The Creative Connection

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Moda Fabrics is one of the sponsors of The Creative Connection happening next week in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 3 of the moda designers will be there teaching classes. Camille Roskelley from Thimbleblossoms will be teaching A Retro Kitchen. Do you think she would mind if I call her Baby Mama during her class? Joanna Figueroa from Fig Tree & Co will be teaching Sugar Pumpkin or Owl Scarflette. Wait there is more….. Karri Meng from French General will be teaching a jewelry class. I have the very daunting task of going to this event. Some one had to do it so I do not mind taking one for the team. I am just that kind of gal. Wait until you see how great the goody bags are. Kuddos to the entire team for putting on such a great event for women.
To see the complete list of teachers that will be there, click here. All the greatness from so many different industries will be the coolest thing ever. Names like Amy Butler, Jo Packham, MaryJane Butters, Nancy Soriano and of course the pioneer woman herself, Ree Drummond.

If you can get there, please do.
If you are coming, I hope to meet you.
I will be earning my keep by helping in any way I can. I told them to put me to work taking tickets or something.
Look for me.
You will easily recognize me because I will be the one 
grinning from ear to ear.

How can you “bling” a sewing tin?

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 Who  has seen Eat, Pray, Love? I have not seen the movie but I have read the book. It is not in my life’s plan right now to run off and find myself. But what is in my life’s plan is to  EAT, SLEEP, SEW. (Not in that particular order!) I had to make this sewing tin that Laurie Simpson had made and posted the
instruction’s HERE. It did make me start thinking about what if?  What if the next big Hollywood blockbuster was EAT, SLEEP, SEW? Who would play the Julie Roberts role?  Heidi Klum could star. She certainly could fit it in after Project Runway. Maybe one of the REAL housewives from New Jersey? A reality show of quilters? How about a bunch of quilters in the same room with only 1 spool of thread? They could have cat fights over jelly rolls? I am so sorry, I must have dozed off into some crazed dream. Market is coming is my only excuse. Back on topic!

 I just love love love this tin. What quilter, sewer, crafter wouldn’t? Using Laurie’s instructions I made my own version in 15 minutes. I then gathered all my hexagon’s and supplies and proudly put them in my new organizational tin. I also added a magnetic strip to the inside which will come in handy. How would you “Bling” a sewing tin? What would you add? What notion can you not live without?
You may remember my blog post about hexagons. I blogged about them HERE. I was sewing them together by machine because I thought I would be bored doing so much handwork. I quickly had all my hex’s sewn together and had to make more. Then,  I got stumped when it came time to turn the corner and actually  had to create the horizontal and vertical rows. The rows would not meet until…..
PICTURE ABOVE: Machine embroidery the hexagons into rows
HALF HEX’S
This is how to make a half hexagon. Sew 2 fabrics together. Press open the seams and trim away excess bulk in the seam allowances. Lay the paper hexagon making sure to line up the seam with the point of the hexagon.
Baste the fabric in place and magically you have a half hexagon

I show you this for a couple of reasons.
I am getting closer to finishing my borders. I just have to make about 300 half hexs.
I am so inspired by all the hexagon bloggers out there that I am dying to start another colorway.
Jaybird is doing it.
I am dying to make some of these from Sew Mama Sew.
You could make a charm hexagon quilt where no two fabrics are the same. Read about it HERE.
I use English Paper Pieces for my hexagons. They have all kinds of info on their website.
Paper Pieces are available at all the quilt stores. Remember when buying the size you want to measure 1 side of the hexagon to determine the size. They range in size from 1/4″ papers to 3″ papers.
You can cut a moda charm pack into 4ths and have tons of fabric ready to baste in place.
I am obsessed by all the possibilities of such a simple shape. I would like to give Laurie credit because now I have a new tin to fill full of hexagons.  Maybe I will rent Eat, Pray & Love when it comes out on DVD, invite Laurie over and sit and make hexagons!
 Let me know if you are hexagon-ing?

and the winner is….

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 Only because I can laugh at myself, I will post one pic from SI. The tag line for this picture says something like,  this is not a mirage, etc etc. I told my husband,  I get it, you were thinking it WAS a mirage. That is why you did not see my head plastered on the swimsuit model sitting on a camel in the desert.

  In  all fairness to my husband and his friend, they did not notice that I had also put my pic on the largest sumo wrestler ever, weighing in at 491 pounds. Remember, I was pregnant at the time.

The shoebox is packed full to the brim with brights, darks, and light strips of all different lengths. Several of the strips are folded and rolled to fit into every crevice of the box, weighing in at a whooping 7 lbs. That may not seem like much if you compare it to sumo weight but I think you will be thrilled with how many strips I was able to squeeze into the box.

Thank you to all for commenting. I had my associate (her nickname is Stiffy) in the office across the hall drawing the winning name.
Congrats! Renae.  Send me your mailing address.
I have been so full of myself that I completely forgot to give a shout out to Maggi Honeyman. She is the master quilter that performed her magic on my quilt. Thank you, Maggi.

