Let your peeps flag fly!

Want to see the first thing I sewed at my new house? Yes, the boxes are not yet unpacked ... but I set up a makeshift cutting table in order to make this, my newest original creation: the Peeps Flag!

In case you missed it, the fabulous Lizzy House asked the Fat Quarterly team to serve as camp counselors for 1001 Peeps Summer Camp, her series of free project ideas made by guest designers from her newest fabric line, 1001 Peeps.

I couldn't wait to get my hands on the fabric (LOVE the peeps!!) and immediately came up with this project idea. I posted the free tutorial over on the Fat Quarterly blog (link below). Hope you like it!

-------> Peeps Flag Tutorial

Here's a helpful hint: if you start making a Peeps Flag at 10PM the night before it's due, you'll finish it at around 4AM. Ask me how I know this.

If you make a Peeps Flag, please let me know -- I'd love to see it!!

Guess who's in the new Modern Blocks book?

I am so excited to announce that I'm going to be featured in my second title with Stash Books. I had a blast working on the Moda Bake Shop book, Fresh Fabric Treats, and can now announce that I am included alongside many other talented quilters and bloggers in Modern Blocks: 99 Quilt Blocks from Your Favorite Designers.


This book is as straightforward as it sounds: nothing but block patterns, and lots of 'em. All of the blocks are designed to be 12", which makes this book a great resource for anyone making sampler quilts or participating in quilting bees.
My block's not on the cover and I'm not able to share it just yet, but the book is scheduled to be released in October 2011 ... which seems far away, but is right around the corner. I can't wait to see the other 98 fantastic blocks in this book!

June Quilting Bee Blocks

June was an interesting sewing month for me, as I tried to figure out everything I needed to finish before packing away all of my fabric and sewing materials into boxes -- which, as of the time of this writing -- are still not yet unpacked.

Luckily, I was able to squeeze in my quilting bee commitments for the month before moving.

First, Darci asked for wonky star blocks for her month in the Bee Tweet bee, made from some cuts of Kona Grass and an assortment of bright scraps -- including some precious cuts of Heather Ross' Far Far Away II, which Darci asked us to use as the star centers.

I was able to make 2 blocks for Darci, and used a square from Modern Workshop by oliver + s as the center of the block on the left:

Over in the do.Good Stitches charity bee, Jenn asked for triangular log cabin blocks inspired by this quilt (fantastic quilt, BTW -- you should really click over to check it out!)

Keeping with Jenn's requested orange + aqua color scheme, I first made these blocks ...

... which look great, but weren't yet cut to size when I took the picture. After trimming them down, I was afraid that the outer border was waaaaay too narrow and in danger of getting lost in the seam allowance, so I made two more:

And I felt much better about sending them along.

On to July, and I'm a bit worried about finishing my blocks for the month, what with all of the aforementioned unopened boxes and all.

My poor, neglected blog ...

So, it's been over a month since I last posted. Sorry for the long (and unintended) hiatus. I know that the quickest way for a blogger to lose readers is to stop posting regularly, so I hope that there are still a few of you out there reading this. I've been really busy, mostly because of this:

Yep, we moved! We're still in the Raleigh area, but just moved from one suburb (Cary) to another (Holly Springs). We were outgrowing our house at a rapid rate and it was time for a move.

As many of you probably know, moving a family of 5 is no small feat. It's been exhausing, both physically and emotionally. I'd like to think the worst is behind us, even if we still have a LOT of unpacking and settling in to do. I haven't unpacked a single sewing or fabric box yet!

In between all of the manual labor, we've also been trying to do some of this:

... enjoying the summer! Here's a picture of the kids at the pool this past weekend. We finally saw a drop in temperature from the high 90's (just in time for my move, of course) to a much more reasonable mid-80's, which was perfect for some summer fun.

Alas, probably not too much new sewing in the immediate future either. We're off to my little brother's wedding later this week -- the wedding is next Saturday in Brooklyn, NY, and I'll be serving as the best man! Time to start drafting my toast, I guess ...

I do have a bunch of draft posts just waiting to be written and pushed live, so I'll be trying to get those out over the next few days. Thanks so much for sticking with me!