Just another MANIC Monday..Read on for coupon code!

Are you having one of THOSE days?

(Me too)

I had a fun weekend and made some FUN new blocks.

No pattern, just some general instructions on how to make a Red Cross block for the Block of the Month for the San Antonio Modern Quilt Guild. The one top and center is the one for the BOM drawing. The rest of them I made with some scraps and it was SEW fun!! I wish I could be making some more instead of working my other job.

So, I've decided to turn a doldrum day into a FUN day with a SPECIAL coupon!!

Use the code

MANIC

when you order in my shop today for a special

15% DISCOUNT!!

But you have to use the code. If you don't and you still order, I'm not going to give you a coupon credit, USE THE CODE!!!

Tomorrow begins March Madness, and GIVEAWAYS to celebrate 700 followers AND Spring AND whatever else I feel like.

By the way, this code is ONLY good TODAY (Monday) until Midnight (central standard time).

Happy shopping!

Anna

Turn the Blade Around!

(Cue music "Turn the beat around...")

I recently discovered something AMAZING about rotary cutters! (This after having gone somewhere and purchased 5 refill blades for, luckily, 50% off during a sale, but still too much money). Their blades have TWO SIDES! Yes, that means, when one side is soo incredibly worn out that it won't cut, or you can cut but it doesn't do a great job cutting the entire piece, you can FLIP it over!! Why hadn't I thought of that before!? Duh! (Cue head smacking and annoying Homer Simpson noise) Well, I figured it out and have turned all the blades on all my rotary cutters over (because they all seemed to wear out at the same time). And now it seems like I have ALL new blades even though I haven't used any of my refills! So there is your $1000 tip for the day, but FREE because I'm so excited to share it! By the way I also recently purchased some Cutting Edge rulers that have a diamond carbide edge (think knife sharpener) on the end of the ruler. The idea is that it will sharpen the rotary blade as you cut your fabric. I haven't used it enough know if it really works but I like it so far. Well, that's it for the night, happy cutting and watch your fingers!

Happy Stitches,
Anna

I Dream in Color

I was inspired on Wednesday to start on this quilt. I finished quilting it today, it's about 18"x22" and I had so much fun making it! I think I'm going to stretch it over a canvas and hang it on the wall. I want people to be able to touch it because the quilting caused the neatest texture. I also absolutely LOVE the STAR threads I had to play with. They are varigated and just absolutely a dream to quilt with. I might have to do a different quilt just in the blues because I love those colors so much.

I don't think this picture even does it justice. (Sorry, still trying to figure out the Macro setting without actually reading any tutorials about it.)

In other news, did you see the new link on the sidebar under my sponsors!? It's Michelle Webster's pattern company called Keyka Lou. I'm now an affiliate which is totally AWESOME because I LOVE her patterns. I've used the Easy Eco Market tote in a class a couple of times already and it's incredibly easy and fun to make! Her instructions are SO easy and her PDF patterns actually have links to specific posts on her blog with more details! How awesome is THAT!? Here's an eco tote I made just recently.

So I highly encourage you to stop by her site, but please do so by clicking the link in my sidebar. Oh, and that fabric in that picture above? It's ON SALE in my shop! Well, it's been a busy and productive week and weekend for me. How about you all, working on anything exciting?

Happy Stitches,
Anna

New Classes at Crafty Girls Workshop

I've just finished the schedule for March AND April and posted ALL the classes to the website!

One of my favorites isn't even a class, it's this:

Starting in March, I will be hosting a monthly book club with the book called Rule-Breaking Quilts. This book is totally fantabulous!!  It speaks to everything I want to accomplish in my Rule-Breaking ways! It throws tradition out the window! OK, enough with the exclamation points already! So if you sign up for the book club, you'll receive the book PLUS a bundle of BEAUTIFUL cross weaves from Moda, 12 Fat Quarters!!! This is the perfect start to get you on your way to make some RBQs (Rule Breaking Quilts). Ok, so are you ready for the ABSOLUTELY coolest part!? This book club, although we're going to have two chances each month to meet and discuss what we've made and support each other, is ALSO open to online folks! I'm going to have PRIVATE blog set up that ONLY book club members have access to for posting pictures, their comments, their concerns, all sorts of stuff. I think it will be a perfect marriage of my local people and those who are in other cities, states or even countries! (We might even have monthly drawings.) So don't be shy, hop over there today and sign up for the book club. Oh, did I mention that book club members will receive a special coupon good for the duration of the entire club!? That's a year! Yep, you can use it to purchase your supplies each month for the next month's project. This book starts out with basic straight line modern design, RBQs and then even branches out into sewing the dreaded curves! I highly recommend the book AND the club! Well, I'll have more to post very soon, but now I need to get home.

