Houston International Quilt Festival

This is the time of yea.r that we have all been waiting for...  The HOUSTON INTERNATIONAL QUILT FESTIVAL!  The Houston Modern Quilt Guild is hosting some great meet ups for everyone.

Houston Modern Quilt Guild Market Meet Up

The time has come!

This Saturday is the Modern Quilt Guild Market Meet up hosted by us here in the Houston Modern Quilt Guild.

The details:

Market MQG Meetup:

Saturday October 29th

The Hilton Lobby Bar

8:00 PM

We are having some crazy awesome door prizes from some amazing sponsors.

And next Saturday we are having a Festival meet up! At which there will be EVEN MORE PRIZES!!

Festival MQG Meetup:

Saturday November 5th

The Hyatt Lobby Bar

8:00 PM

All are welcome to either event so please come and enjoy!

Habitat Challenge

I finally created something for the Houston Modern Quilt Guild "Jay McCarroll Habitat Challenge".  We were told to create something...anything using 8 fat eighths of donated Habitat fabric and 1/2 yard of one solid of your own choosing.  I chose a dark raisin linen as my solid.

This fabric is so beautiful and totally abstract.  At first glance, there were one or two of the prints that did not appeal to me as much as the others (I love purples, pinks, blues...), but as I started to play with shapes using the Habitat fabric, the orange and navy print really grew on me. 

Since I have a very beige couch and chair in my living room, I desperately need accent colored pillows.  And if you know me, you know I never start with a plan.  So I took the plunge and started making half circles with scraps of the Habitat.  Then I put my favorite raisin linen to frame the circles.  Going with the abstract/asymetrical look, I chopped up the circles and pieced them back together.  I even had fabric left over to make another companion pillow.  They are wierd looking, but I love them.  They remind me of something...and that would be me.

I Finally Did It!

Etsy Shop EPawlik (Fat Chick Quilts)
I finally put 2 quilts up on my Etsy store!! Thanks to Safieh for the great picture taking efforts. Anyway, here they are:

Puppy Dog Pips-I used the red grey and blue fabrics out of the Sherbet Pips collection to make this 36 x 36 inch baby boy quilt.

The baby boy quilt back.

Tumbles made from the Kate Spain Central Park collection for a baby girl. 

A Blond Quilts: Fabric, Blocks, and A Giveaway! Oh My!

A Blond Quilts: Fabric, Blocks, and A Giveaway! Oh My!: "Hello lovlies! So this past month has been one of insanity in my life. One complete with life changes, annoyances , long working hours, t..."

Swaps That I Have Received

Pretty Little Pouch: I have been one lucky swapper!  THIS is why I am so stoked about swaps.  Here is the very swap that I have received.  Celeste (Celesta50) sent me this beautiful Pretty Little Pouch.  I knew from the first second I saw this that it had to be mine.  Perfection pouch!  How many design elements did she add?  Linen, Parisville, embroidery, circles, large enuf for my small or medium embroidery hoop, zipper pouches in one bag.  Holy cow.  Plus the interiors of both are gorgeous.  I have already toted this thing all over creation.  It went to the beach with me this weekend and to jury duty last week.  Thank you Celeste, you are a wizard.

Make Mine Modern:  The second swap package I received was another incredible find!  This one was from Tamiko (Strawberrylicious).  Holy Crap, look at this loot.  She made the most beautiful, sweet, superfeminine, little pouches and sewing kit I have every had.  Once again linen!, Sherbet Pips (sigh) and hexies.  Plus Parisville fabric and background for the cathedral window pouch.  It is kinda funny that I sent a Shebet Pips charm pack to my partner for this swap, and I received one!, which is soooo great because I had a hard time parting with my first pack.  I paid it forward and got the reward.  *happy*



Look at this sewing kit!  She even made hexies for me.  And adorable scissors (a secret passion of mine).

Cathedral window zipper pouch.  Just large enough to hold my money, credit cards, phone and keys.  I carry it in my big purse.  I can see people looking when I whip it out. 



Each one a marvel!  The outside of the sewing kit.  SQUEEEEEEE!  Pips, Parisville, Pouches...



Pink Puppy Pips in a pouch.  I am keeping my pips charms in this little pouch.  I will keep making the pip hexies and store them and the scraps in this one.  Who knows what it will grow up to be?

Swaps - That I Made and Sent

I participated in two swaps that ended last month and one that will end in June.  I am totally hooked on them.  Learning a new technique and trying to figure out what someone else would like to have really expands my knowledge and appreciation for different styles.  To say nothing of the beautiful stuff I have received.  But more about that later. :)

First was the Make Mine Modern Swap. 

