Mini Stockings are HERE!

and just in time for some last minute Christmas sewing! heehee. Like anyone needs more of that. ;)

but just in case...

I wanted to let you know about the new pattern that is in my Craftsy store and Etsy shop!

Wonderful Darcy tested the pattern out for me and she seemed pretty pleased with it,

"The stocking pattern is awesome! I just finished my first one... It went super fast and now I want to make a dozen more - seriously, a garland of these hung on the mantel be so fun? I digress. I used rick rack for my hanging loop, I also think grosgrain ribbon would well and be a quick alternative. I used a plain kona white for my cuff and then stamped it with some Martha snowflake stamps. Love it."

 Thanks Darcy!

Her stocking is so cute! If you follow her on Instagram you can see it there! :)

Anyway, I'm in a holiday rush to get things finished and ready for Christmas, so not too much time to chat. I hope you are all warm and safe! (we're in a blizzard here for the day) and Wish you all a Very Merry Christmas if I don't blog again before then!

She wishes you a very merry Christmas too!
(she looks so big in this picture! When did she grow up so fast?!)

Waiting... is over!

I put together this quilt block a few weeks ago.

I am definitely going to be making an entire quilt with this block. It'll look a little something like this...

but with more blocks. 

The block finishes at 14" and is not paper pieced (hopefully will go a little faster that way).

But then I decided that it just be perfect for a certain someone. Problem was, I didn't know who it was yet... but now I do!

This bump is a BOY!!!

Due to arrive approximately April 27th, 2013

we are so excited! and yes, this is the cause of being sick and tired and everything else the last few months.

So now I know what colors to continue with. And it's on my wish list to share a pattern sometime early next year as well. :)

We haven't talked much about names yet. My hubby is set on Speedy. uh, NO.

I decided to call him Henry for now. :)

What are your favorite boy names?



I also finished up a pattern for these



it's just getting tested. Hopefully I'll share it soon with a giveaway for a free copy! Hopefully I'll get up a tutorial with the directions on my blog too if you want to sketch up your own stocking pattern.

It'll be a big mail day tomorrow too. Our post office has early hours so it's hard to make it there sometimes. All giveaways will be send out tomorrow, along with two quilts (this one and this one and I'd love to send the one at the end of this post) that are going to Connecticut. I found someone that will deliver them to some of those children who were involved in the tragic incident last week. My heart breaks every time I think about it. I can't think of anyone who is in need of them more right now. UPDATE: I just saw this on Flickr: There is a Pillow Case Drive for those children as well. You can find more information here. They are hoping to hand them out after Christmas, so it's not as much as a rush, but they are hoping for 600+ so any help would be great!

So much to do this week. :)

I hope you all have a wonderful week!!

Christmas Gifts and a linky

Can I just tell you that December isn't any less crazy than the rest of the year?! :) I think that should be my slogan, ”life is crazy”. I don't think I'll ever get used to the hectic life of having three small children. This why I am always questioning my future situation. Anyway, I'll save that for Friday (hopefully).

So Hunter has had a fever since Monday night, luckily no one else has gotten it yet, but I worry that it's lasted so long. I also hate that he's missing preschool. Looks like he'll miss tomorrow too. Pior kid. :( we've had some fun though.

Ok, so onto the sewing stuff, because that's what makes all the craziness bearable. I love that my husband is always telling me to not stop sewing. I think he understand more than I do how much I need this outlet. ;)


I have finally buckled down and made my

Handmade Christmas List! 

(though I can't share everything because I don't know who is reading this. I'll have a big recap after the new year.)

• a quilt
• travel bag
• phone pillows
• angry bird bean bags
• some bags and unspecific things (7 - 1 big, 4 small, 2 are finished - to help me keep them straight)
• a superhero cape for Mabel
• a family gift that I'll share a bit below

and if I can get them done:

• I want a purse, but i'm not counting on that getting done
• I want to make the kiddos some infinity scarves, maybe crocheted, so they are faster.
• maybe some doll accessories for Mabel. She will need some. :) (I love having a girl)

Besides Christmas gifts I also need to

• put together an iPad pillow pattern
• finish activity books and a custom order
• take pictures of and post the candy land quilt, I LOVE it! (it's been freezing outside and I don't want to go out in it.)

 I am such a list person. I think that is actually everything. :) I hope so anyway.

So here's my new thing as of yesterday. If you follow me on instagram (I'm @fromblankpages if you're on there!)  you've probably seen it. It's a Mini Stocking!

This one was a practice to make sure it would work and I had the pattern right. The fabrics are not my favorite, and I definitely want the cuff to be in a different color.

