Austin Quilt Con

I got to go to Quilt Con in Austin a couple weeks ago and was so inspired by all the beautiful modern quilts!  Some of my favorite designers had quilts on show - it was very exciting.

Here is a pic of my favorite quilt from the competition.  It is called Techno Flakes by Amy Ellis.  It is a great modern take on the hexagons - LOVE!

The negative space quilting is also nicely done. 

I also saw a demo of Mistyfuse.  I know it's been around for a while, but I've never looked into it or tired it.  The sample from the demo was so soft, you couldn't tell there was any adhesive between the layers.  It looked so impressive that I had to buy a sampler and am anxious to give it a try.

A Long Hibernation

I have obviously been terribly delinquent in posting to this blog.  Sometimes in life, things just have to give and this time, this blog was the victim.  I am going to attempt to post on some sort of regular basis, we'll see how that goes.  :)

To catch you up on a few things since I last posted:

• I have changed positions at my real job twice.  The first move started a long string of overtime and much less time to get to sew and blog in the evenings. This new move will hopefully give me a bit more time to give to sewing.
• I am now an official sewing teacher at Sew Vac Direct - apart from the "real" full time job. I am getting ready to launch a new class series beginning in March that will include projects that use the Accuquilt Go! dies.  See my class schedule at the link to the right for more details. 
• At Sew Vac Direct, I and another lady, Cathy who is one of the sweetest ladies you'll ever meet, have started a sort of Quilts of Valor program.  We call ourselves the Old Army Quilters of the Brazos Valley and make quilts or any other sewn gifts for veterans, active duty military, and the families of our military.  If you live in the area and are interested in joining us, we'd love to have your help!  Just email me (csutterfield@gmail.com) or Cathy (cathy@sewvacdirect.com) for details.
• Another huge time suck has been getting prepared to start an owner build on our log home in Colorado.  That's another story all together and hope to get a blog up soon that will document our journey.

So, those are my excuses - take it or leave it.  At least you know that I haven't just been a lazy bum.  :)

 

To leave you with a cute pic, here is my nephew snuggling with his quilt from previous posts.  I'm trying to hunt down a finished pic of the quilt - it was finally finished and given to him Christmas 2011.  Myles now has a little sister, Olivia, who needs a quilt.  I came up with a pattern for her while trying to go to sleep the other night.  I'm anxious to get started on it.

Cool Quilt Kit Builder Tool

I saw a new-ish feature on the Connecting Threads website where you can pick from all of their fabrics and make your own kit for 16 different quilt patterns.  7 of the quilt patterns are free to download!  It's really fun to play around with and see the different effects you can get by just changing around colors.  Here is the link to go play.  :)

Here is a kit I put together based on their City View Quilt pattern.  I made this pattern from all fabrics on clearance, so I could buy this 40"x56" kit for only $12.98 - not including backing or shipping!

Totally different topic, I saw this video the other day, and just loved it, so I thought I'd share.

For the Font Lovers

I was working this evening on downloading a few new fonts to my computer - the old bunch is getting a bit stale.  :) 
I primarily use the fonts to run through my embroidery machine, but I've started playing with Adobe Photoshop CS5 - very cool stuff.  I have no disillusions of becoming a graphics artist - I'm not that creative - but it's fun to tinker with.
I think I'll be adding these fonts.  If you're interested in them too, just click the image of the font to get the free download.

Sewing Room Redo - In the Works

I've pretty much gotten my sewing room back into a functining order.  I still have more I want to do in the way of different/more wall hangings.  The guest room has been cleared back out - organization always gets worse before it gets better.

My new cabinet is in and already full - except one drawer.  I'm still lacking drawer knobs.  They're primed, but not yet painted.  They are going to be the same maroon as my sewing machine panel.

In the right drawer tower, 7 of the drawers are full of thread all organized by color - sewing/quilting thread, embroidery thread, and serger thread (in the taller bottom drawer).  The bottom right 3 drawers are actually 1 drawer that holds my serger.

The fabric is also sorted by color - this pic was about 1/3 of the way through all of it.

As always, Dublin is quite the helper.  He would check the height of my stacks by walking over them all then would check out the durability of each empty basket.  If you look closely, he's licking his lips. :)

Here is my quilting fabric stacked on the shelves in my sewing room closet.  Above on the wooden shelf, are my quilt tops that are ready for quilting and binding.  In the far upper right is my wool stash.  

On this side of the closet, from top to bottom, are my knitting supplies, kits and precut fabric, fleece, oil cloth and apperal fabric, books and magazines, not pictured below are more apperal fabrics

It's a little hard to see, but the flannel and batik stashes are under the cutting table in baskets.  I have also stored my old quilts for repurposing and my sashiko supplies under the cutting table.  I like the more decorative layout there, we'll see how long it lasts.  :)

There is the grand tour for now.  I'll post more updates as they come about.  Now I need to get to work on all the project that have pilled up as I've been reorganizing!

Woolly Friends

I took a fun little wool class at Lonestar last week given by Kim from Buttons and Bees.  She did a great job and has some of the cutest wool patterns!  Check out her website.  For the class, we did a little owl and his mouse friend.  I've finished up my funny little duo and am happy with how they turned out.  :)

  

Mouse is a little suspicious of his owl friend, and rightly so!

Mouse's little ears are circles that I sewed a small tuck in the bottom then stitched them on the back of his head.  For his eyes, I was able to use my Fiskars hole punch to get a nice round circle.  I used glass beads for his pupils.

 

Here is a different woolly friend.  Dublin was cracking me up when I came in the living room the other day.  I think he was just mocking me that I had to go to work and he was gonna sit at home all day watching TV.  :)

Christmas Break Projects

My brother's handmade Christmas gift

Back of Christmas quilt


 

Homemade Dipping Olive Oil

Embroidered receiving blankets and a cashmere bear

  

In the hoop embroidery bear

Neck Tie Dresden Plate



Sewing Room Redo Project