Quick and Dirty Lap Quilt

January is peeking just around the corner and the 2011 Quilt Season is fast and furious already in my house! I have my line up of projects that include not only Flowers, but also a few rug mugs, a lap quilt, a Halloween wall quilt and wraps up with lunch kits, a Christmas lap quilt and some Christmas gift projects that I've yet to fully decide on. PHEW. My poor sewing machine better be ready to earn its little corner of real estate in my house!

Up first, the quick and dirty because I like instant gratification!

 

I received this great charm pack as a prize from one of the contests I entered on Sew Mama Sew. It's from the Moda line Recess. LOVE the fabric patterns, especially the little dots that look like olives. So adorable. Anyway I decided to combine four of the six colorways to create a fall to summer colorway lap quilt that is really just a great fast and furious project. I really love the colors together and once I find a good fabric to border it with I think this will be a good little lap quilt. My daughter really loves the vibrancy of the color which doesn't show much in this photo because of course I took it when it's dark in here, but these fabrics really do "pop". Part of my prize pack was a backer fabric but it's in the red and blue which are the two colors I left out of this little quilt. I think I'm going to back it in a lime green and border it in a fun stripe of some kind with these colors in it. I'll have to hunt around!!

So, what are YOU starting your year off with?!

I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas and are ready to send this year packing! Eek! It's only two days away!

Reindeer Food and a TY for Amy!

My little pumpkin and I have spent the morning doing chores and are about to venture into Santa cookie making, but not before we hit the reindeer food! We love this tradition. Every year we sprinkle reindeer food on the driveway and that way the reindeer know where to land! We use the following mixture:

• 2 C Oats
• 1/2 C Brown Sugar
• 3/4 C Cheerios (or Cereal)
• Paper Confetti*

         *AVOID anything that will harm birds.. like glitter and rice.

It ends up looking like this..

Also Amy.... I gave my daughter her treat that I bought from you and here is her treat to you that she asked me to post! <3 CUTE!! (I think this means it was a hit!! )

Adorable Ballerina!

Imagine- My Newest Retailer!

Today I ventured an hour south of my little happy town to drop off a lovely collection of my blossoms at a fabulous store called Imagine Hair Art Studio & Gallery Lounge! 

I first heard of this store when I was living in Adairsville, GA. I was told by a friend to go get my hair done by the wonderful Holly Moore and she did not disappoint!  In fact she gave me the best haircut I think I've ever had and just 60 minutes in her chair talking to me made me realize this woman is not just a stylist, she's an artist. That was a year and a half ago already and here I am again finding myself in her store!

This cute little store is in the heart of Rome's downtown historic district. The front half of the store is an amazing display of some of the beautiful talents of local artists so please stop in and say hi to Shea and Holly! They are wonderful people and be sure to leave with a flower <3

 

 Many thanks to Shea Dale for this photo. My camera battery died (of course) so she came to my rescue! xo

The January To-Do List

Good morning and welcome to the Christmas Final Countdown! FIVE DAYS TO GO! Are you done? I am! I can't wait! However, every year at about this time, it reminds me how important tradition and family are to me. I decided that next year for Christmas my little girl is getting her heirloom quilt from me and that means.. time to choose fabric! Well, it may be a tad early but any excuse to choose fabric is really welcome in this house!

First of all, I LOVE LOVE LOVE this quilt pattern that I saw on a blog called Red Pepper Quilts.

I may alter this style of quilt by making the rectangles more trapezoidal then rectangular. I love a bit of "wonk" and spontaneity. It keeps your eye on the quilt a little longer. Love that. Plus this pattern looks like it has a low "swear factor" and anything that keeps my kid from learning new words while I sew away is a bonus in my eyes :)


So here is what I'm looking for. I want something fresh, and beautiful. She likes airy and pretty as she's a very feminine child. She is also quite sentimental and I want something that will age with her nicely into her teen and adult years. Oh wait, who are we kidding. I'm not too sure WHAT ages into the teen years so we can alter that to something that will be hidden away safely at the tender age of 14 and re-discovered with glee at the age of 19 when I hope she comes back in one piece from the chaos of teenager-dom. *joy*

Here is what I am eyeing right now:

 By Anthology Fabrics, the Sweet Tooth line:

 

I really like the colors in this line and especially the teal, green and white diamonds pattern that goes in this line. Its bright and pretty, and I think would make a really great vibrant quilt that will age will for her. I may have to hunt around a bit to get more of the line but I'm sure there won't be troubles finding something really great to go with it since the spring generally brings some really great bright fabrics with it.

