The Wedding Quilt, episode 1
16 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
in Archives Tags: fabric, flags, judy martin, patrick lose, quilt, quiltmaker, sewing, stars, wedding
I spent most of Sunday working on the wedding quilt for my niece Kelly, or should I really say my future nephew to be. When they last visited me, Nick looked through my quilt books and asked if I could make a quilt with flags because he is very patriotic. Well, time has passed, the wedding is in five months. That means that I have to have it finished by the end of May if I want to have it back from the long-arm quilter by the end of August. I’ll probably be hand stitching the binding while I’m on the plane going back East.
So how did I find a flag pattern? He liked the quilts by Judy Martin. Of course he did–all those little pieces and diagonal seams. So lots of time was spent going through all my books and magazines. Judy’s quilts were the best looking but I kept on searching. While I love stars, I don’t like flags. That may have been one of the reasons I’ve gotten such a late start. I finally decided on a star quilt by Patrick Lose, even got the fabric from his shop in Phoenix. I was all set—until I saw that the stars were done with templates and not paper pieced. Another dead end. Not all was lost. I had added, one again, to my fabric stash. There’s always a siver lining!
I was about to give up when I got my latest issue of Quiltmaker. There, on page 57, was THE QUILT! Titled “Star Gazing”, it had lots of big stars (flight or forty), half log cabins that could be made in red and blue for the flags. It was great! Could it be any better? I guess it could be smaller- 90″x108″.
But wait, there’s more! I am able to use my stash for the entire front of the quilt! Life is grand. Life is wonderful! What could go wrong?
Well, Easter Sunday evening, after I had dropped Mom off at her retirement home, I decided I had time to work on the half finished 24 red and blue log cabin blocks. Chainstitching the strips, I was on block 20 when I noticed something didn’t look right. I had sewn 20 strips on the wrong side of the block! I decided it was time to turn off the machine and go to bed.
23 Feb 2012 Leave a Comment
in Archives
Well, I just joined Pinterest. My daughter made me do it. So all of you join it too so you can add cool stuff on pinwalls. I don’t get it yet , but you should pin items from my Etsy shop, kristabdesigns, http://www.etsy.com/shop/KristaBDesigns and my Scentsy website at https://homescentsbyjanice.scentsy.us/Home.
It’s almost show time!
22 Nov 2011 Leave a Comment
in Archives
Friday is the start of the biggest craft show for Briar Patch marketplace in the Phoenix AZ area. My little SUV is packed to the brim and everything fit, although I must admit I can’t see out the back window. I do have a glimpse of the side mirror. It will be an adventure getting to work tomorrow (Weds.). I do have some finished baby bibs that need tags on them but I haven’t taken photos yet to post onto Etsy (Krista B Designs). I’m too tired to do it tonight, but photos and tagging, along with a crazy effort to get another million bibs done before 6 a.m. Friday will be something to do late Thursday afternoon after coming back from Thanksgiving dinner. Oh- and there’s the binding to put on my latest quilt before Friday too. Never a dull moment-except at my day job!
Besides the crafting for Krista B Designs, I also just became an independent consultant for Scentsy. The link to my website for the Scentsy products is http://homescentsbyjanice.scentsy.us/home. I first found Scentsy at one of the Briar Patch shows this autumn. My little booth was put between a Scentsy director and a father/son who manufacture and sell their jewelry and watch components. Both were going gang busters and always had people at their booths. Not too many people were interested in my baby bibs, quilts, and screen printed tshirts. At the end of the show, I told Peggy I was signing up. I’ve done pretty well so far- a carnival at an elementary school, at a fair in Glendale, and now doing basket parties with people at work. So take a look at both sites, and let me know your thoughts on what might be good to create or ways to improve, or if you’d like some of the Scentsy.
Contest is up and running
23 Sep 2011 Leave a Comment
in Archives Tags: baby, bib, contest, embroidery
As I stated in my prior blog, one of my baby bibs has been selected to be in a contest for the Certified Tax Coach website. The contest is up and running now, so please vote for me.
The link is http://www.certifiedtaxcoach.org/blog/help-us-select-a-fun-product/
My item is #4.
The details:
How to vote?
