Lovely Frankenstein's 31 Days of Halloween: Pumpkin Carving Quilt!

Michelle over at Michelle's Romantic Tangle has got the cutest Jack o' Lantern Quilt ever! I love the goofy little faces. She has a tutorial over there complete with a video (fancy!). So if you want a cute quilt for next year, this is a good bet! CLICK HERE to get to the tutorial. Thanks for sharing, Michelle!

Lovely Frankenstein's 31 Days of Halloween: Free Halloween Door Hanger Pattern

Halloween Doorhanger Quilt by Cranston Village 

or, get right down to the nitty gritty and go directly to the free pattern:

Pattern PDF

The Lovely Frankenstein Quilting Laboratory Special

Take a deep breath, temperate climate countries of the Northern Hemisphere...do you smell it? That's fall you smell our there my dears - the slight chill in the air, the light musty scent of fallen leaves...wonderful, isn't it? But there's something else lingering in the fall air...something...spooky.

Oh my pretties, it's the Halloween season...my favorite season of all! (as thought you couldn't tell by the Halloween themed blog). This year I'm doing something special in honor of my favorite holiday: This month kicks off the first Lovely Frankenstein's 31 Days of Halloween. That means every day there will be something Halloween related - free projects, decorating ideas for outside and in the home, costume ideas, Halloween trivia and all that great stuff.

So I hope you join me for Lovely Frankenstein's 31 Days of Halloween...if you dare!

Oh. My. God.

I'm just sitting here watching "A Haunting" and I decided to check my e-mail. The quilting editor at Craft Gossip, Scarlett, sent me an email letting me know they featured my Color Theory article and I definitely squealed! My roomate thought something was wrong, lol. My blog just got featured on Craft Gossip's quilting page! Woo hoo!!!

 If you're new to my blog, then I will say I've been a huge fan of Craft Gossip's website for a couple years now and I use the projects on there quite a lot. Actually, I have a draft of a post linking my Top 5 Favorite Quilt Blogs and theirs is #1. It's got everything under the crafty sun, which is great if you like everything... Seriously, check out Craft Gossip's site and I know you'll enjoy it!

Visit Craft Gossip to see their post on my Color Theory article.

Thanks Scarlett!

Quilts for a Cause

Okay, I'll admit, this perhaps isn't for all senses of humor. But I think this is a good cause and hilarious medium for fundraising.

The short and sweet story is that Megan Smith's brother has brain cancer, and has since early 2010. As anyone can imagine, or as anyone who has had cancer or a relative with cancer, it is a long treatment process that costs big, big money. Being the funny lady and caring sister she is, she pulled a Calendar Girls move (only with men)  and designed a 2012 calendar to help raise money for her brother's treatment with her readers (and reader's husbands) as models.

Men. Quilts. Burritos?! Read her story and see the calendar! It's great for a giggle and it's for a great cause.

It's "Tippy Tuesday!"

So I've decided that this blog filled with only my projects can get boring and monotonous (I'm sure some of you out there will scream if you have to see one more BooVille photo!) so I'm going to start doing a few episodic (weekly) posts and hopefully it'll jazz this up some and stay around! So...let's start with some tips to make your quilting life easier with Tippy Tuesday!


*Not all of us are lucky enough to have the space for a pre-fab Design Wall. If you have limited space, a large piece of white cotton batting/white flannel is a great substitute! Hang it up  or drape it where you need it while you're sewing, then fold it up (even with your blocks still on it, they'll stay put!) and put it away when you're done.


*I'm a bad quilt girl and I don't pin my binding while I'm hand stitching it on. If you too hate pinning, a great alternative is to your the snap hair clips (you know, the ones you bend and they snap open) instead. They keep your binding in place and you don't have to watch where you stitch (or sit!)


*If you're looking for use applique ideas but don't want to draw them out yourself, check out your local scrapbooking or craft store. They have lots of stencils, punches and die cuts that might be just the design you're looking for.


