V and Co: and then there was yardage

first off thank you for the lovely response. :)
and well later this last week the ups guy dropped off the rest of her.
here she is in all her glory.
pretty sure i scared the crap out of the UPS guy when he came to the door and i basically grabbed and dragged in the package as i hissed and growled for him to take his hands off my property.
insert obnoxious high pitch sing songy "kidding" right here. :)
i can NOT wait to show you what i'm making with it.
oh man. i wish i could just show you now..but you know the drill.

sew sew sew...wait wait wait, THEN SHOW.
:)

we are having a couple of book reviews scheduled this week. i'll be over here behind the scenes sewing but just know soon there will be more to show of what i've been up to.
for for now
have a fantabulous day.we'll talk soon. :)

V and Co: My fabric line with Moda: Simply Color

introducing: Simply Color by V and Co. (that's me) for Moda.

debuting at spring market 2012 in Kansas City.
yes, i'm pooping my pants.
yes, i want to cry i love it so much.
yes, i am sewing and sewing and sewing.
YES, that is why the blog is so dang quiet, and the projects have been minimal.

BUT, all this planning and sewing and creating chaos is almost coming to a hault (well we're in the tornado of chaos at the moment...) and after spring market...i should be FIRST having a melt down and THEN we will be back to normal...oh who the swear word am i fooling?

there's always going to be some kind of crazy, and in between all the crazy there will be crafting. and so we will go back to or rather CONTINUE the crazy, but now you can know for a fact that a lot of my projects (patterns for sale AND on the blogaroo) will be made it this lovely stuff.

simply color is my first line EVER. it's pretty much got every single favorite color i have in there...and yes, some of you will be SUPER shocked. there's EGGPLANT (as some people would like to point out its just a shade of purple which i have been known to publicly say that i am not a fan of)
and while i am still not a HUGE fan of lavender (although its growing on me because the daughter loves it) and mauve, EGGPLANT rocks, and i'll beat up anyone who says it doesn't ;)

and one SUPER COOL THING ABOUT THIS LINE (besides that it has my freaking name on it)

is wait for it:

 see these adorable little guys? yeah they look all pastel-y and stuff BUT

when you open up the jelly roll:

 you actually see that in fact each strip is ombre.
what does that mean?

 it means each strip consists all different shades of the same color.
it goes from dark to light on the bolt.

i'm a little in love with it.
i have some fun stuff i'm doing with it to show off just how cool ombre on jelly roll strips are and of course how cool it is to have lots of shades of the same color all on one bolt.
yup.
it's pretty darn cool.

so what say you? you think ombre is as cool as i do?
:)

phew.
load off my chest.
now to sew.
we'll talk soon. :)

V and Co: ombre at target made me do it

have you been to target lately?
LOVE
all their yummy colors and sigh....

lately i've been struggling with my mental organization... as in i feel like my wheels are spinning out of control and i walk around aimlessly half the day thinking "okay i have to get this done...but wait i have to do this too...i'll work on this next and then...wait! i forgot i have to do this!!!" and i'm exhausted because i've started and worked on a bazillion things and then never finished one single thing...and before you know it kids are coming home, dinner needs to be made, and homework needs to be tackled.
i get things done...but the process...sheesh it's got to change...i'm trying

one day it was particularly bad and i decided to leave the house and possibly the spinning...and so i headed to target...

now confession: i've been avoiding target because i'm trying to build up some money to do some built in storage for our house (possibly create an area to call my "work space or office")...i know i don't have to buy anything while i'm there but for some reason target just makes me want to drop money like it's going out of style...so yes, avoiding the area of the temptation is the name of the game at my house...

but i had to get out ..so i did it, i bit the bullet and went to target just to walk up and down the aisles.

and well you should have SEEN what i piled in my basket...and then put back and walked away with only these adorable little bowls.

that i had to have.
had to.
no really.

i blame it on the obsession of ombre i have.
pretty sure the target people have some kind of deal with the devil where they just know how to make you spend money...and i seriously went to the dark side...because i went back shortly after and bought green and blue storage bins...and i wanted to buy sooo much more...that i had to just walk away. and vow not to go back for a long time...
and well, i've not gone inside target since.

it's scary in there with how cute everything is.
and i don't even want to know what's on sale, or what new things they've brought in...because i really REALLY need a sewing space to call my own. and soon.
we'll talk soon.

