A Christmas Quilt!

My sister-in-law was in town this last weekend so I was able to give her her quilt! :) Yippy! I sure hope she really likes it. ;) Anyway, that means I can now share some pictures with you! :)

Now the hard part is figuring out which ones! ;)

This was my first time doing zigzag quilting and it was a lot of fun! I love how it looks with the pieced zigzags! :)

We've been having the most amazing, and unusual, weather around here! Most days have been absolutely gorgeous, and warm! :)

I had my little buddy come help me with the pictures! He had so much fun!! ;)

Say cheese! :)

I used some red flannel for the back. Finding that fabric was the hardest part! It must have been the lighting in the store, because everything just made me feel like my quilt was ugly. ;( but it actually goes together perfectly I think! :)

And of course the "Linding" = Label + Binding. heehee.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you all have a great week!

And don't miss the Cash Envelope Sew-Along that will be starting up soon! The first giveaway for supplies will be later this week! :)

I am also linking up at Canoe Ridge Creations, and Fabric Tuesday at Quiltstory. So go see what everyone else is up to as well! :)

The Cash Envelope System: a Giveaway, a Sew-Along, and lots of fun!

In December, for the Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway Day I asked people what their New Years Resolutions were, or goals as many of you don't make actual resolutions. I think for many of us, and especially for me, a constant goal is to save money, learn to stick to a budget, get out of debt/pay off student loans, etc. To sum it up: Finances!!

This is what I made a year and a half ago!

I don't know if you have seen my post about the cash envelope wallet that I made over a year ago?! I still love this thing! And love the cash envelope system (that doesn't mean that I am perfect at it, but I love it and totally believe in it!) Since thinking about resolutions and goals, I thought it would be a great idea to do a Sew-Along using this same pattern from Walter & Veronica! (It is currently being sold her their etsy shop or on Craftsy for a steal of a deal!! She has given me permission to do this, but you must buy the tutorial from her. I will not be sharing any measurements or other details required for the assembly of the item - only how to put it together. It is less than $2, so it's not bad. I will be helping anyone through email that has questions pertaining to any of that information, who has bought the pattern.) 

I totally believe in being in control of our finances and being self sufficient. Along with doing a walk through of the tutorial, I am also in the process of contacting shops and businesses to provide free products for giveaways as well as discounts to their products to help all of us in our financial lives. (The people I am contacting are people and products I would fully endorse on my own, no strings attached. I won't be receiving any compensation for anything I say during this event, and am only contacting them to help provide benefits to all of you who would like to participate!)

lots of pockets and fun zippers!

Here is the schedule I am planning on for this event! The tutorial is pretty easy, so the actual Sew-Along will only be broken up into one week. Though to allow time for the delivery of any supplies, and the initial giveaway (one person will win all supplies need to make the wallet, including a free copy of the pattern!!), the actual tutorial segment will not start for 2 weeks. 

Schedule: 

Start off Giveaway (including supplies list and more fine-tuned details): this week (depending on when I hear back from vendors, I'm hoping Tuesday, maybe Wednesday.) Winner will be picked early Monday morning.

Week of Monday Feb 13-17: order all your supplies and anxiously await their arrival! :) (or sooner, I'll list the supply list with the first giveaway)

Sew-along week: Monday Feb 20th - Friday Feb 24th

Finishing Giveaway: Link up your wallets starting on the 24th to March 10th. Winner will be picked on Saturday March 10th.

These dates are a little tentative right now, as I am still ironing out the details, but I think this will be a good time frame for everything!

I will be making two more of these for the Sew-Along pictures. If you don't sew, but are interested in having some, they will be part of the final giveaway! So wether you are making one or not, be sure to join us and learn with us!! :)

I am SO excited about this and can't wait to get started!!! Now I'm off to fine tune the details and get the tutorial posts perfected!! :) 

I really HOPE you will join me in this, and that together we can become strong and concur the never ending temptation to buy fabric, or chocolate, or whatever your financial weakness may be! ;D And I hope that you can realize my true and honest desires to help you gain the peace that comes from being financially sound! (and me too! We are still on that road ourselves.)


I'm hoping I can get some good and useful things for the final giveaway! How about a copy of this?!? :) I think this is a fantastic book!

