Want some fabric?

I bet you thought I was telling tall tales when I said I was going to do a giveaway. I only mentioned it weeks ago and then kept saying "I promise I'm going to do it!" Time is a slippery bugger at this time of the year, eh? Well, on to the details. One person will win a half-yard cut of each of the below fabrics:

Joel Dewberry's 'Floral Drop' in Peony (Deer Valley collection)

Joel Dewberry's 'Lodge Lattice' in Sky (Deer Valley collection)

Bonnie and Camille's 'Fresh' in Scarlett (Bliss collection)

(I think that's the name of this one - it is def-o from the Bliss line though).

The red is much richer in actuality, FYI.

These are all out of print and can be quite difficult to source. In addition to what's shown I have a sweet surprise to add to the mix that you're just going to have to win to find out about (I hope you like Christmas~! That's all I'm going to say about it).

Here come the details:

Leave me a comment about your favorite thing to do this time of year: quilt? knit? bake? family stuff? And if you're south of the equator where it's warming up maybe it's hiking? swimming? road tripping? relaxing on a sunny beach somewhere? Also--leave me a way to get in touch with you. And that's it! Easy peasy.

Open to anyone anywhere. I'll leave this puppy open until Friday October 14th, 11:59 p.m. EDT.

Good luck!

How do you like THEM apples?

SQUEEEAAALLL!!! It's done! It's amazing what you can get done when your even feed foot works and you don't have to undo every single stitch you put in. This baby didn't take long to quilt at all, and she's close enough to perfect to suit me just fine. So, without further ado, here is my quilt from Aneela Hoey's newest line 'Little Apples' - I used a pattern she sells in her shop called 'Fancy,' and a single layer cake. So easy and fun! I guess there was a little more ado - NOW here it is:

The colors are so vibrant, but at the same time not too much. Her fabrics give me a new appreciation for gray. It softens the red and the aqua, but doesn't bring it down to the blah level. The yellow polka dot isn't part of the collection, but it picks up some of the yellow in her prints quite nicely.

I used a sheet for the back, and did a huge zigzag pattern across the quilt - I guess it might be a chevron? I don't pay attention to certain things...like proper names. In my grad-level statistics course we used all these symbols for everything, and when we had to recite an equation I would name what I thought the symbol should be called instead of what it was actually called (oodle...squiggly with an x...something else that had a hat that I don't remember...it gets you strange looks but hey - whatever works :)

I used a darker turquoise thread for the back to give it a wee bit of depth, but you can't tell in the photos. I'm still surprised I found a sheet that matches so well. It's the back so it doesn't matter too much, but I'm slightly OCD with certain things.

For the binding I stitched in the ditch on the front and caught the edge on the back. I'm not displeased with the job, but it's one of my things to focus on for future quilts.

I like how the white stitches on these prints mimic the 'stitching' of the fabric. Sorry, there are a lot of photos. I'm loving these colors!

This little girl would most likely be me.

I was more likely to be found off reading somewhere, even at recess, than doing this:

I am so happy this is finally done! I get this thing going in my head where I worry I won't be able to finish things by the time I had wanted to have them finished. Once I start they zip right along but I worry myself into a frenzy for nothing (usually).

So that's one more project down. I have one more quilt top I had made for Christmas that is almost ready to quilt (it just needs basting), but I think I'll take a break and get a few other little things done. I have some new change purse frames to play with, and I still have to get my giveaway together - I know what it is, I just have to get the photos taken. See you in a bit!