*Do you like the idea of saving scraps, but then don't know what to do with them after the fact? Try cutting them into manageable sizes that you know you'll use down the road. For example, if you have enough cut some 2" strips, 2"-3"-4" blocks, half square triangles, whatever you think you'd use. whatever's left you can keep in a box for future applique projects - as we all know those applique projects can demand some tiny pieces, and a scrap earmarked for that may be just the thing you need.


*If a piece of fabric is the right color but a few shades too dark, there's nothing wrong with using the "wrong" side! If you have a good quality fabric, the print will still be visible, bit it'll be a paler version of the "right" side of your piece. No one will know the difference unless you tell them!


*"To help determine the value of a color (light, medium or dark) look at the fabric through a clear piece of red glass or plastic. The red neutralizes the color allowing you to see only 'black and white'" This is a good one! I don't know where to find a plain piece of red plastic, but my best guess is that an art supply store is a great place to start looking.


*Quilters are extremely skilled at dropping pins on the floor and forgetting about them, especially if it' s a carpetted floor. At the hardware store you can find telescoping magnets, and they are fantastic for pullin gpins off the floor/carpet without you having to spend a while bent over picking them out by hand.


*If you're travelling and can't have little embroidery scissors with you (yeah, I'm looking at you, TSA), wind a bobbin with the thread you are working with and put it inside a dental floss container (they're very simple to take apart and the center spindle is the right size for MOST bobbins). The cutter in the floss container is sharp enough to cut through most threads without fraying them.


*If you're having difficulty threading your needle try one of these methods if a needle threader isn't available: If you're having trouble seeing the eye, thread it with a white piece of paper behind it - that makes the eye much more visible. If the eye of your needle is large enough, you can use a thin piece of paper folded in half the same as a traditional needle threader. If your issue is the thread catching on the needle and not making it through, cut the tip of your thread to a beveled edge and try that - that will get rid of any little fibers that might be snagging. Also, every needle nowadays is stamped out of a larger piece of steel when it's made, so every needle has a front and back side; usually the front is easier to thread than the back, so just flip your needle over and try threading it again.


*Napkin holders are a great way to store the rulers that you use the most by your cutting mat, if you don't want to poke holes in your walls to hang each one




Well, that's it for this week's Tippy Tuesday. check back next week for more, or if you have any tips you'd like to share (hint hint hint) comment on this post and I'll post them for everyone next week!

This is a perfect example of why quilters and stitchers are AWESOME

Quilting meets stitchery meets epic nerddom. I love it big time!!

Check out this blog!

So by now if you've been looking at my blog with any regularity, you know that Isabelle - one of my besties - has started quilting and is one of the folks that pushes me to get my projects done :D

Well, she has an art/quilting blog of her own! Her blog, Creativity Found Through Hearts, is her creative outlet outside from quilting. It was inspired by A Skull A Day, in which its creator, Noah Scalin, forces himself to do an art piece featuring a skull every day. It's actually a brilliant idea; to make yourself think creatively every day keeps your brain sharp and is a great way to express yourself without feeling like every piece you do has to be a grandiouse masterpiece. Well, Isabelle has borrowed the idea and is running with it, doing a heart every day in different mediums. So far she's done marker, glitter, acrylic and oil paints and buttons.

I'm really interested to see what she comes up with next, and reading her thought processes with each piece is really cool. One of the beautiful things about art is that everyone is inspired in different ways by different things, and everyone translates those thought processes differently. That right there is the single best thing about the arts all the way down to quilting. It never ceases to amaze me how 2 people can look at the same pattern, and have such different results - that's because they both started from the same place but had different visions. How cool is that? It just never gets old.

So please go visit Isa's blog and follow her on her newfound creative path!

This was going to be a link on the Newsletter, but it's simply too good to not post in it's entirety here.

This is an article by Sew, Mama, Sew!, one of my very favorite quilting blogs. The original controversy over the Modern vs. Traditional quilting debate started with "The Dumbing Down of Quilting Parts 1-3 HERE, HERE and HERE by Sandi at Piecemeal Quilts and it definitely struck a chord with people, myself included.
I have a pretty strong opinion about this whole thing, and I'll keep my big mouth shut, save for that I think both sides make very valid points. Please do go to Sew, Mama, Sew! and to Piecemeal Quilts and have a look around their blogs. And if you choose to comment, please be kind to both!

