Welcome to my stop of the pincushion party! My friend, Amanda Jean Nyberg of Crazy Mom Quilts, designed her first fabric line and asked if I wanted to play with it. Yes, yes, yes! The line is called Good Neighbors and is exactly the kind of look I would expect to get from Amanda Jean: cute, bright, fun prints that will work in a wide range of patchwork with a wide range of other fabrics. Good Neighbors indeed! The fabrics are high quality quilting cotton available exclusively through Connecting Threads. In addition to yardage, there are pre-cuts, kits and even one print that is available as 104" wide backing. Lots to choose from!

I was sent a charm pack to use to make my pin cushion and spent a lot of time thinking about what I wanted to do before I jumped in. If you have been reading my blog for a long time, you know that it is no secret that I love green and blue so I decided that I would play with the cool colors first. I took a quick look around the studio and grabbed my Dresden ruler and started to play.

Of course, I couldn't leave the warm colors alone so I made a second pin cushion with some of those prints. At the moment pink and orange together are speaking to me so it was fun to see those together. And, because this is Amanda Jean's fabric, I HAD to use the red polka dot. In addition to the cute prints and bright colors, one of the things I like about these fabrics is that they work well in small pieces. The scale is wonderful - not too busy when small, not too plain when large. I think that is Amanda Jean's love of scraps coming through!

Connecting Threads is offering up a charm pack to one of my readers (U.S. and Canada only). To enter the giveaway, comment on this post and let me know if you have ever made a pin cushion and what you filled it with. (Inquiring minds want to know - I filled one of mine with fiber fill and the other with crushed walnut shells and I definitely have thoughts. Let me know yours!) I will leave the giveaway open until Wednesday evening around 6 pm EST. Good luck!

Be sure to pop by the other stops on the pin cushion party to see what everyone else has been making!

9/1/2015  Amanda Jean  http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/
9/2/2015  Anna  http://www.noodle-head.com/
9/3/2015  Mary  http://maryonlakepulaski.blogspot.com/
9/4/2015  Svetlana  http://sotakhandmade.blogspot.com/
9/5/2015 Debbie  http://www.eschhousequilts.com/
9/6/2015 Holly  http://www.bijoulovelydesigns.com/
9/7/2015  Carla  http://carla-graceandfavour.blogspot.com/
9/8/2015  Faith  http://www.FreshLemonsQuilts.com
9/9/2015  Vanessa  http://www.vanessachristenson.com/
9/10/2015  Anna  http://www.thimbleanna.com/
9/11/2015  Krista  http://poppyprintcreates.blogspot.com/
9/12/2015  Erin  http://whynotsew.blogspot.com/
9/13/2015  Lee  http://www.maychappell.com/
9/14/2015  Alex  http://teaginnydesigns.blogspot.com/
9/15/2015  Cheryl  http://naptimequilter.blogspot.com/
9/16/2015  Penny  http://sewtakeahike.typepad.com/
9/17/2015  Amy  http://duringquiettime.com/
9/18/2015  Debbie  http://aquilterstable.blogspot.com/
9/19/2015  Anne  http://www.springleafstudios.com/
9/20/2015  Melissa Corry  http://www.happyquiltingmelissa.com/
9/21/2015  Amber  http://www.oneshabbychick.typepad.com/
9/22/2015  Nettie  http://aquiltisnice.blogspot.com/
9/23/2015  Adrianne  http://www.littlebluebell.com/
9/24/2015  Cindy  http://www.liveacolorfullife.net/
9/25/2015  Amy  http://www.diaryofaquilter.com/
9/26/2015  Chase  http://quarterinchmark.blogspot.com/
9/27/2015  Rene  http://www.renecreates.com/
9/28/2015  Erin  - you're here!
9/29/2015  Nicole  http://modernhandcraft.com/
9/30/2015  Teri  http://blog.connectingthreads.com/

Hope you have a great day and that it includes some sewing!

A couple of weeks ago, I put the finishing touches on this mini quilt made from Gardenvale fabrics by Jen Kingwell. It was a satisfying, small project and I had a lot of fun making it for my partner Jenny.

This one is easy to do, too. It's just 5" charm squares in pairs to make half square triangle blocks that finish at 4". Once the heart was sewn up, I added some extra white borders to make the mini a little bigger. I outline quilted the heart with my walking foot and then free-motion quilted the inside of the heart with a paisley-ish design. It was my first time doing this free-motion pattern and I completely admit that I winged it. I think it came out just fine and it was good to know that if I really messed up, I wouldn't have a large area to rip out.

