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Channel: MessyJesse - a quilt blog by Jessie Fincham
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Messy Jesse in 2012

January 4, 2013, 12:43 am
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Hi friends! A very happy new year to you all! I wanted to welcome you all back with a look through my 2012 year, didn't it fly by! Firstly, and most importantly I made my very first quilt this year :) even though I've been sewing for years, and making smaller patchwork projects - I was never quite able to take the leap into making a 'real quilt', but I'm so glad I did!! Although I didn't make as many as I'd hoped I really enjoyed the process for each and every one, learning as I go...
2012 seemed to be a year of the tutorial from me, I made a simple envelope cushion cover tutorial, a chevron pillow and some Christmassy projects in the form of a patchwork tree decoration featured over on the Liberty craft blog, a napkin/cutlery holder on quilt story and a reindeer embroidery pattern for sale in my etsy shop :)
I also discovered that I love making pillows! Here are a few of my favourites :) I plan on lots more pillow making fun in 2013 ;)
I joined the farmers wife quilt-a-long! Although I have slacked off towards the end of this year, I'm planning to catch up soon enough - they're so fun to make! I also started english paper piecing, more finishes for 2013 ;)
My biggest accomplishment was opening my online quilting fabric shopSew and Quilt! eek! It still scares me that I'm doing it! It's been a lot of work but so worth it, and I'm enjoying the adventure :) I recently got accepted to join a scheme to help university graduates like myself, start their own businesses, which starts this month! I even had to pitch the business idea to a panel of judges, aghh so scary! 
I also set up the Sew and Quilt facebook page ;)
We also did lots of work to our new home, including re-decorating the dining room, entrance hall, and a complete renovation of our bathroom very recently. Phew! it was a busy year - oh and we got ENGAGED!! Wow, it really was a busy, and expensive year!! How was your 2012? Did you achieve everything you set out to? Goals/resolutions for 2013?
Jessie, xo
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Happy New Year SALE!

January 6, 2013, 5:59 am
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Hi friends, just a quick stop by to let you all know that I'm having a big new year fabric sale over at Sew and Quilt! Quilting fabrics reduced up to 40% OFF!
What better way to spend your Sunday afternoon, shopping for fabric! Jessie, xo
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Craft Books and New Fabric!

January 9, 2013, 10:40 am
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There's nothing I enjoy better than sitting down with a nice cup of tea and paging through some eye candy in the form of sewing and craft books. It's one of my favourite things to do, after actual sewing of course ;)
This Christmas I was the very lucky receiver of this amazing stack of crafty delights! Little did I know when I was adding them to my amazon basket throughout the year they would be appearing under the tree :) thanks Robin!
                       
I also got these amazingly cute!! lecien prints, just look at those deers! and the oh so sweet stamps! eek I can't wait to cut into them :) perhaps a project from the Happy Quilt book by Atsuko Matsuyama!? This book is seriously amazing. My mum bought me the other japanese book when they were in Hong Kong for Christmas! It's full of fun patchwork ideas. 
And sometimes you just need a picture book, and what better than a picture book full of vintage fabrics and feedsacks! Vintage Fabric From The States is exactly that, it's perfect. 
You can find all the links to these books on my new amazon widget on the left sidebar. I have added all the books I've shared on the blog over the years, and I personally own each one so it comes highly recommended. If you decide to go ahead and purchase any of these I would really appreciate it if you could click through the link as it would really help me out! :) Did you receive some nice crafty presents? Please share, I'd love to hear! and exchange book recommendations ... Jessie, xo
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Scappy Trip Along Quilt!

January 15, 2013, 10:10 am
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Hi friends! I've been busy working away on my scrappy trips quilt along since the beginning of the month. I wanted to jump into this project as I thought it would be a great way to start the year with a fun quilty project :) hopefully it will be the start of a productive year to come! I have lots of plans for the year, and one of my personal goals is to find some more time for quilt making and actual sewing! We all know it can be hard to squeeze in the time and motivation after a long day's work but I'm trying to be more organised with myself this year; less Pinterest, more doing perhaps ;)
p.s. this is my house!!
I'm completely in love with this quilt and I'm really pleased I jumped on the bandwagon to join in the fun. I would never have had the motivation to complete all 36 blocks if it wasn't in a quilt-a-long with hundreds of other quilters across the world! The Instagram buzz it created has been amazing! and I've spent far too long nosing round the #scrappytripalong photo's...
I cut into loads of my stash, and used up lots of scraps too! It's a real mix of lots of my favourite prints, no real plan of design layout - except I had to use a white print in each block, as I like my quilts with white!! :)
I hope you're all having an enjoyable start to the week! Jessie, xo
p.s. Don't forget I'm in the middle of having my BIG new year sale at Sew and Quilt, with fabric's up to 40% off until 31st Jan , a perfect excuse to stock up on scrappy trips fabric!! :)
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Pam Kitty, Love!

