Black, White, and Bright Giveaway!!

Hello Everyone,

It is time for another giveaway!!!  This time CVQW has created a wonderful little bundle of 8 fat quarters. If you love Kaffe Fassett and Black and White fabrics this is your giveaway to enter!

What Have I Been Up To Lately.....???

As of late, I have been doing a lot of cutting, piecing and designing.  A lot of fun going on, selecting fabrics and putting them all together.  I wish I could show you what I am up to, but what I CAN show you are these little snippets...

Working With Black, White, Bold and Bright

Hello Everyone,How many of you work with bright fabrics?  How many of you use them on a solid background?  How many of you use them with black and white fabrics?I think my favorite way to use bright and bold fabrics is with black and white fabrics.... it really makes them POP!   Yesterday, I pulled a bunch of bright fabrics and black and white fabrics.  I wanted to just play.  Let me show you what I pulled.Great prints with some Aussie and Kaffe Fassett, along with some batiks thrown in...Black with white fabric...White with black fabric...Aren't they wonderful and the...

Parts...

Hello Everyone,After showing you my Bali Bed Runner in progress last week, I transferred it to my home studio to work on and piece together all the "parts"!  The past few days I have been working piecing the arcs to the melons.  The only disadvantage to me having it on my design wall at home rather than in my classroom studio is that the bed runner is 104" long.  My design wall at home is not that large.Therefore, I have to put half up and only do half at a time.  Does anyone else have that problem of not being...

My Other Project

Hello Everyone,Yesterday, I told you that I was working on a couple of projects simultaneously.  I really was telling the truth.  Today, I am showing the other project.  I am working on the Bali Bed Runner.  I used a very bright palette against black and white fabrics for the backgrounds.  Initially I was having some difficulty on the layout and not sure which way to go.  I will show you here...I had many colors to work with here and this was one of the layouts I was considering, a transitioning of colors from ring to ring.This was the next layout,...

Stripey Binding

Hello Everyone,Believe it or not, one of my favorite things to do on a quilt is to bind it.  I love picking the binding, and enjoy hand sewing it to the back.  I guess I like it so much because maybe it signifies that the quilt is close to being completed.  But the relaxation aspect is great too.Yesterday, I worked on the binding for My 2 Baby Sisters quilt.I chose this fabulous black and white stripe from my online shop.  It can be found by clicking here. I love striped bindings, they add another design element to a quilt that...

Ahhhh... The Top is Done!

Hello Everyone,I am so excited that over the weekend, at the retreat, I was able to complete this quilt top!!  My 2 Baby Sisters is done.  And I am in love... Kaffe Fassett fabrics work so well with black and white and in Judy  Niemeyer patterns.But let me let you decide for yourself.This is a great beginner paper piecing pattern too!  No curves.I adore the meandering geese on the borders.  The black fabric frames the quilt.Love the corner blocks as they curve around the edge making the geese continuously fly along.Look at where it is too!!  Squeal!!!  And it is...

A Slow Day

Hello Everyone,Yesterday was a bit of a slow day for sewing for me.  I spent most of the day clothes shopping with my daughter for her new summer job!  Very, very excited for her!!Anyway, before she woke up I filled orders from my online shop and then I was able to only piece two stars together.Here is the large star.Here is the little star.The back of the large.  The last seam I press open.  However, you can also do a little "tweak" in the middle and spin the seams.  But on this star, I prefer to open the seams as...

Oh... My Little Pretties!!

Hello Everyone,YeeHaw!!!  Got all my little stars done and I couldn't be more smitten.  I just love the combo of Kaffe Fassett fabric and black and white.  EEEKKKK... I could just scream!They look so pretty all lined up, don't they?  But of course, I couldn't leave them that way... up on the design wall they had to go!A little peek... doesn't the color just POP on the black and white?   A little more... now you are getting more of the picture.  I love some of the randomness of the black and white fabrics.  I did that purposely and really glad...

Even The Trash Looks Pretty

Hello Everyone,One of the best things about working with the fabrics that I have chosen for this quilt is the color.  There is no lack of it wherever I look and I love it... ...even the trash looks pretty, doesn't it?? Do you ever look in your trash when creating?  What does it look like?My line up of the little stars to be paper pieced looks fabulous and full of warm colors.And cool colors.  That once combined will be gorgeous... I hope!Here are the little units just waiting to be combined and placed on the design wall. Yes, my ironing board...

It Is Coming Along

 Hello Everyone,I am so excited about this quilt that I am currently working on, much of that is due to the fabrics that chose.Most of you know how much I adore Kaffe Fassett fabrics as well as black and white fabrics.  So much so, that I stock TONS in my online shop.  But when you combine the two... BAM... you get an eye catching quilt.See what I mean with the colors... Don't they look great?The pattern that I am working on is My 2 Baby Sisters, which is one of Judy Niemeyer's quilt and can be found here in my...