I continue to believe that the mini quilt is a great way to try new techniques, experiment and just have fun. It's doesn't require any kind of huge commitment supply-wise or time-wise. It works well with scraps or small, precious pieces of fabric that you don't know what to do with. Also, it's great for using up all those batting scraps!

Tell me...have you made a mini quilt? What is your favorite thing about them? I'd love to hear about any patterns or techniques that you find to make a beautiful mini. Dish! I'm all ears!

On Sunday, I used this block that I designed a year (or two?) ago to demonstrate paper piecing to my local guild. I'm hoping to find some time this weekend to finish it - those colors are really speaking to me right now. First, I have some commitments to take care of. I've been working away, quietly and not so quietly, behind the scenes, sewing up a sample for Quilt Market. It's been fun and challenging and exhausting and gratifying and mind blowing all at the same time. I will wrap it up today and send it off to be quilted. I'll share when I can - it's a really cool quilt.

In the midst of all of this, my favorite machine broke. Not once, but twice! Seriously, I picked it up from the dealer and had to turn around and take it back the next day. It's been sitting there, ready for me all week, but I can't find a spare hour of drive time in my schedule to go get it. I'm thankful that I have another machine to use, but I was grumbling about how little I enjoy this one. Turns out, we are friends again. I am grateful.

I've been reading. Right now I am in the middle of X by Sue Grafton. Each book in this series is like seeing an old friend after a long time. You just pick up right where you left off! My recent favorite was Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng. I read it in a day, or more specifically, a five hour car ride. I loved it. If you are a reader, check out this cute project that Lindsay alerted me to. Books and food. Win!

Has anyone watched Anna Maria's Creating Color Palettes class on Creativebug? Go! Do it! It's about an half an hour long and had my mind jumping in the best ways. I now want to rearrange my entire fabric stash, which, truthfully, could use a good reorganization. I'm also excited to take the time to watch Cal Patch's new class on drafting patterns for knits. The change of seasons always makes me want to sew garments (and knit them, too!). I'd love to increase my skill set at the same time.

Podcasts! Of course I love Modern Sewciety. Stephanie is the sweetest and has great guests. The b-side always has me laughing out loud. Recently, I binge listened to all of the Crafty Planner podcasts. Sandi does an amazing job interviewing her guests. Each episode had me thinking about why I do what I do and examining my process. Good stuff. Any other podcasts you might recommend? They don't have to be craft related - I like good stories, too. This American Life, anyone?

And finally, I am working on getting some quilt patterns out into the world. If anyone would be interested in testing them for me, I would be appreciative. Let me know in the comments and I will email you to discuss!

Enjoy the weekend, friends.

A few weeks ago I posted a photo of something I was baking on Instagram and promised Molly that I would post the recipe. I did mention that it is my favorite dessert. And it is. My mom used to make this in the summer, once or maybe twice each year. Her mom, my grandmother, also made this with just-picked raspberries when we would visit their farm. It's a sentimental dessert for me - truly the taste of my childhood summers. It is one first recipes I asked my mom for when Fatty and I were first dating. It has three main ingredients: fruit, sugar and Bisquick.  Nothing high brow about that at all. Just delicious. It is especially good because you are essentially cooking the pastry and fruit in a simple syrup that cooks down to make the most delicious sauce. Serve it warm with vanilla ice cream. The leftovers make an excellent breakfast with a cup of coffee. Here's how you do it.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Make the shortcake recipe as follows:

3 1/2 c Bisquick plus approximately 1/2 c more for rolling (You can use original or the reduced fat one. I've never tried it with a bisquick-like mix made from scratch, but I bet it would work.)

1/4 c sugar

3/4 c milk

4 tbsp. melted butter

Mix all ingredients together until the dough forms. If the dough is sticky, add more Bisquick until you can roll it out. Dust the rolling surface with Bisquick and roll it into a rectangle about 8" x 12" that is 1/2" thick. The thickness is the key part - your rectangle may end up slightly larger. That's OK.

Add:

3 - 6 oz. containers of raspberries

Place raspberries in a single layer on top of the dough. Roll the dough and raspberries together into a log. Cut the log into 1" slices.

Make the syrup:

Pour 1 1/2 c sugar in a 9" x 13" glass baking pan.

Add 2 c boiling water and stir until sugar is dissolved.

Place the slices of fruit and pastry so they float in the syrup. Pack them in the pan, leaving little room between slices. If you have extra berries, go ahead and plop those in as well.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling and the top is golden brown.