Holy Cow!!  I loved doing this one because it contained so many different elements.  It didn't make me narrow down to one thing, so I could create as many little crafts as I had time to finish.  My partner was so cute and I loved her ideas and style.  I was nervous because I had to ship to Australia and had been reading some shipping nightmares.  At the suggestion of friends, I crammed as much as I could into two little bitty flat rate envelopes.  (I had to unwrap and squish everything)  Fortunately everything made it there safe and sound. 

 

Second Swap was the Pretty Little Pouch swap.  This was a quick and fun swaplet.

 

I had a partner that was fairly specific and I immediately knew what I was going to make for her.  The box pouch.  Since I had a great pattern that I wanted to try from The Plaid Scottie, it was really fun.  It did take me several tries and some alternate pouches just in case....but I did it and I liked making them.  It took some elbow grease, but here they are.  (I only sent the blue and the gold polka dots).  

Third Swap is the Goodie Bag Swap. 

This one is not finished, but I am almost ready to box it up to ship.  I have a couple of goodies to throw in...

This swap was for purses or bags and I selected the Intermediate catagory since I wanted to force myself to step up my skills.  The pattern I used was one I had for a while and wanted to tackle.  It wasn't as hard as I thought and I added some stuff.  Plus I used one of my all time favorite fabrics, Amy Butler's Love. 

13 Woodhouse Road: Fat Quarter Shop Bella Parade!!! ***Giveaway***

13 Woodhouse Road: Fat Quarter Shop Bella Parade!!! ***Giveaway***: "Here's the long awaited announcement... Fat Quarter Shop Bella Parade!!! Duration : 1st May 2011 to 31 May 2011Venue : 13 Woodhouse RoadF..."

Spring time and the livin' is easy

It is heating up in H-town.  Ugh.  But I have had lots to do, thanks to a couple of friends that asked me to do some sewing for them.  Yay.

First is a bride to be that didn't have time to make her bridesmaid gifts, so she let me make them.  They are gorgeous Anna Marie Horner figuring the 8 scarves in Innocent crush velveteen and voile.  I had a little trouble at first with the nap on the velvet and the slippery voile, but once I got it figured out (starch and looser stitching) I was whipping through them in no time.

I am also making some Jane Market totes for them in Innocent Crush.  The fabric should arrive today and I cannot wait to get started.  I did finish the flower girl bag because I had the fabric.  It is Heather Ross girls with horses from Spoonflower.  I made one for my sister, the horse lover (the little girl on the print looks just like my sister did when she was little). 

 Here are a few others that I had made for myself, but happily found new homes. 

 

Second, is some Easter baskets for 3 kids, 2 girls and a boy.  I had already made two for my niece and nephew and they are fun to make.  I used canvas on the inside to give them some strength.  Since I made up the pattern for the twins, who are only 2, I made the new ones a little bigger and changed a few things.  Got to get working on the boy one today!

i like orange, too!: NEW SWAP! Pretty {little} Pouches

i like orange, too!: NEW SWAP! Pretty {little} Pouches: "Wanna play with us? Aren't these yummy? I think so. I want one of each, please! I decided that we needed new kind of swap..."

The Ides of March

Ah, March.  My wedding anniversary is on the 9th, my sister's birthday is on the 5th, my daughter's birthday is on the 17th.  And it starts getting friggin hot in Houston.  26 years ago, it was so hot, that my grandmother was sewing in sweat pads under the arms of my wedding dress and the church had not yet put on the AC. 

OK enough of that.  Now the good news.  Andrea Zuill aka Badbird actually asked me for permission to use my embroidered Days of the Week dishtowels on her site as an example of her work.  Wooooooohoooooo, I am such a fan of her work that I feel like a groupie.  If you haven't seen her stuff-shame on you-you can go to her Badbird Etsy store.  I bought these Days of the Week embroidery designs a long time ago and finally completed the project for my sister's birthday gift. 

On another "completed task" note, I finished mailing the two IBOL packages that were promised back in early Feb.  Whew, I was really slow to get that done.  I still have two boxes ready to ship when he starts the next round.  I think I need to get my quilt guild to do a project for this.  What a good way to get rid of extra fabric and supplies. 

Snow Dayze

It is supposed to snow any minute!  Waiting..waiting...waiting...ah well, it will be soon, i'm sure.  So in the spirit of staying home in my warm jammies and faithful kitty by my side (or on my cutting board) I went to work on a wip that scared me.  It was hard and I struggled, but it turned out so cute.  I see many more in my future.  One will be for my swap partner.  These were from the Joel Dewberry book, Sewn Spaces, one of my inspiration sources.

