Shop Hop!

On Thursday and yesterday a friend a I "shop hopped".

The Western Washington Quilt Shop Hop is a huge event held every year.

A theme fabric is designed especially for the Shop Hop (usually by In the Beginning Fabrics).
I'm normally not crazy about the fabric, but this year I'm in love!
It was designed by Julie Paschkis who does a lot of children's book illustrating as well.
(Her regular line for ITB is called Folklorica and I'm hoping to get my hands on some of that soon.)

Participating quilt stores have to design a block using the theme fabric and coordinating fabrics. About 50 quilt stores normally participate.
They have to make kits for their blocks with fabric and instructions.
And then we hop!
At each store you collect a free kit and have your "passport" stamped. If you have more than 16 stamps you're entered into a drawing for great prizes.

We visited 22 stores, 18 of them on Thursday!
Phew!

A sight for sore eyes

I've reduced my blog subscriptions from over 250 to less than 140. I think I may now be able to keep up. Yay!
(BTW why does Blogger ruin every picture by resizing it to death? This one was only 40K and I had to use Flickr because uploading it directly was a complete fiasco.)

Pinwheel Party Prettiness

Thank you SO much for all your support on my previous post! I was relieved to see that many other bloggers are of the same mindset as me.
I still don't have anything interesting to blog about, so I thought I'd share with you two of the amazing Pinwheel Party quilts out there. (I'm still working on mine.)


(by faith_hope_love_grace on Flickr)


(by Applique Addict)

(If this is one of your photos and you'd rather I don't use it, please let me know and I will remove it.)

I've also simplified the newsletter signup process for the store. You now don't have to tell me everything but the kitchen sink about yourself to sign up. Just your email address and name.

Food for thought

This morning I read this post by Autum (Creative Little Daisy).

It really expressed what I've been feeling for some time now.

Blogging used to be a fun way to share experiences and creative endeavours with like minded people.

The blogging world has gone completely haywire.

No matter how hard I try, I always feel inadequate.  I can't compete with the "super bloggers".

I'm constantly trying to keep up and failing.

Upset because I'm not getting the glut of comments they're getting.

Not enough "followers" and visitors.

Not enough giveaways and free patterns.

Because I have a store I feel very dependent on my blog readers for business.

This has led me astray.

Away from the orginal purpose of this blog.

I'm done trying.

If you love my store and would like to continue to support me and be informed of the arrival of pretty fabrics and great deals, please "like" the store on Facebook.

Or subscribe to the newsletter.

I really appreciate your support.

I'll keep a link in the sidebar.

But from now on this blog will be what I intended it to be.

About sharing.

Amen.

Merry Christmas!

This is "12 Days of Christmas" by Kate Spain for Moda.

Isn't it lovely?

If you're ready to get an early start on your Holiday gifts and quilts, this is your chance.
"12 Days of Christmas" is 20% off in the store until June 30th.
(Brand new collections don't normally go on sale so this is probably the best price out there right now.)

Back to my crazy life...

Happy Sewing!

I'm still here

My new job is taking over my life I'm afraid, but I need the extra money right now.

I'm still going to try and pop in here as often as I can.

I don't really have time for new projects, but I think I'm going to HAVE to make this one:

It's from the new issue of American Patchwork & Quilting magazine, which arrived on my doorstep last week. It took me nearly a week to get these in the store.
They're listed over here with some more "sneak peek" photos.
15% off list price as usual.

Two big boxes arrived from Moda. I think it might be the new Christmas fabric! I'm going to try and unpack those before the weekend and there will be a special "Christmas in June" discount so stay tuned.

(BTW I found two copies of the June 2005 American Patchwork & Quilting magazine with the pattern for my Blogger's Quilt Festival quilt. If you're interested in buying one, please email me and we can work out the details.)

New Don't Look Now Patterns!

A little shop talk...

Kellie has two brand new patterns she just unveiled at Quilt Market!

the twiddletails store is now taking pre-orders for these.
I don't have all the pattern details yet, so if you decide to pre-order and change your mind once the patterns arrive I will be happy to refund your pre-order cost.

But gee, how cute are they?

Alphabet Soup:


Worry Dolls:

Happy Sewing!

Just because...

We're drowning over here, but the plants don't seem to mind.

(I posted more photos over on my other blog.)

