Who says...

#1 never wins?

Congratulations

Paulette

You're the winner of my anniversary giveaway!

Email me your address and I'll get your prize in the mail right away.

Final Designer a Day & 250 Follower Giveaway!

Welcome back for my final day of Designer a Day!  Today I have for you my UBER favorite designer...



Lori Smith of From My Heart to Your Hands

Here are are Lori's newest releases.  Enjoy!

Ok...these two aren't new releases but I had to have them anyway.

And now for the GIVEAWAY!  In celebration of having 253 wonderful people

that actually want to read my rambling, I'm giving away two of my favorite things...

Lori's pattern Fat Quarter Quilting:  Reproduction Fabrics Two

and six Civil War fat quarters to get you started.



This giveaway is open to FOLLOWERS ONLY as my way of saying thank you. 
If you want to be included in the giveaway, simply leave me a comment.  And remember...
if you are a no reply blogger, please be sure to leave a way for me to contact you in your comment. 
I'll select a winner next Wednesday, August 3rd, via Random Number Generator. 

Y'all rock...just so ya know!

P.S.  I will do my best to reply to all your comments. 
Just be patient if it takes me a while.  I slow...and a little bit lazy...like that.

Designer a Day - The Next to Last Time...

I promise.  Really I do!

Okay so we're coming down to the bottom of my box o' patterns.  Today I have a bunch of miscellaneous patterns that I picked up along the way at Spring Market.

Quilters Paradise

I could have bought every single one of the Quilters Paradise patterns.  But it was the end of Market and for the sake of my friend's suitcase I had to show restraint.  If you love applique, you'll love Quilters Paradise.

Random patterns...some purchased...some won!

Stay tuned because tomorrow is my FOLLOWER GIVEAWAY DAY as well as the last day of my Designer a Day series.  I've saved one of my all-time favorite designers for last.

See you tomorrow!

Which Witch's Boot - Progress Report

So here is where what is finished as of last night.  And in the process I learned something new.  Instead of using the traditional satin stitch for filling, the pattern calls for a tight blanket stitch to be used on the candy corns and circle flowers.

Now I'm onto the boot.  It's all back stitch which isn't very exciting but it has to be done.

In my last post about this project Jeanie asked if coloring the embroidery was difficult.  So I thought I would share with y'all what I do when doing coloring for an embroidery project.

First, I don't prewash my fabrics except for the backing that I put behind the background layer. All I do to the background fabric is iron it with a little Best Press Starch Alternative. It seems to help stabilize the fabric during the tracing and coloring bits.

While I prefer using the blue water soluable pens when tracing patterns, they do not work well for this type of project.  Instead I used a 005 brown Micro Pigma Pen.  To color I first use a white crayon first to lay down a heavy base to layer the other colors on top of. The white crayon helps for more even blending during the ironing phase.  Then I start LIGHTLY layering the colors. Its easier to add more color if an area isn't dark enough than it is to remove it when too much has been layed down. And once it’s heat set, its permanent.

Prior to ironing, there's an area I don't like I used a Q-Tip to apply a paste made of baking soda and water.  Gently rubbing the paste into the area I want removed acts like an eraser.  Then all I have to do is let it dry and start over.

I hope y'all will consider giving it a try 'cause it sure is a lot of fun.

Till next time...

Designer a Day - Day ???

Oh heck I lost count and I'm feeling too lazy to go look! 

Today I have for you Toni Whitney.

All I can say she is uber-talented and I want to make every one of her quilts. 

Toni used to design for Big Fork Bay Cotton Company but has since branched out on her own. 

I'm sure we can expect to see many more fabulous designs in the future. 

You can find all her older designs here.

As you can see we're getting down to the bottom of the Spring Market box o' patterns. 

I'm going to try and stay on top of it this week so we can conclude it this week.

Till next time...

EEEP!

I just reached 250 followers...thank you Sue!!!

Noboby leave!  Nobody unsubscribe!
I'll be back in a day or two with a giveaway to celebrate.

Not too bad...

...for a day's work.  Yesterday afternoon I started stitching on Which Witch's Boot.  I would have started in the morning had I been able to find my darn hoop.  *grumble grumble grumble*  I really need to tidy up my room before my dear friend Connie comes over and "shames" me into doing it.  She's good like that.



I really enjoy stitching Crabapple Hill Patterns.  The stitches Meg (the designer) uses are easy ones that don't require a lot of concentration.  And I never get bored with them because I just enjoy watching the stitcheries come to life with every color and stitch added.

Well I'm off to do a little more stitching.  I can't wait to see how far I get today!

Which way did I go?

I've got so much going on I don't know whether I'm coming or going half the time. 

There's just so many things that catch my eye.  And I think "I HAVE to do that!"  I won't live long enough to do all the quilts and other projects I want to do...but I'm sure going to try.

So anyway...here's what my ADD self has been up to the past week.

I've completed the pieces for 20 spiderweb blocks and have started putting them together.  These darn blocks are sooooooo addictive! 

