Millrace Folk Festival

So this past weekend was my second year having a booth in the craft village at the Millrace Folk Festival in Cambridge. Other than a couple (pretty lame) Christmas shows, this is the only craft booth I've done, and I love it! It's a really great festival. If you're local and you've never been, you really should check it out next year. There are 2-3 main stages and a couple acoustical tents and a few of the downtown pubs have performances too! There are folk dancers, clowns, food vendors, the craft village and more. I've never been down to the main stage at the Millrace but I've heard some really fantastic music up in Civic Square. I also had some fabulous pork tacos :)

This year I got my first choice for booth location and chose a corner spot. I loved my booth set up last year but it only left my mom and I about 24" of space behind the tables and I knew that wouldn't work this year because I'd have Evie with me all weekend. The corner booth didn't work as well for displaying but we had lots of space for a couple chairs and the stroller too. Plus, I had more exposure. I'll definitely try for the same space next year but rework the set up because next year I'll be baby free again :)

Can I just tell you how wonderful my baby is? We were there Friday from around 4:45 pm to midnight, Saturday from just after 8 am until almost midnight and Sunday from 12:30 pm to almost midnight again and I'm sure she didn't cry more than 5 minutes combined for the entire time! She really is such a happy, easy baby. I feel so blessed. Our booth neighbours kept saying how they couldn't even tell there was a baby there because she was just so quiet. It really was lots of fun and my mom was in Grandma heaven :)

Here are a few pictures from the festival!



My booth!





A closer look






Evangeline napping with my mom






Sleeping again :)






Me and my sweet girl





I'm still recouperating but already looking forward to next year!

Have a great day all!

Bethany

Houndstooth Baby Quilt

I first saw this quilt on V and Co. I thought it was fabulous. I love how it's both modern and classic at the same time. I showed it to my mom, and her being the quilter extraordinaire that she is, told me how to make it!

Here it is!





I hadn't planned on piecing the back but I made the quilt larger than I initially planned and this was the best way to make what I had work!




A closer look at the quilting. I get frustrated doing free motion quilting. It feels like I'm always fighting with the quilt and it takes so much concentration. It still feels like it's not good enough, but when I look at the first quilt I did like this I can see a huge improvement. I really love the look of free motion quilting though, so I'll just keep practicing :)




One more shot. I really need to get more creative with my picture taking :) Every quilt I make get the same shots - taped to the kitchen wall and laying on the kitchen table. Maybe next time!




This quilt measures approximately 45" square.

Tomorrow is the start of my three day craft shoe at the Millrace Folk Festival. I'm so excited about spending some quality time with my mom! Hopefully I sell something too! I'll let you know how it goes.

Have a great (long, if you're in Canada) weekend!

Bethany

Vintage Sheet Strip Quilt

This is the second quilt I've made with vintage linens now (see the first one here) and I think it's really cute. This one went together quickly! There are a few things I'd change next time though. First, I think it could use some darker fabric for a bit more contrast. The problem is I don't have many dark sheets in my stash. And second, I think I would vary the width of the strips a little more. These strips were all cut months ago while I was cutting other stuff and I thought there would be enough variation in size, but I was wrong :)

Overall, I'm happy with it!





It is quilted approximately 1/4" away on each side of the seams. The quilting isn't too dense, which keeps it nice and soft.





The great thing about using sheets for binding is there are only two seams. I do straight grain binding on all my quilts and cut it 2" wide.









I'm thinking I will keep this to sell at the Millrace Folk Festival, which is only a month away! I'll mostly be focusing on making purses until then. I can't wait!

Have a great day :)
Bethany

One Thing, One Week Challenge - Success! (Just Barely!)

Sorry for the terrible picture but I JUST finished and there isn't time to wait until daylight to take a better one! I thought I had lots of time but then yesterday spent over twelve hours out of the house and then came home last night and had to make treats for my kids to take to their class pool party today! That, combined with having four kids (one of them being a nursing baby) almost did me in. But I made it! And it feels good :)

*Edited to add* Go see some better pictures here!




This quilt is made entirely of vintage/thrifted sheets and is straight line quilted. I'll try and get better pictures up soon!

Check out Amy's Creative Side to see who else finished the challenge!

Have a great week!
Bethany

More Vintage Sheet Goodness

I've been wanting to quilt sooo badly but having a new baby doesn't leave me with much time. She's a really happy baby who sleeps well at night (usually about 7 hours straight now) but since she is sleeping so well at night, she eats a lot during the day. Plus, I have notoriously slow eating babies. She nurses for an hour or so, five or six times a day.

So like I said, not a lot of sewing going on :)

But I had a bunch of 36 inch strips cut from when I was cutting fat quarters from my vintage sheet collection. I figured if I was going to the trouble of ironing them that I might as well cut a bunch of other stuff at the same time. I also have a bunch of 5 inch charm squares and drunkards path blocks cut out too, but they will take longer to put together and I needed something quick!

I finished this quilt top in about an hour last night after the baby went to bed. I think it is simple but sweet. I can hardly wait to quilt it!



I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Bethany

Two Finished Quilts and Randomness

Here are a couple of quilts I finished earlier this spring but never got around to blogging about. They were the last 2 unfinished quilt tops I had. Now the only quilt WIP (work in progress) I have is a bunch of HST blocks that will make another value quilt someday.

The first is a simple pinwheel quilt. I used fabric I'd had hanging around for a while. I sort of fell out of love with this fabric, which I bought before I found the wonderful world of online fabric shopping. I think it's pretty cute now though - perfect for a sweet baby girl :)















This quilt was also made with fabric I'd had for some time, but that I definitely still liked! The pattern is a disappearing nine patch that went together quite quickly. Both these quilts were free motion quilted and I'm starting to feel much more comfortable with it.












I'm starting to get my sewing groove back. Things are still busy with a new baby but I'm trying to sew at least a little everyday. It's less than two months until the Millrace Folk Festival and I'm trying to sew some new items for that too!

Random picture of my sweet baby :)




And last, but not least, my oldest turned 6 yesterday! How did that happen??? :)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Wednesday!

Bethany

My Newest Creation

Evangeline Grace

Born April 26 at 12:26pm
8lbs 7oz
21.5 inches
100% sweetness!