I wanted to make these last year as a family gift to other close families that we (I) want to give a little something too. I didn't get it figured out in time last year, and I slightly recall Neil getting mad at me for having too many projects, which I think he's already done this year too. Lol. Anyway, I think this is so cute! It's about 6.5 in tall, which I think will be perfect to put a bunch of candy canes in. :) I want to put the last name of the family on the cuff with Merry Christmas and our name and year on the back. Then put enough candy canes in them for each member of the family. They aren't too big to hang on the tree I think, but maybe I'll shorten it by 1/2 an inch anyway. I'm hoping to be able to finish a pattern and post a tutorial on my blog today tomorrow.


So what do you have going on right now? What is your handmade Christmas list? I think it's funny that I like to make stuff for everyone else, but then we just buy all our presents for our kiddos. :)

 I think I'm going to leave this linky up until the end of the year, and just keep posting the same link each Thursday, I don't know if I'll really keep up with the linky this month with everything going on. Seeing as how I already missed it last week. Oops. Just keep adding posts as you share new things!


**Please make sure to link back here so others can come join in the fun as well! :) and stop and say hi to the other great bloggers too! Comments are always a happy thing!

Wishing everyone a very merry Christmas!!

do.Good Stitches - Candy Land Quilt FINISHED!!

This is my ONE finished item from the Fourth Quarter FAL (that's my original post with all my projects) with Rhonda over at Quilter in the Gap. I am linking it up here in the final link up.

It is finally here! This has been a long time in the making, and well worth it. I am so grateful for all the Harmony girls to helped with this quilt. :) It's taken me WAY to long to finish, and I apologize for that, and I am glad no one got mad at me for being so slow. ;)

If you want to make this quilt, you can find the tutorial for 1-2 blocks here. I definitely want to make this again, and it's been on my list for a long time to make a full pattern of it. Now that it's finished, I REALLY want to make another. I love how it turned out! These are prewash pictures. I get nervous about what quilts will look like after the wash, so I always take before and after pictures in case it looks horrible, which they never do. Anyway, here are some more photos of it:

I did a 1/4" echo quilting around all the strips and really loved how crisp and simple it looked, but the wider spaces definitely needed something. I decided to go with the clamshell design from Angela Walter's book, Free Motion Quilting. I REALLY love how it looks with the quilt. This is the very center.

Some more quilting around the top.

I think this shows the quilting really well. It was hard to get a good shot of this quilt.

I also love the binding on this! I think the light green gives it just the right accent without taking away from all the colors in the quilt. I did one little corner of a darker green to add some contrast (and I was like 5 inches shy of enough of the main binding fabric (it's by Henry Glass, not sure what. The dark green is from the Dear Stella line, a little something I got from Sewing Summit!) :)



It's such a cozy quilt. I can't wait to wash it and send it off. Crossing my fingers that the recipient will really love it!

Make sure to head over to Stitched in Color and check out all the Celebrate Good Stitches! stuff going on! I LOVE looking at all the quilts that everyone has made!

The linky party will be up shortly. Sorry in advance for the blogging overload today.

It happens when it happens, and sometimes that's all at once. ;)

The Charming Travelers Giveaways!

Today is the last day to enter the giveaway for the US and Canada over at Just Something I Made!!! Not a lot of people have entered, so you have a good chance to win it! Make sure to hurry over there quick!!

The giveaway for the US only pack is up now as well over at Kinda Quilty! There are some cute fabrics in these... I wish I could win! :)

p.s. If you do win, please try and keep the fabrics you put into the stash more on the modern side. If you don't want it, someone else probably won't either. Thanks! ;)

Stay tuned for a post for the Candy Land Quilt! That's right! It's FINISHED!!! Wahoo! A long time int he making, but I am so in love with it! just need to take some pictures and then cross my fingers that I win the giveaway over at Stitched in Color (she said the post will be up today sometime) for the grand prize! (a roll of batting! Yes please!) If you have never been a part of do.Good Stitches, but have made charity quilts in the last few months, there is a giveaway you can enter too. :)

Hello and Welcome! A New Car, and some Winners!

