Black Coffee Quilts

Summer is over.

2011-09-28T15:28:00.000-07:00

Okay so during the late spring/early summer I don't do a lot of quilting or any other crafts to be exact but I am slowly getting back to it, so when I have some new interesting projects that I've completed I will post them.

Hope you all had a good summer.

so much to do... so little time

2011-05-25T11:37:00.000-07:00

Seriously I have no time. I did however fill out a billion blog giveaways (well if felt like that many). Good luck to everyone who entered.

2011-05-07T12:37:00.000-07:00

Let's start out with some music:

So I've been working on a baby quilt. It's called Hooterville (yes weird name for a baby quilt but anyways.) Here are the owls for the quilt:

There will be 16 owls in all, 4 trees, and some triangles. When I get more done. I will post more. Which owl is your favorate?

Steph

Paper Piecing

2011-05-05T14:30:00.000-07:00

I love paper piecing. I just learned how to do it from some friends of mine, after searching for a shop that does a class in it for a year, and coming up empty. So now that I know how to do it, I see it being taught in a couple different shops.... figures....

anyways here are pictures of what I am doing.

Paper piece christmas trees. I generally don't like to do christmas crafts, but these are so easy and fast. I am going to make two table toppers, one for me and one for my mom for christmas.

Also I made a cupcake pot holder. I didn't like the pattern this came from though, I should have made the muffin top a little bigger so that when i was turning it there would be a little extra room.

That's all for today.
Have a good day!

Music... We Need some Music!!!!!

2011-05-04T19:12:00.000-07:00

Seriously this is the third time I've tried to post this.

I don't have any new projects to share today but I would like to share some music.

So grab a cup of tea and listen.

Patchabilities

2011-05-03T18:50:00.000-07:00

I am loving these patchabilities patterns. You can check out the website for them at:

http://www.patchabilities.com/

I have done several of them, and have several more to finish. Here are the ones I've done.

Tulips

Chocolate Bunny

Candy Hearts

Flower Pots

Canada Day

They have tons of different patterns and they are super simple for you lazy quilters out there like me. I've found that I love applique and now I am trying to find a class in classic turn over applique in my area to take. It's surprising to me that most of the quilt shops in the are teach this method where you use steam-a-seam and a blanket stitch but nobody seems to teach the classic way of doing it.

Also sorry for the huge amount of time between this and my last post.

More Greece

2010-08-12T06:06:00.000-07:00

I thought I would add more photos of Greece today. I will be heading back to Canada soon.

This is the old port in Fira, Santorini

Fira in Santorini

This is the boat we went to Santorini on. Don't sit up top when there is a lot of waves... bad idea!

A picture of the parthenon.

That's all for today. I'll add more in a few days.

Food in Greece

2010-07-23T11:22:00.000-07:00

Today's blogpost is all pictures of foods in Greece.

Win 21 fat quarters!

2010-07-14T00:18:00.000-07:00

For a chance to win 21 fat quarters from the collection flower sugar 2 head on over to:

http://mariemadelinestudio.typepad.com/mariemadeline_studio/2010/07/a-giveaway-for-a-whole-flower-sugar-fat-quarter-bundle.html

Trip to Santorini

2010-07-10T13:36:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!
I hope you are all enjoying your summer. Mine has been an adventure definantly. I don't have time to write a lot but thought I'd present you all with pictures of the donkey sculptures of Santorini. If you ever get the chance to go to Santorini, it is amazing. Now onto the donkeys.

The first two donkeys were on the black beach. This is the Domed Church Donkey.

This is the chess donkey.

This is the splotchy donkey. Sorry that the picture isn't great.

This is the world donkey.

This is me with Donkeysaurus.

Here are some real donkeys.

Enjoy
Steph

Going on Vacation.

2010-06-14T12:06:00.000-07:00

First off this might be my last post for a couple of months, but I will try to update, and put on pictures of Greece as I go if I am able to find an internet cafe, and if I have time. I hope I have time because then you can all come on vacation with me, atleast through pictures.

Now let's start with the song that's been going through my head all day.

Sway. This is a fairly old song, according to wikipedia it was originally from 1953. I am feeling in the mood for a little mambo music... too bad I am no good at dancing.

So I'd like to take this opportunity to show you my new hair cut and highlights for Greece. What do you all think?

It's not a very good picture of it but the highlights are bronze coloured.

Altleast it's cooler then my old hairstyle.

I also wanted to mention that I won a few things during the sew mama sew event in mid-may.

