Friday, September 30, 2011

THINK PINK

In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month (October) I am offering the HOPE pattern for $5 all month in my Etsy shop.

As for the cleaning- I am almost done. I've even started working on a few WIP's.
In all my cleaning I found several of those, many other "someday" projects, and some more realistic "I'm never going to get to that" projects. Some are going to be in the shop next week so keep your eyes out.

Just for fun- head over to Ribbon Candy to see what she had going on today!

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Buried Alive

I decided that I've avoided the inevitable long enough and decided to dive in and clean my sewing room.

Ummm.....

I think I bit off more than I can chew. This is going to take awhile.

If you don't hear from me in a few days- send reinforcements.

Monday, September 26, 2011

Spooktacular!

Can you believe it's almost October already!? (insert creepy music) What is so SCARY about that you might wonder? Market is only a few weeeks away! (Screems of horror!)

Ok, it's not that bad.....yet!

While I sit around waiting for *fun things* to show up on my doorstep I decided to offer a deal that can't be missed !


Just added to my Etsy shop this morning! The Creepy Countdown pattern and 6 fatquarters for only $20!
 It's like getting the fat quarters for $1.66 each OR like getting the pattern for only $5!

Anyway, I'm telling you now because I only have 4 available so you might want to hurry.  :o)

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Laminations

I loved reading all your laminate ideas. But one struck me in particular. This was mostly because I had had the idea once a long time ago and it had gotten hidden in the back of my brain with a bunch of mush. But Andrea helped bring it into existence again. And so I present:

 My GOING COASTAL umbrella!

 I'm going to be completely honest here: IT WASN'T HARD AT ALL! Seriously.
I used an umbrella I've had for years that was still in excellent shape. A few of the "arms" were slightly bent, but not too bad. I just eased them back into place.


I carefully cut the old fabric off and used it as a template. Since I had made this a while back the piecing was a cinch. I checked here for tips on sewing with laminates. Everything else was hand stitching it to the frame. About half-way through I searched the web and found this great tutorial. Glad to know I had the right idea.

When I told a friend what I was doing she said "As long as you don't actually use it in the rain." Are you kidding!?  I can't wait for the rain to try it out. In fact, I may just turn on the hose and have the kids spray me- They'd love that !  :o)

Next on my list- Placemats.
I know, easy peasy. But they'll be fun. I'm going to make them reversible!  :o)

Oh yeah ANDREA heads up- I'm sending some laminated Going Coastal your way!!!

For the rest of you- it should be available from FABRIC.COM in October!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Alamode

I met this chick at market this spring. She is a hoot! She's one of those people that is just full of energy and so funny you just love being around them. She even impressed my husband enough that he kept telling me I HAD to send her some fabric. Well time goes by so slowly and I finally got around to sending her some. (Thanks for the reminder, Heather!) I think she got it a few days ago and LOOK what she's done with it already!!!

Did you see the bag? SUPER CUTE! And she didn't even use a pattern. Now, for all of you who commented on my last post about me getting into bag making: First, I'm not ANTI- bag. I LOVE bags. Every time I set foot into a quilt shop I am surrounded by beautiful arm candy. And I love so many of them. But I just can't get into making them. I started a bag over a year ago. THIS bag. The pattern is not the reason I stopped. It's a great pattern. I just like a finish-in-10-minutes project. Also, being the perfectionist that I am- if I make a tiny mistake (like I did with Penelope) I want to bag the whole project. (Pun definately intended). Second, to all of you who make bags- I am jealous! Watch out cuz I may just be a bag-snatcher. Not for the contents, just for the bag!  *wink!*

Instead I'll make something else.

I'll show you tomorrow what I'm talking about.  :o)

Monday, September 19, 2011

Plastic Plaid

I've been thinking about laminates lately. And I'd like to know- If you had some cute laminated fabric, what would you do with it? Is there a project you've been dreaming of that would be especially cool in laminated fabric? I'd like to hear your ideas, so don't be afraid to share.

The thing is I'm having quilter's block regarding lamitaes. I keep thinking about this post from way back when but I don't really have any other ideas. Sure, I could make a bag....but I don't make bags. Seriously. Never have. Starting to think I never will. Maybe someday.

A certain fabric is soon to be available in laminates and I have got to make something cool out of it. So let me hear your ideas. Who knows? You may just end up being the lucky recipient of your own 'plastic plaid'.  :o)

Friday, September 16, 2011

Gimme an "H"

I FINALLY purchased my plane ticket for Houston today. YaHoo!  :o)

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Tis ths Season

Paula from Stychee Woman  recently sent an email frantic for more Season's Greetings patterns. They have made the cutest pattern from Sweetwater's Countdown to Christmas so no wonder they were selling out fast. I asked her to share a picture with me and I just knew you would want to see it too!

Isn't it the cutest!?

I just LOVE the litte vignette they set up with the dress form and apron.

