7 Layer Studio

Chunky Monkey and Friends

 

Well, it only took about 5 years of begging from my kids, but we finally have pets in our house.

What, these don't count?  Dangit.

I thought for sure these would fool the kids and satisfy their craving for a pet.  I mean, they're so...LIFELIKE, aren't they?   Who hasn't seen a blue monkey?

Every bit as affectionate as a real pet would be too.

Until we stop moving around with the military, no real pets allowed at our house.  As much as I dislike the thought of the expense and required care (like I have the time or the inclination to walk a dog everyday, let alone scoop its poop!) a pet needs, I know the kids would really enjoy bonding with one.  Hopefully when Steve retires from the Coast Guard we can find a place with a tiny bit of acreage and THEN we can get a dog...which can live outside and run around and poop all it wants without me walking behind it with a plastic bag in my hand, thank you very much.

Until then, these little critters are the closest thing we will come to owning an animal.  Chunky Monkey, anyone?

I made this pattern for the Bulgarian orphans at the Gabrovo orphanage, so they can have something fun to make and also sell at fundraisers locally in Bulgaria.  You can buy the pattern for $5 (what a deal!) at the shop over at Create H.O.P.E. Designs.  It's actually not available QUITE yet because it takes awhile to get it loaded in the system in the shop, but in a day or two it should be ready to roll.

The Chunky stuffies are pretty easy to make, and fat-quarter-friendly (or just use all scraps!), so if you're still wondering what cute little thing to make for a small person in your life in time for Christmas, the Chunky Monkey would be an ideal candidate.

Happy sewing, and thanks in advance for your support of the orphans!

PILLOW PACKS for Kids on the Go

Anybody out there traveling with kids for Thanksgiving or Christmas? 

Well, have I got the ideal pattern for you!  Actually, it's for your kids...

It's a soft and comfy pillow on one side,

and a handy storage case on the other side with room for a few books and a separate pocket for markers, pencils, and/or other small treasures.

The pattern includes 2 different closure options for the pockets.

The Pillow Packs are 13" square so they're not too bulky for the airplane or a crowded car, and the pillow form can easily be slipped out whenever you need to wash the case.  The ribbon strap is designed to slip over a child's shoulder or adult's forearm with ease.  It's super easy to sew, and very "fat quarter friendly" (meaning you can make the whole thing with 4 fabrics measuring 18" x 22" = fat quarters). 

So where can you buy this handy new downloadable pattern?

Yes, you guessed it!  Right on over at the H.O.P.E. shop site for the very reasonable price of $5.  And all of your money will go directly to the orphans of Bulgaria through One Heart Bulgaria.  So please click on over to the H.O.P.E. shop and download your pattern today! 

Moms and Grandmas, you know this would be a perfect thing to make for your kids/grandkids!  Thanks in advance for your support of the orphans!

 

One More Day, One More Pattern

 

In the midst of all the Halloween Hullaballoo, I've been able to finish another pattern for Create H.O.P.E. Designs, just in time for the end of the raffle!  Please see the preceding post for all the details, if you have no idea what I'm talking about. 

It should be up for sale by the morning, but I may have turned it in too late - so if it's not there, you'll know who to blame = me  :-) 

As you can see, it's a simple design, but the interaction of the horizontal and vertical stripes make it anything but boring...at least I hope so!

I especially like the pieced border-of-many-colors.  My Texture Stripe fabric (from my fabric line The Garden Club) is my favorite choice for binding...and for this quilt, I just couldn't play favorites so I used them all!

If you haven't done so already, please click on over to the HOPE shop and buy a $5 pattern for the orphans.  You'll be able to enter the giveaways and, with each purchase, be entered 5 times in my quilt raffle.  For the price of a trip to Starbucks, 100% of your donation will be given to a desperately lonely orphan/abandoned child in Bulgaria. 

Please, PLEASE give a little tiny bit of your resources to these motherless, fatherless, precious children.  Even if you don't sew, please go buy a downloadable pattern and either print it out as a gift for someone who sews, or save paper and don't print it out at all.  There is no financial gain by me or anybody at HOPE or OHB for these sales, it all goes to the orphans. 

They need me, and they need you....and the funny thing about service is, the warm fuzzies we can all get from helping these children more than make up for any small sacrifice we may give in their behalf.  So thank you in advance for adding more warm fuzzies to the world!

My Mega Giveaway + Quilt Raffle for orphans

Remember the Create H.O.P.E. Designs website dedicated to raising money for orphans?  Well, this week I'm very happy to be the featured designer! I'm giving away LOTS of things to promote awareness of the H.O.P.E. site and to raise money for One Heart Bulgaria through the raffle of my quilt you see pictured here.

Here's how it works:  For a chance to win my quilt, click on the H.O.P.E. shop link and you'll get 5 entries for every downloadable pattern of mine you buy.  Right now there are only 2 of my patterns available (my Huggable Slug and Hazel Skirt), but I hope to get at least 1 quilt pattern up before the end of the raffle. 

