testing

March's Culcita Box showed up in the mail a few days ago.   I'm not going to say I like cookies as much as fabric, but I do really like cookies. This month's box included a pattern for the first time. And of course it included fabric.  These are from Art Gallery Fabric's Take Shape collection.  This collection is really pretty and very modern.  I am excited but also a little bit terrified of sewing with it, I don't think I'm hip enough! But I am always up for a challenge so a quilt is going to happen.   If you are interested in signing up for the monthly subscription service, Culcita offers really flexible options with different cuts of fabric and frequency of delivery. Check out my previous posts to see what they have sent so far this year.   February's Quilt February's Unboxing January's Quilt January's Unboxing

A few weeks ago, this box of fabric came in the mail from Culcita Box . I put it on my shelf as a motivation.  There were a lot of things on my to do list that I wasn't super excited about, so I decided that when I finished all of those things, I could make a quilt with the Sleep Tight fabrics. Once all of the boxes in the garage were (pretty much) unpacked, I put some photos on the wall, and I sent my new pattern off to my pattern testers, I got to play with these fabrics.   I knew that I wanted to keep it simple and I wanted to keep as many of the images from the Toys print as intact as possible.  I was just working with a fat quarter, but I was still able to get six of them.  They are so cute! This collection has such a great variety of grays, they have just enough contrast with each other.  And I love the detail that went into the fabrics. I backed the quilt with this Melody Miller Disco Fruit print that I picked up from the FabricCadabra sale (only $5.25/...

For a long time, I didn't put much thought into which batting I used. I didn't buy the cheap stuff, but I didn't seek out anything in particular.  But a couple years ago started to think: which batting should I use for this quilt?  Should I use different battings for different quilts? And the answer is yes!  Well, you can do what you want, but for me the answer was yes and I wanted to share a little about batting with you. My personal preference is Quilter's Dream batting.  They are one of my sponsors, but I asked them if they would be interested in sponsoring me because they are my favorite, not the other way around. So I am going to talk about few batting varieties that I like to use, or that I would like to try. My #1 favorite batting is Quilter's Dream Cotton Select .  It is the second one down in this photo.  Cotton batting is great because it will keep you warm, but it won't make you hot.  When washed, cotton batting shrinks just a little and gi...

I love Anna Maria Horner's Loominous collection and bought a fat quarter bundle a while back.  It made the move with us from San Diego to Salem and has been sitting on the shelf.  A few weeks ago I finally decided what I wanted to do with it and started cutting. Since I was working with a fat quarter bundle, there were some limitations here, but I had fun putting the quilt together.   The woven fabric was not much different than working with regular quilting cotton - it is just softer.  I had been planning to use another AMH print for the backing, but it didn't seem to do the softness of the woven fabric justice so I splurged on yardage of my favorite print from the collection for the backing. If you have been reading my blog lately, you may have seen a sneak peak at the binding  last week.  It is another Loominous print. I tried something new for the batting.  It is Quilter's Dream Cotton Deluxe .  It is not their thickest cotton batting, but it ...

The winner of the FabricCadabra giveaway is . . . Nancy!  I will be sending you an email for your mailing address.  Congrats! I also wanted to let you know that FabricCadabra has now marked down their (very large!) sale section to 50%.  That makes a lot of their fabric around $5/yard and there are lots of amazing options.  This is a perfect time to stock up on fabric for quilt backings!

Over the past couple of years, I have focused more on how I can make my quilts cozier and more durable.  This has meant using more flannels, wovens, and corduroys for backings and taking extra steps to make quilts hold up to more washing. One issue that I wanted to address was how I could make my bindings more durable.  I do not enjoy sewing the binding on by machine.  It is durable, but I enjoy hand sewing the binding and I didn't want to give that up.  But I was having problems with the stitching on my binding breaking occasionally, especially when my kids tugged on them.  So when I made this quilt last year, I decided to try "hand quilting" the binding. This quilt is super soft because it was made with woven fabrics and has become a favorite with my kids so it has been washed A LOT.  The binding has held up beautifully.  The above photo was taken when I made the quilt and the photo below was taken his morning.  It's not the prettiest stitching...