Looking forward to 2013

I've been thinking about my word for 2013 for several weeks now.  My first instinct was to go with ORGANIZE - God knows that my sewing room {and my life} could use quite a bit right now!

My first attempt was to clean up my space and organize all my fabric ... which then lead to the decision that I needed a database to keep track of my "inventory" - you know how I love my spreadsheets ... which then lead to the realization that while I adore my stash, there's no way on earth I'll ever have time to use even a fraction of the fabric I've amassed ... which resulted in the realization that perhaps I had chosen the wrong word.

Instead, maybe I needed to blatantly borrow Camille Roskelley's word of the year from several years back and go with:

Font: Pea Ellie Bellie

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that this word perfectly describes my goals for the year!

• More process posts {and more photos!}, which will hopefully inspire more finishes.
• More organization and mis en place, to inspire greater productivity in my shrinking sewing time.
• More de-stashing and streamlining my workflow. 
• Less quilt-a-longs and project clubs{as much as I love them!!}, so that I can be more focused on my projects at hand.
• Less facebook/pinterest/time-sucking-fb-games ... because really, I hate it when I've spent an entire nap hour just clicking the mouse

So, there you have it - my goals for 2013 in a nut shell!  Coming from Poplun this year, you can also expect fabric in the Etsy Shop {finally - more on this soon}, new patterns and kits, and some of my favorite Poplun Designs quilts remade in some of the great new lines that are coming this year.  Now, I'm off to finish logging my last few boxes of fabric so that I can get on with some de-stashing!  Happy sewing!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from our family to yours!

Photo by Leann Marie Photography

I hope you and yours enjoyed a peaceful and healthy holiday season!  Unfortunately, our household was hit with that super nasty cold bug that seems to be making its way around., so the majority of our holiday break was spent in pajamas and warm socks, enjoying movies and hot beverages!  All in all, {coughing and stuffy noses aside} it actually was some great cozy family time.

As is usual, the start of the new year seems to be a time for reflection and to set goals for the upcoming year.  Last year, my word of the year was enjoy.  I was starting 2012 as a brand new mom and embarking on a brand new adventure as a homemaker.  While we did highly enjoy all the new adventures parenthood brought us, I think that some of my sewing goals that I had set for myself were a little too lofty.  Here's how I faired:

2012 Goals:

• Make a Christmas quilt for my family to snuggle under and enjoy.  I'm thinking maybe Swoon made with Kate Spain's Flurry collection - While I started this with the best of intentions, I rapidly lost steam, mostly because I just don't think this pattern is for me.  Don't get me wrong - I love all the Swoon quilts out there ... it just didn't fit what I had envisioned for my family once I got going.  My plan is to frog the few blocks I started and come up with a new plan.

• Finish my 2011 Designer Christmas BOM blocks ... all three sets ... and then actually sew them together into quilts - Well, out of 36 blocks, I only have 8 to finish.  If December had been a healthier month for our family, I might have finished.  Right now I'm trying to decide if I want to finish them now or start the new year with a blank wall.  I think the blank wall is winning ...

• Publish at least 12 patterns in 2012 - Well, at least I have one goal blown out of the water!  I managed to publish 16 patterns last year - phew!  I have to say that "Southern Belle" is still my favorite!

• Make a quilt for ME! - Yeah ... not even close!
• Make a quilt for the four (so far!) little souls coming into the world this year: one in April, one in June, and two in July! - Well, 3 outta 4 ain't bad, right?

• Finish the quilt I started for my mother-in-law TWO Christmases ago - This one never even made it out of it's box.  Oh well, maybe next year!
• Make a quilt for my sweet little cousin who is turning 16 this April!! -- Boy do I feel old!  When Aiden was born she was only one year old than I was when she was born!  Well, apparently, I'm a terrible cousin, because my little cousin turned 16 in April of 2011.  Duh. So, she doesn't know it yet, but she's getting a graduation quilt instead.  This one is all pieced and just needs to be quilted!
• Have some fun with some little projects like mug rugs and such - I definitely was able to sneak in a few little projects here and there
• Make some nice handmade Christmas gifts for friends and family Again, not even close!

All-in-all, we had a great year and I feel like I was able to be fairly productive, despite spending most of my waking hours chasing after our active little monkey.  I wish you the best for 2013.  Happy New Year!

Patterns now available through Craftsy!

