Thank you all so much for your comments!  Definitely some great tips!  The winner of the pouch giveaway is spontaneous threads who wrote:

‘That is so very very clever. My hand embroidery skills are novice at best, but I do like making french knots in large groups, it makes such interesting texture. I also like to use the already twisted embroidery floss, I think it stays together better. Thanks for the giveaway, it’s worth leaving a comment and my fingers are crossed!’

Congratulations!  I sent you an email requesting your address.  Your new pouch is on it’s way soon!

Thanks again, everyone for reading my blog!

Alison

I found this pattern at Urban Threads the other day and just had to make something from it. I just started stitching and it ended up being this cute little pouch.

Since I can no longer do hand embroidery (which makes me really sad because I LOVE embroidery) I have been practicing embroidery with my machine.  I have also been practicing my applique.  Obviously this is raw edge applique (far from perfect).  My husband said the frayed edges adds to the ‘zombie-ness’ of the pouch.  I was like, ‘yeah, that’s totally what I was going for’.

For the back, I just did some random stripes.  For some reason it reminds me of Beetlejuice when I look at it.

I lined it with a coordinating lime green checkered print.  I put the zipper on the long side so bigger items could be stored inside.  I think it would be the perfect little pouch for an embroidery or hand project.  I have a ton of pouches and really don’t need another, so I am offering this one to one of my readers.  Just leave me a comment with your favorite applique or embroidery tip.  I will draw a winner on Monday, May 7th.  Can’t wait to read your tips!

Alison

PS-check out the next post to win a fabulous quilt!

I have been thinking about this quilt for about 6 months now.  I had been thinking about the best way to raise money for a charity that is near and dear to my heart.  I asked myself, ‘what could I do that would help?’  My answer was, ‘duh, make a quilt!’  So that is what I did.  My intentions for making this quilt are to help spread awareness for Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (you can learn more about it here) and to help raise money for much needed research.  May is Ehlers-Danlos Awareness month, so I will be promoting this for the entire month of May.

I was diagnosed with Vascular Ehlers-Danlos in April of 2009.  It was very devastating and is still a struggle to deal with everyday.  I have suffered from multiple ruptured aneurysms and currently have one in each arm that I have monitored very frequently.  If these rupture, I run the risk of losing all blood flow to both of my hands.  Right now, I am grateful that I still have the ability to sew and am trying to make as much as possible while I can!  So I am very happy that I could make this quilt to help raise money for the Ehlers-Danlos National Foundation.

This quilt measures 58″ x 68″-the perfect size for cuddling up on the sofa.  It’s made with a fabric line called ‘Dream On’ by Urban Chicks for Moda.  I thought that it was an appropriate selection for this quilt!

All materials used in this quilt are 100% cotton.  I machine pieced and quilted it myself.

It really is a beautiful quilt.  I am offering everyone who makes a donation to the EDNF a chance to win this quilt.  For every five dollar donation, your name will go into the drawing that will be held on Friday, June 1st.  You can make a donation through my fundraising page.

Thank you all for reading my story and for all your donations.  You have no idea how much it means to me!

Alison

A few weeks ago, we were invited to the baptism of our friend’s daughter.  We’re not very religious, but were still honored to be invited to share the special day with our friends and their daughter.  I thought a lot about what I wanted to take as a gift.  I went to a few Christian bookstores to look around.  All the gifts in there were, well, too religious.  It was two days before the baptism and I still hadn’t found a gift.  Then my husband said, ‘why don’t you just make her a quilt?’  Duh.  Why didn’t I think of that?  So I asked my neighbor and good friend Andi (who happens to own this store) what she had that would be good for a little girl.  She had a charm pack of A Walk In The Woods by Aneela Hoey.  I made a very simple tumbler quilt.

I cut out the charms and pieced the top on Thursday night.  Friday after work, I stopped by my LQS and got the border and backing fabric.  I used red minky on the back.  Friday evening, I sewed on the borders and quilted it.

I went ahead and threw it in the wash with a color catcher.  I was worried about all the red and kept my fingers crossed that it didn’t run.  It came out beautifully.  It was all ready for the baptism on Saturday.  I think that was the quickest quilt I’ve ever done!  I’ve been told that she loves the quilt and uses it every night.  I was thrilled to hear it!

Also, here’s a cat on a stack of quilts.

The Atlanta Modern Quilt Guild sponsored their second retreat on Saturday.  It was so much fun.  We had a great space, great food and great people.  Here are a few pics of the day.

This was my work station.  We sat in groups of four and everyone had a ton of space to spread out and work.  I got all of my blocks done for a top that I’ll be showing later.

This was one of our ironing stations.  Chris’ husband built her this great ironing table…I’m jealous and totally want my husband to make me one.  At the table is the lovely Pam.  She was able to finish about 4 projects!  She’s a quilting machine.

