Color Theory By V and Co for Moda Fabrics

Okay. So I swear I have been meaning to post pictures of this collection for like weeks now. It's been a little nuts over here, but I took today off of sewing to post pictures and blog about this new line of mine! I really like it a lot. It's got your basic V and Co. feel of a lot of blenders to be used across the board in all of your quilting and sewing projects!

 The polka dots and triangles are my favorite…no wait I absolutely adore the cross hatch...

okay, but I also love these prints as well. This collection has a super fun sunny bright feel to it. And it's been really fun to work with.

Another fun thing we have going on is the matching Aurifil thread to the line. The thread box comes with 7 colors matching my collection, and it also comes with a precut of the fabric collection. 

 But not only that…it also comes with a free pattern to go with the fabric and thread. You can only exclusively get this through Moda Fabrics, so ask your rep to see what it's all about!
And of course what V and Co fabric line wouldn't be complete without the Gradient Ombre Fabric

 This time around I had a little extra fun with my Ombre fabric. We created two patterns just with ombre. OH and remember those junior jelly rolls we had the first time around??

 YEP! They are back! We switched out the aqua from before to a teal/peacock combo and it looks fantastic with the other colors.

I'm kind of in love with them. So many possibilities…What do you think you would make with the Gradient Ombre fabric? 

Okay, that's it for right this second…but next week I promise to show off the patterns that go with this fantastic line. I'M SO EXCITED TO SHOW YOU!!!!! :) Next week my friends!

V and Co: lets celebrate summer sale

Color Block Zipper Pouch

Summer has been going by so fast over here, that I fear that the end is almost around the corner…as it actually is starting to look like for us over here with school starting in about a month or so! YIKES! Lets hold on to it a little longer and celebrate summer shall we? I've been meaning to do this for a while so lets just celebrate summer with a store wide sale of 25% off all PDF patterns.  enter CODE: SUMMER at checkout

As I'm getting ready to head out to speak to the Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild and as I am planning my talk and class to teach there I am reminded how much I love the sewing community. A couple of weeks ago I got to teach and speak in the Shipshewana, Indiana quilt festival there. And with 30+ buses of quilters coming and going from all over the united states, I was in AWE of this wonderful art we call quilting and sewing. 

confetti quilt pdf pattern

What a wonderful community to be a part of and to get to learn from and teach in.

lucky star quilt pattern

lucky star block

I really love to do what I do, and I would be doing it even if I didn't do it as a job.

kaleidoscope quilt pattern

string block zipper pouch

 This has been a wonderful ride. Of self teaching, then learning from experienced quilters, and going to seminars, and guilds and uniting and rejoicing in this beautiful art of cutting up fabric, just to sew it back up again.

to the point quilt and texture pillow (faux pleat) pattern

baby barn dance quilt

Chelsea Bag pattern

So I hope you are having a wonderful summer with some sewing involved. And if you haven't sewn, I hope its because you have been too busy with family and friends outside enjoying the summer life.
All pdf's are 25% off  Code: SUMMER 
sale ends July 19, 2014 midnight 
Thanks and keep on keeping on. :) 

V and Co: Modern Miss In Fons and Porters Love of Quilting Magazine Summer 2014

 Remember a few months back I showed off a baby quilt I was working on?

 And then shortly after that I showed pictures of Mary and I on her Love of Quilting set?

 YAY! I can finally direct you where to find the instructions for this lovely "Modern Miss" baby quilt.

Please find it in Fon's and Porter's Love of Quilting Magazine Summer 2014 edition. It was a wonderful experience to work with Fons and Porter and F&W Media on set and with the individuals. I'm very grateful for the experience, and am excited to get to hang out with Mary next week again. :)
have a fantastic weekend.
We'll talk soon…I'm working on writing about my Zumba "accident" so watch for that in the next few days. :)

Well Hello June- I'll be in Indiana soon!

