I've Been Cleaning and Updating My Shop

In preparation for the coming months,  I've been tidying and dusting off all my listings over at my Etsy shop. The big push was Etsy releasing a new feature to offer digital files as an instant download. So as of tonight, all my PDF listings now offer that feature. So what does that mean? It means that you no longer have to wait for me to email out your patterns! Yay! Once your payment has cleared you will receive an email from Etsy with a link to download your file(s). Talk about sweet! (You can tell if a listing is available via download by looking for the features circled in pink.)

So what is coming in the coming months? Lots. I promise. In the meantime, I am making lists, crossing things off, planning, and of course - most importantly - sewing!

I Guess You Can Call Me a Quilter

Not that I am denial or anything. :) However, all my posts lately have been about quilts and I always seem to have a quilt in the works so I think I can officially call myself a quilter. When I made my first real quilt back in 2005ish, I didn't think quilting was for me. I am so glad I gave it another try. 

The main evidence that I am a quilter can be in this picture:

Yep, that would be two quilts basted and waiting to be quilted, with a third finished quilt top on top of the stack. Oh and a fourth quilt top that is currently hanging up in my sewing room.  I can't baste the two tops because I have to free up my basting pins from the other two quilts. You'd think that would encourage me to quilt those babies. Nope. Instead of doing that, the other evening when all was quiet, I played around with some fabrics and made these two blocks:

I seriously can't get in the habit of moving on to a new project when I have FOUR waiting to be finished. I will be better. Promise.

 In my last post I shared a finished quilt top. Well here is the finished "family room" quilt as I've been calling it. The pattern is Happy-Go-Lucky from Camille Roskelley's quilting book Simplify. The fabrics are a combo from several different lines. (Mostly Bonnie & Camille from Moda.) If you've read my blog for any amount of time you know I use their fabrics and patterns kinda often. Like all the time often.  I should probably branch out a little more but they just make the best fabrics and patterns!

I will admit I was a little nervous mixing fabrics from different lines. In the end though, I absolutely loved it!  All the fabrics are Bonnie and Camille with the exception of a few generic yellow ones from Joann's. I love that gray and yellow pinwheel print.

This was the first time I used solid binding in a quilt, love it! It is Moda's Bella Solid in aqua. Such a good color. This is the largest quilt I've ever quilted, 63"x75", and this post helped me plan out my quilting so it didn't turn into a hot mess.

Love!

Now just to prove I do sew other things besides quilts, here are two skirts I made for my 3 1/2 year old daughter's Easter basket. Loved making the one with the apron. Such a fun little project.

I love sewing all sorts of projects, but I can honestly say that my love is quilting.

I love it.

just a few little things

So what have you all been up too? Thought I'd drop in and share a few little things I've been up to...

I hopped on the geranium dress bandwagon; so glad I did. I love this pattern! Rae makes one great pattern. Worth every penny for all the variations you can do and all the sizes included.  This was by far one of the easiest dress I've made. Plus it has pockets!  What little girl doesn't love pockets in her dress. (My little lady loves hiding acorns in her pockets!) See many more geraniums in the future for my girls. Need more convincing of the possibilities of this dress? See here, here, and here. Cuteness.

I work with the Young Women in my church, girls from 12 - 18, and this past Wednesday we had our New Beginnings event. This is a night where we celebrate the Young Women's organization, welcome the girls who will be turning 12 over the coming year, and recognize the Young Women that earned their Young Women Recognition Award. (An award that is about the equivalent of an Eagle Scout project in terms of time spent, service projects, and leadership opportunities.) Myself and another woman I serve with were in charge of refreshments and decorations. I had fun making decorations based on the values and colors. I whipped up a poster with all eight values, a simple bunting banner, and some colorful runners. We had cupcakes and jars of candy for the refreshments. (Candy and cupcakes were all the colors of the values.)

Here is the poster I made. Super simple, but the girls really liked it. Go here to download a high-resolution image. (I printed mine as a 16x20 at Costco. However, you can print at any size.)

Yes, another quilt. I've been wanting to make a quilt for our family room for quite a while. I've been collecting fabrics, mixing and matching from various lines, and about a month ago I started cutting everything out. Last night I finished the quilt top and I am loving it! Now I just need to baste this baby and quilt. This is the largest quilt I've machine quilted myself so I am crossing my fingers that all goes well. I am keeping it simple with a simple meandering pattern. Nothing fancy for this large of a quilt. :) Will let you know the outcome.

