quilt club is back, y'all

Quilt club has been on hiatus since last fall when our patron store closed its doors (insert sad face). But, happy day, we are up and running again at a new location. Which means more pretty pictures of quilts up in here (up in here).

The group got together in April to catch up on life and show off what we've been working on since we last met. The group's consensus was that without the monthly group meeting, we weren't quilting as much as we would like. Hello, accountability.

Even still, there were lots of great quilts to see. My apologies, I left my nice camera at home, so these were just snapped with my iPhone. I'll do better next time.

quilt as you go pillow top

I love my boys. They are delightful. Spirited. Squishy.

They also systematically destroy all of the things that I love.

Case in point, this poor, pitiful Crate and Barrel pillow on my sofa. So. Sad.

So, yeah, this is why I'm posting about pillows all of the time now. Yeesh. We've been long overdue for new pillows around here. Enter this beauty.

This little ditty is a project from the book Quilt-As-You-Go Made Modern. I've used this technique once before when I made this toddler pillow sham awhile back, but that was before my sweet brother bought me the book with real, actual instructions in it. Always a plus.

Anthropologie style piped pillow

You guys.

I would love to be humble right here, I really would, but would you look at this pillow?

It. Is. Gorgeous.

It was my first pillow project to use a iron-on stabilizer. And my first project to make and use piping. And it has an invisible zipper. The trifecta.

See that zipper? No, you don't, because it's invisible.

Classic + Bright Master Bath

A couple of weeks ago I shared with you a mood board for the erstwhile new kitchen for my in-laws. This week I'm sharing the design concept for their master bath. This is an inspiration board that was meant to set the tone for the design, so it has more links to other finished spaces rather than actual products. This would have evolved into a board that contained all of the actual products we'd be putting in their space.

The goal is pretty much the same: bright and white, classic, timeless, and a teeeensy bit southern/farmhouse/cottagey.

shirred spring dress

I have been wanting to make a sweet little shirred (aka smocked) dress for more than a year now for Henry's girlfriend, Adalyn. Shirring is a technique that uses elastic thread and turns any fabric into a cute, ruffly, stretchy fabric that is just perfect for dresses and skirts.

Here's the problem. I tried umpteen tutorials and could never get the hang of it. My fabric just would not bunch. I eventually gave up in a super graceful way that definitely didn't involve pounding my fists on the sewing table or uttering curse words.

Fast forward a year and it's Adalyn's 4th birthday. I am bound and freaking determined to shirr her a dress, so I look for more tutorials. I eventually see a little note at the bottom of one that says in big red letters something like "if you have a Brother sewing machine, you're going to have a really hard time with shirring."

Oh, fantastic. Well that explains it.

Turns out that Brother machines don't shirr well due to the fact that they have a drop-in bobbin with no bobbin tension adjustment. There is a work around though. It sounds totally scary, but I promise it's not. You just tighten one little screw with a tiny Flathead screwdriver and VOILA! You can shirr! Here's a link to the video that will show you how to shirr on your Brother machine. Don't be afraid. It's worth it.

If you don't have a Brother, congratulations, because life just got a whole lot easier for you.

Now that my machine was shirr-ready, I followed this tutorial from Pretty Prudent to whip up this adorable springy dress for Adalyn out of some vintage fabric. Pink and purple paisley. Doesn't get much cuter than that.

Check out that shirring. And those pom poms. Come on.

I even had Henry model it to be sure it would fit Adalyn, since they're the same size. Yes, I have photos. No, I will not be sharing them. You're welcome, future 15 year old Henry.

Here's Adalyn modeling her dress. My future daughter-in-law, ladies and gentlemen. Those who can't seem to produce girl babies can sew for the girl babies of others.

This would be a great technique to use on grown up skirts too. Could you imagine a shirred comfy waistline on a cotton skirt when you're pregnant? I'm not (thank goodness), but this would definitely have been nice to have when my belly was the size of a beer keg.

MAY I INTEREST YOU IN…

muu muu summer dress tutorial

easy elastic waist skirt tutorial

super hero cape tutorial

neon sergered swaddle blanket "tutorial"