Weekend happenings

I don't know about you, but I was not ready for the weekend to be over. E and I drove down to Galveston (just about an hour away) to visit with his family. They rented a beach house for the weekend, and it was wonderful to see them all.

We returned home Saturday afternoon, and I spent most of the day in the sewing room. I finished a big project, and then Jill came over for another little sewing adventure. She wanted to make some bibs for a good friend. This friend is adopting a baby in the upcoming weeks, and Jill really wanted to give her a handmade gift.

Here's her first bib, in an adorable Laurie Wisbrun print. We used a template found here. We made pizza, too, using my favorite dough recipe!

Sunday, I woke up early, got some errands done, and finished bee blocks for Sara, wonky houses.

I don't know why, but house blocks always intimidate me. I think the finished quilt will be very fun!

After making some tortilla soup to enjoy this week, I quilted a little project I finished a few weeks ago and Olias promptly tested it for me.

This will be a baby gift for someone in the next few months.

I finished the evening with some knitting and a little Mad Men. I was able to finish this first sock, and I'm determined to cast on the second very soon. Pattern and yarn info here.

So, how was YOUR weekend?

FO: Modernista Mini

The other night, I finished my mini quilt for the Modernista swap. I am in love.

This might be the most proud I've ever been of an FO. Hopefully, my partner will be proud to hang it on her wall. I used Tamiko's paper-piecing template to make three blocks. Fabrics used are from Half Moon Modern, Lizzy House's Hello Pilgrim (the blue stripe), Flea Market Fancy gray seeds, the ever-awesome elephants from Daiwabo, Pezzy Prints, and Anthology orange orbs. Using a text print (that I can't identify at the moment-anyone know the name of it?), I pieced together a top.

It's backed with another Flea Market Fancy print, and I quilted a fun pattern using orange Gutermann thread.

The quilting is my favorite part. It's bound in an orange solid (tangerine, I think!).

I'll be sending this, along with the pincushion organizer to my partner very soon.

ETA: Dan helped determine that the text print to be Tiny Type from Michele D'Amore's Word Play collection for Benartex. Thanks, Dan!

FOs: For Jessica

Thanks for all your kind words on the wedding photos! I didn't realize I hadn't shared them, but it was fun to look through them again and pick some favorites. I hope you all had fun weekends! E & I went to Austin to visit friends, so it feels like the weekend just flew by.

While I was at the retreat, Jessica mentioned she didn't have a pincushion. This fact, paired with the happy mini she gifted me last year (see below), encouraged me to make her a little gift.

Isn't the mini lovely?

So, I was tempted to make her a giant, MEGA pincushion, like the one I just made for the Modernista swap, but instead, I used the pincushion organizer pattern from Zakka Style, gifted to each of us at the retreat!

The pincushion is much tinier than the other one I made, but it's so cute! Fabrics used are Dear Stella stars and Essex linen in natural for the cushion. The stamps you see were borrowed from my pal, Amy.

Inside, I paired the Dear Stella stars with a favorite Maya print, Maria.

In case Jessica didn't like the organizer, I sweetened the gift with a patchwork basket, made from Ayumi's tutorial.

This is my second time to make her patchwork basket, and this time, I just omitted the the exterior patchwork. The basket includes a Moda canvas tape measure print, Joel Dewberry Modern Meadow for the handles and It's a Hoot for the interior.

Both of these patterns are highly recommended for fast and fun gifts!