B In The Studio

WIP Wednesday #4

By B October 20, 2022Quilting, Sewing, WIP Wednesdays

Hi friends! Well, it has been a rather wacky week and I haven’t gotten very much sewing done since the weekend. I haven’t gotten the giant nautical quilt loaded on my long arm yet, but I did get started on a football quilt my Stepmom asked for that she is going to gift to her 9 year old grandson.

Here are the fabrics I picked. I found a cute Seahawks bundle on Keepsake Cottage Fabrics and they had the fun helmet fabric as a backing bundle as well. Then I added in this fun football print as well.

We decided on just a simple patchwork of squares. I started cutting them at 6″ (so they would be 5.5″ finished), but a couple of my fat quarters were a tiny bit under 18″ after I pressed them so I ended up making them 5.5″ squares, which will be 5″ finished. This is as far as I got though…I think I got through most of the things that were keeping me out of the studio so far this week, so hopefully I will get more cutting and sewing time in tomorrow and Friday and will maybe get enough time for piecing to get the quilt top finished!

What is your WIP Wednesday project this week? Have you had a wacky week like me? I’ve heard it seems to be going around!

Weekend Sewing

By B October 18, 2022In Progress Pics, Quilting

Hi friends! Did you get time to sew or create over the weekend? We had a quiet weekend at home and I spent both days in my studio.

I need to quilt the big nautical quilt that I was working on last week…which means the quilt that has been hanging out on my long arm frame for awhile now needed to get finished. But I got it done!

I added the binding (look at those cute snow globes!!).

And then had the brilliant idea to finish the binding on my machine. Which reminded me how much I dislike finishing bindings on my machine and much prefer hand finishing them!

I needed a small project after working on the big king quilt, so I sewed up this cute hexi baby quilt top as well. I’m thinking I will share a tutorial on this top soon on the blog!

What are you working on right now? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Fri-Yay #4

By B October 14, 2022FriYays

Wow guys, how is it already Friday again?! This week has just zoomed by around here. Are you ready for my favorites from the week?

I did an online grocery order and got a big bag of flour because I have been baking so much and making our bread. How delightfully surprised was I when I found a FABRIC bag of flour in my trunk when I got home. I definitely will be making something out of that once I get through the many pounds of flour!!
I watched this documentary on Amazon Prime Video today and loved it! But, as an author and craft book hoarder that makes sense…
This week I have had this soundtrack on repeat.
I went to the neighboring town Lynden to go to the fabric shop there earlier this week and stopped by the Lynden Dutch Bakery. I found some raisin buns that I got for the kids for breakfast and they devoured them and asked for more. I searched and found this recipe that I am going to try next week once I get to the store and get raisins.

And I leave you with cute dogs snuggling on a Halloween quilt!

I guess I didn’t take as many photos during the week to share today as I have been. I have been working hard on the king quilt top I have talked about, and it feels like the week just flew by. I hope to have the top done and share pictures of it here soon! How has your week been? Leave me a comment and let me know your favorites things from the week!

WIP Wednesday #3

By B October 12, 2022In Progress Pics, Quilting, WIP Wednesdays

Happy Wednesday friends! How has your week been? I don’t have a ton more sewing progress to show you since my last post, it feels like my sewing time has been used doing other things this week. And I can’t even tell you what those things were, the week has gotten away from me I can’t believe it is Wednesday already!

I did get a few more navy fabric’s for the king sized quilt I am working on. I didn’t feel like I had enough dark fabrics for how many light fabrics I had, so I grabbed these locally this morning and ordered some other navys to mix in that should be here in the mail tomorrow.

I did manage to get some progress done, but I am sort of pausing now until the other fabrics arrive tomorrow. Those top three strips are sewn together though! That bottom one is not, nor is it long enough. Because of the repetition with the fabrics (can spot the matching fishy fabrics that touch?!) I think I will add a few more strips between before sewing that bottom one to the rest of the top. Also, do you remember how I said I might add a row of half height rectangles between the big block strips? Yeah, apparently that went out the window today….

