amylouwho

a little behind the scenes

2012-02-14T08:15:00.000-05:00

alternate title: the one in which she explains that she's pretty much a mess and not superwoman.

Hey friends! I've had a blog post brewing in the back of my head for quite some time now. I have so much going on right now, so many things I want to tell you about, some that I can't, and not because I'm have some super secret news (no I AM NOT pregnant nor am I debuting a new fabric line - although, that would be fun!). We are just busy trying to keep some normalcy around here.

If you didn't know, mrlouwho is a United States Marine. He been coming and going a lot lately. They are doing training exercises for an upcoming deployment which means he will be gone for the better part of the year. There's something called OPSEC (Operational Security) which is basically guidance for military spouses and families to refrain from oversharing possibly sensitive information. This is the main reason I haven't said much lately. I probably won't talk about it much more, but I just wanted to keep it real and let you know why I've been so out of touch lately.

I'm a little frustrated with myself. The constant upheavals of the coming and going have been difficult. I can't find a rhythm and I'm not doing as much as I would like, I'm not sleeping enough, and I sort of feel like I'm waiting around for the dreaded day of the real departure.

I have great plans in my head of being super productive, super housekeeper, super mom, and super field trip planner. Only I can't seem to find the cape that comes with all that super.

But the reality is more like I'm just keeping afloat until the end of the day when I can sit in the ~~messy~~ nice quiet house and watch more TV than I'm willing to admit. Although, I don't consider Downton Abbey a waste of time. (check it out!!)

I tell you all of this, not to ask for sympathy, or to hear "You're so strong" "I don't know how do you do it!" The fact is, I don't feel strong and I get through it like any of us get through hard things. I grit my teeth (ask my dentist), bear down, and plow through. It's not always easy, but I've got a constant shadow of sunshine helping me along the way.

Actually, three.

Just know that I miss being more in tune with what is going on in my world of sewing bloggers, but for now, I have other things to focus on. I'll still be here. Like I said, I have things to share. I just have to make the time to do it.

Sew & Tell will still go on! In fact if you are interested in guest posting for sew & tell leave me a comment (with an email attached) and we'll chat!

And thanks for being my friends and understanding. I miss you!

I hope you get lots of sweet kisses from your loved ones today.

sew & tell v3.18: a tooth fairy pillow

2012-02-10T08:00:00.000-05:00

Hey friends! I hope you have all had a great week! It's been super busy over here! I was so excited to entertain my fun friend Karen I met blogging several years ago. She traveled here to pick up her husband who was coming home from a deployment to Afghanistan. It's a long fun story about how we met, and in short, I was reminded of the blessings of sweet friends that we may find in unexpected places.

So, I didn't get any sewing in. But my fun friend Summer of Artfulife has been busy making these adorable tooth fairy pillows!

I love how she fussy cut this darling fabric to make this sweet little pillow. She has the story of her own childhood tooth fairy pillow as well as a tutorial to make your own. Go check it out!

And as a side note, Summer and I met online a few years ago. Somehow she and my friend Karen that I mentioned earlier got to be friends on facebook. Then the three of us plus another friend (that none of us has met in person yet) started up a little photography project blog (that's on hiatus currently - but maybe not for long!) and I just feel so lucky to know these ladies. I am strongly reminded often of the blessings of like-minded friends and kindred spirits and I thank you all for being here!

I should have some finishes to share next week. I'm so close to finishing up several things!

Your turn to share ~ Show us what you've got finished!
Linky Rules. Please follow along for a fun party!

1. Please write the post for sew & tell - or add a blurb mentioning sew & tell to a post written since the last sew & tell. If you are linking to a post with your own tutorial, please make sure it was a finish from this week and that the completed project is shown first.

2. One linky per person. (please put multiple projects in one post.)

3. Link to your specific post. (See here for permalink instructions - or email me.)

4. Link back here with a link or a button (HTML on my sidebar).

5. Be sure to visit and leave comments on other's posts!

Please put your (blog)name instead of your project name, it helps us get to know each other better!

sew & tell v3.17 - a small finish is still a finish!

2012-02-03T07:27:00.003-05:00

Hey friends! We've had a busy crazy week around here and even though I have 3 mini quilts almost finished, I didn't work on any of them. We were busy celebrating brotherlouwho's 4th birthday so I made him a birthday shirt!

Really, these are so easy to make and fun to wear.

I just made a template for the number, cut it out (All-Star Stripe from Riley Blake), used fusible hem tape to hold it in place and straight stitched around the edges. It's a good thing it didn't take long, because I almost forgot to do it!

He wore it two days in a row and would have worn it all week had he not gotten it so dirty!

Your turn to share! Show us what you've got finished!
Linky Rules. Please follow along for a fun party!

2. One linky per person. (please put multiple projects in one post.)

3. Link to your specific post. (See here for permalink instructions - or email me.)

4. Link back here with a link or a button (HTML on my sidebar).

5. Be sure to visit and leave comments on other's posts!

Please put your (blog)name instead of your project name, it helps us get to know each other better!

sew & tell v3.16 - ruffles make everything better

2012-01-27T10:28:00.000-05:00

Hey there! I realized that I finished this project up during the holidays and never posted pictures. I made myself a new bag.

I'm not going to lie, I'm a little tired of this bag pattern. As much as I love it, I think I've made so many of them that I'm a little burnt out. Plus, I had bought this lovely Secret Garden (Sandi Henderson) in Utah in October to make it with. I've had ideas about embellishing my signature bag with some ruffles, but wasn't sure what I wanted to do exactly. And the reality is, the bag is super functional, and I love that about it.

Then one Sunday my cute friend had a leather bag with a two toned double ruffle across the front. I had found it! I took a picture on my iPod and figure out what to do to make it work.

I really love the way it turned out, I might do a few things different the next time, like gather it a little less, it was hard to sew on without a walking foot.

I love this fabric! It's Sandi Henderson's Secret Garden. The interior and contrasting ruffle and strap is one of my new favorite tone on tone prints - Garden Gate (I think). It reminds me a bit of Henna Garden, another favorite.

It's has a great drape and I bought enough to make some dresses/skirts for sister and babylouwho. I may have just bought some more this past week in different prints.

Your turn to share! Show us what you've got finished!
Linky Rules. Please follow along for a fun party!

2. One linky per person. (please put multiple projects in one post.)

3. Link to your specific post. (See here for permalink instructions - or email me.)

4. Link back here with a link or a button (HTML on my sidebar).

5. Be sure to visit and leave comments on other's posts!

Please put your (blog)name instead of your project name, it helps us get to know each other better!

tablet keeper blog tour with Nancy Zieman

2012-01-25T07:30:00.000-05:00

I was so flattered and a little intimated when I was asked to participate in this fun blog tour! I used to watch Sewing with Nancy on PBS with my mom when I was little, before I knew PBS was cool (and would bring us things like Downton Abbey - but I digress).

I knew I was buying mrlouwho a kindle for Christmas and thought it would be really cool to re-purpose some of his old uniforms to make the outside of the keeper. He had other plans though and ordered a leather cover before I had time to tell him what I had in mind. It's okay, I forgive him...

After that, the longest part of the process for me was to figure out who to make this for (as I don't have a coveted tablet. Yet.) And then choosing the fabrics.

Luckily, my sweet friend and neighbor just received an iPad for Christmas. She lived in Okinawa for several years and I have some really cute fabric from Japan that ~~my supplier~~ a friend sent me. I thought it would be a perfect combo - a salute to their many years in the Marine Corps and her time in Japan.

She didn't know what I was up to when I asked her if she had a spare name tape I could borrow for measurement purposes. And then I asked her to come over so I could take a picture of the keeper with the iPad inside. When I asked her if she wanted to see the front I closed it and handed it to her. It took her a minute to realize I had sewn her name tape on and she was so surprised! And happy! I'm not very good at surprises so it was fun to pull this one off!

I think one of my favorite parts of making this was the Create-A-Strap interfacing. Just iron it on, fold, press and you're ready to go!

Don't mind my worn out ironing board cover! A new one is on my to-do list.

The strap was so crisp and even and I didn't burn my fingertips once while ironing!

I used hair elastics for the corners as they have grips on them that I think will hold a little stronger. I liked the idea of using those stretchy headbands that are flat with the grips - but I didn't have one on hand.

I've realized that I'm not very good at following patterns and I just have to dive in with fabric in hand and go for it. This pattern was well written and easy to follow. It had diagrams for every step and once fabric was selected and cut, I would say this only took me a couple of hours to put together. It would have been faster but you know what it's like with little 'helpers' around. :)

This plastic template is pretty ingenious.

I wish my clothing patterns would come like this! It was so easy to mark placement lines, although I don't recommend using a pink marker on red fabric. The templates will also make it really easy to reuse the pattern to make a different size.

I've told you before about my problem and fear of trying new things for fear of messing them up, well, I'm glad I made this. And now I'm excited to make some more, in different sizes, for e-tablets and paper tablets! I even think I want to make a little iPod Touch wallet. I'll let you know how it goes.

The blog tour is going on for 20 days in January. Here is a list of previous posts as well as who is next! Be sure to stop and see what everyone is doing with their pattern! It's really fun to see how unique each project is.

January 3 Nancy Zieman

January 4 Amy Ellis

January 5 Sharon Pernes

January 6 Vicki Christensen

January 9 Joan Hawley

January 10 Pat Sloan

January 11 Eileen Roche

January 12 Liz Hicks

January 13 Fran Ortmeyer

January 16 Ilene Miller

January 17 Julie Herman

January 19 Natalia Bonner

January 20 Frieda Anderson

January 23 Cindy Cloward

January 24 Beckie Hansen

January 25 Amy Webb – you are here!

January 26 Allie Robertson

January 27 Mary Mulari

January 30 Laura Wasilowski

January 31 Carol Porter

The lovely people at Clover have added a Giveaway to the Tablet Keeper Blog tour.

For chances to win one of three prize packs, please post comments on the post at Nancy's blog for an entry to win!

Thank you to Clover for sponsoring the Tablet Keeper Blog Tour!

One year ago

2012-01-22T20:47:00.001-05:00

Babylouwho is growing up and this picture from last year makes me feel a little sentimental.

Hope you have all enjoyed a lovely weekend!

sew & tell v3.15 - an almost finish

2012-01-20T08:52:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone!! Hope you've had a great week and found some time to sew!

I got a little bit of sewing in, but didn't actually finish anything. I got together with a friend earlier in the week and we both tackled a project we had been putting off. This is a practice layout of a hexie block I am doing for my bee, BeeTweet. I think it's going to be really cute once finished. I just have to applique them all down.

So I hope you don't mind that I don't have a real finish to share today. Maybe I'll have something done by tomorrow and I'll link up with everyone else!!

If you just can't get enough of me, AnneMarie of GenX quilters featured me today! She's so great and you will love her blog! Go check it out!

Your turn to share! Show us what you've got finished!
Linky Rules. Please follow along for a fun party!

2. One linky per person. (please put multiple projects in one post.)

3. Link to your specific post. (See here for permalink instructions - or email me.)

4. Link back here with a link or a button (HTML on my sidebar).

5. Be sure to visit and leave comments on other's posts!

Please put your (blog)name instead of your project name, it helps us get to know each other better!

cooking: another creative pursuit

2012-01-16T21:36:00.000-05:00

There's something I've noticed over the last little while about people who sew, quilt, or are generally creative. For the most part, they also like to cook. And not just from a box, can or mix. From scratch.

It's not really that surprising to me, since cooking is a pretty creative process. Creating something of worth from lots of little pieces. Plus, as many of us care for families, it is something required everyday. I figure I might as well make it interesting and delicious!

Much like sewing, having the right tools makes a huge difference to me. A good chopping knife, and block are essential. My knives are courtesy a nice tax refund several years ago. The chopping block? My husband. He made it for me 5 years ago and it's one of the most useful and attractive things in my kitchen. I love it!

top-bottom: celery, carrots, rutabaga, leeks, onions

I love soup, and pureed soups are one of my favorites, with some good crusty bread. I've decided with everyone being sick lately that we should be eating more vegetables. And with the leeks and onions in this soup it's almost sweet when cooked. And really, who doesn't want an excuse to buy a rutabaga!?

So I made some of this soup the other day. It's from a soup cookbook I purchased in France. It reminds me of those delicious, creamy first course soups. But I like them for lunch. With that bread. Of course with the bread. Did I mention bread?

My sweet mr.louwho is the best gifter. He got me this lovely food processor for my birthday and I've LOVED using it! Especially for this soup. Basically you simmer the veggies for about 20 minutes and then puree it in the food processor. Then mix it back up with some cooked rice, the liquid, and some milk. Oh, and butter. Of course.

And this bread. I blogged about it a couple of years ago. With the right tools (a baking stone and container to keep the dough) this is the EASIEST and prettiest bread you will ever bake. Try it.

Now don't think I'm just going to leave you without the recipe! Here it is. Hope it warms you up on a cold winter day!

Potage a la Libournaise

4 2/3 C Water

4 2/3 C Milk

2 carrots

2 turnips (or rutabagas)

2 branches celery

4 leeks

2 large onions

4 large soup spoons rice

2-4 tbsp butter

salt/pepper

parsley for garnish (optional)

Cut the vegetables in julienne (matchstick size pieces). Bring them to a boil in a large pot with the water and salt (1 tbsp). They should become soft to the touch (about 20 minutes).

Strain the vegetables and reserve the water in a smaller saucepan. Cook the rice in this water, about 20 minutes.

While the rice is cooking, put the vegetables back in the pot and mix with melted butter. Be sure to not brown the vegetables, just mix them well with butter.

Puree vegetables in a food processor. When rice is cooked, add rice with water to the food processor to combine. (Or use an immersion blender straight in the pot.)

Pour soup back in the pot. Stir while adding milk and let soup reheat. Add salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with chopped parsley in the center of each bowl.

Bon Appetit!

sew & tell v3.14: oh my stars! and bags! etc...

2012-01-13T08:15:00.000-05:00

Hey friends! I had every intention of sharing a fun recipe with you this week. Unfortunately as it goes, me (aka mom) got the sickies that everyone else in my house have been sharing for the last month! I thought I had successfully avoided it this time, but alas, the ear infection would prove otherwise!

I managed to get a guest post written for my friend Vicki's Focus on Free Motion Quilting series!

She is having link ups, guest posts, and prizes at the end of the month! Go check it out, it's sure to be a good time.

For sew & tell this week, I thought I'd share a few other finishes from some December sewing.

I have had this bag in mind for a long time. In fact I had it almost finished when I took it to a sewing group back in the fall! It sat around being neglected and I finally finished it up.

The fabric is Oddysea by Momo for Moda. I really love the shell print and the subtle colors. It's a little change from my bright and vibrant Amy Butler and Sandi Henderson choices.

I love making these quilted dishmats. I think it's very cute and kitchen-y!

I do love this citrus print. It's from Patty Young's Sanctuary line. I'd like to get my hands on some more!

