Wishing for Autumn and A New Shawl

Happy Saturday! I hope you are having a lovely weekend. I'm having a great weekend so far. Enjoying what it seems to be the last days of summer (I hope). While summer has been fun, I find myself wishing for cooler weather. I started to notice a few glimpses of autumn here and there: it is getting darker in the evenings a lot sooner and some trees have already started turning colors.  

I feel like autumn weather is the perfect knitting weather so in anticipation of its arrival I began knitting a new shawl.  The pattern is Nae available on Raverly.  It is a beautiful pattern and what I find most interesting is that is knitted from side to side rather than from the center.  It is truly an enjoyable project and it is growing really fast! 

*Linking up to Wool Sundays at 

Rainbow Hare Quilts

 and Yarn Along at

Small Things

*

Wishing you a happy weekend!

XX

Martha

Plus Quilt

For the past few weeks I've been planning on making a quilt for my sister. Her birthday is coming up and I wanted to give her a quilt. But I couldn't settle on a design. I wanted something young and fresh and I just couldn't make up my mind.  Then suddenly one day the light bulb in my head went on: a plus quilt! The design is simple yet modern for a young lady...There is something so special about simple patchwork that I'm always drawn to it. I don't think I can ever get tired of it. The piecing was fast and easy (maybe that is the reason I like patchwork so much) and I used only fabrics from my stash. 

For the quilting I did a meandering design that blends in well with the fabrics but gives it a nice texture. 

One of my favorite parts about this quilt is the backing. I found the fabric at my local fabric store and I bought it because it reminded me of Charlie Brown's t-shirt, don't you agree?

I hope my sister likes her present as much as I enjoyed making it for her. 

Wishing you a beautiful week.

XX

Martha.

Table Linens

Happy Friday. Are you ready for the weekend? I'm so ready. I have so many sewing plans. I hope I get to finish all of the things I have on my list (or maybe at least half). However, right now I wanted to show you the fruits of last week's sewing session. The projects are very utilitarian... but still super fun to make. I needed a table mat to protect my dining table. I usually don't like tablecloths for everyday use on that table. But for some reason that table is like the heart of the house and most activities end up centered around that table and it needs something to protect the surface. So I made a couple of table runners to be used as table mats. They actually work out perfectly as a place setting for two, too. They are very basic. But there is something about simple patchwork that I love so much. And now table clean up is a breeze! Win, win :)

I hope you have a great weekend and happy sewing

XX

Martha.

Bandana Cowl

While summer is still in full swing around here (today was about 96 degrees Fahrenheit), I have been slowly adding to my winter wardrobe. This weekend I finished this super cute and easy to knit Bandana Cowl. The pattern is from the Purl Bee. I started knitting it about three weeks ago and I still cannot believe how fast it went by. I have to admit though that I made a couple of mistakes. But the pattern is so forgiving that they are hardly noticeable. I absolutely love the way it turned out, imperfections and all. Now I just have to wait for the weather to cool down a bit so I can wear it.  But in the meantime I think it is time to start  my next knitting project.

I hope you have a beautiful week!

*Linking up to Wool Sundays at

Rainbow Hare Quilts

 and

Yarn Along At Small Things

*

XX

Martha

Farmer's Wife Mini Quilt

I've been cleaning and organizing my sewing room and I came across a few blocks that I made a while ago attempting to make the Farmer's Wife Quilt Sampler. Since the beginning this project has been kind of a love/hate relationship. I would love to one day make the whole quilt maybe in another color palette and try to hand piece the blocks. But for now I picked my favorite blocks  that I had made and turned them into a mini quilt to decorate my sewing room. I hand-quilted the blocks and the negative space I machine quilted it. I really like how it turned out and it looks lovely hanging on the wall in my sewing room.

I hope you have a wonderful week!


*Linking up to Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts*

XX
Martha.

A Picture... A Moment

A dried sunflower we left out for the birds to eat the seeds. Just a little reminder that there is beauty everywhere. 

Wishing you a happy weekend!

XX

Martha.

Broken Glass Cushion

I've been trying to organize my fabric and fabric scraps in an attempt to make use of them. I have decided not to buy any more fabric for a while and use what I already have. While I admire quilters who have an enormous collection of fabrics and sometimes I dream about having a large stash like them, in reality that just doesn't work for me.  Mainly because I don't have enough storage. And the lack of storage leads to me feeling overwhelmed because of the lack of organization and fabric piled up waiting to be used.

So this is my first project in my quest to trim down my fabric stash. The scraps are the leftover pieces from my Summer Kaleidoscope Quilt. The leftover pieces were mostly half triangles so I pieced them with pieces of Kona Snow in a random pattern. And to complement with the overall improv look I quilted it with  random straight lines all over. I'm very pleased with the way it turned out. And it makes me think that my little experiment will work out. 

Wish me luck as I resist the temptation of buying more fabric and try to be resourceful with what I  already have.

XX

Martha.

Summer Moments

There are many things that I love about summer but my favorite part is the time we spend in the garden. Our doggies love exploring each corner of the garden and even "help" pick the vegetables. 

How about you, are you enjoying you summer?

Happy weekend!

XX

Martha