Here's a closeup to see how they fussy cut the applique across the ornament to say "love"

And again on the stocking to read "Joy"

She also sent a picture (but for some reason it wouldn't load) of a cute wallhanging they made of the 'JOY' block hung vertical. It is a PERFECT way to get more use out of a pattern. Instead of making the whole thing- just use a part of it to make a smaller project. I'll try to load it again later on.
THANKS PAULA! For sharing your great projects with us.

If you're interested in making this cute quilt for yourself or someone you love I have listed the pattern in my Etsy shop. The fabric can be found at the link I provided above.  :o)

Monday, September 12, 2011

SAMPLE SALE!

Fall is in the air. Can you smell it? Ok, it's still been pretty warm around here. But the nights are getting much cooler and my husband has been out hunting a few times so that means it's almost fall.

I love fall. How about you? The changing leaves, the crisp air, pumpkins! I love it all! Oh and then there's snuggling up with a warm quilt. NOTHING beats that. With all these thoughts of fall, and the bins of quilts taking over my home, I've decided to have a SAMPLE SALE!

Head on over to my Etsy store to see all the great sample quilts I have for sale. This is a great time to grab an early Christmas gift for someone- especially since we all know trying to make something ourselves usually ends up in another WIP.  :o)

I've listed over a dozen quilts including Secret Garden, Liliana, Animal Crackers, Nana's Attic, and Ladybug Picnic. Remember, there's only one of each so if you want it you better snatch it up fast.

Now on to the REAL reason you're here. Our lucky winner of their very own GO! Baby. First I just want to thank everyone for playing along. I know I can't get super excited about all those comments because most of you were just here to try and win- but I hope you'll come back and visit my blog again.  :o)

From 221 comments Random.org picked:
Lucky number 124!

That means you LAURA from TEXAS!!! 
(I expect your first project with your GO! to be with Going Coastal fabrics. Just kidding. Kinda.  :o)

Alrightie.

My job is done today.

Thanks for playing.

See you soon!

:o)

Last Chance!

CONTEST NOW CLOSED!

Today is your last chance to enter the GO! Baby giveaway (if you haven't done so already!)

See you tomorrow with our winner!  :o)

Thursday, September 8, 2011

GO! get your own!

CONTEST NOW CLOSED!


Um, Yes. You did read that correctly. The wonderful people at AccuQuilt have agreed to give one of my followers a GO!Baby. That means YOU! Not only will you get the GO!Baby machine but they will also send you 3 dies OF YOUR CHOICE!

I have to be honest. When they first approached me about giving the GO! a try one of the big things that appealed to me was that I'd be able to share this with YOU! Really, if I didn't LOVE the machine so much I wouldn't even bother passing it along. But it is SO WORTH IT! (I was playing with it again today- I'll show you later  ;o)

So here's the deal. You must be a follower to win. You can leave a comment but if I pick your randomness and I check to see if you're a follower and you're not then I'm going to have to pick a new winner :o) As long as you're a follower leave a comment and I'll enter you in.

As a bonus and to get an extra chance at winning, click on the button at the top of the blog and download the awesome patterns from AccuQuilt. I mean, that's a prize all by itself. Free pattens! Who doesn't want that? Just make sure you leave a second and separate comment for that extra chance to win.

Got it!?  Ok. The contest will go through Monday and I'll announce the winner on Tuesday! (so make sure to check back!)

p.s.- Tell your friends! Oh wait, maybe you don't want to. But you should, because if they win, I'm sure they'll let you borrow their 'baby'!  :o)

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

go, Go, GO!

Oh yeah, I've been playing! Several weeks ago an amazing product was dropped off at my doorstep. You may have heard of this already (there's been a few mentioned here in blog-land) but that's because we really are that excited about it! And you should be too because there are so many things you can use this little 'baby' for.


I have to confess that I shamelessly blog-lifted this picture and I can't even tell you where from. (SORRY!) It's just that when I got my GO!baby I tore into it so quick and started cutting that I completely forgot to take some pix along the way. But can you blame me? This is what I was making:



I have had this idea for a LOOOOOONG time. But even the thought of cutting out those hexs was scaring me. Then came the GO!baby. I had those hexies cut in a few minutes. Seriously. I was stitching them together in no time. OH no, not by hand! I stacked them and layered them and stitched around for a fun raw-edge look. I took my quilt layout from this talented lady. I LOVE IT! I even attached my binding raw. Yes, raw. But of course I forgot to photo it up close. Eh. We'll talk about that another day.

Obviously I got the hexagon die. I also chose the tumbler die- And by die I mean I am DYING to get started on that one!  Also, the 2 1/2" strip maker. Um, how much did I love this one when I was making that scrappy binding? TONS!!! Besides I am simply anti-bias binding because I hate all the folding and cutting- NOT. ANY. MORE. Piece of cake with this 'baby' But enough about my fun- ON to more important things.

Did you know you can get FREE! patterns. Uh, what are you waiting for! There are some super cute and fun pattern in there for quilt projects and BLOCKS.


And that's not all, oh no that's not all. If you've been around blog-land and seen this before then you know what is coming. Stay tuned!