2015 already

Sawtooth baby quilt using V and Co. Ombre Navy and what I'm working on right at this very second :)

What the heck happened to 2014? I can't even believe that we are now looking at a new year. This last year was a hard one for me...a parent passing away, our beloved dog passing away, putting our house back on the market in Utah, wonderful family members having to go through serious surgeries and some of them having complicated health issues, and all the other sprinkled in there trials of stress, that go with said things.
But it was also a wonderful year. I released a

  new fabric line, which ships to stores in the next couple of weeks! 

and new patterns,

I also announced my hard cover book series: Simply Color:A Crayon Box for Quilters and red is on its way to release soon!!!…Later on this year I'll be showing the last three colors to complete the rainbow in the series. I've been working on new fabric lines, along with new ombre colors :) this year is looking to be a busy one again.
This last year My oldest started high school, and got his drivers permit (holy crap that should be considered torture to sit in a car driven by that young of an individual…also scares the crapola out of me thinking there are other cars out there being driven by said youngsters!!!) . We now have two teenagers in the house My youngest two are 10 and 8.

We rounded the end of this year visiting the husband's parents in Salt Lake City. We hadn't spent time in Utah since we left over 3 and half years ago. It was nice to be there.

Salt Lake City Temple 

But because we spent some of it driving to and from Utah and spent some time there...it actually made our winter vacation too short. Tomorrow the kids go back to school, and that's going to be a rude awakening. I don't think any of them have gotten up before 9 this whole vacation except on Christmas morning when they got up at 7:45 yikes.

This year has seemed like a roller coaster. The husband and I have a few more gray hairs, and are continually holding on to dear life just wondering when it's going to slow back down. Will it? I actually started crying the other night when I realized I only had 3 and half more years before the oldest goes on a mission or goes to college somewhere. It's bothersome how much it's bothering me now that they are growing up so fast. Must be that I'm leaving "little infant spit up on you never have a moment to yourself stage" to the "please don't grow up so fast, and why don't you hang out with me stage." But all is well, they are turning into fine young individuals.

During my trip to Utah and back I bound like nobody's business

All in all it's been a year of learning through many high points and a few low points.
Here's to a fresh New Year of highs and lows…and continual growth.
No resolutions for me, just keep on keeping on with what I've been working on improving all along. :) Watch for a new post on Wednesday I've been making a lot of stuff, and I'll show one of them on Wednesday.
follow me on Instagram to get weekly pictures of what I'm up to. :) 

Color Theory and my new Books

So this is my newest and 4th line for Moda Fabrics I have to admit I've had NO TIME to write up a post about it! (and it's in the works so i can show you some of the fun designs in this collection!) i've not been able to write much these last while mainly because I'm in the middle of sewing (with children around because they are still on summer vacation) for this fabric line, and because I've been in the middle of also sewing and working on my books (yes bookS):

you can pre-order these awesome hard cover  Red, Orange, and Yellow Simply Color books now from Amazon for delivery date of spring 2015. Then watch for green, blue and purple/gray later on this next year as well.
It's been a really long, big project, but I'm super excited about these books. In them you will find quilts and projects focused on the color of the book. I love focusing on single colors (I've mentioned this a time or two how my favorite projects I create focus on one to two colors at a time) so this was a no brainer of an idea for a book series. The publisher for these books is Lucky Spool Media. More pictures and information on the book will be dished out later on. The photography in the books is fantastic! I'm so giddy over the photography I wish I could just show it to you all now. But we have to wait.

So with that little bit of bean spilling…please know I'm almost done with a few things so I can properly do a post like I did for Color Me Happy and of course to show off some of the new patterns that will go with color theory as well…and soon!
*catches breath for a second*
We'll talk soon. :)

V and Co: reverse hopscotch quilt top done

 remember when i mentioned my friend that was having her second boy but 8th child?
well i finished the quilt top for her little boy. and well now i wish i was having...no what the...no i didn't just think that! right? :O
moving along...

i took my instructions of hopscotch and reversed it.  i started with my star blocks...

but as i finished the stars i realized that i had a butt load of scraps left over in my simply color and simply style piles and wouldn't it be nice to actually use up some of those?? anyways, so that i could make a small dent into my scrap pile, i decided instead of doing the square in square block to just cut up my scraps and make a 9 patch with 4" blocks in their places.

 and well then i got this.
and what started off as my hopscotch quilt pattern ended up looking like a cross between a scrappy hopscotch and rachel's  moda bake shop book quilt.
we make a nice cross between the two quilts do we not? :) holla rachel!

as i work with both of my lines, i realize that they go quite nicely together. and well i kind of hope that this little guy and his many siblings like it as much as we like it over here.

whatever the case...it made me baby hungry. for like a second. don't tell anyone.
we'll talk soon.

