Sometimes the stars align for a quilt block to turn out really awesome. This was one of those times...
After The Stash Bash, I joked with Kristi of Schnitzel & Boo that I would love for her to make me a Cargo Duffle. Some fun banter ensued, and we decided to do a fun little swap amongst ourselves. Except with both of us being pretty creative people, we both decided to make up a draw up fresh, original patterns for each other.
Sometimes, I take my computer to my son's gymnastics classes. Inevitably, I find myself fooling around in Electric Quilt, coming up with "someday" patterns and such, but two weeks ago I came up with something I couldn't shake. It was one of those things that I couldn't stop thinking about and had to make. Right away. So for the last week, I've been working on a this new block, which I'm calling Drop Dead Gorgeous.

After designing the block, I decided it would make a great mini for Kristi's sewing area, so I asked her about her favorite colors. She described her favorite colors as "girly but edgy," and I knew exactly what fabrics to go for in my stash...
And I got right to pressing and cutting. And measuring. And sewing. And ripping a lot of paper :) I quilted it using some assorted matching Aurifil 50 wt threads in white, gray, fuchsia, and lime green, and I love the texture that shows through on the backing.
Every little bit of the work was worth it because I just adore how her mini turned out, and I think she's pretty happy with it too, now that it's arrived at her house safely.
The pattern is now available via my Pattern Shop as well as Craftsy. Even if you've never paper pieced before, you can tackle this pattern. Yes, there are a lot of pieces of fabric involved (124 pieces, to be exact), but it's broken up into bite-size, manageable chunks that you can do. And if you're an experienced paper piecer, you can totally rock this pattern. The eleven page pattern is for a 16" block, and includes all of the cutting instructions, piecing instructions, colorful photographs and diagrams to assist you in your piecing, as well as line drawings of the block where you can experiment with your color placement to find the right mix of colors that makes you excited to work on this block.
Kara and Lisa sewed through this pattern for me to test it out over the long holiday weekend and they both made fabulous blocks!

If you make something using this pattern, please do share it with me! You can share it with me on Flickr in my Flickr group or on Instagram by tagging me (@dontcallmebetsy) or using the hashtag #dontcallmebetsy

Once upon a time, there was a super fun swap called Sew Sew Modern. I watched from the sidelines for the first two rounds, and jumped in on the third round, and had a lot of fun. I made something I really loved, received something fantastic that I adore, and promptly signed up for the fourth round when sign-ups opened. Then, I got crazy busy, and lost track of the swap deadline. Fast forward to last week, and I realized I need to get the lead out and get my items made for my partner!

The good news is that my secret partner has very specific taste, so it was easy to think up something that I think she'll enjoy. For once, I feel pretty confident that she's going to like what I'm making, which is a refreshingly wonderful feeling in a swap! The next-best news is that I'm having fun making her items so far, and moving right along and should finish just in the nick of time.


So far, I'm working on a pillow top with a medallion design, using some Lucky Stars blocks from 2013 (the bonus block and the December block), in miniature form, in a color palette completely and utterly inspired by the movie Frozen. Ha! My sewing time has been limited to the darkness lately, so I've mostly shared the progress of this pillow top on Instagram so far, but I managed to get a few decent pictures in the daylight yesterday in between the mountains of work I've got this week.

This is going to be a hard pillow cover to give away, but I always love that feeling of giving away something that you truly love and are proud of having made, so I suppose that means that this is going to be another successful round of Sew Sew Modern for me. Next up is another border and then some quilting, and then a simple back, so I'm in the home stretch, I think! Stay tuned for a finish on this one real soon, I hope. Have a wonderful Wednesday!

The third round of the Sew Sew Modern swap has just wrapped up, and I couldn't be happier with the beautiful package I received from Ginny of Fishcreek Studio. Oh my goodness, I feel so spoiled!

I love this fabulous paper pieced mini she put together for me, with a beautiful color palette that I adore and a fantastic paper pieced block as the focal point. I really love the low volume fabrics she used for the background, and the pops of navy are just perfection.

And she knew I'm a geek for office supplies! She made me this gorgeous notebook cover, using some fun black, white and red fabrics, and I'm loving carrying this notebook cover around with me. I'm constantly writing things down - even in this day and age, I love a good notebook because I tend to remember things I write down better than things I type on my phone, so I still do a lot of written list-making and such.

She even sent along a beautiful rainbow pack of Sharpies, which I took with my to my first book signing over the weekend, which was great fun. It still feels so wrong to be writing in books - my mom taught me how to treat books properly! - but I managed to do it anyway. It's an awfully strange feeling when someone wants you to write in their book, but a good kind of strange!

