My Sweet Tea & Sashiko Stitches Pillow is Finished!

My Jolly Bar Bakewell Pillow Cover is finished!

For the quilting, I did hand stitched Sashiko stitching.

I made this pillow with extra blocks from my 

Sweet Tea Jolly Bar Bakewell Quilt

I could not have done this stitching without this ...

Clover Adjustable Ring Thimble with Plate 

@ Fat Quarter Shop

You place it overt your thimble finger with the plate on your palm and 

push the long needle through the fabric

and then pull the needle and smooth the stitches.

More info on my method and tools may be found Here.
I stitched straight lines for the borders in these matching thread colors.

For the center, I let my quilty muse decide and I did some free form improv stitching.
I did not mark these motifs or the straight lines. 

I wanted to make this as a cover for the winter season pillow on the upper left
which has red and green snowmen on the front.
The pillow measured 20" so my Bakewell blocks  needed a narrow outer border
to make it large enough for the pillow up-cycle.

I machine sewed the background border strips around the center
to make a nice clean and crisp frame.

For the back of the pillow cover, I made and envelope back with snap closures
from extra Sweet Tea fabrics.

I bound this pillow with a navy heart print from Bonnie & Camille
that was in my stash.

I am very happy with this project!

I plan to do more Sashiko quilting on future projects.


Do your do large stitch quilting?
I would love to hear what thread and method you use.
I love to learn new quilty things ... :) 

Happy Stitching!

Bloom*Topia Release I ~ Blocks Done!

My Blocks 1 and 2 are done for

My Bloom*topia Quilt Started Here

I am in the process of finding DMC colors to match this fabric

as I want to stitch the cross stitch pattern, too.

I am really loving these Last Bloom fabrics.

I bought my fat quarter bundle awhile  back on a deep sale as it is an older line,

but it is available in some shops. 

Here is Block 2.

I used the recommended triangle papers for this and it was an easy sew.

I am looking forward to this being a new bed quilt by autumn.

Project Remix ~ Road Trip Bag ~ Kindred Spirits

Here is my Project Remix Road Trip Bag 

all ready to ride! 

I sewed this fun pillow and book bag for the
Blog Remix 

@
The Jolly Jabber

You may find the original tutorial by clicking on this link ...

FQS Road Trip Bag Tutorial



For my Road Trip Bag I used
Anne of Green Gables Kindred Spirits Fabric by Riley Blake

These fabrics are sew pretty!

These are the pieces to my bag.
I added a couple of design options.  

I added a flap with snaps to the outer pocket.

It still fits a good sized hardcover book
and you can snap it closed to keep it from sliding out
on the ground.

If you are like me, you are always dumping bags
at the beach or in the park and have to pick them up
and clean them off.

So I also added ...

an inner zipper pocket to keep small items, like a pocket wallet, secure.

I cut a 10" by 18" rectangle
and used a 10" zipper for the inner pocket\.

I cut a 14" by 4.5" rectangle for the outer flap

I used my Babyville Boutique Snap Pliers

... to add pink flower shaped snaps to the outer flap.

The reverse side of my bag is plain and the inner pocket is on the same side
as the outer pocket so this side may be used as a pillow in the car.

Even though my bag may be used as a pillow case,
I could not resist making a special pillow  from these pretty fabrics.
to go into my bag.

I cut blocks from the panel border for the front of my pillow.

I made an envelope style pillow back
to which I added snaps to hold it closed.
This is one of my favorite pillow back methods.

My Road Trip Bag and Pillow are ready for summer adventures.

I will be gifting this bag to a girl who is of the age I was the first time I read
Anne of Green Gables.
It is still one of my favorite stories.

What are your favorite child hood books
that you would like to make a Road Trip bag 
for a young reader that you know?

Clementine Quilt Along ~ Block 6

Clementine Quilt Along Block 6

Strawberry Star

This one was fun to sew.

All of these blocks have been a skill building challenge for me.

This is the last set of blocks for my red and white quilt.

Woo-hoo!

I will soon be sewing my top together.

I know I am going to love this quilt.

I have been sewing these blocks for the 

sponsored by the 

Fat Quarter Shop

For all the info please visit the

Clementine Quilt Along Main Page

For this month's block pattern go to today's post on the

The Jolly Jabber

The Clementine Quilt Along benefits
 St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. 
This charity quilt along pattern measures 70.5″ x 90.5″. 
Fat Quarter Shop asks only for a $5 donation to St. Judes 
each time you download one of the patterns.

There are some very inspiring quilts in the making in the links.

This block was my favorite to sew.

I really like this star pattern.

Strawberries are in season locally and my hubby brought home these
baskets of juicy berries this week.

Yummy!

Strawberry Stars Forever! 

Fat Quarter Cubes Quilt Along

Here is my Fat Quarter Cubes Quilt!

I love this pattern in these fabrics!

This fabric glows!

It started with this beautiful fat quarter bundle

of Ombre Metallic Confetti fabric from

V and Co

These fabrics are luminous,

not just because of the metallic dots

or the sun in this photo.

The colors seem to glow in any light.

This photo was taken inside at midnight in shadowed light.

I chose these fabrics into the wonderfully easy 

Fat Quarter Cube Quilt @ The Jolly Jabber

from the

You can learn how to make this quilt at the

Fat Quarter Shop Quilt Video

Purchase the

Fat Quarter Cubes Quilt Kit

or choose your own fabrics for the

Fat Quarter Shop Cubes PDF Pattern Here

For  my quilt, I sorted my 18 Fat quarters into sections
and opted to use three yards of the confetti ombre metallic fabrics
for  my sashing and borders.

Here is the completed quilt top.

Here is the back of the quilt.
I used the gray ombre confetti and a piece of metallic Star Wars fabric from my stash.

When it came time quilt it, I wanted to accent the colors I used in the sashing strips,
so I chose three matching Aurifil thread colors.

Katniss was very helpful making and quilting this quilt.

One of the things I loved about this pattern is the fact the cutting directions
included cutting the strips to make this great multi-colored binding.

This photo was taken at the very end of daylight after a cloudy, rainy day.

Luminous! 

I made this quilt for a Millennial who loves Star Wars.

Think this quilt hits the mark?

I feel a great sense of accomplishment when I complete a quilt.

I piece and quilt my quilts entirely on my home machine.

I have been having some health/medication issues that have been

keeping me and my doctor and pharmacist busy for awhile

and I have two followup appointments with my doctor

and need to see a couple of specialists

in the next few months.

Sewing keeps me going one stitch at a time.

Quilting is my happy place.

The sun came out today and I enjoyed my cup of java 

on the swing with my new quilt.

It is a good day.

May you have one, too. 

Thank you,

  Fat Quarter Shop

for another wonderful quilt along!