belated valentine's quilt, and subsequent impromptu peek inside my house (but just a little one so don't expect too much!)

I started this quilt 4 weeks ago.  I made the top in an evening (if you follow me on Instagram, you already knew that) and top-stitched/bound it the following weekend.  I just didn't get around to blogging about it until today, when I found some time to photograph it on my new oh-my-gosh-do-I-ever-love-you-so-much-where-have-you-been-all-my-life sofa. :)

I bought a 1/2 yard of all the pink and red prints from Tanya Whelan's "Petal" collection last year with the plan to make this quilt I found on Pinterest. 

I was going to make a big quilt for my bed.  But we recently upgraded to a king bed (husband is rather tall) and I didn't have enough of this fabric for a king quilt.  I was also inspired to make it last month for 2 reasons:  Valentine's Day was coming up and I was in the mood for some seasonal decoration, and my sewing cupboards are so full I figured that if I used up this fabric there would be that much less for me to fold, stack and store.

It's been ages since I made a simple, just-squares quilt.  I normally prefer smaller-scale prints, but "Petal" has such volumptuous prints that they beg for larger cuts to show themselves off.  I love this quilt.  It's the perfect sofa size and it's just the right amount of colour.  I wish I'd had enough left over to make little cushions for the gray chairs that flank the fireplace, but life will just have to go on without them. :)

Anyhow, while I was taking pictures of the quilt, I took a few more of the main floor of our house.  I know, I promised to show you all of the house and I still will!  It's just still not quite finished and furnished the way I want it.  (Still cardboard in the windows that require privacy, I'm embarrassed to admit.  The irony of someone who has a ton of fabric and no curtains is not lost on me, I assure you.)  But we're getting close ...

Our old dining set was a cute antique set.  And by cute I mean built for little people.  Not my tall husband.  He always looked so awkward on the little chair and lower than average table.  No one was ever really comfortable sitting there - except maybe the kids when they were smaller - and we NEVER lingered after dinner.  But our new dining set makes me deliriously happy.  We love hanging out there now.  It's beautiful, comfortable ... makes me feel like a grown up.  Between the dining set and the stately, traditional, tufted sofa, the style of the entire main floor has been elevated.  Plus I've wanted that oval/X-back chair for decades.  I'm not kidding.  I almost called this blog post, "I'm Bringing Ex-y Back"!  LOL!

Before you chide me for choosing a light upholstery for dining chairs, let me explain a few things:  I used microfiber, had them protected, got the extended warranty, and have emphatically threatened eternal dishwashing duty to anyone who dares to stain them.  So far, so good.

Ok.  Time to prep for the Oscars!  (And by prep I mean get into my favourite pjs, open the jumbo pack of Twizzlers - the red ones, of course - dump some chips in a bowl and claim the best spot on the sofa. :)

a new pattern ... the pamela pouch

I know.  It's been a while since I published a pattern.  But the stars aligned and ... it happened.

This pattern started over the Christmas holidays when I was overcome with a desire to make something - anything - using the navy prints colours from PamKittyGarden.  I haven't worked with navy for a very long time ... probably in the neighbourhood of 20 years.  But there's just something about this navy that was calling my name.

So I played around and came up with this ... 

It took all of about two seconds for my daughter to call dibs on it.

Such a rave review got me thinking about writing up a pattern.  So I made a second pouch - this time with the aqua PamKittyGarden suite. 

Oh how I love love LOVE this colour!

I tweaked a few things from the original prototype and came up with this ...

I'm calling it the Pamela Pouch because I wanted to name it after my good friend who happens to be the amazingly talented fabric designer behind the PamKitty collections that I love so much, and because I have a thing for alliteration.

It's only available as a PDF.  Click here to find it in my shop.  There are tons of step-by-step photos to help you along.

One other thing ... this pattern is F8th friendly.  Yep.  It only takes five F8ths to make (plus the notions) so it's great for using up small bits of coordinates.  But you don't have to make it all scrappy like I did.  You can easily use a single fabric for the whole thing.  It's up to you! :)

because frogs eat flies ... that's a totally normal and valid consideration when deciding on an embroidery stitch, right?

