Modern Cottage Creations

I like to think I'm a pretty organized gal.  But with a busy life and lots of work, my mental best laid plans for blogging are quickly falling through the cracks. I ran across this great blog planner through Pinterest and I'm getting ready to give it a whirl!  The printables that Lamberts Lately  developed here are absolutely adorable and I can't wait to put them to use! Another awesome Pinterest find was this great tutorial from Just A Beautiful Life on to-do's and best practices for creating your own blogging binder. Between the great advice from both of these sites, I've got a start on my own blogging binder. I did a little office supply shopping (honestly, I love shopping for office supplies!) and picked up a cute colorful binder, some tab dividers, sheet protectors, loose leaf lined paper, and post it notes to put together with my freshly printed blog planning sheets. I have a three hole punch and nice markers at home to use already.  It was su

I've been trying to be a good girl lately and work on my PHD.  My Projects Half Done that is! I started this queen sized flannel quilt almost four years ago.  I just fell in love with the border print and knew I had to make something with that beautiful flannel!  Blue, brown, cream, and green are just a color combination that I can't resist.  So natural and peaceful.  You'll notice I do a lot of projects in some combination of those colors. I picked out the Hopscotch pattern for my flannels so that it would showcase the larger print well.  Also, I feel like flannel can be a bit tricky to piece accurately so it's better suited to larger patterns.  Four years ago, I managed to make it all the way to the completion of the quilt top and I even prepped the binding!  I had the backing there and ready to go, but somehow I just never took the leap to lay it out. Well, thank goodness I took the time to get that done.  My task today was to sit down with my cup of coffee

Hello there quilters and crafters!   After I took a little hiatus from writing on my blog, I have been constantly thinking about topics to write about and projects to show you all.  However, I keep talking myself out of them.  "I don't have the RIGHT tools to really show that topic well." "That project isn't perfect, so I don't know if I should show that on the blog."    Sitting down to a blank screen can be very intimidating.  I don't want to say things wrong or be unclear.  I don't want to be too cliché or corny or too impersonal either.  For some reason, finding the right words can be pretty difficult some days.    Reading previous posts and over-analyzing myself (as I tend to do) I found that I was trying TOO hard to find the right words.  They were words that helped a person understand, but not words that were inviting or friendly, or personal to me.  They were text-book boring!   I strive so hard to do the best I can and I w

I've been away from my blog for a while, but sewing and Modern Cottage Creations have certainly not left my mind!  I'm in the process of updating my website.  I'll be updating the website look and opening an online shop where I'll be selling some of the wonderful creations you've seen here! There will be even more updates to come with Modern Cottage Creations this summer so stay tuned! This week I got out and did a fun outdoor photo shoot of some of my recent works, and some of the works I'm proudest of.  Here are some highlights! Which is your favorite?       The evening light was just beautiful!  It was fun to air out my quilts and see them on this rustic fence.    I've also been working on some custom projects.  I made this simple laptop bag last week.  It is reinforced with Peltex and fusible batting for ultimate protection while travelling.  It has an interior zipper pocket for power cords, two exterior pockets, and a zipp

  I have been working on finishing some quilt tops that have been sitting folded up in my sewing room for far too long.  In the last couple weeks I was able to wrap up these two beautiful wall hangings that I made using Moda Chocolote Bars (2.5" x 5" rectangles).  I love precuts, and I had to try these delectable fabric bites!   I love this nontraditional setting of the half rectangles pieces.  Instead of setting them into diamonds, I set them into this fun kite formation.    I quilted the hanging with a meander and added small floral details along the meandering path.   I love to see quilts outdoors! Fall is creeping into my backyard though!   I created a low volume pieced backing for this little hanging. The second wall hanging measures about the same as the first, but keeps the Chocolate Bars whole.  I pieced them into a coin style quilt and used the simple bordering to set these beautiful fabrics off.   Once again I love

I have been working on half square triangles with my quilting group.  I finished mine HST quilt today and will be giving it to my sister next weekend for her birthday. I absolutely love the way it turned out.  It is perfect for her and I know she's going to love it!  I am also working on making a couple pillowcases to go with it in order to use up a few of my scraps from the project.  I squared up all of my blocks and I am so glad that I did.  I am an impatient quilter and I just want to get to the final glorious product.  I know that this step is important but, it's long and boring.  However, the giant pile of trimmings from all of my blocks is all the evidence one should need in order to see the true importance of making sure your blocks are square.  I might have had a wonky quilt if I hadn't trimmed.  I pretty much had to rearrange my living room in order to find enough floor space to lay this baby out.  It was definitely worth the hassle though.  I fo

My brother in law's older sister asked me to do a special project for her a couple of weeks ago.  Her daughter has been in dance for a long time and she never knew what to do with the expensive costumes once that recital was over.  So this time when her daughter had a costume she really liked, she decided to give the costume new life!   I started with this fun and bright costume!   And I started cutting...   I utilized a cardboard template for the circular sides of the purse.   Cutting the dangling glitter fabric was actually not as challenging as I thought it was going to be.   I got all my pieces layed out.     And my floor was covered in glitter shrapnel!   Here's the completed exterior.   And the completed interior.  Gotta have pockets! The completed project.   Love the dangling sequins!   Sits perfectly at the hip.   I gave the purse a braided strap so that the strap was just as special