Psssst....I'm on pins and needles!

I'm over here as a guest, talking a little bit about thread, needles and pins. I wasn't planning on doing another giveaway so soon after Sherbet Pips, but this one was actually in the works for quite awhile, and Pips was definitely a spur-of-the-moment giveaway.


Do you remember when I wrote about buying fabric strictly for one word on the selvage? Well, now you know the secret word: "chasing"!!I wanted to make Rebecca a customized pincushion plus another one for this great series she is conducting.

This is her pincushion. I know she loves lavender, paisley, and mentioned being a "girly girl".

But wait! That's not all (said in my best "as seen on TV voice"....). If you call before midnight tonight leave a comment by Monday noon, you'll have a chance to win this pincushion:

I hope you check out Rebecca's great series, Quilting 101. And don't forget to leave your comment. Happy sewing!

Happy birthday/blogiversary to my sister!

Have you met my sister, Carla, from Lollyquiltz? Well, she isn't my real sister, not from a biological standpoint. However, as we have gotten to know each other a little better, we have decided that perhaps we are sisters separated at birth. SO many similarities!

*We were both born in the same year. I would say which year but I didn't get her permission--and she is a teensy bit older so I need to respect that. :)
*We will both be married for 38 years this year.
*She went to college in Kansas. I went to college in Kansas.
*We both met our husbands in college.
*We both have red hair.
*We absolutely adore our grandchildren.

*We are both quilters. Which binds us together (yes, I could not resist the pun...) for sure!
*We are both hexie obsessed.

(Carla's hexies, organized by color and lots of them are already sewn together!)

(I have quite a few more than this, but they are not sewn together yet).

*We are both doing a quilt based on a Kleenex box. The same Kleenex box! (Imagine our surprise when we discovered that little odd fact...)

 Carla's is almost done:

Mine, not surprisingly, is still living in my head:

I attribute her progress on the hexies and Kleenex-box quilt to the fact that she is older. That seems reasonable, doesn't it?

She has a tremendous sense of color.

And I'll admit to being a bit envious of the beautiful backdrops she uses for her quilt photography.

To celebrate this auspicious one-year blogiversary, we are giving away one of my selvage pincushions, appropriately named "Four Seasons." Head on over to her blog and do some reading. While you're there, you'll notice that Carla has some awesome tutorials, so for a chance to win the pincushion, check out the tutorials on her sidebar, and then come back and tell me which one you would like to try first. The winner will be chosen  on Sunday, 6 p.m. PDT. Want an extra chance to win? If you can guess (in a separate comment) which one might possibly be MY favorite, well, you'll get a second chance to win. Happy reading, everyone. And happy first blogiversary, Carla!

Tuesday Thoughts

This is not an earth-shattering revelation, but did you know that play-doh comes in metallic colors? It does, and it smells just as good as ever. So while I like the concept of making homemade play-doh in theory, in reality it just doesn't smell the same. And that's reason enough to buy new play-doh. Oh, and because of these two...

Even the puzzle seemed extra colorful this morning.

For some reason Charlotte thought she needed help putting her shoes on. Yep, those velcro straps can be pretty tricky. So she conned charmed her brother into helping her.

Some custom pincushion orders and a few others for friends.

                                     
See you tomorrow for WIP Wednesday!

Check your local listing

What do Quilting Arts TV,

Pokey Bolton,

and my pincushions have in common?

They are all going to be spending some time together! Five of them left my house on Tuesday morning on their way to the East Coast. They will be in a segment filmed with Pokey today, airing some time in June.

Apparently Pokey, who is the founder of the Quilting Arts conglomerate, liked them when they were photographed and put on the cover of the Quilt Scene (also her magazine). Schnikeys!

Did you know Quilting Arts TV airs on PBS??? I didn't! I checked...and it doesn't air on our area. Bah...

And in the meantime, the etsy shop is now completely empty. I need to start sewing some of these into something!

Remember her name

The name of the newest up-and-coming designer, that is. Her name is Charlotte. She designed and made her first scarf last week.

So first, of course, you need a design. Purple. (That may or may not be me in the center. Not sure...)

