Holiday Sewing : A QAL and a Stocking Tutorial

Hey there,

Today, Facebook reminded me it's been five years (OMG!) since I made my Scrappy Spiral Stocking.  I thought it would be fun to reshare with you all ... click here to see the tutorial.

Speaking of Christmas, we've started sewing the Vintage Holiday Quilt Along!

I am sewing up my quilt in Handmade by Bonnie & Camille ... we have some kits available here. :)

 

I started this weekend by cutting out all the block pieces and organizing them by similar block style.  This way I can sneak in some sewing quickly during the week after work... 

Speaking of which, my plan worked!  I had about 30 minutes yesterday and was able to sew 4 of the easiest ones together super quick.  I even finished one just to show how cute this will be!

Hope you will sewing along and share your quilts in progress with #vintageholidayqal2016

Happy Sewing! :-) 

Weekender Sew Along : Pictures and Tips

I posted all the details for this bag here. :-) 

Olympic Rings Mug Rug (Flashback)

Anyone else have Olympic fever?  Goodness ... I am getting nothing done in the evenings this week.  In fact, I am watching the women's gymnastics competition as I type this!

I was reminded that I made an Olympic Rings mug rug for a swap back in 2012 and thought I would share it with you all again.

See the full post here where I talk a little about the process of making this cute mini. :)

Happy Sewing! :-)

Shop Updates : Christmas in July and Sample Spree!

Just a few quick updates for you ... 

Our Christmas in July event is going on now through the 31st!  Save on all holiday yardage as well as bundles and a few select kits!  See them all here.

Our Sample Spree order is arriving on Tuesday!  We'll have a limited number of precuts available earlier than normal with this shipment, including Handmade, Olive's Flower Market, Meow or Never, Desert Bloom, Grand Canal, and Chestnut Street!  Stash your favorites and get sewing early!

And can we talk about how pretty Playground by Amy Sinibaldi is?! Oh goodness!  Bundles and yardage are now shipping!

Oh ... and I finished my Weekender!  Details and a boatload of pictures soon!

Happy Sewing! :)

Spools on Parade Pouch and Pincushion Pattern

Happy Friday!  We're so excited to share our newest pouch pattern with you all!  I've been swooning over the cuteness of the Sew & Sew collection ever since it arrived in the shop and couldn't resist making a sewing-inspired pouch with it! 

The Spools on Parade pattern includes two different size spools marching across the front of your pouch .... and the pattern includes instructions for this cute little pincushion too! :)

We have a few kits available (while they last)! Special thanks to our friend Debbie over at Happy Little Cottage for sewing up these cute samples and taking such great pictures for us!

Happy Sewing! :-) 

Shop News : Bundles, Sales and More!

Hope your week is off to a fantastic start!  Just wanted to stop in and share a few shop updates with you ... 

A couple of new bundles are now available, including this fun rainbow of tiny florals from Sew & Sew. This Apron Strings print is the cutest and is small scale so it works with anything! 

Our first Americana bundle didn't last long, so we made up a similar one and have just a handful of these available.  Perfect for summer and sharing your American Spirit!

Now through the end of June, all Tula Pink yardage is on sale, including wide backs!

And ... we are starting presales for some of our favorites coming this fall, including Handmade and Olive's Flower Market. 

Happy Sewing! :)

Weekender Bag Sew Along : Week Two (Pocket Piecing)

Hey there friends!  I promise I've done some sewing since my last post ... maybe not as much as I had hoped, but I was on vacation.  :-) 

I usually sew on a Bernina 710, but took my smaller 210 to the Outer Banks with me and enjoyed sewing with the ocean and sand dunes, and the occasional wild pony, in the background.  Relaxing and a fun week away.  

If you follow me on Instagram (@sewlux), you've seen these photos, but I wanted to walk you through a little more of my pocket piecing process.

You may have also seen that Sew & Sew by Chloe's Closet arrived right before I left for the beach and I changed my mind about my fabric choices...  I mean, they are just so pretty!

I knew I wanted to put an initial on one end of the pocket.  I decided it would be super cute to put it inside a spool ... I used the Spell It With Moda letter as my inspiration and scaled it down... way down.  The letter finished at 1.5" wide x 2.5" tall.  I made the Mini Spool from Thimble Blossoms a little taller to accommodate that but otherwise followed Camille's directions.  I think it's really cute if I do say so myself! ;-)

My next end pocket is the cute little flower from Handmade - also a mini pattern by Camille. I fussy cut a bunch of flowers from this print as the center.  And can we talk about these measuring tape prints?!  I plan to add some borders to this one and to make it large enough.

Since I was traveling and wasn't sure what kind of iron and ironing board might be available at the beach house, I invested in a cute little travel iron and ironing mat that I got off of Amazon.  While small, this iron definitely did the job and got super hot.  I didn't use steam, but it was hot enough to press my seams nice and flat.  (Side note: after reading some reviews about these ironing mats/pads, I brought along a little tv tray table and used it as my ironing surface just in case ... and that way I didn't risk ruining the dining table at the house.)

I decided to piece some of the small Smitten blocks for both of my larger pockets.  I machine piece these and use the Marti Michell templates to cut and mark my fabrics. 

I used a paper grocery bag to make a template of the pocket size and then the MM templates to mark the layout to figure out how many blocks I would need to make.  And then I had a great time playing around with fabrics ...

Can all the blocks be my favorite? I don't think I can choose just one... ;-)

I think this bag is going to be totally dreamy with these colors and florals mixed up.  To make the pocket panel big enough, I added some partial unpieced hexagons (using the largest whole hexagon template in the set to cut them) along the top and sides.  Since the bottom of the hexagons on the second row will be cut off some, I kept all the most intricately pieced blocks along the top row where they could be seen.

I will be quilting up my pockets and other panel pieces this weekend ... I will post an update in a few days!

Happy Sewing! :-)