Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a relaxing weekend. I spent both days traveling to the city for various birthday and Mother’s Day parties – May is a very, very busy month in our family. I did manage to get a photo of me and my kiddos yesterday. Usually I’m at the other end of the camera so it’s always a special treat.

I wasn’t able to spend any time at my sewing machine, but I did finish up my newest mini quilt last Friday. This quilt was so fun to make. Mostly because of the great fabrics from Laura Gunn. The colors are really amazing!

When making this quilt, I first cut my neutral squares at 2-1/2″ x 2-1/2″. Initially I thought this was going to be a pillow, so I set it up to finish at 18″ x 18″. This means there are 9 squares across and 9 squares down (for a total of 81). I pieced those together first, and then created my quilt sandwich for quilting. The neutral fabrics I used are all Free Spirit Designer Solids – Pearl, Sand Dune and Dogwood.

After that was all set up, I started placing out my circles until I came up with a layout that I liked. I used Heat n Bond Lite to fuse the circles to the squares.

After I was done ironing everything into place, I did the quilting. I’m not sure if this is a weird order to go about the process, but I thought it would be fun/smart to combine the applique and quilting steps. (As opposed to appliqueing the circles onto the squares, and then sewing them together, creating the quilt sandwich, and quilting).

At first I started just going around the edge of each circle, but after one row I changed my mind and decided on something a little different. So I ripped out those stitches and started quilting 4 straight lines through the middle of each row and column. Just something a bit unexpected.

From the beginning, when I was thinking about this project, I envisioned raw edges fraying in the finished quilt. I’ve washed it a couple times now and it’s only now starting to fray a little. I think I need to throw it back in a couple more times. I’m really enjoying the texture it’s creating.

This week I’m hoping to sit down and do some design work, and also get back to work on my Simply Style work in progress. Finger’s crossed!

*Lots* of eye candy for you today! Last week I received a little bit of designer Laura Gunn‘s new line, Edges, in the mail. It arrived courtesy of Michael Miller Fabrics. I absolutely love the colors she chose for her latest collection.

As I was laying out the charms to take pictures, I was getting more and more excited to cut into them. I wanted to really feature all these great colors.

Inspired by this print from the line…

And this amazing quilt by my mom (hi mom!)…

I decided to make something with circles. I cheated a bit and used my Sizzix die cutter to cut these out.

They are 1-1/2″ in diameter. Before I cut them, I iron Heat n Bond Lite to the back of my charms, as I am going to fuse the circles onto fabric before quilting.

I spent Wednesday playing with the layout. The neutral squares are 2″ x 2″ finished. I can’t wait to share the completed mini quilt with you soon!

Edges is now available in stores. You can find it at Fat Quarter Shop.

I was lucky enough this past week to have the chance to work with artist Laura Gunn’s upcoming line, Cosmos. Laura sent me a charm pack with 5″ squares of each of her new designs and Painter’s Canvas. As usual, the fabric is beautiful. If I had to pick a favorite, I think it would be the Tiny Cosmos print. I’m already thinking I need to buy more and make some pillows for my couch with it.

I was debating what I should do with charms, and I decided to use the Ribbon Star tutorial from the Solstice Stars Series, with some minor changes. Since the charms were a bit larger than I needed for the 12″ block, I decided to increase all the squares that make the block slightly (up to 4″ x 4″ after trimming rather than 3.5″ x 3.5″). Simple enough change that resulted in a slightly larger finished block.

I also decided to use several different shades of tan for the background rather than white. I just randomly selected these as I was sewing my HSTs. I quilted in diagonals, 1/4″ away from each side of the diagonal seams. The binding is Skinny Stripes in Citron, from another Laura Gunn collection, Poppy.

Cosmos comes out in September, keep an eye out for it at your favorite local or online fabric shop!

I think I’ve mentioned before that one of my favorite things about know how to sew is being able to make something like pillows and change the look of a room in an afternoon. And for cheap.

A couple of weeks ago, I decided I needed a change and made a set of these pillows. The center fabric is Metro Living Circles in Chocolate. Then I used a couple Essex Linens (in Putty and Sand) for the first time. These are great fabrics and way easier to use than pure linen. I bought them on Etsy from Sew Deerly Loved. The third solid is Kona Charcoal and I also used that for the backing. The outer ring is from Laura Gunn’s Poppy collection. I quilted these in diagonal lines about 1/2″ spacing. I used my new Hera marker to make a line down the center and then quilted from there. It matches my house perfectly, love it!

Speaking of Laura Gunn, have you seen her new Magnolia Lane line? *Very* pretty, I especially love the Magnolia Branch print. The painted canvas prints look like great basics.

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! I am working on some baby loveys this week for the shop, and also finishing up a charm pack quilt. Talk to you soon!