Bee Happy blabbery Crafts denyse schmidt flickr sewing: anna maria horner diaper bag fabric handmade handmade beginnings here we go bag reverse applique sewing circles virtual bee
by Blabby
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Only 3 months to go!
Is it sad for me to celebrate the fact that I’m only 3 months behind on my virtual bee? I finished up two blocks this weekend, so now, I only have Jan, Feb and March to finish! Here are Oct and Nov’s blocks…those girls were so patient! (Thanks, Rosanna and Natalie!)
For Nov, Rosanna had us do a big Single Girl block. I’ve owned this pattern since Denyse published it, but as soon as I opened it up, I knew I would never make it. Denyse uses templates in a lot of her patterns where I don’t feel like templates are so necessary. Look at me - questioning the methods of Denyse Schmidt! But really, I love her quilts so much, I’m just too lazy to put the effort into them that the patterns call for. I guess that’s why they sell for so much money!
So anywhoo…Rosanna cut ALL THE PIECES! She sent us these nice little packages of all the little shapes that make one ring. I can’t imagine the time she spent preparing those packages. All I know is that I got to do the fairly simple sewing on this awesome block without doing any of the mundane or tedious pattern tracing and cutting. So thanks, Rosanna! Taking this pattern out for a spin showed me that it’s not the big, awful pain I thought it would be. And if I cut multiple pieces (stacked fabric, cut four or five at a time), I could almost see making a quilt with it. The finished block was huge, so six would make a great baby quilt.
And then for Nov., Natalie wanted porthole blocks. This was a fun new technique for me. Although, I never could get my seams as smooth as I wanted. We used Ric Rac’s tutorial - which is super easy. I’m sure I’ll use this technique again - and really, you could do any shape.
In other sewing news, I finished up the Here We Go bag for my aunt Jamie. Using the pattern in Anna Maria Horner’s book Handmade Beginnings - Jamie picked her own fabrics, and I put together this GIANT diaper bag. Pretty easy pattern, and the technique used for closing up the top and sewing the inside and outside together was suprisingly easy. I normally make bags using the ‘birthing’ method - where you flip the whole bag right-side-out through a small hole in the bottom. This bag uses a bias strip sewn around the whole top like quilt binding. I ended up hand-stitching it down, just like I would do a quilt. Not bad at all.
The bag has a center divider with pockets on both sides and pockets around the inside lining. There’s also a little elastic loop that holds the changing pad.
And I found a great laminated herringbone fabric on fabric.com - perfect for the changing pad. Although, I really need to get one of those slippery feet for sewing on vinyl and stuff…what a pain in the neck!
addictions denyse schmidt fabric sewing: creativity inspiration PNCA Portland summer of making
by Blabby
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Summer of Making
As part o
f my full-fledged crazy excitement about attending Heather Ross’ fabric design class in Portland this Summer, I became a fan of the Summer of Making facebook page.
Today they sent out this link to the Museum of Contemporary Craft to download Denyse Schmidt’s talk from last summer’s program. You can right click on this link, or just left click on it to stream the mp3. Awesome! It’s also on the Summer of Making blog.
**Update - After listening, I think it would be a lot cooler if we could see the pictures. But it’s still great.
addictions blabbery blessings Crafts denyse schmidt etsy fabric: heather ross munki munki
by Blabby
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Sold! And Treasure, too!
I’m pretty excited - I sold 3 camera straps yesterday!!! The two Denyse Schmidt ones went right away, which doesn’t surprise me. I need to make some more of those RIGHT AWAY. And an owl strap is making its way to Poland! So awesome! My sales were to NY, LA and Poland…how’s that for a little internet shop? Super cool.
I’m working on my packaging - what do you think? It’s not perfect, but without making any kind of big investment - I think it looks nice.
And even more exciting, my most wonderfullest friend, Pancockies, sent me a box of Munki Munki treasure. When I was on my serious Munki hunt a few weeks ago, she took up the challenge and scoured her own Marshalls…all the way in the Sunshine State! She found these adorable kittens, which I believe, are the find of the century. She also found a lovely shoes robe and a couple sets of coffee pjs. She is the BEST! Think a coffee camera strap is a good idea?
Katie Jump Rope spotting
That’s right, I’ve been at it again. I can’t help myself. And I’m not alone. There I was, watching The Accidental Husband, and the preview for The Maiden Heist comes on, and I see this image flash by. One internet search later, and wah-lah…for your viewing pleasure:
Way to go, Ha Nguyen, Costume Designer! Great use of fabric :)
Crafts denyse schmidt fabric quilting sewing: denyse schmidt fabric free spirit hope valley piney woods quilters quilting sewing
by Blabby
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Hope Valley
I’m sure you mod quilters and crafters are all over this already, but it’s been a while since I’ve just wandered the internet in search of crafty goodness. Did you know Denyse Schmidt had a new line of fabric coming out? Put me on the waiting list, Free Spirit! This will be worth a trip to the Purl warehouse. Here’s what Denyse has to say about it. I think I’ll need to see it in person…the style is kind of 40s reproduction with a really unique palette. I’m loving the Piney Woods color family - here’s one swatch:
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by Blabby
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Aunt Millie’s Garden
I just finished glue-basting this first block from Aunt Millie’s Garden by Piece O’ Cake Designs. I’m super excited about it, and instead of being exhausted, I can’t wait to start the next one! I’ve been collecting Denyse Schmidt fabrics for about six months in preparation for this project.
