Swapping in the Middle of Crazy

If you are a sewer and quilter you know what is around the corner. It comes twice a year and it is quite the large event. Yip, you thought right, QUILT MARKET. Well, in my marketing world Quilt Market means booking hotel rooms, planning meetings, designing a booth, filling that booth with LOTS of pretty things and answering many questions for people who do not seem to get around to reading their e-mails. Well, it consumes me for several months and towards the end, involves long working days. But alas, I am towards the end as my crates ship today and make their journey on the freight to Kansas City. This market has been especially stressful because I will not be attending this one which means all my planning has to be perfect! I have been to the last 5 so it is out of the norm for me to be missing one, BUT, one of my best friends is getting married and I have to be by her side during the big day!

With that said, I have of course signed myself up for many more projects. Yes, I am sewing clutches for all the bridesmaids and yes, I did pick one of the most time-consuming patterns. Why not? I have a QAL I’m doing, I have to get my May Bee block done and I hosted a swap too. NO BIG DEAL. Did I mention the two commission projects I must have done by the end of the month? Let’s just say, Coffee, Diet Coke and Red Bull are all in a revolving hand grip in my world right now. But, it felt great to complete one thing, and that has been my Over the Rainbow Charm Swap. It was quite the learning experience for my next swap I decide to host but everyone was great and it produced an awesome stack of fabrics. So let’s see some pics!

This is my awesome best friend and roommate Chloe that helped me sort all of the charms! It took us several hours but ice cream was promised at the end.

This is ALL of the packages bagged up and ready to go to the Post Office!

Oh my receipt after I made ALL of the people behind me in line OH so happy. I made my boss take a picture and after she took it this little old lady said ‘oh sweety, are you a foreigner’. Made my day…then I tried to explain myself about a fabric swap and she just didn’t get it. But that’s ok, I was so excited these were out the door! I think the Postal lady was more happy I was out the door though.

Is your May equally crazy?

The Prism has Begun!

So don’t let me fool you, I have not finished cutting out the prism, BUT, I wanted to go ahead and get it on the design wall-just to make sure I was cutting my colors in the order I wanted to. And plus, I am half way through cutting and was beginning to question myself if I was doing it right! I have about three more colors to cut, then I will be complete! So what do you think so far? Do you like how the colors are flowing? Honest opinions would be greatly appreciated! I can only stare at the wall by myself for so long…I need another set of eyes!

I quickly learned that I do not have a large enough wall space AND my design wall is too small. Eeek! I’m not sure how I will finish laying out the fabric but I will figure it out. This is my first time using my design wall and I love it! Makes life easier, plus my cat isn’t able to walk all over it which is a bonus.

Are you joining in on the Patchwork Prism QAL??

 

As I’ve mentioned before, along with my bad addition to sewing, I like to dabble in cake decorating. My most recent creation you can see here. Well there is an awesome blog called I Am Baker that I get GREAT ideas from and she has some great tutorials. Even if you don’t bake, go check out her pictures, they will make you drool.

Anywho, she was hosting a giveaway partnered with McCormick and…I WON! I really never win anything even though I enter a lot of blog giveaways, but this time I actually won! I was at a sales conference when I received the e-mail and I may have squealed like a little girl in my hotel room all by myself.

It came only a few days after getting the e-mail during a pretty stressful day at work so it was the perfect treat to the end of a hard day. Except Gino thought it was his perch. I scooted him off of there as soon as I found something to open that box with! 

 

Not only did it have some awesome prizes, but I opened the box up and it could not have been packaged any prettier!

There was a BEAUTFUL apron (which mom and I are determined to figure out the pattern and make one) and some awesome baking dishes along with some other cooking treats. I could not be more excited and can’t wait to use all of it!!

Posting soon about my activity with the Patchwork Prism QAL. Still time to join so get over there and check it out!

It’s About that Time!

