Fabric flowers for market

I have been so lucky to be working with some collections from Sasha K Studios, EBI Fabric Corporation. The quality of the fabrics are top notch, and I've worked with quilt a bit over the last three years.  I've created a couple of free patterns available both on their site and here on my blog.  

Some of the things I have made and look forward to sharing for my first time to the professional quilting world at Spring Market include...

Downton square

Also I helped to make these flower garlands to be used as leis out of Sasha K Studios, Costa De Las Flores Azure collection. 

My gosh arn't they just the cutest! 

And here are some in a smaller size...

I used my friend Michelle's method just folding circles in half then into thirds pinned and sewed. Simple, easy, and absolutely stunning! Here are some in the garland strung together with fishing line. (My husband asked why I was getting into his fishing stuff :) !) 

 

And here is the little guy who got to do homework while mom was 'working'

Wedding bliss!

It is hard for me to give quilts away as gifts. One of the reasons is just that non quilters have absolutely NO idea how much time and money is poured into a quilt. Fabric is expensive, my time... Sometimes even more so. Then to add to that, what if they don't even appreciate or like it? 

I gave a queen size quilt to my husbands cousin for their wedding about 2 years ago and they never said thank you or even acknowledged they ever got it. Not that I only make things to get a thank you but seriously, it is hard to put in the time and money not knowing if it will be a treasure as much to them as it is to me.  So after the last wedding, I contemplated not making another one... 

Then the cutest couple ever came along. They remind me so much of my husband and I when we were that point, we went through so many of the same type situations every social media post I see from them makes me smile and remember my own love story! From opening their first lawn mower, first doggie,  a new house, and planning a elaborate wedding. They are adorable! So even though I can't make it from Utah to Michigan I am hoping they will love their new quilt. 

I had a really hard time picking exactly what kind of a quilt to make them, but they are young so I pulled for a bit more modern even down to my quilting.  

I love this quilt, the pattern is from my friend Michelle at mixiheart.com It is a fun quilt to make, cute, fast, and easy! My quilting took a bit longer. It was my first time I ever cross hatched a quilt. I like it but it was a slow process for me. 

So off it goes in the mail... A sad happy day. 

Un-Paper Kitchen Towels, and a Commute

I made a commitment to myself to do a couple earth friendly, and cost cutting things for myself last year.  The first was to start bike commuting, I'd wanted a road bike for a long time but the thing is they are expensive.  I figured with gas being so high if I simply eliminated my commute I would save myself nearly $10/day, and get my workout in the process.  It has not always been easy, I have gotten quite a few flat tires, and I have wrecked a few times.  (Not in the get hurt way but in the "Oh my heck did anyone just see that?!!?" kind of way)  I do love my bike though and have never regretted the commitment, it is so much fun and only adds an additional 15 minuets to my commute.  Not to shabby!  
The other project I am going to share...

Un-paper Kitchen Towel

I kicked my paper towels out the door, (or at least to the cupboard for the few and far between times I don't want to ruin my towels ex. bacon).  I found that my family was using so many paper towels and these were the perfect solution.  I simply wash and re-use, simple, cheap, and earth friendly!
These are quick to make, and will pay for themselves in the first couple months of use!
These will make a great addition to my Sweet Fall Table Topper

I am hoping you will make a earth friendly commitment in your house as well!

A whole lot of free patterns!

This last month I made a bunch of items for Sasha K Studios by EBI Fabrics, it was a lot of fun working with them to create some items out of their fabric.  I think this whole process was as new to them as it was for me.  I wrote out those patterns and am excited to share these free patterns!  I am new to explaining thinks in written form, and and absolutely can work on a better layout, and cover...but it's free so please sew, enjoy, and share with me!  I'd love to hear some feedback on how I can improve or what I did right.   I also will be releasing more patterns, so i'd love for you to follow my blog and comment!
Here some of those free patterns are!

Framed Flower Pillow PDF









Garden Bloom Pillow PDF

           Stained Glass Pillow PDF








           

    Sweet Fall PDF

Simple Table Runner PDF

On top of these fun freebies I have 2 more to post later this week, and a fun modern queen size quilt I will be finishing up next week.  Most of my favorite projects become so because I have great friends that make them with me, so grab a few friends share away, and please let me know what you think. Thanks,   KT

Preparations for my first quilt market! EEK!

I have been working with a new fabric company, through a connection I met last fall at quilt market in Houston.  Sasha K Studio of EBI Fabric Corp. I love the collections they have so far and have been working on some projects for them to take to Spring quilt market in Pittsburg this next week.  This will be their first booth at market and I know they will have a nice display. Because I have make some really cute, and fun quilted projects for them to fill that booth with, though with the fun fabrics I had to work with, it's no wonder everything turned out so nice! Katia (designer) has some really great lines. The ones I got to play around with include Downton Lace, Maple Stories, Costa De Las Flores Caliente, and Costa De Las Flores Azure.  I am still not sure what my very favorite of them are, I really do like them all.   Here is a sneak peak at what I have been working on to take to market...

Framed Flower Pillow

free pattern!

                                                                          Stained Glass Pillow

Garden Flower Pillow

Downton Square

free pattern!

