Tuesday, October 30, 2012

A winner

The winner of my 2nd blogaversary giveaway is:




Congrats, Amanda! I'm also a HUGE Reese's fan :) I'd have to say that's my favorite candy (any kind of Reese's, really).

I have emailed you - you have two days to send me your address, or I will pick another winner. Thanks to everyone who entered and for your continued support of my blog!

I meant to cut into my Bella FQs but the power went out last night and it's SUPER COLD in our apartment, so we've moved to my parents for a couple of days. I hope everyone else on the East Coast is staying safe... tomorrow is my third day off of work for the school week so it's safe to say that it's still pretty dangerous around here.

Back soon -

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Blogger's Quilt Festival Fall 2012: Flying Purple People Eater

*Today is the last day to enter my Blogaversary Giveaway! Ends Mon. 10/29 at 8pm EST, as long as I have power!*

I can't believe it's time for the Blogger's Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side already! Seriously. Is it almost November, too? In my book, Nov. 1 means Christmas music! But anyway... getting sidetracked :)



When deciding which quilt to use in the festival, I knew it had to be my favorite quilt of the year - the quilt I had been saving purple scraps and fabrics for since I started quilting in 2010 - my Flying Purple People Eater Quilt. Although it's a slightly more traditional pattern than I'm used to, the modern fabrics are what do it for me.

Why flying, you ask? Here's what happened when I took the quilt top out for a photoshoot in the early spring:


This quilt was made as part of the Made in Cherry QAL at Pins and Bobbins - though, while that was going on, I was student teaching, which means I had little to no sewing time. The quilt top sat on our not-oft used living room floor, all set up and ready to piece, for about two months - bless my mother.




It took me forever to decide how I wanted to quilt it, and I finally decided to FMQ leaves at certain intersections of the patchwork. I love how it came out, even if the leaves aren't perfectly the same size at all - I didn't use a template, I just did it. In the negative gray space, I did a pattern of loops and waves - one of my favorite parts to look at.




I'm completely in love with the back, too. It was so much fun to piece together, using all of my absolute favorite purple fabrics. Also, there's a mini star near the top. I bound the whole thing in (some) of the purples I had left (I am a desperate lover of scrappy binding - also, Lourdez Sanchez fabric).


My little sister being silly - we have a lot of fun photograping quilts :)

Now, this quilt makes me (and my husband, surprisingly) happy every single day because it's on our bed in our new apartment. I love seeing it several times a day - and even though I've been contemplating making a new bed quilt, I think I'll leave this one for a while.




You can see my original post about this quilt here and the windy quilt top photoshoot here.

*Quilt Measurements: Approx. 60x80 inches
*Special Techniques: FMQ
*Quilted by: Me on my very simple home machine - pretty much on its last leg!
*Best category: Favorite Scrap Quilt, Bed Quilt, Quilt Photographer
Entry: #361


Go check out the other beautiful quilts by clicking the link above! Thanks for hosting, Amy!

Friday, October 26, 2012

Introducing: Sewing Confrontations - A November Blog Series at Quilty Habit

*My 2nd Blogaversary Giveaway ends on Mon., 10/29!*


About a month ago, I started one of my secret Christmas presents, and I realized I was making a silly mistake. I went on to challenge myself to do the best I could possibly do, by changing my technique... and I improved immensely (this is intentionally vague because there is more to come :) ).

Then, I thought: wouldn't it be cool if a bunch of bloggers challenged themselves to try something new and/or improve a sewing technique? And if I came up with an awesome title? So, "Sewing Confrontations" was born (hence the sparring needles). Especially because our hobby is one that is usually considered sedentary (though I would argue with anyone about how much sweat it takes to put a quilt together), I thought the title was perfect. I hope that readers will be inspired to try something new and/or improve their own sewing techniques... and share!

Every Friday in November, there will be a post on one of the participating blogs, discussing the personal challenge, the project (can be big or small, finished or unfinished), and the aftermath (there will also be a post here on Quilty Habit). On the last Friday and day of the month (Nov. 30), there will be a link up here, to share your sewing confrontation from November... and one (possibly two) will be randomly chosen to win fabric (incentive to try something!)


