When we last saw our intrepid hero she was trying to find her lost sewing mojo but excitedly looking forward to visiting and gaining some much needed inspiration and rejuvenation at the Garden of Quilts event when life took a sudden, dramatic 2020-flavored twist…

Hello friends! It’s been a couple of weeks since I last checked in – which is not typical for me. But may become more typical in the future? Who knows? The break was unplanned, but necessary and ended up being a good thing. I’m enjoying slowing down a little more. Most of the time…

The main reason for this unplanned break – our family was hit by the dreaded you-know-what (rhymes with Sharona). I won’t go into details – some fared better than others – but we are past the worst of it and on the mend. Doing much better this weekend than last and have hopes to make a full recovery.

One of the biggest bummers of all of that – I didn’t get to attend Garden of Quilts. I was pretty sad about the timing of it all. With so many events canceled this year, I was excited that this was one I could still participate in. Well, make that a big Nope for me on that one too. I think the theme of this year is “Get Used to Disappointment.” lol

So I’m sorry I don’t have fun pictures to share of gardens full of quilts this year. (Here’s last year’s Garden of Quilts event and hopefully more of an example of what next year’s event will look like too.)

The good news after 10 days of family together time at home, I’ve found some of my lost sewing mojo. So there’s something positive! Here’s a little bit of what I’ve been working on. These patchwork star blocks have been a lot of fun! Just what I needed to jump start my sewjo again.

As I mentioned here, a few weeks ago I pulled out these wool applique Autumn Love blocks that I originally made a couple years ago. I decided to get them out of UFO (UnFinished Project) Purgatory and get them sewn up this season.

Here are the details on the Autumn Love wool applique blocks. Wool applique is so much fun and very forgiving and un-intimidating. If regular applique scares you, try wool applique to boost your confidence. The best part is that you don’t have to worry about turning or fraying edges. This makes it super easy. I walk through all of the basic steps for wool applique here.

After some playing and pondering, I decided that I would make my blocks into a smaller Fall wall hanging. I also decided to alternate the applique blocks with the pieced star block from Lori Holt’s original Autumn Love pattern. You can find the tutorial for the pieced Star Quilt Block on Lori Holt’s blog here.

Next up: finding just the right sashing fabric…

I’m combining fabric from Lori’s collections including Autumn Love and Prim for my blocks. They play so nicely together.

  

Speaking of fabric and holidays and sewing mojo: this pile is on my sewing table and beckoning me to come and play. I’m SO smitten with each of these prints – this collection is part of Liberty of London’s cotton collection and called simply A Festive Collection. It’s available now in shops – I’ve seen it from SoJo Fabric, Simply Love Fabrics, and other Etsy sellers.

The details in the the prints are so cute. And here’s a close up of probably my favorite detail: the little Liberty of London flagship store. Can you spot it? Be still my heart. It’s been almost 2 years since my last visit and I’m itching to go back. Who knows when that will be at this point.

I’m still in the plotting stage with this fabric – not exactly sure what it will become yet, but I have some ideas. Be prepared to see more of it in the future. In the mean time, I’m insisting to myself that I stay disciplined and finish this fall project before I move on to Christmas sewing. Hold me to that!

I’m in a little bit of denial that it’s almost the end of September. The afternoon light in my sewing room is changing and it’s getting darker earlier. Usually September is my favorite month of the year. This one hasn’t quite lived up to typical expectations. (Surprise, surprise…) I haven’t even made it up to the mountains yet. Sigh. Hoping to remedy that this weekend. 

xo