You'll get 3 entries per pattern for buying any other pattern available in their shop.

AND, if you make a drawstring bag for my Sewing For Orphans project (see sidebar), you'll get 5 entries per bag!   More details are available on the H.O.P.E site, please check it out!

The quilt raffle is a fundraiser, so even if you don't sew but would like a chance to win the quilt, please just buy a downloadable pattern (or more than one!) and you'll be entered.  You can choose to print out the pattern or not...perhaps there's someone else in your life who could use it if you don't want it, or save paper and don't print it out at all.  The important thing is that we raise lots of money for the orphans!  And please remember, nobody earns any money from these patterns - 100% goes to the orphans.

We're hoping to raise enough money to fund the sewing education program for the teenage orphan girls, so they can learn a useful life skill to earn a living after aging out of the orphanage instead of turning to prostitution, drugs, and gangs.  The girls in the sewing program provide bedding, curtains, bags, and fabric toys for other orphanages as well, so it really is an extremely beneficial endeavor all the way around. 

We're also hoping to help fund a Grandmother position for an orphanage with infants and young children, so these beautiful babies can experience the loving hugs and interactions with an "adopted" grandmother instead of being warehoused in jail-like conditions with almost no adult interaction for the first several years of life.

In addition to the quilt raffle, I'm giving away:

The red bag from my Infinity Tote pattern;

THREE different sets of 3 of my hard-copy patterns (your choice which of the 7 patterns you prefer...see my sidebar for all of them);

TWO YARDS of my fabric, mix-n-match or all one fabric, your choice of color and design(s) ... with 1/3 yard minimum cuts so the maximum different prints you would get would be six...does that make sense?  You can click on the Garden Club button in my sidebar to see all of my fabric.

PLUS they're giving away a $50 gift card to The Fat Quarter Shop!

Please click on the H.O.P.E. site to learn all the details about how to enter the giveaways and the raffle - it's all handled over there, I'm just telling you about it.

So, if you haven't already, get clicking and see how you can enter!  We're trying to get the word out to as many people as possible, so Tweet, FB, and whatever else you all do with your smart phones (I wonder if I'll ever get one of those?) as much as you can!

Thousands of orphans are counting on you.  :-)

 

You can help Orphans through Create H.O.P.E. Designs + Giveaway!

I'm so excited to tell you about a newly created website dedicated to raising money for orphans across the world!  It's called Create H.O.P.E. Designs, and it was started by one of the very talented designers from Izzy and Ivy Designs. 

It essentially works as an online store to sell sewing/crafty downloadable patterns that designers such as myself donate, and 100% of the $5 price per pattern goes to hand-picked orphan foundations across the globe.  In less than a month, they have raised nearly $1,000 to benefit a special orphanage in China called China Little Flower.  Isn't that great?!

....And guess which foundation they're going to benefit next?  That's right, the organization that is so near and dear to my heart = One Heart Bulgaria!

 

 

I've been busy getting downloadable patterns ready to give to the H.O.P.E. site - I'm sure you recognize my Huggable Slug!  It will be available as a $5 download at their store very soon, as will my Hazel Skirt...

I've pulled this pattern off my Etsy sales site - from now on it will only be available as a downloadable from the H.O.P.E. shop site.  I spent quite a bit of time reworking it, and am very excited about how it looks now.  At $5, it's a bargain, and all of the money will benefit "my" sweet, desperately lonely orphans in Bulgaria. 

I'll have other patterns that you've never seen before available soon, so keep checking!  The organizers of the H.O.P.E. site are working really hard to get a large inventory of patterns from designers across the globe,  PLUS they are hosting some fantastic giveaways!

Isn't this one of the sweetest quilts you've ever seen?  Well, guess what...Create H.O.P.E. Designs is giving it away!  Click HERE to read all about it and see more detailed photos of the quilt.  There are also tons more things being given away - you really need to click on over and check it out. 

Some of you may be asking, are you still collecting drawstring bags for the orphans?  The answer is a resounding YES!  I'll be doing a separate post on that soon, but please, PLEASE make some bags for the orphans of Bulgaria (you can read about it by clicking on the large button in my sidebar).  We have been able to send about 100 bags over there so far, and the children who were fortunate enough to receive them have been SO grateful - the bags were a HUGE hit!  There are over 8,000 orphans in Bulgaria, so we obviously need a lot more bags. 

Thanks in advance for all your support!  There is so much to be done, but if we all work together we can help improve the lonely,fragile lives of these precious children.

 

Buttons & Ruffles Pillow Tutorial

You might be thinking, "Too many buttons....I'm not taking the time to sew all those on!"

But wait!  I have an exciting new method to secure all those shank buttons, so you'll never be afraid to button-ify a pillow again....

To make this pillow, start by cutting 3 black rectangles:  2 @ 15" x 8.5" and 1 @ 15" x 5".  These are the sides and center of the pillow.