I also made another quilt top this week. I actually made the SAME one as the giant star from last week, but started with 10.5" squares, so it's finished at about 40" x 40". It's a group effort for a mutual friend. Another friend is quilting it and a 3rd doing the binding. So it counts as a finish, right?

It was raining the day I finished it, so I had brotherlouwho hold it up inside so you could have a little perspective as to the baby quilt size compared to the last one.

Your turn to share! Show us what you've got finished!

Linky Rules. Please follow along for a fun party!

2. One linky per person. (please put multiple projects in one post.)

3. Link to your specific post. (See here for permalink instructions - or email me.)

4. Link back here with a link or a button (HTML on my sidebar).

5. Be sure to visit and leave comments on other's posts!

Please put your (blog)name instead of your project name, it helps us get to know each other better!

sew & tell v3.13 - giant vintage star

2012-01-06T06:23:00.000-05:00

Welcome back everyone! I hope everyone had a joyful, restful and happy holidays!

I wanted to share with you a quilt I made for my sister-in-law for Christmas. I decided that I really wanted to sew something for her and asked my Tweeps (twitter friends) if anyone knew of a quick easy quilt I could put together in time for Christmas. Jeni at In Color Order suggested her lovely Vintage Star Quilt Tutorial. It was a match made in heaven for the fabrics I had in mind.

I had the 4 Amy Butler prints (Daisy Chain) for quite some time, but alone, they just weren't doing much for me. Which may be why I had never used them! When paired with some AB Lotus Full Moon Dots in Lime, and 3 Sandi Henderson prints (Henna Garden in Chocolate and Leaf and Garden Gate in Fuschia), I was in LOVE. Seriously.

I was worried that the Kona snow I was using for the background would be too stark, but I actually really like it.

And I think the quilting on those sections really pop. I love a nice wrinkled fresh from the dryer quilt!

The back is a Robert Kaufman Pimatex Basics. I was able to pick it up at my local Hancock Fabrics. Even though they had already closed, I was able to sweet talk my way in to make the quick transaction.

I machine quilted on the binding. I had never tried this before, but I was kind of in crunch time mode. Jeni also has an awesome tutorial for machine binding. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, and I wouldn't have finished the quilt in time otherwise! I still enjoy hand stitching the binding, but in a time crunch, I'm totally not going to shy away from this.

This quilt was a first for me in another way. Started and finished within 3 weeks. It's a Christmas miracle!! I'm pretty sure she liked it! Which always makes me happy!

Did you do any gift sewing? What have you got to share with us today? Can't wait to see what you all have been up to!

Linky Rules. Please follow along for a fun party!

2. One linky per person. (please put multiple projects in one post.)

3. Link to your specific post. (See here for permalink instructions - or email me.)

4. Link back here with a link or a button (HTML on my sidebar).

5. Be sure to visit and leave comments on other's posts!

Please put your (blog)name instead of your project name, it helps us get to know each other better!

busy bee

2012-01-03T09:00:00.001-05:00

I've been cleaning and organizing like a mad woman. My husband took everyone to grandma's and left me here to clean and organize uninterrupted. I should clarify that he was only acting on my request, they would have stayed if I'd let them! He took 3 sickies with him too.

But here's a few things I've done in the meantime. (again pictures via my instagram. I may or may not be addicted.)

Relocated the art wall (to the bathroom),

and hung up my pot and pan rack a la Julia Child!

Took all of this crap out of ...

...here, in order to purge, organize and refill.

Hung up my shelf with the hooks for my quilts a la Rachel.

And possibly my favorite idea, a $7 jewelry tray for all of my hair accessories!

I have more to share later this week! Have you got the new year organizing urge too? What's your current project?

a little free motion quilting

2011-12-28T10:32:00.001-05:00

What are you up to during the holiday break? Hope you're getting some sewing in. I'm trying to.

Christmas via instagram

2011-12-26T23:13:00.001-05:00

A little glimpse of my life the past couple of weeks via instagram shots on my iPod with a not so great camera.

{amylouwho} december cheer and a sew & tell vacation

2011-12-16T07:00:00.000-05:00

I've been busy painting, decorating, organizing and getting ready for Christmas. I'm pretty sure you are all in the same boat, so we'll just take a Christmas break from sew & tell and resume in January.

December cheer around our house includes birthdays! Mine is right after Christmas so I guess I'm sensitive to the plight of my DD #1 and her birthday 10 days before the big day. We had a little party for her today which was fun, but I had the house torn apart from the above mentioned projects and had to pull it all together today!

I've been sewing stuff - I'm just too limited on time and energy to do some worthy posts! I finished some window treatments to go with my newly painted rooms. I sort of love it all! I should have known a little turquoise on the walls would motivate me and make me happy. :)

So here's a few pictures of what we've been doing.

Happy Christmas, Birthdays, and New Year's!

{amylouwho} sew & tell v3.12 - a Christmas quilt

2011-12-09T08:15:00.000-05:00

*****There were some issues with the pictures! I think it's fixed now!*****

Happy Friday!

I'm really excited to have Rene' guest post sew & tell today!

She has been linking up to sew & tell since nearly the beginning! She's always been so supportive, participating regularly and visiting/commenting everywhere and really catching the spirit of the linky party!

I'm going to let her take it from here!

*****

Hello and welcome to Sew and Tell Friday! Rene' from Rene' Creates here, and I am so thrilled to be hosting this week's link party. Thank you Amy for welcoming me as a guest blogger! To commemorate my first guest blog post ever, I chose to make my first ever Christmas quilt!

I followed Malka's supersize shoofly quilt pattern which has precise cutting and sewing instructions. This quilt came together much quicker than the No Worries shoofly quilt I recently made. The four Christmas prints used are Michael Miller Tree Trimmers, Michael Miller Folk Art Trees, Robert Kaufman O' Tinsel Tree and Robert Kaufman Groove. The neutral fabric used for the background is from a bolt of Moda I had in my stash.

As you can see there are various quilting designs going on here. I am determined to if not master, at least improve, my FMQ skills! My plan was to quilt each quadrant densely yet differently. However, when it came time to quilt, my machine had other ideas.

First, I stippled the center diamond area which worked fine.

Feeling confident, I tried my hand at pebble quilting the Groove (dots fabric) quadrant. That's when my machine rebelled. Towards the end, my "pebbles" were getting larger and larger with more and more space in between just to finish and be done with it ;-)

I switched back to my walking foot and used that to quilt a spiral in the Tree Trimmers (peppermint fabric) section. Let me tell you it was very difficult maneuvering (basically swirling) this size quilt on my machine. I was very glad to finish the spiral.

For the O' Tinsel Tree (pink fabric) area, I again used my walking foot and echo quilted around the center of the block. This looked boring so I randomly quilted lines and blocks in the center square.

Getting tired of using my walking foot, I switched back to FMQing and quilted loops for the Folk Art Trees (green fabric).

Since I stippled the center diamond, I also chose to stipple the triangular neutral areas on the top and bottom, whereas a walking foot was used to quilt organic lines in the four neutral corners.

I chose to use two different neutrals for the backing because I wanted to keep it simple and highlight the quilting. I did have a hard time photographing that neutral background though. For the binding, I went with the Robert Kaufman Groove dot fabric and Amanda Jean's machine binding tutorial.

Well, thanks again Amy for letting visit and share my Christmas quilt with you and your readers!

*****
Such a fun quilt! Thanks Rene'! You've inspired me to get the lap quilt finished I want to make!

Now, join in the fun and show us what you accomplished this week!

Linky Rules. Please follow along for a fun party!

2. One linky per person. (please put multiple projects in one post.)

3. Link to your specific post. (See here for permalink instructions - or email me.)

4. Link back here with a link or a button (HTML on my sidebar).

5. Be sure to visit and leave comments on other's posts!

Please put your (blog)name instead of your project name, it helps us get to know each other better!

{amylouwho} winners and other random stuff

2011-12-08T09:32:00.001-05:00

Well, hello friends!

Melissa at the Polka Dot Chair was sweet enough to interview me for her blog today! I met her in person at the Sewing Summit and we sat next to each other sewing on Saturday night! It was really fun! So if you are interested in an everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-amylouwho-but-were-afraid-to-ask type of post, you can read it HERE.

Things have been a little unorganized around my house lately. I don't talk about it a lot, for lots of reasons, but my husband is getting ready for a deployment and it means he is gone a lot for extended training trips. When he is gone I don't sleep enough and then pay for it the next day. I'm not as motivated, productive, or as organized as I would like to be. So I'm finally getting around to posting the winners from last week's giveaways!!

With the help of Random.org..

The winner of Candy's Dyeing to Stitch is

#1
embquiltsaid...

1: This looks fun! I am actually working on my second ever Dresden plate but am going big lol loved my first one so much that I joined a snowflake Dresden plate swap - of course it uses a different template then my handy one AND oh yeah I've gotta make 12 sets! Then even though thanksgiving has passed I've caught the Dresden bug - gonna do the big turkey that is on the Missouri star quilting co YouTube page!; 11:27 AM, November 30, 2011

The winner of a pair of earrings from Leedle Deedle Designs is

#10
tarasaid...

10: I like the dreamy double drop pearl earrings!; 7:02 PM, December 01, 2011

Ladies - if you haven't heard from me yet, send me your contact info so I can pass it along! Thank you!

And if you are interested in buying some really amazing earrings go to Leedle Deedle Designs, the coupon code AMYLOUW25 will give you 25% off your purchase!
*****
I have been doing some things around here, like painting my kitchen and an accent wall in my living room. I need to take some after pictures then show you! I also managed to get my Christmas lights up on my house all by myself. I am woman, hear me roar! (or swear a lot).

I also picked out this fabric the other day to make this quilt. I've always thought Amy Butler and Sandi Henderson's fabrics went well together. Here's a perfect example!!

(L-R) Henna Garden, Full Moon Dots, Daisy Chain, Secret Garden, Daisy Chain, Daisy Chain, Henna Garden

I needed something quick and easy. I'll let you know how it goes!

{amylouwho} sew & tell v3.11

2011-12-01T23:03:00.001-05:00

Happy Friday everyone!

I'm happy to have a long time sew & tell-er guest posting today! KT has been linking along with sew & tell from the beginning! She always has fun projects to share and was sweet enough to still do this today even though she's been sick! So without further ado....

*****

Hi and welcome to Sew & Tell Friday. I am KT from ktquilts4fun. I was so excited when Amy asked little old me to guest post. Truly I had planned to have a little something fun and Christmas-y to share with you.

They were all cut out and ready to roll, but my life since Thanksgiving would read like something out of "A Series of Unfortunate Events". Nothing horrible mind you, just...unfortunate! I have had a nasty sinus infection since Saturday. No big deal, just spent my time in the recliner finishing the binding on Treasure's quilt.

I used Tula Pink's Neptune line that I had been hoarding and swapping. The pattern is from the Kaleidoscope Quilt A Long that was over some time ago. What a disappointment when they stretched and bulls-eyed when I sewed them together. I kept moving on, because life is never perfect!

I have to say that the quilting stumped me for awhile. One night, when I was up way past my bedtime, it just came to me. I am really happy with it. The walking foot was employed for the squares made where the corners of the blocks come together. Then I just did some loopy FMQ in the background pieces. It is far from perfect, but better than my FMQ used to be!

I just couldn't bear to part with scraps that I had hoarded so carefully. The back is composed of the end cuts from cutting the front pieces. They are terribly imperfect. That works for me with this quilt!

Treasure knew all about the quilt, it was kinda hard to hide! So I already gave it to him. It has only had one wash and is still linty. It needs several more to get that cool, soft quilt feel. This scarf, however will be a complete surprise to him. Being Merino wool it is sure to keep him toasty!

Well, That is all I have to share. Oh, the last unfortunate event, stomach flu has come for a visit. Aren't you all glad that germs can't be transmitted through the net! I am! That means we can visit all the other Friday Finishes risk free!!

Thanks again Amy for letting me visit here!

Blessings,

*****

Thank you so much KT! It really helps keep sew & tell rolling along to have others come and guest post! I love your projects! That neptune fabric and your quilt pattern are gorgeous!

If you are interested in winning a couple of cool prizes I have not one, but TWO giveaways going on right now. They both end Sunday at midnight.

Candy's DVD "Dyeing to Stitch"

A pair of earrings of your choice from Leedle Deedle!

Now, join in the fun and show us what you accomplished this week!

Linky Rules. Please follow along for a fun party!

2. One linky per person. (please put multiple projects in one post.)

3. Link to your specific post. (See here for permalink instructions - or email me.)

4. Link back here with a link or a button (HTML on my sidebar).

5. Be sure to visit and leave comments on other's posts!

Please put your (blog)name instead of your project name, it helps us get to know each other better!

{amylouwho} happy december!!! (and another giveaway!)

2011-12-01T01:00:00.001-05:00

I LOVE December! Everything about it! Christmas, Christmas music, salted caramel hot chocolate (ahem, Starbucks I love you!), Gingerbread houses, lights on houses, christmas trees, presents, birthdays (2 in our family!), etc. It's just a fun, though exhausting month.

I wanted to introduce you to someone who might be able to help you with some holiday shopping for gifts, or for yourself. My friend Leigh asked me if I wouldn't mind giving away some of her jewelry to my readers! And offer them an exclusive discount in her etsy shop. Of course I said yes!

Meet Leigh of LeedleDeedle Quilts and Designs.

she's the kind of friend that will split a fat quarter set of Fandango with you and give you all the turquoise pieces.

I met Leigh this year in my virtual quilting bee, Bee Tweet. When I went to Utah this summer we met in person for the first time and it was so fun! You know how you meet someone and you feel like you've known them for a long time? Totally that kind of friend. We were also able to hang out again this fall at the Sewing Summit. It was awesome. We would totally hang out all the time if I lived there.

She's made some amazing quilts,

but the project she is working on that absolutely blows me away is her hand stitched hexagon project. WOW! It's so awesome V. wanted to steal it.

Not only does she quilt, she creates jewelry! Which is where you come in. She is giving one of you a pair of earrings from her shop. I'm pretty sure I know I'd pick these,

or maybe these,

or these!

They are all so pretty!

To enter, just go to her shop and come back here and tell me which earrings you would pick! Easy! If you want to be really fun, tell me the best present you are giving to someone this year.

Giveaway will be open until through Sunday night, 4 December, midnight-ish. I will announce the winner early next week.

In case you can't wait to see if you win, Leigh is having a sale all month long, 20% off her whole shop! For amylouwho readers she is offering a 25% discount through next Friday, December 9. Just enter the code AMYLOUWHO25 during notes to seller during checkout.

Good luck!! See you tomorrow for sew & tell!!

{amylouwho} dyeing to stitch blog tour and giveaway!!

2011-11-30T00:44:00.001-05:00

I'm so pleased that my friend Candy of Candied Fabrics invited me to be a part of her blog tour for Dyeing to Stitch! She is a master at making her own hand-dyed fabrics and along with the folks at Quilting Arts Workshop she has put together a comprehensive guide to dyeing fabrics and creating art with the finished product!

