winner of skip the borders, and bats

we have been making our house all octobery over here.

one of the things we've done is putting up the martha stewart bats (and using them as a template to make a bazillion more of them for a much cheaper price)

currently i'm working on another octobery project...watch for it soon. :)

okay for the winner of the skip the borders giveaway:

 Lynne said...

Since I don't know all the rules I'm sure I break some.

thank you all who entered to win! wont be the last book trust me...i have a few lined up. one that i have a project in and another one for a pretty awesome lady. all in the next little while.

now if you'll excuse me. i have my octobery project to finish among a buttload of other things as well to finish!

V and Co: skip the borders book giveaway

welcome to skip the borders blog hop i am Vanessa and this is my blog. :) 

today i get to talk a little about this book and how julie has made some great patterns sans the borders.

here's the whole line up of people in the blog hop

Full Schedule

Generation Q Magazine - Monday, Sept 10th

Rachel @ ps i quilt - Wednesday, Sept 12th 

Natalie @ Beyond the Reef - Friday, Sept 14th

Pink Chalk - Monday, Sept 17th

Fat Quarter Shop - Wednesday, Sept 19th

Holly @ Bijou Lovely - Friday, Sept 21st

Rita @ Red Pepper Quilts - Monday, Sept 24th

Robert Kaufman @ Swatch and Stitch - Wednesday, Sept 26th

Jessica Levitt - Friday, Sept 28th

Vanessa @ V&Co - Monday, Oct 1st

Martingale - Tuesday, Oct 2nd

Emily @ Carolina Patchworks - Friday, Oct 5th

Katy @ I'm a Ginger Monkey - Monday, Oct 8th

Audrie @ Blue is Bleu - Wednesday, Oct 10th

Angela Walters - Friday, Oct 12th
John @ Quilt Dad - Monday, Oct 15th

Julie @ Jaybird Quilts - Wednesday, Oct 17th

 this one right here is my favorite, it could also be that i like the fact that it has three shades of the same color. whatever the case its my favorite. :) she knows that and i'm just waiting for it to show up at my house. she knows my address so i'm not quite sure what the hold up is. >:)

 another fun one that i love in this book which i am willing to have as well, is this cute bella solid

and last but not least that i want in my house...is this gorgeous lots of white with beautiful stars.
so there you have it the three quilts i'm waiting to show up at my house.
sooooo:
julie has asked me 3 questions to answer:
 All of the quilts in Skip the Borders are... borderless! Do you skip borders on most of your quilts? 
actually, i only have like 3 quilts that i've made that do not have borders. for some reason i usually add borders. BUT i'm actually falling in love with the idea of no borders!

 In the intro to my book I give you Permission to Break the Rules. Do you break some quilting rules? What is the number one rule you break and why?
ha! um...i think i always break rules because i kind of experiment to learn so i do things my way, before i ask any questions. so i guess that's breaking rules. sometimes i like my way of doing things, but when i finally get around to learning how others have done things, i like that too.

It's no secret that I love binding! In Skip the Borders I included an entire chapter on binding. So the million dollar question, is do you use bias or straight of grain most of the time? STRAIGHT!!!! because i feel like i can get more bang for my buck.


okay so now we have the same questions for you:
1. Do you skip borders on most of your quilts? 
2. Do you break some quilting rules?
3. Do you use bias or straight of grain most of the time? 

you can answer one or three:
it gives you one or three chances!
up to you!

if you chose to do more than one chance please answer each question in a separate comment with you contact email at the bottom of each comment.
you have till thursday at noon to enter.

V and Co: hello kitty cupcakes

my daughter's birthday is this sunday.
when i asked her what she wanted her cupcakes for school to look like she gave me a blank stare.
"i don't know."
come on kid, give me something to work with here.
so i started naming things off and hello kitty got an excited look and "YEAH! YEAH! HELLO KITTY!" ok.
we can make that happen.
one thing is for sure. cooking and baking isn't my forte. i mean i cook, obviously my family is still alive and breathing even after nearly 15 years of my cooking...and baking...well i can do a few things pretty well like my apple pie, but everything else...it's a gamble really on how it's going to look. mainly i can make okay stuff, but the presentation...eh.
so i have a cake making friend/neighbor and i asked her to help me with the cupcakes and cake, and either i am very pushy and overbearing, or she's very nice because she instantly said "sure!"

 the top was made out of fondant. you can make your own using marshmallow. or you can buy it.

my neighbor made her's and it actually tastes quite yummy (i know store bought fondant doesn't always taste awesome)
she had a hello kitty cookie cutter that we used for the base of the head, there was some food color involved for the bow and the nose (she has the  fancy stuff that cake decorators use)
and then last but not least we used edible ink

it started off with the shape of the hello kitty head, then i made noses and bows...
and then we drew the face with the edible ink.
super easy if you have the right tools!

then i made something i felt confident in making: little flags using tooth picks and the washi tape that i got at target :) yay for using it for cute things!

a little friend from her class saw them yesterday and it got the seal of approval from the fellow 5 year old.
and lets just say trying to keep the boys away from the cupcakes for over 12 hours was a feat all in itself.
this morning we still have 24 cupcakes hello kitty cupcakes unscathed. and today i take them to her class for all of her classmates to celebrate katie on her special day of the year.
then i will come home and put up banners and start wrapping presents.
what a happy weekend we're going to have. :)
hope you have a good one too.
we'll talk soon.