For the ruffles, cut 2 strips of contrasting fabric (I used cream) @ 3.5" x 35"

For the accent trim on ruffles, cut 2 strips of fabric @ 1.5" x 35"  NOTE:  If you want the accent strip to be wider, cut 2 strips @ 2" x 35".

You'll need a piece of stiff, fusible interfacing (I like Pellon Decorbond #809) cut @ 4.5" x 14.5" to stabilize the center panel prior to attaching buttons.

Also needed:  Lots of fabric-covered buttons with shanks, and 2 strips of ribbon 15" long each....and a hot glue gun.

1)  Use 1/4" for all seams in this project.  Stitch the accent trim, with right sides facing, along one side of each ruffle strip. 

Press seam toward accent fabric.  With wrong side facing up, turn under 1/4" of the raw, unsewn edge of accent strip. 

Then fold strip in half lengthwise to completely hide the original seam, which is pressed away from ruffle.  Stitch close to original seam to secure the folded edges of accent fabric.  Press well.

2)  Create gathers in ruffle strip by using basting stitch on machine.  Pull the bobbin thread to gather fabric sufficiently to fit along the 15" measurement of the black side pieces.

Place gathered ruffle strip, FACE UP (as opposed to right sides facing) on top of the face up side piece.  Arrange gathers to fit, pin, and stitch in place.  Repeat with other side.  Gently flatten the ruffles a bit with your hot iron to create creases in the ruffles.

3)  Fuse the interfacing on the backside of center piece, leaving 1/4" on all sides free of interfacing.

4)  Place the center piece, face down, on top of one side of the ruffle+side piece.  Pin and stitch together, then press the seam toward center.  Repeat with other ruffle+side piece.

5)  Stitch ribbon in place on both sides of center, sewing both long edges of each ribbon.

6)  Place the fabric covered buttons where you want them to go, leaving at least 1.5" on top and bottom without buttons or you'll have a hard time trying to sew the pillow together later on. 

Use a marker or fabric pencil and carefully put a dot beneath each button where the shank touches the fabric.

Moving one button at a time, carefully poke through the fabric+interfacing at each marked dot with a tiny Xacto knife or other very small, poky tool.  If the hole/slit is too big, you'll struggle later on.  Gently push/coax the shank of the button through the fabric+interfacing.  If the hole is small, the button will stay in place for now.

7)  When all buttons are pushed through, carefully turn fabric over to access all the shanks poking through the backside.

8)  Using a hot glue gun, squirt a small but generous blob of hot glue around each shank, making sure that the glue oozes inside the little loop of the shank to hold it in place and keep the fabric from fraying around the hole.  Let harden thoroughly.

9)  Stitch the raw ends of the ruffle in place in all 4 places.

10)  For the backing, cut 2 rectangles that are the same height as the pillow front (15") but the width is determined by adding about 3" to whatever the half point is on the pillow.  In this case, the pillow front is 15" high x 21.5" wide.  I cut 2 rectangles at 15" x 14" (14 = 11 + 3).

Press under 1/4" of one of the 15" edges on each rectangle.  Press under again to hide the raw edges.  Stitch along that "hem".

Place pillow front face up on table.  Place the 2 rectangles face down, aligning outer raw edges so that there is about a 3" overlap over the middle of the pillow.  Pin in place all around outer edge of pillow.

Stitch 1/4" all the way around, clip corners to reduce bulk.  Turn right side out, press edges.  Insert pillow form and you're done!

Tutorial for Buttons-in-the-Trees Pillow

This pillow is easier than it looks, with my method of attaching the buttons without ANY sewing!  If you're like me, you don't relish the thought of sewing on tons of shank buttons...but now you don't have to.

Start with a fabric that has about a 2" to 3" repeat.  The awesome fabric you see above is called "Ghastly Forest" by Alexander Henry.  They have the best Halloween collection this year!   Since I used the small, pale blue pillow form from IKEA (only $1.99!) my square was cut at 13.5".

Cut a piece of heavy, fusible interfacing that is 1/2" smaller in length and width than your square (Pellon Decorbond #809 is my favorite).  Fuse interfacing to backside of fabric, leaving 1/4" border around all edges of fabric without interfacing (to reduce bulk when sewn together).

Place the fabric covered buttons where you want them to go, leaving at least 2.5" with no buttons all the way around or you'll have a terrible time trying to sew the pillow together later on.  I used 2 different sizes of buttons and alternated them in rows.

Use a marker or fabric pencil and carefully put a dot beneath each button where the shank touches the fabric.

Moving one button at a time, carefully poke through the fabric+interfacing at each marked dot with a tiny Xacto knife or other very small, poky tool.  If the hole/slit is too big, you'll struggle later on.  Gently push/coax the shank of the button through the fabric+interfacing.  If the hole is small, the button will stay in place for now.

