Bluebirds on Roses Breakfast Placemats

It's not an exaggeration to say that I mark my calendar whenever I see that my dear friend Elea Lutz is releasing a new fabric collection. I've been collecting her prints for years now, and they're some of my favorites in my entire stash.

Her latest release is called Bluebirds on Roses, and it's absolutely beautiful.

See what I mean? It makes me SO happy just looking at it!

I've been going through a hexagon phase lately, so I decided to make EPP hexagon flowers which I appliqued to small round placemats that my girls can use underneath their breakfast cereal bowls in the morning. Won't these beautiful prints be a lovely way to start the day?!

I love to do hand sewing in the evenings while my husband and I relax in front of the television after a long day, and these hexagons were such fun to work on as we laughed together over a favorite show.

The colors are just perfect, and I especially love the tiny details that Elea has sprinkled throughout each print: bluebirds, kitty cats, strawberries, cherries, and of course, flowers galore. Her designs are such a beautiful cross between traditional and modern, and they always make me smile.

Bluebirds on Roses is appearing in stores everywhere now, but I have a feeling that it won't be around for long. I've already bought a little extra to have on hand...you know, just in case...

Jot It Down Organizer for Quilts and More Magazine

Used with permission from Quilts and More™ magazine. ©2018 Meredith Corporation. All rights reserved.

Back when I wrote Sew Organized for the Busy Girl, my amazing tech editor was Joanna Burgarino, and I was thrilled when she became the new editor for Quilts and More magazine last year. She was kind enough to ask me to contribute a project for the Summer 2018 issue which has just landed in stores. I had a great time designing and sewing up this travel-friendly Jot It Down organizer last fall, and I'm so happy that I can finally share it with you today!

Used with permission from Quilts and More™ magazine. ©2018 Meredith Corporation. All rights reserved.

The idea for this kit came originally from my daughters. As a mom, I often find myself waiting in doctor's offices or restaurants with three restless girls in tow. I used to try to keep coloring books on hand, but now that my girls are getting older, they're more drawn to games and activities rather than just filling in a coloring page. Last year I started keeping a kit in my purse filled with a few memo pads and pencils for those moments of waiting, and it was an instant hit. The girls loved using them to play games of tic-tac-toe, make birthday lists, or draw imaginary characters. I loved that it was easy to carry, encouraged their creativity, and served as an emergency sketching kit when I had ideas of my own while we were out and about. 

Used with permission from Quilts and More™ magazine. ©2018 Meredith Corporation. All rights reserved.

The cover of the kit is made of English paper pieced hexagons -- though there's an option to just use a single fabric if you want to make things simpler and quicker. Small projects like this one are such a great opportunity to pull out the hexies, which are more time consuming but oh so fun to make. 

Used with permission from Quilts and More™ magazine. ©2018 Meredith Corporation. All rights reserved.

One of my pet peeves for these sorts of kits is that the pencils and pads can slide out the top, but I added flaps to the inside which take care of the problem. Extra firm interfacing gives the case a solid feel, and simple elastic/button closures are easy to sew. It's the kind of project you can finish in less than a weekend -- my favorite sort, of course!

Used with permission from Quilts and More™ magazine. ©2018 Meredith Corporation. All rights reserved.

So many thanks to Joanna and her team for giving me the chance to be a part of this issue and for making the process an absolute joy. Be sure to pick up a copy of Quilts and More on your next trip to the store. And if you make one of these organizers, be sure to tag me @fabricmutt when you share pictures. I can't wait to see them!

Tiny Toffee Blog Hop

My friend Susi has been making the most unbelievable paper pieced hexagons for a while now. Some of her patterns are offered free on her blog, while others are sold in pattern sets in her Tiny Toffee Designs Etsy shop right here. She's hosting a blog hop to celebrate the release of her newest set (find all the participants on this post), and I'm so happy to be a part of it today.

The Dream Big Collection includes the adorable elephant above, a swan, a pencil, flying geese, mountains, a star, and a heart. The detail in these is absolutely incredible. I love them so much!

My assigned hexagon was this little trio of flying geese. I decided to pull out my small stash of Liberty prints for this one. Each of the triangles are made from the same floral print, though I highlighted different elements of the design in every one. Making these paper pieced hexies is both harder and easier than it looks. You have to be careful because if your fabrics shift even 1/8'', it can radically change the design, but on the other hand, it's still just standard paper piecing. And the beauty of it is, you don't need much fabric to do it!

I pulled another 6 squares of Liberty for the surrounding hexagons, creating a traditional flower pattern. Between you and me, I noticed a mistake on my center hexagon after I had sewed all these together, so I made another center and just stitched it down on top of the first one, giving the finished center an almost 3-D effect when you see it in person. The entire flower was stitched down onto a square of yarn-dyed linen. I added a crochet lace border using a treasured bit of trim that I received in a birthday package from my dear friend Annabel, and backed the mug rug in another piece of Liberty.

