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Reader shuts down for good tomorrow - so be sure to switch over and transfer all the blogs from your reader to bloglovn (or feedly, although I just couldn't get into feedly).

See you on the other side! :)

International Quilt Festival Chicago: Open Studios

What a weekend! Last weekend Chicago (Rosemont) played host to the International Quilt Festival! We're lucky to have the festival here this year and I was even luckier to be chosen to demo in the show's Open Studios. 

Open Studios was the place to find demos for all sorts of projects and techniques ranging from stitching / quilting / painting / embellishing. The demos were set up in two hour segments and on Friday I demo'd foundation paper piecing. 

As excited as I was about demoing I was also a little bit nervous. It all turned out great though. It was a really excellent experience! In the quilting studio there was a sewing machine available - and I had a bit of trouble getting it set up at the beginning of my demo time - thankfully my guild friend Sarah came to the rescue and fixed the presser foot / threading! (thanks Sarah!!)

The demo went really great. I had a lot of people stop by during the two hour demo, and they all seemed really responsive to paper piecing! Some couldn't believe how easy it is once you figure it out! 

I had an excellent experience demoing at open studios, and it makes me even more excited to get started teaching some classes. I hope that will happen soon. In the meantime I'll keep perfecting my skills! 

(Thanks to Emily B who took lots and lots of pictures on my camera while I demo'd!)

Emedoodle Fabric Bundle!

Remember way back, when I mentioned my favorite Kona solid colors? Well my friend Ebony has made an order of some bolts (bolts!!) of Kona, and she ordered a few of my fav's! She's decided to  sell some mini bundles of my favorite Kona's! You can buy yours here, and at $10 for 6 FQ's it's a steal!

Sponsor giveaway: Sewing Patterns by Mrs. H!

This week I'm happy to bring you a fun little giveaway from one of my sponsors! Samantha, from Sewing Patterns by Mrs H is offering three patterns - one for each winner!

First you'll need to head on over and check out her awesome patterns - and come back here to tell me what you think! What's your fav? Do you love sewing purses or are you nervous about it? Do share!!

Now for the rules:

• 1 entry - leave a comment, any comment!
• 2nd entry - follow my blog or Samantha's blog (and leave a comment saying so)
• 3rd entry - tell me the name of the Village where Samantha Lives! 

This giveaway is open to everyone. I will draw a winner using mr random.org Monday July 1st!

Quilt Festival Chicago! Modern Meetup & Demo-ing!

I can't believe how quickly this week has flown by! It's already Friday! I had intended to announce this earlier here, but better late than never! 

This weekend Chicago is host to the International Quilt Festival and we're so glad that it's come back to our city! As a way to encourage our guild members to attend the quilt festival, the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild has joined up with the Naperville Modern Quilt Guild to host a "Modern Meetup" Anyone interested in the modern quilt movement is invited to join us! We'll be meeting at the Rosemont Hilton, Liberty Bar, 7pm.

In other exciting news I'll be demo-ing at the Open Studios at the quilt festival tomorrow! If you're roaming around the festival between 4-6pm stop by the Quilt Studio - I'll be teaching about foundation paper piecing! I'm pretty excited about this! My bags are packed and I'm all ready! You can check out the schedule for the Open Studios here.

I hope to see you guys there!!

How do you choose fabrics?

Last night my friend Emily came over to hang out - and to help me pick out colors for my next quilt!

Konas! Chartreuse, Cactus, Canary, Melon, Coral, Ice Frappe, (and maybe School Bus).

I have to say that it was a really enlightening process! I knew the feeling I wanted the quilt to invoke, and the pattern (put together using the Threadbias design tool!) only uses a handful of fabrics. That made it pretty hard! Emily has an art degree, and an exceptional eye for color - which helped a lot! 

The part that makes me nervous. There is a distinct difference between the old color card (the one I chopped up), and the updated color card.

I'm excited (and a little nervous) to say that I'll be using Kona Ice Frappe as my background color! I'm hoping this will give a nice crisp summer feeling - like rainbow sherbet. 

Now I just have to wait for the fabrics to arrive! This quilt has to be finished by our July guild meeting ... so I have some work ahead of myself!!

So how do you choose fabrics for a new project?

Quick and Dirty PJ pants!

Tonight  Last week (let's face it, it's been one of those weeks where it took me 6 days to get around to taking a decent picture of these...) my I found myself bored with a little bit of new but not very "me" fabric. Somehow this ended up in me making some pj pants for my daughter. How could I resist??

A little back story? Sure!

A couple days ago Allie and I were lounging around watching cartoons (Mona The Vampire of course!). Allie all the sudden decided I should make her pajama pants "Just like yours." I love how she has so much confidence in my garment sewing ability that she doesn't have a bit of doubt that I could do such things.

Of course I promised her I would make her PJ's. Wouldn't you?

