sewtakeahike

Congratulations Elsa!

 

For winning the Benartex Manly quilt kit bundle! I mailed it off to you today!

And thank you so much to everyone who commented on the Manly Quilt post, I wish I could have picked more than one winner!

 

Here's a little eyecandy, a saucepan from my book.

 

 

Happy Monday to you!

Penny

Bikes and citrus

 

 

Since getting our tandem last fall, Lenny and I have been daydreaming of summer rides into town to farmers markets, breakfast and to run errands. We have been taking advantage of some very lovely mornings the last several weeks to ride, and this weekend we had a weekend full of those things and it has filled my heart.

 

 

 

One thing we've found that helps to replenish us as we ride are orange wedges. So last weekend when we were camping, I drew up a new design I'm calling Sweet Citrus, inspired by our replenishing orange wedges as we ride.

This weekend I sewed one up and made it into a pillow for one of our chairs.

 

 

I have a few other ideas for this pattern, hopefully more pics soon!

xo,

Penny

 

It's officially Glamping season

 

 

 

 

 

Aurifil Mini Quilt Challenge

(image credit Sew Mama Sew) 

Aurifil has long been my favorite thread for piecing. The 50wt is thin and strong, and that's a huge deal when I have lots of seams when I paper piece. Thread takes up space in the seam, so I want to make sure it takes up as little space as possible.

So when Kristin at Sew Mama Sew asked for submissions for an Aurifil Mini Quilt Challenge, I jumped at the chance. Here are the participants:

Jennifer Waaraniemi of leo & lars

Amy Gunson of Badskirt

Vanessa Lynch of Punkin Patterns

Kelie Copas of Craft Nurse Quilt

Kristin Schwarze of And Chips

Geta Gramma of Geta's Quilting Studio

Lindsey Rhodes of LRstitched

Penny Layman of Sew Take a Hike

 

 

 

I have to admit, I felt extremely unworthy when I saw Geta's submission, and tossed and turned and all night before I finished my quilt, thinking it wouldn't be good enough.

 

But in the end, I went with my original idea because it represents me so well.  After all, that's one of my deepest desires, to create work that speaks of me and my style.  And my style is simple and uncomplicated.

 

Aurifil sent this thread set and the only guidelines were to use some of a few of the threads in the pack.

 

 (image credit Sew Mama Sew)

 

All the colors in Camille's set are so pretty, I decided I wanted to use a little bit of each of them.

 

 

*All the block patterns are from the Sew-Ichigo "In the Pantry set", available here, at Sew-Ichigo.

 

And here's my little mini all quilted. Each piece is outlined with the darker teal thread and then I added some sparkles (one sparkle of each color of thread in the set) to make it retrofabulous.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you Sew Mama Sew for allowing me to participate and thank you to Aurifil for making and sharing such fabulous thread!

 

xo,

Penny

 

p.s. If you'd like to purchase Aurifil, the Fat Quarter Shop has a huge selection!

Also, if you'd like to make an "In the Pantry" mini like mine, leave a comment saying you'd like to make one and I'll put together an illustration with measurements for you!

 

Cat house PSA

 

The change in weather recently has affected my cat tremendously with his sleeping habits. He's a typical cat, a heat seeker to the max. And since his cat house is positioned next to one of our gas stoves, that's where he can be found. I think the cat house makes him even more adorable!

If you'd like to make a cat house for your furry pets, you can find my pattern

here at the Interweave store.

The exposed fleece interfacing inside is irresistible to him, he loves to claw at it and the skylight is perfect for dropping toys in on a string to get him riled up.