My Favorite "New" Fabric Designer: BBS Designs, by Beena Singhal

I've been following (trying to not stalk) a very talented woman. Beena Singhal is a graphic artist that also loves to quilt. And she has been working hard to create a delightful line of gorgeous fabric, through her studio “BBS Designs”, which has just recently been released for purchase on Spoonflower.com.

Beena's line of fabric is colorful, creative, and definitely unique. I think it will work well for quilting and other projects. And you know that any project you use Beena's beautiful fabrics will be unique.



I love the colors & designs of Beena's Beach castle and matching fabrics, she appropriate calls "Beach Days".



Beena has created some beautiful artistic panels that would certainly make a beautiful quilt, as well as other projects.

Beena has created the most striking pineapple designs I've ever seen.



And a lovely dragonfly design.


She created this very unique and beautiful coffee panel design.

Doesn't this beautiful pink fabric make you feel like you are in exotic Paris?





Again, Beena currently has her fabric designs available for purchase thru Spoonflower.com. While these fabrics may be higher priced than fabrics in a typical quilt store, remember that these are unique fabrics that are also artistic fabrics. What ever you make with these fabrics will be unique, and I'm sure will be delightful. So, I hope you'll go check out Beena's beautiful fabrics at Spoonflower, and I hope you'll share with me what you create using her new line of artistic fabrics.

http://www.spoonflower.com/welcome

Beena also writes a delightful blog, which I also enjoy reading very much.

Happy Halloween

I hope you have a Spooktacular Halloween. 

As I don't have any decorations out for Halloween I've decided to whip out some placemats using EQ6 to help create a festive design.

Do you think this will work?

EQ6 is so fun to play with and so much easier to use than the early versions.  Don't you just love it?

Finding Unexplored Tool and/or Learning Opportunities

How do you reverse sew?

Do you ever wonder about tools that you may have never played with?  Or do you have insights on tools that  you think others may not be aware of? Either way,  I'd love to hear your thoughts.

For now, I want to share with you insights on a tool that I have heard about, for awhile, but haven't had a reason to play with until recently.

I've know other quilters who love using a mustache trimmer to help with seam ripping (aka reverse sewing).  I was just happy to continue to use my trusty seam ripper, when I needed it.  But recently I attended  a machine embroidery class, by Joan McKenna.   Joan was sharing various tools that she liked and when she shared that she uses a mustache trimmer for machine embroidery, I knew I had a good test case. 

I was recently recruited to make 25 aprons for volunteers to wear at a fundraiser.   While I"m embarrassed to admit that I machine embroidered "two" aprons on the wrong side, I feel it is important to share insights on tools that I learned help to "reverse" machine embroider these aprons.

Joan McKenna let me test her mustache trimmer to reverse stich my machine embroidery on an apron.  While I found I needed to periodically use my traditional seam ripper and small embroidery scissors, to help pull threads on on each side of my apron, I found that using the mustache trimmer to shave off threads on both sides of the apron really helped to remove the very dense machine embroidery stitching and not damage the apron material. 

This tool worked so well I was able to re-stitchout the embroidery design, on the correct side of the apron, and it is difficult to tell that there was ever a problem.

My conclusion:  Having a mustache trimmer is truly a great tool for quilting, machine embroidery and sewing enthusiasts.  Yes, a traditional seam ripper is a great tool....but a mustache trimmer really, really, really helps to expedite the painful process of ripping out threads.  I've also concluded that this learning experience is another reason why it is good to take classes.  There is always something to learn!

For those in the San Diego County area, I want to share insights on some new classes when Joan McKenna is teaching in the SD Adult Ed program.

MACHINE EMBROIDERY MADE EASY:  Thursdays, 1:30-5:30pm, West City Campus, Nov 6th 2009 - January 22nd - 2010. Joan also has new classes starting for Basic Sewing and Pattern Making. For more info on Joan's classes chec out  http://www.sewnproductsdiva.blogspot.com/  or contact Joan McKenna directly via email mckenna@gothere.com or call her at  619-388-4955

If you are interested in reading my prior posts on Joan McKenna,  click here. 

