Quilt Top Almost Done!
You might see my new feature over to the side called My Design Wall. I think it’s going to be neat to show what is on my real design wall, maybe that will motivate me to get it finished so I can change the picture. Case in point, I finished most of the quilt top I’m making out of JUST ONE charm pack and a yard of Moda Bella Solids Mint. This is what it looks like so far:
Love U Charm Quilt
I love how it looks with those cute fabrics all framed out in the solid green but I think it needs a little more kick, so I’m going to add a wider border of this cute coordinating Love U ABCs in Blue that we just received yesterday. Won’t it be cute?
Love U Blue ABCs by Deb Strain
I’ll probably use another yard and put a nice wide border, maybe around 3″ or so all around it. This is a completely made up pattern, but it’s not exactly rocket science. I think I’ll use this same fabric for the backing and a cute Essential Dots Royal Blue for the binding.
Essential Dots Royal Blue
I think it’s going to be totally adorable! I love trying to come up with new ways to use those charm packs. I think of it as a challenge each time we get more of them in. So, do you think this is cute? If you’d like to buy the supplies, just let me know and I’ll make it into a kit which will be super easy to purchase all at once. Otherwise, what are YOU working on right now?
Happy Stitching to You,
Anna
P.S. It only took about 3 episodes of Robin Hood, 45 minutes each and about 4 trips downstairs to let the dogs in and out to get everything put together today. Now I have the Robin Hood music stuck in my head!!
I really need to stop surfing…
I really need to stop blog surfing and get into my sewing room and WORK! I keep finding new projects I want to try to make like this one for a t-shirt tote or this one for a pin cushion cuff when I should really be finishing the quilt(s) I have on my design wall right now! That’s the bad part about having two design walls! I also get sucked into the Blogosphere and can’t get away from my computer! Well, it might be because my home office is so much warmer than my sewing room right now, partially because it’s the middle room without as many windows and is insulated better. Also, my sewing room is over the garage and is ALWAYS harder to regulate the temperature. Maybe that’s just an excuse. Look at this totally awesome set up I have for my sewing room.
Sew and Watch Robin Hood
I have a mini laptop and it’s right next to my sewing machine so I can watch streaming video episodes of Robin Hood (or anything else I want) while I sew! Gee, that sounds like a good idea, I guess I’ll go do that now.
Happy Stitches to You,
Anna
Guilty Confession
Does anyone else do this? Do you ever play “Guess the machine?” When I read other blogs that have sewing tutorials I sometimes realize that when I’m looking at the pictures of someone’s sewing machine I try to guess what sort of machine it is. Most tutorials only show a small portion of the machine such as the presser foot, the needle or throat plate, etc. I especially like to see if they’re using a Bernina, probably because I sew on one and they have a very distinct look. I just wondered if I’m the only crazy one out there or if anyone else does that. If you do (or if you will never look at another tutorial the same now) check this post on TipNut for links to some great tutorials and lots of Guess the Machine eye candy. By the way, you may want to sign up for the TipNut daily tips. They are awesome! They basically scan the web and find neat posts about various topics (usually crafty stuff) to send directly to your e-mail address! If you don’t like it, just delete it, but I have a whole folder in my e-mail dedicated to saved TipNut ideas. Cool, cool stuff. Sorry no pictures this time.
Happy Stitches to You,
Anna
The New Webstore is LIVE!
The Crafty Girls Workshop Webstore is now OPEN for business!
Here it is, all in its shiny newness. You can click the image to visit the shop. This site has been a work in progress for several weeks and I’m so proud to say that our new website is up and running!! The address is:
http://craftygirlsworkshop.com
I hope you’ll add us to your favorite, bookmark us, tweet about it, tell your facebook buddies and share the good news! I also hope you’ll like the new site and want to visit us often. Our Etsy store is still alive and well but we will be phasing out the fabrics and patterns listed on there (to avoid double listing and an inventory headache) and turn it into a place to share our shop samples that we would like to sell. One of the best things about the new web store is that through it we have the chance to offer you the opportunity to purchase as many yards as you need without having to charge extra for listing fees! We are also setting the pages up so you can easily choose a fat quarter, 1/2 or 1 yard cut of each fabric! With Etsy, we didn’t have the ability to make partial yards available but with our new store it’s easy as pie! I hope if you get a chance you’ll stop by our shop and maybe sign the guest book to say hi. I’d love to hear feedback from you too.