First I want to say hello and welcome to all my new followers!! Thank you so much! I hope you will stop by often, take a look around, and enjoy what you find here! :) I sure love *meeting* new people online and finding out who all the wonderful people are out there that I haven't met yet! So I hope you'll leave a comment once in a while and say hi as well! :)

If you've been waiting to find out who the winners are to the Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaways, you are in luck! But first I have to tell you about our weekend! Whoa. What a weekend! Last night we went to my husbands work party. What a hoot! The white elephant gifts that a few people brought were quite extreme... and then two people brought eReaders! I snatched one of those up as fast as I could, but unfortunately someone then snatched it from me. :( they were nice. ;) This morning we took off to Cedar Rapids (about 1 hour and 45 min drive) and bought our first car! What an experience. I learned a lot about buying cars, and luckily had some good help and pointers from my brother-in-law, but I'm still not a pro by far. The kids did fantastic!! (esp since they had no lunch and no naps. The salesman told us a few times that we were the most patient parents he's ever seen. HA! It was a miracle!!) :) Anyway, we now have a nice Town and Country minivan. yep. we are now minivan parents. I never thought the day would come. Ok, I did, but not this soon. I hope we like it forever! I am so tired though! (we left at 10:30 am and got home at 9:30 pm. It was a long day.)

So with that being said, (I just had to share our exciting news!) let's get onto the winners! Thank you all for your wonderful comments! I LOVED reading about all of your memories and traditions! I love this season! Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, I think there is something special about this time of year. So thank you for sharing your special moments with me. :)


The winner of the Lizzy Dish charm pack by Lizzy House goes to...

487

(I did use random generator! I just got out of my dashboard before I took a screen shot of it and then the numbers disappeared when I went back.)

Kimberly

The winner of the Michael Miller Clown charm pack goes to...

359

Mary Ann

Congrats Kimberly and Mary Ann! I will be sending you an email for your addresses!

I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend! :)

Illusion, a Paper Piecing Pattern!

I blogged about my new pattern last week, Illusion. Well, I'm happy to say that it is complete and tested and in my Craftsy shop and Etsy! Wahoo! I am so excited for this pattern. And I am more excited, and grateful, for wonderful kind reviews of the pattern. I had a few volunteers and would love to share their beautiful creations with you!

I'll start with Martha of Weekend Doings. You can read her post and review here. and here is the block that she made:

Isn't it stunning??!! I love the colors and fabrics she used. So bright and cheery! 

Here's what she wrote me in an email:

"The instructions were very clear and easy to understand. I've never done paper piecing before and it came so easily. The pattern is great for anyone who would like to try it even beginners like myself. I think you did an excellent job designing this pattern."
 

Thank you so much Martha!!

Next up is Marian of Lady Face. She put together a few more blocks and made this beauty (you can read her post here. AND go enter her giveaway too! ends 12/7)

She's planning on turning this into a beautiful quilt! I love what she did with the pattern! I think it looks amazing!

Here's what Marian said in her email:

"My thoughts on the pattern: I loved it.  I thought the instructions were very clear, I did use your tutorial on your blog which was excellent for me, I need lots of pictures to do something the first time.  I really liked the coloring page, especially for this pattern where there's so many different ways you can manipulate it.  It might be cool to include some of those variations and possibilities in the finished pattern so people can see it's possibilities? 

"For my first ever paper piecing pattern I thought it was great.  Really I didn't run into any problems, and none that weren't addressed in the instructions like shortening the stitch length (which I did forget to do a couple times, lol).  I think beginners would love it because it isn't very complicated, but more advanced stitchers (I always feel like sew-ers is the wrong term...haha) would also enjoy it for the many different design possibilities of the pattern."

There you go all you "I'm afraid to paper piece" people! YOU CAN DO IT!!! lol. ;) If you try out my pattern I would LOVE to see it! Leave a comment with a link to your blog, or share it in the from blank pages... flickr group. Also, for some extra tips and how-to's you can use this tutorial I put together here.



I have two more testers too. Sarah of Sew Sweetness offered to make a quilt using an over sized pattern of the block! Instead of one quarter block being 6", it's 16"! I am anxious to see how it turns out! (can I just say that I have tweeted with Sarah off and on for a while now, but not until I went to find her blog did I realize who she is! She is AMAZING!!! and she is testing my pattern! I'm having a bit of a freak out moment right now! lol.) :)

And Terri of Sew Fantastic. She is simply amazing as well! or should I say Fantastic! I love all the things she makes! She's another one that I've been following since the beginning of my quilting days.

I feel like I really lucked out getting some great people to test my patterns! I'll give an update when they finish up their blocks too! :)

You can find the pattern on Craftsy or Etsy.

Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway Day! #2

Today is Giveaway Day! Wahoo! I love these Sew, Mama, Sew days! I think they are a lot of fun! Though I always have a hard time trying to figure out what to giveaway. I decided to do two giveaways while rummaging through my stash... you can find the other giveaway here.

So for today's giveaway I am offering

one charm pack of these 21 Michael Miller Clown fabrics!