Look at cute Candy! Unfortunately we haven't had the pleasure of meeting in person but we have exchanged many many emails and facebook messages. I can't wait to give her a hug in person when we meet in real life!

It was really fun to watch her and hear her voice! She is a biology professor by day and has great way of connecting with her audience.

The DVD is broken up in to the following chapters.

Not only does she talk about the basics of dyeing and how she came up with her process, she discusses color theory.

My favorite quote from the video, "I get obsessed with a particular color..." I so hear you! (#turquoiseobsessionmuch?) We've bonded over our love of turquoise-y blues and bright greens (and bird silhouettes)!

She even came up with her own “Candiotic Table of Elemental Color”

She is able to recreate any color here by using the recipes she also discusses.

In the chapter, "Using Quilting as a Line + Conclusion", she shows how she makes her mini art quilts. This was probably my favorite part of the DVD - her botanical sketches are gorgeous! I love this pillow in particular.

She has definitely cultivated her signature look and I love it. I love how passionate she is about creating every element of her art. And really, when you think about the fact that she creates every part from the color of the fabric on up, it really is art.

Here are a few other examples of things that she has made (that I love!)

And probably my favorite was this quilt for babylouwho that several blogging friends made for me. Candy contributed the fabrics.

What's a baby quilt picture without the baby? I can't believe she's not this little anymore!

I feel a little sheepish to say that I've never watched any Quilting Arts TV. But after this I'm excited to find more workshops that they've produced. It was really well done!

And here's a preview of the video!

Now, for what you have all been waiting for - the GIVEAWAY!Would you like to own your own copy? Candy is offering up one copy of her DVD to one of you.

To enter:
Leave a comment telling me about a current work in progress! Me? I'm working on a dresden plate mini quilt. :) And leave an email in your comment so I can reach you!!

Winners will be announced on Monday, December 5!

And as reminder, here’s the rest of the tour:

Friday, 11/11 – Victoria Gertenbach of The Silly BooDilly
Monday, 11/14 – Susan Brubaker Knapp of Blue Moon River
Wednesday, 11/16 – Kathy Mack of Pink Chalk Studio
Friday, 11/18 – Melody Johnson of Fibermania
Monday, 11/21 – Amy Ellis of Amy’s Creative Side
Wednesday, 11/23 – Diane Doran of Ooh! Pretty Colors
Friday, 11/25 – Vicki Welsh of Field Trips in Fiber
Monday, 11/28 – Brenda Gael Smith of Serendipity and the Art of the Quilt
Wednesday, 11/30 – Amy Webb of Amy Lou Who Sews
Friday, 12/2 – Robin Ferrier of Simply Robin
Tuesday, 12/6 – Natalia Bonner of Piece N Quilt
Thursday, 12/8 – Beth and the gang from Sew Mama Sew

Hope you are all having a great week so far! I'm getting ready to paint my kitchen tonight. I CANNOT wait!

{amylouwho} sew & tell v3.10

2011-11-25T09:04:00.001-05:00

Hello and welcome to black Friday sew & tell! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving day!

I ~~wasn't~~ will never be in the mood for crazy sale crowds the day after Thanksgiving (here in the US) and we were busy getting ready to travel all week to be with family. I didn't get much accomplished in the sewing department, and the pillows I did finish are currently on my MILs bed, where FIL is still sleeping off the turkey and pie. So no pictures... sorry! But they did turn out really cute!

Was anyone else able to be more productive than me? It wouldn't be hard! Show us what you've finished this week!

Linky Rules. Please follow along for a fun party!

2. One linky per person. (please put multiple projects in one post.)

3. Link to your specific post. (See here for permalink instructions - or email me.)

4. Link back here with a link or a button (HTML on my sidebar).

5. Be sure to visit and leave comments on other's posts!

Please put your (blog)name instead of your project name, it helps us get to know each other better!

{amylouwho} thankful for November beach days

2011-11-22T08:50:00.001-05:00

I'm thankful that I live 15 minutes from the beach.

I'm thankful we can go on a November Sunday afternoon, look for shells and shark teeth, and not be cold.

I'm thankful my kids get to enjoy one of my favorite things I did as a kid, on a more regular basis.

I'm thankful for it's beautiful skies,

and beautiful shells.

I'm thankful that even those these two can try my patience more than anything, I still love them just the same.

(ps - I am thankful for babylouwho, she was just at home napping with mrlouwho during this little excursion!)

{amylouwho} thankful for fabric

2011-11-21T08:30:00.000-05:00

I've wanted to share some gratuitous fabric shots with you so I thought I would do some thankful posts this week. I really am thankful for fabric and all the possibilities it holds!

Here's some pretties I picked up while in Utah at The Sewing Summit.

I don't get to shop much at shops that have fat quarters, so it was nice to walk through Pine Needles and pick out a stack of fabrics based solely on color! I've been really into orange with aqua lately. Glad I'm not the only one!

I almost died when I saw Sandi Henderson's Secret Garden fabrics in person at The Material Girls Quilts too. The fabric itself is SO soft and I couldn't pass up this navy with the bright pinks and greens.

I've finished a project with it this past week that I want to share with you. Soon. I have enough fabric left over to make something matchy matchy for my girls. (oh and yes, that is some henna in leaf. couldn't resist.)

I got this cute stack from the SLC Modern Quilt Guild dinner, Fox Trails by Shari Butler of Doohikey Designs.

And yes, foxes are the new owls I hear, so I'm glad I'm up to speed on the trend. :) I think the racoons are pretty cute too!

And then cute Leigh from LeedleDeedle Quilts, shared her awesome stack of Fandango that she won from Nadine during the shop hop!

I've wanted some of this for a long time. Now I just have to decide what to do with it!

What are you thankful for today?

{amylouwho} sew & tell v3.9 a baby quilt

2011-11-18T07:14:00.001-05:00

Hello everyone!
It's been one of those weeks where we've been super busy and I haven't had a lot of quality time with my blog or my fabric!

I have so many things that I want to talk to you about but nothing quite ready to show you. So, I'm sharing another quilt a different friend made for the same baby shower I made this blanket. She doesn't know I'm featuring her here today, so I hope she doesn't mind! (Hi Brynn!)

I took some pictures for her and am so behind I haven't even emailed them to her yet. My friend Brynn has become the unofficial baby quilt gifter for new babies at church. She's the perfect person for this because, unlike me, she knows how to finish a project before starting a new one. Plus she's great at math so she does a wonderful job planning out her designs. AND she's precise, so everything looks pretty much amazing! You can see more of her quilts on her blog Brynn Sews. I'm really excited to see the ones finished that she's working on now: Kate Spain + Central Park + Lattice pattern!!

This cute little quilt was a big hit at the shower!

I love plus sign quilts and these fabrics are great separated by the white. And the ballon fabric on the back?! SO CUTE!!

and I just adore this pearl bracelet fabric she used on the binding!

I want that pearl bracelet fabric in every color but I just put myself on a fabric diet! Gah!

Thank you Brynn for making awesome quilts! :) (Let's have another sewing day soon so I can finish up the rest of my projects!)

I can't wait to see what you all have been working on! Anyone working on Christmas presents yet?

Linky Rules. Please read carefully. The delete monster will be eating non-compliant links.

2. One linky per person. (please put multiple projects in one post.)

3. Link to your specific post. (See here for permalink instructions - or email me.)

4. Link back here with a link or a button (HTML on my sidebar).

5. Be sure to visit and leave comments on other's posts!

{amylouwho} mini quilt party winners announced!

2011-11-15T13:03:00.001-05:00

I can't tell you how much I enjoyed hosting this mini quilt party!! I haven't had a chance to visit all the quilts yet, but I'm working on it! I loved reading your comments too!

Before we get to the winners, I wanted to show you the mini quilt that I received from my end of the Post Sewing Summit Swap. I don't even remember what I said in my little survey, but my partner Jill, from Made on Mainstreet, must have also checked out my favorites on Flickr because she nailed it!

I love my sweet little quilt and hung it up immediately in my kitchen. Thank you so much, Jill!! I love it!

So now, onto the winners!
Oh wait, I should tell you that I used Random.org to choose 5 numbers between 1 and 201 (108 linkies + 93 comments, wow!), comment #1 being entry 109. Okay, so now...

1)The 30$ gift card to the Old Red Barn Co. soap shop:
#83 Diane of Random Thoughts Do or "Di"!

2) The flat rate box of swag from the Sewing Summit:
#135 Kristina at The Nerdy Sewist!

3) Kim's bundle of awesome Heather Ross scraps:
#61 The Quilted Fox

4) Candy's set of “quilter’s 8ths” of her own hand-dyed cottons:
#104 Nona's Sews

5)The jelly roll of fabric from The Material Girls Quilts:
#105 Kwiltz by Stephanie

Look for an email from me in your inboxes!

{amylouwho} we interrupt this regularly scheduled blog post

2011-11-14T07:02:00.001-05:00

We interrupt this regularly scheduled blog post with the announcement of the winners, because, well, in truth I'm unorganized!

mrlouwho and I are attending the Marine Corps Birthday Ball tonight. I was still nursing last year when I made and wore this dress. I have to figure out how to take it in today, and get my hair done, and get ready for the sitter to come. Soooooo, if I have time I will post the winners today. Otherwise, I'm so sorry - I'll announce them tomorrow!

In the meantime, continue looking through all of the amazing entries! You guys blew me away with your response! I've loved every comment and linky!

Today is also the last day to enter Sew, Mama, Sew's Doll Quilt contest! Go to their site and read the easy rules! Just add your photo to their Flickr group.

AND every Monday over at Elizabeth's Pieceful Life it's Little Quilt Monday! That's right! A mini quilt party EVERY week!

I promise, I'll be back soon! Wish me luck on getting my dress to fit!

{amylouwho} sew & tell v3.8 mini quilt party and giveaway!

2011-11-11T07:14:00.001-05:00

Hello!!! It's here! I know, I'm probably more excited than you all are! But still :)

I mailed off this mini quilt early this week for my partner in the Post Sewing Summit Swap. I'm not going to lie. I was a little intimidated to sew for my partner (hi, partner!). I went through all of her favorites on Flickr searching for some inspiration. Knowing she liked bright colors and her favorite being green, I decided on doing something bright with stars.
Then I got cold feet and went in a different direction. Then I got cold feet again (and by cold feet I mean a little birdie told me my first idea was better) and dove back in with the stars.

I'm not going to lie to you - I love the way it turned out!

And the quilting on this was really fun to do! I got to practice some of my skills that Allison taught me in her free motion quilting class.

I chose my favorite Amy Butler polka dots in Lime for the back. (and said birdie told me this is one of my partner's all time favorite prints! Yea!) Binding it in the turquoise really helps it pop! (birdie suggested this too - which was a better choice than the green I was going to go with. Thanks birdie!!)

This quilt was so fun to finish. It didn't take that long, and I learned how to piece them in a "random" way so they weren't just all in rows.

It was a little tricky at first, but I just layed them out and figured out where I needed to add more white. I love learning new things! It was nice to practice on a small project too.

So many of us were inspired by the mini quilt class at The Sewing Summit! Holly (who designed my new banner and button) started a new Flickr group! You can head over there to add your quilts, or just look at some eye candy!

So now onto the details of the party + prizes!

Instead of making this a super long post and relisting all the prizes I'll summarize them. But you can go here to read the prize post.
1) Lovely Dana from Old Red Barn Co. is offering a 30$ gift card to her soap shop!
2) Erin, is offering up a flat rate box of swag from the Sewing Summit!
3) Kim is offering up a bundle of awesome Heather Ross scraps!
4) Candy from Candied Fabrics is offering up a set of “quilter’s 8ths” of her own hand-dyed cottons. (check out the birthday sale in her shop!)
5) Nadine from The Material Girls Quilts, is giving away a jelly roll of fabric!

Now, for the fine print.
To enter:
1) Link up a new blog post about your mini quilt. You can have blogged about the quilt before, I just ask you write a new post for our party, linking back to the fun! Use a link or button in your post. (And by new post I mean written in the last 2 weeks, for you swappers who may have already blogged ~ just edit to add the button and/or link)
2) Leave a comment on this post. Tell me one thing on your Christmas list.
**I really want a walking foot and a food processor. :)**

3) If you don't have a quilt to enter, write up a blog post about sew & tell (button on sidebar) or the mini quilt party (also on sidebar) and let me know in the comments. Leave a link to your blog post.

That's it! I hope you all have had fun getting ready for today! I have! Let's get the party started!
Linky will be open until Sunday night. Winners announced Monday. :)

I would love it if you put your name/blog name in the linky so we know who you are! :)

{amylouwho} the mini that can be made in a day

2011-11-10T11:45:00.000-05:00

Do you want to participate in the mini quilt party tomorrow? There's a mini you can make today or tomorrow if you have just a little bit of time! Mug Rugs!! Snack mats, coasters, whatever you want to call them! They're sweet, cute, small and quick!

Here's some inspiration for you!


image courtesy The Joy Cottage via Flickr

image courtesy Frecklemama via Flickr

image courtesy Pin.Sew.Press via Flickr

image courtesy Pin.Sew.Press. via Flickr

image courtesy Gock's Frocks via Flickr

And now I want to go make mug rugs. I should probably clean my house first... or not.See you tomorrow for the PARTY!!!

{amylouwho} mini quilt inspiration

2011-11-09T15:26:00.000-05:00

I have always been obsessed with things that are cute when tiny. You know, things like, baby toes, baby shoes, mini tea sets, little boxes of altoids, mini reese's peanut butter cups, stuff like that. Tiny quilts are no exception!

Now that I am obssessed with mini quilts I started to remember that my mom has actually been making them for a long time! She was nice enough to take a few pictures of some of my favorites to share with you.

She made several of these for Christmas gifts one year. I love an irish chain! I remember begging her to make one for me, but after making about 6 of these, I think her eyes hurt. These are strip pieced from 1.5 inch strips!

This log cabin is TINY. 1.5" strips. Also strip pieced.

And this one has always been a favorite. I remember when she made this one (over 10 years ago I think). I remember thinking she was a bit nuts for cutting out all of those teeny tiny pieces and sewing them together. THEN I remember being amazed at how perfect it was when she finished.

Each square of fabric in the pieced portion is different! I appreciate the work in this so much more now.

So, do you have a mini ready to share for Friday?

Check out the prizes! And really, you could make a mug rug before then! Do it! It's so fun and a fast rewarding finish!

{amylouwho} mini quilt challenge update - prizes!!

2011-11-09T07:12:00.000-05:00

When the chit chat turned to a mini quilt party I had several people offer up some prizes to make things a bit more fun!!

By linking up on Friday you will be eligible for one of the following prizes!

1) Lovely Dana from Old Red Barn Co. is offering a 30$ gift card to her soap shop. I've personally used her soaps and they are, in a word, AMAZING!!

photo courtesy Old Red Barn Co.

