Denim shirt remix

Years ago, hubby bought me this cute denim shirt from the Biltmore in Asheville, NC. I wore it a lot at first, but for a long time it's just been hanging in my closet. I decided to revamp it into something fresh and new.

A quick trip into the local quilt store and I had some gorgeous Ruby Star Society fabric and a couple of spools of 8 weight thread in coordinating colors.

In a jiffy i had this cute tunic all done! I added a gathered "skirt" with the fabric and embroidered flowers above the front pocket and on the back .

 Now I can't wait for fall so I can wear it! We've been having lots of 100+ degree days here in Texas, not exactly conducive to long sleeved denim shirts! For now it's safely tucked back in my closet.

Brooklyn Tote Pack

I'm so excited! Svetlana Sotak, at Sotak Handmade introduced her newest pattern today, the Brooklyn Tote Pack.  I was lucky to be chosen to pattern test this bag for her before I left for Quiltcon and I'm so happy with the outcome.

First I must tell you, when I saw the pattern, I decided I needed a plain denim bag and this was the perfect choice for it. If you've followed me for very long you know that "plain" is not usually in my vocabulary. I decided to do it anyways and the result was lovely...

Lovely but BORING! LOL Not Svetlana's fault at all. The pattern itself was perfect. As always, her instructions are clear and the details are awesome. Zipper pockets both outside and inside, tote handles (she used leather, I chose webbing for mine) and removable, adjustable backpack straps as well. 

I did line mine with this adorable cotton & steel lamb print that I had in my stash, which made the inside fun & cheerful.

I know I'll get lots of use out of it. But first I had to fancy it up a bit. So I went a little crazy with embroidery (no pattern, I just kept stitching until I was "done").

And now I think it's perfect! I really love this bag.... Thanks Svetlana for letting me try it out for you!

quilt con fun part 2

One of the best things about Quilt Con was meeting people. It didn't take long to start making new friends. I was barely inside the convention center the first morning, before the doors to the exhibit hall even opened, when I heard an excited voice calling out "Ellyn! Ellyn!" I turned and there was my instagram buddy Sandie, from sandieloves2quilt. Luckily, we saw each other many times over the four days of the conference & got to visit quite a bit.

I also got to meet Jane from janequiltsslowly. Jane made the mini I received in last years swap, which I absolutely love! It was fun to get to know her this weekend too.

pardon the sun streaks in my oh-so-professional photo

Debbie, from A Quilter's Table, and I had been planning a meet up for a while. We ended up running into each other a couple of times before our scheduled breakfast out...

At our breakfast on the last morning (more about good food in another post, stay tuned!) we exchanged birthday treats we had made for each other. I was delighted when Debbie gave me this beautiful patchwork gift bag with a gorgeous scissors keeper inside...

I feel like I've known her forever! It was great to just sit and share while we ate good food.

Of course there were some old friends to run into as well. Like Lee Monroe, from May Chappell.

There were a few fan girl moments, like meeting Heather Givans from Crimson Tate. She's a riot! and her booth was so much fun.

I took two workshops. Both teachers were talented ladies I had wanted to meet. First I took at design workshop from Amy Ellis of Amy's Creative Side.

We did lots of quilt math in Amy's workshop (I'm such a nerd. I love that stuff!) and I came away with a fun original quilt design, much different from what I started with.

My other workshop was with Nichole Vogelsinger from Wild Boho.

This workshop was called "Layered Abstractions" And involved fabric and embroidery embellishments. Can't beat that! Again, I went in with one idea and came away with something totally different.

I'm working away on this project and will share more soon.

I love meeting new people! I wish I could meet ALL of you!

Tiny Dresden Party week 2

The tiny dresden party continues over on Instagram! I shared my week one finishes here. I was having so much fun making embellished hoops I decided to keep on making them! Two more finished for week two....

As before, my dresdens are smaller than 5 inches. I love adding chain stitch and sequins...

And this one has an aqua sequined center and tiny black beads at the dresden points...

All of the colorful sequins and tiny beads were creating a mess in my studio. Not that I'm a neat-nick or anything (confession, I'm NOT) but they were making me a bit crazy and needed to be reigned in. Hobby Lobby to the rescue! Check out these tiny jars.....

Perfect for tiny embellishments. Twelve jars come in each cute little case....

which snaps securely closed. Each case was only $3.99. So of course I bought several. Two are already full...

still working on perfect storage for my embroidery floss.....l

Nametag swap

Last month at our Modern Guild meeting, we drew names to make each other new name tags. I was quite happy to choose Rachel, a friend and fellow board member. She requested teals & purples. Since I had a charm pack of grunge on hand, I pulled out all the colors that would work & made some EPP hexies. Because, well, hexies are my thing! 

A short time later, a little English paper piecing, a little hand embroidery... and this is how it turned out...

I even made her a lanyard using fabric scraps from my stash that matched her color request. I used Three Owls Handmade's tutorial for the lanyard, left off the hook and attached the name tag by sliding the attached loop onto the split ring. Easy peasy! I love wearing name tags on a lanyard, do you?

