Volume 20: A Finished Quilt and Lots More

I finished!

In case you missed this last week, I finished the improv quilt I’ve been working on these past several months. I was calling it the butterfly quilt because that’s how it started, but it’s obviously much more than that now, so I’m open to name suggestions :) You can see the quilt and a full tutorial for the sunburst block in this video.

If you’re inspired to make your own similar quilt, I also finished my newest improv book, Wonderfully Wonky Bugs & Flowers, so if you want to grab that and/or any of my other books, shop here.

Natalie’s Sewing and Sewing for Natalie

Natalie has been solidly in her crafting era since ballet ended for her in May and her wedding is coming in September. We have lots of wedding crafts planned for the next few weeks! Thankfully my Mother-In-Law is coming for her bridal shower and can help with all the crafts. I’ll probably document it all and make a video of all the decor we’ve thrifted and made. We did some damage buying ribbon this week and I’m still not sure it will be quite enough.

Anyway, along with crochet and other crafty projects, she’s been asking to sew some things for her future home. She wanted to make some ruffly pot holders, so we adapted my round pot holder pattern and it turned out so, so cute!

Meanwhile, I’m busy working on some gifts for her bridal shower! I’m filming my ideas this week, so I’ll be able to show you soon. So far I have made an apron and two pillowcases that I’m taking on my road trip this weekend in order to add a crochet trim to them. I even found a vintage crochet trim pattern book in my stash! Crochet is perfect for road trips — I find hand sewing hard because of the bumpiness of the car.

Coming Soon

Sometimes when I need some sewing therapy, but starting a new quilt would be irresponsible because of the other projects I already have in the queue, making a new doll pattern is the perfect thing. I LOVE making dolls. Starting a new one from scratch is the best part of my entire business.

I had the idea for a new shape of doll, starting with an elephant. After a few failed prototypes, I got this one just right and can’t wait to share the pattern with you in a few weeks. It’s been awhile since I’ve done a sew-a-long for a doll on YouTube, so I’m thinking about doing one for this. What do you think?

The shape of this doll makes it sooo cuddly and perfect for babies and toddlers. I named it after my great nephew Elliot and sent him the boy one for his 1st birthday.

I plan to add more animals to the Elliot doll collection. Ones that I think would work well with this more square body are a penguin and a bumblebee, but I’m open to suggestions.

Home Tour

Yesterday, I posted a video with a little home tour in it! So many people have asked to see our new house, so if you want to see some of it, watch this video. I also discuss my sewing machine woes and show you how to add piping to a pillow cover, so it was a packed episode.

That’s all I have for today! My husband and I are going on a 25th anniversary trip to St. Augustine next week! There will still be a video on Monday, but not the following Monday, and there probably won’t be a newsletter next week (but I’ll miss you :)

Here’s our wedding photos, 25 years ago on August 4th. Babies.