HELLOmynameisHeather

Nicey Jane is Back!

I have exciting news to share! The beloved Nicey Jane collection has bee re-issued by Free Spirit Fabric in response to your begging and pleading. So, good work, everyone!

The re-issue includes twenty of the original fabrics and is available now by the yard, or in fat quarter stacks, design rolls, 10" charm packs and 5" charm packs—while supples last.

Please note that in addition to the re-issued collection, we also have a limited supply of ten Nicey Jane prints from the original release which we have been holding onto for dear life till now. These ten fabrics are stocked in the store and available while supplies last. That makes thirty Nicey Jane fabrics in total—as of today.

 

NEW Pattern! Prize Bloom Quilt

I have two new sewing patterns to announce this week, starting with the Prize Bloom Quilt. This three-dimensional floral design is a rewarding project. It gives you the opportunity to practice a variety of techniques (curved piecing, inset corners, appliqué), yet it is quick to sew. You complete one, large flower and a simple, pieced foundation, then put them together and you're done. Practically. There is quilting and binding as well, but those go quickly too.

The large, dahlia-like flower is gathered at the center and a round of three-dimensional petals is added. These details draw you into the design and add depth. The cover quilt is sewn entirely from my Up Parasol fabric collection. However, there are a number of sneak peeks of my upcoming Clementine collection all through the background of the image—hint, hint. 

Use your quilt as a wall-hanging, a small lap quilt, or as a baby blanket. (I use mine for church. Our building is ALWAYS freezing cold. During the week, it decorates our wall on a petite curtain rod.)

The pattern includes a full-color booklet of instructions, along with a cutable pattern sheet. This is our first pattern with full-color instructions. With the petal pieces in the quilt appearing similar in contour, I felt that color illustrations would be the best way to help everyone see which pieces are which. I'm thrilled with the results. 

I hope you are too.

Prize Bloom is shipping now. Ask for this new pattern at your local sewing shop. Or order a copy online today at HeatherBaileyStore.com. A full Materials List is posted on the product page.

Wednesday Quilt Inspiration

At the studio, we are busy prepping for the quilt industry's fall tradeshow. We have a few new patterns coming out, as well as new fabric collection. I cannot wait to share more! With quilts and soft goods on my mind, I am sharing some quilt inspiration today. 

This charming clamshell quilt was put together by Craftbuds.com for the True Colors blog hop a while back. I love how the simple, repeating design allows for playful eclecticism with the print combination. And the finished quilt looks great with rounded corners. Shown is a mix of Lottie Da and True Colors prints, along with three solid fabrics. Craftbuds' post lists some tips for assembling a clamshell quilt of your own, including links to an 8" shell pattern and a 12" shell pattern.

I've been quite sick for the last few weeks. Feeling much better today, the first thing on my list is to visit here for a hello. I have big plans for this fall, with lots to share, including new fabrics, patterns, tutorials and tips. Expect to hear from me more regularly.

Up Parasol

Up Parasol projects are starting to show up all over the web. I'm excited to share many of them with you with links out to their makers. Before doing so, let's have a closer look at this new collection which is available now at independent quilt shops and online at HeatherBaileyStore.com.

Up Parasol is centered around two prints from my previous Garden District home-decor collection—Cakewalk and Mockingbird. These two designs were repeatedly requested on quilting-weight cotton, so I heeded the pleading and pinned swatches of these two on my design board to let them seep into my subconscious. 

What was born of this pairing is the new Up Parasol collection. I added many all-new prints of various scales and themes, including an extremely useful pinwheel blender named Devon Check, a vintage-flavored mum print named Mum Toss, a modern little flower repeat that looks a bit like a tiny umbrella named Stella, a fresh and trendy lattice print named Trellis, an inviting Summer Plaid and another super-useful two-tone print named Lulu. Among these is my favorite new print which shows a wood-cut style bird with flowers on his wings alighting from a branch, Meadowlark.

I'm not sure if it's my favorite new print because of the finished look or because I had such a happy time creating this particular design. Again, of course, there's the mother-hen in me who believes it's just not right for me to pick any favorites. 

I do really love how these prints work together. They are cheerful and buoyant while also sophisticated and chic.

