Traveling Stash Giveaway

Would you like a chance to win the coveted traveling stash? :)

I was lucky enough to win the lastest giveaway of the stash from Jennifer at Knotted-Thread and now it's my turn to offer it to another blogger! Here's how it works:

1. Must be an active blogger and a U.S. resident (to help keep the shipping costs low) Apologies to my international friends!

2. Leave me a comment here about your favorite Springtime/ Easter tradition or something you are looking forward to this season.

3. Make sure there is a way for me to contact you. 

The giveaway will be open until Wednesday, April 4 at 12 midnight EST. Good luck!

WIP Wednesday: Finished Rainbow Pop Quilt Top

Part of the 1st Quarter FAL. My original post is here.

Boy am I glad this quilt top is finished! I have been working pretty hard for the past few days to get my bow-tie blocks top together in time to enter Rachel's Festival of Scrappiness. I am now officially calling this quilt Rainbow Pop and I am sure you can see why.  

  

With 100- 6.5 inch blocks altogether, I guess I underestimated how much time I would need to make the last 70 or so blocks and sew them into a completed top. I even didn't leave myself much time to photograph this baby, so yesterday right after my husband got home from work, I was pulling him out the door again to go take pictures in the rain before all the light was gone. He's such a good sport!

I promise to get some better images once the quilt it finished and really capture the full awesomeness of the rainbow explosion! And yes I do think explosion is the right word for this quilt. Thankfully my love for over the top color, using scraps, and these cute little bow-tie blocks gives this almost-finish a special place in my heart. ;)

Quilt Top Stats

Name: Rainbow Pop

Pattern: Quick and Easy Bow-tie Blocks Tutorial by Allison of Cluck Cluck Sew

Size: 60" x 60" 

Fabric: Various solids and printed scraps

New Projects
-None

Ongoing Projects
- Craftsy BOM

Completed Tops Awaiting Quilting
- Just Wing It (Embroidery 101)
- Parterre Jardin (Prince Charming) Quilt
- Made in Cherry (Echo) quilt
- Bow-tie Blocks Quilt

No Progress
- Daybreak Knit Shawl
- Honey Cowl
- AMH HSTs quilt
- Embroidery projects

This Week's Stats
Completed projects - 1
New projects - 0
Currently in progress - 9

    

Super Tag!

Over the past two weeks I have been tagged a few times in a giant game of 11 questions tag that has been making it's way through the playground world of creative blogging lately. It's kind of fun to read the responses of my blogging friends and learn more about them; so I have decided to take on the challenge, become "it", and answer a few questions. I won't answer all 33 questions (I think that might put you to sleep and I'm not sure I have that much to tell about myself!), but I will answer some of my favorites from the lists put together by Sunni, Toni, and Katie. Here is everything you never knew you wanted to know about me! ;)

Beveridge Place Pub, West Seattle

Questions from Sunni:
1.) What is your adult beverage of choice and how often do you indulge? This is tough one since I really enjoy adult beverages (one of the few perks of growing up I say!). I think I could narrow it down to espresso and craft beer (yes I am a beer snob) ;). I probably have a coffee and a beer two to three times a week.
2.) If you were forced to give up 1 aspect of quilting, what would it be? I would probably give up the actual quilting and send out my finished tops! But really I shouldn't say that because I do need to practice this skill more since I am pretty new to quilting. 
3.) Admit it. You love TV. How many hours do you have it on in the background a day? I actually don't have cable. We have netflix and will watch TV shows on my laptop frequently, but that is usually sitting down to watch a show or two. I often have podcasts on in the background while sewing though. I like Freakonomics and NPR Science Friday the best in addition to some of my favorite quilt related podcasts.

Bon Iver / Bon Iver LP / Released in 2011

4.) Favorite genre of music? I have pretty varied tastes generally. Right now I have been listening a lot to the new Bon Iver album. I also really like 60's and 70's rock (like the Beatles and the Stones) and 80's post-punk music (like The Cure). I also like some alt country. 
5.) Make-up you can't live without. I love makeup! If I had to pair it down to only one item--no let's make it two--it would be mascara and concealer, but that would be no fun! Can I have some eyeshadow too?

