Category Archives: Other

Stockings for Everyone

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Well, what a fun week with the Sew Mama, Sew Giveaway Day. So many new visitors and followers, it was very exciting. I happily announced the giveaway winners here.  Those little owls are sure popular, so here is the link again for the pattern.  It is the Give A Hoot For the Holidays from Juicy Bits. I finished all my little guys and they are slowly but surely flying to their new homes.

A single order of owls

A single order of owls

Another ongoing project has been Christmas Stockings (Holiday Stocking for those who prefer). After much playing and 7 stockings later, I have a template that I am super happy with. Thanks to Kristie for helping me finalize the shape of the stocking. It is nice and full, and will hold all your goodies!

Stocking Template

I have decided to post the template, so that others may enjoy making their own stockings. You can use it for a solid fabric or patchwork. The lines are already drawn on the template for 2″ finished squares (so cuts your pieces 2.5″). The squares should measure 2″x2″ when you print. There are some finicky lines that didn’t show up, I apologize for that but after you print if you make sure the squares are 2″x2″ it will fit together =) I decided that doing this while the baby was up was a good idea……O.o

The cuff is an 8.5″x16.5″ rectangle. Sew the short side RST, then fold so the seam is to the inside and the long raw edges are matching. Pin to the right side of the finished stocking.

I lined them all with a thin batting, a polyspun or Warm and Natural. The back of each stocking is a solid print and they too are backed in batting. I quilted the stocking pieced to large rectangles of batting using straight lines, then cut them out as a single piece. I made the cuff and lining using this great tutorial from Cluck Cluck Sew.

If you have questions about construction or design, please comment =) I will gladly get back to you!

Here is the Stocking Gallery, enjoy! =)

Happy Quilting!

Stacey

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day *Winners Announced*

Welcome to Stacey In Stitches! If you are visiting from the Sew Mama Sew link, I am happy you stopped by! My blog is about sewing, quilting and fun! Feel free to browse through my posts and tutorials, and have a peek at the galleries. I am always looking for new and fun crafty quilty things to share, and when I find the time my own tutorials.

Now for the fun part!

I am giving away a pair of Owl Ornaments! I made close to 50 of the little guys, and I have 2 left. They are in the sewing/stuffing assembly line right now, so I have a picture for you of the owls, and what they would look like finished. As an added bonus, the winner can have them personalized! I can fit up to 8 letters on each owl.

I will also be giving away a PDF copy of my Flannel Backed Snuggle Quilt. It is the first pattern I made for a local class, and it was a big hit. I hope you enjoy it =)

To win all you have to do is follow the blog and post a comment saying that you did. Simple! I will draw 2 Winners Friday Dec 7 at Mr. Random =)

 

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you enjoy your time at Stacey In Stitches!

December 007

Giveaway Prize #1

Owl Mania

Owl Mania

August 146

Flannel Backed Snuggle Quilt- PInk Lemonade
The pattern will make this quilt =)

The winner of the owls is……..#8 Betty

The winner of the Pattern is…#31 SandyandCosmo

I used Random.org to generate the numbers, but I cannot for the life of me figure out how to post the pictures of the generator. I will be in contact with you both soon!

Owl Madness and Mr Random Goodness!

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Mr Random has been good to me in the last week! First off, with the Long Weekender Blog Hop, I won a gift certificate to The Fat Quarter Shop =) The fact that I won it 2 days before their amazing Black Friday Sale was as super bonus!! for 25% off I purchased an Art Gallery Fabrics Grab Bag and a Bloggers Choice Bundle. I am super excited for the grab bag, it contains 9.5lbs of Art Gallery fabrics in sized from .5-.875 yards! woot woot!!! I love AGF, especially the Pat Bravo lines. You point out someone who doesn’t like Rock N’ Romance or Indie, and I point out someone who is probably the husband of the person who bought it!

