Vintage Block Quilt Along ~ Spring Blossom #10 - Find me at Sew Mama Sew!

  Happy Wednesday!  I have finished block #10 in the Vintage Block Quilt Along - Spring Blossom.  You can find the pattern and the tutorial at the Sew Mama Sew Blog!

This block has been referred to as Jig Saw Puzzle, Nonesuch and Love Ring in various vintage quilting publications.   

I have revised the block to have solid corner squares so 

that the center Flower is the star of the show.  

The block is made from 12 identical pieced squares with the addition of 4 corner squares..

Each individual square is 3 ½”.   Curved piecing is involved in the construction of this block, but it is not difficult if you follow the tutorial!  

These are all the blocks so far.  If you'd like to quilt along, you can find links to all the patterns and tutorials here.

Happy Sewing!

xo

Charise

*** 2013 - Quite a year! Thank you!!! ***

I would like to say "Thank You" to all my readers.  You have made this past year absolutely amazing.  Reading your comments is always a joy and inspires me to keep sewing.
Thank you for all your wonderful and kind words!

It was a busy year filled with lots of makes and my first contribution to a sewing book.

"Playful Little Paper Pieced Projects" is a wonderful book full of sweet designs.  I'm so excited to be a part of the book and looking forward to making projects from the book.

Plus a small appearance of my free tulip pattern in "Quilt Essentials" by Erin Harris.

I designed some new paper piecing patterns.  

Created paper piecing blocks for Cocorico and Ringo Pie Paper Piecing bees.
The guitar pattern is from Paper Panache and the snowflake is from Rumi at 3 patch. 

I contributed many projects to Stitch Magazine.
I love the publication and am very proud to have been a contributor!

I also contributed to Sew News

 designed and made a quilt for Quiltmaker...........

and designed this ruffle clutch for the Liberty Craft Blog!
This is definitely a highlight of the year.  I adore Liberty fabrics.  

I created two non quilting patterns for my shops.

Though nine were slated for 2013, I created six new blocks for the "Vintage Block Quilt Along".
Stay tuned for the last three coming soon!

I entered a sewing contest last summer.  I was honored to be chosen as a participant in the Super Online Sewing Match hosted by Sew Mama Sew and made it all the way to the last round.  I'm so happy I participated as it renewed my love for making clothes which is how I started sewing many years ago!

I joined one online swap this year and it was a fun one!  The Strawberry Pincushion Swap hosted by Erin at Why Not Sew.  I made the strawberries from this pattern, the basket is from Anna at Noodlehead and the pouch is my design from Stitch Gifts 2012.

I made some clothes this year.  It was very gratifying and I hope to do lots more this year!

*2014*

My list is long for 2014.  

Here is hoping that putting my list of "to dos" down in writing will help me achieve my goals : )
Last Monday was spent organizing my projects and I now feel ready to tackle my "to do's" for 2014!

These are some purse designs that I would like to make patterns for in 2014.

I plan on completing the Color Burst Quilt pattern for my shop.

Some more home decor and accessory patterns.

The Anna Blouse is a must create pattern for this year!

and definitely more paper piecing patterns for 2014..

Look for my designs in a few books for 2014.  

One is pictured above (cover girl!) and the other is still under wraps : ) 

All in all, it was a good year filled with incredible memories both professionally and with my wonderful family.  I am blessed indeed!
xo
Charise

A winner! Playful Little paper-pieced projects

Thanks for sharing all your New Year's resolutions.  Yours are inspiring indeed!

The winner of the "Playful Little paper-pieced Projects" is  Zibergirl.com

who wrote: I really want to learn paper piecing and this book looks very inspirational. I'm doing a RTW fast this year, so I'll need new sewing projects to use up my stash!

I'm off to send an email right now!

Have a lovely day!

xo

Charise

Sew Mama Sew * Cloud 9 Fabrics * Palos Verdes Blouse Challenge

Hello! I am so excited to be a part of the Sew Mama Sew Palos Verdes Blouse Challenge!

Each sewist was asked to make a blouse with Cloud 9's new fabric line - Palos Verdes.
The fabric is a beautiful light weight cotton lawn.  It is a dream to sew!

For the challenge, we could use a commercial pattern or design our own.

I decided to create my own design.  

I'm calling it the "The Anna Blouse".

