An Apple a Day + Necklace Kit- Winner!

Thank you for all of your comments for the An Apple a Day, 9 projects for the daily life of quilters, sewists, and crafters and "Dare to Dream" Necklace Kit giveaway!  I absolutely LOVED reading each and every comment, and continue to be inspired by how everyone learned to sew and/or got into quilting!  :)

Without further ado, the winner of a copy of An Apple a Day, 9 projects for the daily life of quilters, sewists, and crafters is lucky #12, Marcia W.

A BIG congrats to Marcia (I'll be emailing you for your mailing address!).  

For those of you who are still in need of a copy of An Apple a Day, 9 projects for the daily life of quilters, sewists, and crafters (which is highly recommended!!!) the book is for sale through The Quilted Fish's website, and at a cost of $18 ($2/pattern), the book is a steal!  Plus, use coupon code BLOGTOUR for 20% off; code is good through July 22nd!  :)

An Apple A Day Book Blog Tour + Giveaway!!!

This giveaway is now closed.

Good morning, friends!  I hope that everyone is having a fabulous 4th of July, and I am so thankful that you are here to join in on The Quilted Fish's Book Blog Tour!  :)

The Creative Consultants Design Team teamed up with The Quilted Fish and we debuted a book at Quilt Market in Kansas City- oh yeah!!!  The book is titled An Apple a Day, 9 projects for the daily life of quilters, sewists, and crafters.

The book includes patterns for quilts, bags, home decor, and organization- something for everyone (which is what I love!).  I detailed the contents after I got home from Quilt Market, so make sure to hop on over HERE for beautiful photos and links to all of the contributor's blogs!

My contribution to the book are these darling herringbone placemats (I love that herringbone is all of the rage these days!).  The placemats can be pieced and quilted in an afternoon's time which makes them that much more enticing, right!?!  I have plans to whip some up for Christmas gifts, and hope that you join me! 

The book is for sale through The Quilted Fish's website, and at a cost of $18 ($2/pattern), the book is a steal!  :)

I hope that you continue to join along on the Book Blog Tour! 

Sunday, July 1st: Amanda's Blog & Jana's Blog

Monday, July 2nd: Julie's Blog

Tuesday, July 3rd: Sally's Blog

Wednesday, July 4th: My Blog (so glad you are HERE!)

Thursday, July 5th: Stephanie's Blog

Friday, July 6th: Johanna's Blog

Saturday, July 7th: Jackie's Blog

Sunday, July 8th: Brooke's Blog

 As a part of this Book Blog Tour I am giving away a copy of a book plus a kit to make this beautiful "Dare to Dream" necklace!

To enter the giveaway:

Leave a comment telling me what how you learned how to sew (mom, grandma, lessons, home ec?).

Giveaway will run through July 11at 8pm (PST); winners will be announced on Thursday, July 12th.

Giveaway is open both US and International friends.  Good luck!!!

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Also...please make sure there is a way for me to contact you (aka- leave your email address in your comment), as I need to be able to contact you when you win!  While we are on the subject, are you a no-reply blogger?  Not sure what a no-reply blogger is, well when you leave a comment I receive your comment in an email.  When I hit "reply" to email you back, the email address shows as "noreplyblogger@blogger.com", rather than your true email.

Quick solution:
1.  Log into your Blogger account, and click on the drop down tab next to your email address, at the top right corner.
2.  Click "Blogger Profile".
3.  The second line down should say "Show My Email Address"- CHECK THIS BOX.  Easy peasy!  :)

Quilt Market- Part 3 {The Quilted Fish's Booth}

Ever wonder how a booth at Quilt Market goes up?  I have a couple of progress photos to share, and then of course the final product (which was a gorgeous and unique booth, if I may say so myself!).  :)

Kayce (Amanda's BFF) and Amanda putting up the second fabric covered wall.

Jackie and I working on prepping a third wall.

The booth is coming together!!!  :)

Here is the final booth in all of its glory!!!  How cute is the booth!?!  Amanda did a wonderful job planning out every last detail and I'm so thankful that I was able to be a part of it!  :)

Samples of projects made from Amanda's patterns as well as projects from our new book (including Johanna's bag and Sally's mini quilt) An Apple a Day, 9 projects for the daily life of sewists, quilters, and crafters (those are my cute herringbone placemats on the left side of the table).

