blog-o-versary giveaway (and ruffles too!)

****This Giveaway is now Closed****

My one year blog-o-versary actually fell during Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day at the end of May, so this is a post celebration giveaway, but a giveaway none the less! 

There are still days when I cannot believe that there are people that actually read my blog and are interested in what I am up to.  I just love the "bloggy  friends" I have made over the past year, and enjoy reading everyone's comments and opinions that help to improve everything I work on!

So this giveaway is to say thank you!  Who wants some free fabric??  I am giving away a fat quarter bundle of 6 prints from Aneela Hoey's Sherbert Pips line (and a few little pin toppers)

And a Charm Pack of Sugar Pop! by Liz Scott for Moda (and a few little pin toppers)

This giveway will be open through Monday, June 20th at 9:00 PM.  As for the nitty gritty, you have two chances to win, here's how to enter:

1.  Become a follower, and leave a comment saying so (or comment that you already are a follower) - rss readers count as well!

2.  Blog about this giveaway, and leave a second comment with the link to your post.

Be sure your contact information is available, no-reply bloggers, please leave your email address in your comment.  International entries are welcome.

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This Giveaway is now Closed

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As for part two of this post, I figured I'd share the finished apron that I showed a sneaky-peek of yesterday.  

I used an Alexander Henry print I had tucked away in my stash and a pretty pink for the apron strings.  When I cut the pattern pieces out, the body of the apron is much shorter than the sample picture on the front of the book.  According to the instructions, there are supposed to be 2 more rows of ruffles on the bottom about 2.5 inches apart, and another row of ruffles along the top.  

After walking away from this project on Monday, and taking another look at it on Tuesday, I decided to just go with the one row of ruffles along the bottom, embroider the recipients monogram, and call it a day.  

I will say, I do like the apron patterns in this book because there are different sizes!  This is the medium apron, and there are optional darts to give a little shape as well.  If I had this to do again, I would probably add a little more length to the apron body, and add the extra ruffles, but I think its cute as is.

One more thing off the check list, happy sewing!

WIP Wednesday {6.15.2011}

Happy Wednesday!  We were off visiting this cutie for the weekend, so I don't have a ton to show off, but here goes!

Completed Projects

Zippy Pouches



I finished up all ten of these fun little zippy pouches and used my rainbow zippers I posted about here.  Again, cannot gush enough about this way of installing zippers. 

New Projects

Ruffle-y Apron

I picked up this little book of apron patterns at Joann's on a whim one day, and am working on the ruffley pattern on the left (please excuse the excessive glare on this picture).  I honestly didn't think I'd have anything to show for WIP Wednesday.  After cutting out the pattern pieces for this apron, I thought, "wow!  This won't take me more than an hour or two to finish up!"  Not so much.  At midnight, four hours later, I was still not finished and decided to hang up my sewing hat for the night. 

Here's a sneaky peek of what is completed...I'll spare you the saga for another day, but after leaving this for the night, and reassessing in the morning light, I have decided to make some pattern adjustments and am much closer to finished than I thought.

In Progress

DWR



Yes, this is the exact picture I shared last week, and it actually hasn't moved from its place on my design wall.  I just like looking at it, and thought I'd add it to this post.  I suppose it is still a "Work in Progress".  I do plan on working on this as project numero uno this week, so hopefully there will be more to share next time!

Quilt tops awaiting quilting
Central Park Baby Quilt

Postage Stamp Quilt

This Weeks Stats

New Projects: 1
Completed Projects: 1
Ongoing Projects: 8

June Bee Blocks
Postage Stamp Quilt
Central Park Baby Quilt
Double Wedding Ring Quilt
Apron Project (cousin's bridal shower)
10 zip pouches (cousin's bridal shower)
Kitchen themed gift basket (cousin's bridal shower)...oh the joys of being a bridesmaid! :-)
Kaliedoscope Quilt Along
Dining Room Remodel

Be sure to stop over at Freshly Pieced and add your WIP!



zippity zip

As promised, I did finish something as of late!  

These little zippy pouches will be used as "prizes" for my cousin's upcoming bridal shower.  I followed the same method I used here to whip up these cuties.  I must say, I do not think I will ever finish a zipper any other way than using the tabs on the ends, it just makes such a clean professional looking finish.  

I had a good time playing with my fabric stash to come up with these color combos, and for the most part worked out of my scrap bins.  Theres really an assortment here, and I have to say it will be hard to part with them.  

In case your in the market for zippers, I found these bright fun zips from zipit on Etsy.  I just checked, apparently their shop is closed until Friday for vacation, but they had close to every color under the rainbow in all sorts of different lengths and great prices.  I think I bought 50 at one time, and picked 5 each of 10 different colors.  Such a great deal (I think it worked out to somewhere around 50 cents per zipper) compared to what they run per zipper if purchasing somewhere like Joanns.   

These measure approximately 8 inches wide by 5 1/2 inches tall and are great for holding all sorts of odds and  ends.  

I made 10 total, but thought the mosaic for 9 looked prettier.  Now to find a pretty way to package them, and I'll be set!  

cuteness.

There has been zero sewing going on in my sewing room over the past three days, and I thought I'd share my excuse.

I spent the weekend hanging out with this handsome little man!  He was born back in October and this weekend was the first time I was able to travel up to New York to visit this cutie and his mom and dad.  

And yes, that is the flying geese quilt I made for him way back when, so fun to see it being so loved!

I promise, tomorrow I will have a sewing project to share, I just thought I'd show off my excuse for a non-quilty weekend!

