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Finished and ready for quilting! I love how it turned out. It looks like two purple cone flowers stealing all the glory away from a garden of pink flowers.
Sassafras was mostly made using Kaffe fabrics from the shop and our stash. One of my favorite parts of the quilt is the “light” cluster of blocks. It’s as though the littlest cone flower is reaching up for the sun.
It was another beautiful day so I took full advantage of taking the pics outside. Once again receiving a raised eyebrow from my neighbors:) After it’s quilted and bound, I think I’ll take it to the gardens at the college and photograph it there also. It deserves a great shot with all the flowers in bloom. Although,I think the real flowers might be a little jealous, don’t you?
Spring break is over. Back in action this week. Saturday, Paige and I hung out and did some sewing on Sassafras, which I will hopefully be showing y’all the completed quilt by tomorrow. We think it’s turning out so awesome! I can’t wait to get it finished.
We also made a trip to Ikea for some odds and ends and while we were there bought a couple of vases because we’ve been wanting to make a really cute flower arrangement we saw on Pinterest. If you’re not on Pinterest, sign up! It’s addicting. You’ll love it! Don’t you need another reason to spend all day on the computer?
Isn’t this the cutest? All you need is a vase, jelly beans, box of bunny peeps and some flowers and voila, a super cute Easter display!
Where have I been? On my patio of course! It’s been in the 80’s in Chicago and I’m certainly taking advantage. I’m being very lazy! It’s hard to focus on working in the studio right now. The birds are singing, flowers are blooming. I’ve had my air on for about a week now. Is that crazy or what? It’s March!
I do already have unwanted guests though…mosquitoes. I have 5 bite marks on my feet from eating dinner outside the other evening. I kept swatting at bugs thinking they must be gnats because there’s no way mosquitoes would be out this early. Boy, was I wrong. They even got me through my socks! I’m afraid they’re going to be so big this year, they’ll be able to carry us away.
We did start a new quilt this past Sunday called Sassafras by Thimble Blossoms. It’s a new pattern we got into the shop last week. It takes a jelly roll but we decided to use some scraps and fat quarters with a lot of Kaffe fabrics. I’m very excited to see how this one turns out.
We also have this spring cutie called Wonky Little Houses Pillow Pattern.
And some new bolts from Art Gallery.
Delicate Duet Plum & Rhythmic Lilac from the Poetica Line.
And a couple of fun prints called Retro Harmony in Sugar & Cocoa.
BackYard Baby Kit is also available now. Kit includes everything needed to complete the entire quilt except your batting, including a FREE pattern. Quilt measures 40″ x 40″ and is only $32.99.
All of these are available on Etsy. Enjoy your weekend everyone!
Thanks to everyone who came out to the Pride of the Prairie Quilt Show this weekend. It was a huge success and Paige and I had a great time! They have a wonderful guild and were very welcoming. We met a lot of new people.
We set up in a small classroom. I was really proud of us for getting everything loaded in an Altima, setting up 2 hours before the show and doing such a great job of displaying everything without pipe and drape this time. 
It’s fun to work quilt shows especially since we are an online shop . It gives us a chance to meet new people and even see returning customers. We get a feeling for what excites and inspires them. We enjoy helping people with color choices and bringing ideas to life. Here’s a grouping we helped one of the ladies put together.Very cheerful!
We revealed Paige’s new design called Cannon Beach, named after a trip she took there a couple of years ago. We hung it outside the door in the hallway. It definitely was an eye catcher and brought in traffic to the shop.
The quilt was made using the Hope Valley by Denyse Schmidt. The line is out of production but we came up with another one so that we could kit it for the show. We used mostly Midnight Garden by Sandi Henderson. Here’s a little peek of it in the corner. I’ll get around to showing y’all more pics when we get it quilted and bound.
We sold all the kits we had made for this. It’s very exciting when people love what you’ve worked hard at designing and creating! We will have the pattern available on Etsy & SewModDesigns as soon as we put the PDF together.
Here’s a few of the other quilts that were on display.
Now I’ve gotta get back to putting the studio back together and deciding what my next project will be. I’m thinking houses….
If you’re in the area join us March 10 & 11, 2012 for the Pride of the Prairie Quilt Show . Hours are 9-5 on Saturday & 11-4 on Sunday. The show will be held at Richland Grade School, 1919 Caton Farm Road, Crest Hill, IL.
I’ve been busy, busy cutting kits and preparing samples, but I did find enough time in my schedule to do some crafting this week. I’m totally hooked on hoop art, so I decided to do a little of my own by hooping “SewMod” and resting them on top of my peg board in the studio. Cuteness!!
Using Lush fat quarters, I fused and machine appliqued the letters with a decorative stitch on my sewing machine.
I added a piece of muslin for stability, hooped them, trimmed the fabric and pressed the trimmed fabric to the back. You can choose to cover the back but if its going against the wall, who’s gonna know, right?
