A big thank you to Latifah from The Quilt Engineer for most of these photos!

The first piece is this bag, which is aptly named “The Awesome Bag”.  It’s a really cute, easy, bag to make (if you aren’t afraid of buttonholes), plus it’s reversible and you can lengthen and shorten the strap. How awesome is that?  There is a free tutorial by Elsie Marley right here.

The fabrics are RK Railroad Denim and London Calling 3.

Next was this little girl’s dress made from Blythe by Rebecca Bischoff fabrics.  The dress pattern is Figgy’s Scirocco Dress.  I turned right around and used the pattern again to make Emmeline’s Easter dress.

I want more of that dot on the bottom tier!

This quilt was made for the Studio Stash(by Jennifer Sampou) display.  It’s only 36″ and each square is 6.5″, so I really thought it would be quick, but I was so wrong! It’s all paper-pieced, so that’s piecing and matching 144 triangles, plus ripping all the paper out. Then my husband and I spent an hour just looking at the layout to make sure the dark and light colors were evenly disbursed (he’s such a good husband!).

This did give me an idea for my bee block next month, though, which I need to get organized!

I’m not normally a fan of batiks, but there are some prints and colors in this collection that are really pretty.  I really love these leaf prints and that yellow is amazing in person.

I decided to have fun with the quilting, so I did 7 different patterns in the negative space and repeated them diagonally.  I did all the quilting on my Juki.

You can see it here at Quilt Market, being displayed with my finally piece, the giant bolster pillow.

The pillow was also for the studio stash display and it’s a 40″ long bolster.

I was going to use a zipper, and then I decided it would add more interest to gather the ends.  I just made it up out of my head while I sewed, so there is no tutorial.

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Thanks for looking and have a great Memorial Day Weekend!

I am in full party planning mode for my daughter’s 2nd birthday.  I fell asleep last night making tissue paper flowers and didn’t get the post up Monday night.  It’s only 7:30am on Tuesday here, but I think pretty much everyone else in the entire world is well into their Tuesday!

So I’ll get down to business!

I had trouble picking my favorites this week.  There were lots of really wonderful projects.  Here are a few:

I adore these Little Red Riding Hood Placemats from Suedre at The Bored Zombie. There are four paper-pieced blocks in the series and the quilting she did it beautiful (check out her blog for close-ups and more blocks!)

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These are pillows I want to sleep on! Made by ChrissieD has a very lucky daughter with new pillowcases.  I love all the fabrics she chose and the red trim is a great touch.

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Here is one that is going on my “To Do” list!  Amanda from What the Bobbin created this fun, drawstring, backpack for her daughter from a paper-pieced bee block. Everything about this is simply adorable, from the bee, to the striped backing, to the lining and especially the little model!

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It’s time to link-up your projects from the past week!

• Sewing projects only (that includes crochet, knitting and anything with fabric and thread!)

•Please be sure to visit a couple other blogs in the link-up and give them some love.

• Link back to my blog and help spread the word about Sew Cute Tuesday

Emmeline’s 2nd birthday is this week (eek!) and I wanted to make her a new dress for her party.  My friend, Ramona, asked me if I would like to test the pattern for a new dress she designed, so the timing was perfect!

The pattern is called The BouncyFlouncy Dress and it truly is bouncy and flouncy!  It was easy to put together (even all those gathered, hemmed, flounces were quicker than I thought, because it’s a tiny little dress) plus it’s made from fat quarters, so I just pulled fabrics from my stash (mostly Spot On dots from Robert Kaufman).

I made Emmeline a 2T and then did tucks at the shoulders and a ribbon around the back, because she is a skinny almost 2 year-old.  Then I can let it out and tie it looser as she grows.

She loves this dress SO much and she is going to have a blast playing in it at her party.  The first time I showed it to her she shook the ruffles and said, “My beautiful dress!”.

Are you sick of photos, yet? I’m just gonna keep them coming!

 The pattern for the BouncyFlouncy Dress is available on Craftsy and Ramona’s instructions make it easy.

Somersaulting in her flounces.  I guess she needs a ruffled diaper cover!

This will definitely be a pattern that goes into Emma’s dress rotation.  Next up, is one in cool shades!

Wow, there were 1358 entries in my Sew, Mama, Sew giveaway! thank you to all my readers, old and new.  Welcome to the new ones and I hope you stick around!

The winner is:

#710, Katie!

I’ve emailed the winner, so if you haven’t seen the email yet, Katie, send me your mailing address.

Thank you so much to everyone who entered.  I wish everyone could win (including me, I never win giveaways!).

Happy Mother’s Day!

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This is a sneak peek of a quilt pattern I’ve been working on for Issue 14 of Fat Quarterly.  Check for it in the next issue!  (Don’t worry, I’ll announce it…you’ll be sick of me announcing it.)

