Stop staring and start sewing!

Give Away Day and Quilt Market post all rolled up into one amazing post!

It's Sew Mama Sew's Give Away Day...YAY!!  And since this one caught me smack dab in the middle of my Spring Quilt Market 2011 re-cap I've decided to combine my give aways into one massive grande finale!!!  If you're new here you may want to visit my past 3 blog posts (because they have give aways too!!)

I'm super lucky because I just got back from a few days partying with Kristin (she IS Sew Mama Sew!) and more of the Sweet Hot Yams (to understand what a Sweet Hot Yam is you must go here for the official definition) in Salt Lake City.  They, generously, hosted a wonderful mixer at Quilt Market and presented everyone with homemade goodies and amazing pastries.  Here are Violet Craft, Mo Bedell, Monica Solorio-Snow, Kristin Link, Heather Bostic, Shelly Figeuroa, and Traci Butler representin' for the Yams.  The BEST part of market was my time spent with these women (and a few more who know who they are, and a couple of guys too!).  We stayed up until the wee hours (I say "wee" hours because we laughed until we wee'd our pants) and it was so hard when everyone started catching their flights back home.  Thank you ladies! 

 

Today, I'm going to show you some of the stuff the ladies at Lecien have been up too.  I wish I had more pictures but you'll still be impressed (and definitely visit their sites because these are some talented gals!).  This is Lynette Anderson and her beautiful new Christmas collection.

 

Here is the booth of Meg Hawkey of Crabapple Hill Designs.  Really wonderful booth!

 

You can go here for the pattern for these gorgeous button bracelets, and to look at Meg's other designs.

 

Here is one of Lecien's terrific guys wearing a darling apron made from Bari J's new Paris Apartment fabric.  He tried to get out of the way but he looked too cute so I said "Oh no....you need to be in the picture" and he graciously obliged.  He's standing in front of Monica's gorgeous Super Zig quilt made from her Happy Mochi Yum Yum fabric (and it's sooo Happy!!!).  I wish I had a better picture but you can go here for this free pattern (and a bunch more!).

 

Here is my dear friend Bari J Ackerman standing in her beautiful booth (which her super hubby built!).  Stunning, right?  You know it.

 

A close up of her couch (and that chandelier pillow!!).  Dreamy, swoony, sigh!

 

Cabinets with min-dress forms and Bari's new cameo stencils on the wall.  The woman does everything.

 

Here are Lisa Lam (who has a great new book), Bari, Valori Wells, and myself, hanging out.  I must've spent hours over at this booth with Bari and her friend Janis.  They are just so much fun.

 

Here is another part of the Lecien booth area.  I love this Flower Sugar collection and I especially love Pam Kitty Morning's bag made from it!

 

Speaking of Pam Kitty Morning....look at her "booth" (it was more like her own personal Pam Kitty Compound, with candy and everything!).  Pam has a dreamy, darling new collection of fabrics with Lakehouse Dry Goods (I know, it's about time, right?), and it is PERFECT!!  It's got a vintage feel with thoroughly modern colors.  And the kitties!!!!  It couldn't happen to a nicer person.  To know Pam is to adore her!

 

This booth was cute X 20!!! 

 

And here are Shasta and Jana from Izzy and Ivy Designs.  They have some of the cutest patterns and their new ones are my favorites yet.  Plus they're stinkin' fun (so I spent a lot of time lurking over here too)!

 

I finally got to meet Rashida Coleman-Hale and she has so much going on that you really need to go over to her blog to see everything.  This is not a great picture of her fabric so be sure to go take a good look at it because it's crazy cute!  She's just nice and so very inspirational.

 

This was one of the booths that really grabbed my attention and I really wanted to pick Rebekah Merkle's brain because I've never heard of her and here she shows up with this glorious fabric collection and amazing booth.  Go to her blog and check her out because she has a darling house and a great story!

These colors (and the scale of those roses)!!

 

She went over the top with all this cuteness!!  Keep your eye on her!

