What's New on My Sewing Table October 2024

Hard to believe it's October. The weather outside has felt more like the end of August, but if the aisles in the grocery store are to be believed, October is, in fact, here. So I thought I'd share a little of what projects are on my sewing table this month. After a really busy summer and being out of town most of September, it feels so good to get back into my sewing room and spend a little time at my sewing machine. 🙂 I've got projects both old and new that are feeding my "sew-jo" right now.

But first, here's an "Honest Sewing Room" photo to show you where things were at on Oct 1. Yikes. After a super busy month where everything just got dumped, piles had built. Before I could do anything creative, it was definitely time to clean up this space.

I should have taken a good "after" picture, but once it was clean I jumped right into a new project. I haven't sat and sewed for weeks and I was itching to get started.

Last week I shared projects and information about Breast Cancer Awareness month, including a new Woven Hearts quilt pattern from the Fat Quarter Shop that is this year's BCRF fundraiser.

Seeing those blocks got my creative juices fired-up. I had a set of the 6" Woven Heart block foundation papers and decided to just make a quick block to try it out.

Well, I quickly found I couldn't stop. I pulled out my drawer of pink scraps and have been going strong ever since. And I'm not sad about it.

Here's some of my progress so far. I LOVE them. After just working with pinks, I decided to add a few more colors. I remembered a scrappy quilt that Emily Dennis made this year and used that color palette as the inspiration to add more color to these blocks.

The Foundation Papers for the Woven Star blocks are back in stock!

I'm totally loving the direction where these blocks are going. For the backgrounds I'm using prints from Riley Blake's low volume collections Hush Hush. They're the perfect background prints for a scrappy, but cohesive look.

Most of these prints are from the next release of Hush Hush 4 that will be arriving in stores this month. Here's a look at the print that I designed for this collection:

I also pulled out an old WIP (Work In Progress) that I started 3 years ago. I'm feeling super motivated right now to pull out and finish WIP's.

This quilt pattern is called Winki Stars by Jen Kingwell and is in her gorgeous book Quilt Recipes.

I pulled them out because I was in need of a good hand-work project. I've been hand-piecing the blocks that include Y seams and thoroughly enjoying the slow-stitching process.

Seeing these blocks again has me fired up to finish this quilt. I decided I'll make 3 more blocks for a lovely, crib-size quilt.

One more new thing in my sewing room this week - a brand new iron thanks to Missouri Star Quilt Company and Oliso. My old iron was on it's last legs and it feels so good to work with a shiny new iron again!

I will admit, this iron is pretty deluxe. I've been working with Oliso irons for the past decade and genuinely love them. The coolest feature is there’s no need to tilt it up when you’re finished using it. All you have to do is let go of the handle and the iron automatically lifts itself up. No more scorches, burns, and tipping. It's pretty snazzy.

One more item you may have noticed on my sewing table in the top picture - I finished my scrappy log cabin quilt that I was working on last month. I will admit it turned out pretty dreamy.

I'm in the middle of writing a tutorial for this scrappy, improv version of a log cabin quilt. Watch for that next week. But in the mean time, here's a preview:

While it doesn't feel like fall at my house in the valley, the canyons and mountains near my home are hitting autumn peak color. Being away much of September, I missed the first colors of fall, so my top priority when I've got a block of free time has been getting outside before those colors are gone. This view is from a hike last Friday:

This season of golden aspens and red maples is going to end too soon. I'm grateful to know my sewing machine is patiently waiting for me when it does 🙂 but in the meantime I'm having serious Fall FOMO and trying to soak up all that I can.

That said, I'm seriously procrastinating all of my fall yard clean up. I guess I should convince myself that yard work is "healthy outdoor time" too. 😉

At the same time, sending MUCH love to those who are suffering, or those of you who have loved ones suffering, because of the devastating effects of nature as a result of recent hurricanes.

It's almost unfathomable to imagine the destruction of this storm and the ongoing effects on communities. And the same time, heartening to see the healing and support of human connection during times of severe upheaval. If you are looking for ways to help, check out this post from Lo and Behold Stitchery. Brittan and Peter live in Black Mountain, NC in the heart of the devastation and they have practical ways to help.