Free Webinar: The Seamstress' Palette

One of my top 3 most favorite sewing pattern designers in the whole wide world just had a book released called The Colette Sewing Handbook, and to accompany the book, she is hosting a FREE webinar (online seminar) all about choosing the perfect fabric for your sewing projects!

Now, I thought that choosing fabric was pretty self-explanatory, but now that I've read her book, I can see that I was sorely mistaken, and that there were many things about fabric that I did not know. Even if you do not sew clothing, you can learn things about fabric to help you in your quilting or accessories projects!

To sign up for the free seminar, just click the button above and submit your e-mail address: it's that easy! The free seminar is on Thursday, November 10th. You will receive a confirmation e-mail after you sign up, reminding you of the date. I signed up immediately when I heard...I'm sure you'll be glad you did!

P.S. If you love Colette Patterns or like seeing clothing finishes, check back this Tuesday, when I'll be reviewing Sarai Mitnick's new book and revealing one of the projects that I made from the book, the Taffy Blouse...there may or may not be a book discount. ;-)

Check out Sew and Tell Friday!

I'm guest posting for Sew and Tell Friday today at Amy Lou Who. If you've finished a project this week, head over and link it up!! You can also read more about the project I'm working on, and I'll leave you with a little photo to give you a hint. See you there!

'12 Days of Christmas' Block 2: Santa Claus

This post is part of the '12 Days of Christmas' Sampler Quilt Along series. For tutorials on how to make the other blocks, please see the block schedule here!

Today, I'm so excited to bring you the Santa Block from our '12 Days of Christmas' Sampler Quilt Series! This block combines piecing and applique. I made my block with solids, but I can just imagine how awesome it would look with some well-executed prints!

I'm assembling my blocks in the 'Quilt-As-You-Go' method. I used this method (with some slight modifications because I am using sashing on my quilt, in addition to one continuous piece of backing). Since I love the look of long arm quilting but want to do it myself on my home machine, this works best for me. Let me know if you have any questions about this block, or about how I quilted it!

Please stop by the '12 Days of Christmas' Sampler Quilt Along Flickr Group to post your completed blocks, or any questions you might have along the way!

Printer Friendly Instructions

Printable Pattern Pieces

ALL SEAMS ARE 1/4".

PLEASE READ ALL INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE BEGINNING.

Block size: 12.5"

SUPPLIES

- 10" x 12.5" piece of red fabric

- 5" x 12.5" piece of black fabric

- 5" x 5" square of yellow fabric

- 8" x 12.5" piece of white fabric

- 5" x 12.5" scrap of batting (or you may substitute fusible web or fusible woven interfacing)

- black, yellow, and white thread for applique

- ruler

- rotary cutter and cutting mat

- glue stick

STEP 1 ~ CUT OUT YOUR FABRIC

1a. Print and cut out the paper pattern pieces for the Button, Beard and Buckle. Set aside.

1b. Cut your red fabric in half along the 10" side, so you will have 2 pieces that are each 5" x 12.5".

1c. From the black fabric, cut a strip that is 2.5" x 12.5".

1d. Using the Button pattern piece, cut out 2 buttons from your black fabric.

1e. From the white fabric, cut out a strip that is 3.5" x 12.5".

1f. Using the Beard pattern piece, cut out 1 beard from your white fabric.

1g. Repeat Step 1g. for the batting. Trim the batting piece approximately 1/8" on all sides.

1h. Using the Buckle pattern piece, cut out 1 buckle from the yellow fabric (make sure you cut out the center of the buckle...that piece you don't need). Optional: If your yellow is slightly see-through against your black fabric, you might want to cut an additional Buckle from the yellow fabric (2 layers).

STEP 2 ~ PIECE THE SUIT

2a. Take the white strip and sew it to 1 of your red strips along the long edge. Press seam open.

2b. Sew the remaining red strip to the other edge of the white strip. Press seam open. This is the background of your block.

STEP 3 ~ APPLIQUE

3a. Using the glue stick, glue the white Beard to the batting Beard piece.

3b. Glue the assembled Beard to the top of the block (the white strip should be running vertically). Be sure to match up the top edge and corners.

3c. Using a tight zig-zag (I use 3.0mm and 1.0mm on my sewing machine), sew around the curved edges of the beard. Make sure your stitches grab both the Beard and the red fabric, reaching as far into the Beard as possible.

3d. Take the black strip Belt and the Buckle piece (if you are using 2 layers of Buckle, it may be helpful to glue the 2 layers together first). Place the black strip, horizontally, 3.5" from the bottom of your block. Center the Buckle 4" from the short edge of the black strip. Glue both down with the glue stick. Sew a zig-zag stitch completely around all raw edges of the Belt and the Buckle (you will probably want to sew with yellow thread on the Buckle, then switch to black thread for the Belt).

