Crafty Girls Workshop

Blogger's Quilt Festival

2011-05-15T16:22:00.000-05:00

Amy from Amy's Creative Side is hosting the Blogger's Quilt Festival (which I think usually corresponds with the Quilt Market/Festivals each fall and spring). You can see my post here but I wanted to share the flickr Quilt Festival Pool slideshow and it won't let me add it to my Wordpress blog (bummer). SO, here's a little quilting eye candy for you.

Pattern Giveaway!

2011-05-14T10:55:00.000-05:00

Hey stop by my other blog, because I'm hosting a giveaway for FREE patterns!

You can read all the details and enter to win the giveaway over on my other blog.

Click here to visit the giveaway post.

Happy Stitches,

Anna

Jelly Roll Madness Month starts NOW

2011-05-02T14:43:00.000-05:00

All Jelly Rolls that are IN STOCK are only $25 (plus shipping) Better get over there and get them because there is a very limited supply available. Oh, and you might want to pick up some yardage because it's such a bummer when you get a pretty top all finished and realize you don't have any coordinating yardage for the back or some borders.

Happy Stitches,
Anna

Crafty Girls Blog has a NEW HOME!

2011-04-20T11:40:00.000-05:00

Please jump over to my new blog home http://craftygirlsworkshop.wordpress.com/ Hopefully the http://blog.craftygirlsworkshop.com/ address will point there at some point (it supposedly takes 24 hours to refresh and I'm not sure when that will kick in.) Please update your readers if you have it that way and over there you can sign up to get my newest posts directly in your e-mail inbox (which is really the only way I read blogs anymore).

ALL new posts will be posted over there.

And don't forget about the $5 SALE on SALE FABRIC!!

Happy Stitches,
See ya on the Wordpress Side!

Anna

$5 SALE - FABRIC

2011-04-19T17:21:00.000-05:00

Attention!!!!

ALL SALE FABRIC IS ONLY $5 PER YARD

Better get it now while it lasts!

GO NOW!

Happy Shopping,

Anna

Psst, shop first, THEN tell your friends!

Ambitious is Good: Retreat Update

2011-04-18T12:54:00.000-05:00

I guess taking 4 projects is a good thing. I finished 2 quilt tops and 1 entire quilt, pieced, quilted it and put on the binding!! I guess I was afraid of the quilt police (NOT!)

Here's my finished baby quilt called Squared Up. I can't believe this was a UFO for SO long! It probably took me all of 5 hours from start to finish.

Close up, LOVE that binding!

Here is a wonky log cabin and Robot quilt. It started with just a panel of robots and some extra cogs in yellow and black. I mixed in some of my Moda Marbles from a jelly roll and it was PERFECT! I LOVE wonky log cabin quilts! My shirt says "What happens at quilt retreat stays at quilt retreat" Until, of course I blog about it on Monday. Haha.

Here is the Paris Birds quilt I took with me. I need to add two borders but it was the first top I finished on Friday. (The blocks were already pieced, I just put them together into the top)

There was a fourth project I took with me that didn't get started, it was from the BRAND NEW Quilts and More, which I just got on Thursday. I'll post more about that later. So what did YOU finish this weekend??

Also, I think wearing the shirt Failure is NOT an Option helped when we played Left, Right, Center on Friday night because I WON! Yep, 40 random fat quarters! Hmm, wonder what I'll do with those?

Happy Stitches,
Anna

Order Delay for a Few Days

2011-04-14T18:56:00.000-05:00

Since I'll be on a quilt retreat this weekend, any orders will be packed and shipped out on Monday. I appologize for the delay (usually it's a one day turn around) but a girl's gotta quilt! In the meanwhile, here's a coupon code for use to SHOP, THIS WEEKEND ONLY!

Use the code:

RETREAT

for

10% off

your order!

Go Shopping NOW!

Hmm, was a no-brainer? Also, since tomorrow is TAX DAY! 10% off is like getting a TAX break on your order! (And if you're out of Texas and don't pay sales tax on this order, it's an added bonus!!)

This code is good through Sunday, April 17th at midnight, at which point it will turn into a pumpkin. Also, it will only work on orders of $10 or more, but shipping gets the discount too!!

Happy Shopping!!

Anna

Packing for Quilt Retreat

2011-04-14T10:04:00.000-05:00

Besides ALL those projects I'm taking with me to the Quilt Retreat (QR) this weekend. I'm making sure that the shirts I take to wear during the QR are appropriate. Here are the sayings on each shirt I am taking along:

"Failure is NOT an option" (Actually from the Johnson Space center in Houston but I usually wear it shopping and thought it would be fun to wear during the QR)

"What happens at Quilt Retreat stays at Quilt Retreat" (This was the t-shirt from the Alamo Heritage Quilt Guild QR several years ago, and it's still appropriate)

"Quilt Police" on the back, "Captain Luna" on the front (I made this one myself as a joke at a QR I organized a few years ago. Strangely, it didn't quite get the reation I was looking for.

"Who cares?" With a big picture of the grumpy/cloudy Care Bear. I LOVE this because I'm NOT a morning person until I've had coffee. Plus I always loved the Care Bears.

I think that's all the shirts I'm taking, it's only three days but it's good to have a backup or two. If you could create a t-shirt to wear on a retreat, what would it say?

Happy Stitches,

Anna

A Little Bit Ambitious

2011-04-11T19:45:00.000-05:00

This weekend (starting on Friday) is the first retreat for the San Antonio Modern Quilt Guild. I am so excited to be able to spend 3 and a half days sewing! (yes, I know I own a sewing studio and yes, I can sew whenever I want but I don't have to worry about meals or my puppy all weekend!)

Here are the projects I'm bringing with me to work on (sorry for the icky pictures, hopefully I'll have finished stuff to show after the retreat.) Do you think I'm too ambitious?

for my best friend's youngest son (and my Godson)

Paris, Birds, Pink and Brown how can I go wrong?

for the friend's oldest son (those are Robots)

Just for fun (and I've had it cut for over two years)

Something I started just a few days ago, a wonky boyish fabrics log cabin

I don't think it's too ambitious because I'll just be happy if I finish one or two. Hopefully I'll have lots to report on Monday!

Any big plans for this weekend now that tax time is over? (OK< did I just post about the weekend on a Monday?)

Happy Stitches,
Anna

Book Review: Amy Barickman's Vintage Notions

2011-04-10T13:34:00.000-05:00

Today I have the pleasure of reviewing this sweet book by Amy Barickman called Vintage Notions. Amy is the pattern designer behind Indygo Junction of which I do have a few patterns in my shop. While I mostly carry modern style and design of fabrics and patterns, I have found that this book is very useful for the modern sewist(a). A lot of the inspiration for this book was taken from a woman named Mary Brooks Picken who was a very real predecessor to Martha Stewart. Here is what Amy says about Mary Brooks Pickens in her introduction to the book:

"I conceived of this book, Vintage Notions, to rescue Mary Brooks Pickens from obscurity and to reintroduce the inspirational essays, clever sewing patterns, cooking basics, and beautiful illustrations from the Institute's newsletters with a fresh and modern voice."

Well, there you go! The perfect reason for me, someone who is thoroughly as modern as possible, to read a book with the word "Vintage" in the title!

Some of my favorite parts of this book include:

The "Magic Pattern" called "Men's Shirts Put to Feminine Use" on page 30

The section in each chapter called Amy B's Favorite Vintage Advice is sure to put a smile on your face.

The Department of Millinery (hats) on page 153 is great! I didn't realize there were so many hats for every occasion.

Of course, the Department of Cookery features in each chapter are very useful for me, since my oven doesn't exactly work, I'm sure I could use the advice on Cooking with Cold and Dainty Summer refreshments.

I definitely need to try this pattern for a summer purse, because Summer is approaching quickly.

I really could go on and on but I'll let you get a copy of the book for yourself to see how sweet and fun being domestic can be!

Oh, and don't forget to check out page 183 for the Department of Good Looks feature on "Charm Through Grace and Poise" and the advice on the opposite page about "Walking Like a Princess" because we should all walk like the princesses we are!

I think this book would be very useful to those who love vintage or those who love modern. Amy even includes a section at the beginning of each chapter called Modern Notions which helps relate the content in the chapter to a more contemporary context.

Thank you Amy Barickman and staff for allowing me to review a copy of this book!

A second copy of this book will be donated to the San Antonio Modern Quilt Guild for the silent auction fundraiser.

Happy Stitches,

Anna

P.S. Stay tuned this week for more pattern reviews and giveaways!

Lovely Patchwork Awesomeness Arrived

2011-04-08T18:11:00.000-05:00

Yes, it's here and yes, it's TOTALLY AWESOME!! This magazine, compiled by the editors of the AMAZING Stitch magazine has 101 patchwork projects! It's all in one place, it's there at your fingertips. I can't wait to dive in and making something fun. Maybe it will be some sewing machine covers (I have 4 machines in my shop) or maybe a cute new bed for my puppy or maybe 99 other things that are shown in this magazine. I mean, geez, if I start now, I could make something every day for the rest of the year! Oh and if patchwork isn't really your thing, check out Stitch, because it has some incredible projects that involve actually making clothes! Ahh so many things to do.

Happy Stitches,
Anna

Ruffle Crazy

2011-04-07T12:46:00.000-05:00

Yeah, so I think I've gone a little ruffle, gather and ruching crazy and so has blogworld! OR maybe it's one of those things where you decide to do something that involves a new skill and suddenly it's EVERYWHERE! Just tell me that's never happened to you when you buy a new car! Well, so, long story short, I thought I'd just compile ALL the ruffle, gather, and ruche-ing tutorials all in one bloggy post and then let YOU add your links! Here's a quick list of definitions of the difference between ruffles, ruching and gathers. (As far as I can tell)

Gathers: A gather is created (one of many ways) by using a gathering stitch. What the HECK is that? Just set your stitch length to the longest it will go (also known as a basting stitch) and run a stitch down your strip of fabric. The general rule of thumb is to do this twice and fairly close together, because when you are pulling your thread, if one breaks, you have the other as a back up. Leave a long tail of thread at the end of your stitching. Gently pull the thread tail from the back of your fabric to gather the fabric along the stitching. Here is a great video showing how to do this.

A gather will have the raw edges of the fabric encased in a seam.You can make the gather as subtle or noticeable as you want, depending on how you pull the fabric.

Look at this cute gathered clutch I made using the AWESOME tutorial over on Noodlehead.

Ruffles: As far as I can tell (from my in depth research - 2 hours of blog surfing) ruffles involve a gathered piece of fabric, but one or both edges of that fabric are open to the world. Otherwise, the technique seems to be the same. Some sewing machines and sergers have a ruffler attachment which is usually very pricey and complicated. I'm sure it's very useful if you do a lot of ruffles. Here is a tutorial for a CUTE little clutch with a ruffle on the top! It's over at Just Sew Sassy, a cute new blog I found today that inspired me to write this post!

Ruffles Table Runner Tutorial

Ruching (pronounced "rooching"): I think "ruche" might just be the French word for ruffle or gather, but I could be wrong. I think (again, from my in depth research) that ruching is the use of multiple gathers on one item. OK, I was wrong, according to http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ Ruche is actually the French word for beehive. Go figure. The free dictionary also defined ruche as "a ruffle or pleat of lace, muslin or other fine fabric used for trimming women's garments." So, to me, that means it's almost the same as a gather or ruffle. There is an awesome tutorial over on Little Birdie Secrets for a Ruched Pillow. I think it's a really interested approach to the entire gather/ruffle thing.

Now, have YOU made anything or seen any tutorials around blogworld that include any of these fun techniques? Please link them below!

Happy Stitches,
Anna

Perfect Mother's Day Gift Help Beat Breast Cancer!

2011-04-06T11:39:00.001-05:00

Isn't this a beautiful necklace? I just read the entire story behind this necklace over on Little Birdie Secrets. You can read the entire post here. I'm going to buy one of these, in member of all the ladies I've known who have breast cancer or have known someone who has. I want to pass on the word that we can do something more to help! And it doesn't have to wait until October for Think Pink month! I hope you'll consider purchasing one as well. I am not getting any compensation for posting this, I'm just sharing something that is beautiful and will go to a wonderful effort. Ordering information is on the Little Birdie Secrets post. Thanks.

Happy Stitches,
Anna

The Ultimate Blog Party!

2011-04-04T11:17:00.001-05:00

So the party has started! OK, I'm a little behind and that's probably because I don't have any sweet little ones (yet) and sadly, don't read the 5 Minutes for Mom blog. (Gasp!) BUT I do read Craft Buds (just became a sponsor actually) and THEY posted about the UBP. Apparently, this has been going on every year for the LAST 5 YEARS! Where have I been!? Well, I am participating now so PLEASE hop over there and visit some AMAZING blogs. There are 5 or 6 different categories and it truly is the ULTIMATE party because there are at least 150 blogs listed in EACH category! (Most of them have more than 300 EACH!!) Wow. There are prizes to be had as well, if you enter your blog on the list. I'm linking my blog up on the Business Blogs list, although I think it could be added to the Specialty Blog list as well. But we have to play nice and leave a little room for others to play too. So go on! Stop by and get the party started!

