sweet giveaway at marie-madeline studio

The sweet ladies over at Marie-Madeline Studio are hosting a sweet giveaway for a gracie ruffle skirt sewing pattern + the fabric to make their gracie skirt!



This is such a generous giveaway! I just entered and sure do hope to win! You should do the same!

busy with quilts!

I have been super busy working and sewing! I have completed several quilt tops and just need to quilt them. I did finish this sweet baby quilt back in the summer for a friend who had a baby girl. The flash on the camera really washed this one out, but it is so soft and perfect for a new little girl! It is called rosebuds and is from the book, Baby Love.



I have also been busy on a zig zag quilt based on crazy mom quilts' free tutorial. It was on my quilting "to-do" list and is turning out so cute! It is for another friend who just had a baby boy and lives in India! I chose this pattern for its simplicity in piecing a zig zag without cutting and sewing triangles. I highly recommend it! I made a smaller version by using 6 coordinating lighter prints and then a dark print for the zig zags between them. I still need to trim the points off and quilt it, but I LOVE IT! I can't wait to get it quilted and shipped off to my friends in India!



And, a couple of weeks ago I finished this gorgeous quilt top called Magic Carpet! It is from Kaffe Fassett's newest book, Quilt Romance, and I am in LOVE! So much fun to make and very simple, too. His fabrics are so striking and really do the work for you. It is so much more fun to sew with fabrics you love.



I am also working on some adorable children's custom outfits, and can't wait to show you!

we have a winner!

Congratulations to Terrie of Bits and Pieces who said:

They're all wonderful but I'd go for the Heather Bailey red tiled primrose. Thanks for such a great giveaway!

Your strap will be in the mail to you this week!

Thanks so much to everyone who entered my giveaway! I found lots of new blogs to read and inspiration from you all. Thanks also to Sew Mama Sew for hosting the giveaway!

giveaway ends tomorrow morning!

I planned on closing the giveaway today at 12 midnight, but as I am going to bed now, I am extending it until tomorrow morning. So...you still have a few hours to enter!

Stay tuned for a winner!

Sew Mama Sew's May Giveaway Day

Sew Mama Sew is hosting another giveaway day at their blog beginning tomorrow at 9am. I just love giveaways, and plan on joining in. Since I will be busy getting kids to school and won't have time to post tomorrow morning, I am going to go ahead and begin my giveaway tonight!



To win one of my custom camera straps, all you have to do is visit my etsy shop and browse through my items and let me know which strap you would love to win. That's it! You have until May 31 to comment and then I will use an online random number generator to choose the winner!



The contest is open to the U.S. as well as internationally, so no one should feel left out!

I am really looking forward to entering a few giveaways myself and can't wait to see what everyone is up to!

lizzie's market totes :: now in the shop

My 14-year-old daughter has been working diligently to make these bags to raise money for an upcoming marching band trip to march in the Fiesta Bowl Parade in December. I promised her if they were up to my quality standards, I would list them in my etsy shop and let her sell them there. She has done an outstanding job and wanted to let you all know they are listed in my shop. I am helping her with the applique on the totes and she is constructing them.



They are terrific book bags, grocery/market totes, and pool bags for those of you who always tote your stuff back and forth to the pool in the summer. You could get one for each of your kids so they can carry their own stuff. We can make virtually any applique, so if you have a particular thing in mind, please ask! Think...initial, name, an applique for a favorite hobby, etc. The possibilities are endless.



Every purchase will help her get one step closer to her goal and I know she will be so excited to see people buy them. We are going to be working hard to get more in the shop, along with some zippered pouches to match.

a new batch of camera straps :: finally finished!

It has been a few weeks since I began these straps, and I finally finished them this morning. I kept looking at them on my work table and finally squeezed in the time to finish them this morning! I have begun listing them in my shop, and should finish this evening after picking up kids from school and dinner. I think these would make terrific Mother's Day gifts!

I can also do completely custom orders as well, by using fabric of your own choice. All you need to do is drop me a line, and I will be happy to work with you!

Spring Top Week

Rae over at "Made By Rae" is hosting "Spring Top Week" this week, April 27-May 1.



The challenge is to make a Spring top and post photos of it to the Spring Top Week Sewalong Flickr pool. At the end of the week, one top will earn the title of the "Best Top".

I, of course, love a good challenge, and plan on making at least one Spring top. Hopefully more! I have tons of great fabric -- now, just need to decide on which one I will use and which pattern! Decisions, decisions!

what i've been sewing lately...

This has been a busy week as we are getting ready to go to Waveland, Mississippi on a trip with our church to volunteer with still-ongoing relief efforts from Hurricane Katrina. This will be our 6th trip there, and we have come to love many of the families we have met! But, I have been working on a couple of things. It's hard to keep me from my sewing machine!



One is this cute "layer cake apron" from the book, Dozens of Ways to Repurpose a Pillowcase. It was so easy to make, and I think it's adorable. I used thrifted vintage pillowcases and some ball fringe my friend, Cheryl, found at a yard sale and gave to me! She knows what I love! I picked up the book at my favorite quilt shop, Sew Bee It. It has tons of cute stuff in it, including purses, little girl dresses, and coasters.



Another is this pretty linen and patchwork composition book cover and matching zipper pouch. I just love linen with brightly-colored patchwork, don't you?

