Getting Close

Oh…is that the mysterious Christmas swap item on the longarm??  Why yes it is!  It’s all quilted and cut and waiting for me to add binding tomorrow.  I am so excited about this!  My goal is to show you the finished product tomorrow!

Guest Posting At Whip Up

I was only too thrilled to contribute a guest post when Kathreen of WhipUp (and author of Whip Up Mini Quilts) contacted me a few weeks ago.  Needing to take a little time off to spend with her kids, she has so far lined up a stellar group of contributing bloggers.  Every article has been different and full of so much useful information and thought.  This time of year I start thinking about the upcoming holidays and gifting (and the need to get myself in gear).  I focused my post on gifting to the host and hostesses you will encounter this holiday season – as I myself am always running around at the last minute trying to think of something.  I also include a recipe for the best spiced tea (printable recipe card here) that is so quick to make.  Find my guest post on handmade gifts for the party season here and check out the whole of the group here. 

*Sigh*

I had to go buy more fabric today (Michael Miller Tiny Tress Pattern #CX 4314).  Some of my original measurements were a little off.  It would have been just fine, but I wanted my points to have a point and not be sewn in 1/4”…so off to the fabric store to get more fabric to cut bigger pieces so I have nice points on my project.  I know, I know…I'm being elusive.  But all will be revealed soon.  I’m off to get the rest of it assembled and hopefully finished up tomorrow.  I CAN’T WAIT to share it when it’s all done.  I probably would have gotten it done already, except for I made the mistake of putting Netflix on when there was nothing to watch on TV…so I got caught up watching Julie & Julia and then The Young Victoria (actually, I still have about 45 minutes left of that one).  I always say to myself – “Oh, I’ll just put it on in the background” and then end up riveted to it.  Which means standing at the cutting table watching a movie.  Not exactly comfortable.

Website Estimate Acting Up

I’m not entirely sure what’s going on, but my quilting estimate form on my website seems to not be sending me the estimate requests all the sudden.  I know it’s not my coding, because it worked fine a few weeks ago when I revised and checked it.  But my domain name did just renew, so I'm wondering if it has something to do with that.  I hate when my knowledge only extends so far.  So I contacted my host to see what the heck could be going on.  In the mean time, if you would like an estimate, please just email me (sometimescrafter at gmail dot com) your details.  If perhaps you submitted a request and haven’t heard from me, I SWEAR I haven’t been ignoring you.  Emails just aren’t coming to me.  They are lost in nowhere land.  So please email me again and I will get that to you as quick as I can.

On a side note, I got my white fabric today – so I can finish my mysterious Christmas swap project!  I really hope to get it done this weekend!!

Another Block Done

Another of the blocks done for my Christmas swap project.  I need four of these total, but can only do three of them until the white fabric I ran out of arrives.  I am loving this block and how I decided to piece it.  I drafted out one way, didn’t like how difficult it was to piece and went with a much easier way of piecing.  I’m very happy with this and can’t wait to show you the whole project!  I’m hoping next week sometime.  But of course that all depends on that white fabric arriving on my doorstep.  I hate to be so secretive in my explanations of this project, but I'll share more once the project is completed. 

A Finished Project

I started this project a few months ago, but finally decided to finish it today!  It feels so good to have something completed and off the sewing desk.  I made these for my bed, but find that I need a comforter (or quilt??) to match.  We just have this temporary solution of a comforter for now (I hate that blue, and my quilts don’t cover the king size bed).  I don’t relish the thought of making a king size quilt (mostly because I don’t have a longarm big enough to quilt it).  So I’m going to be on the hunt for a store bought one. 

After starting to quilt the first pillow cover on my sewing machine and quilting straight lines, I knew that this block called out for something in the center…something I wasn’t going to quilt on my domestic. 

So I loaded it onto the longarm and quilted a feather wreath in the center.  And then I quilted feathers in each of the corners.  After realizing how quickly that went (even with the loading and unloading from the longarm) I decided to do the same with the other two. 

Here is the 16 patch pillow.  I quilted scallops around the square a few times and then went into some random feathers and swirls and whatever came to mind as I was going along.  No plan.  Just the kind of quilting I like to do.