From our last major trip (Kerala, India / 2007)

Questions from Toni:

1. What is your dream vacation, and would you take anyone with you? I love to travel around the world and explore outdoors, so I would either want to visit Hawaii (Molokai especially) or Australia (from the big cities on the east coast to the the interior deserts). I would bring my husband of course. :)
2. What was your first car? A manual transmission Nissan Sentra. I loved that car!
3. How did you meet your current partner/ love interest? I met my husband while we were both undergrads in college. We actually met in an elevator (this is part of a much longer story), but became friends through having classes together. Ten years later, we are still together and having fun. :)
4. Besides quilting, do you have any other hobbies? Oh yeah! I like to do lots of other creative stitchy things like embroidery, knitting, and crochet. I am also never without a sketchbook either. I am pretty outdoorsy too and enjoy hiking and snowshoeing. My husband and I like to brew beer together (his main passion) and sometimes make cheese. I have a hard time sitting still for too long!
5. How close do you live to the place you grew up? I live about 1,250 miles (2,012 km) from where I grew up. I have lived on both coasts of the U.S. now, but far prefer where we live now on the West Coast. I would love to have the chance at some point in my life to live abroad too.

Medicine Bow National Forest (in the early summer)

Questions from Katie:
1. Are you a morning or a night person? Definitely night.
2. If I were to visit your hometown, where would we go? I grew up in a small city in the Rocky Mountains, so the main attraction would actually be outside of the city limits exploring nature, perhaps going on a hike through some high desert or alpine terrain. I'll bring a thermos of coffee or tea and you bring a pair of hiking boots and your camera. :) 
3. Did you play any sports growing up? Yup, I played lots of different kinds of sports as a kid, but once I got to high school I focused on track & field. I was actually recruited to play in college, but I decided not to so that I could be more involved in my coursework. Once in college, I got into Yoga and Karate which I enjoyed a lot. I am always thinking I need to get back into doing yoga more regularly. 
4. If you didn't make quilts, how would you use your creativity? I would find probably a million different ways! I think that I might actually focus on making prints and drawing more, perhaps even painting (although I really don't have the space to do that now). 
5. What's your favorite color and why? My favorite color is orange. I already told Toni this, but I think I like it so much because when I was growing up everything I had was blue or cool-toned. As a child of the 80's, I loved me some bright colors :), but according to my personal coloring, I was always told to wear "Winter" colors (Oh I bet you remember this!) even though I felt much more like an "Autumn". Now I just wear what I like and say to hell with that color coding rubbish! It's kind of silly really.

My Favorite Scarf with Orange Voile Lining. :)

So now that you have the skinny on me, would you like to answer a question or two so that I can get to know you better as well? :) If you would, just leave me a comment here letting me know the answer to your favorite question(s) or leave a track-back to your own post. You can also feel free to let me know something about yourself that isn't on this list (like if you're a cat or dog person, or what you think about clowns for instance). Feel free to be as creative as you like. I am pretty excited to see what you'll share!

Washi Niji / Blogger Bundle Mosaic

I decided to have a bit of fabric fun myself and put together this collection of beauties for Katy and Brenda's Blogger Bundle contest for Pink Castle Fabrics. I have been pining for the central print from the Washi collection for a while now, so I used it as my main inspiration to pull together this rainbow of beautiful fabrics. Niji actually means rainbow in Japanese so I thought it would be a fitting name for this colorful bundle. 

Washi Tape in Cream

Timeless Treasures Basics Sketch in Lipstick

Woodlands Dream in Pink

It's a Hoot Egg Dot in Pink

Outfoxed Pearl Bracelet in Light Orange

Charlevoix Awning Stripe in Rose

Outfoxed Leaf Stripe in Orange

Fly a Kite Floral in Orange

Modern Workshop Roundabout Dots in Orange Fizz
Pezzy Prints Mono Pez in Yellow
Modern Meadow Nap Sack in Sunglow

Timeless Treasures Basics Sketch in Yellow

In the past, I have tended to select certain collections that I love and make projects using mostly those prints together with a few solids or basics thrown in.  I have enjoyed capturing the story that I imagine the fabric designer has created for the collection in those projects, but the more I make these kind of bundles, the more excited I feel about putting together my own fabric palettes. So I have a question for you. :) How do you pull fabrics for projects? Do pre-selected bundles tend to be your favorite or do you prefer to mix and match on your own? Does choosing from online stores impact your decision at all? 

