Catching up and Checking In

Hello everyone! It’s been a while since I’ve checked in to share what’s on my sewing table these days. There’s some really fun stuff on there right now, most of it in the very beginning/planning stages. So nothing finished to share, but I thought I’d give some introductions and progress reports since I’m trying to do a better job of documenting the process (reality, mess, etc), not just the finishes. 

Vintage Christmas Quilt report: I had high hopes to get a lot of Christmas sewing done the week after before New Years. I did get these 5 blocks finished, which I’ll call a win, but not much more than that. My people were all home together and it was good to just be present with and enjoy them. 

Here are all my blocks together.  (Pattern from Lori Holt’s Vintage Christmas book.) I had fun using the Santa Claus Lane panel prints for a few of them. 

I made a game plan for these blocks – I think I will make 2 more of the 12″ x 12″ blocks, sash them and sew them together.  I also put in some time to sort all of my Christmas fabric (of which there is A LOT).  And 

Still need a plan for the red station wagon. (Which I adore.) Maybe on the back? Or make more trees 

It was officially time to clean up the blocks, and the Christmas fabric. The finished blocks are stored together along WITH the Vintage Christmas pattern book, so that when the mood for Christmas sewing strikes I can dive in and finish up this quilt once and for all.

Now I’m tackling a bunch of new deadlines and projects. Some that are shareable and some that I’ll share more about in the weeks to come.

This pile of beauties is from the Liberty quilting cottons collection called Winter Flower Show.

The majority of the sewing I did over the Christmas break was to sew more face masks – particularly for my college girls. We were all needing some fresh masks. These were a good ‘winter’ update of the bright pastel floral versions I made last summer.

After having worn and tried multiple styles of masks over the past months, this face mask tutorial has become my preferred size and style. They have great coverage and they’re easier to wear when trying to talk because they stay in place and I don’t have to tug at or move it back in place.

Plus they’re really easy to make and resize for different face sizes.

Also on my cutting table: a couple of brand new Riley Blake Chambrays. I’m SO excited to play with these. These woven cottons are a beautiful weight and drape for clothing (like Christopher’s (aka the Tattooed Quilter) shirt or this dress by Sew Sophie Lynn).

I’m combining them with some Riley Blake basics including Confetti Cotton in Navy and this Blossom print in gray on white.

I’ve got a new quilt pattern that will be out later this month and I’m excited to make a two-tone modern version in this blue palette.

The other version of this upcoming quilt is made from the my upcoming fabric collection: Notting Hill – coming very soon (mid February!) to a quilt shop near you. I’ll have lots more Notting Hill projects to share in the coming weeks. 🙂 

Lots of sewing prep to do in the mean time.  Oh, and we’re finally painting and re-carpeting the second half of our upstairs that we were supposed to finish last January. (Ay yi yi.) Not looking forward to the upheaval, but very much looking forward to finally getting it done.

Life feels a bit like a three-ring circus. But at the same time I’ve been grateful for something positive to focus on after spending way too much time consuming news about last week’s disheartening events.

Oh yeah – And we’re dog-sitting this weekend! And somehow, I’m the favorite. Which is both great and tricky.  (It’s wonderful to be loved but not always easy to be in demand.) But he did closely supervise the writing of this very blog post and sends his approval hello to all of you.