a sugar candies pillow!

The Sugar Candies pillow is finished! It's completely calorie, gluten and fiber free, of course. I started this just a few weeks ago, and I'm so happy to see how it came together.

Sugar Candies is a mini quilt pattern that will be published very soon by Nadra Ridgeway of Ellis & Higgs. The finished quilt is 18" and would make a cute addition to a kitchen, a child's room or as a gift to your favorite sugarholic. These candies are so quick and easy to sew, with a very clearly written pattern. There are plenty of illustrations, and Nadra even indicates pressing directions with little arrows so that your seams nest properly. I LOVE that! Just gather your "ingredients" and get sewing! 

Sugar Candies was the perfect size to transform into a throw pillow. The pattern does not include directions for creating a pillow, but you can use your favorite method. I like to back my pillows with simple envelope closures, which means no zippers! (There are several videos on YouTube showing how to do this. I use a similar method that is clearly illustrated by Lynnette Jensen in many of her Thimbleberries books such as Making Your House A Home.)

My candies are made with an assortment of Milk, Sugar & Flower prints by Elea Lutz for Penny Rose Fabrics, classic 1/8" Riley Blake ginghams and Lakehouse's Sunrise Studio mini dots. My background is an older pindot by Pam Kitty Morning (I bought yards and yards and yards of that print, and sadly, I've nearly come to the end of it. Riley Blake has similar white dotty prints.) 

I'm so happy that Nadra allowed me to test the Sugar Candies pattern. She has more cute patterns coming soon, too, like a great townhouse. Check out her blog, Ellis & Higgs, for more news about her upcoming patterns and fabric collection.

sugar candies! pattern test part one

You all know how much I love sweet stuff - candy, cupcakes, ice cream... I'm not too picky. I loved Smarties candies with their cello wrappers when I was a kid. So I jumped at the opportunity to test out this new pattern called Sugar Candies by Nadra Ridgeway. Have you seen her blog, Ellis & Higgs? She has the cutest projects and a great sense of color. When I discovered her blog a few years ago it was love at first sight. She'll introduce a few mini quilt patterns very soon, and I am super excited about her upcoming fabric collection with Riley Blake. I love every single print!

Testing this pattern for Nadra gave me the perfect opportunity to use another new favorite fabric collection, Milk, Sugar & Flower by Elea Lutz, which combines perfectly with Sunrise Studio's bright dots.

And I finally got over my fear of the walking foot. Why was I so intimidated by that big chunk of plastic and metal? I was surprised at how easy it is to use. I just read my sewing machine's manual and did it. Next up - turning this 18" mini quilt into a pillow in time for the big reveal!

And I have to leave you with the song that I listened to while making the Sugar Candies blocks. Isn't it great to be able to watch Sammy Davis Jr singing "The Candyman" again? ("You can even eat the dishes" he sings. Where can I buy those?)

quilt finish - mixing it up

It feels great to finish the Mixing It Up quilt top!  Once the weather cools off (it was 91 degrees in NYC today!) I'll think about baking again. Did you see the recipe for browned butter M&Ms chocolate chip cookies on Pioneer Woman's blog today? Yummy. I can't wait to try them!

Ok, back to the quilt. Cookie time will be later. 

Just looking at this quilt top makes me happy! There are all those colorful mixers, ready to whip up some amazing desserts. I had lots of fun just selecting the fabrics for each mixer. And do you remember how I bought the pale pink KitchenAid the same night that I sewed the pink block? 

The Mixing It Up pattern is by Lori Holt, and it's super-easy to understand, with lots of those easy-corner-triangles. The mixers are 15" square so you just need a few of them to make a big impact. I used mostly Bake Sale fabric with a little bit of Polka Dot Stitches mixed in, and solids from Riley Blake. I almost didn't make the mustard yellow mixer (come to think of it, Mom probably had a hand-held mustard mixer in the 70's). And yet, I found that I really needed the mustard just for the right color balance so that it wouldn't become too pink/red or too blue/green. 

I love the pieced "beater" border blocks. But I hate sewing borders. Let's just blame it on the extreme lack of space in my apartment. That's why these blocks sat around since February! I really, really wanted to just slap some fabric borders on this and call it done, but a quilting friend reminded me about how cute it would be if I followed the instructions. She was right. It's infinitely cuter with the pieced border. Borders are better!

Now I think that I've earned a special dessert tonite! Hummm maybe a cupcake instead of the cookie...