I had the pleasure of creating a couple of Up Parasol quilts for the industry trade show, Quilt Market. One quilt will be out soon as a new pattern—so I'll wait just a few more days to share the details of that design. And the other is a large crazy-quilt-style design where I mixed Up Parasol with my basics collection, True Colors, as well as a couple of hand-selected solid colors for punch. This freely-pieced quilt is shown in the photo above on the turquoise quilt rack.

Crazy-Quilt How-To

Each block was started with a five-sided semi-pentagonal shape that was free-style cut with a ruler, but without set dimensions or proportions. I then pieced wedge-like strips around this center piece the way you would with a log-cabin block, trimming excess fabric from each newly-attached strip to keep the edges straight and ready for the next strip to be added.

As each block became bigger, I used a 12.5" square ruler as a guide to keep my piecing on track. Once the whole stack of blocks were made and I had arranged them into a layout, I used the same ruler to trim all blocks to a tidy 12.5" square before piecing them together. 

 

If you can make sense of that, then you can make a crazy quilt too! Let me know if you have any questions about how to put it together and I will be sure to answer those here, or in a follow-up post. 

Meanwhile, visit your local quilt or sewing shop to get your hands on these delicious Up Parasol fabrics. Or visit HeatherBaileyStore.com if you don't have a sewing hub nearby. Remember to include some True Colors and Lottie Da fabrics for an expanded variety of compatible designs, perfect for your modern quilting and crafting projects.

Pick up a copy of my Blooming Borders embroidery pattern while your at it. There is a border print included that features the same two birds shown in the Up Parasol Mockingbird print. Just imagine pairing your beautiful embroidery work with coordinated fabric in your next project—yum. 

 

RELATED POSTS:

NEW Embroidery Patterns

Garden District

Introducing True Colors

 

Tuileries

We did it. We made it through the party grinder and survived to tell the tale. Nothing like a streak of over-abundance, coupled with a steady drip of sugar to make you crave a detox.

My back has been on the fritz for months and finally started to show improvement this weekend, so I went right out and re-enrolled at my favorite gym—the one with indoor and outdoor lap pools—as soon as Charlotte's party was over on Saturday. I can't wait to get moving. 

True, I run, and that's definitely a form of moving. But, I've been on a workout freeze the last few weeks while trying to heal. I'm going to try some less-jostly activities for a while and see what happens. I'll get back to running once my butt butts out and stops pulling my back out of place. Yes, this is what appears to be happening.

Enough about me and my back. How about this amazing quilt!?

Amy Gibson of Stitchery Dickory Dock put this Tuileries quilt together as part of the True Colors blog tour this January. She mixed True Colors with Lottie Da and wrote about her process here—with many more photos. Amy is an avid quilter, a mama to four kids, a teacher, and more. She teaches a Block of the Month class on Craftsy (it's free), so check that out while you read through her beautiful blog.

Pause. Wait. Go. Go Fast!

Are you in Utah? I will be at The Material Girls quilt shop in South Jordan THIS Wednesday from 6pm to 8pm. Stop by and let's meet.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I had such a quaint little weekend. I pieced a lap quilt, made cherry muffins, did the laundry, went to a movie. I even slept at night. Nothing nearly reflective of my high-energy obligations this week and next. (High-energy is code for compressed and quickly becoming stressful.) My True Colors fabric hadn't arrived yet for next week's Creative Bug shoot, so I made lemonade of the situation and relaxed. I meditated on this week's keynote and did some prep for next month's needs. And I completed an entire quilt top.

My quiet activities took place in a stir of remodeling. Isaac and Elijah shuffled furniture out of our family room to make way for wainscoting and new flooring. I have a number of great vintage pieces that will need reupholstering or rebuilding in some way, but we'll deal with the furniture and trimmings later. Certainly no sooner than November.

My True Colors fabric was delivered this afternoon. The race is now on. I leave for The Sewing Summit in Utah in two days and must resolve the Creative Bug project before I go, get my kids squared away, and keep a number of other projects moving forward.

