Category — Inspiration

1. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERIN, 2. Pillow Talk Swap 5 received, 3. pts5 done!, 4. the pillow I made for Pillow Talk Swap 5, 5. 007, 6. pillow swap d.o.n.e., 7. A Plus for me! – 193:365, 8. pompom.happy, 9. PTS4, 10. Front of pillow, 11. colorful bits pillow 002, 12. Joseph’s Coat Pillow – it’s done!, 13. My Pillow Talk Swap, 14. Patchwork Drawing Room Pillow, 15. Nate pillow , 16. PTS Pillow, 17. Rainbow Coin Pillow, 18. PTS4), 19. Amy’s Spiderweb – 192:365, 20. Bask in her beauty!, 21. Pillow Back, 22. Color wheel pillow in progress, 23. Tuesday blog pillow, 24. FMF Dresden Plate Pillow Front, 25. Flea Market Wonky Pillow

I’m in the mood to make some new pillows and have been searching Flickr for inspirations. No shortage there! I plan on using Anna Maria Horner’s Loulouthi Clippings in Passion for the central fabric. Now I just need a plan…

Phew, I’m exhausted! I traveled to Cincinnati over the weekend for the International Quilt Festival. The location change from Chicago worked out great for me because my family lives in Cincinnati (which equals a free place to stay and lots of cousin time for my kids)! Cincinnati has a fun riverfront and my kids enjoyed spending time at Sawyer Point.

We started the weekend by visiting the Fabric Shack. Pretty much, you can’t go to Cincinnati without visiting that store. My sister (hi Rachel!) is just getting started quilting and I gifted her Elizabeth Hartman’s book, The Practical Guide to Patchwork. She is going to make a pattern in the book and purchased some great Laura Gunn fabric to get started.

While we were at the Fabric Shack, they were having a tent sale. Jackpot, right? My sister picked up some fabric on clearance and said “these are pretty colors…” and I about fell over. She was holding Tula Pink Neptune honey bun which is pretty hard to come by now! And there were two of them! She was very nice and let me have both (after I practically grabbed them out of her hand. LOL).

Saturday my mom, dad, sister and I went to the quilt show. Yep, my dad is a trooper and even went Thursday on preview night with my mom! There were lots of beautiful quilts on display, although no antique quilts like last year. That was a bit of a disappointment. But these were a few of the new quilts that caught my eye.

Marcia Derse was personally at the show again, selling her beautiful fabrics! You may remember my post about seeing her last year and loving her designs and colors. She was super sweet this year and gave me a sampler of her fabrics to give away to a lucky reader! More on that below. She also had an awesome display of her fabrics in her booth, seen as the first photo on this post. Here are some photos of her booth – I’m on the left, Marcia is on the right. Try not to stare directly at my arms, they haven’t seen the sun in 7 months.

++ Update: For those in the Cincinnati area, my mom just visited a quilt shop in Loveland called The Quilter’s Studio and they have a ton of Marcia’s fabric! ++

There were lots and lots of fabric booths. I was scouring for out of print fabrics or fabrics I had only seen online and wanted to see in person. Including these amazing Kaffe Fassett stripes.

Here are my sister and I at the only booth I saw with a few Japanese imports – including some Heather Ross Far, Far Away I and II. And Echino. That was unexpected and exciting.

For those that like my bag, I purchased it on Etsy from Aunty Cookie – GREAT shop!

Overall – it was a successful weekend. Here is my loot! It includes a couple out of print Heather Ross prints (the dots and unicorn), the Neptune honey bun, a new piecing foot with a guide for my Bernina, some Park Slope fat quarters for $1, a couple bundles of Kaffe stripes, and more starbursts – because really, you just can’t have enough starbursts.

Now for the giveaway – if you made it this far! One lucky reader is going to win everything you see below: a Neptune honey bun, a fat quarter of dots from Heather Ross’s Lightning Bugs and Other Mysteries collection, and the beautiful sampler of fabrics donated by designer Marcia Derse.

All you have to do is leave a comment! I will pick a winner Wednesday evening. Good luck everyone!

Comments are now closed. Picking a winner!

Wow – 285 entries. I think that is a new record over here! The winner, chosen by Random.org, is #21 – Julie.

Julie said “What great loot! I wish I could have been there! I love your bag too I love all things Tula Pink and joined the quilting game way too late to get my hands on Neptune, thanks for the opportunity to win these goodies!
”

Congratulations Julie!

I spend a bit of time each night looking around various blogs, Etsy and Flickr at inspiring creations. I thought it’d be fun to share some of these with you!

First, I’d like to introduce you to Natalie of Greenleaf Goods.

photo courtesy of Greenleaf Goods

Through this amazing quilt on Flickr, I found her blog. Which led me to her Etsy store. Where I found that she makes *awesome* felted wool scarves from recycled sweaters. I immediately knew I needed one! (Even though I think it was 85 degrees at the time.)

photo courtesy of Greenleaf Goods

Fast forward to yesterday when my scarf arrived and all I can say is, I am in love. I was actually wearing it around the house. In August.

The second person I’d like to introduce you to is Cynthia of Meringue Designs. If you haven’t visited her blog and Etsy shop, you are really missing out! I am absolutely in love with her sense of style.

photo courtesy of Meringue Designs

If you have ever found yourself looking for modern embroidery designs, you have probably noticed they practically do not exist. Except for at Cynthia’s Etsy shop! I have purchased several of her designs and am working on decorating my sewing room with them. They stitch out beautifully! If you don’t have a machine that can do embroidery, she also sells finished items. And patterns too!

photo courtesy of Meringue Designs

A couple of months ago she made this amazing quilt based on Denyse Schmidt’s What a Bunch of Squares quilt design. I am so inspired to make one for my bed now. Oh, and she made the headboard too. Not only does she sew, but she does woodworking too!

photo courtesy of Make It Perfect

Finally, I have probably mentioned that my daughter is just a *little* bit of a fan of princesses. She is turning 4 in October and as soon as I saw this adorable Princess and the Pea doll toy and bag by Toni at Make It Perfect, I knew I needed to make one! I especially loved the use of the Heather Ross, Far Far Away double gauze fabric for the bag. Unfortunately I had used all my fabric up on her quilt…but after much persistence and searching on Google, I found more and am ready to get sewing!

For the princess, I bought Hillary Lang’s book Wee Wonderfuls. I was extra motivated after seeing these creations from the book by Amanda and Megan.

You can find a free pattern for the mermaid on the Martha Stewart website.

Lots of beautiful things out there! Now I just need the time to make everything on my list!

I was lucky enough to get my hands on a Dream On layer cake by Urban Chiks last month. It took me a little while, but I finally decided what I want to make with it. Inspired by this photo on Flickr.

Yardage will be available in the fall!