2) Erin, one of the organizers of The Sewing Summit, is offering up a flat rate box of swag from the Sewing Summit! Trust me, there is some amazing stuff in there!!

photo courtesy Erin

3) My dear generous friend Kim is offering up a bundle of awesome scraps - perfect for making some mini quilts!!

photos courtesy Kim

4) Candy from Candied Fabrics makes amazing hand dyed fabrics which she then uses for her sewing projects. She made the fabric for this adorable baby quilt a group of friends made babylouwho. She's offering up a “quilter’s 8ths” that includes all 6 of the jewel tones as WELL as a piece of multicolored fabric with all those tones.

photo courtesy of Candied Fabrics

5) Nadine from The Material Girls Quilts, one of the favorite shops along the shop hop during the Sewing Summit, will be giving away a jelly roll of fabric! (prints TBA)

I'm excited to see what everyone is working on! Please spread the word!

I finished a little mini I'm sharing with you on Friday, it was really fun! Here's a sneak peek:

{amylouwho} meet ms mcporkchop aka mini quilt queen!

2011-11-07T19:50:00.001-05:00

<center><a href="http://www.mommyandbeyond.blogspot.com/search/label/mini quilt challenge" target="_blank"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dm80QuCmR4M/Tq4sL1an5hI/AAAAAAAADgM/-7hkzC0kbHk/s1600/miniquiltS%2526T-button.jpg" /></a></center>

In prepping for our mini quilt party on Friday (!!) I wanted to introduce you to the woman who inspired me and anyone else who has ever come in contact with her to make minis. Amanda blogs at hey porkchop! and there you can see more about her sewing, canning, needlework and other adventures!

Here is lovely Amanda! Msmcporkchop as you may know her.

photo courtesy Fresh Lemons via Flickr

As Faith at Fresh Lemons said, "Pretty sure Amanda is missing her calling as a quilting motivational speaker!" I'm pretty sure she did.
(all images courtesy Amanda - thank you!)
When did you start sewing and how did you start? I started sewing in college, I did several mixed media pieces of art and here's a really awkward photo of me at an art show:

and I also started sewing cloth pads for myself. Around 2006 I started sewing frequently and started my business, modernacorn.

What is your favorite thing to sew and why?

Mini quilts!

And Farmer's Wife blocks because they are like mini quilts.

I enjoy the process of making minis so much more than full sized quilts. I can get across an idea, design, color theme in a small space in a relatively short amount of time. I can experiment and play with ideas without the commitment of a giant full sized quilt top.

Is there something you are afraid to try?

Hmm. I think I'm scared of garment sewing. I've made a few things but it's just NOT a pleasurable experience. In my mind I want a wardrobe full of Japanese Stylish Dress Book dresses but realistically I have neither the figure nor the skill set to create them ;)

What is the best thing you ever made? Was it your favorite? Did you keep it?

This is so tough! I'm a big fan of most of the stuff I make but I give away a lot of it, I gave away 4 mini's at Sewing Summit. I do love making little mug rugs so I'm surrounded by patchwork. I think right now I love this New York Beauty:

I'm quilting and binding it hopefully this week!

Do you sew more for yourself/family or other people?

Lately it's been for other people, like books & companies but I prefer to sew for the pleasure of sewing, that way I can see where projects take me without any pressure. I'm pretty generous with the things I sew, I give stuff away often. I've toyed with the idea of selling some patchwork pouches and stuff. But I don't usually do sewn gifts, my friends & family are more into the stuff I can & bake...haha.

I can see why!!

How long have you been blogging? What are your favorite things about it?

I've blogging since 2001 (mostly paintings & stuff) but started msmcporkchopquilts.com in 2008! I love being able to share my ideas, my days, my favorite photos with friends online. I'm pretty bad at blogging & flickr though, I have so many things I sew and don't blog/take photos of lately. I've kind of been an internet hermit, I'm trying to get better though!

Here is lovely Amanda! Msmcporkchop as you may know her.

photo courtesy Fresh Lemons via Flickr

As Faith at Fresh Lemons said, "Pretty sure Amanda is missing her calling as a quilting motivational speaker!" I'm pretty sure she did.
What is one thing that you've learned about sewing/blogging that surprised you?

I think I'm surprised by how much people like the things I create. I kind of keep to myself and just sew what I like & makes me happy. It amazes me when people tell me that I've inspired them, mostly because I don't realize that people even know who I am! haha. I'm constantly learning new things, different ways to piece, different ways to cut fabric, different design elements. I think everyone is constantly evolving and growing; blogging totally helps that, if you get a ton of encouraging comments, you will just take more pride in what you create and want to keep creating!!!

What is your favorite sewing memory?

My favorite sewing memory is when I first discovered Japanese fabric on etsy. I would anxiously check my mail DAILY AND HOLD MY BREATH, just waiting for these fantastic packages of kawaii goodness. But of course it takes FOREVER for everything to arrive so I'd just wait. and wait. and wait. And then they'd arrive I'd just look at the fabrics for HOURS. I'd read Japanese craft books NONSTOP and just became obsessed with small, everyday patchwork. I'd sew all afternoon while Chop was in class, then he'd come home & I'd be like LOOK AT THIS LITTLE LINEN ZIP POUCH I MADE WITH FABRIC WITH EYEBALLS ON EVERYTHING!!!! I just love love love kawaii, zakka, everything! I'm happiest when I'm sewing on a sunny day with my favorite music, a pine candle burning and surrounded by cute fabric.

Anything else you want to share?

I'm excited to see the mini's everyone shares!!! I'm thinking they are going to be crazy cute & super inspiring!!! Thanks for doing this Amy!!!!

*****
Thank you so much Amanda! I made my first intentional mini this weekend and I loved the way it turned out! I'm kind of sad that I'm giving it away. I'm pretty sure my partner in the swap will like it though, that makes me happy!

I hope everyone is getting more and more inspired and excited to come to our mini quilt party for sew & tell on Friday! Even if you haven't started one, you could totally make a mini by Friday!

I will be blogging about the prizes for your entries soon! Stay tuned!

{amylouwho} see & tell v3.7

2011-11-04T09:51:00.000-04:00

Before we start, I have a new Sew & Tell button! I would love it if you would update your buttons! (and links to www.amylouwhosews.com) Thanks!

<center><a href="http://www.mommyandbeyond.blogspot.com/search/label/sew-n-tell" target="_blank"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DKcZSdB5QCo/Tq2zyT70k_I/AAAAAAAADf8/o-fKOExJD44/s1600/sew%2526tell+button-+125x125" /></a></center>

Also, have you started your mini yet? If you haven't checked out the mini quilt challenge for next week, please do! Plus, there will be prizes. Stay tuned next week for more information!

Please spread the word if you are going to join us! The more the merrier!

*****
The unfortunate thing about your kids getting sick is that mom always ends up with some form of it or another by the end. I wasn't as productive as I would have liked this week, what with all of the cutting and prepping I did last week!

In fact my finish today isn't even one of those things! But that's okay. My sister-in-law came this weekend to sew with me! I hope to be super productive!

I'm going to a baby shower this morning for a sweet friend who is having daughter number 3 while her husband is deployed.

She needed a warm snuggly blanket. At least I think she did! This blanket measures 30 x 30, perfect in the car or stroller.

She's doing pink and brown in the nursery and I dug out some of my favorites I used making this and this. I know, they are so 2007 (hahaha!) but I still love them.

Especially the girls on pink scooters. The eiffel towers too! Who am I kidding? And I think you've all figured out my love of damask.

I love the super fudgey soft minky backing. And how a simple ribbon wraps the gift.

How productive were you this week? Do share!

Linky Rules. Please read carefully. The delete monster will be eating non-compliant links.

2. One linky per person. (please put multiple projects in one post.)

3. Link to your specific post. (See here for permalink instructions - or email me.)

4. Link back here with a link or a button (HTML on my sidebar).

5. Be sure to visit and leave comments on other's posts!

{amylouwho} WIP wednesday

2011-11-02T07:39:00.000-04:00

My kids were all sick last week while mrlouwho was out of town. Sick kids on the couch means lots of movies and getting busy with my project list and a rotary cutter.

And I love this interfacing I use for my bags so much that when I have the bolt out (that's right, i usually buy all that is left) I cut up a bunch - this is enough sets for 3 bags.

I was able to also get these projects all ready to sit down and sew. I had a sewing date with friends on Friday morning and wanted to be prepared.

top-bottom: bag, bag, bag, dishmat, pillows

I'm loving ruffles lately and am experimenting here.

I think I'm going to like it!

I also worked on the faux roman shade for my kitchen. I hung it up to check the length and haven't taken it back down yet to create the folds in it. I do love that fabric.

I like this WIP Wednesday report over at Freshly Pieced. Head on over to get inspired!

It's a great way to keep accountable of the projects I have going on and what can I can finish for Sew & Tell.

What have you been working on? Maybe a mini quilt? I hope so!!

{amylouwho} mini quilt sew & tell challenge

2011-11-01T09:00:00.000-04:00

One of my most enjoyable experiences at The Sewing Summit was the class Marvelous Mini's taught by Amanda of MsMcPorkchopQuilts.She's pretty much a rockstar!She was so excited and passionate about patchwork in general, and something she coined as everyday patchwork.

photo courtesy The Workroom via Flickr.

Everyday patchwork are things that bring the handmade to our daily routines and lives. A bag, a notebook cover, a snack bag, a mug rug, etc!

She talked about creating a mini quilt as a way of acheiving the satisfaction of quilting in a short period of time. I know I'm a sometimes quilter because it takes me so long to finish one large quilt. But the best thing I heard was, "You don't have to make bed sized quilts to be a quilter." You DON'T?

see! look how happy I am after figuring that out!

That statement there changed my view on everything!

Look at all the wonderful minis that were on display during her class.

I was so jazzed after taking her class, that I stopped throwing away my smallish scraps and have visions of mini quilts dancing in my head!

She fussy cuts a ton, which I used to think I wouldn't like, until I met Heather Ross prints. How can you NOT fussy cut them? She uses a fussy cut piece as the starting point for almost every patchwork project she makes. It helps her tell a story with the quilt. Which is what she encouraged everyone to do. Tell a story.

I even signed up for the Post Summit Swap on Flickr so I could make a mini for my swap partner. We have a short deadline and need to mail by this coming Saturday. I have an idea I just need to start pulling scraps!

And then as a bunch of us were chatting on Twitter (@amy_louwho) the other day (which I never did before the Sewing Summit) an idea exploded. A mini quilt party! How fun would that be!? Oh WAIT! How about a Mini Quilt Exclusive Sew & Tell!?? Even more fun! With giveaways and prizes!!! Oh yes, that's right.

So the swap ends this weekend and I thought NEXT Friday, November 11, would be perfect timing!

So the challenge now, is to create a mini quilt in the next 2 weeks and come back here on 11 November to link up for Sew & Tell - Mini Quilt Challenge edition and we'll have ourselves a party!

I'll be posting an interview with Ms. McPorkchop and finding inspiration to share with you as well. If you search mini quilt or doll quilt on Flickr you will undoubtedly find a LOT of inspiration.

So what constitues a mini quilt? Any small patchwork that is quilted. It can be in the form of a doll quilt, small wallhanging, zipper pouch, drawstring bag, notebook cover, mug rugs, table runners, hot pads. You get the idea. Patchwork and quilted and small. That pretty much sums it up!

I think it's good to try something new and break out of our comfort zones. I hope you'll take up this challenge and whip something up one afternoon to share with us. Remember it's as much about the process as it is the finished project. You don't have to blow us away with your style and precision, just make something and enjoy doing it!

Here's a button to grab to spread the word!

<center><a href="http://www.mommyandbeyond.blogspot.com/search/label/mini quilt challenge" target="_blank"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dm80QuCmR4M/Tq4sL1an5hI/AAAAAAAADgM/-7hkzC0kbHk/s1600/miniquiltS%2526T-button.jpg" /></a></center>

{amylouwho} a makeover and new beginning

2011-10-31T08:00:00.000-04:00

I thought with the change in URL and a my blogging mojo resurfacing, that it might be a good time to change things up a bit.

Ahhh, did you think **I** got a makeover? Not really, but as of last Friday-ish my blog header did!

...and so did my Sew & Tell button. We're going on year 3 of Sew & Tell, really?
Of course you can keep the old button, but feel free to swap it out for the new one if you wish! The new one will definitely get you back to my new URL.

<center><a href="http://www.mommyandbeyond.blogspot.com/search/label/sew-n-tell" target="_blank"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DKcZSdB5QCo/Tq2zyT70k_I/AAAAAAAADf8/o-fKOExJD44/s1600/sew%2526tell+button-+125x125" /></a></center>

Thanks to a new dear friend Holly @ Bijou Lovely for doing this for me. We're swapping - I have to make something for her, so I'd better get busy!

Attending the Sewing Summit really helped recharged my creative juices. Dana taught in her blogging class that it's not a numbers game and we need to have a clear focus as to why we blog. As I have lamented of late, my blogging had become lackluster and I feel like I had forgotten why I was doing this in the first place.

Well.

In the first place, I love connecting with like-minded people. This is definitely a forum for that. I love the friends I've made, and those I've yet to make through this magical world of blogging!

In the second place,
It's like a virtual guild or art salon where artists get together and feed off of each other's creativity and ideas! Hence the new tagline: create, share, inspire, repeat.

I hope you create, share, inspire others and find inspiration, then repeat as often as you can. I'll be trying to do that here. :)

PS - I have a fun Sew & Tell challenge (think minis) that I will be announcing tomorrow after all the Halloween festivities and sugar rushes are finished!

{amylouwho} Blogger's Quilt Festival - Fall 2011

2011-10-28T10:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome Quilt Festival friends! I was trying to figure out what quilt I could share for the Blogger's Quilt Festival knowing I hadn't finished anything recently. I went through my old posts and found this one that I finished over 2 years ago. I started it for a friend whose birthday is on July 4, well before I knew I would be a military wife, or had heard the name Amy Butler.

I am pretty pleased with this project considering it was the first quilt I've ever designed, pieced, quilted, and bound all by myself (with a few tutorials from my mom!). That being said, if I were to make a quilt for my friend for her birthday this year - it would look nothing like this. Even if her birthday is on the 4th of July.

Since this was the first thing I have quilted with a walking foot I wasn't ever really sure I was doing it right, because it just seemed like there was something off. That it should have been easier than it was. My stitches were uneven and the fabric wasn't feeding well. I was borrowing my mom's foot and remembered not having this much trouble working with it when she was with me.

