Binding Party

Put on a good show and bind together!
 

That's what my sister and I did last night so she could get her Christmas quilt done in time for, well, Christmas. She had the first season of Gilmore Girls on her DVR and it was so good I stayed for 2 hours.

Christmas Skirt

Wow, wow, wow. I made this skirt for Christmas and am really happy with the way it turned out. The overskirt is a Anna Marie Horner voile that I picked up on line and on sale, the black underskirt is acetate from Joann's. I think when I make a skirt again I might go for a higher quality fabric for the underskirt but I'm perfectly happy with how this worked out. I used V and Co. ruffle skirt tutorial to figure out how to attach the elastic waistband.
 
And for the cold I put on a black jacket. 

Pillows and Christmas

Here are two pillows I made last night for my newly slipcovered couch.

This first one is made out of a wall hanging Ann made for me. I'm really excited that it turned out so well as a pillow because I didn't have anywhere to hang it. I had to finagle it a little bit because it was 20 X 24 and the pillow form was 22 X 22. The 20" width was fine and the length I compensated for by stitching it across the bottom, it's actually hard to explain but all I had to do was sit down and figure it out and it turned out perfect. I used the binding as a makeshift cording and just top stitch the back onto it sewing in the binding seam. Love it!

 
I got the idea for the tree pillow from BHG Christmas Ideas issue. I was really cute in the magazine and I probably should have done it exactly like they said to but I couldn't find a pillow that size so I had to use a 22X 22 pillow form for what was supposed to be a rectangular pillow. Oh well, I might have to add some trim around the gray seam or just take another inch or two out of the top and bottom to get a rectangular look.

Lesson learned- always, ALWAYS make your pillow case smaller than the pillow form by at least an inch. Make a 21 inch pillow case for a 22 X 22 inch pillow or else you'll be unhappy with the floppy fit.

Seasons of Home Update- ON THE 5th DAY OF CHRISTMAS All American Jane and Mary Engelbreit fabric is 30% off today and in oiur gift department, all plush animals are 30% off.

Slip Cover Success

Doctor, the operation was a complete success! And I didn't need a doctorate to do it. All I needed was a lot of determination, a lack of funds, and A LOT of fabric.

Seriously, I got 10 yards of this pretty off-white matelasse and then had to go back for 3 more because I didn't want to piece together fabric for the second arm. Now, I am the mother of three small children but so far I've been able to wipe off any marks and it is a slipcover so I can always take it off and wash it or even bleach it if I have to. I bought a bottle of Scotch Guard and sprayed the whole thing down with that, just to be safe.

This couch has back cushions but I decided to go with big pillows that I can change seasonally. That is tonight's project. They're going to be a green quilted fabric and I have some great smaller throw pillows that I'm making too. I'm just so excited to have it done and I almost feel like I could do it again. A little labor intensive but not as bad as I thought it would be. Allover a good use of my time.

Oh and here's a picture of my projects to be completed like, immediately.

Breath New Life

I've been wanting to use this ribbon from Seasons of Home for a month or more but just couldn't think of the perfect thing to do. Then my mom, Ann, had a great idea to add it and a little Kaffe Fasset fabric to the bottom of my little girl's pants and shirt and use the ribbon as a border. So here are the fruits of my labor. Tell me what you think.
I bought Lily this shirt thinking it was a tunic and would go with leggings and it ended up being a regular length shirt but she still wants to wear it with leggings and it looks ridiculous, in this mother's opinion. So I added some length and some AWESOMENESS.

Seasons of Home update--All holiday decor and fabric 30% off from now until Christmas. Also, our 12 Days of Christmas Sales are under way so sign up for our newsletter at seasonsofhome.com for daily updates as well as our awesome newsletter.

The Quilted Fish

We were DELIGHTED to have Amanda Herring from Quilted Fish at Seasons of Home today for an Open House. The first picture was the free make-and-take bottle cap pin cushion.
Her new line of fabric, "delighted" is a great hit. Really cheerful and pretty. It's a great line of fabric with so many different ways to use it. That cute framed truck is an applique pattern that will be a free pattern on her website, The Quilted Fish soon. She also has a new birthday crown pattern with a great new fabric flower that is really awesome. Sorry I didn't get a close up but you can see it in the previous photo. The flower takes up the whole front of the crown, it's really cute.
She has awesome mad hatter hat patterns as well as quilt patterns that you'll love so come and see them in person at the store. You're sure to find something to do with all of your free time.
But we all know that a quilter makes her own free time.

Quilted Fish Trunk Show

Amanda Herring, owner of "The Quilted Fish" quilt and sewing patterns will be at Seasons of Home on November 19th from 1-3 pm to kick off her Trunk Show.

Ann McEuen and Margaret Miller went to the party introducing her new line of fabric and here are some pictures from that fun event.

Girls Night Out

Our Girls night out this year was a lot of fun as usual. The dessert tables were a favorite.


