Coral Pantone Quilt Challenge 2019

It has been ages since I did a Pantone Quilt Challenge, but I just love Coral color and couldn't help myself from making a little Pillow present for my daughter's birthday, her DREAM PILLOW.

This pillow measure's 18" squared

I used a lot of fun fabrics

Mermaids

Narwhals

And Unicorns

The DREAM and the solid on the Flange is from Tula Pink's solids the other pink solid used in the curved piecing is Kona's Flamingo :)

Lots of Art Gallery fabrics were used along with several prints from Amy Sinibaldi "Paperie" collection, some Sarah Jane "Magic" pieces and several prints from Cotton and Steel Rifle Paper Company "Les Fleurs" collection

The piecing was sewn with Aurifil 2021 and I used Aurifil Brillo 739 for the gold accent on the stitching around the word DREAM and also for sewing down the flange binding technique that I love to use!

These Tula Pink Applique Scissors are a DREAM to work with, so easy to cut out the fabric with them.

Did I tell you it was my first time doing curved piecing, phew, it is a whole lot harder than I thought it would be, I am not a "pinner" but look at all of the pins I needed to use.

I will definitely try this technique again, but next time I will give myself some extra room to trim the blocks down, there wasn't much wiggle room with the original pattern.  Which is from the Love Patchwork and Quilting Magazine, Issue Twelve, designer Julianna Gasiorowska of Sewing Under Rainbow blog. 

Linking my DREAM PILLOW to the 2019 Pantone Quilt Challenge over at Bryan House Quilts

18" squared

and I live in GREECE!

Easy Easter Table Runner

This is a free pattern from Me and My Sister Designs, I used a mini jelly roll of V and Co. Ombre Color Theory solids with a few prints from their Spectrum fabric line.  Originally I was going to applique a bunny onto the runner, but then I thought that would limit the table runner to being only used during Easter.

Or course Aurifil was used and since I was using Ombre fabric, what better than ombre thread (aka. variegated)

4660 Pink Taffy, 3320 Spring Green, 4662 Spotted, 4669 Stonewash blues, 4670 Silver Fox

I also changed the pattern slightly to do a little bit QAYG (Quilt As You Go) style, since I have a hard time keeping my batting to stay in place while sewing (read here: I hate pinning)  So I sewed the 5 color groupings together and then sewed each one onto the batting.
Above you can see the Pink is down using wonder clips, I sewed just an 1/8 of an inch to the right of each seam and when I got to the 5th strip, I sewed on my light green (5) strips, right sides together, flipped it over, gave it a good iron and then continued by sewing just a smidge to the right of each seam and when I finished the light green I added the blue green and etc.
Then I followed the directions to add on the back/sides of the table runner.  I used the dark blue V and Co ombre for that.

It fits my table perfectly!

Just making a few more Easter things for the table and we will be ready for a great holiday, kids start school break this Friday for 2 weeks.

The cute Easter bunny basket is a pattern Hack from Molly and Mama's Darling Daisy Bag, find more information here.
I just might make an Easy Table runner for all the seasons, mmm.... summer hear we come!
Check out the hashtags #meandmysisterdesigns #easytablerunner or #12contestmeandmysisterdesigns on IG to see what other people have made

Sew Many Colors Mini

Sew Many Colors Rainbow Mini

I love Aurifil and I just so happen to have a ton of Kona Cotton Solids.

I picked out my Rainbow of Aurifil and matched them up with the Kona, now in case you don't have 100 FQ's of Kona laying around or even Aurifil laying around you can always check with Play Crafts Palette Builder wonderful color tool, to find the perfect match!

Now my favorite Yellow and Pink from Aurifil is their Variegated thread, so I made my spools out of multiple fabrics for those spools.

4660 Pink Taffy, I use so much of this thread, it's crazy!

4658 Limoni di Monterosso

But my all time favorite color is Dove #2600

2600 Dove, works with everything, can only get one color get this one!

Did you notice I changed background fabric, yup, I was working along using Kona Snow (my favorite "white" fabric to use) and then when I was auditioning fabrics to represent Aurifil #6736 (my new favorite dark thread) it was up against my color blue and I realized that Kona Graphite made all the pretty rainbow colors POP!

Colors Pop off of the Graphite Background and the Aurifil #6736 matches very well

Sadly the only other color that I know for sure of as far as the Kona goes is my light blue color, that is Robin Egg, my all time favorite Kona blue color and I matched it with Aurifil #2805.

Mara's Thread Collection Box

 In my Thread collection you will find:
Red: 2250
Orange: 1133
Yellow Variegated: 4658
Green: 5016
Light Blue: 2805
Dark Blue: 6738
Purple: 2520
Pink Variegated : 4660
Grey: 2600
White: 2021
Dark Blue Grey: 6736
and for things I want to be invisible Aurifil Monofilament

If you would like to make your own box of Aurifil you can get one with Busy Needle Quilting, what will you put in your's?