I pulled this gorgeous yellow/gold/pink bundle out to press while I wait for my navy fabric to come in the mail. This is going to be my first free pattern I post on my blog here and I am super excited to get started on it so I can share it with you soon! I found this bundle in the Ember and Lamb Etsy Shop and have been saving it for the perfect project.

I’ve also gotten a bit of knitting on my sweater in this week, although not much and I didn’t manage to get a photo.

What about you? Have you had time to get some creating in this week? What are you working on? Leave me a comment below and let me know!

Scenes From Sewing Saturday and Sunday

By B October 10, 2022In Progress Pics, Quilting

I like to sew on the weekends because we tend to be home and I don’t have to stop and start running in and out for school drop offs and pick ups. I started working on the nautical quilt I shared the fabric for last week. I decided to do improv piecing with extra large blocks. I am aiming for 15″ strips, though some of my fabric was a bit smaller and I ended up with one 14″ strip.

This is the main fabric that my Stepmom wanted the quilt to be based on, so I started with a 15.5″ square to build from.

I’m just winging what I am doing for the blocks, so I decided some Half Square Triangles made into a pinwheel would be a fun addition.

I have done several other nautical quilts in the past so I have lots of prints that are fitting for this quilt. I am loving using up some stash fabrics! I feel like recently I have had a lot of fabric coming in, but not so much getting used from my stash.

I made a couple giant 15.5″ Half Square Triangles. It is super fun to sew on a large scale!

These are the strips I got finished over the weekend. My design wall is about 90″ wide for reference, but I will still need to add another block or so on the ends of these long strips to get the quilt to king size. I am thinking I might add half size rows of rectangles between the bigger block strips, but I haven’t decided yet. I’ll keep you posted as I keep working!

Did you guys get time to sew this weekend? What are you working on? Have you managed to use your stash, or are you like me and nothing in your stash ever seems “right”?!

Fri-Yay #3

By B October 7, 2022FriYays, Uncategorized

Oh my goodness, it is Friday again! The week goes so quickly with the kiddos in school! Here are my favorites from the week:

I am still on a bread making kick and though I have not gotten my sourdough to come out right yet I decided to make some yeast bread instead while I work on another sourdough starter. It is so yummy, my kids LOVE it (and they are extremely picky). I used the bread recipe from my much loved Little House Living* book (it is one of my all-time favorite and most used books).
I’m still on a Jack Johnson kick! This week’s favorite is Calm Down (can’t we all use that message on repeat in the background?!!)

In making my bread I realized I have one small bread pan and one larger one. And both are not in great shape and kinda rusty on the bottoms. So I went on Amazon to replace at least the little metal and found this gorgeous ceramic light green loaf pan*, which I immediately ordered. I have been on a kitchen clear out recently and have decided when well used things need replacing to replace them with beautiful ones I really love. I really love this one, and I read in the reviews it doubles as a mini casserole pan, which makes me love it more! Of course now I want all the other versions too…
I found out we’re going on a FIELD TRIP for M’s school this month! I know this might not seem that exciting, but with Covid school as a 3rd grader M has only been on one field trip ever, and it was fall 2019 and he was only 5. I am so excited things are going back toward more “normal” around here, even if just a little at a time.

I used to shop at a cute fabric shop down in Country Village when we lived in Bothell (like a million years ago now). Well, the owner of the cute fabric shop happened to walk into my husband’s office recently and said she is selling online only now. They of course chatted because Mr Danger has been a craft-husband for ever, and then I of course got on her website and ordered fabric. This cute order came last week and I can’t wait to sew with it! Look at the adorable ribbon the fabrics are wrapped in, and I got a free spool of thread since I ordered on “Thread Thursday”!
I watched Cooked on Netflix and just soaked up every minute of it. I have recommended it to every one I know this week, and I am recommending it to you now! I’ve never been into food shows, but I have watched several this year now.

