Mollie Makes!!!

I was beyond giddy to be asked by Mollie Makes to contribute instructions for my clammy pouch. I am sure you have seen this zippy case in many of my pictures here and on IG. This little pouch is very near and dear to my heart because it includes bits of my very favorite fabrics!

 

 

You will find the instructions in Mollie Makes Issue 57 which went on sale in the UK this week! I suspect it will be in the US in a few weeks.

 

You can bet I will be hunting down a few copies! 

 

 

I love working with hand applique projects and the clamshell shape is one of my favorites. Plus the extra-special wonderful thing is...the size of your pouch can be easily adjusted...make it larger or make it smaller!

 

I made another using many of the fabrics from our Sunny Day Supply shop and a wee bit of fabric from my sweet friend Janelle! She knows me so well :)

 

 

     And Tiger Lily (which we have in the shop at a GREAT price!) is perfect for this little project!

 

 

Have a lovely Monday! I will be back soon to share with you my progress on the Spring Fever blocks!

 

xo mary   

Time for Some Hand Stitching....

Life gets so busy at times and summer time always seems to be one of the busiest...

with sewing happening in just small bursts, it seems quite logical that hand stitching is my choice in busy times. 

I don't have a dedicated sewing space....still sew in the kitchen. So it is a chore to pull out or search out the fabrics I want. And now that we have a four legged eating machine....all of my fabrics are hidden in plastic containers that serve as a deterrent to jumping on the living room furniture! 

 Spring Fever by Jen Kingwell, has really tugged at my heart strings. I have completed about 4 butterfly blocks (8 more to go), but I decided to work on a couple of the flower basket blocks.

  

Nice easy shapes...

A fun busy summer time project...

The fabulous string art spool is from my dear friend Rachel at Family Ever After! The string art was made by Samantha at Strings By Samantha! Isn't is great?

I also decided to join in on the Sweetly Stitched Sew Along....It is a Sew Along organized by @ohhowsweetco and @sameliasmum on IG. The sew along is devoted to Amy Sinibaldi's book Sweetly Stitched Handmades.

     For the first round I made the Mouse House Doll Quilt...

It was a fun and fast make! I hand quilted it with Valdani Perle Cotton and used wool batting and nani Iro double gauze for the backing. Yummy!

This was gifted to the sweet little girl who lives next door to me.

 

Behind the house doors are fabrics with pictures....Amy's uses mouse fabrics. I used dogs, cats, etc.

If you haven't tried double gauze as a backing...you need to give it a shot. It is amazing and amazing to hand quilt. I love the double gauze paired with wool batting.

Now to choose a project for the next round! Yay!

Happy Thursday!

mary

A Special Quilt.....Blogger's Quilt Festival

It happens twice a year!

 

Amy brings us a spectacular display of quilts from Bloggers across the globe...

My entry is a quilt that is among my top all-time favorite quilts...

The pattern is Whirligig by Sarah Fielke

I still can't believe how this quilt came together.  It is a rather lengthy story....so grab a cup of coffee:)

A year ago this Spring we{my family} were going through a very tough time.  My mother had been diagnosed with brain cancer in February...my sister, brother and I spent day and night with her in the hospital for about a month.  By the end of March, my sister and I were living with her and had the assistance of Hospice to guide us through the difficult times. 

    

On April 11th., I received a call from my husband telling me that Kyle had asked for our daughter's hand in marriage. It makes me want to cry just thinking about it....

I knew my mom was dying...so I told her the good news.  She could barely speak at this point and whispered, "Wonderful".....

my mother died later that evening.

Now, I know every good parent loves their children...as it should be...

My love for my girls is so deep and so strong.  I love them with all the passion that my mother loved me and my siblings.

molly, maggie and mary....my dad just before he died with molly and mary...

    

I have 3 girls and they are all about 20 months apart in age.  They have always been the best of friends. My two oldest daughters have had type 1 diabetes since they were small. So life has definitely had it's challenges.  Anyone who has a child or relative with type 1 diabetes knows full well what I mean.

Molly is so full of spunk...bright as can be and so friendly and fun..

molly=bat, maggie=hershey kiss 

I knew I would make a quilt for them before they were married, but I was not sure what design....what fabric...and then like magic it all came together!

The design was fairly easy....I knew she would appreciate a hand appliqued quilt and I would enjoy the stitching after such a difficult year. Sitting and stitching quietly with my thoughts sounded like perfect therapy.

       

        So what fabric?  Her 'theme' was a honey bee.  When I spotted this seed fabric {on my way back to my mother's home to deal with estate business} I knew this would be a great foundation.  Perfect for the center - a great backdrop for the vines and leaves!  Plus it fit her colors....yellow, white, grey and touches of green.

Then what to use for the huge corner triangles....

It was a bit of Serendipity...

I found Bari J's amazing Art Gallery fabric...

  

Perfect!  It had her colors....and a coordinating fabric in grey worked beautifully into the palette.  And best of all the corner triangle fabric has a bee!!! 

Does it get any better than that?

So the quilt was hand appliqued, and completely all hand quilted...

   

There are so many things about this quilt that I love.  The whimsical tabs all along the border....the curvy, rounded shapes....I am much more partial to rounded shapes than to geometric shapes...they flow...

    

Having the time to work on this quilt was a blessing...it helped me  create something to celebrate the hope of the future and it helped me settle into my thoughts and contemplate how life would look without my mother.  

  

It is now on their bed in their new place.  

It is so much more than a quilt...

Enjoy the Blogger's Quilt Festival!
You can find my quilt in the Hand Applique category 

mary 

Whirligig Finish!

Shortly after my oldest daughter became engaged to be married, my thoughts turned to a quilt....a wedding quilt.  Knowing that she appreciates tradition, but loves a touch of whimsy...I had my work cut out for me to find the perfect design.

  

I can't recall which important component I found first, the fabric or the design.  It seems to have all happened simultaneously...even though I know it did not.  

I found this lovely yellow text on ivory from Lakehouse {Annie's Farm Stand}...with garden advertisements for seeds, bee hives,etc.  Molly's inspiration for her wedding is the honey bee and her colors are yellow, grey and a hint of green.

I think at this point I must have nailed down the design.  Sarah Fielke's pattern Whirligig from her fantastic book....From Little Things

I must say I loved making this quilt!  And I felt the needleturn applique would speak to the conservative, traditional side of my Molly and the whimsical twisty stems would appeal to the fun, young side of her :)

   

Rounding out as a perfect complement to the design and the inspiration, I discovered this amazing fabric from Art Gallery by Bari J.  It is from the LillyBelle collection....AMAZING!!!  The blue floral on each corner even has a honey bee!

The flowers, stems and leaves are all hand applique...and the fun flip-flappy scallops all along the perimeter are just delightful!

The grey border tucked under the scallops is, again, from the LillyBelle collection.

The entire quilt is hand quilted with Valdani {LOVE IT!!!} Perle Cotton!  I wish you could feel this quilt...so soft {Quilters Dream 100% cotton batting}.

 

For the backing fabric I chose a green from Denyse Schmidt...

I am still working on the label...I can't wait to give it to her at one of her showers :)  

my mom in her wedding dress:)

Tradition....family....perfectly stitched with love.

happy friday!

mary