I've really been thrown off my blogging game. I was in a crazy project crunch in the week leading up to Quilt Market, then I got swept up in all the fun. Next week was Quilt Festival, then I had to finish our Ren Fest costumes before I could move on to my list of handmade Xmas presents. Excuse my while I collapse on the floor in a dramatic fashion.

Let's backtrack to the "crazy project crunch" I mentioned, and alluded to in my earlier MRW post.

The Monday before Quilt Market, I decided it would be a brilliant idea to make myself a Noodlehead Cargo Duffle to carry for the weekend. In hindsight, it was a dumb idea because 1) I only carried it to Fabric 2.0 & Sample Spree on Friday and 2) I think I lost a little bit of sanity trying to make a Cargo Duffle in two evenings.

Being the nutcase I am, I decided I would also make a few modifications to the pattern.

1) I pieced the exterior panels (using my Acorn Trail bundle by Teagan White) instead of using a single fabric.



2) I added a layer of Pellon Craft Fuse 808 to the side panels so it would be less floppy. I forgot to add it the gusset pieces though because after 8 hours of work and several hours of frantic sewing, my brain is running a bit like Forrest Gump on his cross-country trek.

3) I made my duffle a 10" wide instead of 6" the pattern calls for. While this makes it great for an overnight bag or Mary Poppins bag to stuff all my projects into for guild show & tell...it ended up being a bad move for the purpose of Market. It was just too big and impractical to carry around all day.



4) I added a detachable, adjustable strap for ultimate pack mule usage. It was a simple process. I just had to add a small fabric loops with O-rings to the gusset seams.

5) Instead of binding the interior seams, I added a lining following this tutorial. I opted to hand stitch my lining into my duffle because I'm not the best at wrangling 3D objects through my machine. It makes me feel like a farm hand and I'm just not cut out for that life.




Overall, I love this bag. It wasn't a good fit for Market, but it's earned it's place as my trusty Mary Poppins bag!

Enchanted Rose Mini Quilt & Pattern

Being the Disney fangirl that I am, I naturally freaked out when I saw the Disney Quilt Swap on Instagram. Only after I got my partner assignment did I start freaking out for a real reason: I had no idea what to make!

When the idea of the Enchanted Rose from Beauty and the Beast hit me, I was super excited. Then reality set in when I realized I had no idea how to go about constructing it.  I treat FPP as a last resort, because I just don't enjoy it much. I figured the best approach would probably be hand-applique.

I added details to the rose with some careful hand embroidery. It really ties the whole thing together.

I quilted my mini with a small-scale FMQ meandering stipple on the background. For the applique, I hand-quilted .25" inside the shape of the bell jar with Perle Cotton no. 8.

I love the way it turned out so much that I was actually stressing about letting it go. I guess the universe overheard because my partner ended up dropping out of the swap. Precious gets to stay with Felice!

I made a pattern to share with you guys since I'm not sharing this mini! It's available for purchase in my Craftsy shop for $4. Happy stitching!

Project Recap Catch-Up!

Ack! It's been a while since my last post. As soon as I was finished with all the Quilt Market posts, it was time to buckle down and work on some time-sensitive projects.

I apologize for the use of my IG photos. Despite getting an awesome new lens for my birthday (thanks, parental unit!) I haven't had much luck getting out to take photos. The end of daylight savings time means it's dark outside by the time I get home from work, and rain seems to be in the forecast every single weekend.

When I get the chance to take nice photos, I'll make individual posts for projects I want to talk about more and share tutorials for. Here's what I've been up to!

Playing with Anna Maria Horner's Honor Roll collection.

While I used to be indifferent to Anna Maria Horner's fabric, her new collection, Honor Roll, captured me at Quilt Market. I purchased 3 yards of the Overachiever print to make myself a lovely Washi Dress to wear on Thanksgiving. 

I also caved and bought a fat eighth bundle of the entire collection since I couldn't decide on which colorway I like best. I used some of it to make a single ribbon using AMH's free Award Ceremony quilt pattern. I'm going to make it into a mini quilt for my wall to celebrate my first year of quilting. I think I'd be an honor roll student. :)

Game of Thrones costumes for Texas Renaissance Festival.

I promised my husband we would go to TRF in costume this year, and not just any costumes: handmade Game of Thrones costumes! We each went as our favorite characters: Oberyn Martell and Arya Stark. They're not knock-your-socks of quality because I couldn't convince myself to pour too much time into costumes that we'll probably only wear once. But, they got the job done and earned us plenty of complements!

Xmas Gifts Galore!

I made the ambitious decision to make all handmade Xmas gifts for my family this year which consisted of: two large quilts, one small quilt, a super tote, a scarf, and a small accessory pouch. Amazingly, I finished all of them before December. I can't wait to post full photos of everything!

An experimental Super Tote turned convertible backpack!

After finishing my mother's Super Tote, I got the idea to modify the pattern to make a bag that better suits my needs. With the addition of a flap and a few simple pieces of hardware, I was able to make myself a scrappy convertible backpack. This was my first opportunity to cut into the Echino bundle I bought at Market and I'm hooked on Echino bags now! (Pssssst, stay tuned, I'll be making a tutorial for this one.) 

Merchandise, baby!

I did some fun illustrations to be used for some cool merchandise. I'll be swapping my burrito quilt buttons at Quilt Con in February. I also applied my passion for hand lettering to make these awesome "I Got 99 Problems but a Stitch Ain't One" t-shirts. If you want to get your hands one one, pre-orders are currently open for a light aqua crew neck version in my store.

I ran away to Patchwork City.

I got a signed copy of Elizabeth Hartman's new book, Patchwork City, at Quilt Market and I'm addicted to this book. I'm using the new Cotton + Steel bundles I bought at sample spree to work through all 75 blocks in the book. I'll be doing a book review in the near future, but if you want to TL;DR version: it's glorious. Buy it.

I'm turning into a bag lady.

Another Market purchase was Sew Sweetness' Edelweiss Backpack pattern. I used three different Echino prints for the exterior and solid teal for the straps and lining. It was a fairly easy project to stitch up but took forever to cut! I'm using it as my current purse and I adore it!

What have you been working on lately?