Some of you have asked for an update on my upcoming embroidery patterns. They will be ready soon. A few of these other obligations pushed their way forward in line. The work is 98% complete on the embroidery patterns, so my hope is to complete them once we've wrapped up the Creative Bug shoot. If you follow me on Instagram, you'll know we're making progress on that despite my hectic schedule. We had planned to keep the embroidery patterns quiet till this Fall, but went ahead with previews earlier this year when my Lottie Da fabric collection was delayed for Spring Quilt Market. We had arranged a booth, but we weren't going to have fabrics. So, embroidery!

Okay. Time for me to go, go go.

If you missed the announcement at the top of this post, I will be at The Material Girls quilt shop in South Jordan, UT this Wednesday night from 6pm to 8pm. Come by for a hello. And see Lottie Da in person.

Getting Going on Sewing

It's a sewing week for me. For the last two years, I've spent most of my creative time at the drafting table and behind a computer, catching up on print and product design after having a baby. It's been great to get reacquainted with my sewing machine and start playing with these sunny new fabrics.

Angela Pingel of Cut to Pieces kindly offered to put together the quilt top for my upcoming free Lottie Da quilt pattern. She got right to it and had the top pieced in no time—which means the pattern will be ready soon—once the quilt is finished and photographed. Thank you, Angela!

With no corners to match up, the Lottie Da free quilt pattern is a perfect beginner quilt. I'll get into that more once the pattern is complete in the next couple of weeks.

For now, enjoy this sneaky peek courtesy of Angela. And stop by Cut to Pieces for Angela's post and a bigger peek at the quilt top.

And don't forget to enter the Lottie Da giveaway that closes Sunday night at 11:59pm PST (9-15-13) for a fat quarter stack of the entire collection—over a $100 value.

If you missed our Heather Bailey Store newsletter earlier this week announcing the Lottie Da collection... Enter promo code LOTTIEDA917 for a FREE full-size sewing pattern with any purchase of $50 or more through 9/17/13 11:59pm PST. Add your selected items to your cart to meet the order minimum, then add your selected pattern, followed by the promo code at checkout.

Happy Weekend!
xo—Heather

Introducing Lottie Da

Let's see some fabrics! My new collection, Lottie Da, started shipping this week. I'm over the moon. And I'm thrilled to share the line with you today.

With a playful, 60's-mod vibe, Lottie Da combines dancing pop florals with groovy go-withs—butterflies included. With strategic contrast planned into the collection (value, hue, scale, and so forth), Lottie Da is versatile and fun. Combine like-palette prints for a quiet, sophisticated look, or incorporate contrasting colors and values for greater pop. You can take this collection in so many different directions.

Tweaks to my production process allowed me to experiment with colors I haven't focused on in the past—violet, aqua and charcoal to be specific.

I started sewing with Lottie Da this week and I'm having a blast with this zingy palette. I designed a foundation-paper-pieced project I'll be sharing soon, along with a new free Lottie Da quilt pattern. I'll show you how the prints can be combined for different effects. I'll also post peeks at some original Lottie Da artwork and previews of projects to come.

To celebrate the launch of Lottie Da, let's have a giveaway—giveaways are the best. I have a lovely Lottie Da fat quarter stack for one lucky winner, including all thirty-two prints in the collection. Enter by Sunday, September 15th at 11:59pm PST by leaving a comment on this post. Make sure you enter your email address in the comment form so we have a way to contact the winner. One entry per household.

But! Don't wait for news on the giveaway before stocking up on Lottie Da. The first print-run of a Heather Bailey cotton collection tends to sell out quickly, so stock up fast and soon or risk having to wait a month or two for the next shipment.

To see the full line of prints, click here.

For first news on upcoming products, sales, freebies and more, make sure to sign up for the Heather Bailey newsletter.

Watch for those upcoming Lottie Da project posts. And, send in pretty pictures of your own Lottie Da projects. We love to see what you're making—and to show you off.

"Car. Beep-Beep."

It's Quilt Market season at the studio. We're in a bi-annual bustle to prep for the show. Today, I met with another local stitcher who will be helping out with samples. I'm skirting around that misleading 'sewer' word. I think we just need to come up with a new spelling. Same word, new spelling: sewwer, sewur, sew-er, sew-erer, sewurr, seweur (french-ish)...

What a fun afternoon. Fun I have no business having. Fun I have no business without.

