Tuesday, May 31, 2011

4 New Patterns...

Good morning!...I have so much to show you!

I still have 4 new patterns to reveal so I thought I would do them all in one post...
This is yet another apron quilt I have designed...I just never seem to get tired of aprons...and I hope you don't either!
Hiding behind the quilt is my BFF Nanette and her daughter Shelbie who held each of my quilts up while I told about them during schoolhouse at market.
They were so much help...I really couldn't have done it without them:) And to those of you who attended my schoolhouse...thank you so much for the warm welcome and enthusiastic response...I was a little nervous until I saw all of your friendly smiling faces.
The pattern is called "Remember Grandma's Apron"....designed to bring back all of those wonderful memories of our grandmothers. It's a nice size for a wall quilt "41 x 53"...and works up quickly with a large applique block for the center...a small amount of embroidery...surrounded by square in a square blocks and bordered with scallops and red ric-rac and polka dots. 
Next up is a quilt for the bed!....creamy butter yellow background...
Each daisy made from a 10" square of Sew Cherry...with leftovers for the centers.
A super easy and fun block to put together!
All of course are surrounded by a white picket fence which looks really cute hanging down the side of the bed....
Mr. Honey tacked it to the side of the deck in our backyard for the first photos...
This quilt is called "Fenced Flowers" and measures 68" x 91" which is just perfect for a twin or a daybed.
It looks sew cute on the bed with a generous amount of pillows piled high for comfort!
And now lets talk about table quilts....I love quilts on the bed, but I must admit that I think every table in the house needs one too and looks better with a quilt on it!
I designed this table runner in the very generous size of 36" x 64" to fit across the farm table in my kitchen.
And here's cute Nanette and Shelbie again....now you can see it's full size. It looks very vintagey cottage on the table with a large vase of  fresh cut garden flowers in the center! 
I love  how easy the blocks are to make by using a 60 degree ruler and 2 1'2" strips....really a quick project.
And well...you all know that I love jumbo ric-rac and that I love to use brown in my quilts to warm them up and to make the other colors really sing!
This pattern is called "Cherry Blossom" table runner. Another great thing about it is that it's also the perfect size to fit across your kitchen counter and you bet I will be using it there to layout the potluck dishes during a family gathering:)...I hope you like it!
This is a picture of another quilt on my studio design wall during the designing and piecing stages.
I also designed this quilt to go on a table....which is why I made it square. That way it can fit on any table no matter the shape...whether it be square, rectangle, round or oval. Simply place it on point in the center  of the table and it adds an instant warmth, color and texture to the room and also makes a nice colorful background for a centerpiece such as a large vintage bowl filled with.....cherries of course!
This quilt reminds me of summer and picnics and down home goodness!...and features another seriously fun and easy block to make.
Of course I used red ric-rac in the binding again...another thing I never get tired of:)

The pattern is called "Sew Cherry" table topper and finishes at 56" x 56" square.
I used the yellow stripes cut on the diagonal for the binding ...which I think finished it off nicely.
Well...now you have all seen the first 9 patterns completed!...whew!
There are even more patterns in the works for Sew Cherry but I just didn't have time to complete them all before market and I will be working on getting them finished up now.
Of course you will be the first to know when each one is ready...right now I'm working on several fun projects for the kitchen!

Once again I want to thank each and every one of you for all of your kind words and lovely comments. They all mean so much to me and I apologise that it is taking me so long to reply!....I still havn't been able to slow down much yet from the market frenzy....don't give up on me please...I'll be back to my regular posting soon:)
xx
Lori

Thursday, May 26, 2011

One Yard Apron...


 *WARNING....if you don't like aprons...or lots of pictures...look away from this post!
On the other hand, if you do...STAY HERE!


I'm introducing another new pattern to you...


It's called the "1 Yard Apron"....because it's made with 1 yard of fabric...and...it's an apron...haha:)


Each apron consists of 3 different fabrics but they all total only 1 yard.


For those of you who might not know...the model is my cutie patootie daughter Kassidy....who is my trusty sidekick and stunt double!


There are 15 aprons total....and let me tell you how grateful I am to my friends who helped me sew them and because of that, I was able to have them for my schoolhouse presentation at market.