This is Sew Mama Sew's response to Sandi's articles. I really like how she handled it, and I think she has some good things to say. I certainly don't think she's the be-all-to-end all as Sandi puts it, but I think her messages are good.

Weighing in on the Great Quilting Debate: Three Guiding Principles

I admit, I’m often oblivious to gossip. I follow as many blogs as I possible can. I tweet and do Facebook. Yet sometimes I miss things that are kind of obvious. I saw a firestorm of debate in the quilting community, but it wasn’t until recently that I traced the controversy to a mid-March blog post and realized that Sew,Mama,Sew! ignited the spark. Yowza!

My first job in social media.

I don’t want to go into it too much and try to address all the arguments and points of view (I can’t even begin to understand them all.) I don’t think that people should have to be nice and supportive and kind all the time and I do think there should be room for debate in the sewing community. But feelings have been hurt, some people are angry and I’m sure more than a few people feel gun-shy about what to say, what to share and what to post on their blogs. Because what we said started this debate, I feel a responsibility to chime in with my two cents. I thought I’d try to explain three principles in which I strongly believe.

One of my early quilts.

Principle 1: Sewing should be fun!
This ain’t Little House on the Prairie and none of us are Laura Ingalls. We don’t have to sew if we don’t want to. We can sew whatever we want as many times as we want in whatever fabric we want and we should be able to write about it, photograph it and talk about it without getting any flack. And if there are parts of sewing that aren’t fun, we don’t have to do it. Some people like piecing a quilt but hate the actual quilting so they send it off to someone else. Some people love  sewing, but are perfectly happy to let someone else pick out the fabric so they buy a kit. Some people don’t want to do any math or cutting, so they buy precuts. I think you should do whatever floats your boat. Me, I’m never tracing another pattern again. I do solemnly swear I will never judge you for NOT doing the parts of sewing that aren’t fun to you. (Go ahead, raise your hand and pledge with me.)

Taking the Sew-What-You-Want pledge while Mel Brooks looks on.

Principle 2: Learning requires a certain level of discomfort.
This is something one of my graduate school professors used to say and as a mother I think about it all the time. Learning to ride a bike is scary. Learning a new language is embarrassing and exhausting. Learning  guitar hurts! Learning Calculus makes you want to bang your head on a desk (OK, maybe that was just me.) As an educator I had to keep this in mind every day. When people are learning, they’re often not happy about it because they’re uncomfortable, but a tolerance for discomfort is required if you want to learn or master anything. (Which doesn’t in any way mean that it can’t also be fun.) The wonderful thing is that when you challenge yourself it leads to growth and mastery, which most people find deeply satisfying, which is why we keep doing it.

My first group of happy students.

The idea that learning and growth can be uncomfortable at times is where some of the recently frustrated and outspoken quilting bloggers and I can come together. One of the more positive and underlying messages of many of the controversial quilting posts is this:
STRETCH!
Stretch your skills.
Stretch your repertoire.
Stretch your definition of beautiful.
Leave your comfort zone and see where it takes you.
One thing I’ve been thinking a lot about lately (even before all of this started) is how Sew,Mama,Sew! needs to grow with our readers. We have always tried our best to make sewing fun and approachable to as many people as possible. I think we’ve done a pretty good job of encouraging and inspiring and involving people in the craft of sewing. But lately I’ve decided that we don’t really do enough to help people develop their skills. To stretch, grow and learn. We’re making it fun, but we’re not really making it challenging, so we’re going to try to do better. If (heavy emphasis on IF, because we still strongly believe in Priciple 1) you want to take your sewing skills to the next level, we’re going to do our best to offer you ideas, advice, inspiration and resources.

My sewing circle, aka The Sweet Hot Yams.

