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Shhh... they're sleeping now, but it was fun. Two parades, a frolic, and trick-or-treating. Olivia dressed as Lalaloopsy. Nicholas was Darth Vadar again, but as he'd tell you, this year he was "deluxe."
Mia, however, strenuously objected to wearing even this monarch butterfly costume ~ so she went as "herself." Which was pretty cute.
Happy Halloween! xo amy
You, my dears, have a lot of holiday sewing planned ~ wow! I enjoyed reading your comments and I've totally fallen right into the spirit. So, after tonight (I still have a few more stitches to put into Olivia's halloween costume) I'm going to be in full fa-la-la-la mode. Love it!
Now for the winner of the Scrumptious Fat Quarter Giveaway...
Congratulations to Christin! (Please send me your details right away.) And of course, a huge thank you to Shay of Simply Sweet Fabric for sponsoring this giveaway. She does, by the way, still have more Scrumptious in the shop.
I took a bite out of my Scrumptious fat quarters to use as accents on a new potholder for our holiday baking. It was meant to look like a gingerbread house, but I put in such a small effort I'm afraid it looks more like a Christmas pudding with a door on it. Soo, I think I'll dress it up a bit and get back to ya...
Also, I made this bib for some friends who've recently adopted a newborn baby...
And I leave you with a quick spoonful of inspiration...
1. You Are Lovely, 2. LEICA, 3. Untitled, 4. Pinning, 5. Open Book Paper Piecing pattern, 6. Shoot for the Stars Pillow, 7. Summer, 8. Quilting Happiness: review & giveaway, 9. Whisper pieced backing, 10. Pretty Pastel Style, 11. Doily Love, 12. Morning Prep, 13. Hour glass quilt - WIP / Play fair and let me know when you use my photo. Thanks
Created with fd's Flickr Toys
xo amy
I'm gonna hit the rewind button for just a moment ~ I didn't get a chance to show you what I got in the Strawberry pincushion swap.
And this isn't even the half of it. I was sent a beautiful package all the way from Australia, from Kylie of Three Honeybees, and she spoiled me rotten. Not only did she send me the cutest strawberry things but she also sent presents for my kids as well. Thank you, Kylie!!
And now fast forward a teensy bit ~ I wanted to tell you a little bit of the reason why it took me so long to write up that pretty little potholder tutorial.
It was a good reason. The best, really.
Mia and I made that 7 hour drive up to Sonoma again ~ we picked up Anne and headed straight to San Francisco to celebrate her 18th birthday. We stayed at the St. Francis hotel at Union Square, which reminded us a lot of The Plaza in NYC ~ where we once stayed when Anne was 8. (We're big fans of Eloise, are you?) We shopped and ate as much as one can in 24 hours, and then Mia and I had to head home.
{ The birthday girl was feeling camera shy so I could only take photos when she wasn't paying attention. This was a yummy Pinkberry frozen yogurt moment. }
Another whirlwind trip. Another adventure. And when we got home, of course, we were sickly and sniffly and sore throaty and all ~ Mia nestled in my lap (keeping me warm) the whole time I wrote the tutorial. Then a package of fabric arrived to brighten the day:
Isn't it scrumptious? Shay of Simply Sweet Fabric has generously done it again...
She's sent a pretty selection of 14 fat quarters from the Scrumptious fabric line by Bonnie & Camille. Check out those pinstripes on the bias ~ love! If you'd like a chance to win this bundle, please check out the shop Simply Sweet Fabric and give it a "heart" or a "like", if you do ~ then leave a comment on this post telling me what holiday crafting is tops on your list. Shay's got some cute holiday prints well stocked.
This giveaway is open to all. Comments will close Tuesday, October 29th at midnight and the winner will be chosen randomly. Good luck to you!
xo amy
We had a pumpkin carving party on Saturday...
It's funny, but these cheese spreaders are some of my fave Halloween deco items to pull out each year.
There was cookie decorating, pumpkin carving, good eats, of course, and a frenzy of sugar-fueled kiddos running in and out of the house...
Don't let this pic fool you (they look like perfect angels here, those tricksters!)
I baked this for the party. Carrot cake cheesecake. I had been dying to make it since I found the recipe at this food blog: Sifting Focus. I followed the recipe exactly and let me just say, "Go ahead and treat yourself." Tell yourself it's healthy, too, like I do, because it's made with fresh carrots, coconut, pineapple, and walnuts. And yet, mix all that together (plus the cream cheese and sugar and stuff) and it's not overly sweet. It's just... perfect.