Then this morning, after a particularly harrowing night with my poor teething little Mr Moo Moo ( yes I call him that and it will come up at his wedding!) I opened my email to discover a message from Melissa at Happy Quilting saying I was the winner of this gorgeous bundle of fabrics from Julie at the Intrepid Thread.  I love Intrepid Thread. Julie is very nice and will make custom bundles for you if you cannot fit everything in your shopping cart! The shipping is reasonable too!

Its been a good week, other than last nights debacle ( we won’t get into that, thank goodness for mom support groups on Facebook!) My friend from Calgary came to visit, and she is getting MARRIED!!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!!!! So we went to look at dresses, and baked cookies =) It is a recipe out of an old Betty Crocker Cookbook from like the 60’s, and they are amazing! Sub out the chocolate chips for Penut M&M’s and you will go into cookie coma heaven. Here is a re-enactment of my morning

Thats pretty much how it went…..

I also recieved an overwhelming response to a recent post on Facebook. I found a bag of some Owl Ornaments that I made last year. I decided to sell some of them in the Mom Swap group. I had no idea what a whirlwind that would become. My little owls are the MUST HAVE item of the season right now. Personalized and a great price ( I definitely undercharges, cest’ la vie!) I wound up selling the 11 I had in less than 4 minutes, and because of FB’s way of ordering posts randomly if they are posted at teh same time, there were people whi should have been ahead of others and why did they get skipped will there be more…….wow. So I decided to make more. I now have a house full of owl ornaments. I have 39 on the go, those took about 4 hours to come in and I had to create a waitlist, which I had to close last night. The waitlist is at 33 owls. Add that to the stocking orders tand the custom quilt order, and I have a busy next couple weeks!!

Owl Madness

Ready to stuff!

Its taking over the house!

Thankfully my husband said he will stuff all the little basssss-….I mean darlings…… when he gets home from work. On the upside I have an excuse to purchase a fancy new SHARP pair of embroidery scissors.

Its time to eat dinner! Peas for the Little Mister and a honey mustard glazed ham steak for mommy! Yum!! the secret recipe?? Dijon mustard and syrup. put in a measuring cup until it looks like it will cover the ham. mix, cover the ham, season with thyme and rosemary, bake for 20 min.

Happy Quilting!!

Many Happy Changes….and some fun ideas to share!

After a couple months of tweaking and sorting my finished quilts I have finally opened up my Etsy shop. I am very excited and currently have 2 of my original quilts posted for sale. I hate to let them go but I do not have the space to display everything. I would rather have them somewhere they can be appreciated and loved than sitting in my closet only to be pulled out to refold. It makes me feel like Gollum from Lord of the Rings my precioussssssss….

That was just for you Katy!

I am also going through all of my fabric. In an amazing act of kindness and pay-it-forwardness one of the moms on the mom group gave me an Ikea bookcase. It is awesome! It has 20 cubes that are 15″square. I am able to take *almost* all my fabric out of the bins and put them into the shelves. So far I have emptied 9 small bins, 2 bags, and 4 large bins. I have 4 more large ins to go. Over the next few months I will be organizing it all by color and refolding it all into a standard size. I do have 2 organized shelves, one of backing and one of backgrounds in white-black.
I will also be de-stashing. I have some fabric that has been hanging around forever that I am not quite sure what to make with, or larger scraps but I am not much for scrappy quilts. My plan is to thin the herd by stuffing some zip baggies full of fabrics and then selling them as grab bags in my Etsy store. Each bag can hold 1/2-1 full yard of fabric scraps, strips, and fat quarters.

Now onto the fun stuff! TUTORIALS!!!

I have not had much time lately, but I am working on a fabric bin tutorial. In the meantime Maureen Cracknell of Maureen Cracknell Handmade has a wonderful post for organizing her scraps from way back in September. I think this is a great way to keep those pesky scraps in line and organized!

I have to say that her blog is chock full of super fun and inspiring projects and idea. I love reading her blog and following her facebook page . I want to make everything she does!

Until next time,

Happy Quilting!

The Long Weekender Finished!

