Welcome to my sewing & quilting room!!!!
I am really happy with the current setup so and recently when I was cleaning the area, I thought I would just record a video and bring you along for a quick tour around my quilting room.
A quick quilt top finish is always a great project in between other quilts and when you are lost searching for that quilting mojo.
I haven’t been active here on the blog or on my other platform due to my low energy (I am pregnant with my 3rd Baby) and other focuses that seem to be taking over these days.
Things are a little better with my health, but my quilting mojo is still yet to be recovered. I am in nesting mode and have been spending my spare time decluttering everywhere around my home. Well, that is where I have been spending my time these last few days.
In this post, I am sharing with you a quick finish of my son’s truck quilt. He is already four years old and I haven’t made him any quilt before. So, I think it is about time (LOL, it could have been earlier)
I bought the set of fat quarters set of the retro Tonka Truck from HERE.
I love the primary colors and my son seems to like the trucks too. He is in that phase of loving trucks.
Sew and Cut Technique – link to FREE pattern
A simple pattern was perfect for this quilt as I wanted to keep the fabric shine and be the star rather than the pattern.
Thankfully, this free quilt pattern came to the rescue.
The initial fabric cutting was of large pieces making it so much faster to get prepped.
The quilt top was made by piecing large pieces together and cutting them, which lessens the time and hassle.
Overall the quilt was a fun way to give me that little boost and sense of satisfaction. I am going to be basting the quilt soon together with my other quilt top.
Then comes the fun part – free motion quilting them! For now, I think that one of the simple free motion quilting design would be perfect for this quilt.
Well, till then – I’ll update here again.
Welcome to the 23rd week post of the 52 weeks of hot pads / quilted pot holders. This week we’re making sailboat quilt block.
Here is the list of past week’s posts in this 52 Weeks of Hot Pads Challenge:
- 1st Week : Simple Patch | Bias Binding
- 2nd Week : Diagonal Lanes | Quilt As You Go + Binding Tip
- 3rd Week : Scrappy Lanes | Sewing with selvedge
- 4th Week : Pixel Heart | Sewing small pieces
- 5th Week : Hexagon Flower | English Paper Piecing | Round Hot Pad
- 6th Week : Warm Heart | Heart Shaped
- 7th Week : Scrappy Egg | Small scraps
- 8th Week : Rail Fence | Strip piecing
- 9th Week : HST Geese | 8-at-a-time HSTs
- 10th Week : Starry HST | Mitred Border
- 11th Week : Mom’s sugar Cookie | Round with Pocket
- 12th Week: Hot Plusses | Plus Blocks
- 13th Week : Highway of Geese | Flying Geese
- 14th Week : Cross Way | Squares and Rectangles Patch
- 15th Week: Scrappy Log Cabin | No measuring
- 16th Week: Cross Bun | Simple Rounded
- 17th Week: Scrappy Herringbone
- 18th Week : Irish Chain | Feather Quilting
- 19th Week : Maple Leaf Quilt Block
- 20th Week : Flying Dutchman Quilt Block | Flying Geese variation
- 21st Week: Silent Bear Paw Quilt Block | Bear Paw Quilt Block
- 22nd Week : Scrappy Leaf | strip piecing
I thought it would be a great challenge for me to do a pot holder a.k.a hot pads every single week of 2019. (but I am currently falling way behind, maybe I’ll catch up but if not, it will just be 52 weeks but not in a single year)
I am planning on having it displayed in my kitchen. They make great decor, don’t they?
While I am at it, I am going to be sharing with you a simple tutorial on the process.
You can join in the challenge and make the same hot pads I make every week with the same design or any of your own choice.
Do you want to quilt free-hand design on your home machine? Wonder what tools you need to do free motion quilting? You’re in the right place! In this post, I will share with you the 5 MUST-HAVE essentials tools for free motion quilting.
I love to free-motion quilt, and I have been loving teaching others to free-motion quilt too!
I would say these items have helped me so much and I would not be free motion quilting without them these days!
What do you need to do free motion quilting on a home sewing machine?
First on the list of tools to free motion quilt on your home machine is of course,
the right free-motion quilting foot.
Small projects make the best practice pieces for free motion quilting. In this post I have a tutorial on how to make a boxy pouch and get you to practice free motion quilting!
This project will not only allow you to make use of your practice sandwich but also allows you to have the option of hiding those stitches, should you feel like they’re not that pretty yet. Everyone was there before they get better. It is a practice piece after all.
If you are interested to learn more about free motion quilting, make sure you check these related posts too:
- Free Motion Quilting using Regular Sewing Machine
- Free Motion Quilting Tips
- 5 of the best recommended sewing machines for free motion quilting | 2019
Also check out to learn how to free motion quilt confidently
I remembered in the early times of my free motion quilting days, I used to get so frustrated with my stitches and was certainly not happy with how they turned out. But I also know that practice is necessary, so I keep making these ‘ugly’ practice sandwiches.