Next up, pumpkin pie ~ because that's Nicholas' favorite.
And before it gets too late, I'm super-excited to get started on my Halloween Spooky Sampler cross stitch from The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery. Have you seen it? It's stinkin' adorable.
I've pulled two sets of the floss colors needed ~ one from my Cosmo supply and one from my DMC supply ~ so I could compare the colors and make a choice on which company's shade I prefer (more on that later.) I've never purchased a cross stitch pattern before and I am a little intimidated, but I'm pretty sure the hardest part is simply beginning. So, I'm off. But come back real soon ~ I've got a fabric giveaway for you!
xo amy
"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
William Morris
* * * * * *
And if your potholders are both useful and beautiful... all the better!
You'll need:
Tools I find invaluable but you can get by without them:
Note: I made two hotpads using InsulBright and found that the metallic material inside the batting really does effectively reflect heat back to the pot or dish while the underside stayed cooler. I also made a potholder and discovered that one layer of InsulBright was not enough to comfortably remove a piping hot dish from the oven. Two layers was perfect. So, if you want to make a pretty potholder that really functions (so you don't burn your fingers!) I would use the InsulBright as directed. Now, let's get sewing!
1. Quilt the potholder front. First mark your lines on one piece of the 8" x 8" cotton fabric at a 45 degree angle using your quilt ruler and a pencil or your Hera marker (using a piece of batting beneath to imprint the lines) at a space of 1 1/4" apart. Then mark your opposing lines, again at a 45 degree angle and 1 1/4" apart.
Now layer:
I use quilt basting spray to hold this all together and it works like a charm. If you don't have basting spray, I suggest a long easy basting stitch about an inch from the edge to keep the layers from shifting. Quilt along your marked lines and when finished, trim back to a clean 7 1/2" x 7 1/2" square. (If you basted it by hand, now pull out the basting stitches.)
2. Quilt the potholder base. Do the same as above using your base fabric: mark the quilting lines and then layer:
Baste spray (or baste stitch) all the layers together and quilt along the marked lines. Trim back to a clean 9" x 7 1/2" rectangle.
3. Add ruffle to potholder front. Fold your 2" x 13" ruffle strip of cotton in half, lengthwise, and press. Now set your sewing machine to it's longest stitch length and sew a straight line 1/4" in from the long raw edge and leave at least 3" tails on each end. Knot the tails at one end. At the other end, gently tug on the top thread to create the ruffle.
You'll have to fiddle with it a bit ~ pushing the bunches down to the end, adjusting, evening them out ~ getting the ruffle to the right length (7 1/2" in this case). Pin the raw edge of the ruffle to the top edge of your quilted potholder front. Leave 1/2" of the ruffle unruffled at each end.
Sew the ruffle on 1/4" in from the edge.
4. Add the binding above the ruffle. Pin your 1 1/2" x 7 1/2" binding strip atop the ruffle, print side facing down. Sew it on 1/4" from edge. Now press the binding up and over the raw edge to the backside.
On the backside, fold the binding edge under a 1/4" and use your fabric glue stick to hold in place (or use pins to secure.) The binding should be evenly lined up on both front and back so that when you topstitch the front, it secures the binding on the back. Topstitch the front (it is more important that the front look even and neat than the back.)
5. Decorate your potholder front, if you like. As you can see above, I added a few fabric patches and zigzag stitched them in place. In the past, I've appliqued hexagon flowers on by hand (see the Briar Rose potholders), I've added a bit of trim peaking out from beneath the patch (see here), and added trim or labels in random places. What I like about these little potholders is that you really can't go wrong. The sky is the limit ~ decorate as you like!
6. Sew the potholder front to base. Lay the potholder front on potholder base, so that the bottom edges are aligned. I sew at the bottom first, then up one side (slightly less than 1/4" in), backstitching a few times at the top. Then I sew the other side, starting from the bottom up. This all may seem very particular but I do it this way to prevent any awkward shifting of the layers while they're sewn.
7. Create your curved corners. Grab any small circular item in your house (I use an old Jello mold) and trace the curve at all four corners of the potholder. Carefully clip along your traced lines.
8. Zigzag stitch the entire potholder. This keeps the edges smooth and uniform for binding.
9. Add hanging loop (optional). I used cotton/linen ribbon for mine. Turn the potholder over and find the middle at the top. Pin your ribbon on (raw edges aligned with top) equally spaced from the middle point. Sew over the ribbon ends, a little less than 1/4" from the edge, backstitching a few times.