Now the pincushion is wonderful and I think it'll be more of a decoration then something to stick pins in for me. It's from Cindy at http://www.aroundtheblockdesigns.blogspot.com/

The Scissor Bling is wonderful and from Susan at http://quixoticcrafter.blogspot.com/

This wonderful set of 2 embroidery threads, 2 beautiful fabrics, a bright and colorful pincushion and the book pretty little potholders is from Martina at
http://sunshinequilting.blogspot.com/

I can't wait to make potholders but it will have to wait until I get back from Greece. I wonder if I'll find any interesting fabric there.

I hope you all have a wonderful summer if I don't get to blogging until I am back.

Stephanie

Two Lane Blacktop and updates

2010-06-09T08:16:00.000-07:00

Hello and welcome to Wednesday. Only 6 more days till I am off to Greece. YAY!

First off Music:

I felt like something a little harder today. So this is Rob Zombie - Two Lane Blacktop. As well as music, Rob Zombie is one of my favorate directors. If you like creepy horror movies, like I do, then check out House of 1000 corpses and The Devil's Rejects. If you don't like horror movies, then these will definantly not be good movies to watch.

As some of you know I have been working on a quilt for my mother for Christmas. I know Christmas is a long way off but I am going away for 2 months and am not bringing my sewing machine. So today I finished the middle part of the quilt.

Now I just have to add on the border color - darker purple batik and then applique on the flowers, then quilt and bind. I've realized that I don't like working with batiks so much. You need to iron them constantly and they aren't soft or silky like some other cottons. The only thing I really like about them is the colors and patterns. I am not crazy about the purple border color but my mom picked it out. This might end up being my ugly quilt.

My flowers are blooming. I love lilies, but if you have pets, keep them away from the lilies because lilies are poisonous to animals.

I just know they will be in full bloom while I am away. Isn't that great. Spend all the time planting them, only to miss seeing them bloom. Oh well, hopefully the neighbours enjoy them.

Steph

2010-06-05T09:51:00.000-07:00

Hello and Welcome to Saturday!

If you live in Windsor/Essex check out the Art in the Park or the Redbull Air Races.

Now for some music:

This is a band called Komeda from Sweden.

I have been working on my mother's quilt but I have no new pictures so here are some other things I've done in the past year.

This is a Dolphin Hotpad that I made out of scraps.

Also I've been working on Patchabilities:
http://www.patchabilities.com/

I am going to go check out Art in the Park and the Air Races with some friends. My lilies are starting to bloom in the garden and I am going to take some pictures later today and I'll post them next time.

Greece is only 9 more days away... whoo hoo... oh and a 13 hour flight. Bah... I haven't been on a plane since I was 5. A friend of mine says take-off and landing is like a roller coaster.... that didn't help my anxiety about it any.

Have a good day!
Steph

Win a Go Cutter!!!

2010-06-04T09:03:00.000-07:00

Bejeweled Quilts by Barb is giving away a Go Cutter! I've never tried one but it looks like loads of fun.

If you go and enter to win, post my blog name and I'll get an extra entry. Whoo hoo.....

Here is the link to the giveaway:
http://bejeweledquilts.blogspot.com/2010/05/accuquilt-go-giveaway-time-is-nowthe.html

Here is the link to the accuquilt go cutter website incase you aren't sure what it is:

http://www.accuquilt.com/homepage.asp?

This nifty new toy could be yours, although I hope it ends up being mine!

Good Luck!!!!
Steph

2010-06-02T09:19:00.000-07:00

First the music.

Today The Cardigans - My favorate game

I am pretty sure most people have heard this song, but I like the video and the song so this is today's song. Maybe if you are like me you want to dance around the living room to it while your dog stares at you with his goofy eyes. I wonder what he's thinking to himself?

So I am going to Greece. Yippee! I've decided to give the two ladies I will be staying with the snap bag/coaster combo plus a little tissue pack because these things are super easy to find space in my luggage for.

Tissue Pack:

They match. YAY! These are super easy. The pattern was in one of the Quilts and more magazines but I am sure you could find it online.

I am also making a charm square quilt for my mother. I made my father a quilt last year that looks like this:

He loves Canada. So do I, but he's obsessed with canadian things so I made him this quilt, which is technically my first quilt that I've finished.

So my mom wanted mauve as a background color... seriously mauve... thanks mom. This is a super hard color to find in a batik so I found one. I don't like it but mom does so.... we will see how this turns out:

This last one is going to be the outside border, to give it a little interest. I hope it turns out okay. More pictures will come the more I get done.

