My honeycomb quilt was a joy to make!

Little Quilts: 15 Step-by-Step Projects for Adorably Small Quilts made it onto my Amazon wishlist prior to its release in July, but I finally got the excuse I needed to order when Sarah Fielke started up the #LittleQuiltsSwap on Instagram. With all the swaps I've been joining, the book looked promising for some project inspiration, and I'm happy to say it delivers! I started on the Honeycomb quilt right away, and I can't get over how sweet it is.

This book has so many details I enjoy in a tidy little package! For starters, the table of contents has photos. I'm super thankful for that alone. More sewing books need to do this.

The book contains seven quilts by Sarah, seven by Amy, and one they designed together. I expected the quilts to be easily identifiable as either Sarah's or Amy's, but they really blend well together. In fact, I didn't even realize there were two authors when I first flipped through the book.

The variety of quilt styles, techniques, and overall look makes for a really fun collection of projects. There are traditionally pieced quilts, as well as ones that use applique, EPP, FPP, and embroidery. All the projects use modern fabrics, but have a vintage feel which makes them super versatile.

I love quilty sketches!

The photos are so dreamy! Every projects includes a straight-on shot of the full quilt, a few detail shots, and a simply styled lifestyle shot. They didn't blow the bank on elaborate in-scene shots, but for mini quilts, I don't think it matters. It's a perfect example of how budget photography can look great in a book.

Little Quilts doesn't skimp on diagrams and illustrations, which is a major selling point for me. I'm a visual learner, and I couldn't have asked for better visual instructions. I really appreciated the pencil texture they used to render the lines too. You can't beat the precise detail from digital illustrations, but they always look so sterile. Bring back the more natural feel adds so much warmth and style to the book! I'm pretty sure my eyes sparkled when I first saw them.

Embroidering the cutest little bumblebee

The project instructions are crystal clear and very well organized. I never felt lost while reading through them. The type is on the small side, which may be a tad difficult for some to read, although I had no trouble. All measurements are given in both inches and centimeters, probably because Sarah is Australian while Amy is American.

Material requirements are super specific, which will please fastidious quilters. At first, I thought it was off-putting that it was so specific, (like listing 50 wt black and yellow Aurifil thread for the embroidered bee on the Honeycomb quilt when I would have just said embroidery floss), but I realized it might be nice to know exactly what Sarah and Amy used. That way, you can get a feel for their materials and anticipate what substitutions may look like. Knowing that Sarah suggested using Aurifil thread helped me to decide to use two strands of DMC floss as opposed to my usual three.

This guy is too stinking cute!

All project templates are at the end of the book. They are clearly labeled and are already at 100% scale, ready to copy. Three cheers for no scaling! The only thing I would have preferred would have been a pull-out pattern page. As a book lover, I hate having to crack books' spines to get decent photocopies.

Overall, this book is a great buy, and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for some quilty inspiration.

My mini wall's newest addition!

Free Quilt Pattern: Diamond Jewel Star Quilt

In my previous post, I mentioned my recent EPP craze. Well, it's finally time for me to share what I was working on! I was looking for away to use up some miscellaneous scraps while having some chill time to watch TV with the hubs. EPP rocks both those criteria thankfully.  I started off aimlessly making simple jewel stars with fussy cut hexie centers, and the project evolved into this cool diamond-shaped quilt!

Because I was aiming to use up scraps, I used the entire rainbow for my palette. For each star, I would pick two prints in a single color for the star points. I think it adds some extra interest. 

My individual jewel stars aren't very big. The hexies' sides are only .75" long. If you use the same size shapes provided in the templates at the end of the post, the finished quilt measures approximately 55" long and 32" wide.

For the outer border, I arranged my pieces in rainbow order to tie everything together.

As for finishing, I'll admit my impatience got the best of me. Instead of making a quilt sandwich and machine quilting, I bagged out the whole thing. I didn't baste the layers very well, so machine quilting it afterwards would have just turned it into a wrinkled mess. My solution was to stitch around the border to imitate the look of machine binding, then hand die the rest where the stars points met. 

To make one diamond, you will need:

• (36) Fussy cut hexies
• (180) Jewels (six for each star)
• (131) Low volume diamonds
• (28) Low volume triangles
• (40) Border triangles
• (40) Border trapazoids

**Click here to download the templates.** Print at 100% if you want your quilt to be the same size as mine, or scale as desired. Follow your EPP tutorial of choice (I like the one from Sometimes Crafter) to baste your shapes with thread or glue, and assemble following the diagram below.

Follow the diagram to piece together your quilt!

I plan on using mine as a table runner, but it's such a versatile piece. If I wasn't so afraid of applique, I might have applique it onto a low-volume background. My friend Becca of Bryan House Quilts also suggested making six of these diamonds and turning them into one giant star! 

Make six diamonds for an epic star!

My 3 Bag System for Portable Projects

I've been more scatterbrained than usual the past couple weeks. I've been all over the place with my art, writing, working towards some big goals, etc. So while I've been tied up with other things, I've been trying out some smaller projects scrappy EPP projects to keep my sewing gears going. 

I had been keeping my EPP bits in plastic bags, but one of my cats has an obsession with munching on them, so I needed an alternative. I came up with a nice three-bag system!

First up is a project I completed back in April but never blogged about: my Sew Together Bag! I don't know how I lived without this bag to hold all my sewing crap! It's nice not have to hunt down every little notion anymore. 

My scrappy Sew Together bag

I made did a patchwork exterior using aqua and blue scraps because I just get bored with things are plain. Plus, SCRAPS. Sewing the accordion pocket parts was really challenging for me, and as the pattern states, you really do have to smash those layers down. There's no delicate way of doing it. I will never understand how some people can crank these bags out like it's no big deal!

Look at all that space!

The next bag in my system is Jeni Baker's lined drawstring bag. I use it to stash all my paper pieces in until they get big enough to graduate to the final bag. This cute bag was easy as pie, taking me only an hour or two. I started with some Dreamin' Vintage scraps I had in one of my many scrap baskets, and pulled more scraps based on the colors of Jeni's lovely fabric.

A cute little patchwork drawstring bag

I had planned on using ribbon for the the drawstrings, but I ended up switching to fabric ones. I'm glad I did because they help the bag stay closed tightly thanks to their thickness. 

I'm going to have to make a few more of these to keep projects separated!

Keeping all those paper pieces contained

The last bag in the system is Noodlehead's Divided Basket pattern, which was shockingly easy! I may make another with longer handles to carry with me to quilt guild meetings. My drawstring bag fits perfectly in one side, while I can stash growing EPP quilt in the other side with the Sew Together bag. I divided the front pocket into two pockets with a line of stitching. I use one pocket to store fresh paper pieces and the other one is great for tossing in used pieces that I'll reuse. 

The divided basket can hold all my project pieces

I guess you can call me a bag lady now! Do you have any special bags you use to stay organized?