V and Co: moda blog hop

welcome welcome! 

ahhhhh! i of course made the mistake of my dates and am posting completely late! i thought i was supposed to blog about me on the 15th. wrong. that's when a winner will be picked. heaven help me.

so here we go!

welcome to the moda blog hop! i'm Vanessa i just had my first fabric line with moda called simply color. 

a little about my home town.

i grew up in california, and i was born in los angeles. santa monica actually and i lived there till i was 12. we then moved to the place i call my hometown:

 if you've ever been to san diego you've heard of del mar. it's probably the closest thing to heaven there is in my world. i grew up going to santa monica beach, and when we moved to del mar in my 7th grade year, i skeptical to move from the beach i knew, but man was i surprised and now i think of it as the better part of the beach coast.

 the water was warmer, you could do surf PE and meet up at the beach and surf before school to get credit. (just so we're clear...i wasnt a surfer just dated a few. they were cute too)
there were little burger joints, and great places to get breakfast before school (ahem or during school) and great surf shops. i would walk to the beach almost every day in the summer, and in the school year i would make sure i would include the ocean view as part of my run. yup, i lived a hard life.
i think my favorite thing about living there was my walk to the beach.
as a matter of fact, my mom calls me every morning while on her walk either to the beach or while she's at the beach. i try not to cry every time i hear the waves in the background.
 there is a reason why i love blue and green so much and i believe it's because i am always trying to recreate the feel of the ocean. man what a beautiful place to grow up.

what del mar is known for:

the del mar race track though i would say they are famous for fish tacos and for what REAL BURRITOS are supposed to taste like. :P

why did we move there:
my mom wanted a "smaller" town experience for me. and yeah i know san diego is no small potato, BUT compared to los angeles, yeah it is.

now don't get me wrong. i loved growing up there. i feel very VERY lucky to of grown up there.

 but i'm also super happy of where we live today.
iowa is a fabulous place, the people are nice, you get bigger house for your buck, the lightning bugs are breathtaking, the rolling hills of corn are a beautiful sight. but really it comes down to one thing only as the reason why it is the best place for us: our children are so happy here. they are excited to see places around us (chicago, mall of america!!, lake michigan, they have made great friends, and as a family we are truly blessed. even though i miss my beach coast living, i wouldn't trade it for where we are now and how we are creating wonderful memories for my children.

okay now for the stuff you really want to hear:
here's my little candy design:

 here is the downloadable pattern (man i need a pedicure again!)
edit: okay the link now works! sorry about that!

and here's where you get to comment to win:
what i'm giving away is one ombre mini jelly roll, one simply color jelly roll, one layer cake of simply color and one cute little candy.
now one thing you should know about the little candy:

they are 2 1/2" by 2 1/2" and oh so cute...but you CANT buy mine anywhere.
yeah that's right, this little guy could only be attained if you went to market and you got one from yours truly and now i have one little guy left to give away. he's kind of limited edition if you will, only a few out there in the world. so what? well it makes him kind of valuable right?!!!
yeah that's what i thought.

so here we are:
1st chance to win: 
tell me your favorite pattern or tutorial of mine up to date.
leave me a comment telling me so. and add an email address to the bottom of the comment.
2nd chance (and 2nd comment) tell me what is your favorite color combo. i told you mine, i always go for blue and green things. how bout you?
leve me a comment with an email address attached to the end of the comment.
you have till the 15th when i will announce the winner!!!

V and Co: 1 million pillow case challenge in simply color

 hi there! today is day 8 of the million pillowcase challenge put on by APQ 

APQ asked me to participate and talk a little about the million pillowcase challenge. and just in case you missed the line up here are all the participants for the whole month of september. :)

1. Welcome from American Patchwork & Quilting (http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/blogs/apqstaff/)
2. Rashida Coleman-Hale (http://www.iheartlinen.typepad.com/)
3. Olivia and Alayna's Pillowcase Project (http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/blogs/apqstaff/)
4. Morgan’s Smile Factory (http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/blogs/apqstaff/)
5. Pat Sloan (http://blog.patsloan.com/)
6. Northcott (http://pattispatchwork.com/)
7. Betsy Chutchian (http://betsysbestquiltsandmore.blogspot.com/)
8. Vanessa Christenson (http://www.vanessachristenson.com/) <---- you are here today :)
9. Andover Fabrics (http://blog.andoverfabrics.com/)
10. Laurie Simpson (http://minickandsimpson.blogspot.com/)
11. Oak Hill, Ohio (http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/blogs/apqstaff/)
12. Robert Kaufman Fabrics (http://www.swatchandstitch.com/)
13. Pam Buda (http://www.heartspunquilts.blogspot.com/)
14. Indygo Junction (http://www.indygojunction.com/blog/)
15. 4-H (http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/blogs/apqstaff/)
16. Katie Hennagir (http://baywindowquiltshop.wordpress.com/)
17. Anni Downs (http://hatchedandpatched.typepad.com/)
18. FreeSpirit Fabrics (http://www.freespiritfabric.blogspot.com/)
19. American Patchwork & Quilting Staff (http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/blogs/apqstaff/)
20. Patty Young (http://modkidboutique.blogspot.com/)
21. Moda Fabrics (http://modafabrics.blogspot.com/)
22. Monica Solorio-Snow (http://thehappyzombie.com/blog/)
23. Moda Bake Shop (http://www.modabakeshop.com/)
24. Andover Fabrics (http://blog.andoverfabrics.com/)
25. Roseann Kermes from Rosebud’s Cottage (http://rosebudscottage.typepad.com/)
26. Ann Kelle for Shannon Fabrics (http://www.annkelle.com/category/blog/)
27. Therm O Web (http://blog.thermoweb.com/)
28. Edyta Sitar (http://www.laundrybasketquilts.com/blog/)
29. Fabri-Quilt (http://inspiredbyfabric.blogspot.com/)
30. Cherri House (www.cherryhousequilts.com)

