Mergers and Acquisitions – Fabric, that is!

May 28, 2010 | terriaw

Ah yes, another play on corporate terms – mergers & acquisitions. Whatever! I have some acquisitions of the fabric kind I would like to share with you.

I ordered this most awesome pack of Drawing Room fabrics from this shop. I know, it’s an older collection, but I’m a fabric hoarder, so I needed some before it was out of print and no longer available. I had a couple pieces in my stash, which I used a couple summers ago to make these cushions for our backyard benches. I have plans for this lovely stack, so I can’t wait to get started merging them into a new patchwork project. he-he-he-he

Don’t think I’ve been on a fabric bender lately, but I did acquire more fabrics. I would like to merge them into something before showing you just another stack of fabrics.

I am excited to see my sister-in-law and brother-in-law who are coming to town for the holiday weekend. We are planning to go to farmers market on Saturday morning, so I might be back with some pictures of the produce and plants in season. I am also looking forward to working on more checkerboard sets to restock my shop. Hope you are enjoying your Friday!

PS – thank you for the Etsy Treasury love! It was just the umph I needed.

Etsy Treasury

May 28, 2010 | terriaw

Mind if I share a small piece of cool news with you?

One of my checkerboard sets was featured in an Etsy Treasury!

For those of you unfamiliar with an Etsy Treasury, it’s when another Etsy member handpicks items to feature, centered around a theme. The theme for this particular Treasury is Go Outside and Play, which shows games to play and some things to inspire you to play!

I have always liked these checkerboard sets, and I sold a couple of them to friends and family over the holidays, but there’s a bit of bias in that interest. It’s such a great feeling to see someone else take an interest in something I made. When I launched my shop, I started out with five of these sets, but now I’m down to only two. Makes me feel like making a couple more to restock the shop!

Just a little excitement in my day, so I couldn’t think of anyone better to share this with than my fellow bloggers! Thanks for indulging me by listening to me ramble.

Book Review – Small Stash Sewing

May 26, 2010 | terriaw

If you’re here to see the zig-zag quilt I entered into the Bloggers Quilt Festival, please stop by this link.

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I preordered Melissa‘s new book Small Stash Sewing, which I received in the mail last week.

In my last book review, I mentioned a couple things I like to look for in a book or magazine: high quality pictures and illustrations (eye candy!), useful tips, intermediate to advanced techniques, and a variety of fresh, modern projects. This book has at least 3-4 projects I want to make, so it was worth buying.

The back cover offers this description of the contents,” From a belt to a handbag, from childrens’ gifts to a faux pillowcase dress… Small Stash Sewing gives you 24 sewing projects to make unique pieces that showcase your favorite… fabrics.”

Amy Butler wrote the most amazing, heartwarming foreword for this book. You can tell Amy admires Melissa’s creativity and creative soul, which just made me smile. Melissa seems like such an open, humble shining star!

This book includes such categories as To Wear, At Home and For Kids. The variety of projects offer challenges for beginners and more veteran sewists, making it a well-rounded book.

The To Wear section includes projects like a ruched patchwork belt, a spiced up tee for guys (Melissa’s sweety is the model), even custom shoelaces, which would really liven up my gray Converse. I am excited to make this adorable necklace with the pretty ribbon closure.

I love Melissa’s strapping bag because it looks like just my size. (I’m not big on large purses, or leather purses, or designer purses with initials on them.) I love the way she combined the light blue wale corduroy for the sides with the quilting cotton gusset and straps, which would also look cool as a pieced strap. The decorative stitching on the corduroy is just icing on the cake, and who doesn’t love icing on cake!

The At Home section includes a very hip argyle embellished pillow, a fabric-covered magnetic frame for your fridge, a gorgeous apron, and this cool bath mat, which is a couple fat quarters pieced over an old bath towel to spice up that old towel.

I do love this daydreamer lap quilt, which is a clever way to embellish a strip-pieced quilt top.

