Cotton & Steel Whole Cloth Quilt

I love all Cotton & Steel prints. They are just lovely. I’ve been treasuring this print for a while; its like a piece of art. I just couldn't get myself to cutting it. So I thought making a whole cloth quilt will be perfect. The fabric for the binding was he perfect match and it gives it such a pop of color. I really love how this quilt turned out.

This quilt will be available in my shop (opening very soon!).

Also coming soon a bit of redesigning of the site and a new name. Hoping to share everything with you in a short time.

Wishing you a wonderful week.

Textures

Last year I joined a creative group of quilters where quarterly we crate a small art quilt based on a chosen theme. Our group is called the Endeavourers and it is such a creative treat to see all the interpretations of each theme. This quarter the theme was Texture. While I was brainstorming ideas of how to execute this challenge, the  image of quilted texture came coming back to mind. As a quilter I’m always fascinated by the infinite number of quilting patterns and stitching techniques and how each variation creates a completely different texture on a quilt. So I decided to create sort of collage of stitches using various thread weights in the same color as the background, I wanted the color of the thread to blend in with the background and just and let the imprint of the stitches do the talking.

Such a fun project. Can’t wait to see what the next challenge will be

XO

Martha

2019 Goals

Do you make New Year’s resolutions? I typically don’t. But this year I decided that I’ll make some resolutions regarding my crafty endeavors. I’ve been feeling at a cross roads for a few months deciding what direction I want to go. I want to challenge myself more creatively and attempt new things that I have been too timid or afraid to take one. I would like to share more tutorials and take your behind the scenes of my creative process. And the biggest one of all (and probably the scariest one) I’d like to open up a shop and sell some of the quilts that I make. I’ve been dreaming about this for a long time, but the fear of failure has kept me from going ahead and putting the plan in motion. It is interesting how we put ourselves limits for the fear for failing, so I decided to change the narrative and be more intrepid. I figure, If I try and I fail it will be better than to keep wondering what if?

So this year will be a year of new challenges, but I’m really excited.

Wishing you a wonderful week

XO
Martha

Square in a Square Quilt.

Happy New Year friends! I hope you had a lovey holiday season.

In the midst of the business of the season I managed to carve some time for sewing and finished a few projects. One of them is this lovely quilt I made for my sister in law who just had a baby boy. The fabric in the center was my inspiration for this quilt. I think it is Dear Stella Organic Cotton (but I’m not really sure) I bought it years ago and I stashed it away waiting for the perfect project. Do you ever do that? hold on to a pice of fabric until it speaks to you? I tend to do that a lot.

I’ve been wanting to make an economy block quilt for the longest time, but lately I have been very into large scale blocks or one block quilts… so I set myself to work out the math and make a Square in Square quilt. And oh boy I’m so glad I did. I love this quilt so much. I don’t know what it is… the colors, the whimsical characters on the center or the combination of all. It is one of those quilts that just makes me happy to look at.

Also, I have been working a lot behind the scenes and setting myself some goals as to what direction I want to take my little blog in 2019. Please stay tuned for some great things coming up. Thank you so much for following along and I hope you will continue giving me your support. I really appreciate it.

XO

Martha

Happy Holidays

Is there anything cuter than pugs wearing a Santa hat? I don’t think so… My beloved pugs Holly, Zoey and Mona are not much for wearing hats but a fun photo app helped me get them in the holiday spirit.

Wishing you a very happy holidays .

XO

Martha

Sewing Kit

I love hand stitching and embroidery… I find the process very therapeutic and relaxing. And as you know those project are very portable. While I don’t travel much outside my home with my sewing projects I like to have my tools on hand to move from one room to the next without much hassle. This little sewing kit is the perfect size to carry the essentials and helps me keep my needles in place (I’m always so afraid about losing my needles and someone getting hurt by a stray needle). Have you ever been been hurt by a needle that was lost or misplaced?

XO

Martha.

Cross Stitch Ornament

Happy Sunday friends! Did you have a good weekend? I can’t believe the first week of December is gone… Christmas is just around the corner! I’m certainly not ready. I feel like I still have so much to do: many items of my long list of to dos to check off. I haven’t even finished putting up my decorations. But in the midst of this business I made my first cross stitched ornament. Nat from the blog Eat, Breath and Create is hosting a cross stitch Christmas ornament stitch along on Instagram and totally got me excited about dusting off my box embroidery flosses and hops and start stitching again. This is the first one of three different patterns on the stitch along. Next Tuesday she will put up another pattern. And I can’t wait to get started on the next one.

The fabric for the ornament I naturally dyed with coffee grounds. I wanted my little ornaments to have a bit of vintage look. My motto is always use what you have and make it work. I have about two meters of crisp white cross stitching fabric in my stash that my dad had bought for me. So I decided to get creative and dye the white fabric. The process was super easy and I’m very pleased with the results. If you are curios about the process of dyeing the fabric let me know in the comments and I’ll be happy to make a tutorial about it.

Wishing you a wonderful week!

XO

Martha

GIVEAWAY!

To celebrate my return to blogging and crafting I wanted to have a little giveaway. Just to say thank you for following along on my crafty journeys. The Prize: a copy of Tacha Brwecher’s fantastic book about English Paper Piecing Hexa Go Go. (one of my favorite books)

The giveaway is open international so anyone can enter.

• For a chance to win leave a comment on this post.

• For additional entries:

  • follow my blog

  • Follow on instagram

Giveaway closes on Saturday December 8 at 11:59 pm PST

Thank you for playing and good luck!

XO Martha