A lovely giveaway...

There's a giveaway over at Sew, Mama, Sew! that involves a sewing machine! A beautiful one. Here's the link. You fill out a survey and enter to win a Husqvarna Emerald 183. The contest closes Thursday night.

Wendy hooks you up with demo pieces!

Hello friends,
I need to put together a few monogrammed demo pieces for the craft show I have coming up. It looks weird if I have my children's names on all my pieces, so maybe we can help each other out!
So I'm offering a discount on some things I need demos of. I'll make them up for you, display them at the booth, and then when the show is over on July 5 I'll send them to you.

I'm offering a 30% discount on the items! Just doesn't get better than that, does it?

So here's the pieces I need demos of:

A green cammo blankie and bib. I usually monogram these in white or black. Your choice. Regular price $25, yours for $17.50.

A boy blankie, about 30" x 30". Cowboy, flames, aliens, puppies, or pretty much anything else. We can monogram to match the print. Regular price is $30, yours for only $21.

A tee. Boy or girl. We can monogram pretty much whatever you want. Ballet shoes? Motorcycle? Horses? Cherries and dots? Regular price $15, yours for $10.50.

A burp cloth. Boy or girl. Whatever fabric you want, monogrammed with whatever you want. Regular price $7, yours for $4.90.

A coozie with a name or initial on it. Many colors and styles. Regular price $8, yours for $5.60.

(Shipping will vary on these items, so are heavier than others! I'll just charge you for actual shipping costs.)

If you're interested, please just leave a comment with a way to contact you and the item(s) you want, or e-mail me at wendyleep {at} gmail {dot} com.

UPDATE: Wow! what a response. I've got all the orders I can fill before the show next weekend. Thanks!

wonky log cabin quilt tops

I know I promised Star Wars pictures... getting to them, I promise. Today I've been playing with wonky log cabins. Love it! Each is about 30-ish inches square, and they are going to make awesome baby quilts.
So if you have never played with wonky log cabins, they are so much fun. I always love to play with black and white. I think a quilt made of squares like this would be great. One huge square based in red, one blue, one yellow, etc. Hmm... like I need another project right now!

For those of you that are in the Texas panhandle, I'll have a booth at the Canyon July 4th show. Please, please come by and see me!

Baby boy blankies...

I've been irresponsible. I haven't posted for a week. Sorry, friends.

You see, I had a family reunion to plan. And a baby to care for. And a 2 year old to potty train (and that project is about to drive me to drinking...) And I'm preparing for a craft show. So I'm sewing like a maniac when I get the chance. But enough with the crummy excuses.....
Anyway, here's a couple of things I'm working on.

I took a lot of good suggestions from this post. I'm going to declare the winner to be Gina, who wins by sheer number of suggestions. Here's the general idea that I think you all were trying to get across: "get over your fabric hangups, you major dork!"
Which turned out to be very constructive, by the way.
I played with my embroidery machine and created some cute burp cloths. The non-monogrammed one is ready for a little boy's name or initial.....

My husband was horrified when I brought this flame fabric home. BUT.... I think it's a darling little blankie for a baby biker. It's not nearly as neon in person. Not sure what my camera is doing here, but I'm trying to fix it. I quilted flames into it in black, and it looks neat on the back.

And here's a blankie to match the burp cloths.

I like it.
Preview: I have Star Wars and Superman stuff almost finished. Can't wait to show you!

A fit of insanity that ended in cupcakes.

A friend mentioned cupcakes on her blog (you know who you are!) which prompted a few days in which I NEEDED cupcakes. Totally fixated on cupcakes. And cheeseburgers.

Today I finally had a little bit of time and made this recipe, and it makes me happy that it was posted on a quilting site! Anyway, it was utterly fabulous. Totally recommend it.

And I had to laugh when my 2-year old demanded sprinkles on her made-from-scratch, Waldorf Astoria red velvet cupcake.

Because cupcakes require sprinkles, apparently!

Another giveaway of sorts in which Wendy asks for your input

I promise there's a giveaway. Just keep reading.

