Google Reader vs. Bloglovin

There may have been some competition between these two blog reading platforms, but that will soon come to an end. Have you heard the word that Google Reader is going by the wayside come July 1st? That's Monday. Do you have a plan for how you will read your blogs once they are gone??? May I suggest something???

Bloglovin! You can import ALL of your blogs from google reader to bloglovin in just a few simple steps:
 (I've included two screen shots that may or may not be beneficial.)

see the top right

1. Open an account with Bloglovin
2. Go to the drop down menu by clicking the heart in the top right corner
3. Click settings
4. Scroll down to Other and go to Import Blogs, then click a few more buttons,
   and there you go!

Do the pictures help??? probably not. lol.

(rolling my eyes)

It imports your folders as well, which is so nice!!

I hope you'll add me so you can keep reading along with me and all my adventures! :)

Modern Yardage Pillow!

Here is my last pillow for the month. I love this one! As I was finishing it up last night my hubby asked, "What are you making? a wall hanging?" "No, a pillow." "Yeah!" Did I mention he likes pillows? :)

I had fun photographing this out in the daisy's. I think they go well with the fabric. :)

 

The sashing is Kona Marine.

All of the prints are by Emilie Daly for Modern Yardage.

I love the white, but really, I can't decide which print is my favorite.


I used Burst in Robin, medium, for the back.

I was recently contacted by Modern Yardage and asked if I wanted to try out their fabric. Um, YES PLEASE!! :) I've been keeping an eye on their website since they launched earlier this year. Their fabrics are great and I love all the options that are available with each collection: lots of color options, as well as sizes! Most prints can be ordered in either a large, medium, or small print. For an indecisive person like me, it makes it almost too difficult to decide. (not a bad thing). :) And they are constantly adding new designers and collections, so there is always something new. If you haven't checked out their website, you really should. I'll just throw in really quick too that there are a lot of ways to search or browse for fabric (by designer, color, theme, scale, color, etc.) pretty cool. 

Anyway, so you know how it works, they print their fabric on demand. So when you place your order, all of your prints come together, on the same continuous cut of fabric. I was too excited to start cutting that I forgot to take a picture of my fabric when it arrived. But it was all in one sheet with a panel along one edge that had care instructions, a free pattern, and some other cool stuff (you'll have to order some fabric and be surprised with what else they print on there.) ;) Since they print the fabric on demand, I think that also means that the cotton they use is a little different. I am no connoisseur of fabric, but it does feel different. It is SOOO smooth! It's nice. But I was still a little weary as to how it would sew up. I can happily say that I am very pleased with my finished pillow!!

The pattern I used is my Illusion pattern. I have changed it a little, so it's a bit different than what is in my Craftsy store and Etsy shop. I will update those with the new version soon (Illusion2). I'll let you know. I do like this version a lot better, as it's also a lot more versatile in how you can arrange the blocks.

Like this example.
I was originally going to make the pillow like this, but after finishing the first 4 blocks, my hubby said he liked the other way better. I'm still not sure. I guess I'll have to make another pillow soon. :)

So a HUGE shout out to Modern Yardage!!! An awesome company with beautiful fabrics! Thank you so very much for letting me try some of your fabric. :)

I am definitely not the only one who is happy with this new pillow. :)

Kate Spain Blog Hop and a Post Full of Goodies!

Today is my stop on the Kate Spain Blog Hop with Alyce of Blossom Heart Quilts. If you are visiting for the first time, Thank you! and Welcome! I hope you'll sit and stay a while. :)

Can I just tell you how much I LOVE Kate Spain and her beautiful fabrics?!!! There are a lot of designers that I like, but I definitely have used Kate's fabrics more often in projects than any other fabric. What can I say? It's just so useable. :)

I have a few projects that I've made in the past with Kate Spain collections, but when Alyce invited me to join her in this blog hop, I couldn't resist making something new as well. :) But I'll start at the beginning...