 HELLOOOOOOOO! So I unintentionally took May off of blogging. A lot of things have come due and I had to use every single moment to get things done in-between soccer, baseball, volunteering at the kids' schools, and running around like a mad woman AKA: being a MOM. Whoever said I was going to miss my kids being little, WAS RIGHT! Holy hannah, if anything having little kids made it that we stayed home and did more things around the house. Now it seems like we have about 2 milliseconds from the time the kids start walking in through the door from school and all the great programs they are in. No, please don't tell me I over schedule my child if I'm running around nuts…REMEMBER I HAVE FOUR OF THEM. So each one being involved in 1 maybe 2 things…is what I'm talking about. It makes me happy though, I actually enjoy looking at our schedule and trying to figure out how to get who where and then listen to what they did and learned. The school system we are a part of includes music into their program so each of my kids when they reach 5th grade get to pick an instrument they will learn (if they so choose to) so far we have a trumpet player (who is playing for the High School Marching Band next year!!!), a cello player, and we have just picked up a viola player with our 3rd son. Our daughter is the only one that hasn't picked an instrument…but she's already eyeing a few…So yes, I miss my days of little kids running around my ankles giving me an excuse to complain of no time to myself…but I'm loving the teen, preteen ages we have going on and watching them turn into little adults. Each one with their own personality and own talents. Very great and fun…but busy. :)

 This last month while I have been working a lot my peonies I planted three years ago finally bloomed.

The blooms got so large they drooped down to the ground, so I cut them and placed them in a mason jar and put them in the daughter's room. She got off the bus and screamed as she walked into the house that someone had taken our pink flowers, to which I told her to go to her room and check out where the pretty flowers went. She was very impressed with how pretty they made her room, and how pretty they smelled. It was a picture perfect kind of moment…and it needed to be documented because normally we are a hot mess of a story. :) 

NOW lets talk about some of the stuff coming up! This last month I got to help teach 8th graders in Family Consumer Science at my kid's schools, and then I got to teach 4th and 5th graders how to do "Quilt Math" and create a small quilt at my other kids' schools, I also got to speak to my local quilt guild, here in Cedar Rapids, about building a bridge between modern and traditional quilters…WHAT A FANTASTIC CRAZY MONTH OF TEACHING and TALKING. So lets keep the momentum going and lets announce that yours truly will be hanging out with some big guns in the quilting world first at the Shipshewana Quilt festival:

I will be doing a Workshop on how to make this lovely lucky stars table runner. Based off my quilt pattern.

Aside from teaching the table runner class, I'll also be demo-ing twisted flowers and this double edge dresden plate.
 I'll will also be on a panel with some other fantabulous women. Ami Simms, Mary Fons, Karen Eckmeier, Penny Haren, and Kathy Brown. All these women will be teaching and doing lectures as well. I'm Very excited! Please check out how to pre-register and all the other wonderful classes.

And then second I'm also teaching at:

 And I can't even list off all the talent that will be there! Too many!

 I have two workshops at QuiltCon One of them focusing on triangles. HST, Flying Geese, 60 Degree Ruler Triangles, Paper Pieced Triangles, and Wonky Triangles.

The second work shop will be all focused on Ombre fabrics, how to work with them and how to make them work in your quilts and projects. Fun will be had by all. 

Open Enrollment for the Feb 2015 schedule is here. 

Now if you don't mind me…I have to get back to a few lose ends and then we'll be able to talk some more. :) 

V and Co: What chocolate, a diet soda, and a good friend will get you

 Well first off isn't Liz awesome? She's even funnier in person. My "shipping department" is pretty cool, and she's also a great friend. She saw how stressed out I was and even may have seen some tears when I listed off all the things I had agreed to do. This month is pretty much insane, (for me at least) between flying home for a family wedding, and teaching, and speaking at quilt guilds (hi ladies! can't wait to talk!), and deadlines for undisclosed places, and then add other deadlines that just pop up because when you first said "yeah, I can do that." you had no idea how insane your month was going to be. Add all other life things...and well Liz took one look at me and said "I have chocolate and diet drink. And do you want me to blog something for you?" I stared at her and said "What would you write about?"
She said "Well, we'll see what I can come up with. And we'll give it a shot and then go from there?"
So, she wrote a fun little blog post. And she's a great voice for my blog. Perhaps we'll have her come back for another blog post! :)

 While she was blogging for me, I was able to piece, quilt,  and

 bind my large one block version of my...

 kaleidoscope quilt. Which btw I'm also teaching this class at my local quilt store  today and tomorrow!

I used my Ombre stripe fabric (coming to a quilt store near you soon! seriously like in a day or so)

so far I've made this large block in lime and the pink... and I can't wait to make it in the other color ways as well. I'm super SUPER excited about this fabric coming out!