Happy Friday!  Just wanted to pop by and share my new storefront:

Craftsy is a new-to-me site, and I'm still exploring all of the fabulous tutorials, downloadable patterns (both free and paid), and classes.  Most exciting, though, they have a beta-pattern feature for Independent designers ... and there are no service or commission charges, which means that I can offer my patterns at a discounted rate!

The best part is ... wait for it ... the .pdf patterns are available for you to download as soon as you've paid through PayPal.  You don't have to wait for me to email them directly to you!

I'll be slowly adding patterns to the shop over the weekend, and I'll be posting a couple of freebies too!  My etsy shop will still be open, too.

Speaking of Poplun Designs Patterns ... have you made a project using one?  Please share your projects in one of our new Flickr groups!

Quilting Projects: http://www.flickr.com/groups/poplun/
Crocheting & Knitting Projects:  http://www.flickr.com/groups/cottongarden/

It's a Lazy Monday ...

... since I'm just now getting around to my first post for the week!  Teething and a weekend of beautiful sunny weather means yet another week of hardly any time spent at the sewing machine.  I did manage to start my April AYOS project.  This month's project is Summer Day:

Photo Courtesy of Miss Rosie's Quilt Co.

I'm doing my version. in pretty pastel shades of yellow and I've managed to finish all my cutting, but I only have four blocks assembled right now.  I was going to post a picture of my progress ... but the blocks resemble a certain geometric shape popular with the Third Reich ... so we'll just have to wait until I have another round of blocks attached before I can offer a sneak peak.  Luckily these blocks go together so quickly!

BTW - super exciting news from Miss Rosie this week - all of her more recent Schnibbles patterns are now available for purchase in .pdf form through her new store!  Hooray for quilty instant gratification!

*       *       *       *       *

Last week was the Northern California Quilt Rush.  Hubby took the day off for some manly bonding time with Aiden so that Mom and I could jet away for the day.  We managed to hit four different shops on the list!

A: Cornerstone Quilt Shoppe in Fairfield, B: A Quilted Heart in Vacaville, C: Cloth Carousel in Winters, E: Sew So Shop in Yuba City.

We had a great time visiting some great shops that we've never had the opportunity to visit before.  I totally made out like a bandit!

I love just about any line that both 3 Sisters and Sandy Gervais put out, so I picked an Etchings layer cake and two Late Bloomers charm packs.

Even though I don't know of anyone having a baby girl anytime soon, but this little bit called "Blank Quilting Feathered Friends" by Tricia Santry caught my eye and I just had to bring it home to add to the stash.

I managed to find this next collection of fabric over three stores.  I love, love, love the turquoise colors.  I'm fairly certain that this group is destined to be a quilt-sized version of my Southern Belle pattern.  Can't wait to start that one!!

And, since it's been over a month since any reporting, here's my stash standings for the year thus far:

Stash Update: 2/13/12 - 4/23/12

• Purchased:  26.3  yards including all the goodies pictured above, an alternate color scheme for my quilt-sized Southern Belle, and several backing and binding sets for projects that are almost there!!
• Used: 9.2 yards including two Swoon Blocks, February's and March's AYOS projects, plus Aiden's Easter Quilt and Elijah's Scrap Metal Stars

YTD: + 35.06

Luckily, I have one quilt that just needs binding, two more quilts that just need some quick quilting, and April's Schnibbles projects, so maybe next month's stash report will see some movement in the negative direction.  Fingers crossed!!

Finally - some stash busting!!

Yay!  I'm happy to say that not only am I a third of the way through my goals for the week, but I have some serious stash busting to report!  That's right - two finishes to share!

First up is Scrap Metal Stars, using some of my Robot Factory stash.  As I mentioned yesterday, I used Gigi's Thimble's Scrap Jar Stars tutorial for the pattern.

 Instead of going for a random, scrappy look, though, I went for a more planned, symmetrical layout.  Since I was working with only a couple of prints and solids, it was easier for me to plan it out, rather than worry about having enough "randomness" in my random layout.

I finally opted for a simple, pieced back.  I didn't have quite enough fabric left to do a full solid or patterned panel, and with all the white on the front, a solid white back just seemed a bit overwhelming.  Plus, I'm a relatively new parent of a messy, messy boy - white is SO impractical! :)

I used a low-loft, cotton batting and decided to go with very simple, straight line outline quilt, but used orange thread for a pop of color.