3e. Take the 2 Button pieces. Glue them down, 1 above the Belt and 1 below the Belt. Sew down using a zig-zag stitch.

And you're finished! Congratulations! Please visit the instructions for the other blocks in the '12 Days of Christmas Quilt Sampler'!!

'12 Days of Christmas' Block 1: Christmas Truck

 

This post is part of the '12 Days of Christmas' Sampler Quilt Along series. For tutorials on how to make the other blocks, please see the block schedule here!

Today is the first day of the Christmas sampler quilt along! The first block is a beautiful paper-pieced block from Julianna of Project Town! Julianna has composed a paper piecing pattern, and, if you are new to paper piecing, linked to a couple paper piecing tutorials. There is also an additional post on fussy cutting.

Pop on over to the Flickr Group for block discussion, or if you have any questions along the way when making this block!

The next block will be from yours truly, and up on the blog first thing Thursday morning!

Sneak Peak: Fylerion Bag

I haven't shown you a finished project in awhile, so I just had to pop on and show you this bag that I finished this morning. It's called the Fylerion Bag, and I designed it for a sewing pattern that I wrote this past Sunday.

This bag pattern is targeted at those who are new to sewing handbags, although anyone interested in the simple yet attractive design will have fun making it!

The cool part of this bag is that it will be the first sewing tutorial that I've written that will be accompanied by a video, in which I will be showing you the step-by-steps to make the bag! Hopefully, if all goes well, I will be able to produce videos for every one of my tutorials in future! The video will be part of STITCHED, a new series that I was asked to be a part of, that I will be announcing later this week.

Hope you liked this little sneak peak...  :-)

I'm featured today on Amy Lou Who!

Today, I am featured on Amy Lou Who via an interview! I 'met' Amy over a year ago, and she is the reason that I began blogging...hers was the first sewing blog that I ever read! She also helped me a ton on my beginnings into the world of quilting...what kind of ruler to buy, that I should get a walking foot, things like that!!




My favorite part of her blog is Sew and Tell Friday...a weekly linky party to show your finished projects! This was the first linky party that I ever participated in. It's been on somewhat of a hiatus earlier this year, but it's back with a vengeance! I will also be contributing to Sew and Tell Friday once in awhile! If you've finished a project this week, be sure and stop by tomorrow morning and link it up!!

Oh, one more thing about Amy Lou Who...she is giving away one of my bags! Pop on over for a chance to win this large tote bag that I made last year (my pattern review is here in case you want more information on the pattern I used). :-)

Please Vote!

Kate over at Swim, Bike, Quilt recently had an event to create quilts for a wonderful charity! 184 amazing quilts were donated!!

My friend, Kim, made this beautiful Beach Ball Quilt (it's number 5 above) to donate, and she made it into voting for the Top 10! If you have time, please hop on over and vote!!

Also, my friend Lindsay is trying to raise adoption funds by selling adorable fabric-covered earrings. She is trying to get a feature over on Heartsy (an AWESOME deal-of-the-day website for Etsy shops, similar to Groupon). Please, please, if you could, go over here to vote for her shop so she can be on Heartsy!! Thank you so much! :-)

PSA I love all my blogging friends, and while I encourage you to vote for them, obviously you should place your vote for what you feel is best! ;-)

Thanksgiving Dinner Challenge

'Nest' oven mitts that I made for a gift...shoulda held onto them! So cute! Tutorial from Raechel Myers

In honor of the lovely Thanksgiving dinner you will soon be slaving away over, I'm going to have a quick little sew along challenge! I am in desperate need of some hot mitts, and I would love for you to complete this project with me! I am in need of a little motivation lately. ;-)

Rules


1. Complete a hot pad or oven mitt, between October 20, 2011 and November 17, 2011.

2. You may use any pattern or tutorial you'd like.

3. Come back on November 17th and link up your completed project (either from your blog, or from another file-sharing site, such as Flickr).

4. Join the Flickr Group to share your fabric choices and progress!

5. One winner will be randomly chosen out of everyone who links up. The prize will be a $20 gift certificate to Madison Street Beauty!


To get you started, here are some great free tutorials that I found! Which will you use???

Double Oven Mitt from Smashed Peas and Carrots

Round Oven Mitt from Buggspot

Quilted Square Potholder from Prudent Baby

Oven Mitt by Raechel Myers

Sign-ups: Echino 10-Square Swap Part Deux

This swap is now closed.

Today is the official start of sign-ups for the Echino 10-Square Swap! The first round apparently went really well, so we need another, and quick!! Please read through all rules first, then click the link at the bottom to sign up!


Rules

1. First come, first served. This swap is limited to 28 spots. Internationals welcome!

2. Echino fabric only. Each person will choose 1 Echino fabric and purchase that print in a 2-yard piece. There is a generous 20% discount on that 2-yard piece through Mountain of the Dragon on Etsy (just let Monica, the shop owner, know which fabric you want, and that you are participating in this swap). There is a price increase from last time if I am cutting for you (from $28.80 for 2 yards, to $30) because the new fabrics are being posted at a higher retail price. Also, I changed the shipping to me from $1 to $2 because last time I footed the bill for the shipping insurance (which I needed to get for a $600 order, lol!).

