Halloween 2014!

I hope everyone had a yummy Halloween! We celebrated the whole month of October. I honestly don't remember another year when we had quite so much going on. There were parties at Liberty Girls, co-ops, Girl Scouts, pre-school and trunk-or-treats. We had field trips to the pumpkin patch, to the farm and CornBelly's. We had multiple sessions of cookie decorating, decoration making and "Boo"ing the neighbors. I am a die-hard Halloween fan, but honestly by the time the date actually rolled around, I was pretty tired.

We celebrated with chili and cornbread (a family tradition!) and my Mum heard about this yummy candy corn colored drink. I know she heard the recipe on a local news show, but I can not find the blogger. This one over at DessertNowDinnerLater is very close to how she created it. The kids went bananas!

And no one wanted to pose for cute pictures. Seriously! That's what this holiday is about - lots of pictures! Neither of my girls ended up dressing like Elsa or Anna. My Kiddo was a sweet Cinderella, Wild Child was Ariel and Little Man was Jack Skellington. I didn't sew any of their costumes. I accept no guilt! Maybe next year I will make them, but this year we let Costco take care of it and had fun spending time together.

But I did sew one costume... I'm a huge fan of Tim Burton and when I saw Little Man's skelly costume, I knew I had to be Sally. 

I'm a bit tired of all the shenanigans in this picture! I will post more in depth pictures of how I created my costume later this week.

Here is the motley crew after trick-or-treating. Oi! This has been a crazy sugar crashing week.. Time to raid the loot and munch on some chocolate!

Liberated Quiltmaking - Fall Abundance

I finally finished "Fall Abundance" - I love it so very much. There were many hours spent creating in this liberated quiltmaking style. It was a labor of love and I kinda hope it will stay around for a bit. But, if you love it as much as I do, it is my very first item listed on Big Cartel .

I tried a new quilting motif - at a friend's suggestion, I created a meandering leaf pattern.

A liberated Modern Maple..

 The back is wholecloth fabric from Riley Blake and was bound in a dark chocolate feather fabric.

It's so beautiful, even our WolfMan wanted to snuggle in it..

Loving the crunchy leaves, shorter days and crisp air..

Linking up to Amy's Blogger Quilt Festival

xo,
Jennifer

Liberated Halloween Baby Quilt

I love to make a few things for the kids for the holidays. I had planned to make the girls' Halloween skirts and baby boy a pair of pants. Unfortunately, the first skirt pattern I used was written with incorrect measurements. I had to scrap the skirt and in the end, I didn't have enough fabric to make baby boy's pants. The agony of being the third child..

Rather than toss the scrapped skirt in the trash can, I decided that I would cut it apart and create a stroller quilt in my favorite improv style. Makes perfect sense in high insight, he can use the blanket daily and get much more use out of it.

I used the Riley Blake fabric as focal points and improv pieced around them. They are so cute and get a ton of attention. I love sweet Halloween fabric that is not overwhelmingly scary.

I've seen a few quilting friends rave about how fun striped binding is. Luckily I had the perfect fabric for it and I love it! It is just the right, fun touch to the quilt.

So when life or sewing gives you lemons, it's time to make some adorable lemonade!

Liberated Fall Quilt Process and Other Halloween Fun

One of the all time favorite quilts in our home is the Halloween one I created last year. Regardless of the time of the year, that one gets pulled out a lot. And as a Halloween nut, I figured I should make some more fall quilts to enjoy. I decided to shelve all those WIPS I've been trying to finish and dive into some liberated quilting fun! Here is a bit of my process..

 Lots of yummy orange scraps..

The makings of the first liberated pumpkin quilt block..

A little trial and error. I hated that stem.. thought it made my pumpkin look like a orange..

Playing with the idea of stripe borders..

More blocks done.. Filling in with improv cream blocks that I started months ago..

Inspired by the Modern Maples on my Instagram feed and decided to try a few liberated ones..

And it's coming together.. Almost done. Just need to finish the bottom row of piecing, quilting and binding. Hoping to add it to the Etsy store before the end of September. It will be a smallish quilt - perfect wall hanging or the autumn baby due any day.

Now that my parents have moved here, it is such a treat to have crafty nights with my Mum. She treated me to this gorgeous wreath class at Thanksgiving Pointe. So much fun and I love having new decor on our front door. The technique was super easy and wouldn't this be in great in other motifs? Maybe a creamy, vintage Christmas?


I've been busy working on the liberated fall quilt and a number of projects for a book due out next year. The kiddos have grown tired of hearing about how none of it was for them. This past week I surprised the girls with some new fun skirts..

And a pattern I used online had some very off measurements, sadly I had to scrap one of the skirts and try something new. I love this little liberated piecing in the skirt and it makes my kiddo smile. Make lemonade, people, especially when it's designer fabric that is at stake!

I hope it is cooling down where you are and your thoughts are full of pumpkin spice lattes, jumps through crunchy leaves and enjoying the start of the holidays..

XO,
Jennifer

Back to School, Back to Work

Phew! What a summer.. We've had such a wonderful couple of months getting to know our little bundle of joy, Tommy. He is a pure delight - sweet, mild tempered with the cutest laugh. Here he was a month ago - time is flying by.. Don't you just want to pinch those cute, little chubby legs?!

We decided to hold off on homeschooling till next summer. Since Tommy is our last baby, I wanted to spend this precious year with some quiet time with him. Luckily the girls are wild about their school and we were eager to return.

I returned to my work as a librarian about a month ago and this week have been able to return to my work as an artist. I just finished my first solo art show and sold one of my favorite pieces, "The Raven". I also signed my 4th book collaborator contract. I'm so excited and honored to have a number of fun patterns coming out this year and in 2014. The first book is out right now and available on Amazon, Incite, Dreams Realized: The Best of Mixed Media.