Happy Stitches,

Anna

OMG I'm on Tipnut!

OK, so I feature Tipnut sometimes here on my blog and I just found out that they linked to CGW to say thanks for linking to them!! So if you're over here from Tipnut, WELCOME! I'm trying to get up to 700 followers so I can have a GIVEAWAY! I hope you'll stick around, only 7 more to that goal. Maybe some day I'll write a super awesome tutorial that they will feature, one can dream right?

Happy Stitches,
Anna

A new (somewhat) Obsession: Knitting

I'm a Knit Wit
This yarn is so soft and fuzzy. I've started to learn to knit! Maybe someday this will be a scarf, and maybe someday it will snow again in San Antonio (snowed the first time in 22 years, on Friday February 4, 2011 I think it was). If you're in San Antonio, you can learn to knit at Crafty Girls Workshop! I've also got a Crochet class or two. I never thought I'd learn to knit, and I'm not sure how long I'll keep it up, but it's sort of calming to do something repetative and rather therapeutic. Much easier to knit while watching a movie than it is to sew. OK, so we've already established that I have Crafter's A.D.D. How about you, do you have multiple crafty hobbies?

Almost There
By the way, I only need 10 more followers to get to 700! Then I'll do a happy dance and a GIVEAWAY! So pass the word if you can.

25 Yard Dash
If you've ordered from me in the past, and you'd like to know your tally of yardage for the 25 yard dash, just drop me an e-mail because I've gone back through the orders all the way back to October and now have all your yardage totals right at my fingertips. (And some of you are only 2 and a half yards away from a 25% discount coupon!!)
Have a great week!

Anna

Sew Close!



photo source

 I feel like I'm just close to 700 followers!! Can I get there before March? You can help. If you like my blog, please choose to follow it. In fact, I prefer the feed reader myself, because I'd rather get e-mail blog posts but I'm weird like that. If I can get to 700 followers in the NEXT week *way before March* then there is going to be a BIG celebration!! Happy Valentines day to me! Thanks for those of you who do follow and do read my somewhat daily ramblings. I promise, they will get better. I have stuff up in that head of mine with ideas to share and tutorials, and GIVEAWAYS! Thanks.

Happy Stitches,
Anna

More Beautiful Bella Solids in Stock!

Due to the rising cost of cotton, Moda has had to raise their prices on their fabrics but they were nice enough to give retailers a heads up so I placed a nice size order for more Bella Solids! I put them on my shelf and they are just delicious!! I've been dreaming of some awesome things to do with them, and the newest issue of Fat Quarterly is just perfect because it's focus is SOLIDS! These are still affordable and the hand of the fabric is amazing. Thanks Moda for making such an amazing product. Here they are, all in a row on the shelf in the shop. Sooo yummy! I have 21 solids in stock now! It really brightens my day to be able to look over there and see that lovely rainbow.

The weather is beautiful here today, but COLD! What are your plans for the weekend? Anyone getting to do some sewing? I have a pillowcase class tomorrow and I have just had one more spot open up. If you're local to the San Antonio area and want to fall in love with your sewing machine again, give me a call or e-mail me to grab that last spot (it's being taught again on Feb 22).

Happy Stitches,
Anna

I {heart} Mixed Media, Skeleton Keys, Ephemera and Blog Hopping

Last night I bought this book

because of this friend and now I'm in LOVE with this paper-cloth making idea. Oh I also bought this:

because I want to expand my quilting abilities and just reading it was completely inspiring. Also right now I'm TOTALLY into doing mixed media stuff. Or at least, I'm into DREAMING about doing mixed media stuff. I also bought a really cool blank book so I can do some art journaling, even though I hardly consider myself an artist. Oh and to help me do all that? I bought this:

From a cute shop on Etsy called Altered Paradise

And that's mostly because first I saw this in my e-mail this morning:

I immediately hopped over to Etsy and found Altered Paradise, just from searching some word like "antique keys" or something like that. And I found these:

Bought them right up! Too bad there's an ice storm in Indianapolis and they might not be able to ship this stuff until Friday Feb 11. Guess it will be a little late for V-Day BUT I'll have something fun to wear any time of the year! (An ice storm sort of reflects how my heart feels at this moment anyway)

So what are you all up to today?