When all buttons are pushed through, carefully turn fabric over to access all the shanks poking through the backside.

Using a hot glue gun, squirt a small but generous blob of hot glue around each shank, making sure that the glue oozes inside the little loop of the shank to hold it in place and keep the fabric from fraying around the hole.  Let harden thoroughly.

Cut 2 strips of border fabric which are 1.5" wide.  Stitch to sides, press, and trim.

Add 2 more strips to top and bottom of pillow.  Press and trim.

For the backing, cut 2 rectangles that are the same width as the pillow front but the length is determined by adding about 3" to whatever the half point is on the pillow.  In this case, the pillow front is a 15" square.  I cut 2 rectangles at 15" x 11" (11 = 8 + 3).

Press under 1/4" of one of the 15" edges on each rectangle.  Press under again to hide the raw edges.  Stitch along that "hem".

Place pillow front face up on table.  Place the 2 rectangles face down, aligning outer raw edges so that there is about a 3" overlap over the middle of the pillow.  Pin in place all around outer edge of pillow.

Stitch 1/4" all the way around, clip corners to reduce bulk.  Turn right side out, press edges.

To create flange, "stitch in the ditch" all the way around the pillow where the border meets the main fabric.  Insert pillow form and you now have one very cute pillow!

Disclaimer: this is where I need to write about not having this pillow in a baby crib or within reach of a small child, due to the very remote chance that the buttons could come loose and be a choking hazard.  But you already knew that, right?  Enjoy!

 

 

 

Scrap-Busting Strip-Pieced Pillow Tutorial

I'm not sure what I had more fun doing....making the Crazy Triangle Quilt (you can peek at it here, but I'm still working on the pattern) or making use of all the leftover strips of fabric afterwards!

They're beautiful even just sitting in the trash can...but I didn't actually throw very many of my awesome Halloween fabric scraps away.

I used the tiny scraps to cover buttons for different pillows....

 

and I promise I'll post tutorials for these cuties soon.

 

For this one I sewed long strips together and then cut the strips into triangles, which I pieced together into a whats-its-called-agon.  Not a pentagon, not an octagon, but a hexagon...and yes, I had to look that up to make sure.  :-) 

Again, a future tutorial-to-be.

In case you hadn't guessed, I have had a LOT of fun playing with these strip scraps!

But I'm getting way ahead of myself....

 

Time to start the instructions for the pillow in above photo.

Gather your strip scraps and organize them according to width.  I used strips which were 2" and 1.5" wide.  The width can vary quite a bit, this is just what I had on hand. If you have super long strips, cut them into rectangles varying from 2" to 10".

As shown in photo above, start pairing up the strips which are the same width and run them through your machine, one pair after the other, without stopping to cut the threads in between.  Use a 1/4" seam throughout this project.  Try to pair contrasting fabrics for best results.

Clip the paired strips apart and repeat process of pairing the new groupings together, repeating until you have ended up with one big, giant strip.  Press seams to one side.

Repeat process with other strip widths.

Decide how big you need your pillow to be, and cut all the big long strips into shorter sections that are that measurement + 1/2" (for seam allowances).

(I apologize for a lack of step-by-step photos for this, by the way...I really thought I had taken more pictures along the way but apparently not.)

Arrange the strips however you would like, paying attention to the most dominant fabrics and making sure that they are spaced the way you would like.  Stitch the strips together until you have enough to create the dimension you're aiming for, + 1/2" for seam allowances.  In this case, I made a square.

If you would like a flanged border around the pillow as I have done, sew 2 strips on either side, press toward outside and trim even with pieced square.  Then sew 2 more strips on the other two sides, repeating the pressing and edge trimming.

For the back of the pillow, either use a zipper closure (not shown) or do what I have done with the two pieces of backing fabric:

Cut 2 rectangles that are the same width as the pillow front but the length is determined by adding about 3" to whatever the half point is on the pillow.  In this case, the pillow front is a 15" square.  I cut 2 rectangles at 15" x 11" (11 = 8 + 3).

Press under 1/4" of one of the 15" edges on each rectangle.  Press under again to hide the raw edges.  Stitch along that "hem".

Place pillow front face up on table.  Place the 2 rectangles face down, aligning outer raw edges so that there is about a 3" overlap over the middle of the pillow.  Pin in place all around outer edge of pillow.

Stitch 1/4" all the way around, clip corners to reduce bulk.  Turn right side out, press edges.  If no flange is wanted, insert pillow form now. 

 

 

If you're sewing a flanged edge (like mine), "stitch in the ditch" all the way around the dark border fabric.  Insert pillow form.  And now you're done!

I've Changed My Mind

 

Remember a few weeks ago when I said I was only going to sell my patterns wholesale?  Wellllll......I'm re-thinking that decision after hearing from so many disappointed readers!  I'm still not ready to have a sales website/online store, but you can email me about which pattern(s) you'd like to buy (please include your name and snail mail address).  I will email you a Paypal invoice, and once that is paid I'll get your order sent off right away! 