 

Okay, here's the loot.  It's a big pile so pay attention my dears....Bari J. Ackerman's Inspired To Sew book (signed by Bari!!!), over 2 yards of Bari's Country Lane collection (Paris Apartment isn't out yet but you'll need it!) 101 Patchwork Projects (a 20.00 magazine, but it's just chock full of stuff you want to do), 4 fat quarters from Heather Ross's Mendocino collection, 4 fat quarters from Douglas Day's Be a Man collection, a stack of Aneela Hoey's Little Apples fabrics (42 squares) with a pattern for an embroidered pillow, A similar stack of the newest French General collection with a pattern, some of my favorite funky blue trim, my Shopgirl Apron Pattern, Bari's Springtime in Paris Pocketbook pattern, Serendipity Studios new Diane Kimono Dress pattern, and a darling Shabby Chic tote from Rachel Ashwell to keep it all in.  It's valued at over 120.00!!  So just leave a comment (if you want you can follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Flickr and join my RSS feed in the left sidebar)!  I'm sorry but, due to the size of the package, I'm only shipping in the US.

While you're here be sure to check out my tutorials including my downloadable ruffled shower curtain tutorial.  I have many more coming and am hoping to make some fun announcements soon too!

This give away is open until Wednesday night (the 25th), which is great because I need a couple of days to sit on my couch since I seem to have caught someone's nasty bug.  Have a wonderful week!!  And thanks for stopping by!!

Spring Quilt Market 2011 (re-cap 3)

Sorry for the absence.  Quilt Market is one of those events where recovering from it takes longer than the event itself.  There are parties every night and that's after a long day slogging ever-growing tote bags all over the convention center.  If you ever want to see a gaggle of strung out quilter, well this is the place.  Bliss.

Today I'll focus on the designers over at Free Spirit.  They have such wonderful fabrics and even more wonderful designers so everyone loves seeing what they're all up to. 

Here is Jennifer Paganelli's schoolhouse presentation and it was informative, fun, and most of all, colorful!  Jennifer has a beautiful new book out called Girls World and you want it.  You also want her new journals and notecards.  One the left is Jennifer's assistant Madeline who is so sweet and has a great sense of humor.  In the middle is Carla Crim the Scientific Seamstress and she is such a hoot.  Her patterns are without compare and, in my opinion, she is the Queen of the ePattern.

Here are Madeline, Jennifer, Angela Walters, and Jessica Levitt at a social event hosted by the gals from the Portland Modern Quilt Guild.  If you are unfamiliar with Angela please spend some time at her blog because she is the quilter behind Tula Pink's (and many others) amazing quilts (and she's writing a book!).

Here is Jennifer doing a book signing.  I'm an idiot and waited to long to get mine (didn't want to load my tote down early in the day).  But, mark my word, it will be mine.

 

Tula Pink's booths are consistently awesome.  Oh, her fabrics are too (but you knew that).

 

I really love this crown quilt (Angela's quilting work on display again)!

Heather Bailey is releasing a really perfect line of home dec fabrics and honestly, I wasn't sure how I felt about it (the home dec vs. quilting weight thing) but once I saw it in person I was completely hooked.  I didn't get any pictures because I was so flabbergasted about Heather's other announcement (coming this summer).  This picture should explain it....

Here she is doing an interview.  Glowing.  Check out her paperwares here and the new book she's in here.  Her new fabric line is called Garden District and will be all over the place soon.

As usual, Anna Maria Horner had a million things going on and she could've used a 2 hour schoolhouse session to explain it (although she stuffed a lot into her allotted 30 minutes!).

Here is her gorgeous double booth (being interviewed by Daria of Boutique Cafe).

Lots of new threads, accessories and some new patterns coming.

Center booth picture of her soothing couch with stunning pillows.

Some incredible stitchery items to be release very soon.

 

Valori Wells had a great booth with glorious colors and don't you love that painted-on-the-wall headboard?

Funky birdcage corner.

Joel Dewberry is back with a collection called Heirloom.  It's receiving raves from everyone as did his booth.

His wife has been working with him on developing some lovely patterns.   Really cute stuff.

These bags!

Love the colors all together!

Verna Mosquera had the sweetest booth and her new fabric collection is simply beautiful, flowery, and feminine.  Swoon.