10. Bind with bias cut binding. Your binding must be made with fabric cut on the bias (cross-grain) or it will not wrap around the curves neatly. If you are making your own bias cut binding, luckily this is a small project (you'll only need a strip 2.5" x 44"). Press your bias cut binding in half lengthwise and sew to the front of the potholder just as you normally would attach binding. (If you need a good tutorial on binding, I used this one when I first began to sew. Also, Lori has a great tutorial here.) However there's no need to deal with mitered corners for this project.
Simply ease the binding around the curved corners (but don't stretch the binding) and keep on going 'til the whole potholder is bound!
I forgot to take a pic until after I'd already sewn the binding on (above), but I wanted to show you how you would pin the binding in the curve. Also, before pinning, use a hot iron to press the binding at the curve ~ it really helps to set the fabric into shape.
Once you've sewn the binding on the front, press it over to the back. I use my fabric glue stick and a hot iron to set the binding in place, but you could also pin. Mine looks like this:
Next, pin your loop into its upright position like this:
Now top-stitch the potholder from the front so that it looks neat and wonderful on top, at the same time the stitches are catching the the binding on the back. This is how the loop will look on the back:
And now your pretty little potholder is finished! Yay! Let the holiday baking begin!
Please leave any questions in the comments section and I will do my best to answer these. My apologies right up front ~ I am not a teacher by nature, much more of a silent doer. I hope this tutorial does help some of you, though. Also, I'd love to see pics of your pretty little potholders ~ please add them to my "Inspired by nanaCompany" flickr group~ I look forward to seeing them!
xo amy
Mia is in my lap right now. That's where she always wants to be and I love it except when I have stuff to get done ~ and frankly that's more often than I'd like. Right now I'm working on the potholder tutorial but it's taking me longer than I expected (0f course).
I've learned by now that no matter how hard you try to make a thing perfect, the first -go- will always teach you how to make it better the next time. I've also learned that if you burn your fingers while trying a potholder for the first time, add more InsulBright the next time ;)
Also, there was the Goldilocks & the Three Little Bears moment ~ when I tried to sew the perfect size potholder but one was too big, one too small, and the one in the middle was just right...
I like the 9" x 7.5" size best. So that's what it's going to be. I'll see you real soon!
xo amy
It's apple season, you say? Well, Erin of Why Not Sew? Quilts had the brilliant idea of doing a Strawberry Pincushion Swap and so I've been deep into strawberries the past few days. Let's face it, you can't go wrong with strawberry pincushions... they're cute any way you make 'em.
So I made a pink strawberry using my Heather Bailey pattern. But after looking for inspiration on Pinterest (I even started a new board: Strawberries... ) I realized that what I really liked were the wee pale strawberries hanging about ~ the strawberries not yet heavy and red. Then I reached for my supplies ~ fabric, felt balls, mason jar, yes ~ and went to work. It's a little fussy but I like the result. I hope the recipient likes it, too. Check out the other pretty makes at the Strawberry Pincushion Swap.
Wondering about the potholder tutorial I promised? It's coming next!
xo amy
Farm Fresh To You delivers a box of locally grown, organic produce to my house a few times a month, and I always greet that box with a little more excitement than my husband can understand. Produce, yeah! Organic, woo! And then there's the element of surprise, because I never know what I'm going to get. This week? Radishes, carrots, Honeydew melon, and kiwiberries... to name a few. Kiwiberries? I'd never heard of those before but they were the first to disappear ~ delicious.
And I don't know about you ~ but when life hands me a lovely bunch of carrots? I sprint like a mad woman for the grater...
... And bake a carrot cake! Drowning in cream cheese frosting, of course. But next time, I'm going to try out this recipe that I found just this morning. (Carrot cake + cheesecake + pineapple is one of the ingredients, mmmhmm.)
The other "delivery" I'm happy to show you is this one:
Remember when I wrote about making those fabric stamps? I kinda couldn't stop making them. Well, I used instructions from Amy Morinaka's book, "Zakka Handmades" to create my version of her "Airmail Mugrug." Mine is a little stamp-happy because I wanted to use as many fave scraps as I could. And I don't want crumbs or spills on it, so this mini quilt will eventually hang on Mia's wall.
I may have to change the mailing label, though. I can't read 'Happytown' without hearing Slappytown echo in my head. Happytown. Slappytown. Happytown. Slappytown. Yikes ~ can you hear it, too?
And if anyone happens to find Mia's other shoe, we'd be thrilled to pieces... it's been missing all week!
xo amy