Benita Skinner's Creative Space: Let's Get Sewing!

Did you know it's National Sewing Machine Day?
It's the day we celebrate our sewing machines - a very important tool in our life!
Whether you have one or a whole collection, be sure to enjoy some stitching.

The machine I use is the one my Mom nudged me into buying when I was 15 years old.

It lives, when not in use, under my pretty Patchwork Sewing Machine Cover.

Happy 18th Anniversary!

Yes....I've actually been sharing my original quilt pattern designs, through my website since 2001.
And thankfully, the ideas keep coming. :)
The bed quilt I'm currently working on, is going to be one of my best designs.
You'll see some of my progress below.

Limited Time Only ~> June, 2019 Anniversary Bonus Offer
Purchase a non-expiring Victoriana Quilt Design Membership this month and receive the patterns for all of the Playing with Pincushions series!

Playing with Pincushion Pattern Series

You'll find all the details on my site here.

Plus you still have time to get the current 2019 Hearts Intertwined Pincushion pattern, too!

Such a pretty fabric!
It came in the mail last week...as a gift - Thank You 'sew' much Svea!!
I'm looking forward to using it as the feature fabric in one of my Blue & White Tiles blocks.

I love finding shirts, to use for my quilts, from the local thrift store.
These two are my most recent finds and added to my fabric stash.
The bottom blue & white plaid is already being used in my Blue & White Tiles quilt.
I've been taking advantage of the nice weather to separate the parts of these outside - so the dust of ripping them apart (along straight edges only) doesn't end up in the house...that just causes extra housework.

There is no such thing as too many...
When it comes to fabrics in a quilt

My newest quilt progress...

I was so glad I figured out a way to extend the life of my cutter mat...so I could cut the bunch of strips I need.
I could have gone back to cutting them with my rotary cutter, but it's so much easier this way!
I covered the 'cut through' section with a strong duct tape.
I know it's not ideal, but it did work for a while.

In one day I made good progress - Many, many green fabrics cut into strips.
The tip I gave above, to extend the life of the cutter mat only went so far, until I had to change the tape.
I then remembered an older large rotary cutting mat I had, so I cut a 6" strip off it to use.
It wasn't quite the same thickness, so I added a layer of cardboard from a cereal box on top of the stack, and cutting the rest was a breeze!