I'll need to charge $1 for shipping/handling and I'll send it First Class USPS.  If you need it faster, I'll charge the amount it costs to expedite it via your choice of carriers, with no separate handling fee.  International orders will be charged the amount it costs to ship with no separate handling fee as well.

PRICING:  The 4 quilt patterns and the Slug+Snake pattern retail at $9, but for my blog readers I'll make it $8.  The Infinity Tote and the Hazel+Eliza Skirts retail at $14 ($12 for my blog readers) because they are much more involved and have more than twice the pages as the other patterns.

If you own a quilt shop/online store and would like to carry my patterns, please email me and we can get that set up for you.  Thanks!

It's going to take some time before many of the local shops will be carrying my patterns, so in the meantime, feel free to email me (see email link near top of righthand sidebar) and let me know what you'd like to order!  Thanks, as always, for your support!

 

Trunk Show, Anyone?

 It's time for some trunk shows!  I've divided up all the samples from my booth at Quilt Market into 3 groups, which can be loaned to quilt shops around the country for use in shop displays and to demo my fabrics and patterns.  If you own a quilt shop in the US or if you'd like to see my samples at your favorite quilt shop, please email me and I'll send you details!

Shown above is Trunk Show A.  Everything you see in the photo will be included.

This is Trunk Show B, and again all that you see will be sent off...except the furniture, of course!

This is a detail of the things in the B trunk show.

...and here we have Trunk Show C.  This one won't be available until late July because Benartex will be using these at Bernina University in Texas.

I'll miss seeing all my projects (and those clothespins!) for awhile, but that's okay.  I'll be happy knowing they'll be brightening up people's quilt shops all over the USA.

I've been working on several projects with my fabric, some of which are headed for quilting magazines and, as such, can't be published yet.

But here's a cute little butterfly I was experimenting with!  Hazel giggled with delight when she saw it, and couldn't wait until I finished it.

All you professional quilters out there, please don't laugh at my clumsy attempt at free-quilting around little shapes...my humble machine is not set up to do such things with ease, and I was just fooling around with this initial prototype.  At 1:00 in the morning, which probably explains a lot in itself....but Hazel doesn't mind if the stitching is all crazy.

 

Right, Hazel ol' girl?

Patterns To Go

At long last I finally have all 7 patterns ready to sell!

As can be expected, there was a huge learning curve with these, and of course it took much more work and time than I had anticipated, but it feels great to finally have them in hand and ready to go.

There are 4 quilt patterns to start with, as you can see.  Each one has full-color yardage, cutting, and assembly instructions and charts.

 

 

 

 

Here's a peek at the inside:

They all have very detailed cutting instructions with charts depicting time-saving strips that can be sewn and pre-cut to save time in block construction/assembly.

These quilt patterns are designed for the beginning to intermediate quilter; although as you might have guessed, a beginner would do well to start with one of the more basic quilts rather than the Argyle - that one is solidly in the intermediate category.  If you have made a few quilts before, though, you could handle it.  The Argyle just takes more time and precision than some of the others.

I also have these 3 non-quilt patterns, which are kind-of hard to see in these pictures.

 

Here's a better picture of the Eliza Skirt.  It's made up of 4 different fabrics, but they're strip-pieced like a quilt so it's not as time-consuming as it may look.

 

 

 

 

 

...and here we have the Hazel Skirt.  Boy, was it fun trying to take a picture of this one!  Hazel was leaping off rocks, bouncing around, and generally having a great time...as all 3-year-olds should be doing, right? 

Just not when I'm trying to take a good picture of her skirt!

This is the Infinity Tote pattern that I also sell as a PDF file on Etsy, except that for the hard copy version I made all the bags in my own fabrics and completely revamped the design layout of the pattern.  So it's the same information, but a different format and all-new photos throughout.

...and we mustn't forget our dear garden friends, the Huggable Slug and Sir Snake!

The slug is my favorite, although I have to say I think my kids prefer their snakes = all the better to whack eachother with!

Okay, time for details about where you can get these patterns, if your heart so desires...

After much thought and deliberation, I have decided NOT to sell these individually through Etsy or by creating my own website.  They are only available wholesale.  Let me repeat that in big letters in case any of you are breezing through without reading the text...

I'M NOT SELLING MY PATTERNS AT RETAIL PRICES TO INDIVIDUAL CONSUMERS.  I AM ONLY SELLING WHOLESALE TO QUILT SHOPS AND DISTRIBUTORS.

The reason?  I do not want to spend the bulk of my (already small amount of creative) time shipping out small orders and making umpteen trips to the rather inconveniently located Post Office.  I'm a one-woman show at this point, with no plans or resources to hire an office slave anytime soon, so I need to be very careful how I budget my time between my family, this business, my church and social life, and the never-ending list of house projects.  Not to mention household chores (ugh).

