My latest sewing project

My husband has been out of town all week for work, so I have been doing some housework and sewing. Today is the deadline to postmark my entry for the Push the Envelope contest at the American Sewing Expo! And it's done!

A little background...for the contest, they send 100 envelopes of sewing goodies out and you have to make something with them. This year's goodies were similar to last year, three spools of thread and a zipper, but the threads were green and two browns, and the zipper was a 7 inch cranberry one. I was really worried how it was going to come together!

Anyway, here it is! Sorry for the photo quality, my husband has the laptop so I can't get the good pictures off my DSLR, these were taken with my cellphone. I'll switch them when I have access to my memory card :-)

 This is the front. I used the Bellagio Bag pattern from studiokatdesigns.com. Last year, my 9 inch persimmon zipper was hidden inside my project, so this time, I modified the pattern and added this little pocket to the flap. The opening isn't big enough to get a whole hand in, but the pocket's not that big either, just big enough for a ChapStick or some photos or some other little thing you want to new able to get to. Not your cellphone though, there's a side pocket for that!

Here's the back, and the best display of 2 days of work! As I said, they sent three spools of thread. I don't own an embroidery machine, so I have to make do with what I do have! Since I can't do all that fancy stuff, I did a plaid with zigzag stitches out of two threads. Why 2? Because the third was this weird puffy stretch serger thread that my non-serger machine didn't get along with. So on the first day I did the plaid, and the second day I used the third third thread, with all it's lovely puffiness, to hand embroider the lazy daisies into the spots I left blank. The more daisies I stitched, the more I loved this print I created! Seriously, it's so much better in person than photos can show.

 Here's the bag with the flap folded back. There's a pocket in the front, and you might be able to see the cellphone pocket on the right side.

Here's a picture of the inside. The pocket has a zippered pouch on the front as well.

So that's it! You can see it in the Push the Envelope gallery exhibit at the American Sewing Expo in Novi MI at the end of September :-) Hopefully this year I'll get a ribbon with a number on it!

Connecting Threads fabric design contest - Need your vote!

You might have heard, but I've entered the fabric design contest at Connecting Threads! I entered my Moroccan Tiles design in blue and yellow. I'm trying to make it to the top 5 because the top 5 finalists will be asked to submit more designs for final judging, and the winner's collection will be produced and sold in the Connecting Threads catalog! I'm sure you can see how huge this would be for the winner. I'd love it to be me!

But for that to happen, I need your help. Please?

All you have to do is go HERE and vote for my design, it's the first one on the page. There's no signup necessary, but you do have to enter an email address (they're a small family run company, they won't spam you, I promise!) That's it! In two seconds, you can help me, a new unknown designer, get one vote closer to a real live collection that people can actually have! (I love the idea of Spoonflower, but lets face it, who can afford $18 a yard? Not me!)

Thank you in advance for your support!

Two new mug rug patterns!

Nothing gets the creative juices flowing like wasting two weeks training and testing for a job that you didn't get! Ugh, oh well. I can still design quilt patterns, even if I apparently can't score essays.

So, what have I made, you ask? I've started working ahead on a couple new mug rugs for Halloween. I'm sure my test pieces will become gifts for my boys' teachers, but for now, they're lovely samples for my new patterns, which are available tonight in my Craftsy Store!

What a busy summer!

I have been absent from my blog for far too long. It's mainly just because it's summer! We're still a couple weeks away from school going back in session, and we've been trying to make the most of the summer. So far, I've been to scout camp for 3 1/2 days with my son, and we've been to Michigan's Adventure for 3 days and Cedar Point for 4, and even managed a detour to Kings Island on the way home last week. We're still hoping for a trip to Ontario to go to Canada's Wonderland. Why not? We might as well use these season passes! We've also done some stuff locally, and still have plans to do more, once my boys are home from grandma's. These last two weeks have been sucked up by training and testing for a work at home job I was trying to get, and they're supposed to tell us next week if we're accepted (I'm pretty sure I'm not!)

So let me catch you up on me! I haven't done a ton of sewing or designing lately. But I have been working on finishing the templates for an almost completely paper pieced quilt I'm designing, and I hope to have that ready for testing soon. I've also been doodling a little, and modifying some designs for some contests I've entered. And here's a picture of the sewing I've been doing! Sorry for the photo quality, I couldn't spot my good camera right away so this was taken with my cellphone.

I have been seeing stars for weeks! But the stars are finally all done. I'll be filling in the blanks with more black, and then I'll add some borders. As it sits now, it's already 96" square, so this'll probably end up being king sized! Either that, or I'll change my mind and make two more of the bigger stars and make a couple throws (still 72" square each to start!) We'll see what happens when I get there.

Once school starts back up, I'll have all day to work on new stuff! (Once the housework's done of course, honey! LOL)