Valentine's Day Giveaway

Raspberry Chocolate Fantasy Art Quilt

Forget Love Fall in Chocolate Art Quilt

Valentine's
 Giveaway:

Do you like Valentine's day?  
Do you hate it?  
Do  you love chocolate?
Do you like nontraditional things for Valentine's day, like purple?
Do you hand-make your Valentine's?

Ready to use embroidered block

What would you do for a free prize on Valentine's Day? 

Are you feeling lucky? 


To enter this contest, you must go to my Sew in the Snow shop on Etsy and favorite one of the items in this post.  



Then, return and write a comment with two parts: 

1) Answer one of the "Do you" questions in the 1st paragraph

2)  Leave a brief explanation of what you liked best about the item you choose to favorite.

Embroidered block--ready for you to use

Romantic Love Pillow

 Contest

That will enter you in the drawing for the item of your choice.  (Chosen by the "favorite" you did on Etsy.)


The drawing will be held on Tuesday, Valentine's day.  You will be notified if you win.  I will mail out your prize on Wednesday.
Check back to see who wins the prize!

Happy Valentine's Day

Quilting Partners: Contrasting Styles

Salsa Quilt--Monica's 1st Quilt

This is my good friend Monica.  We were sewing buddies for several years while she lived in Alaska.  The most dynamic thing about our friendship and our quilting is that we almost never agreed on anything.  We never suffered from "group-think" which can be very damning to one's creativity.

Contrasting Styles

I found that by agreeing to disagree, we often came to understand a very different viewpoint from our own.  I think that this made us both grow into better people.  And we sure laughed at lot while we grew!  You like that color?!

She loves bright and bold quilts.  I love a variety of quilts and colors, but all are more "tame" than hers.  She loves to try out new quilt patterns all the time and to make up new quilts from various blocks.  I prefer to make a few favorite patterns, to really get good at them, and make something really challenging once a year or so.  

Monica's Baby Quilt

She is bold and fearless in the quilting world.  She has encouraged me to try new things, and brighter things, more often.  I have definitely benefited from knowing her.

Whom do you quilt with?  Are your styles compatible?  Does your friend stretch your thinking in new ways?  What do you like best about quilting with a friend?  Are you a lone-wolf quilter?  Why?

New Challenging Quilt: Twisted Bargello

 It's time for a quilting adventure!  I went out tonight and bought 20 1/4 yards of fabric to make a lap-size twisted bargello quilt.  What a hoot!  I didn't even have to spend a penny of my own money, because I had gift certificates from Christmas.   Cheer's to my favorite In-Laws for an exceptional gift. Thank you Fred and Suzy, you made my day!

 Since it's still winter I was enticed to buy especially bright fabrics in luscious yellow, burnt oranges, and deep burgundy-browns.  It'll go well with the pattern I've picked called Island Sunset Bargello by Eileen Wright.



Although I love the bargello look, I have only made one bargello quilt so far. That's the green and tan one seen below.  The reason is, that it became named The Angry Quilt while I was making it.  I was quilting with a few different friends, and so I ended up sewing some of the stripe-sets on 3 different machines.  I discovered that a 1/4" foot is not exactly a 1/4" on all machines.  they were all a little bit different.  So, when I went to put them together, they didn't line up.  So, in my insanity, I unsewed nearly every seam and then resewed them to match.  This ended up making the quilt about 6" longer on one side and I was very angry as I ripped out everything. I turned a queen-size quilt into a small lap-quilt so I didn't have to fight with it anymore. Grrr....  Thus, I have put-off making another bargello.  But, I am older and wiser now. 

I plan on using only one machine with it's 1/4" foot.  That should help a lot!  Plus, taking my time and not rushing to finish it.  It should be a beauty!  Wish me luck!

Have you ever sewn an "angry quilt"?  If so, what pattern was it?  Why did it make you mad?  I'd love to hear from you!  Let's start a conversation!  Leave a comment!

Behind the Scenes: Towel Embroidery

My daughter Jessica wants to grow up to be a mermaid.  So, since I can't help her with that...  I decided to embroider her some mermaid towels for the bathroom.  This is how it's done.

First, you start by hooping either the towel and the stabilizer, or just the stabilizer.  For anything without a smooth texture, such as terry cloth or polar fleece, you need a water-soluble stabilizer on the top.  That's what you see in the picture to the left.  This helps the stitches to remain visible and not sink too deep into the terry cloth.  Next, you start the pattern and it sews by itself.

My youngest girl, Claire, keeps asking me, "who's sewing on your machine Mama?"  because I can walk around while I embroider.  (It's loud enough to hear throughout the house!)  Jessica answers with all the authority of a General, as though she didn't just ask the same thing 10 minutes ago,  "It's magic Claire.  It's sewing by itself."  When it's time for a color change, the machine stops (the silence is nearly deafening after the racket of embroidery) and I change the thread out.

On the back you can use a tear-away stabilizer--the white stuff seen to the right.  It keeps the fabric from puckering.  Once the pattern is done, you trim the extra threads and then tear away the stabilizer.

 This pattern had three color changes: yellow outline, light green body, and cream over the light green.  It was pretty quick to stitch up and was very fun!  It looks great hanging in our bathroom.  Jessica loves it!  Here you can see the finished product.  










This weekend I made up a few kitchen towels as well.  Lots of fun!  If you have any interest in handmade embroidered towels, you can check out my Etsy shop for some for sale.  I love to do custom orders, so if you want something I don't have, just ask me!  http://www.etsy.com/shop/sewinthesnow?section_id=10800589


Feel free to ask my any questions you may have regarding embroidery.  Thanks for reading!

Laughter, Toddlers, Warmth: A Great Day

Sigh, I've been waiting to exhale for a month as its been super cold for weeks. It's been colder than 20 F below for weeks. However, today it was 25 degrees above zero! I got to play in the yard with my girls on the swing set. Claire's wild laughter rang off the house while Jessie found the first star of the night and made a wish. It was a hoot! Being outdoors is such sweet relief.

Although this picture is a couple of years old, they were both still in these swings tonight.

The schnook, warm wind, that brought the warm weather also knocked out our  power for 2.5 hours.  I was grateful for the wood-stove and the camping LED lantern we have in the house. The girls were taking a bath and getting warm after playing outside when the lights went off.  Claire's shriek  from the tub nearly deafened me.  I sprang from my sewing machine and raced into her room to grab the lantern.  I got it to the bathroom without mishap.  Then I stumbled about in the dark, kicking a toy squirrel into Wishy (our Beagle) and scaring him while trying to light candles.  I managed to pilfer through our wood-stove bucket--past the poker, the two pairs of gloves, and the -- Ow!-- stiff metal bristle brush--to grab the lighter.

I wandered around with the lighter on  trying not to catch my hair on fire or trip over the dog while the flame flickered in the breeze. By the time I got half-dozen candles lit around the house, I was chuckling thinking about a rock concert I went to with Sean in The Gorge Amphitheater (near Seattle) where everyone was waving their lighters. 




Soon Sean got home and we grilled pork chops and made spinach salad while wearing headlamps for light.  The girls were really excited and were running around wildly.  What a great day!


What delightful stories do you have of when the power went out?  I love a good story!