This Cute-as-a -Button-Clock is a fun way to show off a favorite fat quarter and coordinating buttons from your stash.

The For Kids section offers a precious pillowcase dress, a great jester crown for the boys, a yo-yo tiara for the girls, a magic cape, and the prettiest wrap skirt that is reversible. This little ladybug softie is adorable and could be used as a big pincushion. Ah, the imagination in this book is so fun!

Of course the unicorn and moon, which represent her famous Unicorn stories, are priceless.

The pattern pieces are printed in the back, and only a couple of them need enlarging, another bonus since I don’t know how to make enlargements on my home copier.

I would have to say the best part of this book is the ability of the reader to actually feel like you are with Melissa as she experiments with these creative projects, using just the treasured fat quarters in your stash. If you’re looking for cheerful sewing projects to fill an afternoon, this book offers loads of potential for challenge and satisfaction.

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Book Review – Sewing Bits and Pieces

A Warm Weekend

May 24, 2010 | terriaw

If you’re here to see the zig-zag quilt I entered into the Bloggers Quilt Festival, please stop by this link.

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What day is it? From the warm, sunny weather we had over the weekend, you would think it was mid-July. Seriously, it was sunny and in the upper 80s and 90 degrees all weekend. I never used to be a fan of such warm weather, but I was loving our arrival of summer! It was a great time to spend in our gardens, soak up the fresh air, and get dirt under my fingernails.

We planted more shrubs.

We added some new mulch, which is our mission this summer. We need bigger landscaped beds, thus less grass to mow!

We filled our containers with some annuals. We like to adore our containers with the old toys we’ve dug up in the yard throughout the years, no doubt left behind by the previous owners.

We planted our vegetable garden. We are keeping things simple this year with just a couple tomato plants, red and green bell peppers, basil and cilantro.

I can’t believe I didn’t do one stitch of sewing over the weekend, and now I really miss it! I delivered a custom purse to my insurance agent on Friday, which she loved. (whew) I got some new fabric in the mail, which I will show off in another post. Just another garden and weekend update for now.

Bloggers Quilt Festival May 2010

May 21, 2010May 23, 2010 | terriaw

I would like to share one of my most favorite quilts for Amy’s Bloggers Quilt Festival going on May 21-28!

I finished my zig-zag quilt this time last year with Anna Maria Horner’s Good Folks fabric collection. I adore all of her fabrics, but I especially loved the bohemian feel saturated colors in this collection, so I wanted to show them off.

I based my quilt on Nettie‘s zig-zag tutorial of making the zig-zags with half-square triangles. I would definitely use that method again, but I would keep myself better organized so I don’t accidentally sew the wrong colors together and then NOT end up with the zig and the zag, and then have to tear them apart and realign things. It’s okay, you can laugh. I know, I can be an airhead sometimes!

It took me only a couple weeks more to quilt it and bind it – ta da! I quilted lines 1/4 inch from the seam of each zig and zag. That straight-line quilting was quite fun, and I highly recommend it for this pattern.

Normally, I like to use one piece of fabric for the back (it’s just easier), but I went out of my comfort on this one and pieced the back with three sections of blues, which I’m very happy with.

You can see how much my kitties love it too!

Also wanted to give a shout-out for my shop Patchwork Trails, which is a sponsor for this Bloggers Quilt Festival!

I am offering one of my makeup bags for a giveway item at the end of the festival. Thanks so much for stopping by to check out my quilt contribution to the Festival! Make time to stop by Amy’s post to check out all the amazing quilts being featured.

Two Giveaway Winners

May 21, 2010May 21, 2010 | terriaw

I can’t even begin to thank each and every single one of you who entered my giveaway for the the May Day Giveway, sponsored by Sew,Mama,Sew! Normally, I make it a practice to respond to every comment left on my blog. But with 574! comments, I had a hard time keeping up. I tried, I really did. Even though I wish I could have replied to all of you, I started to randomly reply and thank some of you. Then I ended up making a couple new friends, which was awesome.