So I was on the phone with her working on those minky baby blankets, with the walking foot and expressing my frustration - being the day AFTER I finished this quilting. Our conversation went a little something like this:

my mom: Do you have the little black arm attached to the presser foot screw?

me: what??! what little black. . . . (looking closer). . . oh, you mean that one. (attaching the foot properly - and grumbling)
Well that's interesting - it works just fine, NOW.

my mom: I didn't know you didn't know how to attach it.

me: you mean the way I also didn't know that a fat quarter measured 18"x22" until last fall?

my mom: (chuckles)

me: The problem here is that you know so much you just assume I've learned it all through osmosis! I'm totally going to blog about this. A post entitled: Things my mom thought she taught me, that I wish I had known.

my mom: Oh no you're not!

me: we'll see.

I guess we know the outcome of that one. (Thanks, mom!)

I love how the binding turned out. I think the stripes really complete it and make it a little fancier. I used to think I hated sewing on binding, but I knocked this out during a viewing of this. And it's not as hard as I used to think. I reccomend running your thread through beeswax or thread heaven to keep it from tangling. I learned that from Bend the Rules Sewing (and yes, I think my mom knew about that trick too).

Thanks for visiting!!

{amylouwho) sew & tell v3.6

2011-10-28T08:10:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone! Sara from Sew Sweetness here with you today! Thanks to everyone who entered my bag giveaway here this past week, it was great to read about all your WIP's, and very nice to look at all those sweet comments! :-)

So, having recently moved, I haven't produced a whole lot of projects lately. Life gets in the way of sewing sometimes. ;-) Also, I have a few projects that I can't reveal yet (boo!!), so while it looks like I'm not up to much, believe me, the sewing machine has been a-whirrin' away every night. ;-)

Right now, I'm working on the Taffy Blouse, pictured above, from the new Colette Sewing Handbook by Sarai Mitnick. Seriously, I love her clothing patterns; I have just about all of them ::blush:: I doodle her name in my diary at night (just kidding). So, I decided to make the Taffy Blouse from the book first, because I thought I would like to wear it for Thanksgiving. I bought this sheer purple polka dot fabric at Joann's today (pictured below). If you know me, then you'll know that I cannot pass on a polka dot for any reason. In the photograph from the book above, you can see the model with a black-and-white striped bias tape on the sleeves and neckline; I wanted to do something cool like that, but I didn't really have anything on hand...is the solid purple too boring for the bias tape??

Sewing with sheer fabric is definitely an experience...it took me an hour just to cut out 4 pieces (front, back, and two sleeves). As a sewer, I might be getting spoiled by the quilting side in me. ;-) I'm hoping to finish the top tonight, so I'll let you know how it goes.

Soo...I did finish something up this week to share. I finished writing a sewing tutorial for this bag over the weekend, and here it is in all its pink glory:

The tutorial will also be accompanied by a step-by-step web video on how to make the bag. Unfortunately, the video is not ready yet (I'm shy), but as soon as I get an acting coach and finish it, you'll be the first to know. :-)

I'm also working on some blocks for the '12 Days of Christmas' Sampler Quilt Along that just started this week...like my Santa?

And now, without further ado, show me whatcha got...what did you finish this week?!

Linky Rules. Please read carefully. The delete monster will be eating non-compliant links.

2. One linky per person. (please put multiple projects in one post.)

3. Link to your specific post. (See here for permalink instructions - or email me.)

4. Link back here with a link or a button (HTML on my sidebar).

5. Be sure to visit and leave comments on other's posts!

{amylouwho} reminder - BQF

2011-10-27T23:28:00.001-04:00

It's that time of year again! All the pros are at quilt market, while people like me sit around wishing we were there. Thanks to Amy and another genius idea we have the Blogger's Quilt Festival to keep us company. Go check it out! I know I will be. I'm hoping I might even have something to link up!

{amylouwho} my super secret bag making tip

2011-10-26T11:11:00.002-04:00

As I said yesterday, I don't really do tutorials. I'm deathly afraid of trying to explain something I do with the right words. I could sit down with you and show you what to do - but to write it out? scary!! It's probably the other reason I haven't worked more on the pattern for my bag.

While I was working on this bag last week I thought I might share one of my favorite discoveries when making bags. Fusible Thermolam. It's technically not fusible fleece, even though it feels a lot like it. I think it's a little tighter weave or something.

I used sew-in fleece when I made my first several bags, what a pain! Then I decided to try fusible fleece! Much easier. But I found when I fused it on some things it would pucker the fabric because it was shrinking with the iron's steam, so I started using it on the lining instead of the outer fabric. Then one day I ended up with the Thermolam instead of the fleece and I'll never go back! (btw, this is not a sponsored review - I'm not saavy enough to get offered something like that! I just really like this stuff!)

Using the interfacing on the lining provides some stability to the fabric when inserting your snaps and also for the key hook. And I love how it stands on it's own! Another added bonus is that it's really lightweight, so your bag isn't heavy, but still keeps it's shape. It's also flexible enough that turning the bag isn't a huge chore.

Look how sad and schlumpy it is without the interfacing!

Once you put the interfaced lining in, the bag perks right up!

I also cut my interfacing pieces a seam allowance shorter all the way around so that the seams aren't so bulky.

It is important to follow the directions for fusing. Because the thermolam is so thick, you should press it with the fabric side up (interfacing underneath), so the heat is getting to the fusible side, otherwise your interfacing won't stick or stay in place.

I hope this helps some of you bag makers or hopeful bag makers! I love making bags, they are so quick and satisfying to finish.

What kinds of sewing tricks have you learned making bags? Or anything for that matter! Oh! And what is your experience with Decor Bond? Is it hard to turn the bag right side out?

{amylouwho} sew sweetness bag winner!

2011-10-26T08:53:00.003-04:00

Thank you everyone who entered the giveaway for Sara's beautiful bag! I wish we had one for everyone.

I really enjoyed reading all of the comments about your WIPs! Keep working towards a finish and when you have one, no matter how small, come back on Friday's for Sew & Tell!

Winner was picked by Random.org:

#3 is Happy Cottage Quilter!!
She won for comment 3, but I thought I'd share with you her WIP comment too. :)

Congratulations! I've sent you an email.

{amylouwho} bits and pieces

2011-10-25T16:20:00.000-04:00

I feel like I have so many things to blog about! I have some more things I want to share about The Sewing Summit and I've been on a project prepping spree! But I'm feeling a little all over the place trying to pull things together!

This is what I look like all over the place. WIPs, cutting several new projects at a time and scraps!

My kids are all home sick today. It started with babylouwho on Friday, sisterlouwho following yesterday afternoon, with brotherlouwho getting hit with it last night. Late. And mrlouwho is working long hours training for an upcoming deployment. Good times.

I decided today would be a sweatpants and slippers sort of day. And instead of wallowing in self pity (well maybe I will a bit), I'm getting to work. I lysoled every hard surface in my house down yesterday, so I don't feel too bad about neglecting my floors. And laundry. And dirty dishes.

Sometimes the dirty dishes are worth it though - Apple Cake @ The Smitten Kitchen

I'm going to close the giveaway for Sara's bag tonight and announce the winner tomorrow! Sara will be guest posting for Sew &Tell on Friday - I hear she's finishing up a quilt top! I love reading your comments about your WIPs. It's so fun to know there are so many out there working away too.

I'm glad to know that you liked the interview too! I'm planning on doing more of these types of things. I have a super fun sew & tell extravaganza planned for November 11 - I'll post the challenge this week! Keep on the lookout.

Scraps I used to throw away. Now I hoard them for mini quilts.

So what else? I have a lot of blogging issues on my mind. Like, I feel sort of lame for being pretty absent most of this year. I really loved the sew & tell community that we had built and with everything I had going on last year it got to be too much for me to be able to connect with everyone the way I wanted to. And now I'm afraid I was being too nit-picky about things, and I got super inconsistent. Then there's the whole URL change thing - that was a real downer. And then there are all of the amazing women and amazing blogs I discovered through sewing summit and sometimes I wonder - what am I doing trying to blog? I'm a total amateur!! I don't really do tutorials, I seem to make the same things over and over, I'm not really interested in making money off my blog, so what am I doing here? Showing off? I certainly hope it doesn't come across that way. When I really think about it, it's the people that I've met and the community that we have that keeps me coming back. I also love that there is a cycle of creating, sharing and inspiring that goes on in our online sewing/crafting community.

So I really do hope you like coming here. I appreciate your time when I know how busy we all are. Thanks for sharing your goodness and talents with me every week. I'm recommitting to be a better blogger/friend. I hope you'll come back again soon.

I'd love to hear why you blog and the things you love about it. Do tell!

{amylouwhow} sew & tell v3.5

2011-10-21T07:40:00.000-04:00

Hello Friends! Welcome to this week's sew & tell!

First off, if you missed it yesterday, go read my interview with Sara and enter to win this beautiful handmade bag!

*****
I panicked a little when I started to put this post together. Even with all the sewing I had done this week I thought that all I has to show you was a small, but very cute headband I made for sisterlouwho. Not that small finishes aren't worth celebrating...

When I started to download the photos from my camera I was reminded of a very early finish I had on Sunday night. Whew!

I love that you can tie a little something on a rolled up handmade gift and it practically wraps itself.

A dear friend, and when I say dear I mean sainted (she watched my kids last night and cleaned my kitchen and mopped my floors while I was gone!!!), had a baby 4 months ago and we had picked out this fabric so I could make her a new bag. It didn't get finished for the arrival of the sweet baby, but it was her birthday Monday and I wanted to surprise her by FINALLY finishing it!

When we came back Sunday afternoon from our weekend away I was overflowing with sewing motivation. I finished cutting it out and sewed it up!

She replaced her fairly new Vera Bradley with this and told me she got three compliments on it the first day! That makes me feel good!

Bag details:
Pattern: amylouwho signature bag (pattern not yet available - interested?)
Fabric exterior: Dandy Damask in Avocado, Michael Miller
Fabric interior: cotton print from Joann's - printed in Japan

Finishing things makes me feel good too! What sewing project did you finish this week?

Oh! and thanks to Sara - picture linkies are BACK! :)
Please follow the guidelines as spaces are limited - linky will close after the first 30 entries.

Linky Rules. Please read carefully. The delete monster will be eating non-compliant links.

2. One linky per person. (please put multiple projects in one post.)

3. Link to your specific post. (See here for permalink instructions - or email me.)

4. Link back here with a link or a button (HTML on my sidebar).

5. Be sure to visit and leave comments on other's posts!

{amylouwho} an introduction and a giveaway

2011-10-20T14:37:00.000-04:00

*****THE GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED*****

Sara of Sew Sweetness is going to be a regular contributor to our sew & tell Fridays!

Isn't she adorable? That's her naughty secretary bag and amazing dress she made!

I love getting to know people, especially their sewing/crafting history. I thought it would be fun for you to get to know Sara a little better! We met through a mutual sewing friend and I finally begged enough that she started blogging last year! I'm constantly amazed at the beautiful and professional looking items she creates! And she has something to giveaway today!

*****
When did you start sewing and how did you start?
I first learned to sew in the 3rd grade. My mom had little sewing lessons for my friend and I, once a week. We made a drawstring bag and a dress. My mom let me wear my dress to school (although hers didn't, lol). I didn't take up sewing again until about 8 years ago; I thought it would be a great idea to mass-produce purses and sell them online. I made them assembly-line style. They were pretty awful actually!! I still have the parts in a big garbage bag, and my husband is constantly asking when I am going to finish them. My skills 8 years ago are not the same as they are today; he just doesn't understand why I'm not going to finish them. :-)

Her skills today. WOW.

What is your favorite thing to sew and why?

I really love to sew all kinds of things...quilts, bags, clothing for my kids, clothing for myself, accessories...I will try anything. It is such a challenge to me to try new patterns, and I love it! I love the idea that there are so many free tutorials out there on the internet, it makes sewing so accessible for everyone.

photo courtesy Sew Sweetness

Is there something you are afraid to try?

I am actually nervous about trying to hand-sew hexagons. I always say I'll try it, but something is holding me back. That's probably the only thing I'm afraid to sew, everything else...let me at it!!

What is the best thing you ever made? Was it your favorite? Did you keep it?

Usually, I'll say that my currently completed project is my favorite! However, there is a bag that I keep coming back to every few months (whereas my other bags, I'll use for one stretch and then don't go back to); it was a bag that I made from a Jenna Lou Designs sewing pattern called the Mabel Bag, and I made it with an Echino fabric. I love it so much!! It's a simple, beautiful design.

photo courtesy Sew Sweetness

Do you sew more for yourself/family or other people?

Obviously I like sewing things for myself, and I like making gifts, but I have an extreme phobia of making items to sell online, or getting custom requests. In that instance, sewing becomes like homework or a chore for me, and I'm always concerned about taking the fun out of sewing. Mainly, I just want to work on what I want to work on! I do like testing patterns or tutorials for other people, though!

photo courtesy Sew Sweetness

How long have you been blogging? What are your favorite things about it?

I've been blogging for one year and a month. It's gone by really fast! When I look at some of my blog posts from the beginning, I can't believe that anyone actually followed me in those days! I've learned that there really is a science to it all...taking the right photos, assembling your postings so that they grab attention right from the beginning, and keeping things fresh and exciting. Networking also plays a roll (commenting on other blogs, putting images up in Flickr, hosting giveaways, sew alongs, etc.). My favorite parts of my blog are the sewing pattern reviews and the tutorials...I am big into reading reviews for anything (products I buy, sewing projects, etc.), and so I feel the pattern reviews especially are one of my major focuses. It's funny because when I was younger, I was always trying to get into journaling. I could never keep up with the entries, and when I did read back over what I had written, it was really boring. I don't feel that way at all with my blog. Growing up, my parents always thought that I would be a writer, and in some tiny way, I sort of have. I enjoy the writing process and having well-thought-out blog posts. The hands-down best part about blogging are all the friends that I have made...I never would have gotten into blogging if it weren't for Amylouwho, and I never would have met Amy if it wasn't for my great friend, Kim (My Go-Go Life).

I know you were a GoBaby Accuquilt blogger - do you like your machine? Are you able to use it a lot?

I love it!! I have the Accuquilt Baby, but am hoping that Santa brings me the regular Accuquilt machine for Christmas! I did use it a lot for several of the tutorials on my website (although, even if you don't have a machine, I've attached templates to use for those projects instead). It makes cutting so much quicker, and very precise. That is the problem I have when cutting out many pieces from a paper template...they are not exact, and it seems the more I cut, the less precise I am. Some projects it is not so vital to have exact fabric cuts, whereas others (such as a Double Wedding Ring Quilt), it is extremely important that your fabric cuts are exact, or your quilt won't turn out. I like the dies the best that have more difficult shapes; for instance, I would probably not buy a die for strips (just because I'm on an extreme budget), as I'd just use my ruler and rotary cutter.

made with the accuquilt diamond die.

How do you manage sewing, blogging, and taking care of your family?

Family always comes first. But once the kids are asleep, I'm usually sewing from 9:30pm until around midnight. I like having that big chunk of uninterrupted time to sew, because especially if I'm making some clothing, I need to be really focused on my project. The blogging time usually fits in around then, too. Over time, I've learned that it's a big no-no to be taking photos at night, so I will squeeze in photographing projects during the day (and usually have my kids help in some way).

