Happy Tuesday! I meant to squeeze a post in yesterday, but didn't end up having enough time! I'm up in Minnesota this week visiting Megan! Excited to stitch, chat, shop, and dye fabric!
Regardless, I'm hoping to get a quick tutorial up for the pillow above this week!
I sewed up another lined drawstring bag (tutorial + pattern) this weekend, this time in reds from Color Me Retro! It needed to be done! Also, I need to order more twill tape, I'm all out of white!
I realized I hadn't shared this table runner that I made for the Color Me Retro video last month! I used blocks from my Vintage Nine-Patch Quilt Pattern and made a simple runner. The background is Fresh Water Pure Element.
So, I happen to have some amazing friends. Amazing, talented friends who make beautiful things! Two really sweet gifts arrived this month that really put giant smiles on my face. This awesome Harry Potter pillow from Amanda is one of those things! We both have a certain fondness for the 3rd book in particular, and I just love this screenprint that she made. It's so crazy professional looking! And how perfect is the patchwork and pom-pom trim to finish this pillow off? It's so me!
If that weren't enough, look at the back. This bit of embroidery is my favorite part! Thank you Amanda, I love it so much! We HAVE to do another Harry Potter swap this summer! :)
The other crazy wonderful awesome sweet thing that arrived this month was this bunny mini quilt from Jacey! Seriously, I totally cried when I opened it! It's George, on a quilt!! I love it so! It will have a place of honor on the bunny wall! I think Jacey and Amanda conspired, these projects match each other in color! Well, the probably just both know me too well, they are my favorite colors! Thank you Jacey, this mini blows my mind, I love it so much! The paper-pieced bunny is from Ayumi's pattern, found here!
You know I had to do it. George in a bowl on top of a quilt of George in a bowl. You're welcome! ;)
Seriously though, how lucky am I? I love having handmade things in our apartment to remind me of my caring and talented friends. I will enjoy these things for a long time!
Today I love the..
Smell of: Cinnamon rolls
Sound of: Spongebob
Taste of: Diet coke
Sight of: Sunshine
Feel of: Warm quilt
Good Things about Today:
- Lots of sewing ahead!
- Cinnamon rolls for breakfast!
- Slept well!
- Feeling relaxed!
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Friday, February 22, 2013
Favorites
1. FTL, 2. WIP- cartwheels, 3. Butter churn, 4. T-Be Mine, 5. www.flickr.com/photos/blueberrypark/8445292992/in/faves-j..., 6. wagon wheel, 7. Tesseract, 8. Get Well Soon Coaster, 9. completed ohio star blcok
Every week I go through my favorite photos on Flickr, and choose nine sewing/quilting related projects to showcase here. These photos and projects are not my own, you can find the original images and creators by clicking the coordinating links! If for any reason you do not want your project featured here, please email me and I'll remove it!
Happy Friday!
Every week I go through my favorite photos on Flickr, and choose nine sewing/quilting related projects to showcase here. These photos and projects are not my own, you can find the original images and creators by clicking the coordinating links! If for any reason you do not want your project featured here, please email me and I'll remove it!
Happy Friday!
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Morning Breads Class at The Little French Bakery
Happy Thursday! As I mentioned on Monday, I attended a Morning Breads class at The Little French Bakery on Sunday! It was so much fun, I wanted to share my experience here. I met Susan, the owner of The Little French Bakery, at The Sewcial Lounge. She took the beginning quilting class series last month and made her first quilt, yay! After getting to know her and visiting her website, Sara mentioned taking one of her classes. I was totally game, bread is my favorite! It was great to get away for the day and do something completely different. So relaxing. I took lots of snapshots throughout the day!
Some of our breads rising in the sun!
Susan kept us very well fed! We started the day off with delicious scones, granola, yogurt and fresh fruit. For lunch, she made this seriously delicious tomato bisque (recipe on her website, I can't wait to make it!), salad and fresh bread. I have never eaten to much tasty food at once! By the end of the day we were absolutely stuffed!
We made cinnamon rolls!
And Morovian sugar cake!
And my favorite, cream cheese cake roll.
Crazy buns!
Super moist cake (the top is butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon, YUM!).
Glazed cake rolls.
