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Saturday, April 2, 2011

A giveaway and my last post on this blog

Another one? Yes! How about a Charm Pack of Happier? Or Two? okay two then... Celebrating Happier in the shop.



Happier so fun and bright it made my day when the boxes came yesterday. It is all up in the shop just in time for you to use your coupon codes. The 15% discount codes will end on Monday as will the giveaway for the gift certificate.

I had too much fun yesterday meeting with the sales rep from Westminster/Free Spirit... Lots of yumminess coming for the shop.

This will be my last post on this blog ... I hope you will all follow me over to my new blog... all of the same posts are over there it just has a new address.

How to enter the charm pack giveaway:

Go over to the new blog and follow the steps!

Friday, April 1, 2011

Friday Fun Day!

Hi Everyone,

Just a reminder my last post on this blog will be this weekend. Please come follow me on the other blog. And there is a giveaway there too.

I hope you all are having a great Friday! Just yesterday my daughter got a new Nintendo 3DS so this little tute from Stephanie is right on time for me. Go over to The Quilted Fish and check out the cuteness!


Happier will be here today and up in the shop this evening. Don't forget, I will also cut to order for you. Have a great weekend!

Thursday, March 31, 2011

What's coming next? And a day off from housework.

Hi Everyone,

I have finally gotten my website ready to be unveiled. It has all of the usual info and a coming soon page so you can see what I have ordered for the shop and when it is coming in. I am going to work this morning on making all of the images clickable so you can see larger images. I was so wiped last night that it is a miracle I got as much done on it as I did. You can find the website by going to the new blog and clicking the shop button. The 15% coupon and giveaway for $20 gift certificate end on Sunday, so don't miss out.
I had a meeting with the Andover rep and here is a peek at what is coming from them in a month or two:



Yay! 1001 Peeps!
This Friday night  or Saturday morning I will have Happier Cottons from Riley Blake in the shop as well. Just in time for you to use your 15% coupons still. If you haven't looked yet here is a peek:





Cute!
 Now how about that housework? Next week April 7-10 I will be participating in a blog hop to celebrate National No Housework Day. I know we all need one of those! There will be quite a few of us participating. Fun projectas all across the web. There will also be prizes and giveaways. To find out more you can click on the button on my sidebar and go to "If It's Groovy".


Hugs to everyone!

Talk Soon!

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Don't miss this sweet ride...

Hi Everyone,

I just came in to tell you all about this super cool contest one of my favorite companies is having. Riley Blake is giving away a beach cruiser bike (it is totally adorable) to one lucky seamstress. Go check out the deets Here and Here


Don't forget to come to the new blog Here

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Don't forget the giveaway... come over to the new blog.

To see and enter. I would miss you all if you didn't...just go here.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Come see my new home on the web for a giveaway!

Hey Everyone,

I am so excited to tell you that my shop is now open. I have a limited inventory at the moment but I hope to rectify that in the next couple weeks. Here is a hint at what is there:





I am moving my blog to a new address so that it is in line with the shop name. I am hoping beyond hope that everyone will follow me over there. To that end I am having a giveaway to bribe you into moving with me :) You will have to go over there to see what it is. I know I am evil :) I am making the same promise that I made before that the blog content won't change significantly. I will keep shop announcements to a minimum (maybe one post a week) but will end the posts with a reminder sentence about any specials that might be happening in the store or new fabric that is in. I still want it to be a fun and play blog.

Here is the new blog address http://intrepidthread.blogspot.com/

Friday, March 25, 2011

Friday Fun day!

Hi Everyone... another great Friday! And since I know you don't have enough to do this weekend (wink wink) here is another awesome tutorial from The Quilted Fish's creative design team. Johanna brings you this adorable diamonds quilt tutorial:

Monday, March 21, 2011

Yummy new goodies....

Hi Everyone!


I am so excited look what came in the mail from Amanda and The Quilted Fish:


Sugar And Spice fat quarters and laminate. Love this line so much. And check out the adorable crown that the queen (Amanda) sent for us princesses. She is a doll! This is our fodder for new tutorials over at Amanda's blog. Aren't we the luckiest girls on earth?