I was up with the baby till 4am last night, nursing him through a 105º fever. I finally climbed into the tub and poured water over his back while he slept against my shoulder. It was so sweet. But, man am I tired!

It's 7pm now on Friday night and it feels like my day is just getting going. I don't think date night is gonna happen unless Isaac wants to help refine pattern covers, book flights, schedule meetings, or sew.

** I let the baby pick a photo and title this post for me. **

Quilt-Store Dreaming

Have you ever dreamed about being on the front lines of the sewing movement? Talk about jumping in with guns blazing. Fabric Nosherie, one of the coolest quilt stores around — is for sale.

If you have a hankering to live in the friendly midwest and you have what it takes to command and inspire a growing community of modern stitchers, have a closer look at this rare opportunity. Classes are in progress, fabric is on order, customers are bustling in. The business has grown beyond what Shannon can manage while also raising four very young boys. She's decided to auction the store so it can continue to grow while she re-focusses on her family.

For more background on the store and its founder, Shannon Robinson, click here. For details on the auction in progress—ending March 25th—click here.

Smatterday

I've had the best couple of days.  I got a ton done, which has made it more fun to have fun, if you know what I mean.  Of course, my list of to-dos is still longer than my leg, but such is life.

I purchased a little table at Goodwill two weeks ago, but forgot to go pick it up.  Today, I'm going to go see if it's still waiting for me -- and if there's any other junk I must have on half-price day.  Perhaps I'll put on some make up & have my kids lose the pajamas.  Perhaps not.  I love you, Saturday.

The blanket bling above is from Jamie of Sweet Baby Jamie.  To help me feather my booth at Quilt Market, Jamie made several Nicey Jane quilts from my sample yardage.  I'm amazed by her free-motion quilting skills.  I don't know how she does it so evenly, without getting stuck in a corner as she meanders.  Wow.

Jamie patiently kept these blankets under wraps till Nicey Jane's public debut last week. Now they are all available at her Etsy store. She has a design-your-own-Nicey-Jane-quilt listing too, and her pricing is a little ridiculous, if you ask me -- ridiculously low. 

Well, Happy Saturday.  Treat yourself to something fun -- a new scarf, a candybar, a random, weird find from the thrift store, some time to read, a quilt from Jamie.  I might hunt down a new pair of flip-flops.  My last pair broke yesterday and I'm not willing to switch to winter shoes.

Swoon

I'm off to Houston for Quilt Market.  The stars have aligned.  As such, I am thrilled to debut a new feature fabric collection, a palette of cotton solids and an assortment of delicious, laminated prints (my samples arrived at the studio just yesterday).  I also have several fun, new sewing patterns to share (Henrietta is one of six new patterns).

If you're heading to Market this weekend, stop on by booth #s 1957,59 for a hello -- and a first peek at my upcoming collection, Nicey Jane™.

Bring smelling salts.  These fabrics may cause fainting -- they're stinkin' gorgeous.

I like it a lot

My kids are the best appreciators.  Both of them.  They have their foibles, but they know how to appreciate a handmade present.  I like this.  I'm not sure how we got there, but I like it a lot.

My mom made a sweet little blanket for Chloe, with help from Chloe's big sister, Haley (8 years old).  Isn't it pretty?  Haley was so excited. 

So, as I was laying the blanket out to take a picture of it for them, in trotted Charlotte with a sprig of jasmine.  Her freshly-picked bouquet was quickly abandoned for the rapture of a soft new blanket. She climbed right up onto the table to demonstrate, wiggling, giggling & swooshing her hair about.

So adorable. 

When I sew, Charlotte hovers around eagerly waiting for the finish line when she can hop away with whatever-it-is, to her imaginary world.  Makes me crave sewing.  More sewing.  I could sew her a whole new world if I had the time.  And she'd love it all, whatever-it-is.  I love that about her!

Earlier this week Charlotte packed up my new handbag (still had a couple of pins in it) for the movie store.  She had been waiting & circling till it was off the machine.  And she had a plan.  She quickly filled it with all the necessities and we were off:  Ariel, Snow White, a sash from one of my shirts, sunglasses.  She was looking pretty hip too.  Comically hip.

