We skipped town last week. The girls were on spring break and we headed South to enjoy warmer temps, salt water and sand. I didn't turn on my computer for 7 days and I read 3 books. We drank beer and margaritas poolside, snorkeled and sea kayaked, went to bed early and slept late. It was the epitome of relaxation - good friends, lots of laughs, not a care in the world. We came home sunkissed and ready to eat vegetables for a week straight. All so good.

Before we left and after I sewed up all the patchwork things, I made the girls some new nightgowns. Sewing pajamas is intensely gratifying for me. The girls will always wear them and if I make a mistake or three, I don't have to worry about the garments being seen in public. I never really use a pattern, but instead make my own. Crazy? Not really. It's actually very easy.  I just take something they already have (a nightgown from Target, in this instance) and trace it. Then I add seam allowances and cut.  This one was only two pieces cut on the fold (a front and a back) and some strips to bind the arm and neck holes.

For these, I used the Oliver + S City Weekend knits - about a yard of each.  This fabric has a lovely hand and the girls confirm that it is super soft. I sewed the side and shoulder seams with the serger, but you could easily do that with a regular sewing machine, too. The neck and armholes were bound using 1.5" strips of the knit, done with the regular machine. On Kate's pink nightgown, I used the serger to make a lettuce edge along the bottem per her request. Jane wanted a regular hem and asked if I could put a bow on the front. Done. It took me about an hour to sew each one up and maybe 15 minutes or so to cut each out. So with the tracing of the pattern, this is about a two hour project.  And now that I have the pattern, it'll be even faster to make a couple more.

I've been slowly cleaning out the studio - getting rid of the stuff I will not use and trying to use up what I have on hand. With that in mind, along with the bag holder, I also made Georgia two potholders.  Again, everything came out of the scrap stash - prints, solids, batting.  For some reason, I really enjoy making potholders. I think it is because they are like mini-quilts that will get used again and again. I can play with fabric combinations, quilting techniques and maybe even throw in some persnickity piecing if I'm up for it. They come together fast and I love projects that I can start and finish within an hour.  Also, the ones I have in my own kitchen do double duty as trivets and are stained like nothing else. That just makes me like them even more.

I dipped into the fabric stash to make these patchwork dish towels for a friend's birthday. She loves purple as much as I love green.  I don't have many good purple scraps to choose from so I culled some great prints with purple and sewed them to some waffle weave dish towels that were unearthed last week.  Again, a quick and useful project - my favorite kind. There are a few more towels hanging around - I might whip some up for our kitchen or maybe as hand towels for the powder room.  Or maybe both.

P.S. Have you heard about Molly's newest project - Blarter? Go check it out. I think it is brilliant and have no doubts that it will be a great resource and tool for us crafty bloggers.

Thank you for the quilt love. And thank you for cheering me on along the way! I felt so relieved to finally finish and then show and tell that I temporarily forgot my manners. I appreciate all your thoughtful comments throughout this whole process. There is no doubt that you all helped me stay focused and get those quilts done. Gracias!

I made this little patchwork number for a gift last week. It's modeled after the one that Amy made me a few years ago. I know that the original pattern is from a Japanese craft book, but I'm not sure which one. (If someone knows, please tell me so I can share). We use ours to corral all the plastic bags that come home despite our efforts to use reusable bags as much as we can.  I have it hanging in the kitchen and I love its bright and cheerful charm so I thought I would make one for my sister-in-law.

It's made entirely from scraps. Yes, scraps again! I find it so satisfying to dig through the buckets and find bits and pieces that go together and then use them up. The front is quilted (I used batting scraps, too!), but the sides and back are not.  They are Kona snow, as is the lining, with a layer of batting sewn in between the layers. There is a aqua grosgrain ribbon to hang it from (yes, scrap!) and a little hole in the bottom so you can use it like a dispenser.  I had so much fun sewing this up. It came together so smoothly and relatively quickly and I love how the white is offset by a punch of color. I also included a few other Erin-made things in the box. More on those later.  Right now, I'm headed back to plug away on the Liberty quilt. 19 squares left to go!

Here they are! Finally finished!  I'm not going to lie to you. These quilts were not an easy project. And like most things that I really want to make and that I find tedious, I sure did take my sweet time - 3 years, give or take a month. So when I started on these, Kate was 6 and now she is 9. It doesn't seem like it took that long, but it did.  Trust me, I double checked.

The pattern is the Single Girl Quilt by Denyse Schmidt. Both fronts are exactly the same layout - the patterned prints are from the Swell line by Urban Chiks (long out of print) and the solid is Kona cotton in raffia.  I sweated my decision to use a khaki color as the background and I am happy with how it turned out. Kate's other bedding is all white and her room just needed some grounding neutral. It's good.