Linking up here:

Skip to My Lou *** Sumo's Sweet Stuff *** Pinkapotamus *** Ask Anna *** Sew Can Do *** Craftomaniac *** Homemaker on a Dime *** C.R.A.F.T. *** Running With  Glitter *** Sarahndipities *** Sugar Bee Crafts *** All Thingz Related *** Creative Itch Boutique *** Funky Polkadot Giraffe *** Chef in Training *** Tip Junkie *** My Girlish Whims *** Sew Much Ado *** Blue Cricket Design *** Free Pretty Things for You *** Tea Rose Home *** Someday Crafts *** Somewhat Simple *** Fireflies and Jellybeans *** Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom *** Today's Creative Blog *** Between U and Me *** Creation Corner *** Momma's Kinda Crafty *** The Shabby Nest *** While He Was Napping *** Tatertots and Jello *** Be Different Act Normal *** To Sew With Love

Come and Knock on My Door

This week's quilt block's instructions were "make a house and a tree." Done and done. I felt six years old again. Or twelve. Or twenty-two. I'm severely limited when it comes to things I can draw, and have always always always drawn the same things. A bird. A rainbow. A flower that looks more like a lollipop. And a house with a tree next to it. If you asked my mom to pull out all my old drawings that is invariably what you would be looking at. My entire artistic life would appear to have been in preparation for this quilt block. It's in red and white, so it's not as realistic as my crayon and marker drawings, but I like it, and I'm a wee bit proud of myself - these improv blocks are not in my comfort zone. Look at the odd shapes you have to throw in there just to square things up a bit:

OK, so triangles aren't really odd as far as shapes go, but it's not the nice and tidy look I like. I tried to keep everything as square as possible so I wouldn't have to sew on too many crazy shapes and have a butt ton of seams like last week. My favorite part was the window - I should have made a few more, but they were tiny pieces and quite tedious to sew.

And here's the whole shebang -

It's like there's a crazy cherry blizzard going on, and some cherry smoke coming out of the polka dot chimney. Must be nice and cozy in there. Contrary to my go-with-it philosophy, I did redo the tree portion of this. The first tree was huuuuuuuge, and left me without room for the border. I did not like it at all without the border, so I reworked it just a little bit and I think it's much better. I didn't realize until just now that I forgot to take a picture...

My new even feed foot arrived today and I can't wait to use it! Hopefully the next thing I have to show you is a finished Little Apples quilt. Happy Friday! It seems like it took forever to get here. I'm still in shock that September is outta here....

Zachisms and Fall Crafts

I don't like not popping in to say hi, even when I don't have much craftiness to share. So...hi! I was working on a cute little Halloween project this week, but now I'm not. It has been redirected to landfill at the nephew's suggestion. I was trying to crochet these cute little ghosts I had seen that held up crocheted letters that said Boo! I tried 4 different ghost patterns (because the one in the pattern was less than satisfactory) and none of them looked good. According to the nephew, they looked like snowmen, weird fruit, nothing real, and white poop. Not ghosts. Not even when I told him that's what they were supposed to be. He said "No, I would never think ghosts." I hated to agree, but I had to agree. Except I was thinking dinner bell, whipped cream dollop, and WTF is that? All agreed I should move on. So I will. But I had to share. Kid honesty is the best. I'm hoping the project I just stocked up on yarn for will turn out much better...

In other Zach-isms, he said to me the other day "Aunt Bee--can I have one of your smiley face cookies?" I said "How come you're asking me instead of Mom-mom?" (I am always very interested in a kid's thought processes, so I always ask weird and unnecessary questions--plus he usually asks my mom for whatever he wants). He gave me a "really?" look and said "They just look like something you would have." Does that kid know me or what? And finally, I told him the other day that this weekend we were all going to drive around and take pictures of us planking. Nobody knew what that was (and I had to look it up myself when I first heard of it--I thought it was this) so I explained it to him. I was informed "That's probably the dumbest thing ever." Agreed. We were playing a card game when I told him this, and a little while later when the adults were arguing over points this loud little voice pipes up that says "Hellooo!! I'm planking over here!" And indeed he was. I love that kid! And no, we're not driving around planking this weekend.