Every teenager working there heard all about it, "This is the purse that my mom made.  I like it."   "My mom made this.  Look, here's my Ariel." "Look what mama made."  "See my purse?"

Elijah's the same way.  When I make him a new pair of pajamas, he grins and saunters about.  Maybe sauntering isn't exactly the right word, but he definitely swaggers or something.  And big hugs.  Very big hugs.  I'm thinking he could use some new pajamas here soon.

∆   ∆   ∆ 

So, Quilt Market is next week.  And it sounds like I might have some sample yardage coming in.  It was accidentally shipped to Heather Ross, but we've got it sorted out, I think.  If I can pull it off before Market, I'll put together a snappy preview for you.  Waiting for that box though.

And I'm looking forward to meeting so many of you this weekend at Blissful Living.  If you can't stop by on Saturday, definitely come by some other time.  And there's a well-loved mexican cafe along the same downtown corridor (Mangos) and a handful of fantastic antique shops. Make a day of it.

Outshined

Familiar, I know, but I thought Elijah's doll blanket deserved its own post.  He really sewed it by himself and saw it to completion, asking me every day to show him how to do the binding.  We were swamped with family in town there for a while and let's just say, he was impressively patient.  He really wanted to know how to do that binding.  He even learned how to do perfect little corners.  All of those pieces and details, and that long wait for binding directions, then he handed it over to me with ten minutes of hand-stitching to go (tacking the binding down) and said, "Here mom, you can finish it." 

Ha!  I'm mightily impressed that he made it that far.  Elijah, here's to your stick-to-it-ed-ness!  It's a rare ten-year- old boy who will put so much tender thought into a handmade gift for his little sister.  What a guy!

Oh, and I was looking back over the other doll blankets I made last Spring and saw this mention of Shear Genius.  I forgot to tell you guys that I had an elevator conversation with the winner of the show while I was in Vegas last month.  He consequently missed his floor and had to take an elevator back down.  Whoops. 

I have a lot of little asides like that that have backed up on me lately.  I think a catch-up post is in order.  Bits and bobs of random info -- before it grows stale.  Hmmm.

Domestic Therapy

Solved.  Out with the old blankie, in with the new! 

Last week was rough.  Long work days, big happenings.  Come Friday, it was due time to fill up my patient little children with love and attention -- and have a major break from work.  Charlotte and I left the house for the day and pretty much wandered around town, with nothing on our agenda but togetherness.  We had a good time.  The highlights -- Charlotte found herself a rubber ducky that lights up in water and I had a fascinating discussion about dreadlocks with the produce guy, Ronnie. Isaac took Elijah camping that night and I handled babysitting duty by myself -- cookies, popcorn, movie, songs, etc.

On Saturday, I still needed a break, so Charlotte and I headed out again.  This time we met up with my sister, Julia, at Goodwill and wandered once more.  I left with three books and a plastic toy couch. Random.

At home, when Charlotte was napping, I crossed paths with her blanket and "Perfect!" -- it was high time to finish Charlotte's Drag-Around Sue.  I completed the machine-quilting at nap time, spent the evening with Elijah, then attached the binding late at night.  Isaac and I took a chance on some obscure movie and I sat on the couch for the first time in months -quite literally- and stitched that binding down.  It was exactly the weekend I needed.  A bit of domestic therapy, including several rounds of reading, nestled up with my baby girl and her "fancy" new blanket.

I'm feeling a lot brighter today.  I've thoroughly enjoyed sorting through my photos of Charlotte with her new accessory.  What a happy reminder to check my priorities and count my blessings. 

Look at how delighted she is, from head to wiggling toes!  My kids are the best appreciators.

Drag-Around Sue

I'm whipping up a drag-around blanket for Charlotte.  She's getting pretty attached to a thread-bare quilt I made in high school and I can't have that, can I?  Not with a bunch of Freshcut in my shelves.

