{amylouwho} sew & tell v3.9 a baby quilt

Hello everyone!
It's been one of those weeks where we've been super busy and I haven't had a lot of quality time with my blog or my fabric!

I have so many things that I want to talk to you about but nothing quite ready to show you. So, I'm sharing another quilt a different friend made for the same baby shower I made this blanket. She doesn't know I'm featuring her here today, so I hope she doesn't mind! (Hi Brynn!)

I took some pictures for her and am so behind I haven't even emailed them to her yet. My friend Brynn has become the unofficial baby quilt gifter for new babies at church. She's the perfect person for this because, unlike me, she knows how to finish a project before starting a new one. Plus she's great at math so she does a wonderful job planning out her designs. AND she's precise, so everything looks pretty much amazing! You can see more of her quilts on her blog Brynn Sews.  I'm really excited to see the ones finished that she's working on now: Kate Spain + Central Park + Lattice pattern!!

This cute little quilt was a big hit at the shower!

I love plus sign quilts and these fabrics are great separated by the white. And the ballon fabric on the back?! SO CUTE!!

and I just adore this pearl bracelet fabric she used on the binding!

I want that pearl bracelet fabric in every color but I just put myself on a fabric diet! Gah!

Thank you Brynn for making awesome quilts! :) (Let's have another sewing day soon so I can finish up the rest of my projects!)

I can't wait to see what you all have been working on! Anyone working on Christmas presents yet?

Linky Rules.  Please read carefully.  The delete monster will be eating non-compliant links.

1. Please write the post for sew & tell - or add a blurb mentioning sew & tell to a post written since the last sew & tell.  If you are linking to a post with your own tutorial, please make sure it was a finish from this week and that the completed project is shown first.

2. One linky per person. (please put multiple projects in one post.)

3. Link to your specific post.  (See here for permalink instructions - or email me.)

4. Link back here with a link or a button (HTML on my sidebar).

5. Be sure to visit and leave comments on other's posts!

lucky penny + pincushion kit giveaway

Do you have a lucky penny? I do! And she blogs over at sewtakeahike! If you were around this summer you got to read several of her guest posts as she helped me out when I was birthing and moving. Oh yeah, that sounds way more glamorous than it really was.

She was part of A Notion or Two quilting bee with me last year.

Backtrack. I wanted to tell you one of the things I figured out while I was 'away' was that I need to not over-commit. It's not fair to the people that are constantly waiting for me to make good on my end of the deal. And it's not fair to me not enjoy making something because I of the worries that comes with it - guilt for being late, nervous if they will like it, making things because I HAVE to not because I want to. I'm not saying that I didn't want to be a part of such a fun group, but with my life getting so crazy this last year, I couldn't in good conscience continue with the bee and I dropped out. It was a fun group for 2 years. It turns out a lot of us had run our course and it's practically a new group. And I'm a little bit sad that I'm not still in it, because I recognized a lot of sew & tellers in the new group and how fun would it be to quilt with you!! So I've been playing catch-up on bee blocks the last few weeks and have 5 to show you and one more to make.

Okay, back to Penny! I just got the bee blocks she made for my month. I had wanted to make Rachel's Pinwheel Sampler quilt but couldn't do the quilt along, so I decided to have my group make some of the blocks! And they all turned out so cute!

Penny designed this asterisk block for the pinwheel quilt and I love it!  She is a pro at paper-piecing and this just makes me happy! I know it was made from her heart.  That is one important lesson I've learned from Penny.  If it's truly made from your heart it will be perfect and creative and unique!

#1

#2

And if that weren't enough she also included a sweet flannel blanket for babylouwho.

She knows how to rock a crochet hook that's for sure!

She's so sweet she also gave me one of her footstool pincushion patterns to giveaway!

Actual kit will mostly likely differ from the photo.  But knowing Penny, it will be equally awesome!

Isn't it adorable?!

Just leave me a comment and tell me about a blogging friend you've made.  I'll leave the giveaway open until, oh, I don't know, Wednesday 22 February?  Remember Sew & Tell will be back next Friday! (24 Feb)

I ♥ all of you, my dear blogging buddies!