Because I was running out of this particular red fabric, I thought I was going to have to finish at 20 blocks.  Then I took a a fateful trip over to one of our area shops and found more!  I'm not sure how many more blocks to make.   I figure this will be a long term project that I'll just keep adding scraps to.  When this next two yards of red is gone then maybe I'll be done.

Last week I started ANOTHER Portobello Market quilt.  This one will be my third for the shop!  It sells so well that it decided that I make another one just for Houston Quilt Festival.  I am using Paula Barnes' new line Greystone...with a few oddballs thrown in for more variety.  This is the first block.

For anyone interested this block is actually called Columbian Star.  It is only called Portobello Market because that's the name Moda published the free pattern under.   They are published using the name of the fabric line usually.

By the time I'm done making this quilt forever I'll have made it more than half a dozen time...because I have fabrics set aside for other ones using this pattern and ideas for an 30's and Kaffee one also.  I'm a glutton for punishment I tell you.

Question...would anyone be interested in learning how to make this block?  It's much easier than it looks.  I promise.

And lastly, yesterday I spent the morning and early afternoon tracing and coloring this little beauty.  It is Which Witche's Boot by Crabapple Hill Studio.

The surrounding blocks and fabrics will be Civil War prints to give it a more vintage look.  The fabrics are from Jo Morton's new line Carolina...with a couple Paul Barnes prints thrown in.  And even though some of the embroidery threads used for this quilt are pretty bright, I'm thinking the darker Civil War prints will help tone them down a bit...fingers crossed.

Till next time...

It's time for...

**THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED**

...a Giveaway!

To celebrate two years blogging and my 200th post

I have for one lucky winner goodies from

Adorn It

Two project books and a Layer Cake to be exact!!! 

For a chance to win just leave me a comment and I'll draw a winner next Thursday, July 28th.

Please make sure I have a way to contact you. "No reply" commenters that do not leave their email address in their comment will not be eligible for the giveaway.



Ellis County Quilt Show

This past Saturday I went with my dear friends Mazelle and Connie to the Ellis County Quilt Show in Midlothian, TX.  It was a small show but there were some really fantastic quilts being shown that I thought you might like to see.

I have the kit for this one...not like I'll ever find the time thought!

Last year's Best of Show

Somehow I managed to find the book for this quilt in the 50% off section of the local quilt shop in Midlothian.  And it just so happened that this quilt IS the actual one in the book.  It was just just stunning in person.

This year's Best of Show

It's Ferdinand the bull!  I love how Susan Corbett, the quilter,

created a scene in the background surrounding the bull...just fabulous.

I hope you enjoyed your visit to the Ellis County Quilt Show.  Till next time...

Designer a Day - Day 11

Swirly Girls Design

The Equal Rights quilt is next on my "want to do" list!

Hahahaha...

Thank you Penny!

Designer a Day - Day 10

For those of you who love to make clothes, you absolutely have to check out

Serendipity Studio!

Flower Pin Tutorial

Here y'all go...enjoy!

Supplies you'll need:

2 1/2" x WOF piece of fabric

2 1/2" square of felt

Button and pin back

Hot glue and Roxanne's Glue-Baste-It

The first thing you want to do is trim the selvage off each end of your 2 1/2" strip. 

Then run a small bead of Roxanne's down each end and turn over 1/4". 

This creates a nice clean edge without having to sew a seam.



Next, fold your strip in half width wise with wrong sides together. 

And using a large basting stitch on your machine sew a 1/4" seam. 

Be sure to leave 3" long thread tails at both the beginning and end of your strip.

TIP:  Use a different color for your bobbin thread from your top thread. 

You'll understand why as you keep reading.

Your strip should now look like this.

Next, tie the threads together to make a knot at one end of your strip. 

This will keep you from losing your thread and gathers in the next step.

Begin pulling the bobbin thread to create the gathers. 

As you gather, keep moving the gathers down to the end.

It should now look like this...kind of like a little curly pigs tail. 

Starting at one end of your gathered strip, arrange it how you'd like it and

place a small bead of hot glue at the bottom edge of the strip and press it into place.

Now its time to create the flower.  Add hot glue a 1/2" at a time on the gathered edge 

just below the seam line and wrap the gathered strip around as you go.

Next, trace approximately a 2 1/4" circle onto your felt square and cut it out.

To attach the felt to the back of your flower, place hot glue around the perimeter of your circle

and an X across the middle.  Then place on the back of your flower and press together firmly.

Attach the pin back by place a small bead of hot glue along it and pressing it to the center of the felt.

LAST STEP!  Flip over your flower and place a big glob of hot glue in the center. 

Then press your button into place.  Hold it for a minute or so to give the glue time to cool. 

And voila...you're done! 

I hope you enjoyed my little tutorial...and that it made sense. 

If you make these flowers, I'd love to see what you do with them.  They have sooooo many uses! 

Here is a flower I attached to a headband.  I've actually made a few of these.

Next I want to make a flower bouquet!  Wouldn't that be fun?!

Till next time...