We came home with tons of food! A full pan of cinnamon rolls, an entire cake, and four cake rolls! We packed Sara's car full! It was such a great day, and I learned so much. Susan is just an incredibly fun person to be around, I can't wait to take another class! Her kitchen is tucked away in the country just outside of Baraboo, WI. I'm definitely going back for brick oven pizza this Summer!
Man, now I'm hungry! :)
Some of our breads rising in the sun!
Susan kept us very well fed! We started the day off with delicious scones, granola, yogurt and fresh fruit. For lunch, she made this seriously delicious tomato bisque (recipe on her website, I can't wait to make it!), salad and fresh bread. I have never eaten to much tasty food at once! By the end of the day we were absolutely stuffed!
We made cinnamon rolls!
And Morovian sugar cake!
And my favorite, cream cheese cake roll.
Crazy buns!
Super moist cake (the top is butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon, YUM!).
Glazed cake rolls.
We came home with tons of food! A full pan of cinnamon rolls, an entire cake, and four cake rolls! We packed Sara's car full! It was such a great day, and I learned so much. Susan is just an incredibly fun person to be around, I can't wait to take another class! Her kitchen is tucked away in the country just outside of Baraboo, WI. I'm definitely going back for brick oven pizza this Summer!
Man, now I'm hungry! :)
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Projects in Print
Happy Wednesday! I'm excited to share a few recent publications I've been a part of the last few months! Quite a little pile has stacked up, which just absolutely tickles me pink! It's been a lot of fun! I'm splitting these up into two posts as I'm still waiting on one to arrive in the mail!
Sew-it... Today Issue 2 is up first! I was happy to be able to have a project featuring Art Gallery Fabrics and Pellon Interfacing, my favorites! You may recognize these projects as my second Fat Quarter Gang tutorial, Fabric Envelopes!
You can find Issue 2 on Sew-it's website here.
Potholders! For more photos of both projects see this post.
You can find Issue 3 on newsstands and on Sew-it's website here.
Next, Quilt-it... Today Issue 3! There are two projects of mine in this issue! First, this patchwork quilt featuring Color Me Retro and Art Gallery Blenders! It's a throw size!
Finally in this issue, another Quilt Market project, a simple tote bag featuring Color Me Retro and Art Gallery Pure Elements! For more photos of both projects see this post.
You can find Issue 3 on newsstands and on Quilt-it's website here.
Last but not least, one of my favorite magazines, Mollie Makes! You'll find a sweet feature on Art Gallery Fabric's new designers in Issue 22. They used a photo of me, and even Michael made it in as the credited photographer!
Phew, that's quite enough for one day! Is this all really happening, or am I just dreaming? :)
Sew-it... Today Issue 2 is up first! I was happy to be able to have a project featuring Art Gallery Fabrics and Pellon Interfacing, my favorites! You may recognize these projects as my second Fat Quarter Gang tutorial, Fabric Envelopes!
You can find Issue 2 on Sew-it's website here.
Sew-it... Today - Retro Chef, a photo by Jeni Baker on Flickr.
Sew-it... Today Issue 3 just arrived last week! I love the photos that they took for these projects! With vintage Pyrex, woo hoo! You may recognize the apron and potholders from Quilt Market! Both feature Color Me Retro and Art Gallery Pure Elements.Potholders! For more photos of both projects see this post.
You can find Issue 3 on newsstands and on Sew-it's website here.
Next, Quilt-it... Today Issue 3! There are two projects of mine in this issue! First, this patchwork quilt featuring Color Me Retro and Art Gallery Blenders! It's a throw size!
Finally in this issue, another Quilt Market project, a simple tote bag featuring Color Me Retro and Art Gallery Pure Elements! For more photos of both projects see this post.
You can find Issue 3 on newsstands and on Quilt-it's website here.
Last but not least, one of my favorite magazines, Mollie Makes! You'll find a sweet feature on Art Gallery Fabric's new designers in Issue 22. They used a photo of me, and even Michael made it in as the credited photographer!
Phew, that's quite enough for one day! Is this all really happening, or am I just dreaming? :)
Monday, February 18, 2013
Recent Finished Projects
Happy Monday! So much for posting on the weekends lately, haha! Michael has been working less on the weekends lately (yay!), so I end up spending less time on my computer. It's definitely a good thing, just keep thinking I'll hop on and post in between activities and time keeps getting away from me! Anyways! I can't wait to tell you all about the baking class I took yesterday at The Little French Bakery, but for now, how about all those projects I was telling you about!