 The "Anna" is a sweet and easy to wear style with front neck pleats and a tie neck detail.
It has a gathered sleeve cap and 3/4 length sleeves.

Beth and Kristin from Sew Mama Sew asked each sewist to choose their three favorite fabrics from the line, which was definitely a challenge.
My preference was for the florals though all the prints are beautiful!

The design process started with a sketch.

Then I couldn't resist filling the sketch with the beautiful prints! 

This is the print I used for the blouse  - "Abalone Cove"

I love this print too!  "Lunada Bay"

The Miraleste Print is a lovely aqua floral!

I actually think this one of my favorites - Wayfarers - and it wasn't on my top three list!   The print gives the blouse a boho 1970's vibe!

I stitched up two muslins!  The first in actual muslin fabric so I could get the fit just right.

The second muslin was made in an Amy Butler voile to test the fit in actual fabric.
It is kind of nice to already have two spring blouses sewn before the season begins!

Please be sure to check out the links to the other sewists in the Cloud 9 Challenge!

Teresa Behr
http://www.dandeliondrift.com/

Melissa Mora
http://mellysews.com/

Nienke de Jong
http://pienkel.blogspot.nl/

Michael Ann Shreeve

http://www.michaelannmade.com/

Carolina Martinez
http://lovelola.com/

Happy Sewing!

xo

Charise

Playful Little Paper-Pieced Projects & A Give-away!

Right before Christmas I received the best present.  Copies of the book, "Playful Little Paper Pieced Projects" - which I am in!  I am so thrilled to be a part of the book.  There are so many wonderful projects and talented designers included.  Most of the contributors I have met through on-line quilting bees!

The book starts with twelve individual paper pieced quilt blocks to make a calendar quilt and a small project that can be made with each block.  The block I designed is "Autumn Harvest" for September.
The top picture is the block before it was added to the quilt and the bottom is the September calendar block completed for the quilt!

The project that goes with the Autumn Harvest block is my round apple pouch.  It uses the apples from the calendar block to make a fun pouch that can be used as a makeup bag or is the perfect size for hand sewing projects on the go!

There is also a section with small projects for the home.  That is where  you will find my log cabin Kite Tote!

Here is a sampling of the wonderful projects:

I just love this "hanger wall art" created by Leila.  It is so simple and lovely!  Can't wait to make one!

Ayumi's grapefruit coasters are adorable and would make a perfect gift (after making a set for myself, of course)  !!!!  : )

I cannot wait to make these chair cushions for my vintage outdoor chairs!

Penny also added adorable stitching to the corners.  Such wonderful detail!

Joanna's bicycle basket is the cutest and it doubles as a tote! 

Amy's journal cover is just sweet as can be.  

Kylie's pot holders are adorable and much too cute to ever come in contact with a pot or pan!

Lynne's quilt is a stunner.   It would look perfect in my living room!

***I will be giving away one copy of the book.***
  U.S. entrants only, please, due to the high cost of shipping.  Please leave a comment below sharing any New Year's Resolutions you have made.  I will pick a winner on Friday the 10th at 9 p.m PST.

I will also be listing a few copies in my Etsy shop.  $20.00 including shipping : )

Good Luck !

xo

Charise

Finding that pesky out of print & hard to find fabric!

Happy New Year!!  Hope your celebration was lovely!

I stayed up 'till midnight and all the boys - even my youngest of 6, made it to midnight!

Both were so tired they put themselves to bed tonight without a fuss : )

Recently, I received an email from a reader who wanted to make the Tea time Coasters from Stitch Winter 2013 magazine with the same fabrics.  When I designed the project I went right to my stash to find my favorite icy blue prints to go with the palette.  Well.....most of the prints were out of print  (oop ) fabrics.   I proceeded to identify the fabrics and give her a few tips for finding oop fabrics which I thought I would share with you.

My first method is to search etsy.  They often have out of print fabrics but you may have to pay a bit more than the original price.   Search the print name, manufacturer, and also the designer.

Ebay is another great resource!  I was able to locate the DS Quilts Meadow Lark print pictured above for a fair price.

Last resort is to search on Bing or Google.  A bit more work but I've had good results.

My advice,  if you find you love a fabric and tend to use it over and over again,  buy a few yards,  you will be glad you did!!!

Here is a sneak peek of a project I was busy working on today for Sew Mama Sew.  It is a first muslin but I think I like where it is going : )  I'll share the project next week!


xo
Charise