Thursday, February 28, 2013

One more day for the giveaway!

A quick reminder to enter the giveaway for my "Argyled" quilt kit giveaway, sponsored by 1 Choice 4 Quilting! It ends tomorrow (Friday) at 12 noon EST. My post is here for 2 chances, and Nicole has 8 other chances on her blog!



In the meantime, you can order your kit to make your own Argyled quilt right here. They are $89.99 (which is 20% off, plus free shipping!), and it is a large quilt, so you're getting a lot of fabric, (and, I promise) a thorough tutorial :) The QAL starts right here next Wednesday the 6th, so order your quilt kit now! Then you can drool over your very own Honey Honey before we cut into it :)



I hope you'll join me!! Thanks for all the positive feedback so far! Even Kate Spain Facebooked/Twittered (tweeted?) about us - to say I am excited is an understatement!

Monday, February 25, 2013

Argyled Quilt Along and Kit Giveaway!

 

I'm thrilled to share my new springy quilt, "Argyled," with you today! For those of you who are here for the first time, my name is Jess and I am a relatively obsessive quilter. Give me a free day on the weekend and a pile of fabric and (hopefully) there will be some moderny goodness in the end. So, you can imagine my response when Nicole of 1 Choice 4 Quilting asked me to design a quilt for the shop's newly restarted online club...

  ...allons-y! ("let's go" in French) (especially if you're a massive Doctor Who geek like me)

 Sadly, it's really hard to see the quilting on the backing (look below for more pics), but I'm in love with these prints! IN LOVE.

This quilt was inspired by the beautiful argyle sweaters everyone and their mom wears during the winter. I kept seeing them everywhere and I actually really need to get one myself! They keep you snuggly and warm, and so will this quilt :) It's a pretty large nearly- square lap size (I will update this with the measurements - forgive me, it's being washed again after the photoshoot), and you have the option of quilting in an "argyle" pattern, which I will explain/instruct. They DO say the quilting makes the quilt, after all!


This quilt offers you a unique, simple layout that is layer cake friendly and showcases every print in the beauteous new Kate Spain line, Honey Honey (I can't get enough). Plus, if you've been stuck in the snow lately (like Kate herself) you'll appreciate the springy pop this brings to your living room :) It was a complete joy to make and I hope you enjoy making one too!


 I had a vision to break up the diamonds with strips to make it more of a modern finish. I'm so glad I did! Plus, the lace and orange prints are just to die for...

Whenever there's a finished quilt around here, there's a rousing photoshoot. I enlisted my favorite assistant, my 16-year-old sister, Marisa, to help.

**********************************************************************************

----QAL Info and Giveaway----

The quilt along will go on throughout March (though it is a quick quilt and it could be put together in a few days!). I have diagrams and plenty of pictures to share with you! The schedule is as follows:

March 6: Cutting and piecing the diamonds
March 13: Cutting and piecing the strips, finishing the quilt top
March 20: Quilting
March 27: Post a picture of your quilt to the flickr group for a prize!

  • Nicole has the kits listed in her shop at the discounted price of $89.99 (20% off and free shipping!). Order your kit now, to make sure you get it by the 6th!
  • She is generously giving away 1 Argyled Quilt Kit on her blog! Leave a comment here for one chance, and if you are an old or new follower of Quilty Habit, you get a second chance (just leave a separate comment). 
  • Head over to Nicole's post for 8 MORE chances to win! 
  • Winner will be announced by 4 pm on March 1 (closes at 12 noon).

All crinkly from the wash :)

I can't thank Nicole enough for all of her support of my quilting and ideas - and I'm lucky enough that we live very near each other and can sew/fabric obsess in person! Be sure to stop by her fantastic shop and see all the beautiful fabrics she has in (besides Honey Honey, I'm drooling over Comma).


Saturday, February 23, 2013

I finally bought it. Asdfghjkl;.

 New Janome Memory Craft 6300!

 I literally can't contain my excitement. I went from 4.5 inches of harp space to 9... and the stitching... I can't even. More soon. I'll have a full account of my trip to the store/why I love my new machine this coming week. Stay tuned for a very special giveaway tomorrow!

 For comparison purposes. Bye, tiny, SUPER LOUD machine!

 I haven't even started sewing yet.... excuse me while I play (and squeal a bit more =D)!


Monday, February 18, 2013

Busy, busy

Even though we've had a 5 day weekend off from school, things have been super busy around here. I took Mike out to surprise him for his birthday; we went to Cheesecake Factory and to the movies to see Warm Bodies (which was really funny and thoroughly enjoyable) (I still want to see Silver Linings Playbook, but it was his birthday, so it was his preference :) ).

I also visited my alma mater for the first time since graduation (has it really been NINE MONTHS?), with my sister. We've been visiting friends (like today, I'm visiting my best friend, who just bought her first house!!) and doing necessary clothes shopping. Overall, there's hasn't been as much time as I've liked for sewing, but I did manage to almost finish my Honey Honey quilt:

Just hand sewing the binding on now. There will be a photoshoot sometime this week, and I'll be collaborating with Nicole for a kit giveaway!

