Giveaway at Julie's

If you haven't yet, you should hop over to Having Fun Quilting for Julie's patriotic wall hanging quilt giveaway.  There are three ways to enter and you have a chance to win a Liberty Logs quilt kit.

 Isn't it pretty :) Now go sign-up!

Stash Report

I've been adding some new fabrics to my stash lately!  I totally fell in love with the Michael Miller children at play fabrics after buying the pink balloons fabric for the Novelty Squares exchange.  Luckily I order extra of that fabric because I knew I wanted some for myself too.  Now, I've added a few more fabrics from that line to my stash along with some others that I'm squirreling away for future projects. 

I'm so grateful to Cotton Blossom Farm for the quick and reasonable shipping and actually having all the fabrics that I was looking for (including some that I wasn't looking for but had to have after seeing them; funny how that happens.  It's like how chocolate magically jumps into my cart at the grocery store).  I'm always happy to discover fabric shops that carry everything I'm looking for in one place.  It saves on both hassle and shipping to order all at once.  It's also nice when an online store has such great customer service :-) I'm a very happy girl today!

 The "On Parade" border fabric might be my favorite.  I really want to make a birthday dress for my daughter out of this print.  Her birthday has already passed this year, but I wanted to order this fabric now because you never know when a line will become hard to find.  I looked at a lot of online fabric stores who were sold out already.

I also got some polka-dot fabric in yellow and blue, some American Jane "tickets in cream" and some little apples fabric in red that will make it into an I spy, and of course the children at play fabric.  I just love the little girls playing with their dolls and the boy chasing the airplane.

  I also broke down and ordered some flea market fancy fabric. I have got to admit that I now know why everyone seems to love this fabric.  It is beautiful.  I'm thinking that the bouquet in grey is going to end up as a little purse for me.  The blues and yellow are likely going to be in a quilt.  I also planted my window boxes yesterday.  I'm loving my new red geraniums.  It's finally starting to feel like spring here.

Quiltspiration: The Netherlands

I truly believe that inspiration can be found just about anywhere.  I've recently been to several places here in Europe that provided ample inspiration opportunities.  Today, I'm going to share a bit about our recent trip to Holland to see the Keukenhof  flower garden show and also share a bit of tulip inspired quiltspiration.

We went the first week that the show was open so not all of the millions of tulips, daffodils and hyacinths were blooming yet, but it was still an incredible site.  It was pretty cold for spring when we visited, but as we drove in we could see that the big tulip fields where already full of color. 

I wanted to design a simple and modern quilt that reflected the look of the tulip fields in full bloom when you see them from above. I wish I had a photo to share of the fields but you can Google them and the images are really incredible. 

This is honestly a straight forward little quilt. To make it you can use a jelly roll of various flower colored solids or blenders (or 2.5inch strips) and a honey bun (1.5inch strips) of a dark brown-green color for in between the rows. Using the whole length of the strip, join the same colors together following the picture. On strips where the color breaks at some point on the strip Just join the ends and place the strip where you want the color to break for the row. There is really no reason to worry about being exact. Then just add your brown-green strip between the flower colors. I think that this would come together really quickly. I'd finish it off with a fun print for the binding to give it a bit of zing, but to each his own :)

We had a great time, and saw some really beautiful flowers. Here are a few more images of our trip just for fun, and maybe they will inspire you in some way too.

Can you tell it was cold. My daughter is wearing my husbands hat and coat.

I'd never seen tulips with fuzzy edges before this.

They also had a special exhibit of orchids too. So beautiful.

Stale Stash Bounty

Wow, it's so good to be back home from vacation!  We had an incredible time in France with the kids, but I'm happy to be back home.  I have a ton to share with everyone about my trip and some great inspirational photos that I plan on posting, but today I'm going to do a little catching up.



