Homestead Jet-Set Case & Giveaway

I'm so happy to be a part of the Homestead Blog Hop for my friends at Birch Fabrics today! Homestead is a sweet new collection by Emily Isabella featuring daisies, blackberries, and a cast of friendly animals in her whimsical depiction of life on the farm. I decided to use my fabric bundle to make a modified version of the Jet-Set Case from my book, Sew Organized for the Busy Girl -- just perfect for a child's school supply pack.

I can't tell you how much I love this collection's color palette. The colors are soft yet modern, and while many of the prints are child friendly, there are several that would be at home in projects for any age level. I made my Jet-Set Case a little different from the original project. The case itself is about 3" narrower, making it easier to fit inside a child's backpack. I also switched out the Velcro fastened vinyl pocket for a simple cloth pocket with no closure, making it a great place to stash a set of flashcards or a pocket journal. The zipper pocket and removable pouch are a nice size for pencils, crayons, erasers, glue sticks, and all the other tools in a typical school kit.

I'm so delighted with how this project turned out, and my three girls are a little jealous that it will be heading off to the Birch Fabrics Quilt Market Booth instead of staying with us!

Meanwhile, Birch is having an incredible giveaway to celebrate the Homestead Collection: 1 yard of each fabric in the collection -- either poplin or knit! You can use the widget below to enter...

Win 1 yard of each print from Homestead by Emily Isabella!

Be sure to visit the other stops on the tour as well. All these talented people have great projects to share with you! 

9/22: Lucky Lucille
9/23: The Fabric Mutt
9/24: Brindille & Twig
9/25: The Crafty Kitty
9/28: SOTAK Handmade
9/29: Brooklyn Pattern Company
9/30: Craft Buds
10/1: Miss Crayola Creepy
10/2: Sew Can She
10/5: Simple Simon and Co.

Happy sewing!

Everyday Party

I fell in love with Everyday Party at first sight. This collection is one part girly, one part retro, and all parts adorable. I can't thank my friends at Birch Fabrics enough for sending me a bundle to play with this week.

I went looking for a pattern that would nicely showcase these lively prints and finally decided to enlarge Rita Hodge's lovely Jacob's Ladder pattern from Pretty in Patchwork Doll Quilts by Cathy Gaubert. It made me smile to return to this title, one of the first sewing books I ever purchased, and I highly recommend it for anyone looking for small projects that are relatively quick to make but that will also introduce you to new quilting techniques.

Everyday Party looks so springlike to me that I also added two Kona solids -- Tarragon and Grass -- to complement the prints with a little green. This quilt turned out exactly the way I hoped it would. I adore the vintage look of these colors together and the simplicity of the design and quilting. It's been pouring rain here for the past few days, but I ducked outside for a few minutes this evening during a short break in the downpour to take photos. Bless my sweet dad who stood holding this quilt in a chilly drizzle so that I could get my blog post written tonight!

The quilt is backed in two prints from the collection: Everyday Quilt and Everyday Main. For binding, I used the Meadow Floral print which is a dark blue green. Though I wasn't sure at first if it would work against the solid greens I had used in the quilt, it ended up blending together with them perfectly.

When I first sat down with these fabrics, I envisioned making a tea party quilt that the girls could use in their imaginary play. Halfway through my sewing, I realized that Mouse had outgrown her previous bed quilts and really needed a new one, so I readjusted the size to fit her little bed. She's been dancing around my sewing table for the past few days with excitement over her new quilt. I even let her sit on my lap and stitch a bit of the quilting with me. After this evening's brief photo shoot, I brought the quilt out and wrapped her up in it -- much to her delight. "Thank you for making me this quilt, Mommy," she sighed as she snuggled down into the layers. "I'm going to keep it forever and ever and ever and ever...for a long time!"

April Showers Case

I picked up a great preschool quiz set at Costco last night which will be perfect for Bear, and you know what that means...a new case for me to sew! I've been sneaking glances at my April Showers layer cake for the past few weeks, just dying to make something with those lovely new prints. Today I finally broke them out and paired them with some luscious Momo Mochi Dots in Teal. I'm already planning to order more of these gorgeous linen prints in other colors.

The case has a cherry red zipper and is lined with a collage print from the Ecletic Elements collection. This fabric is such a fabulous neutral -- I have yet to find a print that doesn't look great beside it.

The four workbooks and star quiz pen all fit neatly inside with room to spare. I like that this case will grow with the girls. Later on it will be perfect for holding a sketch pad and art supplies. For now it's helping me keep school clutter at bay...and making me happy every time I see it.