V and Co: visits home ec in iowa city

 the other week i was invited to hang out with a few wonderful people. we went to a great shop down in iowa city, iowa. it was a pretty crazy weekend as there was a hawkeye game (and not just any game THE game against the cyclones. heaven help me i don't even follow football and know all the details) anyways that wasn't the only thing going on that weekend, there was also the president coming into town, and some festival...which i can't remember right now but i have a feeling it had to do with corn? don't quote me on that.

 anyways, as part of our get together we got to come in and hang out in codi's shop called home ec. it's really cute and homey and wonderful.

 every corner was filled with thread, yarn, notions, and fabric choices that are jut wonderful.

 she had knits, and echino, melody miller, coated fabrics and japanese fabrics. that's not all she had, she had a lot more...but those are the ones i was drooling over and so i didn't get to take pictures of the other stuff.

 the atmosphere was laid back, and yummy. in the front you had the sewing machines and some fabrics and notions...as you moved back...

 you were surrounded by wonderful yarn (wish i knew how to use it!) and a place to sit relax and work on a project while you ate your yummy pastry from the bakery she has in the store.

 she has classes on how to make this beautiful shirt (that most people have either heard of or have made one or want to make one) the tova which is the talented jenny gordy's very popular pattern. she teaches this class at home ec.
i will be teaching a class there soon. i'll let you know when it comes closer to the time. :)

 here is jenny and greta looking all smug and cheeky. kidding they were a hoot and we had a blast. here     greta is showing jenny her new fabric lines with marcus.

 so if you are in the iowa city area make sure you look up home ec and tell codi V and Co sent you.
:)
on our little trip linzee wanted to show me some of the awesome thrifting that goes on in this cute college town.

 i didn't walk away with too much stuff i was trying to be good. :)

 but i did find this lamp that is going in my eldest noisemaker's room. it looks great in his "map" room.

 speaking of the eldest noisemaker...apparently i'm rubbing off onto him because he came home from scout camp with that bowling pin. when the husband saw him with it he said "what in the? where did you get that and what are you going to do with that?"
noisemaker answers "i found it! isn't it cool? i'm going to use it as decoration in my room."
as the husband hangs and shakes his head in disgust, you pan to my face and i'm beaming with pride. :) first off it was free and it serves the purpose of nothing other than a cool fixture for decoration. job well done son. now you and i both can confuse the your father. :)
 i found a vintage quilt that instantly had to make it come home with me. when linzee asked what i was going to do with it i answered "hide it from my husband." seriously. it has no purpose except looking pretty. kidding the husband saw it and again i get the look of "WHERE IS THAT GOING?"

it's made me pick up my double wedding quilt, and i'm excited to keep going on it because i want it to be a vintage quilt someday as well, hopefully one that will stay in the family. 

have a lovely and productive day. :) i'm hoping for one!!!!

V and Co: what i've been doing with my simply color pre-cuts

 so if you haven't heard simply color pre-cuts are now available at your favorite quilt stores. :)
and well now i feel like i can sort of show you a couple of things i've been working on with my precuts!
this beautiful dresden plate zippered pouch, is my new little sewing bag. i can take my sewing scissors, hexagons or appliqué pieces. also i can carry my thread. or heck i can just carry it around with nothing in it because it's so darn cute. i'm thinking i need to make a smaller one to put inside this one...hmmm maybe tomorrow. :)

 i used a vintage aqua zipper (i found at good will a whole huge bag full of zippers in all different colors! score!) and the inside lining is simply color lime leaf. i'm a little in love with it. and well that's not the last of the zippered pouches i'm going to make. :)

also i've been working on my double wedding ring quilt.
have you ever made one? this is my first one ever.
this one takes a little longer, but i'm excited to keep working on it. i'm hoping that by next march 21, i will have a big enough quilt top for a throw or larger.
why march 21? well that will be my 15th wedding anniversary. WHOOT!
:)
okay back to sewing.
i have quite a few more things to finish here and soon.
we have a review and giveaway of a book next monday, and i want to show you a couple of my thrifting finds, as well as my swell time checking out iowa city's home ec quilt shop. :)
we'll talk soon! promise.