Principle 3: Sometimes people deserve a do-over.
I try to remember to practice this with my family as much as possible. People feel passionate about things and they get riled up. They say things that maybe they would phrase differently if they’d given themselves a little more time to work it out.  Or maybe they hadn’t anticipated the effect their words would have on others. Sometimes people deserve a chance to say what they mean in a different way.
And so, today I’m very happy to bring you an excellent post by Sandi Walton of Piecemeal Quilts. (We’ll call it the first in a series of Stretch Your Skills posts.) Sandi is an accomplished and passionate quilter. Sandi believes in STRETCH so she and her friend Jeanne of Grey Cat Quilts put their convictions into action and developed a collection of blog posts called the Skill Builder Series. So far they’ve covered 1/4″ seams, quilting tools, half square triangles and more. If you’re a beginning or intermediate quilter and you’re interested in improving your skills, I encourage you to check them out. Today Sandi taks about the importance of quilting in her life and offers some advice on learning foundational skills for piecing traditional blocks.
(OK, those photos aren’t really me. Images are in the public domain via The Library of Congress.)

Filomena!!! Los Liiiiiiinks!

As for that title, I got it from the video above. I don't use Bing but the commercial is funny. Actually in my head I call the Lauren's Links portion of the newsletter "Los Liiiiiinks!!!" in that guy's voice. It's funny, I assure you.

Anyway...on to the link.

This is a really good article (CLICK HERE) If you have ever sat there looking at your finished quilt underwhelmed (I know I have) then this is a really good article to read. Dena Crain is a teacher in Kenya and quilter, and her blog has this article on it about things to consider when you're not thrilled with your quilt. It talks about everything from color choice, to thread tension on your machine. I found it very helpful!

Top 5 Favorite Quilt/Fabric Designers (in no particular order)

Even if you're a new(ish) quilter, after a while you start to know what you like. Over and over again you'll be drawn to certain patterns and fabrics, and again and again you'll realize, "Hey! Thats whatserface!" I'm starting to find that's the case for me. Over and over again I'm drawn to designs from the usual suspects, and a couple unexpected people too! So I'll share my (current) Top 5 Favorite Quilt/Fabric Designers (in no particular order). Who knows, you may find you're a fan too and didn't even know it! :-) Oh, and each person's name is in fact a link to their respective websites.

5. Masha D'yans

Masha is my favorite designer (not who you though it was going to be, huh?). She's from St. Petersburg, Russia and her work is mostly watercolor. Her artwork is just...well, beautiful, silly, sassy, sweet. For me I think it's the unusual blend of harsh line and gentle brushstroke and powerful buildup of soft color. It's really energetic and she has got a gift of capturing the both whimsy and depth in one fell swoop. She does more than just fabric, she also does cards, gifts, and clothing. I hope she gets more into doing fabric, I only know of 3 lines from her.

4. Patrick Lose

Patrick Lose is both a fabric designer and a pattern designer. He has several books out, and his speciality is fusible applique and seasonal designs. He does dabble some in clothing (mainly vests and jackets), but I think his strongest skill is with his quick seasonal projects. His designs are big and bold, whch make them both simple for beginners and really impactful to the eye. I absolutely LOVE his Santa, Rudolph and Pumpkin patterns! Okay, fine, the Pumpkin one really is my favorite. And of course, you know my feelings on male quilters...go Patrick!

3. Barb Tourtillotte

With the unfortunate exception of Muffin Tops ,I love her artwork too.  Okay, well, that artwork itself in Muffin Tops is good, but uh, I don't need to see an older version of myself in a bikini on fabric...ick. But her artwork is really quite beautiful. She's a little more traditional than I usually go for, in terms of her fabric themes. I don't usually gravitate toward florals or garden themes, but her florals are so, so well done. They're bright but delicate at the same time. What I think I like most about her stuff is her go-withs are always strong, either within the line or with something else, which honestly, cannot be said for all designers.

