Hello!

It’s been almost 3 months since I’ve written a blog post. Time does move quickly and I didn’t realize it had been that long. We went on a trip and I went on a quilt retreat in that timeframe.

In March we went to San Diego and Disneyland during Spring Break. We had so much fun visiting the San Diego Zoo, USS Midway Museum, Legoland, and Disneyland. It was a jam packed week of outings and it was nice to experience these places from my childhood with my son. We had one very sunny day and were able to spend it playing on the beach. My favorite picture in this bunch is my son sitting in the Gator chair on the USS Midway. It feels special because my grandfather sat in the same chair 14 years before and my husband snapped both photos.

Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland was a hit for my son. He didn’t want to leave and we spent quite a bit of time there going on rides and looking for characters. I went on Smuggler’s Run and it felt like a bad airplane trip for me so I opted not to go on the Rise of the Resistance ride. We also did the Darth Vader meet and greet in Tomorrowland.

No quilting or sewing happened on vacation or for about a week afterwards while we got back into a normal routine. I didn’t even take a hand sewing project on the plane.

After our vacation, I started playing with upcycling a vintage quilt top that wasn’t suitable for being finished into a quilt. It was wonky and would have been hard to quilt. So I experimented with making a coin purse. I found a tutorial online to draft my own pattern for the size frame I had purchased. I think it’s so cute and I see more in my future.

For Mother’s Day I spent a day and a half making a backpack for myself. I cut out the fabrics one day and then sewed most of it the second day. This pattern is the Wabana Backpack by Hammerstitch Bags. Hammerstitch Bags sells completed bags and patterns and most feature waxed canvas. I used navy waxed canvas for the flap and bottom of the bag, a floral Japanese cotton/linen canvas for the body of the bag, and blue and white striped Essex Linen fabric for the drawstring casing and the interior. The interior is not pictured. Zippers by the yard and zipper pulls are from Sallie Tomato and I think I purchased these at my local quilt shop. I set antique bronze rivets in 3 places (flap and pocket dividers on the inside), had the navy cotton webbing for the straps, and I had the antique bronze hardware. It came together really well and I’m happy with it and I’m also happy all of the supplies were in my stash and I didn’t need to purchase any additional materials.

Usually I carry smaller bags but I thought this would be a useful bag because it has 3 pockets on the inside and they are big enough for a water bottle and my other items. During the spring and summer months, I usually have a water bottle with me and I get tired of lugging it around in hand. I have another backpack pattern, the Elevenses Backpack, that’s a little larger with exterior water bottle pockets but I thought it was too big for daily use. It would be great for some day hikes. It’s on my list to make along with a foraging bag for my son to use to store his rocks, twigs, and leaves he picks up when he’s outside.

To wrap up this blog post of what I’ve done the last 3 months, I’ll end with the Dinosaurs quilt. This is an Elizabeth Hartman pattern and my mom and I are making it for my son. I went on a retreat and my mom and I worked on the bulk of it there by completing the dinosaurs and some foliage. It’s in its final stages of being assembled because more vines were added and it will get coping strips in between the blocks. The original pattern was a different size than what we wanted so we changed it up a bit, making less dinosaurs but adding more foliage. We used fabrics from my stash and most of them were Alison Glass prints. We did mix in a couple Libs Elliott blenders. The background is also Alison Glass fabric.

Happy creating!

Camille