Sunday Review 05

Little bits of awesome I came across this week. Grab a cup of coffee (or tea) and enjoy!

- I LOVE this preppy, striped camera strap.

-Oversized log cabins. What a great sunshine and shadow layout!

-Pantone 2013: Emerald Quilt Challenge (and last years tangerine tango winners)

-This is a great concept for a quilt. Maybe in greens?! See above ; )

-Time to get organized. This pressing board topped storage by Jacquie G is brilliant.

It's the last Sunday of 2012, make it count!
-Adrianne

p.s. Thanks so much for the positive feed back on these Sunday Reviews!  I love putting them together and it makes me smile that you like reading them.

Bunny Love

I'm sending out some bunny love! This little bunny was filled with love and sent to someone special for Christmas. My five year old wanted to help make it so she traced pattern pieces onto freezer paper, picked out fabric, and sat on my lap for some of the stitching. She also handed me bits of fluff to fill it with. It turned out to be a really fun project to do together. We were sure to give her extra hugs before we sent her to her new home.

I've used this pattern before and I highly recommend it. Fiona also has patterns for a super cute doll, giraffe, and dog. Check it out if you're in the mood to make a softie.  : )

LINKS:

Pattern: Jack Rabbit by Fiona Dalton

My other bunnies: Handmade Bunnies

Happy Christmas, Finished

I finished our quilt just in time for Christmas Eve snuggles. Merry Christmas from my family to yours.

Adrianne xx

Sunday Review 04

Little bits of awesome I came across this week. Grab a cup of coffee (or tea) and enjoy!

-Hey Salt Water fans, Squid art in a nursery? Sure! You too can have it for only $3550

-More Marine Life Art Collection at Apartment Therapy

-Will 2013 be the year of the Block of the Month? Here are two to get you started.

     -Modern BOM at Gen X Quilters - Starts January 2013
     -Lucky Stars BOM at Don't Call Me Betsy - Starts January 2013

-I love this idea! Outline a bold fabric with embroidrey. Her stitching is so beautiful.


Happy Sunday,
Adrianne

A Little Mouse House

I try to make a gift for each of my kids for their birthdays. One has a birthday right before Christmas and one right after. I like the idea that they have something special made by their Mama. In the past, I have made little artist sets, bean bags, and a even a waldorf style doll.  

About a month ago, my daughter saw this Nursery Versery fabric by Heather Ross and LOVED it. She asked me to make her a round container and went about picking out the perfect fabric for the inside. Julie (my friend and shop owner) and I made lots of suggestions, but she wouldn't have any of it. This is a girl who knows her own mind.  : ) After carefully looking all around at all the bolts, she decided she liked this print from Cuzco by Kate Spain.

For her birthday I thought it would be cute to make a pair of little mice to go in her basket. They are a hit!  She has already requested two more smaller mice to play with.

PATTERNS USED
FREE Pincushion mouse pattern from Bustle and Sew
Fabric Bucket Tutorial from Ric Rac

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Fabric Basket Tutorial from Nana Company
Fabric Storage Bucket Tutorial from Film in the Fridge

Happy Christmas II, Finished!

Happy Christmas II is done! I've added "almost" orange peel quilting with a walking foot like my friend Ruth and again I can't seem to follow directions. My shapes don't exactly meet, instead they line up and criss-cross. I still like it, but it's definitely different. Michael Miller's holiday stripe was perfect for the binding. Isn't it fun cut on the bias? 

The label is written with a Sakura Pigma Micron pen, heat set it and then framed out with scraps. The backing is from The Good Life by Deena Rutter. Early on I decided that this quilt will be a gift for someone special.

A little back story for you. Five years ago, my daughter was supposed to born on New Years Day. Instead, she was delivered two weeks early via emergency c-section. It was right before Christmas and I barely remember that time. We were were tucked into our hospital room being nursed back to health. The only sign of the holidays was a little ornament taped to my door. This thoughtful touch of peace and holiday cheer made me smile.

I'll be taking this sweet little quilt to our local hospital to bring a smile to another family that finds themselves in the hospital during Christmas.

Happy Elving,

-A

Further Reading: Leftovers? Yes please!