V and Co: back at work

sorry so silent over here!
yes yes! we have a winner i'll announce her at the end of this post. :)
my mother left earlier this week and i had a few things i had to get done.

i've been hard at work over here.
for months now i've my little graph pad next to me at all times. i have had a couple of quilt designs come to life on paper and it is quite exciting. i am now ready to start testing the designs with real life fabric...it makes it just that much more wonderfully exciting. i hope they look as great in real life as they did in my head. usually they come out better. sometimes i have a flop but that's just a learning experience. :)

i love the creative process.
it truly is a wonderful experience and i am grateful for my love of it. :)

i have been also working on a few holiday projects, and working on finishing up the final tweaks on two new patterns that i'll release later this week. (ahem, yeah i know that means today or tomorrow or the next day, so look for it soon!)

it's taken me a little bit of time to figure out working from home.
but i'm getting the hang of it. i think.

again, it's all about scheduling out time to do certain things on certain days.
just like the chores around the house, work from home, i believe, needs to be broken down and scheduled out each week. only difference with work is that it needs to constantly be looked at to see what deadlines and things need to be done. and adjust accordingly the tasks that go with it.
sadly blogging got swept aside with all the catching up needed to be done.

a schedule does help me with the overwhelming feelings of running around and not getting any one thing done. :) so for now it works.
i've gotten emails to see my schedule. sure. okay if you wanna see it i'll post it in the near future, but like i said it's still being tweaked so that i get my grove just right...i bet i'll get it just right, right before school ends for the summer time. :) cause that's how life is.

husband photo bombing

these last two weeks  has been great to have my mom here. and no we didn't do any pandevonos (colombian cheesy bread) because we drove all over eastern iowa looking for a hispanic grocery store that would carry the ingredients we needed and couldnt find them. bummer. my kids were so SO bummed.

husband looking in the back ground like he has his tail between his legs after i scolded him for prior photo bombing

we had a blast with granny, she made my life easier with helping to keep up with laundry and getting my almost completely organized in my basement storage area. soooo close i am!
but mainly her love of my kids was much appreciated, and now i have to detox my children of all the granny spoiling...but i hear that's the job of a granny.


okay! so are you ready for the winner of sunday quilts?
thank you for all your suggestions of turning back the clock. laughter. seems to be the most popular suggestion. yup, i think we have that one nailed. :)
there was a whole slew of vitamins, and exercise and positive thinking. yup, i'm working on it. :) thanks ladies it was nice reading all the fun stuff you wrote!
okay, OKAY i'll give you the winner:

VickiT said...

I posted to Amanda Jean's blog. I've been a follower of her blog for quite awhile. And yes, I have had her book on my wish list since she first released it. I just love the cover quilt.

vicki has already been contacted through email. thank you all for playing. 

okay now i'm going back to work cause i've got some new patterns to show you! :)

V and Co: it's my birthday giveaway

well it's my birthday.
yup.
last year i turned 36 this year i'm deciding that i'm turning 29.
and then next year.
29 again.
sound like a plan?
yeah i'm excited to turn 29 i feel like it's going to be a good year :) 29 is a good year.

actually 37 isn't so bad. i feel pretty great, and it isn't till i write down "3 years from 40." that i want to throw up. seriously?

okay i'm 29. 11 years from 40. that's better. :)

these last two weeks my mom's been here and we've been organizing and cleaning. and then organizing some more.
it's been nice to place all the scraps i have in color bins. it looks really pretty even if it's not as pretty as
amanda jean's fabric box's :)
but none the less it's nice to get things organized.

btw oh have you heard of this book? yeah it's pretty amazing. and pretty to look at.
Sunday Morning Quilts by Amanda Nyberg and Cheryl Arkison has been out for a little while but i have been saving this book for a special occasion to finally talk about it and give away a copy of it.

no wonder this book has been flying off of shelves! it's gorgeous and amanda and cheryl are amazing at what they do. 

taking pretty left over project scraps and compiling them and creating a gorgeous project all on its own.

i love amanda and cheryl's style. clean and colorful. 

and never wasting your scraps.

i have a signed copy to give to one lucky winner.

