In My Sewing Room

Since finishing my Christmas quilt on New Year’s Eve, things have been a little quiet on the sewing front. Quiet doesn’t equal nothing happening. But it’s been a bit slower paced.

I finished the hanging sleeves and labels for my two QuiltCon quilts just before winter break ended, and shipped them off to Austin last week. I’m looking forward to seeing them on display in February! QuiltCon will be here before I know it.

At our Gulf Coast MQG meeting last weekend, we showed off our charity quilt! One member finished it off with binding and hanging sleeve over the holidays, so now that I have it back, I just need to add the label. The charity quilts aren’t supposed to arrive before the end of January so I’m holding on to it for a few more weeks…and planning a super fun photo shoot that the guild will reveal closer to QuiltCon.

After anxiously checking the mail for a few days, I was happy to receive the current issue of Curated Quilts magazine, with my Shattered mini quilt featured in the gallery! This is the first time I’ve had anything published in a magazine, and I was pretty excited to see it. This was the first time I entered their mini quilt challenge, which they do for each issue to match that issue’s theme. I skipped the most recent challenge, but hope to make another entry for another challenge later this year.

(Also, I entered this mini in QuiltCon and it didn’t make the cut. Let this be a reminder to myself and to others that just because your quilt doesn’t get selected for one show or publication doesn’t mean it’s not a good fit somewhere else!)

Over the last week, I tested this upcoming pattern from Audrey Esarey (@cottonandbourbon). With the curves and precision piecing, it’s not for the faint of heart, but I’ve been enjoying it and look forward to sharing the finished quilt closer to the pattern release date in early February. (The top is done, but it still needs to be quilted.)

That’s my fabric pull in the photo above — I chose a monochromatic color scheme using 5 shades of teal from an Art Gallery PURE Solids bundle plus white. I think this is the first time I’ve worked with the Art Gallery solids and am really enjoying the fabric hand — it’s thinner and crisper than the Kona cotton I usually turn to when using solids.

And finally, I’ve got a new pattern and quilt in the works that will probably take up the bulk of my quilting time for the next two weeks. But I won’t be able to share it until later this year. Secret sewing is the best AND the worst!