Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Lovely Frankenstein's 31 Days of Halloween: Candy Corn Punch

Candy Corns are a divisive candy.  Some people love them, and then well....


I send to side with Lewis Black...after eating one I'm pretty much done for a year. But this punch sounds pretty good, probably because it only looks like a candy corn instead of tasting like one: orange juice, pineapple, orange soda and whipped cream. Add some whipped cream vodka and it might be extra good!


CLICK HERE to see the recipe at over at Nellie Bellie.  Thanks for sharing, Nellie!



Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Lovely Frankenstein's 31 Days of Halloween: Polyjuice Potion

I love the Harry Potter series (as well most of you know) and this is a great one if you have a Harry Potter themed Halloween party, or just in general....


All it is, is Sprite and lime Sherbert.  A little vodka can be added for an adult audience, 

CLICK HERE for the recipe.  Thanks to Debbie, Tracy and Sherri at Made From Pinterest for sharing!

Monday, October 19, 2015

Lovely Frankenstein's 31 Days of Halloween: Strategically Located Halloween Decor

So took a break for a few days for a "real" post and then TBH I got busy and forgot.  So here we go again.

So if you're doing a Halloween party, and want to literally scare the ish out of unsuspecting party goers....


 
There's no tutorial for these, I just saw them while kicking around on the internet. Idea only!  I know it's just about cling to the ceiling after turning on the bathroom light an seeing a clown....

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Ordering Fabric Online...a pocketbook pitfall.

I don't pull out my soapbox on here too often, but I found something tonight that I have to say raised my ire.  I was out on Fabric.com looking for some novelty prints for a top secret project, and something in their pricing really drove it home all the more that when it comes to fabric, as though there was need for another reason, it's best to support your local, independent quilt shop (LIQS, because I don't want to write that phrase 30 times tonight) whenever possible.

One of the perks of buying local is that most, if not all, local shops won't fiddle with the per yard cost of a piece if you decide to buy less than a yard, or raise the half yard cost willy nilly...unlike *certain* large online retailers...
(EDIT: There are many independently operated online-only quilt shops.  This commentary does not apply to them.  They are much like your brick-and-mortar LIQS, only virtual and charge for shipping which is entirely fair.)

Let's look at the piece that brought this to light for me...




If one buys a single yard, it would be $9.48...what a deal, am I right?  Keep in mind, in local shops MOST yardage is around the $11 mark.  So, let's assume we're comparing it to it's $11 LIQS counterpart. Excluding shipping of course, that's a $1.52 per yard savings.  Hey, every little bit, right?

But what if you don't want a whole yard, what if you want half?  Logically that should cost half of $9.48, right?



Wrong!  If you want only half a yard, it will cost you $7.11.  That doesn't sound right for a half yard of a fabric with a $9.48 price point, so let's do the math.

Assuming the per yard cost remained unchanged at $9.48...
At a $9.48 price point, half a yard should cost $4.74.  Keep in mind at your LIQS, it would be $11 and a half yard should cost $5.50.  Per the website, a half yard costs $7.11. That is a $2.37 increase from the half yard cost based off the quoted per yard price online, and a $1.61 increase over the LIQS half yard cost. If the math was honest, what would $7.11 get you out of a $9.48 piece? $7.11/$9.48 = 0.75  That is three quarters of a yard! But hey, my math (even easy math) isn't always perfect so let's go at it from another perspective: what would three quarters of $9.48 cost?  $9.48 x 0.75 = $7.11. That's three quarters of a yard, again! 3/4yd is 9 more inches than a half yard.  You are paying for 9" of fabric you will never see. But if you bought local, you only paid $5.50 and received the half yard you paid for.  If you spent that same $7.11 locally for a cut off that $11 piece, $7.11/$11 = 0.646.  You would have paid for and received just a bit over 5/8yd.  
TL:DR (Too long didn't read):  If you pay $7.11 for a half yard of a $9.48 piece, you are paying for 3/4 of a yard but getting only half a yard - you lose $2.37.  If you shopped local and paid $5.50 for  half yard of the same piece at $11, you have saved $1.61 by comparison.

But wait, see how they crossed out the original per yard cost when one opts for less than a whole yard?  That could imply a different tactic than altering the half yard value - it implies that the per yard cost goes up for cuts less than a whole yard.  So what does that look like?

