Tuesday, December 1, 2015

December Mood Board

images via:
1. ornaments  2. candles  3. silverware  4. tree  5. arrangement  6. heart

Dreaming of a white Christmas.
This mood board was designed using a template created in Photoshop.
That template is available as a free download, along with lots of other goodies,  for newsletter subscribers.
If you are interested you can subscribe here.

Sunday, November 1, 2015

November Mood Board

 images via:
1.place setting  2. feathers  3. leaf  4. garland  5. bird  6. floral

Autumn with shades of turquoise.
This mood board was designed using a template created in Photoshop.
That template is available as a free download, along with lots of other goodies,  for newsletter subscribers.
If you are interested you can subscribe here.

Thursday, October 1, 2015

October Mood Board

images via:

For the love of pumpkins.
This mood board was designed using a template created in Photoshop.
That template is available as a free download, along with lots of other goodies,  for newsletter subscribers.
If you are interested you can subscribe here.

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

September Mood Board

images via:

An ode to autumn color.
This mood board was designed using a template created in Photoshop.
That template is available as a free download, along with lots of other goodies,  for newsletter subscribers.
If you are interested you can subscribe here.

Saturday, August 1, 2015

August Mood Board

 images via:
1. rain petal  2.sky  3.crocus  4. butterflies

Nature's beauty in purple.
This mood board was designed using a template created in Photoshop.
That template is available as a free download, along with lots of other goodies,  for newsletter subscribers.
If you are interested you can subscribe here.

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

July Mood Board

 images via: 
1. tentacles  2. umbrella  3. fireworks  4. fur  5. pencils  6. dahlia  7. buttons  8. bell peppers  9. phone  10. paper rose  11. sea biscuits

A mood board in honor of the stars and stripes.
This mood board was designed using a template created in Photoshop.
That template is available as a free download, along with lots of other goodies,  for newsletter subscribers.
If you are interested you can subscribe here.

Monday, June 1, 2015

June Mood Board


images via:
1. sea star  2. waves  3. glass floats  4. bonfire  5. lamp  6. jelly  7.whale  8.sea glass  9. seahorse 10. nautilus11. turtles  12. lighthouse

A sea inspired mood board.
This mood board was designed using a template created in Photoshop.
That template is available as a free download, along with lots of other goodies,  for newsletter subscribers.
If you are interested you can subscribe here.

Thursday, May 28, 2015

The Sea

I have been wanting to join an art journaling community for a little while, but have had trouble finding the time. So now that spring market has come and gone and the so has the UN-official first day of summer, I think I NEED some new fun in my life. So, I have decided to make the time to jump in and give it a whirl.

EEEK!

The community is called  ART JOURNAL JOURNEY and you and click on the name to link over and see what they have going on.
The theme this month is "The Sea" and my little sea inspired drawing is this octopus.


 It is a colored pencil and ink drawing that measures 5" x 9".
Do you like it??

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Every Girl Needs A Motto

And this should be mine....

Sunday, May 10, 2015

Motherhood

In honor of the timeless art of Motherhood.







All photos via Huffington Post

Thursday, May 7, 2015

If you can't beat them, eat them

Modern Farmer.
It's a farm journal I get that I like a lot.
It is both informative AND quirky, which seems strange, but they do it very well.
If you want to check them out, here is a LINK for you.

Today's issue
Modern Farmer: The If You Can't Beat Them, Eat Them Edition.


http://modernfarmer.com/2015/05/slime-fight-how-to-manage-slugs-and-snails/?utm_source=Modern+Farmer+Newsletter&utm_campaign=8027ea7c22-Weekly_11_1511_15_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_e8a89c7e43-8027ea7c22-75473057&mc_cid=8027ea7c22&mc_eid=9f36333dd9

Slime Fight: How to Manage Slugs and Snails

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Sewing Humor

A little funny for a plain old Wednesday.


Monday, May 4, 2015

Look Book

The Spring 2015 Look Book is now available!
LINK HERE to give it a look.

Friday, May 1, 2015

May Mood Board

images via:
 1. yellow bird  2. rose  3. lilacs  4. blue bird  5. candles  6. sweet peas  7. kitten/duck  8. roses

A spring mood board filled with blossoms, babies, birds, colors and sweet smells. Ahhhh spring!
This mood board was designed using a template that I created in Photoshop.
That template is available as a free download, along with lots of other goodies,  for newsletter subscribers.
If you are interested you can subscribe here.

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Candy Cuffs

Want a fabulous new cuff bracelet?
Want to make it yourself?
The official release for this pattern is at Quilt Market next month, but it happens to in the pattern shop already (in case you want to get the jump on it).
And let me just tell you...these are SO FUN to make!
Plus, they are fast and easy.
A little wool, a cute cotton print, a button, some bling, and 30 minutes.
Seriously!
I cannot stop making them.
I even ordered a monster pack of Swarovski crystals so I could make...oh I don't know...one (or five) for every single person I know.
Seriously!
And, I might just say that it is never too early to start on Christmas gifties. Your people will love you!


