FABRIC GIVEAWAY!!! You know you want some :)

Want some Willard the Gnome fabric for FREE???

A darling fellow quilter and fabric lover, Amber, a.k.a. "One Shabby Chick" is hosting a giveaway for a fat quarter of our beloved "Willard". Head over and get yourself in on the contest! While you're there, check out the gobs of other beautiful handmade goodness that Amber is up to. I guess inspiration is easy to come by when you live in sunny Hawaii :)



Giveaway comments are open until Monday, August 31st. Good Luck!

SALE in the shop...

Some of you may know from previous posts that I've been saving for a new sewing machine. My current basic Janome machine and I have a love-hate relationship that makes me think we should just stay friends and I could fall in love with a new Janome Memory Craft ;)

The new fabric design sales are helping fund this idea, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to start moving some items in the shop that are just sitting and not being loved-on. SOOOO, I have added a "SALE" section to the shop, where you'll find several of my "Modern Quilter" sewing machine drawings and a couple of aprons. If you've been watching any of these items for awhile, I hope you'll get the chance to snatch them up while they're on sale! Great gifts for Christmas!

In the meantime, I've been quilting my doll quilt for DQS7 today...the deadline is drawing near!!

And there are several new fabric designs in the shop for pre-order as well!

Inspiration

I love to see what other quilters do with the same fabrics. Everyone has such a unique creative process and it's fun to watch. If you're not already hanging out with us on Flickr.com, you need to head over and set up an account and join us! There are fabric swaps, quilting bees, mini quilt swaps, and stunning photography.

I've met so many sweet people with many of the same interests in fabrics and quilts through Flickr. It has also been a great networking tool for my etsy shop and beyond. Two of my flickr friends have purchased some of my fabric designs lately and they are among the very first to sew with them. ( I have not had much time at the sewing machine lately!) Take a look at their beautiful works in progress:

Amber of One ShaBby ChiCk is finishing up this cutie doll quilt for the Doll Quilt Swap 7. I love gnomes and mushrooms and she was so sweet to feature little Willard in two of the circles...right next to the infamous Heather Ross gnomies! So sweet! Stay tuned to Amber's blog, because she is planning a Willard Gnomes fabric giveaway very soon ;)

little red flea market fancy and lightning bugs, originally uploaded by green.littlewillow.

You would never know that this quilt block is one of the very first-ever quilt blocks made by Amy of Tiptoe Through the Woods. I love her color choices and can't wait to see more! She is creating a log cabin quilt of all kinds of Little Red Riding Hood fabrics! How honored I was to see Miss Lily Red in the center of this cute block!

I'm feeling pretty homesick for some sewing lately. I have spent much of my time designing and handling the etsy stuff, so I'll live vicariously through you! Tell me, what are YOU working on??

xo, Ariel

How to Applique a Cover-Up

At our house, we have an ongoing pile of T-shirts with permanent stains...fit for my husband to use as rags in his woodshop. I don't mind tossing my hubby's old undershirts in the pile when they are past their prime, but when it's a shirt of mine, that is also fairly new, it gets me pretty irritated. Here's a plain white tee that I love because the length is "just riiiight"...a few days ago I removed it from the dryer to find a big ugly rust stain on the front of it. No idea where it came from...So here's my plan for covering it up...

Select a shape you'd like to use as the applique/cover-up patch. I drew this barn swallow, but you can print some clip art or even do a silhouette of your kiddo...random circles might be cool too...endless possibilities here.

Select a fabric print that would look nice with your silhouette. You can tell what it will look like by holding it up to the light and letting the fabric design shine through your template. I decided these Pop Garden flowers were too big and random to use for this project, so I chose a good "all-over" print from Moda's Arcadia instead...

I like to trace my template on the back of the fabric with a washable pen or pencil. Make sure you decide ahead of time which way you want your applique to face on the shirt and use the correct side of your template to trace.