Assuming the per yard cost changed for a less than one yard cut...
Keep in the back of your mind that cottons in LIQS's average about $11, give or take $.50, and batiks are averaging about $12 depending on the company and batik origin.  The Ninja print from the example is plain cotton, so would cost $11 per yard.  But online, at $7.11 for a half yard of fabric, that would mean that the whole yard would have to cost notably more:  $7.11 x 2 = $14.22. $14.22 for a yard of basic quilting cotton?!?!  That is an increase of $3.22 per yard over the LIQS per yard cost for cotton, and $2.22 over the average LIQS batik cost per yard. Let's ask this...right now, would you be willing to shell out $14 for a print that costs $11 elsewhere?
TL:DR:  For a half yard to cost $7.11, they would have had to raise the per yard cost of the fabric to $14.22.  That is a $3.22 increase over the LIQS cost of $11 per yard.  

But wait....what about shipping?
At Fabric.com you will get free shipping if you spend over $35.  But what if you only need the one yard?  You will indeed pay the $9.48 per yard for your single yard (saving $1.52) but then you have to pay $7.49 for shipping inside the continental US (more if you are in Alaska, Hawaii or abroad) - that brings the total for a single yard of cotton fabric to $16.97. $16.97!!  That doesn't include the sales tax that would apply depending on the state in which the yardage was purchased.  This leads the customer to potentially spend more than what they want or buy more than what they intended for the sole reason of reaching the free shipping cutoff. Buying local, sure there is the cost of gas if one has to drive any notable distance (out of town) and that is variable depending on distance involved and vehicle gas mileage, but there is no shipping cost.  Only sales tax would be added, if applicable (which here in Oregon, it isn't...neener neener).
TL:DR:  One must pay shipping under a certain dollar amount, which raises the customer's cost if that cutoff isn't met, and to reach the cutoff there is the risk of spending more than necessary.  Buying local means no shipping cost. 

Either way, I have to say it's a smack in the face to the customer.  On one hand it is a sales tactic to get customers to push their purchase to a whole yard.  I get that, getting bigger sales is an important part of business.  But when the customer sees they are paying 75% cost for 50% product, they say "oh what the hell" because going up to a whole yard is double the fabric for just a couple bucks more.  On the other, the per yard cost is increased to match the higher half yard cost.  In the example, that is a markup of approximately 175% if my math serves me right. Very few, if any local shops mark up past MSRP more than 25%.

Sure, it's only a few bucks in each scenario, and if you're buying fabric in the first place that means you have a little expendable income and I doubt it'll break your bank. But for me, it's the principle of the thing.... In both cases, the issue here is a large online retailer is giving an illusion of savings or a hot deal over the LIQS.  The only way this is true is IF one buys the full yard...but once shipping options are factored in, that little bit of savings is negated all the way around.


You saw in the pictures that I had 5 items in my cart and I was eligible for free shipping. After seeing the increase in cost and going through the math, my cart is empty.  Will it ever change? No.  Does one lowly and inconsistent Blogger have enough clout to do much other than publicly complain about it? Nope. But what it did do is turn my eye back to my community.  I will be going out and hunting down the prints I need the old fashioned way - by visiting my wonderful local quilt shops.

Lovely Frankenstein's 31 Days of Halloween: Spooky Quilted Postcards

For Halloween, my grandma always used to send my brother and I each a Halloween card and some Halloween themed chocolates every year. I kept those cards (the chocolate is LONG gone) and they're special to me, especially now that she's gone.

How cool would it be for kids (yes Mom, or grandkids) to whip up one of these for them every year with a special message for them?


Sorry, but this is inspiration only. This is a Pinterest find that links to a Flickr page with no tutorial. 

Monday, October 12, 2015

Lovely Frankenstein's 31 Days of Halloween: Pumpkin Finger Pupppets

Here's another one for the littles in your life.  Quick, easy and cute pumpkin finger puppets!  These would be easy to give out as party favors or for your kid's class.



CLICK HERE for the tutorial at Two-Daloo.  Thanks to Stephanie for sharing!

Sunday, October 11, 2015

Lovely Frankenstein's 31 Days of Halloween: Shark Trick or Treat Bag

So, for kids going for more loot than a small bag would contain, this might not be the one.  But, for little kids who are only out long enough for a little candy, this is adorable.


CLICK HERE to get to the tutorial over at STITCHED by Crystal.  Thank you to Crystal for sharing!

Saturday, October 10, 2015

Lovely Frankenstein's 31 Days of Halloween: Better Worms!

