Yeah for Monday!

I can honestly say this is the first time in about three weeks that I've been happy it's Monday! That is because due to the Memorial Day holiday, I have today off!! I do have a little quilting I plan to do, specifically a very cute and fast quilt I've gotten all ready to quilt. I call it the Love U Charm quilt but this pattern could be used with any charm pack and about 1 yard of fabric. I'm probably going to take better pictures of the process for the next one I make and then write it into a tutorial. I use this pattern/design at my last Crafty Girls Workshop meet up at my house as a quick pattern for the participants to make for charity quilts. I had two lovely ladies decide to make the quilts and they picked the absolutely cutest charm packs! First, Ms. M chose the Tweet Tweet charms which have the cutest birdies printed on them and would work for either a little boy or girl! She also chose a yard of the green brick road stripe from the Oz collection as the sashing, which is a wild choice but really ended up coordinating really well! And Ms. P chose a Boutique charm pack and the green dots from the Oz collection for the sashing. I think they are very cute together, what do you think?

Well, I'd better get my lunch finished up so I can get to quilting! I hope to get it finished so I can post the final picture tomorrow! Since tomorrow is the first day of June, I'm going to have a special post too. Something that I need help with from all you fabulous crafty peeps out there! Stay tuned!

Happy Stitches,

Anna

Coming Soon to an Inbox Near You...

Yes, I know, it's cheesy, what can I say? I'd like to take this opportunity to invite you to join the Crafty Girls Workshop e-mail newsletter list. You might think "Oh great, just what I need, another SPAMMY message cluttering up my inbox." But just hear me out. Look at the reasons you should join the list:

• E-mails are sent monthly and only as we see necessary to update you, not every other day, we won't clutter your inbox
• It's super easy to sign up (just put your e-mail address in the sign up box)
• It's easy to unsubscribe if you feel we're bugging you too much
• It helps us send you updates and keep the blog free for tutorials and other fun stuff
• Newsletter subscribers are the FIRST to find out about montly specials and discounts
• Newsletter subscribers receive discount codes that are not published on our blog, Twitter, or Facebook accounts
• If you live in or around San Antonio, TX there is a special announcement group for our face to face CGW meetings hosted at my home
• We hate SPAM too, and we would NEVER EVER EVER not-in-a-million-years or for a million dollars share your information with ANYONE whatsoever.

Look at all those great reasons! The sign up box is right over there --->
in the right sidebar, at the very top. BUT I'm also going to include one in this message, to make it super duper easy on you. I hope you'll join our e-mail group to get some great updates, coupons, and even a free pattern when you join. Until next time.

Happy Stitches,
Anna

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The Calm Before the Market!

I think Friday is the official start of Quilt Market but if you check out those designer's blogs you'll get some sneak peeks into their new fabric lines. I've tried to put them all in one easy to find place for you over there in the left sidebar. But I really wanted to shout out about something new I just discovered.

http://delishmag.com/

Check out this totally COOL and as far as I can tell, FREE magazines for hip, modern women! I love that their tag line is "Live like you mean it." How appropriate is that!? And do you know how I found out about them? Somehow they decided to follow little ol' Crafty Girls Workshop on Twitter! It turns out that the editer of this e-zine happens to enjoy sewing and quilting! Go figure! Well, this is such an awesome zine that I can tell it's going to be a super big hit! I highly recommend you check it out and be sure you have some coffee (or tea or your beverage of choice) and a long quiet block of time because you'll get lost in the beautifully laid out pages and well written articles. This magazine has substance, really! So, please check it out and I hope you'll tell your friends. Hey, it's free! What do you have to lose?

In other news, I've been adjusting to my second full week at my new job and have noticed that my free time for sewing has been dramatically reduced! I used to spend the week keeping up the house and working on the shop and then found time in the evenings and weekend to sew but now my evenings are almost gone by the time I get home and my weekends have been spent playing housekeeping catch up. Does that sound familiar to anyone? We still have a 10% discount going on ALL Meadowsweet until the end of May, as well as the Buy One Get One 1/2 Price special on select charm packs. We still have Aster Manor and Boutique, which happen to be my favorites, so better grab some before I do! Just a note, be sure to check out the New Items link on the sidebar of our web store. This is where the MOST recently listed items will show up. We have some CUTE new patterns and a new book by Sandi Henderson! OK, I think that's enough of a plug for the shop now. I have to get to bed!

