Fabric finds

I totally forgot to show you my Sample Spree scores from my recent Quilt market trip. Sample spree is an event where some of the fabric manufacturers and vendors at quilt market get a chance to sell some of their goods at wholesale prices for shops to purchase for sample making and such.  Some of the tables have swarms of people around them until they just sell out.

Region 4 Quilt Con Charity Quilt blocks

Hi sewing friends! This weekend I finished up some quilt blocks that I made for the MQG Quilt Con Charity Quilt Challenge. 

Just For You: Painter's Clutch and Venna Tote

Thanks for joining me today!  I'm so excited to show you my projects in our new book Just For You. But before I get to that I want to give you a little more info on what inspired this book and what Caroline and I  hope you'll do with it.

Upcoming "Just For You" Events!!

Hi everyone. Happy Monday! I just wanted to pop in and tell you about our Just For You blog hop that we're kicking off today. Our new book, Just For You: Selfish Sewing with Your Favorite SewCanShe Bloggers, started shipping last week and to celebrate it's release we are having a month long blog hop featuring all our contributors, where you'll get a chance to get a sneak peek of the projects and lots of chances to win your very own book.  Caroline is starting it all off on the SewCanShe blog so hop on over for all the fun details.

Tomorrow is my day to share so be sure come back and see my Painter's Clutch up close!





Oh and for all you local Brevard County Sewists we are having a couple of Project show off and Book Signing events this month.  The first one is tonight at the Eau Gallie Public Library.

And November 14th we're throwing a Sewing Soiree at Sew Central in Merritt Island. COME!

Quilt Market Recap

I attended International Quilt Market this past weekend. It was so much fun.

 I went with Caroline to help promote our new book.  We were able to do a Schoolhouse presentation and show off all the projects in a fun fashion show.

We recruited a bunch of friends and attendees to help us out. I wish I had some pictures of everyone walking the runway.

We also got to give away some books and sign them.  It was really fun to talk to people and hear how they were excited to use our book.  Thanks for snapping this pic Girl Charlee.

We also taught a little Make and Take based on a simplified version of the Foxy Cell Phone Cozy in the book.  I know you are getting excited to see all the projects in the book. Just so you know we are having a month long blog hop full of sneak peeks starting on Monday so stay tuned and I'll get you the details.

While I wasn't "working" at quilt Market I was able to walk around and see all of the wonderful displays and eye candy. I took pictures of my favorites and since I know my mom and sister at least are dying to see them here is my photo dump. :) I'll do my best to label them but no time for links today so if you like what you see google it!

Look at this fun display of lusciously draped Joel Dewberry Rayons. They feel just like butter.

 Heather Bailey's pretty booth with her AMAZING new owls.

Anna Maria Horner's Honor Roll love.

And she is reprinting a combination of her Little Folks and Good Folks lines all in quilting cotton!

Kaffe Faucett. I love the bookcases quilt!

A fascinating quilt by Denise Schmidt. and that dress is amazing.

I love Carolyn Freidlander's modern style. And that couch! Look, even the back of the cushions are quilted.

Cool tents at the Alexander Henry booth

David Butler's fabric. Hooray for fabric that is a little more manly.

I loved this quilting detail on the bags at Amy Butler's booth. She has the best ribbons too.

Tula Pink love

The sweet set up of my roomie, Jennifer Heynen. I didn't get a very good picture so I stole this one from her. She makes the cutest stuff.

I got to meet up with Maureen Cracknell and see how her booth came together. Can  you spy my bags?

She won best new exhibitor. Woohoo!

Kristina Rocella's booth

It was fun to meet up with Sara from Sew Sweetness. She has amazing bag patterns and always has cool Quilt Market outfits.

Bonnie Christine's Hello bear collection.  Did you know her little boy is named Bear?

The Charley Harper booth.

I'm such a sucker for these bold prints. Here's a little fox footstool.

Sample spree was wild as usual with the Cotton and Steel table being the craziest that I went to. Here they are with a table almost bare 30 minutes into it.  I'll save my fabric finds for another post.

Perhaps the most fun about quilt market is seeing people you only know online. The best surprize was when I walked onto the floor that first day and ran into my first blogging friend Nikki from the Girl Who Quilts, I had no idea she'd be there, but it was so fun to meet her in real life. She is a long arm quilter and was there helping her friend in her booth.

I got to room with Heather from Girly Charlee (left) and meet up with Stephanie from the Modern Sewciety podcast (Right)

There was more, so much more, including a whole quilt display with 100's of beautiful quilts. I really had so much fun and am so grateful for the opportunity to go.

Wild and Free Clutches

Hi everyone...I survived quilt market!! Woohoo! Quilt market at 7 mo. pregnant is not quite the same as it was last year. I came home and took a five hour nap yesterday and hit the ground running today. Look for a full Quilt Market post tomorrow, but today I wanted to quickly show a couple more of the items that I made for Maureen Cracknell's Quilt Market booth.

I had a couple of trial panels laying around from the Garden Tiles bag I made for her so I thought I stitch them up into a pair of cute clutches.

They have recessed zippers in the top. I experimented with a couple different ways of inserting the zipper, but sadly didn't get a shot of them.  

I also added a little ring to the side and tassles made from the left over knit fabric. I love this little detail. It gives you a little something to hold onto.

So there you have it. It is fun to be able to experiment and play with such pretty fabric. 

Thanks Maureen!

Meredith's Dress Mash Up

Mer has been dreaming up dresses lately. We decided that if we were going to get good at making dresses we like we better start practicing. She designs them and I sew them up.  Someday I hope she'll have a little more interest in sewing but for now it's fun to try to recreate her visions. 

This is just a "muslin".  It was our practice dress to make sure we got everything right before cutting into this pretty Ponte de Roma from Girl Charlee.

It still needs a little tweaking. We used the top of this dress...

and bottom of this one as the inspiration for the pattern,

The fabric is Laguna Cotton Stretch Jersey from Robert Kaufman.  It made one super comfortable dress. I wish it fit me. I might have to size it up and make a maternity version of this. :)

 The jersy has a bit less structure than the Ponte de Roma that we plan on using so it will be interesting to see how the next one turns out. 

 The waistline turned out a little big and the bodice was a little too long so I added a little casing for some elastic. It totally solved the problem I think.  I'm going to change the pattern a bit for our next try though.

I do have one request...will someone PLEASE tell me how to hem with a double needle so the fabric doesn't bump out between the stitch lines.

Other than the hemline, I love how this turned out! What do you think?

 Stay tuned for the next version.