What is your favorite sewing memory?

My favorite sewing memory is taking my kids to Joann Fabrics (we're there at least once a week). I let them pick out fabrics for things I'm making for them, and I also let them help me pick out my Kona solids. Often, I'll take a small swatch of fabric in with me, and I have them match up the swatch to the correct bolt. They also like taking the bolts (I'm often only getting 1 or 2 things, so I can use coupons on everything I buy, lol) up to the cutting counter, each of them takes an end.

Anything else you want to share?

If you're interested in sewing, never be afraid to try something!! It might not come out exactly right, but each project will teach you something new about sewing. I mess up all the time, but there's always the seam ripper, and if worse comes to worst, you can always use the fabric for another project. You also don't have to spend a lot of money on sewing supplies...I am constantly buying large chunks of fabric in the form of bed sheets, old dresses, or curtains, usually for a dollar or two, at the thrift store. Get free sewing patterns online or take a sewing book out from the library. Just get sewing!! :-)

Thanks so much for having me, Amy!!!
*****

Sara, thank you for being so inspiring!

For all of you Sara is giving away one of her amazing bags that she's made!

You can have up to 2 entries (1 comment for each entry)!
To enter all you have to do is:
1. Leave a comment telling us your favorite WIP (work in progress)
and/or
2. Visit Accuquilts page through THIS LINK to sign up for free patterns and newsletter. Come back here and leave another comment telling me you did so.

Easy~peasy! I'll leave the giveaway open until early next week! (Be sure you leave an email if you are a no-reply blogger!!)

And don't forget to come back tomorrow for sew & tell to link up your finish for the week!

{amylouwho} bliss(ful) table runner

2011-10-19T16:11:00.000-04:00

I feel like I'm riding a major sewing tidal wave since I got back from the Sewing Summit! I want to cut into every piece of fabric I own, and THAT is NOT normal. Usually I just want to hoard it.

I bought some Bliss ages ago and then decided to make a table runner for a friend. It has sat around getting neglected for far too long. I decided the other day to make a mess and cut out a bunch of stuff! So I headed over to (another) Amy's blog to look at her easy quilted table runner tutorial. SO easy!

So I ~~hacked up~~ lovingly cut up my fabric into strips.

Then I played with the layout.

Then I sewed it up!

I want to use the brown medallion for the binding (or the red), but I don't quite have enough. I do however have enough to cut some more strips and put another one together~to keep!! I love this fabric.

Thanks Amy for a quick and easy tutorial! I'll share the finish on Sew & Tell soon!

I'm linking up with WIP Wednesday! It's my first time!

{amylouwho} the day I left for the sewing summit/or almost thrifting

2011-10-17T14:25:00.000-04:00

Do you get stressed out when you are getting ready to travel? I do! I have weird travel dreams about losing my passport, being in Paris without enough time, missing flights, etc... It was no different this time around.

I was anticipating flying with babylouwho, leaving brother and sisterlouwho with mrlouwho for the weekend, doing last minute laundry, dishes and meal prep. It was a lot to get done!! I tend to procrastinate packing as well. I had my bags mostly packed on Tuesday night, so guess what I did on Wednesday morning, before leaving at 3:00 pm for the airport? Shopping!!!

I'm sure I should have been home packing and cleaning, but I had a couple of IMPORTANT things to take care of!First off, I stopped at Hancock's to pick up some of this awesome burlap printed with black velvet damask.

I posted a picture on instagram a week or so earlier and my roommate Darci asked me to pick some up for her. I may have bought a little extra for me as well. It's just so striking! I love damask anyway, but the texture contrast is amazing! I'm thinking it would make a cool boxy zipper pouch.

Next up, I had to stop at Ross. A few weeks ago I got a call from a very sweet friend:

Friend: Amy, Ross has queen sized Amy Butler sheets for 30$, they are turquoise and yellow and I thought of you! I hid them behind the others if you want to go and get them.
Me: NO WAY!!!
Friend: Well, I'm still out, if you want I can go back and get them for you. You can't even buy that much fabric for $30.
Me: I KNOW!! Yes! Please!

She dropped them off a few days later.Are you kidding me?!? I love them. And what a great friend!!

And I'm going to use them on my bed!

A week or so later I went back into Ross looking for birdcages. I found one! So cute! And also saw THE MATCHING COVERLET to the sheets for $35! I stewed about them for a week and had to go Wednesday for fear of someone else buying it up.

YAY!!! It was still there!

And then on further inspection they had a cute twin sized duvet cover. It didn't really match sisterlouwho's bedding though, but it was only $15. And then I realized it was made from her LOVE line that I used for babylouwho's quilt.

She doesn't need a twin sized duvet though. Well, not now anyway. :)Sold!

I'm so happy with it all! 400 thread count, organic cotton, over 1/2 off the original prices ~ It's almost like thrifting!

I called Kim and told her about and she checked out her Ross and found some too - so hurry out if you're interested!

Have you found any good deals lately?

{amylouwho} sew & tell: v3.4 ~ a skirt!

2011-10-14T08:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome to sew & tell! Hope you found us okay, and I'm SO sorry about the mess with last week and my URL. Please note my new address is amylouwhosews.com.

It is especially important today to link back to this page so that everyone can know where to find us! I've updated the HTML for the sew & tell button on the side so you can just swap out your old button. But enough boring stuff...

I'm fresh off the heels of The Sewing Summit! Which I will be talking about some more until you want to run screaming to your nearest quilt shop just to get away from me. But seriously, what a great weekend and I came back SO inspired and motivated to start hacking up my fabric!

It's one thing to read a bunch of blogs and get inspired, it's a completely different and exhilarating thing to meet these bloggers in person and sew with them!

I finished my bee blocks during sewing time last Saturday night and started another dresden table topper/miniquilt. I then came home and cut strips for a table runner I've been meaning to make forever, and a skirt as a going away gift for a friend. So clearly when I say it was inspiring, it was! I wish I had all weekend to just sit around and play with fabric!

I have a dear friend that I've made this year who is moving today. :( It's a long story that maybe I'll blog about another time, but she gave me ...wait for it... HER SURFBOARD! I'm so stoked, dude, to like, start surfing next summer!

But seriously, it's amazing. I don't have a picture of it yet, but I will. I have to! It's my favorite color!! Anyway, that little scarf I made a couple weeks ago was for her, but I also wanted to make her a skirt.

I pulled out my trusty pattern and sized it up for her. I just loved this Amy Butler Bali Gates for her because of the color and it looked beachy to me. The oval in the pattern almost looks like a surfboard.

One of the things in our swag bags from The Sewing Summit were these cute little 'sprinkles' (tags) from Izzy and Ivy Designs.I love it! Now we can all find the backs of these skirts without have to check the seams!

So, what have you been up to this week?

Please follow the guidelines as spaces are limited - linky will close after the first 30 entries.

Linky Rules. Please read carefully. The delete monster will be eating non-compliant links.

2. One linky per person. (please put multiple projects in one post.)

3. Link to your specific post. (See here for permalink instructions - or email me.)

4. Link back here with a link or a button (HTML on my sidebar).

5. Be sure to visit and leave comments on other's posts!

{amylouwho} sewing summit - where to begin?

2011-10-13T08:47:00.000-04:00

I'm still recovering from my whirlwind trip to Salt Lake City for the Sewing Summit last weekend! I have been reading everyone's recap posts and reliving every lovely minute. It's a little daunting trying to write my own, but I'm going to go for it.
***
I have to say, it was a little surreal. I walked into the opening meet and greet on Friday afternoon and thought, who are all of these people!?

I only recognized the handful of them that I already know. But then, as I went around and introduced myself I found most conversations went like this:

me: Hi! I'm Amy, there's like 20 Amy's here.
person: Hi! I'm so-and-so.
blank stare.
me: what's your blog name?
person: suchandsuch.com
me: Oh my gosh! I know YOU!
***
It was really fun to put real faces with the very real friendships I've made through this wonderful blogging and sewing community. As Amy and Erin said that night,

their vision for this weekend was to bring together everyone's online sewing friends so we could sew and chat and visit and laugh and be together in person! It was a success!
***
I loved the classes I took and walked away with new ideas and techniques but mostly INSPIRED to get back on my machine and do things that I have been putting off for fear of messing them up.

I took Dana 's social media and blogging class - I loved her message. (another Amy on the left, Dana on the right - how did I miss a picture of the two of us!?)

Blog what you love, be real and it's not a numbers game. I totally believe that.
***
Vanessa shared great tips on getting beautiful photos. (And she made that adorable skirt!)

And how to lose inches off your thighs in full body poses. If I could explain it to you here I would. Trust me, it was hilarious! and worked! And if you don't know V. she is hilarious!

We all loved Leigh's hand-pieced hexi quilt.
***
I had to take a nap after lunch I was so tired from the 2 hour time difference AND staying up late. It was just long enough to make it back down for my afternoon classes.
***
Susan had us make some little zipper pouches which came in really handy on the way home.

I used the purple one for my phone and iPod (they didn't get lost!) and the blue one housed babylouwho's snacks for the long day on the plane.
***
Amanda, aka Ms. McPorkchop, was inspiring and charming and funny and made me want to make a gazillion mini quilts!

At the beginning of the weekend I was telling people that I liked to quilt but had a hard time finishing them.

After her class I realized that little quilts are still quilts! And often you can finish them in a couple of hours! How awesome is that? I have a few ideas brewing already.
***
Saturday night we spent in the sewing room.

It was full of humming machines, happy chatter and laughter! Just what the doctor ordered.

I finished my bee blocks for Rachel who was there! I didn't have to go to the post office, just walked over and handed them to her. Perfect.

And I really liked how they turned out!

Amy worked on and finished this gorgeous top.

To be honest, I didn't get a lot of sewing done because I was having so much fun just visiting with everyone! I'm telling you, sewing with friends is the best!

I'm afraid of overwhelming you with too many pictures, so we'll stop here for today. I'll be sure to share more. I took 2 other classes and acquired a lot more fabric! Sew & Tell is happening tomorrow - See you then!

{amylouwho} stories of squatters, domains, and changes

2011-10-11T20:00:00.002-04:00

This picture has nothing to do with this post, other than it makes me happy, while the things I've been trying to work out today have not. This was my lunch on Friday I had with lovely ladies from the Sewing Summit. YUM!

Ugh, I've spent the entire day trying to recover my old URL. It turns out there are URL squatters that wait in the wings for URLs to expire so they can buy them and turn around and resell them for ridiculous amounts of money back to their owners.

So amylouwho.com is now on auction for $2,800!!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Someone said I should be flattered that they think my domain is that valuable, personally, I think it's slimy and opportunistic to take advantage like that. In case you were wondering, a URL costs 10$ a YEAR to register. Yeah. So, there's no way I'm paying that kind of money to get it back.

Again, nothing to do with the post. But they make me so happy! And I need a dose of happy today. I'll tell you about these soon too! Go check your local Ross if you want some Amy Butler bedding. Just sayin'.

From my experience today I would not buy a .com (URL) through blogger - they use GoDaddy (boo - hiss), plus you have to set up an extra google account that isn't linked to blogger and/or an existing gmail account. This is why I never got my renewal emails (because I didn't check that other email address). Find a host separate from blogger (I went with Moniker - Thanks Candy for your ridiculously knowledgeable help today!). It's cheaper, I have an account with them, and any renewal emails I get will come to the email I use all the time. This really is my own fault to an extent, but they don't make it easy for you to keep track of things either.

So, the biggest problem is that any link on any site to amylouwho.com will no longer work. That's about 2 years of linky parties, sew & tells and nice people who just linked to me because they wanted to. At this point I would rather just move forward and try not to think about all of that.

I have purchased a new .com for $2,792 less than my old one. (Look at all the money I saved! How much fabric can I buy with that?!) And I need your help again. I'm not going to ask you to go back and change all of your links, BUT, I would love it if you would fix a Sew & Tell button if you have one.

Here is the new code:

<a href="http://www.mommyandbeyond.blogspot.com/search/label/sew-n-tell" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2491/4140008620_26a064ef2d_o.jpg" /></a>

And if you have another link to me on your sidebar other than a direct feed from blogger or something similar - would you change that to www.mommyandbeyond.blogspot.com too? When the new URL is up and running all mommyandbeyond links will forward to the new address. This lovely blogger feature is why you all can still get my blog through your readers. THANK YOU so much for all of your responses the other day. It made me feel so much better!

And really, it's okay if you don't want to go through the hassle of changing stuff around. It's just a blog after all. I do realize there are much more important things to worry about! Like posting about sewing summit! Which I will now get to since I think I have this mess worked out.

You people are lovely, thanks for being here.

{amylouwho} a little favor, please!

2011-10-09T18:47:00.000-04:00

I lost my amylouwho.com URL the other day. It's a long and boring story and mostly my own fault and there is a chance I can get it back (hopefully without having to pay through the nose).

I just need you to comment here if you get this, so that I can see if this old .blogspot.com URL is reaching anyone who likes to visit. Please, pretty please? Help a girl out!

I'm hoping to get things worked out. I might just buy a new URL, with a .net or .org or something. What would you do?

PS - Sewing Summit was amazing and I hope to blog about it soon. That is, if anyone will be able to see it! :)

www.amylouwho.com domain name problem

2011-10-07T10:15:00.001-04:00

Hello friends! I'm having some issues with my amylouwho.com domain and had to switch back to mommyandbeyond.blogspot.com for a little while. When I get the issue worked out it will automatically redirect to amylouwho. In the meantime you'll have to find us here! None of the sew and tell buttons will work properly until I get it back up. Wish me luck!

I should be able to get it worked out by next week. thanks for being patient!

sew & tell: v3.3 ~ from kim

2011-10-07T08:15:00.001-04:00

Happy Friday!!! I am Kim from My Go Go Life. Amy is off at Sewing Summit and since I may be the only person in sewing bloggerworld to not be going, she very kindly asked me to guest host the Friday Sew and Tell. Thank you Amy! I hope you have an amazing time!

This week I was able to complete a couple of pillows for my sofa in the living room. I used some echino I have been hoarding, gray linen from Ikea, Kona and Amy Butler. I love the one with the birds the most!

I made the pillows to go along with the surprise birthday quilt that Sara @Sew Sweetness organized with Amy and some other friends of mine. Too sweet! The quilt is very inspirational and super LOVED. I think this is my new happy place :o)

Cannot wait to see everyone's projects this week!!!!!

Please follow the guidelines as spaces are limited - linky will close after the first 30 entries. I will try to monitor the links to make sure everyone linking up is playing nice. :)

Linky Rules. Please read carefully. The delete monster will be eating non-compliant links.

2. One linky per person. (please put multiple projects in one post.)

3. Link to your specific post. (See here for permalink instructions - or email me.)

4. Link back here with a link or a button (HTML on my sidebar).

5. Be sure to visit and leave comments on other's posts!

i made it to the sewing summit!