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A quick update for those of you following the Long Weekender Blog Hop.
I finally decided on my fabric. I wanted to use Ty Pennington’s Foliage in Spiced Chocolate. Finding it was another matter altogether! Hawthorne Threads carries both the cotton and the home decor weights, but it was completely sold out in all the colorways. I had considered Amy Butler Love -Paradise Garden in Midnight, but I could not find an accent I was completely happy with. ( I may still make that one, we will see….)
I stumbled across a site called Stitchsteals completely by random chance. I don’t think I could repeat the search that led me to it, but lo and behold, there was the fabric I wanted, and only 5.50/yard! throw in cheap shipping to the USA and a shiny new mailbox across the border, and I had my fabric in my hands in 3 days! Woot! That mailbox may get me into trouble……

Foliage in Charcoal

I also ordered the co-coordinating print Lace in Spice for the inside of the bag and the piping. So much piping! My friend was over the night I planned my cutting layout. I wasn’t too keen using the accent for the handles, and she suggested piping them so it still has a nice pop of color. “What a great idea!” my sleep deprived brain screamed at me, “its only 45″ per handle so that not too much extra!” Right. It did turn out fantastic though. For whatever reason the local stores here either don’t carry cotton cording or they hide it so well you need a bloodhound to sniff it out. I was starting to panic, then I remembered that I have a ball of Bernat Handicrafter cotton yarn in my closet. I measured it and it turned out to be only 1/32″ smaller than what was required. It made a suitable alternate in a pinch.

Piping the bag

The pattern calls for home decor weight, but all I could get my mitts on was cotton. I know cotton sateen is slightly heavier and has a firmer drape to it so I added a layer of lightweight non-woven fusible interfacing to the wrong side of all my pieces. It took a little more time but was well worth the effort. The pieces held their shape much better while sewing and because I used the flimsiest interfacing I could find it did not add any extra bulk. It was as close to home decor weight you could get without actually being home decor.

To make a long story short, after only ripping out my finger once on a pin during the final stretch of hand sewing, I finished the bag! Serendipitously it just happened to be a long weekend so my husband could watch Harry while I sewed up a storm. They kept me company in the final stretches so I didn’t go completely crazy. After the piped handles I needed some support, though you will see that i did indeed add some to the side pockets as well. I had all this extra length and Brain though “well, it really shouldn’t go to waste….”

Mommy’s Little Helper

Without Further ado…..The Long Weekend Bag!

The Long Weekender

Pockets and Handles? Piped!

Fussy-cutting Splendor!

Thanks for reading, and as always,

 

Happy Sewing!!

 

 

Happy Halloween!!

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Why hello! Its been another long stretch. October has practically flown by and hardly a peep outta me! Thanks you all for hanging in there! I haven’t been to neglectful, as you may have noticed the Gallery is finally up and running, and I have added some new pages! Hurray! Once I finally figured it all out…..

Oh, and Happy Halloween! I looked everywhere for a costume this year, all I wanted to be was a princess to match my little guy’s dragon. after wading through mountains of slutty cats/fairies/pirates/anything else you can think of, I had 2 days left to whip up a costume! I searched through the pattern books at the shop, and there were no patterns that I either liked, or could make in such a short amount of time. I did come across a gem of a pattern. Its  Simplicity, its Steampunk, and I LOVE it. The entire outfit requires 10 meters of fabric to complete, and the entire hem is composed of box pleats, but someday I will make this!!She says as she buys it….

Stunning! maybe next year??

 

I really wanted an old costume that was made with the help of a lady from my church ages ago. As in more than 10 years. I have a collection of patterns from all over the place, and I found the pattern for the costume I wanted. It is no longer in print, and the pattern was from 2000. So I ran down to the Save-On-Fabrics and managed to get everything I needed for $40. The same price as buying a costume, except better quality, and my front and back are fully clothed! The costume was a success (as long as I did not have to walk up any stairs, long skirts are dangerous!) and we had fun at the Halloween parties this week =)

I also started a new quilt commission this week. I am making a Laurel Burch inspired cat quilt using the Sawtooth Cats Pattern and a Laurel Burch Fanciful Felines panel from my stash that is apparently Out Of Print and RARE.  We needed a second panel for a set of matching pillow shams, and the only one available was on Ebay for $20. That’s for a single layer of the panel, which translates into almost $50/yard. OUCH! The end result will be well worth the effort, and I am having fun matching up the colors for the cat bodies.