In other news, it’s been sort of a challenge to keep our Crafty Girls Workshop blog updated and work on this blog. As you can see, I’ve changed the theme around a little. In the process I sort of lost a lot of my widgets or at least the space for them so I’m really working on cleaning up the blog. I hope I’ll be able to post more of my personal finished projects on here and keep this blog going. I sort of miss being able to just ramble on about sewing without having to promote the shop. But I also haven’t had much time to sew since I always seem to get sucked into the bloggy vortex (case in point, I should be sewing right now!) Well, I’m off to work on a cute quilt I’m making as a sample for the shop (always working, haha) so see ya later!
Happy Stitches to You,
Anna
Coins for Comments
Please help Lori out today. She is a great blogger over at Babes in Hairland. She normally posts about cute hair bows that she makes and how to braid hair but today she is offering to donate 10 cents for EVERY comment she receives on her post to help a family that lives here in the US who is trying to adopt two children from HAITI. One of the children is missing after the earthquake but the other is OK and at the orphanage. PLEASE visit the blog (click the underlined words) and leave her a comment. Then PLEASE PLEASE pass this on to ALL your friends through e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, blogging, social networks, shouting from the rooftops, whatever you think will get more people to help her out. Thanks soooo much!!
Anna
Cut It Up Day
Cut it Up day
I know, it’s ironic, I belong to a Yahoo e-mail group called Stashbusters, but yet I’m attempting to co-own an online fabric shop, which requires me to purchase fabric. Actually though, it has reduced the amount of fabric I’ve been able to purchase for my personal use, mostly. So, on this group of over 5000 fellow stashbusters, they have certain days when they post somethig to motivate us to get out there and do something. Sunday is Cut It Up Day. I am really glad I don’t have to cut everything with scissors like the girl in the picture above. I get to use my rotary cutter which is really the best invention since the remote control! I’m planning to cut into the many, many kits I’ve accumulated over the last, ahem, week, and also those from the Houston International Quilt Show I attended two years ago. Yes, I went shop hopping with Regina, my co-conspirator–I mean business partner– for Crafty Girls Workshop. We were doing market research and along the way, I couldn’t resist grabbing a few kits. Now I want to get them cut and ready to make into quilts. Since most of what I bought was for little boy quilts, I might end up making them and trying to sell them. Who knows, I don’t have any kids, and I only have one male dog. I don’t know what I would do with so many little boy quilts. I just fell in love with the fabric. (Don’t tell the Stashbusters though.) Oh, isn’t that picture above just adorable? I remembered I have this cool book of royalty free clipart that is great for decoupage, scrapbooking and apparently adding to blog posts so as not to bore people with just my text. OK, so I’d love to know if YOU are planning to do any cutting in preparation for sewing any time this week, please let me know by adding a comment on this post. And if you absolutely hate cutting, stop by Crafty Girls Workshop and check out the assortment of precut fabrics we have. I also posted about a really cute tutorial for a children’s activity tote that Moda Bake Shop posted yesterday. It turns out we have ALL the stuff to make those totes and I’ve added it as a KIT to our shop! I hope to hear from you soon.
Happy Stitches to You,
Anna
P.S. Sorry for the lack of posting activity. Please stop by my blog for Crafty Girls Workshop where I post at least once a week. Evetually I’m going to figure out how to combine these two blogs, but at the moment I need to go and get cutting on my fabrics!
I am Blissfully Domestic?
Click to visit Blissfully Domestic
I chose the image above because it’s the only one I could see myself doing, and I’m NOT pressing clothes in that picture I’m using the iron to press my FABRIC! Haha. Actually, I haven’t been very blissfully anything lately, but perhaps today is a new day and change CAN happen today. Last week was rough, really really rough, and I won’t go into details, but let’s just say I’m going to do everything in my power to avoid a week like that again. I am just so incredibly grateful that I have such a loving and supportive family around me who are willing to give everything of themselves to support me, and I believe I’m the same way toward them. Since I work full time, being blissfully domestic means getting some sort of dinner ready by about 7:30 pm, doing the dishes and laundry when I can, and hoping I can make it to the weekend. There was very little joy to feel in these doledrum sort of chores, but perhaps that can change too. I guess I have to CHOOSE to find the joy in them. If the dishes are done, then I have a clean sink. If the laundry is done, then I have clothes to wear to work (and so does hubby), if dinner is cooked, we have something nice to eat, besides fast food. There are good sides to the chores. And, if I get the chores done, then I can go be domestically crafty and do some fun sewing or quilting project. Today is a new day and the beginning of my new outlook. I’m going to strive, from now on, to see the joy in all things, EVEN dishes and laundry!