January 18, 2013, 8:50 am
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I'm so happy that I'm stocking the wonderful new Pam Kitty Love collection by the super talented Pam Kitty Morning! It's a delightful line full of whimsical prints in a pretty colour palette of reds, pinks, yellows, grey, green and blue! 
I managed to cut into it just before Christmas to create these sweet little drawstring bags for some Christmas gifts - of course, using Jeni B's tutorial. I just love that scalloped stripe, I know it will be perfect for future quilt bindings ;) It's also made lots of appearances in my scrappy trips quilt :) and I'm sure will be the base of many sewing projects to come! 
Have a great weekend everyone! It's sooooo cold here so I'm planning to have a fun weekend of staying indoors in the warm and sewing all weekend! yayy! What about you? Jessie, xo
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Latest Vintage Finds

January 30, 2013, 4:28 am
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One of the things I enjoy most about the summer is car-boot season! I love venturing through the aisles of cars, peeking through boxes and eyeing up the candy on offer, most of the time it's not great stuff but I can usually always count on bringing one sweet thing home to treasure :) ... Unfortunately it's not summer here at the moment, so I have to look forward to that in the coming months and raid the local charity shops instead, which is exactly what I did last week! In my favourite local one I scored these little beauties. 
Some amazing retro curtains with a cute kitchen print! (I loove anything kitchen design related!) I think they definitely date back to the 50s, but are in really good condition and have a great texture to them. I also got another great purple vintage sheet and matching pillowcases to add to the vintage fabric shop section. And not forgetting these pretty sewing patterns; vintage nightwear to channel my inner Doris Day and stuffed toys, just because ;)
Have you found any gems recently? p.s I've finished my Scrappy Trips quilt!! I'll be photographing it tomorrow so look out for a post very soon ;) Jessie, xo
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Scrappy Trips Quilt Finish!

January 31, 2013, 8:24 am
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Yipeee! I've finished my scrappy trip around the world quilt! I'm so super proud of this and love how it's turned out :) I don't think I would have made this is it wasn't part of a quilt-a-long because it's so scrappy and random! It was quite a step out of my comfort zone :) so I thank the quilting community for all joining in the adventure which helped motivate me to complete it! 

It's the biggest quilt I've made so far! and my first one to have pride of place in our bedroom. We have an all white bedroom, so it brings a much needed rainbow of colour :) When I was piecing the quilt top with such multicolored fabrics I knew exactly what backing I would choose to compliment it ...
... Pam Kitty Love's multicolour dots of course! It's so busy on the front I didn't want to overwhelm it with something crazy on the back, so I think it's kinda' perfect :) I also used a coordinating Pam Kitty floral print for the binding too, again something subtle. 



It's quilted in a simple fashion, straight stitched along every other row - someday I will get more adventurous with my quilting and learn some new techniques. It's actually on my to do list this year! How are your scrappy trips quilts going? Did you join in? If not I would highly recommend it! Jessie, xo
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Chevron Quilt Top

February 11, 2013, 9:52 am
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So after the buzz and excitement of finishing the scrappy trips quilt, I was itching to get started on a new quilt project. I decided upon this chevron idea, as I love HST and can't seem to get enough of them! This particular quilt is intended for my mum's 50th birthday in a few days :) so I used a variety of fabrics from my stash that I thought would be 'mum' taste, in a pinky/red colour palette. 
It's been so fun to piece, and my Instagram pals (@messyjesse1) will know I had a very productive Saturday finishing off the top - even if it did mean only getting dressed at 3.30pm!! ok, priorities people... ;)
I love how it's coming together! I'm planning a pink stripe binding, not sure about the backing fabric yet? 
I hope you are all having a good start to the week? What are your creative plans? 
p.s. Thank YOU all sooo much for your amazingly kind comments about my scrappy trips quilt, I haven't got round to replying to everyone but I wanted to tell you I am very appreciative of them all :) Jessie, xo
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A Fabric Giveaway + Updates

February 15, 2013, 12:34 pm
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Hi everyone! Happy friday :) I hope you've all had a good week? I've been looking forward to this weekend after a super busy week. Lot's of 'day job' hours, working on things for Sew and Quilt - some great new stuff arriving at the end of the month ;) as well cracking on with wedding plans!
As a nice finish to the week I have this adorable bundle of fat quarters from Sew and Quilt to give away! All you have to do is click here to enter :) Best of luck!