Monday, April 27, 2015

Friday, April 17, 2015

A Little Perspective


 Whole New Mom has posted an opinion on her blog about the current vaccine debate. It is short and well written and gets down to the actual meat of the matter: parental rights vs states' rights. It is a slippery slope, to be sure, and one that we need to be VERY mindful about.
I hope you will take a minute to read her post, and you can link over to it from here:
“No Vaccines? No Benefits!” How Australia’s Alarming New Policy Affects You

And just to be perfectly clear, yes, I think childhood vaccinations are very good. But I do not support the incessant and relentless stripping away of our freedoms.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

Yesterday

This project is finally finished, and to be honest, I am sorry to be wrapping it up.

The wind and the sun added such character to this picture!

If you are a regular blog reader, you already know that this quilt was inspired by the pattern "Madness"  written by Kathy Doughty of Material Obsession. But what other inspirations did I bring to the process.

Color: inspired by a wedding quilt I made last year for friends.
Fabric: the scrap basket.
Size: I ran out of orange and pink scraps.
Yesterday: this began as nothing more that happenstance. The first two blocks I made are the two in the top left corner. I had been imagining a zigzag row, but after I put the two blocks together I could only see the letter Y. So, being an improv quilt and all, I decided to go with it and I stitched together the big Y.
Also of coincidence, I had started this quilt just a few days before my birthday, and I had been spending a lot of time strolling down memory lane. Those 2 things just kind of blended together and the Y became Yesterday which, in turn, became the focus of the quilt. Finally, I took the time to write out a little list of all the things that had been on my mind so that I could use it as part of the label. In part it reads:

YESTERDAY...
…I was only 40.
...the big challenge of the day was getting 2 babies to nap at the SAME time.
…we lived in a teeny tiny apartment with a lot of doors.
…I had never made a quilt.
...I held my brother’s hand as he died.
…I had a red, white and blue bike with a banana seat and streamers.
…I was 18 and mad at the world (and my mom).
…my little girls couldn’t cross the street without a hand to hold.
…we made payments on my first $100 sewing machine.
…my mom grew tulips in our front yard.
…we would ride our bikes to the park and watch the train go by.
...I had no gray hair.
…we had unauthorized picnics on Sundays afternoons in the backyard while waiting for escrow to close on our new house.
…we drove all the way to Alaska.
…I was a college student.
…I thought I was not artistic.
…I had uterine cancer.
…we hiked Half Dome and Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park
.…I started a business.
…I joined my first friendship circle.
…I was afraid of the dark.
…I drove a blue-green Chevy Suburban with barn doors and V8 power.
…I attended my first International Quilt Market.
…we visited NYC for the first time, and saw Phantom of the Opera on Broadway.
…I married my friend.

A little ordinary mixed in with the extraordinary, a little good and a little bad, a little heartache and a little joy, a little adventure and a little ho-hum... a life well lived and now marked out in quilted beauty.

Monday, April 13, 2015

Color Me Happy

Yeah, another Color Me Happy sighting!
This one was made by my friend Linda H. Isn't is wonderfully fresh and modern looking?!


If you have finished any of the patterns from my book, I would love to see (and share them)!
You can reach me by email at rana@sewnintothefabric.com.
And if you need a copy of the book, you can get one HERE.

Friday, April 10, 2015

More QAYG

I think we have already established my love of QAYG (quilt-as-you-go).
I currently have 2 different projects in the works that are being assembled with 2 different QAYG techniques.

The first one is to sew a block in the traditional way. Then layer and quilt it as desired. Square it up. And finally, use a baffling technique to attach it to the next piece, which in this case is sashing.



The second technique involves building a block right on the batting. Then layering on the backing and adding the desired quilting. Squaring it up. And lastly, "setting" the blocks with 1" sashing (which is just enough to cover the seam allowances.


What about you...do you have a favorite QAYG technique?

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

A Day at the Zoo

My daughter and I made a day trip to the Fresno Chaffee Zoo.
Here are a few of the animals we saw...


And here is how we recorded them for posterity...


Well, I guess they won't win any awards, but we did have a really fun time hanging out together and giggling about our artistic renderings.

Monday, April 6, 2015

Three

One of my favorite people just turned 3.
This is the almost finished version of the improv quilt that I made for her (I forgot to get that final picture) with three of everything.

Friday, April 3, 2015

More Repeats

I am still obsessed with making pattern repeats!
I finished the skillshare class I told you about. Then I took a second class, signed up for a third (that I am almost finished with) and I am also in the midst of a fourth on creativebug.

It is CRAZY!! I should also mention that I have exactly ZERO time to be doing all of this (Spring Market is all of 5 weeks away), but I cannot stop myself.
Here are a few more little samples.





Now if you are interested in trying this yourself, you can join skillshare for free for one month (use the link I gave you in the previous post about repeats) or you can buy a membership at creativebug.com. Both will be well worth the investment.

