Wow, what a week this has been! With the launch of my pattern store I have been super busy with sales and planning my next pattern release. I can’t say thank you enough to everyone for the support and sweet comments I have received. The quilting community is just amazing!

Even though I’m hard at work writing my next quilt patterns, I still have time for fun sewing on the side. I can’t help it! It’s an itch I just can’t scratch. So let me show you a couple sew alongs I’m doing that you may find fun to join in on.

Shine On Sampler Quilt

Now I know I’m late to the game, but I hear Fat Quarter Shop is sewing this quilt again and encouraging the quilting community to sew along! For a hot minute I almost bought the quilt kit they’re selling, but after seeing Camille Roskelley’s fabric collection called Sunnyside, I had a change of heart. Plus I already had the book. So why not do something a little different from everyone else?

I’m sure I’ve said this before, but I LOVE sew alongs that test my skills and teach me new things. So when I came across this Bee’s Knees Block in the Bonnie & Camille Quilt Bee book, I got super excited. There are many places in this block that could go wrong and the amount of bias I had to work with definitely made me nervous. I did it though! Every time their pattern told me a certain subunit should measure a certain way, you better believe I measured. I’m also not a huge fan of seam ripping and try to avoid it at all cost. With this block? I seam ripped several times and just tried again. My advice is to be patient and measure twice with this block. As a result you will end up with a super cute bumblebee block!

I plan to post more photos of this sew along in the Enter Leslee’s Sewing Room! page. So check back monthly to see new photos of those blocks!

Gnome Is Where the Heart Is

Who out there loves Shabby Fabrics? I do! They have great sew along programs for the quilter who enjoys applique. Especially laser cut applique. I swear they just keep releasing cuter and cuter kits and it makes me want to give them all my money so I can make all of them. Just like everyone else though, I have to pick and choose, so I gave in and decided to do the Gnome Is Where the Heart Is sew along! Every month I make a small wall hanging that includes a little bit of hand embroidery and then hang it on my sewing room door to enjoy! I also bought the matching thread set that comes with metallic thread. I have no regrets.

I’ll be honest that machine applique became much easier when I upgraded my sewing machine. The extra features my Janome MC 6700p has almost feels like cheating. I usually like to sew with a blanket stitch when sewing down the edges of laser cut applique. My Janome really spoils me by automatically stitching a knot when it starts sewing. Then it has these fancy buttons that make my life easier. Like a button that knots at the end of my stitching or this other button that cuts my threads on the back. See what I mean? These fancy features make machine applique way more fun. It even sewed with metallic thread without any issues! And look how pretty!

So what do you think? Think you will join in on any of these sew alongs? Let me know in the comments below! I would love to hear what everyone is sewing these days. Thanks for reading!

– Leslee