My Tea Party Quilt in APQ Magazine

Used with permission from American Patchwork & Quilting® magazine. ©2019 Meredith Corporation. All rights reserved.

It's amazing to me how many events in my life have been marked by a tea party. My mother loved to splurge at least once a year by taking my sister and I to a tea room in our small town when we were growing up, and sometimes my grandmother would come along too. For our first official date, my husband James took me to the Rose Garden tea room at the Huntington Library in California on a rainy January day. I remember walking around the gardens with him afterward, sharing an umbrella together as we laughed and talked and took our first steps into the most important relationship of our lives. I took my extended wedding party out for tea before I got married, joined my mother and mother-in-law for tea when James' parents came to visit from Arizona, and celebrated a bittersweet tea party with the women in my family before we left California for Texas. I've hosted special holiday teas in my home for friends and family each year, and I've enjoyed making tea and cookies for my daughters on Friday afternoons to celebrate the end of a long week. Every family has little traditions that become part of the fabric of who they are, and this has definitely been one of ours.

So it seemed like such a natural fit to design the Tea Party quilt featured in the June issue of American Patchwork & Quilting magazine. I wanted to make a different kind of sampler quilt, something small that would be fun for fussy cutting, and I loved the idea of using tiny traditional quilt blocks to decorate teacup blocks. The flying geese border makes me think of a string of party bunting all around the quilt. It looks so happy!

There's nothing that I enjoy more than a scrappy quilt, and this project is perfect for emptying out the scrap basket, especially treasured little bits that are out of print now. Some of these fabrics were designed by wonderful friends and a few were even from my own collections, so that made this quilt extra special to me.

I think this mini would be so sweet to hang on the wall in a kitchen or dining room or even a child's room. Finishing at only 38 1/2" square, it makes a nice gift for a little one. I often made quilts this size for my daughters to use as play mats for tea parties or soft spots to cuddle up with a pillow and a picture book when they were young. If you don't have time to make a whole quilt, try turning one block into a cute mug rug (see the magazine for this adorable idea from one of their project testers). And wouldn't these blocks make such a darling set of little tea time placemats?

Used with permission from American Patchwork & Quilting® magazine. ©2019 Meredith Corporation. All rights reserved.

If you make one of these, please share it! You can add the hashtag #teapartyminiquilt, and be sure to tag me @fabricmutt. The June issue of American Patchwork and Quilting is out on newstands now -- isn't that cover quilt amazing?! -- so be sure to grab a copy while you can!

Stash & Carry Basket in Quilts & More Magazine

All images in this post used with permission from Quilts & More™ magazine. ©2019 Meredith Corporation. All rights reserved.

The latest issue of Quilts & More magazine is in stores today, and I'm thrilled to have a pattern inside its pages! Of all the patterns I've written over the years, this Stash & Carry patchwork basket is definitely on the list of my top ten favorites.

This sweet fabric caddy is perfect for using your favorite tiny scraps, making it a burst of scrappy, happy color on your sewing shelf! Leather handles (which can easily be substituted with fabric or webbing ones) and an inside pocket for tools or notions are handy additions. The dimensions make it the perfect size for stashing charm packs or folded fat quarters.

I am so honored be a part of this amazing magazine in some small way. Be sure to pick up a copy at your local store. If you make one please share a photo on social media! Use the hashtag #stashandcarrybasket and be sure to tag me @fabricmutt so I can see what you're making. I'd love to see a picture of how you're using your basket too. This caddy can hold anything -- yarn skeins and crochet hooks, building blocks and legos, office or scrapbooking supplies, even bags of after school snacks or special goodies for your guest room. Use your imagination and share your ideas with all of us! I can't wait to see what you make...

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!

Fast Fabric Gifts

One of my favorite challenges in 2016 was writing a booklet called Fast Fabric Gifts for Love Patchwork & Quilting Magazine Issue 41. I've created a lot of patterns over the last few years, but nothing has felt more my style than these 6 quick patchwork projects. Rainbow colors, linen accents, and fussy cutting galore fill these pages, and it all makes me happier than I can say. I spent months writing directions, auditioning prints, sewing samples, and taking photographs before mailing everything off to the lovely people at LPQ who put it all together into the most beautiful little booklet that comes free with Issue 41. It was finally released this month, and I'm so excited to share it with all of you -- just in time for last minute holiday sewing!

The Curio Pocket will keep your smallest tools in line, just perfect for organizing your creative space or sewing on the go.

Keep your change close by -- and get a little taste of English paper piecing -- with the Laundromat Coin Purse.

The simplest pattern in here might also be my favorite. I went crazy with fussy cutting on the Road Trip Pillow!