3. Post your fabric to my Flickr group so no one orders the same fabric. One change from last round, if you are having me cut fabric, I will choose fabric this time. This is in order to get all 16 of the new prints.

4. Majority of those who commented previously told me that they would like to have the fabric sent to me, and have me cut it.  This option will save out on several shipping fees. If this is you, these are the details for that:

             a. Payment to me will be due by October 24, 2011 so that I can place one large order. Your payment will include the cost of the fabric ($30 for 2 yards), shipping/insurance to me ($2 per person), cutting fee ($2 per person), Paypal fee (2.9% plus .30), then cost for me to ship all the cut squares to you ($4.95 US / $11.35 CAN / $13.25 All Others). I will be sending individual invoices out if you choose this option. Please make sure that your Paypal shipping address is correct, as that is how I will print the shipping labels out to send to you.

         b. That's it! All you have to do is sit back and wait for your cut squares of fabrics to arrive in the mail!

5. If you don't wish to do Option #4, then please have your 2-yards of fabric in my hands by December 1, 2011. You will be cutting the fabric into 28 squares that are each 10" x 10". You will send the fabric, along with a self-addressed stamped envelope with enough postage to cover return of the fabric to you. I will contact you personally with my address and exact details.

Thank you, lovely readers and followers!

Thank you to everyone for sticking with me as I get moved and settled in!! Thank you to everyone who sent good luck wishes! I don't think I had time to personally respond to everyone, but I just have so little time to get on the computer right now. I hope you understand! The house was a fixer-upper, so it's still a work in progress. I still haven't unpacked about half of the boxes. So much to do, so much to do...

I am usually very particular about getting new projects completed to post to the blog, but I think I will probably need until the end of the month to get some new things to show you. In the meantime, I hope you will join in the '12 Days of Christmas Sampler Quilt Along' that was announced last week! So much fun in store!

For now, I'm going to leave you with some 'Before' and 'After' photos of my living room...my favorite part are the great Anna Maria Horner Lou Lou Thi curtains that I made! Super simple to make, and I'll be posting a tutorial on how to make these grommet curtains really soon!

BEFORE: Living room. Burnt orange walls and really gross, scratchy bamboo wallpaper on one wall. Also, notice the awesome vintage roll down flap windows.

AFTER:  Living room. Fresh coat of paint, new windows, and a great stereo from my dad! Yay!

'12 Days of Christmas' Sampler Quilt Along

Hello friends! I don't know about you, but just the idea of Christmas this year has me super-excited! I already have so many handmade things planned, it's unbelievable!

To get you in the spirit (with plenty of time to spare), it's time to announce the '12 Days of Christmas' Sampler Quilt Along! Twelve bloggers will each create a unique 12.5" Christmas-themed block and prepare a tutorial to go along with it. The block instructions, available on each designers' blog, will be spread over a 6-week period, giving you plenty of time to join in! If you decide to quilt along with us, at the end of the 6 weeks, you will have a completed Christmas quilt top!

If you are planning on joining, the quilt top will require 12 fat quarters, or 1 layer cake. You are also more than welcome to use various solid/holiday scraps! In addition to that, you will need approximately 1-1/2 yard of solid fabric for the sashing.

Here is the schedule for each of the 12 blocks; on the respective date, you will be able to find the block/tutorial on the specified blog. You can also check back here after the date has passed, to find links to the tutorials!

Oct 25 - Julianna @ Projektownia Jednoiglec - Block 1: Christmas Truck
Oct 27 - Sara @ Sew Sweetness - Block 2: Santa Claus
Nov 1 - Kaelin @ The Plaid Scottie - Block 3: Christmas Hearth
Nov 3 - Jennie @ Clover and Violet - Block 4 : Scrappy Star
Nov 8 - Elizabeth @ Don't Call Me Betsy - Block 5: Presents
Nov 10 - Riel @ The Q and the U - Block 6: Snowflake
Nov 15 - Jennifer @ Ellison Lane Quilts - Block 7: Tree
Nov 17 - Lindsay @ Lindsay Sews Block 8: Noel
Nov 22 - Jessica @ SewCraftyJess - Block 9: Ornaments
Nov 23 - Sarah @ Fairy Face Designs - Block 10: Stockings
Nov 29 - Heather & Megan @ Quilt Story - Block 11: Wreath
Dec 1 - Kim @ My Go Go Life - Block 12: Peppermint Candy

There is also a '12 Days of Christmas' Sampler Quilt Along Flickr Group for you to join in! We'll be sharing our fabric choices, completed blocks, and questions along the way!

Hope to see you around for the quilt along!!