After a slow start to our day, we finally made it to downtown Raleigh this afternoon for the Handmade Market at Cobblestone Hall. While I was admiring all the crafts my husband kept our three year old busy. I really enjoyed shopping on my own so I had time to really look at everything there. After the market we headed to Marbles Museum for some family fun. Here are my Mother’s Day finds from the Handmade Market today.

Soaps and Honey from The Carolina Bee Company

Energy Bar Soap from Parish House Soap Company

North Carolina Necklace with Heart by Vespertime in Carborro, NC

Duck Racing at Marbles Museum!

Finally, I’ve found a reason to make the first cut on one of my vintage fabrics. I collect all kinds of fabrics including vintage flour sacks. The vintage fabrics are some of my favorites. This makes them very difficult for me to cut unless I have the “perfect” project in mind for them. This is why they have lived (for years) in my ever growing stash of fabrics to use for special projects.

Last week I took this one to the quilt shop so the ladies there could help me match the colors to the vintage flour sack material. Lucky for me they recently stocked their shop with the Peanuts collection. The colors from that collection go perfectly with my vintage flour sack material.

I’ve decided to use a log cabin style quilt to frame the vintage flour sack material with the Peanuts fabrics.

Last year we decided to try our hand at gardening and we got hooked. This year we’ve expanded our little patio garden from just potted tomatoes to small raised garden and a brand new herb garden. We’ve also added some blueberries and already have plans to expand the garden again next year.

Raised Garden, Herb Garden and Cutting Flowers

This book has me thinking outside my typical sewing techniques of embroidery and straight line stitching.  So, I thought I’d try a couple of techniques from the book Mixed and Stitched. Jen’s book has great photos and easy to follow how to instructions. Mixed media is a style I admire by would normally not want to attempt for myself. The accountant in me always prefers straight and crisp lines.

Mixed and Stitched by Jen Osborn

The technique I choose looks easy but for someone who loves straight lines it was actually difficult to achieve. I had to practice a bit for trying it out on a project. Below is the finished tea towel I made today. I used a contrasting but coordinating cotton thread to stitch around the birds multiple times.  I really like the look and it’s a very forgiving technique if you can’t sew straight lines.

Finally, I’ve added a few new things to my Etsy shop. Should have some more new things to add very soon!

Log Cabin Bird House Tea Towel

Pink Birds silhouette Tea Towel

Purple Birds silhouette Tea Towel

I started on my first log cabin bird house design today. The hexagon shape requires more cutting but I love the way it looks so far. I have put on a couple more rows to finish. But, I think I may have found an outlet for using all my scraps and a new love for log cabin quilting!

Log Cabin Bird House Quilt Block

Second Row Added to Quilt Block

Third Row Added to Quilt Block

Finally, I’ve got a few sewing projects started. Earlier this week I spent time gathering some needed supplies for my sewing room. Today, I mostly organized fabrics for projects and spent time ironing and cutting fabrics. The prep work I’m doing now is not so much fun but it will be well spent when I sit down at my sewing machine next week with fabrics ready to use at my finger tips.

Teaching myself something new right now; log cabin quilting. Hopefully this goes as well as planned. Lots of pre-cutting of fabrics to get going on this sewing project.

Peak Hour Fabric from Kellie Wulfsohn

Also, I’ve picked out some great fabrics for a car quilt that I plan on giving to my sister (who is making me an aunt again). I just have to finalize the layout before I start cutting everything out for this one. Shhh…it’s a surprise.