I made my first purchase for my shop today, finally the paperwork is done. You probably already guessed it is this same line. I bought all of the blue and red colorway. I will have it up in my new etsy shop to start with (I am still working the bugs out of the online store).  Be on a lookout for the Grand Opening celebration :)

Talk Soon!

Friday, March 18, 2011

Friday Fun day! A bit tardy...

I am sorry I am a little tardy for FFD. I went shopping this morning with my lovely MIL and just got back. So what is The Quilted Fish serving up for you today, you ask? A gorgeous scarf to keep that winter chill at bay. Go give Jackie some love for this adorable project tutorial....

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Use it up....

Hi Everyone,

If you remember a few days ago I had shown you some fabric that I bought while at In Between Stitches. I have not been buying a lot of fabric for myself because I wanted to save all my pennies for buying fabric for my shop (that is getting closer just a few days and I should have the last of the paperwork back). So when I buy fabric right now I have to have a project in mind for it or I can't have it. Saturday when I should have been cleaning (well I did clean some but...) I made a new bag for myself out of the Kumari Garden fabric and some linen I bought:


I have been carrying the same bag for more than a year it was time for a change. I totally love this for spring and summer. I kind of designed it while I went along so there are one or two things I would/will change, like the size and color of the sash.

I thought I would show you my last piece of art that I made for Brooke, now that she has already posted it, as well.


I gave her curly hair like Brooke too :)

And lastly for today... TTT I stayed the same... ugh I hate it when things slow down :) Hopefully next week will be better.

Talk soon!

Monday, March 14, 2011

3Cs Quilt along the borders...

Hi Everyone,

Here are the borders. Not that I didn't think you could do this on your own but just in case we have some newbies that haven't done it before. I know I promised a pre-view of the quilting but I am not ready with that yet. I got a little sidetracked this weekend making a bag and cleaning house becuase my in-laws are coming this week. I promise you show you when I get it marked and after I quilt it too... but that will be a week or two. So here are the borders...

1. From blue polka dot cut 2- 1 1/2" x 44 1/2" strips and 2- 1 1/2" x 45 1/2" strips

2. Sew the 44 1/2" strips to each side of the quilt top.


It isn't sideways and wonky. I am short and I have to get the quilt up high to get a picture over the top of my quilt frame which stands three feet in front of the design wall. You will see in the last picture. So I can't always get it straight when on my tippy toes :)
 3. Sew the 45 1/2" strips to the top and bottom.


4. From of the large blue floral cut 2- 4 1/2" x 47 1/2" strips and 2- 4 1/2" x 52 1/2" strips.

5 Sew. the 47 1/2" strips to each side and the 52 1/2" strips to the top and bottom.


You see here is my quilt frame and my ironing board :)

Ta Da! All done. Pretty painless huh?

I hope you all enjoyed the quilt along and you think we ended up with a pretty cute quilt.

Talk Soon!

Friday, March 11, 2011

It's Friday Fun Day again...

Hi Everyone,

I can't wait for you all to see what my friend Candice has in store for you today over at The Quilted Fish. This adorable pillow tutorial:


I can't wait to see how she made thos flowers... how about you?

Talk soon!

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Happiness Overload!

Hi Everyone!

Oh my goodness! I had a wonderful morning/early afternoon. I took a little roadtrip up to Livermore to Inbetween Stitches. I had a special reason. My friend and fellow Quilted Fish Creative Consultant Team member, Brooke, is in California for her nephew's wedding. She and her delightful friend, Donna, met my daughter and myself there.

Here we are in the front window area (sorry Erin caught you talking, Brooke):


Dang my hair was already flat... I wish I could get a curl to stay in :)

We did some shopping (eh hem to say the least :) ) I got some Sweet Borderie and some of the new stuff from Dena Designs:





We had both brought little pressie's for eachother so we went to a coffee house and sat down to open them up with refreshments :) Look at the adorable mug rug she brought me:


I love it sooooo much! Look at those awesome dots! Sweet Divinity just makes me smile :) I will let her show you what I brought (if she wants) when she gets home.