*fine print - no compensation was received for doing this giveaway.  Penny's just nice and wanted to share!

hand-dyed fabric care

Looking for the Giveaway Post?

My dear friend Candy, the woman behind the awesome hand-dyed fabrics from which this quilt was made, has a new column on A La Mode Stuff aptly called, "Ask Candy".

 

She is answering my question today:

Dear Candy,

I know you hand dye all of your fabrics. I was wondering if you could offer any suggestions to an amateur quilter like me on how to care for my fabrics (hand-dyed, batiks, or otherwise) so that I don't ruin my precious creations in the first wash. I would hate for some of my brights to run into my white or light colored borders and/or sashing.

Thanks! amylouwho

Go to the post to read her answer!
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In other news...
I'm gearing up for the Amy Butler-fest I am planning!  I got this amazing email yesterday about her new WALLPAPER!  Oh. My. Word.
Can you say gorgeous? (all photo credits Graham and Brown via amybutlerdesign.com)

She's done it again.

And I don't think I would be able to choose just one.
Okay, maybe THIS is my favorite.

I think the backs of my built-in bookshelves might need a little facelift...

sew & tell - a baby quilt!

If you are new or need a refresher for Sew & Tell guidelines you can click on the tab above for details on linking up!

I'm guest posting over at my friend's place, Aunt Spicy, if you want to go read some more randomness!

I did finish the LOVE quilt last week, but I'm working on a dust ruffle and stuff, so I thought it would be fun to show it all together, when it's ALL finished.  Plus, I got an amazing baby quilt in the mail and I just had to show off its gorgeous craftsmanship!  And when I say craftsmanship, I mean it!

I had a very good mail day last Friday. Monica of Happy Zombie sent me a panel of her Gnoma Clauses -ADORABLE!! I got some fabric for my quilting bee and one of my finished blocks back (I'll be showing those soon.)  But there was a mystery package in there from one of my blogging friends who owns a quilting business.  I thought, huh? What is she sending me?

Then I opened up the package.  There was a small quilt inside - I could see it had my two favorite blues and greens in it!

I pulled out the card and it said, "Open the tissue first".  So I did.  And look at this adorable-ness!

I debated whether or not to crop this down, but then I decided I liked the sneak peak at some of my other projects.

I was thinking, "Wow!  Natalia is so nice to make this for the baby!  And I only met her in real life last January!  Aren't my blogging friends the best?"

And then I read the card.  And started to tear up.  The card was signed by 5 of my dear blogging friends.  They had all worked together using each of their unique talents to put this together for me. 

Candy, of Candied Fabrics, dyed the beautiful fabrics. (She dyes all of the fabric she sews with.  A real artist!)

Vicki, of Sew Inspired, made half the blocks and pieced the back. (Amazing sewing, all around.  Quilts, garments, you name it, she does it well!)

Rita, of Mochi Studios, did the adorable applique. (She makes awesome plushies!)

Amy, of Amy's Creative Side, pieced half the blocks and the quilt top. (You know her well - founder of the Blogger's Quilt Festival and soon to be published author!)

Natalia, of Piece N Quilt, quilted and bound it! (Moda Bakeshop member, longarm quilter and designer extraordinaire!)

If you click on each of the links above it will take you to a post they've written about their piece in this lovely cherished quilt!  The cool thing too is that the colors really blend well with the Amy Butler quilt!  Smart, smart girls.  They heard a rumor (or read it on my blog) somewhere that I love aqua and lime!

I'm pretty sure Maggie loves it already too.  She liked hanging out on it for the photoshoot today!

 

and another one for good measure.

I know I've said this before - I love our little world here!  And thanks again ladies for such a thoughtful gift.

“The greatest gift is a portion of thyself.”  

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Remember that.  The time you take to do/make something for someone else is more valuable than any gift you could purchase.

Now for the gift of motivation. . .  
What sewing project did you finish this week?

Please refer to the sew & tell page if you have any questions or wonder why your link may have been deleted.