2011-10-07T00:57:00.000-04:00

Well, by made it, I mean that I didn't have a 5 hour delay anywhere (like last time). I did however forget to bring half of my electric toothbrush, toothpaste, extra pajamas for babylouwho, face wash, and my iPod charging cord.

Luckily my mom had my charging cord that I left at her house the last time, an extra toothbrush and some toothpaste. I'm pretty sure I remembered all of my sewing stuff and isn't that what is most important?

And this is what it looked like this morning when I was on my way

to meet Pink for some chatfest time.

and some awesome treats at Blue Lemon! (where I will be having dinner on Saturday with more sewing peeps!)

Love my sewing blogging peeps! (thanks for the pics Pink!)

PS - i may have already bought fabric today. Maybe even some Henna Garden in leaf...

PPS - awesome post tomorrow for sew & tell!

sew & tell: v3.2 ~ a quilt (but not mine)

2011-09-30T07:48:00.000-04:00

Hello! I wanted to share a quilt with you today! It's not one that I made, but I did help with the fabric selection.

I have a good friend here who's husband is deployed. He will be home on R&R soon and she wanted to surprise him with new bedding. She picked out a quilt from Amy's book and I helped pick some fabrics to go together that weren't too feminine or masculine. I think we struck a good balance. And besides, each print was made by 3 of my favorite designers.

Lime Full Moon Dot by Amy Butler, Putty Henna Garden by Sandi Henderson, and Magnolia Bloom by Laura Gunn.

She whipped this quilt up so quickly it's inspiring. I think this is only the 2nd quilt she's ever made. The first one was made a month prior! This is my same friend who made all the skirts. The girl has drive!

I'm impressed with Amy's patterns too - this one was brilliantly put together. All of these blocks are strip pieced into the same block and then just turned to create the pattern. Genius!

I wonder if there is work in just choosing fabrics. THAT, I could do, because I'm the worst at finishing things in a timely manner!

Can't wait to see what you have finished this week!

Please follow the guidelines as spaces are limited - linky will close after the first 30 entries. I will try to monitor the links to make sure everyone linking up is playing nice. :)

Linky Rules. Please read carefully. The delete monster will be eating non-compliant links.

2. One linky per person. (please put multiple projects in one post.)

3. Link to your specific post. (See here for permalink instructions - or email me.)

4. Link back here with a link or a button (HTML on my sidebar).

5. Be sure to visit and leave comments on other's posts!

instagram much?

2011-09-27T09:15:00.000-04:00

I'm kind of in love with instagram. I like it better than Facebook. Liking things better than FB isn't that hard these days though, is it?

I wish I had a better camera on my iPod Touch, but it's fun taking pictures while I'm out and about, kind of like notes in a notebook.

And sometimes when I can't grab my other camera I can take a quick picture to send to my friends.

Date night last weekend consisted of a visit to the bookstore. I love the smell of Barnes and Noble. I worked there as a second job during one of the years I was teaching school. I loved it!

And look at the crafty books I spotted, that now I think I have to have.

Are you on instagram? What's your user name? Mine is amylouwhosews. Happy Instagram-ing! I'll be looking for you!

The Sewing Summit

2011-09-26T10:20:00.000-04:00

I'm sure you've heard of the Sewing Summit. Right?

Did I remember to mention that I'm going to be there! Are you?

I'm so excited I can't stand it! I registered all teh way back when they first opened registration. Mrlouwho was supposed to be deployed and I was looking forward to a little get away. Since then his deployment has been pushed back so he's home (sort of) and he's taking a few extra days off work to spend with the kids so I can go and spend some time with my mom too.

I'm totally not prepared and will be lucky to show up in clean clothes with make up on. I know there's lots of sewing prep going on and I would love to sew up a new wardrobe, bag and fabric flower accessories, but, you know how it goes.

I'm trying to decide what, if any projects I'm going to take to work on. I left this quilt in Utah with my mom this summer, she said she'd help me get the back pieced together. This is my rough draft of the back...

Maybe I'll work on it. It's about time I finished it! I made it 2 summers ago! It would be awesome to have it there for when I meet Dana the first time. After all she inspired it!

But in reality, I think I'll just be talking everyone's ears off! Won't it be fun to be in the same room with a bunch of other sewing bloggers!? I love it. You all know how I love bloggy meetups.

So leave a comment and let me know if you are coming! I seriously want to meet you!

a knitted treasure

2011-09-25T17:43:00.001-04:00

It's hard to believe she'll be 18 months old soon. She finally started walking about a month ago.But really I wanted to show you this amazing dress that my dearest Allyn knitted for her (is the past tense of knit, knitted?)

I can't believe how perfect and tiny these little stitches are. I can't believe she frogged a cardigan she started to make this instead. I can't believe she did this while taking care of 5 kids and getting ready to deliver her 6th. She is AMAZING.

This will be a dress we treasure long after she outgrows it. Thanks dear friend.

sew & tell: v3.1 - super soft and girly ruffle scarf

2011-09-23T08:15:00.000-04:00

I haven't been this excited to share something in a long time! I dreamed up this scarf a week or two ago and couldn't go to sleep the other night until I threw it together.

It all started when a good friend of mine, who loves the beach, started getting ready to move to Rhode Island for a year~where it is cold in the winter, much colder than here. I wanted to make her a scarf that would capture a beachy feel while keeping her cozy while she is out walking her dog in the cold. I bought some fleece at Hancock's during their 54% off sale last week and got to work. Fleece buying note: when you buy fleece make sure you get the most expensive kind - it's washes up the best and keeps it's softness. I can't remember the exact name, but it was about 9$ a yard before the sale.

I paired the winter blue fleece with Sandi Henderson's Dahlia (Farmer's Market) and Michael Miller's Dandy Damask for the ruffle. I also used this combo in this dress (which I love!) The scarf turned out so cute I have to make another one for me!

I think I'll take pictures of the process and maybe, just maybe write up a tutorial? Are you interested? I think I'll be making these for gifts this winter.Don't you want one? I'm thinking I need to make one with the new Joel Dewberry in aqua and orange **swoon**.

*****
In other news, I made up with this skirt (we were having a little tiff). I was making it for another friend (more to come later) and am FINALLY getting it off to her in the mail. It's just like mine.

See, I have been doing some stuff! It helps that my husband was gone for the last couple of weeks in training and I could totally take over the dining room and not worry about having to clean up to eat dinner in there.

*****
Now a few notes on Sew & Tell. I've been mulling over a lot of things that I love about it and some things that I don't love. I've decided to limit the number of entries to 30. So when there are 30 linkies, that week's list will close. This will help keep it manageable for visiting everyone who is sharing each week. Yes, EACH week! I'm bringing on some friends who will regularly post so that I'm not on the spot each week.

So please follow the guidelines as spaces are limited. I will try to monitor the links to make sure everyone linking up is playing nice. :)

Linky Rules. Please read carefully. The delete monster will be eating non-compliant links.

2. One linky per person. (please put multiple projects in one post.)

3. Link to your specific post. (See here for permalink instructions - or email me.)

4. Link back here with a link or a button (HTML on my sidebar).

5. Be sure to visit and leave comments on other's posts!

merry fall!

2011-09-21T08:59:00.000-04:00

Well, hello there friends! I know I've been in absentia for a little too long. As has Sew & Tell. Without boring you with all the details I'll just say this. I've lost my blogging mo-jo ~~a little bit~~. I'm sure you are not surprised. Things have been busy with my oldest starting real school this year, mrlouwho being gone a lot in preps for a deployment, babies at home to take care of, and still not having that sweet spot in my house for taking photos.

Plus, I know there are so many blogs out there to read, and I only want to blog about things that are fun and encouraging, so that I'm not wasting your time when you come visit.

Along these lines, dear Kim gave me a little pep talk last week, and I think we came up with a solution for bringing back weekly Sew & Tell. More details to come. THIS Friday! So get your projects and posts ready to link up.

I have been sewing quite a bit actually. It's amazing when you don't blog as much you can get a lot more things finished! I wanted to share with you today what I chose for my month of my quilt bee, BeeTweet. My month was August and I have had some Christmas prints laying around~ I actually won them in a giveaway a couple of years ago.

I sent my group this inspiration mosaic for what I wanted. I was thinking, whimsical and Christmas (obviously).

I was late (of course) sending my fabric out and they are starting to trickle back in. These are the 3 I've gotten so far, and I'm so excited to get the rest!

I'm thinking of a square in square type of sashing. I hope it will be as cute in my head...

See you soon! Sew & Tell on Friday!!

of bee blocks, hurricanes, head colds, and excuses

2011-09-06T14:56:00.000-04:00

There is a reason I wasn't going to join any more bees or swaps this year. You want to know why? I am TERRIBLE with deadlines! I can blame it on the power being out during the hurricane, getting my first child ready for kindergarten, this horrible cold I've had for a week now, or downright fear of doing blocks I've never done before. And then there's the keeping up with 3 kids and trying to keep my house clean.

Okay, those all played a part, but the real excuse? Procrastination. And I feel REALLY bad about it. So to dear Darci and John, I'm SO SORRY!!!

I've actually had these stars done for a while. I love doing them - we used this tutorial. I love the green background she chose. It's a bold choice and one that will work well with all of her fun bright things!

I haven't sent them off yet, because Darci and I are doing another little separate swap and I have yet to finish up my part of that. UGH. The guilt. She already sent me what she made. AND IT. IS. AMAZING. I can't wait to show it to you.

Now John (aka Quilt Dad) asked for spider web blocks. And I. Was. Scared. But once I read the tutorial and started sewing, I realized they aren't much different from a string block. And I love the way they turned out!!

As always, I put off starting them because I was afraid of ruining them! Especially since he sent this gorgeous Tula Pink Flutterby fabric which is out of print.

Once these are all put together it is going to be stunning. I can't wait to see it.

So now that school is getting in full swing, I'm at the end of this cold, and I don't think we have a hurricane hitting us this week, I might actually be able to get some more sewing done. Let's hope so!

post hurricane recap

2011-08-31T22:44:00.000-04:00

Hey Everyone! We made it through the storm mostly unscathed. Other than no sleep or power for 2 days and a post hurricane cold that has beat me down for the last two days we're doing well.

I snuck out to the beach on Friday morning as the surf was supposed to start getting rougher. It wasn't as impressive as I'd have liked, but the waves were pretty consistent and big. It's hard to really see in the pictures but there are more beach photos on Flickr.

We lost power just after 10 Friday night. At 11 the tornado sirens went off. So we brought everyone downstairs and they thought it was a party. The kids were all up for at least another hour. And babylouwho decided to babble to herself well into another hour after that. The winds started howling about 3 AM. It was hard to sleep. I'm so glad we had our emergency radio and Facebook on mrlouwho's smartphone. They kept us up to speed throughout the day.

Since we didn't have power we didn't see any news coverage so I had to go out and see for myself what the damage was.

There was a lot of this Saturday evening as I drove around our neighborhood.

I thought our yard looked bad, but we just had a smattering of pine boughs and a couple large branches down. The street behind us had trees down at about every other house. The storm was only a CAT 1, but with the amount of rain it brought and the fact that the storm moved slowly through the area meant a lot of shallow rooted trees were simply water logged and blew over. You can see more photos of what I saw in another Flickr set.

This was a nice sight as it was the first light we saw after the storm moved through. It was about 7:00 Saturday night.

We spent most of the afternoon on Sunday cleaning up our yard. There was debris everywhere.

The kids helped out quite a bit. Even if the tools were way bigger than they were.

We were exhausted and HOT by the time we were finished.

We were VERY happy when the power came back on that night so we had a cool house to sleep in. The kids were so excited that we thought they were going to jump through the ceiling when the lights all came on!

Then I caught mrlouwho's cold. I'll spare you the gorey details but let's just say by Tuesday afternoon I was slammed in bed without any energy to do anything. Good thing my kids behaved themselves and mrlouwho came home early with a pizza. I'm feeling much much better today. Maybe now I'll be able to finish up some things I've been working on. I might even have some down time to blog about them! It's nice having sisterlouwho in school. She loves it and I've regained a little bit more time during the day.

See you soon!

batten down the hatches!

2011-08-26T10:54:00.000-04:00

You might have heard about our little friend Irene who's coming, uninvited, to visit this weekend. I drove down to the beach today to check out the pre-storm surf and this is what the cottages on the beach looked like.

So, I'm hoping to get some sewing done. I like being housebound...I just hope our power isn't out for too long.

Maybe I'll even get some blogging done. Who knows.

See you on the other side of the storm!

remember when?

2011-08-04T11:54:00.001-04:00

I used to blog all the time? Well maybe I'll get back to that once school starts up and I have one less little person at home during the day.

Until then, well, it may be a little sporadic.

But I did start her on her first sewing project last week.

Sew & Tell - Live! Utah edition

2011-07-29T11:28:00.001-04:00

Did you know that Sew & Tell on this little blog here was born between two blogging friends who needed the motivation and deadline to finish some projects? The whole idea is that as you all joined up with a link of what you had finished and we all shared and commented and ooh and ahhed over each other's work - it would be like my virtual living room where you all came over to discuss all things sewing.

So, I've often lamented how I wish you could come to my house for real and we could sit and chat. Luckily for me my mom lives in Utah and so do a lot of the friends I've made here. When an opportunity for my whole family to be together this summer surfaced we had to make plans to go (much to my dismay at the thought of traveling alone with 3 littles). I immediately emailed Pink (aka pinksuedeshoe) and told her we were finally going to get to meet and hang out! Then she offered to throw me a party. A blogging party! A BLOGGING AND SEW AND TELL PARTY!!! I was so excited!!

It turned out to be as fabulous to meet my people (as Amy S. - Diary of a Quilter put it) and share some projects. And eat some delicious treats.

lime pie cakes courtesy of pink - see recipe here.

and drink some Diet Coke (to stay awake...)

and see Pink in her other element:

It was so fabulous in fact that we got together again a few nights later so some others could come who missed the first night. Nadine of Material Girl's Quilts was so awesome to let us come to her shop and eat our Cafe Rio (YUUUUUMMMMM) in her back room and shop until past 11. She's like the fairy fabric godmother! I think I'll have to share that night in another post...

I've been trying to figure out how to share all the goodness with you, so I've decided to just go the inundate-you-with-pictures route. Hope you don't mind!

To start out - here we all are at Pink's house:

From left to right we are Amy, Diary of a Quilter, Amy, Vintage Fern, Erin, Two More Seconds, Leigh, Leedle Deedle, Elizabeth, Such a Sew and Sew, Vicki, Sew Inspired, Pink and me.

We went around the group and shared what we like about blogging, how we met our husbands, and a project. Entertaining for sure!

Now a disclaimer, most of these pictures were taken while people were talking. So ignore the talking faces and refer to smiling faces above. :)

Here is Elizabeth's snowball quilt. I was amazed at the detail in the quilting. That she did on her own little machine.