V and Co: are you a traditional or modern

as i mentioned this last week my sister in law was visiting. and on friday we got the husband and the youngest noisemaker to play hookie and we took a trip to the nauvoo temple. it was a fun little trip and we were able to go inside some of the historical buildings in the "old nauvoo" town.
in one of the buildings there was a room with old quilts. i was in love with this one up above. i instantly gasped when i saw it.
with it's mini pleats i couldn't stop staring at it and thinking that i was going to go home and make something like it. or something with that idea. the juices started flowing and i felt inspired.
and that got me thinking.
traditional quilts vs modern quilts.
both beautiful in their own right.
heck. every quilt beautiful in it's own right. 

when i get asked if i'm modern or traditional i hesitate to answer.
honestly?
i just make what i think looks pretty and i have no idea if i fall in any category.

i think my style is this:
traditional and modern get married and have a baby and each time they have a baby it comes out slightly different.
yeah...that's my style.

my latest kick is applique. my bag is probably a great example of what i mean. of traditional and modern having babies. and these days i find something so rewarding (and gorgeous) and relaxing in hand applique.
yes, watch for more projects with applique from me.

another little love and obsession i have going on these days is that of the love of different shades of the same color family. this log cabin shows what i mean. i love that the quilter took one color and then used all different shades of that same color.

to me a lot of different things make a quilt beautiful. let it be monochromatic color, or some kind of texture, or applique, or whatever i want to try my hand at...you'll see it in my designs. i kind of just close my eyes and think "oh yeah...that would look really cool if i try that."


oh am i giving some hints of things that i'm working on?
absolutely i am.
am i going to be showing you soon?
yeah.
i will.

but not yet, i'm still working on it. so for now, i pose you the question.
are you a modern + traditional married and had children kind of quilter like me? or are you traditional through and through, or modern all the way?
:)

fat quartershop winner

girl noisemaker at older boy noisemaker's soccer practice

 winner of the fat quarter shop giveaway is:

Rachelle said... I'd love to see more fabrics with teal and charcoal on them.

thank you to all that entered and all your responses. yes, i read them. :)

 my sister in law was here this last week and it was a nice week to cook, talk, decorate, and travel a little with her. it's been years since we've done that. it was nice to catch up, and we sent her on her way today. it was so fun to have her here and we were sad to see her go but now i have to hit reality again...and i have to get my kids back on track and my sew on.
i'm going to market. 
eep. yes. i know i've gone a few times...but this time
 i'm showing "stuff" there. EEP!!
this will be my first time ever doing so and i'm a nervous wreck but it will be great. right?
well at least i can say that i did it. :)

so at this moment it feels nice to be sitting next to my husband, with tomorrow's laid back scheduled agenda of family meals and church, listening to the thunder and rain from inside my house.
i have just one more day till all hellen breaks lose and i have to clean, sew, and run like a mad woman for about a month. but i'm ready. :)
but tomorrow i rest and enjoy my family and nothing but them.
have a great rest of the weekend.
we'll talk soon. ;)

V and Co: sponsered giveaway: fat quarter shop

today we are having a sponsored giveaway by the ever awesome Fat Quarter Shop. yup, they are pretty much the shiz on the web for well just about anything you want in the fabric/pattern/kit world. and trust me when you see what they are giving one V and Co. reader...you'll be professing your love even more than you already do of this awesome shop.
click here to continue reading...

