Busy summer ...

Sorry it's been so quiet around here lately. Well, it hasn't really been quiet, but I haven't really had a chance to post to the blog much. You know what I mean. Besides dealing with the aftermath of taking our house off of the market (still not happy about that!) and just trying to enjoy a little bit of the summer with the family, I've also been hard at work on my projects the next issue of Fat Quarterly. See this gorgeous stack of fabric?:

Well, it's all cuts of Valori Wells' new line for Free Spirit Fabrics, called "Nest". It was one of my favorite new lines (if not the favorite) from market, and I was so lucky to be able to work with it. For those of you who (quite astutely) notice that I rarely make big quilts, stay tuned. Our next issue will be released three weeks from today, on Tuesday, July 27th. Eeeep, I'm so excited!

I haven't been able to do much else, but I did get a chance to play a bit with some of Kate Spain's beautiful Verna line. I made these 8" blocks from a pattern in the latest issue of American Patchwork & Quilting magazine called "Linked Together". Sometimes my favorite projects are ones with no end goal in mind -- I saw the pattern and was inspired to combine it with these prints. I considered using it for my Pillow Talk Swap pillow, but wasn't sure if it was a good match with my partner's preferences. At this point I don't know if this will become a full quilt, a mini quilt, a pillow, or something else ... but frankly, it doesn't matter. I'm just going to make more blocks until I either get sick of them or run out of fabric!

PS. The solids in the blocks are some of Moda's Bella solids, and they coordinate perfectly.

Speaking of Verna ...

I haven't been able to play along in the Year of Schnibbles as much as I had hoped to, but I REALLY want to make the July pattern. It's one of Carrie's new ones called Joy Luck, and here's an image of the version used on the pattern cover. It's also made with the Verna line. Pretty, no?

Have you registered for camp yet? Summer camp, that is. Check out the Castle Peeps Summer camp hosted over on Lizzy House's blog. It'll be full of fun projects featuring Lizzy's new fabric line. The first project is already posted, so head on over and see what it's all about.

And finally, I've had a few more sightings of projects made from my tutorials. Katie of Katie's Corner made this super cute iPad sleeve as a gift for her friend. Don't you love her fabric selections?

One of my oldest online quilting friends, Sequana, made this gorgeous "Off the Grid" quilt from some Basic Grey fabrics.

Want to hear something funny? Sequana was the recipient of my first ever mini swap quilt a little over two years ago. Here is a picture of the quilt I sent. I stressed out about this quilt SO MUCH. And if you flipped it over, you would see that the binding is a hot mess. (I really had no idea how to bind a quilt. I kind of improvised.) Anyway, she assures me that the quilt is loved in its new home and is hanging on her wall!

A trip to Sequana's Flickr stream revealed another amazing quilt that she recently made. This is made from the "Lantern Lounge" pattern by Scott of Blue Nickel Studios, and was featured on the Fons & Porter website. Read more about it on Scott's post (which includes a direct link to the pattern) here.

Isn't it amazing? Anyhow, I am sorry for the rambling post -- I know I was a little bit all over the place. I hope to get back into a more regular posting routine soon but, in the meantime, have a great week!