1. Link to your specific post about a sewing related finish you had THIS week.

2. Please mention sew& tell in your post and link back to this  post (link or button) so everyone can join in.
3.  Pat each other on the backs in the comments!
 

sew & tell - i get by with a little help from my friends

If you are new or need a refresher for Sew & Tell guidelines you can click on the tab above for details on linking up!

Hello everyone!  I am so thankful for all of you that come here each week to share what you have been doing!  It's so inspiring to see your beautiful work and motivating too.  I was able to finish the quilt top this week (see previous post) and I was really planning on having the quilting finished.  Then when I went to put my quilt sandwich together I saw that my backing fabric is about 2 inches shorter in width than my top.  Dang it!!  I didn't want to take any columns off (that would have been a LOT of seam ripping) so I made a new column of selected leftovers to add to the back.  Maybe when I show you the baby next week, I'll be able to show you the quilt too!  (yes, you heard me.  NEXT week!! woohoo!!)

So today, I wanted to show you what some of my friends have been up to.

I think most of you know Dana, from Old Red Barn Co.  I've said this before - she was my inspiration in turning my non-kid blog into a sewing blog.  It was the summer of 2008 when I was recovering from an appendectomy (and taking care of a 6 month old) when I came across her fabulous quilt giveaway.  She's a wonderful bloggy friend and invited me to be part of A Notion or Two quilt bee last year.  This is the quilt she made from all of our blocks last year.  (Mine is the purple one.)  You can read her post here.

(image courtesy Dana)

I just love how bright and happy it is!!
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Next up, Penny of Sewtakeahike!  We met, well, I don't really remember how - just emailing back and forth one night and I offered her some hot pepper jelly and she suggested we do a swap.  However she lives in Colorado and I don't.  So we've never met, met.  But she is a dear friend too.

Penny posted cute pictures of this quilt a while ago.

(image courtesy Penny)

It is so fun to see her style - it's always so original, fun and happy.  Imagine my surprise when this lovely showed up in MY mailbox!  I love it!  It's going to find a place of honor in our new house.  Maybe I'll let the baby use it.....  You can read her post here.

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And then yesterday, I got ANOTHER package in the mail.  This time from E. at Pink Suede Shoe.  (You'll have to ask her about the russian mafia and why she uses pseudonyms....)  We met through sew & tell - so a lot of you may be very familiar with her blog.  She is a regular participant and we bonded over our love of Sandi Henderson's Farmer's Market and VW bugs.  Kindred spirits, totally.  Her blog is full of beautiful creativity and lots of awesome vintage blue things she picks up at great thrift shops.  Me = Jealous.

So back to that package.  She saw this skirt I made for Alison.  And this was in the package for baby girl #2.

How adorable! but wait!

It's reversible!  (See her post here.)

I know.  Dying over here.  She told me it just uses 2 fat quarters and she's planning a tutorial on her blog.  Who knows, maybe you'll see it here while I'm on maternity leave.  Yep that's right, I'm calling it maternity leave, even though you probably won't be able to keep me away.  :)

Thank you dear bloggy friends.  All of you!

Your turn! Can't wait to see what you've been doing this week!

Please refer to the sew & tell page if you have any questions or wonder why your link may have been deleted.

1. Link to your specific post about a sewing related finish you had THIS week.

2. Please mention sew & tell in  your post and link back to this post (link or button) so everyone can join in.

3. Pat each other on the backs in the comments!

gratuitous fabric shots

I got some fabric in the mail Saturday.  Hawthorne Threads has an amazing web site, and selection, and cost reduction when you buy more fabric!  (you can search by color and when you are looking at a specific piece you can click to find coordinating pieces - so great!)

Amy Butler - August Fields Home Dec

Love.  Not sure what I'm going to do with it.  I bought enough for curtains, or maybe a slipcover?

Amy Butler - Full Moon Dots in Lime, Lotus

Had to stock up.

Laura Gunn - Poppies

I got the stripe to go with the other stuff I bought a few weeks back.

I have also met a new friend.  She's amazingly talented and you should see her stash. I went to her house last week and was impressed!  Oh yea, vintage working sewing machines too.

