Christmas Presents

This year Erin and I collaborated and decided to make each other Mini Quilts for our Christmas gifts. We each looked through our favorites on flickr to get an idea of what to make. I decided to go with a Plus quilt since Erin had a ton of them in her favorites and I knew that she had never made one yet.



Both Erin and I love green and aqua so I knew that is what I was going to make hers with but we did decide ahead of time that we had to have a piece of the orange Henna Garden & green moon dot fabric. I love that we did that now since I love the orange plus in the mini.



I washed it before I mailed it out to her since the crinkly look is just one of the best things about quilts.



We waited until we got eachothers in the mail and then got on Skype to watch eachother open them.



Erin made me a Wonky Snowball mini. Isn't it so great???



It looks great on my wall of mini's. My wall is a little out of place right now since my parents are here and staying in my sewing room so once they leave in a month or so I will get my room back together and take another picture.



I also made my friend Sara a boxy make-up pouch since she had said she loved mine.




I followed this tutorial but I added a strap and another tab. Next time I make this I think I will make it larger.



Well I am all done and ready for Christmas to get here. Tomorrow is going to be so much fun with the girls opening all of their gifts.

Going to the Sewing Summit?

Well I am finally able with the help of my husband to go to the Sewing Summit!

Who of you are going? I will be there for Friday & Saturday but I fly home around dinner time on Saturday so I won't be there for Sunday. I think I will be helping out at the registration desk on Friday. I am tall and blonde so watch out for me and say HI! I am really friendly I promise.



I will also have my Market tote that I made with me to! I might make a name tag with my name and also the blog name since so many people know you by blog names and not your real name, which if you want to know is Darci. Dar or Darc also work too :)



I am very excited to finally be able to go and support my bff Erin! Here is to 11 years of knowing eachother. I will for sure be taking some up to date pictures of the 2 of us. We tend to take pictures of the kids when we are together and not one of eachother. The ones I have of us are really old :)

Pillow Mania

Last week I went on a little pillow sewing spree! I had set up a little swap with Amy and needed to make her a pillow, Erin's Birthday was coming up and I wanted to make her a pillow. We always make eachother things for our birthday and Christmas presents. Then since I was already making 2 pillows why not a 3rd? I thought it was high time I made a pillow for me and my living room is sadly in need of them so I thought these new text prints that I bought would be perfect!



I bought these prints and that day I wanted to try them out since black ( in quilting, not my house since most of my furniture is black) is not my style but Amy (another Amy there are a ton of them in the sewing world) started using them and I loved what she was doing with them. I always thought black fabric was for the "grandma" quilters but lately I have changed my mind since people have been using it in a modern way that just makes it sing! I think I am converted.



Once I made that block I knew I wanted to make it into a pillow for Erin. She loves scrappy and we have the same taste in fabric so it was easy to go into my stash and find fabrics for her. I made her a large pillow 22"x 22" since I have heard her say many times how she loves large pillows. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERIN!!!! I didn't take a picture of everything I sent her but Erin did.



I had started making Amy's pillow a little while back and gave her a little sneak peek of it...



I took a break from it since my husband was off of work for a week & a half and we had a little vacation. (We stayed home but we went to the beach, Disneyland and lots of swimming in our pool.) I got the pillow all finished the other day and decided that another one is in the works since I LOVE it. Amy is very lucky I didn't keep it. Spiderwebs are not fast & easy!



I know Amy loved Amy Butler as much as I do and so I used the Sunspots from her LOVE line for the back and binding. I really need to buy more of them I love the Sunspots, remember this picture?



Last but not least was the pillow that I made for me!



I love it and it looks so awesome on my living room couch which I didn't take a picture of it but I do have a picture of the room so you can see how great it would look :) All the Art was painted by my amazing MOM! She is the best.



I had so much fun making these pillows. I just love making pillows for some reason they make me super happy. I even love sewing on zippers!