Remember at Halloween parties as kids there was at some point that gross out table where you'd be blind folded, or the table contents hidden, and you'd have to reach into bowls of food and guess what it was? Or, you'd stick your hands in the bowl to feel you know, brains or bugs or whatever and it was just like, pudding?  I'm sure there is a name for this activity that isn't coming to mind....but invariably that "bowl of worms" was cold spaghetti.

But hey, you can kick the gross out up a notch by not doing the cold spaghetti....

Jello worms. Just some straws and some creatively mixed jello and you have some too-real looking worms. 


 CLICK HERE for the tutorial from Instructables. 


Friday, October 9, 2015

Lovely Frankenstein's 31 Days of Halloween: DIY Snowglobes

Lucy at Craftberry Bush has a neat tutorial on making your own custom Halloween snowglobes using mason jars.  It's super easy and you could very easily do this with your kids for any season.


CLICK HERE to get to the tutorial - there is a link on her page for it.  Thanks for sharing Lucy!

Thursday, October 8, 2015

Lovely Frankenstein's 31 Days of Halloween: Black Light Lemonade

This one from McKenzie at Girl Loves Glam would be great for a party for either adults or kids because no matter how old you are, this is pretty cool...


Who wouldn't love a glowing drink!  Of course, I'm sure you could make it adults-only pretty easily.  CLICK HERE for the how-to.  Thanks for sharing McKenzie!

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Lovely Frankenstein's 31 Days of Halloween: Halloween Books

If you like to DIY your own Halloween decor, then this is one from Lindsey at Better After that would be a good one for you.  You can make some spooky looking old spell books (Think Hogwarts, or Hocus Pocus!) with some really inexpensive supplies.


The top left was made with some of those gummy plastic party favors from the dollar store.  Effectively creepy!  CLICK HERE for the tutorial. 

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Lovely Frankenstein's 31 Days of Halloween: Punkin Embroidery

You know I'm not wild about primitive quilts, but this embroidery from Primitive Blessings is adorable.


CLICK HERE for the pattern - a side note - when I was getting this post together, their website was having some issues loading correctly for me.  It would sometimes load and sometimes error out.  I have seen this on Pinterest before, so if the links aren't working correctly for you, check it out there.  

Monday, October 5, 2015

Lovely Frankenstein's 31 Days of Halloween: Paper Pieced Skull

Craftsy strikes again.  I want to hate it but I can't!  This is a pretty easy paper pieced block, and you could enlarge it and make it the feature, or toss it into a sampler....lots of options.


It is available for $2.50 as a digital pattern HERE from the vendor Twiddletails.  Thanks for sharing!

Sunday, October 4, 2015

Lovely Frankenstein's 31 Days of Halloween: Organza Ghosts

This, unfortunately, is not a tutorial.  However, it a really simple and really effective way to add a little spooky shimmer to ANY quilt whether the blocks are Halloween themed or not:


I found this picture here and it's implied to be linked with a tutorial, but it's not clear as to where exactly...when you click the picture it just brings up the picture and the source isn't directly named.  So for now, this is here for inspiration!


Saturday, October 3, 2015

Lovely Frankenstein's 31 Days of Halloween: Ghost Mug Rug

Becky at Patchwork Posse has a good tutorial for making these cute ghost mug rugs.  These would be great gifts, plus what a fun use for your tiny, almost-threw-those-away scraps.

ghost mug rug tutorial | patchworkposse #halloween #ghost #quiltasyougo

CLICK HERE to get to the tutorial.  Thanks Becky!

Friday, October 2, 2015

Lovely Frankenstein's 31 Days of Halloween: Glow in the Dark Garland

Who doesn't love a simple yet effective bit of DIY décor?  Even more, who doesn't love a little bit of glow in the dark during the spooky season?

Gabrielle at Design Mom has a quick and easy tutorial on making glow in the dark garlands for your kids' Halloween parties, or just because!

Glow in the Dark Halloween Garlands. Cheap and Easy DIY!  |  Design Mom

CLICK HERE to get to the post.  Thanks Gabrielle!

Thursday, October 1, 2015

Lovely Frankenstein's 31 Days of Halloween: Princess Leia Crochet Beanie

With the Star Wars movies coming out again soon, the stores are filled to the brim with Star Wars costumes and gear.  Another generation gets a taste of the Star Wars universe and of course, a Princess Leia costume is classic.