UPDATE: Alright, so did I miss the part of the instructions where it said I needed to introduce myself? Hmm? Well, here's a little bit about me.

I LOVE to sew and to teach and in the process have become a sewing teacher! I have a sewing studio where I teach sewing and quilting classes and I even learn something along the way too. Recently I've started teaching home school children during the day which works great for me and them. Also, I try to teach my classes in the evenings and on weekends when the regular working folks have semi-free time.

I have an online shop where I sell fabric and patterns and the occasional kit. I have all sorts of fun PDF patterns and printed patterns for making anything from Tote Bags to Kid's clothes, aprons, and even quilts. If you sign up for my e-mail newsletter (either on the right sidebar here or on the website) you'll receive all the great updates about the shop in your e-mail every month and that includes COUPON codes! I try to keep this blog limited to posts about my crafty/sewing/quilting endeavors instead of really shop focused. But I DO sew and I DO use the fabrics I have in my shop to make samples (see previous posts).

I guess that's about it about me. I hope you'll say hi and I'll send you a FREE pattern!

Happy Stiches,
Anna

P.S. And don't blame me if you get lost in blog world and completely forget you have laundry to wash, food to cook, diapers to change, THINGS TO SEW or even taxes to pay (UGH!)

P.P.S. IF you do go and visit some blogs AND if you come back HERE and leave me a comment mentioning some of the blogs you visited (make sure your e-mail works or include it in your comment), I'll send you a copy of my Pillowcase Tutorial/Pattern. FREE!!

Finishing Feels Good!

2011-04-03T17:00:00.004-05:00

I just got a LOT of this fabric in, I mean A LOT, as in 30 yards! (It's been popular in the past, I wanted to make sure I had enough to fill future orders)

So I decided to make a sample of this cute little pattern called Notting Hill by Pink Fig Patterns. I added in some other fabrics as well and here is what I got:

It's made in size 2T for my best friend's daughter, Lily(bug). I can't wait to try it on her and snap a few pictures!!

AND since during the construction process of making this skirt I learned how to make GATHERS (yippee!) I decided to tackle THIS tutorial that I've been just DYING to do. And I used the leftovers from cutting the fabric for the skirt! Not only did I make it out of the leftovers, practice more gathers, but I ALSO tackled (re-taught myself/conquered my fear of) a ZIPPER!!! And ended up with a cute clutch, to boot.

Yippee! What a happy finishing day!

Oh and finished up TWO pillowcases for the Pillowcase Challenge Party, thanks to all who participated!

Have YOU started or finished anything this weekend?

Happy Stitches,

Anna

Keyka Lou Pattern Winner

2011-03-29T11:42:00.000-05:00

Congrats to April at Sewing Novice, you have won 2 patterns from Keyka Lou patterns! Although, from looking at your blog, I hardly think you are a novice! Readers of Crafty Girls Workshop, you should REALLY stop by April's blog, she takes great pictures and makes awesome stuff!

Happy Stitches,

Anna

P.S. I just returned from an AWESOME surface design retreat on Sunday and have loads to share so stay tuned!!

Make a Case for for a Good Cause

2011-03-25T09:00:00.001-05:00

Did you know that Monday, April 4 is National Pillow Fight day? Wow!? How could I have ever missed that!? Well, in honor of that day this year, I am hosting a Pillowcase Challenge Party at my studio!! What the heck is a pillowcase challenge party? Read on to find out....

American Patchwork and Quilting (owned by Better Homes and Gardens or Meredith Publishing) is hosting a 1 Million Pillowcase Challenge. They have challenged quilt shop ALL over the country to host events just like the Pillowcase Challenge Party, make pillowcases and donate them to a LOCAL charity. Then, the shop can go to the APQ website and enter the number of pillowcases donated. They will tally them all up and hopefully we'll reach 1 Million donated! That's a LOT of pillowcases!

Well, this works out great because the VERY first class I usually teach anyone about how to sew or how to use their machine is a Pillowcase Class. So now I have a few people who know how to make them and can come by the shop on the day of the PARTY!

But what if YOU want to come by but you've never sewn a stitch in your life? NO PROBLEM! This is such an easy project that I can show you want to do in just a few minutes and get you stitching in no time! The shop will have slightly extended hours 10am-4pm on Sunday April 3 for the day of the Pillowcase Challenge Party.

There is only a small $10 registration fee to cover the supplies you'll need to make ONE pillowcase. You can choose to keep it or donate it, or keep it and make another one to donate!

I've already found the PERFECT place to donate the pillowcases. It's call the Angel Cover Ministry. They make quilts for children in need and they are working to make 30 quilts to donate to children with cancer. They would LOVE to have pillowcases to donate along with the quilts at the end of April right around Easter.

They are all ready to accept our donation, so all we need is the pillowcases! So, what are you waiting for? You should definitely hop over to the shop and sign up RIGHT NOW for this pillowcase challenge party.

If you aren't local to San Antonio, there are a couple of options. You can make a pillowcase on the day of the party and let me know, via e-mail, or Facebook or whatever. Then you can either send me the pillowcase or donate it to a local charity in your town. OR why not register for the party and have someone make a pillowcase FOR YOU? Just specify that when you order. I will happily make a pillowcase for you on that day. I'll even post a picture of it on our Facebook page when it's finished.

I'm going to have door prizes and FOOD so it will be a SUPER fun day!

I hope you'll be able to come on by.

Happy Stitches,

Anna

WIP Wednesday, on Thursday

2011-03-24T17:13:00.000-05:00

Made this at MY Laptop Cover class on Sunday (decided the shop needed a sample!) It just needs topstitching, I love those little birdies!

Here's a sample that one my best customer's and newest friends is working on. We used a charm pack of City Weekend. I'm calling it Nine Patch Baby! There's an outside white border too. If you like it and would like me to do a SEW ALONG of this pattern, please vote by commenting on this post!

This is the Sugar Pop version of my Oh How Charming! pattern (designed by little ol' me!) which I teach duing my Gotcha Covered Beginning Quilt Class. It just needs a binding and then it's DONE!!! It will be great to finally have a sample of my quilt with fabric I have in the shop!

And here's the Moving Violations quilt from the Rule Breaking Quilts book club (you can join any time!) I'm planning to add a border in that robin's egg blue and a wide border in the Potpourri fabric, which has all the colors of the quilt. Then of course it will need to be quilted and have the binding put on it (oh fun!)
So a lot of works in progress going on over here at Crafty Girls Workshop! Maybe I'll be able to post some progress on them next week.

What are YOU working on?

Happy Stitches,
Anna

Another March Madness Giveaway!!

2011-03-22T10:36:00.002-05:00

I am soo excited to post ANOTHER giveaway for you, my wonderful readers.

(A BIG welcome to all the NEW readers from GenXQuilters!)

Visit the Keyka Lou Shop

I am especially excited to share this giveaway with you. Michelle Webster, the BRAINS behind Keyka Lou patterns has generously offered to give TWO of her FABULOUS PDF patterns away! She has an AMAZING blog where she posts great tips and beautiful pictures of great fabrics. Michelle and I have been friends/business associates for a long time and her patterns are so great for a beginner to intermediate sewist(a) that I use the reusable tote pattern AND the laptop sleeve pattern in my classes! I am just so thrilled that now I can be an affiliate and the added bonus for doing what I would already do anyway is a little commission every time you buy something using the link from my blog!!

So, if you'd like to WIN WIN two of her FABULOUS and EASY-to-follow patterns, here is whatcha gotta do:

1) Visit the Keyka Lou Shop and pick out your TWO favorite patterns (I know this will be difficult, but do try) then come back here and leave a comment telling me which ones you want.

2) Visit my shop and tell me which FABRICS you would use to make those beautiful patterns

3) And for an added little bonus, why not stop by Michelle's blog and just drop her a little "hi!" comment, you can tell her that Crafty Girls Workshop sent you, or not, I think she'll get a pleasant surprise out of that.

Of course, be sure to leave at least one comment telling me you did the above items (you can leave one for each or one telling me what you did.)

MAKE SURE you are NOT a No Reply Blogger!! If I can't reply to your comment, and you DON"T leave me your e-mail in your comment, then you CAN NOT win this giveaway! And that's not any fun, right?
One more thing, all the Keyka Lou patterns are PDF so this is open to ANYONE ANYWHERE!! Yippee! Save trees and include international folks. I love it when things work out like that.

The winner will be announced on Tuesday, March 29th!!

Happy Stitches,

Anna

Color Inspiration: Fresh Modern Quilts on Flickr

2011-03-16T16:39:00.000-05:00

Watch the above slideshow for some beautiful modern quilting inspiration.

Happy Stitches,
Anna

Check back because I'll be posting my NEXT March Madness Giveaway SOON!

Sew You Want to Learn to Sew?

2011-03-15T13:26:00.001-05:00

Janome Magnolia 7318 Sewing Machine

If you've been thinking about getting a new machine, because yours is too hard to work with, too old, too complicated, not complicated enough, I'd highly recommend the machine linked above (yes I get a tiny commission if you purchase one, no obligation though).

First off, you should consider why you want the machine, do you plan to sew, quilt, embroider, make garments, make tote bags? If you answered yes, then here are a few features you'll probably want:

1) A thread cutter, yes some machines are SO basic, they don't have that nifty little thread cutter on the side of the machine, it's handier than grabbing the scissors all the time.

2) The needle stops in the UP position. Again, the most basic machines will usually be sort of "lazy" and when they stop sewing, the needle stops wherever it was when it was sewing, which is sometimes still down in the machine. When you need to sew items quickly, it's ideal for the needle to stop UP.

2a) *Super nice to have feature Needle Down button* On the flip side, it is handy to have the ability to tell the machine to put the needle DOWN (and even better if you can set it to ALWAYS put the needle down, but that's usually a feature in higher end machines) because any time you need to turn a corner, you'll want to put the needle down so that you can maneuver the fabric without messing up the stitches. If you don't have a needle DOWN button, you can always turn the flywheel toward you and put the needle down.

3) Variety of presser feet. Check to see which feet your machine comes with, ideally you'll want a button hole foot, zipper foot, darning foot (has a circle) and basic straight stitch foot, If you plan to do any quilting, check to make sure the machine has either a 1/4 inch foot (when you line the fabric up to the side of the foot, you get a 1/4 inch seam) OR the ability to move the needle OVER to make it a 1/4 inch seam and not change the foot. Also for quilting you'll want the ability to purchase a walking foot at some time.

4) A nice to have option is a needle threader attached to the machine. These usually take some practice to get comfortable using but they are very nice for threading that tiny needle.

5) Drop in Bobbin I'd recommend a drop in bobbin for a beginner. From my experience using various machines in my own store, the drop in bobbin is a good option for several reasons. First of all, you can very easily see when it is running low or out of thread. Second, the access to the bobbin is so much easier when it's on the top (obviously) but that makes life less frustrating when you have to change out the bobbin. Personally, on my mid line Bernina, it's a front loading bobbin made of metal, and while I love the feel of the quality of it, sometimes the idea of having to hunt down a shop that carries the bobbins that cost $2 is sort of annoying.

A caution about plastic bobbins, they are NOT all the same. Some bobbins have a slight curve to them and won't work in other machines. Be sure that you buy bobbins for your machine and perhaps even mark them somehow to ensure they stay with your machine.

*Nice to have feature* If you're interested in spending a little more on a machine, you might look into one that has a knee lift lever the KNL allows you to just swing your leg over to the right and push a lever that will actually raise the presser foot on your machine. That's handy if you need to maneuver fabric quickly. I never knew what that was until I learned to sew at a shop when I was learning the features of the Berninas I was going to sell. The shop owner required us to learn to use the KNL and I'm glad she did because it's very, very useful.

So, that's my (not so)short two cents on what to look for in a sewing machine. The mid-range machine will last a long time and give you many years of sewing success. I have a Janome Sew Precise in my shop (no longer in production) and it does well, even over three layers of fabric, including batting. If there are any other features you can't live without on your machine, please feel free to post here and share! I'm not a huge expert on sewing machines, I'm just sharing what I have experienced working with several different models of machines. I am asked at least three times a week what to look for in a machine and this is the result of those discussions.

Happy Stitches,

Anna

P.S. Another reason I recommend that machine from Amazon, besides my affiliate commission is that they offer FREE shipping and it's cheaper than what you'll find on other websites. Even in a large city like San Antonio, TX, it's difficult find a decent machine locally without having to pay more than a couple hundred dollars.

Rule Breaking Quilts Book Club: Moving Violations

2011-03-11T22:08:00.001-06:00

I'm having so much fun in my own book club for this book Rule Breaking Quilts! (you can still join)

I've already started on the first quilt and amazingly I'm ready to piece the entire top together, and I only started cutting pieces for it yesterday! Here's where I was yesterday:

This, in itself was thrilling, until I got to the next step, which was MORE cutting! And I ended up with this!

Most of the fabrics are from Anna Maria Horner's Innocent Crush collection, but I had to add some of my NEW Bella Solid Robin's Egg blue AND some Buttercup. It really pulled everything together. If you manage to look really closely, you'll see a little bit of something weird mixed in. It's from an improv block I did that I didn't really like much, so I wacked it up and pieced it back together in some wonky triangles and now I LOVE it! This quilt project is called Moving Violations, and you have to get the book in order to understand why. But boy are the Quilt Police going to be after me!!