Confession:  my husband and I don't really celebrate Valentine's Day.  Don't get me wrong - we're not anti-holiday or anti-romance or anti-flowers/chocolate/candle-lit-dinner, etc. etc.  We just aren't inclined to doing that sort of thing on a prescribed day.  Besides, I'm the sort of girl that would rather get a few FQs than a dozen roses.  Flowers die.  Fabric is forever. ;)

However, that doesn't mean I can't say yes to a sweet friend's request to join a Valentine's Day Blog Hop, right?  When Mollie sent me her adorably cute love critters, I chose to do the quail.  She got me - I mean, that heart-shaped feather on her head?  Aaagh!  Had to stitch her.  So here she is if you'd like the PDF.

 But I showed Mollie's designs to my girls and asked which were their favourites.  That's how I ended up with 3 little stitcheries ... and then 3 mug rugs ... and then 3 convenient Valentine's gifts for my girls and ... me.  (By the way, I'm positive mug rugs were invented not because we quilters needed something to protect our tables from hot beverages, but because we needed something to turn our cute little blocks and things INTO ... am I right?)

Free Valentine Quail PDF

Oh, and one other silly little thing.  After I had the fabric borders sewn onto the mug rugs, the space around the animals looked a little empty, so I added stitched borders.  I did Mrs Quail first - a quick and simple running stitch.  Nothing fancy.  Easy enough.  But also a little ... mmm ... uninspired.  I could do better than that.

So then Miss Ferret got kisses (cross stitches).  It took a little more time, but I think it's way cuter.

Then I was really in an embroidery mood and I wanted to do something else for Miss Frog, but no particular stitch came to mind right away.  I scoffed at myself for a moment - I mean come on girl, you wrote an embroidery book once upon a time for heaven's sake ... THINK! 

Then I got it. 

The fly stitch, of course.

Why, you may ask?  Well ... because ... frogs eat flies. 

I'm not even kidding about that.  This is how my brain works.  I can't help it.

If you missed the other lovely blogs in this Stitch Love Blog Hop, here they are.  You can collect all 8 free patterns - courtesy of the lovely Mollie at Wild Olive.  I promise your hopping will be rewarded with all kinds of adorable inspiration!

Monday: Shiny Happy World & Wild Olive
Tuesday: Little Dear Tracks
Wednesday: Lark Crafts
Thursday: Hugs Are Fun
Friday: Feeling Stitchy
Saturday: nanaCompany & wildolive

On that note, Happy Valentine's Day!  And also happy stitching. :)

little ... as in really little

Surprise!  I know - twice in two days!  :)

So we went to a really nice place for Sunday brunch over the holidays and there were these super duper teeny tiny wee little single-serving glass jam jars on the table.  (I may have walked out of the restaurant with a pocket-full ... or two ... of these jars.  Maybe.  Maybe not.  Just sayin'.)

Anyhow, here's what I did with one of those jars.

Cute, eh?

I know, you'd think it's more cute than useful.  (Although - for the record - cute things are in and of themselves totally useful by their very nature, right?  How can you not smile when you see something that's cute because it's little?) 

It's true, the tufting on top is as high as I could make it without it looking dumb.  And long pins don't work well.  It's perfect for applique pins, though.  And I've put some tiny buttons in it.  I have been keeping my ring thread cutter in it because I'm always misplacing that little sucker - it fits perfectly inside the jar and the jar is way easier to find.  However - ironically - I took that ring out of the jar the other day and ... now I can't find it.  Again.

Go figure.

for art's sake ... and a winner!

Another birthday gift for my daughter's friend.  It's a new pattern I'm working on. :)  It's almost ready to publish - just a few kinks to iron out. ;)

My daughter loved the prototypes I made, so she asked me to make another one for her friend - using some PamKittyGarden (lovely periwinkle!) - and thought it would be fun to add a little "art" label.  I've been spending quite a few quiet moment here and there enjoying my homegirl's new book, so I took this opportunity to try out one of her super cute ideas and tada!  (Normally I would have hand-stitched the patch on, but I kinda left this to the last minute and didn't have enough time ...)

Anyhow, stay tuned for the pattern for this little pouch.  It's fat-eighth friendly, by the way. ;)

*     *     *     *     *

Oh, and speaking of PamKittyFabric, I have a winner for the FQ bundle from Simply Sweet Fabric ...

Congratulations to Stephanie who said, "Definitely some cottage chic quilted placemats to send home to family in England :'( miss them all so much! I love to do little projects I can send frequently so they know I'm thinking of them. Beautiful fabrics!"

Isn't that just the sweetest?  Thank you again to everyone who played along!