I'm slowly re-decorating our kitchen using Color Me Retro! It has such a retro kitchen feel, it's fitting right in. My appliances even match it! I made these potholders last week to hang on the hooks over my sink. Since I don't plan on using them I just used batting, so I suppose they are really more like little mini quilts! They're pretty big, 9" square.
I had to make some Color Me Retro garland for the launch party of course! I used Sew, Mama, Sew's tried and true scalloped garland tutorial. I've made it a few times and it always turns out so cute! Now I need to find a place to hang it here at home!
I still had some plain tea towels lying around just waiting to be embellished. I've finished them up since this photo by simply top stitching the pieces down. I love how they turned out. You can find a tutorial for all three here. For this hexagon one I used big 2" hexagons instead of 1" ones!
Speaking of tutorials! I re-organized the tutorials page this weekend. All of my tutorials are organized by type of project now. You can find informational series linked on the page as well as a few recipes! I also installed a fancy feature for Pinterest. When you hover over a photo in a post, a "Pin it" button pops up in the upper right corner. When clicked it lets you pin easily to your boards, and even puts the post name in for you! (I used this tutorial to install this feature.)
I was so excited to stitch up my friend Anna's newest pattern, the Divided Basket! After seeing Amy's fabulous Color Me Retro Basket, I had to hurry up and make mine! I used the light blue colorway, and I love the result. Everything comes together so nice and neat, I can see myself making a lot of these. I whipped it up in an afternoon, including taping together the pattern and cutting out all the pieces!
You can buy the pattern on Anna's website here.
I have had this quilt top sewn up for a while, and the other night I needed to release some stress so I finished it up. Something about being able to zone out and turn on loud music to free-motion quilt is so relaxing (as long as everything goes well, haha!). I don't think I've been managing my stress that well lately. I need to do more "just because" sewing, and start practicing yoga again. Those things always help calm me down!
Anyways! The quilt! I used my Color Hex Quilt Pattern, but filled the center with more hexagons instead of solids. I'm really close to being done updating all of my patterns (and getting them ready for print!). The new PDF and paper version of this pattern includes this variation.
I can't seem to get away from my doodle loop quilting. It just feels natural, and I love the whimsy that it adds to my quilts. This quilt features the beautiful Floressence collection by Art Gallery Studio. I paired it with Sandstone Pure Element and quilted it with Aurifil thread. The quilting just sinks in. I happened to have the perfect blue butterfly vintage sheet in my stash for the backing. Love when that happens!
An outtake from last week. Oh how I love George!
Today I love the..
Smell of: Dinner
Sound of: Big Bang Theory
Taste of: Cream cheese cake roll
Sight of: George
Feel of: Wool socks
Good Things about Today:
- Amy Smart's awesome Color Me Retro Mini Quilt Tutorial!
- Did a little shopping!
- Got a lot done!
- Baked treats from yesterday!
I'm slowly re-decorating our kitchen using Color Me Retro! It has such a retro kitchen feel, it's fitting right in. My appliances even match it! I made these potholders last week to hang on the hooks over my sink. Since I don't plan on using them I just used batting, so I suppose they are really more like little mini quilts! They're pretty big, 9" square.
I had to make some Color Me Retro garland for the launch party of course! I used Sew, Mama, Sew's tried and true scalloped garland tutorial. I've made it a few times and it always turns out so cute! Now I need to find a place to hang it here at home!
I still had some plain tea towels lying around just waiting to be embellished. I've finished them up since this photo by simply top stitching the pieces down. I love how they turned out. You can find a tutorial for all three here. For this hexagon one I used big 2" hexagons instead of 1" ones!
Speaking of tutorials! I re-organized the tutorials page this weekend. All of my tutorials are organized by type of project now. You can find informational series linked on the page as well as a few recipes! I also installed a fancy feature for Pinterest. When you hover over a photo in a post, a "Pin it" button pops up in the upper right corner. When clicked it lets you pin easily to your boards, and even puts the post name in for you! (I used this tutorial to install this feature.)
