All dressed up for Houston!

First time to Houston! Well, kind of anyway...While it's definitely on my wish-list to get to Houston Quilt Market I haven't made it yet. This year for the first time one of my patterns got there without me. My "All I Want for Christmas" tree skirt was hanging in the QuiltWoman booth during Market. Yeah!

Quiltwoman.com booth at Houston Quilt Market

Of course, for such a fancy affair, I needed to jazz it up a bit so I added ***rhinestones***! Actually, this is a new product that QuiltWoman will be carrying and asked me to **bling** a sample of my tree skirt so here's how it turned out...


 

Super-cute if you ask me and I'm not usually a "bling-girl". I'm not sure of the name of the product since they were sent kind of pre-market but it's a fusible rhinestone product that comes in sheets and you can cut to size. I opted to go with all Kona solids and bling the ribbons on the packages with the jewel-tone colored rhinestones I received and I'm pretty happy with the result. Because my pattern uses a quilt-as-you-go method, I even fused the rhinestones through all three layers - top, batting, and backing - and it worked just fine. Easy-peasy.

I may be a bling convert!

Happy stitching,

Tonya

Blogging buddy faux pas

I am a bad-blogging-buddy for sure. I have no excuse. My wonderfully creative and talented friend Pam has a super-active blog called Pam Banis Originals full of all kinds of beautiful creative things. She does quilts, garments, costumes, wool, you name it. She also makes these awesome vintage spool ornaments that I love. The pic below are some of her special ones for October.

2013 LIMITED EDITION PB0- PINK THREAD SPOOL ORNAMENTS

She very crazily graciously asked me for a blog interview about my creative process. I did it, she posted it, and I have not shared it. Boo-hiss.

So here you go, if you are interested at all in what goes on in my goofy little creative brain, check out the interview. Or, better yet, just check out some of the really cool stuff Pam does!

Happy stitching,

Tonya

Giveaway winner!

Hey Sherry! You're the winner of the magazine giveaway! Yeah!

But I need to know where to mail your prize -

please email me at eyecandyquiltco@gmail.com

Congratulations!

Time to Sew...again!

Hi all,

I got a bit of a gift in the mail this week. My sewing room clock came back home from Quilter's World! I call it "Time to Sew". What do you think?

"Time to Sew!"

It's featured in the Winter 2013 edition of Quilter's World magazine that you should be seeing on newsstands and in shops soon.



Quilter's World, Winter 2013
 

Full project directions are available in the Winter 2013 edition if you want to make one for your sewing room, or any room for that matter!

It was quick and easy, made completely from scraps on hand and was a lot of fun to make! The only extra materials you need are a scrapbook frame and a clock kit from the craft store.

How about a give away? No, not my clock! But a copy of the magazine...;) Leave me a comment and tell me your favorite time to sew. I'll draw a name from the batch and the magazine will be yours!

Happy stitching,

Tonya

Sunny Side Up

Here we are at the end of September and the weather the last weekend just confirmed that summer is long gone in my corner of the world. The wind was blowing, the rain was back in full force and summer is just a sweet memory now. To celebrate the beautiful summer that was, earlier this month I decided to dive into all the yellow fabrics I picked up during summer vacation and got to cutting.

All the lovely yellows cut into 2 1/2" strips

I have had this quilt in mind for at least a couple of years. Here's the photo inspiration I've had tacked to my bulletin board for a while. It's an ad for a luxury hotel somewhere but there's something about the tile pattern that I am just really drawn to. What's not to love about a log cabin variation?

Design inspiration - hotel advertisement from a magazine

First, I tried using a solid yellow and solid white just like the tile in the picture but it didn't do anything for me. Disappointed, I put it in the closet and it's been sitting there for a couple of years. Fast forward to this summer and my yellow fabric shopping spree while on vacation. I wasn't ready to give up on this quilt. Like everything else, I figured it just needed to be "scrapped up" for more interest. Now I am loving it! Not content with a little reasonable wall hanging, I went all out and went full bed-size. Big surprise. Going big and going down hard! Here's a sneak peek:


Work in process

Now that the Crock-Pot is back into Fall dinner rotation, I'll have time to get my new summer bed quilt ready! I think I'm going to call it "Sunny Side Up".

Happy end-of-summer stitching,

Tonya

Quilt show weekend

Hi everyone! Just wanted to share some quilt show information if you're in my corner of the world. Today and tomorrow the members of Evergreen Quilters will be hosting their show in Bellingham. Here are the details and a pic of their lovely raffle quilt:

EverGreen Quilters
 2013 Quilt Show
Bountiful Baskets

     
    Friday,     September 13:  10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
    Saturday, September 14:  10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Birchwood Presbyterian Church
Family Life Center
400 Meadowbrook Court
Bellingham, WA  98226

Over 100 quilts by Evergreen Quilters Members,
Merchant tables
Boutique
Raffle Quilt
Raffle Basket
White Elephant Sale
Quilting Demonstration

Admission:  $6,00

If you go to their website, you can print a page with a $1 off coupon for admission. Lots of really talented ladies in this group and I'm sure the show will be great. I'm looking forward to it. Hope to see you there!

Happy stitching,

Tonya

On the Dot

My modern baby quilt goes retro! I call it "On the Dot" (because all babies arrive as expected, of course!)

"On the Dot"

The inspiration for this quilt design was actually from a silver tinsel Christmas tree my aunt had back in the 70's. It had a color light circle that rotated and reflected off the tinsel to turn your tree four different colors. Very groovy and fun! Did you have one of these? You never know where your going to get and idea for your next quilt.

The quilt and pattern is currently featured in Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting September/October 2013 issue that is available now. Believe it or not, there is no curved piecing in this quilt! I used a window-pane fusible applique technique and then sliced and diced my way to these mixed up circles of color. I love black and white checkerboards just about anywhere but I thought they would be a little too strong for a baby quilt so I opted for grey and whites instead. This was a quick and easy project and I had fun making it.

Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting September/October 2013
 

 Happy stitching,
Tonya