This mini is fun and easy to make, if you would like the pattern you can get it here.

It was windy and off and on rainy as we took photos today, I was hoping for a real rainbow, but no luck there :)

I would also really like to Thank my friend CeLynn for sending me a Bobbin Winder, it was very helpful for making this mini.

I use Aurifil #2600 when quilting the Variegated Threads, I don't want to waste any of the pretty Variegated color in the bobbin.

Linking to the Sew Many Colors Contest with Aurifil
And you can vote for my mini here, if you would like, sadly only 1 vote per person, there are so many great one's good luck picking out your favorite.
Turn your mini into a Sewing Retreat bag, perfect for holding your Aurifil threads, Free tutorial can be found here. 

Fall Thread Giveaway!

Hello Everyone,
Fall is my least favorite season, is it warm is it cold, sunny or rainy, please just make up your mind weather and do it!
But I do love the changing of the colors on the leaves, I'm not a big brown fan, but watching the leaves change colors is so fun and pretty.  Were I live we aren't there just yet, in fact I had to go up to the monasteries and even there only found 2 trees who leaves were going all pretty.

Behind our house looking down at Rousanou Monastery.

See the trees haven't changed just yet.  But I made these 3 pouches out of fabric that I received free from Moda, Courtyard by 3 Sisters, it's not my normal type of fabric and I looked at it and was like, ugh... but it sure does make pretty fall leaves.

For a giveaway I would like to give to you one of these pouches, a #sewillustrated pincushion, a charm pack of "Courtyard" fabric along with some Aurifil thread and gold ribbon!  Yippee, if the fabric doesn't thrill you the thread should, hahaha!

Fall Giveaway!

A Large 50wt. spool in color Moonshine 6724 and 2 smaller spools in #2370 and #4173
The exterior leaf

And the interior spelled motif of Thankful and Blessed

Are all done with this gorgeous and wonderful to work with Aurifil Brillo Gold thread!  I wish I could send some of this to you but no way am I letting it out of my greedy little hands!

The Silver is #800 and the Gold is #739

I did recently get my Aurifil thread order in from my favorite European source Busy Needle, Elita the owner is wonderful to work with, plus I think her prices are good!

Isn't that the cutest sticker, if you want one on your box just ask Elita!

This time around I was in desperate need of some neutral thread colors.

UhOh all out of Aurifil neutral colors, very hard to ignore all of the pretty colors.

Inside my box, I think I did a good job of just picking mostly neutrals, oh okay I had to get some color, I'm working on a long term EPP project that just needed those soft blues and pinks along with a brighter red and of course I will be quilting it with my favorite variegated thread #4660 in 12 wt.

2600 is my all time favorite neutral, it works with all colors as a soft grey, but with a nice sheen.
I also like 2021 it is white but not bright white or a yellow white, it is also very good.
New to me this time around were these guys.

New Aurifil thread colors

#6722 Sea Biscuit is a cross between the 2021 that I spoke of earlier and 2026, it's not as yellow meringue as the 2026 so I think it's a keeper.  Now as you can see from the number AND name 6724 and 6725 are very similar, they are a brownish grey color, not sure if I like them or not, the 6724 moonshine (that I am giving away) has a nice sheen to it, that reminds me of my favorite 2600, the 6725 moondust is more flat. Jedi 6736 is a dark grey blue color it's alright I will see how it looks when sewing up darker colors.
Did you read all of that, good job, enter below in the Rafflecopter for your chance to win some Aurifil plus the rest of the goodies in the picture.
The first one is mandatory but the other's are not, if you do stop by these shop's tell them Mara says Hi! And in case you are wondering why I want to say Hello to the Fat Quarter Shop, read last weeks blog post about how awesome they are.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

3 Fall Pouches

  Linking to Elm Street Quilts Bag It Event.
And Sunday Stash.

Why you should get the Sew Sampler Box!

In the beginning of September I was really lucky to have won Fat Quarter Shop's September Sew Sampler Box. But I said to myself, "I can't accept this, they would have to mail it all the way to Greece and that would be very expensive" (it's not by the way, keep reading :)

All of the Sew Sampler goodies (Aurifil threads are my own :)

 So I thought it would be a better idea for them to send it to a sewing gal who just lost everything in the Louisiana floods a horrible tragedy, not only loosing mementos like photographs and the memories of her home.  But her brand new car, brand new sewing machine and  her recently organized fabric stash.

The Floods took it all and she became homeless.  I asked the Fat Quarter Shop if they would be so kind as to send my September Sew Sampler box to her instead, to bring a small smile to her face.  And not only did they send the Sew Sampler box but they sent so much more!! Melody told me "We’re going to put together a little something extra for Margaret" lol, yes I see a little something extra.

All of the wonderful items sent from the Fat Quarter Shop

Wow, Fat Quarter Shop, you are so amazingly generous, it still brings tears to my eyes, and I'm not even the one who received all of these goodies, but I know that she really appreciates everything, Thank you so much!.  But then they also sent me my  box!! WHAT! WOW! 
I put immediate use to everything inside.