 

Such a darling vanity.

She had the neatest lighting in her booth including this awesome little chandelier.

 

Amy Butler has a beautiful new organic collection.

 

Here is Amy with Tricia Waddell from Stitch magazine.  I love Stitch magazine!

 

Another beautiful quilt.  This is Boston's Back Bay by Mary Lou Schwin, Janet Dye, Joan Randall, Janet Duncan Dignan, Patricia Smith, Graciela Piccolo.  Wow.

Here is Julie of Jaybird Quilts.  Julie is incredibly talented and a really fun gal to boot.

 

I love this quilt on the left with the ribbon-y look.

Here is Lizzy House debuting her 1001 Peeps collection.  Gorgeous booth and a really neat couch (couches are a good idea, standing gets old).

This is Allison from Cluck, Cluck, Sew.  It was a joy to meet her in person and she's super nice (I kind figured!).

Gorgeous quilt and patterns worth having!

And here is my pal Scott Hansen from Blue Nickel Studios.  Scott created the quilt that Ty Pennington is wearing on that magazine cover there (as seen on Jimmy Kimmel too!).  He's got some more exciting things in the works but you'll have to watch his blog to find out.

And since I don't have a magazine with Scott on the cover you'll have to settle for Ty Pennington (sorry!).  Today's give away is this Studios magazine (I already have this one and it awesome because Bari J. is in it too!), Bari's new apron pattern, 2 luscious fat quarters from Jennifer Paganelli, this nifty 1" ruler, and more Pam Kitty treats!  Just leave a comment!

Have a wonderful weekend!  Do something you've been inspired to do for awhile but haven't gotten around to (you'll be glad by Monday)!!

Quilt Market Day 2 re-cap (more goodies!)

Spring Quilt Market 2011.  In this post I'll focus mostly on the folks over at the Michael Miller pavilion.  They are always fun and exuberant over there and they did it again with their Super Heroes theme this time.  Here is their main ordering area.  Neato.

Here is the award winning Crazy Old Ladies booth.  They have a new collection called Going Coastal and everything was very cute and beachy.

Great details.

 

Sarah Jane had a darling booth for her premier fabric collection called Children at Play.  It's a great collection and very well thought out.  I'm sure it will be a big hit!

Here is the girl's corner.....

...and the boy's corner.  Her boy fabric is the kind that you would actually put on a boy.  Really!

 

Sandi Henderson took the blue ribbon for a double booth with her gorgeous booth showcasing her Secret Garden collection coming out.  Sandi is such a sweet friend and her designs just keep getting better and better (this one is my favorite yet).

These colors!

Just gorgeous.

Here is Patty Young being interviewed by Daria Muirhead of Boutique Cafe (with Megan from Brassy Apple as her camera-person).

Beautiful matching ribbons to go with her new Grand Bazaar fabric collection.

Here is Paula Prass's new collection called Botanika and believe me when I say it is stunning.  The print with the birds is a much larger scale than I expected and it's going to knock your socks off.

 

Here is Paula with Liz Johnson from Sew 4 Home (a really great site if you haven't seen it yet!).  It was such a treat to finally meet Liz in person.  She's such a nice gal and I can't wait to see what she has planned. 

 

Here is the darling booth of Violet Craft, one of the newest designers from Michael Miller.  Her collection is called Peacock Lane and it's simply divine!  Peacocks and elephants and willows....all in gorgeous colors (cherry chip!).

A better look at her quilt in progress.  I love the pillows too!

 

Here I am with my favorite Portland gals.  Traci Butler, Mo Bedell, Violet Craft and Monica Solorio-Snow (who is releasing a fantastic collection herself).  I made my blouse in a hurry the night before I left and will share on it soon.

Okay, here is a quilt that really caught my eye.  Well, it's more than one quilt but it's self portraits of the Hanging by a Thread group and it's really cool (and actually a little weird at the same time).  I love seeing stuff like this because it's so out of the ordinary.

And I wanted to be sure to show you the booth by Rachel Ashwell who just released a stunning fabric collection called Treasures.  It's very Shabby Chic, of course, and simply beautiful.