Fanciful Felines

Have a safe and Happy Halloween, and as always,

 

Happy Quilting!

 

 

Phew, what a week! Lots to share!

Posted in Cathedral Window QAL, Other, Quilt-A-Longs, Tutorials and Patterns, Works In Progress by

Hello everyone! It has been a very busy week here, so I haven’t had time to do much blogging. I say week but in reality the last 15 days have been go go go!Between play-dates and appointments and pick ups and drop off I have had time to finish up all my 3×6 bee blocks and get them in the mail, catch up on my Modern Mystery Quilt, keep up with the Cathedral Window QAL, and make/hunt down some props for my little man’s 6 month photo session today. Throw in some grocery shopping and a sudden change in the weather read: from Indian Summer to torrential rain overnight  and voila! Lots of excuses not to vacuum….. =)

I realize that this is the west coast, and normally by the start of October the rain has moved in, but it was so beautiful for so long. Thanksgiving weekend was so warm people were still out in shorts. We were going to go to the Pumpkin Patch and have ourselves a grand old time yesterday, but record rainfall coupled with a rainfall warning quashed that faster than you can say “eh?” I did get to try Harry’s snowsuit. I don’t think it fits quite right yet……but it sure is warm!

Do I look impressed?

Can you tell I don’t like the rain? I’m from Northern Alberta. It may be -40, but at least the sun is shining and your not soaked! Anywho….onwards!

It seems lately that everything I make heads out the door. I feel like I have been sewing like a madwoman but have nothing to show at the guild meeting tonight.

Here, this is my stack of finished blocks that need more to complete whatever I was going to do with them, 1/2 of the checkerboard for a show quilt,  and all the pieces to a mystery quilt that I can’t for the life of me figure out how the end result will look….*chirp chirp*

However, I do have a cute little project that I whipped up last night as a photo prop that I can take with me. If Harry is going to be a dragon for Halloween, he needs a Princess to kidnap (and probably try to eat).

She looks so happy, just wait until the dragon starts gumming her head =)

The dress fabric is my favorite colorway from Treasures of the East by Hoffman. The teal/aqua colorway was the challenge fabric in 2010. I also picked some up in the fuchsia and sunset colorways. I can’t seem to find them anymore, so If anyone comes across either colorway, please let me know! Poppins Quilt Parlour in Penticton, BC still has the challenge fabric for anyone looking to nab some. They do phone orders!

I drew her face on with Sharpie markers. I think she looks suitably princessy!

You can find the pattern here as well as the tutorial. I just winged it with mine.

I was also doing some pinning while watching TV the other night. This is why you don’t leave your pin box where the cat can get to it!

Luckily I found them all (magnets are wonderful wonderful wonderful!) and I have yet to be stuck with a pin! It did inspire a pincushion design however, but more on that to come!

Tomorrow I will be posting my Scrappy Star block pattern, no tutorial yet though, so please be patient with me! I start a temporary job as a nanny for my friend who just welcomes their little boy yesterday morning. I have all the fabrics for her new baby quilt, I just need to get to it!
Happy Quilting!

A Moment of Discovery

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Do you ever have those moments where you go, know why didn’t I think of that? That’s what happened to me the other day while reading Felicity’s blog. She posted about her Craft Buds month entry, and mentioned that she got her book from the local library.

“SAY WHAT? The library has modern quilting books? Well, I don’t know why I didn’t think of that before!” I said to myself.