Happy Wednesday to you!

I spent a bit of time the last few days finishing up two little mini-quilts I've had in the works for the last week or so. The first one I'll be giving away at my schoolhouse in Houston next month. I really love how this quilt turned out, and in honor of its larger sibling quilt in my book, Polaris, I'm calling it Polaris Junior.

I'm really digging the way the low-volume background prints, all pulled from my stash, work together to create additional dimension and movement throughout the background of the quilt. I need to make one more of these for an upcoming class sample in the near future, and I might just make an exact duplicate for once because I so love how this one turned out!

The quilting is very simple, in a white 50 wt Aurifil thread, in an orange peel all-over design. I love doing that kind of quilting with grid-based quilts like this. I think for the next one, I might try my hand at some simple wavy stitches, see how that goes.

The second quilt I finished up is for my partner in the Sew Sew Modern swap. It's a mini using three of my Lucky Stars Block of the Month Club blocks, and one that didn't make the cut (that might just be a part of next year's block of the month club!). My partner's favorite colors weren't colors that I usually like to use in my sewing, so it was a challenge for me to really try to put something together that she'll love, but I'm hoping I've done it.

Quilting this mini was a challenge - I was terribly indecisive about how to stitch, so I went with an all-over basic stipple. It may be boring, but it's my go-to stitch when I get stumped. I like how this quilt finished up, especially the binding, which is another Briar Rose print I picked up and wound up not really using much of in the mini. I also sewed up a little pleated zippered clutch for her and got the package in the mail yesterday.


Quilt Stats
name: Polaris Junior
pattern: Polaris, from my new book, Becoming a Confident Quilter (in stock at my Pattern Shop!!)
size: 24" square
fabrics: Scrap bag bonanza! Boatloads of scraps from my scrap bin
binding: The Road in Mist from Road 15 by Sweetwater for Moda
quilting: Orange peel continuous line stitching in white 50 wt Aurifil


Quilt Stats part two
name: SewSew Modern Swap Mini
pattern: Lucky Stars Block of the Month Club blocks
size: 24" square
fabrics: several prints from Briar Rose by Heather Ross for Windham Fabrics, Lime green leafy stripe from Simply Color by V and Co for Moda Fabrics, yellow Hex Box from Prince Charming by Tula Pink for Free Spirit Fabrics, dark pink floral from Darla by Tanya Whelan, background faux tweed fabric from Mod Century by Jenn Ski for Moda Fabrics
quilting: All-over meandering stipple in white 50 wt Aurifil thread

Oh, how I've missed sewing these last few weeks! I've been doing some part-time work at home that I'm enjoying immensely, but I sure have missed the hum of my Juki. This week, things have calmed down a bit with work, and I feel like I'm starting to get into a solid groove at last, with the munchkin off at kindergarten for most of the day. Just the other day, I found myself with a bunch of unscheduled moments where I could just sew. It was absolutely wonderful :)


I've been waffling about what to sew up for my partner in the Sew Sew Modern swap for the last few weeks. I think our tastes are quite different, and that's part of why I've been so unsure what to sew for her that she'd appreciate, but I finally got a great idea last week - to make her a Lucky Stars mini quilt, in the colors and fabrics that she would love. They might not be the fabrics I would pick to make one for myself, but to each his own, right? I'm really liking how this is coming together, and I hope she's going to love it too!


In other news, I'm being featured over at Gable House & Co today, for a fun interview - pop on over to check it out! Happy Friday, I hope you have a great weekend!

The thirteenth round of the Doll Quilt Swap on Flickr is wrapping up, with most of the quilts received by most swappers at this point. I was so excited to finally be a part of this swap, as many of my Flickr favorites stem from projects made in this particular group of talented people. Little did I know that I was going to get a super awesome package from a dear bloggy friend of mine, Emily, of Mommy's Naptime. We were in a bee together for the last two years, and have gotten to know each other through the blogosphere, and I find her work awfully inspiring. She's always pushing herself to try new things, which I admire greatly.

In the swap, I made a mini for Marilyn (blogged here) and she sent me a lovely thank you note for her quilt, so I thought I would write a big thank you note to Emily here to thank her for this super unique and thoughtful miniquilt.

Emily is quite possibly the perfect partner for a swap like this - she took every word I said in my swap questionnaire to heart, she studied my Flickr favorites, and clearly thought long and hard about how to make something that I would like that she would enjoy making as well.

She incorporated so many different elements in this quilt, from my love of pink (and especially Sketch in Lipstick!) to a paper-pieced Florida, which might just be my favorite part.


There's prairie points and faux piped binding...

There's loads of low-volume prints...