 

Here is Rachel in her booth.  It was really a thrill to shake her hand and chat for a few moments because I have been an admirer for so long.

Okay, and finally, Kay Whitt!  Kay made a few changes to her booth and it was gorgeous.  White doves, brilliant chandelier, white backdrop.....wow!

Here she is modeling one of her latest patterns.  I love Kay (and her husband Keith) and she has been a huge inspiration to me from the moment I first saw her at the Portland Quilt Market in 2008.

 

And she was kind enough to share some loot with me which I'm sharing with you (well, some of it anyway...).....First on my list, the current issue of Cloth Paper Scissors magazine from the great folks at Interweave Press, who graciously thrust this one and a few others at me on the last day of market and made me very happy (a happiness which I shall now share).  Second, Kay's new Betty June pattern, which looked darling on her and will look great on you.  Then an awesome pattern for placemats using selvages (you're not saving yours?? well start!) by Brioni Greenberg who is a genius at selvage sewing (and a member of the Fat Quarterly team), a darling notebook from Sandi Henderson, and more goodies and sweets from Pam Kitty Morning!

Just leave a comment!  You don't have to tweet anything, join my facebook page, or post on your blog or anything.....just stop and chat for a moment!  I hope you're having a great week so far!

Quilt Market...all I ever wanted! Quilt Market...had to get away!

(My apologies to the GoGos)

Well I'm back and still very groggy and useless but wanted to share some pictures from Spring Quilt Market 2011 in Salt Lake City.  Hang on for a give away at the end (and I won't chat much here)!

Moda always has a fun theme and they certainly did not disappoint this time.  They celebrated the Moda Country Fair and everything was fun and bright.  Here is the opening into the main booth area.

Cute or what?  Cute, right?

 

A ferris wheel is a must.

Sweetwater once again had a beautiful corner booth.

 

The darling and delightful Aneela Hoey.  She is such a fun gal to hang with and her temporary tattoos were very popular (Moda applied tattoos of her artwork on those who asked and of course, I asked).

Here is Kaari Meng with her French General booth talking to Katy of Fat Quarterly.  Everyone was thrilled to hear she is re-releasing her first collection later this year.

Stunning stuff from Cabbages and Roses and everyone was squealing about this one.  It turns out I'm the only one in the world who really doesn't know who they are so I will be doing my research all week in order to appear to be in the know.

Just lots more cute stuff from Moda.

 

Cosmo Cricket corner.  Too cute!

The lovely and vivacious Joanna Figueroa in her beautiful double booth.  I don't know how she does it all!

More from Joanna's booth.

This is a corner from Camille Roskelley and Bonnie Olaveson's (daughter and mother) booth.

The back wall of their booth with this zesty mantle.

Bunny Hill booth.  They always do such a sweet booth!

Me and My Sister.  Mary and Barb are so much fun and Mary was telling me about a quilting cruise they are doing soon.  Can you imagine?  Wouldn't that be fun?!!

Here is a circle of some of the amazing talent that Moda Bake Shop has.  They worked on a collaboration with Stash Publishing and were doing a signing. I was going to give away the copy I received until I realized my pal John Adams (the only guy in the picture, got it?) had personalized my book for me so I have to keep it now.  Sorry.  Really.  No, really.

 

Here is a beautiful art quilt done by Patt Blair called In Quito's Market.  It's a quilt!  Amazing details.

 

Stash Books always has a cute and busy corner at quilt market and this one was no different.

They have book signings all weekend long and here is a picture of Carolyn Woods signing copies of her new book Organizing Solutions for Every Quilter (which has my red shelf on page 18!). 

Carolyn's totally thorough, tidy, orderly, and picturesque book can be yours (yes! it can!) if you just leave a comment.  Plus I've thrown in some goodies from Pam Kitty Morning (pictures of her booth coming soon!).  She loaded me up with sweets and treats because she loves you too!!

I'm going to draw for all the give aways after I'm done with my quilt market posts this week instead of after each day.  This will give everyone more time to look at all the pictures (um, I took around 400 but I won't post that many) and be less stressful for me.