Farmer's Wife in Your Life / Quilted Storage Box

Welcome to another installment of the Farmer's Wife in Your Life Blog Hop! I am so thrilled that Sunni invited me to join in. Today I am sharing with you a fun project I recently made that can simultaneously help you to get organized while allowing you to try out a farmer's wife block or two. What is this miracle project you ask? Why a box. ;) A soft, quilted storage box that is large enough to hold either a stack of fat quarters or a ton of fabric scraps, your choice. I plan to make quite a few more of these to use all around my sewing space to help keep my fabric odds and ends together in one place.

For my project, I used the Stack & Nest Quilted Block pattern by Elizabeth Hartman, available on the Sew Mama Sew blog as a free PDF download. The instructions for this pattern were clear and very easy to follow along with. Through the magic of multiple layers of interfacing and some pretty cool construction techniques, this box sews up nicely and has a soft yet sturdy feel to it. I also had no difficulties getting any of the seams to go through my machine, which can be a typical issue when making more structured sewn projects. The most difficult aspect of making this storage box--which really wasn't difficult, just more time consuming--was ironing all of the pieces of fusible interfacing into place.

   

The great thing about this project is that you can really make it completely customizable depending on how much piecing you would like to do and which kinds of blocks you would like to make. You can use between one to five of the farmer's wife blocks, use some alternatively pieced blocks, or even  use whole pieces of fabric instead to make the exterior sides. I ended up using one farmer's wife block for the front and four simply pieced blocks for the other exterior sides.

 

For my project, I did make a few modifications to the original pattern. I sized my box up to make it slightly larger (8"x 8") and added one inch sashing all around the outside of the 6.5" farmer's wife block to ensure that the design would not be clipped while sewing the box together. 

I am really happy with the finished size of the project. It is large enough to hold quite a few small cuts of fabric while still being small enough to store on the shelving in my sewing space. The best part is that I now have something pretty and functional that showcases some of my favorite fabrics, both inside and out!

The Farmer's Wife in Your Life series continues this week with more fun and innovative project ideas. 

Blog Hop Week 3
March 19-Love Affair with my Brother
March 20-Echinops & Aster
March 21-Life's Rich Pattern
March 22-Ellison Lane Quilts
March 23-Love Affair with my Brother

Don't forget that next week, March 24-31, the Linky Party will be open. Make sure to submit your finished projects inspired by The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt blocks for a chance to win these great prizes!

The Intrepid Thread is sponsoring a FQ bundle of the amazing Cosmos by Dan Bennett for Rowan.

Fat Quarter Shop is sponsoring a FQ Bundle of gorgeous Poetica by Pat Bravo for Art Gallery Fabrics.

WIP Wednesday: Hello Spring!

This was a busy week for me as I have been working to finish a couple tutorial projects and not really working a ton on my regular WIP list. Last week I gave you a sneak preview of the "secret" project I have been working on for the Intrepid Thread newsletter. I am happy to say that the project and the tutorial are finished!

The Hello Spring! Cushion pattern should be available soon (probably within the week) through the March newsletter, so sign up and keep an eye on your mailbox if you would like to check it out. :) And thanks to Julie for sending me this gorgeous Hello Pilgrim fabric to play with! She has the collection in the shop now (on her awesome new website too!) if you are interested in picking some up.

Over the weekend I also had the chance to travel to Spokane, WA to hear Anna Maria Horner speak and it was fabulous! She is just as sweet and funny in person as she is on her blog. She presented a ton of information about how she became a textile designer, how she tends to work on new collections, and even what we can expect to see this summer when her next collection, Field Study, arrives. She showed us all of the prints from the collection and I have to say it's going to be very eclectic and fresh. There is a sneak peek of it on her blog here and here. 

