Etsy Shop Focus

Posted on January 31, 2013 by oliver's fancy

I thought I would take a minute today to let you know about one of my new favorite Etsy shops- Meadow Mist Designs. This shop is run by Cheryl Brickey, who just happens to be the newest member of our Greenville chapter of the Modern Quilt Guild. I have been wanting a cute pincushion for a while, but have had too much going on to make one myself. At our last GMQG meeting, Cheryl happened to mention she sold them on etsy. I immediately checked out her shop and was so happy with what I found that it took me a week to decide on what I wanted. Look at some of her shop goodies!

Source: etsy.com via Brooke on Pinterest

In the end, I contacted Cheryl directly to ask for a pincushion with all Lotta Jansdotter fabrics. She put together the perfect pairing of fabrics and also made me a needle book and a thread catcher. Look at how cute they are! Excuse the fact that I took this picture in a poorly lighted room…We all like instagram pics every once in a while, right? 🙂

She doesn’t have the needle book or thread catcher up on her shop but I’m sure if you asked nicely, she might be willing to start selling those too! 🙂 This is not a paid endorsement in any way. I just love finding new etsy shops that are affordable and have good craftsmanship, and I thought you might also appreciate the knowledge!

Madrona Road Challenge

Posted on January 28, 2013 by oliver's fancy

Michael Miller Fabrics partnered with the Modern Quilt Guild to create a challenge for QuiltCon. The company donated fabric from the Madrona Road line to each quilt guild that wanted to participate in the challenge! I think that’s pretty generous.Michael Miller Fabrics and Violet Craft (the designer of the fabric line) will be picking some of the entries to display in the Michael Miller Fabrics booth at QuiltCon. The photos must be uploaded to the flickr group by January 31st, so I had a bit of a time constraint to complete my project.

I had such a hard time deciding what to make for this challenge. I knew that I wanted to make a mini-quilt because that has been on my list for a while and what better opportunity than with free fabric? I finally decided to try out Jeni’s Flagged Quilt that I have been dying to make. This quilt uses half-rectangle triangles. I used a combo of her directions and the Modern Quilt Guild’s directions that she links to for my quilt. I didn’t want my quilt as big as hers so I cut 5×7 inch rectangles. This is a super quick and easy quilt pattern! Once I got started, I just couldn’t stop because it practically flew together.

For the backing, I rearranged some of the leftover triangles to form a different pattern and surrounded them with my remaining fabric in large blocks. I used the fabric given to me plus some Kona White and Charcoal.

Quilting: I debated for a while about the quilting but ended up using the same loopy quilting technique that Jeni used in her quilt. It’s a fairly easy free-motion quilting technique so it’s perfect for a beginner like me. Except for the fact that I had only completed about 1/4 of the quilting and the timing went off on my machine. I am not sure what happened, but somehow I must have jammed it and then yanked the fabric. 😦 I was so upset- this close to finishing and my machine is down and out! I have some nice friends though and one of them let me finish the FMQ on her Bernina. (And can I say that I now have my Bernina fund started because that was the most fun I have ever had while sewing!! There really is a huge difference between my machine and that one!). The repair man was able to fix my machine quickly so I had it back within 48 hours and finished the binding last night.

I wasn’t sure what I would use for the binding because (I thought) I had used up every single scrap of fabric given to me, but when I was cleaning up from the quilting, I discovered more fabric on the floor! Perfect! Just enough to make my binding! I guess you could call that a happy mistake.

I am loving this quilt. It was lots of fun to make. (Other than the machine breaking part of it…grr) I don’t have any hope of it getting picked for the challenge but it was good to make something just because, and now I have a mini-quilt for my sewing room wall! The finished quilt measures 25×25.

Echino Pillows

Posted on January 23, 2013 by oliver's fancy

And now to show you the few projects that I completed in anticipation of hosting a baby shower at my house. Of course, originally I had a huge to-do list that I wanted to complete but the reality of my pregnant state honed it down to just a few important items.

I bought this Echino Nico London fabric at on online clearance sale probably a year and a half ago with the idea that I would use it for pillows in my den area. I kept waiting to make the pillows because the hubs is making me some built-in bookshelves and these pillows were to be part of the window seat area. Well the bookshelf project is on a bit of a hold right now, but I decided to go ahead and make the pillows to spruce up that area a bit. The bookshelves will be built on top of this build-in cupboard (now hiding many of Oliver’s toys) and so I will just pull all the pillows to the middle window-seat area when they finally are finished. I la,la love how it turned out! I am a bit of a book nerd and have a love affair with England so this fabric suits me perfectly. I also had my sister come over and help me hang some art work and lanterns that I had sitting around waiting for this room to be completed. (Art work is by the very talented Mary Lekoshere) Now it looks like a cozy little space and I am so happy to have pulled this nook together. Ignore the fact that the pillows are sitting on raw boards- remember the whole work-in-progress fact and appreciate that there is at least one part of this project completed. I need to take some more pictures in the later afternoon because the sun was shining directly in the window- making it impossible to get a shot of the entire wall but I think you get the general idea.

