Truffles Pattern!

Hooray!  My Truffles quilt pattern is finally released!  I've been working on a couple of quilts for a friend, which had me a little bit sidetracked on finishing it up, but I'm proud to say that this one is now available in my Craftsy and Etsy shops!  If you missed them, you can see the other finished photos of this quilt HERE.

This really has been one of my favorites recently.  I don't tend to love blocks that have a lot of pressing between steps, but sometimes you just can't get around it.  Well, this pattern has very little of that nonsense.  They go together pretty fast.  I really love patterns where I can put the whole block together (or almost) without pressing until the very end, so this pattern is right up my alley.

I just love all of the different fun shapes created in the pattern, but my favorite has to be the little cog/sprocket shape in the white space.  My eye is just drawn to it!  I hope you'll try this pattern out, and I hope you love it as much as I do!

Something Finished, Something New

Ahhh... fall is in the air.  A front moved through last night and left behind cool, crisp weather;  the kind of weather that makes me wish I could set up my sewing machine on my deck outside and just breathe it in.  Fall is my favorite season, and maybe it's because the cooler weather makes me think of snuggling up with a quilt, but I especially love sitting down at my machine when there is just a little nip in the air.  Yesterday, I was on a roll and finished up my red and aqua quilt, and I really love how the top turned out.

To me, the pattern looks like scrumptious little desserts piled on a plate, so I'm calling this one Truffles, and I can't wait to get it finished.  The colors are so fresh and happy, and I'm also feeling pretty good about the fact that these fabrics all came right out of my cabinet.  Hooray for stash busting!

The other thing that I have been madly working on lately is my Ball and Jacks pattern, and I am delighted to tell you that it is now available in my Craftsy and Etsy shops!  Hop over and take a look. This is one of those patterns that has a "big bang for your buck."  There is very little wasted fabric, and although the blocks are pretty simple to put together, the finished quilt looks much more complicated, so there is a big payoff.  It is written in lap, twin, and queen sizes, and has full color illustrations and cutting diagrams included.

It is perfect football weather, and perfect weather for my city's local festival, which happens to be going on this weekend.  I've been there all morning, working at my Sunday School class booth, and reveling in the gorgeous weather.  My husband actually runs the booth for our class, so he and wild thing will be there all weekend long from sunup to sundown.  Hmmm... I'm sure I can find something useful to do with my time!

Daydreams, and Awesome News!

Fall Break has been kind and has afforded me lots of great, relaxing sewing time, and I was almost able to finish this little (45 x 45in.) baby quilt yesterday.  This morning, I just had to stitch the binding on and take advantage of the gorgeous morning light with a few photos.

This is a baby quilt for a friend at work.  She brought me a few focus fabrics for the quilt and let me have creative license with the rest.  I just love this color combination.  The red is really more of a pinkish red than is showing in the pictures, and it's just the right pop of color against the dreamy aquas and grays.

Another request from my friend is that the baby's name and birthdate be monogrammed and put into the quilt on the front.  This was certainly a first for me, and although I didn't do the monogramming myself, it did dictate the design of the quilt.  I wanted it to look like it belonged in the quilt, rather than a random patch stuck in the middle of the pattern.  I chose a Double Slice pattern, since the blocks created were the perfect size for including this.  I have covered the name/date in the picture, but you can still get an idea of how it fits into the quilt (where the arrow is pointing).  Now that it's finished, I think it's a neat little addition that makes the quilt special.

I went with an all over simple meander for the quilting, although I didn't quilt through the monogramming (that's the patch on the bottom left side that's unquilted).  I just love this aqua fabric, and it keeps the backing looking soft.

The binding is a great fabric that I found in the quilter's aisle at Joann's.  It's a sketchy print, and the perfect shade of pinkish red.  It was really difficult to find fabrics that were the right shade to match the fabric she gave me (the fabric she gave me is the one with the red and pink blossoms you can see really well here).  So when I saw that binding fabric, I snatched it right up!

And now, my awesome news!  I met with the owner of my local sewing shop yesterday.  They aren't a quilt shop, but they have a great fabrics, gifts, and clothes and offer sewing classes.  Although they have a lot of gifty things with fabric, they didn't sell quilts...until yesterday!  They are going to start selling my quilts in the shop, and will also refer customers to me for custom quilts.  YAY!  I am so excited!  They have a couple of quilts right now, and I'm hoping to get a few more made before their big holiday open house coming up in November.  Somebody pinch me!