Bag It Featured Designer - Sew Sweetness

(Click here for One Monthly Goal November link-up)

Isn't this just a darling bag?  The pattern is the medium sized Kismet Trinket Box designed by Sew Sweetness.

Photo credit: Sara Lawson

I'm thrilled to introduce you to Sara Lawson, designer of the Kismet Trinket Box and the owner of Sew Sweetness.   Sara has patterns available for many bags and also carries supplies for bags in her shop.  I am very excited about her new line of videos which take you step by step through many of her popular patterns.  These patterns with videos would be helpful to anyone making one of her patterns.

Sara began designing bags in 2011.  She has published two books - Big City Bags and Windy City Bags as well as been published in several magazines.  Sara has designed two fabric lines and has a Craftsy class called  Building Better Bags: Interfacing and Structure.

You can read more about Sara on her About Me page and learn more about who inspired her to start sewing.

Visit Sara at Sew Sweetness on her website, on Facebook and on Instagram.  Sara is offering a $40 gift certificate to her shop for one lucky randomly chosen Bag It participant. 

I loved my first Kismet Trinket Box so much that I made a second one, this time in a large size. Look how nicely the medium sized one fits into the large one!

I'll be making more of these bags to gift this Christmas.  Thanks to Sara for supplying me with a complementary copy of the pattern!

See overall schedule and links to all tutorials on the Bag It event page 

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Bag It Participant Guidelines

I'll be linking up my Kismet Trinket Box with  Freemotion by the River,   WIP Wednesday's,  Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers.  Needle and Thread Thursdays, Finish it Up Friday and Finished or Not Friday.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

A Trunk Show

Bold colors +  Graphic shapes +  Captivating stories +  Roomful of quilters = best Friday night ever!

Bringing two large suitcases filled with quilts, Jacquie Gering shared her love of quilting, her influences and the stories behind the quilts with my guild - Triangle Modern Quilt Guild - last Friday. 

Each quilt was more magnificent that the one before.  Once she was done speaking, she invited us to fondle and feel the texture in person.  These are quilts that she uses every day, pulled down from walls in her home to share with us.  Some of these quilts appear in her book Walk: Master Machine Quilting with Your Walking Foot (affiliate link).

One of the last quilts she shared was wrapped in tissue paper and rarely part of a trunk show since it was usually on tour or in an exhibit.  Bang, Your Dead (lower left corner of photo below) - is a quilt whose message is about children who are the targets and victims of violence.  Read more about this quilt here. 

Quilts designed and created by Jacquie Gering

As I reflect back on the things she talked about and the quilts I got to see, I thought about what a trunk show of my quilts would suggest.  I've recently been working on a quilt inventory - collecting photos of all the functional quilts I've made. 

Here's what you'd find in my trunk show:

• Many of very traditional quilts - blocks in standard grid layouts.  My earliest quilts came from kits and BOM programs.  I was learning my skills and relying on others to choose my fabrics and my colors.
• Color and fabric choices which have evolved from using browns/blues and reds, all prints, to a mix of quilts with solids or prints, all bright, saturated colors
• Quilts with no visible blocks - like Infinite (2011) and Words Are (2016) - and quilts with blocks set in alternate grid layouts - like Playful (2017) and my 'yet to be named' latest finish (2017).

When I visit quilt shows, I find I am the most inspired by the modern quilt aesthetic. Jacquie's quilts with the bold colors (like in the top and second row in photo above) encourage me to rush into my studio and go bold.

Have a wonderful day! Patty

One Monthly Goal - November Goal Setting Link-up

Welcome to November!

New to One Monthly Goal?  Welcome!  You can read about the event and the rules on the main event page.

Sign up to receive email notifications when the One Monthly Goal linkup is open.  Think of it as a helpful reminder!

My goal for November is to prepare backing and baste my Splendid Sampler quilt.  The quilt top was finished back in February and the holiday themed fabrics call for a finish!  I've decided to go without a border although I might change my mind and border in the cream/white fabric.  Not sure of my FMQ design but I may do some custom work on each block - take my time and have fun.  Bonus points if I get any of the quilting done this month - at best I hope to have some stabilizing lines (in the ditch) to better secure the quilt before I tackle the quilting..

We have three great sponsors for November and there will be three (3) winners this month!

Fat Quarter Shop offers a tremendous selection of fabric, notions, books and just about anything you will need for your project. Consider their Sew Sampler box to receive a monthly surprise delivery of fabric and fun.   Fat Quarter Shop is offering a $25 gift certificate to one lucky participant.

Make Modern is a digital magazine, available monthly, launched by a collaboration of quilters based in Australia.  Their goal (sourced from their site) says it all - 

One of our ultimate goals is to be a driving force in the modern quilt movement. We want you to feel like we're already friends, the kind of friends who totally understand your fabric addiction, who will assist with your quilting problems and who will help you grow as a quilter. We hope you'll love us even though we're all a little bit crazy. 

Make Modern is offering a 6 month subscription to one lucky participant.

I'm excited to introduce you to Alyce Blyth from Blossom Heart Quilts, this month's featured designer.

Alyce began quilting in 2011 and started Blossom Heart Quilts in 2012.  She loves the challenge of designing quilts, expecially the opportunity to mix geometry with color and fabric.  She has published a number of patterns, including Geode which she is currently running as a QAL.  If you are a regular reader of Make Modern magazine, you are likely already of fan of her regular columns where she shares tips and tricks on popular quilt blocks.

Make sure you check out Alyce's ebook on DIY block design where she shares the information, math and tutorials a quilt needs to design and make their very own quilt blocks.

Photo and design credit to Alyce Blythe - Making Merry patterns, Geode & DIY Block Design

You can visit Alyce in on her blog, Instagram, Facebook and her Pattern Store. Alyce is offering one lucky participant a set of the Making Merry patterns just in time for the holidays.

Now it is your turn to link up - what is your goal for November?  (A goal could be to finish a quilt but it could also be to attach a binding.  Whatever it takes to help you move forward and make progress on your projects!  And as long as the project involves a needle and/or fabric, you can link up!)

Make sure you visit the One Monthly Goal event page for the specific requirements for links and social tags. 

And remember, to be eligible for the prize(s) by random drawing you must linkup at both the goal setting and the accomplishment linkup in a given month.   (The One Monthly Goal accomplishment linkup will be available on November 24.)

Make sure you add a link to this OMG post so others can follow where you are linking.   Let's make that easy -  just paste this into your post:  

Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal November Linkup.

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for linking up!

Have a wonderful day! Patty