 Every seamstress needs a pincushion.

 But sometimes you like the back better than the front. Because then you can put a red pin in Rudolph's nose.

It's pin sticking pain staking work getting those pins just where you want them... And it's nice to have your very own Featherweight, named Sammi (short for Samantha) that fits nicely in its own sewing table. (Levi has already claimed my other black Featherweight. According to him, it's a boy.)

 Pictures of the actual sewing process were hard to take, since Grandma (the photographer) and Charlotte (the seamstress) were working together. At the same time.

Nice choice of fabric.Who doesn't like Anna Maria Horner fabric?

 Every designer needs her own label (or a grandma who has a whole bag of selvages with names on them...)

 "Let's take a funny face picture, Grandma." Hopefully we're safe from this appearing on the cover of the National Enquirer--I could be wrong but I don't think they follow my blog...

Isn't this new designer adorable?

Attention quilting world: Charlotte has entered the building...

Are you living in a snowglobe today?

Judging from football games on TV today, the country is running the gamut weather-wise, from sunny San Diego to snow storms in Chicago. Here in central California, it is very grey and overcast, weather I happen to adore, although a lot of people find it rather dreary. If you're dreaming of a white Christmas, check out Terri's pictures. They look beautiful to me. But I'm not the one who has to get the snowblower out and clear a path...

Yesterday I was running errands, looking at all the beautiful things at Pottery Barn (and wondering how long it will take for the PB knocks-offs to arrive at Target....) when I kept seeing people with scarves wrapped around their necks, gloves on their hands, saying, "It's so cold out there." Uh, yeah, a chilly 60 degrees...

This is my vote for one of the cutest Christmas prints out there this year: Alexander Henry's 2D yuletide zoo.

I made pillowcases for Charlotte and Levi. I think the rest will go into some wonky Christmas log cabin blocks.

Then I customized pincushions for two friends, the one who started me on my quilting journey about fifteen years ago and the other for a blogging friend who has answered lots of photography questions, and once I really start playing with my new camera, hopefully she'll be willing to answer a lot more (do you think she'll notice I'm trying to butter her up??).

Dotty took me under her wing when I decided it was time to learn to quilt. I remember sitting at her kitchen table with a yellow notepad and watching her quickly sketch a double four-patch and giving me a rough estimate of how much yardage I would need to purchase. Four different prints. Looking back, I can't believe how much I agonized over picking four different fabrics. Now fabric choice is one of my favorite parts of quilting.

And Anne, I know the question about what color hair you have was a bit weird. But here's why. I really wanted to use this selvage...

Anyone out there have red hair? Named Anne?

Tuesday Talk

Do you remember when I wrote about this pyrex, hoping my family would take notice...and maybe purchase something for my birthday? Well, hello orangey goodness!

This orange pitcher is the coolest thing. It was the centerpiece on the Thanksgiving table. During the meal I was asked, "So do you like the centerpiece?" Of course! "Well, it's yours!" Same with the cool pyrex, which I believe contained our yummy stuffing. The orange pitcher is way too mid-century-modern-cool to put in the cabinet, so it's going on my sewing table for quick access to skinny rulers and such.

Along with this.

Finally, one of my own pincushions. Customized of course. You can't see it from this picture, but the selvage on the top is "dumb dot," the selvage that started my obsession collection.

These went out in the mail today. The first is to Jennifer Moore. Yes, that Jennifer Moore, designer of fabulous Monaluna fabric (Hope she likes orange. Oh wait, these selvages are from her fabric lines, so obviously she does like orange. Me too!)

And these may or may not be gifts....probably to people who don't read my blog so I think I'm safe. But names have been covered to protect the gift-giver:

I'm joining an advent calendar sew-along, starting tomorrow. Because another thing to add to each of the next 25 days seems like such a great idea. Maybe I can get my sewing elf to pitch in. You all have sewing elves, right? Yeah, me either.

Bloggers Quilt Festival: Just Between Friends/Calendar Girls

I thought a long time about which quilt to feature for Bloggers Quilt Festival. This has been a strange year and there wasn't really a new quilt that was ready to go. So since my dear friend, Sue, passed away in March, which has kind of defined 2010 for me, it seemed fitting to feature a quilt from about five years ago, for a couple of reasons.