ArtBin Tote Folio & Mat & Ruler Tote

I love quality products that help me organize and carry projects and supplies to workshops and retreats.  I'm a packrat and always overpacking, pushing storage and totes to their maximum capacity and weight.  Thus, I really want to emphasize that I have high expectations.  I don't like buying products that handles break, straps break, or seams rip and I find my treasures spilling out.

I recently learned about the ArtBin tote Folio {photo above; ArtBin Tote Folio black/grey} and wanted to share my insights with you.  

This tote {photo above; ArtBin Mat & Ruler Tote black/white tic fabric} is made of high quality materials workmanship. 

- The main storage pocket is a large zippered  compartment holds up to 20"x 26" x 1 1/2";  

this section is perfect for holding large cutting mats, projects, etc.

- Front lower pocket to easily hold long rulers with a flap that secures with velcro measures 6"24".

 - Front 12x12" pocket with zipper, perfect for rulers, quilt blocks and supplies.

- Two additional front zippered pocks with zippers for holding scissors, rotary cutters and various tools. 

- Back side zippered pouch hold up to 15.5" x 15.5" items; perfect for rulers, projects, books, patterns, class handouts and other items.

- Back side zippered pouch holds up to 12.5"x12.5"  pocket with zipper:  perfect for rulers, projects, books, patterns, class handouts and other items.

Carrying handles and adjustable shoulder strap.  I found this bag to be very comfortable to carry when fully packed.

This tote {photo above; ArtBin Mat & Ruler Tote black/white tic fabric} also has two options to carry it:  1) nice handle with quality straps and flexible user friendly handgrip, or 2) adjustable shoulder stap of quality material with comfortable shouldergrip.

I want to compliment ArtBin for designing an exceptional tote.  It is made of great quality materials, stitched with great quality, and is the absolutely best tote that I've ever seen designed for quilting and sewing enthusiasts.  I also think this bag would work well for many scrapbookers and various crafters. 

I'm also amazed that this high quality bag is available for such a reasonable price.  It is an "Exceptional" value and an item I view is a "must have" for any quilter or crafter that takes classes, workshops or attends sew-cials.  It is also an item that I view would make a lovely gift for any quilting or sewing enthusiast.  Given this time of year maybe you could forward a copy of this article to your personal Santa, to suggest they bring you an ArtBin Tote Folio this coming Christmas.  But then, you may want to simply just buy one on your own.  It is a wonderful bag that I'm sure you will enjoy!

ArtBin has many fantastic products available for purchase via their online store.
 http://www.artbin.com/

The ArtBin Tote Folio can be purchased by clicking here http://art.artbin.com/softside_storage.asp#totefolio

The ArtBin Mat / Ruler tote can be purchased by clicking here:
http://craft.artbin.com/quiltnsew_softside.asp

Comfort & Joy

"Comfort and Joy 14 Quilts for Christmas", by Mary Hickey is a delightful book.  This book offers several designs in colors perfect for the holidays, yet most of these designs would work any time of the year.  This book is published by Martingale & Company, which always does an excellent job producing high quality books.  This particular book is well written and has an excellent balance of photographs & instructions, perfect for all levels of quilters.

Personally, it is difficult for me to select my favorite design in this book, as I love all of them.  I love the "Christmas Star Banner".  This design is a lovely design for the holidays, as well as any holiday celebration, and to decorate anytime of the year. 

The "Ribbon Wreath" quilt is definitely perfect for the holidays, but I can also see this design being adapted for many occassions and color schemes.

And the "Little Forest" design is a spectacular design that clearly works anytime of the year.  But at Christmas, how perfect to display this delightful quilt.

But then I love the Watching for Santa design, and the Midnight Star is gorgeous, and Santa's Village is delightful, Frolicking Frosties is sew much fun, and the Great Kindergarten Angel Christmas Pageant is a showstopper.....along with all the other delightful designs in this wonderful book.

I'm hoping to keep it a secret until Chrismas morning which projects I make from this delightful book.  But certainly I'll be making several Christmas gifts using designs & insights from this book, as well as making items to proudly display at my home.  I do hope you'll join me and have some fun making Christmas gifts and decorations from this special book.

http://www.martingale-pub.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=1_40&products_id=641

Preparing for the upcoming Holidays!

