Petticoat

Thank you to all of you who participated in my Name that Print game! I have decided to name my new screenprint "Petticoat." Now, first robinde mentioned a couple of names with Petticoat in them but not alone. Then Leila suggested simply Petticoat. To be fair, I will send both of you some pieces of the fabric. Email me and let me know your addresses and color preferences.
I liked many of the other names. There were a lot of citrus, or at very least fruit related ideas. I thought that many of them were cute names but since I intended the print to be rows of eyelet, I preferred "Petticoat."
I am printing this design in four colors. From left to right they are Dove, Petal, Mustard and Aqua. A couple of them are hand mixed colors so they will vary from one printing to the next.

I feel like a hamster on a wheel these days with all that is going on. I haven't had much time for sewing but I did find just enough time to make a simple ornament using Mustard Petticoat. I hand sewed little red glass beads here and there, stitched, turned and stuffed. I think it is sweet in it's simplicity. I didn't intend for this to be a seasonal print but due to the fact that Christmas is coming, I started seeing the scallops as roping or garland and then my thoughts turned to Christmas trees.

Thank you to everyone who has been shopping in my Etsy shop for Christmas! I am surprisingly busy packaging these days, compared to my norm. I am getting lots and lots of emails about the seam rippers that my husband is making. They are a hot item! I am even finding myself emailing husbands to arrange for secret sales. I am feeling quite elf like these days. The centermost seam ripper in the image above is still available. The others sold before I got a chance to mention them here.

We have a couple of recent custom orders to fill and then there will be handful of seam rippers left to list in the shop; probably by the beginning of next week. My husband doesn't think he will be able to do any more than that till after Christmas. At that point, he is willing to take custom orders once again. Between now and then, it will be first come first serve so keep checking the shop.

A Gift; One for me, One for you

Earlier this fall, I had started up a Hanging Hoop Wall Pocket swap and Erin from Why Not Sew? was my partner. Due to unforseen circumstances, she wasn't in a position to finish her swap on time. I told her that as the swap leader and as her partner, I was completely excusing her and that she was free to put the swap out of her mind and deal with what she had going on. Well, she did that for a time but ultimately ignored me and I found this gift in my mailbox yesterday. It's a sweet doll quilt with aqua crosses. You can see it on her blog here. I really meant it when I told her not to worry about the swap. But I am grateful for this beautiful little quilt meant just for me. Thanks Erin!
And now, I believe I mentioned a gift for you? Visit my friend Pomona's blog for a chance to win a Ruched Happy Bag or Hexiecase pattern in plenty of time to make some for Christmas gifts! Tell her I said hi!

Winter Wash Pillow #2

A bit ago, I made a pillow cover using my Winter Wash screenprint in Stormy Blue. I knew at the time that I wanted to make a second pillow cover using the Winterberry red version. My goal with the stormy pillow was to add dimension with no added color. This time, I wanted to create a very traditional, sort of homey Christmas pillow in red and green.

I embroidered some snowflakes in the sky and also used three of BasicGrey's vintage buttons as snowflakes. I added a touch of embroidery to the woolens in green embroidery floss.

I filled in the white stripes of the girl's scarf with green embroidery and used red french knots at the top of the tassels. I also stitched a tiny red button onto the coat.

I then added some details to the landscape using free motion quilting, as I did with my first pillow. I forgot to take a picture of the pillow back but it is a very traditional Christmas stripe in red and green with holly and berries.
I gave this pillow to my mother as an early Christmas gift so that she could enjoy it throughout the Advent season rather than receiving it just in time to put it away!

Did you notice my blog's new look? The header has been improved and the sidebar is finally all sorted out. I have been struggling with it for some time now but my wonderful friend and former neighbor, Sally, is a web designer and helped me out! I haven't seen Sally in nearly three years now because she and her family moved to London. I miss her but working with her even long distance was fun! Thank you Sally!

Welcome Fresh Squeezed Fabrics!

I'm happy to welcome Fresh Squeezed Fabrics as a new sponsor of During Quiet Time. Fresh Squeezed Fabrics is an Etsy shop run by a lovely lady named Randi who blogs at i have to say.... In November, she was featured on The Name Game at Live a Colorful Life. There is a great interview there where she tells us a bit about herself and her shop.
If you already follow Randi's blog, then you know that she just finished up a big Black Friday sale. But if you are new to her blog and shop, you are in luck! She has offered a 10% discount to everyone through Friday using the code "quiettime10."

There are plenty of beautiful fabrics there to tempt you. Here are a few that are tempting me. I love this stack of Ruby.



Oh, and how about some Cabbages and Roses precuts?



And this stack from Lakehouse Dry Goods makes me smile.