My neighbor mentioned he was having a bit of a hard time and I wanted to do something to let him know I was thinking about him but I didn’t know what to do. So I made this gorgeous Apple Galette yesterday and we took it over. I used the recipe in my much loved Food Gift Love* book and it was just delicious (I made one for us as well). It was so good I was on Pinterest looking at other types of Galette recipes this morning because I want to make them all the time now!
Mr Danger and I went over to check out The Green Barn little grocery shop in Lynden this morning. If you are in the area it was a sweet little shop with all kinds of produce and local cheeses and breads and even a Dutch corner filled with fun treats!

And, because I take more pictures of my dogs than my kids, a sleepy poodle snuggling in a bathrobe.

Well, I think that wraps up this week! I didn’t get much sewing done, my time seemed to be mainly spent in the kitchen for my creating this week. But I did THINK about sewing a lot, so that counts! What are your favorites from this week? Leave me a comment and let me know!

*Links marked with a * are affiliate links that I may earn a small commission from at no cost to you in order to help me keep my blog going.

WIP Wednesday #2

By B October 5, 2022In Progress Pics, Knitting, Quilting, WIP Wednesdays

Hi friends! Want to see what I am working on in my studio this week?

I haven’t done much knitting in a long time, but decided to pull out some yarn over the weekend and start on a sweater. I got in a minor car accident and got rear ended about five years ago and it tweaked my shoulder. It was painful to knit for a few years, and then I fell out of the habit, and then the last couple years have been a black hole…. I was working on this simple Vasa sweater pattern from Paper Tiger back in 2020 and put it down. I picked it up again this summer and wasn’t loving it, so I decided to start over with a couple yarns from my stash. I’m using a Merino and Silk blend called Findley from Juniper Moon Farm. It is a lace weight and not the sock weight yarn used in the pattern, but I did a little swatch and decided to knit a bit of the pattern and see if I like how the fabric looks and feels once it gets a bit bigger. I really just like knitting for the process more than the product, so I don’t mind knitting without knowing if I will love what I am working on, with the possibility I will rip it out. Coco the Toy Poodle doesn’t mind either since it means extra snuggle time.

My Stepmom asked me to make a king sized quilt for her and my Dad. My Dad is a fisherman so she has sent me some fishy themed fabrics to work with, and then I have found a few more (of course!). I got all the fabrics pulled together and laid out today and I just need to dig through my stash and find some good basics to mix in. I haven’t decided what I am doing for the design yet, but I will share it with you when I figure it out!

This adorable fisherman fabric from Dear Stella is going to be the back. Aren’t these little captains too cute?!

This is a sneak peak at a pattern I am working on that I hope to be sharing with you soon! I got these samples finished Monday and I am excited to get on to taking process photos and writing up the directions.

What are you working on this week? Leave me a comment and let me know!

Name Tag Sew Day

By B October 3, 2022Finished Projects, In Progress Pics, Quilting, Sewing

I am a member of the Bellingham Modern Quilt Guild and they hosted a Sew Day yesterday with the focus to make a name tag if you didn’t have one. I had not managed to get one done yet so I jumped at the opportunity to get mine done!

After digging around on the interwebs for ideas I decided I wanted to piece the letter B for my name tag. I found this paper pieced alphabet pattern through a Google search and then dug through and found some cute pink and yellow fabrics in my stash.

I got the B pieced and added some extra background at Sew Day yesterday, but that was as far as I got.

Today I quilted the name tag quilt sandwich, added a magnetic attachment on the back (like on a retail store name badge), and added the binding.

Tah-dah! Finished name tag in time for our monthly guild meeting tonight!

If you are in the Bellingham area I highly recommend coming to the Modern Quilt Guild! We even have members from as far away as Skagit County, and there is another Sew Day coming up on October 22. The guild is just the nicest group of crafty ladies and I really enjoy seeing everyone’s creativity. Sewing a group and being able to share is really a delight for me.