Perfect fabric for the back: Just Between Friends/Best Friends (by Mary Engelbreit)

Long before I knew anything about virtual quilting bees and online block exchanges, a group of us did our own block exchange. Sue picked out a focus fabric and decided we should each make star blocks, any star pattern as long as it was 12" finished. The quilting expertise ranged from quite experienced to those who had never made a quilt before but were eager to learn.

So we picked our individual star block, made 12 of the same block, and then shared them, so everyone had a set of 12 blocks, one each from every other person in the group. When we were finished, we planned an evening where we would have supper, exchange our blocks, take a group picture, and then....

Remember the movie Calendar Girls? One of our friends and her husband own a photography studio and we thought it would be fun to take individual pictures, each holding our own block, and then assemble them into a calendar.

This was the funniest part of the story. My friend, Maggie, thought it would be a "good" idea to email my parents, and here is part of what she wrote to them:

"Tonight I am checking in to see if you are aware that Cindy is Miss April...If the movie Calendar Girls is unfamiliar to you...some older women stepped out for charity. In fact, they stepped right out of their clothes for a wildly popular calendar. And Cindy has participated in a local Calendar Girls situation...In case she hasn't told you. Anyway, she is Miss April. She has a pieced 12x12 block placed strategically over her chest...kind of racy, don't you think? Well, you know how those pastor's kids can be...."

We waited and waited, and never heard a peep from my parents.  Finally, Maggie called them up and stopped by. I think they were really quite nervous as she prepared to unveil the calendar to them. Close your eyes if you're a little nervous about seeing me as Miss April...

Anyway, I love this quilt and all the fun times and good memories. Thanks, Sue...

And before you leave...I'm a sponsor for Bloggers Quilt Festival. Leave a comment on Amy's blog and you will have a chance to win one of these selvage pincushions, custom-designed especially for this fall's BQF. See? It even says "BQF 2010" in the middle of the pincushion.

Enjoy the rest of the show!

Read all about it!

See these pincushions? They have been on a journey. So have I, but they actually got to do the traveling. It started back in March when I was searching for a name for my new etsy shop for items made with selvages. I posted several times about the trouble I was having with finding a name, like this  one. I got a lot of good input, and finally settled on Sewing on the Edge, with the awesome tag line of "selvaging my sanity one stitch at a time." One of the people who commented later contacted me and wondered if I would be interested in having my pincushions in a magazine. Uh, seriously? Seriously??

Turns out she is assistant editor with the Quilting Arts group of magazines. So my pincushions got shipped off to New York and I got to write instructions on how to make them.

I think they had more fun than I did. Well, you just saw the picture I took of them.

Look what happened when they were in the hands of professionals:

They made it to the cover. They are COVER GIRLS!!

A little closer:

The Table of Contents:

Wanna see the whole page? Sure you do...

See those two pictures above the pincushions? I'm sharing the page with Elizabeth Hartman of Oh Fransson! and Ashley Newcomb of Film in the Fridge! Kinda like being in the company of rock stars. Eeek!!!

So turning to page 72....a two-page spread! Sorry if I keep showing you the same picture over and over. I know for some of you, being published is kind of same old, same old, but not for me, that's for sure.

Okay. Last time. Promise.

Didn't they photograph well? They will all be going into the etsy shop this weekend.

Working with Pippa Eccles from Quilting Arts was an amazing experience. Thanks so much, Pippa!

Anyone want some free fabric? Six fat quarters from Valori Wells' line, Sole.

Anyone want a free copy of International Quilt Festival? The cover looks like this (just in case you forgot...)

They officially hit the newsstands on the 26th and I get a couple of complimentary copies. They haven't been shipped quite yet, but when they arrive on my doorstop, I'll send one of them over to the winner's doorstep.

So leave a comment and let me know if you have ever been to the International Quilt Festival in Houston or if you save selvages. I'll pick two winners on Monday, October 25, at noon PST.