You can never be too rich, too thin...

Or have too many pillows.

You'd think that if you saw my projects these days.

Lots of pillows lately.

Perfect for when you want some (not so) immediate gratification.

Or just want to work out a color combination or design in your head without committing the next several weeks months of your life.

Or, feel like it's about time I did something with those signature swap blocks from 2 years ago.

Or, when you get a little bundle of fabric like this

and need to come up with something awesome!

So, maybe not totally awesome, but I'm happy with it. I'm still a fan of the "+" layout. And I was able to use all of the fat eighth bundle of Riley Blake fabric for the MQG challenge. Look at me, finished 3 months before the deadline!

And just for fun, here are Ty and Chase (black cat, white/black dog) photo bombing my pillow.

New Quilt, New Class

Baltimore has a cool, new sewing/fiber arts space called Baltimore Threadquarters. I stopped in a few weeks ago to check it out. I brought a few of my favorite vintage sheet quilts to show, including this one that was inspired by Jodie's quilt

Owner Marlo liked it so much, she asked me to teach a class to make it! If you're in the Baltimore area April 21 and 28 (two 3-hour classess) I hope you'll join me. Kits are available at the store and in my shop.

not quite perfect points, but close enough!

vintage sheet bouquet

backing

Here is a picture from the shop.

It's a great space! I hope you check it out if you're in town.

Self Quilting

I learned a new phrase last week ~ self gifting. Basically, when you're out there shopping for others, you pick up a little somethin' somethin' for yourself.

Although I didn't do any self gifting this weekend, I did indulge in a little self quilting ~ which basically means that while I should be finishing up (starting?!) Christmas gifts, I made one for myself!  I've had this little project on my list for forever. Time to finally do something about it. I hauled out my basket of selvages that I've been collecting since I found out that you're supposed to save them and make something awesome like this. (That is never gonna happen. And I'm pretty much over the whole selvage saving  thing, too.)

Anyway, I made Amy's pincushion/armrest/sewing center. I really like it! And it will definitely come in handy when it's time to sew down all the bindings/casings/openings of all the gifts that I hope to get finished. 

The Quilting Part of Quilting

Flickr is all abuzz lately about Angela Walter's new book Free-Motion Quilting and with good reason! The book is pretty and more important, practical. 

The quilting part of quilting is my least favorite part. By the time I get to the quilting, I'm usually so over the quilt, that I really don't want to work on it anymore ~ which must count for the 4 quilt tops stacked nicely in my sewing room. And then there's the dilemma of how to quilt it. I need ideas (kind of like when it's 5 o'clock and I have nothing planned for dinner.) Angela's book gives lots of ideas, and shows exactly how to achieve her look.

I've played with a few of her designs. I'm not quite ready to show them off yet. It's all about the practice! In this post on the Sew Mama Sew! blog, Angela shares about her journey as a quilter, and even shows examples of her earlier work. It gives me hope!

Another book on quilting:

This one, by Joanie Zeier Poole, takes a more traditional approach, using templates, stencils and different types of marking tools. I think in my heart, I'm more of a free motion gal, but this is a great book for your library, giving a solid basics for this step of the process. Even some cute projects in the last chapter.

Two new books on quilting. Now to actually do it!

How do you feel about quilting? Love it? Hate it? Are you a machine quilter, hand quilter or cash quilter (you know, send it out to the long arm-er, lol!) Any great tips to share? I want to hear 'em!