{sew} beautiful bee [may+july]

hello, everyone! i hope you all had a wonderful weekend. i spent most of Saturday and part of Sunday playing "catch-up" on a few sewing obligations. today i'm excited to share two of those weekend finishes! both quilt blocks were made for a virtual quilting bee called the {Sew} Beautiful Bee. this quilting bee has some seriously great sewing+blogging talent involved and i'm proud to work with these ladies. 

this first bee block is for Angela of My Three Sons. she asked each of us to make an Improv Pineapple Log Cabin block using this tutorial from the Modern Quilt Guild -- i highly recommend this tutorial! i'm loving her Hawaiian inspired fabric choices (makes me want a beach!). orange+blue = <3 it's going to be a fabulously modern quilt!

every time i look at it, i'm finding myself more and more "attached" to this second block. good thing i dropped it off at the post office this morning before i could keep it for myself! Katie of From the Blue Chair asked for a paper pieced star block (of our choosing!) using this great yellow+gray color palate. the block i chose is called the Kansas Dust Storm. you can find the tutorial and templates over at Freshly Pieced. 

have a great monday!

xo, megan. 

something new.

new tutorial coming soon! :) 
xo, megan.

lately.

i found this Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns (new!) while shopping at a LQS Super Bowl Weekend! it's been out of print since 1993 and it's hard to come by online, so when i nabbed it for around $20 i was super excited! i think it's going to be a great quilty reference book for years to come. 

i'm still trucking away on my HST+hexagon project. i've decided to turn into a mini quilt and i'm hoping to finish it up for the Modern Mini Challenge with Jennifer of Ellison Lane Quilts. 

have any of you heard about the green monster smoothies? well i'm ADDICTED to these things! it's basically a nutrient packed smoothie with frozen fruit, Greek yogurt, milk, and spinach. my favorite combination is 1 cup frozen strawberries, 1/2 cup frozen blue berries, 8 oz. of greek yogurt, 1/2 cup of skim milk, and 3 cups of fresh spinach. yummy! they are so tasty!

i booked my flight to SLC for Sewing Summit this week. i can't wait to travel with my good friend Jeni! 


what have you been up to lately?


xo, megan. 

the light box.

i have been wanting a light box to take pictures with for a long time. winter days in iowa make for some less than perfect lighting conditions--not to mention daylights savings time (ugh!). so when Jeni, from In Color Order, told me she was making a light box of her own i was hooked. for about 3 days straight it was all i could think about...and talk about. well apparently the BF got the hint (hehe!), because he came home with a big cardboard box from work last night so when could make one for me!

 

we followed the same tutorial as Jeni (for the most part). taking Jeni's suggestion, we used sew-in interfacing (cheap!) for the sides of my light box rather than the tissue paper that was suggested in the original tutorial. i really think it will hold up better than tissue paper and it seems to be doing a great job diffusing the light. 
 

and surprisingly, it was super fast and easy to put together! and even more fun to use! i'm super excited to start using it with more of my sewing soon!

xo, Megan

<<don't forget to enter in the giveaway, too!>>

{Sew} Modern Monday #41

 

it's time for another weekly edition of 

{sew} modern monday!

flickr swaps. they seriously get me every time! just when i think i'm going to take a break from online sewing swaps, another great one pops up. and the mother of them all is most definitely the pretty {little} pouch swap. it.is.fabulous.
 

 

so a few months ago when round 3 sign-ups started, i caved. it's such a fun swap and i love zippys--i just couldn't resist! this time around, my secret partner asked for a zipper pouch and mentioned she loved the look of linen and bright, cheery colors. easy enough, right? 
 

 

i decided to pull some of the fabrics i received from the charm square swap at the sewing summit and picked up some essex linen/cotton blend at a little post summit meet up with Jeni and Deedrie. this was the first time i have ever worked with essex and it won't be the last! in fact, i am in process of making a few more for   my etsy store (opening soon)!
 

the smaller pouch is on it's way to my pretty {little} pouch partner and the bigger one is on it's way to live with someone else--but that's staying a secret for now. :)
 
and now it's your turn to share! if you have a modern sewing finish then link it up! but please remember to include the {sew} modern monday button (over there on the sidebar) and/or a link back to my blog. all others will be deleted, please and thanks. :)

<<be sure to enter in my birthday giveaway, too!>>

oh how i've missed you.

i was finally able to get back at my sewing machine last night -- it's been almost 2 weeks! here's a little sneaky peaky of what i am working on. more pictures soon!  

 

 

what's everyone sewing this week??

 

xo, Megan

this weekend.

well, it's official. my sewing summit nerves have resulted in some serious sewing mojo. it seems the only way i can distract myself from a pile of nerves/excitement is sitting behind my machine. but hey, i'm not complaining!

remember this tumbler quilt i pieced together this summer at the lake?? yep, f.i.n.i.s.h.e.d. i just pulled it out of the dryer this morning, all crinkly and yummy.(: 

so what's on deck for the rest of the weekend?

-a quilty photo shoot for this tumbler quilt.

-still need to take pictures of my finished weekender bag, too!

