Project Organization

My sewing mojo is back! I have several small hand projects that I have been working on. These projects are perfect to work on while I wait for my doctors in the waiting room. I found the perfect containers from the Japanese dollar store to keep these projects organized.

I am working on two different English piecing projects: small hexagons and diamonds. They are kept in different containers.

Here is a picture of the diamond English piecing project that I am working on with reproduction fabric. Warning: highly addicting!

I quickly realized that I didn't have a needle book to store my needles while I am on the go, so of course I had to make one today. I found the perfect tutorial. Although it looks easy, it did take me a good two hours. This is a good project to use up some scrap fabrics. My needle book measures 4.5" x 3.5" when it's opened up. It fits perfectly in my project boxes shown above.

 Front of the needle book. 

Back of the needle book. 

How do you store your needles? Are you a pincushion kind of person? I would love to hear how you manage these sharp objects on the go! 

PIQF 2012

I took Friday off to attend the annual PIQF held at the Santa Clara Convention Center. I am so lucky that this place is so close to where I live. While I was uploading photos from yesterday, I realized that this was my sixth year attending this event! It's one of my favorites shows, and I look forward to it every year. A lot may have changed over the years, but my love for 30's reproduction fabrics remain the same, and I was able to score quite a bit of them this year. I spent about four hours on the market floor and barely had time to visit the exhibit section.

Here are some highlights of my favorite booths:

American Jane: I adore all things American Jane. I bought a few charm packs again and "A Baker's Dozen" book by Sandy. Sandy is the founder and owner of American Jane, and she signed my book! Oh so excited!

The "American Jane" booth. 

Cotton and Chocolate Quilt Company: I visit this booth every year because I love their hexagon templates. I bought more this year including size 3/8"! They are tiny hexagons, but they are just too vintage and cute to pass up. I recently read about this company in a quilting magazine, and they were considered one of the top ten quilt shops in the US! The owner was so sweet and nice. I also bought this light gadget you wear around your neck.

I am going to make one of these using these tiny strips of 30's fabrics I got. 

YLI: Their hand quilting threads are the best -- hands down. 

 

Holly Hill Quilt Design: My new discovery, but gosh, everything they had was just so cute. I had to get "everything." 

This is one of my favorite quilts on the exhibit floor. I love these aprons using reproduction fabrics.

"Chicken Aprons" by Barbara Bickford.

English Piecing Hexagon

I recently purchased some beautiful linen and have been thinking about what to make with it. I thought it would look cute with some pink hexagons. There are different ways to make hexagons, my favorite is the English Piecing method.

Here are a few all stacked up! They are 1/2" each, quite small.

This pink color scheme works quite well with the linen huh?

I think I know what I want to make with these hexagons and linen...