Chore Pack

Today we all went back to school again (my husband's school district gives everyone three glorious weeks off for Christmas break). We all agreed this morning that this is a mixed blessing. Everyone is sad to leave the joys of vacation behind us, but it feels so great to get back into a routine again. My girls were all excited to get their new chore assignments this morning -- heaven only knows how long that will last -- and I broke out some new sticker charts to encourage the enthusiasm. Normally this is the sort of thing that gets easily lost in the stacks of paper that endlessly multiply on my kitchen counters, but as it happens, I took about twenty minutes last night to play hooky from my sewing deadlines by making a little case just for fun. I had no idea what this project was when it was finished (aside from personal sewing therapy, of course), but now I know. It's a chore pack!

I love the way the leather yarn dyed linen, Midwest Modern print, Geekly Chic lining, and even that button all work together to give this a slightly mod 1960's look. I am constantly snitching rubber bands from my girls' hair kit to use as button/loop fasteners for projects. They make such an easy yet cute way to add a closure to a pouch or pocket.

So, yes, I'm loving this little pack today. It's small, happy, and useful...in other words, just perfect.

Comedy of Errors

I can sew, bake, sing, play the guitar, even draw a little. Sports, however, have never been one of my strong points. This should have occurred to me on Saturday night when I saw the dog's ball sitting on the kitchen floor and traipsed over to kick it back to her. Two seconds later my feet were flying up in the air, and my back and head hit the floor -- hard. A few hours in the emergency room and some personal time with an IV and a head scan yielded the diagnosis of a mild concussion, and I firmed up my new resolution to leave any dreams of athleticism behind me for good. So many thanks to all of you who left such sweet comments on Instagram over the weekend. I haven't felt so achingly sore since my last c-section, but I'm getting a little better each day. It's hard to say, though, if I'll ever be able to wear socks on laminate flooring again without fear and trembling...

With that comedy of errors behind us, let's talk about sewing. I don't think I've ever gotten so much out of a fat quarter bundle as I did out of my stack of Fort Firefly: a baby quilt, an organizer, and now a set of activity pouches which I made for our church. Our Director of Christian Education plans to stuff these with all kinds of goodies that little ones can play with during the service.

Again, I love that this fabric is pretty gender neutral. Though there are definitely a few girly prints, most of the colors and designs work well for both boys and girls. Cotton webbing has become my new best friend. It cuts down on sewing time since I don't have to make my own straps, and it makes a project look just a little more finished at the same time. Believe it or not, I still have some Fort Firefly scraps left, but I'm setting them aside for some quiet hand sewing over the next few days while my body recuperates.

Of course, the real lesson here is to spend less time in the kitchen and more time at my sewing machine...right?

Superhero Capes

At first glance, it looks as though I may be the most organized mom in the world. Could it be, you ask, that she's actually finished work on fall costumes right here in the middle of September?

No, no, no. I should only wish to be such a supermom. Instead, these are the capes which I whipped up on a wing and a prayer during any spare minute I could grab over the weekend in preparation for tonight's big family event at our local Chick-Fil-A: Superhero Night. The girls found out about it last Thursday night, and how could I resist three sets of big blue eyes and those eight magic words: "Mommy, could you make something for us...please???"

I loosely followed this tutorial from Craft Buds to make the capes. The suggested magnet fasteners from JoAnn Fabrics are a genius solution -- no velcro, no tying the edges, and they hold fast no matter how much the kids jump around. I used some felt to add an insignia with their initial to the back of each cape. The slippery polyester fabric wasn't my favorite to work with, but aside from that, this really was a pretty easy project. Keep it in mind if you need a last minute costume this year.

They're not elaborate outfits, but honestly, I think my Super Girls are super cute. Yes, you knew I had to say it...

Linking up to Sew Cute Tuesday.

Storytelling Pillow

When the amazingly talented Janice of Better Off Thread started showing peeks of her new Round the Blocks pattern on Instagram, I was excited. When she gave me the chance to pattern test the block for her, I was absolutely thrilled. This quilt block is full of possibilities, and her fantastic pattern instructions make the process of paper piecing and sewing curves completely doable. As I started rummaging through my Heather Ross scraps for the little windows, the idea suddenly came to me: a storytelling pillow!

My husband is a genius when it comes to bedtime stories. I often hear him spinning tales to our daughters in the evenings about the three little hippopotamus sisters who live in a tree house in the forest of Galamagoo -- and who (strangely enough) are usually having an adventure that coincides with whatever activity the girls are planning to do the next day. My daughters adore story time with Daddy, and they've gotten so that they love telling stories to each other too, so a pillow like this is going to get lots of use.

The process for using the pillow is simple: pick a main character from the four choices in the middle circle, add in a few details from the ring of characters, and then choose a setting from the corners. You can mix and match in so many ways that the options really are endless.