I'm going to have my camera at the ready tomorrow to see the looks on people's faces when they come in my studio and see this quilt on the wall. I might love it too much to ever even bother taking it down to piece it! SEW FUN!!

Happy Stitches,
Anna

P.S. Don't forget about the giveaway going on! (See previous post)

Linking up here:

March Madness Continues: Whimsy Couture eBook Giveaway

2011-03-09T13:14:00.001-06:00

The winner is commenter number 3, Lindsay! Congrats! I've sent you an e-mail about the patterns and they should be arriving shortly.

Today starts the next round of giveaways for March Madness! This week I'm featuring Denise Knapp of Whimsy Couture. (click the button to visit her cute blog)

I have 12 of her eBooks in my shop ready for your viewing pleasure! The winner of THIS drawing with recive 3 Whimsy Couture eBooks of your choice!!

Personally, I think this is the most adorable pattern ever and perfect for warm spring weather:

Remember, the choice here is ONLY the patterns by Whimsy Couture. I now have an easy peasy way to tell which patterns are by which designer because I've added a separate category for PDF Pattern Designers AND Printed Pattern Designers!

To enter this giveaway leave me a comment with any of the following (one entry per item):

1) Visit the Whimsy Couture Designs page and choose the 3 patterns you'd like

2) Sign up for my e-newsletter (in the box on the right sidebar)

3) Post about this on YOUR blog, or FB or Twitter

4) Join the pillowcase dress sew-a-long over at Little Big Girl Studios to help Dress a Girl Around the World

BONUS: If we get to 50 comments, EVERYONE gets an extra entry!!

Be sure to make sure you ARE NOT a No Reply Blogger, if I can't reply to your comment (you can leave your e-mail) then I can't send you the patterns if you win!

Giveaway will CLOSE on Monday March 14 at Midnight.

Happy Stitches,

Anna

Winner of Gingercake Patterns

2011-03-08T21:22:00.000-06:00

Congrats to commenter number 2, Becky who said:

"I already like you on facebook and it led me to this post! yay! I love March Madness - we are huge college basketball fans here.

Make your Getaway Duffle, The Waste Free Lunch Bag and Love Your Lunchbox patterns would totally rock my world.

I believe I'll join that sew along too. I have a bunch of pillowcases to share!

Thanks for the chance to win. "

Stay tuned for the next giveaway!!

Happy Stitches,
Anna

Total March Madness! Giveaways and Celebrations!

2011-03-01T20:50:00.001-06:00

Well, I'm not going for any slam dunks here (haha, that's a March Madness basketball joke) BUT I wanted to CELEBRATE my 700 (and now 6 more) followers!!!

I plan to do that with a GIVEAWAY EVERY WEEK in this month! Yippee!! OK, tired of all the exclamation marks and capital letters?

This week, starting now, March 1 and until Monday, March 7 if you leave a comment on this blog post you will be entered to WIN

NOTE: I guess there was some confusion, this giveaway is ONLY for the Gingercake patterns, as shown below and linked. If you visit my website and do a search for gingercake, you'll see the options. Any other patterns are not up for "grabs" at this time. I appreciate you visiting my shop and mentioning other patterns, but ONLY Gingercake's patterns are in the running this week (more to come another week in the month).

Your CHOICE of 3 electronic patterns from Virginia Lindsay of Gingercake!!!

(From the ones listed on my website, which you can see in all their glory by clicking here)

Here are the ways to enter:

1) Visit the shop and choose the three Gingercake electronic patterns that you'd like to win, then hop back here and leave me a comment telling me your choice and what you would do with them.

2) "Like" my page on Facebook (I post coupon codes on there sometimes, so it's a good deal either way) and be sure to mention it here

3) BONUS entry if you decide to participate in the sew a-long over at Little Big Girl Studio

Make sure you leave me your e-mail address or that you are NOT a no reply blogger (read the details here to check/switch your settings)

If you want to leave me ONE comment for all your entries, I'm cool with that!

You have until Midnight on Monday March 7 to enter, I'm going to announce the winner and a NEW giveaway on Tuesday March 8.

So happy visiting and blog hopping and I hope you will join in the Sew-A-Long at LBGS because it sounds like an awesome idea. (I'll post more about that tomorrow).

Happy Stitches,

Anna

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

2011-02-28T14:37:00.000-06:00

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!

2011-02-21T18:52:00.000-06:00

(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

2011-02-20T17:16:00.000-06:00

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

2011-02-19T22:19:00.000-06:00

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!

2011-02-14T13:25:00.000-06:00

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

2011-02-13T22:58:00.002-06:00

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!

2011-02-11T20:48:00.000-06:00

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!

2011-02-11T10:40:00.000-06:00

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

2011-02-07T11:56:00.000-06:00

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

2011-02-04T02:00:00.003-06:00

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

2011-02-03T11:03:00.000-06:00

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

2011-02-02T13:16:00.000-06:00

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

2011-02-02T11:37:00.000-06:00

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

Super Duper Crazy Daisy FABRIC Sale!

2011-01-29T16:08:00.000-06:00

Click here to go shopping!

I have lots of beautiful fabrics on sale at the shop! Stop by (the website) or the studio to see the beautiful selection of the great fabrics. These are designer fabrics, 100% cotton by Michael Miller and Moda.

Happy Shopping!

Anna

Fabulous Fabric and eBook Give Away at Whimsy Couture

2011-01-25T14:25:00.001-06:00

GIVEAWAY DRAWING IS CLOSED: Congrats to Gena the winner of the pattern and fabric!

Oops, we did it again, Crafty Girls Workshop and Whimsy Couture have teamed up to offer a great giveaway! We are offering a sewing kit for making a STRAPPY TOP or DRESS size 0 m-8 years with YOUR CHOICE of fabric!

You can win 1 sewing eBook with instructions on how to make either one of the shown garments and just enough fabric of your choice.

The pattern will be delivered via email after the winner is chosen.

Here is how you can enter:

follow Crafty Girls Workshop via google friend connect (over there in the side bar)
follow Crafty Girls Workshop via email (white sign up box) (activate please!)
place Crafty Girls Workshop's button visibly onto your blog
follow Crafty Girls Workshop via facebook
subscribe to Whimsy Couture blog via email (pink subscription box on top right & activate please!)
place the Whimsy Couture button visibly onto your blog and comment w/link back to your blog
follow Whimsy Couture via facebook

IMPORTANT! If you want to be entered, do the items above AND go visit Denise over at Whimsy Couture's blog, LEAVE A COMMENT on her blog for EACH of the items you did.

If you leave a comment here you'll be entered, but if you want multiple entries, you have to leave them at Denise's blog.

The winner will be announced next Tuesday.

Please make sure there is a way to contact you through your comment or else we'll draw somebody else.

Good Luck!!

Happy Stitches,
Anna

SheyB Camera Strap for $15

2011-01-21T02:00:00.003-06:00

SheyB Camera Strap $15!

Boy do I have a deal for you!

GroopDealz is showcasing the wonderful SheyB Camera Straps for $15 + $3 shipping. SWEET!

If you've got a SLR camera, you certainly want your camera strap to reflect your creative personality. Choose from the 3 straps below for $15! (+$3 shipping)

"You're not boring, why should your camera be?"

Just click here to purchase.

Hurry, this offer ends on Sunday at midnight

Community!!

2011-01-20T10:58:00.000-06:00

I've done it! I managed to figure out all on my lonesome a good solution to building a community right here on my blog!! See the new tab up there next to About Me? It's called COMMUNITY and it's there for YOU ALL to participate on this blog! You might remember from my new year's resolution post that I said I wanted to build a bigger community here on the blog. I didn't have to move to Wordpress (gasp!) or pay for Ning (too pricey) but I DID figure out that Blog Frog has this nifty thing that allows me to put the community right there on a separate page on my blog!! Yippee! So, now I can have more interaction with y'all out there in blog world. Or that's the hope at least. I posted a discussion on the community page to hopefully get some people talking.

Today's discussion topic:

What are you doing to organize for 2011? It doesn't even have to be your sewing/crafting space.

Please share! Click on the Community tab up there and reply to the discussion. Or you can just comment on this post if you'd like. Thanks for joining the Crafty Community.

Happy Stitches,
Anna

Craft Space Organization 2011

2011-01-19T16:13:00.000-06:00

Thanks to Tip Nut for compiling ALL these GREAT links for craft space organization! I get inspired just looking at the pictures to the links!

So many of you said in your New Years Resolution comments that you want to get organized this year so hopefully this link to Tip Nut will help you get started. I plan to add more links as I find them and maybe move this to a tab up there at the top. I'd love to see before and after pictures of your reorganization of your crafty space! Remember I have a Flickr group for Crafty Girls Workshop, why not join in and add your pics to inspire us all?

And here are some books and magazines about organizing your crafty space for even more inspiration:

Happy Stitches,
Anna

Making Stuff Today

2011-01-13T18:55:00.000-06:00

This is a ticker tape block, which is the February Block of the Month project for the San Antonio Modern Quilt Guild. And I finished it, before February!!! (the background is white and has moons, because my last name is Luna which means moon in various languages)

This is an apron I just whipped up, no pattern, just an idea in my head. I've been meaning to make an apron from this fabric for FOREVER! It has the cutest phrases on it like "Dating? I'd rather be sewing!" or "I told him not to make me choose between him and my fabric, I'll really miss him." It's hilarious!! The back is the cutest red with little white flowers on it. And of course I had to throw a giant pocket on it, since I plan to wear this at the Kingsland Quilt Show next week. It's my first quilt show to EVER be a vendor!

Wish me luck!

So I'd say that I've been very productive today, for a Thursday especially. This means that tomorrow I'll actually have something to show off at the Friday Sew and Tell here at the studio. Oh and making the block and the apron? That was sort of like procrastinating from what I really need to do which is finish up the Sugar Free quilt. (More on that later.)

Happy Thursday Stitches to everyone!!

Anna

Inspiration from Blogland

2011-01-12T17:07:00.000-06:00

Someone new decided to follow me on Twitter the other day.

I thought her website name, Design Seeds, was interesting so I went to check it out.

Click to visit blog

How inspiring! She combines all these beautiful color palettes and posts them with an inspiration picture! Not only is this an inspiration for decorating my home (yeah right) but more over I could totally see taking these color combinations and creating quilts! And it turns out, I already have fabrics that are in these color palettes:

This looks so fun and fresh, perfect for a little child's quilt! Look at this perfect charm pack I have that has all these colors!

And these are the prettiest girl colors.

What do you know? I have a charm pack that goes with that too!

And can't wait to make a quilt out of these colors:

You know, I think Jessica (from Design Seeds) just might be on to something over there! Now you should go check out Design Seeds because there are so many more pictures to inspire! Which one is your favorite?

Happy Stiches,

Anna

Giveaway Winners

2011-01-11T09:29:00.000-06:00

Congrats to Estee and Jenny who have won the giveaway!!

Thanks to everyone who entered, what amazing resolutions you all have they were very inspiring to read each one. I guess now that you've written them down you have to do them! I'll be sure to check in again in six months to see your progress.

IN THE SHOP:

There are some NEW fabrics listed in the shop as well as new classes AND new charm packs!!

Have a great Tuesday!

Happy Stitches,
Anna

ORIGINS Charm Pack Restocked!

2011-01-07T14:44:00.000-06:00

I was able to REORDER the Origins Charm packs and they are now in stock ($6.50 each)! Just in time to take advantage of the ORIGINS SALE going on until Saturday (or Sunday). So hop over there RIGHT NOW and grab some charms because they won't last long at this price. PLUS grab some yardage for only $7.00 a yard and I'll refund any over charge of the shipping. And believe me, you'll kick yourself if you don't get that coordinating yardage when you buy the precuts. I speak from experience. I also have so many great patterns that use charms in the shop! Especially some cute quilt patterns and they are PDF so you'll get them in your e-mail within 12 hours of ordering!

Happy Shopping!

Anna

P.S. If you place your order before 4:30pm CST, it might even go out the door today!

New Classes + Easy Registration = Happy Craftistas

2011-01-04T10:58:00.000-06:00

If you're local to San Antonio great news! I've added links in the sidebar of this blog to ALL the classes for January! Just click the links to see the info and register. If you get my blog posts in your e-mail, you'll have to actually visit the blog to see the links. ;-)

Have you ever felt like you have about 50 irons in the fire that can only hold about 10? I sort of feel like I'm a fondue pot!

I have so much going on right now, between day job, the studio, the website, filling orders, and trying to keep my head on! Thanks for your patience with me and your continued support.

I hope that future blog posts will be more "interesting" including some interviews with pattern designers and more giveaways from my sponsors.

Oh and I'm toying with the idea of an e-class about a Crafty Start Up, so if you can't make it to my class (taught on January 28th) because you're in another STATE or COUNTRY, then you'll have access to the same information. What do you think of that? Do I really NEED another project to do?? When will I ever find time to sew? So many of you have said one of your new year's resolutions is to bump up your Etsy shop and that's what the e-class would help you do.