I love this little project. It's sweet and romantic and will look oh so pretty on my sewing table. And I enjoyed working with her pattern so much that I'm scoping out Susi's shop for another set. This one is probably going to be next on my list...just in time for spring.

Sweet Tweets Blog Hop

My enormously talented friend Erin of Why Not Sew has written a darling book called Sweet Tweets: Simple Stitches, Whimsical Birds, and I'm so happy to be a part of her book tour today. These pages are full of adorable little projects featuring vintage style patchwork and Erin's beloved little free-motion applique birds. For today's post, I chose to make the Birds & Bees Hot Pad since it featured the hand sewn hexagons that I love to stitch. I pulled lots of favorite new prints for this piece, including many designs from the Spring Cotton + Steel collections.

Though I didn't have the materials on hand to do the applique in the corners of the pad as the instructions called for, I decided to use the petal templates as a guide for some hand quilting with red Aurifloss thread. I absolutely adore the way it turned out. With a little navy binding to frame the edges, it makes a beautiful giant mug rug for the nightstand by my bed. I can't tell you how much I love seeing it there every day!

Erin's book is full of fun small projects, just perfect for the instant gratification sewing that I try to fit into each week. I love how personal each one is, and I especially admire the way she works so many special touches into each piece like optional crocheted borders and the tiniest pieces of patchwork. I will definitely be working from this book again!

You can follow the rest of the tour according to the schedule below, and if you'd like to win an e-copy of Sweet Tweets for yourself, please leave a comment on this post. I'll choose a winner by Friday! 

Tuesday, Sept.8 - Erin (Introduction post) Why Not Sew?

Wednesday, Sept.9 - Heidi Fabric Mutt

Thursday, Sept.10 - Debbie A Quilter's Table

Friday, Sept.11 - No Post

Saturday, Sept.12 - Jacque Brown Dog Prims

Monday, Sept.14 - Amy nanaCompany

Tuesday, Sept.15 - Svetlana s.o.t.a.k handmade

Wednesday, Sept.16 - Renee Sewn With Grace

Thursday, Sept.17 - Martingale Stitch This! The Martingale Blog

Friday, Sept.18 - Heather Vintage Grey Handmade

Saturday, Sept.19 - Clara and Jennie Clover & Violet 

Monday, Sept.21 - Amanda Jean Crazy Mom Quilts

Tuesday, Sept.22 - Cindy Live a Colorful Life

Wednesday, Sept.23 - Carla Grace and Favour

Thursday, Sept.24 - Mary Molly Flanders

Friday, Sept.25 - No Post

Saturday, Sept.26 - Erin, Big Giveaway Post!!! Why Not Sew? 

***THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED! Congratulations, Margaret!***

Busy Girl Sews: Charm About You

I am absolutely giddy about Lucy's take on the Dotty Hexagon Pillow over at Charm About You this week! Instead of solids, she went with a mixture of unbelivably adorable prints, and if she lived any closer to me, I would be stopping by her house every week just to stare at it. Lucy was kind enough to share a few tips with us too about how she stays organized at her place, even in the midst of making the gorgeous patchwork projects that she sews each month. Is it any wonder why I love this girl? Be sure to stop by her blog today for a peek!

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!

Saying Goodbye

Every year I look forward to the Umbrella Prints Trimmings Competition. It's not about the prizes really. It's about the challenge of taking these little leftover pieces of fabric and turning them into something new. Working with scraps is always a welcome reminder that the ragged pieces of my life can become something beautiful if I let them, but I had no idea how personal this year's project would turn out to be.

My husband woke me on Wednesday morning to say that my grandmother's assisted living home had called with the news that Grandma was unresponsive. Paramedics arrived, found that her heart had stopped, and resuscitated her. We ended up sitting beside her in a hospital room where she was unconscious and breathing heavily, not knowing whether she would last the next hour or another six months. Mom and I decided that we would spend the night with her, so I went home to pack a bag. I had decided to try a hexagon project this year with my Umbrella Prints trimmings, and it seemed like a good idea to tuck them into a sewing kit and bring them along to keep my hands busy.

I will always remember April 2, 2014 as one of the longest nights of my life. Mom and I sat together in that dimly lit hospital room, keeping a quiet vigil over my grandmother, and it felt as though we lived through a week instead of just hours. We talked and cried, prayed and listened and cried some more. I read your sweet Instagram comments to my mother, and we were both encouraged (thank you, dear friends). I basted my hexagons, laid them out in a pattern, and spent at least an hour rearranging them over and over again on a little table in the corner of the room. Mom held Grandma's hand, reassuring her now and then that it was okay to let go, that we loved her. Through it all, we saw the signs that death was coming closer. As her seizures gave way to peaceful breathing and her heartbeat began to slow down, we set everything aside to focus on my grandmother, to love and pray her through the doorway between life and death. She drew her last breath shortly after noon on April 3rd.