Baby quilt size 40"x40" instructions coming to a magazine near you soon.

The pink version is completely done...and well lets just say I love it.
This newborn quilt pattern will be in a magazine soon with instructions included. I'll most definitely keep you posted...and I'll ALSO keep you posted on when you can watch me on a quilt show website with a really great and awesome lady. See, I may be stressed but it's all wonderful stress. And wonderful opportunities. I love what I'm doing. I promise to come by and pop in and just do an update of sorts, make sure to write about my funny crazy when I'm not sewing stories as well...so that way I can look back and smile at my timeline of events and well, maybe use this spot as a "journal" of sorts...kind of like I used to.
Everything will be alright. Sometimes we just need a little bit of chocolate, a diet drink, and a great friend to tell you "It's okay." :)
Thanks for reading.
We'll talk soon. Promise. (okay, but I didn't pinky swear so it might be Liz or me, depending on how well the chocolate works with getting me through all the other promises I've made!)

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Blog hop: V and Co does Vintage Quilt Revival

Hello! It's my turn to talk about this beautiful book that my friends Katie, Lee, and Faith co authored. 

I feel pretty lucky to know these ladies, they are super talented. 

 First things first this book is hands down one of my favorite. From cover to cover its beautiful.

Inside it showcases 20 blocks. Each with it's own quilt or project. And then at the end they show you the full sampler quilt made up of all the blocks together.
If anything this book is filled with GORGEOUS colors. All three ladies are have always wowed me with their ability to chose colors that just make quilts from pretty to wow.

 The block I chose was the Spiced Chai block. I used my simple color eggplant ombre and ikat for the block. The instructions were great, and I had great eye candy to look at as I followed the step by steps. I really want to make a blown up one block quilt like my ombre dutchman of this block! (and when I have time I'll totally do it!) ;)
If you want to find the book, its popping up at bookstores near you in large chain, and also at your local quilt stores as well. And well you can always get your copy from Amazon.

Thank you ladies for letting me be a part of this blog hop. It's been a gorgeous book to pet...

I'm not the only blogger talking and making these quilt blocks! There are 20 in total bloggers who have made a block and returned and sent them back, as these ladies are going to make 3 charity quilts from the blocks they receive. I can't wait to see them! 

here are the rest of the bloggers talking about this book:

Vintage Quilt Revival Blog Hop Schedule
January 13th (Monday):
Crazy Mom Quilts – Amanda Jean
Don’t Call Me Betsy – Elizabeth
Film in the Fridge – Ashley
Happy Quilting – Melissa
Noodlehead – Anna

January 14th (Tuesday):
I’m A Ginger Monkey – Katy
Quilting Is My Therapy – Angela
A Quilting Life – Sherri
Sew Mama Sew – Kristin
Tall Grass Prairie Studio – Jacquie

January 15th (Wednesday):
Christa Quilts – Christa
Diary of a Quilter – Amy
Quilting Gallery – Michele
Sew Take a Hike – Penny
V and Co. – Vanessa YOU ARE HERE! GOLD STAR!!
West Coast Crafty – Susan

January 16th (Thursday):
Bijou Lovely – Holly
Don’t You Know Who I Am – Sukie
Lily’s Quilts – Lynne
One Shabby Chick – Amber

January 17th (Friday):
Swim, Bike, Quilt – Katie
Freshly Pieced – Lee
Fresh Lemons Quilts – Faith

All right, that's about it for me, Make sure you check out the other blocks as the week progresses!
We'll talk soon! Ive got some more projects and stuff to talk about ;) 

V and Co: lucky stars christmas pillow

Christmas is like right around the corner.
I'm not ready.

But the good news is we have our christmas tree up.
No, unfortunately (and yes quite sad actually) these last two years we've not had any funny stories to tell about picking out a tree and letting the kids decorate it while I learn to "let go and embrace the fugly" tree and it's decor. And sadly we don't have any stories of me thinking a MAMOTH of a tree is what our little home is needing.
This year we have our boring Target fake tree.
And I've changed the smelly wax warmer to "spruce" so we get the fake smells of a real tree.
I
know
booooooring.
But don't worry, I still have some stories to tell.
Have you noticed I've been blogging again? *tap tap* Anyone still out there?
OH HI!
Yes, it's been a while, but I feel like I'm slowly emerging and figuring out how to do the whole work AND blogging thing. It's taken me a little bit of time, but thanks for hanging in there.
Anywho...I've been meaning to talk about my Zumba accident.
yes, I had one.
But thats for another day.