Don't forget about the giveaway!!

Happy Stitches,
Anna

Origins by Basic Grey on SALE

2011-01-03T18:12:00.000-06:00

PSST Did you see the picture over there -------------------------------->
All of my Origins Yardage (and precuts) is ON SALE but ONLY THIS WEEK
(click the picture to the right to see my Origins selection)

PSSSTTT Are you signed up for my newsletter ?(scroll down on the website, enter your name in the Shop Updates Box) OR sign up in the box to the right -------------------------------->
I'm planning to send out a coupon code for the month for 10% off your order!

Happy Stitches,
Anna

PS Don't forget to leave a comment for the GIVEAWAY! And make sure you either include your e-mail in your comment or the no-reply-blogger option is disabled. I can't give your prize if I can't contact you about winning! (If you already commented and realized that you are a no-reply-blogger, PLEASE comment again with your e-mail OR e-mail me with your address)

New Years Resolutions and a GIVEAWAY

2011-01-02T15:41:00.001-06:00

What are YOUR new years resolutions this year?

They can be sewing related or not. I'd just love to hear what your goals are. If you comment on this post with YOUR resolutions, I'll enter you in a drawing for...your choice of a bubble envelope FULL of scraps from my shop fabrics OR a charm pack of your choice from the shop.

My resolution: To blog more and build a community among my blog readers and customers.

I feel like I'm so lucky to get to meet so many wonderful people who visit my blog and those of you who purchase from my shop. I always want to know WHAT you're making or working on. I mean I always share, why not try to build a community so I can see what you make? That might mean a few things, it might mean moving my blog to Wordpress (gasp!) or building a Ning social network site (gasp!) or figuring out Blog Frog (gasp!) But right now, I'll just remind you of the Sew and Show flicker group I have and I'll encourage you to visit it and share pictures you have of projects you've made or UFOs you have and want to finish this year.

Looking forward to your replies!

Oh and the giveaway drawing will be held on Saturday, January 8th.

Happy Stitches,

Anna

Happy New Year from Crafty Girls Workshop

2010-12-31T18:00:00.001-06:00

From NOW (6:00pm Central Standard Time) until MIDNIGHT (12:00am CST)

use the coupon code

HAPPYNEWYEAR

to get

20% OFF

your entire order, EVEN SALE ITEMS!!

GO NOW!! VISIT THE SHOP!! Tick Tock time's a wasting.

Oh and did I mention, that all your fabric purchased will count toward the 25 Yard Dash?? IT WILL!

Happy New Year (be safe everyone),

Anna

25 Yard Dash - Have you been training?

2010-12-30T18:23:00.000-06:00

Are you making resolutions for the new year? Something like "Run more, eat better, finish those unfinished objects (UFOs) hanging out in my closet, etc" Well, now you should resolve to buy MORE fabric from Crafty Girls Workshop because when you do you'll get special REWARDS! And of course, if you start sewing you'll probably forget to eat anything NOT healthy, and you'll be running to the mailbox and you'll get your UFOs finished! (see sample resolutions above) So, yeah, you should really buy more fabric from Crafty Girls Workshop.

Here's how the 25 Yard Dash works (I'll even be the one to keep track of your yardage purchases!):

25 yards purchased = 25% discount on one order!
25 MORE yards purchased (total of 50) = FREE SHIPPING on one order (if you're local, you'll get another coupon)
25 MORE yards purchased (total of 75) = YOUR CHOICE of FREE SHIPPING or 25% discount code
25 MORE yards purcahsed (total of 100) = a PERMANENT coupon code just for you to use FOREVER

Now, perhaps you want to purchase more than just yardage? Maybe you want to buy some fat quarters or other precuts? Well here's how that converts to ADD to your REWARDS:

1 charm pack (42, 5" squares) = 1 yard
1 honey bun (42, 1 1/2" strips) = 2 yards
1 jelly roll (42, 2 1/2" strips) = 3 yards
1 layer cake (42, 10" squares) = 2.5 yards
1 fat quarter (18"x22") = 1/4 yard

There is literally no time like the present to get started. And keep your eyes glued to this blog for extra ways to earn more yardage credits in coming months.

Happy Shopping!

Anna

New to the Shop

2010-12-28T15:51:00.001-06:00

There are SOOO many new fabrics and patterns that just arrived this week now available in the shop! I just can't wait to make up some sample napkins and placemats with this CUTE fabric:

and a little bit of this orange and yellow plaid to go for the binding or accent is perfect.

Happy Stitches,

Anna

Special DEAL THIS WEEK ONLY: Fandango by Kate Spain

2010-12-27T15:40:00.000-06:00

To view the entire collection in stock click here

To view the charm packs click here

To view the 1 yard bundle click here

This is a one week only special! What a great way to use up that cash that Santa gave you for Christmas. OR why not treat yourself because you made it through the holidays! Be sure to grab some yardage if you buy the charms or you might regret it later. And don't forget to check out all our great patterns both electronic AND printed! Ready, set, shop!!

Happy Stitches,
Anna

Handmade Holidays

2010-12-24T17:31:00.000-06:00

NOTE: Sorry for the lack of pictures, two reasons for that 1) Blogger doesn't let me add more than one picture to a post and 2) I don't really want to risk any of the recipients of gifts reading out what I made for them before they get it!

I'm amazed at myself. Every year for the last six or so years I've said I was going to make gifts for everyone on my list. Then at the last minute I ran out of time (because 12 months just isn't enough!) and ended up buying gifts for people. Amazingly, this year, perhaps it's because my list of people to give gifts to is shorter, I've been able to make gifts for pretty much everyone! And the funniest part is the reasoning behind giving handmade this year was different. Yes it's because I know a handmade gift is special and more love goes in to making it than in just picking out an item at a store, but mostly it's because I didn't want to go SHOPPING! Is that lazy or lame? Here I am, in my studio four days of the seven day week (and more if you count that I come here after work every day) and I just decided, I can make gifts for people. And I did it. Mostly I just made pillowcases but I think they are personalized enough to the recipient that they will really like them. The gift I'm most proud of is a wallet I made for my brother in law. I used fabric from a shirt found at goodwill and it only took me maybe an hour at the most to make it. I hope he likes it and can get some use from it. I'm probably going to make one for my dad for Father's day or his birthday. The thing is brother in law is difficult to find gifts for, he's vegan and doesn't use anything with animal products and other than that, I don't know much about what he likes. So when I decided to make a wallet I had a feeling he'd like it, even if he only uses it for a little bit. In fact, the tutorial I found after searching and searching the Internet ALL day yesterday was actually REALLY good! It's on a blog called Quiltish which I am actually and very happy I found. Well, I'll do my best to take some pictures of the pillowcases and other gifts I made this year. Maybe with the recipient and their smiling faces! In other news, I brought my doggy Starbuck up to the studio with me today and she was pretty good. It was nice to have a little company even if it's the four legged kind. She likes to stand on her hind legs and look out the window at the passing cars. I didn't get the organizing that I'd planned to do accomplished but the gifts are made so that's an accomplishment in itself, even it if it IS Christmas Eve!

Happy Holiday Stitches!!!

Anna

Design Wall, continued

2010-12-23T10:14:00.000-06:00

Here's what I worked on yesterday with a new pattern I just got in from Threaded Pear. It's called Sugar Free and uses either a Layer Cake and a Jelly Roll (for a bigger quilt) or 2 charm packs and a Jelly roll (that's what I'm using) I finally decided to just chop up my yummy precuts of Figgy Pudding from YEARS ago! I love the Basic Grey fabrics, especially their holiday lines. In fact, I REALLy regret not getting any yardage at the time of getting these precuts because finding yardage of Moda Figgy Pudding is practically impossible. Luckily their newer line called Fruitcake is a little easier to get. I think it's rather hilarious that it's about two days before Christmas and I finally got inspired to make a Christmas quilt! But this pattern is SOOOO easy I mean, I literally started on it yesterday and the top is really ALMOST done. I think I'll be able to get the top finished tonight. I LOVE patterns like that. In fact, I'm thinking about having a Sugar Free quilt workshop, just come in and spend some time making this quilt. I bet you could get it done between 6pm and midnight. Unfortunately, I don't have much in the way of Christmas fabric in stock, but I bet this would also make up pretty awesome with a Sugar Pop Charm Pack and Jelly Roll. Sorry about the horrible picture, it's a rather grey day and the lighting isn't very good around here.

Happy Holiday Stitches,
Anna

My Design Wall

2010-12-23T09:45:00.000-06:00

Here at the Studio, I am fortunate to have an entire wall for my design wall. After brainstorming about different options to make the wall useable (i.e. putting up insulation board etc) my dad found some acoustic tiles at Home Depot for about 43 cents each, yes I said 43 CENTS. So to cover an entire wall that is about 10 feet in length, it cost about $8.00! The acoustic tiles work well because I can pin in to them easily (just creates a pin shortage around the place) but I figured out that I could pin a flannel sheet to the wall and then just stick the blocks on that (DUH) maybe in the new year I will get some flannel yardage and consider actually using some sort of adhesive to attach it, but for now pins work. SO, to get to the point, this has given me some room to put up projects I'm working on (and those of other people who create things in the studio). I've had this funny Hello Betty Honey Bun quilt up on the wall for quite awhile. Now that it's up there, the idea of putting ALL those tiny blocks together is sort of daunting. See?

And no, I haven't even bothered to count how many of those pieces there are. So the pattern is an Amish Brick pattern and the fabric is a Hello Betty Honey Bun, so I'm calling it Hello Brick Wall. I plan to add a small grey border and a large border in Jade, both Bella Solids that I LOVE. In fact, making all those tiny bricks was pretty easy, just strip pieced them, one 1 1/2" honey bun strip and a 1 1/2" grey strip made it pretty quick, then chopped them into small 2 1/2" units. Now I just have to sew all those together!

Well, since Blogger is being a real pain right now and not letting me add more than one photo (WHAT IS WITH THAT!?) I'll have to continue this post later. Geez!

Happy Holiday Stitches,

Anna

Crafty Girls Workshop Registration NOW OPEN

2010-12-21T13:17:00.000-06:00

Click here to sign up for classes

THE STUDIO IS OPEN

We're now accepting registrations for classes at Crafty Girls Workshop!

Click any of the links below to see the available classes and sign up ONLINE!

Eco Crafts Market tote (Be good to the environment, take this tote to the store for your groceries)
T-shirt Quilt class (Turn your t-shirts into a memory quilt to treasure)
Keychain Clutch (beginner) (perfect class for a confident beginner)
Pillowcase (beginner) (Get to know your sewing machine)
Git 'er Done Finishing School (great for getting those New Years resolutions off to a great start)
Handmade Holidays Gift ideas (Get a jump start on makings holiday gifts for 2011)

Space is limited to allow for personalized instruction.

Never fear, classes will be taught multiple times a month and some will repeat monthly.

Or just come in for

Open Studio Time

Open Studio Time is just that, time for you to come in and work on a project using my machines and cutting tools. Perhaps you need a little bit of guidance or advice, that's part of the Open Studio benefit.

Studio Hours:

Weekdays by appointment during the day, OPEN 5pm-8pm

Weekends 10am-5pm and after 5pm by appointment

I'm looking forward to meeting you at the studio very soon!

Happy Holiday Stitches,

Anna

Busy with Trees

2010-12-18T19:30:00.000-06:00

Happy Holidays to All

Here's the tree in my studio. It's much prettier in real life (sort of like me, haha).

Here's another tree I've been working on, just today a little bit. I've been dabbling in something called ThreadPainting. I'm sure I'm not doing it exactly right, I haven't had the time to watch the YouTube videos yet. But it's been super fun playing with some new variegated thread I got at Quilt Market.

Here's what it looks like:

It's sew fun!!

That is all done with thread.

Pretty don't ya think?

In other CLASS news, I finished listing A TON of classes on the website today. Registration is officially open! Class sizes are limited so please drop by and sign up ASAP. Click on the link for Classes on the left or the Class Calendar. Well, the weather here hardly feels like Christmas but perhaps that will change this week, you never know here in Texas. Sometimes it's warm and the next day it will be fridgid.

Happy Stitches,

Anna

Crafty Girls Studio is OPENING SOON

2010-12-06T15:12:00.000-06:00

Coming soon to San Antonio, TX in fact, it's already here, I'm just working on finalizing the details for our January Calendar,

Crafty Girls Studio

1100 Broadway Suite #311

San Antonio, TX 78215

Do you want to learn to sew?

Do you want to meet other people who enjoy crafty projects?

Do you need a Crafter's A.D.D. Support group?

If you are in or around the San Antonio, TX area (or happen to be driving through) please feel free to stop by and get your craft on! Very soon I will have all the new classes posted on the webstore for you to sign up and pay your registration online! Spaces in the classes will be limited to 6 students so be sure to sign up for the newsletter to find out all about new classes and class openings. There is also an open studio option, meaning if you need a BIG place to spread out your project, with irons and cutting boards set up ALL the time, plus a sewing machine for your use while in the studio, then sign up for OPEN sewing time.

