Happy Mail

I love getting mail. Maybe not so much bills, but I love getting catalogs, letters, cards and packages.

Especially packages that contain pretty fabric. :) I ordered some fabric for two quilts and a little something for my stash. Pretty fabric is my weakness, I hoard it like nobody's business.

On the bottom left is a fat quarter bundle plus some yardage from the Flats collection. I'm using it for my mom's quilt and I can't wait to cut into it.

In the middle is a layer cake plus some yardage from the High Street collection. The colors are even brighter and prettier in person! This is for my friend Jenny but I might have to buy a charm pack or two for myself.

On the right is a 10" stacker and some yardage from The Simple Life collection. This collection, at least certain prints of it, is getting hard to find. I found them on Etsy and I'm glad I got them right when I saw them because they were gone within the day. I'm hoarding this and don't plan on cutting into it until the perfect project comes along.

{WIP} Pinwheel Sampler

I've been wanting to do this quilt for awhile now and I finally got the motivation to start it last month. I'm so very, very late to jump on this quilt along but I've always loved pinwheels. It just took while to find the right fabric. :)

I chose to use blues, greens and oranges. Last year, my local quilt shop was running a special on fat quarters. So I bought 10 fat quarters from a variety of lines in blues and greens, with one orange. Last month I pulled them all out again and decided that two didn't make the cut. I also wanted to add in some navy and more orange.

So off to Joann's I went and bought quarter yards from the DS Quilts collection and a few others from their premium collections.

The original Pinwheel Sampler is all about half square triangles, but looking at a few of the blocks I decided to give flying geese a try. I've never done them before but I knew that I didn't want seams to cut off the prints.

I used flying geese in blocks 3, 4, and 6. And I used this method found {here} so there would be no waste.

My seams don't always line up and there's been a few times where I had to unpick seams, but I'm having fun learning new techniques. This quilt has definitely stretched my cutting and piecing skills. I'm always so happy when a pinwheel lines up perfectly the first try.

I still have a few more blocks to complete (4 to be exact) before I can start sashing it. I've been busy mending jeans and sewing up some clothing for my niece, so I'm hoping to get back into the saddle soon. My goal is to have it completely done (quilted and bound) before summer.

To keep up with my progress click here
For the pattern instructions click here (scroll down to find the list of all the blocks)

My Winter Quilt

Ok, so it's practically spring out here in the desert but I've always wanted a winter themed quilt to snuggle under during the colder months. I fell in love with the Winter's Lane fabric collection and knew that I wanted to use it for this quilt. I love that it's more of winter and not so Christmas-y, which means I can have it out from after Thanksgiving until March (or whenever warmer weather starts)! I also included a fat quarter of Open Sleigh in aqua from the Aspen Frost line to add a few more houses (I cut it so the music notes were in the correct direction, so I only got 2 houses) and the sky fabric is the aqua snowflakes from the Season's Greeting line.

It took me while to find the right pattern for this quilt. I came across the Suburbs pattern from Cluck Cluck Sew and thought it was so cute. I had a picture of a little snowed in neighborhood in my head and I'm so pleased with how it turned out.

The back is pieced with yardage of my favorite print of the line, leftover houses and some of the half square triangles you get from making the houses. I still have more of those HSTs and I'm thinking a matching pillow may be in order.

Abby of Latimer Lane did the quilting. This is the second quilt that she's done for me and I just love her. If you need a long arm quilter tell her that I sent you and you get your first quilt at $0.01 per inch. :)

We decided to go with the Glacee pattern. I love, love, love snowflakes. They are my favorite part of winter. She has 3 snowflake patterns to choose from but I love the variety of snowflakes in Glacee, it's my favorite.

This is officially the first quilt that I've made that I'm keeping for myself, although I'm sure my son will steal it. He has an affinity for snuggle-y blankets. :)

Quilt Stats:

Pattern: Suburbs by Cluck Cluck Sew (throw size)
Fabric: Layer cake of Winter's Lane plus yardage for back and binding
             1 fat quarter of Open Sleigh in Iced Aqua from Aspen Frost
             Snowflakes in Iced Aqua from Season's Greeting (for sky) 
             Premium Bleached Muslin by Legacy Studio (for white background)
Quilting: Glacee pattern by Abby of Latimer Lane

For more photos please click here