Needless to say I promptly went online and searched around the Surrey Public Libraries website, and boy, do they ever have quilting books. Not just modern quilting, but any kind of crafting book. And new ones, modern ones! Tula Pink, Elizabeth Hartman, Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr, and not one but three Kaffe Fassett? My library card now holds a coveted spot in my purse, and I almost have the numbers memorized to log in online and reserve books, but because I am a new cardholder my limit is 10 books at a time. I laughed when she said that, 10 is more than enough to keep me occupied for 2 weeks. I maxed out my limit the first night (better on a library card than a credit card) and have 8 books on order. I have to bring the lot of them back this weeks and exchange them for the next batch (Quilts from the House of Tula Pink is in this batch, yippee!)

While digging through my little trove of quilty goodness, getting inspired and copying templates, I discovered something about myself.  A couple of the modern quilting books were centered around minimalist quilting, or had projects that fall into that category. As much as I can appreciate the design and time that goes into them, I found myself thinking more and more that these were not things I would make for myself. Only one color and a plain white background…? I am not a minimalist!

I love to put as many colors as possible in my quilts.

Rich, vibrant prints and blenders with a tone-on-tone black background? Yes please!

Batiks? Let me at ’em!

Don’t get me wrong, I really like many of the modern quilts I see, and there are many that I would like to/will eventually make. I love anything Tula Pink, I think Pat Bravo makes some amazing fabric lines, and the use of solids is stellar, and I love the projects that come up in the blogs I follow that put a modern spin on the traditional quilts. Don’t even get me started on the amazing quilts of Kaffe Fassett! I just can’t make a quilt with only 3 fabrics in it when there are so many out there just calling my name. Use Me!!

Flights of Fancy, using Nest by Tula Pink for Moda

I am looking forward to this week’s mail, my order of Rock n Romance by Pat Bravo for Art Gallery Fabrics will be arriving! Hurray! I ordered a fat quarter bundle from The Intrepid Thread. It has all the prints with an equal number of matching blenders. I am going to use these to make the Starburst Quilt.

Happy Quilting!

Bottled Rainbows Quilt by Maureen Cracknell Handmade

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Today I would like to share a quilt from Maureen Cracknell Handmade. Maureen’s blog is one of my favorites. She always has something creative, fun and inspiring to share with us. That she does it with 3 children makes it even more amazing!

Maureen Cracknell Handmade, Bottled Rainbows

Image courtesy of Maureen Cracknell Handmade

The Bottled Rainbows tutorial is one that many modern quilters know. It inspired one of our VMQG Challenges last year, and the resulting quilts are always beautiful and colorful. Maureen took Bottled Rainbows to the next level by using shapes and motifs instead of just squares and rectangles. You can read more about Maureen and her Bottled Rainbows Quilt here : Maureen Cracknell Handmade: My Bottled Rainbows Quilt : :. I love her construction techniques. You can also find the original Bottles Rainbows Post and Tutorial here.

Thank you Maureen for allowing me to share your work!

 

Rainbows For Maranda

I am part of a couple mommy groups, and one of the other mommies came across this. I contacted Patricia, and the little girl is in her friend’s Brownie Troop.

I know I get some international readers, so I would like to encourage everyone to take part. It will cost you nothing but a stamp! Lets help make a little girl’s dream come true!

Could everyone, including you big kids, draw a simple picture of a rainbow and mail it to Patricia Verhelst Box 355, Radville, SK S0C 2G0 Canada, by next week and I will send them all in together. There is a little girl in Saskatoon who is sick who wishes to get a rainbow from everyone in the world. Please write your name and where you are from on it. Lets make a wish come true if it was your child you would want that! Thanks everyone and please copy and paste this to help spread the word!This little girl’s name is Maranda, she is 10 years old and I’m really hoping everyone will do their best to make her wish come true!

During my clinical training, I did a month long rotation through the BC Children’s Hospital. Even three years later, that month has stuck with me, even more so now that I have a child of my own. It takes something so simple to make these kids happy.The odds seem so stacked against them, yet they shine through the adversity with bravery, strength and smiles for those who care for and about them. I will always remember my time there, and I know it shaped part of who I am professionally with my patients and at home.
Please, share this with your friends, family, and other bloggers!

Here is the address again:

Patricia Verhelst

Box 355

Radville, SK

S0C 2G0

Canada