Then of course there is the usual, family time, daily life, park trips, bike rides, museum trips, library, Target, hikes...lots of fun times around here. :) I have some big things in the works for the coming months. Excited to breathe some new life into this blog and shop.

What have you been up too?

Tutorial: Marmalade Squares Quilt

tap...tap...tap...is this thing on?!

Yep. It's been awhile. Too long. The holidays have come and gone but there is nothing like a fresh New Year. I am excited for 2013 and I hope you all are too.
 
Today I am happy to share a tutorial that I did for the Moda Bakeshop. It is a very cheery quilt, which is perfect for the long and cold month of January.

 
This quilt was made for my daughter's first birthday back in October. It was a fun quilt to make and I absolutely loved working with Marmalade. It is such a pretty line. Don't be discouraged by all those small squares. The quilt uses strip piecing so it looks a lot harder than it is. :)

When I made my oldest daughter's 1st birthday quilt, I made a Ruby Lou doll. So naturally, I had to make a Ruby Lou for daughter #2. (Yes, she matches the quilt.) 

Ruby meets Ruby. However, we can't possibly have two dolls named Ruby. Or so says my three year old. Any ideas?

I know this is late in saying, but I hope you all had a marvelous holiday season. I am excited for 2013! Thanks for my faithful readers, drop a comment so I know who all is still out there! :)

Happy Wednesday!

Thanks for reading,

LeAnne

Cyber Monday Sale

Happy Monday morning to you. Monday mornings are always a little rough. Especially when you are coming off a food eating frenzy and a wonderful holiday weekend. So to help ease the transition back to 'regular' life...how about 40% off your whole order today in the shop?

Sound good? Good.

Just enter the coupon code CYBERMONDAY12 at checkout and you are good!

Hope to be back in the next few days with some fun projects. 2012 will go down for me for a blur of a year. I hope 2013 won't be such a blur and be able to slow down just a tad.

Happy Monday!

LeAnne

the one where LeAnne makes a really big sign

No doubt most of you have seen this great autumn sign tutorial over at Ella Claire. I pinned it back in September with the hopes of turning it into a reality for my fall decor.

Just before Halloween, I was trying to figure out how I could work that large of a sign into my decor. I don't have wall space for that size of sign, but I did have space above my cabinets in my kitchen. Perfect. The next problem was the color. I didn't think that light of a sign would work as my walls are already cream. So I decided on a black sign with cream letters. You can never go wrong with black. So here is my version. All the design credit goes to Ella Claire.

 

I decided to go big on this sign it measures 60" long by 14" wide. Now I am not going to torture you with saying, "I just found this old board on the side of the street and painted it."  I am NEVER the girl that finds all these great things on the side of the road or at thrift shops. I am not that lucky. I've never even won a giveaway. Ever.

However, I am very lucky to have a wonderful husband that made and had the idea for this board.  He used the pine panels that you use typically for paneled walls that you can find at Home Depot. He cut the panels to size, glued them together, and used some finishing nails to secure everything in place. The panels have two sides. A nice sanded side and a nice rough side. We decided to use the rough side. I painted on one coat of cream craft paint then a layer of black craft paint. (I was not neat when I painted - seriously just slap the paint on the board. ) Then I sanded, using a circular sander to distress. Then I cut a paper stencil using my Cricut for the lettering. I taped the stencils on and painted, painted, and painted. After everything was dry I sanded it again. (I actually sanded it again after I took these pictures.)

So there you have it! A really big, but really terrific fall sign. I love it!

Happy Monday,

LeAnne

Halloween Banner

We are ready for Halloween at our house! Costumes are made, pumpkins are ready to be carved, and  the house is decorated.

Last week I made this fun Halloween Banner for my mantel and I love how it turned out. I made the banner using the Halloween Banner SVG file from Lori Whitlock. I cut the peices out using my Cricut and Sure Cuts Alot software. It was a pretty quick project and can't wait to make some more for other holidays. I hope to find some other fall/Halloween decor on sale this year and built up my stash of fall decor.

 Remember that wreath I mentioned a while back? It has been hanging happily on my mirror, love how it turned out. I also ended up making another for my front door. :) 

 

Just a little update. I am still working on my quilt tutorial and hope to have that done in a week or so. Can't believe we are Trick or Treating in a few days! I hope everyone has a safe and fun Halloween. I am especially thinking of all those on the East Coast in the path of Hurricane Sandy. It is hitting where I grew up in Maryland, so I am thinking and praying for all there.

Happy Monday!

LeAnne