The Communique Layout
Popularized by Rhonda Dort, who uses the layout in her classes, the Communique Quilt Layout works for both featuring large fabric and panel pieces, as well as a basis for multiple block designs.
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About Me
Welcome to Mouse in My Pocket! I'm Andrea, a web developer living in rural America with her husband and daughter. I'm excited to share my life with you as I explore some of the great things about living in the middle of nowhere. Be sure to check out the blog below to see a few of the things that are speaking to me right now.
On the Blog
Happy Halloween
This year for Halloween, I dressed as the title Character from Hayao Miyazaki’s The Secret World of Arietty. I’m pretty happy with how the costume came out, even if I spent all day explaining who I was. I think that’s a problem with being awesome in a small town. Not many people know what/who the…
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Mod Halloween Quilt Top
I feel like I’m just flying through the construction of quilt tops after all the time I spent on the Steampunk Crazy Quilt. In the span of a week I have been able to piece together a small Halloween themed quilt. This quilt top started with the amazing Spooktacular line by Maude Asbury for Blend…
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I Spy with My Little Eye – Closeups of the Steampunk Crazy Quilt
With everything that’s going on in the Steampunk Crazy Quilt, I’ve had several requests for some closeups. But before I share those closeups, here’s a reminder of what the entire quilt look like. And from the back, because I love the way a quilt top looks from the back with the sun shining through…
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Double Exposure Quilt
With the completion of my Steampunk Quilt top, I was definitely in a quilting groove. For my next project, decided to go back to something simple, with lots of straight lines, and absolutely NO embroidery. I made myself a black and white version of the Perfect Ten quilt from Swirly Girls Design. It started with…
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Quilt Display and Storage
I consider myself a fairly new quilter, having only been doing it for a couple of years. However, I also seem to be fairly prolific in the number of quilts that I have made in that time. At my house, I currently display quilts on an old fashioned quilt rack. Needless to say, it’s getting…
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Finished Steampunk Top
It took all weekend, but I managed to finish up my Steampunk themed crazy quilt top. It uses lots of great fabrics, including the Victorian Dream line from Roberta Morales for Quilting Treasures, some beautiful hand-dyed fabrics from Just Plain Laine, and of course, lots of scrap and stash fabrics. I am in love with…
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Steampunk Crazy Quilt Progress
My steampunk crazy quilt project is officially halfway complete! I have 2 rows sewn together. The rows still aren’t attached to each other. First, because I am not sure what order my rows will need to be in to make the final quilt look best and, second because I don’t have enough bias tape to…
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Halloween Fabric Mail Day
Yesterday was an amazing mail day! My Spooktacular fat quarter bundle came in the mail from Fat Quarter Shop! It’s nine super great Halloween themed fat quarters. I’m thinking I want to make a quilt of some sort, but I’m still not sure what I want the quilt to look like. There are some great…
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Date Night Bag
This bag is yet another variation on the Michelle Patterns Pleated Wristlet. It’s made from my enlarged template, sans pleating. The exterior of the bag is made from lime green sheepskin leather and raw silk. The lining and detailing on the exterior are made from 100% silk. My favorite part of the bag are the…
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Scaling Pattern Pieces – A Tutorial
Ok, you’ve found the PERFECT bag pattern. You absolutely adore it. BUT it’s not the right size! What do you do? Do you pout about it and spend another 10 hours scouring the internet for the perfect downloadable pattern, or do you adjust it yourself? If you’re like me, you adjust it yourself. And here’s…
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It’s Purse Palooza Day
Purse Palooza is going on right now, and today I’m sharing my review of the Michelle Patterns Pleated Wristlet. I made 3 versions of the bag. Two are using the included pattern pieces and a larger version with enlarged template pieces. Stop by the Sew Sweetness website to check it out, and sign up to…
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Heritage Days and a Quilt Show
Every year, my town has a festival on the town square. There are lots of local organizations with food booths and local people selling handmade items. I always enjoy taking a trip to the event just to look around. You never know who you might get to see, and what cool things you might find…
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