Back to cleaning and organizing the bedroom.
Happy Wednesday.
Steph

Mini Quilt is Coming Along.

2010-05-30T13:04:00.000-07:00

Happy Sunday!

First off let's do some music:

Okay this is kinda silly but appropriate because I might be going on vacation soon. So I probably won't be posting blog posts during that time but we will see.

First off here is a picture of what those little 30's printed pieces I had cut out last week are starting to become:

I've got bear paw fever! I wonder if that is like cat scratch fever? It isn't finished yet and I'll update pics when I have finished.

I NEED OPINIONS:

I need to bring a gift for my hosts on vacation, something small but nice.

Note that my hosts are 82 year old ladies.

Here are the options. First I have two snap bags with matching coasters.

Or I could make some potholders/table covers out of this piece of UFO I found in my stash:

and the other could have these two placemats:

Well there you have that. Let me know what you thinks, and I'll tell you what I've decided closer to when I leave.

Sale Day at Quilt Shop

2010-05-28T14:47:00.000-07:00

This isn't exactly a music video although it has music to it, but I think the westies are super cute. I love puppies.

Today and Tommorrow are sale days in the Windsor/Essex quilt stores and so I found some pretty nice buys for cheap.

First off:

I found this at a booth outside of one of the quilt stores for$3. I think it's 1 meter of eatch print but it could be more because I haven't measured it yet. The friend I was with got this purple flower print 4 meters for $3, so this could very well be 2 meters each.

Next up:

A stained glass quilted birds pattern for $1. I've always wanted to try doing stained glass quilting but haven't had the time and thought this wasa pretty little pattern.

I love anything with big flowers on it. I have no plans for it just yet but I am sure I can find something interesting to do with it. I bought this at half price for $9 a meter, and bought one meter.

Last and my favorate.

It's a redwork sheet that I found, and it'sso pretty. I don't know when it was made but I am sure it's fairly old, although in great condition. Sorry about the picture, it was windy out, and there isn't enough light in my house.

The hands in the center say two names and birthdates. One is from 1830 and the other is 1829. I am sure the spread isn't that old, but I know it's not new either. Any ideas on age?

So I spent the day helping at the quilt shop. I am going back tommorrow too.

I haven't said anything yet about this on the blog, because I wasn't sure if I wanted to say anything or not, but on February 25th 2010 I had RNY gastric bypass surgery and in the 3 months since surgery I have lost 70lbs. Yay for me. Anyways I took a new picture on my three month surgerversury. Here it is:

I hope you all have a great Friday. TGIF!!!

Au Revoir Simone and Mini Big Quilt

2010-05-25T06:55:00.000-07:00

Good Morning. Regardless that this song is called "sad song" it has a happy beat.

This is going to be fairly short since I have a lot of work to do today but I thought I'd put up a picture of an early project of mine. It's a miniature of my first big quilt. I had leftover fabric.

I know it's not a very good picture.

have a happy tuesday!
Steph

Waste of Money

2010-05-23T11:28:00.000-07:00

Good Sunday.

First of all Music.

This is a band from Korea called BoA. The song is called Duvet. I've loved this song since I was 16 and it still makes me feel good when going through something rough.

I am kind of annoyed today. I went grocery shopping and picked up the Summer 2010 edition of Easy Quilts by Fon's and Porter. What a waste of money. I bought it because it had a coupon in it for a "FREE 2009 Archive CD Coupon" which meant to me that it was Free and that I'd have to go to their website, fill out a form with my address so that they could send me junk mail but I'd get a years worth of free patterns. So I bought the magazine, and took out the "coupon" only to discover how wrong I was. "Free" actually means that I can go to their website and when I buy $75 worth of overpriced fonsandporter.com stuff they'll give me the cd free. That doesn't see very free to me.

Now okay so that's kinda crappy, you say, but definantly not worth all this whining about it. Atleast you got the magazine and all the patterns with it.

Well that's what I thought too until I started looking through the magazine. I've boughten it before and didn't like it, but surely there would be something nice in it. All the patterns are trying to sell you the specific fabric to go with them, and most of them won't work without it. So it's essentially a catalogue of the kits they sell on their website.

The patterns that you could use without the specific fabric are so super simple and basic that I could find those patterns for free online or figure them out by myself.