Olivia at Hopeful Honey has a pretty cool crochet pattern for Leia's iconic 'do:



CLICK HERE to get to the post.  Thanks for sharing Olivia!

Thursday, August 6, 2015

Been on a sewing hiatus...

....AND I HATE IT.

1.  Broke my foot at the end of May.  Yes, my gas pedal foot, but more importantly, my machine pedal foot. Better now, still hurts if I am on my feet for a long time, but it is what it is :-)

2.  We found a new place, and we're moving...only to the other side of town, but still.  Working a 9-5 with no time off until October really makes the packing process take a while.  As of yesterday, my sewing machine was unplugged and ready for moving.  So no sewing until we're moved in to the new place.

So I have nothing to update now, or at least until mid September.
Sewing hiatus. Boo!

Sunday, May 17, 2015

Home is Where the Heart is

A quilt for the wall in my house.  It's a mini charm pack done by Kaffe Fassett for Rowan, and I just sewed up 16 patches with it and assembled.  Nothing glamorous or fancy...I just loved all the pattern together.




But...A word to the wise about Rowan pre-cuts:


They are cut HORRIBLY.  They were marketed as 2.5" squares, but few were actually 2.5" and none had straight or evenly cut sides.  For the cost of the pack (it was about 250 squares for around $25) the quality was really, really disappointing.  I expected much better from Rowan.

 But hey, the fabrics are gorgeous. I still love it!  Now to figure out how I want to quilt it :)


Thursday, May 14, 2015

Aliens for Sarin

Here's an older one.  This is a quilt I made for my friend Bethany and her baby boy Sarin.  What I love about Bethany is how non traditional she is, and so she let me have free reign on his baby quilt. Naturally, I had some alien fabric that I was itching for a reason to use, so I used it here.

I just drew up the appliques based off the aliens on the fabric.



I needed something fairly quick because I didn't manage to start it until the week before Christmas because of course, so this is what I came up with.  Very simple, but pretty cute.


I didn't have the time or cash to have it quilted professionally, so I just did a simple all over with stars and loops.



And by all reports, he loved it.



Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Post Revisited: Top 5 Favorite Fabric Designers

Back in 2011, I did a post about who my Top 5 Favorite Designers were.  Since then, I've definitely gone in another direction with my style and what I find interesting in quilts. I thought it might be interesting to see how my taste has changed four years later, and to find out how yours has changed too!

1. Tula Pink (Free Spirit)
This should come as no surprise whatsoever - some things never change.  I'm a Tula girl.  She has yet to put out a line I don't like.  I think the worst I have ever thought about her lines is ambivalence (Bumble). My favorite piece du jour?  This floral from her new line Elizabeth:

I now own 2 yards of this.  That green though.  


2. Masha D'yans (Clothworks)
Another mainstay from my 2011 post.  I love her artwork; it's whimsical without being campy and has a beautiful painterly quality.  Her work goes to show that watercolors don't have to be quiet and delicate...they can be bold and expressive too.

Right now, I am playing with the panel from her line, Friends in While Places...What sold me on this?  THE LEMUR.



3. Michael Searle (Timeless Treasures)
What earned Michael a guaranteed spot in my Top Five?
This:
I love it so much I have already posted about it here

And this:

Yes, two pieces is enough to make it to my Top Five.  I own several yards of both. There are other designers who do dinosaur themed fabric, but not a single one has an eye to realism like he does.   I look forward to see what prehistoric awesomeness he thinks up next.

4. De Leon Design Group (Alexander Henry)
De Leon does one of my very favorite recurring lines - Folklorico. There have been many, many pieces to Folklorico over the years and new ones keep coming out.  As a matter of fact...I just got some more pieces of it (Sunday Stash for May 3, 2015)

We all know the sugar skulls they did, they've been everywhere.  But there's more than that.  La Catrina and Frida Kahlo, anyone?

Lucha! Lucha! Lucha!:

Well done, De Leon.


5. Kaffe Fassett Collective (Rowan) 
Okay, the great shin kick incident aside...Kaffe, Brandon Mably, Martha Negly and the other come and go designers in the Kaffe Fassett Collective do some really wonderful work. You know my love of strange color and pattern combinations, and they get it right for me.