There are lots of other things on my sewing and quilting to-do list, but that will have to wait until after Spring Break. See you later...I've got some packing to do!

ready to travel!

I just completed a tutorial for this cute passport/travel purse and put it in my sidebar for downloading. A friend of mine is getting ready to go on a cruise, and I thought it would be perfect for stashing her passport, itinerary and her small point-and-shoot camera.



It didn't take long at all to figure out, and because I had bought 3 fat quarters, I had plenty of scraps left over to make these sweet luggage tags. That tutorial is also in the sidebar, and includes a sheet of labels you can print out on cardstock to put in your luggage tags. Now, you will never miss your luggage again!

lauren's quilt :: one of eight

I just finished my first real quilt from start to finish! I have made table runners, placemats and a lap quilt for my mother-in-law, but nothing as big as this! This quilt is for my oldest daughter, who turns 22 in May! I had hoped to make it and give it to her earlier, but, I just got a sewing machine that could handle the machine quilting.



It is the "Turning 20" pattern and was super easy to piece. I free motion quilted each separate piece differently. It was my first quilt to free motion quilt, and I definitely learned a lot. If you are wanting to become more comfortable with free motion quilting, I would suggest doing the same. It is much more satisfying than using a practice piece and then throwing it away! Your kids are pretty forgiving with your mistakes. My daughter said she would "love it forever"! That made it so worth it! After gifting her with it, she went and bought new sheets for her bed and took this photo.



I love the color and design of all the gorgeous fabrics, and the crinkly quilted texture adds that something extra to it. The only regret I have is that I forgot to make a quilt label for it because I was too excited to give it to her! I will have to make one and add it later. I plan on making quilts for each of our eight children, and look forward to choosing fabrics and quilt patterns to suit each of their personalities.

Next up, I am making my 19-year-old son's quilt, a Bento Box, from 48 different batiks!

mountain baby blankets

I was so excited yesterday to "happen" upon Rachel's blog, rachelcoxdesigns. Rachel is a single mom who watched Diane Sawyer's "A Hidden America" a couple of weeks ago and felt the calling to do something to help teenage moms in rural Appalachian Kentucky who don't have enough money to even buy blankets for their babies. She is organizing a handmade blanket drive, Mountain Baby Blankets, so these precious children will have a cozy blanket to cuddle under. Of course, their needs go much deeper than a warm blanket, but this is something that many go without after food, and some bills get paid. And, this is something that I can do!

I have joined many others who also want to bless these children and show the love of Christ through a blanket! I, too, saw the special that night before Valentine's and was touched by the extreme poverty and hopelessness so many of the people lived with. I am thankful that Rachel had the vision for her project and would like to invite as many as are willing to join her in this adventure. You can visit her blog here to read about the project and to sign up to help.

And, if you missed the special, click the photo below to go to abc to view it in its entirety. I promise, it will touch your heart and make you so grateful for what you have!

coming soon to the shop...

These camera straps were all lined up in a row on my work table so I took a quick picture of them to give you a preview. They will all be listed in my shop as soon as I have the time to take decent photos of them.



I just listed 6 of my new patchwork pocket aprons in the shop last night and today. And, I already sold one of them! Yay! I plan on doing more of these. They were so much fun, especially picking out the scraps for the patchwork pockets.



And, last up tonight, is a preview of my new wristlet point and shoot camera straps. They are awesome and come in all the cool fabrics my other straps do. I will also get some of these in the shop this week.



I am also working on a tutorial and a freebie for the printed tags for these sweet fabric luggage tags. I plan on doing these on my next show, along with a sunglasses case and a travel pouch to hold your passport, boarding passes, airline tickets, etc. Be watching for all the project sheets in a couple of weeks.

new tutorials!

I just posted two new tutorials in my sidebar for a bath mat and fabric-embellished towels to coordinate with my shower curtain. This was such an easy makeover I did for my kids' bathroom! Just a few hours, a few towels, and a little bit of beautiful fabric, and you can have the same results!

The awesome thing about the bath mat is that it's soft and easy to throw in the wash with your other towels. I was beginning to despise the rubber-backed things we had been using! And, it has an added bonus of being really pretty!



They were so easy, I am making another set for my bathroom!

patchwork and linen :: a lovely combination

I put together this apron in just about an hour the other night! It was so easy and so much fun to do! I made it based on the apron in Denyse Schmidt's Quilts and love the simple style of the apron combined with the "log cabiney" pocket on the front.



The best part is that it cost next-to-nothing! I bought a linen skirt from the thrift store for a dollar, the pom-pom fringe was in my stash, and the pocket was made from leftover scraps from the shower curtain project I just finished! I totally recommend this book because it has so many cute and fun projects in it. It was the perfect kind of sewing because it gave almost-instant gratification.

I am thinking of making some of these for my etsy shop because I am sure others would want their own cute patchwork-pocket apron to bake chicken pot pie in, don't you?

patchwork shower curtain tutorial

I just finished this lovely shower curtain today, and as I made it, I wrote a project sheet for it. You can find it in my sidebar in the tutorial section. It is made along the same lines as the one I made for my kids bathroom and posted here.

I will be demonstrating how to make it tomorrow for my sewing show, Sew Simple. It really is simple to make and there are so many possibilities. You are limited only by your imagination! I love all these beautiful fabrics, and you can find them at my favorite quilt shop, Sew Bee It!

Let me know if you make anything from my tutorials -- I would love to see photos, too!