The quilt is finished with solid red for the bindings - I've totally been on a  solids-as-bindings kick lately! - and is all set for tomorrow's party!


My other finish was actually a project for Aiden's Easter basket ... which we were incidentally feeling too crummy to put together!  Of well - he's enjoying all the goodies and will never,ever remember how they came packaged!

The quilt top is actually a pre-made panel I found recently at Jo-Ann', that I paired with some coordinating blue Farmyard Animal flannel for the back and brown Basket Weave flannel for the binding.

I've never used the pre-made panels before and they definitely have some pros and cons:

Pros: You can't beat having the quilt already pieced for you - and all the edges on the back are sewn together and serged for durability.  I put this baby together in under three hours, including the time that it took me to hand-stitch the binding to the back.

Cons: Unless you get the first cut off the bolt (like I happened to), or the person doing the cutting is patient enough to undo all the serging and then rip the seams out and then cut (which they absolutely never are), you'd have to buy more yardage than you need, and take the cut home and rip the seams apart from the previous cut edge just to start with the extra 1/4" seam allowance on both sides that you'd need.  Also, the fabric is super, duper stretchy, especially on the edges.  It was a little challenging to keep the fabric tight enough to quilt it without wrinkles without totally distorting it.

Bottom line, though - little man loves rolling all over his new snugglie!

I'll be back tomorrow with my official stash numbers, plus more information about the Northern California Quilt Rush running this week.

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday!  I'm spending my morning with a nice cup of coffee, a gaggle of flying geese units, a plethora of HSTs to square ...

... and Grey's Anatomy on Netflix!  Pink Mist still gives me goosebumps!

I love Season Two ... but if I don't watch it all the way through, does Denny still die ...?  Might need to add some kleenex to the above list ...

Happy Sewing!

Happy New Year!

Happy 2012!  I can't believe that the new year is already upon us!  2011 was a very eventful year and our family welcomed quite a few new little souls, including the birth of two new little nieces and the birth of our own son, Aiden Matthew.

He was born on 11/1/11, weighing in at 8 lbs 11 oz, and measuring 20" long.  While he took almost four days to make his debut, he was well worth the wait.  Daddy, Mommy, and both sides of the family are totally and completely smitten.  I'm thoroughly enjoying my new job as a stay-at-home mom and can't believe how much fun we're having with our little man.  He is a most expressive little guy and usually has us in hysterics with his facial expressions!

Aiden has been keeping us quite busy, so all my crafty projects have been a bit neglected.  Rather than try and catch up with posts on my meager finishes from the last few months, I've decided to just start fresh from here -- that's what the New Year is for, right?

I have a new quilt pattern ...

... and a new table runner pattern that should be releasing next week, so to celebrate, I'm having a sale on my patterns this month -- 50% off of all patterns!  Please visit my etsy shop at www.poplun.etsy.com and enter the coupon code JAN2012.  I'll be featuring some of my favorite patterns here during the month of January as well.

Happy New Year and Happy Sewing!!

Hello Old Friends

Well ... little did I know that my little four week hiatus would turn into a four month extended vacation!  But ... you see ... I really do have a reasonable excuse: our little family of two will soon be a family of THREE!

 Introducing ...

... our sweet baby boy, scheduled to arrive at the end of October.

Hubby and I have finally decided on a name (we think ...), but have also decided to be poor sports and not share with the rest of the world until the little man makes his debut.  In the meantime, Hubby has taken to calling him, "Voltron, Defender of the Uterus."  Gotta love us 80's babies. 

My side of the family, which includes hardly any 80's babies, has taken to calling him "Blaze," after St. Blasius, the patron saint of Dubrovnik, Croatia - one of the favorite stops on our large family vacation several years ago ... and the favorite topic of conversation of our squirrely male tour guide, Andrea, whose monologue mainly consisted of fabulous nuggets of information in the following format: "This is St. Blasius.  He was a saint and his name was Blasius..."

My father-in-law would prefer a strong, Spanish name for his little soccer-playing grandson.  I suggested "David Villa," but he didn't think that was too funny.  Anyone know where I can order a Spanish soccer jersey onesie with a number "7" on the back?

