Blog has Moved!

Part of creating your first blog means a lot of trial and error. Tumblr, for me, was a trial. During the course of the past few months I have found, increasingly, that most quilting and crafting blogs are located on Blogger. Therefore, I have decided to move my blog to: http://darlingmushroomblog.blogspot.com/. I hope you come along with me! I am excited to begin connecting with the quilting more easily in the Blogger platform :)

The Crafty Gemini hosted a Winter themed Mug Rug Swap this year! I was so excited to participate when she announced it in November. Basically, you get paired up with someone in the US and create a mini-placemat for your coffee. Then, you each promise to send it to eachother by a certain date.

So, after I got back from my holiday vacation in Virginia I got to work. I chose modern colors and got inspiration for the a strip pieced Christmas tree from a picture I saw on Flickr (Lucy MacLean). I set aside a space for a the “mug” coaster and hand-stitched it to my background using a blanket stitch. Then, I made some presents out of spare fabric and quilted a few key areas. My favorite section of stitching is the “1” which appears in the lower, right-hand corner. This was the first year my partner and I have ever participated in a craft swap, so I thought it was fitting. 

You can see in my pictures the mug rug I received in exchange. Thank you so much to Alicia C., who put her time into crafting this for me. The best thing about the quilting community is just that…it’s a community. Having a hand-made project from someone who shares the same interests as I do helps to make me feel like part of the community. I will definitely be participating next year.

Let me know what you think of the swap. Would you ever participate in something like this?

Source: facebook.com

Don’t Give a Hoot

I finally gave in and bought the “Owl Be There” Layer Cake from Missouri Star Quilt Company. I bought it as a Daily Deal for about $20, or something, and I’ve been itching to sew with it ever since. Surprisingly, that’s the first time I’ve ever bought fabric online before.

So, it took a while, but I found a tutorial that I liked! It’s called the Double Slice Layer Cake Quilt Tutorial, also by Missouri Star (can you tell that I love them?). I immediately understood the concept and started sewing. I only have the quilt top done, but it took me just two evenings! What do you think?

I found an awesome tutorial this morning at FilmintheFridge.com on how to make a scrappy triangle quilt block. I saw this tutorial and immediately wanted to try it out. 

So, I grabbed some scraps of fabric I had lying in my scrap basket and this is what I came up with.

I can’t wait to make this block using Christmas fabric! I’m going to make a wall hanging to make up for the fact that we can’t put up the Christmas tree this year (we have an older cat who loves to climb, and a kitten who likes to get in to trouble).

Happy Sewing!

Finally finished my 35” swaddling baby blanket/quilt. I will be posting it to Etsy later this week (as soon as I have a little photo shoot with it).

I machine-pieced the squares and rectangles and used my machine to put the border on it. However, I handquilted all of the layers together! It took me over 10 hours to complete this blanket and trip to the doctor! This is because, while ironing it on the floor, I rolled off of my chair incorrectly and broke my pinky toe!

So, lots of love in this blanket :) Can’t wait to see it go to a happy home.