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Showing posts from May, 2015

New Pillows

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About a year-ish ago I made new pillow covers for the couch pillows (see here and here ).  They have endured quite a bit of abuse from the children over the past year since they like to treat them as trampolines and the covers were looking pretty shabby. Before the baby was born I wanted to get new covers made since I knew I would be spending lots of time on the couch. Well, I got the front of the pillows made and quilted but then August decided to be born 6 days before his due date so they didn't quite get done.  Since then I have managed to fit in 5 minutes of sewing here and there and somehow that was enough to get them finished. Both pillows were made from scraps.  This one from quarter log cabins: And this one from rectangles: I forgot to get pictures of the backs of the pillows, but they both have a zipper (using  this method ) and are backed with Essex linen in black. I was positive that one of my pillow forms was 2" bigger than the other so I made a 20" pillow a

The Modern Medallion Workbook Giveaway Winner

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The winner of a copy of  The Modern Medallion Workbook Congratulations!  I will be emailing you soon for your mailing address.

Welcoming . . .

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August Miles Jackman born May 15, 2015 8 lbs 9 oz, 21 inches Early Friday morning I woke up after my water broke.  After a rushed trip to the hospital, this little guy was born 13 hours later.   He has lots of dark brown hair and a bad case of jaundice, so we are currently spending lots of time sunbathing. While I was in labor we managed to narrow the name options down to 3 choices and once he was born, August felt like the right one.  It is a family name on my husband's side that I really felt attached to.  Miles doesn't have any particular significance other than the fact that we liked it :) So far he has been really good at sleeping during the day screaming at night, though that seems to be getting a little better.  I will definitely not be doing as much sewing for a while, but I can't imagine that I will be able to completely stay away, so expect to hear from me a little more sparingly over the next few weeks.  

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Scrappy Kaleidoscope Quilt

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Welcome!  I almost missed out on the Blogger's Quilt Festival this year since we have a brand new baby in the house (details to come soon!) but I didn't want to completely miss participating. You can read more about this quilt in the original post here, but as I looked through the projects I have made over the past few months, this was definitely my favorite.   It is amazing what you can do with leftover pieces of fabric.  This quilt makes me want to work with scraps more often.  And flannel.  I love quilts backed with flannel. Finished size: 64" x 72" Category: Scrappy Quilts

The Modern Medallion Workbook (and giveaway)

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Last year I was approached by the wonderful  Beth and Janice to submit an idea for a book they were working on.  The process of writing a book is long and I have so much respect for Beth and Janice after getting a little glimpse of the process - I could never do it - but the book is amazing! Here it is: The Modern Medallion Workbook .  The best thing about the book is that it's a workbook, which means that you could either follow the patterns or use the patterns and techniques in the book to create your own quilt.  It is so much more versatile than your average book and I will be using it as a reference and resource often. When I made the quilt I was a little obsessed with Allison Glass' new (at the time) Sun Print and Clover Sunshine fabrics and they directly inspired the design of the quilt.  I combined them with coordinating prints and love how happy and colorful the quilt turned out. I kept the quilting pretty simple and did my favorite diamond crosshatch over the entire

Hazel Hourglass Quilt

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A few weeks ago I received some very happy mail: a bundle of Allison's  new collection Hazel.  I had seen and admired the collection on her blog and Instagram and had really loved the fun and quirky fabrics so I was thrilled to have the opportunity to work with them. The fabrics are so pretty!  I particularly love the plaid prints and can see myself using those often.   I looked to Pinterest for inspiration and found this great quilt by Bill Kerr and Weeks Ringle .  My layout is a little different and my quilt is a little smaller, but I was definitely heavily inspired by the quilt. The backing of the quilt is a great Ann Kelle print and the binding is a blue solid with my favorite blue plaid Hazel print mixed in.   Finished size: 36" x 46" Hazel will be shipping out in August, but in the meantime you can see more of it used in the lookbook .  

Skopelos Quilt Tutorial

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It took a few days, but I finally worked out the kinks and was able to print a PDF  for my Skopelos Quilt from EQ7 .  I would like to say also that the kind people at Electric Quilt have absolutely the best customer service I have ever encountered and spent a lot of time helping me to figure out the issue.  They are amazing. Since this quilt block is very similar to sewing together Drunkard's Path blocks and there are lots of great tutorials out there (check out this one or this one ), I am going to keep this pretty basic.  Actually since I didn't take photos while making the quilt, I mean very basic, so if you have any questions or there is anything that isn't clear please let me know.   Fabric Requirements: 1/4 yard for the print on the top row 1/2 yard for the prints on rows 2-5 1/3 yard for the print on the bottom row 1 1/2 yards quilt backing 3/8 yard binding 1.  First you need to print out the template here .   2.  Cut 6.5" strips from your fabrics.  If you ar

SMS Giveaway Day Winners

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Thank you everyone for entering the giveaway! The winners are . . . 1. 2.  3. I will be contacting you shortly.  The 1st winner will get first pick of the charm packs, etc. Have a great week!

SMS Giveaway Day

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Welcome!   Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day is a great time to find new blogs, meet new people, and try to win fun prizes.  If you are visiting me for the first time, my name is Erica and I love to make quilts.  Here are a few recent finishes. 1.   For the Boys Quilt , 2. Skopelos Quilt , 3. Giant Giant Hexagon Quilt , 4. Mochi Quilt , 5. Tsuru Lone Star Pillow , 6. Birchen Quilt , 7. Economy Block Playmat , 8. Scrappy Kaleidoscope Quilt , 9. Color:FULL Baby Quilt For Giveaway Day this time around I thought I'd offer up some charm packs. I will pick three separate winners for a charm pack of Little Apples, Hometown, or Pure.   To enter the giveaway . . . 1.  Leave me a comment letting me know where you live.  I always love hearing all of the wonderful places that people live! 2.  For a second entry, leave a second comment letting me know that you have become a follower of my blog or through Instagram  (or that you already are a follower).    The giveaway is now closed. Thanks so much for

Finished For the Boys Quilt (for the boy)

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I have to tell you, this was the project that I needed right now.  Having an excuse to sit down on the couch every night has been such a relief.  I am not the best hand quilter out there (by far!), but I see many more hand quilting projects in my future.   This quilt top has been finished for a couple weeks and I started right in on the hand quilting.  And once I was done, I went back and made the quilting twice as dense because I wasn't done having an excuse to sit on the couch.   The pattern is from Jen Kingwell's amazing book Quilt Lovely  and the colors were inspired by a stack of fabric that I ordered from Lark Cottons .  My favorite print is actually on the back.  It is a Lisa Congdon voile and it is light and soft.   My goal was to make this quilt as lightweight and drapey as possible, while still having it be warm and cuddly.  The voile on the back helped with that and so did the hand quilting, but I also used Quilter's Dream bamboo batting for the first time and

Violette Fabric Bundle Winner

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Thank you so much for all of your name suggestions!  I am slowly going through and taking them all into consideration.  And thank you for entering the FabricCadabra giveaway. The lucky winner is . . . Congratulations Gigi!  I will be emailing you soon to get your mailing address. There is still one day left in the FabricCadabra Move On Over Sale, so make sure to check out all of the terrific deals in the sale section .