Part of my real inspiration for all these baskets was the fabric BONANZA that came in the mail today from Aunt Bea's fabric shop.  They are going out of business :( but the sales were incredible.  Stacks of 1 yard each of Innocent Crush, Good Folks, and Garden Party by AMH.  Also 1 yard of 2 Isso Ecco prints. 

I may have to do some swapping.

Playing Catch Up

OK, it has been really cold the last two days, so I have been getting my sh*t together and finishing all of the projects that would look at me with disgust whenever I played in my sewing room.  Taunting, always accusing!  So I did:
1.  Completed my Quilt for Kids project and mailed it off this morning. Whew! 

2.  Made the 3 wonky stars for the Quilt of Valor project that Jen from HMQG needed help with due to her shoulder surgery.  That was fun, but it was being avoided.  DONE!
3.  Completed two projects for the Make Mine Modern swap.  Here is another pin cushion that could go to my partner. (Unless I keep this one)

When I was in Austin last weekend with my sister's two year old twins, I hand sewed this little backpack for Gigi with material I got on sale at the Sew Crafty here in Houston that is unfortunately going out of business.  That is so sad, because they have great space for HMQG meetings, and alot of great current and Japanese fabrics.  Here is the backpack above.  Japanese linen panel.  Precious fabric and I got the boy one, too.

Made for Swap

Update:  Here is a little bag I made from Anna Marie Horner's Innocent Crush fabric that I bought for the swap.  I finished my swap partner project and had some material left over.  Daughter #1 loved the material and asked for a little zipper bag.  Here she is!

Maybe I made the pin cushion below for the swap, but it is now MINE!  I don't think my partner would like this  material as much as something else, so I am going to make her the same thing in different material.  What a sacrifice!

This Love material by Amy Butler is so scrumptious to me, I am going to make alot of trial stuff in it for myself, for the swap. 

The pattern is from Sew Mama Sew and is easy and fun.  I overfilled the rice bag, but that can be remedied.

My Latest Projects-Branching Out

I am trying out some new crafty type of things.  Ever since I saw a picture of this pincushion caddy on a mosaic, it has been my goal to find a tutorial on making one.  And I found it! at Penny's.  It is awsome and I am in the process of making one.  Here it is in pieces.

And here is my final product.  It is really big and holds alot of stuff.  I love it.

I am making it out of the same material from an Amy Butler layer cake that has been laying around for a long time.  Don't even know what it is called... but I also made up a little zipper pouch to hold hexies with the same fabric.

ps.  The little needle holder hexie with the rabbit was a Christmas gift from Amy at House of Bad Cats.  She is awsome, and I hooked it onto the zipper so I will always have it on the go!

Another project is Spool Bird made out of Amy Butler's Love fabric.  He is going to be part of a set made into a mobile. http://www.flickr.com/groups/spoolbirdies/pool/ They are fast and really fun to make!

Gotta go to bed.  Good night, self.

Happy Birthday to my Hubbie!!

Ben turned 51 yesterday.  Daughter #1 and I took him to a snazzy Italian Restaraunt and gave him a gift card for Borders.

 I am totally into my eReaders (I have 3!) especially my brand new Kindle.  The buttons on my Sony are actually worn down so much that I can't read them.  Of course I use them by memory, so that really isn't a problem (I just complained so I would get a new one).

My first Swap for Make Mine Modern started yesterday and I am so glued to the computer to stalk my secret partner.  I am nervous and thrilled to participate in this kind of thing.  Hope I can fulfill my duties.  I keep telling myself that if I make something that she might not want, I get to keep it!!  Powerful motivation to just keep making stuff, right?

I bought some crafty type of books for reference (that, and I am a bookaholic).  My new books are Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts, Sewn Spaces, Cute Stuff, and One-Yard Wonders.  I may never make anything from them, but it is my Porn and I will be constantly looking through them and dreaming.

My New Logo

I must thank my best friend in the whole wide world, Pamela Myhre, for creating a logo for me!  She is the owner and empress of design for Icon Design in Boise, ID.  She designed my chick to look like me.  According to my girls, she succeeded.  Thank you so much Pamela!! I love it.  (She added the quilting goddess to the logo-not me). 

The Fat Chick became the logo because of my love of bird drawings and graphics.  I have been embroidering little fat chick tags for all of my quilts for a long time.