I used a cheater print by Jay-Cyn Designs from the Storyboek II collection for the back of the pillow. I figure this throws a few more characters into the mix if need be, and I love the whimsy of these designs. Click on over to Craftsy if you'd like to buy Janice's brilliant pattern for yourself. At just $3.95, how can you resist? She has some other wonderful options for this block too which you can see at the link above. I really can't wait to see what everyone else makes with this.

Meanwhile Bunny just got her first chance with the storytelling pillow on her afternoon school break. As I type this, she's over in the corner with the pillow in her lap talking softly to herself, "Once upon a time there was a Daddy Mouse, a Mommy Mouse, and a Baby Mouse, and they all lived together in the crazy pond..."

I can't wait to hear how it ends.

Linking up to Finish It Up Friday.

Zakka Activity Pillow

So Miss Mouse has been feeling a little unsettled by this whole "school" business. Suddenly her big sisters are busy with fun activities, and she's not been entirely sure what to do about it. My parents and I have been trying some different ideas to keep her engaged during class time, and when I saw this week's Zakka project for the Patchwork, Please! sew along, I decided to turn it into something special for Mouse.

I've been dying to make this project ever since I first opened my copy of the book, but unfortunately wall space is at a premium right now. Instead, I made one envelope block, one pencil block, and one book block from Ayumi's "Books for Baby" quilt. I sewed them together and turned them into a little activity pocket pillow.

I didn't have a pillow form on hand that was the right size, so I decided to just stuff the cover itself. Honestly, if I had to do this over again, I would have made this into a separate piece and sewed my own little pillow form to put inside. Hindsight always gets me... Still, this works well enough. I can tuck flashcard rings, books, and snacks into the pockets for Mouse to find when she dances (yes, dances) into our new reading corner every morning at the start of school.

It's just a little thing, really, but sometimes it's the little things that make the biggest difference with kids.

Linking up to Finish It Up Friday and the Zakka Along.

Mr. Bear Kit

One of my husband's coworkers has a daughter who is turning one this week, so my husband asked if I could make something that we could bring as a birthday gift to the party on Saturday. I've been just itching to use the Mr. Bear print from Sarah Jane's new Let's Pretend collection, and this was my chance. May I present the Mr. Bear Kit.

Mr. Bear is made exactly like Mopsy, Bunny's tooth pillow which I shared with you last month. I love making these little stuffed friends. They're so quick and easy to put together, and they're the perfect size for small hands to snuggle. I sewed a little pillow and quilt for him along with a bag to hold it all. It was so much fun putting this kit together in the sewing room today.

I love including a handmade bag or pouch with a gift. It's great to have a place to store the toys inside, and kids love carrying things around with them everywhere they go. My daughters do it constantly.

I hope this little guy will be a good friend to the birthday girl.

Linking up with Sew Cute Tuesday & Fabric Tuesday.

Hello June

1. Mopsy, 2. Have It All Wallet, 3. Mosaic Bag, 4. Timber Mosaic Bag, 5. Patchwork Case for Scribble & Write, 6. Pillow for Mom, 7. Lagoon Floor Pillow, 8. Bear's Floor Pillow, 9. Mouse's Floor Pillow, 10. Summer, 11. Summer Folded, 12. Office in a Pouch x3

May was full of celebrations of so many kinds, and I had a grand time making gifts for each one. In fact, as I look at the projects in this mosaic, I'm reminded of how much I enjoyed myself in the sewing room this month.

June is already shaping up to be a fun month too, full of happy sewing and family adventures as we plunge into the start of summer. Yesterday's post covers some of the blogging events that are on the calendar already. I look forward to sharing them with you in the weeks ahead!

Linking up with Fresh Sewing Day at Lily's Quilts.

Keeping the Peace

Bear's Pillow Front

Mothers of the world, do yourself a favor: make a floor pillow for each of your children.

Bear's Pillow Back

I love these magic cushions. All I have to do is toss them around the room and say, "Go sit on your pillow." Instantly every child makes a dive for their spot and is perfectly happy to sit there while they watch a show, eat their snack, or look at a book. And when the pillows are spread far enough apart, nobody is close enough to poke, swat, or generally annoy anybody else. I'm in heaven, I tell you. At last, keeping the peace doesn't seem to be an utterly impossible task in my family room.

Mouse's Pillow Front

After finishing Bunny's pillow earlier this week, I instantly saw the potential and worked feverishly to complete one for Bear and then one for Mouse. As I said in the first post on these, the squares are all exactly the same. I just mixed them up a little and quilted them differently.

Mouse's Pillow Back

Bear's top has wavy vertical quilting down the front, and I stitched a quarter inch away from each seam on the top of Mouse's pillow. I also left off the border on the last two pillows which made the covers fit a little more snugly, just the way I like them. Bunny prefers the loose fit of her pillow, though, so everyone's happy.

Happy indeed.

