The fabric in the center is a large panel with ABCs on it, which I have plans for one day creating a nice cozy blankie for the kids for the living room!

I had a lot of fun playing with these fabrics, and made a few (much needed) things for the kids, stuff I'd been meaning to do for quite some time!

First up was a little cover for a blank-page book for my 2-year old for coloring. I loved the multi-colored ABC fabric, and decided to quilt a cover for her book!

I used my ThermOWeb spray adhesive (I love this stuff. So much faster than pin basting!) which made the project go that much quicker. I quilted the blocks with a 40wt Aurifil to make them pop a bit more:
 ...and put a little polka-dot green button on the front with an elastic closure:
 ...it's hard to see, but I used the really pretty polka-dot print from the line for the lining:


Next up:
Well, now she had a skookum journal cover, she had to have an upgrade on the old Ziploc holding her (beat-up!) crayons to match!

Mum and Dr. Seuss to the rescue!

I used some left-over 20ga vinyl I had left over from another project and some of the awesome striped fabric in the line for a matching crayon bag:


Super cute, right? I think the yellow zipper looks great with the fabric :)

Next up:
Whenever I go out with the kids, I always make sure to have a bunch of snacks with us. My kids get SUPER cranky really quickly if I don't keep them fed. So I have this large, beat-up Ziploc bag which I put all of their pre-packaged snacks in when we go out. I'll also stick dry cloths, bibs, etc., in there for their snack time.

I decided we needed something a bit nicer than that - so I made a couple of 'wet' bags for taking their snacks out with us, and again, used some vinyl for it.

I made two, one for Audrey (in the white bear print) and one for Ewan (in the blue bear print):
So, now I can get rid of that gungy old Ziploc, and replace it with their own individual bags:

Recently, I signed up to create a block for a charity quilt the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild was organizing.

The project, which will be raffled off, and proceeds going to breast cancer research, had a 'boob' theme.

We had to pick from a list of terms, and create a block reflective of that term. I picked "cupcakes".

I went pretty literal with my block -

Here's the free pattern/tutorial for you. The awesome people from Therm O Web helped this project out with a few their fantastic products!

Materials:
Pink scraps and strips (cupcake 'cake')
Brown scraps/strips (cupcake 'cup')
12.5" square background fabric
The "Cupcake" templates {click here to download them}
Therm O Web HeatnBond Fusible, Lightweight
Therm O Web Stitch n Sew Non-woven Lightweight Embroidery Stabilizer (Tear Away)
Pressing cloth
Thread (variegated Aurifil in Pinks and Browns)

Instructions:
Press all seams OPEN.
1) Create your 'Cup'
Using your scrap strips of browns, sew them together in pairs first, measuring at least 4-5" in length:
Join your strip pairs together. Feel free to sew them together in a 'wonky' fashion - i.e. - don't match the straight edges up together - put your top piece on your bottom piece on a bit of an angle, like so:
 then, trim the excess fabric away from the edge at 1/4" from the seam:
 Here's another picture of that wonky sewing:
 My template is fully covered:
 Using your strip set as a template, cut out a piece of Heat n Bond just slightly smaller than your strip sets, but larger than your "Cupcake Bottom" template:
 Using the manufacturer's instructions (which include using a pressing cloth - I used Therm O Web's PressingPaper) adhere the Heat n Bond to the back or wrong side of your strip set
 See here below - in order, from ironing board UP:
- pressing cloth
- strip set, right side DOWN
- Heat n Bond, paper side UP
- PressingPaper:
Once you have the Heat n Bond adhered to the backside of your "Cupcake Bottom" strip set, using a marker trace the "Cupcake Bottom" template onto the paper side of the Heat n Bond.
 Cut out your "Cupcake Bottom":
 start sewing them together in a wonky fashion,
 making sure to trim off any excess fabric so that each seam is 1/4" each time,
 and press your seams all open so that they'll lay nice and flat when we add the fusible to the back of them,
 keep adding on to your scrappy 'blob'. If you don't have a piece long enough, why not join 2 or 3 pieces together to make a strip the size you need?
 Once you think your scrappy 'blob' is big enough to be a piece of 'Cake',
lay your "Cupcake Top" template over top to see if the entire thing will be covered by scrappy goodness. If not, keep adding strips and scraps to the spots you need covered,
 Once you've got a blog big enough, it's time to play with the Heat n Bond again!