Like this:
Kaffe Fassett, Shoal Fish

And this:
Brandon Mably, Lazy Daisy

They do have more subdued colors and designs...but where's the fun in that? ;-)

Honorable Mention:  Liberty of London
$42 per yard?!  Holy Sh.....
I have a soft spot for Art Deco style.  Look at this beauty:



So who are your some of your new favorites, and who have fallen from your Top Five?


Friday, May 8, 2015

What a "Good Quilter" Does 101

What I am about to say sounds really, really ridiculous.

I never squared up my blocks in quilts.  That is, not until fairly recently.

Yes, I have been told countless times that I needed to square up.  And yes, I never did, partially out of laziness (it takes forever when you have 100 HSTs!), and partially out of flippance - I could just fudge it to fit, right?  I typically did just that, and then sat there and (stupidly) wondered why some blocks plain didn't fit right.

It wasn't until I was *gasp* following the instructions on a pattern where I knew I would have to take care in the piecing or it plain wouldn't work. I broke down, and squared up.

Ho-ly crap.  Having a visual really made it hit home how much of a difference squaring up makes (I took a picture with the intent to post it, but somewhere along the lines I apparently deleted it).  But to give you an idea, I trimmed about an eighth of an inch off each side of the block, times many blocks. It struck me that the importance of squaring up isn't only about making each block fit together neatly, but it just image how all those little eighths add up over the course of the entire quilt.  They add up, and fast!  No wonder my quilts always seemed to come out to a different measurement than the one quoted in the pattern.

This seems like a pretty "Captain Obvious" thing to point out, and for seasoned quilters, it is a "no duh" thing...but not for all quilters.

So lesson learned....while squaring up is a pain in the butt, time consuming and I will still want some cheese with my whine, I definitely take more care to square up my blocks, even if ti isn't especially called for.  It's all about accuracy to make a truly quality quilt, and while I still have some wobbles and fudges, by starting to more consistenly square up, I have noticed a my quilts are coming out more flat, more square and more on target with the given measurements.

I'm not telling you how to love your quilty life, but if you aren't squaring up your blocks, you might want to give it a try, even if it's just once and you never do it again.  That's fine!  But I think you'll find you're just as pleasantly surprised as I was.





Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Perpetua Patterns: Mount Hood

I finally got around to doing one of Perpetua Patterns' patterns!  I have to say, I'm biased...I think Perpetua Patterns is a great pattern company, because not only are they local, but I know the dynamic duo behind it and they're really great people.

We've carried their patterns for a couple years now, and it's taken me this long to get to it, but I chose to do the Mt. Hood pattern

The cool thing about Perpetua Patterns is that these patterns are based off real photographs that Brian and Heather take and digitize themselves into applique patterns.  So, this quilt of Mt. Hood really is from one of their original photographs.

But as always...I never quite follow the pattern.  I decided to make the mountain at night,


I added in some wispy clouds with Angelina fibers....those are pretty fun to work with!




Sunday, May 3, 2015

Stash Sunday: Sometimes I Forget I Order Stuff

After I got my new job, I decided to reward myself in the way any quilter would...with fabric.

There was a delay in it getting here, so naturally I totally forgot I had ordered it.  So boy was I surprised when it was sitting there at home! Four pieces, lucky me!

Weee!!!

Dinosaurs by Michael Searle (Timeless Treasures).  The selvege has dino feet on it. 

Folklorico by De Leon Design Group (Alexander Henry) I didn't see the mustaches when I bought it, but hey.

Moonshine by Tula Pink (Free Spirit).  I am loving the red!

More Folklorico by De Leon Design Group (Alexander Henry)

Did you get any sweet pieces this week? 

Thursday, April 30, 2015

Got Scraps? CHALLENGE ACCEPTED

Y'all know my love of scraps.  They're so much fun!  So when Mom handed me a binder full of scraps waiting to be used...I said, "what the hell is this?"

So as I'm sure most of you know, Blank Textiles got bought out last year by Jaftex.  So what that meant is that most of our color cards were useless, because many of the lines were being reduced or discontinued.  On those color cards, they had a bunch of tabs of fabric, up to 3"x 5" and as small as 1"x 2".  When you think about a 3" binder full of those pieces, that's a lot of waste if you're just going to toss those cards!  So I was tasked with doing something with those itty bitty pieces.  So out came my iron (to melt the adhesive) and off I went.


I decided to go with a row quilt.  And polka dots.



Problem solved.  I haven't quilted it yet though...that's down the list a ways.  But it just goes to show you really can make something from little bits of nothin'!