Happy Stitches,

Anna

Spring Quilt Market in Minneapolis

Unfortunately, we won't be attending this trade show for quilt shops this year, but we're hoping for next year! It will be so fun to see all the great new fabrics in person! If you'd like some sneaky peeks into what's going on, just visit some of the Designer's Blogs in the blog roll I have over there on the left sidebar.
<--------------------  It's set so that if there is an update, you'll get to see the post title. Several of the designers are on their way and will be featuring pictures of booths, fabrics, patterns, and all sorts of other goodies on their blogs this week and weekend. I believe the market actually begins on Thursday so keep your eyes peeled. I'll post some pictures of the fabrics we're planning to get in August as well. Check back soon!

Happy Stitches,
Anna

Spill the Beans Sunday and Thanks KIM

Kim over at 733 a Creative Blog has put up this AWESOME tutorial about how to make sure people can reply to your comments. Thanks for creating this because I really LOVE to reply to comments through e-mail so as to avoid cluttering up comment pages. Please take a few moments to do this so we can all reply to each other!

(She's also the one behind the scenes at Really Crafty Studio-----> see sidebar link)

Spill the Beans Sunday (aka SBS):

Hmm, what should we spill the beans about today? I've got one, hope you'll reply!

Do you like to shop online?
If yes, do you have an opinion about Pay Pal vs. Other Merchant sites (i.e. Google Cart)?

If NO, why the heck not!?
 Haha, just kidding. But is there some particular reason you won't shop online?

So, please spill the beans.

Oh, do I need to go first? OK, well, I do enjoy shopping online, when I have money. I actually just bought some fabric on Thursday evening, yes, I KNOW I have my own online shop but this was stuff we didn't have! *See previous SBS post about addictions* But when it comes to buying clothes or shoes I pretty much have to try it on first so I won't buy that stuff online. Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Stitches,
Anna

I'm So Very Proud

One of my very bestest friends ever, Danny, the dad of three kiddos, just started a blog! I helped him and I think the has a great perspective on parenting since he's an S@HD which means Stay At Home Dad, cute, huh? Please send him some bloggy friendship love and visit his first post over here. The blog is called Diaper Changin' Dad and he fits that description perfectly because two of the three babes are still in diapers! I hope you'll visit him and say hi and if you're a parent and have any questions, you should ask him. Also, if you're interested in posting an ad on his sidebar for a very low cost, please e-mail him at diaperchangindad@yahoo.com or me at anna@craftygirlsworkshop.com Can you tell I'm his marketing manager? Haha. OK, back to work!

Happy Stitches,
Anna
P.S. I'm so proud of him because he only actually "got the Internet" at his house on Wednesday and on Thursday was jumping in to blogland! I suggested the idea of a blog to him and he agrees completely that he does have a unique perspective. So please drop by and tell him I sent ya!

Another Reason to Look Forward to October!

(Sorry in advance for my lack of pictures and my excessive use of CAPTIAL letters!)
Seriously, October is one of my favorite months because my birthday is in that month! But, there is a very cool looking book coming out in October. You can read more about it on Elizabeth Hartman's blog, Oh, Fransson! Another totally AWESOME book that we have ON ORDER is by one of my favorite designers, Sandi Henderson. Her book is called Sewing Bits and Pieces and it will be arriving very soon! I have been anxiously awaiting this book to arrive at United Notions for a LOOOOONG time, actually since LAST October and fall Quilt Market! Now it's time for Spring Quilt Market! You know, with this great technology of digital cameras, wireless Internet, and blogs, we can all feel like we are AT Spring Quilt Market even if we can't physically be there. I hope to gather some links to the blogs of people who WILL be there and post those so you can get a sneak peek of what is going to be coming out this fall. I'll give you a hint...it's stretchy and normally people are pretty hesitant to sew with it, but once they do, they LOVE it! Great for baby stuff too. Can you guess what it is? I'm taking all guesses in the form of comments on this post. Have a great evening, tomorrow's Friday and marks the end of my first full week back at work full time, yippee!! (I rewarded myself by buying some fabric, of course.) Possibly only 15 more weeks until this job is done!

Happy Stitches,
Anna

Featured on Serenity Now blog!