I've been photo bombing Instagram lately, it's my favourite way to keep up to date with everyone; so quick and easy. If you follow me (@messyjesse1) you will have seen I got these amaaazing! new Denyse Schmidt Shelburne Falls fabrics, such happy mail! ahhh I've been waiting so long to get my hands on them! Once I've finished my mum's zig zag quilt and a couple of other sewing jobs I have to get done I'm allowed to play with them :) I've only pet them so far...
We've been having some great weather here too! Some blue skies finally :) and in other news I've got completely obsessed with The Big Bang Theory these last few weeks, so hilarious! Oh and we had an un-inentional date with the priest on Valentines day to discuss the wedding and set a date! :o will most likely be the last weekend in May or first weekend of June 2014. Eek!! Let the planning commence!


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Finished Chevron Quilt!

February 25, 2013, 8:00 am
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Yippee!! I've finally finished my mum's chevron zig zag quilt! I slacked off for a few days but blasted through the binding on Sunday, and managed to capture some great photo's of it in the wonderful weather we had over the weekend :) 
     I haven't had a chance to give it to her yet, so I hope she likes it! Although she does generally like everything I make, but that's their job, right!? ;) 




I combined a range of pink, red and predominantly white background colour choices to give it a cohesive feel, including some of my favourite prints by Pam Kitty Love, Cath Kidston, Liberty and a mix of others from my stash. I backed it in Kona Pearl Pink, which is a great neutral pink colour to create a clean finish, along with a stripe binding to finish :) 

Ok so this is my second quilt in two months, which is really quick for me! I don't like setting 'sewing targets' for myself, but I would be thrilled if I could make a quilt a month!! Do you set yourself quilting goals? Or do you just make something when you feel like? Please share, I'd love to hear what you do. xo
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Our First Home: Dining Room Update

February 28, 2013, 9:46 am
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We've been quite busy on the house front lately, with lots of ideas planned and DIY's going on over the weekends. Robin sometimes get's fed up with the fact that every weekend - without fail! I always have a DIY job for him to do - whether that be putting up a shelf, hanging some hooks, adding wood paneling to the entrance hall, or even re-doing the bathroom!! But ... I'm always there alongside him, holding the drill, applying the paint and sweeping up after ;) team effort I'd say! 
    So last weekend was no different, there was a new wall shelf to be hung in the dining room. I picked this pretty bland pine shelf up at my local auction for £8, bargain :) with 2 coats of primer and a couple more coats of white satin wood it was good to go!
I went with a white finish as I have a lot of bright painted wooden furniture already. Multicolour chairs, cabinet and a coloured shelf might be a bit overkill, no?! It houses more of my ever-growing collection of kitchen paraphernalia, perfectly :)

(please ignore the mess in the living area in photo above!) I also whipped up these tie-backs for my curtains this morning, just simple bows for a kitschy feel :) just love the cheery print, so pretty. 
I'm sooo excited for this weekend as we are going to be making big shelves for the laundry room, to store all our towels and linen on! Yippee, I really want to make it into a nice space, we're just in the middle of creating a peg rail too. Can't wait to share more with you.
Have you got any home reno plans over the next few days? xo
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Our First Home: Laundry Room Dreams!

March 5, 2013, 10:06 am
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Hi friends! There's not been much sewing going on around here lately as I'm in full DIY mode, and when it hits - I just have to go with it and abandon the sewing machine for a few days in order to get some things done around here! :) As I mentioned in my last post, we managed to get my shelves put up in the laundry room over the weekend. I'm so excited about this, I know it sounds really lame to some, but I just can't wait to put away all my towels and bedlinen on tidy shelves and not in a (cough!!) banana box under our bed!! shocking, I know...
So this is where we're currently at, shelves have been made and put together by my very clever fiancé ;) and I'm almost done with the painting, just one more coat and finito - thank goodness, because it's the most annoying thing to paint, ever!! And when that's complete I can add the final touches to bring it altogether rather nicely :) Here are some of my wish list items for the space.
Yes that's right, I'm dreaming about peg bags and wicker baskets, ha! 