One other thing happened before Brooke and Donna arrived... I had a star sighting... Alex Anderson was in the shop... I hid behind a shelf because I was so star struck! Hehe!

Thanks for meeting me today Brooke! It was so awesome! I agree that we need to have a retreat with all the team. How fun would that be? :)

Hugs!
Talk Soon!

We have some Winners!

Hi Everyone!

We have 4 winners. It just worked out that the three that had a preference can have what they wanted... isn't that nice?


The Rolie Polie goes to jjd05c who said :

"I would love to win the Rolie Polie. But any of the bundles would be greatly useful for the hexagon quilt I am working on :) Thanks for the give away!"

One Charm Pack goes to Lynn who said:

"I find myself making quilts from charms lately, so I'll opt for a charm pack. Thanks for sharing!"

The other charm pack goes to Miss Tiffy who said:

"I would love any of the packages - if I had to choose, I would perhaps prefer the charm packs. But any of the packages would be great!"

Last but not least the Fat Eighths go to Sunnybec who said:

"How generous!! As a new quilter I am building my stash so I would be grateful for any of them. Thanks for the chance."

I have emailed the winners.

This was so much fun you guys. I truly wish I had hundreds of things to hand out, but you know me this won't be the last giveaway :)

Talk soon!

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

A little bit of Art and TTT

Hi Everyone,

I was so bad today.... I spent the whole day working on these three little pieces of art..  they are only 4" square. I love them. They will be a little mini board book, a gift for a friend of mine that is having a hard time right now.



For TTT it was 1.5 lbs this week. I just can't believe I am still losing... Weight Watchers seems way to easy. It probably helps that I work out an hour a day now. I love it :)

Monday, March 7, 2011

3Cs Row 5 and some other stuff ...

Hi Everyone,

I got to be lazy this week with the quilt along you will see what I mean :)

1. From your blue on blue fabric and pink on pink fabrics cut three 7 1/2" squares each. From your cream background fabric cut 24 - 2" squares, or if you pre-cut them when you cut row one go and find them :)


2. Make this row just like the one in row one :) Here alternating the pink and blue blocks.

3. Add the 5th row to the bottom of the quilt.


I know what a naughty trick huh?  Sorry... but next week it is borders and I will give you a peek at how I am going to quilt it.

Here is my Urban Home Goods main swap item. We are to keep it to two items this time so it is this and the little linen zipper bag a showed a while back.
   

Hope to have some more fun stuff in the next few days so stayed tuned :)

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Wow! Tons of messages this evening.

I was out all day at my Modern Quilt Guild Meeting  "BAMQG" and came home to lots of messages. Thanks everyone I will be answering tomorrow.

Talk soon!

That's Two,Two,Two giveaways in one (post)

Do you guys remember double mint commercials? Am I dating myself? Actually, little known fact, I know one of the twins that was in one of those commercials when he was a baby LOL .... I digress...

I was cutting the last row for the 3C's quilt along and realized I still had a ton of Sweet Divinity left so I decided to cut it into bite size pieces and give some of it to you (don't worry I still have a ton). I had bought yardage before Amanda sent me some more. I cut up the rest of the yardage I had and I am passing it along to you. There is a small fat eighth pack (7 pieces), a small "Rolie Polie" (Riley Blakes version of a Jelly Roll) (19 pieces 2 1/2 by 22, cut from fat quarters 10 fabrics total) and two charm packs (34 pieces each with some multiples). I am giving away one bundle to each of four people.


The rules do each of these in a seperate comment to get more chances):

1. Leave me a comment telling me which bundle you prefer.
2. Blog or tweet about it and come back to tell me you did.
3. If you aren't a follower become one and let me know that you did. If you already follow let me know that too.

I will end the giveaway on Wed 3/9 at midnight Pacific time.
And for goodness sake make sure that you are not a no-reply blogger or you leave me a way to contact you in your post (there are instructions in my comment form to check this).

Good Luck Everyone!


The second giveaway is from my friend Jackie (also on The Quilted Fish creative Consultant team) it is her blogaversary and she is giving away some cute easter fabrics. so go give her some love and join her giveaway too.