Heather Ross - VW busses and bicycles

Bolts of this stuff.  No lie.  And when she came to see me last week she gave me some for the baby.

She doesn't blog, but I think she should (hint. hint.)

And she gave my daughter this adorable skirt that she won't take off.  Well, I guess she took it off, since it's on a hanger, but only because it needs to be washed.

You probably think I met her in a quilting group or the fabric store or something.  Nope.  COSTCO.  She commented on my bag.  Asked if I made it, and then what line of fabric it was.  I knew then she was a kindred sewing spirit!  Too bad I'm moving.  We've had so much fun!  She's having surgery this week, so keep a fellow sewing sister in your thoughts/prayers.

one more bloggy meet-up, last one!

I know, are you tired of me talking about all the blogging friends I met while I was in Utah?  I promise this will be the last vacation related post (well, maybe....)

I found Vanessa's awesome blog, V. and Co., sometime this past spring/summer while my husband was deployed.  I can't even remember how I stumbled upon it but I'm so glad I did!  She is funny, creative, crafty (just check out her tutorials), SO nice, etc. etc.  Her husband had been deployed the year earlier and she was a big support to me while mine was gone.  I was elated when she was able to work it out to come up and see me while I was in Utah.

She drove THREE AND A HALF HOURS (after having a 24 hour flu bug!!) to come see me.  See what I mean?? TOTALLY NICE.

We had tons of fun shopping, eating, chatting.  Did I say already how nice it is to meet my friends in person?  I'm telling you, this blogging community is awesome!

We met at Joann's, then ate at Cafe Rio - delish!  Then we went to a place called Tai Pan Trading.  It's like a warehouse full of home decor stuff.  I'd heard a lot about it but had never been.  I told myself I wasn't going to buy anything because I already had to ship some stuff home.... but I couldn't resist.  I bought 3 of these (the other 2 are different colors).

They are ceramic decorative balls.  I know!  What am I supposed to do with them?  V. suggested a hurricane or something to put them in, probably like this.  I'm trying to be hip.  We'll see how it goes.

We then went back to one of our favorite shops, The Material Girls.  I love that place.  She bought me some Nicey Jane!!  I KNOW!  I said she was totally nice.

Okay, so she bought it for me to make something for her.  But still!  I'm excited to work with this fun fabric!

And then, just because we were feeling dangerous we headed over to IKEA.  Man, I really love that place.  I like the idea of dreaming that my house will one day be so clean and organized.  Or something.

As we were saying good-bye, we realized we hadn't taken any pictures.  So here's a lame-o photoshopped self-portrait, with the flash too close in a dark warehouse store.  Captions added a la Vanessa.

I could go on and on about all the cool stuff on her blog.  But really just go check it out for yourself.  And a bonus? She's updating her Etsy shop today at 11:00 a.m. MST.  Awesome patterns and even some things made by her!

One thing I found out is that we share a common love for bright, fresh spring green.  It's her favorite.  It's my #2 (and goes so well with all the lt. blue, baby blue, turquoise of which I can't seem to get enough.)   So I had to snap this picture of this bench I saw on the porch of a new home for sale.

I thought about taking it, but I didn't know how I would get it home.  Plus, I didn't think larceny would look good on my record.  But it would look so great with my dresser.

Thanks again, Vanessa for making the trip up!  Next time I'm coming to the middle of nowhere to see you!

P.S. - Oh, one last shot.

I love their slogan.  I love their chocolates even more.  Especially the dark chocolate raspberry cremes.  Mmmmmmmmm.

P.P.S.  Woah sew & tell-ers!! 40 people this week!  Awesome - I'm working through them all!  Sorry I've been slow on the commenting! I do ♥ every last one of you!  Thanks for making each week so fun and motivating!!

sew & tell - the party's almost over

Well, I'm leaving Utah today.  No more cute quilt shops, bloggy meetups or waffles.  :(  But I do get to spend a few more days in San Diego before returning home!  And the rain is supposed to let up for the weekend -   Yay for us!  I have some more fun things from my trip to write about, but realistically, it won't happen until next week.

How about we get to Sew & Tell already?!