It feels wonderful to be surrounded by my amazing, loving family and have the ability to return to the art world as well. I want to thank you for your patience this summer with my blogging break. I'm ready to come back and can't wait to share with you!

For now, I'm off to ignore my pile of WIPS in the corner and start a new Halloween quilt. This one will probably make its way to Etsy too..

WIPS this week

Near the end of last month it dawned on me that in the space of two weeks I had Baby's 2nd birthday, Sewing Summit, and a big Disney trip. All wonderful! Except I'm that crazy loon that thinks each event needs all kinds of handcrafted items. Gah!

So here are my WIPS for the week, note I have not even started on the Disney stuff ( don't mind me hyperventilating over here..)

For Sewing Summit.. I made my Weekender bag..

My zipped pouch for the swap and my nametag..

What's left? Well I have two days to finish a camera strap and some fun clothes. We'll see what is accomplished..

I've been slowly working on this quilt for a bit. Playing with string blocks and the idea of a deconstructed chevron. In the interest of time though this may end up being a runner or a quilt with *lots* of negative space..

Working on my next collage, which will actually be a series of sugar skulls. P.S. If the skull theme is not your taste, have no fears.. I'll be moving on to my next series in November ;o) I know it's not for everyone, but it is something I've wanted to play with for awhile now..

And lastly, working on completing my second table runner for the holidays made with circle appliques. The ornaments were fun and I love their whimsy.

Starting to wonder how many seasonal runners I will be able to design with just the circles!

What are you working on?

What's Orange and Black and Comfy??

What's orange and black and comfy??

My first Halloween lap size quilt and throw cushion!

This was originally destined for my Etsy shop..but these Halloween fabrics are my most very favorite EVER. I couldn't part with it..

I did not plan making this matching pillow.. what happened? Well... this was my first large quilt on the midarm and I underestimated how large the back fabric needs to be.. So while the top and batting were all quilted.. one whole row did not have adequate backing. What to do? I was pretty annoyed.. I adore this fabric and I didn't want to toss it. So I had my first try at improv piecing and I love it! It has a fleece back just like the quilt, so I'm pretty confident it is the comfiest throw pillow ever.

Fleece back you say? Yup! This is the back of the quilt. While fleece may not be modern or the hippest back to a quilt, it is comfy and durable with two little ones that like to curl up in it with juice boxes. Do you like the traveling star? My first time with it..it took awhile to grasp the motion, but it ended being a lot of fun.

Are you making some Halloween quilty goodness??

Guest Posting at Desert Chica!

Today I'm sharing my thoughts on how to tackle kids costumes for Halloween!

Be sure to stop my very best friend's blog, Desert Chica Ramblings..

Hooked on Sewing - Halloween Coasters

I'm so excited to dive back into my "hooked on sewing" projects. The latest one I created is listed now in my Etsy shop. I have wanted to make my reversible coasters for awhile. The backs are crocheted rounds with hand appliqued fabric on top. Perfect coasters!

I love these coasters are soft..with two young kiddos I'm always trying to create beautiful items for the home that can not be easily broken or ruined.. Most of our ceramic coasters were damaged in the last four years..

These coasters won't scratch your table, won't break on tile, or hurt little one's teeth if they decide to trying chewing on them.. Not that my kids ever tried to chew a coaster before..

Lots of more Halloween goodies coming soon! Have you started making projects for the fall season yet?

My Mojo, My Kiddo, and My Latest Quilts

No event or person should have the power to strip us of our joy. I was losing that joy at a rapid pace this past summer. There is something to be said for determination and seeking big, HUGE things. There is also something to be said in the quiet joys that feed our soul. I'm working on finding a balance between the two. It is safe to say my mojo is back. I'm hungry to quilt, to design, to share in the hopes of inspiring anyone that finds this blog. Thank you immensely for sticking around.. Really, thank you...

Kiddo is finally back to her crazy self. It was a rough recovery.. Ugh..Just in time to start her last year of conventional schooling. Wait, what? Yup, we have committed to homeschooling. I'm so excited to offer my girls this amazing new path. I'm not sure how much I'll be blogging about it, but if anyone is interested in learning more - please shout!

And on to some eye candy..

The finished baby Tetris quilt.. So much fun and it was pretty quick with the Accuquilt square die. The polka dot fabric came from a MQG swap last year. I love how my fellow quilting ladies are shared in this project.

 The polka dot binding makes me a little giddy.. My super talented friend, Ebony Love, has an amazing YouTube video on how to cut bias binding with the AccuQuilt - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mItQREJSs30 She also has an amazing die cut book coming out soon!!

Here is a picture of the back. This is the first project I quilted on Fiona (my mid-arm).. and yes, I will finally post about her later this week.. Yay!

And on to my "Bricks and Blocks" Halloween quilt.. Oh I want to wrap up in this with a pumpkin latte outside in the crisp fall air. I changed the layout a ton of times. If anyone wants a tutorial, please speak up.. It is a simple quilt that is fabulous to showcase some fabric favorites.

 Like these tidbits..Seriously.. Hands down, my favorite Halloween prints ever.. That is saying something...

 The top is done and will go on Fiona later this week to be quilted with a light grey fleece back for extra snuggly fun.

Both quilts will be going up in the Etsy shop later this month, but if the Halloween one doesn't sell by October 15th..then it is mine baby..oh yeah!

Lots more posts this week and no more blogging breaks for the foreseeable future. I even have a super easy booster seat tutorial coming in a day or so.

Lots of love,
Me