I went to the website and sent a letter to them:

Hello,

I just bought the Summer 2010 easy quilts magazine at my local grocery store. What a waste of money. $7.99 cdn plus tax. First of all the "Free 2009 Archive CD Coupon" which enticed me to buy the magazine even though I don't like it and in the past have been disappointed with it. "Free" obviously means something different to you, because to me it means "will not cost me anything" but apparently to you it means "costs me $75" at your store which is overpriced anyways. So I bought the magazine that I don't like because you enticed me with something I can't use. Second the patterns in the magazine aren't anything new or fascinating. They are the same things that I can get online or figure out myself for free. Simple Summer Projects are boring and just showcase fabrics for different companies instead of having any creativity to them. I have other pattern magazines that use the same basic ideas as your patterns but atleast put some sort of new spin on the idea. It's obvious to me that the whole magazine is just about selling your overpriced store items. I do not like buying a magazine who's sole purpose is to be a giant advertisement. I think the only reason you make money or sell copies is because you have the Quilters Club of America as a backer, or possibly because you have Fons and Porter as "editors". They are obviously just in it for the money and don't really care about what goes into it.

I won't ever be enticed by you sneaking around the truth, and I won't buy another publication by Fons and Porter.

Have a nice day!
Stephanie Atchison

Hopefully someone reads it but I kinda doubt it.

Personally my favorate mags are:

Quilts and More by Better Homes and Gardens
http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/
This is a great magazine because it has all sorts of projects, not just quilts. I like their small projects because they are quick to do.

Quilters Home
http://www.quiltershomemag.com/index.html
I love this magazine because it isn't just quilting patterns, it's articles and reviews and all sorts of fun stuff too.

I also like the Austrailian quilt magazines but they have a bit too much hand embroidery for me and I just don't have time, but they have inspiring projects and dolls to make.

Enjoy your sunday.

Bags that I will never make, but maybe you will?

2010-05-22T08:42:00.000-07:00

I was just looking over some internet sites on how to make bags. I have never made one, I started making one but my teacher got bored of helping me and now it's half finished sitting in my closet.

I was hoping that I'd win a new bag in the sewmamasew giveaways but since I didn't it seems like a perfect opportunity to figure out how to make one myself. YAY!

Anyways here are some bags I definantly will not be making.

The Lean Cuisine Bag: http://www.craftbits.com/project/lean-cuisine-box-bag

The Seat Belt Bag: http://twofoos.com/index.php/crafts-2/seat-belt-purse/

The Kool-Aid Purse: http://henriettashandbags.com/koolaid-purse.html
I have seen these sold in a store near me, and I've seen people with them, so if you like them then good for you. It's not my style though.

The Map Purse: http://www.sonyastyle.com/sections/wear/Map_Purse
I think this one is kind of neat, but I am still not going to make it because I'd be afraid it would rip too easily, plus I tend to overload my bags.

On another note if anyone has a great (super easy) purse/tote tutorial let me know please. I need something that caters to my stash being made up primarily of fat quarters and scraps of fabric.

This is my Moose. He's having a lazy saturday today. That look is the "Do I really have to get up" look.

Oh and my floor.... well I have to put down new flooring but it hasn't happened yet.

Newest Project:

Guess what it is? The tiny little blocks and pieces took forever to cut out. The pattern called for black, but I don't have any and didn't feel like shlepping my way out to the quilt shop to get some, so I am just using..... more white!

Oh and todays music du jour is something I found last night that I kinda thought was nice.

Hope you enjoy it. It's kinda funky. It's Morticia by Combustible Edison
It reminds me of 70's music.

Happy Saturday.
Steph

Blogger's Quilt Festival

2010-05-22T07:40:00.000-07:00

Don't forget the check out the bloggers quilt festival if you have the time.

Ska and Flowers!

2010-05-21T08:12:00.000-07:00

I felt something a little different this morning, so I decided to listen to some ska. For those of you who aren't familiar with ska, it is a mixture of punk music and swing music. I hope you enjoy. Oh and "Skank" is a type of dance not something rude.

Mustard Plug - Skank by Numbers.

I went out this morning to take photos of my flowers for everyone in bloglandia to see. It's kind of overcast outside today so the photos aren't terribly bright.

This is my flowerbed. I dug up the old one, put down posts and filled it in with new soil this year to get rid of the weeds, oh and put down that black fabric weed barrier. No weeds so far! Yay. We have massive problems with creeping charlie here, and that stuff is so hard to get rid of.