Here's the list of bloggers - some are my friends from the internet, while others are also real-life friends from the Central Jersey Modern Quilt Guild :)
Kickoff: Friday, Nov. 2: Jess at Quilty Habit (right here!) - Accurate Cutting
Nov. 9: Rebecca at Sew Festive Handmade - The 1/4 Inch Seam
Nov. 16: Val at PinkPlease! - Ruffles
Nov. 23: Rachel at Let's Begin Sewing... - English Paper Piecing

Nov. 30: DOUBLE POST: Katie at Swim, Bike, Quilt - Sewing with Knits
Kristina at Ornamental Confectionary - Making Pants
*AND link up at Quilty Habit!

So, are you excited? I am!



Wednesday, October 24, 2012

WIP Wednesday: My "Get 'er Done" List



It's come to a time when I actually need a "get 'er done" list for the end of the year. I'm sure I'll be adding things on, but I need to actually write them down, so I figured, what better way than my blog? Most have self-imposed deadlines, because that's how I work best. :)


 New sewing space!

1. All of a sudden, I need to make a Slytherin (Harry Potter) tie for my little sis (I love her but GEE THANKS!) She literally asked me two days ago... but how can I refuse one of my favorite people in the world part of her Halloween costume? (on that note, anyone know any good tie patterns)?
Due 10/31/12

2. Coasters for our new coffee table - this will be easy to finish once of the rest of the supplies get here via mail, hopefully this week!
Due 11/01/12

3. Curtains for my kitchen! FINALLY!
Due 11/15/12

4. Sew quilt backing of wedding quilt together; baste and quilt (I need to decide on the quilting for that one, and that will actually be difficult. Probably both machine and hand).
Due 12/01/12




5. 2 Christmas gifts, soon to be discussed.
Due 12/7/12


6. Mom's quilt  - curves. Lots of curves. Guess who has learned she's not good at sewing with curves? I need pins... lots of pins. At the piecing stage - don't have any good pictures yet (I'll work on that).
Due 12/24/12

7. Niece's butterfly quilt and accompanying block tutorial - I'm in LOVE with all the colors that this quilt uses, and I'm at the piecing stage here, too.
Due 1/05/13



8.  Make a quilt THIS WINTER with these winnings (plans in the works) ("Brr" by Laurie Wisbrun):


Whew. I feel like I'm missing a few things. So much going on! Do you have a "get 'er done" list, too?





Monday, October 22, 2012

My (Belated) 2 Year Blogaversary Giveaway!

I can't believe I've been blogging on Quilty Habit for two years now! For the first year and a half, I was still in college, and, especially during student teaching, I found it difficult to find time to sew (plus, I lived in a dorm, and there was no way my sewing machine could fit in my tiny single, let alone any part of my growing stash). I did some hand sewing at school (mostly hexagons) and fit quilts and bigger projects into breaks - especially summer - and almost every weekend I was home.

THIS summer, I was getting ready for my October wedding, as many of you know. So, I was busy. Only now do I find myself with actual time during the week to blog AND do some projects! Woo!

Anyway, that's the lowdown, and after 243 posts so far, I'm so grateful for all of the support that has come my way for a 22-year-old quilter (a rarity, it seems). :) I have an etsy store, I'm the webmaster of the Central Jersey Modern Quilt Guild (and I run the blog, and I LOVE it), I have two tutorials in the works, several WIPS to be finished this year, and a blog series to be announce this week. I'm also looking to revamp my blog soon... so stay tuned! :)

---------The Giveaway-------

I bought a custom bundle of Bella from The Intrepid Thread to make something pretty for my yellow and gray bathroom...


(and yes, two orange FQs thrown in... because they are gorgeous and I LOVE this line! Drool).

And guess what? I bought an identical 9 FQ bundle for one of my lovely followers to win! (thanks to Julie for making the custom bundles and working with me!!)

In order to enter, please leave ONE comment, saying that you are a follower (new followers welcome) and tell me what your favorite candy is (I can't believe Halloween is so close! And I'm craving candy right now, so maybe talking about it instead of eating will help) (maybe). You must be a follower (via Google Friend Connect, email, RSS, etc.) to win - usually I don't do this, but for this giveaway, I want to thank those who have been actively supporting me.

The giveaway will end next Monday at 8pm EST (and I will ship anywhere!) I will email the winner, so if you are a no-reply, please make sure to put your email in the comment. I will also post the winner here at this time - they will be chosen by the mysterious powers of the Random Number Generator.

P.S. In case you were wondering, this giveaway is severely delayed (by 37 days... embarrassed) because I was in the process of moving!

Alrighty, this post is long enough. Good luck!!



Sunday, October 21, 2012

Leaf Pile: A Finished Quilt

*Enter my 2 year Blogaversary Giveaway here! Ends 10/29*

Guys - I finished one of my longest-standing WIPS! So I'm celebrating over here by buying more fabric (heh...  I swear I actually need some of it!)


Over a year ago, I was lucky enough somehow to win a fat eighths collection of Aneela Hoey's Little Apples from The Intrepid Thread blog (a. If you've never visited Aneela's blog, do it right now - she's always making the cutest things and she previews her new lines and b. it's ironic that this fabric came from The Intrepid Thread because I just bought fabric from there for my upcoming giveaway!). The quilt used the entire bundle (the few scraps were used in piecing the back, so you can judge how much fabric you might need to make one) (the large border pieces were purchased seperately, FYI).

I love the crinkly look! I usually air-dry my quilts.

Those who have been around for awhile know that I can't resist raw-edge applique, and I had been itching to make a Drunkard's Path-like quilt. Enter Cluck Cluck Sew's fantastic, very thorough Raw Edge Circle Tutorial.

I'm not worried about it falling about because of the raw-edges. In the tutorial, Allison reassures her readers that the circle are cut on the bias, so there shouldn't be any threads to cut. There weren't for me, though there were little pieces like in the picture above, but that happens with almost every quilt for me!

I named it "Leaf Pile" because it's just so fall to me! I need to put a label on still. Also, I battled for a long time about how to quilt it (hence why it took so long to finish) and finally just decided for simple straight line quilting horizontally. There's so much going on fabric-wise, so it works, I think! I used a washable blue marker to make the lines, thanks to the feedback from this post.

 Mmmm, scrappy binding - my fav.


The back was pieced jointly with one of my best friends, Kristina, who is quite a skilled sewist learning how to quilt! She spent one weekend here this summer and we worked on some projects together.




Fun with my sister outside, as usual :) The quilt isn't hers - but I have no one to give it to, so it's mine (for now). It was washed and yesterday tested by my brother-in-law when he slept over - he approves!


Dimensions: 54" x 65"

Fabrics: "Little Apples" by Aneela Hoey, random Kona and Bella solids, various prints from my stash
Read more about the construction of this quilt here, here, and here.

Linking up to: Sew Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations, Manic Monday at Sew Happy Geek,  Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story, Flaunt Your Finish @ The OKC Modern Quilt Guild, At the End of the Hallway @ From the Blue Chair.


Okay, and I just HAVE to share this picture that I just got from the photographer (Art Soul Photography) - one of my favorites from the wedding!!


It's supposed to be imitating this picture, taken by my maid of honor Julie (TME Photography) on our 1 year anniversary (5 years ago!):

We were still high school babies then! Also, that's probably enough pictures for one post. =P



Saturday, October 20, 2012

The Gigantic Fall Wedding DIY Post, Part 1: Decorations

Okay, I promise: we're getting to the end of the wedding posts! I've been doing projects under the radar and all of those things will be surfacing soon. However, I do have several pictures to show from the crafts I did for the last 6 months in preparation for my Oct. 7 wedding! This first post is all about the ceremony and reception decorations/accessories.


First, the most important part to the quilter in me: the guest book. I was inspired by Pinterest and by my own crazy thoughts to do my own guest book quilt backing.



