V and Co: how to: make a spiderweb table runner

 we are "enjoying" the last day of our four day weekend over here. give a girl a month and half of all 4 kids in school and my how i forget so quickly how it is to have them around.every.waking.moment.of.the.day.
anwho
  last year i was all humbug about the holidays. i think i was trying to get my life more simplistic from having a tumultuous 6 months of moving and crazyiness that we were in as a family. decorating for each holiday didn't fall in the "simplistic" category last year as we were still trying to find couches, get in the routine of a new state, a new school, and new time zone, and new EVERYTHING...this year, though my life is far from crazy...okay wait. maybe crazy isnt the right word to use...my life is busy... i do find myself wanting to make the holidays kind of fun. soooo i made this fun runner  last week in prep for the upcoming holiday. the kids thought it was cool. the third noise maker said "did you know that spiders make webs out of their butts?" to which the girl noisemaker was like "EWWWWW!!!"

*sigh* yup. 

anywho

i'm not a huge fan of cartoonish looking decor, like ever...i decided a spiderwebbed table runner might be cool, i experimented and then liked it enough, so i decided to make a how to on it. 

here it is:

 what you need:
two strips of fabric (mine is linen) cut to 15" x WOF (usually around 42"-44")
batting same size
ruler
erasable pen (mine is the FriXion Ball Erasable Gel Pen)
basting safety pins (like these.)


okay here's what i did:

1.first take your ruler and pen and draw a couple of large Xs on one of your linen 15" x WOF pieces.

(hint: it's helpful to keep in mind how spiderwebs work: they usually have to be attached to an edge or to each other. )

2. also drew a couple of small X's in the corners or on the sides here and there.

3. once you have your X's placed out, start drawing a few more lines, having a few connect and stop at the other spider web's lines.

4. draw slightly curved lines starting from the most inside part of the web.
**remember webs aren't perfect! with wind and weather they aren't perfectly even lines! :)

continue to draw your curved lines...

5. once all your spiderwebs are done grab your batting and second 15"xWOF piece of linen and sandwich them linen, batting, spiderweb linen.

6. baste your runner with your pins.

7. pick a stitch on your sewing machine.
on this bernina i had a lot of options but i went with just a basic #7 because i thought it would show up better than a smaller stitch...and i'm still learning all the ins and outs on the machine...so i didn't want to complicate things for myself just yet.
of course if you have lots of options on your sewing machine play around on a practice piece of fabric to see what other stitches would go good. (if you make one of these make sure you post them in the V and Co flicker!!! )

CREATING THE SPIDER WEBS
first things first, we are going to treat this like we were quilting the runner, so here are some steps that are kind of important. :)
1. position your needle over your drawn line.
2. holding the top thread so it doesnt go anywhere, place your needle in the downward position.

3. and then bring up the needle again. (you are basically doing ONE stitch)

4. when you look under the foot you should see the bobbin thread.

5. pull out your bobbin thread.

6. holding both threads now start to stitch on your drawn line.
7. repeat these last few steps EVERY time you you stop and start up again a new place in your spider webbing stitching.

8. slightly guide the fabric in a curved line to follow your curved line, go slow if you need to.

9. as you quilt more of your runner, remove the pins as you go. :)
10. continue till you finish all your lines!!!

11. to bind: use my binding instructions! :)

and there you have it. a pretty darn cool looking one of a kind table runner.

now go make lots of spiderwebs...but not from your butts. that would be kind of gross and an epic fail. (cause you would be pooping) <---just thought i'd spell it out just in case.
we'll talk soon. 

V and Co: im in another book...and giveaway :)

 welcome to all those of you who are new to my blog for this book blog hop!
i'm vanessa and this is my blog.
i am a mother to 4 vivacious noisemakers i call my children, three boys and a little girl. been married for 14 and half years to a pretty funny guy (but not as funny as i, but hey...it's okay) who also happens to be my best friend.
i like to sew and create things (with mainly fabric!) and i'm so happy and excited to be included in the second moda bake shop book: Sweet Celebrations with Moda Bakeshop Chefs
35 chefs this time. wowza!

 this time around there was a theme of pre-cuts and holidays.
this book seems like it's going to be such a fun addition to my collections of books to flip through and get inspired from and to create some wonderful projects for throughout the holiday!