So simple and sooo cute. It puts me in a spring mood. It also doesn’t hurt that our weather has been awesome. I finally was able to open my windows and air the house out…yay!
I promise on Monday I’ll be back with some quilt & booth pics from the show, so be sure to check back then. Have a great weekend & we hope to see some of you at the show!
I didn’t get to spend too much time with my Jacks this weekend even though I’m really enjoying this embroidery. It has a lot of dimension. I tried to get you a good pic of it so you could see all the french knots and satin stitching.
I can’t wait to start those circle flowers! Why didn’t I get around to those, you ask? Well, I was super busy all weekend working on a new project for our show coming up this weekend, which involved making 80 of these…
More on that later…
And on other subjects, guess what time it is. Girl Scout Cookie time!
That box of Savannah Smiles are yummy. **Please, no comments on how my diet is going.** I had to buy them! Those little girls were in front of the grocery store in freezin’ their little cookies off! I couldn’t say no.
A stack of the Amber Heirloom with a special touch of the Blend Calypso Stripe and Spindle. I really like these two mixed in here. Seems to brighten it a bit. And you can’t go wrong with a good stripe!
Half yard stack of 7 was $31.00, now 15% off for $26.35 available on Etsy and SewModDesigns.
Check back on Monday. I plan to show my embroidery progress on the Witch’s Boot. Enjoy your sewing weekend!
It feels sooo good to mark something off the list as finished. There was a whole lotta that going on around here this week! Three to be precise.
BackYard Baby Quilted, bound & kitted.
I kitted these for our upcoming show in the sand pails with a shovel. After all it is called BackYard Baby. So cute! Hopefully it will draw some attention into the booth.
Wonky WildFlowers Borders on, quilted and bound. Super cute!
Paige meandered the center around the embroidery work to make it pop out.
And I did a little wonkiness in the log cabins.
Spring Dresden Table Runner
We made this with the new fabric line Lush by Patty Young using our pattern, North Garden Dresden Table Runner.
A pretty, butter yellow background with bright creamsicle & pink dresdens.
We fussy cut the Flower Shop fabric for the dresden centers.
Bright and cheery! The perfect project during winter while wishing for spring. And I kitted these inside flower pots and added a cute yellow daisy.
These kits should be available at Etsy and SewModDesigns soon.
Now, on to cutting out my next project. Talk to ya tomorrow:)
Do you yearn to pull out those Crayons and relive your grade school days? Well we can! Tinted embroidery is a great way to spruce up those open spaces in a project and add a little color without all the work of filling in spaces with filler stitches like satin stitching.
So go grab your supplies and let’s get started!
Crayons
Embroidery pattern
Pencil or brown .01 Pigma Pen
Pins
Iron
White paper towels
Floss
I’m working on Crabapple Hill’s Which Witch’s Boot.
1) Pin your pattern to your fabric.
2) Using a light box, transfer your pattern using a #2 pencil or Pigma pen. Remove pins and pattern.
3) Using a white Crayon, color heavily the areas that will be tinted with color. If your fabric is pulling, try taping your fabric down.
4) Tint the areas with the Crayons. Use light strokes. Remember we are tinting, not coloring. I’ve made this mistake a couple of times. I have a heavy hand. If you’re not following pattern instructions and choosing your own colors, always start tinting with lighter colors first. For example, my leaves are tinted green. Light green first, shaded with a darker green and tinted at the tips with a bit of red.
**tip** Check your work carefully. If you find flakes of the Crayon on the fabric, blow them off. You don’t want them to stick to the fabric. Another of my mistakes. I ended up with bits of orange on my gray boot. According to Crabapple Hill, if you need to remove any coloring mistakes, do so before you iron. Heat setting it makes it permanent! Remove mistakes by mixing a paste of baking soda and water. Dip a Q-Tip in the paste and rub the area until the color disappears. Rinse that area with cool water and air dry. Re-color and proceed to step 4.
4) Place your tinted embroidery face up on ironing surface. Cover your tinted areas with white paper towels and press well with a hot iron.
Check the paper towels for crayon residue or bleeding. If there is some, then repeat step 4 with new paper towels until there is no sign of Crayon on the towels.
Now it’s time to start stitching!
The newest Oval Elements from Art Gallery arrived this week!
Smoke, Mist, Mustard, Vintage Blue, Parfait Pink & Beaujolais Wine. We Have almost the entire collection available in our shop. We can do any yardage or grouping you’d like. Give us a convo and we’d be happy to help you!
Also arriving were a few from the Poetica collection from Art Gallery.
Love this one!
Were expecting more in a couple of weeks so keep checking back with us.
I worked on a sample this week from the Hot Who! Hot Pads pattern and used this fabric for the body. These were simple and I completed them in an afternoon.
Next weeks to-do’s include baby shoes, cutting a quilt out and a bit of embroidery. But for now, I’m going to relax and pour over my latest issue of Mollie Makes.
Have a great weekend!
SewMod