And there's one of my all-time favorite prints - MoMo's scissors! - in classic black...


There is so much I love about this mini that it's almost hard for me to find the right words to describe how much I appreciate it. Thank you, Emily, for running such an amazing swap and for being such an amazing partner. I consider myself pretty darned lucky! Have a wonderful Monday everyone!

I'm taking part in the current round of the Doll Quilt Swap, and now that the holidays are over and the shipping deadline is fast approaching, I'm working on trying to narrow down my quilty pattern ideas into something real for my partner. I think my partner and I have a lot in common when it comes to quilty taste, but I just can't seem to decide which one of these quilts to follow through with! I'm planning for something uber-scrappy, with lots of fun prints from my stash, but I just can't seem to commit. Does one of these designs grab you and shake you?

It's officially chaos in my sewing room now, as it's barely a week before Sewing Summit now, with boatloads of Sewing Summit-related deadlines approaching fast, as well as a few other non-Sewing Summit deadlines! Eeek! How did it get to be October 3rd already??? Didn't school just get started?? It's going to be a week with a lot of late nights and early mornings, clearing off my sewing plate this next week, but I know I can do it. Now I just need to stop signing up for more deadlines!!

Working on:
Red and white zig-zag - I spent the bulk of the last several days on this project, making 528 half-square triangles and then stitching all of them together. The quilt top is done and basted and ready for some simple straight-line quilting. Stay tuned for a finish on this one soon!


Sidekick tote - I really love how this bag is coming together so far. I'm waiting on some strap hardware to come, so I've saved this fun project for when I'm so tired of HSTs that I want to scream ;) Isn't that pocket just darling? Can't wait to finish this one off and put it to good use!


Sewing Summit class samples - I finished quilting all of the samples, and I'm really excited to share them soon. The binding is half on all of my four samples now, so I'm in the homestretch here. Just need to spend a few nights on the couch, catching up on TV with the husband and hand-stitching to wrap these projects up.

New this week:
Pillow Talk Swap - After sitting out several rounds, I'm back on the wagon for the ninth round of the Pillow Talk Swap. Every time I sit out a round, I watch from the sidelines and marvel over the things that are being made in the swap. I'm glad I'm participating this time around, it's going to be a lot of fun! I've gotten my partner's information and stalking has officially begun. I've got a good sense of what she's into, I think, now I just need for inspiration to strike. Here's the mosaic I made to inspire my partner, of some of my current faves...


4x5 Modern Quilt Bee - Now that the summer is over, the 4x5 Modern Quilt Bee is back in session (and full), with shorter rounds, which I think will be nice. Short and sweet, but with plenty of time to make blocks. I'm excited about this one, it's always fun to see the amazing things that everyone makes in this bee.

Bee block for Katie - Katie sent some gorgeous Field Study and Indie fabrics this month for the {Sew} Beautiful bee, for feather blocks. I'm looking forward to working on this one this weekend, hopefully.

Bee block for Cindy - Cindy is working on a Halloween quilt in the Stash Trad bee, and we're all making Great Granny blocks for her, in shades of black, purple, orange, grey and lime green. I've never made anything Halloween-themed before, so this should be a fun one!


I haven't forgotten about these, but haven't had time for them either:
Washi tunic
Space Dust quilt

So now, it's back to my sewing machine, time is slipping away from me super fast this week!! What are you sewing this week? Write it up and share it at today's specially guest hosted WiP Wednesday, with host Debbie of A Quilter's Table.

My mailbox has been a super happy place lately, with several wonderful goodies putting a big smile on my face.

The first wonderful thing that came to me was a super fabulous pillow from John of Quilt Dad. Amy put together a fun small NY Beauty swap a while back and I'm so glad she asked me to participate. I got to send my NY Beauty mini to Lee, and John sent me this gorgeous pillow! I feel so lucky! This pillow is just perfect for my sewing room, and nice and colorful, just the way I like it. Even the stitching is multicolored! This pillow totally made my day :)

I also have gotten hooked on English Paper Piecing...at least the idea of it :) After finally tackling hexagons for my Zakka project last week, EPP doesn't seem anywhere near as daunting as I used to think it would be, and I ordered some new pieces to try out last week, after drooling over a wip that Terri has been working on for the Pillow Talk Swap. I love the idea of digging into my scrap bins and making something out of them for once, so I'm hoping that I will show some follow-through here and give these little guys a try soon!

I finally caved and ordered a Michael Miller Cotton Couture card from Caitlin at I Don't Do Dishes, and boy I'm glad I did. I really love the crazy soft hand of the MM solids, and now the next time I order them, I will know exactly what color I'm getting. And the card is super cute to boot!