This beautiful wallhanging quilt was made by Karen Zappone.  And lucky me, I won it at a recent auction fundraiser held by Seaside Quilters.  I love this wallhanging and am looking forward to displaying it at my home this upcoming holiday season. 

Thank you Karen!

QuiltingArtsWorkshop.com

Quilting Arts and Cloth Paper Scissors offer a collection of DVD based workshops that allows the flexibility of learning at home, at your leisure.  And unlike a regular class, it allows the ease of repeating the workshop (re-watching the DVD) as many times and as often, as you wish.   No more taking a class and months later wondering how did the teacher do that ?

I selected "Making Faces Beginning and Advanced Portraits" with Maria Elkins and found this DVD learning opportunity to be delightful.  Maria does a great job of sharing insights on her technique to make faces, beautiful & artistic faces!  While I've never considered myself artistic, watching this DVD has given me the confidence and skills to make a quilted face.  While I don't have my quilted face ready to share with you, I couldn't wait to tell you about this learning opportunity and how much fun I had with the Quilting ArtsWorkshop's Making Faces DVD.

Here is a quick overview video of this delightful workshop:




For a complete list of DVD & downloadable workshops available at QuiltingArtsWorkshop.com click here.

I hope you will visit check out the complete DVD workshop offering that QuiltingArtsWorkshop.com has.  Again, I thoroughly enjoyed my experiences with their Making Faces workshop.  I'm trying to decide which video workshop I want to pursue next.  Will it be "Painting Fabric For Wholecloth Quilts", by Judy Coates Perez, "Whimsical House Quilt", or "Master Machine Quilting: Free Motion Stitching and Thread Sketching", by Susan Brubaker Knapp.  There are so many wonderful DVD, or downloadable, workshopshops that I may just decide to get them all and not worry about trying to decide which one to get next!

http://www.quiltingartsworkshop.com/

Free EQ6 projects

Chicken Lady has some free EQ6 designs that can easily be downloaded and brought into EQ6 or EQ7 to help you learn a variety of designs. 




http://www.chickenladyquilts.com/eqlibrary.asp

QuiltCampus

Have you ever attended QuiltCampus? 

I was interested in learning about QuiltCampus and how it might help me build on my quilting skills, while providing me flexibility of taking classes and/or workshops at home, and at my leisure.

I’ve learned that QuiltCampus offers a variety of online classes and workshops. Classes are offered online from well known teachers and have detailed instructions, all for a nominal fee. Many workshops are free, with simple instructions on a particular project. Students have the ability to interact with their teachers and other students through an online forum, as well as sharing photos via the gallery. For more insight on how these classes and/or workshops are run click here. 

I am currently taking a workshop with QuiltCampus for their “Star Table Runner".  Paper Piecing designs that QuiltCampus offers, including their “Star Table Runner” and also their “Blooming Lone Star Table Topper”. This workshop is currently at week 7 of a 14 week workshop! But I believe each week’s activities are simple, enabling a pace where most quilters shouldn’t have a problem keeping up. 

{photo shown is of their Star Table Topper Class".

I have found the Star Table Runner online workshop to be well organized and easy to follow. Each week I receive an email message to let me know a new step has been posted online, where it will be accessible for four weeks. This four week window is plenty of time to complete a step, but it is best to keep up with the weekly assignments and complete the project….but if you do fall behind, all instructions remain online for four weeks after the workshop has been completed.

For this workshop, a new step was posted online each week and the instructions would remain online for four weeks. The workshop is still on-going, with four more steps (weeks) to go, before we finish our Blooming Lone Stars Table Runner. But I wanted to share insights with you now about this workshop, QuiltCampus, as well as some upcoming classes at QuiltCampus.

I've found the weekly instructions to be well written and the overall workshop has an easy pace.
I am enjoying this workshop very much. Can't wait to finish my "Blooming Lone Stars Table Runner". But as I was enjoying this workshop so much, I wanted to share insights with you.  I am thinking about taking their machine quilting class, next.  If I do, I'll definitely share my insights with you on how the class vs workshop goes.