Lagoon Floor Pillow

My girls have a fixation on pillows. I'm constantly catching them in the act of dragging all the ones I've made off the couches and piling them in the middle of the family room so that they can jump and roll all over them. I decided that it was time to give them pillows that were actually supposed to be on the floor, so I bought three monster cushions on sale at Joann a while back with good intentions to have these made before summer vacation kicked in. This morning I finally finished the first one.

I splurged on a fat quarter bundle of Full Moon Lagoon by Mo Bedell to use specifically for these pillows. This collection is gorgeous -- I love the range of colors. I tossed in a few black and white prints for variety and edged the front of the pillow in a black and white sketchy print from Architextures. It's interesting to me how making a pillow cover this large is almost like making a baby quilt -- this cover finishes at about twenty-nine inches square! I cut three sets of the six inch squares I used to make the pillow top, so all three girls will have essentially the same pillow. I'll just mix up the squares a bit and quilt each one differently so they can tell them apart.

The back is my standard envelope closure, which I actually found to be a little tricky at this size. I had to carefully watch the edges as I stitched around the pillow to make sure that the fabric didn't pull loose. It wasn't quite as snug as a smaller version when I pulled the clips off during sewing. Thankfully I only had one little mistake that was easily fixed.

This one is for Bunny, but since she's doing school at the moment, Bear is snuggled on top of the pillow all covered up in one of my quilts. I'd better get working on the other two...

Linking up with Fabric Tuesday and Sew Cute Tuesday.

Bear's Birthday Present

My little Bear will be turning four on Sunday, and my husband's parents are arriving in town any minute to spend the weekend with all of us. There are a hundred things on the to-do list, but I wanted to quickly share the patchwork case I made for Bear's birthday present, which is a Leapfrog Scribble & Write. So many toys and videos are designated "educational" these days, a label which can be widely overused as far as I'm concerned, but all my experience with Leapfrog products has been fantastic. I think we own every one of their dvds, and I can't believe how much my daughters have picked up from them. Mouse has learned all of her letters and their sounds, just by watching "The Letter Factory" a million times.

Using some yarn dyed essex linen in leather, a fat quarter from the Fox Hollow collection, and a few 2.5" patchwork squares, I whipped up a quick gadget case last night. There's a strap so she can carry it around with her, padding to keep the toy cushioned, and velcro for easy access. Best of all, I can give it to her in the case so it doesn't have to be gift wrapped.

Make that ninety-nine things left on the to-do list.

Linking up to Finish It Up Friday.

Mopsy

I never got around to showing you the little tooth pillow I made for Bunny when she lost the first one a while back. A few Marmalade charm squares, a scrap of grey linen, stuffing, and a Sharpie marker are all the ingredients involved here. This was a super quick finish that night after the first tooth came out, but it did the job just fine. Today after much drama -- losing a tooth is such a big deal when you're six years old -- tooth number two came out as well. Mopsy the tooth pillow was instantly on call, the tooth was bagged and stuffed in the front pocket, and Bunny is now counting the hours until tonight when she gets another quarter. "I'm going to be rich!" she keeps saying excitedly, clutching Mopsy to her chest in a hug.

Are kids cute or what?

Girl Friday Sews is a Wrap

I'm thrilled to pieces with the wonderful mix of tutorials that my fellow bloggers delivered for Girl Friday Sews over the past two weeks. Everything is practical, pretty, and easily whipped up over the weekend. Here's a quick re-cap with links...


Photo Desk Blotter by Heidi at Fabric Mutt

Pencil Case by Kristy at Quiet Play


Traveling in Circles Tote by Becca at Bryan House Quilts


Framed Office Supply Pouch by Amanda at A Crafty Fox


Cork Board Makeover by Lee at Freshly Pieced


Pen Organizer by Svetlana at S.O.T.A.K. Handmade


Easy Messenger Style Book Bag by Beth at Plum and June


Tablet Pillow Stand by Taryn at From Pixels to Patchwork


File Folder Organizer by Lori at Lori H. Designs


Improv Coffee Cozy and Mug Rug by Leanne at She Can Quilt

These ladies are all incredibly talented, and I'm so grateful to them for taking the time to share their creativity with us. You are amazing, my friends!

I can't thank our generous sponsors enough: Craftsy, Fabricworm, Pink Chalk Fabrics, Sew Me a Song, and Westwood Acres. Please stop by and check out what these wonderful shops have to offer. I promise you won't be disappointed.

From time to time, you'll be seeing more Girl Friday Sews tutorials here on Fabric Mutt, because honestly I just love making projects for our work spaces here at home. I'll have them linked on my Tutorials page as well as on the Sew Along page so that you can find them when you have your next office supply emergency. Seriously, though, pick a project from the list above and make something fun for your desk this week. You won't believe the difference it can make.

Happy Monday to you all!