V and Co:new patterns paper AND pdf

just quickly popping in...and then popping out...to um keep sewing, i've been working on something for katie again. i know sad for the boys. somehow i'll include them soon. anyways hopefully i'll show you what i'm working on. :)
anyways, i wanted to let you all know that i have three new patterns available in my shop
little sprouts.   
little sprouts PDF form

just dandy

Just dandy PDF

YAY!

 and

the ruffled argyle 
ruffled argyle PDF

 as well, please notice that the houndstooth PDF  will now include the larger version of the quilt with  yardage requirements and instructions for the throw to king size quilt as well as the baby small block version and requirements.

and now a little note about the price change:
PDF's from now on will be closer in price to my paper patterns. as they will be the same pattern (more professionally executed with illustrations, and a little less me taking pictures and talking about poop) the newer pdf patterns will reflect that in price (trying to be fair to paper pattern sales because we do still want to be able to go to ACTUAL stores to buy quilt patterns and fabric right?!)

the older ones that don't have a paper counter part...will stay the same as they have been, with all my lower case "i's" and everything. :)

okay. so bottom line: three new patterns in the shop paper and PDF! 
and pdf versions of the houndstooth, abby bag, and the beach bag have been added.

also notice i put the book on sale. :)


oh and psssssssssssst... yeah you! come here a little closer:
if you enter pdf50 you get 50% off any pdf
if you enter paper50 you get 50% off any paper pattern.
WOWZERS! thanks for the orders. i'm filling them all today. :)
but it only lasts for a day. well a day and a half. tomorrow night it will basically end.
:)
hope you are having a great day.
we'll talk soon.

V and Co: adventures in paper piecing

 so what do you do when you feel like you have SO much on your plate, that you don't even know where to begin?
well, if you are me, you put aside some of the super pressing deadlines you've put upon yourself (along with things you said you would do so they are actually other people's deadlines as well) and you totally dive in and learn a new trade, and fall hard, fast in passion with it.
yup, talking about paper piecing.
holy crap! where have you been all my sewing career? um right under my freaking nose apparently and i just didn't know how awesome it was.

 when faith was here i asked her to take a minute of her time to just show me a little bit of how to do her magic trickery of absolute coolness that is called paper piecing. yeah yeah, so a lot of you already know how to do it, or have been doing it for decades yadda yadda yadda. but this was my first time EVER giving it a try, and let me tell you. it's opened up a WHOLE NEW WORLD people. i almost feel like i just want to try and try and try different things. it's kind of cool. and it makes certain designs actually easy to do.

SO, here's faith's instructions on how to paper piece, i had to look at it like a hundred times before my brain finally did a click (because even though she showed me in person...for some reason my brain is mush from too many other things and it took me a couple times looking and trying to finally get it. again. :)

 i drew up my super simple design and added the 1/4" seam she tells you to, and then i picked out my colors. (yes, COLOR! I LOOOOOOOOVE COLOR right now! monochromatic, ombre, shades that look awesome together you name it i'm playing with it! whole other post coming up on that.)

 and then i started. i cut out my fabric a little bigger i normally would need to because it's all still kind of new to me, and i'm still wetting my feet.

 and then i messed up because i forgot i was suppose to do it "backwards" but looking at faith's instructions really helped me train my brain...and then well WATCH OUT I GOT ALL AWESOME!

 and ended up making a silly looking thing like this...ooooh but wait it's just because i hadn't trimmed my edges!

 turn it around trim it up, aaaaaaannnnnnd.....

BAM! yeah that's what i'm talking about. that right there made my day.
do you even know how long i've had something close to that little block drawn up in my little book of drawings? like years. never knew how i would accomplish it...and there i did it in like 5 minutes.

 i had a little bit of extra time (hahahaha! hmmm) and made it into a little pincushion. yup. so cute. then i went and picked up girl noisemaker from school and got other noisemakers doing homework, and ready for soccer...when little miss girl noisemaker finds said adorable pincushion and SQUEELS:
"CAN I HAVE IT?!"
"sure what you gonna do with it?"
this is what she did:

yup, one of my hand warmers, and now my pin cushion are making for a really cute set up for her barbie's furniture...perhaps a very small quilt is in order next?
hmmmmmmm...
hey faith: you think i could make really small blocks of your summer sampler? 
:D