My first project was with Kate Spain's Fandango line. I made this mini in Novemeber 2011, for the Sew, Vote, Swap Group on Flickr.  I used a jelly roll, with Kona for the sashing. (I admit, it looks a little crooked... I think my skills might have improved a little since then - hopefully.) :)

I finished a Christmas table runner this past February.

 

The fabric is Joy. One of my favorite Christmas collections ever! 

I love the soft greens and the aqua!

I've also made two custom order activity books this year with Kate's Cuzco line. I LOVE these purples!

The first book:

There is one print, on the pocket, that isn't Kate Spain, along with the solid purple.

The second book:

The purple for the pockets and the outside, as well as the strap are all Kate Spain.

I first dared to cut into my precious Central Park bundle for this block I made for Quiltmaker Magazine Vol. 6 last year. This is one of my ultimate favorite lines ever! While this is a huge combination of different fabrics, I had to include it here anyway. It was a bit of a break through for me to even use a little bit of this fabric. lol. :)

And for my final project that I made this month.

drum roll please. :)


A pillow! Entirely made of Central Park (and kona white in the sashing.) It finishes at 22" square and has a zipper closure on the bottom.

I quilted it with 12 wt thread on top and 30 wt (both Sulky brand) in the bobbin. It was fun! I like the look of it with the thicker thread.

For the back I pieced the scrap pieces together and then quilted it with a flower design from one of the prints.

it's easier to see on the back. I love it, despite the imperfections (it was hard to see the lines I drew on the prints for tracing, so the shape is a little off. I'll have to keep practicing.) :)

She approves.  

And now for the good stuff!!

On June 28th, link up any finished project you have made throughout the blog hop in June using Kate Spain's fabrics - zippered pouches, cushions/pillows, bags, quilt tops (finished quilts not required!), clothing, whatever!


And a massive thanks to our sponsors who are providing some brilliant prizes for the link ups!

Mystery prize from Kate Spain

Serenade layer cake

In From The Cold fat quarter bundle

Sunnyside Up 16pce fat eighth bundle

$20 gift voucher

$25 gift voucher

$25 gift voucher

Fandango 12 pce fat quarter bundle thanks to Red Coconut

Here's the schedule of the entire blog hop. Be sure to go back and visit all the blogs if you missed a day!

Monday June 3rd - Interview with Kate Spain
Tuesday June 4th - Interview Part 2 and Jane at QuiltJane
Wednesday June 5th - Christa at Christa Quilts
Thursday June 6th - Kimberly at Fat Quarter Shop
Friday June 7th - Laura at Quokka Quilts

Monday June 10th - Chrissy at Sew Lux
Wednesday June 12th - Julie at The Intrepid Thread
Thursday June 13th - Kristy at Quiet Play
Friday June 14th - Link up your favourite Kate Spain project! and Lynne at Lily's Quilts

Monday June 17th - Alyce at Blossom Heart Quilts
Tuesday June 18th - Heidi at Fabric Mutt
Wednesday June 19th - Melissa at Ms Midge
Thursday June 20th - Jess at The Elven Garden
Friday June 21st - Janice at Better Off Thread

Monday June 24th - Diane at From Blank Pages...
Tuesday June 25th - Gemma at Pretty Bobbins
Wednesday June 26th - Kara at Me And Elna
Thursday June 27th - Readers' Q&A with Kate Spain at Blossom Heart Quilts
Friday June 28th - Link up your blog hop projects!

Thanks again for stopping by!!

Happy Monday!

June is Pillow Month

At least for me it is. I've been having themed sewing months lately, and not on purpose. It just happens. In March I made bags. In April I made clothes. May, I don't know that I sewed anything. And June it has been pillows! I finished my liberty pillow and blogged about it HERE. If you follow me on Instagram (IG) then you've seen peeks of two more I'm working on and will be sharing next week (one on Monday for the Kate Spain blog hop - be sure to come back and check it out!) and the other I'm hoping to blog about on Wednesday. :)

That is not all... I also made the hubby a pillow for Father's Day! :) It was a last minute idea and I just went with it. There are some kinks to work out if I were to perfect it, but I actually kind of really like it. :) I think I should make him a quilt to go with it, since he doesn't have one of those yet. Anyway, here it is...