Friday, March 4, 2011

It's Friday Fun Day!

Hi Everyone,

Head on over to The Quilted Fish and checl out my friend Brooke's adorable quilt tutorial. While you are there enter that giveaway that Amanda is doing for a bit of her latest fabric line, really, you don't want to miss it. Amanda also has the kits available for all of the past Friday tutorials in her shop.

Check out the adorable-ness...


Talk soon!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

More Art and... A huge (at least for me) announcement.

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to show you a peek of my new art girl. I am so loving this workshop. Christy Tomlinson is so inspirational and generous with her time and encouragement. I highly recommend her. The group in  the class are all so encouraging. I promise that I will be back in the next day or two with lots of sewing and quilting stuff so don't run away okay?


It says "She gave her dream wings" which is what I am doing this week.

Now for the announcement... this is so scary because once I say it then I have to do it... (deep breath)... Starting soon after Spring Market in May I will be having a Grand Opening for my online fabric shop. Phew not so bad... kinda like ripping off a bandage. This week I am getting all of my business licenses lined up and it is so scary and fun. In the next couple weeks I will make my first purchases and hope to have a soft opening sometime in the next month or so. To start out it will be very small but I hope to build up as quickly as possible. I know there are a lot of online shops out there but there are not a lot of modern fabric shops in my area so this is for me as well as my Modern Quilt Guild.

I know a lot of you have told me that you like my blog because I am not trying to sell stuff so, in an effort not to alienate you all, I promise to keep my shop announcements to a minimum. I still want this to be a fun play blog and I want you all to want to be here as well. I am thinking of doing shop announcements for sales etc on Saturdays... and you know me there will be giveaways galore.

I hope you all will celebrate with me. This is a huge dream come true and I have my amazing husband to thank for it.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

TTT and an apology

Hi Everyone,

Just want to apologize to all of my friends on The Quilted Fish Creative team for being so quiet the last few days. A few things happening here... daughter had a state composition test today and I went to one of my favorite blogs this morning and got a computer virus (thank heaven I can fix that, benefits of being a computer geek) and I have been working on my class as well...love you guys I am sorry I haven't been commenting much the last three days or so.

And for TTT 2 lbs this week I am up to a total of 25.5 lbs...weeeeeee

Monday, February 28, 2011

3Cs Quilt Along Row 4

Hi Everyone,

I am sorry I am late with this today. I started my art class today and got all wrapped up in it :) So let's get started:

1. From background fabric Cream Tone one Tone cut:
2- 2 1/2" x 42 1/2" strips
40- 2 3/8" squares
9- 1 1/2" x 8 1/2" rectangles
2- 2" x 8 1/2" rectangles

From each of 10 candy fabrics cut:
1- 4 1/2" square
1- 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" rectangle



2. In an effort not to reinvent the wheel I am going to redirect you to a tutorial written by my friend Sophie. Grab your ten 4 1/2" squares and your forty 2 3/8" squares and go here to learn how to make no waste flying geese. When you are done you will have 40 flying geese that will be nice and accurate and waste free.

3. Take two matching flying geese and the 2 1/2" by 3 1/2" rectangle that matches and sew them together in this order:


4. Grab the other two matching flying geese and add them to each end like this:


Yeah! Candy!


5. Arrange your candy pieces in a pleasing order and sew them together adding the 1 1/2" x 8 1/2" rectangles between each one like so:


6. To each end of the strip of candy add the 2" x 8 1/2" rectangles:


7. Shoot I didn't get a picture but you will sew the 2 1/2" x 42 1/2" strips to the top and bottom of the candy strip.

8. Sew the row to the bottom of the first three rows.

Isn't coming out adorable?

This is what I was up to today. My  first  third attempt and a new art form. IT was the first with any kind of training though :)

It says "She kept on going anyway"

Friday, February 25, 2011

It's that day again...

You know the one... the one where you start thinking all about your weekend projects. If you need one more thing to do... who doesn't? You must go look at Jana's tutorial for The Quilted Fish after all... you know I love cupcakes and so do you :)

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

3Cs Quilt Along Row 3

Hi Everyone!