I was so excited to stitch up my friend Anna's newest pattern, the Divided Basket! After seeing Amy's fabulous Color Me Retro Basket, I had to hurry up and make mine! I used the light blue colorway, and I love the result. Everything comes together so nice and neat, I can see myself making a lot of these. I whipped it up in an afternoon, including taping together the pattern and cutting out all the pieces!
You can buy the pattern on Anna's website here.
I have had this quilt top sewn up for a while, and the other night I needed to release some stress so I finished it up. Something about being able to zone out and turn on loud music to free-motion quilt is so relaxing (as long as everything goes well, haha!). I don't think I've been managing my stress that well lately. I need to do more "just because" sewing, and start practicing yoga again. Those things always help calm me down!
Anyways! The quilt! I used my Color Hex Quilt Pattern, but filled the center with more hexagons instead of solids. I'm really close to being done updating all of my patterns (and getting them ready for print!). The new PDF and paper version of this pattern includes this variation.
I can't seem to get away from my doodle loop quilting. It just feels natural, and I love the whimsy that it adds to my quilts. This quilt features the beautiful Floressence collection by Art Gallery Studio. I paired it with Sandstone Pure Element and quilted it with Aurifil thread. The quilting just sinks in. I happened to have the perfect blue butterfly vintage sheet in my stash for the backing. Love when that happens!
An outtake from last week. Oh how I love George!
Today I love the..
Smell of: Dinner
Sound of: Big Bang Theory
Taste of: Cream cheese cake roll
Sight of: George
Feel of: Wool socks
Good Things about Today:
- Amy Smart's awesome Color Me Retro Mini Quilt Tutorial!
- Did a little shopping!
- Got a lot done!
- Baked treats from yesterday!
Friday, February 15, 2013
Favorites & Flickr Group Favorites
1. Medallion Quilt, 2. This is happening. #widrn #cathedralwindows #thishitiskickingmyass, 3. Gypsy Girl, 4. Snow Day, 5. Image Play January, 6. Kiwi's Vintage Sheet Baby Quilt, 7. Pieced tablerunner top, 8. Get Twisted Pillow Tutorial, 9. starburstblock1
It's been a while since I've shared some favorites from the In Color Order Flickr Group! This is only a taste, it's always so hard to choose! I love seeing everything you guys come up with, seriously it makes all of the work that goes into my tutorials, patterns and this blog 110% worth it. Thank you!
1. Divided Basket in Color Me Retro, 2. for Hadley, 3. Rainbow Plus Quilt, 4. 14 Christmas treat bags, 5. Centre City Color Hex, 6. my first drawstring pouch/bag, 7. One last finish of 2012!, 8. first aid pouch, 9. 2013 Wreath
Every week I go through my favorite photos on Flickr, and choose nine sewing/quilting related projects to showcase here. These photos and projects are not my own, you can find the original images and creators by clicking the coordinating links! If for any reason you do not want your project featured here, please email me and I'll remove it!
Happy Friday!
It's been a while since I've shared some favorites from the In Color Order Flickr Group! This is only a taste, it's always so hard to choose! I love seeing everything you guys come up with, seriously it makes all of the work that goes into my tutorials, patterns and this blog 110% worth it. Thank you!
1. Divided Basket in Color Me Retro, 2. for Hadley, 3. Rainbow Plus Quilt, 4. 14 Christmas treat bags, 5. Centre City Color Hex, 6. my first drawstring pouch/bag, 7. One last finish of 2012!, 8. first aid pouch, 9. 2013 Wreath
Every week I go through my favorite photos on Flickr, and choose nine sewing/quilting related projects to showcase here. These photos and projects are not my own, you can find the original images and creators by clicking the coordinating links! If for any reason you do not want your project featured here, please email me and I'll remove it!
Happy Friday!
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Color Me Retro Party & Shining Stars BOM!
Hi Everyone! Hope you're having a great week so far! I've been trying to get a post up every day this week, but things kept getting in the way. Between last week's cold lingering and breaking out in hives on Monday, it's been hard to get into a good rhythm. Thankful to be feeling pretty normal today! :)
In the meantime, Color Me Retro has been hitting stores all week! I've been keeping the stock list updated on the Fabric Page! It's so exciting seeing it pop up online, and arrive here in Madison last week at The Sewcial Lounge!
*I'm hanging out with the awesome folks at Fat Quarter Shop on their blog, The Jolly Jabber, chatting about Color Me Retro today! You can find the interview here.*
Speaking of The Sewcial Lounge, last night was our Color Me Retro Launch Party! Thank you, thank you to everyone who came to celebrate! It was a lot of fun, and I loved chatting about the collection and meeting you all! Thanks to Michael for taking lots of photos! You can see more over on flickr.
We even got a shot of Sara (the shop owner!), and I! It's been such a fun adventure! We're excited to go take a baking class this weekend on morning breads, yes please! Sara has Color Me Retro listed in her online shop as well!
After such a great response to last year's HST Block of the Month, I knew I'd need to find another way to offer you all a block of the month program! This year, Brenda of Pink Castle Fabrics and I are running a 6-month Block of the Month featuring Color Me Retro, the Shining Stars Block of the Month! We'll be making a lap sized quilt featuring some of my favorite star quilt blocks, learning lots of different techniques along the way!
I hope you'll join us, it's going to be lots of fun! Each month you'll make two quilt blocks, and at the end of 6-months you'll have everything you need (instructions and fabric!), to finish the quilt top! Brenda will have backing + binding kits available as well. You may choose to pay upfront or month-to-month, whichever best fits your budget! You can find more information and sign up here.
Managed to capture one of the many cardinals that live in our background during our last snowstorm!
Last but not least, HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! From George + I!
I'll be back this weekend to share lots of finished projects (I've been sewing up a storm), and giveaway winners!
Today I love the..
Smell of: Chocolate
Sound of: Big Bang Theory
Taste of: Diet Coke
Sight of: George
Feel of: Relaxing day
Good Things about Today:
- Happy Mail!
- Cookies for breakfast!
- I'm finally blogging, yay!
- Feeling better!
In the meantime, Color Me Retro has been hitting stores all week! I've been keeping the stock list updated on the Fabric Page! It's so exciting seeing it pop up online, and arrive here in Madison last week at The Sewcial Lounge!
*I'm hanging out with the awesome folks at Fat Quarter Shop on their blog, The Jolly Jabber, chatting about Color Me Retro today! You can find the interview here.*
Speaking of The Sewcial Lounge, last night was our Color Me Retro Launch Party! Thank you, thank you to everyone who came to celebrate! It was a lot of fun, and I loved chatting about the collection and meeting you all! Thanks to Michael for taking lots of photos! You can see more over on flickr.
We even got a shot of Sara (the shop owner!), and I! It's been such a fun adventure! We're excited to go take a baking class this weekend on morning breads, yes please! Sara has Color Me Retro listed in her online shop as well!
After such a great response to last year's HST Block of the Month, I knew I'd need to find another way to offer you all a block of the month program! This year, Brenda of Pink Castle Fabrics and I are running a 6-month Block of the Month featuring Color Me Retro, the Shining Stars Block of the Month! We'll be making a lap sized quilt featuring some of my favorite star quilt blocks, learning lots of different techniques along the way!
I hope you'll join us, it's going to be lots of fun! Each month you'll make two quilt blocks, and at the end of 6-months you'll have everything you need (instructions and fabric!), to finish the quilt top! Brenda will have backing + binding kits available as well. You may choose to pay upfront or month-to-month, whichever best fits your budget! You can find more information and sign up here.
Managed to capture one of the many cardinals that live in our background during our last snowstorm!
Last but not least, HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! From George + I!
I'll be back this weekend to share lots of finished projects (I've been sewing up a storm), and giveaway winners!
Today I love the..
Smell of: Chocolate
Sound of: Big Bang Theory
Taste of: Diet Coke
Sight of: George
Feel of: Relaxing day
Good Things about Today:
- Happy Mail!
- Cookies for breakfast!
- I'm finally blogging, yay!
- Feeling better!
Monday, February 11, 2013
Color Me Retro Giveaway with Tactile Fabrics!
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One lucky winner will receiving a fat quarter of all ten Color Me Retro prints, as well as fat quarters of four coordinating Pure Element solids!
For an additional entry, visit Tactile Fabrics, and leave a second comment telling me your favorite item/fabric she carries!
Giveaway ends Friday, February 15th at 5pm CST. All entries welcome.
Good luck!
PS - I'll announce last week's giveaway winner tomorrow!