On this one (perhaps my favorite) I decided to outline the star (as you can see, straight lines on my longarm are not perfect) and then do some whimsical swirls. 

And then of course, as soon as I was done and had them on the bed, Brice decided he needed to break them in.  Maybe white wasn’t such a good idea after all…  At least he was kind enough to wait until after I had snapped a few photos.

Getting Busy

I joined a Christmas swap this summer and it’s time to get my butt in gear and get my stuff made.  I have just a few weeks before the shipping deadline, so I had to get to work!  I procrastinated so much because of fabric choices.  And then there was the project that was a little daunting.  But I got to work creating a pattern and now I'm assembling it all.  Only I ran out of my white fabric.  But no fear, it’s on order and should be here for my last three cuts.  It’s really ridiculous how small the cuts are, but I was too lazy to drive down to Fabric Depot and just ordered it on Etsy instead.  It was one of those things where I just couldn’t substitute another fabric.  I’ll be sure to share photos when it’s all done and I've been writing everything down to draft a pattern for the shop.  I’ll share more later… 

If your interested in the information on any of these fabrics, I tagged them all in this photo on Flickr.

Fabulous!

Because, really, what can you say when you have piles of lovely fabric piling up in your creative space…

…and fabric finally picked out for a quilt for your husband (that he’s nagged you about for years)…

…and quilting like this, on a quilt like this…

…and some mini quilts FINALLY on the blank walls!  Yes, it is fabulous!

Staying Warm

I pulled out my Mendocino quilt a few nights ago to help me keep warm, since my warm-blooded husband likes to keep the window open at night (which really doesn’t bother me, I like the fresh country air).  My husband is diabetic, and I always think it’s because of that that he runs so hot all the time.  Great for me when I'm freezing, but not so much with the frequency in which the bedding has to be washed.  I love this quilt, but it is only twin size, so during the day when the bed is made I just turn it sideways across the king mattress so I can look at it’s loveliness all day.  I just try and cram as many pillows as I can at the head of the bed so I don’t notice the discrepancy in the coverage.  Yes it’s pink and girly, but my husband will survive it.

New Cool Tool

I finally was able to get to my sewing machine (after a massive clean up in the sewing room).  It was so nice to pull out fabrics, cut and sew.  I forgot how much I love sitting in from of my machine creating. 

While on vacation this summer, I picked up this sewing tool - Clover Finger Presser. It works like your finger/nail does if you use it to press your seams to the side.  I do this sometimes, when I don’t want to get up and press small seams with the iron (takes too much time).  It was something that I originally saw in one of my Japanese books on hand piecing.  The model for the photos pushed the seam to the side and used her finger nail to press the seam.  That method works very well, I was really surprised.  But using my short nails is kind of a pain.

So when I saw this tool on a quilt store shelf, I had to get it.  When I was sewing two nights ago, I pulled it out of it’s packaging and gave it a go.  It works great!  I used it on all of my seams for the first two blocks, but after that I just used it on the two smaller seams and then took the two larger seams over to the ironing board (in a big pile when I was done sewing).  It really was a great time saver. 

This block had all seams pressed with just the Finger Presser tool and it looks great.  The seams were crisp, and laid nice and flat.  And it saved me so much time! 

Imagine my surprise, when I went to the email folder for all of your comments on the last post and saw there were 94 comments…  Then imagine my surprise when I saw that there were actually 155 when I went to the actual post!  That just astounds me!  As always it’s so hard to choose just one, but by random selection, our winner of both books is: AmandaHall!  

Thanks to everyone that left a comment about their favorite books.  I found a common theme in many of the books, and I thought I would list a few of the “Crafter Recommended” books that were mentioned over and over again:  

One Yard Wonders, Quilt Baby, Alicia Paulson’s Embroidery Companion, Whip Up Mini Quilts (one of my current favorites, too!), Material Obsession, Weekend Sewing, Sewing Bits and Pieces, I Love Patchwork, Craft Hope and many more.  Make sure and check out the comments if you need more suggestions.  There were quite a few knitting books that were recommended,too!