I'm not doing anything elaborate.  Just a big piece of this fabric, with a couple of borders around the edge.  The goal is soft.  Soft, soft.  So, the fewer seams the better and it must be tied or loosely quilted.  Otherwise, I'll never get her to make the switch.  I'll do a trickier, pieced quilt next, but for now I'm all about replacing that other blanket.  If I can happily toss this one in the washing machine when needed, with no guilt, then it's just right.  It does have a fun bias ruffle for a border though.  You'll see.  It keeps the blanket from looking too much like the cheater quilt that it is.  Oops, did I say that?  Cheater quilts are great.  And crazy-big prints make cheater quilts easy.

So, then Elijah caught on and decided to make Charlotte a doll blanket as his first attempt at the sewing machine.  His design.  His stitching.  No quicky, drag-around blanket like mom's either.  This one would have a tricky, pieced border.  And, wow, he did a pretty amazing job of it.  I only babysat that first row of stitching and all of the cutting.  He kept his seam allowances in check and hung in there until the top was pieced.  It looks like he's ready to expand beyond hand-stitching.  Lego skills come in handy.

One Apple Down

Guess what today is -- my blogiversary.  Yay!  And no standard cupcake photo will do.  Why not an apple?  That makes sense.  A party apple.  Sure. 

Now just watch me make sense of it with this next photo.  See that bitten apple? -- one year down.  And those other apples ?-- more years to come.  Now that sounds poetic.  Nevermind I took the party apple photo today and the quilt photo months ago.  I got the urge to carve a "1" in an apple and I went with it.

Do you remember when I sent this quilt top off to be quilted?  Here's the result.  One tease fulfilled, how many more to go? 

I designed this quilt as my first go at the Freshcut free quilt pattern for Free Spirit's site.  I love the large fields of fabric, with little pops of red mixed in.  I didn't think a photo of this quilt would translate too well at low res on the internet, so I folded it up and designed a different one for Free Spirit.  Thank heaven too, because the flat photo of the quilt (below) doesn't do it justice.  The colors are all wonky.  This apple photo is much more kind to the fabrics.

Oh, and look up.  Way up.  I'm watching you now.  Dare I be so bold as to put my own face in the banner?  How many ways can one say, "HELLO, my name is Heather," with a photo?  Well, that's one sure way to say it.  Hello, it's me.

Now for the requisite profundity that accompanies all blogiversaries... just a dash...

Wow, what fun!  The blog.  A conversation with the world.  A great escape.  A meeting place for destined friends.  A window in...

I have yet to hang curtains in the main living area of my home.  There are no blinds there either.  Almost every time my mother visits, she wonders at my ability to live with "the world watching."  I assure her that if my neighbors are bored enough to watch me make dinner, then I'm happy to be their entertainment.  I guess a blog can be similar.  I show up fully-dressed and respectably-behaved and if folks want to see what I'm up to, then I'm happy to share.

Far better, I've made some amazing friends and been granted some incredible opportunities.  It's true, you never know who's reading. 

To all of you, announced or lurking, thank you for stopping by.  Thank you for your encouragement and support.  Thank you for peeking in my little window while I make marshmallows, knot thread and blow bubbles.  Even the simplest things are more fun when shared with friends -- this includes carved apples.

xo--Heather

Give Away the Pattern Instead, Right?

Ay, ay, ay.  What a week!  What...a...week.  I just wrapped up a big ol' beautiful photoshoot with an amazing magazine around 10pm tonight, not including time to unpack a-dozen-or-so tupperwares filled with goodies and supplies. 

Unpacking will have to wait though (sorry, honey), as it's time for me to go pack my suitcase for Spring Market.  My flight leaves in a just a few hours.  What am I doing blogging at the expense of much-needed sleep?  Good question. I'll think about that tomorrow.

I'm looking forward to sitting still on a plane.  And I'm sneaking off to the Theatre on Saturday.  Thoroughly Modern Millie.  Yep.  I'll get to sit still for that too.

While I'm gone, have at this free quilt pattern (follow link, then click "Download" under the quilt photo).  I should have posted about it a while ago.  It's the one I put together for Free Spirit.  I had fun laying out the instructions.  Heck, I had fun making the quilt. 

I'd like to make a big version too.  To keep.  Most of the quilts in my arsenal are ancient.  And not good-ancient.  More like high-school-ancient.  I have a bad habit of giving new quilts away.  Do they make a patch for that? 