Jackie's necklace and Brooke's quilt from the book, as well as Amanda's new Apple of My Eye Quilt pattern (I love all of those ruffles!).

Jana's quilt from the book, which uses Rolie Polies (I love projects that use pre-cuts!).

Stephanie and Julie's projects from the book, as well as some jumbo thread spools (so cute!).

 

Amanda's sewing box and my herringbone placemats from the book!

   

Amanda's new 'Petite Maison - Folding Doll House' pattern, which was quite the hit with all of the moms and grandmas alike!

The Petite Maison even has a backyard!  :)

Amanda had a vision to really get the shop owners involved in Market this year, which lead to the offering of our very popular Necklace Workshop!  One person from every store had the opportunity to sign up, sit down, and make a necklace (which is a project in our new book An Apple a Day, 9 projects for the daily life of sewist, quilters and crafters.

This is what the table looked like before the start of Market, and...

This is what the table looked like when one group of shop owners were making their necklaces.  The Necklace Workshop was a HIT!  Lots of work, but a HIT!  :) 

Quilt Market- Part 1 {My Pattern is in a BOOK!!!}

I feel like I should be wearing a "I Survived Quilt Market" t-shirt!  :)  Quilt Market was held in Kansas City, MO this time around, and I had so much fun!  I'm planning to recap my experience for you (lots of photos, little text!), but first wanted to share what The Quilted Fish's Creative Consultants Design Team has been up to.  Let's just say we all know how to keep a secret!  ;)

A group shot of the Creative Consultants that were able to make it to Quilt Market.  From left to right: Robbie (my mom, aka honorary member), Jackie, Jana, Amanda, Kayce (Amanda's BFF), Brooke, Me, and Stephanie.

Okay, are you ready?  The Creative Consultants Design Team teamed up with The Quilted Fish and we debuted a book at Quilt Market- oh yeah!!!  The book is titled An Apple a Day, and includes nine projects for the daily life of quilters, sewists, and crafters.

This is the cover of the book (I want you to know what to look for in your local quilt shop!).  :)  Amanda designed the project on the cover, "Inside the Box", which is beautiful and handy sewing box.  I really need to make myself one of these!

Jackie designed this beautiful "Dare to Dream" necklace, which was a hit at Quilt Market, as The Quilted Fish's booth featured a make and take for shop owners.  Every shop owner had the chance to make one of these beautiful necklaces, that way they had an already assembled sample for when they get home.  Genius, right!?!

 

 

Jana designed this "Body and Sole" quilt, which is a great use for Rolie Polies (2.5" strips of Riley Blake fabrics).

 

Brooke designed this "Apples in the Orchard" quilt, which uses fat quarters.  I don't know about you, but I love finding quilt patterns that use fat quarters!  :)

I designed these fun and festive "Pick of the Bunch" herringbone placemats. They may look complicated, but I promise they are not!  :)

Stephanie designed this "Core Essentials" binder, which is full of zipper pockets and such to help keep you organized when on the go!

 

Julie designed this "Pack and Press" which is holds your cutting mat, rotary cutter, and opens up into an ironing surface!

Johanna designed this "Carry It All Along" bag which is a perfect solution to organization while in your home studio, and when traveling to a sewing class.

Last but not least, Sally designed this "Apple Blessings Mini Art Quilt", which is such a beautiful combination of quilting, hand embroidery, and embellishments.

An Apple A Day can be purchased at your local quilt shop, or directly from The Quilted Fish (online store).  If your quilt shop doesn't yet carry the book, make sure to ask for it by name!  :)

Before you go, here is a quick video debuting The Quilted Fish's new patterns and best sellers, enjoy!

LA Quilt Shops Part 2: The Urban Craft Center

After leaving Sew Modern in West LA, Stephanie, Kristin, and I made a quick drive to The Urban Craft Center in Santa Monica.  A month or so ago Thomas and I were in Santa Monica, as we had tickets for Ovo.  I had read about The Urban Craft Center online, and so we stopped in to take a look.  I fell in love with the store, and thought it would be a hit with Stephanie and Kristin (lucky Kristin, she actually lives close enough to take their classes!).

 

One of my favorite things about The Urban Craft Center is that it is a one-stop shop for all of your crafting needs.  They teach and embrace all sorts of crafts, which is such a wonderful outlook!

