click me!

dayton days

My first show at Dayton Days in Virginia turned out to be a beautiful fall day. Although the air was crisp in the morning, the sun came out later and I had a wonderful time! What I wasn't expecting was the crowd...thousands of people came out to see over three hundred vendors. But who can complain about that!!!



Not me, because I met so many nice people and saw quite a few familiar faces.


I thought I would share some purses I made for the day...

This one is a new style called a bucket bag, the fabric is called Folklorica by Julie Paschkis. She is a children's book illustrator and her fabrics are so whimsical and colorful. I want to try her Oceania line next. The basic bag pattern is one from Keyka Lou with my own spin on her design♥

Next is one fabric line I'm sure you'll recognize...Amy Butler's Lotus line has been so popular. Everyone likes this style!
Here is another way I used Amy's Lotus fabric...




Then there's Cosmo Cricket's Early Bird. With a retro feel, this has been one of my favorite collections this year. I love the cherry and toaster fabric in this line!



I just have to have any fabric Lila Tueller creates...the vibrancy of her color palette and the quality are exceptional. She has a new collection out now called Spirit which is on my "must have" list...but then again, I can't think of many fabrics that are not on that list :) This is a laptop/large tote pattern that I came up with. Made from Lila's Woodland Bloom line which unfortunately is very hard to find anymore. Now how pink and pretty is this?


Kate Spain (what a cute name!) is right up there beside of Lila Tueller as far as color and design. This is her newest line, Fandango...

And lastly, Alice Kennedy's Poppy Lane...black, red and white is a favorite color combination of mine. The pattern is my own, created from fat quarters with a pocket in the middle...thinking about doing a pdf of it, if I can ever find the time.



Another use of the black, white and red combo, Mod Hen fabric. Robert Kaufman's Metro Market line, I think :) Isn't this a fun purse? It takes a modern girl to rock a chicken purse like this!!!

Thank you for stopping by and seeing some of my newest creations. I am currently working on too many projects, don't we all? But hopefully soon, my Etsy store will be up and running, I'm waiting on ordered fabrics to come in. Also, if you are in the Virginia area, I will be at Staunton's Art for Gifts at the Staunton Art Center in Staunton, VA from November 19 until December 30. This is a wonderful venue with many talented artists that lasts all through the holiday season. Until then, happy sewing and enjoy!!

before Prozac, there was quilting...

or so they say...

My personal motto is "Don't start quilting and you won't need Prozac."

To understand my feelings about this, you have to first know something about me. Patience is not one of my virtues...instant gratification is my game. Anything precise and time consuming awakens the suspected ADHD in me. And the second thing you need to know is that my Laura has...the patience of a saint, of Job, of the heavens and earth, of however you want to call it, she's got it and I don't. I learned this today when she called and wanted my help with appliqué. Oh, to even type the word makes me shudder....


Now, I love to sew and have been doing so for many years. You need a costume or a new dress or handbag, no need to look further, you've found your girl. What I don't like to do is all the preliminary steps before you get to sew...cutting out the pattern, the interfacing, the fabric. And then you get to iron it all before you start! Whew! If someone would do all of that for me, I could sew all day. I love the construction part. With that said, Laura, the patient one, remember? She's making a gorgeous quilt called "Petal Play" by Denise Sheehan.


It's a beautiful color scheme as you can see, with all the blue and green batiks. But it's an appliquéd (oooh, that word again), quilt and that's where the fun *insert sarcastic grin here* begins. Thank God she had all of her pieces cut out. All 96 petal pieces to be exact. So just the thought of all the work she had already done was exhausting to me. In other words, I had to get this right or ruin all of her hard work thus far.

All she needed me to do was teach her to appliqué... and even though I had never done it before, I thought to myself, "How hard can this be?" That was the just the first of many wrong thoughts that swirled through my head today.

According to the appliqué gods: "Appliqué comes from the french word appliquér which means "to put on". In appliqué, one layer of fabric is layered over another layer of fabric and is sewn into place. Appliqué opens a whole new world to the quilter allowing for many more possiblities than piecing alone."

A wonderful description, no doubt, but then they tell you how many different ways there are to appliqué. But I, a self confessed know-it-all, figured within the five minutes it would take Laura to get to my house, I would learn appliqué. Hah! So much for being a smart ass. Ms. Sheehan's detailed instructions, which would suffice any another human being, left me going "wwwhhhaattt"?

You see, she graciously included the "freezer paper method" which, if I had You Tubed it, would have understood it. I have to emphasize here, it was not her instructions, but my "don't give me any direction, I know the way there" ego. So when I got to the "liquid starch" part, my brain shut down and refused to think any further from that point on.














Not wanting to seem "inexperienced"...wise ole' sewing guru that I am, I proceeded to tell my poor Laura how I would appliqué the petals...with one major flaw. You see, it appears my brain has about a five minute delay between my thoughts and my mouth, and as I am spouting all of the directions to Laura, I am... (and this is confession time)... trying to figure out what the heck I'm doing as I'm telling her what to do. Make sense to you? I thought not, it didn't even make sense to me! Here I am desperately, silently, trying to reinvent my own way to appliqué...and there sits my trusting Laura obediently following each step of my frantic brain. After all...didn't I say to her, "Sure, come on over and I'll show you?" How was she supposed to know the unnerving chaos that was about to engulf her?


So after a long and tedious afternoon on her part, which involved cutting, interfacing, spray adhesive and numerous confusing stops and starts on my part, she managed to come up with a stunning first block. And bless her heart, she even smiled at the camera. Oh wait, I think I see a little tear at the corner of her eye...hopefully that's just bad photoshop.

She left for home after many reassurances on her part that she was satisfied. Geez, she only had 11 more blocks to do with my quirky direction...and she would have done it my way, without question, because, well because that's just the altruistic soul she is. I, on the other hand, am eating "what were you thinking" crow and feeling so guilty...

After all, I don't want to discourage her from doing this again and with my way, I wouldn't have done it the first time! If I had been her, I would've thrown my hands up and declared, "Never mind!" Or at the very least, "Never again!"

Not to mention that she had already put in numerous hours cutting it all out.

So, I sat down at my computer and did my research, which admittedly now, I should have done in the first place. And after I researched appliqué methods, I did find that it's not hard to do at all! I called Laura and 'fessed up and gave her a much better solution to the fiasco I created earlier. She loved it! Now, I can't wait to see her beautiful work of art. Quilts are art pieces you know, somewhere I heard, "Asking a quilter to mend is like asking Picasso to paint a garage."

That's my Laura, the quilter, the fabric artist. I am so proud of her, she tackles any task with a smile. Even crazy, nonsensical ones...

As for appliqué methods, you better believe this old girl knows what she's talking about now! Here a good link from Quilt. com about the basics. If you are a visual learner, You Tube it, there are so many wonderful quilters out there who share what they know. As for "my method"...I learned my lesson well today, enough said.

Paul Sweeney once said, "How can a society that exists on instant mashed potatoes, packaged cake mixes, frozen dinners and instant cameras teach patience to its young?" I got your answer, Mr. Sweeney, teach them to appliqué a quilt! Or...you could just give them a mom who thinks she knows it all...

"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep." - Scott Adams

Related Posts with Thumbnails