My 2 Baby Sisters

Hello Everyone,No, I don't actually have 2 sisters... I have 2 brothers.  But My 2 Baby Sisters is the name of a new pattern/project that I started yesterday.I am super excited about this one, for multiple reasons:1.  I am using Kaffe Fassett Fabrics2.  I am using Black and White Fabrics3.  I am making a new Judy Niemeyer patternThree things that I absolutely adore!!!Let's take the tour...I started by pulling these fabrics from my shop.... Swoon!!! LOVE color!!Did a bunch of cutting, and...Voila!! This is not the layout, but I had to see how the pieces would make a LeMoyne star....

Black and White Giveaway!!

Hello Everyone,This one is for all of you fabric fans... wait... isn't that ALL of you??I thought that it would be nice to give away a little sampling of the Black and White fabrics from my online shop.Black and White fabrics are fabulous for any project and can act as a neutral... then add some bright and bold fabrics and VOILA a masterpiece of a project.If you would like a chance to win these gorgeous fabrics, you will need to visit my friend Maureen at Maureen Cracknell Handmade.  She has a fabulous blog and is extremely talented too!!If you can't...

A Free Pattern From Me To You!

Hello Everyone,I wanted to share a quilt that I designed for Windham Fabrics and Rosemarie Lavin Design.  This was fun to make with this fabric line.  I LOVE black and whites, so it made my job much easier.  Here is the quilt...If you would like the pattern, it is available as a FREE download by clicking here.I hope you all enjoy and send me your photos of the quilts that you make with this pattern, I would love to see them.Until Next Time...

Do You Like?

Hello Everyone,Since all month I am celebrating my 3 year Anniversary as an online shop, I wanted to shared with you some new items just added to the shop and our special weekend #3 sale.This is the Amazon Star.  This design is a Judy Niemeyer design and is available in our shop as an individual pattern, but it is now available as a kit too!! And it is in the same colors as pictured above.Here is that same quilt hanging in the Timeless Treasures booth at quilt market.  My friend and fellow Certified Instructor, Ginny pieced and quilted this one...

Whew!! The College Quilt is Done and Just in Time!

Hello Everyone,If you have been following this saga of me and my daughter's college quilt... then end has come!! I did it, I finished it and just in time!! Sunday night I put the last stitches in the binding and as you read this she is getting settled at college!!  Let's take a tour of the quilt...If you remember, I used the school colors of cherry red and white.  But of course, I couldn't do ALL white.  I had to do it with a little black, it definitely adds more interest, don't you think?I used some fabrics that I thought...

This Post is Brought to You by the Letter "I"

Hello Everyone,I am making progress on my daughter's college quilt.  However, I have exactly 2 weeks to complete the top, quilt it, and bind it.  I need to kick it into high gear!!!Today I managed to get the I on the design wall.Not too bad.  Tomorrow, I will start piecing this together.Then I will join it to the R and the P.  Once that is done, I will have RPI.  Several of you asked what college RPI is... It is Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute.  My daughter will be in the College of Engineering.  I can't tell you how happy that I...

Together, Off Color, But Almost Done

Hello Everyone,If you have been following my making of my daughter's college quilt, here is an update...I have the R and the P sewn together.  I still need to make the I.  If you remember I couldn't fit it on my design wall.I took the part that I have sewn together outside for a photo shoot and was a little disappointed.  Can you see that some of my whites were not truly white.  Funny how the natural light of the outdoors brought that out.  Looking at for days on my design wall, I could not tell the difference from one...

The Amazing Expanding and Shrinking Quilt

Hello Everyone,My daughter's college quilt is growing, but yet shrinking at the same time!  I have added more black and white squares so that the R and the P are not framed well.  This is the expanding part.I then joined the ones on the far left that are separated from the body of the quilt.  This is where the shrinking comes in... both my hubs and daughter stated that the quilt would be quite large.  But I kept reassuring them it would shrink when I began sewing the seams together. The blocks that I began to sew together were even with...

It Is Growing...

Hello Everyone,Now that I am back from the Certified Instructor retreat in Montana, I need to work on my daughter's college quilt.  Several reasons for this, first and foremost she needs it before she goes to college and second, I need the design wall to finish my Mariner's Compass from the retreat.You can see I have added lots more black and white fabrics.  I have tons so that is not a problem, if I run out of black and white fabrics, I will just shop for them in my shop... LOL!It is looking good though, but a lot more squares...