One of the things I love about sewing is sewing up gifts for people, especially people who will appreciate such gifts. Before I left for Market, I had an uncontrollable urge to sew up a Super Tote, and in Instagramming the process, a quilty mentor of mine asked me to make her one. Of course I said yes!


Jacquie Gering of Tallgrass Prairie Studios was one of the first modern quilt bloggers I ever followed. Her quilts have always been such an inspiration to me, encouraging me to set aside my Type A personality and try improv piecing and to continually try new things. She's one of those quilters whose style is instantly recognizable - you just know when you see one of Jacquie's quilts, and I really admire how clear her style is. She's such an engaging person, she really motivates you and makes you want to tell a story with your quilts. If you haven't seen her amazing book with Katie Pedersen, Quilting Modern: Techniques and Projects for Improvisational Quilts, you really need to check it out. It's a fantastic resource for modern techniques as well as lots of quilty eye candy - it's definitely one of the most well-worn and loved quilting books on my bookshelf.


Jacquie's favorite color is orange, so while I was in Portland, I picked up a great Comma asterisk print for her Super Tote as well as a great dark wash denim to use for the main body of the bag. I thought the denim would be a good all-around fabric to use, and would contrast nicely with the Comma print.

Sewing this bag up the second time around definitely was faster than the first time, since I had a measurable amount of confidence that I knew what I was doing, although the first time didn't take too long either. I changed up the strap again, creating a long cross-body strap, and I also changed the interior pockets to a smaller pocket on both sides of the bag, just the right size for a cell phone or wallet. This bag is definitely large, so I've found that smaller pockets make it easier to find things. I used a fun aqua zipper for a pop of color against the Hope Valley lining. I hope Jacquie enjoys it - I've found that my Super Tote has become my favorite everyday bag!

I'm sending off this lovely bag today, and have just one more Pay It Forward project to finish up this week to wrap up this project. I've really enjoyed this process and will definitely do it again.

It's the third Sunday of June, and that means it's a day to honor our dads for all that they do in our lives. Father's Day is a little bit bittersweet for me, now that my dad is gone, but I try to think about the good times and all of the things I learned from him. And one of the things I learned from him is what a good dad does, and I think it really helped me to find my husband and know that he was the man for me. There's that old saying about how women marry their fathers, and to some extent, I think it's kind of true. My husband has the same even temperament that my father did, even when I'm driving him crazy. He's an optimist, a comedian, but more important than all of that, he's a wonderful father. He always says that I'm teaching our son all that he knows, but he really deserves just as much of the credit, if not more.



In my little family, we like to spoil my husband on Father's Day. The last few Father's Days have been especially challenging, because one of the ways I like to spoil him is with food. When he was found to have a dairy allergy a few years ago, that really put a dent in my baking plans, but I've gotten better at non-dairy baking and I think this year I might have knocked it out of the park...



Oh yes, those are cookie dough cheesecake bars. Non-dairy ones even! And compared to most baked goods, they're fairly healthful. Best of all, they taste good. That's my main complaint with lots of the non-dairy stuff, but these are darned tasty. They need to set a bit longer, as the filling looks a bit soft, but I'm sure they'll be perfect by the time we have them after dinner.

We're also cooking up some french toast this morning, adapting a recipe from Mother's Bistro in Portland. Remember how I loved their French toast when I was in Portland? My munchkin and I are making that this morning, just with various non-dairy milks in lieu of the whipping cream and half-and-half called for in the recipe. If you need a go-to French toast recipe, you need the Mother's Bistro cookbook, called Mother's Best: Comfort Food That Takes You Home Again. And there's way more than just French toast in there! It's a beautiful cookbook, lots of great, mouthwatering photographs and really authentic recipes. Thumbs up!

I hope you've got a great day planned, and that your dad or husband is going to have a wonderful day today. Happy Father's Day everyone!

Guys, my book is officially available for pre-order on Amazon ! Wowza, this whole writing-a-book-thing just got really real!

Amazon also has a few sneak peeks of the quilts that are in the book as well, which is extra fun to see since I haven't seen them in so long. I actually sat down last night and looked through a lot of the photos I took while I worked on the book, and they just made me smile. Like this photo, taken when I was working on the scrap quilt in my book (preview photo up on Amazon !) - this whole quilt makes me smile, but just going through the photos and seeing the quilts come together made me feel really proud of how hard I worked, how much of me I put into this book.

And after many requests, I've also listed my book for pre-order in my Pattern Shop. All books purchased through my Pattern Shop will be autographed, and should be shipped out on or around September 10th, via USPS Priority Mail.

Here's hoping I manage to get some sewing time in today - summer is already beginning to steal my sewing mojo a bit. Have a fantastic day!