Stephanie and I surrounded by beautiful fabrics.  The Urban Craft Center doesn't have a ton of fabric, but what they do have is great.  They have a lot of Japanese fabrics, a couple Moda lines, and all of the Amy Butler fabrics were on sale!

The Urban Craft Center is big on classes, which I love!  Saturday they were having a paper making class (pictured above).  They offer knitting, sewing, embroidery, soap making, bookbinding, and Yudu Screen Printing classes (just to name a few!).

Last but not least, this is their yarn, felt, and book section.  I wish I was a bit more handy with my crochet hooks, as they had yarns in such gorgeous colors!

PS- Can you believe that I've blogged three days in a row!?!  Hopefully this becomes the norm...only time will tell!

LA Quilt Shops Part 1: Sew Modern

I'm so excited to share snippets of my trip to LA with you!  Early Saturday morning I jumped on the freeway, headed west, to meet up with Stephanie, a fellow Creative Consultant, and her sister Kristin!  I had met Kristin before, as she was at The Quilted Fish's Fabric Launch Party in October, however this was the first time meeting Stephanie (after months and months of emailing back and forth!).  Our first stop was Sew Modern,in West LA.

Sew Modern is a relatively new store, as they just celebrated their one year anniversary! 

The quaint (and very useful!) sitting area.  The perfect place for husbands and children!  :)

The store was stocked with beautiful fabrics, and also had a very abundant sale section (my favorite!!!).  After being surrounded by old lady quilt shops, the vibrant fabric prints and colors was definitely a breath of fresh air!  :)

Sew Modern also has all 214 colors of Kona Cotton, which is something I've never witnessed before!  I just started using solids in my quilts, and love that the shop has so many bolts to play with!

This is a photo from the back of the store, looking towards the front.  There is a long arm quilting machine behind me, and the green desk with sewing machines is where the classes are held.

Stephanie and I!  I'm so thankful that we had the opportunity to meet up.  If only we lived closer...

 

I spotted this mustache fabric and absolutely fell in love!  You may recall that for Christmas I made a leather mustache pillow, and now I will be making a mustache quilt for Thomas as well!  I am going to use the pattern that the orange quilt (second photo) was made from, which is available in the Spring issue of Quilts and More magazine.  I will be using orange sashing, the rectangles and large squares will be the mustaches, and I think I'll be using Moda's black Pezzy Print for the small squares.  I'm excited for this quilt, and can't wait to get started!

Come back tomorrow morning, as I'm preparing a write up on the second quilt shop we visited, The Urban Craft Center in Santa Monica, CA!

Delighted Fabric Launch Party!!!

I may {or may not be!} three months late with this post, but it is what it is!  Some of you may know that I was in Utah in October for The Quilted Fish's Delighted Fabric Launch Party, and let me tell you, it was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!  :)

Every table in the room was decorated with the utmost attention to detail!

Mr. Fish (Amanda's sweet husband) built this doll house for the party, and let me tell you it was a HIT!  The Delighted fabric was Mod Podged onto the wood, and then carefully assembled per the instructions.

Here is a look at the inside of the house.  All of the furnishings were made by Jana!  :)

Fun and fashionable Dress Form Mannequin Pin Cushions, made using DIY Dish's tutorial.

This was my 'home away from home' for the night!  The party featured two make-and-takes, one being a dog tag fabric necklace, and the other a bottle cap pincushion (which Jana manned).  Behind the table are also projects made by some of the The Quilted Fish's Design Team!

I LOVE this apron!  :)

This is Jana's station, where each party goer had the opportunity to make a bottle cap pincushion!

Sassy Jana!!!  :)

Each window displayed a sweet vignette of collections and handmade goodies featuring the Delighted fabric.

Above is the bunting I prepared for the party!  (Could you tell it was mine as each pendant is backed with burlap!?!)  ;)

Treats for all of the party goers!

The photo booth and fun props were a hit throughout the night!

 

This is Jana and I together (one of the only photos I have of us from our week together!).  I'm so thankful that I was able to be in Utah for the party, and that I had the opportunity to spend the time I did with both Amanda and Jana.  I am one lucky girl to be able to call them both friends, and better yet Besties!  ;)

PS- Interested in the kitchen themed projects made by the Design Team?  If so make sure to view the online magazine as well as the tutorials!