The princess quilts

I know I've blogged about these quilts already, but I am so excited about these! The top roll of fabric is the first complete quilt top, with all the scraps underneath for the second.

Here's my question... See the bottom fabric? The orange retro-ish one? It's the customer's favorite, and I'd love to include it somewhere. I'm not planning to use it on the front... should I piece in this random fabric on the back?

Beautiful quilts to be

I just love walking into my sewing room on days like this. The sun is shining through the windows (very, very dirty windows....hmmmm....), and I have all these neat little idea stacks sitting on my ledge. Some quilters have a design wall... I have a design ledge. These are all the upcoming projects (actually, this isn't quite all of them). All are custom orders and will soon be on their way to a happy home. Beautiful!!!

Giveaway!!!

Over the next couple of weeks, I have a lot of "life" happening. So instead of ignoring you guys altogether, I am going to show you some of the scraps of fabric that are going to make it into beautiful quilted objects over the next little while. And, to keep you interested, I am holding a giveaway!!! Yay!!!

This quilt could be yours! This lap size holiday quilt is just the thing your living room needs to spread Christmas cheer. Here's the rules.... make a comment on any post from now until October 11 when the giveaway is closed (incidentally, that's Canadian Thanksgiving). If you happen to comment on more than one post, I'll just pick my favorite of your comments. All the comments will be numbered, and a number will randomly be chosen by a random number generator or by one of my children... depending on my mood. The good part? You could qualify twice if you are a facebook fan of "pieced by...". All of my facebook fans will get an automatic entry, and can still earn another spot by commenting sometime before October 11. I know this sounds confusing... but I have it all figured out in my head.

New facebook fans are welcome - click on the link on the left to check out my page and some of the work that I've done.

So stick around... or come back soon... I hope YOU win!!

Two Quick Projects

The next, ummmmm, two months (eek!) is packed full of stuff (a vacation and sewing projects non-stop). But I've been promising my facebook fans a giveaway soon. So today, while three out of four sweet munchkins were at school, I whipped out a giveaway goodie. Here is a sneak peek, with more to be revealed later this week. It's Christmas-y. I want all of you in a holiday mood ridiculously early with me. Okay?

This past weekend was a delicious blend of getting some random jobs done (sorting bottles and mowing lawn, thanks Nathan!!), and relaxing time spent with family. One of the random jobs that was accomplished:

another sweet custom potholder set. The color combo (mainly purple and grey) is so obvious, but I hadn't done just those two colors together in awhile. Beautiful! I think a quilt is needed in that colorway soon, but with all the Christmas orders that have come in, I may be waiting until spring before I start sewing with my own ideas. Not that I'm complaining - keep those orders coming! Sewing only my ideas gets boring to me after awhile.

That's all for now - check back later this week for the giveaway details!

Red-haired princesses

Dara! Warning! Quilt spoiler alert!

Aren't red-haired girls just the sweetest things? Hmmmm.... maybe sweetest wasn't the best choice of words. From my experience, red-haired girls have LOTS of character... which is sometimes a wonderful thing, and sometimes... well... not so much of a wonderful thing. Take my youngest daughter as an example (her hair doesn't scream red, but it definitely leans that way).



I cannot seem to keep her clothed or her hair properly done.


She ALWAYS looks like a stray ragamuffin.


Which, fortunately, is one of my favorite looks (stray ragamuffin). What a goof!


Anyways, I digress... red-haired girls = wonderful.

Now, I have a friend who has produced two of these wonderful specimen (and they are the sweet kind - at least that's what I see). This dear friend of mine is first and foremost a FAB photographer (seriously, check this out), but also quilts as time allows. And she asked ME to make two quilts for her girls, inspired by this:


Heather Ross Far Far Away II Sleeping Beauty. It isn't often that you find red-haired princesses depicted on fabric. No-sir-ee...


So, a peek of the first quilt top. Another similiar one to come (but not identical - that would be boring). Right now this one looks a little bland, but not when I'm done with the quilting. That will bring the fabulousness out. Give me a couple of days for that though.

Soon!

Color quandry

Someday..... I will quilt more than pillows. The orders just keep coming in for these babies - and that's just fine with me! They are such a quick and fun project to throw together, and so easy to customize for the wishes of my customer. Keep it coming!!

I always worry that I'm not going to get the color right. When told that the pillows were to be robin's egg blue and robin red.... I panicked. Maybe my idea of blue and red aren't the same as someone else's. But, apparently, I got it right... again. So perhaps I will stop stressing about the finer points of color selection and go with my instinct. Seems to be working so far.

Check out the close up of the pebbled quilting on this pillow. I remembered how much I love the texture and look of this technique... then my wrist reminded me why I don't quilt it this way very often. Ouch.

These babies are off to their new home. Oh - and just in case you decide you want some for your dwelling, I need you to know that this is about as close as I come to making a matched set. I don't do symmetry (well, that's not entirely true - I do, but it's my prerogative if I choose to). Please deal with that in whatever way you see fit. As always, stop by my facebook page to place an order.

Well, then - I'm off to create some more... of something... or just to stare at my fabric and think.

Soon!

Sorry, dear....

No matter how late I wait to dig my Christmas "stuff" out, it is always too early from my husband's point of view. I think he would like to have the tree put up on December 24, and taken down on the 26th. Disgusting, I know. Actually, I think he secretly likes all the fussing about that is Christmas at our house (I guess not so secretly anymore). The decorations will stay in their boxes for at least two more months, but what was I to do with all the beautiful holiday fabric hanging around my sewing room? The poor pieces were starting to feel so neglected. Hence.....

a quick Christmas pillow. Maybe not quite as modern as my usual projects, but I think that Christmas allows for a slight hint of tradition, no? I think a couple more of these might be in order. Picture little heads resting on them after a cold evening spent sliding down the tobagganing hill. The pillows could be set around the bottom of the tree, perfect for gazing at the blinking wonder. Sigh.... Maybe my decorations won't stay in boxes for two months. Christmas in October, anyone?