It took me several days to be able to pick up this project again. The feelings from that night were still so raw that I almost couldn't bear opening my sewing kit and staring them in the face. In the end, I decided that finishing this pillow might just be my own way of finding some healing and closure. I added two hexagons made from Japanese prints to the ones from my trimmings packet -- one including the word "life." It seemed appropriate. The hexagons were sewn together by hand and stitched down onto a background of chocolate brown linen by machine. I added one hexagon to the back of the pillow which reminds me slightly of a sun coming up over the horizon. The pillow now sits on the loveseat in my parents' room, a gift to my dear mother who has been amazing through all of this.

As many of you know, my grandmother moved into a nearby assisted living home this past December and quickly went downhill under the debilitating influence of dementia, but when I started sewing and blogging several years ago, she was one of my biggest cheerleaders. It was Grandma who often slipped some money into my hand when I came to visit her, insisting, "Buy yourself some new fabric, Heidi Jean!" (Have I mentioned that Grandma's first name was Jean?) She loved to send me pictures of quilts, asking if I could make the same thing for her, and she insisted on buying me a subscription to Mollie Makes so that I could keep up on the latest inspiration. I think she probably drove people crazy showing them printouts from my blog and pointing out my quilts which she had displayed all over her house. Her gifts and encouragement helped me keep this blog going, especially in those early days, and I wouldn't be where I am if it weren't for her.

Goodbye for a little while, Grandma. We love you.

A Season by Hand: Plain & Fancy

Today I'm guest posting over at Jennie and Clara's blog Clover & Violet, one of my favorite places to visit in the online quilting community. I always feel so at home there among the stories of family life and happy sewing. Jennie was kind enough to invite me to be a part of their wonderful summer series, A Season By Hand, and I'm so pleased to share with you my latest finish -- Plain & Fancy -- and a little bit about my ongoing friendship with hexagons. Come take a look!

Linking up to the Modern Mini Quilt Challenge and Finish It Up Friday.

Summer

I considered so many different names for this quilt, but in the end I realized that the best one was simply "Summer."

The colors and prints that made their way into this piece remind me so much of the lazy summer days we spend here in Southern California on the edge of the desert. Blazing hot afternoons that fade into quiet evenings on the back patio. Long walks at local botanical gardens where my girls play hide and seek between the fruit trees. Our annual road trip to Arizona for a week with my husband's parents where we swim and hike and look for bunnies among the cactus each night before bed. These are the moments, I tell myself often, that I'm going to want to remember someday.

Fabrics by Heather Ross are the star here, but there are also a variety of other prints from my stash included. I tried not to stray far from a color palette of pale blue, orange, yellow, brown, grey, and white. The chocolate brown print by Lotta Jansdotter that I chose for the binding makes a nice frame around it all.

While I enjoy designing a quilt, I'm not always as big a fan of the quilting. Remembering how long it took me to make all those straight lines on my first Heather Ross quilt, I felt a little tired when I sat down to work on this piece. Then I decided, why not have fun with this one? So I did straight lines, wavy lines, echo quilting, free motion boxes, and even played around with several specialty stitches on my machine. Is it perfect? Nope. But I can tell you that this was by far the most enjoyable afternoon of quilting I've ever spent.

I finished the quilt this afternoon, the same day that my husband wrapped up another year of teaching and came home to start two months of summer vacation with me and the girls. And I intend to enjoy every minute of it.

Linking up with Finish It Up Friday.

Directions

I was pretty happy when I found out that Rachel of Stitched in Color had selected me to be one of four participants in her latest Scrap Challenge sponsored by Julie at The Intrepid Thread. The task was to make a project using only this fat eighth bundle and one extra fabric if desired. I signed up to make an EPP mini quilt using hexagons and diamonds, and though I usually head down any number of rabbit trails during the creative process, I was able to stick to my original plan for once.

I knew that I wanted to use large hexagons and pairs of diamonds that pointed in opposite directions (hence the name), but it took me a long time to decide how I wanted to place these three rows together. After much shifting and turning and flipping around, I decided on the layout you see here.

Three of the prints were featured in large hexagons -- these have two and a quarter inch sides. I always love the way that you can draw attention to patterns within a pattern through fussy cutting, and it was fun to choose the parts I wanted to highlight in those hexagons.