 If you have a story that you would like to share, please share a link to it in the comments, or feel free to email me! I would love to share real stories throughout this event as well!! :)

Thank you!

Posts in this Event:

• Giveaway and Supplies List
• Zippers and a change in Schedule, and Fabric Sponsor
• Giveaway Winners
• Do you have your fabric?
• Day 1: Starting & Cutting
• Day 2: Assembling the Cover 
• Day 3: Zippers & Zipper Pockets & the finish
• Share your Envelopes & Linky Party Giveaway! closes March 10th

Grab the button:

<a href="http://fromblankpages.blogspot.com/2012/02/cash-envelope-system-giveaway-sew-along.html" target="_blank"><img alt="from blank pages... Cash Envelope Sew Along" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7200/6858274813_1f9d1d49d9.jpg" width="250"/></a></center>

Strawberries, a Finished Block, and a Pattern!

I saw strawberries at the store the other day! Can you believe that they are already in stores? It seems way too early. But you know what I did? I bought some! The one thing I do every year, without fail, is make strawberry freezer jam!! YUM!!! :) It is my favorite. And with a momma that loves it, 3 growing and hungry boys, and a little girl that will soon be introduced to it, I'm thinking I'm going to need to make a LOT more of it this year! It seems like every year we run out of it sooner and sooner. Just 5 1/2 more hours until I can eat some! ;)

Ok, enough talk about food. ;)

I finished up my Scrap Attack block! :)

kind of crazy, eh?!

I have a few ideas with this! I don't know if I'll use it for my [4x5] Bee Block like I planned, but I definitely want to do some more with it! I'm thinking of continuing with the warm/cool pattern, except in the middle star I want to put white in the center (or maybe a white with a little color print), and then make each middle star monochromatic for each block, so one will be red, one pink, one yellow, etc. It'll have to be a place as you go, so I can match up the cool colors as well. :)

You could also put smaller blocks together so they are all facing the same direction, rather than rotating them to fit as in the above picture. It would make it look like a crazy pointy/zigzag mess! But definitely has potential! :)

the possibilities are endless!!! :)

Here's a quick preview I made up of the first design. Though if I really did this, it would look a lot different than this, using different fabrics and all. But I like the design together. It's kind of crazy busy, but fun! :)

Do you want to make this too??? I turned the block pattern into a pdf so you can print it out too!

You can find it HERE in my shop. 
(This is for PERSONAL USE ONLY! All rights reserved.
There is also a LIMITED USE license pattern available for purchase in my shop, giving you permission to sell items made with this pattern on a small scale.
Please link back to my blog or craftsy shop and give credit when due if using this pattern. Thanks!)

A few things to note if you are new to paper/foundation piecing:

• Make sure to cut around the outside of the shaded square. This is your seam allowance, so when you sew blocks together, everything will line up correctly.
• Adjust your stitch length to 1.5 - makes removing the paper easier.
• Sew just past the ends of the lines - makes it a little easier to pull the paper off when you're finished and not pull the seams out.
• Sew on numbers 1-9 first. When you get to 10-14, it really doesn't matter which side you do first.

If you've never paper pieced before, there are so many great tutorials online to help you learn. (This is the tutorial I used to first learn. It's really simple and basic. My first project was a pineapple block that I made into my seat cushion.)

If there is something that doesn't make sense, be sure to let me know! :)

If you make something with this I'd love to see it! 

Please share it in the from blank pages flickr group! :)

My Scrap Attack Block

I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out what block I want to use for my Paper Piecing Bee groups group.  (I'm so sad about dropping out of the [3x6] Sampler Bee, but I think it will be good to have one less thing on my plate right now. Maybe I'll do it again later...) Anyway, yesterday I came up with a block design and decided to test it out with my scraps.

It's still a work in progress, but I am really liking it. I didn't really have a plan when I started with the first segment, but then decided to do a warm/cool contrast with it. I definitely want to make a small quilt or wall hanging with this! I think it's going to be cute! :) (or maybe pillows?!)

Did you want to see my scraps?!

