Beginning with a fat quarter set of my friend Jeni‘s fabric collection Nordika, this quilt was one of the first projects I had finished formy book, Handmade Style. I really enjoyed toying around with the design and playing with color value. It’s important in fabric selection for this particular quilt, that you consider the values of each fabric. The design of this quilt relies on choosing light, medium, and dark valued fabrics. In my book, the Picnic Plaid Quilt is shown in the baby size with a more limited choice of background fabrics. I adore the simplicity of it, but I also had a great time picking a variety of fabrics for this version as well.

To try out the fabric selections I chose, I stood back and took a few black and white pics with my phone to see if I had gotten the values in the right spots. It is a bit tricky, especially when there are a lot of prints and colors to choose from. I might not have gotten the values spot on – there’s always room for improvement, right?! Overall I think it ended up being really great. Try it out though, it’s fun and a great exercise in playing with your stash!

I do love how happy this quilt is. It’s a fun beginner-friendly quilt and I hope to make another version for my own bed one of these days. I feel like I might be on a quilt kick once the cold weather settles in here. I’m even starting a work in progress pile! How about you?

Pattern: Picnic Plaid Quilt from Handmade Style
Fabrics: Nordika by Jeni Baker and quite a few other prints and some solids mixed in

Happy Friday everyone! I feel like a giveaway is in order. I’m very excited about seeing projects sewn using my book, Handmade Style. It’s the best part of doing what I do, seeing what you make. So today I’m giving away 3 books, signed by me.

I think the sewing community is a wonderfully generous group of people and I’m happy to be a part of it. If you have a chance, be sure to check out the #HandmadeStyleBook hashtag on Instagram (some are posting to #HandmadeStyle too, but there are lots of other miscellaneous pics in there). Also, if you use Flickr, check out the group, Noodlehead Tutorials & Patterns. I need to pop in there more often! So much goodness!

Here’s a lovely quilt my friend Marta (From Marta with Love) finished! Isn’t it beautiful?! Check out her full post here and here. It’s the Picnic Plaid Quilt pattern from the book, it has two other sizes as well!

To enter:

• Open to everyone! I’ll be reserving one copy of Handmade Style for an international winner and two copies for US and Canadian winners!
• Leave one comment. For fun, tell me, how do you stay up-to-date with your favorite blogs or makers? Do you use bloglovin’ or feedly, subscribe to their newsletter, follow them on certain social media sites? All of the above? I’m curious! Or if you want to answer a different question, what sewing project is next on your must-make list?
• Giveaway closes Sunday, September 13th at 10 p.m. CST. This giveaway is now closed, thank you to all who entered!

Have a great weekend!

ps. Did you know that my daughter took the photo on the cover of the book? She did, and she was 8 years old at the time! Also, the ‘handmade’ script on the cover, that’s my writing. There’s also bits of it scattered throughout the book, too. Kinda fun, right?!

I love how this clutch turned out. The fabrics, of course, are some amazing prints by Umbrella Prints. I absolutely love their style and this color palette is so pretty. I love the tones and textures.

This is a fun project from my book, Handmade Style. I had sketched out this project many years ago and always hoped it would work as a project for my book. And luckily enough, it did! The front pocket is paper pieced, but don’t let that technique scare you off. This is a great simple one to help get you started. Plus, it’s a fantastic way to use your favorite small pieces of fabric. You can make sure to include exactly the part of the fabric you love when you paper piece – win, win!

The Essex Yarn Dyed linen is a perfect pairing with the fabrics. I don’t think I’ll ever not like it, the texture of the yarn dye is perfectly imperfect. Anyway, the clutch is a fun project. When I made this, in my rushed state, I did misplace the first piece and trimmed it off just a bit short of where I should have. Nothing a tiny little sliver of pieced fabric can’t fix. I think it’s pretty unnoticeable, thankfully. Gotta forgive yourself and move on, it happens!

Pattern: Rainbow Clutch from Handmade Style
Fabric: Umbrella Prints
Zippers: from my shop,
leather pulls, too

I sort of even have a bunch of scraps in a pile using these same subtle colors for a quilt. Not sure what direction it’s headed yet, but I’m excited about it, hoping it’ll land on my bed sometime this year!

Hope you had a good weekend!