This weekend all the artists in the building are opening their studios for the world to see their art! I hope you'll stop by to see some great art and see what's going on in the Crafty Girls Studio! It will be a great chance to sign up for January classes! There will be door prize drawings and a make and take for you!

Think you'd like to attend? Please visit my Meet Up page to RSVP.

Happy Stitches,

Anna

Crafter's A.D.D. or Mixed Media Artist? You be the judge

2010-11-27T02:39:00.000-06:00

Yes, it's true, not only is Crafter's A.D.D. a totally awesome blog with TONS of great project ideas (not to mention about 74 awesome Thanksgiving projects and recipes!) but I just feel like I'm totally in tune with the idea behind the name. It wasn't until I actually found this blog that I realized I HAD Crafter's A.D.D. I mean I knew I would go between projects like a butterfly between sweet flowers, constantly changing my mind and adding new projects here and there, but it never dawned on me what that was. I blame it on my Midwestern Crafty Iowa roots. It all started when I was really in to scrapbooking, and yes, I mean the uber cutesy, frilly, have-to-have-every-tool around sort of scrapbooking which was while I was in college. I was going to be an elementary school teacher and scrapbooking seemed to be a great creative outlet for me (even though I had no kids my life wasn't all that exciting). It was like creating bulletin boards, but in a book format. So I was reading a scrapbook magazine one time and I saw a full page ad for Stampin' Up! which was a direct selling company (i.e. home parties) for rubber stamps. Well, I needed a job and i didn't realize this would actually require WORK so I called the toll free number and the next thing I knew I was signing up and paying $400 out of pocket to buy some starter kit of stamps (and WOW did I get a lot of stamps). Oh and I didn't mention that I was still in college at the time and trying to sell ANYTHING to a ton of poor college students, let alone something that requires thinking was rather difficult. So I let that cool off awhile and sold off most of my stamps, except the letters and some of the staple ones for various occasions.
By this time I was really getting in to my teaching job and was super duper busy. Oh and I bought a house and by that time I had figured out that hosting home parties was a GREAT way to get FREE stuff as the hostess! So I signed up for a stamp party, a scrapbook party, a Southern Living party, (my poor, poor friends) and it was super fun. In fact, I enjoy the scrapbook party so much I signed up to be a Creative Memories consultant about a week after my party. It was a natural extension of my day job, teaching, plus gave me a little creative outlet, plus that was sort of the reason I signed up to do the stamp thing in the first place, because it could be used for scrapbooks (until you realize you'll never have the right stamp set when you need it). Well, I did that for a year or so, never really turned it into the business it could have been I mean, when would I have had time to do that anyway? And by that time, I was about to get married. Let's recap here so far I've :

- Sold rubber stamps to make cards and scrapbooks
- Sold scrapbook supplies to make scrapbooks

(My dad always says I have this strong entreprenureal spirit and that I get it from my Grandmother who was always trying to figure out how to fix up antiques and sell them or to make ceramics and sell them or something. I find that whenever I want to do something crafty my brain makes me wonder how I can do it an make money at it.)

Well when I got married my new mother in law introduced me to the amazing world of SEWING and FABRIC! We went to Creations in Kerrville which is like the Mecca of fabric for the San Antonio and Texas hill country area. It didn't take too long to turn me to the dark side! I was hooked (oh yeah, she let me sew on her BERNINA too) She guided me to make some pillowcases and some curtains and somehow in 2005 I decided to take a beginning quilting class with my mom.

Long story a little shorter, of course I turned my love of fabric and sewing into a business! I mean, why not start an online shop to sell fabric? I could carry fun and bright fabrics that not many shops in our area carry and you know what? It worked, it is fairly successful. But it's a TON of work, and now I've added on to that A.D.D. by renting a studio space to open up to the public to TEACH CLASSES! Oh and this is on top of my full time job. Yeah, I'm not a teacher anymore and I don't even have a mother in law anymore either.

And the A.D.D. strikes again because when I went to Quilt Market in Houston this October, I was a little overwhelmed but also inspired by all the ways fabric can be used besides just in quilting or as part of quilting but to make quilts into art. One of the wonderful women I met at Quilt Market works for a distributor that is sort of the MECCA for those of us with Crafter's Attention Deficit Disorder, I mean they sell EVERYTHING. Yeah, everything you see at JoAnn's? They probably got it from Notions Marketing. (Sorry I digress) but this nice woman mentioned that she had a long arm quilting machine and she told me she believed that quilting is really an art. And then she showed me one of their new products, FABRIC PAINT. Now I can get plain white fabric and paint it and stencil and MAKE IT MY OWN! WOW! Oh and there are SOO many books available about this. (see below for suggestions) And now that I have a studio space I have some ROOM to play with this sort of thing. Plus, there's another wonderful woman in my building that is an Art Quilter and SHE dyes her own fabric before she quilts it.

Now the funniest part was that this long arm quilter/sales rep for Notions Marketing said that she was cleaing out her studio/creative space and realized that she had supplies for all sorts of different creative projects (i.e. stamps, scrapbook supplies, fabric, paint, dye, etc) and the she said it "I'm a mixed media artist" OMG did that strike home! Because it's possible to take all these different media for crafting and put them together to create mixed media!! And that totally justified my crazy Crafter's A.D.D. existence. And I realized, I'm not alone! In fact, I think the Quilt Market is possibly actually just a fancy way of getting all these crazy mixed media artists all in one place at a time and there might be a support group meeting for it somewhere. So would you like to see a list of the other mixed media/crafter's A.D.D. projects I've got in the works?

- While at Michael's today bought some cool chunky blue yarn and some GIANT knitting needles and YES my sister taught me to KNIT!!! never thought I'd do that, EVER
- Just ordered some blanks for creating stamped metal jewlery (off Etsy of course)
- Inspired by a magazine called Handcrafted Jewelry to make my own now
- Ordered some glass dome pieces and some of the backings to make more jewelry
- Tons of new fabrics on order
- Planning to order some of that awesome fabric paint
- Bought the supplies to make soldered glass pendant jewlery (hmm, notice a trend here at all?)
- Plus card making supplies and these awesome new clear stamps I've found that are inexpensive, pretty and easy to store because they are flat (you have to stick them to a plastic block for the stamping part)

Not to mention all the fabrics and patterns I've ordered for the shop and the quilt projects I have in the works (i.e. in my head). So even just reading back over this VERY LONG blog post, I'm realizing that when I write I have a little A.D.D. too. I need to focus more. Well, maybe that will be a post for another day, or a goal for the new year. We'll see.

Hmm, what do you think? Can you relate to this?

Happy Stitches,
Anna

Happy Turkey and Football Day plus ePattern SALE!!!

2010-11-25T11:04:00.001-06:00

In celebration of Turkey and Football day (a.k.a. Thanksgiving) I wanted to offer something that is almost instant gratification. Maybe some of you are just itching to get out there and get shopping for your Christmas gifs, OR maybe you want to make some Christmas gifts this year. Well, guess what? You can hop over to the shop and order an ePattern and you'll probably get it within 12 hours! Probably faster! That means that you'll probably get it in enough time to start working on it TODAY! Yes, I know you have a lot of prep to do for Turkey day, but once the Turkey's in the oven or all the food is eaten and everyone else is watching football, you might be able to slip away long enough to start on some of these CUTE outfits for your little ones.

OR maybe you'd like to whip up a quilt, since the pattern is electronic, it will get to you before the stores even open at Midnight and you can get started and still have time to shop tomorrow!

Also here's a bonus!! If you purchase an epattern you can use the coupon code PDF to get 15% off your purchase of FABRIC to go along with it! But you have to put the code in the box at check out in order to get the discount.

I don't know about you, but I'm actually planning to avoid the stores tomorrow, in fact, I'm supposed to go in to WORK! What a thought! Although I might just take a half day and go work in the studio on some fun outfits for my niece and nephews.Oh and I think i forgot to mention the BEST part!!

ALL ePatterns are $1.00 OFF the regular price until MIDNIGHT tonight!!
Sale has been extended through Cyber Monday November 29

That's like BUY 8 Get one FREE!! At midnight I'm putting them back to their original prices. SO YOU BETTER STOCK UP!

And don't forget about the Hoot n Nanny tote pattern Giveaway going on AND all the fab projects over on the 12 Days of Craftyness post.

Happy Stitches and Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Anna

12 Days of Craftyness UPDATED

2010-11-24T09:05:00.000-06:00

I don't know any other good way to do this so here it is.

I've updated the list, I'm up to probably 8 links (some are links of lists of other projects) so go check it out and if you have anything to add, please do!

12 Days of Craftyness

Oh and if you make anything from these project links I'd love to see it! Send pictures or post them in the Sew and Show Flickr group.

Happy Stitches,
Anna

Hoot-n-Nanny Tote Pattern AND Fabric Giveaway!

2010-11-21T13:42:00.000-06:00

Trish over at Two Peas in a Pod, is a fabulous pattern designer and I actually got to meet and chat with her at Quilt Market a few weeks ago. We talked about doing a pattern and fabric giveaway together (since I have fabric and she has patterns) and so this is the week for it! Here is the A-DORABLE pattern we're giving away (One over here AND one over on Trish's blog). It's called Hoot-n-Nanny and it's SOOOO cute!

The bestest best part about this adorable tote is that it can use SCRAPS or a charm pack! Plus some cute linen or coordinating fabric. SOOOO My half of the giveaway is a charm pack (your choice from the shop) PLUS 1/2 yard of fabric (your choice from the shop).

You might want one of these:

PLUS a little bit of yardage of your choice for the lining!

I have MORE yardage of Sugar Pop coming in during December. The precuts ALWAYS ship before the bolts. But they should be here soon!

You can comment on THIS blog post for a chance AND over at Trish's blog for another chance to win!!

I think Trish put it perfect when she said "Just leave a comment. Cause we're cool like that and know that you are busy stuffing turkeys and cleaning house, etc. Any old, preferably something nice and cheery comment will do."

Winners will be drawn on November 27th at midnight.

Happy Stitches!!

Anna

Cute and Quick Projects for the Holidays aka 12 Days of Craftiness

2010-11-17T12:00:00.008-06:00

Ready for a trip around Blog Land? I have found some cute projects and wanted to share them. I won't be posting them all at once though. Hopefully I will be able to update this post with a new link every day for the next week or so.

1) Melissa from The Polka Dot Chair posted a tutorial for an AWESOME tote bag ornament!!

2) Lots and Lots and Lots of REALLY cool projects over at Whip Up's list of tutorials!
Knitting, crochet, sewing, and lots of other crafty goodness.

3) Cute SCRAPPY flower at Pink Suede Shoes! This would be cute done in red and green fabrics or maybe all white for a Christmasy theme.

4) For a new baby, why not make some of these cute baby blocks featured over at Moda Bake Shop? They use a couple of charm packs, so you could use some fun bright fabrics like Sugar Pop from the shop.

5) DuoFiberworks eBook Handwork for the Holidays - I'm in LOVE with the go fish game handmade!! Also, love the bean bag animals. OK, it's not a free pattern, but this could totally be worth it because you could probably make most of these items from your stash and only have spent the price of the eBook!

6) Here are some free patterns and tutorials from Duo Fiberworks too.

7) A couple of FREE patterns to make some cute mini quilts from Kathreen Ricketson's book Mini Quilts (also a great gift idea for a fellow quilter) plus another FREE quilt pattern from the book.

8) Projects for gifts for guys? I always think guys are the HARDEST people to make gifts for but I found a great list of different ways to make iPad and Kindle covers and most are from UPCYCLED sweaters and stuff. COOL! You know, I bought a wool sweater vest thing from Goodwill not too long ago and had no idea what do to with it, except I knew I was going to felt it for something. Now I have some great project ideas.

By the way, Tipnut is one of THE best resources for TONS and TONS of ideas for EVERYTHING under the sun! I mean, I get the daily e-mail with TONS of ideas, including 25 recipes for Turkey leftovers and 45 different pumpkin spice bread recipes (I swear they are reading my mind) but also TONS of different sewing and crafting projects. I mean, TONS (did I mention they have TONS?) And usually it's all in an e-mail I get every day. I think EVERYONE should sign up for that e-mail because if you hate it, you can just delete or unsubscribe but they do all the work for you to find so many different projects and tutorials around the web and then compile them on a webpage and then send you the link in one e-mail! (And NO I am not getting any sort of compensation for this, I just LOVE Tipnut!)

More to come...

And if YOU find any cute tutorials around blogland, please feel free to share them in the comments!

Happy Sitches
Anna

Fabulous Announcement: Crafty Girls Workshop has a HOME!

2010-11-17T00:27:00.001-06:00

Miz Crafty Girls Workshop (me) has been busy lately because of a very special Work in Progress (NO it's not a baby!) I have a STUDIO space! Yes, I've done it, I signed a lease and it's official, Crafty Girls Workshop has a HOME! If I wasn't so tired and if I could find my camera, I'd post pictures of it, maybe tomorrow. But I've been going to my studio EVERY day after work and putting in many hours to move all the inventory over there and set it up JUST SO so that it's perfect when anyone wants to stop by to take a class or a private lesson or have some studio time. In the meanwhile, the online shop is still OPEN FOR BUSINESS and I've also managed to list somewhere around 20 bolts of fabric in the last few days. Stop by the webstore to see the new cute fabrics that have just arrived! If you are local to San Antonio, TX, send me an e-mail to say hi and I can give you some more details about the studio. I'm sew excited!!