And this one was too cute to leave home.
And of course there was a lot of quilt talk going on.
I can't wait for our Christmas Open House on Saturday, November 5th. All of our Christmas fabric will be 30% off! And there is a free gift for each purchase.
Here is the cutest little girl, Grace, who loves to hold Isabel. She was absolutely priceless at the Heber Valley Quilt Guild retreat last spring when I had to bring baby. Ahhhh, just let me quilt!

Hobo Quilt for October

Here are pictures for the October Hobo Quilt. They are turning out so cute. Thank you Natalia.

Pictures From My Week

I got my "I Get Around" Abbey Lane quilt in Sweetwater's Hometown done. I'm ecstatic! Natalia Bonner from Piece N Quilt did the awesome quilting. I'm so happy to have made this quilt. I fell in love with it at quilt market this spring. I especially love the raw edge binding and circles.
Here is my friendship block from last month. Tamara's theme was the outdoors and I couldn't help it, I had to bead the fish. This month's block is foundation piecing with Christmas fabric. I'm hoping to move before I have to finish it.


Here are two new lines of fabric at the store. The first here is Curio by Basic Grey for Moda.

and here is Coming Home by Deb Strain also for Moda.

Wow!

AHHHHH! Summer actually got busier! So the last few weeks have been very busy but no pictures yet. Swiss Days here in Midway was a blast, I hope you made it up but if not there's always next year. I sewed a quilt and then I've been packing because hopefully this weekend I will be moving. Yay!

I got a new camera and I'm really going to work on my photography skills.

I'll get some pictures up here soon!

And Going, and Going...

My "just do it stsoopid," pile keeps getting smaller and smaller. Here are two more projects that I got finished. Please ignore me in the self portrait, I was just trying to see if a self portrait would turn out. I'll get a better one eventually. And the pillow is the second one I've made from that pattern I love it so much.

Homemade Apple Sauce

My Grandma came up last week from California and brought a bushel of her Beverly Hills apples from her orchard. Now, these apples are one reasons I would love to live in CA, they are that good. My sister has grandiose dreams of a huge green house so she can have 2 of these trees here in Heber. But wishing won't change our planting zone from the 3 that it is, so when she brings her apples up you enjoy them while they last. The family has 2 ways to use apples; apple cobbler, done my Grandma's way with handmade pie crust; or apple sauce. I opted for apple sauce. Now keep in mind that the sink in the picture above was actually full of apples and all of those apples filled my big pot.
It's so easy! Cut the apples into small, uniform pieced, add a 3-4 cups of water, a cup of sugar put the lid on the pot and let it simmer until it's broken down into apple sauce, stirring a lot. Most store bought apples are a little harder because you could wait 'til doomsday and they won't break down, so you need to use an immersion blender or put them in a blender to chop up the cooked apples.
This apple sauce is appropriate for every meal. When it's fresh and still warm in the pot I put ice cream on it and it's the most delicious desert you've ever had. In this case I didn't have any vanilla ice cream so I whipped some cream and it tasted just as good.

None of the pictures of my family eating their dessert turned out but I assure you everyone enjoyed this one.

Get It Done!

I felt so inspired to finish some projects this weekend that I got them all out and made a pile.

The reason for this extra enthusiasm is that I'm moving in 3 weeks. Yay! So finishing means being able to put these beautiful things in their places in my new home.

This awesome wall hanging was a class at Seasons of Home and it was a lot of fun with a really great teacher you might know from Riley Blake's online tutorials, Deonn Stott. It was fun and fast. The curves are done using half square triangles that you... well, just take her class. She's teaching it again on October 19 during the evening. Details are online and you can call the store if you're interested in signing up.

The next project I finished is one that wasn't even mine to begin with. I recently got a few antique quilts from a friend and I really felt the need to not only finish them but to use them. This was one of the prettiest and most colorful, she calls it the "bubble gum" quilt and it's so cute that I'm keeping the name. I think I'll have Natalia from Piece N Quilt stitch in the ditch to keep the antique style of the quilt.
The last border was only basted on with edges left to do mitered corners. So I got out Sandy Klop's "Quilts for all Seasons and Some For No Reason" which has really great instructions for most of the things you need to do with a quilt, and reread the instructions for the corners. I think they turned out pretty well although the previous border was quite off. It's very homey feeling though.

The last picture is my favorite print from this quilt.

And because my iPad wouldn't post this blog last night and I had to retype it tonight, this last project got finished. All I had to do for this antique quilt (from the same friend) was resew the binding on the back. It was a little difficult because the fabric is so pressed down it was hard to get my needle into the binding and the background fabric was kind of tough to get through. It's a really pretty bow tie summer quilt and it's going somewhere I can show it off.

It's been a really good few days for this quilter.

Christmas Roosters!

It's quilted and beautiful! I couldn't be happier with my finished quilt and for all of you who like it as well, it will be available online at Seasons of Home in 2 weeks. The pattern hasn't come in yet but the kits are all cut so as soon as the pattern is here, I'll put it online. Thanks so much for all the positive comments!

Natalia Bonner fromPiece N Quilt did the quilting and it is absolutely perfect. But then she's never gotten it wrong with any of my quilts. All of the roosters have feathery tails and wings. I love it!