Call For Testers!

 Good Morning my Sweet Sewing Buddies :)

Welcome to 2012!!! What a fun holiday I had! I hope you had one as well!! I have a little surprise for you! Remember me telling you that I would blog about my daughters Christmas quilt? Well, I didn't get a chance to snap a photo of it before I gave it to her because I had to quilt at night so she wouldn't see it. Here is a picture of her all snuggled up with it on Christmas eve before Santa came!

 Now that she's back to School I'll get a nice proper shot for you in the sun while I have a chance! She totes it around with her everywhere so hopefully it's not TOO dirty yet!

On to other thing: I need testers for some patterns!!! Not just any patterns, but embroidery patterns! Here is the skinny:

I need three testers who meet this criteria:
~ You should be well versed in all embroidery styles. These are not beginner patterns.
~ You should be able to finish the pattern in about 1 month time maximum. (I did my own in a week with lots of distruption)
~ You should be able to take lots of photos along the way, including a really nice finished shot that I am able to use to promote the patterns in my Etsy shop.
~ You should be able to tell me how much floss you used!

You will receive the pattern that I've hand drawn on to a cotton piece for you with a water soluble marker. You will also receive any fabric pieces from me if the pattern calls for fabric. Otherwise you will be using your own floss. You will get to keep the finished piece but you may NOT reproduce the pattern in any way and/or resell it. You may however, sell any finished product you make with it as long as credit comes back to me. You will also receive a special little treat from me for testing the pattern :)

I just want to make sure the patterns are all do-able to other people before I launch embroidery kits in my little etsy shop!!

These patterns are doodle sketch type embroidery patterns. I made a series of them for a special project I was working on for a friend with a sick child. She gave me several motif's and I 'doodled' up each one in about 2  - 3 days. Each sketch is my doodles and while the nature or the concept may not be original, the art is and so that makes them really special to me! Then a crafty pal of mine latched on to one of them and has been working on it. She loves it! I've designed them in such a way that YOU get to choose what stitches to incorporate, the techniques you want and the colors you want to fit into your own decor. In the shop, I plan to offer two prices- one for just the pattern on cotton, and one for the pattern + materials.

If this sounds like something you'd like to do, please email me at: krenthom@gmail.com. We can talk about it more!

much love,

6 Months!

Good Morning Lovelies!

Can you believe it's been 6 ENTIRE months since my last post? Honestly! I'm ridiculous. Karen! Why has it been so long?? I'll tell you why. When you combine a person who loves to sew, with a person who loves to give things to people, and add in a million friends, family and gift-giving recipients.... one tends to go overboard... THAT's ME! Someone send a life preserver because I'm drowning in a sea of sewing!

On second thought- don't! I like it too much down here. The sad part is that I'm not even done. I've been sewing like a maniac since the October craft show and I'm still not done. Yikes. I've officially come up for air though! I'm done until after the holidays where January will see me finishing Christmas gifts! Seriously ridiculous.

Next week I'll be posting my favorite gift from this year: My daughters Christmas Quilt. I've sewn it entirely from Kate Spain's Flurry line, and added in a border of Kona Pink on the back of it. It's to die for. Want a sneak peek? I'll show you a progress shot from when I was figuring out how to piece this thing together:

This year I'm all about bright and crisp green and white, and I wanted her to have a Christmas quilt that would age with her as she grew up so that's what she got! I indulged on the back which you will see next week with the pink. She is after all, a girly girl.

Right now however, you should all be blistering your fingers with the amazing Sew Mama Sew giveaway thats going on!! Get your entires in ladies the prizes are outstanding! Makes me wish I had got it together to participate this round but I have a precious prize for the summer edition next year that your eyes and sewing rooms will love <3

Start  your entries with the beautiful and talented Amy Dunn at her blog "Lots of Pink Here" and tell her I said Hi!! She's amazing. Look at her prize!!:

See you all next week!!

Halloween Quilt!

I am in LOVE with this pumpkin fabric!!!!

When I first relocated back to the south, I arrived with nothing but 2 suitcases and a giant smile. I had no fabric stash, no sewing machine, and no idea how much either of those would change my life/house/sanity level either!! When I finally did invest in my first sewing machine, I logged onto the Fat Quarter Shop, with a big heart and a small budget and lost myself for about 2 hours in piles of delicious fabrics.

Can you see the glitter in the spider?

I finally decided that the best first project (lol) that I could start with was going to be something Halloween and so I bought a quilt pattern, a fat quarter bundle, some extra yardage and waited with great anticipation.

Now, quite a few months later and with a gigantic pile of sewing behind me, my house is a giant fabric stash, I sew in the craft room... the dining room... the living room... my bedroom... my office... outside... I have about 12 projects on the go and am now doing craft shows. Insane!! Sadly though, I never did my Halloween Quilt!! I love the pattern, and I grew my Haloween stash to the point where I could probably make 4 more of these but I still hadn't actually MADE one... so this weekend... I DID!!!

Witches use airplanes these days don't yo know?

I started cutting on Friday while I was minding the store for Claudia! By Friday afternoon I hd the blocks cut, and the applique sections planned out. I spent Saturday afternoon and Sunday evening working on the applique sections. Sunday night into the wee hours of Monday morning I peicd it all together and I spend most of yesterday quilting the darn thing! VOILA! All done and I feel very accomplished....

Ghosts, Goblins Ghouls!

The finished quilt is 3 ft wide and hangs 5 ft long. 

Ghosts

Ghosts

 

Ghouls!

Goblins! My first time blanket stitching!

Love that pirate mouse on the stocking!

More adorable pumpkins! <3

 

I backed the quilt with a delicious Orange and Black glitter spider fabric!!

 So there you have it! I'm going to make a second one for someone special but I think I'll wait until after the craft fair which is in 26 DAYS EEEEeeEEEeEEK!