in this book my project consists of a simple wreath and small christmas trees to add to the holiday fun. i like things simple but elegant in the main part of my home and i thought that this project would be something i would most def put up in my home. :) for some of you no sewers this will be a great project for you as i used hot glue and fabric to create both of these projects!

for my recipe i picked to share perfect cookies for santa! 

surely the noisemakers will love them as well! 

okay so here's a little about me:

(ahem from the questions given to me by moda)

1. What is your favorite holiday memory? 

i would have to say my favorite holiday memory would be when i was really little i can remember putting out cookies and milk for santa and waking up thinking "OH MY GOSH! HE WAS HERE!!!!! HE ATE SOME OF THE COOKIES!!!" i loved the excitement of that! and then when i had kids i get SO excited to see them get so excited that santa came that night and ate the cookies they helped make. 

i can almost still feel it in me just like when i was a kid when i watch my kids go through the amazement of santa coming to OUR house. :) love it. it will be sad when that's not there anymore but i look forward to seeing  again with my grandkids.

2.   Do you prefer to celebrate with cupcakes, cake pops, or just plain old cake?

CHOCOLATE cake. preferably made by someone else...

3. do you like the edge, or the middle part of the cake, or do you just not discriminate.

hmmm, most cakes...middle not a fan of birthday sheet cakes...but if it's said chocolate cake with awesome chocolate frosting and like chocolate chips in the frosting...then SIDE! :) i guess i'm sort of discriminatory of any cake but chocolate cake. as should most. 

4. Are you holding on to a particular fabric that you just can’t bring yourself to use

 yeah...my simply color by V and Co. (hey that's me!) because it's my first line ever...i am having a hard time cutting into the stash i have...just means i have to stock up with a lot more. :)

5.When you picture Oda May, what does she look like?

so yeah... Oda May i figure is pretty bad a__. 

and in her spare time...she's probably a ninja. but not any kind of ninja, a pink one. 

not many of those out there. 

no really try to find one, i dare you to try.

it's the highest accomplishment in ninja world. 

i would know as i may or may not be training to be one as well. 

you'll never know because we are not allowed to divulge any information on those kind of things. 

and now i've said too much.

 Oda May has a silly side as well. obviously she loves holidays and loves anything fabric so she's normally decked out for the holidays...and apparently very fond a her lavender cardigan. but dont mess with her. she's highly trained with her ninja skills and she has rotarty cutters on her at all times. consider yourself warned.

i hope to be this kind of awesome at her age.
 

OKAY!

Now for the giveaway! 

In order to win one free copy of Sweet Celebrations and a fat quarter stack of Moda fabrics:

1. leave a comment on this post telling me what moda line would you pick for your free fat quarter bundle?

make sure you leave your email address at the bottom of the comment.

2. leave me a second comment saying what color ninja you would be? would you just be a black ninja? or a pink ninja like oda may might be 

make sure you leave your contact email address at the bottom of your second comment as well. 

  The deadline to enter is October 14th.  The winner will be randomly selected from the comments below and contacted via email.  Only US participants will receive the actual book - winners with an address outside of the US will receive an e-book.

Make sure you visit all of the other blogs on the tour!  You can collect recipes at each spot, and enter in giveaways there as well.  Thanks so much for stopping!!

October 1 – StashBooks and Moda Cutting Table

October 2 – Melissa Mortenson and Melissa Corry

October 3 – Mary Lane Brown and Natalia Bonner 

October 4 – Lissa Alexander and Corey Yoder

October 5 – Jane Davidson and Angela Yosten

October 6 – Jo & Kelli Kramer and Stefanie Roman

October 7 – Sherri McConnell and Megan Jimenz & Heather Andrus

October 8 – Angela Mitchell  and Ellie Roberts

October 9 – Katie Blakesley and Aneela Hoey

October 10 – Amy Smart and Angela Pingel

October 11 – Vanessa Christenson<---you are here!  and April Rosenthal

October 12 – Moda Bake Shop

October 14 - Readers have until midnight on the 14th to comment on all the blogs for the giveaways!

 October 19 - Winners announced on all the blogs!

okay now go quickly you only have three days from here to hit everyone up!!!

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.