Happy Friday

I am here quickly since I woke up with a cold and need to rest up since I actually have a hot date tonight. My in laws are taking the girls to Disneyland so we get to have some fun with dinner and a movie (we are thinking this one), but I wanted to stop in to share what I started yesterday for this:



Here is a sneak peak:



If you want to see more you will just have to go to twomoreseconds to see. It all starts Monday March 21st.

Getting to know Erin - Sewers Interview Series

I know I have not been doing Sewers Interview Series lately and I apologize. For some reason it has taken a back burner to other projects, but not this month! If you have been following my blog for these past years you know that Erin and I have been friends for 10 years and that once we started to have kids we both started to love to sew together.



I thought this month would be great to get to know Erin more since she has some exciting things happening ( if you have seen the button on my sidebar and have clicked on it then you know what I am talking about) so here is Erin to tell us about herself:

Q: When did you start to sew?

I remember taking a sewing class when I was 8 or 9 in the basement of an old
fabric store, and my mom sewed off and on growing up so we had a machine in
the house that I played on from time to time. I took sewing in high school, so I
kind of knew how to sew from that class, but I really didn’t start to sew the way I
do now until my son was born in 2006.

Q: Did anyone teach you to sew or are you self taught?

Pretty much self taught. I’m sure I picked up a few things from those earlier
classes, but I’ve learned so much from You Tube videos and online tutorials!

Q: What do you like to sew?

Quilts, baby blankets, small zippy bags and pouches, bee blocks, little toys for
baby gifts or for my boys, and items for online swaps.

Q: Have ever used patterns? If so do you like patterns?

I am not a big fan of patterns, and don’t use them at all really. I don’t like to sew clothing, so I have never followed a pattern there. I’m more of a “look at it and wing it” girl myself.

Q: What is your favorite thing to sew?

Anything with bright, pretty fabrics! Is that answer a cop out? In general I just like sewing things for my friends and family. It makes me happy to see my boys reach for a blanket or quilt that I’ve made them when they cuddle up on the couch for a movie night.

Q: Do you have something that you made that is your all time favorite?
Why?

Probably my green and grey Daisy Chain quilt. Just because it was my first quilt
that I finished and I use it often. It’s not perfect but it reminds me of how far I’ve come in the past couple of years.



Q: What is your favorite fabric line / Designer?

There really isn’t any one fabric line or designer where I like 100% of their stuff. I much prefer to purchase a little here, a little there, and to mix and match from different lines. I can see the appeal of just buying up one whole line, because usually everything coordinates and flows nicely together, but I think I like the creativity more of putting different fabrics together. That said, I think that Katie
Jump Rope by Denyse Schmidt is just about as close to perfection as a fabric line can be in my eyes, and I usually name that one as my “favorite line”!

Q: What are some of your sewing secrets?

Hmm … I probably don’t have any “secrets” but some things that work for me:
I change out my needle a LOT. They’re cheap enough and it usually makes
such a difference to have a brand new needle in there. I use an Elmers glue
stick to keep binding or fussy little pieces down so they don’t shift around. My
sewing machine desk is actually a computer desk that has one of those pull out
shelves below where the keyboard is supposed to sit, it’s a great place to keep
my scissors,pin cushion, leaders and enders.

Q: What sewing machine do you have? Do you like it or have one that you
wish for?

I have a mid-range Brother machine that sews great! It is basic but it does
everything I need on it and it isn’t fussy. I would love a new machine, who
wouldn’t?! Nothing specific in mind right now, though.


Q: As many people know already you are one of the fantastic duo of The
Sewing Summit. Tell us a little bit about what that is and why you and Amy
decided to get it running.

We are calling The Sewing Summit a modern sewing and blogging conference,
and it’s just that: a place for modern sewists to be able to get together for the
weekend and learn and have fun and get to know each other off-line. There
is nothing exactly like what we’re planning out there right now for people like
us, and so we wanted to be able to give back to the community and create an
event that was made for the modern sewist. Of course, what you consider to
be “modern” is subjective. ;] It will really be an awesome conference full of
classes, networking events, panels, and just hanging out with the friends you’ve
made online and have known for years.