Next, I like to roughly cut 1/4" around my tracing, to save my scraps for something else.

Using some fabric Heat n' Bond or iron-on webbing, I place my shape on the webbing paper, "sticky" side up (follow the directions on your product package).

To avoid getting the webbing "goo" on your iron, place a piece of wax paper or butcher paper on top, iron according to your webbing directions (I press for about 3 seconds, making sure to press all areas). Peel the butcher paper off.

When you flip it over, you can still see the lines of your tracing. Cut out your shape.

Peel off the backing paper carefully...

Iron the applique to the shirt, covering up the ugly spot. In my case, I should have chosen darker fabric because my rust stain got even uglier from the iron heat and shows through the cover up... just a little.

Set your sewing machine to a zig zag stitch, with the stitch length being close together (I set mine to a little less than 1, because I wanted my fabric to show through the thread a little.)

Lastly, make sure to take a goofy picture, so we all can see your handiwork! Enjoy your "NEW" shirt!

New Fabric Designs

**UPDATE...I am sold out of my most current Spoonflower order. I am taking reservations for Willard Gnome, Lily Red Riding Hood, and Millie Miss Muffet for my next order. Email or send an etsy convo. to reserve your fat quarters or yardage. Thanks so much for your support and kind words!!! xo

I've been working on a few new fabric designs lately to complement little Willard Gnome. One is ready and available in the shop...

Meet "Lily Red Riding Hood"...inspired by gnomes and the storybook...and my little red riding hood obsession :)

I've also been working on a "Millie Miss Muffet" design. I have ordered a swatch of her and am not sure I'm quite happy with the design yet. I think she might be too small and the light pink background looks really washed out...hmmm...

A little "plug" for Spoonflower.com....this coming Thursday is free swatch day at Spoonflower. If you create an account and upload your design, you can order up to 2 swatches of your fabric FREE! Very cool for all you cool cats out there who'd love to give it a try!

happy weekending :) xo

Sew Kid At Heart

What's been going on in the Sew Kid at Heart Quilting bee??? Here are some updates on the fun we're having, creating quilts for our kids...

Titus received a softie monster from Viv...all the way from New Zealand. We named him "Zealand" appropriately :) Titus gave him a good squeeze while he brushed his teeth last night and daddy read him a book at bedtime.

Zealand also got tucked in.

I've been receiving my blocks for the orange and aqua spiderweb quilt I decided to make. It's really fun to have a block from each member of the group.

I need to get crackin' on some more blocks for others. Up next, monsters, butterflies, princesses, oh my!

Time Flies...

...When you're having fun!

Where has this summer gone?? It's August already??? This is the time, where if I were still teaching, I would start to get a churning in my tummy at the thought of having to get up early and go to work again ;) But that's because I'm lazy ;) Seriously, I loved teaching and love staying home with Titus even more.



What's new with you? Here's what I'm working on during nap time today...



Reading the manual so I can fire up this bad boy postal scale :) I was getting tired of paying more for shipping at the post office than online. But, the catch is that I need a scale to purchase accurate postage online....This one came from Wally world....hope it works ;)



Doll Quilt Swap 7 sneaky-peeky for ya! It's coming along and needs a really cute, pieced back and binding idea...




I finally upgraded from the baby wipes cardboard box to plastic storage bins for my fabric stash! Now I have lids and moisture protection...but if you're in a pinch, diaper and wipes boxes are great for storing fabric! And, you can call yourself "green"!



And, something pretty to look at. Thanks to Heather and many other swappy friends, my Flea Market Fancy stash is growing! I REALLY want to use Denyse Schmidt's "Single Girl" pattern to make a quilt for my bed. Jeremy is getting a "Katie Jumprope" quilt, so we should have Denyse "his and hers" quilts.......eventually.....ha!

And, finally, if you're still holding on for some Willard the Gnome fabric, bless your heart! I have a couple more orders from Spoonflower on the way, hopefully by next week. Thanks for all your support! xo