Sorry it is a little late... let's get started....

1.  From pink tone on tone fabric cut 3- 4 1/2" x 14 1/2" rectangles and 4- 3 7/8" x 7" rectangles
     From each of three cupcake fabrics cut 3- 3 1/4" x 6 1/2" rectangles
     From each of two cupcake fabrics cut 2- 3 7/8" x 7" rectangles
     From cream tone on tone fabric cut 3- 4" x 15" rectangles




2. Print template  here  and tape together matching dashed line in the center and the cutting and sewing lines.


3. Grab two pink tone on tone 3 7/8 x 7 rectangles and two matching cupcake fabric 3 7/8 x 7 rectangles and cut them corner to corner this direction:




4. Grab the other two pink tone on tone 3 7/8 x 7 rectangles and other two matching cupcake fabric 3 7/8 x 7 rectangles and cut them corner to corner this direction:
 

5. Lay out three of each cupcake fabric and tone on tone matching triangles so they look like this (you will have an extra piece of each fabric left over):


 6. Match you piece up right sides together so that each end has a point hanging over. The distance at the coner of where the two pieces match should be 1/4 inch on each side. Pin and sew 1/4 inch seam on each of the six pairs. Press toward the cupcake fabric.


7. When finished these should measure 3 1/2 by 6 1/2. Trim the points of the side and you will have something that looks like this:


8. Lay out three stacks of cupcake fabric 3 1/4 by 6 1/2 triangles and sew them together in sets. Press (direction doesn't matter).When finished they should measure 6 1/2 by 8 5/8. Trim to 6 1/2 by 8 1/2 (this was the only way to make these without giving you crazy measurements to cut and the 1/8 off one side doesn't even show) They will look like this:


9. Add the triangle units to each side so that your cupcake looks like this:


10. Sew the 4 1/2 by 14 1/2 pink tone on tone rectangles to the top of the cupcake bases press and set aside.


Here is my applique method. I think this is the simplest and I am not big on hand applique, altough these would be super easy to hand applique. I didn't want raw edge because I want this to be a childs quilt but if it were for a wall hanging I would probably go ahead and o raw edge.  Use whatever method you like this is just one way.

11. Trace the sewing line of the template onto the non-adhesive side of your feather weight interfacing three times. Make sure there is at least 1/2 inch between each of the tracings. Use whatever marking method you prefer here the marks will not show because they will be turned under.



11. Cut the three pieces apart. You can do this roughly as seen below. Make sure there is at least 1/4 inch around he perimeter of all of the pieces.


12. Put the interfacing together with one 4 by 15 piece of cream fabric. The right side of the fabric should face the adhesive (bumpy) side of the interfacing.


13. Sew all the way around the marked line. Sewing the interfacing to the right side of the fabric.



14. Trim around the applique approximately 1/4 outside the line/stitching. Then clip the bottom curves of the applique. Clip into the corners being sure not to clip your stitching. trim your outside corners well.



15. Seperate the two layers and make a small clip in the interfacing.



16. Trim around the inside approximately 1/2 inside the stitching. Leave the interfacing behind the scallops this will keep the cupcake fabric from showing through the lighter cream fabric.


17. Carefully turn right side out use your favorite pointy tool to turn the corners (I like my chop stick).


18. Use your finger or the flat side of your chopstick and press around the perimeter. You can't use an iron here because you have fusible :)



19. Lay the applique on the cupcake. The points of the scallop should be just under the seam of the background and cupcake. The side points should be a little more than 1/4 inch insdie the edge of the block so they are not cut off when sewing the blocks together.


20. Use your iron and press the applique to the cupcake block. The fusible will be facing the block so that you have a nice fused edge to sew down. This is not a super strong hold like fusible web would be so if you need to re-position you can. This will be just enough to hold the applique in place while you edges stitch it on.



21. Set the stitch length a little longer on your machine that what you would use to piece. Top stitch close tot he edge of the applique, stopping to pivot at the points and tops of the scallops.


We won't add the sprinkles (buttons) until the quilt is quilted.

22. Sew your three blocks together and attach to the previous two rows.

She's looking cute :)