-work on a FTLOS angel swappy package

-pre-sewing summit meet-up!! :) the bf and i will be heading a few hours south this weekend for a lunch date with deedrie of mybricole, jeni of in color order, and vanessa of v & co. can't.wait.

so, what are you all up to this weekend??

xo, Megan

a swappy package!

alright, alright.
i know i said i was going to wait and share my for the love of solids swap package once it had safely arrived in my partners hands.
but...
i'm horrible with surprises.
well that, and the fact i am so stinking excited with how this mini turned out!
 

one thing my partner requested was a mini made with blended neutrals.  if you follow along, this is something very new to me!  but i actually loved working with this color palate (well, and i added a little color!).  it's so fresh and calming.
 

i went with this wonky starburst pattern (again, a stretch for me) and paired it with an organic wavy quilting pattern.  totally a new favorite!  
 

i also made this little matching zippy pouch, because you can never have enough little pouches! :)  inside are some solid goodies--but i won't spoil that surprise.
 

quilt stats

size: 19.5" x 19.5"

fabrics: kona solids!

piece: by me

quilted: by me

 
if you get a chance, go check out some of the other great solid projects that are in the flickr pool.  there's lots of yummy goodies!
 
and partner, this should be on your door step shortly.  i can't wait to hear what you think! :)
 
xo, Megan

busy as a bee.

Phew, it's hard to believe it's already the middle of July.  Where the heck does the time go?!?!  One minute we are in a snow storm and the next we are trying to stay cool in the summer heat (alright, maybe not that drastic. but you get the picture).  There have been lots of fun and exciting things going on over here--sewing and not sewing related--that my actual "sewing time" seems to be dwindling. Boo!  But, I did manage to squeeze some bee block sewing in this past week...


{Sew} Beautiful [June]
Alright, I was actually behind (it was due in June!) with this block but thankfully Cara granted me a bee extension (thanks Cara!). For Cara's month, she asked us each to make a creative pieced house block using some fun scraps from her stash.  Gah, talk about nerve wrecking! I seriously spent a lot of hours thinking about this block before I actually had enough courage to get down to the sewing part.  I think it was the combination of having free reign and wanting produce a rocking block.  Anyway, it had me a little out of sorts until I finally reached a breaking point, and just went with it.
 

And wouldn't you know when it's all said and done, I seriously loved making this block.  Especially when it all came together in the end. :)  phew.  Talk about pushing outside the comfort zone.


Cara is putting our blocks together and then donating them to a NICU family (see where the "home" theme fits in?).  How awesome is that!


do.Good Stitches [July]

Becky from My Fabric Obsession, this month's quilter from our do.Good Stitches BLISS circle, asked each of use to make 3 blocks using this Jaybird Quilts' tutorial.  She asked for us to use grays and yellows (an emerging trend according to Sew, Mama, Sew!).  Again, way outside my comfort zone!

But in the end--it really was easy peasy!  I think I might be using this technique for a little pouch in the near future.  It's a great way to use up scraps--or any jelly rolls you may have stashed away. :)

And there you have it--a month of bee blocks.  This month definitely pushed me outside my comfort zone and stretched my quilty horizons.  Yay for learning something new!

xo, Megan

Bloggers' Quilt Festival. [crazy {9} quilt].

I am very excited for my first ever entry in Amy's

Bloggers' Quilt Festival.

There are hundreds and hundreds of amazing quilts linked up already,

so go check it out!

About a year ago, I was introduced to the quilty blog world by my mom (thanks mom!).  I had taken a new job, moved to a new town, and was looking for something to occupy my time in the evenings.  Let me tell you, blog world was just the ticket!  I quickly fell in love with Oh Fransson! (how can you not?!?) which is where the inspiration for this quilt came from.

Still, after almost 6 months, this quilt is one of my favorite finishes to date.  I followed Oh Fransson!'s tutorial for the crazy 9 patches and added some lattice like sashing in between using Kona cotton.

I also tackled FMQ (on my home machine) for the first time with this quilt.  Up until this finish, I was fortunate enough to be able to use the long-arm machine at my LQS (where I worked for 5 years).  Being that it was my first experience on a smaller machine, I opted for an all over meander.  I love the way a meander looks after being washed and dried--all crinkly and cuddly, yum!

The weekend I finished this quilt, we happened to get a record snow storm here in Iowa (check out the snow drifts in the photos!).  So with travel not possible, I was forced to use what leftover scraps I had to piece the back.  I decided to carryover the 9 patch feel and couldn't be happier with the results.



Quilt Stats:

Name: crazy {9} quilt

Size: 65" x 65"

Designed by: Me

Quilted by: Me

Fabrics: Midwest Modern by Amy Butler, 

Kona Cotton Bone and Kona Cotton Artichoke

And that is that. :)  Looking back, I am so thankful my mom introduced me to the bloggy world!  I really enjoy being a part of the online quilty community will all of you!

 xo, Megan

almost there.

Just putting the finishing touches on a mini for Elizabeth, from

Don't Call Me Besty, this morning.

xo, Megan

dreaming of SLC.

This little piggy really wishes she were at market. :)

I am flickr/blogs/twitter/facebook stalking constantly for updates.  

There is some wonderful quilty stuff in SLC this weekend.  sigh.

I guess I will have to settle for a little sewing.

And starting a new project seems to be just the ticket.

Recognize the fabric?

instant gratification [the camera strap]

I was in need of some sewing instant gratification the other day.  You know the small project, can finish it in a few hours kind of sewing?  Yep, that was exactly what I was craving for.  (please excuse the point and shoot pictures.)

 

  

And the fix?  A cover for my DSLR camera strap.

With a little Parisville by Tula Pink and some Kona Medium Gray (surprised?) I was done in no time.

The best part, this was just the start of some serious sewing mojo over here. Stay tuned.
 

xo, Megan