I have also been loving Lucy Fun Flowers by Holly Holderman for a bit now. 

Whats not to love? The dots in this line are yummy (and we all know how I love my dots) but I'm not 100% sold on the florals. This line may to TOO white? 

Finally, my daughter saw this one in passing the other day and fell in love with this one print. The line is a little like the others which means subconsciously I guess these are the colors I'm looking for!

 

So, I'd love to know what you've seen in passing that is similar to these? Expand my mind? Offer opinions? Show me the quilts you've made for your little ones? I'll be blogging the progress of this as well as my little Halloween treat that I'm going to be starting in January as well! 

Winners and Morning Treats!

I wasn't going to announce the winner until Monday because lets face it, something to look forward to on a Monday is a gift in itself! However, I decided to let the cat out of the bag now because this morning has been pretty amazing already and it's only 8:45am.

Thank you for visiting my little blog and leaving such beautiful comments! I am really amazed at this whole Giveaway event and already have a great idea in the works for the next Giveaway Day!!

Since I had over 100 entries, I pulled TWO names out of a hat instead of just one. The first one was for the prize as shown and the winner was.... FRECKLEFACE!


The second winner has won 2 Fabulous 50's flowers of her picking from my Facebook. That winner pulled was AMANDA LOVELACE-PHOTOGRAPHY!

Congratulations to both of you! I will contact you this morning and packages will be mailed out on Tuesday!
 I can't wait to see pictures <3

On to something just as exciting!

I couldn't wait to get the mail today. Not that the mail is normally terribly exciting but in the course of entering all these fun giveaways, I found a gem that made me stop and purchase from one bloggers store. It was the fabulous Amy Dunn of Lots of Pink Here! I was SO in love with THIS item that I contacted her and had one made up for my little peanut. Of course I added something and adjusted the fabric and what turned out was THIS!


So after we settled the details, she made it faster then I thought humanly possible and it arrived this morning! Look how it arrived!

How adorable is this?!

I also received a special little treat tucked into my package! An adorable key fob with the most exquisite fabric! LOVE it! I can't really thank her enough. If you're in the market for amazingly items, pop over to her store and have a look. You won't be disappointed; her service is impeccable, her shipping is fast and the quality is amazing. She even presents it in such a way it was painful to unwrap! I loved my experience with her, and my little girl will adore her Art Folio once she unwraps it on Christmas morning. I can't wait!

Have a beautiful weekend!

Sew Cute!

** Hello! If you're here for the giveaway, go HERE but then come back and read this post and pat me on the head <3 **

It's OFFICIAL!!

This afternoon I took a small sampling of pretty shabby and fabulous 50 blossoms to the local store called Sew Cute! Locally owned and operated by the most charming daughter-mother team ever, Sew Cute has all kinds of goodies tucked into it's colorful displays. I personally love their custom dresses and now, when you go order your custom dress, you can have yours truly make a custom hair flower made to match it! So exciting!

 

 Aren't you dieing to go peek in those windows?

They also sell something else I love there- personalized goodies! While I was there they were rolling out these adorable scarves with initials embroidered on them and I almost bought some but then I would have had to explain to my husband why I suddenly had five color coordinated scarves with K's on them that matched every coat I own...

 

Look how pretty my babies look all polished up and ready for their new homes!