Practice will make it better.
That is what I keep chanting as I move along practice piece after practice piece.
I don’t feel like wasting those practice pieces, so I usually turn them into hotpads and placemats. And that makes me feel a lot better. At least even if the stitches were not as great at that time, I actually get to use the piece.
And in this post I am sharing an even better idea!
A pouch. One can never have enough pouches, And this one is a really useful roomy one, suitable for many of your necessities and perfect for gifting too!
You can also make one following the tutorial in the video below.
Free Motion Quilting Boxy Pouch Tutorial
Start out by free motion quilting a fat quarter size quilt sandwich.
Divide them into two to make two pouches with 2 pieces of fat quarter fabrics.
The size of the rectangle to start with for each pouch is 16.5″ x 10″ and the boxy pouch will end up to be 3″x5″x9″.
Watch the tutorial below on how to make the boxy pouch.
Let me know what you think. Want to keep on practicing now?? Let’s do this.
If you haven’t checked out Free Motion Quilting Bootcamp, I would love to invite you to join in. I teach you how to master various designs and the exact steps on how you can free-motion quilt any design with your regular sewing machine.
We have gotten great reviews of the program and I am sure you will be on your way to great success with free motion quilting if you joined in too!
I ran the top 2019 over here for my quilting Instagram feed and though I have been a little quiet there as compared to the blog and newsletters, I think Instagram did catch some of my best make in the year of 2019.
So here it is:
My Quilting Instagram page is Amira_littlemushroomcap
There are affiliate links within this post that may earn me little commission to help cover the cost of the blog and other expenses. Please find the disclosure policy here.
From the top nine of my quilting Instagram account,
what I first notice is,
The hotpad took 3 squares out of 9 which was pretty obvious as I tried (yup, tried) to complete 52 hotpads in a year. Although I failed to follow through, I was pretty happy with the amount of hotpads I got done this year and it was such a pleasure sharing the process and tutorials with you on this blog.
Currently it is at 22 hotpads and I am continuing this project in the year 2020 and hopefully, we’ll get to that 52 hotpads.
You can check all the tutorials for the hotpad so far in the latest post here>
I believe in no failures, only lessons.
So what have I learned?
-
a challenge always pushes me to expand my creativity, and allow me to work my skill
-
A challenge that is pursued is always better than none. I did end up with 22 hotpads this year which could have easily been none if I did not challenge myself to do this challenge
I may have overestimated what I can do in a week. With a full-time job, two little kids, a home to care for and other ‘behind the scene of a blog’ tasks… I sometimes get exhausted and just want to chill. I love being busy, productive but there are times that I just simply need to chill a little. Do a little more gardening, a little more NetFlix and just simply enjoy the free time.
Regardless, a challenge is always fun but I should want to be careful not to stress out too much if I could not get to it.
Secondly,
Two scrappy quilts also got the place in there in which one is fully completed (the scrappy trip is blogged here) and the other (the scrap vomit) is still lying in my unfinished object (UFO) pile. Too little as a quilt – that’s what I say to myself.
I find it hard to finish up small quilts, I just feel like they need to be bigger before I continue to baste. I feel like I need to add a border to the quilt. But we’ll see.
Thirdly,
A glimpse of my sewing room is also there, and a photo of me. These two photos were when I joined in Quilter’s Planner photo a day in January. I feel like I want to do this again in 2020. If you are on Instagram, come and join over too.
My sewing setup today is still very similar, I think it is the best as of now until we get a room just for my sewing space. Right now, I share the space with my kid’s bedroom. We are planning to be renovating soon for another two or three-bedrooms extended to our current house.
Lastly,
The other two photos are of the Rocket Star Quilt in which I joined a quilt along hosted by Fat Quarter Shop.
Quilt-along like this is fun and always gets more engagement as compared to other posts. I also love visiting other people during the quilt-along. There’ll be many quilt-along in the coming 2020.
For example the Bloomatopia- which you can start ordering the kit today here.
What’s coming in 2020 as for my quilting plan?
While I have lots of quilting plans for 2020, I will try to focus on tying up some ends to the UFO pile before starting new quilts.
I am so excited for 2020 and the crafty endeavors it will bring.
What are your plans?? Share them with me by commenting below.
This was surely a fun project. Cutting onesies and shirts and making it into a quilt was surely different. I have never made a baby clothes quilt before, but I decided to take this custom quilt request as I wanted to challenge myself and learn new things along the way. Now, I rarely EVER take quilt orders, but this one was something that I could gain from too.
I knew that it wasn’t going to be hard as I have watched how to make a T-shirt quilt before. It was not much different working with the baby clothes other than having to deal with smaller pieces. I also appliquéd the socks and hat on the quilt for extra fun.