The interwebs are full of autumn and Halloween fun, but I haven't had much time to join in (other than my pillow from the other day). In the event that I just don't get anything new done this year, here are a couple tutorials I posted last year in case you want a few easy projects:

Low-cal Candy Corn

Easy Paper Pumpkins

I am almost finished with this week's quilt block. I guess I could technically be already finished, but it's going to irk me if I don't change something about it. It's going against my "just go with it" quilting philosophy, but when something is on my mind overnight I know I have to fix the situation. See you soon!

We all fall down!

On Saturday I woke up with big plans to finish my Little Apples quilt. Then I rolled over and went back to sleep. Eventually I got my act together and started quilting. I was going to do a simple zig-zag pattern, but no matter what I did the fabric kept smooshing and shifting, and I found myself picking stitches out until my fingers hurt. This had happened on my past two quilts (Bliss and Sherbet Pips) but I fought through it. I was using my walking foot, and thought it might be my machine so I switched to my old one, but had the same problem. Then it hit me what the problem was - my walking foot was not walking. It was functioning as a regular presser foot and making my quilts a ferlipping mess! Any issues aren't terribly evident on the other 2 quilts, but there was no way I could continue to make this one without it looking absolutely horrid. I tried to repair it, but I believe I lost a spring along the way. So I promptly ordered a new one and am very excited for it to get here. I don't know if I'm more excited for the new foot or the quilting guide it comes with - no more taping out my lines or winging it - woot!!!

I was really in the mood for something bright and fallish and fun, so I used the "now what do I make?" time as an opportunity to knock out a project I had on my list for my mumsy. I enjoyed every single step of making this - and it really didn't take very long. Pretty much an afternoon project (an early lunch-late dinner longer sort of afternoon, but an afternoon nonetheless). Here it is:

Would you believe I've never made a pillow before? I am so in love with how this turned out. I traced everything onto sewable Heat n' Bond, cut, fused and did some stitching. It was really so simple I kind of want to applique a lot of other things.... I stitched the trunk and branches of the tree to give it a little bit of texture - it makes it look more like a real tree:

I did some decorative stitches on the leaves - they look a little like the real veins (?) on leaves. I used brown thread to tone down the colors - they were a little too bright. I like too bright, but my mom likes more muted tones. The stitching took care of it (I think --you can tell me if I'm wrong. It won't hurt my feelings).

The background is a plain unbleached muslin. I had bought it for something, but I couldn't remember what it was. I had a little saying I wanted to stitch on it, and the muslin was nice and sturdy for it.

I need for you to know :) that I can stitch much better than that. I was actually going to do it in cursive, but when I asked my mother what she wanted she said "crooked print." My favorite part is the leaves that have fallen -

I'm excited I finally got a fall project done. Hopefully I'll have a quilt to show you next week. I've also got some hooker adventures coming up (the crochet kind. Naughty :)  Now all we need is for the humidity to leave so that it actually feels like fall. Anybody else slightly in shock that it is almost October? Also--I didn't forget about the giveaway I mentioned...I just need to find some time to gather some goodies. Have a good week, lovelies!

Linking up here:

Stitched In Color - Celebrate Color *** Skip to My Lou *** Sumo's Sweet Stuff *** Pinkapotamus *** Ask Anna *** Sew Can Do *** Craftomaniac *** Homemaker on a Dime *** C.R.A.F.T. *** Running With  Glitter *** Sarahndipities *** Sugar Bee Crafts *** All Thingz Related *** Creative Itch Boutique *** Funky Polkadot Giraffe *** Chef in Training *** Tip Junkie *** My Girlish Whims *** Sew Much Ado *** Blue Cricket Design *** Free Pretty Things for You *** Tea Rose Home *** Someday Crafts *** Somewhat Simple *** Fireflies and Jellybeans *** Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom *** Today's Creative Blog *** Happy Hour Projects *** Creation Corner *** Momma's Kinda Crafty *** The Shabby Nest *** While He Was Napping *** Tatertots and Jello *** Be Different Act Normal *** To Sew With Love

Beacon Light Becomes Beacon Blight Once I Get My Hands On It

This week's quilt block was a challenge for sure. When it comes to quilts I am not very creative. When presented with a layer cake I am more likely to think "Oh, I'll just sew all these big squares together" instead of "I can cut this up and create an interesting layout." Quilting is one of those things where I need to be told what to do. When I saw the instructions for this block my first thought was "I'm not doing this!" But I'm glad I did. It took me waaaay out of my comfort zone, though.