Blogger's Quilt Festival Spring 2010

So the Pinwheel Party won't be happening at the Quilt Festival this year.
I have a part time job now and between that and the store my quilting time is seriously limited.

So...
I'll share with you one of my favorite, favorite quilts.

It's called Scrappy Illusion. I finished it way back in May of 2008.
It was one of the last quilts I made using an actual pattern.

The blocks look like they're set on point but if you look closely you'll see that they're really just pinwheels and 16-patches. Genius!
(The pattern was in an American Patchwork & Quilting magazine. I can't remember which one exactly but if you'd like to know I can try and find it for you. Found it! AP&Q June 2005)

Pinwheel Party Week 13!

The end!

I just finished the top and I really like it.

Unfortunately my camera does not want to play along right now.

Assemble the quilt top:

Download the final set of instructions here. (You will need Adobe Reader. You can download it at http://get.adobe.com/reader.)

Links to all the previous blocks can be found in the sidebar.

I will keep all the instructions up while I work on finalizing the pattern for sale.

If you make the quilt and have any suggestions, please let me know.

The Pinwheel Party pattern is now available for purchase on Craftsy and Etsy.

I'm hoping to finish this one in time for the end of Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival on Friday.

Crazy, I know.

Happy Sewing!

Blogger's Quilt Festival

I'm happy to announce that I'm a sponsor for Amy's very popular Blogger's Quilt Festival starting today.

the twiddletails store will be giving away three prizes!

There will be tons of other prizes too.
To enter a quilt and qualify for a prize, hop on over to Amy's blog.

I'm hoping to finish a quilt to enter this weekend.  Hoping...

(As you may have noticed in the sidebar, all Moda Marbles are 20% off in the store.  These are great basics to have in your stash.  I'm using Marbles in my Pinwheel Party quilt. If you click on the block links in the sidebar, you can see some of my blocks.)

One Trick Pony

I apologize if I'm boring you to death but this is basically all I've been working on.

On the advice of my 17-year old I'm now adding hexies in the round instead of doing individual flowers.
It's starting to look a whole lot like a pillow cover...

A coin photo to show scale

I HAVE made one other thing.

For my quilt group's quilting bee. Real, not virtual.

11th Grade Math

Really.

Pinwheel Party Week 12

Yay! The last block!
Next week we'll put this puppy together.

Block 12:

(For placement in the quilt top, this block should be rotated 90 degrees clockwise.  My wrong. I apologize.)

Download the pattern here. (You will need Adobe Reader. You can download it at http://get.adobe.com/reader.)
Links to all the previous blocks can be found in the sidebar.


The Pinwheel Party pattern is now available for purchase on Craftsy and Etsy.

Happy Sewing!

Progress

I'm still working on some pillowcase designs.

And making slow progress on the mini GFG.

January 2010 - 7 flowers

April 2010 - 14 flowers

May 2010 - almost 18 flowers

There's hope...

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Pillowcases, pillowcases

I've decided to jump on the 1 Million Pillowcase bandwagon.
Rather late than never, right?

You can read about it over here but basically the American Patchwork & Quilting Magazine folks have issued a challenge to have 1 million pillowcases made and donated to charity by the end of 2010.
They have some wonderful buttons for your blog over here.
When you make and donate pillowcases you can update their list and add to the total.
They have some great pillowcase patterns over there, but when I was on retreat earlier this month I learned an AMAZING (and very easy) technique that results in a pillowcase with absolutely no seams showing.
Bonus: If you don't know how to make French seams, you will be able add that to your repertoire when you're done!
Interested?

Magical Pillowcase (also known as "burrito" pillowcase) Tutorial
* My pillowcase (and the tutorial) uses three fabrics - a main fabric, a cuff/contrast fabric, and a trim fabric. You can of course make the pillowcase using only one or two fabrics if you'd like.
* I'm also assuming that you're using 44/45" wide fabric.
* The pillowcase pattern makes a standard pillowcase. If you'd like to make a Queen or King pillowcase, the measurements and fabric requirements are at the bottom of the PDF version of this tutorial.
* You will need a relatively large flat surface like a dining room or kitchen table.

For each (standard size) pillowcase you will need:
3/4 yd (27") main fabric
1/3 yd (12") contrast fabric
1/8 yd trim fabric

1. Cut a 1 1/2" wide strip of trim fabric, selvedge to selvedge. Fold the strip in half lengthwise, wrong sides together.  Press. (Note: this will result in a very narrow trim section as in my pillowcase above.  If you'd like your trim a little wider, just cut this strip a little wider.)