2. Sue Spargo

Sue Spargo is a quilter designer, no fabric. Before I talk about her work though, I have a funny/stupid little story about her (well, not her personally). Last July I was in an accident at an amusement park in Virginia that sent me to the ER with a back injury. After being pat on the head and told it was essentially nothing, I flew back home as planned and just dealt with it. Well the pain increased after a few days so I ended up going to the doctor here to be told, yeah, you're hurt (thanks, I didn't know) here's something to help deal with the pain. Welllllll I got put on pain meds and told that I needed to stay moving so I didn't prevent my back from healing properly. So I continued working at the shop. If you know me, then you know my opinion of pain meds - no thank you sir, I'll just have an Ibuprofen and I'll rub some dirt in it. One day at work I was in a lot of pain and I kept not taking my pain meds because they made me really dingy (and nauseous), but finally Mom got fed up with me not taking the meds and bugged me, and bugged me, and bugged me until I took them. I took them there and she had me stay just so she could make sure I wouldn't react badly to them and so I wouldn't drive (which I wouldn't anyway). Well, I was dingy all right. Since I went from moderately with it to not at all with it it, she had me put away patterns - a pretty fool proof job. Apparently, as I was putting away the Sue Spargo patterns, I decided that her last name fits the suffix "-head," to be used to describe a person who likes her work...much like a Jimmy Buffet fan is referred to as a "Parrothead." I guess I decided that as a fan of Sue Spargo's, I would then, if that rule stood, be a "Sparg-head." And that, kiddies, is why I hate taking pain meds. 

Well, it stuck. I'm a Sparghead! Her designs are bright, whimsical and fun. I'd say her style is folksy but with a contemporary touch - her work is anything but the dark, antique-y, tradional primitives we think of when we think of folksy. A few of my favorite pieces of hers are Greenbrier , Folklore and the Journey Quilt. I love the look of the bright wool. It just begs to be embellished. Hers are the kind of projects that I truly wouldn't mind working on for months in little bits as I have time. I find her style very freeform even though it is very clearly and meticulously planned out. Indeed, I'm a Sparghead for life! Oh, and did you know there is a Sue Spargo Quilt and Applique Design program that is compatible with EQ7? How cool is that?!

1. Tula Pink

Tula Pink is probably who you thought I'd name as my favorite designer (if you know me that is). True, she is very, very, very close! You may know her from her line Neptune, Plume, or Parisville. Her colors, the way she hides things in her designs...it's awesome! Her work is a little more contemporary, but with a touch of the traditional. I think what draws me to her work so much is the symmetry. Even if it's full of flourishes, it really is so well balanced and it just makes sense. It's whimsical without being disorderly, and my eye really enjoys that. It's also heartening to see a young designer really making it in the industry. What an inspiration! Oh, did I mention she has SHOES WITH HER FABRIC ON THEM?!



Well, now you know some of mine....now who are some of yours?

Men and Quilting

It really does bother me that when I Googled "Men in the Quilting Tradition," the first thing that popped up was "Quiling for the Men in your Life."

What I was really looking for was a blog I saw months ago, about a man who started quilting and started documenting his experience as a male quilter. I really enjoyed it, and I wish I had bookmarked it.

We need to start a movement to get these fellas quilting. I say that only half jokingly. Yes, quilting is a largely gender defined art...one of the handful swung in favor of women...but it doesn't have to be. Guys, you too can quilt, and the ones that do are damn good at it.

My absolute favorite quilter (aside from my momma, of course, because her designs are phenomenal...seriously) is a man - local quilter Anton Haas Jr.. His quilts are gorgeous and just so, so precise. He really is a gifted artist.

So when you have a minute, look up "Male Quilters" on Google. There are a few out there and they are blogging like madman.

Quilt Police! Whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna when they come for you?

Okay, y'all who know me personally know I am a rant-o-holic... I have a soapbox and I'm not afraid to use it! As my brother so delicately said (as has been joked about ever since...) when I get annoyed it's "screech first, ask questions later." I don't claim to be a patient person 100% of the time :D  So what am I standing on my soapbox and screeching about this time?

The dang Quilt Police. Or, the people who think they are. Ask them; they'll tell you!