And finally, did you see that the voting has opened up for Jennifer's Summer Sewing Contest? There are so many gorgeous projects featured there, and one of them just happens to be mine - my NY Beauty mini is the last entry in the Home Decor category, in case you want to vote for me - or your other favorite summer projects! Have a great day!

The international shipping has begun in the second round of the For the Love of Solids swap, and I am just bowled over by some of the seriously awesome pieces that folks are finishing up and sending out.  See what I mean???


1. New York Beauty Mini - For the Love of Solids Swap, 2. Whirling Star Variation, 3. wonky star thread catcher, 4. Quilting Done, 5. FTLOS, 6. FTLOS Swap mini, 7. FTLOSSWAP, 8. FTLOS - in progress, 9. Messenger bag finished , 10. Placemats FTLOS, 11. FTLOS - Mini Quilt, 12. A Sneaky Peek, 13. FTLOS beginnings , 14. pillows for my partner, 15. Last chance partner, 16. FTLOS 2 thinking...


I love how enthusiastic this group is.  You should seriously come visit the Flickr group to check out all the solid eye candy!

It actually feels like Christmas outside this morning at my house - or at the very least, it feels like winter.  It's in the upper 40's (which for south Florida is mighty cold!) and gusty, almost blustery.  Cheesy as it is, this cold weather makes me smile, makes me feel a little more festive.  I'm really excited for the holidays this year.  I think this is going to be a really special Christmas this year.  The munchkin is three-going-on-four and Christmas is super magical to him this year, so I've spent a good chunk of time this last week or so having holiday fun with him and the husband.


We saw Santa over the weekend, enjoyed a holiday parade and tree lighting, and even went to see a Symphony in Lights (a humongous Christmas tree that lit up in time with holiday music).  The munchkin saw a local dance crew perform a few excerpts from The Nutcracker as well, which he enjoyed immensely.  It's so fun to see how excited he gets about all of these holiday festivities.


Now that Christmas is only another 16 days away (OMG!!!!!!!!), I'm starting to feel the usual holiday rush.  The holy-cow-how-am-I-going-to-get-all-these-presents wrapped rush.  The how-many-Christmas-cookies-am-I-making rush.  I'm trying to keep my cool, because that's not the only deadline fast approaching - I've still got a mountain of sewing to do before Betsy 2.0 goes in for her yearly cleaning (in just ten days, eek!).  I'm making progress, though, and I think I will be able able to wrap things up in time.  Knock on wood.  :)

I got my Secret Santa Swap package to the post office last week, and I'm just crossing my fingers that my partner will get it by Christmas!  I sent off some fabulous holiday candy along with a copy of Block Party and a little Half Moon Modern mini that I made.


I did finish making a successful pair of PJ pants for the munchkin, though I wrapped them before I thought to take a finished picture - this is a photo of the "secret" fitting I had with him.  Clearly, I made them large enough for a grown-up, by accident, but that was a lot easier to fix and adapt to the right size than when I made them too small.  Phew.  Glad that bit of sewing is done - my brain just doesn't work for garment sewing, it doesn't make sense to me!!


I'm shipping off a little gift to a special sewing friend today and I'm hoping it will brighten her day and make her laugh.  I felt super inspired last week to make something for her and just couldn't stop myself.  After she gets it, I'll show you the rest...


I officially finished the very last bit of my holiday sewing last night, finishing up a pair of potholders for all of my immediate family, and I think they turned out pretty well.  I used Keykalou's (love her!) Just a Pinch potholder pattern, which is super easy to follow.  Highly recommend it :)  Naturally, I only managed to take a picture of the pair I made for the munchkin's preschool and not the other 5 pairs of potholders, but I can assure you, they're all quite cute.



I also finished up the quilt top for my Charmed Prints Quilt Along-inspired quilt, though I did make a big oops when I was assembling the top.  I forgot to add the sashing between the rows, so rather than unpicking the rows, which made my stomach turn, I adjusted the sashing border around the blocks so the quilt would go back to being square.


My Bake Shop quilt is coming along relatively smoothly, although it feels super slow - I'm finishing up the blocks today and hope to finish it up this weekend if I can.  Now that my holiday sewing is done, I'm hoping I can turn up the heat on this quilt and get it done before I have to send my machine in!
 
And because I need another project much like I need another beagle mix dog who eats blinds and coloring books (remind me to tell that story another day!), I do indeed have another project, but it's the secret kind.  It does involve these yummy fabrics, though!


So, how are you doing?  I feel like I've been so out of the loop this last week, so if I haven't visited your blog, please forgive me, I'm trying to catch up now!  Are you feeling the holiday rush or taking things easy?  Have a wonderful day :)