better off thread…

Sew Cute Tuesday

Posted on May 21, 2013 | 5 Comments

Welcome to Sew Cute Tuesday!

I am in full party planning mode for my daughter’s 2nd birthday. I fell asleep last night making tissue paper flowers and didn’t get the post up Monday night. It’s only 7:30am on Tuesday here, but I think pretty much everyone else in the entire world is well into their Tuesday!

So I’ll get down to business!

I had trouble picking my favorites this week. There were lots of really wonderful projects. Here are a few:

I adore these Little Red Riding Hood Placemats from Suedre at The Bored Zombie. There are four paper-pieced blocks in the series and the quilting she did it beautiful (check out her blog for close-ups and more blocks!)

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These are pillows I want to sleep on! Made by ChrissieD has a very lucky daughter with new pillowcases. I love all the fabrics she chose and the red trim is a great touch.

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Here is one that is going on my “To Do” list! Amanda from What the Bobbin created this fun, drawstring, backpack for her daughter from a paper-pieced bee block. Everything about this is simply adorable, from the bee, to the striped backing, to the lining and especially the little model!

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It’s time to link-up your projects from the past week!

• Sewing projects only (that includes crochet, knitting and anything with fabric and thread!)

•Please be sure to visit a couple other blogs in the link-up and give them some love.

• Link back to my blog and help spread the word about Sew Cute Tuesday

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Posted in Uncategorized

Bouncy Flouncy Birthday Dress

Posted on May 19, 2013 | 9 Comments

Emmeline’s 2nd birthday is this week (eek!) and I wanted to make her a new dress for her party. My friend, Ramona, asked me if I would like to test the pattern for a new dress she designed, so the timing was perfect!

The pattern is called The BouncyFlouncy Dress and it truly is bouncy and flouncy! It was easy to put together (even all those gathered, hemmed, flounces were quicker than I thought, because it’s a tiny little dress) plus it’s made from fat quarters, so I just pulled fabrics from my stash (mostly Spot On dots from Robert Kaufman).

I made Emmeline a 2T and then did tucks at the shoulders and a ribbon around the back, because she is a skinny almost 2 year-old. Then I can let it out and tie it looser as she grows.

She loves this dress SO much and she is going to have a blast playing in it at her party. The first time I showed it to her she shook the ruffles and said, “My beautiful dress!”.

Are you sick of photos, yet? I’m just gonna keep them coming!

The pattern for the BouncyFlouncy Dress is available on Craftsy and Ramona’s instructions make it easy.

Somersaulting in her flounces. I guess she needs a ruffled diaper cover!

This will definitely be a pattern that goes into Emma’s dress rotation. Next up, is one in cool shades!

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Posted in Sewing

Blogger’s Quilt Festival

Posted on May 17, 2013 | 25 Comments

It’s that time of year again when we normal, common, quilting citizens sit at home and cry about not attending Quilt Market, (well ok, maybe it isn’t that bad, but I know I’m at least a couple shades of green). Luckily, Amy at Amy’s Creative Side has organized The Bloggers Quilt Festival and it gets bigger and better each time!

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My favorite quilt I have made this year would be my Spiral Geese Mini Quilt.

I created this rainbow mini for a Flickr swap and it was a fun challenge all around. I enjoy experimenting with curved geese and I had this image of a spiral in my head. I wasn’t even sure if it would actually work, but it did! You can read about my process for creating a pattern for this mini here.

I quilted it on my Juki and hand embroidered teeny-tiny white geese in the center.

I’m currently working on a pattern for this mini, so check back, if you want to make your own!

Stats:

Size: 20″x 20″

Special Techniques: paper-piecing, reverse appliqué

Quilted by: Janice Ryan (that’s me!)

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Posted in quilting

Sew Cute Tuesday

Posted on May 13, 2013 | 9 Comments

Welcome to another Sew Cute Tuesday!

I hope everyone had a great Mother’s Day! I certainly enjoyed a day of relaxing with my family. My big project this week is setting up and learning to use my new mid-arm machine:

I can’t wait to get quilting on it!

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Now, I bring you some eye candy from last week’s link-up:

Christine from Beanniequilts made this adorable, reversible toddler jacket. Check out her blog, because the gingham reverse is just as fantastic!

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I am always amazed at what a prolific sewer Beth at Plum & June is. Everything she makes is also beautiful and thoughtful. I really love the contrasting sashing Beth chose for this baby quilt and how she made great use of the narrow scraps by adding them back in. I recently made a quilt top with blocks just like these and now I want to rip them apart and do it like this (thanks, Beth, ha!)