So what brought this on? Well, first of all, I was watching my DVR-ed episode of Fon's & Porter's Love of Quilting and I've more or less decided I am not the biggest fan of Miss Marianne Fons. Her information is all right, I use some of her methods and some I don't. But I find her all kinds of snooty, at least as she hosts the show. Her way is the best way. Period. Tonight she was particularly eye-roll inducing so it got me to thinking about uppity "my way is the only way" kinds of quilters. For the love of Pete, if you fall under this category...  r  e  l  a  x. There are other ways.

But then I was bouncing around the internet looking for links to share on the newsletter for the shop and I stumbled across this rather irritating little nugget on another quilter's blog, in an article in which she discussed her opinions of a local quilt show she attended:

"I have to say, a lot of the art quilts just were not doing it for me this year.  This is a little internal war I have with myself whenever I go to a quilt show.  On the one hand, I am so glad that nontraditional techniques have been embraced by the quilting establishment.  I’ve read about the controversy when Carol Bryer Fallert won at Houston with a — gasp! clutch pearls! — machine quilted quilt in 1989.  (Perhaps I should put “quilt” in quotation marks, as every right-minded member of the Quilt Police knows that only hand-quilted quilts deserve to be called quilts.  Sniff!)  Ahem.  Anyway.  I’m glad that those of us who machine quilt, use fusible web or Paintstiks, etc. can all play in the sandbox too.  Which is why I get uncomfortable when I find myself standing in front of a quilt at a show and thinking, “That’s not really a quilt.”  I don’t want to be a part of the Biddy Brigade, but at the same time, I don’t want to be so open-minded that my brain falls out." http://sarahlovesfabric.com/tag/quilt-police/

So. Someone has acknowledged the big, rude elephant in the room. Number one, how exactly does finishing methodology determine what contitutes a quilt? Artistic technique changes over time and norms evolve. Granted, this is difficult to accept in a lot of ways for all generations involved - there's the way it was being confronted by the way it is, there's the nostalgia and stereotype existing in contrast with the reality. I get it. Heck, I studied that in depth (that was my thesis in Anthropology for goodness sake!). But for people to discredit the art and deny a quilt the title of Quilt because it wasn't done by hand is positively ludicrous. It goes back to the shift in purpose and the evolution of the art - if a craft is to survive it cannot remain static; new method come in as others fade away or simply remain (the latter being the case with handquilting...I have a blog entry about handquilting even).

Her mention of Quilt Police got me to thinking about Quilt Police in general. Every quilter knows a Quilting Police Officer. This person is usually undercover, but they may be in uniform:

Maybe something like this?

Or this? The Official Quilt Police Website. They have their own T-Shirts and ballcaps! Egad.

But there are the folks that, on a consistent basis, are the ones to find and point out a fault in what you're making. They're the ones to tell you you're doing it wrong on the basis that you're not doing it their way, not because you're actually doing it wrong. They're quit to criticize, and on the flip side don't take it well if someone in turn points out a mistake they made. These are the people who discourage personal preference and improvisation because "everyone knows" that there should be 20 stitches per inch on bindings (which should all be cut to 2.5") or the pattern said "this piece shall be blue."

I've only been at this in seriousness for 2 years, and I consider myself a pretty confident beginner, but jeezy chreezy! I have some pretty strong perfectionist tendencies (ask mom...I can be meticulous...which is putting it nicely lol) but if that's how quilting is supposed to be, then cuff me, take me to Quilter's Prison, lock me up and throw away the key because I think that blows! 

We're all ready our own worst critics; we don't need another person assessing our artwork or our skills and telling us it's crap. It happens way too often; ask your quilter friends or read the blogs about the dark side of the Quilt Police in the blogosphere - I think everyone has (or will have) an unpleasant encounter with an unruly Quilt Police Officer. So how do you handle it? Well, I'm not the best person to ask, honestly. I'm a little too quick tempered to handle it with grace no matter how bad I'd like to. Usually I just say, a little sharply that "Yeah well, that's how I prefer to do it/Yeah well, I'm happy with how it turned out/Yeah well, I like these colors a lot, but I guess it's an acquired taste." Probably the better why to handle it is to smile nice and big and just let them know that the beauty of quilting is that every quilter has their own unique eye and taste in color and thank God there aren't any quilt police because there's just no "right" way :D