Hope you have a fabulously domestically blissful day.
Happy Stitches,
Anna
P.S. I couldn’t figure out how to copy the “rules” for blissfully Domestic day, but they are at the bottom of the post that I linked to when you click that cute picture up above there. Or you can click here.
P.P.S. If you’re feeling Blissfully Crafty today, check out our shop because we’ve listed LOTS and LOTS of new fabrics and CUTE kid’s clothing pattern. More will be coming this week!
A Cardmaking Mood
Sometimes I venture into the crafty realm outside of just sewing and quilting. Way back before I started sewing I actually played with rubber stamps and scrapbooking. Today, for some crazy reason, I was inspired to make a couple of cards for fall and Halloween. I know most people don’t exchange cards for those reasons, but my birthday is only four days before Halloween and when I was younger, my favorite colors were even orange and black! I also noticed that I had some of those clear stamps that were for Halloween so I thought “hey, why not?” and started playing. The first one I made was a lot like those cards I made WAY back a few years ago that look like a sort of log cabin quilt block. Here it is:
It’s not actually crooked, too much, it just scanned in that way.
The second was inspired by a cute pattern for an adorable embroidery project I found on a new (to me) blog call The Sometimes Crafter. I LOVE the name of that blog because that totally describes me too! She had this cute pattern and instructions available for free and since I was playing with paper, I decided to trace them out onto my scrapbook papers and make it into a card instead. I like her tree better, and I might even go back and add some more paper to give mine a little more heft. But I think it came out cute anyway. By the way, I {heart} my Xyron Create-a-Sticker machine!
Thank you Christina Lane for this cute pattern!
So stop by and tell Christina a big thank you for her cute pattern! I think there is still time to stitch this up into a cute trick or treat bag! Too bad I don’t know anyone who will be trick or treating this year!
I’m sorry for my absence from this blog for awhile. I’ve been spending all my time updating the Crafty Girls Workshop blog. I also just haven’t had any time to do anything sewing related so there hasn’t been anything to report on here. Bummer, who would have thought that opening an online fabric/sewing/quilting store would actually give me less time to sew and quilt! Until next time, I hope you get to have a lot more time for crafting than I have.
Happy Spooky Stitches to You,
Anna
Saturday Morning Chores
“Yes, Cinderella, of course you can go to the ball (a.k.a.sew all day long) as long as you get all your chores done before hand” Next scene is the evil step sisters piling mounds and mounds of work onto Cinderella. Do you ever have a day that feels like that? I sort of feel like that this morning and I have to say, I’m a little bitter about it. Originally, when I woke up and after I cleaned out the right side of the sink so that I could wash the coffe pot and start some coffee, I didn’t feel so down. It was raining outside and I thought “Oh goody, I can just sew all day long if I want!” As if the rain magically gave me permission to just ignore my “chores” and sew. I even wrote a poem:
Rain rain, I hope you stay,
I really want to sew today.
If you stay I don’t have to mow,
rain rain, please don’t go.
How’s that for poetic? Well, my happy poem writing time has faded and now I have to do the rest of the dishes. I also feel the need to wash the laundry, fold the dry laundry, declutter the house, clean out the turtle tank, fold more laundry, vaccuum the floor, use the deep cleaning vaccuum to steam clean the carpets, and the list keeps going on from there. When am I going to find time to sew? Oh well, I guess I’ll just squeeze it in here and there. Sorry for the depressing post. This is just how I feel some Saturday mornings as my husband sleeps the day away. He’s a teacher, he’s tired!
Happy stitching to you,
Anna
P.S. I’ll post some pictures of my studio very soon for the studio post thingy from Cloth, Paper, Scissors.
Giveaway Update
I realized that I neglected to mention when I would be doing the drawing for the zippy pouch. I will draw the name tomorrow, September 30. I am sorry I didn’t set the date in the original post. So, there is still time to get the word out and get a few more entries! Thanks to all those who have entered so far, your feedback has been very helpful.
Happy Stitches,
Anna
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