There was an alarming number of you that didn’t even own crafty books yet!  I was surprised.  But I understand sometimes money has to go towards other things, but don’t forget about used books on Amazon.com and Powells.com – a great way to build a collection affordably.   Also, from time to time there are book exchanges that go on – so watch for those, or start your own!

City Quilts + Little Birds + A Giveaway!

COMMENTS NOW CLOSED! CONGRATS TO AMANDAHALL!
Read below for some more book recommendations
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I have been terribly lax in my blogging duties, as you can tell by my lack of posting this summer. But we all know my excuses, so we can just gloss over those for now. I have been in possession of these two lovely books for sometime now and I really need to get to my reviews of them so I can get on with the giving away part. I’m sure you’ve heard all the raving reviews on these books, but I will let you hear my side of things.

Let’s start with City Quilts: 12 Dramatic Projects Inspired By Urban Views. A wonderful book, full of all sorts of new inspiration and lots of words of wisdom. (How’s that for a one sentence, sum up!)

Once in awhile, I like a book that I can really sit down and read. Something that really gives me new insight into quilting and offers me a different point of view, and this book delivers on all of those counts.

And then of course, even better, there are so many wonderful patterns to take at face value, or adapt and make your own. All the quilts are done with solid fabrics, such a change from what we see in most books today. Most important of all with this book is the idea of looking around you and seeing pattern in everyday life and then learning to create from it. I could go on and on, but I think this is definitely a book worth checking out, if you haven’t already.

Next up is Little Birds: 26 Handmade Projects to Sew, Stitch, Quilt & Love. This is another Design Collective Series (like the Lunch Bags! book) under the Stash imprint. Each pattern inside of this book is made by a different contributor and the projects offer all sorts of crafts to try out – quilting, embroidery, sewing, bird figurines, bags and bird houses.

There is so much in this little book! And I want to make just about everything. And then, what I especially love about these series of books, is the fact that there is a little author bio and photo, complete with blog/Etsy shop links, right on the first page of the pattern. There are 26 projects to keep you busy. It is so unlike any craft book you will have come across in the bookstores lately. No matter what your crafty vice, there is something in here for you.

Now the good part! These two books could be yours, thanks to the generosity of C&T Publishing. Just leave a comment on this post by Sunday, September 12th. If you feel so inclined, tell me a new favorite craft book (any craft!) that you’ve found. I will draw one winner for both books, and (fingers crossed) have it in the mail next week! I’ll announce the winner in this post, so please make sure I have a way of contacting you, or be sure to check back here Sunday. Good luck, everyone!

REPOSTED FROM THIS POST – 9/12/2010

Imagine my surprise, when I went to the email folder for all of your comments on the last post and saw there were 94 comments… Then imagine my surprise when I saw that there were actually 155 when I went to the actual post! That just astounds me! As always it’s so hard to choose just one, but by random selection, our winner of both books is: AmandaHall!

Thanks to everyone that left a comment about their favorite books. I found a common theme in many of the books, and I thought I would list a few of the “Crafter Recommended” books that were mentioned over and over again:

One Yard Wonders, Quilt Baby, Alicia Paulson’s Embroidery Companion, Whip Up Mini Quilts (one of my current favorites, too!), Material Obsession, Weekend Sewing, Sewing Bits and Pieces, I Love Patchwork, Craft Hope and many more. Make sure and check out the comments if you need more suggestions. There were quite a few knitting books that were recommended,too!

There was an alarming number of you that didn’t even own crafty books yet! I was surprised. But I understand sometimes money has to go towards other things, but don’t forget about used books on Amazon.com and Powells.com – a great way to build a collection affordably. Also, from time to time there are book exchanges that go on – so watch for those, or start your own!

Quilt To Be

I have been sent the most awesome bundle of Heather Ross fabrics to create a toddler quilt for a very specially little girl!  (Because what little girl isn’t super special that gets all of these fun fabrics?!)  I was overjoyed to be contacted for this project and I can’t wait to see the final product.  I have a plan and will share it once I’m done and have sent it to it’s owner.  I know, I know…I'm so mean to share these beautiful fabric in a pile and make you wait to see the final quilt – but now you know how I feel.  It’s just as torturous for me!