I’m excited to share how far gone my foray into quilting EVERYTHING is with you today. I made my sister a few things for Christmas and got a tad excited about free motion quilting along the way. This is my new favorite thing and I have about 17 projects lined up to use it in when I get home from my vacation. Not to get ahead of myself or anything!

This whole set is made using scraps from a 1/2 metre of Early Bird (Cosmo Cricket for Andover Fabrics) that I bought at least 3 years ago. Unfortunately I can’t locate any more for sale – likely since it came out in 2010. I’ve been gifting handmade things to my sister using this for a few years now. My favorite part of the fabric says “If we were meant to pop out of bed we’d all sleep in toasters.” SO TRUE!

The whole project started with the tea cozy. It is something my sister said she could use a few years ago. I cannot say enough good about the tea cozy pattern by Teje that I located on Craftsy. It is a free download – a great size, and the little hanging tea bag makes it perfect! I love that there is a ton of room for little quilty details too. I straight line quilted the front of the cozy, and cheater quilted the centre of it along the fabric lines. The back got some of my loops (as first seen in the Cargo Duffle Backpack!). These are so much fun to do and I don’t mind in the least that they are uneven, it adds to the artsy creativeness! I would love to quilt a whole quilt with these… but I may need a new machine with more throat space first.

Next up – the oven mitt. The pattern for this is from my One Yard Wonders book. It is a simple project with lots of room for quilting! The only thing I was not fond of was turning it. Because the insulated batting adds so much thickness it is amazingly difficult to turn right side out once it is sewn. I would also have lined it if I was making it again, since the pattern doesn’t include one. I got to use some of my organic Tsuru on this one, mixed in with the Early Bird and some other scrappy stashed bits. I love using things up!

Last up – the trivet. I used some insulated batting on this one as well. It is paper pieced with the same fabrics using the Teacup 1 pattern from Piece by Number. I think I made it backwards – I would have liked the handle to be on the right…. ooops. Anyhow – it reminded me how much I love this tiny quilty work. I’m really going to have to get on with a real quilt before I drive you all crazy! The trivet is self-bound using the same technique as the herringbone hot pad I made a while ago.

On the quilty theme – I was able to photograph all of these on a quilt that my mom made and hand-quilted. I think she finished it in the last 2 years? It’s gorgeous and I think might be mine some day. (Yippee!) Here’s a shot of it without all of my projects in the way. What patience – I am in awe of her dedication to the whole thing – it’s queen sized! And did I mention it was HAND-quilted?!

We are having so much fun on vacation here, I don’t know if you’ll hear from me again until next week when we get home. Though I have one thing I want to make before I leave – we’ll see if it happens! Follow along on Instagram if you want to see what we’re up to before then.