Happy shopping!

(While you are shopping on Etsy, check out my Etsy shop for CyberMonday savings as well! See banner at top for coupon code.)

A Few More Bags

Today I added a couple more bags to my shop, just in time for Christmas shopping. These are likely to be it for the season as I have a few pressing things to do...like my own Christmas shopping, baking, and all that good stuff! I made two cosmetic bags that stand on their own due to gussets on the bottom. They provide lots of room for bottles of body spray, travel size shampoo or conditioner and hairbrushes.

Both bags feature my silkscreened fabric, "My Happy Place" in the center of the bag front. They are sewn up in the red and aqua color scheme that is so appealing!

And I made one more Ruched Happy Bag, this time in Melissa Averinos' Dazzle.
Thank you to everyone who purchased a Ruched Happy Bag pattern over the last week. I hope you are all enjoying sewing them up for holiday gifts!

You might want to check out my Hexiecase pattern too. They would make wonderful Christmas gifts as well. I simply haven't made any for my shop because I don't think that they would ship well without losing their shape.

I wanted to mention that all the zippers used in these bags and any bags I have made for the past year or more have come from my new sponsor, Zipit! Jennie has such a wonderful supply of zippers at a phenomenal savings over the big box fabric stores. She also ships quickly in boxes covered in adorable Japanese tape. I highly recommend checking out her shop if you haven't already. You'll never be able to run into the fabric store for a zipper again without cringing at the price you are about to pay!

Kindness

I am the recipient of a tremendous act of kindness and am feeling very special indeed. A couple of rounds ago, a woman named Linda joined my Potholder Pass swap on Flickr. Since meeting her, she has been such a supporter of my work, especially my fabric printing. She recently asked for my address because she wanted to send me a "mini" something. Well, yesterday I received this "mini" rug! It must be about 2 1/2 feet wide and is so incredibly soft! She made it from an upcycled Martha Stewart linen blend. It's crocheted with a large hook. She also included a mini measuring tape twill because it looked like something I would love (and do!). She said she sent this to me due to MY kindness...I think she got things backwards. I am so blessed with wonderful friendships due to blogging. Thank you Linda.

Kokeshi Tooth Fairy Pillows

I've been wanting to make these for ages and finally did! Do you know a little girl about age five who will be losing her first tooth soon? Does your little girl leave her tooth for the tooth fairy in a plastic baggie? No more! These unique little pillows are so sweet and will hold her tooth till the fairy comes to replace it with a coin or bill. I have added a few of these to my shop.


I also made a couple more of my popular Kokeshi doll pincushions. They are oversized so you can avoid sticking the cute doll with your pins. Also, I like a pincushion with room for lots of pins! I have added chevron loops to the sides to up the cuteness factor.



If you'd like to make your own pincushion or tooth fairy pillow, you can also find my "Defining Kokeshi" silk screen prints in my shop. From one panel, you can fussy cut three dolls and make three pincushions and/or tooth fairy pillows, reserving the large kokeshi doll for another project. You do need to forfeit the little doll in the center of the panel for this project though. The panels are printed in three colors: fuchsia, black and sherbet.



Don't forget that I am also selling pillow kits that use this whole panel. You have time to sew one of these for a Christmas gift! And, if not, my two sample pillows are also in my shop.

Happy Thanksgiving

Name that Print

First off, there are three more seam rippers listed in the shop. We have an orange with black swirl and two new colors, orange marmalade and amethyst swirl. There will be more in the next week or so but I am listing them as they come as many people are ordering them for Christmas gifts and I want to make sure they arrive in time!



This is my new screenprint! It's a repeating row of eyelet. My plan is to print it in three to four colors and it will be available at the beginning of December. I am horrible at naming designs. All I've got for this one is "Eyelet." Name this print and you will receive a free piece in the color of your choice! Let the naming begin!

Bags for My Shop

I got into the bag making mode the other day so I made up three more Ruched Happy Bags for my shop. This first bag is made from Jennifer Paganelli's Queen Street collection. I made a similar version in laminate several months ago. This time, I modified the pattern slightly by adding piping between the focal band and the gathered body of the bag.

This bag is made from Anna Maria Horner's Loulouthi collection, also with pink piping.

And finally, I have this cute squirrel and acorn bag. I know we are on the verge of winter but it is technically fall for another month and I was dying to use a bit of this beautiful ribbon trim. I appliqued an acorn using scraps of wool felt.
Thank you to all of you who visit my shop. I really appreciate it.
Now I am off to make some apple sauce. I imagine that many of you are busy in the kitchen today!

Edited to Add: The bags are sold.

Zippers and Curves and FM Quilting oh my!