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This Kitchen-Aid Mixer cover by Susie at Susie’s Sunroom is another project that needs to go on my to-do list. I just used my mixer today and had to wipe the entire thing down, because it gets so cruddy between uses (maybe I need to bake more!). Susie did such a beautiful job with the paper-piecing. Check out her blog for the pattern details.

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It’s time to link-up your projects from the past week!

• Sewing projects only (that includes crochet, knitting and anything with fabric and thread!)

•Please be sure to visit a couple other blogs in the link-up and give them some love.

• Link back to my blog and help spread the word about Sew Cute Tuesday

→ 9 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

Giveaway Winner!

Posted on May 11, 2013 | 4 Comments

Wow, there were 1358 entries in my Sew, Mama, Sew giveaway! thank you to all my readers, old and new. Welcome to the new ones and I hope you stick around!

The winner is:

#710, Katie!

I’ve emailed the winner, so if you haven’t seen the email yet, Katie, send me your mailing address.

Thank you so much to everyone who entered. I wish everyone could win (including me, I never win giveaways!).

Happy Mother’s Day!

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Posted in Uncategorized

Bees, BOMs, WIPs and a sneak peek.

Posted on May 8, 2013 | 10 Comments

I’ve been working on a little of this and a lot of that lately. I’m mostly trying to get caught up on blocks I owe people!

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This is a sneak peek of a quilt pattern I’ve been working on for Issue 14 of Fat Quarterly. Check for it in the next issue! (Don’t worry, I’ll announce it…you’ll be sick of me announcing it.)

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Would you believe I just started this quilt top yesterday? I had a bit (ok, a ton!) of Robert Kaufman’s “Studio Stash” leftover from a project, and my husband has been asking me to make a quilt for an aunt who lives in a convent in Ireland. I inquired on Instagram for a quick, fun, pattern and the St. Louis 16-Patch was suggested. It was amazingly fast and I love the bold, checkerboard look. There is a whole sew-along on Instagram right now (check out #stlouis16patch to see photos).

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These Courthouse Step blocks were made for Latifah from the Quilt Engineer, for Bee Happy Bee. She is capturing the feel of an antique quilt (happy mistakes and all) with modern fabrics and it is looking divine! I can’t wait to see this quilt finished!

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These X-Plus blocks were also for Bee Happy. Nicole mixed together Denyse Schmidt’s “Hope Valley” with various low volume fabrics. I really love these blocks and the fabrics she chose. I’ve been wanting to make one of these myself.

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And yet another Bee Happy block! This one is for Alison and it’s a Quirky Star Block from the book ‘Fresh Perspectives’ by Carol Jones and Bobbi Finley. It is based on an antique quilt and the visual impact of all the blocks together is really stunning.

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I managed to finally catch up on my “And Sew On…” paper-pieced blocks. This is a Block of the Month series over at Quiet Play and they are going to make a really cute wall-hanging for my sewing room when I finish.

Lastly, are my blocks for the “Lucky Stars” BOM being hosted by Don’t Call Me Betsy. I’m having a lot of fun doing both of this and the “And Sew On…”BOM. They are both paper-piecing, so they are a good way to exercise my brain (some people do Sudoku, I do intense piecing by number!)

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Whew! That’s all for now!

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Posted in quilting

Sew Cute Tuesday

Posted on May 6, 2013 | 5 Comments

Are you ready to link-up?!

I had a busy week sewing for work, but I’m going to be getting back to personal projects this week, and I can’t wait!

So many great projects were shared last week and here are a few that inspired me:

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Adrianne from “On the Windy Side” made this striking low-volume plus quilt using Oakshott for the solids. I have been looking for color inspiration for the low-volume spiderweb that I want to make and THIS is it. If you haven’t worked with Oakshott, try them out. They are so amazing.

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I love these drawstring preschool bags Alyce from “Blossom Heart Quilts” made for her son. My poor son has an extra change of clothes in a giant zip-lock bag. I think he would really love these, especially with a robot print!

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Michelle at “Squeek Crafts” made these postage stamp pillows. What a great use for scraps and I love that little wonky star on the blue pillow. Check out Michelle’s blog to see how she did the back opening. I like it better than the envelope back I normally do.

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It’s time to link-up your projects from the past week!

• Sewing projects only (that includes crochet, knitting and anything with fabric and thread!)

•Please be sure to visit a couple other blogs in the link-up and give them some love.

• Link back to my blog and help spread the word about Sew Cute Tuesday

→ 5 Comments

Posted in Sew Cute Tuesday

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!

Posted on May 5, 2013 | 1,360 Comments

It’s time again for Sew, Mama, Sew’s Giveaway Day (which is actually a WHOLE week!). I do love a good giveaway and I’ve been holding onto this stack of fabric for you guys for awhile.