A Busy Elf

Striped binding anyone?

I'm keeping busy over here, how about you? The quilting is done for both Happy Christmas I and II and the binding is ready and waiting.  I LOVE a striped binding!

Poochie Bags to be

After making my first poochie bag the other day, I decided I need some more for gift bags. And this time, I'm going to follow the pattern! Aren't these fabrics cute together? The top print is from Joy by Kate Spain and the bottom prints are from Oh Deer by Momo, Joy by Kate Spain, Cherry Christmas by Aneela Hoey and the pink one is an old Robert Kaufman print from my stash.

Type by Julia Rothman

While I was shopping for others, I treated myself to a few new prints from Type by Julia Rothman. These are so fresh and fun. I don't even have a plan for them, I just had to have them.

I needed help picking a solid. Julie suggested orange, and I think it's awesome!

Speaking of typewriters, this gorgeous piece is from Ruby Star Shining by Melody Miller. It's destined to become a tote bag. The solid orange is going to be the lining. Aren't they great together?  

Yes, another Christmas quilt is in the works.

I have a new quilt idea sketched out and it's almost time to cut into my delicious layer cake of Cherry Christmas by Aneela Hoey. I can't wait!  I know it probably won't be done in time for this year, but that's ok by me. I love quilting all year long.

Sunday Review 03

Little bits of awesome I came across this week. Grab a cup of coffee (or tea) and enjoy!

-Gorgeous color palette: Architextures coordinating solids by Carolyn Friedlander
(the Architextures prints are pretty great too)

-This quilt by Folk Fibers is gorgeous in it's simplicity

-Ikea hackers Cutting Table from an Expedit Shelf = Awesome

-Lightsaber Lip Gloss, Hilarious!

-3 New Quilt Patterns from Cloud 9 Fabrics.  Pssst!  They're FREE

Thoughts on Quilting Swirls

I have admired swirly quilting for a long time. Do you know Kellie Wulfsohn's work? How about Karen McTavish? And of course, Angela Walters! I have watched Angela in action in her Craftsy class. I also have her book, Free Motion Quilting with Angela. Like she recommends, I practiced with my pen and paper first.  I thought I was ready.

Here is my test quilting on scraps.  Not bad!

via Instagram

Then I started quilting my Happy Christmas quilt. Oh-my-gosh. This is so much harder than it looks! Good thing my family will still love it and I only have to look at it once a year. Bwahahaha.

In hindsight, starting with a simple baby quilt would have been better for a first try.

TIPS

• Try different feet. I really like the closed toe foot, but it's different for everyone.
• Relax your shoulders and remember to breathe
• Fresh needle required
• Bounce. Yes, this one magical word from Angela helped me so much. Swirl until you come to the edge of something (block, quilt, another swirl) and the bounce off the edge and start another swirl.

PROBLEMS

• Flannel quilt backs make for a heavier quilt and more arm muscles required to move the quilt around a home sewing machine
• Managing the bulk of a quilt is two thirds the battle - at least!
• Basting pins break up the workflow (more than when quilting lines or stippling)
• The molding on my wall makes a crack wide enough for the quilt to escape off my extended sewing table. D'oh!
• I tend to like wider, more open quilt designs, but I found wider, bigger swirls much harder to make look smooth than smaller tighter swirls. Basically, whatever you can fit in-between your two hands while quilting is perfect.

NEXT TIME

• Spray Baste? - I'll try anything once
• Smaller Quilt - Definitley
• Tighter quilting - Perhaps
• Rent a long arm?!   : )

FURTHER READING
     -Kellie Wulfsohn: Blog
     -Karen McTavish: Website

     -Angela Walters: Blog, Craftsy, Book
     -I love this post about the process of quilting by Rossie

Angela cracked me up when she said to me the other day, #putaswirlonit

Leftovers? Yes please!

Happy Scraps

What happens when you keep pulling more and more fabric off of your shelves for a project? What about when you don't do any math calculations and instead cut everything in your stack into 2.5" strips? Well my friends, you end up with leftovers.

