Happy New Year 2014

Happy New Year everyone!  I hope your year has started of wonderfully.  Again, I have been busy sewing, just not writing.  First, a recap of some of my favorite projects from 2013.  The trend I noticed was lots of small projects.  There were no major quilts made aside from a couple of baby quilts.
2013 was definitely a year full of swaps.  I made so many items for other people and received lots of beautiful things in return.
My favorite was the X-Factor swap on Flickr.  I participated in every round because I just could not resist.  Each round I told myself I was sitting this one out and then I'd see the entries and had to participate.  My couch is so full of rainbowy goodness, it makes me happy every day to see so many lovelies from around the world.

2013, a photo by cutsewpresslove on Flickr.

1. Les Amis baby quilt 2, 2. DSC_4065, 3. sewing summit secret swap, 4. DSC_3886, 5. Giant Dresden, 6. Double Hexy Delight, 7. PTS 10 finished, 8. DSC_4035, 9. DSC_2505 (2), 10. weekender side A, 11. Circle Celebration Pillow, 12. FLiQ complete, 13. AMHPP1, 14. Swirling Medallion Quilt, 15. Pickledish mini, 16. Simply Modern and Pezzy

I made some Christmas pillows to sell in my Etsy shop.  Only one sold via Instagram thanks to the help of the wonderful Terri of Sew Fantastic.  I tried some new designs using raw edge applique and some different free motion quilting.

Paisley quilting is my new favorite FMQ design.  Inspired of course by the ever amazing Angela Walters.  I always go to her books for inspiration.  Its nice to add a new skill to my repertoire.




I also designed and made these wall art hoops.  There are still some left in the shop as well.



This journal cover was created for  my quilting notebook.  Its way cuter than that ugly black and white camo print.  Sewing with real linen is not near as fun as using Essex linen.  It was so flimsy and shifty.  Still the result was a success so I am happy.  I used a tutorial from Stitched In Color. 
A few of these ornaments were included into sold hoop orders as a thank you.

Last, but not least is my first finish of 2014.  A belated Christmas gift for my mother.  I used leftover Anna Maria Horner scraps from when I made this pillow with a few solids mixed in.  I went with paisley quilting again because why not!  Seriously, after making this pillow I am now in the I LOVE AMH fan club.  I never understood the obsession some bloggers had with her fabrics but now I am a total convert.  The way her designs and colors work together is so amazing and beautiful, I cannot get enough.  This year I am planning to make a new queen sized spectrum quilt for our bedroom from her fabrics only.  I love my Swoon quilt but its time for a change.   I do dread the thought of quilting a queen sized quilt on my machine so we'll see how that goes.

I have to note that when I make my patchwork pillows like this I do not sew each and every teeny square together one by one.  I use this cheater method from Oh Fransson.  I love it and highly recommend it.  Using the fusible makes this a quick and fun project.

Well, now I think I am all caught up.  I won't even get into plans for this year.  Day by day is how I'm taking it.  Congratulations if you made it to the end of this pic heavy post ;)  As always, thank you so much for reading and for joining me on my sewing journey.  Again, Happy New Year friends!

Melissa

Modern Mini Quilt Challenge

Jennifer of Ellison Lane is hosting the Modern Mini Quilt Challenge.  Today is the day to link up and submit only one entry.  In the past 6 months I've made nothing but minis and I love all of them.  It was so hard to decide which one to submit (like choosing a favorite child).  After a little help from my Instagram friends I've decided to go with the Circle Celebration pillow I made for the X-Factor Pillow swap.  This little pillow had a rough start (you can read about the process here) but in the end I'm pleased with the result.  Its funny that every single one of my favorite works live somewhere else now.  All of them were made for swaps.  This one traveled across the ocean and now lives with Tiina in the U.K. 

This foundation pieced pillow finishes at 15 inches square and is straight line quilted.  The free block pattern can be found at Quilting On the Square along with lots more blocks.  There are already lots of gorgeous minis linked up at Ellison Lane.  I highly recommend visiting and checking out all the lovely eye candy.

 

 

As always, thank you so very much for reading!

 

Melissa

 





Circle Celebration Pillow

This little pillow was made for my second time participating in the X-Factor Pillow swap.  The theme was circles.  I wanted to do something different but wasn't sure in what direction I wanted to go until I saw this photo full of amazing paper pieced blocks made by Wombat Quilts.  Those blocks are seriously stunning!  Something about the Celebration block stood out to me and so I decided to go with that one.  I've foundation pieced before and I enjoy the process but man oh man did this block kick my butt!  I screwed it up so many times.  This was almost the pillow that didn't happen.
Here is the 1st block I made.

I was so excited because I used a color wheel to choose my colors.  I wanted to get away from my rainbow comfort zone.  When I was done I just didn't love it so I decided to go back to a rainbow design. 

A word of advice, although it may be relaxing, don't drink and paper piece.  I had to unpick seams more than a few times.  Even when I hadn't been drinking I still messed up despite being super careful.  Can you spot the mistake?

 

Frustrating for sure.  I almost gave up at the thought of having to cut more fabric to redo the segments, and although my instagram friends said it wasn't that noticeable I couldn't send it out in the world knowing it was off.  So I cut the pieces again.  For the quilting I decided to go with straight lines to highlight the design of the block.

And then came the binding issue.  I love piping on a pillow and so I tried it on this one, with this result.

Terrible, hated it, bring on the seam ripper once again!  In the end it was better without anything.

For the back I used Roses in Celebration from the Valentina collection.  I also used Svetlana's awesome tutorial for a hidden zipper closure.

For all it's trouble, in the end I'm glad I stuck it out and finished this little pillow. 
It finishes at 15 inches square.  I used Kona Ash for the background.  The free block pattern can be found at Quilting On the Square along with lots more blocks.

Thanks for reading!

Melissa

Swappy Awesomeness

Hi everyone!  First off, thanks to those of you who followed me over on Bloglovin', and welcome to my new readers.  I have been busy sewing, hence the lack of blogging.  I will try to aim for at least one post a month.

I want to share with you the awesome stuff I've received from my recent swaps.  My first ever swap was with Jessie of Inside The Paper Box.  There is so much I love about this mini, the tiny little squares, the different shades of color and how they flow into each other, but most of all the quilting.  My picture doesn't do it justice.  Over to the right hand side are the loveliest flowers.  It's so perfect and I'm honored to have it hanging in my sewing room.  Thanks again Jessie for being such a great swap buddy!  You can see what I made for her here.

After getting my feet wet with the private swap, I was lucky enough to join the X-Factor Pillow swap on Flickr.  This beauty was voted number one and I got it!  There are no words to express how happy I was to get this one.  It came all the way from Germany and was made by Johanna.  Her work on flickr is amazing!  Even though its a pillow, I have it hanging in my sewing room so my 2 boys can't destroy it.  This one truly brings me joy every time I see it.

The back is pretty too!

I'm in 2 more swaps going on right now and then I think I will take a break for a bit.  I'm participating in round 5 of the X Factor swap and also the Fab Little Quilt Swap on Flickr.  I can't reveal the pillow I made for XFactor yet but here is a mockup of my plan for the FliQS.



I need to get cutting for this one.  I think it's gonna be pretty cool.  Thank you for reading!

Happy sewing,
Melissa