I had no idea so many people would want these items I had to offer, so I am excited to announce a couple winners! My first item up for grabs was this honey bun of Snippets fabrics by American Jane. (a honey bun is a collection of 1.5″ x 44″ strips of fabric)

That item goes to commenter number 138, which was Jessie Hansen who replied:

“I am looking forward to getting out of NM this summer. We are going to Wyoming! Yay! Less heat!” Send me an email, Jessie, with your mailing address!

My second giveaway item was this charm pack of Flutterby fabrics by Tula Pink. (a charm pack is a pack of 5 inch 40-42 squares)

That item goes to commenter number 377, which was Emily responded:

“thanks for the giveaway! i am most looking forward to being an assisstant to a wonderful professor that i have at school!” Send me an email, Emily, with your mailing address!

I loved hearing what you are all looking forward to this summer. So many things I wanted to do too, like go to the beach or go on all those exotic vacations you listed, but also spending time with your family, catching up on your sewing projects, working in your garden, enjoying time off, even seeing Eclipse on June 30.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for entering and sharing. I sincerely hope you enjoy each and every moment of your summers! Stop by again soon to visit (even when I’m not offering something for free – wink wink).

Tweaking

May 19, 2010 | terriaw

I am constantly tweaking one thing or another on the patchwork projects, handbags and clutches I make.

I just finished making the custom order purse for my insurance agent just like the purse I made for my mom for Mother’s Day.

This one also measures 12 inches wide by 8 inches tall, but my agent requested the inside pockets be zipper pockets to keep little things more secure. I think I have found another addiction!

I used this tutorial as a guide to walk me through the steps for the first zipper installation. It was actually pretty easy, and provides great results.

These purses were a little difficult to part with, so I decided I needed a new summer purse for myself, using more fabrics from this Poppy collection.

And of course, I had to add a zipper pocket inside of my new purse too.

It’s fun to experiment with different fabrics, but it’s also fun to tweak ideas and add more cool features like this.

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A Purse for My Mom

Clutch Experiment – Part 2

Clutch Experiment

A Giveaway for 2

May 17, 2010May 21, 2010 | terriaw

Welcome! If you are here to check out the goodies for the May Day Giveway, sponsored by Sew,Mama,Sew, I am happy to be participating with two items to giveaway.

UPDATE: Comments closed now.

The first item up for grabs is this honey bun of Snippets fabrics by American Jane. (a honey bun is a collection of 1.5″ x 44″ strips of fabric)

The second giveaway item is this charm pack of Flutterby fabrics by Tula Pink. (a charm pack is a pack of 5 inch 40-42 squares)

Leave me a comment by 9pm (central time) Thursday, May 20. I would love to hear what you are most looking forward to this summer, if you live in the Northern hemisphere, or what was the highlight of your summer if you live in the Southern hemisphere. I am happy to ship internationally if you are surfing outside the United States. I will consult with the Random Number Generator on Friday morning to choose two lucky winners.

Don’t forget, Amy’s Blogger Quilt Festival is coming up May 21-28!

I am thrilled to have my shop Patchwork Trails participating in that festival as a sponsor!

I will be offering one of my makeup bags for a giveway item at the end of the festival. Thanks so much for stopping by!

A Walk in the Garden

May 16, 2010 | terriaw

I think everybody in the Northern hemisphere has been doing yard work this weekend! We enjoyed a weekend of gardening ourselves.

We got some new spirea shrubs to replace the holly shrubs that didn’t make it through our winter.

We have this really big landscaped bed that borders our fence line. We’ve been trying to fill it in over the years to keep the weeds out, and make it look more like a park.

We added these new bee balms to attract the butterflies.

We also added these new coreopsis plants, to attract more butterflies.

A lot of our spring perennials, including those alliums, bloomed a month early since we had such a warm April, so now we need to fill in more perennials in those bare spots.