If your house needs some Christmas pillows, then head over to my Facebook page and drop me a note!

Off again!!!

A Giveaway Pillow

Good things happening on the Pieced by Facebook page! This pillow was won by one of the Pieced by friends.

I was given free reign on the design of the pillow, so I pulled out all my favorite scraps. Some of them are ridiculously tiny, and I don't know why I hold on to them. But, I do. At first I was going to go with purple and red, but I pieced a square together and it wasn't doing anything for me. After a bit, I ended up with this.....

Pretty cute, I think.

The back is finished off with overlapping panels for ease of pillow inserting. I trimmed the edge, just to be fancy.

Supper must be made... I'm off!

A not "pieced by kendra" quilt

Here's the sweet quilt that I'm going to show you today.

Isn't that pretty? I cannot take very much credit for that. I was commissioned to take this quilt from a pieced top to a finished product. Voila!

A friend's sister had fabric pieces at her wedding to sign instead of the standard guestbook (or in addition to? I'm not really sure). The signed pieces were sewn together with coordinating fabric, then made into a finished quilt to be treasured for years! Isn't that a great idea?

My three year old daughter has announced this her favorite quilt. I think it's all the pink.

Still coming.... the pillowcase... (promises, promises)...

The Lake Quilt

As promised, here I am!! A bit later in the day than I anticipated, but only 'cause I was busy taking care of real life (not sewing...). I promised you a glimpse of my latest quilt, and here it is. Measuring in at 38 x 52", it is a log cabin-esqe pattern. While working on it, I couldn't stop thinking about the lake.... beaches, boats, salty water (oh wait, is that the ocean? that works too...). Summer is over here (have I bemoaned that fact to death already?), but I still picture this quilt spread out on a sandy spot with a tanned child stretched out on it, arm draped across the forehead, searching for animals in the clouds. Mmmmhmmm, that is about perfect. Sigh. But, since that isn't possible for 6 months or more, I propose another use for this quilt. See?




This quilt is smaller than the average throw quilt - which makes it easy to have it land anywhere. In these colder months ahead, it is ideally suited as a manageable throw for your legs while you try to ward off the chill with a coffee, a book, and a nearby fire. Okay, that's pretty good, too.





Then, when life resumes (aka summer), you throw it in with all the other beach supplies for your day spent traipsing around the lake (or ocean, that works too). I'm aware that the picture above isn't taken on sand. Funny thing - I don't have any in my yard... Or, bring it on your boat with you (if you're lucky enough to have one, or know someone who does), and wrap it around your legs to protect you from the bracing wind that always is, no matter how hot it may be on the beach.




Since I wanted this quilt to be enjoyed (and slightly mistreated), I didn't use my customary Kona Snow anywhere on this quilt. The front is some random quilting cottons picked up here and there, including Denyse Schmidt, Amy Butler, and Kona solids. The back is different - it started it's life as a heavy cotton tablecloth (not used as such, but that's what it was). My mom picked it up for me at a charity sale raising money for widows in Africa (sorry, I can't remember which country) by selling things they had made. This was hand dyed, and really adds an interesting dimension to this quilt. Hand made and hand dyed does not a fragile cloth make, however. It has already been washed in hot water and doesn't bleed or react negatively in any other way to the abuse of the washing machine. I see this particular backing taking a lot of abuse with the sand, grass, kids, food, drink, what have you, that comes with a trip to the lake (and then washing up beautifully when all is done). All of this is bound together with a favorite of mine, Kona Celery. Don't know why I love that color so much....
That's it for today, folks. Check back soon for a pillow case for a lucky pieced by Facebook reader. That could be you! Click on the Facebook link on the left to visit my page and "like" what you see. Giveaways shall happen!! Don't forget to take a peek at my albums!

Soon!

Egads!

Forgive the neurotic-ness of the blog design this morning. The changes are not finished yet, but hopefully will be soon!

Items with which to hold pots...

What did you spend your September long weekend doing? We had plans to go camping, but backed out at the last minute. Thank goodness for that! When the weather requires that I pack mittens and touques to camp, I whine. So instead, we had a delightful weekend at home that included a bbq with friends (it was warm one evening), and a super fun girls night out.
My last week's adventures included starting a Facebook page for pieced by. If you have a minute, come check it out! I have an album of quilts that are for sale, and an album of my work for inspiration if you would like to place an order. In addition to that, every once in awhile, I will throw a giveaway there for the people who "like" pieced by. Blatant bribery - that's all it is (like me... please, please, please like me :) ) My first week saw discounts given to 10 lucky people, 2 sets of custom potholders given away, and a custom pillowcover and pillow (good things come to those who wait, Chrisy....). I whipped these two sets of potholders out (quick little projects, let me tell you) for the winners, according to their specs.

Blue and red potholders for a friend. My husband took the opportunity to point out that the "blue" fabric I was using was much more green than blue. I forged on, just 'cause I liked how it looked with the red. And it worked out perfectly. Apparently the blue I envisioned was the same as my friend's. One point for instinct, zero points for proper color names.




The camouflage potholders were for one of the few brave men who visited my quilting page. Camouflage was requested, and camouflage is what he got. This proud new potholder owner was also the best man at my husband's and my wedding (that did not improve his chances of winning in the least - it was all fair and square, I promise!). Isn't that neat?


Last week I also finished a new quilt that I'm excited to show you - check back tomorrow. I'm really excited to show you it since it's a little bit different than my others. I'm looking forward to your input - but who am I kidding? You guys are a silent bunch :)


Soon!!