I had two baskets ready at the reception; all my guests had to do was sign them with fabric markers (Tulip brand, which I received a recommendation to use from the Modern Quilt Guild Facebook group), and sign their names on precut yellow, green, purple, and blue Kona 6" squares. I had also pressed freezer paper to each one beforehand, to provide a stiff writing surface. It worked perfectly; I would recommend this to anyone who knows their way around a rotary cutter and an iron. It's a guest book you can keep and use forever :)

One of my favorites! I'll be sharing more as I put it together...

 I didn't expect it, but most people wrote entire messages! I will show more pictures as I sew the squares together and prep it to be the backing of my wedding quilt top.

---------------------------------

For those who are non-quilty (or even for those who are!!), I did a lot of other DIY projects to compliment the fall theme I picked. I was on a pretty dedicated budget and ALWAYS waited for Michael's/Joann's/Hobby Lobby coupons/sales.


My mom and I made (for what seemed like months but was really a few weeks) 12 of these (fake) pumpkin centerpieces (inspired by this pin but surely less expensive). I wanted to do fall colors for everything (mainly red, orange, and yellow/gold), plus purple (my favorite color and the color of my bridesmaids' dresses). These centerpieces were super easy but somewhat time-consuming. The craft pumpkins (these are from Hobby Lobby) are hollow, so my mom cut out the centers and hot glued floral styrofoam to the bottom (inside the pumpkin). The styrofoam was tall enough to almost reach the top, and we simply stuck in the fake flowers.

Twice, I had to run out and buy more flowers because I severely underestimated the amount we needed! But, that's what craft stores are for (and I always came out with more stuff than I intended - for example, I can never resist the Kate Spain dollar bin at Michael's). Overall, these centerpieces were not the cheapest options but I loved them, I loved spending time with my mom, and I loved that others loved them (people took them home, and my friends table had to boogie down to win theirs!)



The Scrabble rack table numbers were inspired by this pin on Pinterest. I bought the extra racks and tiles on Etsy (altogether about $15), and my mom drilled a hole in the middle of the racks. She stuck one of the wires from our flower cutting into the holes, using gorilla glue to hold. They did the trick; the next simple part was sticking them into the floral styrofoam of the pumpkins, after the flower arranging was done. Oh, and I used a (very) hot glue gun for the letters. I love Scrabble, and these were a hit!

I also sewed up red, pumpkin orange, and gold table runners for each of the tables. A few yards of each color, hemmed up - done. And it looked great. Unfortunately I currently have NO pictures of them on the tables but I think the photographer got some, so I'll post them here when I get them!



And, for the ceremony (going a bit backwards here, but that's okay), I made pinwheels out of scrapbook paper (again, thanks Pinterest). It was so easy and enjoyable (AND cheap) that I would do it again in a heartbeat for other events. I waited for one of those crazy 5 for $1 scrapbook paper sales at Michael's and snatched 'em up.


You can see the pinwheels on the chairs!

So, in conclusion, Pinterest rocks, and I had the fall wedding of my dreams (and it even ended up being outside!!). I hope you enjoyed learning more about what I was doing all summer. (P.S.: Big blogaversary giveaway to come within the next few days!)


All wedding posts:



Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Sick Day Sewing



Today I sewed about half of the binding onto my Little Apples quilt while catching up on Downton Abbey (<3). I caught a relatively nasty cold a few days after the wedding - probably because a) I work constantly with kids, b) everyone is sick, and c) there was so much going on. Hopefully you are feeling healthier than I am, and getting some sewing done too!

Friday, October 12, 2012

Our Wedding Reception

My last picture post! Here are my favorites so far from the reception :)


The bridal party came into the reception in sunglasses and fedoras. I can't wait to see the photographer's pictures - we took some outside like this :)


First dance! ("You and Me" by Lifehouse)


Flower girls blowing bubbles :)
Dancing with my daddy ("Put Your Head on My Shoulder" and "I Loved Her First")



Cupcake tower (they were AMAZING) :) Yes, those are cat cake toppers.




Getting lifted up on chairs during the Hora!


All wedding posts:



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