Q: What are some of your sewing goals for this year?

Besides trying to pull off a huge conference for hundreds of people? ;] I hope
my machine doesn’t forget who I am this year! Just kidding, I could never stop
sewing for myself – it makes me happy to be down in my sewing room alone
and amongst all my pretty fabric! Some of my sewing goals are: finish the twin
sized green, blue and white quilt for Masons bed.



Track down the last few pieces of Katie Jump Rope that I need to finish my collection and then sew something with it. Get some other random WIP’s out of the way so I can start 2012 with a completely clean sewing slate. Thanks Darci!

Apple Pear Magnets

I had planned alot for Erin's present this year. We both tend to make eachother things since we both love to sew and have them in our house. But.....then I found out we were moving NOW.  So I was only able to make the small things since they would be faster. I got this book from the library. (It is now on my list of books to own)



I made 2 of the magnets for Erin. The Apple and Pear. I was going to make a Plum to because of Erin's awesome superhero capes but had to come up with the pattern on my own and I ran out of time. Don't worry once I am all settled I will get it done or maybe Erin will beat me to it.

Reversible Apron

I checked another thing off of my list today. I made an apron from this tutorial. I just decided to make it 2 FQ's so that it can be reversible and I also made my own bias tape instead of using some trim. Let me just say making your own bias tape is not my favorite thing.

I made this for my sister in law who loves rosters and decorates her kitchen with them.



She, also like me, loves pink.



I bet you are wondering why I decided to take the pictures next a a globe huh?? Random. I thought it was be really funny since my bff Erin did the same thing and I just thought it would make her laugh.

Mornings Between Friends

Have any of you heard of the 2 friends that decided to take a picture every morning, for a year, and then blog about it???? Well....Here is the blog that they set up to show eachother their pictures, A Year of Mornings, so that they could be in each others lives even though they live far apart.

Well.....why I am telling you this you ask??? Erin contacted me almost 2 years ago to see if I would be interested in trying it out for a week. I thought it would be a great idea for us to be even more connected! Not like all the phone calls, emails, texts, google chats, etc. isn't enough. Rules: We both take a picture, edit it, then post it within an hour of waking up. We both decided that we can't cheat and be lazy and take pictures with our iPhone cameras, it has to be our actual nice cameras!

Since we started in March of 2009 we have now done 2 weeks of A Week of Mornings, A Month of Mornings and then occasionally we have done A Day of Mornings. We have posted them to Flickr and have a group, Mornings Between Friends, set up for this purpose.

I thought I would finally show all of you our collection since it is fun and shows you a different aspect of my life. Here is a look at some of Erin and my pictures we have done over these 1.5 years.



Today's A Day of Mornings is brought to you by: Feet & Hands. (I couldn't decide between the 2 pictures today so you get 2 pictures not one.)

Feet peeking out of bed. So hard to resist.



Hands of all different sizes.

Quilting Bee Blocks (.com)

So my BFF Erin has started a new website for ALL THINGS quilting bees. She has been having a HUGE GIVEAWAY all week long.( I have been a terrible friend and forgot to post about this sooner here on my blog) Go to this post to enter the giveaway there is a different prize for every day of the week and you could be one of the winners. The contest ends on Monday, April 12th at 10:00 am MST. One of the prizes I supplied:


The blue stars fabric is the Tiny Tots line by The Vintage Workshop (1/2 yard) & the cute little robots are a Japanese cotton/linen blend that a fat quarter (fat 1/4).

So PLEASE PLEASE go over and check it out and try to win some awesome prizes and support the Quilting Bee Community!

For a friend.

I was in the embroidery mode and so as a surprise to my good friend, Erin, I embroidered her logo for her, from her amazing business, PlumPearApple Designs. It was so much fun to do.



Embroidery is easy, if you are thinking of doing it, do it. You will be surprised at how easy it is to do. My favorite thing to do is to watch a movie at night with my husband and embroider.



I can't wait to see what she does with it.



The fruit is my favorite, they look so great together.