And Vicki sells the pattern for this adorable Ruffle Crush quilt. I love the colors!

Erin showed us a block for her month of the bee we are in together, Bee Tweet.

Erin is the co-coordinator of The Sewing Summit. I'll be there - will you? I can't wait!

I loved and was impressed by the handwork of Leigh's hexagon project.

There are more pictures of this (and the other projects) in my Flickr set.

My cute mom came to join in the fun and she brought this little tessalation quilt that she recently finished.

Ironically enough, the charm pack she used for this was purchased during my last visit at the shop where Amy S. works!

Pink shared her awesomely pink hair and quilt.

Amy R. brought two quilt tops. This cute one from a mystery quilt along she participated in:

and this one, from the first year of the bee we were in together. It's wonky log cabins out of vintage sheets! so cute! and of course, we love the birds around here.

One of my favorite things about the evening was finally seeing Pink's creative space! I always love the pictures she takes in there. Here are Leigh and Erin enjoying it:

and pilfering it!

They may or may not have arranged some fabric swaps while in there.

It really was great to meet all of these ladies and spend the evening talking fabric together. The best part was the initial meeting where I had to match up real life faces with pictures I've seen!

So I shared the skirt I was wearing that night, and I finished yet another one yesterday. Aren't you sick of seeing them though?

Okay, I'm wearing it right now, so here's an iPod photo for you:

I have a great idea to take pictures of all the skirts we've been making around here all together. We'll see if it happens...

What did you finish this month? And of course - if you were able to help someone with a project, do share!

A few guidelines for sew & tell:

2. One linky per person.

3. Link to your specific post. (See here for permalink instructions - or email me.)

4. Link back here with a link or a button.

5. Be sure to visit and leave comments on other's posts!

vacation all i ever wanted...

2011-07-22T08:51:00.001-04:00

I just got back from a trip to see my mom who happens to live in ~~Utah~~ fabric shop mecca. I took a bunch of projects with me, but didn't get as many finished as I'd hoped. I was too busy hanging out with family, friends and sewing bloggers in real life! It was so fun! But I'm afraid 2 weeks wasn't quite long enough.

I have over 500 pictures to go through, so I'll leave you with a few snapshots of some of the things we did.

It was my mom's birthday while we were there. So I made a little cake. Lemon cake mix, lemon curd filling (recipe here) and cream cheese frosting. And yes, that is basil on the top - just for decoration. The cake was a hit! The boys (and there were a lot of them) ended up cleaning up the leftover lemon curd out of the bowl with their spoons.

I finished another one of these tops. This time I made it a bit longer, and I like the length better. I also used bias tape to finish the neckline like it says too. Once again I used elastic thread to finish off the sleeves. I also learned that I like my serger (a White) better than my mom's Hobby Lock. It's probably because I know my machine better.

I finally got the back of this quilt figured out. I was hoping to quilt it on my aunt's longarm while I was there but I didn't get it put together. Luckily I have an awesome mom who said she would do it for me! THANKS MOM!!

My sister-in-law made this cute dress out of a size 14 thrifted skirt. She just took chunks out of the sides and then sewed some pleats in the top and added the straps. Genius!

I tried to spend as many nights as I could watching the sunsets from the back deck. Seriously gorgeous.

There are some other fun things I was able to do, people I met and fabric I bought. I'll share more soon!

flashback, retro, vintage... whatever you want to call it

2011-07-12T08:15:00.002-04:00

My mom made me this dress when I was about the same age as my oldest is now.

I didn't know she had held onto it but it found it's way to my house a year or so ago.

My oldest found it in the closet and wants to wear it every day!

It's true, we might look a little bit alike. I really think it's that dress that inspired me to make this one for her earlier this year.

Although in true amylouwho fashion, the one I made has an elastic neck and no zippers or bias tape finishing. The one my mom made? Zippers, trim, bias finished edge, ruffle, you get the idea.

And I really ought to get a picture of her in the new one before she outgrows it, no?

teacher gifts

2011-07-10T16:57:00.000-04:00

I whipped these dishmats up the night before the last day of school. I love a quick, easy and unique teacher gift. In another life when I taught school, the handmade heartfelt gifts were always my favorite. I hoped my daughters PreK teachers would feel the same way.

I reeeeeeeeeeaally wish I'd ordered some more of this Meadowsweet 2. Sandi Henderson, if you ever read this, I love you for making such amazing fabric.

And thanks again Kim for the amazing chenille. If fabric addiction were illegal we'd both be in jail. Kim is my 'supplier'.

This time I put some cotton batting in the middle to give it some heft and absorbency. Then a little stippling and a ~~super easy~~ rustic serged edge.

And you don't really need any wrapping paper for presentation.

sew & tell - july 2011

2011-07-01T08:15:00.000-04:00

Happy July! I know it's a long weekend for those celebrating Independance Day!

I've been on a sewing binge lately and realized that if I'm sewing a lot, I'm not blogging very much. And if I'm blogging a lot, I'm not sewing very much. This is a tricky balance since I try to blog about what I sew... so I'll spread out some of the projects I've been working on and just share a few of my favorites today.

I blogged about this skirt I made a few weeks ago. I AM in LOVE and would wear it every day if I could get away with it. So the next best thing? Make more! Here's the finished product of skirt #2.

And I have another one cut out ready to sew!

And seriously, these skirts are so contagious! SO contagious in fact that the lovely Jessica, from diaper clutch and super sweet homecoming/reunion photo fame begged me to help her make some. Okay, maybe she didn't beg, more like I insisted she could do it and she did!

I've said this before, one thing I love about sewing with other people is that I learn about fabric choices. Everyone's vision is different and Jessica picked out some fabric that I never would have thought to use. AND WOW. I LOVE the final result.

We went to our LQS and she picked out some adorable pieces. One Amy Butler (did you think she would be able to escape my influence?)

and Wonderland, anyone?

I worked with this fabric a couple of years ago and made a bag out of it. I guess I had it pigeonholed into bag or quilt only fabric. But I love it in a skirt. In fact, I think we are going to trade skirts for a week or so. :)

My mom and I get to spend some time together for the next couple of weeks. I hope to have some more fun stuff to show you! It's always fun to sew with her.

What did you finish this month? And of course - if you were able to help someone with a project, do share!

PLEASE READ THIS POST IF YOU ARE NEW TO LINKING UP! :)

NEW RULES FOR LINKING UP! Please read carefully. The delete monster will be eating non-compliant links.

2. One linky per person. (please put multiple projects in one post.)

3. Link to your specific post. (See here for permalink instructions - or email me.)

4. Link back here with a link or a button.

5. Be sure to visit and leave comments on other's posts!

sew & tell tomorrow!

2011-06-30T21:49:00.001-04:00

My serger has been getting a workout.

and my husband bought me a really nice ~~dining room~~ cutting table when we moved into this house.

He was out of town last week, so I took over the table. ;0)
I've been busy so I have a few things to share. Hope you do too!
see you in the morning!

a very pink day

2011-06-23T10:17:00.001-04:00

Did you know that today is National Pink Day? Well if you follow pinksuedeshoe, you already know that. Pink, as I like to call her, loves the aforementioned color. So much so that each year on her blog she goes ALL out celebrating pink. She's having a pink giveaway all week and then today will be filled with pink posts and all sorts of good fun. Not to mention that if you live in Utah you can go The Pinkalicious Party she is throwing where you can partake in pink cupcakes, pink raspberry lemonade, and catch her with her newly dyed pink locks! (or click on that link and you can see a photo)

If you know Pink at all you know that in addition to the color pink she loves to thrift (pyrex and vintage sheets specifically). Yesterday, I wore my new shirt that I made (in pink!) and went thrifting. I found some pyrex, although faded, and some vintage sheets! I couldn't stop thinking that I was having a very Pink day.

Here's a peek at my loot:

awesome green vase, hand stitched linen napkins, pink (faded) pyrex pie plate, sheets

The aqua sheet is so smooth and soft! I can't wait to use it on the back of a quilt! And I'm pretty sure they are vintage - look at the labels.

I bought this pattern a few weeks back at that big blue box store (don't judge!). I've been looking for a replacement pattern for the Built by Wendy 3835 peasant type top (it's out of print).

And remember you can't judge a pattern by it's cover. I was looking at the lines and this one looked the most like a shirt I had recently bought at Target. I wanted to try some elastic thread for the sleeve gathering too.

I wasn't sold on the fact that I was going to like this shirt, so I made up a muslin first. I actually used the muslin from my ball gown skirt and made a mock up and decided it would work. When I saw this swiss dot at Hancock's (I was shocked!) I knew I had to have it for this shirt. It's easy and comfy like a t-shirt but looks a lot nicer.

The sleeves called for a casing but I used elastic thread for the first time to gather the sleeves. I LOVE it!

That thread is SO smart!! It knows just the right amount to gather. Amazing.

I know I always like to see the clothing on people when they blog about it. So here's a shot my 5 year old took (again) this time with my heavy camera. She did pretty good, but cropped off part of my head, so I had to fix it a bit. And by a bit, I mean I cut the rest of my head off. I wasn't wearing any makeup, and who wants to see THAT anyway?

just a note about that awesome haze in the background - no that's not from some cool lens creating a great effect. It's actually smoke from a local wildfire. It smells like a campsite in my house, and not in a good way.

I held up the shirt to a couple of other shirts I like and made this one about the same length. After looking at this picture, I think I might lengthen the next one just a bit more.

I'm going to be honest here, I don't really like how I look in the shirt in the photo - but some random person told me they liked it while I was shopping at Goodwill. (is that a good thing?) It's comfy though and cuter than just another t-shirt.

If you are nervous about sewing clothing this would be a GREAT beginner pattern. I cut out the 3 pieces the other day with the intent to put them aside for later. Then I thought - hey! There's only like 6 seams to sew! So I whipped up the major part of the shirt in about 20 minutes. The neck, sleeves and hem did take a little bit longer.

Hope you have a pinkalicious day!

the summer of no pants - i'm in!

2011-06-15T09:15:00.000-04:00

Sara blogged about this summer of no pants thing a few weeks ago. I already had it in my mind to make some easy breezy comfy skirts for the summer. But once again, the fear of cutting into my fabric took hold and I couldn't bring myself to do it, worried that I might ruin the fabric and hate the skirt. But then I finally decided even if the skirt wasn't just right, I loved the fabric enough to compensate.

And now that's it finished and I LOVE it, I wonder what took me so long!!

thanks to my 5 yo for taking this picture. :)

I ended up using this pattern that I bought a few weeks ago.

It doesn't look like anything exciting from the cover, but I've decided you have to just look at the lines and the construction and imagine it with better fabric. This is how I address most pattern shopping lately. In fact, my favorite thing to do is find patterns that are similar to things I already own and then adjust the pattern to match.

So for this skirt, I removed the bottom 2 tiers and adjusted the remaining 3 tiers to be the length I wanted. My favorite thing? It has elastic in the waist so it's comfy and easy. I just measured my hips to make sure the first tier was big enough. I used my serger again to finish off the seams and it looks so great. I love my serger!!

I've wanted to blog about it for a couple of weeks now. Part of the reason it took me so long is 1) I've been wearing it non-stop B) I had to figure out how to get a decent picture of it and lastly) I have lost my blogging mo-jo a bit. Hoping to remedy that soon.

I also found this linen blend fabric at Joann's to make another skirt.

I just bought the batiste the other day for a lining. I've been toying with the idea of a different type of skirt, but the more I think about it, I love the drape of the first one so much, I think I'll just go with it!

don't judge me. i couldn't help myself!

2011-06-13T14:08:00.000-04:00

So back at the beginning of the year, I opted out of continuing on into a 3rd year with my quilting bee. I was feeling overwhelmed and under-productive. And was always LATE. Ugh. I was beating myself up over it.

A few months ago Darci of Stitches and Scissors asked me if I wanted to be a part of a new bee she was starting up! I was hesitant, knowing my weaknesses and time constraints, but the group of people looked so fun, I couldn't say no.

The bee was named after a discussion with a lot of the group members on Twitter. Hence the bee's name: Bee Tweet. I'm still clueless when it comes to Twitter. I hesitate to get too involved as I feel like I've already got an IV line from the internet into my brain...

So here's my first block for the month of May. Erin asked for a variation on the wonky log cabin. It was nice to change it up a bit and I think her quilt is going to be scrapalicious!

sew & tell - june 2011

2011-06-03T08:15:00.000-04:00

Hello sew & tellers!

First off, I would like to sincerely apologize for slacking last week and not getting the post up. I'm hoping you'll forgive me and just link up your stuff you had planned (and maybe even posted already) today!

Do you remember the challenge I gave you in April? To find someone who needs a little encouragement to start sewing? Or a buddy to help motivate you? Someone you can bond with over fabric and creating with it? And then to get together with them and sew? I hope you took the opportunity to do that!

My friend (and luckily neighbor) Sara has been sewing most of her life. When she gets a project on the mind, she's very focused and super productive! I would have half my to-do list crossed off if I was 1/2 as efficient as her!

Anyway, she is having a baby in the next week or so and had some fabrics picked out with which she wanted to make an easy and quick baby quilt. She asked if I would help her figure out what to do and teach her how to put on a binding and stitch it down by hand.

This was the beautiful mess we made the day we got together. She was working on her quilt and I finally got my living room curtains started.

messes always look better in black and white.

We went for an easy strip quilt. She just started cutting strips to sew together of different widths. There is regular cotton, flannel and minky in there. I think it turned out quite adorable!

front and back

She took it home and machine quilted (also a first! and without a walking foot - brave girl) about 1/4 inch on either side of each horizontal seam. And was ready to bind it that same night!

close ups

I roughly showed her how to do the binding and she went home. The next day I dropped off some thread for her to stitch down the binding. When I talked to her the the day after that to see if she needed any help, she had already finished it! Barely 2 days from start to finish! See what I mean? Focused.

extreme close-up!

and look at how even her stitches are! She did such a great job.

love a folded quilt.

So, it took me a while, but I did finally finish up 2 of my curtain panels last week. I have 4 more to make, and only enough fabric for one more..... But I think I like them.

I'll take a picture of the whole room once I get the rest of them made. If I spent as much time working on these as I've spent thinking about them, I'd be way ahead of myself!

Thanks Sara for coming over and making me work on these! I'm glad to be this much closer to this project being finished. We had fun chatting and sewing together. I can't wait to meet her new little baby and see her wrapped up in her quilt.

Who did you sew with? What's your story? Did someone motivate you? Did you have an challenge with a blogging friend to get something finished? Tell us!!

PLEASE READ THIS POST IF YOU ARE NEW TO LINKING UP! :)

NEW RULES FOR LINKING UP! Please read carefully. The delete monster will be eating non-compliant links.

2. One linky per person. (please put multiple projects in one post.)

3. Link to your specific post. (See here for permalink instructions - or email me.)

4. Link back here with a link or a button.

5. Be sure to visit and leave comments on other's posts!