1. I fell in love with this super pretty rug from Urban Outfitters recently, it's so cute but I actually ended up buying a different one as I needed a bigger size.
2. These baskets from IKEA are perfect to hold smaller hand towels and cleaning products.
3 & 6. Completely obsessed with the gorgeous Cath Kidston storage bags, so useful to store sheets in. I'm hoping to make my own as they are a little pricey.
4. The washing bag is so cute too, CK get's me every time.
5. My peg rail we put up last weekend, ideal for hanging brooms etc.
7. An enamel tin to store washing powder instead of displaying my awful plastic tub? Yes please!
8. And a cute peg bag to finish, perfect. 

Happy tuesday! xo
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On my desk

March 12, 2013, 10:48 am
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Still not much productive sewing going on at the moment, but I have found some time to play with my latest fabric purchase, Shelburne Falls by Denyse Schmidt. I just love this line sooo much! It has a great vintage vibe, which I adore. As soon as I saw the collection I had something in mind for it ;)

I fell in love with the red colour-way prints and purchased a few of my favourite's to mix and match with my own stash. I love the tone of this quilt, I normally go quite bright and white with my quilts so this is a really fun departure for me :) I'm doing a simple 4-patch block, alternating with squares. The design was completely inspired by this quilt I pinned on Pinterest a while back, I love everything about it, so simple, but so striking. I've been wanting to re-create something similar to it, so I thought the Shelburne Falls collection would be perfect.
I hope to share more of my progress with this quilt soon! Thanks for stopping by friends, xo
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Latest

April 10, 2013, 10:35 am
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Hi folks! happy wednesday! I hope you're having an enjoyable week so far. I hit my first car-boot of the season last week and picked up these gems. Pyrex divider dish, vintage fabric, embroidered tablecloth, thermos - minus the cap :( a dreamy butter dish to add to my prized Taunton Vale collection!! and what I thought to be a Pyrosil casserole dish but actually when I cleaned it I noticed it was Corning Ware, the U.S. version, yayy my first :) 

I also got round to finishing off my quilt top and basting it. I'm getting much quicker at sandwhich'ing my quilts these days, though it does still take quite some effort; moving rugs and furniture to clear some space ;) 
    I really love the traditional, vintage feel of this quilt I had an idea when making this quilt I would love to hang it on one of those display ladders I've been spying lately, perfect crafty addition to my living room.  Jessie, xo
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The Little House On The Prairie Quilt

April 16, 2013, 9:23 am
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I really love the vintage, traditional feel of this quilt. I can just imagine Laura from Little House on The Prairie having it on her bed! I knew I wanted to create something like this the moment I clapped eyes on the Shelburne Falls collection, so after much fabric petting and stroking I auditioned several other fabrics from my stash to pair up with, in order to make a straightforward four-patch design, alternating with square's. It's a really simple quilt to showcase all the pretty fabrics at their best.
I quilted it with a cross-hatch design, which I haven't tried before. It was a lot simpler than I originally thought! I was worried I might get into quite a pickle with it pulling but I managed it pretty well :) I used Darleene Zimmerman's Mother's Melodies spot in chocolate to bind the quilt, it's a favourite binding for me which I've used here (in blue), and here. The backing fabric is a sweet little print I've had in my stash for quite a while - a perfect fit for this, don't ya' think? :)
I've been thinking lately, I'd love to hang a bunch of my quilts on one of those cute display ladder's - like this! in my living room. Another project for the boy ;) hopefully I'll convince him to make one this weekend! 