Using your template, trace the template onto the paper side of the Heat n Bond fusible and cut it out.
Using the method above for fusing, and the manufacturers instructions, fuse the "Cake" shaped piece of Heat n Bond to the BACK side of your cupcake blob:
 3) Make your Cupcake!
Place your 'cup' portion down on your 12.5" sq background fabric first, then lay your 'cake' portion over top with a slight over lap. Make sure you're happy with their placement - then remove your cake portion, fuse the cup portion in place. Follow up by replacing the cake portion, and fusing in place:
 Now! To applique or stitch it in place!

I recommend using a stabilizer behind your block while your appliqueing in place; it's optional - some machines will be less finicky than others. I know my machine likes appliqueing with a stabilizer.

This is Therm O Web's tear-away stabilizer - it's called "StitchnSew":
Pick your threads - I went with a variegated Aurifil in pinks and browns.

Pin your stabilizer in place behind your block; I started with appliqueing the 'cake' portion first:
 ...and once I was done the top, I flipped the block over and carefully removed the stabilizer by tearing it away:
 ..then repeated the process for the 'cup' portion:

There!

Cupcake block is done.
 Cute, right?

(this post contains affiliate links to Therm O Web).

Quick Coupon Love post today, this cold has hit me hard!
Here we go!


Havel's Sewing has their new Fabric Cutter on sale right now; I'm in the process of writing a (fantastic!) review for this little gadget - if you follow me on Instagram you would have seen some sneak peeks of me using this cutter to speed through a mass amount of charm square cutting for the Cotton + Steel Basics swap here at Sew at Home Mummy.

This cutter has a no-slip grippy ruler with a rotary blade built in along a sliding bar which makes strip cutting up to 6" wide an absolute breeze.

This is one gadget I highly recommend - stay tuned for the review!

I also have two coupon codes for ya:

SHIP - free shipping

SEVEN - $7 off your purchase







Mad About Patchwork has a whole lotta Denyse Schmidt on sale right now for $8.00 per yard, and their Monday Mosaic bundle is 20% off (and features a Tula Pink print!)










Fat Quarter Shop is featuring Kate Spain's Sunnyside Fat Eighth bundle on for $43.19 today for their Flash Sale feature!





June Tailor has a sale on their awesome rotary cutter right now - they call it a 'fleece' rotary, but it'll cut everything. I use it all of the time on my quilting cotton - I especially love the retractable blade cover/safety - you have to depress a small button and pull a finger trigger to release the cover - fantastic if you have little kiddies running around. And, this cutter (45mm) takes any 45mm rotary blades (I've used June Tailor's, Havel's and Olfa blades on it so far). Totally recommend this cutter!

Free shipping, and it's $22.49.








Rose Room Quilts has some great deals on a few of their super cute organics right now - $12.38 a yard! Head over their to check it out!







Craftsy has their Swing, Quilting and Knitting Classes on for up to 50% off: Save up to 50% off on Sewing, Quilting & Knitting classes - sale ends tomorrow (September 15). I've been thinking about taking the Jacquie Gering class on quilting with your walking foot... "Creative quilting with your Walking Foot"






Therm O Web is celebrating National Sewing Month with a great sale: $10 off of any purchase of $40 or more at Thermowebonline.com with the promo code 

CREATE

Not familiar with Therm O Web? I wrote a post about them several months ago - you can read more about them {here}. I love their products. I've been using their spray-baste lately for little projects and it sure saves a lot of time!


Okay. So that post was longer than expected.

Let me know in the comments if you've come across any super skookum deals out there on your travels!!

xo
Erin

In the interest of full disclosure, this post contains affiliate links to Craftsy and Therm O Web sites. This means, that, if you click these links and happen to make a happy-mail purchase, I'll get a few cents in return. By law, I have to disclose this to you, and really, I'd tell ya anyway. I'm that friend who will tell you you're having a bad hair day. Ahem. You're having a bad hair day. What happened? The other day you looked fab - is it the humidity? Change of seasons? Anyway. It's okay. You should see my hair right now. It'd give 1970's Farrah a run for her money. In a bad way.

Happy Friday, all!

I'd like to welcome my latest, awesome product sponsor, Therm O Web! 

They are all about adhesives and interfacings - chances are, you've at least seen their products in your local sewing shop, if not used some of them - and they are great!

The first time I ever used a Therm O Web product was for my daughter's first quilt:

I used their HeatnBond in order to applique (my first applique project!) the little lady bugs onto the quilt - and it was super easy to use!