Tag Archives: sewing

He was inspired!

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I told Jack about Andrew and his sock monkeys, I showed him the pictures, and then I gave him the kit I bought. Well, Jack was ready to make a sock monkey, right then! I did the machine sewing, taught him how to turn the arms and tail inside out, and how to stuff.

I threaded a needle and showed him the basics and he took off. It put a smile on my face :-).

JackSockMonkey-1

He still has an ear, the arms and tail to sew on tonight—Lorna will be there to thread the needle and do the knots. I suspect that it won’t be long before Jack can do that by himself as well.

JackSockMonkey-2

He is already imagining which of his socks would make good monkeys. He has always enjoyed fun socks and has some excellent ones to choose from.

Update: Jack came by last night with his finished monkey!

JackSockMonkey-3

A new quilt show!

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I just returned from Midway, UT, where the very first Small Town Quilt Show – In a big way! was held. Midway is a lovely place; it is only 10 minutes from Park Cities if that helps you to get a fix on it. The event was held at the Zermatt Resort and it’s a place I would happily return to.

I didn’t take pictures of the usual quilt show things because I was too busy either teaching, or shopping, to do that. There was, however, one vendor who had some really fun things made from wool. Yes, I could make these coasters but it was so much nicer to buy them!

woolcoasters

There were some exceedingly cute sock monkeys hanging on the front of the booth (and I wasn’t the only one who thought so). As it turns out they were made by Andrew, the grandson of the lady in charge. Did I get her name? Sigh, I did not. However, the receipt is from Winnie Press. This is Andrew’s very first sock monkey, made when he was 8 or 9…

AndrewsSockMonkey-01 copy copy

He follows his own monkey-making muse, rather than a strict pattern…

AndrewsSockMonkey-02 copy

The monster was my favorite :-).

AndrewsSockMonkey-03 copy

Andrew is older by a couple of years or so now, and still making monkeys. Honestly, he could go into business… there were a lot of us who would have happily bought one of his creations. Instead, I bought a kit for Jack. He’s 6, and probably a bit young for this. Or not!

 

Also in American Patchwork & Quilting….

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I love it! AP&Q featured our Quilter’s Applique Caddy on their favorite finds page! I always love seeing what cool things their ‘finders’ have found…

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As before, this photo is used with permission from American Patchwork & Quilting® magazine. ©2014 Meredith Corporation. All rights reserved.

We’re in American Patchwork & Quilting!

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You are going to find a very cute Piece O’ Cake project in the June 2014 issue of American Patchwork & Quilting magazine! The June issue goes on sale April 1st, so you’ll be seeing it soon. This is the cover to look for:

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Please note that these images are used with permission from American Patchwork & Quilting® magazine. ©2014 Meredith Corporation. All rights reserved.

I drew the pattern; Linda chose the fabrics and made it so you have her to thank for the perky colors!

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This quilt makes me think of colorful little beach houses. It is happy and sunny! And AP&Q took amazing photos, as always :-).

American Patchwork and Quilting always makes up the projects in the magazine in more than one colorway. The alternate versions of this quilt are made from Benartex and Shannon fabrics. You’ll need to look at the magazine to see them… I haven’t even seen them yet!

 

A winner, and another chance to win!

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Lisa Boyer is the lucky winner of the box of crumbs. She was chosen by my very favorite random number generator—my mom. Once I explained to mom why she had just picked a number, she was very excited. Mom loves this sort of thing :-). Lisa, if you didn’t get my email, contact me at becky@pieceocake.com. I need your shipping address.

I have one more item on my desk that needs a home. This is an almost-finished small quilt. I made this quilt to illustrate a point, but it didn’t really do what I needed. I was in a rush and thought that maybe I could make it work but when I got around to quilting it, I had to admit that it just wasn’t going to work in the book. Luckily I had time to make a different quilt. But what to do with this quilt?

Hopscotch--02

I call it Hopscotch. It’s simple and graphic, and about 32″ square. I started quilting it in a variegated rose/red King Tut cotton thread. My intention was to unify the dark and white areas of the quilt. I think with more quilting, it would do that. Or, it could be quilted differently. The lucky winner is free to rip out the quilting I have done in favor of something else.

Hopscotch-Detail

Unfortunately, I don’t have time to finish this quilt. I do not want to add it to my (small) pile of UFOs. I’m hoping that one of you would love to have it.

Included with the layered, partially quilted quilt is most of a cone of the King Tut quilting thread that I started with, fabric cut for the sleeve, and black and white bias binding, ready to attach. Here’s Belle, keeping watch over the folded quilt (with the back showing), the sleeve, thread, and binding.

BelleAndQuilt

As before, leave a comment and mom will choose a number, this time on Wednesday.

It’s a crumb-y giveaway!

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Welcome to my new blog home! If you have followed my blog before, and you want to still, please do click the ‘Follow Piece O Cake Blog’ button on the right, above my picture. (FYI: I switched to wordpress because it is easier to manage.)

So, about the crumbs in the post title… I subscribe to Ami Simms’ newsletter and a little while ago she wrote about a student, Megan Null, who was making ‘crumb quilts’. Megan let Ami film her, and her video says it all:

(Link to video here.)

I googled crumb quilts and, who knew! There are pages of crumb quilts! It looks to me like crumb quilts started with Bonnie Hunter and have now taken on a life of their own. I have been too busy writing the color book to have noticed crumb quilts. Sigh.

Anyway, back to Ami. She has issued a 2014 Crumb Quilt Challenge! I generated a lot of lovely, colorful scraps when I was sewing for the color book and for a few days I thought I would start my own crumb quilt(s). I looked at the pile lovingly… and then I admitted to myself that this is not something I am going to do. My pile of crumbs could become your very own crumb quilt!

BoxOfCrumbs

Everything in the box is pre-washed cotton—except for one piece of a silky polyester that is obviously not cotton. I was going to throw it away but thought maybe the winner would love it. There are little pieces and bigger pieces, strips, triangles, and other shapes.

If you would like a chance to win, leave a comment. I will have my random number generator (my mom) pick a number Sunday. I think I’ll be able to contact the winner from your comment but sometimes there isn’t a way to do that, so check back on Monday, mid-morning. I’ll post the winner. It could be you!