Summering hard over here

Hello friends. Summer is in full swing, and despite having had quite a few relaxing days, I don't know that we have really stopped or slowed down much since school got out.

I went through a pretty lengthy sewing break. I am realizing this is just who I am. Go go go go, and then I stop completely. No slow fizzle out, just a complete, dead in my track, stand still. I used feel guilty about this, like the sudden stop in productivity was bad and I would try to fight it. Now I recognize it as the break that I need. I think I am so all in that I tend to kill the fun or the creativity or the drive behind whatever propelled me forward in the first place.

Every time I take a break, I come back renewed and ready to create. And it's not like the break itself was unproductive. It was filled with dozens of beach days, lots of books read (which is something I could fill an entire post with, so I will save that for another time), time with friends, games, exploring. Just no sewing.

We camped at the beach down the road from us and it was perfect. 

I did get to do a little sewing, actually. 

Look how close the dolphins were to us!

Our first time grilling pizza and it will not be a regular thing because OH MY GOSH it was delicious. This was a BBQ chicken pizza with BBQ sauce instead of pizza sauce, bbq chicken, red onions, bacon, monterey jack cheese, and a drizzle of ranch on top. Seriously, so good!!!

When we got home from the beach, I felt the push to make again. I was waiting for it to arrive, and arrive it did! I made things for swaps, things for the kids, things for fun, and things for my shop.

 This was something I made for my original #UHGswap partner hosted by Kelly of @Kelbysews and Michelle of @mishamakes My partner said she liked modern and eclectic and vibrant color (these colors were part of her photo mosaic she posted), and she had a thing for collecting birds nests. So I thought it would be to make some modern, pieced birds nests out of fabric. Three birds nests, in purple, blue, and green, and they were fun to make and challenge myself with because they were pieced improv style.

The plan changed however, and I created an entire separate package for another sweet girl who just said she liked color and stars! Which, if you don't know, happen to be my quilty love language. I whipped up the mini below for her!

And because I am no stranger to joining fun swaps, I also had to create a mini for my #allthecolorsminiswap  Any swap based on using many colors is my jam! I started making a mini for my partner, but when I lost the pieces in a room moving shuffle. (Towards the end of the school year, I started noticing that my 2 girls sharing was kind of rough on my oldest daughter, who is an angel and always so selfless and helpful to me. So I decided to make her year and gave up my sewing room so she could have her own room.) Anyways, I lost the pieces of the mini I made, so I was forced to start over. Although, I ended up being pretty happy with my plan B.

unquilted....

....and all ready to go!

Those little swaps got me fired up to start making quilts and things that felt fun again!

When we got home from the beach I whipped up a few adorable Glitter It All pouches. The pattern was created by Laura Zuckeruss and was shared in LP&Q magazine! I have to tell you, if you are looking for a super fun thing to make, this little pouch is it!!! I made so many I ran out of vinyl right away.

The best part was choosing which fun sparkles and trinkets to stick inside the plastic!!

There is a pink unicorn in there, we just overloaded it with glitter that it is hard to see!

I also made some whole cloth quilts to add to my shop.

Bonnie Christine fabrics are AMAZING!! Plus they have that silky softness that only Art Gallery Fabrics has!

This one is available here!

And one for the boys!

This one is available here! 

In other quilting news, I have joined an online quilting bee !!!!!), started a quilt JUST for me, and joined a fun little improv sew along, that I will share more about later. I feel like I have overloaded this spot enough for one day!

Happy Thursday friends!!