So ... as you can imagine, I haven't really gotten a whole lot done on the crafty front lately.  I pretty much spent the first four months of my pregnancy sleeping, and the next three months flew by so quickly that I don't even know that I could tell you what we were up to - only that it seemed that we were constantly busy.  We finally finished up with our move to the next town over (literally 2.5 miles down the road from our old neighborhood) into a great, kid-friendly, ONE-STORY, home with a fantastic backyard - and let me tell you, I don't miss climbing those stairs at our last place at all!  I think our favorite part is spending the cooler evenings outside, enjoying the delta breeze and watching our pups patrol the yard, trying to keep all the bugs and birds at bay.

I'm finally getting started on some crafty projects for the baby, plus some fun stuff on the home front, and should have some pictures to share soon.  Don't worry, the blog isn't turning into a "kiddie-gear" blog - but considering I can't sit at my sewing machine for very long before Voltron starts kicking in protest over being squished as I lean forward to cut or use the machine, I do have to warn you that the majority of my projects will probably be baby-related.  Be back soon, I promise!!

I'm officially an EVIL GENIUS!!

I blame my husband ... really.  Not only is it his fault that I'm addicted to Dilbert, but thanks to him, my laptop, which died about a year ago, has been resurrected.  I really am thankful, don't get me wrong.  Now I can {theoretically} blog and work on patterns from anywhere in the house, and can multi-task in the evenings by watching my daily dose of CSI (don't judge ... we enjoy a good evidence montage at our house and like to play the "count the cheesy lines" game ... which is way too easy with CSI: Miami!!) while playing my favorite mind-numbly-pointless-yet-addicting-time-sucking-clicky-games AT THE SAME TIME!!

Another big perk is that I can take a break from my Audible audio books and watch some Netflix while sewing.  Last night, however, as I was settling down to work on Eventide and watch some Grey's Anatomy, Season 2, I noticed that my laptop screen was a little small ... which resulted in some scrounging around in hubby's closet of spare computer parts, which resulted in ...

... the creation of my very own evil genius lair!  When hubby got back from his evening run and saw what I had done, he laughed ... and then brought in the sub-woofer that goes with the computer speaker system, just "to make the set-up complete."

So, I have big plans to spend the evening in my "man cave" with Eventide, and Denny and the rest of the group at Seattle Grace.

BU-WA-HAHA!

Holiday Crafts

Every year my hubby's office hosts a Holiday handmade gift fair, where employees (or their families) donate handmade gifts that are sold at the fair, and then all the proceeds are used to purchase Christmas gifts for the homeless or foster kids in need.

I had originally planned on just donating this winter table runner ...

... but when I came across Jennifer's (from That Girl, That Quilt) tutorial over at Stash Manicure for a Mug Rug with a tea pocket, I decided to give to make a couple of extra gifts to donate as well.

I've been seeing these "mug rugs" around blogland for awhile now, and after making two of them, I understand why they're so popular!  I mean, what's not to love about using those scraps from your favorite projects (that probably were too small to save for anything "practical" but were too beautiful to throw away) to make such cute little mini-quilt-coasters that can be completely finished in an hour flat!!  Plus, I'm finding that it's a great way to use batting scraps too!  I always feel so wasteful throwing away all my quilt sandwich trimmings, so I love having a new use for them.

Besides working on these three little holiday projects, not a whole lot of sewing has been going on in my little crafting room.  I did, however, take advantage of some crazy good "Black Friday" sales going on over at Connecting Threads and Burgundy Buttons.  I guess I went a little overboard ... as in 26 yards, plus a jelly roll, plus a layer cake ...

It's a beautiful sight to me, but hubby wanted to know if I actually was planning on using any of the fabric I already have.  I guess they just don't understand. :)  Needless to say, however, my stash for the year is WAY out of control.  I think it's best just to accept them and get ready to do much better in 2011!

Since I did have some small finishes this week, here is my current stash update:

Stash Update: November 4th - December 9th:
Used: 1.5 yards ... whoop-dee-doo.
Bought: 34.34 yards ... yikes!  (biggest purchase of the year, btw)
YTD: +93.9 yards

What's New?

Fall is my absolute favorite season, and I'm happy to say that it is finally hitting the Sacramento region!  While most of our trees have been picking up a little bit of color since mid-October, we've been having some unseasonably warm days lately, making it a little difficult to get into the autumnal spirit of things.  As of Saturday, however, the temperatures have dropped back down to where they should be, and we've some great, gloomy, rainy days -- and even some snow as low as 1500 ft!  Yay!