Shoebox

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Thanks to everyone for the wonderful comments. I am truly humbled and honored. But a giveaway did help drive the traffic my way and it was fun for me.
2 mistakes on my part:
1. I forgot to include the date of the drawing.
2. I had no idea how many strips it would take to fill a shoebox.

Did I say I have grown MEN as children? The smallest shoebox I can find is size 10 (and that is my shoebox).

I could have as easily said I was going to ship the winner a boat! I feel like that is what I have laying all over my house when I trip over the shoes. Don’t get me started on socks. I will save that for another post.

Last night I was home alone which is rare. I made a wonderful dinner (bowl of frosted flakes with sliced bananas), and plopped down in front of the TV with complete ownership of the remote.
I gathered my strips and ironed each of them, so the winner would not have a knotted mess. It was actually quite therapeutic looking at the variety of strips. I didn’t even mind ironing, fabric that is,
not laundry.
If you haven’t left a comment, please do so on the Previous post.
Will announce the winner on Friday the 13th. Make this day lucky for you and leave a comment if you want a boat, I mean shoebox full of 1 1/2″ strips.

APQ beats SI anyday of the week

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Many of you know that I am a mother of 5, so that means I have been pregnant for 45 months of my life. During one of my pregnancies we had a friend of my husband’s living with us.  Everyday the guys would ask, “Did Sports Illustrated come today?”  Of course it was the Swimsuit issue that they were so excited about.(not the issue shown here)

During this same time I worked the graveyard shift at the local grocery store. Lo and behold, there set the brand new issue of the SI Swimsuit. (one side note before I finish the story- these are the same 2 guys that say people go to Hooter’s for the wings, not because of the waitresses in tight fitting clothes.)
I decided to perform an experiment. I marched home with the new SI so excited I could barely stand it. I then proceeded to cut my face out of any pictures I could find. Ever so strategically I taped my picture onto each and every swimsuit model in the entire magazine. I quietly snuck the magazine into the mailbox along with the other mail so the guys would be the first to stumble across the much anticipated issue. The guys flipped through the magazine 3 or 4 times and DID NOT notice my picture on a single model. AHA!My experiment worked, they do not go to hooter’s for the wings.

Flash ahead 25 years!! Now, I am the one going to the mailbox inquisitively asking, “Did my American Patchwork and Quilting come yet?”  I see why the guys were so excited (well not really) for their much anticipated reading material. No one in my house was chasing down the mailman or running to the quilt store to look for a copy. Did they not understand? This was as big as my picture (head only- not body) being taped throughout Sports Illustrated so many years before. My quilt was going to be on the cover of October’s issue of American Patchwork and Quilting. Alas, my magazine(S) have arrived. I am sure that the cover quilt does not make the evening news like the cover model of SI does. I am sure my Dad would be proud that I didn’t have to take off any clothes to  make the cover.
IF YOU WANT TO READ MORE ABOUT HOW EXCITED I AM, PLEASE CONTINUE:
In May, I had the pleasure and honor of attending American Patchwork and Quilting’s Creative Circle 2010. You can read all about this in the October issue of APQ so I will not fill you in too much of the details. (BACK PAGE) Also it was so great that I cannot even put it into words.

While on the tour of Meredith Corporation, we learned how the magazine was created and laid out. (Yes that is THE Eleanor Burns standing right next to me.) I was standing along one wall when Monica from Happy Zombie pointed out my quilt on the pages pinned to the storyboard. I was trying so hard to contain my excitement which of course is hard when Happy Zombie is pointing at you.

Senior Editor, Jennifer Keltner show us how each issue is laid out, making sure the entire issue is consistent and flows throughout. .

 We continued on the tour visiting the incredible Better Homes and Garden’s test garden. Breathtaking! As we were leaving I was told, “Oh ya. Lissa your quilt was photographed right over there. Do you want have your picture made in the same spot your quilt was photographed?” Well I am kind of shy, but I jumped at the chance.

Okay, Okay enough about me.
Run and pick up your own copy of the October, American Patchwork and Quilting.
Read about Jean Wells, Tara Lynn Darr, Lisa DeBee Schiller, Tonye Belinda Phillips, Pat Sloan,
Kathie Holland, Marti Michell, and Holly Holderman.
In honor of my quilt and all the crew at APQ, I am doing a give away. Some lucky comment leaving person will win a shoebox full of 1 1/2 ” strips all different lengths. These strips will probably not make your own version of this quilt but it will get you started.
Also, do not miss what Jennifer Keltner is featuring on page 4. I have one now. You will want one too.
If you want to make this quilt you will need “a bunch of 1 1/2″ strips” the magazine instructions and your choice of brown tonals. here are a few moda choices. Collections for a Cause-Hope, Stock # 46088-14, Sandy’s Solids 7521-418 or Bella Solid 9900-71.