Finally, as if this wasn't enough great news on it's own, here's more great news: I brought home MORE fabric! I found a local fabric spot that sells amazing fabrics for only $3.00 a yard. Hello! Did I help myself to piles of amazing things? YES! Did I have big plans for those amazing things? YES! In fact, my scissors and glue gun are calling my name right this moment. Just wait till you see the purple owl fabric... its to die for! <3

TOMORROW is the LAST DAY to enter my giveaway so get over there and enter if you haven't already! I'm 7 entries away from 100 and when that happens, I'm tossing in an extra treat... and we all know that everyone loves treats... <3

Something Special

** Hello! If you are here for the giveaway, click right here ---> WIN ME! **

Being part of the Sew Mama Sew giveaway has been a really humbling experience. I'm not talking about the exposure or the blog love (which is pretty awesome thank you!) but rather the quality of the giveaway products, and the amount of thought and dedication that goes into each and every one of them. One blog was giving away a quilt for a man who really needed one. Another donating money to a charity of our choosing. (forgive me I didn't bookmark this one and it will take forever to comb back through that list!) These aren't just giveaways, these are amazing displays of the kindness that still exists in our hearts as human beings. It makes me feel so good to read these posts. It makes me understand more about what it means to give. It certainly makes me think about next year's giveaway ... and it will be fabulous!

As an artist, I am never mind-still. I'm always thinking and dreaming and creating in my mental notebook, and for a long time now I've been stirring and whirring over the "brother blog" to this blog. I have a daughter, but I have all nephews. Stuff for boys is always a mind stumper! SooOOoOo I have the *greatest* idea EVER for boys and I am in the middle of working out the details so I can debut the flip side to the girly business of hair flowers....

2011 is going to be a great year... I can feel it coming! <3

Giveaway Day!

Nothing says Merry Christmas more then FREE STUFF! Today, I am participating in a fabulous giveaway day hosted by the fine folks over at Sew Mama Sew.

If you are a reader of mine but have not ventured forth into the sewing world, kindly head on over to their site and take a look around. They offer up some fantastic ideas, tutorials, peer-to-peer advice and frankly, it screams awesome! Before you go though, take a moment to enter my giveaway!!

We all want our little peanuts to look as adorable as they can, so set your jaws to drop because now they can have a COMPLETE SHABBY FLOWER SET for FREE!! Nothing rocks more then free stuff! I'm not going to blab on and on about what a great prize it is, so let's just get to the details! Here is what you can win:

~ One beautiful Shabby Posy ~

~ One set of Shabby Posy Mini Bobbies ~

~ One set of Button Bobbies ~

~ One set of Flat Hair Clips ~

~ One set of Bow Hair Clips ~

~ One Fabulous 50's Hair Flower ~

A complete set of our beautiful fabric flowers in our most popular fabric: The Shabby Country Rose! Take a peek:

Stunning!! Remember these flowers are attached to a salon grade, ribbon concealed alligator clip. They can attach to clothing, hair, headbands and purses! (See below for a headband image!) This prize package is worth Over $25 in value. The winner will also receive FREE STANDARD SHIPPING. Expedited shipping for holiday delivery will be at the winners expense. I am offering international shipping on this so don't let your location deter you from entering!

Here is how you WIN:

1. Follow my blog, and leave a comment here with your email address for one entry.
2. Friend me on Facebook and leave a comment ON MY FACEBOOK ALBUM entitled "GIVEAWAY" with your email address for a second chance to win!!

That's it! Easy as pie!

This giveaway closes at midnight on December 17th. I will announce the winner on December 20th on my blog and on Facebook. **I pull winners the old fashioned way- I put all your names in a hat and my daughter pulls the winner. (She loves it!)

GOOD LUCK!!!

Pictured above: The Fabulous 50's Flower in the Shabby Rose and the Shabby Paisley patterns attached to a darling skinny stretch bubblegum pink headband! Adorable!

The Fabulous 50's Flowers!

Ok... I admit I'm a craft nerd and I couldn't wait until tomorrow to debut the Fabulous 50's Flower!

I am SO in love with these flowers and they look amazingly beautiful in the hair!! 

Each blossom is handcrafted with a classic folding technique and then complimented with a matching center button. I have found the perfect size of these beauties is a 3" diameter. I can make them smaller or larger, with more petals, multiple color petals or petals inserted into each other. A standard 3" diameter flower is only $8 and is stunning when paired up with our Skinny Stretch Headband! (Additional $1.50) or our Crochet Style Headband! ($2.00 each).

Have a peek for yourself!

Beautiful! For a more complete showing of our custom beauties, please pop on over to our facebook page and prepare to fall in love!

Beautiful Things

Sneak peak!!! Debuting on Monday is the 50's blossom at the same time as an exciting Giveaway Opportunity!

You don't want to miss it!