first off i have to say what a wonderful little project this was for me. it means a lot to be part of this wonderful charity challenge.
APQ is trying to reach the goal of creating 1 million pillowcases for charities all over the world. everyone can help to reach this goal. and a lot already have!
they make it really easy for everyone to participate:
there are awesome free pillowcase instructions
and there is a list of charities to donate to

i chose to use this awesome roll up pattern

 for fabric i use bella solid white  by moda fabric and the lime green leaf from Simply Color by V and Co. for moda fabrics. :) yeah still weird to say.

 it took me all of 5 minutes to make. and my kids were pretty impressed how cool i was that i knew how to make a pillowcase that way. granted i didn't come up with the roll up method but shhhh let them think for a minute i'm that cool k?

anywho, after seeing how easy and fun it was to make this pillow, we've decided that each child and dad (yup we're gonna make dad sit at the sewing machine) will make a pillowcase, and we will individually pick a charity to donate our pillowcase.
i have chosen to donate to st lukes oncology department. i've had a family member go through cancer, i've had friends who have had family members go through cancer. and i've had a very close and dear friend of mine lose her 2 year old child to cancer. it brings tears to my eyes thinking of the struggle the individual going through cancer goes through, as well as the pain and anguish and desperation that those around them go through as they watch their loved one hurt.
yes, it has started with one pillowcase, but it will not end with this one.

thank you APQ for the opportunity for me, and now my family to do something for our community.
hope you all have a wonderful rest of the weekend. :)
we are still painting and putting up lots and lots of shelves in closets.
my husband is in a super happy mood. :) thank heavens he's such a nice guy and willing to do it after a year of me asking...incessantly.
we'll talk soon.

V and Co: how to: make an ombre ruffled flower onesie

nothing says girl like pink ruffles. so lets round out with what else...pink ruffles.

this one is one of my favorite ones. super easy, super texture-y and super cute. 

we talked about dying your onesie ombre here.

and then we talked about dying and appliquéing your doily on the onesie here.

so now lets talk about making ombre flowers for a onesie.

what you'll need:

-one onesie.

-4 strips of 11/2" by at least 10" of white jersey. (i got mine at joann's) but you can get some from amazon, or you can just take an old white t-shirt as well. 

-rit dye 

 to make your strips ombre:
-take one end and dip the strip 1/3 of the way in and then let 1/4 of the strip set inside the dye for about 5 minutes.
-flip it around and do it to the other side as well.

 to make your ruffles:
-place your machine to it's longest stitch (mine is #5)
-place the top thread by the spool in between your fingers, and give a little tension

on one side of your strip start sewing the running stitch as you hold the thread up above to give it tension, and watch your strip begin to ruffle.

 next take your ruffled strip and curl it into itself to create one flower.

i am holding the back of the flower this is what it should look like on the back, the one on the table is what it should look like on the front.

 next with a needle and thread, go through all layers of the bottom layer of the flower. make sure you do it a few time in different locations on the bottom so that it is secure.

now to attach the flowers onto the onesie.

there are a few ways to do this. the way i did it was to place a piece of cardboard inside the shirt, and place a few dabs of fabric glue on the back of each flower.

once i let it dry, i then went back and secured it with a few stitches in each flower onto the onesie.

but as you can see any there are a few gaps that get created whenever you move the onesie around, and i want it to look more like a corsage...so we:

 make a few stitches in between on the flowers so that when the baby moves around she wont lose the shape of the corsage.

and now you have the means of making some super cute onesies.

go at it!

V and Co: simply color at Sew 4 Home

 i am a huge, ginormous fan of Sew 4 Home.
so when they approached me at spring market to let me know they had chosen my line to do a whole slew of projects for the transform your space into an organized space series, i was beyond ecstatic.

yesterday they launched with the garment bags in my metro dots and metro leaf stripe fabric. (available in yardage in october 2012)

today they talk about awesome tips and tricks for preshrinking 101

so for the next two weeks please join me in reading and learning and enjoying simply color made into gorgeous projects for your home to make it just that much more pretty and organized. :)
oh and ahem...i will guest post later this week as well.
we'll talk soon!!!

V and Co: moda designer's blog hop

every once in a while i let myself think of the fact that i am part of the moda crew. just for a minute though because the rest of the time it freaks me out. i just pretend like it isn't really true, it's just a dream and blah de be blah blah. it's how i keep going without creating a very nervous stressed out vanessa. a visual, if you will, would be of me with my hands over my ears singing "BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH....I CAN'T HEAR YOU, I'M IN MY OWN LITTLE WORLD OF MAKE BELIEVE." 

but every once in a while i am like "okay yeah i'm who they say i am". and then i go back to my basement and make stuff. :)

well this is one of those times that i'm included with a whole heck of a lot of talent, and i'm considered "one of them" so please come and join the fun:

to a pretty awesome little blog hop...oh and on my day i get to give away some of that fabric i created. :) hope to see you there.