Again, I've found QuiltCampus to have a delightful place for on-line learning. I recommend you give them a try soon!
Upcoming classes include:

Freezer Paper Applique class starts October 31st.

Machine Quilting - Mastering the basics starts November 7th.

Folded Fabric Blocks Bag - starts November 7th.

For a complete list of their current workshops click here: 

Be sure to visit the QuiltCampus website and sign up for their newsletter, where you'll also hear insights on new classes as they are added to their class schedule.

http://quiltcampus.net/

Giveaway Winner

We have a winner of the fabric giveaway (http://tinyurl.com/ygx7s22 ) !

First, I want to thank everyone who entered this giveaway, sharing your insights,  helping to increase awareness about breast cancer, and to those that help to raise money for breast cancer programs. 






Out of the entries we had 1 (out of 12) that had directly been touched with breast cancer.  Fortunatley this person is now doing well now. 

Sadly, statistics show that 1 in 8 women will get breast cancer in their lifetime.  This is a satistic that I find alarming and I want to see changed.  We need a cure!

For selecting the winner of my fabric giveaway, this is what I did:

I used a spreadsheet to place the names of all of those that entered this giveaway.  And, according to the rules, there names were added to represent the number of points.  I then randomly added numbers to all the entries (40 total).  And I used the Random Number Generator to select the lucky winner.  Number 13 was the lucky winner. 

And, 13 was a number assigned to one of Jules @ MoonCat Farms' entries. 

Congratulations Jules @ MoonCat Farms ( http://mooncatfarms.blogspot.com/ ).   Please email me your snail mail address and I'll send you this fabric.  It is actually a little over 3 yards of fabric with background words that say "I love you". 


Please remember it is important to perform self exams and stay current with mammograms.

Southern California Spooktacular

There are a lot of fun Spooktacular activites in Southern California right now.  I'm aware of Disneyland, LegoLand, and Sea World festivities, all with a spooky Halloween theme.  And I know there are many haunted houses and other activities going on.  But I only know of one that has quilts involved. 

This week I had the pleasure of a fantastic docent led tour of the Whaley House in Old Town San Diego.

Thomas Whaley constructed this house in 1857.  The Whaley family were merchants, with a store in San Francisco, and they had a store, on the ground floor of their home in San Diego.  Unfortunately, this home was built on top of an area where people were hung!  This, combined with a few other deaths that happened after the house was built, as cumulated in a situation where there have been several ghost sitings inside of the Whaley house over the years.  Makes for a perfect Spooktacular.

Plus, those that love quilts, you can see some delightful antique quilts when you tour the Whaley House.

I hope you can have a chance to visit the Whaley House this Halloween season.  And if you are not able to do so, I hope when you do come to San Diego you'll get a chance to tour Old Town San Diego and go see the Whaley House.  It is fun to search for ghosts, as well as enjoy the beautiful antique quilts they have on display.

Whaley House
2476 San Diego Avenue
San Diego, CA 
http://www.whaleyhouse.org/

If you know of any other spooktacular places to visit this Halloween season, please share your insights by posting a comment.  And, it would even be more delightful if these haunts have quilts involved.

But either way, do remember ghosts love to cuddle up with beautiful quilts.  So do keep your eyes open to look for signs that ghosts are admiring (and hopefully snuggling with) your beautiful quilts.  I'm pretty sure  spotted a family of ghosts on this delightful quilt!

Hope you have a Spooktacular Halloween!

Connecting Threads

Connecting Threads is providing a free pattern to make these beautiful quilted pins.  These pins would certainly show your support when you wear them, and they'd make a wonderful gift. 

SewCalGal AND Connecting Threads encourages everyone "Show your support for breast cancer survivors by making your own pink ribbon pin and wearing it with pride this October. The online pattern is free and available in two sizes, so you can help raise awareness by sewing this simple quilted ribbon for your family, co-workers, and friends."


http://www.connectingthreads.com/patterns/Pink_Ribbon_Pin__D991415.html

Basic Beauties, by Lynette Jensen

Basic Beauties, Big & Small, by Lynette Jensen is another delightful book by Thimbleberries. Well written, great photographs.  
This book is perfect for beginner quilters, as well as master quilters.