Have a good week and keep checking back!

Off to Quilt Market, blog changes, and stuff, etc....

Well some readers may have notices I've made some changes on my blog and I, for one, like the cleaner more organized look (at least it looks that way to me).  Rather than have all of my tutorials on the left sidebar I've created a whole page just for them and I'll keep adding to it so stay tuned!  I've also created a navigation bar under my banner (see it?!).  I'm going to try to compile some of the questions I've received into a FAQs column under my "About Me" stuff so if you have any questions, hit me with them.

Many of my customers have realized that I've let my sweet little store shrink down to a easily manageable size this past year and while it was hard on some emotional levels (and financial, heck!), it's been wonderfully freeing and I've been able to spend a lot more time creating things that make me (and my family) happy.  The nice thing about all this creating going is it's bringing a lot of readers to my blog so I've decided to take advantage of that and have started offering advertising spots on my blog.  Please check out my advertising page (button on my nifty new navigation bar above!) and feel free to ask questions.  I did a lot of research before determining my rates and they are a little bit below what all the averages worked out to.  I won't change them through 2011.

In the meantime go over to Melanie's store, Above All Fabric, (see her cute logo in my right sidebar too) because she's having an amazing pre-market sale to make room at her place.  Melanie is my friend and neighbor (well, she's in Tucson about 1.5 hours from here!) and runs a solid operation at her store. I have a lot of respect for all the hard work she does and am amazed at all she accomplishes between the store, her blog, and the classes she teaches (she makes it look easy and, believe me, it's not).  Check out the review she posted on my Sunny Scallop Dress.  This picture makes me very happy (thank you Sarah for your hard work, darling daughter, and great fabric choices!)

I'll be back from Quilt Market (in Salt Lake city this time!) early next week and have oodles of information and goodies to share with you.  It's going to be a blast and I think all my favorite fabric friends will be there (and I have the best roommates ever!).  There are a lot of new fabrics coming out and I can't wait to see them and share pictures with you.  And it's supposed to start warming up here in AZ so I'll be glad to add a few more cool days to my spring!

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Quick!  Run over to Happy Zombie's place for an amazing give away (and a big look at her gorgeous new collection)!!!

Greased Lightning? Maybe!

Well this machine is automatic, it's systematic, it's hydromatic......
Why it's a Morse Super Dial!!

Look at what Joey found today at a garage sale!  For $5.00!  Is this stunning or what?  I honestly had never heard of this brand until today but I've been digging up lots of info and can buy a downloadable manual too.  I've been wanting to have sewing classes here at home so it'll be great to have another machine.

It weighs a ton and the box is in great, sturdy shape.  I need to get a new belt for the motor but the light works and the motor hums nicely so I think we've got a winner.

 

It's also got the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval!

And a shiny little twirly knob.

 

And the color!  Sweet!

Lucky me, eh?!  The funny thing is the whole gang is out shopping for Mother's Day gifts right now but, as far as I'm concerned, this is it.

 

Brand new pattern (and a BOGO)!

This one's been in the hopper for awhile but I really wanted to put it out there before summer.  And since it's supposed to reach 100 degrees here this week (whimper) I figured it was time.  So here's my latest pattern...The Jemima Party Dress!  I picked the name Jemima because Joey would never let me name one of the girls Jemima (after the girl in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) since we were using strictly Italian names with them. Anyhoo, it will only be made available in PDF format and includes sizes 18 months up to 6 years.  Just print the pattern pieces out and tape them together (very detailed diagram included for those of you who have never used a pattern this way)!

Here are the dresses I made for a friends flower girls and they were so darling on the girls that I knew it had to become a pattern.  I used raw edges on the ruffles and bows with these, which was absolutely darling (and fast!) but they can also be finished with a zig zag or serged stitch if you want a more finished look.

The first 20 patterns sold will include a free pdf pattern (from one of my previous 4, just leave a message with your choice while checking out).

I'm looking forward to offering a lot more pdf patterns since they are so popular and I can get them out in between printings of my paper patterns.  It's a quicker way for me to download all the ideas that go through my mind.  One more week until Quilt Market!!