Last month I got to enjoy swapping out some of my fabrics with a few other bloggers out there.  When I got back this week, I had a few nice little packages waiting for me at the post office; it was like Christmas. I would like to thank Fiona at Celtic Thistle, Cheraldine at I Be's Cheraldine, and Dana at Drinking Fabric for swapping with me.  Most of this fabric will make it into my I spy quilt and the rest is going to find a home in a project that I'll be making in the future. 

Rainbow Toe Flats

Yeah! Here they are, finally finished.  My first pair of recovered up-cycled shoes.  I call this pair of shoes my rainbow toe shoes.  I really like how they turned out and am going to share some of the things I learned about recovering shoes with you here.  This is not a full tutorial, but it might help some people avoid a few mistakes that I made and give you an idea of the supplies that you will need to recover your own shoes.  Also, I'd just like to add that I did these from stuff that I already had in my stash! 

Here's the shoe that I started with.  I'd just like to say than in the future I might stay away from black patterned shoes.  The pattern tends to shoe through the fabric.  I had to cover the shoe in white muslin first and then cover it in the yellow fabric so the pattern wouldn't show.  This creates an extra step that is a bit of a pain.

Supplies to make these shoes:

• A pair of canvas shoes
• A bottle of waterproof washable glue like Aleene's OK to Wash or some Liquid stitch (The glue has got to be able to get wet!  Using non-waterproof glue will make your shoes very susceptible to damage from everyday wear)
• A small foam brush or small old paintbrush
• Fabric for the shoes.  I used a 1/2 yard of nice Kona cotton in Sunflower.
• A pencil and a chalk pencil
• Embroidery Floss in Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, and Blue (you could also use pearl cotton or thin ribbon)
• 1 pkg of Wrights 1/2 inch single fold bias tape in oyster
• 1.5 yards of black satin cording (the kind used to make a necklace)
• A sharp razor blade knife or exacto knife

1. First, you need to make a template using either some fabric you don't want or some cheap muslin.  Drape it over the top of your shoe, cut a slit at the foot opening, and pin it around starting at the toe.  Go from the toe to the heel on one side and then the toe to the heel on the other.  There will be some fabric bunched up at the heel.  Take your pencil and trace along the top and bottom.  Don't worry too much about being exact because you'll cut any excess off when you glue your fabric to the shoe.  You should end up with something that looks a bit like an elongated horse shoe.  Use this to cut your good fabric and make sure to add a seam allowance of about 1/2 inch.  Flip your template over to cut the fabric for the opposite shoe.

2. Prepare your shoe.  Your shoe should be clean.  If your shoe has a binding around the top like mine, rip it off.  You need to reduce bulk around the top or your shoe will be uncomfortable.

3. Brush your glue all over the outside of the shoe and lay your fabric gently over it smoothing it back from the toe to the heel.  At the heel cut off any excess fabric so that the edges butt up against each other but do not overlap. Don't fold the fabric over into the inside of the shoe, this creates bulk that is not comfortable.  Let this dry for a few hours or overnight.

4.  With your SHARP razor knife, cut any excess fabric from around the bottom of the shoe.  Try to get as close to the heel as possible and keep it neat.  A dull blade will fray the fabric here and makes your job much harder.  Cut the fabric even with the shoe opening.

5. Take your bias tape and glue it flat over the seam at the back of the heel.  Cut the bottom even with the sole and the top at the edge of the opening.  Don't fold the tape over the heel to the inside.  Again, bulk at the heel is BAD.

6. Take your 1/2 in single fold bias tape and open up one side of the fold. Leave the other part folded over.  Starting somewhere on the instep (not at the heel!!!)  Glue the nice folded edge to the face of the shoe all the way around smoothing it taut as you go.  Take the unfolded side and glue it to the inside of the shoe so that it lays as flats as possible.  Make sure that you don't have wrinkles at the heel!  This will give you blisters!

7. Take your black cording, or whatever color you want.  I just wanted mine to match the sole for a nice clean look and glue it where the fabric meets the sole to cover the cut fabric edge.  Pin it in place while it dries.  I could have used black ribbon here, but I found that cording does a much better job of covering the raw fabric edge by sitting in that groove between the sole and the canvas.

