Cultivate Blog Tour
Hello everyone! Today is my day for the Cultivate Blog Tour. Everyone has different places they find inspiration, Pinterest, blogs, Etsy, well mine personally is Instagram. I could spend hours just looking all the pretty things that everyone else is making. One of my favorite people to follow is Bonnie Christine (@goinghometoroost), she takes the most inspiring photos from every day objects that you might just normally walk by unnoticed. It really makes you stop and take in all the objects and scenery around you.
I chose these four fat quarters, but I still had to decide what to make. The fabric lends itself so well to any project, clutch, bag, top, skirt, quilt, doll clothes… oh the options are limitless.
I decided to make two pillows; because let's face it, I love to make pillows! Art Gallery Fabric is the smoothest fabric to work with, in fact it takes hardly any ironing (if any at all!). I thought, I know a little toddler that will love to rest his head on a soft pillow…. ahhh, who am I kidding, our little toddler doesn't ever come to a complete stop!
My inspiration was fall, and although I'm not a huge fan of fall because that means winter is right around the corner, this fabric very well might change my mind! The color pallet is perfection, in fact it is a perfect match for our bedroom.
I made the larger pillow, which is 18" x 18" with the large floral print on one side, and I pieced the other side. I cut the stripes on the bias so it would add more of a pop. The smaller pillow is 12" x 16" and has a pieced front with "falling leaves", featuring the backing print with brown, coral and aqua. I thought the accent stitching on the front really emphasized the "falling leaves" as well as the quilting which I considered as the "wind whipping".
If we decide not keep them in our bedroom, they also coordinate really nice in Caleb's room! Although he sleeps through the night almost every night, Dad reads him his bed time story and I know he will appreciate the extra lumbar support!
For the pillow enclosure I went with the invisible zipper. This is my preferred method, unless I do something crazy like installing piping! I have gotten so efficient with installing them, and really appreciate what a clean look it gives with no stretching of the pillow case once you begin to use them.
Remember how I said a top would be really cute made out of Cultivate? Well, make sure you check out Calico Dreams to see what one of those cute tops look like! Tomorrow's Cultivate blog hop is Dandelion Drift with the cutest little gym shorts you ever did see! Do make sure you check out the others on the Cultivate Blog Tour, there are so many amazing projects already!
Jenn
Baby Swoon Quilt
This Swoon baby quilt is made from the new Hello Bear line by Bonnie Christine, featuring the most adorable animal print you have ever seen.
One block is 24" x 24", so add a border on and you have a quick one block baby quilt! For this quilt, I added a inner border of 1 1/2" finished and outer border of 4 1/2" finished making the quilt size 36" x 36".
I used an all over wavy design, I think it looks like the wind blowing! Instead of using my normal white thread, I decided to go with a light grey thread.
The backing however, is my absolute favorite! The prints are so cute, featuring raccoons, deer and of course bears!
The pattern used is called Swoon by Thimble Blossoms, and it's fat quarter friendly!
Jenn
Sweet as Honey Trunk Show
We are so excited to announce that Bonnie Christine is coming to our store for a Trunk Show!! Yes, you read that right, our own little shop in Belmont will have a celebrity!
We hope you can join us on Tuesday, February 18th at 2pm. Bonnie will be here to debut her fabrics and pattern line with a beautiful trunk show, and a lecture/demo style presentation that will feature several great techniques and tools! Bonnie will also be sharing about the process of fabric design and open it up for a question and answer session before closing with a free giveaway!
Have you seen her new fabric line Sweet as Honey? It is AMAZING! It's really nice to look at on a day like today... when we get 8 inches of snow. Although some of us don't mind the snow...
Her new line has such a nice feeling of spring, the colors are so fresh and warm! In fact, we liked it so much that we ordered her whole line!
*Photo by Bonnie Christine
I'm loving all these beautiful hexagons!
*Photo by Bonnie Christine
Look at these mug rugs! I love them, and these will be on display at her trunk show. Free pattern of the Honeycomb Mug Home is posted on her blog!
*Photo by Bonnie Christine
Hope to see Tuesday, February 18th at 2pm!!
Jenn
Two Baby Quilts in One Week
Sometimes life gets so busy I forget how much I miss sewing when I'm away from it. Well, I was lucky enough to break away from my hectic schedule to make two baby quilts; in one week at that! I loved every minute of it. The pattern I decided to go with was super quick and easy, can't go wrong with a good old fashioned Rail Fence quilt pattern.
My first quilt made was for a sweet little girl that was born the day after Christmas. Her parents were keeping the sex of the baby a secret, so they chose gender neutral colors of teal and gold for her room. That was perfect, because we have two color ways in Minimalista by Art Gallery Fabrics - you guessed it, gold and teal!
I love how it turned out, simple, classic, yet playful!
I'm happy to report the quilt has made it to it's new home and is well loved.
Next on my list, which has been on my list for sometime... was a quilt for baby Lily. Lilly is already seven months old... where does the time go?? To keep things going at a fast pace and since the Rail Fence was so fun to do, I made another one just like Kirby's. Lily's room is gorgeous shades of pink and aqua. If you know me, you know I love Bonnie and Camille fabric. Scrumptious was the perfect line to use, aqua, pink and green. LOVE. IT.
I selected a simple but elegant quilting design called meandering feathers, which I'm sure you'll be seeing more of.
I thought this was the perfect fabric for binding. I love stripes, and even better they are already printed diagonal so I don't have to cut it on the bias!
Sewing binding by hand is for the birds, or at least that's what this someone thinks that doesn't like doing hand work. Any binding done by hand on my quilts will most likely be done by my mom (thanks mom).
May your days be filled with sewing!
Jenn