Tutorial and a Giveaway!!!

Well hello cute people!

I want to show you what I sewed a while back...

bags...

and lots of them!

In fact...

I went on quite the bag sewing frenzy.

It all started with my 

fabulous friend Monica 

and Pinterest.

Let me explain.

Monica sent me a picture of a bag

 that she had pinned.

The bag was made by 

Erin at Why Not Sew  

and was adorable!!!

I smiled when I saw that Erin

 had used my Sew Cherry fabric. 

The pattern she used came from 

a tutorial by my friend Ayumi.

Monica wanted to make one and I did too...

so long story short...

she had the great idea to

 sew our bags together!

I said...Heck Yeah!!!

The bag takes 5 fat quarters 

and we decided that I would send her

 5 Sew Cherry FQ's and she would send me

 5 of her HMYY fat quarters....

so that we could make bags out of 

each others fabric! 

Here's the bag I made from

 my Sew Cherry fabric line.

It was so fun and easy to make...

Ayumi has the best tutorials!

I love how the bag gathers at the top.

Here is a view of the inside...

just waiting to be filled with

 all kinds of good stuff.

Here's the one I made out of the

 adorable HMYY fat quarter's

 that Monica sent me.

Isn't her fabric so happy and awesome???

Inside peek.

But the fun didn't stop at just 2 bags...

we also decided that we needed 

to make one out of DS fabrics...

here is my version.

Inside the DS bag.

Of course you know that I

 couldn't stop there...

I just had to make one from my

 Daisy Cottage line...

Inside Daisy Cottage bag.

Then to top it all off...

we really wanted to make a sweet bag 

out of our 

sweet friend Pam's 

sweet fabric.

Su-weeet!!!

Inside my PKM bag.

I had to cap my lunch bag sewing frenzy

 at 5 for right now so that I 

could move on to sewing samples for spring market with

 Millie's Closet.

But I'm sure I will be making

 more in the future!

Click here 

to go straight to Ayumi's great tutorial 

if you want to make one of your own...

but I bet you won't stop at one either!

And to get you started...

I'm giving away 5 of the very same FQ's 

that I used

 to make my own

  Sew Cherry bag...

Along with one of my favorite candy...

the classic Big Cherry.

I'm also throwing in a pack of

 Doublemint Gum because

 Monica dubbed us the

 "doublemint twins" as we were 

sewing our bags together and 

sending pictures back and forth...

Monica lives a few states away from me

 so we had a

 "virtual sew along"

It was sew fun and I'm sure 

I will be doing more virtual sewing

 with friends again!

Just leave me a comment on this post and you are entered in my giveaway...

I will draw a name this Monday at 

midnight my time and 

announce the winner on Tuesday...

But that's not all!...

Because Monica and I are 

the doublemint twins...

she has posted about our

 double sew along too...

and she is also hosting a 

giveaway as well on her cute blog!

Click on over

 and see my friend Monica

 and the bags that she made. 

Leave her some bloggy love and 

enter to win her giveaway as well!

Have a quilty kind of day my friends:)

xx

Lori

What I've Been Up To...

I'm busy working on new patterns to be 

released when my newest fabric line...

Millie's Closet

 becomes available...

Which is in about 4 weeks time....

I'm so looking forward to it!

Millie's Closet comes in 3 color ways...

 and this week I am working on the

 Blue/Green combo.

For this color way I chose to pair up my favorite apple green with my 2 favorite blues...aqua and cobalt.

I have used my all time favorite shade of gray in all 3 color ways.

 These are the 3 solids in the line that go with the blue/green combo.

I wish I could show you what I am creating 

with these lovely colors...and the time will soon come when I can!

In between drawing and sewing I have been reading Jennifer Chiaverini's 

latest book which is hot off the press...

Sonoma Rose.

So far I have had to force myself to put it down because it's so good!!!

I love every one of Jennifer's books as you well know because I have told you about them often and this one has proven to be no different.

Soooo....that's what I've been up to the last few days.

How about you?

Whatever you've been doing...

I certainly hope it involves a

 book and/or fabric....

one of the best combinations that I know:)

xx

Lori

Where Women Create...

I love the magazine...

"Where Women Create"

The launch of the magazine 

a few years ago...

was of course inspired by the

 many creative women just like

you and I!!

Each issue features

 several creative women

 in their studios...

filled to the brim with 

lovely and inspiring photos 

along with interesting articles

 about each woman 

and the inspiration 

behind their creativity.

Every time a new issue comes out...

I just can't wait to get my hands 

on it and find a nice quiet,

 cozy spot to curl up 

and devour each and every page 

full of eye candy....

which brings me to the reason 

for this post.

Just look at this teaser page photo

 below from this 

months issue Spring 2012

does anything look familiar to you?

That's right!!!

You can see what I'm talking about if 

you are familiar with

 Riley Blake Designs 

and/or 

my first fabric line Sew Cherry.

I'm so excited about the whole thing!

This is just one of many photos 

in an article featuring 

a few of the fabric lines 

produced by Riley Blake and they chose 3 of my fabric lines to be in the article.

Sew Cherry (on the page you see)...

 Daisy Cottage and Millies Closet

are in the rest of the pages.

Look at Cindy and Jina in the top photo...aren't they so cute!

I love working with them.

They are so sweet and fun.

Cindy is the owner of Riley Blake Designs 

and Jina is head of the fabric division.

 On page 104 you can find the article that Cindy has written called

 "The Business of the Studio"

 In the article she talks a little 

about the process of fabric design.

The photography for the article took place

 at Riley Blake Studios in Alpine, Utah.

A few months ago Cindy and Jina called me

 and asked me if I would bring in 

some of my sketches from Sew Cherry,

 Daisy Cottage and Millie's Closet 

for the photo shoot.

I said "Of course!"

You can see a few of my sketches

 in black ...

other sketches are on the other pages 

that you will see in the magazine!

They also asked me to bring along 

vintage pieces from my home 

that I thought would work 

in the photos alongside my fabric.

I brought in alot of things 
that you will see throughout the photos...
the gingham apron,
 rolling pin,
 cookbook and vintage canister 
in the article are from my kitchen.

The rest of the article shows many other sketches and vintage pieces from my cottage.

(photo from one of my Vintage Monday posts)

You may have seen some of them 

on my posts called 

"Vintage Monday"

which I will be doing more of soon 

because of many requests!

The article in the magazine is the first 
of many that Cindy will be writing 
this year for Where Women Create. 
All of them will be about 
fabric design at Riley Blake.

There will be a lot for her to 
write about...Riley Blake Designs 
is a great company and they always
 have something fun going on.

Like for instance, 
every Friday on 

"Cutting Corners" 
they have a tutorial on a pincushion! 

This is a recent tutorial by

 Andy Knowlton

 made with my 

Daisy Cottage fabric.

Click Here

to go to the tutorial.

I will be designing a new pincushion

 and doing a tutorial for 

Cutting Corners 

in July.

 I'm sew happy to be a part of the 

Riley Blake team. 

If you haven't checked them out lately...

click here

 to go to their site and see all the fun stuff!

You can pick up the latest issue of

 Where Women Create 

at most magazine stands like

 Barnes and Noble or even at JoAnn's 

but if you'd like to subscribe...

click here

 and they will hook you up!

 It's such a thrill to see three of my fabric lines in one of my very favorite magazines...so I just had to share it with you!

Have a quilty kind of day my friends:)

xx

Lori