What does one do with a heap of leftover holiday fabric? Make another quilt of course! I trimmed all the strips down to 2.5" squares and chain stitched them onto a long strip of white. After separating out the pairs it was easy to just sit and piece this quilt top together.  This top measures 36" square.  Perfect for a baby quilt.

Postage stamp quilts are awesome. Bay Area Modern made quite a few of these for charity quilts this year. I'm loving these brights paired with white.

Sunday Review 02

Little bits of awesome I came across this week. Grab a cup of coffee (or tea) and enjoy!

-Pantone announces the 2013 color of the year... EMERALD!
          
-Trends in kid decor and I see triangles

-I love these printable holiday gift tags

-Jenny's awesome interlocking spiral quilting on her long arm

-Anna Maria Horner book giveaway  (Ends December 12th)

-I'm obsessed with this alphabet needlepoint pillow from PB Teen.  I know!


Happy Sunday!
-A

On the Design Wall: Happy Christmas

Introducing, Happy Christmas

This is the power of suggestion at work. The week before Thanksgiving, my son says to me, "Mom, you should make a Christmas quilt for us this year." Sure, thing Buddy! The next thing I know I was shopping for fabric. I picked out lots of happy, fresh, crisp colors in red, lime, kelly, pink and aqua.

Fussy Cut Gnomes

First, I cut a bunch of strips for the over-sized rail fence blocks a la ORBCO. Then I added the over-sized square blocks because the gnomes *had* to be fussy cut. Last, I had to figure out a way for it to all go together. This is what I came up with and I'm calling it, "Happy Christmas".

Pieced Top

FABRIC:

-An eclectic mix of holiday prints from Michael Miller

-1001 Peeps by Lizzy House

-Kumari Garden by Dena Designs

-Hope Valley by Denyse Schmidt

-Apple of My Eye by the Quilted Fish

-City Weekend by Olive + S

Little Bluebell via Instagram

I'm silly excited that I bought the mini gnome print for the back!

-A

Sunday Review

Little bits of awesome I came across this week. Grab a cup of coffee (or tea) and enjoy!

-Tula Pink announces a new FREE quilt pattern, Anchors Aweigh.

-Cute wall calendar from Heather Ross called "working mother".

-Lotta Jansdotter's newest collection, Glimma.

-Ashley and Rossie have already been cutting into their Glimma!

- A simple screen printing technique you can do at home.

-Woah, just woah! This dresden plate by V & Co is so clever!!


Happy Sunday!
-A

The Secret Fabric Swap and the *almost* Poochie Bag

This gorgeous bundle is for my secret BAMQG holiday swap partner. After I got her wishlist, I headed my local quit shop. My partner likes:

• Ric Rack Rabbits
• Chicopee
• Geometrics 
• Retro fabrics

I remembered another helpful hint; my partner often comes to the meetings wearing red. I liked the idea of a coordinated, but slightly eclectic bundle. These rabbits were my starting point and I added the rest one at a time.

When it came time to wrap it up, I thought I'd be sneaky and use the same prints from her bundle. Who would guess if it matched? I remembered Monica's fat quarter friendly Poochie Bag pattern. Perfect! I ended up fudging the measurements a little to fit the print. It's not exactly as the pattern was written, but I think it still looks cute. For inquiring minds, I pooched 2" in order to fit the fat quarter stack.

Add in a fabric covered journal and a spool of thread and we're good to go.

Now my secret it out. Happy Holidays, Annemarie!

FABRIC:
Ric Rac Rabbits, Bunny Dresses in Red by Creative Thursday
Meet the Gang, Friends in Green by Creative Thursday
Chicopee, Cross Square in Green by Denyse Schmidt
Chicopee, Circle Cross in Red by Denyse Schmidt
Ric Rac Rabbits, Wreaths in Red by Creative Thursday
Ric Rac Rabbits, Bunny Suit in White by Creative Thursday
Chicopee, Cross Square in Red by Denyse Schmidt
Chicopee, Voltage dot in Red by Denyse Schmidt
Chicopee, Paisley in Red by Denyse Schmidt

BAG PATTERN:
Poochie Bag Pattern - FREE from Monica Solorio-Snow of Happy Zombie

Deck the Halls: Dotty Garland Tutorial and Giveaway!

