Sew Jess Quilts

merry christmas from my family to yours. i'm so happy i finished my Cotton+Steel Vintage quilt a few days ago and i didn't have to wait until next christmas to enjoy using it. plus it is nice to actually use my christmas fabric stash. plus the backing was made entirely from my stash as well! i love it when i can shop my own fabric and create a quilt. now for snuggling under the quilt since it is below zero out today. Happy Sewing! Quilt Stats: Pattern: Vintage by Camille Roskelley from Simply Retro Dimensions: 65 inches x 65 inches Quilting: Diagonal straight line Fabric: various Cotton+Steel fabrics from Tinsel and Garland

as 2017 comes to a close, i've reflected on what i've done this year. i continued to teach beginning sewing classes, as well as a knit garment class. i taught a block of the month and taught a summer kids sewing class. so for teaching i branched out and have discovered that i love it! i have finished plenty of quilt and sewn more garments for myself and my girls. but now it is time to start determining what i want to accomplish in 2018! as with years prior i want to finish off those quilty projects that i didn't finish this year! Checkered Bed quilt (still on the list from last year) Sunshine Ripples quilt Lizzy House Snail Quilt Lizzy House EPP Party Quilt Rainbow Boxed in Quilt Bonnie & Camille Vice Versa Sampler Quilt I Spy Polaroid Quilt Mini Charm Chocolate Quilt most of this quilts are just waiting for me to quilt. the tops are done, but with the decision to move mid-way through the summer, i tended work on small projects instead of my bigger ones.

this post is not quilty related, just an update on life in general. so i have mentioned a few times that my family and i are in the middle of a move. well today is the day, we finally moving into our new home in the UP. about mid-summer, my husband and i were inspired by a sermon we heard at church to look into changing our lifestyle. since we have been married (almost 10 years) we've had a goal of becoming debt free. so we started looking at housing prices in the UP and were amazed at what we could get. and if we could sell our house for a reasonable amount, we could payoff our mortgage, payoff my student loans, payoff a few other debts, and still have enough to buy a house in the UP in cash. so no mortgage payment! we could achieve what would have taken another 10 years to payoff, by just taking a leap of faith. yes, we are moving without a job, but at least there are plenty of job opportunities for my hubby and myself. and we both felt this is the right thing to do for our

i love sewing curves. i could sew curves all day long. it is a nice change of pace from just straight seams all the time. so when i saw that Sew Kind of Wonderful released a pieced orange peel pattern called Mod Citrus , i knew i had to try it out! since i knew i didn't have time to start a new project, we were starting to pack up our old house at the time, i decided to just make a table runner from some of my bigger scraps. this is going to look great in our new house! (only a week until moving day!) i used my low volume stash to make a scrappy background. i even pieced a few low volume on low volume orange peels to make a broken orange peel look. for the quilting i did my standard straight line quilting, but then went back and echoed the orange peels and i love the effect. i think once we are settled in our new home, i am going to have to revisit this pattern and make a much bigger quilt, maybe even bed sized! Quilt Stats: Pattern: Mod Citrus by Sew K

i have a new love, EPP (english paper piecing). i have messed around with it a few times over the years, but this past summer i really got into it. i love how portable it is. i could sit outside while my girls played and i could still do a little hand sewing. since lets be honest, sewing is my sanity keeper. so after my modern hexies mini, i dove right in. i've had a few Bonnie & Camille mini charm packs, so they were perfect for my first few EPP projects.  i used a Daysail mini charm pack to make this lattice piece. made with 1 inch honeycomb pieces. when i started sewing i didn't have a very clear plan, but as i went i knew i would applique it on point and i love the look. my next piece i used a Little Ruby mini charm pack and made my version of Tales of Cloth, Sprout quilt. since i was just using a mini charm pack it is obviously much smaller, but it makes a perfect little table runner for my side table. now i need a mate for the other table. my diam

over the summer i finished my fourth Quilt the Book series! i am using the book Quilts Made with Love by Rachel Griffith, this pattern is called Unconditional. since we had a wedding for my husband's best man this past summer i knew i was going to make a quilt and this was the perfect fit. this quilt was another stash buster. all of the fabric minus the background came from my stash. i love when i can create a quilt from my stash. and since i finished this one right before gifting, i only have the one picture. this was a fun challenge for me to finish this before my deadline.  i love HST, but after sewing and trimming 300 of them, i was less than thrilled. i love that they are so versatile, but man they can take some time to create. that is something i plan on working on this coming year, just to enjoy the process and take it one step at a time.  this was just a fun project quilt to work on and i hope the happy couple love it for years to come.  Quilt Stats: P