New Projects

-None

Ongoing Projects

- Craftsy BOM
- Bow-tie Blocks Quilt
- Quilt Story BOM
- Embroidery projects
- Farmer's Wife project

Completed Tops Awaiting Quilting

- Just Wing It (Embroidery 101)

- Parterre Jardin (Prince Charming) Quilt
- Made in Cherry (Echo) quilt 

No Progress

- Daybreak Knit Shawl

- Honey Cowl
- AMH HSTs quilt 

This Week's Stats

Completed projects - 1

New projects - 0

Currently in progress - 11

Auf Wiedersehen to Pinterest (for now)

After a lot of personal debate, I have decided to follow suit with some fellow bloggers and remove the bulk of my Pinterest pins. This difficult decision came after reading a number of blog posts and articles over the past month or so that have explained more about the legal ramifications of the U.S. copyright law and the terms of use statement that Pinterest currently has in place. To make a long story short, pinning content that you do not have direct permission from the originator to pin can be a violation of copyright law, and right now as the user statement is written for Pinterest, the pinner is 100% legally liable for both them self and Pinterest if any suit is brought forward for breaking that copyright. That amounts to a lot of legal liability. So in interest of keeping safe and protecting the legal copyright of those I have pinned, I have decided to remove the boards and pins on my account that might be an issue and will only be pinning images in the future that I have direct permission to pin. 

I do however really appreciate it when my content is appropriately pinned and will continue to support those who would like to add my correctly labeled and linked-back images to their boards. My little "Pin it" button will stay on each blog post, all that I ask is that folks continue to follow these simple guidelines when pinning my images: 

1. Always provide a link back to the specific post containing the image on my blog or website (rather than the entire blog address). This allows you and others to actually be able to track down the content that accompanies the image at a later date.
2. Credit your pin appropriately, including my name and/or the name of my blog in your label.
3. Please let me know if you do pin an image by leaving me a quick comment. I'd love to see which images you like the best!

Thanks for your understanding and for your support!

WIP Wednesday: Coming Attractions

It seems like most everything I've been working on lately is something that I can't share with you guys just yet, so I thought that I might do some sneak previews of a few projects that I have been stitching on over the past week.  I have had the good fortune of being asked recently to design a few projects and tutorials for some upcoming series, including a project for the Farmer's Wife in Your Life Series going on now. I have also been working on some new embroidery patterns that are still in progress, so things have been busy behind the scenes. 

First up is my Farmer's Wife in Your Life project preview with some lovely Park Slope (remember this line!) by Erin McMorris. This will be three dimensional when all is said and done.



Next is a preview of what I am working on for the Intrepid Thread newsletter this month. This is Hello Pilgrim by Lizzy House. Each month, Julie features projects made by a handful of great designers, so sign up for the newsletter here if you would like a free pdf copy of this project plus many others!

I also had some time this week to break out my bow-tie blocks and sew the ones I have finished together. I am planning on making about 3 times more blocks to get a nice throw size quilt top. I love using up my scraps!



And finally, this sweet little guy was designed and stitched up this past week. I don't have a name for him yet, but he sure is cute. :)

New Projects

- Farmer's Wife project
- Intrepid Thread newsletter project
- Embroidery projects
- Quilt Story BOM

Ongoing Projects

- Craftsy BOM
- Bow-tie Blocks Quilt

Completed Tops Awaiting Quilting

- Just Wing It (Embroidery 101)

- Parterre Jardin (Prince Charming) Quilt
- Made in Cherry (Echo) quilt 

No Progress

- Daybreak Knit Shawl

- Honey Cowl
- AMH HSTs quilt 

This Week's Stats

Completed projects - 0

New projects - 4

Currently in progress - 12

Paper Airplanes! / Free Embroidery Pattern

Since the weather in my neck of the woods has been exceptionally dreary and rainy lately, I thought it would be the perfect time to share a light-hearted project that I made a little while back with a easy embroidery pattern that is pure fun. While you may be stuck inside like me, waiting for the late winter weather to improve (is that sunshine I see? perhaps some tulips sprouting?), it doesn't mean you can't make something fun and cheery to brighten your day. It's just like when you were a kid, and all that you had to entertain yourself on a rainy day (or blizzardy as was the case where I grew up!) was your imagination and maybe a few pieces of paper, or fabric in this case. ;)

Click on the image above (or click here) to download a free pdf copy of the Paper Airplanes! embroidery pattern. 