I keep them sorted by color, and am currently going through them, sorting them by size and getting rid of what I'm not going to use (like the pieces that are too small for anything). I sort them into 1"-2.5" pieces, and then 2.5"-5" pieces (they have to have at least those dimensions square, so a really long piece that isn't 2.5" wide stays in the smaller stack). It makes it a little easier to find pieces I know I can use for certain projects. I also have a bin for pieces less than 1" that I could use for ticker tape or applique pieces. Rachel, at Stitched in Color, did an interview with Badskirt Amy about her scraps, and I absolutely love what she said about what she keeps and tosses. Why keep pieces you aren't going to use?! I got a bunch of fabric I got from my Stepmom, but some of it I don't know if I'll ever use... now I have one more thing to look for when sorting my scraps. 

I do however like to keep some scraps around for practice blocks, or if I need to run something through my machine after I've oiled it, etc. Perhaps I'll just have a bin for using strictly for trash scraps. ;) - but not let it get too full of course! I am totally on a clean up and clear out mode lately! (My resolution of getting rid of something everyday/7 things a week, and been very successful! The people at the donation center are going to get to know me very well I think! So far we've dropped stuff off every other week. Keep that up and I think we might just become best friends. lol.)

Don't forget to check out the Scrap Attack flickr group, if you haven't already. There are some great projects going on!!!

2 for 1: a Label. a Binding. Love.

I really like labels on quilts and handmade items! I love knowing the stories behind things and being able to remember who made it and when. This is a problem for me though, because I always forget to label my quilts. I think about it after I've quilted it, and really don't want to slap something on there that will show through to the front.... what to do?!?!

 When I made Mikaela's Quilt I actually used my sewing machine to stitch my "label" onto some fabric, folded it over the binding and sewed it on. :) I actually kind of like it! But it was a bit bulky right there.

this is the worst picture ever! But seems to be the only one I took of the label... but you get the idea.

Recently I finished up another quilt and had the same problem! NO Label! Doh. This time I did something a little different and stitched it right onto the actual binding! :)

What do you think???


Here's how I did it. (First I practiced on a scrap binding - but besides that...) I stitched my letters with the bottom lined up 3/8" from the raw edge of my binding strip (already pieced and folded in half - ready to sew onto the quilt). I sewed through both layers of fabric and it worked great. If you are only sewing through one layer I'd suggest adding some interfacing or something for support (? I can't think of the technical word). :)

Then sew your binding on 1/4" from the edge, on the front of your quilt.

See how it lines up so nice?

I cut my binding 2.5", but if you do a 2.25" it will work out the exact same (just not as thick on the back). Then finish your binding! You can hand stitch it which is super nice, or you can machine sew it. I used Rachel's tutorial for a zigzag binding here, or at Red Pepper Quilts there is this tutorial here (which is what I used on this quilt. I like it! I need a little practice with it, but am sure I'll do it this way plenty more times!) :)

Custom Crafty Sewing

My cousins boy is the exact same age as my youngest boy (I think they are only an hour or so apart) and they both have crazy curls! :) Too fun! For her baby shower I made her a carseat blanket. Simply some minky sewn together, and some turtle applique, along with a couple of elastic loops to hook to the carseat so it doesn't fall out and get dirty. (the WORST thing to happen, especially during a snowy, dirty, Utah winter.) ;)

Well, a little while ago she asked for another one for her second boy (it made me so giddy when she said the first one was her oldest's *favorite*). :D  So I went looking for fabric, and with a request for some orange, here's what I came up with

I love this fabric!! :) (Riley Blake flannel - I think the line is "All Boy" or something?) 

I hope they like it too!

I added some stitching in the stars to hold the layers together.

I used flannel for the top and minky for the back (turquoise dimple dot).

I made one of these for Mabel for Christmas, but added a layer of batting in it. I do not recommend batting. It made it way too stiff to really be useful. I think I'll make her a new one... ;)

This is happily on it's way to the post office today! :)

(I always get anxious about making things for people. What if they hate it??? :/ but I like it, so if they don't I'll keep it and happily do it over.) ;)

I tested it out with Little M to check the size

Hum, I wonder what she thinks of it?!

"It's a winner!" ;)

I also took pictures of something else today... but those pictures will have to wait! ;) ;)