LaVieEnRosie

P.I.T.P.

Patootie.  That's the second "p".

I'm sure this has happened to you.  You open your e-mail box and there it is.  An e-mail address that you immediately recognize with equal parts excitement and panic.  Excitement because she's a nice person and you like her, and because she always has something new and exciting to share.  Panic because if she's had an idea, you know it's going to mean completely re-arranging your to-do list because you're suddenly careening off in a new direction.  A good direction but not exactly what you had planned.  

So when I received an e-mail a few months back telling me about a new pre-cut that Moda was debuting at Spring Market - Moda Candy - I was just a tiny bit concerned.  I'd been down this "rabbit hole" before.  

But the word "candy" definitely got my attention.  It usually does.  Moda candy - fabric candy.  That was all it took... resistance was futile.  Okay, I didn't even try to resist.  

For the un-initiated - Moda "candy" is the name for the newest pre-cut fabric temptation.  Each mini charm pack contains 42 squares from one of their designer collections - and each square measures 2 1/2" x 2 1/2".    

Basically, they're just like the "regular" charm packs... only smaller.  They've sort of been around but not really, meaning you might get one or two from a Moda sales rep but you couldn't buy them anywhere.  Until now.  Let me get one thing straight - when I first read about these new mini charm packs, I thought they were kind of silly.  If you needed four or five of them to make something, why wouldn't you just buy a regular charm pack?  

And then I started thinking - I do that occasionally - and that's when I got side-tracked.  

Majorly seriously side-tracked.  Seventeen little quilts and almost a dozen pincushions side-tracked.  And folks wonder why I call "her" a pest.

As I have done before, I decided to limit myself to just two mini-charm packs or 84 prints squares.  I could add fabric for a background, sashings, cornerstones and borders, but that was it.  So none of the projects needs more than 1 yard of additional fabric and a few need as little as 1/6 yard - not including binding and backing.  The additional yardage can easily come from a Layer Cake or Jelly Roll of Bella Solids.    

A single lone "regular" charm pack?  That's enough for two Little Bites.  Or a bigger Bite - information for that is included in the pattern.  If you have leftover pieces and strips from a Jelly Roll or Layer Cake, that will work too.  Actually, any leftover 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" squares - or scraps that you can cut into 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" squares - will work.  

      

The best part is that these little projects can be quilted and bound to make little quilts or - and - they can be "finished" in a variety of other ways.  Framed?  Quilted or not, a couple of the projects will fit well into a ready-made frame.  Pillows?  You already know how much I like patchwork pillows.  I can even see using one of these designs for the side of a simple tote bag.   

The rest of the Little Bites patterns can be seen here.

Jot?  Mite?  Tickle?  That's the easy part.  They're all synonyms for "little bites" and little pieces.  Seriously.  At this point in our relationship, did you not already know that I love words?  That I didn't have a well-used thesaurus within grasp?  Okay, full disclosure - I had the idea for these names while driving down the freeway and... well, you don't want to know.  Let it suffice to say that I finally did pull over onto the shoulder to look up synonyms for "little bites" on Thesaurus.com.  While I faithfully refrain from "driving while texting", I do have the occasional problem with "driving while looking up stuff on Google".  (If you live in Arizona and want to know what make of car to avoid, I drive a graphite-blue VW.)

I do love making pincushions.   

And I love giving stuff away - especially something wonderful like candy.  Lots of candy.  Aka the awesome Moda mini-charm packs.   

If you leave a comment here before Midnight on Monday, September 3rd - that's the Monday/Tuesday midnight, right? - you're entered to win an assortment of Moda mini-charm packs.  Two winners will be drawn on Tuesday and announced by Wednesday, September 5th.  To be entered to win, please answer this question:

What is your favorite kind of candy?  

E.g., M&Ms , any kind of chocolate, Life-savers, Skittles, etc.  

If you don't like candy, that's okay.  What's your favorite snack?  Anybody who answers "carrot sticks" or "to-ferky" is automatically disqualified from winning a prize.  (And yes, I'm kidding!)