I hope you get a few minutes to create today! Let me know in the comments what you are working on, or if you have ever made a fabric name tag!

Fri-Yay #2

By B September 30, 2022FriYays

Happy Friday friends! We have plans for an extra kiddo, Hocus Pocus 2, and trying a brand new to town pizza restaurant for movie night tonight. Yeah! We are very excited to be getting a Sahara Pizza right down the road from us, it just opened this week. We live in a very small town and our restaurant selection is limited, so anytime something new comes in it is very exciting! Let’s just say our old pizza restaurant’s slogan has been “The Best Pizza In Town” because it has been the ONLY pizza in town…

This has been a lovely week. Nothing super exciting, just pretty low key with lots of fun things to share with you. I have to say I have really enjoyed adding to a list of things all week for my Fri-Yay post! Alright, in no particular order, here we go!

I’ve been on a Jack Johnson kick lately and found this song Rainbow, which is my new favorite song.
Mr Danger sent me this meme and I just love it and thought you guys would too.
I made this pear Dutch Baby recipe last weekend and it was AMAZING. Seriously, my 8 year old, extremely picky eater said it was the best breakfast of all time. Go find some pears and make it and let me know what you think! I put 2 pears in it instead of one and cooked it at 450 for less time (20 minutes) like my normal Dutch Baby.

I tried making my first sourdough loaf. It was delicious, and look at that beautiful color, but it did not puff up like it was supposed to and was very dense. I am back to working on perfecting my starter this week.
I made this yummy corn chowder recipe with some aging produce in the fridge and it was very good. If you have local corn available I think that is what made ours so delicious.
Amazon suggested these amazing Halloween cake pans* to me and I can’t stop looking at them! I love the haunted house Bundt pan, although I have never made a Bundt cake, and am totally tempted to get the mini skull pan and make cute little mini skull muffins. Make sure and dig through all the options, they are so incredibly fun!
Mr Danger listened to some podcast (he always is…) and we were discussing it and he mentioned a quote along the lines of “We live in all tenses but the present tense.” I love that and hope your brain enjoys rolling it around and processing it as well.

Cutie dogs in their cutie Halloween harnesses! Juniper (the white one) has quite a face going on in this picture!

I hope you guys had a lovely week and have fun plans for a lovely weekend!

*Links marked with a * are affiliate links that I may earn a small commission from at no cost to you in order to help me keep my blog going.

WIP Wednesday #1

By B September 28, 2022WIP Wednesdays

Hi friends! I am feeling very excited to share my creative projects with you again on this blog! Just like my FriYays posts, I decided I would do WIP (Work In Progress) Wednesdays and share whatever I am working on each week.

In the past I always used to be very “hush hush” on the new patterns I was working on before they were released. I know there may still be some projects like that in my future, but I have decided any self released patterns I work on I will share progress pics with you as I go. So, wanna see what I am up to right now?

I am currently working on a Christmas quilt pattern, and I just got one of my two samples onto my long arm. These happy colors and cutie critters are making me smile as I am working on the quilting.

Unfortunately my long arm is *just* too short to be able to do one whole triangle without advancing and rolling back the quilt on each one (they look like trees in the snow on the whole quilt). Do you see how close I am?! It’s like an inch and a half.

It still works and I have gotten into a rhythm with advancing and back tracking on the frame. I have a small 15” long arm, but this is the first time it has been an issue. I have had the machine a little under a year and have quilted about 18 quilts on it, so overall it has been awesome.

But do you see how seriously close I am?! I just need to make it to the top of that triangle….

These adorable stockings and socks are just killing me with cuteness!! The fabric is Pixie Noel II from Tasha Noel for Riley Blake and it is just the sweetest.

How about you? What are you working on right now? You can tell me in the comments below or even add a link to your insta or blog if you have an in-progress photo!