AND i'm going to include some of my simply color scraps to go with the book. 

and well for a limited time i'll also include a 37% discount on all of my PDF patterns. (only PDFs)

just include the code "BIRTHDAY" at the checkout and the discount will be given! (good through wednesday 11-14-12)

okay, now for a chance to win Sunday Morning Quilt's book and some of my scraps you need to:

1. first chance: leave me a comment and tell me what you do to turn back the aging clock. (i'm just asking for a friend, i swear.) (leave a contact email at the bottom of your comment)

2. second chance: visit amanda jean's blog leave her a hello comment and that you love her awesomeness  (leave me a second comment that you did, with a contact email)

3. third chance: visit cheryl's blog and leave her a hello comment and that you think she's got great calves (kidding just tell her you love her awesomeness too) (leave me a third comment saying you did so)

three chances. do one or all three your choice. :)

but please leave a contact email where you can be reached if you win.

 (you can type it out like vanessa(dot)christenson(at)gmail(dot)com if you like. :)

the winner will be announced on wednesday! 

:) okay have fun and happy birthday to me!

V and Co: teaches in austin and meets the owner of BERNINA

before teaching my first class!

 this last weekend i said i was going to teach in austin texas at the store Sew Much More. well what i didn't write is that even though i've enjoyed interacting with my (HOLY SMOKES 3000+) students on my craftsy class, i was really kind of nervous that this was my first time ever doing a sewing interactive on the spot teaching.

 the shop is owned by a husband and wife team (hi ron and barbara!!), and they have a wonderful group of ladies that are on their staff. by the end of it i wanted to move to austin and learn all the lingo and enjoy the 80 degrees they were experiencing while it was 37 back home in iowa.

 the first night i was there i did sort of a trunk show of my patterns and of the things we would be doing in the class. i talked about my family and i talked about the colors i love, and blah de be blah blah. by the end of it i was tired of hearing about me. but it was fun to get asked questions by people and get to express things to people about your passions face to face. :)



so sure enough the night before my first class i was exhausted from traveling but buzzing with excitement on the unknown.
i got up put on my cute skirt made out of my fabric and went on my merry way...
nervous but excited...

so how did it go??

first day of classes showing off their ruffles

second day of classes waving to the camera working on their ruffles

I FREAKING LOVED IT!!!!! i had women who had been sewing since before i was even a thought in my mother's mind, i had a 13 year old who had been sewing for a few years. (yup super impressed by the looks of that young one!) and i had ages all in between that. it was fun getting to teach and laugh and help these women for the day.

IT.
WAS.
AWE.
SOME.

the ladies worked on a few techniques i teach in my book and then the goal was to walk away with at least one project finished. most of them finished at least one and a few were working on finishing a couple!
as i write this i've received a couple of pictures from a student of all three finished projects:

way to go cheryl!!!! you can see her in the second day's class on the left hand side second row.
man i kind of miss all you ladies :). i loved teaching to such a large spectrum of ages, and experiences. so so fun!

 the second day word got out of how awesome i was and the owner and staff couldnt keep the customers from chopping at the bit to come and meet me and buy my book and patterns and demanding where the fabric was...they had to keep them from rushing in a few times till the time was to open the doors.

okay i'll go to H-E double hockey sticks if i lie like that...
actually there was a crowd on the second day and they were chomping at the bit (don't mess with texan quilters man!) there was a line and the rush of women rushing in was pretty insane and exciting and they were all there to see:

the owner of BERNINA (yup as in THE owner of the company) this man is Mr. Ueltschi and he is fourth generation owner of the BERNINA company.
he was there to also congratulate the three winners of the University of Texas fashion design school winners and their designs. (you can see behind me the motorcycle outfit)
i didn't have a sewing machine to have him sign but i did get one of my patterns for his autograph.

so first set of sewing classes taught.
meeting the owner of BERNINA

such an eventful and exciting weekend!

but the most exciting thing that happened this weekend was the phone call i got at the end of the first day of teaching:

Apparently while I was in Austin, my eldest noisemaker upon trying to make fart noises with his armpit, discovered he grew his first armpit hair. He called me and said "I'm becoming a man mom."

nice. 

what a weekend.

:)

V and Co: book giveaway: more take 5 quilts

good morning friends! today i am popping in really quickly to talk about a fabulous book. if you've heard of take 5 quilts by the every talented kathy brown, then you are probably just as excited to hear theres MORE take 5 quilts now available! whoot!
come and read more about this book and enter to win a copy!