2. Cut the main fabric 27" long by 41" wide.

3. Place the contrast fabric (12" by the width of the fabric) right side up on the table.

4. Place the folded trim fabric on top, matching up the raw edges.

5. Place the main fabric right side down on top of the trim fabric, once again lining up the raw edges.

6. Pin. (Note that the main fabric is a little narrower than the trim and contrast fabrics. Don't worry about this right now.)

7. Roll up the main fabric ONLY, until about 3" of the contrast fabric is exposed.


8. Fold the exposed contrast fabric over the main fabric roll and line up its raw edge with the raw edge you pinned in step 6.


9. Re-pin, undoing the original pins as you go and making sure all the raw edges are lined up.

10. Stitch a 1/2" seam along the raw edge. Oops!  A little wonky.

11. Turn the pillowcase right side out by pulling the main fabric section out through the side opening of the "burrito".

12. Lay flat (WRONG sides together) folding the cuff exactly in half and lining up the trim seams. Press. You will now have a nice cuff with a little trim sticking out. How cool is that?
Trim off the excess cuff and trim fabric.


13. Now we're going to sew French seams. Line up all the raw edges. Note that you have the wrong sides of the pillowcase together and not the right sides like you will when sewing regular seams. Pin along both raw edges.

14. Stitch the side and end of the pillowcase, using a scant 1/4" seam.

15. Turn the pillowcase wrong side out. Use a chopstick or knitting needle to push out the corners. Be careful though. If you push too hard, you'll go straight through the seam. Press.

16. Stitch along the side and end of the pillowcase again, this time using a 3/8" seam. This will enclose the raw seam edge.

17. Turn the pillowcase right side out. Push out the corners again to sharpen them. Press.
Voila!

Most very high end pillowcases do not look this good.

Now...
If you'd like to make some pillowcases for charity (or yourself for that matter), I've carefully selected some fabric combinations which will make very cute ones.
There are kits in the store and I'm working on more so keep checking in.
Kits are all sold out.

You can either
1. Donate your pillowcases to a charity of your choice (be sure to contact them first to see if they can use pillowcases)
or
2. Write "CHARITY" in the comment section of your kit order and I will include a SASE for you to send your pillowcase back to me. I will then donate it for you and update the challenge database.
(Unfortunately I can only do this for US orders. If you're an international customer you are certainly welcome to send me your pillowcases but regrettably I won't be able to cover the shipping costs.)

Let's see how many pillowcases we can contribute to this great cause!

(Edited to add: I am not accepting donations for the Million Pillowcase Challenge any more but please enjoy the tutorial for your own use.  Thanks!)

(I have created a PDF version of this tutorial which you can find over here. I'll also be announcing a pillowcase design contest within the next few days, so put on your thinking hats.)

Pinwheel Party Week 11

I'm hoping to have something other the pinwheel blocks to post about soon...

Block 11:


Download the pattern here. (You will need Adobe Reader. You can download it at http://get.adobe.com/reader.)
Links to all the previous blocks can be found in the sidebar.


The Pinwheel Party pattern is now available for purchase on Craftsy and Etsy.

Happy Sewing!

Pinwheel Party Week 10

You thought I'd forgotten, didn't you?

Block 10:

Download the pattern here. (You will need Adobe Reader. You can download it at http://get.adobe.com/reader.)
Links to all the previous blocks can be found in the sidebar.


The Pinwheel Party pattern is now available for purchase on Craftsy and Etsy.

Happy Sewing!

Happy May Day!

It's definitely Spring in the garden.

(I have a new blog where I'll be posting more "homey" stuff like decorating and organizing things, recipes, etc.
If you're interested...: http://nestkeeping.blogspot.com/)

Crazy!

There's a lot of crazy stuff going on in casa twiddletails which I won't bore your with, but it's definitely keeping me from regularly blogging (and getting any sewing done).

All I have today is some store news.

The new Summer 2010 issue of Quilts and More magazine arrived yesterday.

It's a great issue with more than one project I'd love to add to my (very long) list.

This quilt. Of course. It's pink.

How cute is this for a little boy? Or girl. In pink.

(All magazines are always 15% off.)

If you'd like a copy, you can find them here in the store.

Back to life...