Happy Stitches,
Anna

Here are some books I'm going to be reviewing while I plan out my crafty Studio.

Innocent Crush, Parisville and Wild Word: New Fabrics Just Listed

2010-11-14T22:56:00.000-06:00

Psst... I just listed some fabulous new fabrics in the shop.
Innocent Crush by Anna Maria Horner

Parisville by Tula Pink

Wild World by Jenean Morrison

All produced by Free Spirit fabrics and all are premium 100% cotton

I've also added some great new magazines and more than 20 fab patterns!

While you're visiting my shop, click on the bunny to join in the fab shop hop and enter to win gift certificates from every shop you visit!

More is arriving this week and will be added to the shop soon. Don't forget MODA is on sale this month!

Happy Stitches,
Anna

P.S. BIG news coming very soon.

Coming Soon...Fabric, Patterns and Kits OH MY!

2010-11-10T22:00:00.000-06:00

Stay tuned for fabulous pictures of fabrics, patterns and kits that are soon to arrive (if they haven't already). New items are being added almost daily to the site. We're anxiously awaiting the NEW fabrics I ordered at quilt market but until then, stop by the shop and grab some GREAT deals on MODA! Oh, and if you would like to get coupons in your e-mail, sign up for the newsletter OR if you want to get my beautiful bloggy posts in your e-mail sign up for the blog feed! I just added that today and I'm SEW proud of myself! Also, a special announcement coming soon... (might involve a giveaway or two, or three)

Happy Stitches,
Anna

P.S. If you're out there and want to say HI! Please feel free, I LOVE reader comments! Why not tell me what's going on in YOUR quilty life right now? It's nice to know I'm not just talking to an Internet wall.

Denyse Schmidt Improvisational Patchwork Workshop

2010-11-04T02:00:00.005-05:00

My favorite improv block

I spent Monday learning how to let go and have fun with improvisational patchwork. The block pictured was the second block I made. After that it got wild and crazy as we were given about 30 minutes to piece blocks and make a total of 6 blocks for the day.

Some of the blocks were square and some ended up sort of a rectangle. But they were all beautiful in their own special way. Here are some other pictures of the day.

Our first group of blocks

The Awesome Denyse Schmidt

It was so fun to see the variety in the colors and the sizes of the blocks. We had so much fun with this technique that we're already having a "reunion" Improv party on Friday! This workshop was completely worth the money and I can't wait to Improv some more soon. Since Jodi from Pleasant Home was using her scraps in a Sew Scraps Along this month, I wanted to show how I learned to use some scraps up on Monday. I don't want to give away the "secret" of this technique, I'm sure Denyse Schmidt talks about it in her book(s). It was fun though! What do you think? Would you try this improv style?

Happy Stitches,
Anna

P.S. I will be adding my pictures to a flickr group specifically created for our DS Workshop for San Antonio so other participants can add their pictures as well.

{Recovering From} Quilt Market

2010-11-03T22:24:00.000-05:00

This was my second year to attend the Fall Quilt Market in Houston. It's a trade show for fabric shop owners. It was a blast! Not only did I get to meet and talk to some of the absolute celebrities of the sewing and quilting world (Amy Butler, Anna Maria Horner, Tula Pink, Tina Givens, and BariJ, to name a few) but I also got to SEE Ty Pennington, in real life!! Totally didn't expect that!!

Isn't BariJ adorable? I'll have those tote patterns listed soon!

Yes, I know it's blurry, sorry! But it's Ty Pennington!

Yes, Ty Pennington actually designed fabric! Do any of you remember him from his Trading Spaces days? He had much crazier hair back then (before Extreme Makeover Home Edition). Well, he apparently has always loved design and has a degree in some sort of graphic design or something and he even cut the wood blocks out to create stamps for his fabric design. Cool, huh? Oh yeah, and he's easy on the eyes too.

Other than the awesome picture of BariJ and Ty Pennington, I took pitifully few pictures. I think I was a little overwhelmed with it all. But don't worry, I made up for the few pictures during quilt market by taking TONS of pictures during the Denyse Schmidt Improvisational Patchwork workshop on Monday!

I've been going to bed super early these last few days because spending one evening driving 4 hours to Houston, then two full days walking around surrounded by amazingly talented artists, designers, fabrics and quilts, then ordering fabric like crazy, buying patterns like crazy, and driving back 4 hours to San Antonio and then going to a full day workshop with Denyse Schmidt has just worn me out! Plus, I have a full time job too! So, new patterns and fabrics will be appearing in the shop very soon. And remember that if you are on my e-mail list, you will be included in the group that receives a special coupon code and first notice of the fab patterns and fabrics when they arrive.

Happy Stitches,

Anna

Twitter Quilt Market Updates

2010-10-30T19:59:00.001-05:00

So, I've jumped on the Quilt Market Twitter-er bandwagon now and guess what? IT ROCKS! I figured out how to tweet from my cell phone and if you check out the right sidebar over there ------>
you'll see some of my updates from Quilt Market. Unfortunately, I totally forgot to bring my cord for my camera so even though I'm taking some cool pics I can't post them! Bummer! BUT I'll post them soon when I get home, maybe Monday evening. I also hope to have some pictures from the Denyse Schmidt Improvisational Patchwork workshop I'll be attending on Monday! Totally quilty weekend! So, did you see the total market bonus? If you leave me a comment here telling me the quilting/pattern/fabric designer celebrity you'd like to see me get a picture of, I'll send you a FREE pattern!! Be sure you have added your e-mail so i can write you back and send you that pattern.

Happy Stitches,
Anna

Scrappy Birthday Fabric Giveaway AND Quilt Market!!

2010-10-29T13:35:00.000-05:00

Drumroll please...

The winner of the scrappy birthday giveaway is #61 out of 198 comments!

Lori said...

Last year was a quiet one. Went to dinner and celebrated with family. I would make a doll blanket for my granddaughter.

Congrats!!! I've been in touch through e-mail but if you see this first please e-mail me anna@craftygirlsworkshop.com with your home address so I can send the box of goodness out to you!!

Thanks to EVERYONE who entered! It was so incredibly awesome to get 198 birthday wishes from you all plus getting to hear what everyone would do with the scraps. I truely think that quilters are the mostest generous people EVER!!

I'm heading out to Houston Fall Quilt Market in just a couple of hours, yippee! I'll probably be a little slower in replying to e-mails because I'll be at the Market all day but just know that I'm searching out FABULOUS new patterns and fabrics and awesome new goodies for the shop.

I'm also going to do my bestest to figure out how to use Twitter so I can give updates about what's going on so I hope you'll follow me on Twitter. AND if you want some cool info about this trade show for fabric shop vendors, go to your Twitter account and search for #quiltmarket It will bring up everything everyone is saying about Quilt Market including pictures! I guess the cat's out of the bag now!!

Happy Stitches,
Anna

Are You a No-Reply Blogger?

2010-10-28T09:27:00.000-05:00

I've received SOOOO many awesome comments/entries into the scrappy birthday giveaway, BUT guess what!? Some of you (whom I shall not mention) are no-reply bloggers and if you WIN the giveaway I won't be able to contact you and I'll have to choose SOMEONE ELSE!!!!! SOOO, please hop over to Jodi's BLOG and read her GREAT post about how to change that so that you CAN be contacted. THANKS!!

Happy Stitches,
Anna

Sorry for all the capital letters, I just want to get my point across. did it work?

Scrappy Birthday to ME plus a Fabric Giveaway!

2010-10-26T02:00:00.003-05:00

(Cue birthday song)
Scrappy Birthday to me...

For my birthday this year I want to give all of YOU a chance to get a gift! I'm sew excited to be participating in this:

By giving away this:

Isn't it pretty? It's a box chock full of lots of cottony scrappy goodness! It is ALL 100% cotton from the best manufacturers and quilt shops. These are mostly from my personal stash of scraps (and there's more where this came from!) Yes, that is some of the Daisy Chain line from Amy Butler in there in the corner. You'll see that show up in a quilt or two some day in the future. So do you want to know how to enter? It's easy!

Leave a comment to say HI! and tell me what YOU did for your last birthday! oh and tell me what you'd do with a box full of scraps.

That's ALL you have to do! (You must include a way for me to contact you) If you happen to surf around on my blog and see other posts you like, then please follow me or if you visit my online fabric shop and like the fabric shop, please sign up for my at-least-once-a-month newsletter for coupons and news about specials. (Rumor has it that I might just pack some more scraps into scrap bags and sell them for an AMAZING price on my website...) Or you can follow me on Twitter or Facebook. But you don't have to leave an extra comment for that. Oh, and don't forget to visit Jodi at Pleasant Home and say HI over there too!

I'll select a winner using Random Number Generator on Friday October 29 before I head out to Houston for the Fall Quilt Market (SOOO excited about that!).

And here's the absolutely, positively, bestest best thing about this post! A COUPON CODE!

Enter the code HAPPYBIRTHDAY to get 15% off your entire order!!

Hurry because this code will only last until October 31 at which point it will turn back into a pumpkin!

Happy Stitches,

Anna

Please share my badge if you would like!

<a href=" http://craftygirlsworkshop.com" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="crafty girls button" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4076/4854580169_075ce5c512_m.jpg" /></a>

Spill the Beans Sunday is BAAACK!!

2010-10-17T10:40:00.001-05:00

The topic for today's Spill the Beans is... FINISHED PROJECTS! OR projects you hope to get fininshed really soon.OR whatever you are working on right now! (I like variety)

Here are a couple of quilts I finished THIS WEEK! Yippee, two in one week is pretty major for me. Plus, my next work in progress.

This is the second quilt I'm adding to the group to be donated to a local shelter for families this fall. My local Crafty Girls Workshop meetup group has been working on these month by month. It's sort of my own design, although it's super easy to do so anyone could figure it out. A new friend that I met through the SA Modern Quilt Guild has a longarm machine and she generously offered to quilt it for me, which helped me to get it done so quickly. She even added a custom butterfly in the quilting at my request.

Then I found an absolutely awesome explanation for doing machine binding in the book called Dare to be Square Quilting. (Here is a great feature about the author, Boo Davis) So after hunting down a bias tape maker I whipped out binding for this quilt and the second quilt that I made to give to my surrogate niece, Lily, who just turned one year old this week! Her birthday party was yesterday. Here's her quilt:

I quilted it using my stitch regulator and it went pretty quickly. I love to make the backs of quilts interesting too, so I used flannel and did an applique of her nick name which is Lily Bug.

Here is "Da Bug" with her quilt, doesn't she look ecstatic to receive it? Her mom and dad loved it and everyone ooh'd and ahh'd over it so that was nice.

And just because she's SOOO cute, here is one more awesome photo of yesterday's party.

Really, I only took about 65 pictures and three or four video clips of the day. I just couldn't put my camera down, I mean how could I with a face like that!?

Now, let me show you a little bit of my NEXT project. I had a honey bun, which is 1 1/2" strips and some backing fabric from a line called Hello Betty. I've had this for quite awhile and finally decided I wanted to do something with it. The president of the SA Modern Quilt Guild had shown off a quilt she made with the same fabric using a grey for a contrasting solid color to help the patterned fabrics POP out. So I decided that since Crafty Girls Workshop HAS some Moda Bella Solid Grey, why not use some of it in a quilt? Well, then I had to find a pattern, and the Does Not Compute pattern was pretty close to what I wanted, but without the robot (Maybe another project someday) turns out I just wanted the pattern that is called Amish Brickwork, SO that's how the idea for Amish Betty was born. Here are my supplies.

I've already made significant progress. The pattern is from Dare to Be Square also and the author gives a great explanation of using 18" strips to do strips piecing to really speed up the brickwork background part. I spent my SA Mod Quilt Guild Sew In day yesterday from about 10 am to 2 pm sewing 50 patterned strips to 50 grey strips. My next step is to press them and cut them into the brick pieces, I can't wait!!

OK, YOUR turn to SPILL THE BEANS! I want to know what you're working on right now! Please share and feel free to add a link to your blog if you've posted pictures. I'm not doing a McLinky thing, but just put the link in your comments. Thanks!!

Happy Stitches,
Anna

I'm sharing this on Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative

Quilt Pattern Winners!

2010-10-15T07:52:00.000-05:00

Congrats to the two winners of the PDF quilt patterns!

and

I will be in touch with you shortly to confirm your choice for the pattern! I hope you both will be able to share pictures of your finished quilts with us in the future! I just love to see finished projects from items from my shop!

I have been very busy this week, finished quilting and binding TWO baby quilts and have decided on my next quilt project! I have pictures to share of all of this but it will be in my next post later today. Tomorrow is a crazy day for me, I have an 8:00am meeting for the SA Mod Quilters Board, then from 10am to 2pm is the SA Mod Quilters Sew-In at Las Colchas and THEN around 2pm is the birthday party for my best friend's daughter's 1st birthday! Talk about busy! I'm totally looking forward to it though. Well, must get going, I have some winners to e-mail before I get started on my "day job."