And because you might want or need some patterns... Lissa and Moda Fabrics are giving away two complete sets of Little Bites patterns!  You can enter to win those at the Moda Cutting Table.  

Make sure you say "Hi" to Lissa - aka "she who enjoys sidetracking Carrie".  The P.I.T.P. 

(Just so you know... that stands for the "person I totally pester".)

She can side-track me anytime.  

Happy Thursday ~ and Happy Labor Day Weekend!

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Speaking of which, if you don't want to wait to see if you've won some patterns, the new Little Bites are available in the shop.  

A "shop pack" of all eight patterns is available for a discounted price of $45.00.  Just purchase all eight patterns and enter the code that applies - ShopPDF or ShopPaper - to get the Shop Pack price.  If I goofed and it doesn't work, I promise to refund the extra cost.  

And through the Labor Day weekend, the Little Bites are all 10% off the regular price.  Just enter the code - Paper10 or PDF10 - to get the discount.  PDF10 for PDF patterns and Paper10 for paper patterns.  

My man Harry...

Not the one romping in high-roller suites - how dumb was that? - in Las Vegas but Harry Callahan.  I spent the weekend with him.  Sadly, I was in Phoenix and he was in San Francisco.  In another time-zone... literally.  

As in, I'm-gonna-need-a-time-machine-to-get-there time zone.

I suppose I should explain it this way - a Dirty Harry movie marathon kept me company while I was busy packing patterns.  More on that later.  I could have watched Downton Abbey which is lovely and nice and all that but somehow, I usually seem to prefer something like Dirty Harry.  I guess this means I'm officially ex-communicated from the "chick club".  

Life here has been busy... Mom is good.  Rosie is good.  I'm good.  Though I'm nursing sore fingers and very dry hands from handling paper for the past week.  Between the "finishing up" stuff with the patterns to the actual packing of them, that's occupied the better part of the last week.  But I'm done and they're finished and I am going to get to sew by the end of this week.  I might even get to use something I made a few months ago but only just got back.

How cryptic is that?  Let me explain...

Back in February, I received a very nice e-mail from Jill Mead at Quilts And More, the lovely quarterly publication from American Patchwork & Quilting.  You already know that Joanna Figueroa - Ms. Fig Tree - and Camille Roskelley - Ms. ThimbleBlossoms - do a regular feature titled Scrap Lab.  Half a yard of fabric and six fat quarters are sent to them and they have to pick five of the fat quarters and make something wonderful.  Which they do each and every issue... pretty annoying, don't you think?  So you can imagine how terrified thrilled I was to be invited to participate.  Because it wouldn't be very interesting to have each of us make a [insert name of project], there is some coordination about who wants to make what.  Jill asked if I I might be able to make something like a needlebook, etc.  Uh, yeah.  Sure.  

Panic?  Me?  

Duh!

Who knew that Kaffe Fasset would be my savior?

This was the fabric we received.  It's pretty fabulous but really, does this look like me?  Better still, does this look like Camille or Joanna?  Whew.  There's a boat.  On a creek.  No paddle.  We're all in it.  I chose to ignore the fact that they're both better swimmers than I am.  

Don't get me wrong, I really like the fabric.  I do.  I'm just not really a purple-kind of girl.  I admit it - I was hoping for some Bonnie & Camille or Fig Tree fabrics.  

But I finished.  I sent it in.  And it was published.  Quilts and More - Fall 2012.  Available at your local quilt shop, the Fat Quarter Shop and even your local grocery store.  

Used with permission from Quilts and More magazine. ©2012 Meredith Corporation. All rights reserved.

After thinking about it - and getting the okie dokie - I decided to make a sewing roll.  I thought about what my "perfect sewing kit" would include... scissors, needles, pins, thread, readers, a ruler, possibly a pen... and what else?  For me, I need a needle threader.  And if I've got pins, I want a pincushion.  So I went about figuring our how to incorporate everything I would need and want into something that would roll up.  

And how was I going to use this purple Kaffe fabric to make it?

Used with permission from Quilts and More magazine. ©2012 Meredith Corporation. All rights reserved.