There are 22 projects in this book, with easy to follow step-by-step instructions, with full color photos. 

I love the Little Red Houses design, a classic design.  It is a lovely quilt design for any home, and also makes for a perfect housewarming gift. 

The Whispering Pines Wall Hanging would also make a delight Christmas gift.  I know  I'd love it if someone made this beautiful quilt for me!

All the quilting projects in this book are delightful.  They'd make fantastic gifts as well as make for perfect quilts for your home.  I'm inspired and now trying to decide which of these beautiful designs do I want to make next.   But I also love how the book provides insights on "big & small", as I can also quickly try out a design technique in the "small" version, before I commit to a "big" project.

This book is definitely inspirational.  I recommend it for any quilter, and for those looking for a gift for another quilter.  I'm sure anyone that received a quilt, using the designs in this book, or received a copy of this book as a gift, would certainly treasure their gift.  Beautiful designs.  Lovely book. 


http://www.thimbleberries.com/

And when you visit the Thimbleberries' website, be sure to sign up for their delightful newsletter!

e:books: Batik Beauties, by Laurie J. Shifrin

When I first learned about Martingale & Company offering e:books that could be downloaded, I was curious, but also a bit skeptical.  I must confess that I come from a long line of "book" lovers, where we enjoyed reading and having physical books in our libraries.  I even had a grandfather that was a book publisher.  While I've fully adopted computers and have fallen in love with the internet, I was a bit skeptical about wanting to have any quilting, embroidery or sewing books in an electronic format.  After all, how would I be able to get inspired when reading a book electronically?  Or how would I follow instructions to make a project?

Still, I was curious and wanting to research what the value proposition would be for e:books for quilting, sewing and embroidery enthusiasts.  To my delight, Martingale & Company recently offered a free download of an e:book for their fans on Facebook.  This free download gave me a chance to have a hands on e:book experience.

I was able to download the book "Batik Beauties", by Laurie J. Shifon.  The entire download process was very easy and fast.  Must faster than if I had gone to a local store, or ordered online via Amazon, or another source.  The entire process was only a few minutes and I was quickly enjoying reading this delightful book.  Thus, I concluded the shopping process was definitely easier.  Plus, I found the prices for the e:books were better priced than printed books. 

And, I do want to share my insights about this delightful book:

Batik Beauties is really a wonderful book.  Chapters provide insights to Quilters on batiks, basic quiltmaking techniques, and 18 different projects all using beautiful batiks.  There is an excellent use of pictures, as well as visual and written instructions.
 

The 18 different designs offer a variety of styles and are definitely fantastic designs for batiks.  But these designs, and  many insights shared in this book carry over to more than just batik fabrics. 

I really enjoyed seeing how this book provided various "how to" examples, insights on color & fabric selection".  But, as this book does focus on batiks, it provides great insights to help identify top vs bottom of batik fabrics, how batiks are made, insights on dyeing process & care.

.
Batik Beauties, by Laurie J. Shifrin is truly a delightful book. I highly recommend it for everyone that enjoys batiks, as well as for those that simply want to get inspired with using colors and making beautiful quilts!

I also learned that e:books has many advantages over traditional printed books.  While the obvious is that you are taking steps to "go green" and save a tree, you also don't have to spend time finding space to store your e:books, or spend time to organize them.  And, if you want to have a hardcopy of a pattern (or pages) from the book, you can simply print out the pages you need.  Very simple.

My conclusion is that e:books are really delightful. From the better shopping experience thru the ease of viewing the book, easily on line, with search features, ability to enlarge fonts (or photos),  and flip thru pages quickly, the e:book experience is really very positive.  More positive than I ever dreamed. 