Amanda from Serenity Now is just awesome! Since we are a sponsor of her blog, she arranged for a little intro post today. She sent me several interview questions and instead of just copy and pasting the answers, she actually took the time to write a really great post about us, using the info I gave her. Thanks so much Amanda! I think you portrayed our shop perfectly! I'm looking forward to meeting some of your readers and some new crafty girls!! This has really brightened my not so exciting day at my "day job."

Happy Stitches,
Anna

What do you think?

You might notice I've tweaked the layout here a little bit. Do you like it? I've added some links under the heading so that I can put some extra information in an easy to find place instead of cluttering up my sidebars. I've also put a sidebar on either side of the blog post. I think it makes it a little more balanced that way. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Well, I'd better get myself ready for work. Already running WAAAY behind because I wanted this update done right now!
Happy Stitches!

Anna

A Card for Mom

I guess it looks a little strange because of the angle of the picture, but here's a card I made for my mom. I used the classic color combination of pink and brown and had fun tearing the paper to get that worn look. And can you see? I actually STITCHED it! I didn't have any more adhesive for my very cool Xyron machine so I thought I'd just stitch the paper and it worked perfectly! I guess you could say this was completely from my stash of papers and stamps. I'm going to give this to my mom  when I give her the quilt too. Oh and in case you're wondering how I covered up the stitching on the inside of the card, here's my secret.

More paper! Easy peasy, just used some of the scraps I had left over and used a glue stick to stitck them down on the inside. It's a little wrinkled where the back of one the brads was bumpy but besides that it's pretty darn cool I think. For someone who hardly ever sits down to make cards, I'm pretty proud of my creation. I have to admit that I tend to collect scrapbooking papers because I can get such a variety of them for very low cost. That way I always have some on hand in case I need to create a card on the fly like this. It doesn't surprise me too much that companies like Basic Grey and Sweetwater have both scrapbook papers AND fabrics! They seem to go hand in hand for those of us who love color and being creative. Well, that's my crafty endeavor for the day! And two posts in one day, amazing!

Happy Stitches,
Anna

Happy Mother's Day to All

Happy Mother's Day!

If you have furbabies (like me) or human babies, grown up babies or grand babies, we appreciate all that you do to make our lives better.

I have 3 furbabies and even though they didn't bring me breakfast in bed, they DID let me sleep in until 10:00am!! Amazing! Yesterday they woke me up at 7:00am. 

I am very lucky because my mom and I are good friends and she really helped me get through my unemployment time by visiting and going to lunch and things. But I also get along really well with my mother in law, who as you probably know, is the other Crafty Girl and is my business partner! Yes, most people are pretty surprised by that but we really do get along superbly and compliment each other's tastes in fabric and projects.

Speaking of projects, I'm going to drag out my scrapbook paper and stamp supplies and make up some Mother's Day cards for my mom and Regina this morning. Do you remember that super bright floral wholecloth quilt I made? My mom saw it and when I mentioned that I might list it on our Etsy shop, she immediately said "I'll buy it!" Well, I couldn't really ask my mom to buy my quilt so I'm going to give it to her for Mother's Day. As for Regina, I gave her a framed picture of Lilith (a.k.a. LilyBelle), her first grandchild who is super adorable, super photogenic and only 7 months old. (I wish she was MY baby, she's so cute!) I'll see if I can get permission to post a picture of her on here, she really is just one of the cutest babies I've seen.

I'm not sure we'll have much response for Spill the Beans Sunday but I'll do a question anyway.

What do you do when you're stressed out to help you relax and feel more "centered"?

My answer to this would, of course, be sew something or at the very least visit my fabric in my sewing room, haha.

I can't wait to see what you respond. Hope you have a fabulous Mother's Day that is relaxing and full of beautiful (and good smelling) suprises.

Happy Stitches,
Anna

Spring Top Week: Final Round!

Made by Rae

I've been rather quiet about this when I should have probably been shouting from the rooftops

"It's Spring Top WEEK!!"

We're a sponsor you know! What? You didn't know? You have NO idea what the you-know-what Spring Top Week even IS!!! Well, then you should definitely visit Rae over at Made by Rae to find out all about Spring Top Week! (That link goes to the archives of all the posts about this special week!)