I received in return this beautiful name tag made by my friend Bettepat

The bright colors make me so happy!

Petunia Peacock

Allow me to introduce you to Petunia Peacock!

Isn't she adorable? Petunia is one of the new patterns recently introduced by Jennifer Heynen at Jennifer Jangles. I was lucky Jennifer allowed me to take this pattern for a spin for her. The first part of the pattern is lots of appliqué on the feathers. Not too long ago, I would have done this all by hand. However, through lots of practice, my confidence with machine appliqué has soared. I did this with a machine buttonhole stitch & I am really happy with the results.

 I would call this pattern a confident to advanced beginner level. The maker needs both machine and hand sewing basic skills. Oh, and a tiny bit of embroidery. It's a great pattern, well written and so much fun to watch Petunia come together. I stitched her up in an afternoon.

 Thanks again, Jennifer, for the opportunity to sew for you.

goodies in the mail

Returning home after nearly six weeks away meant piles of mail waiting to be opened! Some of it was really really FUN mail! In fact, there was an abundance of fabric.

This last year I participated in a birthday fat quarter swap. There were fifteen of us in the swap, and we each sent a fat quarter to each other member on her birthday. We put in requests for favorite fabrics. My request was for aquas/reds and polka dots. What fun it was to open up all of these goodies!

 Another fabric bundle waited for me from Pink Castle Fabrics. I had seen Ayumi's new Lighthearted fabrics and fallen head over heals in love! I had to have some. It was hard to choose, but in the end I selected these four....

Another swap I had joined was the Instagram Snacking with a mug swap. This gorgeous bundle arrived from Linda while I was away. The instructions were to include a mug, mug rug, and a book in our swap package. (yes, my book is missing from this photo! Linda included a devotion book which I am already reading and forgot to go retrieve for the photo shoot.) Linda also embroidered me a pretty tea towel and included some hot chocolate! I'm a lucky lucky girl.

It turns out partners were paired up and gave to each other in this swap, which I didn't realize! Here's the bundle I sent to Linda:

 One more surprise I received in the mail this week. My blogging friend Debbie from A Quilter's Table made me a lovely patchwork covered journal from Cotton & Steel fabrics. The journal is graph paper which is PERFECT! I just love this Debbie! Thank you! Here's the front....

 and the equally fabulous back...

wow! I'm feeling very spoiled right now.

a bee block

Before I left home 2 weeks ago, I packed up what I would need to make a bee block for my sweet friend Joy. I knew it would need to be done while I was away. Joy gave us a square of grunge for the center of her block and asked us to do something with it that would remind her of us. I decided to embroider my block since I love to embroider and it gave me some hand work to do while I am away.

 Some of my favorite things! Sewing, hot tea, baseball and cherries. I also brought some scraps from home to piece the rest of her block....

It was fun to put it all together today. I hope Joy likes what I've done. And I can't wait to see what the other bee members come up with!

birthday treats

A wonderful package arrived on my doorstep this week from fellow blogger and friend Maria. Check out all of the beautiful goodies she sent for my birthday!

 We agreed to make each other some kind of tote or pouch this year. This amazing tote is all hand embroidered (Maria does beautiful embroidery!). Also included is a bright & happy birthday towel with cupcakes appliqued on (Maria assures me they are gluten free! Perfect!), an awesome ruler with the name of her stitching group on it and 2 awesome fat quarters both with shades of aqua.... does she know me or what???

I thought you'd like to see that bag close up...

I've put some projects inside and tucked it inside my suitcase. Ally and I are heading north (brrrrrrr) for a big adventure. I'll tell you more about that soon!

Thanks so much Maria! Your package made me smile and will be well used and loved!

Sew Sweetness embroidery pattern

I'm excited to share a project I got to work on this summer for Sara Lawson of Sew Sweetness. Sara put a call out on Instagram for testers for her new embroidery pattern, Fantasia. Since I love to do embroidery I jumped on the opportunity. I ended up making this mini quilt using one of her floral motifs....

It was such a fun project for m and I just loved the floral motif that was included in her pattern. I also tried out two tone binding on this project which was new to me. I've used it again & will write up a tutorial for it when I am able to share the project I perfected it on (more secrets. I know, I know).

Thanks for the opportunity to test for you Sara! I enjoyed it.

Happy Birthday Crafty Tuesday!

Today was Crafty Tuesday's second birthday. Any excuse for a party, I always say! Of course there were balloons....

 My crafty friends turned out in full force today, and Melissa took pictures for me. She says I'm never in the pictures and I should be! Grace was crocheting and I was laughing appliquéing.....

Joellen and Raquel were having an intense discussion about english paper piecing. Or working on world peace. Or something....

 Cheryl was drinking soda (to be fair, she did work on her photo albums!) and Trae had a cool art quilt happening (or she was eating a brownie. one or the other)...

 And Melissa was taking pictures, which is why she wasn't in any of these! Then she set the timer on the camera and we got a great group shot. Even Lexi got into the action...

ah I do love our Crafty Tuesdays!