While this time of year is usually my favorite to either snuggle in with two puppies and a great book, or to hunker down in my craft room for some quality sewing time, lately, I seem to be off my groove.  Hubby and I are making some changes on the homefront, so we've spent most of the last week and a half in a frenzy of Spring-Cleaning-like activies.  I spent a good couple of evenings cleaning up my craft room, ironing and putting fabric away ... and I even tackled my crazy "shove" closet.  Everything is all neat and organized now ... but other than that not much has been going on, craft-wise.

I did happen across a stash of fat quarters that I purchase along with my sewing machine back in 2007, along with my first attempts at "quilting."  I had to laugh, because the blocks were really awful!  I hadn't invested in a rotary cutter or rulers yet, so I traced the shapes onto the FQ's (with no idea that grain direction made a {BIG} difference), and cut them out with scissors!  I hadn't quite figured out the whole 1/4" seam bit on my machine, so those first blocks were incredibly wonky, none of my seams matched up, and most of the blocks were about 3/4" (or more) smaller than they were supposed to be!

Unfortunately, I didn't stop long enough to take pictures ... I was really in "purge" mode at the moment ... but my first blocks really did make me smile and appreciate how far I've come!  I also have to say a big THANK YOU to all of you fellow bloggers - I've learned so much and been so inspired by your shared creativity!

While no significant new sewing has been going on, I have decided to use some of these scraps from my first blocks in a new quilt I'm working on.  My plan for 2011 is to do a series of quilt patterns using modern fabric with traditional quilt blocks.  The first pattern in the series should hopefully be releasing in the first part of January ... provided that I can be a good girl and finish all of my Christmas sewing in a timely matter.

Unfortunately, my super secret Christmas projects haven't received any love, which is scary since Christmas is only like 5 weeks away.  Yikes!  I have several open evenings this week, and a 3 day weekend following all of the Thanksgiving festivities, so I have no excuses for not having some sneak peak pictures ready soon!

I have made some progress on this month's Le Petite pattern (Butter Churn by This and That Patterns ...

... but after playing around with some of the square blocks and the little "ribbon" squares, I decided to make my piece a little bit bigger and completely re-worked the outter border, so that the finished project is about 40" square, instead of the 20-something" square shown in the pattern.  Leave it to me to make a project more complicated, especially when I'm on a tight time frame with other projects!  Oh well, it'll all work out.  It always does.

Happy Sewing!!

Something Wicked This Way Comes ...

(photo courtesy of Fat Quarter Shop)

... probably in the form of a brand new wall-hanging/table-topper.

Sneak peaks + stash & boxes update + new autumn table runner pattern coming this weekend.

What's New? - Part I

I haven't had a whole lot of crafting time (or blogging time for that matter), so now that the fabulous family festivities are over, I feel like I have a ton of catching up to do and that new projects are practically exploding out of my head!  So here's what's new!

Mom, JT, and I started our embroidery class at Bear Paws and Hollyhocks last week and had a great time with instructor, Shirley, aka the "Knot-Y Embroidery Lady."  The first class meeting just went over the basics - thread choice, the spit-free-way to thread your needle, knots, and the running and back stitches - but I think it's safe to say that I'm HOOKED!!!

While Shirley gave us a posie and a piece with our birth month to practice on, I could resist starting a new project -- I know ... big shocker!  I'd come across some cute, summery fat quarters during my last trip to JoAnns (for the $0.99 needle threader, mind you), and they were just perfect for to tablerunner with some embroidered daisies.  A quick google search for free embroidery patterns led me to the Needle 'n Thread blog and this great daisy pattern:

I printed three copies of the pattern, put two end-to-end, and cut the large daisy out from the third to use to join the two "ends" together as follows:

Another trip to Michaels for some matching thread and a number of episodes of "Bones" from Netflix streaming on the Wii, and this is the final result:

I'm so excited with the way it turned out, although, I can't decide whether I like it better as a table runner or a wall hanging.  What do you think?

I do have to say that one of the most important points that Shirley brought up in our class was the importance of a great light source.  She had us cracking up with her miner-like light-headband, and this great light that hung around your neck like a necklace, but they were all great ideas for portable light sources.