The Snapshot Needlebook is small but handy. I love featuring a favorite fabric scrap on the cover!

The Gadget Sleeve was designed for an e-reader, but you could easily adjust the size for other items. The piecing on this is tiny but so fun!

If you're looking for a reusable gift bag, you'll definitely want to whip up a Boardwalk Mini Tote. Hooray for gift wrap that doesn't have to go into the trash can!

You can find issue 41 in local quilting shops and bookstores or order a digital copy. Check out the Love Patchwork & Quilting website for details!

Candied Snowflake Pillow

Like so many of you, I was saddened to hear that Quilter's Newsletter was going out of print at the end of this year. Thankfully, I was able to get one project published in their special Christmas edition which comes out this month: my Candied Snowflake Pillow.

I love taking traditional blocks and updating them with more modern fabric choices. The design of this pillow is based on the Texas Treasure block, first published in the 1930's. Bright candy colors and a black and white dotty background give this pillow a mid-century vibe. It's a cheerful take on Christmas sewing that can stick around for a while after the tree comes down.

Look for the pattern in "Best Christmas Quilts from Quilter's Newsletter," in shops now through mid-October.

Travel Portfolio Set

Earlier this year I finished my Travel Portfolio Set for the Spring issue of Modern Patchwork Magazine which has just finally been published. The lovely people at Cloud 9 Fabrics were kind enough to donate some of Sarah Watson's stunning Biology collection for this magazine project. I think Biology is one of the most original collections to come on the market in the past year, and between you and me, I want to cover everything I own with that dreamy border print on the left. It's truly stunning!

These portfolios are available in two sizes, and they're perfect for work, school, or household lists. They make a wonderful last minute gift for teachers, moms, or grads too. Just add a pad of paper and something to write with -- even a gift card, if you're feeling really nice! -- and you're in business.

You can pick up a copy of Modern Patchwork in your local book store or quilt shop, or you can just buy one online right here. There are some amazing projects in this issue, and I'm pretty honored to be featured alongside such talented people!

Happy weekend!

Quilt Now Pillows

Way back in October when I was swamped with Quilt Market sewing, I was also working on some projects for the February 2015 issue of Quilt Now magazine which would be featuring low volume designs. Like always, I kept things simple. The Silent Film pillow above is made of 64 black, white, cream, and gray squares from some of my favorite prints.

I used eight spools of thread, generously donated by Aurifil, to quilt the pillow in a rainbow of colors. The threads go in color order across the front of the pillow, and they create an almost radiant grid as they intersect over the quiet patchwork background. This is one of those projects you really have to see in person to get the full effect. It's hard to capture it exactly through photos.

The pillow is backed in my favorite floral print from Heather Bailey's Up Parasol collection. I love the contrast of the brightly colored backing against the low volume front.

My second project was even simpler. I'd been seeing a lot of black and white stripes in catalogs and magazines back then, and I wanted to work these into a pillow. My Zebra Interrupted pillow is a lightning quick project, but it makes a wonderful graphic statement -- especially when you pair it with something floral as they did for the magazine photo shoot.

I matched black and white thread to each pieced stripe, quilting them just inside the edges. Rather than matching the thread for the green stripe, however, I did my quilting in a shade of shocking pink. I used the same pink for the backing fabric, which is a leaf print by Lotta Jansdotter. Though this pillow is very different from my usual style, I had a lot of fun with it. It almost has a bit of a Kate Spade feel to me.

These pillows marked my first published magazine projects. What a treat! You can get your own copy -- if you don't have one already -- right here.

Happy weekend, friends!

Here and There

You'll find me here and there on this glorious first day of November, my favorite month of the year. I have a project in Issue 2 of fabulous new Make Modern magazine: the Tagalong Pouch which you see above. It's a quick project and one of my favorites. Some of you may remember seeing an early version of this on the blog last year when I made one to hold an electronic Leapfrog toy for Bear's birthday. These pouches are perfect for carrying everything from tablets to library books. Mostly, though, I love picking out the squares for the patchwork on the the front.

Image courtesy of Two Peas & Their Pod

 Today I'm also thrilled to be kicking off Sew Mama Sew's annual Handmade Holidays series with Gifts for the Glamour Girl. There are some really fun ideas in here that will work for your daughter, your best friend, or even yourself, if you should need some spoiling this month. I've also included my favorite recipe for Brown Butter Pumpkin Cupcakes with Salted Caramel frosting which is to die for. Every time I say that now, I can hear Marty Crane on Frasier saying, "Your country's to die for -- food is to eat." But seriously, these are almost that good...