I hate a post without pictures so this is a peek of the quilt I have just started. I doubt that I will get too far until after the holidays. It will be my first solids quilt (provided you call the Heath texture, as I do, and not a pattern).

The winner of the Sew Fresh Fabrics Daiwabo fabric giveaway is lucky #19, Pippablue!

pippablue said...
What a fab giveaway! My worst sewing fear is FMQ. I can never seem to get even stitches and I'm always afraid I'll ruin a quilt if I try it!

I enjoyed reading all of your comments. It seems that zippers, curves and free motion quilting are terrifying to many of you followed closely by simply cutting or using your fabric, buttonholes, and the reception of things that you have made. I had to say that I felt sad when I read that people were worried that their work wasn't good enough or that people wouldn't like things that they made as gifts. I think handmade gifts are such treasures. I hope you will not stop making them!

Ruched Happy Bags

I'm making a few Ruched Happy Bags from my pattern, available here. I have made quite a few of these now but still enjoy making them. This time, I didn't use my handprinted material for the focal band and instead, added some flowers.
The bag on the left is made with Echo on the bottom and a dot from Circa 1934 for the band. The beautiful flower is by BasicGrey. It's also lined with a Circa 1934 print. I think that this one is going to my son's teacher for her Christmas gift. The bag on the right is a combination of Bliss and Hello Luscious fabrics. I made the raw edge petal flower and cut a wool felt leaf.



My husband has added a woodstove to his workshop in the barn so that he can continue working out there in the winter without painfully cold fingers. His seam ripper production has increased and there will be some listed in my shop over the next week or two, just in time for Christmas. This deep blue sea seam ripper is available at the moment. The seam rippers are much larger than the little plastic ones, and are easier to hold. They are hand turned on his lathe from an acrylic blank.

I hope you are enjoying your weekend! You can still enter the Sew Fresh Fabric giveaway in the post below. I will choose a winner tomorrow.

Giveaway! Diawabo Fabrics from Japan

Peg and Becca from Sew Fresh Fabrics are now carrying Diawabo and Yuwa fabrics from Japan! How awesome is that? For me it means fabrics from Japan shipped to me from right down the road. In an effort to keep you from feeling to jealous about that, I can't enter this giveaway, but you can!


This print is my absolute favorite. It's Daiwabo Japan Sewing Notions from Fumika Oishi. I just ordered some in advance of the giveaway in case you guys sell them out!

If you haven't ordered from Sew Fresh Fabrics before, you don't know what you are missing. They have a wonderful selection of fabrics (now even better with these Japanese prints) and they are so wonderfully friendly.

The winner of the giveaway (to be drawn on Monday) will win the fat quarter stack pictured at the top of this blog post. It's a great variety of prints. I have a fondness for the elephants. To enter, please just leave one comment telling me your biggest sewing inhibition/fear. I will tell you that mine is putting zippers in garments. In pouches it's no problem but they are so challenging for me in clothing!

There is another Sew Fresh Fabric giveaway on One Shabby Chick's blog! You can try to win Yuwa there!


Winners of Lovin' Loulouthi Giveaway from Tuesday are at the end of this post and have been notified.

Candy Cane Love

Today Kerry is releasing her second foundation pieced pattern, a perfectly Christmassy item called Candy Cane Love! Kerry has designed the pattern such that you can use just one candy cane for your project as I did OR mirror image candy canes to create a heart. She shows you how to make a little bag using the double candy cane image here. This pattern is a little more difficult than her last Winter Woolies design but it is very doable. Don't be scared off!

As soon as Kerry told me that her new pattern was a candy cane, I knew I had to use Mrs. March's Sweet Treat Candy Shop by Lecien that I had picked up at Sew Fresh Fabrics a few months ago. It was perfect for the project! I had just a fat quarter but it was enough for a stocking with coordinating cuff made from BasicGrey's Hello Luscious. I used tape measure twill for the hanger and attached it with one of BasicGrey's essential buttons.

The candy cane is pieced with muslin and various bits of pink with a natural essex linen background.
Now, head on over to Kerry's blog and let her know what you think!

Lovin' Loulouthi Pillow Tutorial and Marmalade Fabrics Giveaway!

I've partnered with Tammy from Marmalade Fabrics to bring you a free tutorial for not one but two pillow covers plus a giveaway! Marmalade Fabrics will be selling kits for each of the pillows but two lucky winners will win one pillow kit each!


My inspiration for designing these pillows was the Hugs and Kisses fabric pattern in the Loulouthi line by Anna Maria Horner (seen in the right in this photo with the Xs and Os). One pillow is generally based on an "X" design so I am calling that one Kisses. The other is made of four o's, hence the name Hugs. Both pillows were made with prints from the Juliana colorway of Loulouthi.