It was my Mother’s birthday recently so she said ‘absolutely NO GIFTS’. Fine, but if I make her something she can’t complain right? So, that’s what I did! I ordered the Fat Quarterly paper piecing addition and made this clock for her that she put in her sewing room. It can always be a pattern past a solid in her world!

It was my first attempt at paper piecing and I really enjoyed it! After a few YouTube videos I figured it out and was on my way! The most challenging part was sewing all of the final pieces together. I may have had some words towards the end and scared my roommates off BUT sometimes that just happens with projects right?? The clock device I picked up at Hobby Lobby. I may have to make one of these for my own sewing area soon!

Easter Oven Towel Tutorial

I was in Target on friday and passed these cute pot holders in the Easter decor section. I thought they were so cute and for 2.99 I grabbed a few. I then went over to their kitchen towels and they had a perfect pastel blue to match. The towels were also 2.99 so I brought them home to make this cute oven handle kitchen towel! It’s very easy to make and great for the holidays because it adds a little festivity into the kitchen. I made one for my mother and gave it to her today for a little Easter treat! It literally takes about 10 minutes to make so if you need a little gift or a splash of color and holiday cheer in the kitchen, just wip one of these up. Enjoy this little tutorial below!

1- You want to buy a square pot holder with a loop that sits in the middle. Then choose a matching kitchen towel that is to your liking. What I purchased was from Target.

2- Fold the towel in half and place pins at each end to mark the middle of the towel.

3- Line up the ruler to the pins and draw a straight line on the back of the towel.

4- Sew a basting stitch a quarter seam on the left side of the line you drew. Then repeat this on the right side. You now have two basting stitches on each side of your line that you will now use to scrunch the towel.

5- You want to pull your basted stitches until it scrunches to the exact width of the potholder.

6- Once you have the towel pulled to the correct size, you are going to pin right side of potholder to the right side of the towel.

7- Flip your towel over and using a walking foot (there is a lot of bulk, so it is very easy to sew through with a walking foot) sew down the line that you drew on the towel in step 3.

8- Once you have sewn the potholder to the towel, take out your basting stitches you made in step 4.

9- Your are almost done! The loop that is on the potholder is going to loop around your button. So fold this done and decide what size button will fit through this before you sew one on.

10- Once you have selected your button, hand stitch the button on and you are finished with your oven handle kitchen towel!

I hope you enjoy this little tutorial. Would love to hear your feedback!

The Perfect Barn

Yesterday I went barn shopping…it’s not every day I do that. But no worries, I found the perfect barn! Old, rustic, lots of character…and a donkey named George to boot. We made friends with each other quickly, until about five minutes of petting him and I had a total allergic reaction. Now the thing is I know I’m allergic to animals (most animals, except cats) but when they look at me with those eyes, I just can’t help but pet them.

Anywho, I found the barn for our photo shoot on Monday! I’m very excited about this. I’m going to be working with my awesome photographer Tara and my friend Bianca and her stinkin cute kids! My friend John who will be modeling will be there also; these folks don’t know what kind of fabric fun they are in for!

The Finished Cake!

Last night I put together a cake for my friend Haley who asked me to make a flowery cake for an engagement party she was hosting. I was VERY nervous about putting this together. Let’s just say my night started out by dousing myself in powdered sugar and cocoa powder… but it got better after that.

The first cake was three layers with chocolate icing. I then made a second cake that was two layers and I shaved it down to give it a round look. I then put supports in the first cake and placed the round cake on top of that.

Then it was time to ice the cake-my favorite part! I created several different shades of pink and started piling the flowers on top of each other until I liked the pattern. Four hours and seven batches of icing later, I had a cake! The next part was transporting it 20 minutes away! I’m pretty sure I didn’t make any friends on the interstate, but thankfully it made it there safely.

 

I just added a few finishing touches and then set it out for the party. I was really happy with how it came out and everyone seemed to love it! I enjoyed making it except for the state of my kitchen after making the icing (my KitchenAid was dog tired) and the transportation part. Who knows what my blood pressure was after that drive!