The backs are similar. The prints in the patchwork strips are slightly different - I used scraps for those. I am glad you all talked me into the print for the main backing fabric. I was leaning towards the solid and in the end I think it would have been too drab. So thank you. It turned out great.

I can tell you that if you really love a quilt pattern (like I I do this one), even if it is a challenging one (like this one), attempting it and finishing it (curse words and all) is so very satisfying. There is nothing particularly difficult about sewing this together, curves and all, if you take your time.  Well, maybe you don't want to take three years, but you know, go slowly.

I think one of the reasons I stalled on finishing these quilts was because I could not make up my mind on how to quilt them.  The hand quilting template that comes with the pattern is what I really wanted, but I knew that I would not have the patience to hand quilt two of these. I thought about having someone else long arm quilt them for me, but in the end, decided that I wanted to finish these myself.  Call me crazy, call me strange, but it is really important to me that each of my daughters have a quilt that is entirely mom-made. These are Kate's.  I toyed with free-motion loops and figure eights, but after constructing a test square and giving it a go, I ditched that idea.  In the end, I went with the original hand quilting template, but used my walking foot to quilt the concentric circles.  I made a huge template out of card stock and transferred the pattern to the quilt tops with a water soluable pen. It was a bit difficult manipulating all that fabric through my machine, but it worked just fine in the end and I got the look I wanted in much less time than I would have if I'd done it by hand.

Sometimes when I start an ambitious project and it becomes tedious or taxing, letting it sit for awhile is the best I can do. If I really love it, really want it, really will enjoy it, I will come back to it and I will finish it. When I realized this, it was a big "Ah-ha!" moment for me. It doesn't matter if I can't finish something right away.  Given the time, I will get it done.  So there you have it. Two quilts in three years. It took me longer than I had planned, and definitely longer that I would have liked, but I am so happy that I stuck with it and finished them.  After all, good things come to those who wait.

....take a look at the Liberty.

I cleaned up the studio yesterday and as a reward, started playing with the Liberty squares again. I thought I'd lay it all out on the floor and then start sewing, but I quickly realized that it wasn't a good idea - too much to keep track of and too many pieces. So now I am piecing squares that are 5 pieces wide by 3 pieces high. I got out a pencil and paper and figured out how many white squares per larger block (42 blocks with 3 white squares, 12 with 2 white squares) and then started laying out them out in groups. I've sewn 5 groups together, pressing all seams open and trimming all the threads as I go. I like working in stages so this seems to be progressing well for me. If all goes as planned, I'll get most of it pieced over the weekend.

I am really anxious to tell you all about the single girl quilts and show them, but my best assistant is out of town for a few days. I tried to get Kate to help me hold one up, but the poor thing couldn't spread her arms wide enough for it to lay flat and complained of it being too heavy the minute she tried. I'm going to do my best to find an able assistant this weekend and I'll report back next week.

In the meantime, if your kids are into art, please check out Ellie and Abbie's Kids Artist Trading Card Swap.  When Blair and I hosted one a couple of years ago, it was fun and a huge success. I highly recommend it!

The single girl quilts are finished! And they are fantastic. I could go on and on, but without photos I'm not going to. You'll have to wait, but not long. A photoshoot is in the works.

In the meantime, I'm going to tell you about a different quilt that I started yesterday. And that I finished today. And that could have been finished yesterday if I was so crazy-tired by 9:30 p.m., leaving the hand sewing portion of binding until this morning. Yes. A quilt in almost one day.

This is a baby gift for a dear friend who had her second girl last month.  I had so much fun making Liam's quilt, that I decided to make another, much pinker one, for this sweet baby.

All of the fabrics came from the stash. EVERY ONE. I even pieced two large batting scraps so I could make the entire thing from materials I had on hand. That felt good. Scratch that. It felt great! All the pinks came out of the scrap buckets and the backing is a 60" wide pink gingham that has been hanging around for a couple years at least. I made some dresses out of it when the girls were little and this was the left over bit. And it was *just* big enough.  The white is Kona cotton in Snow - my new favorite white because it's not harshly bright and not too yellow so it blends beautifully.

I pieced the letters using the Proverbial Quilt pattern by Denyse Schmidt.  I traced the templates onto freezer paper, cut them out and ironed them to my fabrics. This made adding the 1/4" seam allowance super easy - I lined the 1/4" mark on the ruler up with the straight edge of the freezer paper and cut. I also layered 2 fabrics for each piece as I need 2 of each of the letters.  Again, fast.  And bonus - those freezer paper pieces can be used again so I tucked them into an envelope and put that with the pattern.  I added big rectangles of solid above and below the name to get it to the size I wanted (about 40" x 50").  The loopy quilting was done freehand after I marked horizontal lines 3" apart as a guide.

Start to finish, I think it took about 6 or 7 hours.  Perfect for a baby gift.  And probably my new go-to baby gift if I have that kind of time.