This is the outside.  Big hexagons - fussy cut, of course.  And a pretty polka dot tie.  

One of the things I tried to keep in mind was - no special tools, no special techniques, and no special buttons/trim/etc.  I wanted this to be something that work for anybody with any fabric.  I hoped.  

Used with permission from Quilts and More magazine. ©2012 Meredith Corporation. All rights reserved.

I do have one question though - when did they invent fusible pellon?  That's pretty cool stuff.  I have to thank a "bag lady" friend for the assist on that one.  When I asked her if she had any recommendations for stabilizers or "interfacing", she suggested fusible pellon.  By the way, the lower left side pulls up a bit because of the needle threader.  No, I can't live without one and any remotely-useful sewing roll of mine would have one.  

This is what it looks like with everything pulled out...

I used an empty - or blank - lip balm tin for the pins and I tied a scrap of fabric to the little pin-tube.  I made the little mini-pincushion, and the scissors are some vintage-looking scissors from YozoCraft.  (YozoCraft is showing this style as being out of stock but they are also available from a couple of different Etsy Sellers - SeasonalSupplies, Oliviasworld, Yeahshop.)    

It was great fun to make and I know I will actually use it.  I also learned something new and got to exercise my brain a bit trying to figure out how to do something I hadn't done in several years.  So a huge thank you to the folks at American Patchwork, Jill Mead and of course, Joanna and Camille for inviting me to play along.  

Two more quick things.  I really do love and use the Clover needle threaders.  But I don't use it all "nekkid" like it is above.  No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't figure out how to make it fit into the needle roll with this on it...

Years ago, my friend Judy got one of these for me at a sewing expo sort of thing.  It's fabulous and as great as the needle threader is on its own, the wooden base makes it so much more stable.  The base has little plastic/rubber feet and there is a groove cut in the top that is just a skosh bigger than the base of the threader.  Stuck to the wood is a strip of the 3M mounting tape - just peel off the top paper and stick the threader to the base.  It's perfect.  

And because I would never tell you about something like this and not also let you know how to find one for yourself... www.stencilnstitch.com.  They're $4.00 each and you can find them on Page 3 of the Wood Shop.  One thing to mention - while the shipping isn't expensive, the shipping is as much as the base.  You've probably got some friends who would love one and if they don't have a birthday in the next couple of months, Christmas is just around the corner... I'm just saying that having a few extras on hand isn't a completely bad idea.

Second thing - I will be back on Thursday or Friday to show you what's been keeping me busy this past week.  

Happy Wednesday!

Hallelujah!

I'm finally finished.

And the angels sang.

Not because they're overjoyed at the prospect of new patterns coming soon, but because they're seriously tired of hearing all the whining, moaning and groaning coming from yours truly.  Even my sweet Rosie would leave the room when I turned on the computer.  The crabbiness and grumpiness was bad enough, but she was annoyed that "writing patterns" seemed to include pinning puppy pictures on Pinterest and online shopping.  She might not have minded if a box or two arrived from the Three Dog Bakery but I kept forgetting.  Rosie knows I'm easily side-tracked.  

But don't feel sorry for her, she's been eating very well this past week, what with all the new recipes folks have pinned I've found.  Zucchini Fritters?  Those were terrific.  PW's White Chicken Enchiladas... I'll make those again too.  And the Baked Tomato Risotto was yummo!  

The only thing I haven't done this past week is sew.  Not even a little bit.  But I'm planning to stay up tonight after the series finale of The Closer.  I know I'll get all boohooey by the end but I'm prepared, I've got a box of tissues ready.  

I'm off to the vet with Rosie today - it's time for her Senior Wellness Panel.  Poor thing... she doesn't know it yet but she has to fast before she gets her bloodwork done.  Then a couple of errands before the temperatures hit 174 degrees, including the grocery store for some bulgur wheat and ice cream sandwiches.  I showed my Mom a picture of an ice cream sandwich cake and she wanted to know if I would make one for dinner.  Not for dessert, she wants it for dinner.  It's that sort of thing that makes me look forward to being 80 years old.    

Happy Monday!