NOTE : I no longer promote Craftsy as I used to due to the way the subscription is currently being carried out. I had the issue of cancelling my subscription when the company changed hand and I find that cancelling through calls is inconvenient. However, I do still stand behind these classes I promote and if you are subscribed, you can surely check these classes I recommend on the platform. If you are looking for another online platform to learn craft such as quilting, do check out CreativeBug. It is much cheaper in subscription (subscribe now 3 months for only $5). Thank you.
Hi there, just popping in with some current list on some of the things that you may want to check out going on sale at this moment till Black Friday. Basically, it is a list of Black Friday 2019 Fabric and Quilting SALE.
Happy Thanksgiving!
I’ll update from time to time, and maybe for Cyber Monday too. so come, check it out on the day itself too. You can also pop in the comment some of your favourite SALE this year.
I thought today in this post, we’ll shift our gear a little bit towards non-quilty items that I love and help me quilt more! We are always looking for more time to sew and as a busy working mother who loves to have some extra time to sew, here are some items that I find help me get there:
There are affiliate links within this post, please find the full disclosure here.
1. Pressure Cooker / Insta Pot
Yup. This is one of those life-changing items that I love and has made my life so much easier. I can simply put in dinner last minute – even from frozen (sometimes I forget that I have to put dinner on the table especially when I get so into sewing. LOL) or I can prep simply before leaving it to cook and go sew! I love that we can have an awesome dinner and I can have more time to sew. If you have not yet owned one –> check out this one with over 37000 awesome review!
2. Air Fryer
Another item similar to the above. This one is definitely is a time-saver for me in the kitchen. A time-saver in the kitchen means I have more time in the sewing room. Checked Yes. I have this particular one in my kitchen and I love that it is able to stir the thing I’m cooking which means I do not even have to stop by to check mid-way to turn the food. I cook all sorts of things in this fryer, but it has helped me cook easy meals and quick bites for sure.
3. Wireless Vacuum
A sewing room can get dusty pretty quickly and a clean sewing room is always a great motivation to get more sewing done! I have not yet owned a 
4. Echo Dots, Alexa
I love my Alexa!!! I have the Echo Dot behind my sewing machine and I use it all the time. This one is a great companion to have while sewing. I usually just use it for music and Audible but I do love the idea of having someone/thing to talk to in my sewing room other than myself. LOL. Besides, listening to Echo dot reading my Audible book allows me to do both of my favourite things at once, reading and quilting. You can also make amazon orders through Alexa and so much more. Check it out –>
5. TV – entertainment in the sewing room
Talk about some entertainment with the Alexa, A TV in the sewing room would allow you to quilt more too. During those time you don’t want to miss out on a show or you think you just want to watch TV.. you can do so in the sewing room and while you’re there, there could be a couple of seams to sew for sure. I usually watch form the Ipad, but a TV is definitely something I’d like to have someday in my sewing room. Do you have a TV set in your sewing room?
6. Colour Printer/ Print Service
Well, this one is helpful for printing out patterns, blogpost or tutorials easily. I love this refillable printer in particular as the ink can be refilled! Which means it is very cost-effective. 
7. Fun Educational Toys
If you have kids, invest in some good toys –> educational ones are great too. Like these. I love making homemade playdough and they can play for hours! Which frees mama up for lots more sewing! Both are having fun in a creative way.
8. Planner
I am a planner girl and I make sure I plan for my sewing time! When I write it down, I usually will make it happen. I have been using this paper planner for a couple of years now and I love it. As a full scheduled mum, this one is a must for me. 
There is also a planner specifically made for quilters right here –> There have lots of layout choices too which means you can also pick ones that you can doodle/ plan a quilt more than those daily to-dos boxes. Check out Quilter’s Planner today. 
Here was last year’s planner , but this year’s is even more amazing and improved.
9. Online Groceries
Save up more time by not going out for groceries. I love groceries though they can use up so much of my time and energy. Therefore, I appreciate online grocery shopping.
10. Cricut Maker or other cool gadgets in the sewing room
Although it is so much fun to watch this machine cut, I can easily be at my sewing machine sewing away while it does the rest of the cutting. I find that it really saves so much time. Other than that, I also love cool gadgets that really just make it a lot more fun to sew and get me excited to be in the sewing room.
Supplies are available below: Steam a steam Cricut Maker Fabrics
Now it’s your turn, let me know of any items that have helped you gain more time or get you inspired to sew and quilt more. Tell me in the comments below!
Welcome to another “Three of 3 on A Tuesday”. I will have THREE things or links of 3 topics for you to visit/read on Tuesday to either showcase tutorials, inspirations, random daily thoughts or it could be any fabric/notion sales running that particular week. So for today, here are the THREE of 3 things:
It has been a while since I last posted three of 3, but you can always visit the archives HERE>