I also found a few new gems on the web - these are some super awesome embroidery sites:
First I found PimpStitch (don’t miss their blog), thanks to a photo on Flickr. From there, I found Stitchy Stitcherson’s blog (I really love that name), which lead me to AnnieOakLeaves (awesome - free patterns!) which lead me back to Floresita, whose blog I already love (and is chocked full of free patterns), which lead me to Stitchy Britches (another great name), where I ended up at Exceedingly Curious’ scans of an 1886 pattern book! What a cool find! Thanks to John Governale for all that hard work!
So that’s it for the black hole of productivity (a.k.a., the internet) for today.
I’m stoked about Joe Biden. Excellent choice. I sad the Olympics are over, but glad I may actually get some sleep this week. I’m excited that my husband has a job interview this week and things may be changing soon.
Now, it’s 7 am, so it’s time to head to the park before it’s 100 degrees outside!
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by Blabby
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gems on the web
Exciting things are happening in my craft world. First of all, I just ordered the whole Mendocino line from PurlSoho.com…I CAN’T WAIT for it to arrive. You both (as in, my 2 faithful readers) know that I don’t need any more fabric, but who cares?! Life is short, and Heather Ross fabric disappears and never returns. I’m still searching for a yard or two of that sweet gnome fabric!
So not only is her new Free Spirit fabric available for purchase, but she has a new blog! So here’s a link: http://heatherross.squarespace.com/
I think she is an amazing artist. Her fabrics include her sweet illustrations, they are witty and fun and super creative. Not to detract from other designers, but her lines seem so much more thoughtful than a lot of what’s available. Anyway, I’ve also added her to my blogroll, so you can always find her from there - under Heather Ross.
Also on the way is new fabric from Heather Bailey - purchased directly from her new web shop. Awesome. I took her up on the early bird offer and got some free trash ties. We’ll see how well I do with those :)
You know what? While I was shopping around at Purl, I found Denyse Schmidt’s upholstry weight line, County Fair. Did you know about that? I almost bought it all up, but then I remembered that I have a whole bin of upholstry weight stuff that I haven’t used and have no real plan for, so I held back. Good for me! I’m proud of me. I also saw Amy Butler’s new upholstry weight line, August Fields. Beautiful. But again, let’s be realistic. How many huge-repeating-image fabrics can you use?
Also, I had already spent $200.
What?!! Good thing my husband doesn’t read this :)
I also found these fun sites:
http://www.trueup.net/
http://alabamastudiostyle.blogspot.com/
http://blog.lenacorwin.com/
http://www.melaniefalickbooks.com/
Insipration abounds! Get crafting!
blabbery blessings Crafts denyse schmidt fabric featured flickr quilting sewing: aquaman convergence Crafts denyse schmidt etsy flickr iron on kid crafts kids quilting ricky timms sew pretty homestyle sewing snake charmer superheroes toddlers
by Blabby
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current projects
I made all these fun iron-ons of superheroes - admittedly, I stole all the images off of the internet - and put them on t-shirts for my kid. Just like his super cool Thomas cape, he cries his face off if I try to put the shirts on him. Here’s an example. I put this shirt on him, he wears it all the time. Then, he looked down and saw Aquaman.
But I’m working on some new stuff. I’ve been making these cool little bags…I may even get around to putting some in the Etsy shop I opened 20 years ago. I also finished a little table topper convergence quilt (from a Ricky Timms book) and I’m over halfway done with the hand quilting on my snake charmer quilt.
blessings Crafts denyse schmidt fabric featured quilting sewing: denyse schmidt fabric moda muslin piecing curves quilting quilts sewing snake charmer
by Blabby
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treasure and progress
Look at my bounty! And the quilt top I’ve been working on. It’s a Snake Charmer quilt, from Denyse Schmidt’s book Quilts. I’m using white muslin and the Peas & Carrots fabric by Moda. I think I’m going to use solid red on the back. I think curves are much easier to piece unpinned. This took some trial and error to figure out.
Crafts crochet denyse schmidt heather bailey quilting sewing: denyse schmidt embroidery english paper piecing heather bailey hexagons hook roll last minute patchwork + quilted gifts modern quilts quilt patterns quilting sewing
by Blabby
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new crafts…
Here are my latest creations and almost creations. I made this cool hook roll using a bunch of Denyse Schmidt fabrics and my special pink Japanese bunny and squirrel fabric. I think it came out great. The pattern is from Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts, and although it looked pretty intimidating with all of those strips, it was very fast and easy.
Plus, I loved using all those fabrics at once. I am really bad about collecting fabric and then not using it because I hate to cut it, and I hate the idea of not having it anymore. Isn’t that silly? What good is a fat quarter sitting in a box? Isn’t it much better cut into pieces and sewn into something cool? I can see the rationalilty of this right now, but when it comes to my next project, I’m sure I’ll have trouble selecting the fabric I’m willing to cut.
I’m also slowly working my way through a million hexagons. I don’t know how many I’ll make, but I cut about 400 squares from five different fabrics. And I’m using my handy hexagon templates (available for download!) which are working perfectly. I can’t decide if I want to just sew them into a big mix, or if I want to create a pattern with them. I saw a fun quilt in a book called Modern Primitive Quilts where the hexagons were appliqued around embroidered blocks - I loved that idea. Especially with fun embroidery patterns out there like Wee Wonderfuls stichettes. In fact, I think Heather Bailey’s fabrics would be the perfect frame for my Quilting Bee embroidery.