This obviously means less money for me, but more free time and less stress = totally worth it.

IF YOU ARE NOT QUALIFIED TO BUY WHOLESALE, PLEASE ASK YOUR LOCAL QUILT SHOP OR ONLINE FABRIC STORE TO CARRY MY PATTERNS.  THANKS!

I know that the Fat Quarter Shop will be carrying all of my patterns, I'm not sure about anyone else yet.  If you are a shop and would like to carry my patterns, please email me via the button at the top of my sidebar and I'll send you the details!

Okay, moving right along...

I experimented with the whole floating flower thing in my wide-mouthed vase the other day.

It was actually supposed to be an underwater flower thing, but those hydrangea blossoms were just too persistently bouyant.  And my vase was too short.

 

I suppose I could have tried harder to weigh down the blossom clusters, but I kind-of like the way they hover at the top of the vase. 

The leaves, however, stayed put nicely due to all the glass beads. 

Stay, leaves, stay!  Good boys.

I was tired of my Christmasy picture on FB, so I tried to get some springy shots a few weeks ago...but of course since I was using a tripod+timer most of them turned out blurry because the camera didn't have my face to focus on when I pushed the button.  (Gotta get a remote!) I got lucky on this one.  Never mind that I'm all hunched over with my shoulder in the bushes in an attempt to get the greenery BEHIND me rather than BESIDE me.  My eyes are in focus! So that's the one I kept.

 

I kept this one, too, even though my eyes are not in focus.  But hey, the flower is!

 

 

This was also the day that I tried photographing my new spring skirt (yes, that's my fabric...I must say that I REALLY love this skirt because of the colors).  The rocks are very sharply focused, but not much else is!  Ah, well.  It gets the point across.

Please disregard all the wrinkles in the skirt....it had already been through an entire Sunday of Hazel and Hyrum taking turns squirming on my lap at church!

Did I ever post about this?  Just a little baby dress for a friend.

Okay, for my friend's BABY.  It would be a tad too small for my friend.  This fabric is from my stash, it's an older version of Joel Dewberry's Aviary line.  Love it.

Well, I think that officially ends tonight's Show-and Tell session.  Next on the docket is a big update on the Sewing For Orphans project, which (thanks to a LOT of wonderful people) is just about ready to ship to Bulgaria!  The first box, that is...there are thousands more orphans to sew for, so don't put away that sewing machine yet!  I'll share all the details, photos, and thank-you's in the next post.  TTFN!  (for those of you who don't speak Tigger, that's TaTa For Now)

 

To Market, To Market...

What a whirlwind week it has been!

I had such a great time at Spring Market in Salt Lake City.  Not only did I get to create the booth you see here, but I got to reconnect with old friends, make some new ones, and meet so many wonderful quilters!  It was a fantastic experience.

I had been dreaming of this moment for years, and planning this booth for nearly a year, so it was great to finally see it in tangible form.  I could not have accomplished all you see here without the help of so many people!  First I want to thank Karen and Sharon for dropping many of their other activities once my fabric finally arrived (11 days prior to leaving for Market) to help me with the quilts.  Actually the only thing I did on the quilts was piece the Argyle (the big blue and green one on the wall) and the Ascension (the whirling one on the bench); they did all the rest!  Karen pieced 3 quilts and quilted 4 of them, and Sharon quilted the Argyle and did the hand binding on 4 of them.  A HUGE THANK YOU to both of you!  There is no way I could have done 5 quilts plus all the other stuff by myself - you totally saved my bacon.

I made 3 skirts denoting the 3 colorways...

...and I made a flower box to display the 7 patterns that I am selling.

Some local friends helped with the backdrop curtains and some pillows (thanks, Whitney and Murray!)

 

Once I got to Utah, a bunch of us (thanks Edith, Emilie, and Star!) worked on these cute and easy flowers made with yo-yo's and fabric-covered buttons, which were scattered in the flower box and the "bushes".   Edith and Emilie also worked with me for the day and a half it took to set up the booth.

I had hurriedly made this appliqued sign before I left, but as you can see it has issues.  All you professional quilters out there, don't look too closely!  I spent my flying and airport layover time working on the hand-stitching on it, but didn't ever finish it.  Ah, well.  It got the point across, anyway.

Here's my favorite li'l critter, the Huggable Slug - isn't he just, well, huggable?  The pattern for the slug and his pal Sir Snake is coming soon!  And all net proceeds from this pattern will go to One Heart Bulgaria.

Speaking of One Heart Bulgaria, my Sewing For Orphans project was enthusiastically received by a lot of women who were excited to bring the project back to their hometowns to work on.  This makes me SO happy!  Hopefully the project will really start to snowball from here.  If you are unfamiliar with OHB and/or SFO, please click on the icons in my sidebar for more information.