Happy Stitches,

Anna

ePatterns are Eco Friendly So I'm Giving Some Away!

2010-10-05T12:13:00.001-05:00

Part of the trasition for Crafty Girls Workshop has involved figuring out how to build up our offering of patterns without having to have a place to store them. Well, then it hit me, why not work with some designers like Denise of Whimsy Couture who design patterns to be distributed through e-mail!? It's good for the environment, it keeps the prices low (NO SHIPPING costs!) and it allows me to work with new designers and really get to know the girl behind the design. So a few weeks ago I contacted a couple of quilt pattern designers, who both happened to be from Australia, and they both happily agreed to let me list their patterns in my shop! Yippee! LOOOONG story short, Crafty Girls Workshop now offers QUILT patterns for sale that will be e-mailed to you within 12 hours of your purchase! Look at a few of the fabulous options we have:

Sand Castles (Rebecca Johnson)

Charm Bracelets by Kate Conklin (charm pack friendly)

Rolling Meadows (JR Friendly) by Rebecca Johnson

These are only a few of the patterns available. The best way to find the patterns on the Crafty Girls Workshop website is to look at the links on the left side of the screen, there you'll see the link for Electronic Patterns (since ALL our patterns are electronic now that makes sense, right?) and when you click that you can choose the type of patterns you want to browse, such as Quilts or Kid's Couture, etc. Pretty soon I'll be adding even more patterns to the listings such as Tote Bags, Embroidery/Stitching and Home Decor. If you happen to know anyone who designs great patterns for electronic distribution, please send them my way! I love to work with designers!

Alright, now on to the GIVEAWAY portion of this broadcast.

This time there will be TWO winners! One will win a Rebecca Johnson pattern and the other will win one from Kate Conklin. BE SURE that if you enter, you include your contact information so I can get in touch with you if you win! Here's how to enter:

Visit the links above for the electronic QUILT patterns and then come back here and share which pattern you'd like to win, if you just LOVE more than one, list them in the order that you LOVE them.
Sign up for my e-newsletter (be sure to tell me you did) for shop updates, coupons, and sneak peek specials (link in the right hand sidebar)
Become a follower of Crafty Girls Workshop, follow me on Twitter, and "like" me on facebook (if you don't already) or just tell me if you do already
Visit Kate Conklin's website and tell her HI from Crafty Girls Workshop (you can e-mail her or leave her a comment on the blog)
Become a follower of Kate Conklin's Blog (totally worth it)
Visit Rebecca Johnson's blog and tell her HI from Crafty Girls Workshop
Become a follower of Rebecca Johnson's Blog (also totally worth it!)

Stop back here and be sure to leave a comment for each of these entries, OR you can leave one comment telling me each thing you did, I'll still count your name that many times, I promise.

OK, so get going and have fun looking at the beautiful quilt pictures on these talented Designers' blogs!!

I'll announce the winners on Sunday, October 10, 2010. Hey, that's 10-10-10!!

Happy Stitches,
Anna

Moda Bake Shop Update

2010-09-29T14:44:00.000-05:00

It's Wednesday, must be time for our weekly update of the GREAT tutorials on Moda Bake Shop! Haha, just kidding, but I did notice that there is an awesome new tutorial just for JELLY ROLLS! And guess what? There is only ONE more day left of Jelly Roll Madness Month! Have you used your coupon code yet? I'm sure the madness will continue in to October anyway. So here is what I found on Moda Bake Shop.

This is called the That's the Ticket Pillow and I think it's AWESOME! Sooo cute! What a great way to use up some JR strips you have left over from some other projects.
There is another tutorial over there for a very cute Diaper Bag but I cannot "borrow" the picture so I encourage you to jump on over there and download the PDF pattern anyway. Then hop over to Crafty Girls Workshop and buy a jelly roll or two (use your coupon code for a 10% discount) and you'll be on your way to a fast, fun, and easy project to keep or give as a gift. And don't forget that if you happen to have made any items we'd LOVE to see pictures of them in our Sew and Show flickr group (linked in the tabs at the top of the blog.) More to come tomorrow!

Happy Stitches,
Anna

Little Red Cottage Giveaway WINNER and Stuff

2010-09-28T09:36:00.000-05:00

The Random Number Generator has spoken and the winner is...

Ruth who said

"I would embellish Christmas gifts."

CONGRATS Ruth! I've contacted you through e-mail but if you didn't get the e-mail please contact me ASAP with your mailing info so I can pass that on to Michele from Little Red Cottage.

Thanks to EVERYONE who participated! We had an amazing number of comments and participants. It was really fun to hear what everyone would do with those lovely fall goodies. Oh, and now we've actually been having some nice COOL weather here in south-ish Texas, I mean like, highs in he low 80s and lows down into the 50s!! That's almost UNHEARD of for us this time of year. Usually it's still in the 90s and swimming weather.

So, thanks again and stay tuned more giveaways to come to celebrate the last week of JELLY ROLL MADNESS month! Can you believe it's almost over!? There is still time though to use the COUPON code JR10 to get a 10% discount on your ENTIRE order! Oh and guess what? There might be a mystery sale going on. I'm going to sneak in to the shop and drop the prices on a particular group of fabrics. But the only way you'll know is if you visit and check the shop for the discounted prices. Shh, it's a secret! OR I might offer a hint or even tell you flat out if you happen to subscribe to my e-mail newsletter. HINT: It might be one of the sections I mention below.

I've also rearranged things a little bit over there. I spent most of Sunday adding main category sections for Collection, Manufacturer and Designer. I hope you'll go take a look because I think the arrangement makes A LOT more sense now. You can even view fabrics that sort of go together based on a Theme or Print, such as Dots or Stripes, Graphic or Novelty. There is even a separate section just for Collection>Bella Solids AND Theme/Print> Tonal/Solids. I hope you'll let me know what you think of the new arrangement. Maybe drop me a line by filling in the contact us form on the website or leave a comment on this post. It's sort of fun, like rearranging furniture, you know? But don't worry, I think this is an arrangement I'm going to stick with for awhile.

Well, I guess that's all for now. More fun to come soon!

Happy Stitches,
Anna

Fun Link Friday

2010-09-24T16:48:00.000-05:00

Yes, I know, I'm crazy, TWO posts in ONE day!! What is going on!!? Well, enjoy it while you can because with Quilt Market coming up, plus someone's 31st birthday, plus maybe moving into the most awesomest apartment on the first floor of a 110 year old house --things might be getting pretty crazy around here! But, I happened to get the post for NEW FRIEND FRIDAY today from Trendy Treehouse and I wanted to play along. And while I was playing along I found some SWEET links so I thought I'd share. Have fun hopping to say hi to my new Friday Friends.

Make Your Own Nappy Mat at That Village House

CA-UTE End of Summer Wristlet Tutorial from Flamingo Toes (cute name too!)

The Cottage Home always has GREAT things and happened to post about next year's Creative Connection Event (great minds think alike)

Fun Festive Fall Pumpkins Tutorial at Ready, Set, Create!

Cute Ruffle Shirt at Occasionally Crafty (I love this title! I feel like that because I only get to really craft on occasion)
Just a darn cute blog/website Potholes and Pantyhose

Well, have fun hopping, I have to get hopping too.

Happy Stitches,
Anna

The Creative Connection NEXT YEAR!

2010-09-24T10:08:00.000-05:00

They have just posted the dates for the second ever Creative Connection for next year!!!! I am SEW excited! I am going to save every single penny I find on the street because I WIL NOT miss this event next year! And now that I've posted it to my blog, it has to happen. I'm accountable to you all! Maybe I'll have to have a bake sale to raise money or something. I have lots of fabric for sale, anyone want to buy some and help send me to the TCC next year? Visit my shop you know the address it's just Crafty Girls Workshop dot com! YippEE Anyone else going to go with me next year?

Happy Stitches,
Anna

New Poll, PLEASE Answer!

2010-09-22T10:14:00.000-05:00

Hey! Check out the sidebar over there ---------------->

I just posted a new poll because I want YOUR feedback about which precut to feature next month (and the next month, etc.) Maybe you don't really like jelly rolls but you LOVE charm packs or you LOVE layer cakes but just wonder what you'd EVER do with them!? Let me know and I'll do a feature for an entire month! Hopefully this will help me with my blogging schedule and I just love to get reader/crafty girls input. I'm looking forward to your replies.

Don't forget:

GIVEAWAY of Buttons and RICK RACK from Little Red Cottage

Jelly Roll Quilt Along

Happy Stitches,
Anna

Fat Quarterly Quilt Along post Updated

2010-09-21T08:52:00.001-05:00

I've updated the Quilt Along post! Step 4 is putting the quilt top together an their picture is sew pretty! Go check it out!

All the steps are right here.

Happy Stitches,

Anna

P.S. Don't forget to join the giveaway for the rick rack and buttons!

It's Giveaway Time Again! New Sewing Friend

2010-09-20T22:51:00.001-05:00

Well, how cute is this banner! All ready for fall and sew is this giveaway. First, let me introduce you to Michele from the Little Red Cottage Etsy shop! I stumbled upon her shop by clicking a link on Craft Cult (while checking how many hearts my shop items had) and I just fell in LOVE with all the great buttons and trims she had! Then something came to me... "I have people that buy fabric and I bet they would LOVE a great resource for buttons and trim!" So I contacted Michele and I think it was meant to be! She gladly offerred to pair up with me and you can now get to her shop if you pick the Buttons or Trims link from Crafty Girls Workshop! So let's take a look at some of the adorable stuff she has:

Ribbons (AQUA!!)

More Dots! Can I have some of that aqua and some of that red please?

Rick Rack!! PRETTY and so many colors to choose from!

Pretty pinky and yellow buttons (that's barely scratching the surface)

So, are you droooling all over the computer keyboard yet? There is even more goulishly awesome stuff in her shop! And do you want to WIN some of this great stuff!? She has put together an awesome fall assortment of RICK RACK and her Hand dyed Buttons to let me GIVE AWAY for her!! Take a look:

Little Red Cottage Giveaway!

Check that out! 5 different colors of rick rack and TONS of matching buttons!! Yummy!! Fall here I come!!

What do you have to do to enter, I'm sure you want to know. Be sure to LEAVE A COMMENT for EACH ENTRY. And don't forget your contact info. Here are the ways you can enter:

1) Leave a comment here telling Michele and myself what you would DO with all that autumn yumminess.

2) Visit Michele's Blog and become a follower

3) Become a follower of CGW blog (or just tell me if you are already)

4) Visit the Little Red Cottage Facebook page and "like" it

5) Visit the Crafty Girls Workshop Facebook page and "like" it

6) Blog about this giveaway on your blog (and post the link back here)

7) Share with your Twitter friends

8) Share with your Facebook friends

9) Follow CGW on Twitter

10) Follow Little Red Cottage on Twitter.

11) Get a bonus entry if you do ALL 10 of those things listed above!

Whew, I'm tired but I think it's worth it doing all those things to enter to win that GREAT autumn button and trim goody package from Little Red Cottage! I'll keep the entries open until Saturday at midnight and announce the winner on Sunday September 26.

Happy Stitches,

Anna

Whimsy Couture ePattern Winner!

2010-09-19T10:38:00.000-05:00

Congrats to Jennie Lindstrom who said:

My favorite patterns are the Knot Overalls, Ruffle Capris and pants, and the Pillowcase and Halter dress! They are all so cute!

You are the winner of 3 patterns from Whimsy Couture and Crafty Girls Workshop! I can't wait to see the finished outfits!

Thanks sew much to everyone who entered and commented! It was so fun to read your choices for the patterns you loved. Stay tuned because I have some MORE giveaways to announce, one every week for the next SEVERAL weeks so come back soon!

Happy Stitches,
Anna

(and Denise)

Fat Quarterly Blog Quilt Along

2010-09-14T09:13:00.001-05:00

Quilt Along at Fat Quarterly

Hop on over to the Fat Quarterly Blog for Step 3 of the Jelly Roll Quilt Along! This week's step is actually piecing the blocks! Anyone participating? I thought about it last week and planned and planned and never got around to cutting the pieces. Silly me. Too much going on! Maybe this Saturday at the SA Modern Quilt Guild Sewing Saturday I'll be able to work on it some. Missed some steps? Here they are in order.

Step 1 Gather your materials
(This post has a coupon code for CGW for 10% off your order!)

Step 2 Cutting Instructions

Step 3 Block assembly

Step 4 On the Home Stretch
Check back next week for the next step!

(If you are participating, PLEASE leave a post here to let me know! There may be a GIVEAWAY in your fuure!)

Happy Stitching,
Anna

Pattern Giveaway from Whimsy Couture

2010-09-12T15:45:00.000-05:00

Wouldn't it just be sew fun to WIN your choice of 3 PDF patterns from my shop!? Yes, I know it would! The Apron Twirl Peasant Dress (shown above) is just ONE of the MANY options for patterns I have. Well, Denise from Whimsy Couture has generously offered to give away FREE your choice of 3, yes THREE, patterns and they will come directly to your INBOX within 12 hours of winning (or purchasing)! I just LOVE this shirred top dress too!

Or wouldn't these Knot Overalls be perfect for fall!?

