Did you know....

....that Craftsy offers several FREE mini classes? Yup, totally free! They offer the same great format as the rest of Craftsy's classes, but they're shorter, and feature student-led discussions. So you can learn a new skill (or play with a skill you already have) and try out Craftsy's awesome classes without shelling out a penny. I have signed up for several of them, and I'm looking forward to going through them. The ones I'm going to do first are Creative Quilt Backs, and Modern Buttercream. I bet you thought I was going to pick another sewing or quilting class, didn't you? Well, I'll probably do those at some point, but I'm hoping to try some of the classes that teach stuff I know NOTHING about. I'd love to be able to make my own birthday cakes instead of going to Kroger to get them!

So if you're looking to try a new craft, but you don't want to invest any money into a class just to try it, check out Craftsy's Free Mini-Classes.

And don't forget to check out the pattern store (including my pattern store, which you can get to from the tab at the top of this page!) to find tons of patterns you might not ever otherwise see! There's some pretty amazing patterns in there.

LAST DAY TO VOTE!

If you've been following my blog recently, you know I'm entered in the Bernina WeAllSew Fabric Design Contest. Well, today is the last day to repin to vote for my entries! All you have to do to vote is to go to THIS PIN BOARD and repin my entries. Just a warning though, there's now over 200 entries, and mine are AAAAAALL the way at the bottom, so you have to keep scrolling to find them. If you haven't repinned (or if you have!) please come repin my entries. I'm a long way off from first place, but not too far off second (I lost my second place spot sometime this week and just realized it!)

Here's a refresher of my entries. I very much appreciate any repins you can give me!

Busy designing today

I usually post my mystery quilt clues in the morning (or try to!) but today I've been pretty busy. I decided that I wanted to put together a real collection of fabric designs to print up and put into a portfolio, so I have something to send to fabric companies in the very LIKELY event that I don't win the fabric design contest I'm in right now.

So, working off what I have already started with, I've now got 6 designs colored into a total of 30 different combinations, in a new collection in my Spoonflower store. Most of them are not available (and probably won't be for a while!) but there's a couple I pulled from my old designs so you can get those. Come visit and see what's new!

Moroccan Tiles in Blue and Yellow

Let me know what you think!

Clue #6!

You can grab Clue #6 now!

Time for Clue #5!

Yup, it's Friday again, which means it's time for the next clue! Are you ready for it?

Clue #5!

If you're not following my blog yet, you should! You'll get updates on the mystery and won't miss a clue.

Some new fabric designs

I decided to doodle a bit today, and played with a variation of my Moroccan Tiles design. Here's what I came up with!

And don't forget to vote for my original Moroccan Tiles, and my other entries, in the WeAllSew Fabric Design Contest! See my blog post for more info.

Moroccan Tiles 2

What do you think? I like that it seems lighter than the original design. More colors coming soon!

My Staple Dress

So, I don't typically sew apparel because it's a pain to fit to myself, and my dressform doesn't really reflect MY shape. What looks good on the dummy looks awful on me! Every now and then, I try again, just to see how I do, but I'm just no good at fitting. So when I saw the pattern for the Staple Dress by April Rhodes, which doesn't have any fitting, I thought I'd give it a try. I even already had the elastic thread for the shirring. I didn't want to use any of my "good" fabric though, in case it came out looking horrible. So I tried it with some kind of silky polka dot fabric that someone gave me, and here's what I got!

I did the drop hem (you can't really tell because I took this pic on a tripod that was probably set up a little too high!), and I added some extra shirring because the single row wasn't enough. I think it could look a lot cuter if I liked the fabric more! So I might make another one. I might also do the next size down, this is a little baggy under the arms. What do you think?

I love the idea of the Go Make Shit blog and the Staple Dress challenge. I'm kind of trying to figure out a challenge to put on my own blog now! Hmmmm.....

Don't forget to come help me out and vote for me! Check out this blog entry to see how :)

ALL Craftsy classes are on sale today!

If you missed any of the classes on your wish list in Craftsy's spring sale this weekend, you're in luck. Today only, Craftsy has put EVERY class on sale! Every class on their site will be priced between $9.99 and $24.99 until midnight tonight, 4/8/13. So "Spring" on over and grab them before the prices spring back up!

Craftsy Sale this weekend!

You can get Craftsy classes for up to 75% off this weekend! There will be different classes on sale each day, and the most will be on sale on Saturday, so be sure to check back daily.

What's on sale today? I was going to list them all here, but there's really too many to list! They're priced as low as $9.99, so now is the time to sign up. Click the banner below to head over, and they'll all be right there for ya, with categories on the left so you can go right to what interests you.

Mystery Quilt photos

Ok, so to update you, here's MY mystery quilt photos up through clue #3. I will post my photo for clue #4 when more people have had a chance to do it!

Clue #1 - Tri-Recs units

Clue #2 - I hadn't pressed my HST's open yet, so they're off to the side

Clue #3

Mystery Quilt Clue #4 is ready for you!

I have been posting these clues on my blog on the Tuesdays following the Friday I post them on my facebook group. That was only because I originally forgot to post them to my blog at all! So I'm catching it up here and will be posting them on Fridays for the rest of the mystery. So, here's Clue #4!

Also, I'd like to ask you a favor. If you're a pinner, please help me out by visiting this pinterest board and repinning my entries for this contest! You can see my entries here, just repin them and that's a vote! Thanks a bunch :)

Mystery Quilt Clue #3!

If you're following along, here's Clue #3!

WeAllSew Pinterest Bernina Fabric Design Contest!

http://weallsew.com/2013/03/27/weallsew-pinterest-fabric-design-contest/

 

You know I like to design fabrics, right? And I've recently decided to start marketing myself and my art to some fabric manufacturers. But this contest, and the possibility of a new Bernina and an interview and critique with Benartex, was something I couldn't pass up!

 

 

 

So I entered my 10 designs a couple hours ago.. I hope you'll come and vote for me by repinning my entries! The entries will be posted on THIS PINTEREST BOARD. I was one of the first to submit an entry so my entries are close to the very bottom of the board.To vote, you just have to repin my entries. But you have to repin them from this board directly, not from someone else that repinned them! Only repins (not likes!) from this board will count. Here's pics of my entries so you can find them. Thanks for looking and voting!

 

 

 

New fabric design contest - pt 5!

New fabric design contest - pt 4

New fabric design contest - pt 3

Here's more!

New fabric design contest - pt 2

Here are my next 2 entries.

New fabric design contest - pt 1

Here's my first two designs: