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