I hope you'll give Martingale & Company e:books a try soon.  And I hope you'll also try the e:book for Batik Beauties, by Laurie J. Shifron.

http://www.martingale-pub.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=52_0&products_id=990

Bra Dolls

Difficult to believe this zebra doll is made with a bra!  The teeth are actually made from part of an underwire bra.  This delightful doll was made by Kelly Riley-Duckworth, to help increase awareness of breast cancer.  Kelly has also been instrumental in getting Bra dolls donationed to benefit City of Hope or various cancer recovery places, where folks would love the supportive gift of a bra doll.  You see, Kelly understands how much a special gift like a bra doll, as well as the donation of money to the cause of increasing awareness on cancer and finding cures can make a difference.  You see, Kelly is a 8 year survivor of breast cancer. 

When I visited the San Diego Quilt Show this past September, I came across a delightful doll exhibit organized by the Imitation of Life Construction Company (IOLCC).  Within this exhibit was a collection of "Bra Dolls".  I enjoyed this collection and wanted to share more insights with you now.

Bra Dolls began when Barb Keeling stood at the grave of a friend who lost her 12 year battle with cancer.  Barb's father had also died of cancer, about 40 years ago.  Barb pondered what she could do to help with cancer awareness?

As Barb Keeling is a cloth doll and pattern designer, it was a perfect fit to create Bra Dolls, to help increase awareness about cancer.  She designed a collection of patterns, that as part of making the doll, you must use a bra. 

Part of the purchase price of these Bra Doll patterns goes to Cancer Research too!  Currently, Barb is using these funds to help sponsor Carrie Nissil,a member in IOLCC, who is walking in the Komen 3-Day walk November 20th-22nd in San Diego. 

http://bradolls.blogspot.com/


Judy Ward's Bra Doll (cat)

Sheila Godfrey's Bra Doll:

Get Well Bunny, by Paulette Carr and Doug and Barb Keeling

Here are a couple of dolls that have gone from being BRA DOLLs for Cancer Awareness to Prayer Bra Dolls Healing Gifts.  Created by Paulette Carr and Doug and Barb Keeling

Cynthia Brendza's Bra Doll

Kathy Houser's Bra Doll:

Lois Boncer's Bra Doll

Diane Shakahian's Bra Dolls

For insight on Barbara & Doug Keeling's doll patterns, or more info on the Bra Dolls:  http://www.keelingskrafts.com/catalog2/index.php?cPath=111

The above five doll designs,  in the Bra Doll collection, sell for only $15.  And a portion of the price is donated to various programs that increase awareness and fight cancer.

Barbara & Doug have also published many books on doll making faces, of which I'm lucky to have several of these books, and enjoy all of them!

Lastly, I want to say thank you to all of these doll makers for using their talents to help increase awareness on cancer, and for all their efforts to raise money to help fight cancer.  I found all of their Bra Dolls absolutely delightful!

http://www.keelingskrafts.com/

http://bradolls.blogspot.com/

http://keelingskrafts.blogspot.com/

Fun Stuff - Thanks to CT Publishers, Joni Pike & Hillcreek Designs

I was recently the lucky winner of a CT Publishers giveaway.  I love these opportunities, as they allow me to get exposure to designers and manufacturers, that I may have not previously gained insights about.  And, with this giveaway I was very excited to get introduced to Joni Pike, who wrote this lovely book "Cute As A Button Quilts", publishd by CT Publishers. 

Cute as a Button Quilts, by Joni Pike, is a delightful book.  It provides insights on 12 Quick Quilts & Playful Projects to Decorate your Home.  I found this book to be well written, providing insights for all levels of quilters, to help create some whimsical quilts, wallhangings, and other projects.  Insights learned from this book would also carry over to many other projects. 

In this giveaway I also won several design patterns by Joni Pike, and button packages by Hillcreek Designs.  I'll share more insights on these particular designs & buttons in the near future, but wanted to share this tidbit with you now:

The Frosty Flakes pattern, by Sew Special Designs, is a fun design, with well written instructions. 

Hand dyed buttons, called "Frosty Flakes", by Hillcreek designs, are absolutely perfect for the "Frosty Flakes" design by Joni Pike.  Plus these high quality buttons would work well on many other projects.

http://www.ctpubblog.com/


I do believe the book "Cute As A Button" would be a fun book for any quilter, as well as make a lovely gift.  And, the desgisn by Joni Pike, and buttons by Hillcreek designs, are also delightful and great quality.  I can't wait to make a quilt using these items.