The block layout is very simple in and of itself. The hard part is that you have to make your own fabric. Not weave and dye it, but sew all kinds of crazy patchwork that you cut and reassemble over and over until you have something that doesn't really look possible. I'm not sure if I did it "right," if there is a right way to do this. I just dumped out my scrap bag and did whatever. Here's the finished block:

It's an improvement over last week because you can see more of the star, but I should have nixed any of the white prints and stuck with the reds to make it stand out more. This baby is seam-a-licious; it was beastly to iron at times and I'm curious what it's going to be like to quilt over those thick folds. Here's what it looks like from the back:

Since I kept cutting willy-nilly some of my pieces got munched into a seam and then cut off during the trimming.  The center of the block looks like one hot mess of patchwork.

As I was moving along I was really liking the "fabric" I was creating. I was tempted to just keep going with it and not make the finished block at all, but my curiosity won out and I made it as directed. Looking at the pictures I kind of wish I had just left it:

The one on the bottom becomes the center of the block. The one on the top gets hacked to make quarter square triangles. I would certainly not make an entire quilt using this method. I am hoping this week's block is a bit easier as I don't know if I can take another night of this. It took a loooong time.

Everything I sewed this week was either in black/gray or kind of tough (like this block). I need to go scrounge me up something that is fun and colorful...

Stupid, smiley, and safe

So here's a random post for you.

First: I discovered somethng this week about my sewing machine that has made me feel quite stupid. I'm thrilled to have discovered it, though, so I'm not hurting my own feelings too much by calling my own intelligence into question. Oftentimes I come across an instruction that says "Move your needle a few clicks to the right." For almost four years now I have been convinced that my needle can only move to the left. I am pretty sure my machine can do anything I ask of it, except move the needle position to the right. Unless you put it in stitch width selection mode. Because then increasing the number moves the needle to the right and decreasing it moves it to the left. This has helped me sooo much already with top-stitching; I cannot believe I haven't figured this out before. I'm going to pull out my old Singer and see if that was doable on it. I don't know why people don't tell a person these things....

Second: I came home from work yesterday and my mom said "You have a package in the dining room." I wasn't expecting anything, and I had no idea who would be sending me anything. I searched my brain for any giveaway I may have won, or for any reason I'd be receiving something. It took me a few minutes to open it because I try to figure out the surprise before I open the box. This really annoys people, by the way. So I finally opened it and here's what was inside:

 Definitely having ideas for that box....is it so me or what?

One dozen yummy, sweet, yummy cookies in rainbow smiley face colors, and a matching coffee mug. Mine recently bit the dust and I keep forgetting to get a new one, so yay!

Digging though I found a cute little note from my aunt and uncle in Indiana (fun fact: they're from the same town that Jim Davis, creator of Garfield, is from. Well...that's a fun fact for me, not sure how fun it is for you). They sent me a little congratulatory gift for winning the Philly MVB competition. Isn't that the sweetest?!?!

And finally, I was doing my pre-bed blog browsing and I saw a great post that Reba over at R.Kay Design just wrote. It's a very handy list of safety tips to keep in mind when you're hacking into your fabric and then pinning and stitching it all back together. Most of it should be common sense, but sometimes, when you've been doing something for a long time, it's easy to become complacent, and that's when an injury can happen. Check out the post here for a sewing safety refresher.

So that's what I've got for now. Have a good 'un!