If you DO know that Spring Top Week is all about the excitement of entering your home made/home sewn tops into a competition to win some ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS prizes (and in that mix is 2 yards of fabric from OUR shop!) and you haven't had a chance to vote on the final Top of the Tops, then you best get on over there!!

I think there is already a sort of clear leader at the moment, but I'll let you go over and check it out for yourself.

In OTHER fun and creative news:

I just listed a new KIT for making an adorable patchwork skirt out of charm packs!

Patchwork Skirt Kit

I can't wait to try making one of these myself (then I'll have to find some little girl to test it out on.)

So, any fun and exciting sewing plans for the rest of the weekend? Or are you all already snuggled happily in your sewing rooms already instead of chained glued to your computers and Google Readers?

Happy Stitches,

Anna

P.S. The irony is that if you answer that last question, it probably means you aren't working in your sewing room!

P.S.S. If you'd like some inspiration for making some ADORABLE dresses for your little girls, check out Brown Paper Packages, she's using the SAME pattern and altering it in some way almost every day for a MONTH! Plus, her little "models" are too cute!

Adorable Spring Time Dress

I've said before that Regina is a super talented sewista and I just drool over the stuff she makes. She wanted to test out a pattern we recently got for the shop called the Little Charmers Skirt and Jumper. Edit: Wow! This pattern is sold out, but we plan to order more asap! If you are interested in this pattern let us know so we can get an idea of how many to order. She made this adorable little dress out of just two charm packs, that's it!! This shop sample is available for purchase in our shop if you want to grab one right away. It is size 4T. There is only one available so better get it quick! This is a super duper easy pattern to stitch up really fast. Just add a little t-shirt (we got ours at a thrift store) and your little girl will be twirling in style in no time!

If you are interested in the pattern for this dress and would like to make one for your little one, now is the best time because we're having a buy one get one 1/2 price special on select charm packs. I hope you'll check it out!

To show off Regina's talent. I'm linking this post to the following places:

 






Happy Stitches,
Anna

Great Fabric Storage Idea

                           Just had to share this great fabric storage idea from The Little Green Bean!

Happy Stitches,

Anna

Got Voile? A commentary, sort of.

In fact, do you even know what the heck voile is? According to Wiktionary and Wikipedia:

Voile (noun) Pronounced "voy-el": 1. A light, translucent cotton fabric used for making curatins and dresses, from the French term which means veil. 

Does that help? Here is what I consider to be a wonderful example of using voile to make a beautiful top:

From the Noodlehead Blog

Isn't that top just beautiful? And who would ever guess that she just used a Simplicity pattern! Not me, that's for sure. When I first saw voile, it was introduced back in October at the Fall Quilt Market, I didn't really understand what it was. Regina (the other crafty girl) recognized it right away as a great light weight fabric for making clothes, curtains, maybe pillows, but most likely NOT quilts. (She started out making clothes before she got into quilting anyway.) This was a little confusing to me, I mean we were at QUILT market, but this was a new trend starting in October that is now super popular. Well, it makes more sense now since the temperatures are rising (every day) and the idea of making light weight tops is super appealing. SO, long story short, Crafty Girls Workshop is jumping on the voile bandwagon and planning to order some which will arrive VERY SOON! If you visit this link to see some of the options and want to add your input about which ones you like the best, please feel free! I have a few in mind already but I'd love to hear your opinion too.

Happy Stitches,

Anna

Spill the Beans Sunday

I'm sorry this post is rather late today. I'm suffering from a stomach bug but just felt the need to get out of bed and post this. Guess I needed my blogging fix, haha.
This week's topic:

What is your dream job? If you could do anything and get paid a "living wage" to do it, what would it be?

My dream job is to own a sewing studio where I can teach people how to sew and make cool projects. We'd also have fabrics (of course) and it would be a fun and vibrant place where people are always learning and excited about their projects. And to be honest, I'm working as hard as I can to actually make this dream a reality, we'll see if it comes true some day.

Your turn to spill the beans, I'm looking forward to learning about you.

Happy Stitches,
Anna

May Special ALL MONTH LONG

May Special

I hope you'll stop by the shop to take advantage of this great special! Pick up a couple for your mom too for Mother's Day (if she sews) or for yourself for Mom's day! You know it fits every time and it fits your budget too!

Happy Stitches,
Anna