Category: Quilting and Sewing

I love fabric.  I love quilting.  I haven’t ventured much into sewing other items, but last year for Christmas I decided to undertake the making of a bunch of fabric pull-out boxes.  They were fun gifts to make and I’ve made some here and there for the past 8 months.


It’s fun to use different color and fabric combinations and see how they turn out.  I tried to make a variety of styles and it kept the project interesting.


This project is a great use for fat quarters.  The pattern is from Aneela Hoey’s shop , and comes in two different sizes.  I only made the smaller of the two, and found it’s a great size for all kinds of things, including sewing supplies, or goodies if you’re giving a gift.  They are sturdy and roomy.


I will admit that the boxes took longer to make than I hoped they would.  There are a lot of steps and the final assembly of the boxes requires hand sewing as well, which I didn’t realize when I bought the pattern.  (I kind of committed myself without really knowing what I was doing.)  The finished product, however, was a great reward for my time and effort, so I’m happy with the outcome.


I gave all of these away, and looking at the photos makes me want one of my own.  Perhaps one of these days I’ll make some more…

Surely yesterday’s post makes it no surprise that I have a weakness for coastal and beachy themed fabric.  My Anchor quilt , as well as the Anchor’s Aweigh quilt are coastal in design and color scheme, and my Seaside quilt is another older favorite.  As I prepared for our annual week at the beach, I had the sudden urge to cut into all my coastal fabric.

This project comes mostly from two designers:  Lewis & Irene, who designed the Coastal bundle I had, and Sharon Holland, whose Coastline fabric I also had a nearly complete bundle of.  There are a few other designers whose work is in the mix, but the bulk comes from those two collections.  A quick sketch for a design and the cutting began.


I had high hopes for a completed quilt top to take with me for photos, but instead I managed a bunch of large half square triangles (HST) and hundreds of smaller ones that still need trimming.  My design wall is currently in my bedroom instead of my sewing room because we’ve got guests coming and going every week or two for much of the summer and I’ve taken over a small table for my sewing machine.  These happy colors greet me every time I walk in the room and I’m hopeful I’ll find a few minutes to sew again soon.

Meet my mini pineapple quilt!  I had so many squares left over from making my pineapple quilt that I decided a mini was in order.


The color combination really grew on me during these projects.  The orange/yellow with dark blue and green are so refreshing and cheery.  I quilted a small crosshatch pattern on the diagonal, and the texture of it is awesome.


For the binding I used a Denyse Schmidt print from the Flea Market Fancy reprint, with a tiny strip of orange thrown in for fun.


This was a fast finish.  Sometimes it’s nice to have those, don’t you think?  (Especially if you’re like me and you have a bunch of other projects you thought would be fast finishes that are still hanging around in one state or another.)  It’s also fun to use those extra pieces at the end of a project.

Now to work on some other finishes!

Jennifer