If you are new to my blog, welcome! I’m Janice and I live in Southern California with my husband and two little ones (Liam is 3 and Emmeline is almost 2). I’m a costume designer by profession, but I love sewing quilts, kid’s clothing and decor with modern and vintage fabrics. At the top of my blog you can find my finished quilts, projects and tutorials. I also host a sewing link-up each week called “Sew Cute Tuesday“.

If you like what you see, please take a moment to follow my blog either by RSS, email or on Facebook. You can also find me on instagram as “Betteroffthread”

I bet you want to know what I am giving away, right? I have this delicious stack of Anna Maria Horner “Little Folks” voile just waiting for a new home!

The winner will receive everything pictured above, which is 28 different prints. Most cuts are 9″x 18″, a few are 6″x 18″ and the fabric in the middle is 23″x 23″. This is more than enough for a super-soft and buttery baby quilt. Add sashing and you can make a huge quilt!

I used these same fabric to make this Scrappy Trip Around the World quilt earlier this year and I’m giving you everything I have left!

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You can enter to win three different ways (enter once, or do all three, it’s up to you!)

1. Leave a comment telling me your favorite fabric line, book, or pattern.

2. Follow my blog (RSS, email, Bloglovin’…etc). Leave a comment telling me you are a follower.

3. Become a fan on Facebook, or follow me in Instagram (Betteroffthread). Leave a comment telling me which one you did.

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The giveaway is open until Friday, May 10th at 5pm PST. Winner will be chosen by random number generator on May 11th. International entrants are welcome!

Good luck to all!

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Posted in giveaways

Sew Cute Tuesday

Posted on April 29, 2013 | 8 Comments

Happy almost May, everyone!

It’s time for Sew Cute Tuesday!

There were 40 fantastic link-ups last week! You guys rock! Thanks for spreading the word about Sew Cute Tuesday.

Here are a few projects that caught my eye:

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Cassandra from Cass Can Sew made this chic little girl’s capelet from pink corduroy and vintage sheets. What little girl wouldn’t want to twirl around in this?

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I love this adorable Tea or Coffee mini made by Gemma from Pretty Bobbins. She is selling the pattern on Craftsy and she also has crazy-cute pattern for a retro TV that you MUST check out.

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Jill from Creating My Way To Success posted a tutorial for this cute and funny little “A Round Tuit” Mug Rug. This would make a great gift (most specifically for your husband, ha-ha! “). My family used to go to a mini-golf course when I was little that would hand out “Round Tuits”, so I have a certain fondness for this little mug rug.

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It’s time to link-up your projects from the past week!

• Sewing projects only (that includes crochet, knitting and anything with fabric and thread!)

•Please be sure to visit a couple other blogs in the link-up and give them some love.

• Link back to my blog and help spread the word about Sew Cute Tuesday

→ 8 Comments

Posted in Sew Cute Tuesday

Tutorial: Sewing Semi-circular Curves

Posted on April 26, 2013 | 7 Comments

I’ve been asked by a few people how to sew the really tight curves on my NY Beauty Circle of Flying Geese Pattern, so I thought I would post a little tutorial to explain my process. This tutorial will work for any semi-circular curves and all of the curves in the New York Beauty Block.

First, cut out your pattern pieces, leaving 1/4″ seam allowance around the edges.

Fold the pieces in half, matching up the straight edges. Finger press to create a center crease.

Both pieces are now creased in the center.

Pin your centers together, with the concave curve (piece B) on top.

Line up your corners and edges so that they are parallel and directly on top of each other. This will give you a nice, straight edge once your pieces are sewn together.

In the photo on the left, the edges are directly on top of each other. In the photo on the right, the corners are matched up, but the edges do not match.

Continue pinning the edges together and gently ease any extra fabric in. I used 5 pins, but use as many as you need!

Sew your pieces together 1/4″ from the cut edge. You may need to stretch the fabric a bit as you sew. Be sure to back-tack at each end.

Here are the pieces sewn together. It’s not perfection, but it will do!

Gently press your seam allowance towards piece B.

Back and front of the finished curve. Note how the edges create a nice, straight line.

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Are you still scared to try it? There is another option, so that you can avoid that tiny curve all together.

Trim the seam allowance off the curved edge of piece A.

Tape piece A to piece B along the seam lines.

Cut your fabric out from this newly merged pattern piece. At the top of this photo is the original piece and at the bottom is the simplified version. You’ll still need to sew the other curves in your block, but you’ll avoid the smallest one.

Get sewin’ and if you have any questions, email me!

→ 7 Comments

Posted in quilting, Sewing