I told you that I met Natalia of Piece-N-Quilt this week, right?  She agreed to let me feature her newest Moda Bakeshop Tutorial today!

Isn't that adorable?  I have a soft spot in my heart for Valentine's Quilts (pun sort of intended).   Sadly I didn't get to see this in person the day we met.  But I am in love.  Too bad I don't have enough time to make one before this year's holiday.

You can see her whole post here, and the tutorial here.  She is very talented and super fun - go have fun visiting her blog!  Leave her some love, tell her I sent you!

I promise, I'm really going to try and have something of my own to share for next week!

Your turn!  Can't wait to see what all you crafty peeps have been up to this week.

(Following the rules will ensure a good time for all!)
1. Link to your specific post (email me if you have questions about that.)
2. Please mention us here and link back to this post so everyone can join in.  (You can mention Sew & Tell in your post and have the button on your sidebar or blog, that works too. )
3. Pat each other on the backs in the comments!

sew & tell and a bloggy meetup

So I hope you weren't getting too excited about seeing that little bag finished for which I bought the supplies this week....  because, well, it's hard to squeeze in sewing time on vacation.  Maybe I can get it done for next week, but I also have a couple quilt blocks that I need to finish too.....

I wanted to show you something for Sew & Tell that my friend Nicole made for me.

Here we are!  It's interesting how you think your maternity clothes are cute until you see them in a photo.  I love that scarf - but not sure it's doing much besides keeping me warm!

But first a little background.

If you read my guest post at Natalia's yesterday, you may have seen a mention to my friend Allyn, with whom I credit for bringing me back into the world of sewing.  When my daughter was born, it was her doctor husband who saved my life by getting me to the ER when my BP got so high (and then slowly tried to kill me a couple of weeks ago by giving me a double decker Five Guys burger with grilled onions and jalepenos, but that's another story).

Allyn has 5 sisters (lucky!)!  Her sister Nicole and I have gotten to be bloggy friends over the last year or so, commenting and emailing and for me, admiring her work (I'm secretly lobbying for the title of sister #7).   She lives in Utah, where I am currently visiting my mom.  So we decided to meet up and do what?  Go fabric shopping!

I LOVE Nadine's shop - Material Girls Quilts.  I blogged about them last year when I went for the first time.  I love meeting my "imaginary" friends!  We had a great time gabbing, looking at fabric, eating lunch and hanging out.

So back to sew & tell....
Nicole makes car seat blankets.  I was looking forward to ordering one from her and then she showed up with one she wanted to give me!! How sweet is that!?  Kindred spirits for sure. And the one she gave me is made from Amy Butler.  Awwwww.

She's designed hers to have elastic around the head part of the seat so your blanket won't drag on the ground.  Smart girl.

And it's reversible!

and I love this detail on the handle straps.

She linked up last week with her amazing wedding ring quilt she made, so go see it if you missed it!  SO beautiful and inspiring.

Oh, and be prepared to laugh when you read her blog.  I'm just sayin'.

What do you have to share today?  Here's the guidelines:
1. Link to your specific post (email me if you have questions about that.)
2. Please mention us here and link back to this post so everyone can join in.  (You can mention Sew & Tell in your post and have the button on your sidebar or blog, that works too. )
3. Pat each other on the backs in the comments!

it's a good sign giveaway

I met Amy, who blogs at It's A Good Sign, about 5 years ago when her husband, Justin Hackworth, photographed my wedding. (you may have seen his work here. And check out pics from his latest trip to Haiti and the D.R.)

Amy and I have since become better friends through our blogs and email. She's a sewer and creative person who also happens to be one of the NICEST people I've had the pleasure of knowing. I was really impressed when I saw this image on Design Mom last spring! I didn't know Amy was a photographer too - it only made sense though. (By the by, that's a great post on teaching your kids to sew.)

So I snatched one up from her Etsy shop. And put it in a frame and hung it on the wall in my cramped little sewing corner, er, um, I mean studio. I ♥ it so much!

To my surprise, Amy had included several sets of notecards.

featuring each of these images. I just love the old wooden spools.

