My first completed quilt!

I’m so excited!  I just received my first completed quilt back in the mail yesterday!! I had the top done months ago and finally decided that I just loved it too much to let it sit around my house and fray away. Thanks so, so much to Deana in Canada for finishing it up for me. ;)

The fabrics are from the Modern Meadow collection by Joel Dewberry. I've had these plus some of the blue colorway stashed from before we even started purchasing by the bolt. The pattern is based on one from  Sweet Jane's shop. Seems like a simple design to put together, but it really helps to have and I usually need at least a starting point.

Deana quilted it on either side of the blocks which I love. I'm generally not one that likes quilting lines running all across such beautiful fabrics. There are always exceptions, of course. For the back I chose a solid, non-directional print from the same line. I was hoping to make the piecing job easier. :)

Here's the before:

Yep, she even did the boarders and pieced the back for me. I know, I know, so I didn't have it completely finished when I sent it to her. (Did I say a BIG thank you Deana, so, so much!?) 

I’ve never completed a quilt of this size before. It’s just a throw size, but hey, baby steps, right? Quilting is new to me and what I’m discovering is I think it’s going to be a good fit. I’m one of those “never finish what I start” people and one of the great things about quilting is that I don’t have to! All I need to do is the top and then send it out to be quilted and bound. Why didn't anyone tell me this a long time ago?

And guess what? I already have my second quilt top completed that I’ll be sharing soon. Remember I said I’m huge fan of Joel Dewberry (hint, hint)? I just need to get a back made for it and I will send it out for finishing as well. 

The quilting bug has definitely hit me. :)

A closer look and a sneak peek

As promised from my last post that I'd share some fabric photos! I was cutting this for an order recently from the Cream and Sugar line and snapped a couple quick photos to show you the scale of these little teabags. They’re just about 1 to 2 inches tall and wide, so it’s perfect for small projects. It comes in two different colors. This is the oatmeal color shown.

I also snapped the animals from the Safari line. You can see here what a fat quarter looks like and how many animals would be on it. We’ve been selling out quickly and, unfortunately, the manufacturer is sold out of a couple prints already and will not be restocking. Bummer! We have enough for two fat quarter bundles plus a little yardage though still if you hurry!

Okay, now the sneak peek! Our Free Spirit/Westminster sales rep visited recently bringing with him lots of goodies to show. With just a few weeks left until the spring quilt market I figured I’d give you a small peek of what we're likely to see there and what we'll be stocking from Free Spirit.

Tula Pink is coming out with a new one called Acacia. Our rep had actual fabrics of this line to show. Yay! We've listed these prints in our Coming Soon section of our site. You can sign up within any listing to be notified when it's available for purchase. Due to release in September 2013.

I’m ecstatic that Joel Dewberry is also coming out with another collection! I’m a huge fan.

Bungalow is due to release in September 2013 as well. I'll list these in our shop as soon as I can get some graphics.

 


Last one to share... Hand Drawn Garden from Anna Maria Horner! A smaller collection at just 14 prints, due to release in July 2013. Also will list in the Coming Soon of our shop once I get graphics.

And now you see how we select our fabrics. Mostly from printed cards and online graphics, just like you do! Always so much nicer in actual fabrics, right?!

From the Dragon's Lair!

Hi everyone! Today I’m coming to you from the Dragon! One of the big reasons why I don’t blog so much is because I need to stay off the computer as much as possible. With running an online business, that’s very difficult to do of course.  I did too much crocheting I think from about the ages of 8 to 28. My hands pretty much scream if I even think about picking up a crochet hook again, lol! So, this past Christmas I asked for the Naturally Speaking Dragon and I’m testing it out for the first time today. It will take a bit of practice, but so far so good I think.

Hopefully this will allow me more freedom to talk and share with you more often. So this is sort of like a starting over with our blog. My commitment for this blog will be to show you the wonderful fabrics that we'll be stocking. I know it’s difficult to purchase fabrics online just from the graphics (trust me, I know, we purchase them the same way). So when we get new fabrics in or happen to be cutting something that I haven’t shown you yet, I’ll take pictures and post them here. There will be of course other fun things thrown in, but for the most part that’s going to be my commitment to you and what you’ll expect to see on this blog.

Thank you so much for supporting our shop and talk soon!

Science Camp!

Hi all!! Well, I have to tell you, I'm both nervous and excited to try out something new today and would like to ask your help if you can. Plus there's something in it for you!

Here's the deal....

My two oldest kids are in elementary school, 1st and 3rd grade. Every year our fellow 5th graders attend a local science camp, however, each student has to pay their own way. Want to know how much it is per student? Ready for it? $265 (gasp!)

This year our 5th grade class has decided to fund raise to help bring down the cost per student.

Here's how you can help. We're asking for donations of just $1. You can of course choose to give more if you wish. For every $1 you donate, you'll be entered for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate good for either our fabric or felt etsy shops. The $25 is good towards merchandise, it does not apply towards shipping costs, we'll pick up the tab for that. :) Even better!!

You will also receive a 5% discount coupon code in your email as soon as your donation is received. Depending on your next order, this discount could possibly equal your donation, so it's a win-win! Code will be good for a one time use through the end of this year.

To donate, just click the DONATE button at the upper right of our blog here.

The drawing for the gift certificate will be held on Friday, September 28th. Just two weeks away! You will have up to the end of this year to redeem it.

I know when our turn comes and we have a 5th grader, we would greatly appreciate the help. I won't soon forget the single father that spoke at our last parent meeting telling us about when he had to let his son know that he could not attend because they didn't have enough money. :(

Thank you so much in advance for your help in giving our students a chance to attend this years science camp!

Meet Teddy

Since it usually takes a holiday post office closure for me to take a few minutes for extra projects, I've finally sewn something for my son. Meet Teddy and his new sleeping bag!

This is his teddy that he's been loving since he was about 2 years old (he's 8 now). He's never had a real name, just Teddy. Recently Gabriel asked me to make a mattress, pillow and blanket for his teddy. Well, let's say I convinced him to go with a sleeping bag instead (all in one project!).

We dug around in my fabric stash and found this piece of Mod Tod that I thought was perfect for a little night time sack. I knew exactly how to construct it too. It's an envelope back style pillow cover! I first laid him down and took a rough measurement, as evidenced by all the extra wiggle room he has. ;)  I hemmed one short side, and just pressed the hem on the opposite side of my one long piece of fabric.

I then serged the long sides and turned it right side out. Next I sewed the short side down to the back leaving a small hole to stuff it to make the pillow. Stuffed and sewed closed! This is what the front looks like.

And here's the back...

And looking at the smile on his face in the first picture, I think Teddy is happy with his new sleeping bag. :)  Tomorrow I'll be making one for my daughter's bear who is also named Teddy, just a little lighter version.


A huge "Thank You!!!" to everyone who has been taking advantage of our labor day weekend sale. One day left to shop the greatly reduced prices!