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

April Mood Board

 images via:
1. crochet edges  2. keys  3. barbie shoes  4. eggs  5. sea treasure  6. clocks  7. teapots  8. books  9. glass  10.  jadite  11. plates

A collected mood board for April. Let yard sale season begin!
This mood board was designed using a template that I created in Photoshop.
That template is available as a free download, along with lots of other goodies,  for newsletter subscribers.
If you are interested you can subscribe here.

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Harbingers of Spring

Guess what's happening at our house?
Spring has come to stay!



And then there is this, which is an all together different situation that is NOT happening at our house but I kind of wish it were.


Wednesday, March 18, 2015

My First Repeat

I am taking a class on Skillshare.com called: Intro to Surface Pattern Design: Learn Adobe Illustrator | Create Patterns.
It is a terrific class and I am learning A LOT!
Here is my very first repeat. 

I think it turned out pretty cute for a first try!

I can see that I am going to be playing around with this A LOT.
And, if that is not enough, I am also enrolled in a couple of calligraphy classes, a class on creative self-portrait photography and a class on creating visual narratives.

If any of that sounds interesting to you (plus there are hundreds of other classes) you should give it try. 
Use the following link and you can try if free for a month!    
http://skl.sh/1FP4HA5    
You're welcome!!

Monday, March 16, 2015

Scissor-Frog aka Re-Purposing

Tired of rummaging around in a drawer or bag for your little scissors?
How about using a vintage floral frog as a scissor keeper!
And by scissor I mean: scissors - nippers - stiletto - seam ripper - needle case - purple thing.


Set it right out next to your sewing machine and it can double as art.
The perfect marriage of form and function.

Friday, March 13, 2015

The Nap Sack

Look what is brand new in the pattern shop!




The Nap Sack is a child sized sleeping bag made from polar fleece (or minky) and jelly roll strips.
Super easy! Super cute! And super gift-y!

I made these for my nieces and nephews for Christmas this past year. They loved them!
Not only do they insist on sleeping in them every night (tucked into the nap sack in bed under the covers...hello, ADORABLE) they also like to use them as jumping bags, hide and go seek spots, gymnastic mats, and mummy/ghost costumes. So the "nap" part of the Nap Sack...yeah totally optional!

This pattern will be available in print this spring, but for now you can find it in my Etsy shop as an instant download. LINK here.

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Selvage

Here's an idea for ya...


...add a cute piece of selvage to your next quilt label.
Aren't those fish adorable?!

Monday, March 9, 2015

The Last Piece

We took our first family road trip in the autumn of 1999.
A road trip from California to Alaska.
We had $2000 and 4 weeks of vacation time and planned to see and do it all.
We wandered the ALCAN (Alaska-Canadian Highway) at a rather leisurely pace stopping anywhere and everywhere we felt like stopping. We toured caverns and National Parks and historical sites. We photographed sweeping vistas and landmarks and tourist-y kitch. We got out first glimpses of the Northern Lights, and of moose and of herds of caribou.
And I bought my first piece of fabric sold by the meter. (We Americans, of course, are not into the metric system. All of that logical incrementation is just too much for our brains to handle!)
It was a pretty little burgundy rose bud on a butter colored background and I used it to made my youngest daughter a Sunday dress with a pretty crochet collar. It was a favorite of hers and she wore it for years.


The scraps, of course, went straight into the scrap basket and became quilting supplies.
Over the years, little bits have gone into many, many quilts.
There have been multiple occasions when I thought that I had used all of that fabric up, but then a new piece would appear from somewhere. And each time, the new piece would be even smaller than the piece before...some little snippet stuck to the backside of a larger piece of fabric in the basket.

But this time...this time I am certain that this is THE LAST piece. The end of an era.
It was hardly even big enough to work into anything (about a 1" square), but I just could not let it go. So I stitched it onto the tip of a string block and it became part of the 2015 String-Along.


And the rest, as they say, is history.

As a side note, we came home from that trip with $80 in our pockets. Today, I don't even think we could buy the gas to get there and back (in a big ol' pick up truck with a camper on it) for $2000!

Saturday, March 7, 2015

Binding

It looks like I have a day or two of binding in my future.


This, of course, also means favorite old movies and lots of hot tea.
Yeah for me!

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Quilt-as-you-go

I have been bitten by the Quilt-as-you-go bug.


 It appears to have a solid grip-on-my-life!

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Orphans, Misfits and Strays

I have been amassing blocks that don't go to anything in particular.
For lack of anything better to do with them, I have been layering onto the backside of the studio door.


It is an eclectic little collection that I rather enjoy looking at!
What do you do with all of your random creations?

Sunday, March 1, 2015

March Mood Board

image via: clover rain

A clover rain color story for March. And St. Paddy's Day.
This mood board was designed using a template created in Photoshop.
That template is available as a free download, along with lots of other goodies,  for newsletter subscribers.
If you are interested you can subscribe here.

Friday, February 27, 2015

Stag

We have a lot of dear around here.
Depending on what they are up to, we either love them or hate them.
But either way, they are a source of inspiration.
Sometimes they inspire marksmanship and other times they inspire quilts.


This one made its way to a friend who is recovering from surgery.
AND, come this spring, it will make its way into the pattern shop!!