Making a pouch using this free tutorial.
Just changed the back to using 2.5" strips for the top and bottom of the bag and a 4.5" strip of linen in the middle.

And a Sew Travel Bag using Elm Street Quilts free tutorial

The only change I made to the tutorial is to bind it instead of sewing around and flipping it.  I have found when sewing with vinyl it is better and easier to bind it

SO why should you sign up for the Fat Quarter Shop's Sew Sampler Box, first it is a reasonable price of $24.95 a month the one time sign up fee is .99 cents and shipping well if you live in the States it's a no brainer, hurry up and sign up, what the f**k are you waiting for, only $4.95, Canada is pretty reasonable as well at $12 and then for us International's I thought for sure it would be like $25 to mail but it's ONLY $16 so again not bad at all, taking the total of the box up to $40.95 a month, and let me tell you you WANT everything in the box!  I am the kind of gal who can only purchase what I need, but there is of course so much more that I want, but never buy, well here you go, FQS as made it easy for you and is sending you the stuff you really wanted, but had a hard time actually purchasing, like this month's October box (you have till the 20th to sign up for) they have already shared this sneak peek.

All the heart eyes, they are going to send the Handmade Bonnie & Camille Embroidery Floss Collection.  I have had this in my I would love to have imaginary shopping cart since I say it come out at Spring Market with Lecien Cosmo threads.
So sign up today, you won't be disappointed, in the last box they sent over $50 dollars worth of supplies which makes up for even the cost of International shipping.
And I have already used everything in the September box, yes even the seam ripper (hehe) can't wait for my October box!!

I love and have used everything in the September box!

 Linking up my finished bags to Elm Street Quilts Bag It Challenge.
And Sunday Stash (it's been a long time since I have joined in).

September the cushion month

I made a few cushions this month for some challenges, I wanted to make more, but you know, time, it wait's for no one.
First cushion that I finished is a really easy and quick make, saw a gal do it on Instagram for the Modern Makers Cushion Palooza and was like oohh.. I want to make that with the new Raindrop fabric that I just got.

Buttons are cut from the Selvedge on the Raindrop fabric, so cute.

If you would like to make your own Sprocket Pillow, it is a free pattern available at Cluck Cluck Sew
It was really rainy, for weeks, so this pillow had some magically powers and made it sunny again.  My daughter has claimed it as her pillow.

Rain, Rain Go Away, Come Again Some other day! I'm not a fan of rain, can you tell :)

Next up was actually a UFO/WIP I didn't finish it originally because I wanted to make the back special as well as the front and was trying to come up with something.

I decided on this, what do you think? Makes me think of a Stained Glass Porthole.

The kids fought over who would get to claim this pillow,

Katerina technically won, she is very good at wrestling, but since she got the previous pillow this one went to Nik.

Nik was excited to have won and even agreed to take some photos (rare occurrence)

I then asked if he could take a few photos with me holding the pillow, this is how that went.

 Me Speaking.

1. Don't stand so close to mummy.
2. Try to get just the pillow
3. That's better, but try to get all of the pillow in the picture.
4. um yeah I guess your done taking photos then huh?

This pattern is a free video tutorial from Missouri Star Quilt Company, instead of the 5" pieces of fabric suggested in the tutorial I used 2.5", the pillow measures at 20" square, and I used a zipper at the bottom.

We took these pictures at an old abandoned stone house.

Next up is a labor of love, I had originally wanted to enter it into 3 different challenges, but was unable to finish it in time for the Selvage Challenge, that is okay because I originally got this idea from a gal on Instagram when she showed her #shapefamilychallenge pictures and I just loved how she made Hearts out of Paper pieces!

these hearts are made with
1 - 2" 6 Point Diamond and
2 x 1" Jewels

 When you put the hearts together they made a void in the shape of a star, SO I am calling this cushion Swirling Hearts and Stars.

I went outside again to take some new photos, does this one look better?

Originally I was only going to quilt the stars,

Only stars quilted

But it didn't pop as much as I thought it would, so then I quilted everything except the hearts, plus I really wanted to use my new Aurifil Brillo 739, it's so pretty and sews like butter!

Everything quilted but the hearts

I used some of my favorite prints with selvedges and some of my favorite designers got heart's around their names, don't worry I live to far away to become a stalker :)

I also mention my family, who lives in the USA

Okay I'll stop now, Picture overload! oh wait, let me show the back, had this picked out in the beginning for the selvedge challenge,

Insta Love fabric on front and selvedge on back

Envelope back, cushion is not stuffed yet, need to make a special shape for it and I'm out of fill.

Linking all 3 Pillows to Modern Makers Cushion Palooza
And the English Paper  Piecing Pillow that I showed last was made using the Hexie Shape Family from Tales of Cloth for their #shapefamilychallenge
Thanks for stopping by!