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Would you believe I just started this quilt top yesterday?  I had a bit (ok, a ton!) of Robert Kaufman’s “Studio Stash” leftover from a project, and my husband has been asking me to make a quilt for an aunt who lives in a convent in Ireland.  I inquired on Instagram for a quick, fun, pattern and the St. Louis 16-Patch was suggested.  It was amazingly fast and I love the bold, checkerboard look.  There is a whole sew-along on Instagram right now (check out #stlouis16patch to see photos).

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These Courthouse Step blocks were made for Latifah from the Quilt Engineer, for Bee Happy Bee.  She is capturing the feel of an antique quilt (happy mistakes and all) with modern fabrics and it is looking divine!  I can’t wait to see this quilt finished!

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These X-Plus blocks were also for Bee Happy.  Nicole mixed together Denyse Schmidt’s “Hope Valley” with various low volume fabrics.  I really love these blocks and the fabrics she chose.  I’ve been wanting to make one of these myself.

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And yet another Bee Happy block!  This one is for Alison and it’s a Quirky Star Block from the book ‘Fresh Perspectives’ by Carol Jones and Bobbi Finley.  It is based on an antique quilt and the visual impact of all the blocks together is really stunning.

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I managed to finally catch up on my “And Sew On…” paper-pieced blocks.  This is a Block of the Month series over at Quiet Play and they are going to make a really cute wall-hanging for my sewing room when I finish.

Lastly, are my blocks for the “Lucky Stars” BOM being hosted by Don’t Call Me Betsy.  I’m having a lot of fun doing both of this and the “And Sew On…”BOM.  They are both paper-piecing, so they are a good way to exercise my brain (some people do Sudoku, I do intense piecing by number!)

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Whew!  That’s all for now!

It’s time again for Sew, Mama, Sew’s Giveaway Day (which is actually a WHOLE week!).  I do love a good giveaway and I’ve been holding onto this stack of fabric for you guys for awhile.

If you are new to my blog, welcome!  I’m Janice and I live in Southern California with my husband and two little ones (Liam is 3 and Emmeline is almost 2).  I’m a costume designer by profession, but I love sewing quilts, kid’s clothing and decor with modern and vintage fabrics. At the top of my blog you can find my finished quilts, projects and tutorials.  I also host a sewing link-up each week called “Sew Cute Tuesday“.

If you like what you see, please take a moment to follow my blog either by RSS, email or on Facebook.  You can also find me on instagram as “Betteroffthread”

I bet you want to know what I am giving away, right?  I have this delicious stack of Anna Maria Horner “Little Folks” voile just waiting for a new home!

The winner will receive everything pictured above, which is 28 different prints. Most cuts are 9″x 18″, a few are 6″x 18″ and the fabric in the middle is 23″x 23″.  This is more than enough for a super-soft and buttery baby quilt.  Add sashing and you can make a huge quilt!

I used these same fabric to make this Scrappy Trip Around the World quilt earlier this year and I’m giving you everything I have left!

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You can enter to win three different ways (enter once, or do all three, it’s up to you!)

1. Leave a comment telling me your favorite fabric line, book, or pattern.

2. Follow my blog (RSS, email, Bloglovin’…etc). Leave a comment telling me you are a follower.

3. Become a fan on Facebook, or follow me in Instagram (Betteroffthread). Leave a comment telling me which one you did.

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The giveaway is open until Friday, May 10th at 5pm PST.  Winner will be chosen by random number generator on May 11th.  International entrants are welcome!

Good luck to all!

It’s time for Sew Cute Tuesday!

There were 40 fantastic link-ups last week! You guys rock! Thanks for spreading the word about Sew Cute Tuesday.

Here are a few projects that caught my eye:

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Cassandra from Cass Can Sew made this chic little girl’s capelet from pink corduroy and vintage sheets.  What little girl wouldn’t want to twirl around in this?

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I love this adorable Tea or Coffee mini made by Gemma from Pretty Bobbins.  She is selling the pattern on Craftsy and she also has crazy-cute pattern for a retro TV that you MUST check out.

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Jill from Creating My Way To Success posted a tutorial for this cute and funny little “A Round Tuit” Mug Rug.  This would make a great gift (most specifically for your husband, ha-ha! “).  My family used to go to a mini-golf course when I was little that would hand out “Round Tuits”, so I have a certain fondness for this little mug rug.

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It’s time to link-up your projects from the past week!

• Sewing projects only (that includes crochet, knitting and anything with fabric and thread!)

•Please be sure to visit a couple other blogs in the link-up and give them some love.

• Link back to my blog and help spread the word about Sew Cute Tuesday