June do.Good Stitches

This month in the Heal Circle of do.Good Stitches we got to make any star block out of solids.  I love stars so I used this as an opportunity to try two new blocks I've never made before.

The first I chose was an Ohio Star - I do live in Ohio!  I used this McCall's pattern and it came together so quickly.  I am considering making a mini or a throw out of these.  Wouldn't the points look neat when you pieced several together?!


Ohio Star

 The next block was a bit more challenging -  a paper pieced star!  This is the Whirling Star from Faith's Solstice Stars Series.  I've only paper pieced a few times and was a bit nervous but the templates and instructions were perfect so it went together without a hitch.  Now I want to go back and make all the stars from the series!



Whirling Star

If you haven't joined do.Good stitches yet, please do!  You can check out the Flickr group and sign up for the waitlist here.  It's so rewarding to use a hobby I love to help make quilts for others.  You only have to make a few blocks a month and you get to make new friends in your circle! 

I'll be whipping up my Stash Bee blocks tonight so hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with more to share!

If You Make A Girl A Quilt...

You have to make one for her sister too!

A few month's ago I made my husband's cousin's daughter E a quilt for her birthday.  Her sister's birthday party was this weekend so I obviously had to make her one too!  O just turned 9 so I spent a lot of time trying to choose a fabric line and pattern that wouldn't be too "old" for a 9 year old but wouldn't be too "young" for her 5 years from now. 

The result - The Blissful Birthday Quilt.  I found the pattern at Sew.Happy.Geek & I saw some Domestic Bliss on sale, and thought that they would fit the not-too-old-not-too-young situation perfectly! 

Blissful Birthday Quilt

The pattern called for one solid color and I had planned on just using pink.  Then I thought about it a bit more and decided that it might be too much pink and decided to use pink and aqua and I love the way it turned out!

I quilted it with some all over loop-de-loops and a flower on each of the solid corners using variegated thread.  It's backed in a pink floral from the line (forgot to snap a pic of this!) and I bound it in another pink.

Quilting



O loved her quilt and it was a big hit at her party :)  As a side note - Jenna's Accelerated Velocity pattern is amazing!  Not only is it free, but the directions were easy to follow with wonderful pictures and clear descriptions and it gives you a great quilt in no-time.

I'm linking this up at Manic Monday, Sew Modern Monday & Quilt Story: Fabric Tuesday Finishes- stop over and see what everyone else is working on!

Latest Project

A special girl has a birthday coming up so I'm using some Domestic Bliss and Jenna's great (free!) pattern, Accelerated Velocity, to make a Blissful Birthday Quilt!  I finished piecing the blocks together, now it's time to get the borders done and on and hopefully I can get it quilted on Monday.



I'm kelseysews on Instagram if you want to follow along :)


Do you have any special plans this weekend?!  I'm going on a girl's weekend to Kelly's Island with the husband's family - should be lots of fun!

Christmas in July!!

Do you look forward to the holiday season every year?  I do!  I love the decorations, the gift-giving, the togetherness and I LOVE getting a live Christmas tree every year.  I always have grand plans of making wonderful homemade gifts  but sometimes (read: always!) I procrastinate big time and end up stressed out about how I will finish making all those great gifts I planned and then I just run to the store and buy something. 

How would you like to avoid the stress and celebrate Christmas in July?  Rebecca from Sew Festive Handmade has put together a Christmas in July event so that we can all get a jump on those homemade gifts and decorations.  Together we can avoid the midnight sewing frenzy the day before you need that special gift!

Here are the details from Rebecca's post:

Starting Monday July 2nd, and each Monday for four weeks during the month you will be able to find some great holiday tutorials and inspiration here at Sew Festive. There will be two tutorials on each of the Mondays; one will feature decor for your own home, and the other tutorial will feature something that can be made as a gift [although you could totally keep it for yourself too and nobody will tell!].

Monday July 30th there will be a linky party here to show off your finished holiday-inspired projects. They can be projects that were made based on the tutorials throughout the month or it can be that Christmas quilt from 5 years ago that you finally.got.the.binding.on. And there will be prizes :)

All types of stitching will be welcome, so if you cross-stitch or embroider or spin your own wool, there will be something for everyone!

The whole point of this event is that we want to cheer each other on and get some holiday sewing out of the way before it's actually the holidays and we don't have any more free time.

Rebecca has some great tutorials and guest posters lined up!

• 7/2 - Rebecca & Jessica from Quilty Habit
• 7/9 - Jessica from Make Me Crafty & Chelsea from Pins and Bobbins
• 7/16  - Me & Rebecca
• 7/23 - Katie from There and Back & Jennifer from Knotted Thread
• 7/30 - Final Link Up Party!!

Be sure to stop over, join in and tackle that gift list!!

Modern She Made Swap

I joined the Modern She Made Swap - my first swap other than charm square swaps - when I heard about it a few months ago.  I was really nervous since I had never joined one before, but I'm so glad I did.  I had a great time making my partner's items and I LOVE what I got from my partner!

My partner had mentioned that one of the things she'd like was some placemats.  Perfect!  I sketched up a few ideas and was ready to go with those, and then the Fat Quarterly book came.  When I saw the pattern for the Satellite Placemats I was sold, so I changed gears a bit and decided to make a set of 6. 







I used Kona Khaki for the solid and the backs and Chrysalis for the tops and the binding.  I quilted them along the spokes through the center and around the border pieces as well.  I packaged them up with some other goodies and sent them off to my partner.  Hoping she gets them soon!



Whole Package

 Mary Grace from Hooked On Needles got paired up to make me something in the swap and she did an AMAZING job!  She made me the perfect sewing machine cover and even put my blog name on it!  Plus she tucked in some other wonderful goodies like a Vintage Modern charm pack :)

From Mary Grace

I had a great time participating and it's something that I'm looking forward to doing in the future as well!

May in Review

Fresh Sewing day already!  June already?!  This year is going by so fast!

Here's what I made this month:

1. Hometown Charity Quilt, 2. http://flickr.com/photos/68555546@N06/7305296142/, 3. http://flickr.com/photos/68555546@N06/7305299586/, 4. May Stash Bee Blocks - Hive #4, 5. All of the Placemats, 6. Dress Shirt Dish Mat

• I finished my Hometown Charity Quilt which was auctioned off to raise money for cancer research
• I did my do.Good Stitches blocks for the Heal Circle
• I did my Stash Bee blocks for May
• I made my Modern She Made Swap placemats (more on these soon!)
• I did a tutorial for a Dress Shirt Dish Mat for the Let's Get Acquainted! Blog Hop

What did you make in May? 

I'll be linking up over at Fresh Sewing Day - be sure to stop by and see what other people have made!

Also, be sure to check out the stops from the Let's Get Acquainted! Blog Hop this week -

• Heidi from Fabric Mutt
• Amy from Amy's Crafty Shenanigans
• Jodi from Tickle and Hide
• Libby from Miss Beau Jangles

Have a great weekend!!