I could tell you about how the sun is shining and the temperature is rising and how much I like spring this year.

I could tell you about the nine month old refrigerator leaking water and feeling really lucky that someone noticed right away. And that there was no damage to my floors. And that my contractor and carpenter came running even though it wasn't their problem. And how the repair guy was awesome and fixed it even though it took 3 trips.

I could tell you about the daffodils blooming and about how when I looked up yesterday, I noticed that the magnolia is starting to open its buds.

I could tell you about how it has rained and rained, and then rained some more. And with that rain, the realization that we have a leak in our basement. And how Fatty figured out what the problem was and our landscape guy dug to confirm the suspicions. And about how I now need to call a plumber.

I could tell you about picking up 12 bags of mushroom compost for the raised beds. And my friend that bought me broccoli and brussels sprout seedlings and a handful of seed packets. And then brought home farm fresh eggs from her co-worker for me.

I could tell you that I am cooking dinner at night and enjoying how clean everyone's plate has been. And about how the kids have stopped complaining, at least this week, about what's being served. And then I could go on about Mad Hungry and my deep love for this cookbook even though I have only made 3 recipes. But, I have made those three over and over and I cannot get enough.

I could tell you about how I'm sleeping so soundly at night. That the only thing waking me up is my bladder. And about how my mind is at rest for the first time in a long while and how happy that makes me.

I could tell you that I'm spending less time on the computer and about the books I'm reading instead.

I could tell you that I want to do a triathalon in June, but that I haven't started training. And that the swimming portion scares me which is why I'm still on the fence.

I could tell you that my children are growing like weeds and how Kate's foot grew 1.5 sizes since September. And Jane's not far behind. And how I realize we will be buying adult sized sneakers next go around and how the corresponding price tag is unfriendly, especially since there are no longer hand-me-downs from one girl to the other.

But instead, I am going to tell you that these single girl quilts are ready for binding. And about how the binding strips have been cut for over two years thanks to my mother-in-law and her willingness to help me cut all those patchwork pieces. And about how I will work on these over the next couple of nights with something good on the TV (Netflix streaming recommendations, anyone?). And about how I am so anxious to see these finished and on Kate's beds. And how accomplished I feel right now because it has been a long time since I started this project. And how my mind is already on the next quilt(s) in line. And just how much I am loving sewing right now.

And I'm going to tell you Happy St. Patrick's Day.

And that, of course, I'm wearing green.

I could tell you about how the sun is shining and the temperature is rising and how much I like spring this year.

I could tell you about the nine month old refrigerator leaking water and feeling really lucky that someone noticed right away. And that there was no damage to my floors. And that my contractor and carpenter came running even though it wasn't their problem. And how the repair guy was awesome and fixed it even though it took 3 trips.

I could tell you about the daffodils blooming and about how when I looked up yesterday, I noticed that the magnolia is starting to open its buds.

I could tell you about how it has rained and rained, and then rained some more. And with that rain, the realization that we have a leak in our basement. And how Fatty figured out what the problem was and our landscape guy dug to confirm the suspicions. And about how I now need to call a plumber.

I could tell you about picking up 12 bags of mushroom compost for the raised beds. And my friend that bought me broccoli and brussels sprout seedlings and a handful of seed packets. And then brought home farm fresh eggs from her co-worker for me.

I could tell you that I am cooking dinner at night and enjoying how clean everyone's plate has been. And about how the kids have stopped complaining, at least this week, about what's being served. And then I could go on about Mad Hungry and my deep love for this cookbook even though I have only made 3 recipes. But, I have made those three over and over and I cannot get enough.

I could tell you about how I'm sleeping so soundly at night. That the only thing waking me up is my bladder. And about how my mind is at rest for the first time in a long while and how happy that makes me.

I could tell you that I'm spending less time on the computer and about the books I'm reading instead.

I could tell you that I want to do a triathalon in June, but that I haven't started training. And that the swimming portion scares me which is why I'm still on the fence.

I could tell you that my children are growing like weeds and how Kate's foot grew 1.5 sizes since September. And Jane's not far behind. And how I realize we will be buying adult sized sneakers next go around and how the corresponding price tag is unfriendly, especially since there are no longer hand-me-downs from one girl to the other.

But instead, I am going to tell you that these single girl quilts are ready for binding. And about how the binding strips have been cut for over two years thanks to my mother-in-law and her willingness to help me cut all those patchwork pieces. And about how I will work on these over the next couple of nights with something good on the TV (Netflix streaming recommendations, anyone?). And about how I am so anxious to see these finished and on Kate's beds. And how accomplished I feel right now because it has been a long time since I started this project. And how my mind is already on the next quilt(s) in line. And just how much I am loving sewing right now.

And I'm going to tell you Happy St. Patrick's Day.

And that, of course, I'm wearing green.