WIP Wednesday {6.8.2011}

Eeek!  Wednesday why must you sneak up on me so?  With summer finally upon us, I seem to be heaping on more and more projects, with less and less time to work on them.  I vote for adding one extra hour to the day that can solely be used for quilty things :-)  yes, that would be fantastic.

New Projects

Kaleidoscope Quilt Along

A new quilt along?  With Elizabeth from Don't Call Me Betsy?  And Kaleidoscopes?  Yes Please!!  There's still time, you can sign up here.  These are my yummy fabrics just waiting to be cut into.

Dining Room Remodel

See here.  I am dreaming of yellow and grey design ideas, and I cannot wait to get started on this.

In Progress

Double Wedding Ring Quilt

This is truly a labor of love.  I officially have two rows completed, and joined together.  And joining them was a pain in the you-know-what.  I'll save the details for another post, but suffice it to say, me and this quilt had words, I figured out what I did wrong to make us fight, and then I banished it to the corner for the rest of the week to focus on other things.  Much better.  I did figure out what was causing the difficulties, so when I get back to it, it should be smoother sailing.

Pretty Pouches

I offered up my sewing skills to make a few things for my cousin's bridal shower which is fast approaching at the end of this month.  These zippy pouches are the first of a few projects I'm making, and measure approximately 8 inches x 5 1/2 inches and will be used as "prizes" for bridal bingo.  7 more pouches, an apron and a "kitchen" gift basket to make.  In the next 2 weeks.  Eeek!

Quilt tops awaiting quilting

Central Park Baby Quilt
Postage Stamp Quilt

This Weeks Stats

New Projects: 3
Completed Projects: 0
Ongoing Projects: 9

June Bee Blocks
Postage Stamp Quilt
Central Park Baby Quilt
Double Wedding Ring Quilt
Apron Project (cousin's bridal shower)

10 zip pouches (cousin's bridal shower)

Kitchen themed gift basket (cousin's bridal shower)...oh the joys of being a bridesmaid! :-)
Kaliedoscope Quilt Along
Dining Room Remodel

Be sure to stop over at Freshly Pieced and add your WIPs!

quilt along? yes please!

The last thing I need right now is another quilty project to get myself into, but when I saw Elizabeth, of Don't Call me Betsy was hosting a kaleidoscope quilt along, I couldn't help but join in!   I've actually been wanting to make one of these for some time, so why not now.  

Elizabeth has posted the basic fabric requirements here, so go ahead, check it out and join in!

I knew I wanted to make this pretty scrappy, and work from my ever growing stash, so here's what I'm thinking:

Kind of a range of warm and cool tones in a mish mosh of fabrics from my stash.  There are a few I'm still thinking of subbing out, but for now I'm excited to get to work!

There's still time to join in the quilt along, I don't think it technically starts until June 23, when cutting instructions will be posted, but what do you think?  Quilt Along anyone??

Oh, and on an aside, we had a cookout yesterday, and I just had to snap a few pics of my quilts being put to good use:

Melts my heart, the only thing that makes a quilt even better is when you have an adorable little baby crawling around on it!  

makeover: dining room edition

So have you checked out Pinterest yet??  Its kind of addicting, and basically like a virtual design/inspriation wall.  Instead of "bookmarking" all those awesome tutorials I want to try, and then eventually end up forgetting about, I can now add pictures to my "design boards" on Pinterest for a visual reference of just about anything I want a collection of.  Pretty cool.

This new minor addiction of mine has led to a little dining room makeover project that is now swimming through my head.  I think it is totally doable, but my husband just rolls his eyes.  Just another one of my crazy ideas.  So, he'd like to say, thank you Pinterest (yes that is sarcasm dripping from that "thank you") for giving his wife more crafty projects to plan.  No really though, I think I have him on board for my redesign idea (which includes painting the dining room furniture, and is where the majority of his protest comes from), well "on board" enough that he is not vehemently saying "no." I think I've worn him down to just a shoulder shrug (which in my mind is a green light) when I broach the subject.


original pic found here 


original pic here

Drool.  Yes please!  I am in love.  I have been digging the yellow/grey color combo for some time now, and after seeing these awesomely amazing inspiration pictures it came to me that this would make an amazing dining room color palate.


inspiration for decoration

I had seen this picture on Lee's Pinterest page and it started the ideas churning.  Here is the dining room now:

Now please keep in mind, this picture was taken last summer before I moved my sewing stuff to its permanent home in the basement, so it actually does look like a dining room now, but you get the gist.  The furniture is horrible.  We purchased this basic set from a friend of a friend of a friend that needed to get rid of it, basically to just have something in this room when we moved in.  

Now, I've been thinking of painting the furniture for some time now, and after reading this blog tutorial, and doing a little more research, I think it's totally doable.  Anyone have any experience painting furniture? 

So here's what I'm thinking for this dining room makeover:

1.  Repaint furniture black with distressed edges like here (or a deep chestnut brown??  I'm not sure yet, I want to do black, by I'm afraid I won't like it when all is said and done... What do you think, oh wise bloggy friends??) 

2.  Paint walls light grey

3.  Keep trim white

4.  Make curtains out of fun yellow/grey/white fabric

5.  Add framed yellow/grey white prints to walls

6.  New pretty light fixture over the table

7.  Pretty yellow accents throughout the room

Unfortunately our weekends in June are packed to the gills, so this project is going to have to wait until likely July (ugh), but I am super excited and feel like I can pull this off.  

Anyone else have any summer redesign plans??