How do you store/display your quilts? 
Happy Monday, Jessie, xo
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English Paper Piecing, Diamonds

April 23, 2013, 11:12 am
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Happy Tuesday! I've been paper piecing some 8-point diamonds recently, which I've been itching to start playing with since they arrived at Sew and Quilt last month, but had to hold the plans until I finished off my other quilt ;) These are the 3" size - so they're big, and because they only have four sides they are much quicker to whip up than hexies, perfect!
This time I was completely inspired by this quilt I pinned on Pinterest a while back, I really love the pink background and bright feedsack prints, so pretty. 
So, that's the starting point - let's see where I'll end up :) xo
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Quilty Barn Along

May 6, 2013, 6:10 am
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Happy Monday friends, I hope you are having a good start to the week! It's a bank holiday here so I've been enjoying a longer weekend with time to quilt :) so let me introduce you to my quilty barn mini quilt I've been busy with! 
This is a super fun block designed by Lori Holt; it just screams Lori, right!? She made these blocks as part of the backing for her farmer's wife quilt, love this idea! (really need to catch up with my FWQ!!) and then decided to start a quilt-a-long with just the barn blocks, I've seen more and more cute quilty barns lately so of course I had to join in the farming fun. You can find the flickr group here, with a link to all the tutorials so far. Also, I'm using #quiltybarnalong on IG if ya'll are interested in joining? ;)
Eeeh! Isn't the CK cowboy fabric just the ticket for this!! yeeha! I'm planning on a mini quilt for a wall in my sewing room so I'm not going the whole hog, and I've had to change the sashing from Lori's original instructions to make it the right size to fit my space. I'm really pleased with it so far, so I hope it finishes up that way!
Will keep you posted on how it turns out. Thanks for stopping by, xo
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A Work In Progress ...

May 9, 2013, 8:00 am
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So it started with this ...
A very messy and overflowing scrap box, which was completely impractical! With every project I would have to rummage through this banana box in search of a particular colour or fabric print I needed. Most of the time it would be all over the floor, and even more annoyingly; screwed up! So a while back I decided something had to be done about it; an IKEA online shop was needed. A month later (grrhh slow ikea) two antonius units arrived, amongst other things ;) to house my ever-growing scrap collection. 
So the morning after, this is where I'm at right now - it's definitely a work in progress! I've decided to re-arrange things completely in here as it was just getting out of control. I didn't have enough storage units so I was just piling things very precariously on top of one another. You all remember when I first did my sewing room yeh? Well, the IKEA trestle legs have gone, in place of the new antonius units and I will hopefully be plotting some other things in here this weekend too. I'm so excited!! Seriously, I love organising, and even more when it's fabric and craft stuff! 

I hope you all have as much fun as me this weekend! :) See you next week friends, xo
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Quilty Barn A-Long Complete!

May 15, 2013, 9:20 am
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Yippee! I finally got round to hanging up my Quilty Barn-A-Long mini quilt yesterday, and I am so pleased with it. I had finished it at the weekend but had to delay things slightly as the wall where I wanted to hang it in my craft room had a slight damp issue, (oh the joys of living in a victorian house!) so I cleaned it, treated it and painted it - and now it's as good as new ;) 
I also had a major clean up in here over the weekend too, it was quite a task! I've managed to clear out a whole IKEA expedit unit to free up some much needed space, so the new mini quilt does a perfect job to brighten the place with all my new wall space! It hangs perfectly above my fireplace and shelf of cute things :) Yes, I collect felt and crochet cakes!! 
 ahh so annoyed I didn't get the point on that red chimney top! deep breaths ...
Though I do love all the fabrics, they play so well together :) and the blocks were so fun to make, they've got me itching to catch up on my farmers wife block too! 
Thank's Lori for such a fantastic quilt-a-long, I hope you can all join in too. xo

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A Little Bit Country

May 16, 2013, 10:06 am
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Happy Thursday guys! Now don't you just love a great deal, and even more so when it's from one of these huge companies that seem to rule everything. Well I do, and that's exactly what I got last week when I was drooling over all the different quilt books I dreamed of owning on Amazon - I found this great little book for 1p !! Yes you heard me correct, a penny! It drew me straight in after eyeing up those pretty quilts on the front, I really love the traditional patterns and colours more and more at the moment so I had a closer look ;)
And so there it was, 'available from 1p', and as quick as a flash I added it to my bag and checked outta' there!
I've only just had a quick flick through as it's just come through my postbox now, but on first glance it looks very informative and gives instructions for lots of traditional quilt patterns, just my cup of tea. Also, more importantly how to use speed technique's, very much what I need to take lessons in with my quilt making ;) 
You can find the link to this book with my Amazon widget on the left sidebar and apparently it's still 1p!! Quick ...
And in other country news, I whipped up three more farmers wife blocks yesterday. It was such a pleasure putting them together in my new tidy craft room (more on that next week!) 
I used my new very, very cute kitty and scottie dog prints which are now available in the Sew and Quilt shop! xo
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