(5" squares cut from my stash)

 

These are another collection I've had in my stash for a while. I think the favorite thing I've used them for so far was making some wonky stars for the do.Good Stitches group I was in earlier this year. These are so much fun! I definitely have a quilt planned with these, but have yet to get to them.

To Enter: 

only ONE is mandatory

1. Leave a comment on my blog telling me your favorite Christmas memory!

2. Follow my blog and leave a comment letting me know how you do!

3. Go enter the giveaway at The One Stop Giveaway Shop and let me know you did! :)

Good luck!

Giveaway will end 12/07 @ 5pm PST
Open to international entries!

p.s. I am offering one more giveaway as well, so don't miss it!

That's a tough question for me. I'll have to think about it and get back to you. ;) There are a lot of good memories! I guess mostly they involve lots of family, good food, and just being together and being happy. :) Ok, that's non-specific. I'll keep thinking!

Sew, Mama, Sew Giveaway Day! #1

Today is Giveaway Day! Wahoo! I love these Sew, Mama, Sew days! I think they are a lot of fun! Though I always have a hard time trying to figure out what to giveaway.

So for today's giveaway I am offering

one charm pack of these 16 Lizzy Dish fabrics!

(5" squares cut from my stash)

I've been having so much fun with these lately! Using them for I-spy charms and Polaroid blocks. These are an old collection, so I will be sad when they are gone, but they're too much fun not to share!

To Enter: 

only ONE is mandatory

1. Leave a comment on my blog telling me what your favorite Christmas tradition is

2. Follow my blog and leave a comment letting me know how you do!

3. Go enter the giveaway at The One Stop Giveaway Shop and let me know you did! :)

Good luck!

Giveaway will end 12/07 @ 5pm PST
Open to international entries!
p.s. I am offering one more giveaway as well, so don't miss it!

ok, I guess I'll answer my own question as well. I LOVE Christmas time!! When I was younger my aunt gave me a "24 Days of Christmas" Book. There is a Christmas song and a story for every day of December until Christmas. Now that I have my own little family we sing a song, read a scripture and read a story every night. It is so much fun! And definitely helps us focus on the true meaning of Christmas. It's funny too because even though we've been doing this for a few years now, my hubby and I still cry and tear up at all the stories! It's hard not too. :)

From blank pages... Linky #13

It's almost December! That means Christmas is almost here!! Have you started your Christmas sewing yet? I have, and have not... craziness! That is where my life is headed again. :) Anyway, what's on my mind this week is reorganizing my fabric! I have most of it sorted by color in big rubbermaid containers. Then I have a bin just for my favorites, plus a pile over there of more favorites, oh, and that other pile. All those extra piles are things I hardly ever dive into. I have this problem of collecting favorite fabrics and then not using them because I don't want them to be gone! I'm afraid I won't be able to find them again!!! I need counseling. ;)  Anyway, I am thinking it's time to just sort it all out! (except maybe a select few that I want to use for projects, or those super special fabrics.) Otherwise, it ALL needs to start mingling... and maybe that would help me destash more fabrics that I'm not ever going to use.

Here's an example of my blue/purple bin. :)

and here's a pile of favorites! Can you tell what they are?

ew. there are some fabrics on the top that just need to be put away. top left, not one of my favorites. lol.

Oh, and my Heather Bailey/Amy Butler/Denyse Schmidt bin. I like to call it collecting... not hoarding. ;)

Otherwise I'm working with these fabrics to finish some more activity books and an Etsy order (she requested purple. Glad I have at least some good purple prints. Definitely lacking in purple. Yay! :)

this is actually two different bundles put together. One will be blue, one aqua.

I think everyone always says this, but I can't believe that another week has gone by already!! I just went back to see what I shared last week... sadly my cowl has been put to the side. I need to get a good travel pouch to put that in so I can carry it around with me more and get it finished! Maybe it will have to wait until our long road trip to Texas for Christmas. :D So excited to visit my sister in Dallas! (Oh! That reminds me I need to get ahold of all you sewing buddies down there and see if we can meet up for lunch one day or something!!! FUN!) :)


We also have a church Christmas party/talent show on Saturday. They asked if anyone wanted to display something, they could do that too. Someone suggested I display my quilts... so that might be fun! If I ever get around to calling the gal, I think I will. :) I'm kind of nervous about it though...