I found that in my house, I can see well enough to embroider downstairs until about twilight.  Not wanting to spend a great deal of money on yet another "new hobby," I improvised by placing my end-table lamp (an ancient one that I had in my bedroom as a kid) on a stack of cookbooks on the endtable next to the couch.  Unfortunately, the end of the couch is a rocker chair and the lamp had a rather large shade, so every time I went to stand up, the back of the chair would hit the lamp shade if I didn't remember to move it out of the -- which was most of the time.  After knocking it over three times (shattering the lightbulb the third time) and knocking the wiring a little loose, Rob generously decided it was time to invest in a new lamp ... and off to Ikea we went!

I came home with this little gem and let me tell you: for $25, it's well worth the money.  The neck is totally adjustable, so I can sit in whatever chair I want, and still have the light over my shoulder.  And the best part?  The base is SUPER heavy, and the lamp actually swivels, so if I forget to move it out of the way when I stand up, it just swings out of the way when the chair hits it, rather than falling over and scaring Lily and Luigi.

PS - the new bookshelf we came home with was just a bonus!!!!

Happy Sunday!

Happy Sunday to you all!  We've been having a great weekend so far!  Hubby decided on Friday that he was in need of a "furlough" too, so he took a vacation day and we headed to San Francisco to see the King Tut exhibit at the DeYoung Museum.  We spent a little bit of time wandering around the museum before our appointed time to enter the Tut exhibit, we stumbled upon the second special exhibit the museum was featuring: Amish Abstraction Quilts!  Yipee!

The quilts are amazing -- especially since they were all cut, sewn, and quilted by hand!  If you're looking for something to do today (1/21/10), the museum is open to the public for free -- otherwise, the exhibit will be there until June 6th, 2010.

Here are a few of my favorites -- pictures taken from www.pbase.com/brownsf/amish_quilts, where the rest of the quilts in the collection can be viewed.

(unnamed pattern, Holmes County, OH, c. 1930)

(Tumbling Blocks or Stairway to Heaven, Holmes County, OH, c. 1935)

(Broken Star, Holmes County, OH, c. 1930)

(Old Maid's Puzzle, Holmes County, OH, c. 1930)

This last quilt, whose pattern is a variation on the "Drunkard's Path" quilt block, is my favorite.  Seriously, the picture doesn't do it justice at all!  I was so inspired by this piece, that I'm thinking of trying my own variation at home!

So, the "Crafting ADD" continues here at home!  Unfortunately, I still haven't completed any projects, but this also hasn't stopped me from jumping into new ones!

I finally untied one of the Moda Gypsy Rose layer cakes and cut some 5"x5" squares from half the stack - why, why, why is it always so hard to cut into these Moda bundles?  Is it because they look so nice, sitting prettily bundled on my shelf?  Does anyone else have this problem?

Anyways ... they were sewn to some white-on-white blocks and cut into half-square triangles, and have been sitting there on my rotary mat ever since.  Friday night, I was playing with arrangements a bit, but nothing was coming out right.  Hopefully, inspiration will hit soon!

Speaking, of inspiration -- I've added some new features to the blog.  First of all, I'm starting to compile a list of my favorite blogs and inspiring women!  Sometimes, when I'm in a bit of a rut, looking at all the amazing works of other people can help jumpstart ideas in my head!

This weekend, I found inspiration from Natalie over at Cinderberry Stitches.  She does amazing work not only with some of my favorite Moda lines, but also with beautiful appliqued pieces and embroidery.  Two of my absolute favorite Cinderberry Stitches patterns are:

Fresh Breeze:

(available at http://thimblecreek.com/ for $12.00)

and Tailfeathers:

(available at http://www.treasuredthreadsonline.com/ for $130)

Natalie's work is so amazing and all of her creatures are absolutely adorable!  She does a great job documenting her creation process so that you can see her designs and patterns from start to finish.

She's inspired me to try a making something with a little bit of embroidery. This is what I've got so far ....

More pictures coming soon!

Second new feature - if you scroll to the very bottom of the blog, you'll see some photos of the latest listings in my etsy shop.  If you click on the photo, it will take you straight to the item.

Lastly, Mom and I have decided to join the Fat Quarter Shop's Designer Mystery Block of the Month club, which is featuring the fabric of Kate Spain's 12 Days of Christmas fabric by Moda.

The materials and pattern for the first block will ship in June, so keep your eyes peeled for updates here!  I'll be posting pictures of the completed blocks as we go along!  If you'd like to join, just click on the store link above.