Ms. Mimi's Roses

One more doll blanket and then we'll have ourselves a breather.  Mimi told me her favorite colors were red and yellow and green and white.   

I'm still sewing.  I stayed up way too late last night watching that new Shear Genius show while I did some hand- stitching on a fun little green and orange shirt. Now I'm too tired to decide what to do with myself.  I have four projects in the works that are each 90% finished.  I won't let myself start a new one until one of those is done, but I'm not in the groove. 

I think I'll go take a early evening shower and try to wake up.  Maybe I'll do my hair and try to feel civilized.  That usually does the trick.

Ms. Katie's Butterfly

Blue bear isn't very scary.  He dreams of blue-eyed butterflies. 

I'm finally fitting in some sew time with my fabric.  I'm prepping for a big magazine shoot in two weeks and am whipping up all sorts of fun:  dollies and kids' clothes, purses and tablecloths. Jona and my mom are helping me out big time.  And, Isaac set up a flat-panel TV in my studio to keep me company.

So, back to Moulin Rouge and thread-covered jeans for me.  I'll be back next post with one more doll quilt.

Tweet Dreams

Looking at that photo of Charlotte playing with her kitty doll (in my last post) reminded me of the treasure trove of Freshcut projects I haven't shown you yet.  Last October, when my sample fabric came in, I went into a creative frenzy and made up all kinds of fun projects to photograph for an inspiration book.  I kept the photos aside for a bit, hoping to put together an amazing website with all-new photography.  But, seeing as it's been nearly six whole months and my website is still on the backburner, why wait any longer? 

So, here's the quick little kitty who dreams of birdies - orange ones. This ruffled blankie is pre-doll-quilt-craze of '07.  The weekend I made this, I was miserably sick with Strep and could barely move.  The design of the quilt (being mainly applique) was majorly determined by my need to remain on the couch and my inability to pull myself up to the sewing machine.  The birdies hearken back to the ones I began to stitch on this blanket, but haven't shown you yet either (they don't have eyes yet).  Terrible, I know.  I confess all.

But there's hope.  I made up two more doll quilts last weekend at the impassioned request of my good friend's daughters.  I needed a break and doll blankies did the trick.  My point?  I figured I better show the original birdie blankie before posting its derivatives.  Isn't it tweet?  (Love those orange roses on the bed too.)

More blankies to come.

Garden Report

Ok, folks, here's the state of my Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt-top after last weekend's hexagonal fixation.  I made the flowers about three years ago on a trip we took to Jamaica to photograph a wedding. (Know anyone getting married in an exotic location?  We could use more trips like that.)

My many-hours' devotion this week have only produced the limited green border of which you see about half.  Tedious.  But, you know, tedious projects are perfect for grab-n-go vacation entertainment.

At the rate we're going, it looks like it may be a few more years before the next vacation, so don't expect much progress on this little blanket for a while to come.  My goal is to have it done by the time granddaughter #1 makes an appearance - in what, twenty years or so?  Oh my, is that why it's called a Grandmother's Flower Garden?  Is it impossible to finish one of these buggers before then?

Come to think of it, maybe a nice pillow will do.

Bind Away!

It's Tute time again.  I've put together a printable one-sheet on how to bind a quilt with continuous binding.  Please don't give your next quilt hokey corners, like I used to, just for fear of trying something new.  When my mom first offered to show me this technique, I completely blew her off.  It wasn't until I saw the glorious mitered corners that resulted that I got on board.  I've never looked back.

You can cut quilt-binding strips with the grain of the fabric or on the bias.  Bias-cut bindings are most-enduring if your quilt is to be used and laundered frequently.  And, a bias binding is necessary for quilts or projects with irregularly-shaped edges (scallops, rounded corners, etc.).  There's a neat trick for prepping bias binding, where you sew your fabric into a tube before cutting it into binding-strips.  This technique is not in my instructions, but here are some links to walk you through it:  here, here, and here. 

Instead, I show you how to attach a binding along the edge of your quilt in such a way that you can achieve glamorous corners too.  Remember - no fear!  And, feel free to print yourself a copy to keep handy for your next quilting adventure.

For the Continuous Quilt-Binding Tutorial, click click here.  Or follow the "Bind a Quilt" link in my sidebar.