Well those are my three choices (too bad I can't enter my own drawing, haha) what are yours?

Here are all the ways you can enter this drawing (leave a comment for each entry):

* Surf on over to Crafty Girls Workshop Electronic Patterns section and pick out your 3 fav's then come back here and leave us a comment (don't forget your e-mail!)

* Sign up as a follower here on CGW (or let me know you already are)

* Visit Denise's Blog Whimsy Couture and become a follower

* Tell your Twitter friends

* Tell your Facebook friends

* Like Crafty Girls Workshop on Facebook

* Like Whimsy Couture on Facebook

Look at all those great ways to enter!

The WINNER will be announced NEXT Saturday, September 25, good luck to all!

Happy Stitches,
Anna

Bliss by Bonnie & Camille Now in Stock!

2010-09-05T13:55:00.000-05:00

Bliss by Bonnie and Camille

I just love this new line by Bonnie and Camille of Cotton Way and Thimbleblossoms fame! It's fun, pretty and uses the Crafty Girls Workshop signature colors of aqua and red! (In fact, Camille's blog uses those colors too and it's eye candy in itself to read.) The shop has 4 bolts of yardage and ALL the precuts you could ever want from this line! I am working on a tote bag using the charm squares and can't wait to finish it and show it off!

Plus, of course, Moda Bake Shop has come through again with a fun and easy tutorial using a Layer Cake from this line.

Don't forget during the Jelly Roll Madness month of September use the coupon code JR10 to get 10% off your entire order!

Happy Stitches,

Anna

Origins by Basic Grey Now in Stock!

2010-09-05T13:30:00.000-05:00

Origins by Basic Grey

Here it is! It's so pretty and yummy! I can't wait to think of all the fabulous projects I could make with these beautiful and earthy fabrics! I do also have the precuts, Charms (5" squares), Jelly Rolls (2 1/2" strips), and Layer Cakes (10" squares) in stock right now! And check out this new pattern on Moda Bake Shop using Origins Jelly Rolls (it is Jelly Roll Madness Month, don't forget!)

Organic Style Pattern on MBS

I hope you'll go check out the FREE pattern (there is a link to download the PDF at the bottom of the tutorial) and stop by my shop to get the supplies you need! We will ship your order on the next business day or same day if received before 2:00pm CST!

BONUS: Use coupon code JR10 for a 10% discount from your ENTIRE ORDER!!

Happy Stitches,
Anna

September: Jelly Roll Madness Month at Crafty Girls Workshop

2010-08-29T02:53:00.000-05:00

I know it's a couple of days early, but if you happen to be like me you probably appreciate a couple days advance noticed on things. Yep, it's true, I am officially declaring September to be Jelly Roll Madness Month!! That means that all month long I'm going to search out posts around blog land to find great projects and ideas to make using jelly rolls! Mostly this was inspired by the

Fat Quarterly blog's Jelly Roll Quilt Along

and then I saw the CUTE tutorial by Sarah B on Moda Bake Shop for making that

AWESOME Pleated Skirt (plus BONUS applique!)

and of course I just LOVE the

Random Reflections Quilt on MBS (Fandango JR plus a Bella Snow JR).

So right there are THREE great projects to make using a jelly roll! Would you like to play along with all the JR Madness fun? If so, use the cute badge I created to post a link to this post and share your great ideas for JR Madness! You can use the BIG picture I have at the top of this post (please link back here to to my shop) or use this cute smaller one I whipped up. Just right-click and choose Save Picture As... then paste it into a blog post or on your sidebar and link it back here to http://blog.craftygirlsworkshop.com/

I'd LOVE to see what YOU can make with a Jelly Roll!

Also, check out the Jelly Roll page of the Moda Bake Shop blog, this is an index of ALL their posts using just jelly rolls! At the end of JR Madness Month I plan to add a permanent link to all the posts about Jelly Rolls in a new tab at the top of this blog. I want it to be super easy for you to decide what to do with your precut fabrics.

Happy Stitches,
Anna

Jelly Roll Pleated Skirt Tutorial on Moda Bake Shop

2010-08-29T02:11:00.000-05:00

Pattern Click Here

Isn't this just the cutest skirt ever? It just uses one jelly roll and the instructions say you can get more than one skirt out of a single roll! This is one of the FREE tutorials on Moda Bake Shop, which is one of my go to sites for great patterns using precuts. Well, guess what? As of today, we have this EXACT jelly roll, from the Origins line by Basic Grey, in the shop and as an added bonus you can use the coupon code JR10 to get a 10% discount off your ENTIRE order! I think this skirt would be awesome done up in the new Bliss jelly roll by Bonnie and Camille OR the Fandango jelly roll by Kate Spain. The tutorial, a debut by Sarah B of SaraB Designs, is really well written with lots of photos PLUS Sarah gives an added BONUS of the applique pattern needed for that adorable t-shirt on her blog! Thank you Sarah! So why don't you roll on over to the shop and grab yourself an Origins jelly roll to make up this skirt and pick out a second JR to get ready for the Fat Quarterly Quilt Along which starts in September! Don't forget to use the coupon code upon checkout!

Happy Stitches,
Anna

P.S. We have 4 BOLTS of coordinating yardage in the Origins line plus 4 BOLTS of coordinating Fandango yardage, in case you just need a little extra while you're taking advantage of that DISCOUNT!

Fat Quarterly Quilt Along! and New Fabrics from Bliss and Origins

2010-08-27T06:43:00.000-05:00

You know my favorite blog Fat Quarterly? Well I signed up for their blog feed so whenever they post new content it goes straight to my e-mail box, and it turns out they are going to have a quilt along in September! Yippee! The bestest part is that it uses a JELLY ROLL and I just finished listing some Brand new jelly rolls from Bliss last night. Yep, YOU can get yours Right now and be all ready to start the quilt along in September. Click the FQ badge to see the details of the Quilt Along.

Then, go visit my SHOP to see all the new JRs that are in or coming in, most likely TODAY including Fandango and Origins! Oh and I just got 4 new Bolts of Origins that are just BEAUTIFUL in the green (they call it kelp) color group.

Aren't these fabrics awesome? Totally in the Crafty Girls Workshop signature colors of aqua and red too! I hope you'll stop by and grab a jelly roll to join in the fun! Or if you already have one or two laying around that's cool too. They do give the option of using fat quarters as well. I hope you'll comment here if you plan to join the Quilt Along. I'd love to know you're joining the fun!

Happy Stitches,

Anna

Coming to San Antonio Soon, Modern Quilt Guild!

2010-08-23T21:41:00.000-05:00

Thursday, September 2, 2010 will be the inaugural meeting of the San Antonio Modern Quilt Guild! I'm sooo excited because I've wanted to join one of these since seeing posts about them around blogland. I didn't know if there were enough people in San Antonio who would find it appealing, I mean, what does Modern Quilt Guild mean? Well, I guess I'm going to find out on September 2. I'm going to be in charge of publicity and the newsletter for the guild to begin with and I can't wait to get started shouting from the rooftops about this great group! Our fabulous president, Jordan, has already organized an amazing first year of meetings including a day long workshop with DENYSE SCHMIDT!! How awesome is that!!!!!!! We're very lucky that the International Quilt Show is in Houston and she'll be there in November for that so she's willing to come down to San Antonio to do a workshop (of course there will be a fee but that's expected). If you are in or near San Antonio, I highly recommend you check out the awesome website that Jordan put togther to find out more information about the SA Mod Quilt Guild (we call it MQG for short). Also, grab the code for the badge (to the right) and pop it into your blog and help spread the word! That's it for now.

Happy Stitches,
Anna

Bella Solid Precuts - Inspiration

2010-08-08T12:56:00.000-05:00

1. Book Cover, 2. Christa's quilt: front, 3. DSCN1183, 4. Aqua HST's -- Off Center Diamond ., 5. 106_2616, 6. fair and square 2, 7. In the Window, 8. tiny ticker tape, 9. Figure 1.1, 10. New project, 11. snips, 12. spare change quilt, 13. building blocks14. Not available15. Not available16. Not available

Lately, I've been very pepped up about the new solid precuts that Moda has released. I've seen more and more modern/contemporary quilts that use solids, which is sort of funny since the Amish only used solids anyway, but the look is distinctly modern and fun! I'm not exactly an expert on the history of this style, but I first noticed it when I got the book Material Obsession which was written by two awesome women in Australia. It seemed as though the quilters in Australia had chosen to use lots of white in the sashing to really make the colors of the printed fabrics they chose pop off the quilt. Of course, AmandaJean from Crazy Mom Quilts was also a big proponent of white sashing and a simple but sort of modern design of quilt. I was soooo excited when Moda announced back in April that they would start making precut charm squares (5" squares), layer cakes (10" squares) and even jelly rolls (2.5" strips) in solid colors! The charms are absolutely PERFECT for making half square triangles, resulting in beautiful pinwheel quilts, or even for making a coin quilt. The Jelly Rolls just happen to be the PERFECT size for sashing (or at least the size I usually use) at 2 1/2" strips. And that means LESS cutting and MORE time for SEWING and QUILTING! Yippee!! Thanks MODA!! But Moda even went a step beyond that, they put together some amazing combinations of their Bella Solids into those precut lines, I'm trying out the 1930s line which even though it seems specific to a time period, it's not, if you look at it away from the time period context. To me, putting those beautiful saturated colors, they are all solid, against a white or even black background (by surrounding them with strips of those colors) will really make a rather modern statement. They also have a line of precuts that use the Marbles, which are an incredible array of marbley (is that a word?) colors. The specific one I purchased for the shop is called Citrus and I LOVE it, I can't wait to put it together with one of our Bella Solid Black jelly rolls to make those Marbles just JUMP off the quilt! Just look at how this beautiful quilt came together with solid strips and some grey to set it off.

If you'd like some more inspiration, check out the Fresh Modern Quilts Flickr group, where I went to grab most of the pictures in the above mosaic.

So what do you think? Do you like the idea of modern quilts or do you prefer lots of prints? Spill the Beans!!

Happy Stitches,
Anna

P.S. Did you notice the new tab up at the top for Fun Project Links? You should check it out. It's a place where I'm putting some links to ideas of what to do with different size cuts or colors of fabrics.

New Badge, Please Update

2010-08-02T18:17:00.000-05:00

If you have the Crafty Girls Workshop badge on your blog anywhere, please update it with our new fancy pantsy blog badge!

The code is on the right, thanks sew much!

Anna

P.S. NEW solid precuts just arrived! Check them out on the website! (Click badge above to visit site)

The CSI Project: Create...Show...Inspire

2010-08-02T14:24:00.000-05:00

Crafty Girls Workshop is the featured sponsor over that The CSI project this week! In fact, this week's challenge item is...FABRIC!! So, if you've made something totally amazing or adorable or fantabulous (which I know ALL of you have) go on over and enter your item to WIN a $40 gift certificate to MY SHOP!!! Yes, I said $40 gift certificate!!! Go check it out. And the judges are the twins from The DIY Dish webisodes (the founders of You Can Make This website) and I just love those ladies!! More later...

Happy Stitches,
Anna

Amy Butler Sew-It Kit and Sew Subversive in stock!

2010-07-29T23:12:00.000-05:00

Sew-It Kit

I just got three of these awesome sew-it kits in stock today. They are perfect for a beginner. I have to say I've made several items from Amy Butler's patterns and her patterns are really well written and perfect for a beginning sewist(a). The kit is actually a little box that comes with some fabric, thread, 15 project cards with illustrations, and a pattern to make a super easy and pretty reversible tissue box holder! Check out the listing here for more information and to snatch one up. This would be a great stocking stuffer or birthday gift idea for a budding sewista. Shipping on ths item is a little high, but remember that we combine shipping so fill up your cart and we'll fill up the box and you'll save money in the end!

Check out this awesome book I just got in today! It's from the incredibly talented ladies at Stitch Lounge in San Fransisco which is a hip and fun sewing lounge where you can go in and rent a sewing machine and make all sorts of fun projects! (Someday I'm going to have a place like that here in San Antonio, I think). These ladies crammed soo much great stuff into this book! I just scanned through the projects and they describe tons of awesome ways to take items you find at THRIFT stores and turn them into trendy boutique style clothing! You can take an old prom dress or bride's maids dress and turn it into a halter top! Or even take a funky buckle from an ugly purse and use it for a cool bracelet! There are soo many ideas and along the way you'll learn the greatest techniques for dressmaking (or garment making). I mean, you'll learn how to measure, fit, gather, ruffle, stitch, rouche, buttonhole, darn, zigzag, and the list goes on. Even if you make some of the projects and decide not to wear them, you'll still be more experienced in the end. And the first project? Making a Ms. Double Trouble Dressform out of Duct Tape!! This book is a veritable SEWING COURSE in just one book. Plus, it fits in flat rate envelope so you get it for less than retail even after shipping! But if you want us to slip some fabric into a slightly bigger box, we're OK with that too. We will combine shipping so if what we charged you is over what we paid, you get that money back! I think this book will shine an entirely new light on the thrift store up the street. I will never look at a man's button down shirt the same way again! I hope you'll stop by the shop and check out this awesome book.

Happy Stitches,

Anna