I designed all of the aprons, put the fabrics together, cut all 15 kits and packaged them up...but I just simply ran out of time to make them all. So I copied off several patterns, kept some for myself to sew up and the others were farmed out to my BFF's Nanette, Juli and Judy.


I appreciated it sooo much girls!...I had been working day and night trying to prepare for market and my friends were so sweet to just keep asking what they could do to help.
Aren't they sweet?
What would a girl do without her friends?


The day before schoolhouse was the day they were all complete and I was still making my Sew Hexie Cushion and had not photographed the aprons yet.


And that's when my other dear friend Rae Ann grabbed her camera and said I'll be there in a few minutes to take the pictures for you.
Whew!
Big sigh of relief!


I said to Kassidy who had stayed home from school to help me...(yes...I know that I'm mother of the year...lol)
Anyways...I said to her ..."Run upstairs and put a white top on so that you will match all of the aprons and you can model them...."


She is a little shy and wasn't too sure about it but before I knew it Rae Ann was here and she had brought Susann too...another friend of mine to help.


So the 3 of them went out into the back yard  to take the pictures and I stayed in my studio and stitched away on my hexies.
It was fun to look out of the window at them running back and forth across the yard!


3 hours and over 200 pictures later.....LOL....I had plenty to choose from to go on the pattern cover.
That Rae Ann just kept saying...I need just a few more shots:)


It was actually a rainy overcast day which I think produced the perfect light!


Poor Kassidy was a little wet and alot cold when it was all over but she came through it like a trooper with not one word of complaint...thank you sis:)


I think Rae Ann needs to take all of my pictures from now on:)...


By the way...do you like all of the different trims?


They all are from the "Sew Together" trims by Riley Blake.


I've had sew much fun using them on some of my Sew Cherry projects.


I especially love the jumbo pom-pom trim!


I used it on all 3 of my "Sew Cherry Stripes"...


I know what you are wondering....


And the answer is yes...they wash up great!


As you can see my tulips are just finishing up their lovely show for this spring....


These aprons are so easy peasy to sew up...


And I had alot of fun just going all out crazy with all of the fun trims.


The triple pom-poms on the solid red turned out very vintagey funky don't you think?


And I love how the double row of the blue lace adds a feminine touch to the apron skirt.


And I also like how it looks against my "Blue Sew Rose" print.


Of course I had to use the red and pink crochet cherries on one of the aprons...


Aren't they cute on the corner of each pocket?


And they go so well with the white crochet lace.


On this one I used both ric-rac and
pom-poms...


A fun combination:)


There are so many more fabric/trim combinations that would be cute...I could have made several more...but I ran out of time....and friends...LOL
A big THANK YOU to Juli, Nanette, Judy, Rae Ann and Susann for the much needed help!
I love you all!


And a big thank you to you my bloggy friends....(if you have made it this far down this crazy long post)! 


I hope you like this fun and easy pattern....I think there are alot of creative things you could do with these aprons.
One idea is to sew matching aprons for the server girls at a wedding!...wouldn't that be cute?


This is how the pattern cover turned out...a little crowded...but necessary because all of the aprons are in one pattern:)
It's now available 
if you want to whip up a few of of your own...
they are sew fun and easy to make:)


And as if there weren't already enough pictures...I thought I would show you these of my son Sterling who is 6 foot 1 and just turned fourteen.
He came home from school right in the middle and I asked him if he wanted his picture taken wearing one of my aprons.


Of course he strongly declined....until...


I offered him money....and Cafe Rio...


Just to do a few manly poses...lol.
After all...I didn't want to leave him out of the fun.


Fun for me anyway...not so much for him...but luckily he has a good sense of humor.
Sew sorry it has taken me so long to get these posts out to you about my new patterns.
More still to come!
But blogger has NOT been my friend this last couple of weeks. The post before this one...(The cake walk one) I actually posted the day before market and after a few hours it disappeared for 2 days and then came back minus the comments and then it went away again and just showed up right after I posted about my Cherry Cheesecake pattern...oh brother.
So sorry about the confusion.
Have a wonderful day today my friends....I hope it's a quilty one!
xx
Lori