I think a lot of us have been scared away by the large scale patterns of this fabric line. I've heard a lot of people say that they need to be cut in big pieces and made into simple quilts in order to properly show them off. I think that is one way to work with them but I think that these pillow show that it isn't the only way. I love, love, love it in strings. And I think that the "Curated Blooms" is perfect for fussy cutting into tiny squares (centermost fabric in the Hugs pillow). These pillows are backed in one of the larger scale prints, "Clippings in Passion," which allows it to shine a bit. It's the best of both worlds.

Maybe you'd like to whip one up for a Christmas present?



The Hugs pillow is beginner friendly. Each quadrant is simply pieced with squares and HST (half square triangles). The centers are fussy cut for a great effect. I chose to quilt in a circular pattern, beginning with a sort of half heart design in keeping with my theme. In addition to Loulouthi, this pillow includes a bit of Medium Aqua Essex Linen, a favorite of mine.



The Kisses pillow is foundation pieced and best for a sewer with a little bit of experience. You will need to create 8 triangular paper templates through which you will stitch in order to piece each section of the pillow. It's important to accurately piece in order to match all those seams along the hypotenuse of the triangles. This one is quilted with straight line quilting 1/4" from the seams.

The free tutorial for the Lovin' Loulouthi Pillow Set is available as a pdf download right here. The tutorial includes directions to make both 18" pillow covers and install an invisible zipper.

If you'd like to order a kit from Tammy, pop over to her site and she will take great care of you. Her customer service is tops. You will have a hard time getting out of her shop without adding other items to your cart though; be forewarned.

Now, who would like to win a kit? If you'd like to enter to win a free Lovin' Loulouthi pillow kit, just leave a comment below and tell me which kit you'd like to try. For a second comment, let me know that you are a follower. For a third comment, visit Marmalade Fabrics and tell me what fabric you love.

I will draw a lucky winner on Friday, November 18th.

Edited with two winners:

The first winner of a Lovin' Loulouthi Pillow Cover fabric kit from Marmalade Fabrics is
#63 Mimi said...
I am a happy follower! Yay
Mimi said in her previous comment that she liked both designs and couldn't decide. I like that! Thanks Mimi.



And when does this ever happen? The second winner is 190 of 190!

190 Pam said...
I'm a new follower.

Welcome Pam!
I will be in touch with both winners to collect your information and pass it on to Tammy.

Winter Wash Pillow Cover in Stormy Blue

It's so hard to get decent pictures this time of year! It's even harder when taking pictures of something white. This is the best I could do.
In addition to printing my "Winter Wash" design on tea towels, I also want to make it available roughly centered left to right on the lower two thirds of a 20" high by 26" wide panel. It's a generous enough size to be used in a number of ways. I'd love to use it as an apron over a little girl's velveteen skirt. It would also make a fantastic adult apron. And of course, there is the pillow cover option. Here I cut a panel to 18" x 18" in order to make a pillow cover.



I wanted to embellish the pillow cover without adding any color. I quilted using my free motion presser foot and made and uneven foreground, a bark look to the trees, the texture of hair on the girl, and swirls from the sky for falling snow. Then I embroidered some snowflakes in white. They were just done improvisationally which means that no two are alike but the symmetry might be off! I added clear glass beads here and there for sparkles in the snow. I love the simplicity of it.



The back is the scarf print from the Sherbet Pips line.

I showed the pillow to my husband and he asked who it was for. I told him that I didn't know yet and he said that we should keep it. I took that as quite a compliment. He also said that as he looked at it, he kept noticing new surprises. Not bad from a husband huh?

I am willing to take special orders for these panels at the moment but will have some for general sale in the shop within the week. I just have a few commitments to get to first!

BasicGrey Booth at Quilt Market

I am so grateful to Laurie, the President of our Boston Modern Quilt Guild, for taking these pictures for me at the BasicGrey booth at Quilt Market. I made the sampler canvas with poofy flowers inside the wooden box.

Here it is again...I drew helpful circles and arrows lest your eyes travel to other projects, ha, ha, ha. The pincushion and thread catcher to the left of the canvas was a sample that I put together to showcase some of BasicGrey's vintage canvas patches. The design idea for the thread catcher was used with the gracious permission of Krista of Poppyprint.



Here are a couple views of the thread catcher taken before it left for market. I don't know how Krista gets good pictures of her thread catchers. They are not easy to photograph at all!



And finally, I made the sampler canvas that is hung horizontally. It looks a bit sideways to me as I intended for it to be vertical. However, I can clearly remember my art teachers telling me that a good composition looks balanced no matter which way you hold it. So, I am going to take it as a compliment that it looks as good on its side as it does right side up!