This is my first rose coming out. When the others bloom I'll take more pictures of them. I have 6 roses in my front lawn but 1 of them has died and I need to get off my butt and replace it but I can't find any interesting rose colors. If anyone has a suggestion on which color I should add let me know. So far I have Peach, Red, White, Yellow, and Pink in my front yard. I want something a little wild and crazy. I saw a purply-blue one at the store the other day that I liked but it didn't look very healthy.

I actually have three of these multi-colored flowerpots full of gerber daisies and marigolds (I think they are marigolds), but the yellow one looked a little blah, so I have to prune it before I show it.

I've started a new mini quilt, which right now is just in the cutting up fabric stage so no pics yet. It's going to include 1930's prints and prairie points.

Enjoy your friday.

Nouvelle Vague and Snap Bags for work.

2010-05-19T17:47:00.000-07:00

I love the sound of her voice. I could just dance around my living room to it. In fact I have, but I am not right now because I am writing this.

Sorry I didn't update yesterday. I was in Toronto at a doctors appointment but it's all good. Just a lot of driving. 4 hours there, and 6 hours back because we got stuck when a power line went down on the highway.

I spent a lot of time today filling out comment boxes on other blogs for giveaways. I have only one something once and that was in college. I won my books free for the first semester, but it wasn't much of a challenge because only 1 other person entered. That and there were 2 prizes. So wish me luck. If you wanna get in on that you can go to sewmamasew's blog at sewmamasew.com

Another great thing happened today, I got my first follower. Whoo Hoo! Hopefully the first of many.

Here is what I was working on for work. It's super simple but I don't have the pattern here, so when I go to work next I'll grab it and right it here.

Aren't they cute. They are super easy too and you use tape measures (the metal construction type) to make them super snappy.

Snappy is such a fun word.

Anyways get in on those giveaways while you can. Maybe next year (if I am not too busy with school) I'll add something. Here's hoping!

Ani Defranco and the Moda Mini

2010-05-17T09:12:00.000-07:00

I love Ani Defranco, she is so inspiring. This song totally got me through high school. I was the chubby girl who was shy and liked to hide in the art room.

There are layers and facets to every person that you can't see on the surface and even the chubby girls have something special inside of them.

Anyways on to quilting. I was at a quilt show in Chatham, Ontario on the weekend that had lots to see. I bought a few cool things. A book of iron on quilt labels, a fat quarter the color of Tiffany blue. Yum! Also I bought a cute moda panel that I assume is from an older collection since it was fairly cheap and moda is usually expensive (atleast in Canada). Here's a picture of it.

I love the traditional sampler style without me having to applique anything. Although I've recently been doing patchabilities monthly minis through a local quilt shop in Windsor, but I'll talk about those another day.

I saw so many amazing quilts at the quilt show and I got in for free since I was helping out the shop. Lot's of inspiration, of course I forgot my camera. I also over changed a guy $4 but my boss didn't care, she said everyone makes mistakes. Oops! I guess I'd better double check everything with the calculator.

Yesterday I went out for breakfast with friends at this great place here in Windsor, Ontario called Creperie Omer. It's on Ottawa Street, and it was lovely, although really loud inside. We went for a walk afterwards and I saw the most amazing umbrellas, but they are too expensive ($35). I try to live an interesting life full of color and oddities. Maybe I'll save up for one. Unless anyone has an umbrella pattern? My grandma uses those little plastic rain caps, they look like the things you stick over your hair when getting a perm or a hair dye done and she uses that instead of an umbrella. I'd be afraid it'd make my hair all static clingy. Bah!

Anyways have an awesome monday. Keep on Quilting!

Mindless Self Indulgence and Duckies. Quack!!!

2010-05-16T08:44:00.000-07:00

Good Day to everyone out there in bloglandia, everyday should be started off with a little music. Personally I like a little bit of everything but today I am in the mood for some MSI. This vid was directed by Jhonen Vasquez. He is a comic book writer behind Johnny the Homicidal Maniac and the tv show Invader Zim.

Anyways I've been working on a mini quilt that I found the pattern too in an old magazine that a lady gave me while working at the quilt shop. I usually get paid in fabric and quilting supplies which suits me fine. Anyways here is a picture of the ducks so far.

Aren't they cute? I like to do mini quilts because they don't take too long and they are easy to quilt and store. I did one a while back that had little scottie dogs on it but it got misplaced somewhere near christmas at my mom's house. Lovely eh?

Enjoy the video and enjoy your sunday.