What are you working on? starting? Thinking about? Do you have a big Christmas list? I'll have to complete mine and share that for next week! I'm actually rather excited about it! I'll just have to tell my sister not to read my blog for a month. :)

Be sure to grab a button and add it to your blog post, or just link back! Let others know where you're linking up to! :)

<center> <a href="http://fromblankpages.blogspot.com/search/label/from%20blank%20pages%20party" target="_blank"><img alt="from blank pages... linky party" src="http://i381.photobucket.com/albums/oo253/dbByDesign/from-blank-pages-linky-button21.jpg" width="175" /></a></center>

W.i.P. Wednesday {11/28/12}

Well, I have definitely been busy lately and am loving it! My house on the other hand is not. ;) I think the most exciting thing I have in progress right now is a new pattern! I've had this one on paper since March and it's been killing me! One of those things I want to make so bad, but I'm trying to be good and get other things finished first. So to make a compromise, I've decided to let everyone else make it until I can get to it. :)

Neil named this one, Illusion, and I love it! :) Here's some mock up pictures I had on the computer to give you an idea of what it will look like:

The 12 inch block design

 Playing with color

 I think the blocks could also make cute trees if you arrange them differently. :)

As soon as I get feedback and some pictures I'll let you know what everyone thought of it and will add it to my shops! (I've decided to add all my patterns to Etsy as well. The free patterns that I have listed on Craftsy are $2 on Etsy to cover fees and my time in emailing out the patterns since they don't do automatic downloads. Anyway, just thought I'd let you know.) Though not all my patterns are free on Craftsy.


I've also got a good stack of quilts that are waiting to be basted and quilted (though I need a few backs as well still, and some need batting cut out). But they're basically ready to go! SO excited! I am GOING TO FINISH them this weekend at the latest!! I've got,

my Kaleidoscope Quilt, 

Mabel's Quilt, 

Candy Land Quilt, 

a baby quilt with Melinda's blocks she sent me, 

and a Christmas table runner, 

and that's all I'm going to think about until they're done. :)

I have finished up a few small items, though nothing new I guess. I also have a few orders to finish and send. I'll share more about those later. :)

What are you working on right now? How are your 100 Day Hussle projects coming? Do you have a lot of Christmas presents you're working on? (I need to get to those after I finish the above quilts and etsy orders... time is going to be tight as usual!) :)

I am LOVING getting back into sewing and being busy. 

I hope I can keep a good balance though... 

that's always the toughest part.

Super Sale Tuesday!

Since it took me all day to get things listed in my shop yesterday, and I still have more things to add, I figure it might be nice to continue my Cyber Monday Sale onto today! :)

Use code "CYBERMONDAY" at checkout 

and save 15% on your complete order! 

OR 

since it's Tuesday, and nothing is ever special about Tuesday, I thought I'd start 

a FREE SHIPPING TUESDAY!

I'll try and remember and put up a new code every Tuesday, if I forget, remind me before you check out and I'll add it. :)

For today only use code "FS1127"

domestic shipping only. Sorry anyone international.

(please just use one code. I don't know if it's possible to use two, but just in case. Thanks!) 

 

Cyber Monday Sale!

Happy Cyber Monday everyone! I hope you have had a wonderful holiday and/or weekend! I think we actually finished most of our online Christmas shopping already, but I thought it would be nice to give a little to those who are doing it today! :)

For all my blog readers I'm offering 15% off of everything in my shop! 

Just use code CYBERMONDAY at checkout.

Code will be active for today only.

(or until I remember to take it down) ;)

I will also be adding more items to my shop throughout the day! Like fabric destash, more bags and other smaller items (great for gifts!!), as well as a new pre-order item that will only be available today!

Wanna see what it will be? (please excuse me, these are also photos of my first one, so the final ones I will be shipping out will be perfected - just haven't taken a picture of those ones yet.) :) I brought these to church yesterday and it kept my three kiddos quiet for a long time! Wahoo!! They love them. And so do I! :)

 The Front

It's an activity book!

The Back

  There is a large pocket between the strap and the dark pink. Perfect for loose papers, or whatever else is thin. I love that it's behind the strap so that it all stays in while the book is closed.

Back Pocket

The Inside

It will come with the mini clipboard, but NOT the twisty crayons (those are from Crayola. LOVE them! I think it would drive the price up too much to include them. What do you think? Would you rather pay more to have all the supplies?)

There will be spots for 8 crayons. And the little pocket with flap - great for small scissors, stickers, whatever. :)

  I will be picking out the fabric combinations, but will let you choose the color you want, AND boy, girl, neutral style. (or I'll try and get some fabric combination pictures taken before listing these. Anyway, I'm super excited! These will be today only - I think, and I'm only making a limited number of them. Hopefully soon I'll have a pattern up as well, but don't hold your breath for that. It might not be until after the new year. :)

with goodies!
These are NOW listed in my Etsy Shop!

Visit my Etsy Shop HERE!

I hope you all have a wonderful week!!

And guess what is next week? 

Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day!! Wahoo! :)