For some reason I had a difficult time getting all of the quilting to show up in my photographs, but you can see it best on the back of the quilt. Please pretend that you don't see the wrinkles -- my iron kept trying, but it had trouble making headway on this stubborn piece of fabric. The background and backing of this mini is Robert Kaufman's Essex linen in natural. I thought about binding the quilt in linen as well, but I went with a scrappy binding instead, and I'm so glad that I did. It's nice to have that extra pop of color around the border.

This was the first project I've made using my new EPP case, and I'm completely in love with it. Having an organized place for every step of the process makes it so much easier to pick up a project whenever I have a free moment -- definitely a helpful feature for a mommy on the run!

I made a gift of this mini quilt to my mother tonight, and I'm so happy that she loves it. She and my dad have been incredibly supportive of my sewing. They read my blog faithfully, every post and comment, and are always such an encouragement to me. And did I mention that they just bought me a new sewing machine?! I'll have a post on that soon...

My thanks to Rachel and Julie for the opportunity to play with this lovely bundle of fabric. It was a pleasure indeed.

Linking up to Finish It Up Friday.

Another Valentine (with Tutorial)

My first Valentine pillow wasn't enough - I needed another. And I decided, while I was at it, to put together a tutorial for those of you who might want to make one of your own. This pillow makes a great weekend project -- one afternoon to make the hexagons and another to put together the pillow, though those of you blessed with more free time than I have could probably finish it in one long stretch. With Valentine's Day coming up next month, I figured that I would share this with you now rather than later since there are still a good number of weekends to come before February 14th.

While I could write a tutorial on how to make hexagons, there are so many other great ones out there that I'm going to step aside and send you to the experts. My current favorite is at The Sometimes Crafter -- fantastic photographs and clear steps lead you through the entire process. For those of you who have never tried hexagons, this is your big chance...don't let them scare you! I was so intimidated by these little guys for months before I did my first hexagon project, and then I couldn't believe I had waited so long. Even if you end up deciding that hexagons aren't your thing, you can at least be proud of yourself that you tried them.

The pillow I made for my husband was slightly larger than the one I'm going to demonstrate for you here, which fits perfectly on a 12 x 12" pillow form. It's very easy to adjust the size of this pillow to make it larger or smaller by adjusting the number of hexagons as well as the size of the background fabric. You could even make it into a pincushion if your hexagons are small enough!

Materials
13 one-inch hexagons
13.5" square of fabric for the pillow front
13.5" square of batting
13.5" square of fabric for the backing on the pillow front sandwich
13.5 x 8.5" and 13.5 x 10.5" pieces of fabric for the pillow back
Fabric glue stick
Embroidery thread and needle

Lay out your hexagons in vertical rows of 2, 3, 3, 3, 2 (see photo above), balancing the colors and designs to suit your liking.

Stitch the vertical rows together first.

Then stitch the rows together to form the entire heart.

Remove the threads and papers from your hexagons and press carefully to preserve the shape of each piece. 

Place the hexagon heart on the square of fabric you're using for the pillow front. Be sure to center it horizontally. If you plan to embroider a message beneath the heart, leave enough room -- I made certain that the bottom hexagon was five inches above the bottom edge of the square. Use a fabric glue stick on the back of the outer edges of the heart to glue it in place so that it won't slip while you're attaching it to the square.

Using your sewing machine, stitch about an 1/8" inside the heart all the way around to secure it to the pillow top.

If you like, embroider a message beneath the heart, centering it as much as possible. When I embroider words, I usually write the words out on a piece of paper and copy it as closely as possible. Remember, this is a handmade project, so your letters don't need to be perfectly formed. Imperfections just add to the charm. Really.

Take your two backing fabrics for the envelope closure and fold one of the long sides in 5/8", press, fold again, and press again on both pieces. Top stitch along the folded end twice -- 1/4" and 1/2" from the edge.

Make a stack of your fabrics, carefully matching the edges and corners in the following order from bottom to top: square backing of sandwich for pillow top, batting, pillow top (right side up), larger piece of envelope closure (right side down and positioned on the top half of the pillow with folded edge toward the center), and the smaller piece of envelope closure (right side down and positioned on the bottom half of the pillow with folded edge toward the center).

Pin the corners and along the side where the envelope closure pieces overlap. Stitch 1/2" from the edge all the way around the pillow, removing the pins as you go. Trim the corners to cut down on bulk, turn the pillow inside out, and press out the corners and edges of the pillow with a chopstick. Give it a good pressing.

Top stitch 3/8" from the outer edge of the pillow, and you're done. If you make one of these, please do share a picture or two in the Inspired by Fabric Mutt flickr group. I would absolutely love to see your creations!

Is there anything better than a valentine that you can hug?

Linking up to Finish It Up Friday.