So tonight I did. Randomly. With bright yellow fabric printed with cars and campers. Moda - it's cute, but not my style. It'll look pretty adorable on my kid though!

I hope they fit. I drafted them based on a pair of pants laying around.... I'm excited for her to try them on in the morning!

Disregard the untrimmed threads, and the additional seam line down there... I wasn't kidding about "Quick and Dirty"

I read this tutorial, then winged it. I could have straightened out the cut on the top part (where it folds down for the elastic casing) - that part was a bit odd... and bunchy because I didn't cut it with that in mind... and I should have trimmed the extra off there, instead I just sewed two rows of stitching at the bottom of the elastic casing. Lame, I know. But 1 hr later and I have pants. Cute pants.

***

Edited to add: It's too bad, but these pants don't fit my kid! They're perfect length but she could barely squeeze them on! Luckily we have a couple friends who are about Allie's age but tinier in the waist! They'll fit someone. Now I have the chance to make a second pair of PJ pants! 

Free Piecing

I really want to teach a modern miniatures class on free piecing.

Tula Pink Topiary in Sprout

You might not be able to tell, but this bit of free piecing was inspried by the color palate of this "bossy" fabric! I really love the colors and didn't think I had anything to match it. I was wrong! Now I wish I had enough of this fabric to back the mini -- but I only have little scraps left!

Quilty!!!

Guess what I did this weekend???!!!

How crazy is it to see MY quilt hanging on set??!! CRAZY!

(are you guessing?)

I filmed two segments for Quilty!!

I'm really excited to have had this opportunity! Having met Mary a couple times (briefly) - I jumped at the chance to film a show with her! It was absolutely a joy. I was only a little  bit nervous. After all I've been on camera before (lol... wow that seems like so long ago now).

I'll be sure to give everyone a heads up when the episodes air!

And - no outing would be possible without some quilting inspiration. This poster was hanging in the building where we filmed. Doesn't this scream to be a quilt??!! I might make one based on it someday!

Sew Sew Modern II Swap

This past spring I was lucky enough to participate in the Sew Sew Modern II swap. It was the second round for this swap, but my first time swapping with them. Overall this swap was intense and amazing!! The rules for the swap are to make one "large item" and send one "small item" (small item doesn't have to be handmade). The options ranged from tote bags and books to table runners and napkins.

First I have to say that it was really fun to participate in a swap for a change - since recently I've been doing the Swap Mama gig a lot. I signed up, received my partner info, and got to work.

Ok I procrastinated a lot. I ordered fabric for my project right away. My partner Cindy / Cindys0707 had made it pretty clear that she would love a duffle bag. I was up for the challenge so I borrowed a copy of the Studio Cherie duffle pattern from my friend Sally.

It took me a while to get around to actually sewing it all together -- I was initially frustrated by the fact that the pattern leaves the edges raw on the inside. I just couldn't see doing that much work and finishing with raw seams. So I altered the construction slightly and inserted the lining the same way as one would for a normal zip pouch. I had to sew all the end pieces (lining and outer) separately but it was worth it. :)

Other than the lining, I followed the directions. The bag came together fairly well. Not perfect, but I'm not very awesome at those corner areas on this sort of boxed thing. I was a bit annoyed at that but it works. I used warm and natural batting, and quilted fairly densely... the bag definitely needs to be full to hold it's shape. For my pics I stuffed it with 2 quilts and a pillow - with room to spare!

As my small item I made up a quick quilt as you go (QAYG) box pouch - fully lined of course. I did the QAYG on top of some scraps of duck cloth, and while it made it a bit more annoying to line, it was worth the extra effort because it holds it's shape so well!

***

As for what I received in the swap?? I received a duffle made from the very same pattern!! Made by Karen / Quilting_Fairy, this duffle highlights my fave things: AMH (my fav print ever), and paper pieced stars! I'm really in love with this bag and I can't wait to take our next trip so I can travel in style!!

Karen sent along lots of goodies, a sweet journal, chocolates, thread, fabric, and a cute little conversation game!

I'm really glad to have taken part in this swap - it was a lot of fun to sew for others, and to try something new - an it never hurts to receive something you absolutely love!!!

Season By Hand

Head on over to Clover And Violet today to catch my guest post hand sewing in style! Stay tuned over there for more great tips and tricks to make it a fabulously hand sewn summer! 

Prism Along and Paper Pieced Meet and Greet!

I'm excited to share the news that Amy / 13 Spools is hosting a quilt along and paper pieced meet and greet. 

The Prism Along will be a quilt along using Faith's Prism quilt pattern. Since the Prism quilt is paper pieced Amy has gathered some expert paper piecing bloggers to share their experiences along the way. I'm lucky enough to be one of those bloggers! Be sure to check out the quilt along and meet and greet - and keep your eye out for my paper piecing guest post on July 20th! 

Head on over to Amy's page for more details about sponsors and prizes!