     

I stitched my project up very simply and quickly in a trio of bright, cheery colors using only a backstitch for the plane and a running stitch for the curly contrails. To add an unexpected and even more playful twist to the project, I decided to embroider on a piece of pant leg from an old pair that had belonged to my husband, purchased and worn while we were in India several years ago. Since the fabric reminds me of a fun adventure we took (not to mention to a warmer, sunnier climate!), I thought it would be perfect to remake a piece of that cloth into a fun zipper pouch that is just the right size to house a project's worth of embroidery supplies. I completed my pouch with a beautiful paisley print lining that really reminds me of warmer, tropical days.

If you enjoy this pattern or make anything using it, make sure to send me a paper airplane (or comment, or e-mail) letting me know how you liked it. :) You can also always add a photo of your finished project to the Echinops & Aster Flickr group.

Sew like a Farmer's Wife

I am sure many of you have seen examples of the awesome projects inspired by the book, The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt. To make the complete sampler quilt is like making a quilting pilgrimage of sorts, as one works diligently to finish 111 unique, traditional blocks. Completing one of these quilts makes for a truly spectacular finish, but also requires extreme dedication, like marathon runner dedication!

So when Sunni recently asked me if I wanted to participate in a new series that aimed to highlight and share some smaller projects designed around the wonderful blocks from the book I was totally on board!

<center><a href="http://www.loveaffairwithmybrother.com/search/label/farmer%27s%20wife%20in%20your%20life" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="Farmer's Wife in Your Life" src="http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x240/redredreeves/farmerswifebutton1-1.png" width="150"/></a></center>

Farmer's Wife in Your Life is a series inspired by The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt by Laurie Aaron Hird. The series will focus on using 6" quilt blocks in everyday sewing projects. 
It starts with a preview post on Jolly Jabber on March 4th! 
Here's the schedule.

Inspiration and Tutorials from Designers

Blog Hop

Week 1

March 4-Sunni is guest-posting on Jolly Jabber

March 5-Love Affair with my Brother

March 6-Craizee Corners

March 7-Lilypad Quilting

March 8-Love Affair with my Brother

March 9-Clover & Violet

Week 2

March 12-Mommy for Reals

March 13-A Colorful Life

March 14-It's Sew Kiki

March 15-Lilypad Quilting

March 16-Why Not Sew? Quilts

Week 3

March 19-Love Affair with my Brother

March 20-Echinops & Aster

March 21-Life's Rich Pattern

March 22-Ellison Lane Quilts

March 23-Love Affair with my Brother

Linky Party

Linky Party will be open from March 24-31 with 2 winners announced the next week. You can link up any project that is inspired by The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt and uses between 1-9  6" finished quilt blocks. The blocks do not have to come from the book. 
Please link up a blog post or Flickr photo for your entry.

Judges

Laurie Aaron Hird, author of The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt 

Michele Foster, Quilting Gallery

Sunni Bolger, Love Affair with my Brother

Prizes

The Intrepid Thread is sponsoring a FQ bundle of the amazing Cosmos by Dan Bennett for Rowan.

Fat Quarter Shop is sponsoring a FQ Bundle of gorgeous Poetica by Pat Bravo for Art Gallery Fabrics.


So please, come join us in some Farmer's Wife fun! I have had a blast so far making up my Farmer's Wife project (no peeks!) and I cant wait to see what you will come up with!

Liebster Award

I had the honor of being awarded the Liebster Blog Award this past week by the lovely Katie! If I could, I would totally turn around and bestow the award back on her since I absolutely enjoy following along with her posts and projects too! She is one talented lady!

Here are the details of the award for those less familiar:

The Liebster award (German for favorite) is for bloggers with 200 followers or less. As a recipient of the award, you have the chance to thank and link back to the blogger who gave it to you as well as pass it along to five other deserving blogs.

I now have the privilege of selecting five small blogs in return that I think deserve this award. Here are some of my favorite small blogs that I adore reading (in alphabetical order). A couple are also brand new blogs, so make sure to stop by and say welcome! :) 

     

Heather at Crafting...

Erica at Kitchen Table Quilting

     

Chelsea at Pins & Bobbins

      

Anna at Six White Horses

      

Sydney at Syd The Wyd