End of the Year Pattern Sale

Now through New Year's Day you can get Mod Pop on sale for 20% off the regular price.

This sale also includes the templates and the pattern/template bundle.

You can find the pdf version available for instant download in my Craftsy store here:

http://www.craftsy.com/pattern/quilting/home-decor/mod-pop/25716

Or you can find both versions of the pattern and the templates in my Big Cartel store:

http://juliepickles.bigcartel.com/

Keep in mind that if you order the pdf through the Big Cartel store that I have to manually email the pattern to you and it may be a few hours before I know it's there and can send it. I send instantly once I receive the notification, as long as I'm home and awake!

Thanks so much for all of the support with this, my first, pattern. I have big plans for more patterns in the very near future (some of them utilizing these same templates!) and hope you like them as much as this one!

Post Christmas Catch Up

I have been trying to sit down and write a post about my holiday sewing every day for the past week but just couldn't seem to make it happen. I don't usually make handmade gifts and now I know why I have always stayed away from that in the past. It is SO stressful! What should I make? Will they like it? Can I finish it in time? This year I decided I was going to tackle a tree skirt, stockings, and a quilt. 

I only managed to finish the tree skirt. It sure is pretty though!

The stockings and quilt will just have to wait another year. It got to the point where it was Christmas Eve, the stockings still weren't done, the presents weren't wrapped, I realized I didn't have enough wrapping paper and it was already 10:00pm. I remembered my word of the year and did just that, I breathed. Then I walked away from the sewing machine, ran to my sister's to pick up some paper, wrapped the gifts and then went to bed. And we survived without the handmade stockings, imagine that!

I decided I wanted to have at least one handmade gift for each kid under the tree this year. This of course was decided after I already had the list of things to make, but they suddenly became priority.

For Moose, the dog shaped raggy quilt that I've been wanting to make for him for quite some time now. His sister has a pig shaped one and she won't sleep without it. 

I used all stash for this, which is quite a feat considering I rarely buy cuddle fabrics unless I need them for a specific project. I also used some his old receiving blankets. I particularly like this part of the ear.

Bug was getting the Fisher Price Servin' Surprises table from mom for Christmas. I added to it with the highchair and baby feeding set. Well, that meant Bug needed a baby to feed! So Silly Willy got a baby sister.

I think her arms are a little weird and one of her eyes is a bit wonky, but Bug loves her and that's all that counts.

My older two constantly have little things that need to be carried around like spare change, school behavior tokens, beyblades, etc. So they both got some small pouches. Naturally I forgot to pick up some carabiner clips so they can clip them to their belt loops. They still loved them, I'll get clips next time I'm at the store. 

And for my step-dad. You all had some really great suggestions for him. Our exchange budget was $50 so some of the suggestions were too expensive unfortunately. Many of you suggested I make him a pouch for a tablet if he had one. He doesn't, but the Idea Pouch by Michelle Patterns was a great option. It's not technically a tablet pouch, but can be used as one. 

I made it gender neutral because my mom DOES have a tablet. I figured if he couldn't use or didn't like it, that she could use it. 

It didn't cost me anything to make because I used all stash so I went ahead and got him a gift card to his favorite motorcycle gear store as well. 

I still have lots more to share. In addition to all of this I also managed a couple of baby quilts and the outside shell of a weekender bag. The kids are calling so I'm off to play some more and get back to work on reclaiming my house. Hope you and yours had a great Christmas!

Linking up to Finish it Friday!

Giveaway Day Winner!!

Holy Smokes you guys! 605 comments?! That's gotta be some kind of record. Well, for us it is anyway!

Thank you all so so so much for making this giveaway day so much fun. Welcome to all of our new followers, we hope you like us enough to stick around. We'll try to keep things interesting for you ;)

And thank you so much for all of the fantastic gift ideas for my step-dad. I have been a googling fool the last week, checking out all of these fun things you guys have suggested. Our budget is $50 (sorry for forgetting to mention that before!), so some of the suggestions were out of my price range, but there were some seriously awesome ones that I wish I could get him. You guys really made me think outside of the box, that's for sure. 

Now, on to the winner!

Random.org has spoken and lucky #65 will be receiving the stash builder bundle.

#65 belongs to Kristin!!

Kristin, I will be emailing you for your address.

Thanks so much for playing along everybody!

Knocking Out the List

I've been finally knocking out my list, too bad it's not the list that's supposed to be done by Christmas. Oops!  Remember when I said the other day that I was going to start on stockings to attempt to get back into my sewing groove? Yeah, that didn't happen.

I made potholders instead. 

In my defense, these were on my list. This one in particular was on hubby's list. Remember when I made one for my mom? He requested one for us too. 