Dotty Garland Tutorial

Hi, welcome to day FOUR of the Deck the Halls blog hop! Jennifer from Ellison Lane Quilts has put together a fun group of  bloggers who are each sharing a project you can make and decorate your home with this holiday season. Today it's my turn and I'm sharing how to make this fun Dotty Garland.

Funny story, I made the garland for our mantel, but I put it in my daughter's room for cute pictures. She saw it, loved it, and insisted on keeping it there. Now I need to make a second garland for our mantel.  : D

CLICK HERE FOR THE DOTTY GARLAND TUTORIAL

SCHEDULE:
Here is a list of the entire blog hop. Each day has a different tutorial and a giveaway. Make sure to visit each blogger. The more the merrier!!!  : )

11/26: S.O.T.A.K. Handmade / Giveaway from Sew Me a Song

11/27: Live A Colorful Life / Giveaway from Zipit!

11/28: Petit Lyons /Giveaway from Zipit!

11/29: Little Bluebell / Giveaway from Mountain of the Dragon

12/3: Between Quilts / Giveaway from Six Munchkins Stitching

12/4: Jednoiglec / Giveaway from Sew Fresh Fabric

12/5: Owen's Olivia / Giveaway from Sew Fresh Fabric

12/6: Stitchery Dickory Dock / Giveaway from Pink Castle Fabric

12/7: Ellison Lane Quilts / Giveaway from Contemporary Cloth

COUPON CODE:  Hey fellow fabric shoppers! Save 15% when you shop at Mountain of the Dragon now through Christmas with the code DECKTHEHALLS15. This fat quarter stack of Echino is on my wishlist.

GIVEAWAY:

This giveaway is now closed.  Congratulations to Wendy from The Crafter's Apprentice!!

Enter to WIN a $20 gift certificate from Mountain of the Dragon by leaving one comment below.  I will randomly select a winner December 6th, 2012. International entries are welcome. Winner will be announced in this post and contacted via email. Good luck everyone!!

Thank you Jennifer for inviting me to play along! And a super big thanks to YOU for visiting today!!!

Happy Making,
Adrianne

Cross Stitch: Kawaii Winter Wonderland

It's so freaking cute, I'm teaching myself how to cross stitch! The pattern is by the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery and it comes with a cross stitch guide, diagrams, color charts and 25 super cute patterns to make up a wintery, holiday countdown.

My four weeks of progress.  It's slow, but fun!

The weather is finally cooling off in California and the nights are dark. It's a perfect time of year to cozy up for a few minutes at the end of the day and stitch.

      Beige Aida                                              Light Oatmeal Aida

I started out with a natural colored Aida (above right) called Light Oatmeal. By the time I got the second square I could see it was too light. There was not enough contrast with the white numbers and borders. So I started again with a color called Beige (above left). It didn't look that pretty in the package, but I really like how it looks with the thread colors.

My kids are obsessed with this project. They keep asking about it and checking in on my progress, "still working on the square, Mom?". Yes. They can't wait to hang it up. It might be awhile kids. My daughter likes to sit next to me and run her fingers over the bumpy stitches.

Scenes from my kitchen table

I wanted to find a way to get the kids involved. One afternoon my daughter and I wound the floss while we snacked and chatted at the kitchen table. Her favorite part was labeling the floss bobbins with the color numbers. Excellent number practice for preschool.

Fun for kids!

I also picked up yarn needles and coaster blanks for the kids to play around with. They were a big hit! Then the dog chewed it. Daisy!!! Many tears were shed. I keep it under my coffee cup anyway.

Secret code coloring page

Both kids love to color, so I printed out over-sized copies of their favorite squares from the pattern and a copy of the color key. I set out some markers for them and I explained how each color has a symbol. They were excited to be coloring detectives and decode the picture. It's actually a lot like the color-by-number worksheets they do.

SUPPLIES:
Pattern
Cosmo Floss
Floss Bobbins
Aida Cloth
11"x11" Q-Snap Frame

Come and join us!! It's more fun stitching with friends. There is lots of stitching action on instagram (#kawaiiwinterwonderland) and flickr.