Tidal Lace Blog Hop and a Give-Away!

Who's my favorite expat Aussie? Kim Andersson of I Adore Pattern!  I met Kim awhile back when the fledgeling East Bay Modern Quilt Guild was still meeting in a coffee shop in the early days of the Modern Quilt Guild movement.  She has a great sense of humor and always has on the biggest smile.  I'm so happy I get to see her at least once a month for guild meetings!

We were all very early supporters of her fabric design career, (as everyone who has seen a Kim Andersson quilt knows - she does great design!) and followed her progress on the The Printed Bolt fabric design competition without surprise when she did spectacularly.  I kept gushing that her Tidal Lace print was amazing and I MUST have it...and then guess what -- she got Windham Fabrics to print it for me!  Isn't that the best?!!!

Of course, when her first fabric line came out, I snatched it right up and today I get to participate in her first blog hop, which is my first blog hop, too!  I decided to make a Mariner's Compass floor cushion, as it seemed fitting with the sea theme and I LOVE paper piecing.  (My dog keeps eyeing it lovingly, so it might go from fancy floor cushion, to pampered pet bed...we shall see...he's been stealing the cat's bed a lot lately.)

 

Photos by Danielle Collins

Want to make one of your own?  I'll have a pattern coming out soon and if you'd like to win a Tidal Lace fat quarter bundle of your very own, enter a comment below telling me what cool project you've got in mind for the collection.  I'll pick a winner at random on September 30th!

Win your own Tidal Lace fat quarter bundle!

In the meantime, check out the other posts on the blog hop to see more exciting projects, or check out Kim's beautiful look book!

Monday, September 15  -   Windham Fabrics / Kim Andersson - I Adore Pattern
Tuesday, September 16  -   Erin Harris - House on Hill Road / Amy Gunson - Badskirt  / Cath Mosley on Instagram
Wednesday, September 17 –  Anne Sullivan - Play Crafts / Stacey Day - Stacey In Stitches
Thursday September 18th –  Adrianne Ove - Little Bluebell / Terri Carpenter - The Quilted Fox
Friday September 19 - Pati Fried - See How We Sew / Amanda Hohnstreiter - My Sewcial Hour
Saturday September 20 - Ann Haley - Sew Messy / Madeleine Roberg - Domestic Strata
Sunday September 21 - Cal Patch - Hodge Podge Farm / Rebecca Ringquist - Drop Cloth
Monday September 22 - Alicia Wietholter - Swoon Patterns / Stacey Sharman - Peppermint Pinwheels
Tuesday September 23 - Jen Carlton Bailly - Bettycrockerass / Miriam Blaich - The Berlin Quilter

Beautiful Handmade Jewelry

I think that just coming up with dinner to feed your family every night takes a very high level of creativity and craftiness, but the women in my family have somehow always managed to do that and find time to do their own thing.  My Aunt Kathy has always been one of the most talented artists in our family, plus, when I would visit her house as a kid, she'd buy my sister and I any kind of cereal we wanted, so you know we love her a LOT!

My Aunt Kathy hard at work!

Ten years ago, after studying jewelry design in Italy (how cool is that??), she opened her own shop, Tailored Treasure, and has been going strong ever since.  And when I say strong, I mean, she has been a one woman design and manufacturing factory!  She has so many different, one of a kind, handmade designs and somehow they are all still really affordable!  You can tell she really has a great time creating her different pieces.

My aunt is also a survivor of breast cancer.  This month, October, is Breast Cancer Awareness month and she's donating a portion of the proceeds from her shop to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.  She's also offering free shipping between now and Christmas with the coupon FREESHIP14.

I just ordered a couple of really cool necklaces.  I can't wait till they get here!  Here's what I ordered:

 

Cool, huh?  I've recently was thinking about how I need a simple necklace, so the hexagon and ring one is exactly what I needed, and how could I pass up silver and rhinestones?  So go over, check out her shop, get free shipping, and some really beautiful, handmade jewelry, all while supporting a great cause!

I'm in a book!

Oooh!  It's so exciting to get presents in the mail, especially when it's a book and it's even more special when I have a hint as to what's inside! On Friday, I received a copy of Joen Wolfrom's new Color Play book.

This a great re-issue of her very popular Color Play book from 2000.  She contacted me awhile ago to see if she could include my Silk Indian Orange Peel quilt in the book - and here it is - practically on the first page!

I must confess that although I love working with color, I haven't delved too much into color theory.  I've made my share of color wheels in various art classes in the past,  but overall, I've preferred to pick colors intuitively.  Looking through Joen's book though, makes me want to get a little more technical!  Here's an example of one of the "color lessons" in the book:

Doesn't that look like fun? 

P.S. Joen also has a color class on Craftsy, if you're interested!