I'll have a couple more things to share this week, too. It just might take a few days to organize everything around here! I won't even share a picture - I don't think you want to see!

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Hired!

Tonight I was officially hired to finish out the school year in a maternity leave position - in the subject matter (social studies) and grade level I have hoped/trained for! It means the WORLD to me. When I told my sister, she said, "Well, you'd better get sewing - I can totally see a mug rug on every desk." Challenge. Accepted.

But not really. Maybe another year ;). I do have some ideas for classroom sewing... but I'll have to share that in another post. Just wanted to share the good news! Thank you to those of you who have been so supportive of me in finding a job - you know who you are!


I know... more Honey Honey... I'm a huge tease. I can't show it yet but I'm going to quilt it this week :)

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Feelin' the green

I don't know if it's because we had a breath of fresh air/40 degree weather last week, or if it's because it's just been too darn cold around here this week, or that we just had 6 inches of snow (nothing like north of NJ, though!), but I've been feeling the green lately. Spring is coming, right? Right?


These came in... YUM. I wrote up my pattern for the Emerald Challenge and realized I was severely short on green in my stash. I decided to splurge and just get a bunch of half yards in green from the always-awesome Pink Castle Fabrics sale section.

And I bought these two shirts at Target (on clearance for $7 - score!) For a quilter, I'm not much one for patterned clothing. I have to REALLY like it to buy it. Solids, on the other hand, I am the master of.

I'm feeling the springy projects too... I just finished a second springy scarf (pictures soon), and hopefully I'll be trying this tutorial from Let's Eat Grandpa for my bedroom. My scrap bins need some love.


Finally, I've been working with Honey Honey all weekend, thanks to the lovely Nicole of 1 Choice 4 Quilting, who I was lucky enough to meet and have dinner with last Wednesday! We only live about 40 minutes away from each other - too cool! The colors and patterns of this line remind me a lot of vintage sheets, and nothing says "spring" like vintage sheets.

I'm in trouble, though... no matter how much I try to kid myself, there are still at least two months of being cold left. =/ On the bright side, I have some big news to share with you Tuesday night!!


Thursday, February 7, 2013

Honey Honey

Honey Honey by quiltyhabit
Honey Honey, a photo by quiltyhabit on Flickr.
#from1choice4quilting #omg #idontusuallyusehashtagsbuticanthelpit #nicoleyouarethebest! #katespainyouareagenius #firstquiltpattern #whenisspring #itstoopretty

Monday, February 4, 2013

February Goal Setting: Wedding Edition (picture heavy)


I have a lot to start/get done this month: my quilt using Honey Honey (!) for 1 Choice for Quilting (!), and my Emerald Challenge quilt. But since I can't show either one of those yet, here's a small commitment I can make probably in the very last week of the month:

Finishing the backing of my wedding quilt. For those who are new - at my October 2012 wedding, I had guests write on fabric (which was ironed to freezer paper) as my guestbook. I love the idea of seeing my guest book every single day, rather than have it sit on a shelf somewhere. The last thing I need is another book laying around... but a quilt? Oh, you know, we could all use more of those :)


This is a crunched up view of the front - I still haven't shown my full rainbow Dresdens yet. The plan is to get the quilt completely done this year... but I'm still deciding how to quilt it.

Speaking of the wedding... here's some of the professional wedding pictures we just got back! These were taken by my friend Julie Gallup of ArtSoul Photography. She's the best! And, she's done some amazing work - check out her website. I've made a t-shirt quilt for her and I'm working on another! We trade crafts/creativity back and forth :) And to think we met 3 years ago on a theater trip during college!

Anyway... here are some of my favorites, from my very purple, very fall, DIY wedding! I can't stop grinning every time I look at them :)


All of us in front of our respective dresses! I made the shirts :) (one for my mom, too)


Dad. 'nuff said.

The clutches I made for the girls! I LOVE how they look together!

Exactly what I'd hoped my purple scheme would look like. :)






Blues Brothers??


 
The table settings via my mom and I


If you are interested, you can see more pictures at these posts: pre-wedding, ceremony, and reception (we had quite the party, haha!).


All wedding posts:



Linking up to:
Never Too Hot to Stitch!


Saturday, February 2, 2013

That's Pinteresting... :)

Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE Pinterest? Well, I do. Love it.



Nearly every time I see a quilt I love on a blog (it's usually modern), I pin it to my board, Quilty Inspiration. That way, there is one place I can go to find my favorites! No more silly bookmark bars :D I also make good use of my Sewing and Craft boards, as well as Home (and when I was wedding planning, I got most ideas from Pinterest)(and the Yummy Desserts board gets a lot of love).



My blog is completely Pinterest friendly (though I've noticed that adding pictures from Flickr to my post don't translate well with Pinterest). I just added the "Pin It" button to the end of every post, thanks to Blogs By Heather's easy tutorial, for your convenience. As my sidebar says:

Feel free to pin my posts or share pictures of my projects on your own blog but please link back to me and give me credit! Pictures of my family and friends may not be used in any capacity. Thank you!

Happy pinning! You can find all of my boards here, if you are interested!




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