Happy Stitches,

Anna

New Levels of Wonky Sewing

Back in November 2010 I attended a really cool workshop with famed quilter and fabric designer Denyse Schmidt. Since then, I really haven't been able to do anything NOT improv or NOT wonky. And I think my wonkiness is growing. The SA Modern Quilt Guild had a recap improv patchwork workshop here at CGW last Saturday, what a BLAST! I made roughly three blocks. After everyone left and a few days (and about 17 yards of blue velvet later, loong story) I was able to sit down and make up some more improv blocks. The first one came out pretty nice.

I was lucky that the colors all went together pretty well.

The next one, well, it had a curved piece. I decided to try to "go with it" for the curve. OMG talk about the CURVE THAT WOULD NOT DIE!

BUT I have to say, I still like the end result and ended up making two more blocks that looked A LOT more improvisational than anything else I've made so far.

So now I have a really nice collection of blocks growing and growing. It's amazing how quickly they are adding up. OK, so I started with 6 from the DS workshop, but two of those are in frames. The rest I've made between that November workshop and now, February 3. WOW. Maybe this will become a quilt by the end of the year! (Don't hold your breathe)

So there you have it. Yes, I am actually spending some quality time with my sewing machine. Thanks to the SA Mod Quit Guild I'm inspired and having fun and motivated to finish something! (I like to have something for Sew and Tell at the meetings) Oh, and I was also inspired by Jodi's pictures of the Baby Nap Mat. I love those colors!

Happy Stitches to all, stay warm!

Anna

Love Stinks

Yeah, it's February, so far it's bitterly cold and I'm sort of bitter about love. It's my first year as a single girl in 16 years. To celebrate my new found "freedom" from the chains of "love" I've decided to hold a Love Stinks! class to teach how to make these cute and somewhat ironic Conversation Hearts. Thanks Danielle from Nacho Mama's Quilt for coming up with this idea and creating such a cute display. I'm thinking Easter Eggs for April (or cascarones if you're from San Antonio and familiar with Fiesta traditions). Come to the class and learn a few easy embroidery stitches, pick up the inexpensive kit to make these adorable hearts. You can put whatever sayings on them that you prefer. If you want something a little more sappy, that's cool with us. There is a guarantee there will be chocolate at this class and maybe even a heart shaped pinata that we can beat up (won't that be fun!)

Happy Stitches,

Anna

Project COVER UP San Antonio

I hope I'm not stealing some copyrighted name from someone. We've had almost record low temperatures in San Antonio, Texas yesterday and today and it's not going to get too much warmer. I live in the downtown area of San Antonio and I see a lot of homeless people walking around. It breaks my heart to think that they are down there and out in the elements during the cold night SO I've decided to do something about it! That's how PROJECT COVER UP was born.

Unfortunately, this is only a local project but perhaps, if you feel the same way, you can organize something similar in your area.

Here are some details about PROJECT COVER UP:

Come to my studio any time after 6:00pm this Friday, to help make blankets to donate to a homeless shelter or directly to the homeless. If you have any supplies, spare fabric or batting, even old quilt tops or anything you want to bring, please do. I'll store all the finished items and we can donate them on Saturday morning or sometime next week.  This is FREE and if you dont' know how to sew or knit but want to learn or help, come by we can use people to cut and iron.

If you want to buy a couple yards of that really warm fleece fabric from JoAnns or Hancocks and bring that by that would be helpful too. We can hem the edges, or fringe them with a rotary cutter or otherwise make great use of the fabric. If you prefer to knit or crochet, and you might have some old unfinshed projects left around bring them along because we might be able to put them to good use.

Please e-mail me if you want to attend, so I can sort of get a general idea of how many to expect.

I hope to see you there on Friday! It's going to be cold outside but dry so should be decent driving weather, and I have an amazing heating system in teh studio so it will be toasty! Remember, even if you can't sew or knit, I'll put you to work with a pair of scissors or an iron.

Happy Stitches,

Anna

Giveaway Going on at Pleasant Home

NOTE: In order to enter this drawing YOU MUST post a comment on Jodi's blog. Posting a comment here, while great, will NOT get you entered! And make sure you include your e-mail in your comment OVER THERE.

Jodi, over at Pleasant Home, always posts AMAZING pictures and ideas. She features a blogger on a regular basis and has been a source of inspiration for me for a LONG time! Of course, when she offered the option to advertise I jumped on it! We've decided to offer a fabric giveaway from my shop and I thought it would be fun to send my readers over to her to enter the giveaway. She's already had over 200 comments, but why not enter just for fun! So if you're interested, just pop over to Pleasant Home and say hi and enter the giveaway. While you're there, you'll probably want to sign up to get her posts in your e-mail OR to be a follower. I just look forward every day to the inspiration she sends to my inbox.

Thanks Jodi!!

Happy Stitches to all and Good Luck,
Anna