8. Now the fun bit :)  To embroider your shoe you do not need to know anything but the basic running stitch.  With your chalk mark a basic rainbow shape on the two shoes.  Then make a knot in one end and embroider your rainbow.  If you can make a knot at the opposite end inside the shoe to secure the stitches, then go for it.  I left the floss long and then glued the ends into the space between the shoe pad and the wall of the shoe.

There you have it.  Brand new shoes from ones you may not have used otherwise.  You could adapt this for any number of patterns.  Have fun!

*TIP - let your shoes cure for a few days before using them and spray them with some scotch guard or other shoe protector to help keep them fresh looking longer.

Fabric Bundle Contest

I am a Ginger Monkey along with Pink Castle Fabrics is hosting a great little create your own bundle contest where you get to play bundle designer.  The contest is running through the 31st and all you have to is create a bundle with 12 of your favorite fabrics from the Pink Castle selection and then link them up at Ginger Monkey.  If your bundle is chosen as the best, you win it!  Pretty cool, huh!  Beware, the competition is steep.  I was checking out some of the bundles that have already been linked, and there are some really cool selections out there.

My bundle reminds me of summers in Morro Bay when I was a kid.  It's one of my favorite places on Earth.  In the morning is can be rainy and overcast, and then the sun shines all day and the flowers bloom on the dunes.  If you were lucky, you could see whales breaching from the shore sometimes.  It was a great time.

My fabrics from Left to Right:

1. Fly A Kite Floral in Yellow by October Afternoon
2. Haybale in Yellow by October Afternoon
3. Timeless Treasures Basics Dots in Yellow
4. Circles in Daffodil Yellow Modern Whimsy
5. Chevron in Yellow - Cotton Chevrons by Riley Blake Designs
6. Hello Pilgrim Pearl Bracelet in Turquoise Lizzy House
7. Rain Drops in Rain Blue Jack and Jenny by Laurie Wisbrun
8.Closet Coat in Blue - Millie's Closet by Bee in My Bonnet
9. Hello Pilgrim Butterfly Sky in Turquoise Lizzy House
10. Roundabout Dots in Downtown Aqua City Weekend by Oliver and S Liesl Gibson
11. Fish Tales in Ocean - Salt Air by Cosmo Cricket
12. Sea Garden in Ocean - Salt Air by Cosmo Cricket

Novelty and Colors Layer Cake Swap

After all the swapping fun I've had this last week, I've decided to join in on just one more swap.  My husband must be wondering where all his envelopes have gone this month :)

Hilachas and My Sister Made Me Do It have teamed up to offer the Novelty and Colors Layer Cake Swap.

Everyone is swapping 12 10x10 Blender and a Novelty fabrics each.  Hilachas has a list of colors available and a Flickr group set up so we can all see what the others are sending (also so we don't accidentally buy the same Novelty fabrics).  I think there are still a few slots open until the 28th of March 2012 for those who are interested.  I've signed up to swap a Navy blender and a Fuchsia blender with their accompanying novelty fabrics.  I had a great Navy that I wanted to use, but alas they requested that the fabric be unwashed, and I religiously was my fabrics after purchase.  That's okay, I found four really great fabrics that I love and ordered them today from Fabric.com for the swap.  I love Fabric.com because I've never had a problem getting even big orders shipped to my APO.

I agonized over which fabric to buy!  I loved them ALL, especially the novelty fabrics.  I was torn between a really great whale fabric and the cassette tapes.  I finally decided on the tapes because my seven-year-old son came in the room and asked me "What are those?"  I remember cassette tapes, and taping songs off the radio when I was a teen.  Good times :) So, I just had to get them.  I also love the balloons.  I was trying to get Novelty fabric than went with my blenders.  I think that this will make them more useable later on.

There's still fun to be had for other would be swappers who want to join in.  Hope to see some of you there :)