His favorite color is red, and I really love Denyse Schmidt fabrics.
I think they lend themselves to being manly fabrics quite nicely. :)

The pillow finishes at 15 inches square (I think. I didn't measure it after completing it). 

I installed a zipper in it, which I am really loving zippered pillows!!

The back is just a kona blue-grey. I'd have to check to see what color it is.
(Don't mind the yellow marker stain on the couch. The joys of children...)

I didn't have a pillow form for it, so I stuffed a down pillow into it. haha. Good thing those pillows are so squishy! but it makes for a rather hard pillow. I'll get a form one day. :)
I really need to practice up on my stitch in the ditch skills. not awesome.

My sister and her two children came and stayed with us this last week. We had such a great week!! One of my favorite things about them visiting, is that my niece is super crafty and loves to sew! We always sneak in at least one sewing project while she's here. This time I taught her how to quilt and she made a pillow! She even did the free motion quilting all by herself!! She's a natural!

Her and her pillow. I really love it!!
look how well all her points match up!

Close up of her quilting. Awesome for her first time!!

They bought some of my fabric that I wanted to destash and I sent her home with some extra batting. I'm hoping she'll go home and get her quilting on! I can't wait for their next visit. (I'd love to start making quilts with her!)

So all-in-all June has been an awesome month! I am in love with pillows now and can see many more in my future! I was joking with the hubby that since he loves pillows and I love to make handmade gifts, he'll have hundreds of pillows by the time we die. lol. :) I guess we'll be at no loss for comfort! and perhaps have many a pillow fights in our future. :D

Do you tend to have themed sewing months too? Or do you tend to keep it random all the time? I'm wondering what I'll be sewing next month. :)

I hope you're having a great weekend!

 And be sure to come back next week for more pillows!

Liberty Love Pillow!

 

 I am SO excited! I don't even know how to start this blog post. :) The Modern Mini Quilt Challenge that Ellison Lane puts on is one of my favorite events of the year. You make something new, and fun and mini, and then link it up for prizes, or just because. It's awesome! I didn't get to participate last year (I think we were moving at the time), but I did the year before with my Rainbow Lake mini. If you want to enter, go HERE. You have until 5 pm on the 16th to link up.

This year she said to challenge yourself with your mini. Try something new. Well, I think almost everything I did with this mini was something new to me. It was so much fun to make, and a little unnerving as I had NO idea how it was going to turn out. I'm happy to say I'm pleased with how it turned out, and I think I'll keep it. ;)

Here is my pillow in its new home:

now it needs some friends! :)

The pattern is my own, and boy do I love it. I've been playing around with it in Illustrator, and there really are a million ways to use it to create a million different designs. (I'll be releasing the pattern this summer sometime.) :) If you follow me on Instagram (@fromblankpages), I'm sure you've seen me post about it WAY too many times.

The front
This pillow was really hard to photograph withe red in it. I don't know what settings to adjust to fix it, but reds and oranges are always WAY over saturated in my pictures. So I tried toning it down, but now the blues are too bland. I really didn't do these prints justice. :( (any tips?) :)

the back: Black Essex Linen

 

Firsts: 

• I've never pieced a pattern this large. 

• I've never made a pillow with a zipper (I've only done the envelope closure on the back - is that what it's even called?). 

• I have never done this much, or this small of hand stitching. (The only other thing I've hand stitched was my Giant Granny Square Quilt, but those stitches were huge and it went a lot faster.)

 

• I've never used Liberty prints before (I am now totally in love with them and am amazed at how well they go together!)

I think the hardest part was piecing the slices together (my kids called this "Mom's Pizza" as I was putting it together because it looked like a bunch of pizza slices). :) They would say, "Don't step on mom's pizza!" made me laugh.

Thanks for stopping by! 

And be sure to check out all the other minis over at Ellison Lane Quilts!