 

Scallop Pillows

Fabric Flowers

A fun carry on, or getaway bag

Yes I have cute quilt holders, no need to be jealous though because their hands are filthy! But gosh aren't they the cutest little devils!

This quilt is one of my favorites it has such a fun modern look.

It is a beginner friendly pattern and would look great in all sorts of different colors.

 Here is a fun table runner with some beautiful appliqué to make a fun table decoration.

I love a cute blanket stitch on appliqué.

 I love, love, love how this sweet quilt turned out.  It is from Sasha K Studios Maple Stories line.  Fall is my favorite season and the colors in this quilt exemplify my very favorites.  The quilting on this really looks great, it is the first time I ever tried cross hatching and I am so glad I finally gave in and tried it!  This looks great as a table topper, on a quilt ladder, or as a wall hanging I love that it is so multi-functional!

Here is a table runner in the same color wave, this was a quick(er) project and fun to piece together.  Arn't these just the cutest!  

I stayed plenty busy the last 2 months working on all of this and will have all the free patterns hopefully posted by next week.  This quilting stuff is a lot of work! 

P.S. : If you are at quilt market in Pittsburg go check out Sasha K. Studios booth and grab some of my free patterns! Thanks for looking!

-KT

P.P.S. This is a really exciting time for me, I am pretty excited to have this blog up and running, quilts going to market, and taking my quilting to the next level.  If you are checking out my blog I'd love for you to follow me and help my fun new blog spread!

A little remodel takes a long time!

We recently decided to tear a half wall down in our house, with the floor gone there, a nasty stain in my carpet I couldn't get rid of, and a leaky dishwasher... It was time to make the switch to hardwood flooring

Well of course with messy kids, we needed to paint as well.  Let's just say I completely underestimated how much time we would need to complete this project.  

It's been a month now, and I finally have my TV, and my washer and dryer hooked back up. (Yikes!) It took us ages just to tear out the tile.  Then painting, we ended up painting the ceilings, doors, and base boards as well as the walls.

My husband was so daring to even attempt to paint these walls at this crazy height, and we definitely broke some OSHA laws in the process!

The flooring took forever and we still need to finish painting upstairs, the baseboards need to be painted and installed, and during all of this my fridge went out and I lost all my food! Not to mention the added expense of a new fridge!  

I have been a full time laborer and have not had any time to quilt. (Sigh!) But...I am going to take a week long break and get some stuff ready for spring market. 

Here are some remodel pics... Before and kind of after because I give up for now!

And here is our fun Easter which we spent with family at the park, ate fried chicken, hunted eggs, and my boy pogo sticked for hours.

My sweet Malorie got to wear her NEW Mixi Heart Mini Skirt. This pattern is SO EASY and QUICK to sew... and ADOREABLE!  

I will have 2 new patterns posted by next week, as I give up on my remodel and get back to having fun...for now.  

Happy quilting!
-KT

Holy smokes I'm a quilting animal!

I experienced one of my favorite quilting memories two weeks ago. My first quilting retreat! 

There was twelve of us and we had the best time! Michelle from mixiheart.blogspot.com the cutie in the lime green on left got her in-laws cabin in Bear Lake, UT. The cabin was AMAZING! It had hot tubs/ theater room/ tons of tables and space for people to spread out. We couldn't have asked for a better location. We made groups of three and each group was in charge of a brunch meal, so for one whole week we only cooked once and went to dinner at night. 

Each group gave out a small gift, my group made these cute pin cushions

(This image is from Pinterest. I forgot to take pics!). One of the groups got us Sew Red glasses, which help with color value when laying out quilt tops. We got some great stuff! And yes I took a shameless selfie of me in my cute new glasses!

See the darling table setup in the back. Each day was such a treat!

So on to the hard core stuff...it is not often I get to sew non stop without having to run after kids or just run my household so I was setting some completion goals to try to stick to.  My goal was 1 quilt top a day. Now to prepare for this I went through all my quilt books picked my patterns. Opened half my beautiful fat quarter bundles and per cut everything so it was ready to sew sew sew! My first day mission accomplished!

I love it! 

Day 2:

How cute is this! I love fabric!

The very best part of this beauty is the blue polka dot scallop is leftover from Michelle's quilt and she let me have! Doesn't it look great! 

Day 3:

(This was my bummer day, I don't love this quilt but I did finish a quilt top!)

Day 4:

I made my best effort but only finished half. The quilt was a lap size but this fabric is my favorite and very special to me and I've been saving it for my bed. Michele bought me this bundle on her first trip to quilt market. We started quilting together three years ago and she actually took that to the next level and made her passion into a career. She does the most amazing things with fabric and  has great taste so her colors look so good together and she is creative enough to make patterns and is almost to publish her first book!...back to that cute bundle. I love it so much I haven't used it for two years. Until now...

I seriously love it! (Eventually) 

Day 5: 

I totally cheated on this one... I only did half because I was waiting on some fabric at home. So it is finished now but wasn't by the retreat.  All in all I feel great about I got done but I missed these guys after so long!

But some days I dream of my next break!...

Xo- Kt