Okay, moving on to the matter at hand:

 lucky stars is really becoming one of my all time favorite pattern I've made.
And while I was staring at it I decided i wanted a christmas lucky stars pillow.

 So I made a block from the pattern...and then I made it into a slip cover.

And well, I freaking love it. 

 But honestly, I think i need to make a couple more, because as cute as it looks in my arm chair in my living room...the rest of the couches kind of need a few of these throw pillows as well.

So maybe I'll have a little bit of time before Christmas actually gets here to make a couple more...or maybe I should like focus on doing some of my Christmas shopping.
What's more important here? Thats right decorating.
We'll talk soon.

V and Co.: jelly roll jam quilt free pattern and video tutorial

hi there! 

so with summer lone gone and a distant memory, we now look forward to fall. we've had a Fall-ish kind of weekend, and honestly, fall hasn't been my favorite since i moved from california. while i grew up in california, i LOVED LOVED fall. why? well because it meant pumpkins, and pumpkin smelling like candles and cinnamon. mmm i love cinnamon. and i loved the crisp cool air, the fun decor and thanksgiving (oh and my birthday as well) but since moving to places that have winter, i no longer love fall i just like them because AFTER fall means all H-E double hockey sticks breaks lose and we get that stupid stuff snow. nope, don't like it. so summer has turned into my favorite season. 

this weekend seemed to have been such a lovely fallish weekend, cool temps, a little bit of rain, and a whole heck of a lot of family. we had a lovely time building and launching rockets, going to soccer games, church, and family meals. we ended the weekend with renting iron man 3. 

yeah, this weekend made me feel like i could love fall again. and plus i might not hate the snow that much, it just means i get to quilt more. ;)

okay but that's not what you came here for is it? if you are new here visiting from the Fat Quarter Shop, WELCOME! i'm Vanessa and this is my blog that i ignore a little too much these days, and keep trying to keep my promise to just write about my nonsense and projects a little more regularly. i will try to keep that goal. :) 

for the rest of you who are regulars: HI! welcome back! thanks for sticking around. 

okay, ready for a fun little project the fat quarter shop has created? 

i am so excited to finally get to show you another project i've worked on these last few months. it feel like there is so much behind the scene work these days that i hardly get to show off half the things i am working on nope, try more like 3/4 of the things i am working on right when i make things. but that's okay cause at some point i get to show you and well with this project now is that time!

the fat quarter shop has created a video tutorial a pretty fun little FREE pattern called the jelly roll jam using one jelly roll to make TWO baby quilts.
so using my simply style jelly roll:

i was able to make a boy and girl version of the jelly roll jam quilt.

i am completely in love with this boy version
for the boy version i used all of the yellow, and a lot of the navy, aqua, lime, and gray. this pattern was super easy to follow and ahem, i made the quilts in less than a day.
start to finish people.

i really love the look so straight line quilting (and i'm not going to lie) it's what i feel most comfortable doing because i feel like i've not practiced enough with FMQ that i can master it just yet.

in the boy quilt i used most of the rectangles, oblongs, and ombre chevrons. when i looked at the fabrics i felt like these were the most boyish looking ones in line.
i think it turned out pretty cool. and i have a close friend having a little baby boy soon, so it already has a home.

and now for the girl version.

this cute girl quilt consists of most of the flowery prints. the large and small ones! i also added all the pink, and some of the navy (because i'm a huge sucker for navy and pink together!) some of the aqua, gray, eggplant hex's, and one yellow flowery print. i eliminated most of the eggplant because i felt like the pink needed to be the focal point in it.

all in all this quilt turned out super cute as well. i think this quilt has a home as well as i just found out that another friend of mine is having a baby girl.

so yeah seriously, ONE jelly roll, TWO quilts is awesome.
check out the tutorial video and check out the FREE pattern, cause it's totally worth it and totally doable for a fun quick need for a baby shower this week kind of awesomeness.
thank you fat quarter shop for having me be part of the jelly roll jam.
we'll talk soon!
some new fabric is on the horizon. :)