How do we stop Quilt Police? We don't! That behavior is part of any art - the gallery snobs, the cinematic elitists, the comedy purists - the line is drawn where criticism ceases to be kind, contructive and supportive and and begins to be elitist, tactless and know-it-allish. I know I find myself letting their negativity color my view of my work, and I know others do too. No one likes to be told their work or methodology is mediocre or sub-par, especially if it's something they're happily sharing at a quilt show, like the gal was talking about in the blog quote above. But that's where we have to take it upon ourselves to remember that the beauty of quilting is that everyone has a different vision and these Quilt Police hold no sway in the satisfaction and pride we have and take in our own work. We all have our Quilt Police moments. Not everyone will like everything you, me, our friends, professional designers make and that's okay...the key is being respectful of the fact that someone put love and effort into their work and that is reason alone to be tactful and just admire the meaning behind the piece for the person who made it even if you think it's bum-ugly :-)

I'm back...I may not be all there, but at least I'm back...

So I'm up to my EYEBALLS in projects. Sunbonnet Sue. Australian Quilter's Companion Quilt. My own ideas. A couple gifts that need done. A quilt from last freakin' year. So today MOm decides I need a new project....to make a reusab;e shopping bag from a pattern she got off of AllPeopleQuilt.com.

The bag I made...also, this site is fab!

Cute bag. Cute project. Pattern leaves something to be desired. It's an open domain pattern (meaning free to the public and not under copyright in MOST cases), and while open domain patterns are awesome ...sometimes they can have a few kinks in them, moreso than published and copyrighted patterns. But I'll get to that.

This bag is not at all meant to go over the shoulder...definitely a bag you'd want to just carry. The size (~16" wide) would be absolutely perfect for a trip to a farmer's market, but it IS reversable so it can be used as a plain ol' purse too. So here's what I learned while making this bag:

1. Read, look at pictures, re-read and re-examine pictures before cutting a thing.

2. Do NOT cut your fabric down to 16"x 42". If you are even an eight of an inch innaccurate in your cutting, you'll be hard pressed to get your template to fit your fabric. Cuyt the half yard from your fabric of choice, fold as per the instructions and just cut your template from the half yard. Yes, it does create a little waste, but it's better than finding yourself short fabric in your seam allowances.

3. The pattern doesn't call for any kind of interfacing (like, Pellon, Timtex, fusible fleece, etc). If you intended to carry anything with some heft to it (like cans), you will probably want to add some kind of interfacing to it. For my first bag, I used fusible fleece and a lightweight Pellon interfacing. This will stand up to some abuse for sure, but next time I think I'll just opt for the lightweight interfacing on both pieces, since the fusible fleece made it bulky and difficult to turn right sides out. But remember, if you use interfacing on your outer piece, you'll want to use it on your lining if you choose to use this as a reusable grocery bag. The handles are a little awkward to be used as a purse, but if you wanted to use it as a purse, then using interfacing on the lining isn't 100% necessary.

4. I found that top-stitching the curved handles BEFORE assembling the rest of the bag helped them lay flatter, and it's just a nice little touch. Be sure to have your top thread complement your outer fabric, and ytour bobbin thread complement the lining, because your stitches WILL be visible even if you don't use the reverse.

So this is after step...3 I think...it was VERY difficult to turn right sides out. See that really wide side? THAT had to be pulled through that very narrow center (which will end up being the handle). Like I said, the fleece made that harder than it needed to be, but if you choose to use the fleece, hemostats (like the unholy lovechild between a pair of scissors and a pair of pliers...Google it) will help you a LOT during this step.

Dont mind my mirror picture. Trust me, you don't want to see that state of my sewing area. It's like a tornado hit...only that tornado is my own very dishevled and chaotic creative process. But I s'pose as long as I can find what I need that all that matters...now where my rotary cutter went, I haven't the foggiest. lol. I digress. This is what I chose for my outer piece. As you can see, it's a decent sized bag.

