Now that my new fabric collection, Honey Locust, has shipped to stores, I am busy making all the things!  The first project I made was a quick one using the Echelons Cheater Print.

I whipped up a new ironing board cover (I know, I know, I just made one with my last cheater print), but I couldn't help myself!  It's such a quick project, and I thought these softer colors would go beautifully in my sewing room.

THIS is the tutorial I use to make ironing board covers.  I've shared it many times before.
It just takes an hour or so to make, and I often have all the supplies on hand.

It's such a sweet, happy print and oh so quilty, don't you think!!??

This little ironing board cover is bringing me a lot of joy right now.  

I also really love my Oliso iron.  I love the color, the weight, the heat, the long automatic shutoff feature, and the extra-long cord!  This is my second Oliso iron.  I had my first one for 7-10 years and knew I would be getting another one when the first one broke en route to a quilting retreat!

Anyways, if you're interested in making one of these covers too, I've got just the amount of this cheater fabric you need to make one just like it, listed in my Etsy shop HERE.

I would also love to make a quilt coat and a tote bag with this cheater print.

What would you make with it?

Sewing Machine Mat and Organizer Tutorial

 Hi friends!  Today I want to share a fun project I made for the Riley Blake Designs YouTube channel!  It's for a sewing machine mat that will keep your notions close by and organized during any sewing session, whether you're at home or away.

You've probably seen tutorials for these mats before but this one uses my Pineapple Block Cheater Print which is part of my Feels Like Home fabric collection with Riley Blake Designs.  Any cheater print would be cute for this project but you know I love Pineapple Blocks! This print features little 6" Pineapple Blocks so it has a big "wow" factor and would be cute in any sewing space.

Mine just so happens to match an ironing board cover that I made a few months ago. 

You can check that project out HERE!  It includes a link to the tutorial I use.  

The sewing mat has a large pocket on one side that is meant to hang off your sewing table.  You can customize the size of each compartment to hold all of your favorite notions. I especially love taking my mat to quilt retreats so that all of my notions stay in my own sewing space.  There's usually a lot going on at retreats and it's easy for things to get misplaced.

It also has ric rac on the side so you can roll it up for easy transport.

You could use some beautiful ribbon instead if you prefer.

Check out the YouTube video HERE for all the details.

Thanks for stopping by today.

Happy quilting!

A Review of January's Quilting To-Do's

I'm really loving the idea of making a quilting to-do list at the beginning of each month.  It's helped to keep me focused and motivated.  January went pretty well, I'd say.  It wasn't perfect.  I didn't get everything crossed of my list but I still feel like I accomplished a lot.  Here's where I'm at...

#1 - My Sea Glass quilt is half way bound 

so I half-way crossed it off my list :)  I'll show pictures soon.

#2 - My sewing room was needing a little bit of TLC so second on my list was to hang frame, spools quilt and fix chair (and CLEAN UP!)

 

So I finally framed the Sew on and sew on and sew on picture that I had for about a year.  I displayed it on this little shelf and then decided the area also needed a little something on the wall so I used a single Dresden Plate block that I had lying around.  I also added the white iron (which was a gift from my sister) and the small red iron (which was a gift from my mom).  The spools were found in a box my husbands uncle gave to me that was my husbands grandmothers.  And it's hard to see, but the green container that is holding the spools has a #2 printed on the burlap.  I had to buy it to remind me of the two little cuties that call me mommy.

 

I quilted the Dresden Plate wall hanging myself, which was a lot of fun.  That was a bonus project but at least I was putting a loner block to good use.  Should I get a bonus point for that?

It was bothering me a little bit that I didn't have any quilts hung in my sewing room since I got my new Ikea storage cabinets about a year ago.  So I made room for this Spools quilt (pattern by Camille Roskelley) and finally found the perfect spot for the giant safety pin that was a Christmas gift from my sister-in-law!

And just days before the months end, I recovered my sewing chair with this cute little fat quarter I had on hand.  The fabric is from Lecien's Flower Sugar line.  (I love that fabric line so much that I featured it in two coordinating quilts in my upcoming book!) I liked having my "to-do" list to keep me on track and motivated because this was one of those projects that probably wouldn't have gotten done for a long, long time.

#3 Bind Honey Sweet Runner - Check!

(you can see my blog post about it HERE).

#4 Finish Farmer's Wife borders

   

My inner border is on and my outer border is pieced and ready to be sewn on as well.  I'm hoping to do that today so I'll post pictures soon.

#5 Make design wall quilt 

(that's going to be on hold for a little while...)

#6 Get heart quilt to the quilter

I did and it's back.  The binding is sewn on.  I just gotta hand stitch it on the back side.  Pictures coming soon :)

Lastly, I made two projects for a secret friend swap (that you can read about HERE) and started two new projects.  I'll post about the smaller one soon but here's what I spent the majority of my time working on at Quilt Bliss:

They're paper pieced Pineapple Blocks and I'm so obsessed with them right now!  I figured each one took me about an hour and a half.  It will definitely be a long term project but I'm really hoping I can find some more time this week to work on them!

So that's it.  I think it was a pretty good month and now I've got lots to blog about in the next few weeks.  I've also got to make my February list so stay tuned...

~ Amber