I chose fabrics from Alexander Henry, Anna Maria Horner’s Good Folks, Art Gallery’s Filligree, & Tufted Tweets and loved how they just went together.

Thinking I might want to recreate them sometime, I started taking notes, but this is as far as it got

because it was pretty simple, really. For each cd envelope, I used heavyweight fusible interfacing inside & made 2 identical 5″ pockets that I just slipped inside each other and sewed closed around the top. I quite liked the result and may be making more of these for little gifts, and for the cds that get tossed around my car.

Then there was a package to send to California for my dear friends who always act as home when I just need to get back there for the beach and some good shopping.  These new Kaffe Fassett prints (Ombre and Radiation) in the Pastel colorway were just calling to be made into something for them, as they could go with all the vintagey pastel kitchenware they have.

I ended up making 16″ square napkins and 4″ square coasters. It was a simple right-sides-together-turn-inside-out-and-topstitch kind of project. The coasters have some heavyweight interfacing for sturdiness too.  Looking at them does kind of make me want to have a picnic at the beach.

Been making any hand-sewn gifts lately? Show us in our Flickr Pool!

Picked some fabric for the baby quilt that we’ll be making in Patchwork 101 starting in September. I love choosing fabric as much as I love sewing it together.

We just wanted a few snapshots to show off what we’ll be doing in our Fall classes.  Like the Spring Cleaning apron.

But the photos I like the best are always the outtakes.  So I thought I’d share a few.  The layperson may not know this, but my sister brain knows that the face in this photo actually means, “What do you want me to DO here?”

Oh yeah, do this.

Just, you know, showing off the Beginner’s Tote & Jen Giddens’ Pleated Tote.

There’s almost nothing better than sharing the day with your sister and your fabrics.

Marilyn designed this quilt herself, and the details are so lovely up close. The culmination of years of work! Btw, her grandson was the sweetest helper I’ve ever seen in this shop.

Cory & Lauree did us the great honor of bringing this finished quilt in, which she made for him for their 10th wedding anniversary. Memories are represented in each block–their homes, cars, vacations…  I love the melding of paper piecing, applique, embroidery, etc in this project.  And it was Lauree’s first big pieced quilt!  So proud.

See the rest of the blocks and the super cool back at Lauree’s Flickr.

Here we have Margene with her beautifully quilted Kaffe Fassett pillow. Well done!

Jennifer was the first to snatch up some of the Thea print from Alexander Henry and make something out of it. I think that bolt few out of here faster than any other fabric and is now long gone.  Let Jennifer’s bed quilt top with simple, neutral stripes make you jealous that you didn’t get any.

Oh, adorable Julie and her wall hanging. I love her fabric choices for this; it became an entirely different creation that what the pattern looked like because of it. The thing about this that you might not be able to tell is that Julie and the quilt totally matched that day. Notice the blue shoes/blue house… and her yellow vest hiding back there matches the star. And probably her lipstick was that perfect shade of coral.

Thanks for sharing your creativity, everyone. You inspire us. Can’t wait to see more!

Here Rosie shows off the contrasting strip on back at the overlapping closure…

and demonstrates the comfiness of the pillow.

For Rosie’s pillow sham tutorial, visit her blog.  (Btw, after looking at these photos, I want to do some Pendleton/Native inspired patchwork. Perhaps something on that coming soon.)

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Can you believe that Christmas fabric is arriving already? Here’s a little peek at BasicGrey’s brand new Christmas collection for Moda, Fruitcake.  Even though it’s only June, it’s beautiful enough to motivate a person to start early on holiday projects, like this quilt.

These reverse appliqued circles remind me of vinyl records. Ooh how I loved breaking out the Christmas vinyl as a kid.  But no, it’s still too early for that… right?

Go ahead and check out the entire Fruitcake collection or download the free Fruitcake quilt pattern.

And now you can have it too, if you so wish.  If you don’t love seafood, don’t be afraid that there are clams in it, you might still love it.

Clam Dip

(This always goes fast, so we usually double or quintuple this recipe.)
Mix well:
8 oz. cream cheese
1 small can chopped clams, drained
chopped parsley
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
3 drops tobasco sauce
lemon juice to taste
1 Tbsp grated onion

Heat over the stove and serve with bite-sized pieces of the most delicious bread you can find.  If you’re feeling a little fancy, put it in a hollow bread bowl, wrap it in tinfoil, and heat it in the oven before serving.

More and more patterns are becoming available from Australia, including designs from Don’t Look Now! This is a close-up of the Lilly Pilly quilt. We’ll have this pattern and more available soon.

Some of the best fabric we saw at market was City Weekend, the upcoming line from Oliver+S for Moda, available in September. The prints are on the softest cotton, and there will be some lovely interlock knits in the collection too! Here, Oliver+S have their children’s clothing patterns made up in the new collection. Plus, new patterns coming this fall, including some great designs for knits. Boy oh boy.

Here’s a closer look at the prints, in a sweet quilt that we will have available in kits.

The new Ice Cream Dress pattern made up in the new fabric.  Don’t you want one in your size?

There was a lot of talk at market about Liberty of London. Lots of fabric coming out made to have a similar hand to Liberty’s smooth & drapey Tana Lawn. Like Alexander Henry’s cotton lawns, of which we can hardly wait for the arrival.  And of course, there are the classic Liberty prints in new colors by Kaffe Fasset, on quilting weight cotton.  Always love Kaffe’s edgy color combinations made up in classic quilt patterns.  We’ll have these prints in soon!

And of course, we are always excited to see what Anna Maria Horner’s been up to. Her new book, Handmade Beginnings, is just out and it has so many fun things to make!

Here Anna Maria shows of lots of fun projects in the book, and some upcoming patterns–stay tuned for news on that.

This one makes me want to get embroidering.  And another exciting thing to look forward to: new fabric from Anna Maria later this year! (No sneak peeks yet. Can’t hardly stand it.)

That was just a tiny smidgen of what we saw, but don’t worry, there’s always more to come.

During our explorations we found this amazing antique shop, Hunt & Gather,  that we got lost in forever.  We ran into Joanna Figueroa of Fig Tree Quilts there, scouting for her booth (hers are always amazingly put together).  We later regretted not getting a photo of me with her (Joanna & Joanna!).

I could have stayed in the vintage toy room forever.  And just when we thought we were done, there was a basement. With secret treasures like a fish tank full of dolly bits. (Did you know Kathy once made a lovely bouquet of old doll arms? It was amazing.)

Coming up, more Quilt Market goodness.