This is the lining I chose. Since it's reversable, I wanted something complementary, but something that could stand on its own should I choose to have the lining become the outer piece. Big ol' fern leaves. I LOVE that minty color.

So that's it for now. I neglected to square up the bottom, and I didn't want to tearout my stitches AGAIN (ugh) so I left it just plain bag-style. The next one I'll use the thinner interfacing on both sies, then you know, follow the pattern better. lol. C'est la Vie. This will be in the shop soon so next time you're in...you'll see it somewhere :-)

Check this out!

Okay, as an artist I want to help out my artist friends whenever I can, especially when it's a local girl too!

This is my friend Vanessa's blog. She's primarily a makeup and fashion artist and her work is absolutely incredible. She's just getting started with it, so there isn't much there, but there will be. Like I said, she does fabulous work.

CLICK HERE: You Can Always Cover it with Makeup

Yeah, Yeah, I know. :-P

Hi, My name is Lauren, and I am a wholly inconsistent blogger. I'll try and be better, I promise!

So that mermaid picture I promised? Let's just edit that to say "coming soon." I got it all fused, but finding a border that works with the whole composition (not just in my cluttered ol' brain) has proved to be more difficult a tast than I thought it would be. That being said, it's at the shop in the office waiting for a border to find it. Someday soon, yes, I'll have a picture up.

So on to other things...
I HATE SUNBONNET SUE. I'm not intending to show disrepect to traditional quilting, but this is definitely not my style. This block specifically I find particularly boring and just...*gag* It's too sweetsy for me...I mean, I feel like I need to take a shot of insulin to compensate for the syrupy sweetness it forces through my eyeballs.

I take great joy in seeing Sunbonnet Sues gone wrong. I've posted these on our Newsletter before (which if you aren't signed up for already, you might consider it...it's neat!) but I'll post them again here:
Sunbonnet Sue has a dark side...
These Sunbonnet Sues are just plain bad.

But when Mom was with a rep the other day, she bought a Sunbonnet Sue book that...it pains me to say this...I liked. It is so friggin' cute:

Yeah, I'm a sucker for cultural stereotypes. My inner anthropologist (hey, I gotta make use of thise degree somehow...) simultaneously rejoices and cringes: my thesis was on quilting, and I'm fascinated by how different cultures represent other cultures, but the cultural stereotypes also kind of bug me for a bevy of reasons that I'm not going to get into right now...keep it quilting, keep it kind! But here's a sample, that incidentally I took a picture of for my friend Isabelle (Oooh yes, this is definitely a shoutout to my girl Isa!), who hails from Switzerland/Germany.

This is Swiss Sue. Each little Sue holds what the author has decided is a symbol of the country. For Switzerland, she chose the Edelweiss. Personally, I would have picked chocolate (Mmm...Swiss chocolate...) or cheese (Mmm...Swiss cheese...) This diet is going to be the death of me!

Anyway...I decided I would do this. Hell, I've never done a traditional style quilt so hey, why not. Little did I know! This is a HUGE FREAKING QUILT. It's got 49 Sunbonnet Sue blocks, then sashing and borders (duh) but at it's longest is ~90". That's a big'un! Oh and by the way, it took 6.5 yards of fusible even using the tricks to best use fusible area...and how long did it take me to trace all of those? An hour? 2 hours? Yeah...try 4 evenings at ~4-5 hours a pop. Clearly I've got too much time on my hands. Shouldn't I have a social life or something? lol.

So after 4 days of tracing (UGH) I finally got started on gettibg all of these little beasties fused. I'm *trying* to use my scraps. Honestly, this is a good way to buzzsaw through your stash...you might consider something like this if you have lots of little odd-sized scraps. So, here's block 1...little Chinese Sue!

The lighting sucks (I actually have those dang tube fluourescent lights in my house..yeah, like from the 70's)  so the color is a little skewed. The pants are black and the shirt is dark blue. I'm trying to keep the colors as similar to the pattern as I can, and I'll add my own little twists to the block when I embellish, which the quilt doens't call for. You know me...I can't just follow instructions like a good little quilter. Nope.

So...1 down, 48 to go. I must be crazy. lol.