A company that distributes to quilt stores just placed a large order for them! (That's a good sign!)

and she sent me enough to share.

Her cards and prints are printed on nice heavy paper and will certainly look great in your studio too! And for just this week, Amy has put everything on sale 20% off! Thanks, Amy! What an affordable way to have some original art!

I have two sets of notecards (4 cards each) up for grabs!

To enter:
1. Go visit Amy's shop and come back here and leave a comment about what you like about her shop. 1 entry
2. Leave me another comment letting me know you are a follower/subscriber. 1 entry
3. Blog about the giveaway linking back to this post and yes, leave one more comment. 1 entry

I'll leave the giveaway open until Sunday 4:00 PM EDT, 26 July. 2 winners will be chosen via Random.org. I'll post the winners Monday morning, 27 July.

good luck!

more from my mentor

aka, my mom.

So yes, we are suffering from Grandma Suzie withdrawl. My daughter has said on numerous occasions, "Grandma needs to come back to our house!" and we all agree!

Here are some the fun things she made during Sewing-fest 2009:

This shadow embroidery was a project she did with her quilt group. She pieced it and put it together one of the first nights we were here. I love how that embroidery on the back shades (hence the term shadow) the muslin. That and it's cute. I wish I would have hid it so she would have "accidentally" left it here.

If I remember correctly, this quilt pattern is called Yellow Brick Road. This was whipped up in an afternoon from 6 fat quarters and a bunch of strip piecing. It turned out very cute - it's a baby quilt size.

This is the same pattern only bigger and with brighter colors! I think it's adorable!

And look at all the cute kitties! This one is closer to a twin size and only used 12 fat quarters. Now that I've seen it done, I really need to make one myself.

mais, La piece de resistance. are you ready? This is a McCall's pattern (I think) It didn't look like much when I saw the drawing on the envelope, and I wasn't sure about the fabric choices, until I saw it!

yes! that whole thing is trimmed in bias tape. She worked it on there like she does it everyday! When I asked her to show me how you do it, it was another one of those moments, "things my mom thought she taught me....." you know the rest.

Speaking of which, did you know that store bought bias tape has one fold longer than the other? It's to use on the backside so you will catch the back when you are stitching on the top! You learn something new every day. And maybe now I won't hate working with bias tape!

She's amazing - now if I could just plug an external hard drive into her brain to download all the information that's in there....

a little spotlight

Have you been to this blog yet? I just discovered it a little while ago and Jodi has all sorts of fun things to look at. From cool blog finds, to fun projects that are easy to do, giveaways and tips on using Blogger.

Blogger has some great tools - and I figure most people who are blogging know about them, so even though the techy-geek inside gets really excited about a new trick, I never write about it. But she did! And I wanted to share with you.

1. noreply- comment: I get really sad when someone leaves a comment (which gets emailed to me) and I can't email them back because they don't have an email address attached to their profile. She explains here how to fix that! And it doesn't mean your email address is published for the whole world to see - just the person on whose blog you commented.

2. Scheduling posts: How about only having a little time to blog - you can work up several posts and schedule them to post on different days through Blogger's Post Options. She explains this too!

3. Following and Labeling posts: The followers feature is fairly recent. She explains how to put it in your sidebar as well as the importance of labeling your posts.

4. Embedding links: I've had some people ask how you set up links within a post. Super easy!

• Select the text you want to be a link,
• Click on the link button (to the right of the text color button)
• A box will pop-up where you can type/paste in the web address to where you want the link to take your readers.
• The selected text will then become a different color and underlined all on it's own!

Some of this may seem elementary, but I just discovered Google Reader with in the last year, and it changed my whole blogging experience! Hopefully this is helpful to some of you too!

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In other blogging news:

Are you following Lollychops Big Time Bunny Week??

Make sure you check out the posts for each day this week. She has lots of free downloadable patterns, labels, etc. Her projects are fun, she is hilarious, and your day will be brighter and better for visiting her sweet, crafty site.

** these two lovely ladies had nothing to do with these posts, I just love them. There wasn't anything in it for me. Just sose ya know.