it's also a great way to get exposure to new books we might have missed along the way. If you have any questions, just send me an email at hjstaples@gmail.com or leave a comment below. I'm pretty excited to get started!