I bought some Insul-Bright but never did get to work on them. Then I used the Insul-Bright to make my table top ironing board, oops again. I ordered more during JoAnn's Cyber Weekend sale and it arrived over the weekend. Well, tired of having to hunt for a towel because our other potholders have fallen off the face of the earth, I finally set to work and knocked these out.

I made some basic square ones too, then forgot to add the loop to hang them. Oops for the third time.

I'll just buy a little grommet kit and add grommets to them. For now they're just hanging out in the pockets of the bigger one as it hangs on the wall. I may make a glove too, but the hubster doesn't like those so much so I might not bother if I'm the only one who will use it. 

I had a lot of fun finding fabrics that matched the colors in that Melody Miller print and really love how bright this is. I kind of wish I had bound them all in that teal color, but I didn't have it my stash and I wasn't going to buy some, it wasn't that big of a deal.

Today I started yet another project that's not on the Christmas list, but on the "I've been meaning to do for X amount of years" list. I'll share more of that one later. I wanted to share something that I discovered while working on it real quick though.

Have you ever attempted the continuous method of making bias binding? The kind where you mark the cutting lines on your fabric and then sew it into a tube and cut it apart with scissors? It's very tedious to say the least and I can NEVER get my cuts nice and straight with the scissors.

Well, tonight I was trying again. I was using the "turn a fat quarter into 5 yards of bias tape" tutorial, figured it was a small amount and I could cut that by hand. I put it all together, grabbed my scissors, cut about 6" and was already having trouble keeping it straight. 

Then I remembered my skinny little cutting mat. It's the first one I ever bought and measures about 6"x18". I slipped that sucker inside my fabric tube and grabbed the ruler and rotary cutter and got to work!

At first I just cut one piece of a strip at a time, rotating the fabric tube around the mat little by little.

It was working great! But man it was taking some time.

Then I got smart.

 I cut all of the strips that were on the mat all at the same time, then rotated the tube, cut all the strips again, so on and so forth until they were all done! I did have to be careful not the let the rotary cutter slip off of the little mat onto the big one or it would have possibly sliced through the fabric underneath. 

I will definitely be making more use of the continuous binding method in the future. This was way better than sewing together a ton of strips and better than having to cut a big tube into strips using scissors. 

Remember the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway is still on, tomorrow's the last day to enter! 

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day is Here!

Hey guys, welcome to our giveaway! We'd love for you to take a look around while you're here. The "What's in a Name?" page will tell you more about us. We have a couple of free quilt patterns available on the quilt along pages and also a whole page full of tutorials!

Up for grabs today we have a stash builder fat quarter bundle

You will receive a fat quarter of each of the fabrics pictured, a nice little rainbow to enhance your stash!

How do you win? Just leave us a comment telling us what's on your holiday wish list. Or give me an idea for a gift for a 52 year old man who likes motorcycling and technology. I drew my step-dad's name in this year's gift exchange and I'm stumped!!

That's it, real simple!

There is also a second bonus entry for our followers, old and new. Just leave a comment telling us you're a follower to be entered for a second chance!

Giveaway is open until 11:59 pm on Friday December 7th. We'll draw a name using Random.org and announce the winner on Saturday. If you're a no reply blogger, please be sure to leave an email address so we can contact you if you win.

But wait...there's more!

In celebration of Giveaway Day, We are offering our patterns for sale for 15% off. The sale will run for the duration of the giveaway and the patterns will go back to regular price on Saturday.

Gypsy Dance is available in Bree's Craftsy Store

Mod Pop is available from Julie's Big Cartel store

Links are always available on the sidebar as well.

Thanks for visiting and good luck!

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day

Toasty Toes

Things have been a bit slow in the crafting department lately, I seem to have just completely lost all motivation. Not so great with Christmas fast approaching. Especially considering this is the year I finally decided to actually make that tree skirt I've been wanting to make, plus stockings for the kids AND a quilt.

Sigh....

I did manage a small finish though.

I somehow found myself without a pair of fuzzy slippers and my toes were cold! I happened upon this pattern by Ayumi one day and couldn't stop thinking about it. Eventually I bought it and then gathered supplies and got to work. 

I made a small change in that I added peltex to the bottom of the slippers to give them some structure. I also did a layer of fusible fleece and a layer of batting in them for extra warmth and lined them with fleece instead of linen. 

Sewing the jiffy grip fabric was a chore. The grip is so good that it stuck to the sewing machine. Tissue paper would be your friend in this instance and I will definitely be using it next time I sew with this fabric. The husband and my oldest son have both requested a pair so that will be sooner than I thought it would be!

I'd like to find a way to make the bottom cushier, but for now they'll work. They are far from perfect, but they're warm, that's for sure!

I'm going to attempt a bit of sewing today on those Christmas stockings. Maybe they'll help me find my groove again.

P.S. Tomorrow is Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day. Be sure to come back and enter to win this little stash builder fat quarter bundle!