Well, friends, I find myself in a pickle today.

Today's creation is in the picture above. It's a little blankie for my daughter.

It's cute! And monogrammed!

But... I seem to be in a rut. You see, I don't have boys. But I'd like to create wonderful, beautiful things to sell for boys.
So here's the deal.
Give me a suggestion on how I can make this both utterly fabulous and appropriate for a little boy. Let's assume I can find the silky fabric in just about any solid. And the furry fabric is available in red, green, yellow, blue.

Oh, and there's a prize as well! For the best suggestion, I'll make one of these for you.
For a boy or a girl. Monogrammed with whatever you want.
Free!

I'm counting on all of you....

hmmmm....

So last night this.... translated into this.....
and I think I like it! I'll post again when it's actually quilted.

quilts over the weekend

I have a craft show coming up in July, and I'm working on getting some quilts done to go in my booth. If they don't sell, they'll show up in my etsy shop after the show.

I was experimenting with finishing on baby quilts. I like the colors of the pink one, but I think I prefer the finishing on the red one. {By the way, it's red in person, but it sure became pink in the photos!}
Here's a closeup of the quilting. Did I mention I LOVE ric rac?

I'd love some input. Which one do you prefer?

Amy Butler fabric giveaway winners!

That's right, winners.

You people are so lovely. You have such wonderful ideas of things to do to rescue this poor fabric from the abyss of my stash. So there will be 2 winners.

Lara and calicodaisy, you are the lucky winners of the Amy Butler fabric. Send me your address, and I'll ship it off to you! Please, please, please when you use it, send me a picture or something and I'll post it or link to it or whatever. It will bring my heart joy!

So as long as you're here, fellow fabric lovers, I'll tell you the rest of the story..... get a cup of tea and pull up a chair, ok?

So I bought this fabric for my little girl's room, I told you that. I bought it on a Bad Day. You see, my baby was premature, and I bought it when she was about a week old, after I came home from visiting her. She really waasn't doing well that day, and I decided to make myself Feel Better by buying fabric. Because some things you just need to make better by buying something Pretty. So I bought the olive/white stuff masquerading as pink/brown (3.5 yards of it!!), and as an afterthought I bought some Amy Butler Henna Paisley on sale on etsy from the same seller. It made me feel better that day, but much worse when it arrived!

But oh well. .... and by the way, my baby girl is better, did come home from the hospital not long after, etc, etc. And here's the fabric I actually did her room in:

Yep, the bottom is the Amy Butler Henna Paisley I bought on a whim.
Good thing I bought it that day.
Another day I'll post a picture of her bedding I made. I thought it was rather crafty.... but I'll let you be the judge of that!

2 Ideas cookin'..... need some feedback

Baby quilt? Don't know. I think it could be lovely and bright. What do you guys think?


{It's on the back of my grocery list... and colored with my daughter's washable crayolas, by the way!}

And this one reminds me of what I went to college to learn about {it wasn't sewing and raising kids....}. It's a Fibonacci spiral, but I think it could make a neat quilt. Can anyone direct me to a good tutorial about piecing curves?

Alphabet Quilt finished!

Boy am I excited about this one! It may just be my favorite quilt yet. And it's boxed up ready to go. I'm thinking I need to make another one, maybe in different colors, for my little girl. She loved pointing out the letters she knows.

It's about 36" x 40" and the fabric is Moda wee play. Love that line! The back is a muted blue fabric.
I'm donating it to a golf tournament being held to benefit the education funds for the children of two of my friends who passed away in the last 2 years, leaving very young children behind. Creating it really helped me mourn the loss of my friends.
Isn't it nice how sewing helps that way!

Announcing the Winner!

What fun this giveaway has been! I've really enjoyed it. And so now for the winner......

Steph---
May 27, 2009 1:32 says
"This would go perfectly in my kitchen. Definitely a table topper, and a much adored one! Thanks for your generosity."

Steph, send me your address and I'll put your new watermelon quilt in the mail.