A New Sew Along for September

My new Facebook group is starting a sew along on September 1 for the Window Box quilt in my book A Prairie Journey. We did this as a small quilt group challenge a few years ago when the book first came out. If you missed making this one, here's another chance to get it done. Marian Edwards made this adorable little quilt for the book a few years ago and I always regretted I didn't have one to call my own. So I'm making it too. It's pretty simple and with those colors I thought it would be a perfect fall project. You can make the applique in wool or cotton, whatever you're comfortable doing. This is going to be a lot of fun! If you have the book, grab some wool or fabric scraps and sew along with us. 

You're welcome to join the group if you love making these kinds of things, but you must have the book to follow along and make the quilt. 

(Courtesy Library of Congress)

From the Prairie Journey book: Gardening was an essential part of frontier life. The early homesteaders cooked meals that were prepared from food that was harvested from their own gardens. The "kitchen garden" was a necessity if an entire family was to be nourished. But flower and herb gardens that contained plants for medicinal purposes flourished as well.  Perhaps a primitive window box filled with wildflowers found on the prairie would have given a warm touch to a rustic log cabin or sod house.

Posy Baskets Quilt

 I love basket quilts! The new small quilt challenge for this month from the Schoolgirl Sampler book is - Posy Baskets on page 36. (The sampler sew along group is still open. You can jump in and start at any time if you have the book for the blocks and patterns. There are quite a few quilters who've joined after we started in January.) 

Posy Baskets quilt made by Sue Bennett. 

We're working our way through the small quilts in the Schoolgirl Sampler book. This colorful, scrappy quilt is one of my favorites and is perfect for a summertime project. And, of course, you have to make it with scraps, scraps and more scraps which only adds to the fun. This might be a good opportunity to go through your scraps and sort and clean them up a little. It's fun and relaxing and you never know what you'll find. If you've been feeling stuck, sometimes a little playing around with fabric is just the thing you need to get your creativity flowing again.  

Even if you don't have a plan, playing around with scraps and making tiny things is a good way to get motivated to start something new. I get lazy and unmotivated at times but give me a basket of scraps and sometimes wonderful things happen. 

Little log cabin pattern is now available in my Etsy shop.

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I recently started a new Facebook group for those who are most familiar with my books and quilts. The old group had become a free for all and was difficult to manage. This one is much smaller and will be focused on my quilts and my favorite style of quilting -  using reproduction fabrics. We're taking a more relaxed approach (instead of doing frantic monthly challenges) and occasionally making simple little quilts with our reproduction scraps. You'll have to prove you're a fan and not a spammer if you request to join. Here's the first quilt - 

Quick and easy and lots of fun.

Simple is good.