pink pineapple applique

I'm still not sewing very much these days but ever since I used applique as the main technique in a mini quilt for a tutorial earlier this month (which I'll hopefully share later this week or next), I've started thinking of all the quilts I want to make using applique! Actually, it is so rare that I write about applique that I'm not even sure if I'm using the word properly in the sentence - do I say "make a quilt using applique" or can I just say "applique a quilt" or do both work? I should probably figure that out since it looks like I might be sharing lots of applique projects in the near future. 

But the real question is:  pineapple or strawberry??? My plan was pineapple but hmm . . . 

a visit to yellowstone and grand teton (in pictures)

 It was an amazing trip!

And if you look closely, you'll see that I'm actually in one of the photos - that doesn't happen often but I realized that really need to start being in at least a few of our family photos!

friday (miscellaneous)

I've been reorganizing my photos on my computer and realized that I have a few projects that I meant to share but never did. This is a boxy pouch I made when I went to Sew South in March! I had thought I would write a blog post specifically about the retreat but. . .  you know how it is, right? Anyway, Sew South was wonderful! It was so great to not only meet so many of my blog friends in person (including one of my best blogging friends) but to actually spend the whole weekend with them (and make new friends as well!) Another tidbit about this pouch (made using a leftover piece from this) is that it is the first time I used interfacing.

We were all sent home from Sew South with plenty of quilty swag including these charm packs. And one of these days I'll actually make the quilt that I planned for using these - yes, one of these days.

My daughters have been baking nonstop this past week. Which is great and um, not so great. After seeing so many baked doughnut recipes, we finally bought a doughnut pan. Does anyone have any good recipes for baked doughnuts to share?

And we finally were able to grow tomatoes - I think it only took 4 years! Not sure what (if anything) we did different this year but it worked and they are delicious.

I regularly read a few (not sewing) blogs that provide links on Fridays to random things from around the web that they wanted to share with their readers. I'm not sure if any of you would be interested but here are a few things that I enjoyed this week:

This salad from Pinch of Yum (one of my favorite recipe sites) has my family eating and loving kale (well, if you don't count the littlest members of my family.)

This series from A Cup of Jo about motherhood around the world. I thought it was fascinating and actually read back through the whole series.

Hmm, when I started writing this post, I actually thought I had more links to share. Would that be something you would be interested in (my providing random links to sewing and non-sewing things)? It wouldn't be every Friday (and it wouldn't even necessarily be on a Friday) but I'm wondering if I should start keeping a list of things and then when I have a few, write a post - what do you think? Do any of you do that?

And what is going on in your life this Friday?

Have a great weekend!

blog hop week #4

Well, that went by fast. This is the last week of the 2014 New Quilt Blogger Blog Hop. To see the list of bloggers from previous weeks, click here. And here is the list of bloggers to visit this week (and remember these bloggers will link you to another set of new quilt bloggers to visit as well!)

Serena @ Sew Giving

Deborah @ Sunshine Through The Rain

Jane @ Where Jane Creates

Jennifer @ A Quarter Inch From The Edge

Carla @ Granny Maud's Girl

Jenny @ Jack's Room

Sharon @ Color Girl Quilts

Carmit @ Quilting Rainbows

Jehn @ Jehnny And The Boys

Find more information about Chelsea Michal Designs, Custom Longarm Quilting, by visiting their facebook page (click here) and you can also follow Chelsea on Instagram (@chelseamichal).

And until July 31, 2014, Chelsea is offering 10% off your first long arm quilting service done by Chelsea Michal Designs to everyone who mentions "plum and june" when booking.

another pillow and a pillow question

Not much to say about this pillow. I just really liked the two pillows I made using the oakshott ruby F8th bundle that I wrote about a few weeks ago so I wanted to make a few more. For this one, I again used essex yarn-dyed linen and most of the fabrics from the bundle.

If you squint, you can see that I quilted just a few lines near the seams on each side of the more orange-y fabrics and then I densely quilted the linen. With the exception of a bright pink and a bright aqua, I don't have a wide variety of thread so I used the thread from my stash that matched best but it stands out a bit more than planned - oh, well.

Here's my question: I wonder if I need to get new cushion inserts because my pillows seem to have lots of extra fabric in the corners. I just keep recovering the same inserts - do you think they are shrinking from use? Admittedly, in real life, I don't even notice this but it really stands out to me in the photos. Still, if you have a solution, I would love to hear it! If it makes a difference to your suggestions, I basically always use the envelope method for the pillows and I do make them about 1" smaller than the insert. And if it seems that a new insert is the answer, then I'll just use the inserts I have now for pillows in my daughters' room - I doubt they'll care!

If you are looking for the fabric giveaway from Mad about Patchwork and/or the schedule for the new quilt blogger blog hop, click here.

thursday

I just got back home from a vacation with my family (more on that soon) so I'm trying to figure out what I want to start working on. I don't really like working on more than one or two projects at a time so I think I'll finish this improv patchwork quilt top that my daughter and I started a few weeks ago.

While I mixed in other fabrics, most of the fabrics in this quilt are from a fat quarter bundle of Meadow by Leah Duncan. 

I was hoping to have enough of the bundle leftover for another project but that might not happen. Why? Well, I actually made the backing for this quilt first and it is huge. I think at least half of my fabric stash is novelty prints and while I love these fabrics, I just don't use them as much anymore - at least not enough for them to occupy so much shelf space. However, instead of destashing (which I usually do by giving fabric to my daughters to use), I decided to piece a bunch of backings for future projects (well, I've only actually made one backing so far.) And yes, I could just save this backing for another project but since as I said, I don't like having too many WIPs, I've decided to make the meadow quilt top large enough to match this backing. Plus, big quilts are better for cuddling under, right?

Have you done this before? Made the backing first? Made something specifically to use up your stash of a certain fabric? Actually, it will be great when I finish the top that the backing is all ready to go - don't you think?