Gardening is such a popular pastime. I am almost as passionate about gardening as I am for paper piecing.

My sweet customer Trish, requested some gardening gnomes.

Trish particularly wanted a girl gnome with braids.

This gnome helps me water the flowers.

I use my blocks for all sorts of projects…

I designed this vest for a sewing competition. Kind of quirky and whimsical! Next I am using the garden gnomes on some pillows for a gift.

The 3 day sewing competition is called TOP STITCH and was held in Ripon, Wisconsin. There were 4 of us competing, sewing a different challenge every day. The first day we created umbrellas…

Our second challenge was a lampshade…

Can you guess which lampshade is mine??? Here’s a hint…it’s the paper pieced one!

The best thing about the competition was meeting 3 new wonderful friends. Jill’s company, June Tailor, is having a huge WAREHOUSE SALE in West Bend next week. She invited me to be a vendor.

I will be vending on Thursday and Friday, August 26 and 27 at this awesome fabric and notions sale in West Bend, Wisconsin.

If you are wondering who won the TOP STITCH competition…it wasn’t me! But I will keep the names of the winners a surprise, as you can watch the video on Creative Spark soon.