No quilt retreat would be complete without a little shopping!  Andi is a literal travelling quilt store.  She brought all of these goodies for us to shop from.  It was really dangerous nice to have things so readily available.

The theme of our retreat this year was ‘Hey Girl’.  We had our mascot, Ryan Gosling set up to greet everyone as they came in.  We had a ‘hey girl’ caption contest.  It was fun.

We also played the LCR dice game with fat quarters.  I totally won all of these awesome fat quarters!  I was so excited.  You can never have too much in your stash!

Everyone had a great day and I think we were all really productive.  We are planning a whole weekend retreat in the fall and it can’t get here fast enough!

Also, the boys got their quilts in their Easter box today and I got these super cute pics on my phone this afternoon.  It makes me smile so big!

Alison

I made this quilt from my most favorite fabric line ever.  It’s called Circa 1934 by Cosmo Cricket for Moda.  I used Kona Sable for the sashing which I think gives it a warmer feel.  I quilted this one on my friend’s long-arm, too.  Just a large meander on this one.

This isn’t a great picture, I had to take this one inside too because of all the pollen.  PS-that’s my cat Fisher sticking his big head in the picture at the bottom.  With 2 cats and 2 dogs, pictures taken indoors will almost always have a fur kid in them!  I really loved the print that I used on the back of this one.

It’s a great graphic print and unfortunately, I used every scrap I had for the back.  You can see that I still had to piece together the corner using some of my other scraps.

This little typewriter is great.  I wish I had some more of this print!  I really like this quilt, but I’m not thrilled with the pattern I chose to use.  I wanted to showcase the great prints in this line with the big hexagon pieces.  I didn’t want to have to sew Y-seams and this pattern eliminated that.  However, it put a seam right in the middle of the hexagon.  If it was a different print, it may not be as noticeable, but it really shows up in the prints with text.  I’m hoping that when I wash it, the crinkles will kind of blend it in a bit.

I also made a bag using this fabric line that you can see here.  I’ve used it so much that I’ve already had to reinforce the straps on it.  I will be so sad when it wears out and I can’t use it anymore.

Tomorrow I’m going to a quilt retreat hosted by the Atlanta Modern Quilt Guild.  I am all packed and ready to go!  I am so excited.  I am taking 5 projects with me to work on.  We’ll see how much I get finished tomorrow!

Alison

I’m so excited!  I got my FQ bundle of Millie’s Closet today!  It’s so pretty!

I can’t decide which color way is my favorite.  I love all the prints.  Especially the purse and dress prints!

I haven’t figured out what I’m going to do with it yet.  For now I’m am just going to look at it for a while!  Oh, you can get some for yourself here.

Alison

I finished these two quilts over the weekend.  I’m sending them to my nephews for Easter.

These quilts went together super fast.  I used charm packs so cutting was really easy.

This one was made with Ten little things by Jenn Ski for Moda.  I love the bright colors in this line.  I saw the print with trucks and knew it would be perfect for the boys.

This one was made with Fox Trails by Doohikey Designs for Riley Blake.  I love all the cute little animals and camping scenes.  My brother is a big outdoors man so I’m sure the boys will be too!

I backed both of them with this green Minky.  It made them soft and cuddly.

I quilted 1/4″ on each side of the vertical seams.

I bound both of them with this great stripe by Robert Kaufman cut on the bias.  I was happy that the colors matched for both of the quilts.  I think they turned out great and hope the boys like them!

Alison

I am really happy with how this quilt turned out.  I used this pattern from Moda Bake Shop.  It was designed by Lee at Freshly Pieced.  This was a great pattern and very easy to follow.

I was originally going to use the same fabric featured in the pattern, but my LQS was sold out.  I decided on the Urban Cowgirl line by Urban Chicks for Moda.  I’m glad I did.  I love every print in this line.  I love the muted colors and the vintage-y feeling of it.

I had a hard time choosing the background color for this quilt.  I knew I didn’t want to use white, so I pulled out my Kona Color Card and decided on Sable.  I think that it really coordinated well with the line and gives it a cozier feel.  Also, the darker color is better at hiding pet hair!

I used the back to showcase a few of the great prints.  I used my friend’s long arm to quilt a pretty loose loopy design.

Funny story about this quilt.  I am a member of the Atlanta Modern Quilt Guild and am used to seeing these kinds of quilts at show and tell.  I recently visited a more traditional guild meeting and took this quilt for show and tell.  One of the older ladies made a comment that I liked the “funky” quilting style!  I didn’t think this one was too funky!  It made me laugh and I enjoyed my visit there.

I’m off to put this one in the wash to get that nice crinkle!

Alison