And just so you know, that's a Tickle and a Speck.  

Alert! Alert! I forgot...

Thank you very much for all the lovely, sweet comments about Rosie.  She appreciates it very much - she loves attention of any kind.  

It has come to my attention that I'm kinda sorta dropping the ball regarding not telling you about a quilt I've got in the new - October - issue of American Patchwork & Quilting.  Seriously, you wouldn't believe how many folks are taking me to task about why I haven't been giving you a heads up.  

Not that.  This is next week.  Yes.  I made something with this fabric.  Kaffe Fassett.  Purple.  Oh yeah... this is so me.    

ALERT!  ALERT!  American Patchwork & Quilting - October 2012 issue - No. 118!!

Buy it now!

If you don't, you'll be sorry.  Really, really sorry.  You'll miss a terrific feature article on Betsy Chutchian as well as a beautiful quilt project - Harvest Rows - she's done for the issue.  You probably know Betsy best as the author of History Repeated - a book chock-full of amazing quilts you'll want to make.  Did you know Betsy collects all things related to Halloween?  Oh my... I think I need to make an orange quilt.  

There is a need-to-make-that-now chevron quilt from Sandy Klop featuring solids and her trademark Pezzy print.  It's called Pixie Sticks and it is spectacular.  

As are Crack the Code from Scott Hansen of Blue Nickel Studio, How Sweet It Is by Jennifer Bosworth of Shabby Fabrics and Under The Big Top by Tamara Barfels of Daisy Ridge Quilting.  And don't miss the Messenger Bag on the bag page by the annoyingly prolific Monique Dillard of Open Gate Quilts.    

Huh?  Oh right.  Back On Track.

An ironic name for my quilt, don't you think?

Used with permission from American Patchwork & Quilting® magazine. ©2012 Meredith Corporation. All rights reserved.”

I called it Grand Central because the blocks look a little like turnstiles.  I saw this block in an antique quilt and was smitten.  Figuring out how to make the block was the easy part.  Figuring out how I wanted to set it... that took a little bit more thought.  To the point that I wound up with two versions of it.  The best part about both quilts is that I used leftover pieces and 1 1/2" strips from other projects to make these quilts.    

 Clearing out a few scraps meant I had room for some new acquisitions...

DS Quilts Richmond.  I know we're not supposed to talk about these fabrics because they come from "that" store but I love them.  I also think of these pieces as my "fix" while I wait for Chicopee. 

Not that I'm doing any sewing right now.  After finishing almost a dozen pincushions last week - yes, a dozen - for the new patterns coming in a few weeks, I'm now chained to my computer writing patterns.  I got side-tracked a week or so ago but now it's at the top of the to-do list because without writing the pattern, I can't double-check the yardages for the back of the pattern.  All of those quilts and pinnies are at the printer/photographer now and as soon as I have something to show you, I will.  For now, let me just say "mini charm pack".  

I almost cut up some of this for one of those projects...

Liberty of London - Liberty Lifestyle Cottons - Bloomsbury Garden.  The lovely people at Liberty sent me one of their sample packs after I missed Market and oh my, the fabrics are gorgeous.  Truly, seriously gorgeous.  They are of the same weight and feel as the quilting cottons we're used to but the look and feel of the fabrics is pure Liberty of London.  The best thing is that the Lifestyle Cottons are much more affordable than the Tana Lawns that Liberty is famous for -- about $16.00 a yard instead of $40.00 a yard.  I've already received some yardage and I definitely want more.

Isn't it wonderful?  If you don't already know, there are 11 different prints in 5 different colorways for a total of 55 fabrics.  Hawthorne Threads is supposed to have the whole collection sometime this month - August.  Pink Castle Fabrics shows the whole collection on their website but they've said that they haven't ordered all of it, just assorted prints.  They're also waiting for it to arrive.  PurlSoho already has the whole collection, or rather, they had the whole thing.  Some of it has sold out, but they are re-ordering.

But this will have to wait until I finish.  writing.  patterns.

Can't you just feel the excitement?  

Maybe I'll go see what's on Pinterest...