Here's a closer look at the bags for my Infinity Tote pattern.   Isn't that the cutest wagon ever?  My friend Emilie borrowed it from a neighbor, cleaned it all up and sanded the rust off, then when I got into town we painted it together.  Love it.  She also painted her garden bench red just for the booth.  And she found the white stool that I recovered with my fabric so I could have a place to perch during the show.  Not to mention helping me set up and take down the booth, printing more business cards at her house after I ran out the first day, and driving me everywhere for several days.  Thanks for everything!

Here's Emilie Daly, in all her stylish splendor.  She's a prospective designer and her impressive portfolio attracted a lot of attention from several fabric companies, so keep a lookout for her name in the upcoming year!

 

 The little birdies and flowers in my prints are perfect for applique, as you can see on my Eliza-sized mannequin.  I made both mannequins to be the sizes of my girls, for obvious reasons. 

 

 

Now Hazel, whenever she sees the blonde one, shouts, "That's me!  That's me!"

I had Mod-Podged fabric to fit underneath the "stepping stone" spaces I cut in the fake grass, but made the mistake of cutting the fabric before decoupaging it = shrinkage!  Some pieces didn't even quite fill the gaps, but with a lot of carpet tape Edith and I made it work.

Here I am in another matchy-matchy outfit.  I inadvertantly scared so many people when I was sitting calmly in my chair - when I moved around they totally jumped because they thought I was a mannequin too!  Nearly gave one lady a heart attack. 

For any of you who are awaiting the release of my patterns (I didn't have time to get them printed before I left, despite spending all day last Monday trying to do so), please look for the pattern images to appear in my sidebar.  I've still got to get a lot of ducks in a row before I'm ready to fill orders, but it should happen in the next week or so.  Thanks for your patience, and to all of you who helped me this month (including my Mom, who came about 2 weeks before I left to help entertain the kids so I could sew, and of course my husband Steve, who took a week off of work to play Mr. Mom in my absence), thank you, thank you, thank you!

 

 

 

The Hazel (Halloween) Skirt Pattern is Up

Hi folks, I wanted to let you know that the Hazel skirt pattern is now up on Etsy, with plenty of time to make a Halloween version if you so desire.  Hoooorrah!  I have even made a separate metric conversion chart for my friends in Australia and elsewhere in the world, thanks to the suggestion of one of my pattern testers (thanks Glenda from Australia!).

 To purchase it, just click on my Etsy store, 7LayerShop, and select it from my long, extensive list of patterns currently up for sale.  All 3 of them.  :-)  Not to worry, there will be plenty more in the future.

I'll start the Hazel Skirt at $5 for the first 15 sold, then it will go up to $7 each.  This pattern is less expensive than the bag patterns because it was much less involved to create the pattern.

Happy for you, right?  I hope you enjoy it!

The Hazel Skirt - pretty pleats, easy style

 

Introducing The Hazel Skirt, which features front pleats in contrasting fabrics, and a simple gathered skirt in back.  I'm doing some last minute edits, then it's off to some pattern testers for a quick trial run before I make it available at my Etsy store, 7LayerShop.  I already have my testers lined up, unless you can convince me otherwise...(wink).   Should I add one more tester to the list?

It's especially darling in Amy Butler's Midwest Modern fabrics, don't you think?

I went through several prototypes until I was happy with how the pleats were turning out.  It seemed like a fairly straighforward thing at first, but after trying the original versions on my girls, I realized the pleats weren't deep enough:

Still very cute, especially with the cherry fabric from Sandi Henderson, the diamonds from Patty Young, and the green woodgrain from Joel Dewberry.

Here it is in black and orange (fabric from Joann's), just in time for Halloween season! 

These were made before I changed the proportions of the pleats.  The edited version (like the Amy Butler fabric one) will look more "pleaty"...nice word, huh?   I bought the shirts at Walmart and Target.  Why go to the trouble of decorating shirts myself when I can buy cute ones for $5?

The girls were very happy to spin around in their snappy outfits.  I think they're doing a rendition of the pumpkin harvest dance.

Speaking of pumpkins, I planted a bunch in my garden this year, and for whatever reason, not one pumpkin ever grew.  There were tons of blossoms, but not even a single, tiny, green beginning of a pumpkin.  I haven't the slightest idea why.  

Maybe the girls should have done their pumpkin harvest dance a little sooner in the year!

Hazel also enjoyed contemplating the beauty of her fake black flower.  If I were witty I could come up with a funny one-liner for this shot, but alas...

The pattern started out with a single fabric, as shown on left.

This was the original prototype, and I sure had to go back and change a lot of things on it!  My original plan was to make a skirt with pleats all the way around, so I spent quite a bit of time figuring out pleat placement so that it would connect just right with the waistband.  At last I was finished, and even stitched down each pleat about 4 inches to encourage them to stay pleated.

Well, guess what.  When Eliza tried it on, it was so tight she could barely squeeze into it.  How on earth did that happen?!  Turns out that in my attempt to make a slim-fitting skirt, I got a little carried away and estimated her waist and hip size incorrectly.  And since I almost always sew after the kids are in bed, and I brilliantly didn't have her current measurements on hand, I made it the wrong size.  "Aargh" is most definitely an understatement.

I ended up having to rip out the waistband and elastic casing, detach it from the skirt in the back, sew an additional panel of fabric into the waistband, let out the pleats, gather the fabric, and put the skirt and waistband back together.  All because of a simple measurement error.  Like I said, it was brilliant.

Needless to say, on the next iteration I just put the pleats in the front, and added the contrast fabric to take the guesswork out of where I should be pressing the pleats all the way down.  Much easier and faster, and less likely to mess up.  Besides, I think the contrast fabric is the best part about this skirt!

Here's Hazel, bless her sweet little heart, folding scraps to make shapes for mommy.

"See Mom?  A twiagle!"  Don't look at all the mess in the background.  My studio is always stacked high with various projects I have going on all at once.

...Like this banner I made for Eliza's soccer team.  I would much rather spend my required volunteer hours creating a fun banner than, say, be assistant coach or referee!  Besides, I don't even know anything beyond the basic rules of soccer.  We didn't have soccer as an option where I grew up.  So three cheers for the banner making slot.

I can't believe how old Eliza looks in that picture!  Amazing.

Speaking of looking old, check out my baby girl!  Since when is she old enough to go to preschool?!  Not that either one of us are complaining...while I do miss Hazel during those 3 hours, I'm loving having some uninterrupted time when my brain can complete a thought and I can get more than 10 seconds' worth of work done at a time.  And Hazel absolutely, positively LOVES her preschool!  She begs to go every day, and on the days she isn't signed up to go she is just crushed.  Here she is posing on the first day of school with her very own school tote, which she carries with her everywhere now.  I bought that canvas fabric while in Japan several years ago.  Isn't it sweet?

Gee, do ya think she's excited?  Man, I love that kid.  Hazel is so bright and full of life, and she is about as fiesty as they come.  Very observant and quick to learn...WHEN she wants to, and on her terms, of course.  :-)  It's been a real parenting challenge for us to figure out which battles to pick with our strong-willed children.  If they are forced to do anything it's like WWIII, so the trick has been to get them to use their agency and still do what we want them to do.  At least Hazel responds to time outs - Eliza never has and probably never will!

Anyway,  here's one more adorable thing about Hazel (after all, this post is about her skirt, right?).

Hazel loves to eat frozen Go-Gurts and/or popsicles.  She is constantly in the freezer removing said items (which is why we never have large frozen treats like big fudgesicles or Drumstick cones...I don't want to deal with the battle of keeping her from eating all of them in one day) and begging to eat them.

Here is her tactic: 

With a very solemn face and extremely serious tone, she holds up the Go-Gurt and states loudly, "Yas' one...No mowe!" ("Last one...No more" for those of you who don't speak Hazel).  Her index finger is gesturing emphatically in the air, and her eyes are as wide as saucers and they are looking deeply into mine, piercing my very soul.  She then repeats her (most oft-spoken) phrase over and over again until  1) I give in and rip open her 6th Go-Gurt of the day (hey, it's yogurt, right?  That means it's healthy?  What do you mean, corn syrup?) or  2) I refuse, she throws a huge tantrum, and gets carried - kicking and screaming - to her room for a time out.

Ah, that's my baby.  Now it's time to go make the skirt pattern I have lined up for Eliza before she sees I've named one for Hazel and not for her.  Afterwhich I'll say, "LAST one!  NO more!"  And my kids will laugh and say, "Yeah, right, mom."  They know me too well.

Pattern #2 Is Up (Finally!)

After a long break from thinking about patterns due to my NYC trip, Virginia Beach trip, and all the hubbub surrounding getting the kids back in school, I finally dug in and finished editing my Purse Pouch pattern.  For whatever reason, it's really hard for me to get back in the groove of a project that I've stopped working on for awhile, but it's finally done.  Phew!  This pattern has 2 pages of charts and instructions just for cutting the fabric and interfacing out, which is the most difficult part of the pattern.  I've designated it as an Intermediate level pattern for that reason. There are 11 pages total.  The actual construction is not that difficult, so anyone with a fair amount of sewing experience would be able to make it without trouble.

It's available for purchase through Etsy (my Etsy name is 7LayerShop, by the way) and the first 15 patterns will be sold at the discounted price of $7.  After those are sold, the price will increase to $9.  Click here if you would like to see the listing.

I've been doing a lot of back-to-school sewing, plus some prototypes for upcoming patterns, so check back in a day or two and hopefully I'll have some of them posted.  

Oh - and I would be very remiss if I didn't issue some heartfelt thanks to the ladies who tested this pattern for me - it was so helpful to have fresh eyes and minds to go through and find all the little things that I had glazed over because I've read through it so many times.  So thanks a bunch, everybody!