I have about a yard of the tan London print left over as well as some nice-sized scraps of the other prints so I hope to make a quilt for the day bed also located in this den to really pull the room together. As a final note, I highly recommend this linen-cotton blend fabric as the perfect weight for pillows! It sews like a dream and creates a nice thick, but not too heavy pillow cover! Also I am lazy and create envelope backs for all my pillows! Super easy and you don’t have to fiddle with zippers, buttons or hand-sewing.

A Showering of Fun

Posted on January 21, 2013 by oliver's fancy

This past Saturday I hosted a baby shower for a good friend, K. I had lots of fun planning the decor for the shower especially since she is having a baby boy- my area of expertise 🙂 . The baby room colors are grey and green which just happen to match my dining and living room colors as well! Perfect for decorating! Another friend is making the baby bedding, and I contacted her to get the details on the fabric she is using so I could buy some to use in the decor.

When I talked to K, she told me that she did not have a specific theme but was thinking of using some elephants as decor and really wanted a tissue pom mobile. I looked up her Pinterest wall to see what she had pinned for the baby’s room and found my perfect inspiration!

Source: imgfave.com via Kimberly on Pinterest

Source: victorianlighthouse.tumblr.com via Kimberly on Pinterest

I googled felt elephant templates and found the perfect one for my needs. Here is the link for any interested. I enlarged the template two different times in order to have two different sized elephants- one enlargement was about 225% and the other was about 300%. Then I gathered all the materials needed and hosted a fun crafting morning with my fellow shower helpers to get all the decor made. Together we made 5 elephants and 7 tissue poms. Later on, I made a felt circle garland and name bunting.

I am so happy with how all the decor turned out as it was my first time making the tissue poms and I was a bit apprehensive that they wouldn’t look quite right. The best part is that the mama-to-be got to take all the decor home to use in her baby room! Now prepare yourself for a barrage of pictures! I apologize that the brightness from my huge front windows make it difficult to get a good shot of the table decor.

New Year Update…

Posted on January 15, 2013 by oliver's fancy

And we’re back! That was a bit of an unintended, extended break, but we are back up and running folks! Wanna see what’s been taking up all my time and energy?

Yep, you got it…another little rugrat will be running around our house come June. And we are excited to announce that it is yet another boy child so let the boy crafting keep coming! No ruffles and bows at this house, peeps. Having an active toddler running around while going through the loveliness that is pregnancy sure has set me back a bit. However crafting must still go on and I am excited to get back into this space and share some fun projects I have been working on. To begin with, let’s just do a quick recap of what’s happened since I last visited this space. Most of the pics will be instagram since these were all captured on the go.

First: CRAFT FAIRS

I was in two craft fairs. The first craft fair was a small, local affair and I must admit to being a bit disappointed at the amount of money I made for all the work involved. The second craft fair was located just a little ways from me in Columbia, SC and turned out to be a huge success! I loved everything about the Crafty Feast and hope to make it an annual event! My thoughts on craft fairs- they are tons of work, but if you pick the right one, the outcome can be quite good. I think I will pick one or two a year to focus on because any more than that is too much time for this part-time crafty mama.

My first little craft fair booth

Second craft fair- notice the new contraption the hubs made me to keep my hoops on. This worked out great!

Next: CHRISTMAS CRAFTS

I didn’t set too many goals for Christmas crafting because my last craft fair was December 15 and I knew that I wouldn’t have much time for handmade gifts this year. I did manage to make a few things though. I made a little side table topper for my mother to match a vintage quilt in her guest room. This was a fun, easy little project. I used a quarter square triangle tutorial to make a version of the Ohio Star block

The other big Christmas gift I managed to make was a Clemson quilt for my brother. This was a joint venture with my parents. They asked me if I would make the quilt if they provided all the materials. I don’t have any pictures of the finished quilt- seriously, how terrible is that? However, I made the quilt was a copy of the one I made my dad for Father’s Day so I’ll cheat and show you a picture of that one as an example.

That about wraps it up for now. I am hosting a baby shower at my house this weekend and I cannot wait to show you the cute decorations we have made in preparation for this shower. However, the decor is a surprise to the mama-to-be so I shall have to wait till next week to reveal the cuteness. 🙂 I will be back later this week to show some fun house projects that I have completed in anticipation of all the visitors that will be here on Saturday.