Happy Halloween!

Are you ready for trick or treating?! I am.... I'm excited to hand out candy this year. We weren't able to hand out candy in the past few years because of our apartment. Nobody trick-or-treated there and we didnt' have porch lights to turn on. I hope I get to see lots of costumes and meet lots of neighbors tonight!

Jason and I went to the Red Barn Farm a few weeks ago. We wanted to pick some apples, but for the second year in a row, we headed out too late. 



We did get to see lots of different pumpkins, though. That's always neat to see.

















We picked up a few small pumpkins and gourds for a dining room centerpiece.  I just love the colors of the pumpkins and gourds.  So autumn-ish! 

Be safe and have a Happy Halloween!

Blogger's Quilt Festival

I know you guys have seen this, but I wanted to share it again.  Why?  Because I wanted it to be a part of the Blogger's Quilt Festival!



This quilt is titled "The DOG" and I made for my dad for father's day.  I made it as a representation/interpretation of an old truck he has.  I learned a lot of cool things while making this quilt.  I learned how cool tulle looks when you use it to create a shadow.  I learned that solid fabrics would probably be the easiest way to do this layering sort of technique successfully.  I learned that I can quilt in little circle shapes.  I learned a lot! 

This is the third quilt I did using a photograph to create an image.  The first two were of my grandparents as children.  You can see them on these posts: Gramma's 79th Birthday & Papa's 80th Birthday.  Each time I've tried creating an image using this layering technique I've tried things a little differently.  Fusible web is the way to go; glue is okay, but gets a little messy.  Reverse applique doesn't work with 7 (or so) layers.

Enjoy the rest of the festival! 

Quilt Market...

I've been seeing all sorts of updates from quilty people who get to go to market.  Tweets saying "Boarding the plane in 12 hours!"  "Will be tweeting from the market floor!"  "Waiting for my fabric swatches to take to market!"  I just can't stand it!  I want to join in all the fun.  Sadly, I don't get to go to Quilt Market this time around.  My market debut will take place in the Salt Lake City next May.  I can't wait! 

Have you noticed I've been a little absent lately?  Well, sorry about that...  I have a lot of things to share with you!  I just pulled 1,053 (not joking) photos off my camera and am ready to spread the love.  So, what's been keeping me so busy lately?  Sewing!

Fabri-Quilt has been keeping me super busy sewing things for them to take to market.  How cool is that?  Stuff I've made is going to be there.  It's almost like sending a foot or something... maybe?  Maybe I'm sort of there?  Anyway... here's the fabricy goodness:



From Paintbrush Studio's fabric line titled "Frenzy" we have this men's shirt and swim trunks. 





The pattern for both of these pieces is KWIK-SEW 3421.

I have a fabulous husband who I can sucker into doing things like this: modeling the shirt for me. Don't ya think he looks pretty fly?






I think this turned out really cute.  It's a dress made from Butterick B5313 using Paintbrush Studio's "Oasis" fabric line.



I named the model Judy.  Don't you think she looks like a Judy?


Out of all the things I sewed for Fabri-Quilt's market booths, these are my favorites.  I love aprons!  They are all from McCall's pattern M5825.

The first two aprons are from "Farmer John's Market II", another Paintbrush Studios fabric line. 


I made an oven mitt to go with this one.  And don't you like these photos of me?  I think they have an Anthropologie look to them.  Kind of drab coloring.  It was so windy and cloudy on the only day I had to take these.  Why does that always happen?



P.S.  I took these myself because the hubs was at work.  Don't judge them too much.  :)





This one is from Paintbrush Studio's "Astral Summer" fabric line. 




And this is from Fabri-Quilt's "Flower Power" fabric line.  When I dropped off these aprons, they named this the June Cleaver pattern.  I like this pattern the best. 




They liked it so much, they sent me home with fabric from Paintbrush Studio's "State Flowers" fabric line to make another "June Cleaver". 





I might have to make myself a new apron out of something fabulous in this pattern.  I think it's cute and fits me well.  Maybe I need a gingerbread competition apron?  We'll see...



I didn't take photos of EVERYTHING I sewed.  Seriously... I have thirteen empty bolts from stuff I've sewn over the past month or so.  I also made curtains to hang in the booths, chair covers, and pole covers.  That stuff just isn't as fun to share. 

I had a little helper throughout all of these projects.  When I was sewing the curtains, I'd do them in batches according to thread color.  I'd have mounds of fabric that I'd do one seam on and put into a new pile.  Lily thought these mounds were the perfect napping spots for her. 


Don't worry, I ironed and lint rolled them all before I turned them in.  :)

See what I did?

My sister-in-law, Melissa, writes the Northland Kansas City edition of Macaroni Kid.  A while back she called and asked if I could fill in as "Biscuit" for their meet-up.  I dressed up as Biscuit and waved and patted a few kids on the shoulders. 



Fun, eh? 

A Quilting Place

You may or may not know that I'm an Omaha girl.  I love Omaha.  I go to Omaha about as often as I can.  On one of my more recent trips up, I spotted a little place called A Quilting Place while out and about.

This past weekend Jason and I were up in Omaha and my mom and I decided to check this place out.  We stopped in and chatted with Jackie, the owner of the shop.  It's not a quilt shop really.  It's something really cool!  Jackie has 2 long arm machines that you can rent by the hour.  How cool is that?  It's exactly what I've been searching for!  I like to quilt things myself and Jackie has made that do-able! 

Sound scary?  Jackie requires each quilter to take a 6-hour certification class before she'll turn you loose.  The class is $140.  It sounds like a lot, but I think it's pretty reasonable.  She gives you a baby quilt panel to learn on.  You also receive a set of zippers that are used to attach your quilt to the machine. 

I'm so excited to go and try this out!  I've been dreaming of playing on a long-arm machine for a while.  Now it's possible for me to try it out!

Sliced Circuit

Hi readers, thanks for not abandoning me.  I've been keeping super busy with more projects I hope to share with you soon!

Here's one that's finished up and ready to be shared with you. 



I designed this quilt for Fabri-Quilt using their fabric line titled "Savannah."  I also wrote a project sheet that will be available here soon. 

I spoke to one of the ladies at Fabri-Quilt recently and she said this project is being very well received.  She's been taking it with her to boost the fabric line and it's going over very well.  Neat, eh?  I have quilt designs and project sheets out in the world!