Twitter mention your favorite with the HashTag #CTCVote = 2 points (must have hashtag to count!)
Blog comment below with product number = 1 point
Write your OWN blog post on your blog and give them the link in the comments section= 10 points! (whoa!)
So have fun!
Please vote for me
16 Sep 2011 Leave a Comment
in Archives Tags: baby, baby bib, contest, embroidery, etsy, fabric, t-shirt, tax
Most of you know that I sell my t-shirts, quilts, and baby items on Etsy as www.kristabdesigns.etsy.com. I received an e-mail the other night from Jon from Certifiedtaxcoach.com who wanted to know if I wanted to be included in the contest they are planning on having. 
They are an accounting group who were looking for 10 unique tax or accounting related items. My “tax deduction” bib is going to be included. The item with the most votes will have the item listed for sale on their site.
So if you get a chance later next week, please vote for me.
The craft shows are coming!
13 Sep 2011 Leave a Comment
in Archives, Embroidery Posts, Quilt Archives, Quilting Posts Tags: bling, craft, craft shows, embroidery, etsy, fabric, heat press, quilting, rhinestones, sewing, tshirt
The temperature is coming down- thank goodness! For those of us in the Phoenix, AZ area, that means temps are now down to only two digits!
It also means that the Briar Patch Marketplace craft shows have started, and I’m behind the eight-ball once again!
I’ve expanded my products to include t-shirts and lots of bling! I continue on with my bibs and small quilts. I got a heat press in June and can now do screen print transfers for team events, sports, etc.I’ve been having fun with the press, although there’s been learning moments-like the lightweight distressed little black tee with a beautiful cross on it. I must have heated it a smidgen too long because the glue went thru the front of the shirt and on to the back. As I was separating the front from the back, I found I had a really distressed look- the glue had ripped holes in the back! Oh well, now I have an opportunity to embroider something on the back of the shirt to cover up the holes! And I can’t have the iron on if the heat press is on because the circuit breaker goes.
Here’s the link to the listing of the Briar Patch shows.
http://briarpatchmarketplace.com/upcoming-events/
Please come see me if you’re local. Note- I may not make the 9/17 show, it’s AZ quilt shop week.
FYI- I’m Janice of Krista B Designs. You can also see my products on etsy at kristabdesigns.etsy.com.
So much fabric, so little time
31 May 2011 Leave a Comment
in Archives, Embroidery Posts, Quilting Posts Tags: embroidery, fabric, glitter, goals, Laurel Burch, sewing, spending, stitching
Well, I finished up the last of the Memorial Day fabric sales today (Tuesday). Good news- I found that the underlining that I already had could face the back on an embroidery design on a child’s shirt-which is adorable by the way- an appliqued heart with wings on a pink tshirt. So I got sashing fabric for the monsters I’m embroidering on green dot fabric. The sashing is navy blue with yellow fist bones. The binding will be green with yellow and blue dots. Sounds unusual, but it will look great when done. I’ll post pictures. Both the flying heart and the monsters are from Anita Good-designs (Sugar and Spice and Lil Monsters respectively).
My cheap purchase was a stencil of a circular quilting pattern. Will be tracing that onto a black tshirt and using varigated thread and lots of glitter from Art Glitter Institute in Cottonwood AZ (http://www.artglitter.com/. Should look fantastico, maybe add a Laurel Burch cat or horse on the bottom left hand side. Photos to follow.
Now for the rest. I got a pack of 25 batik fat quarters named Autumn Leaves. Going to use a pattern called “Fight North” room Mountainpeek Creations, http://www.mountainpeekcreations.com/. It’s a panel in the middle with large flying geese around it, then an wide border. A picture is on the home page of her website. Going to use a Japanese print for the center. Then I also have a Laurel Burch print (several as a matter of fact) to use with geese made out her coordinating fabrics. This pattern will be great for any fabric you can’t bear to cut up!
The last little stuff I got was all-purpose inks for fantast/x made by Tsukineko. I just thought it would be great for glitter or stencil shading. Have any of you used it at all? If so, please let me know.
So many projects, so little time!
Talk to you soon,
Janice
Confessions of a Fabricholic
30 May 2011 1 Comment
in Archives Tags: embroidery, fabric, goals, quilting, sewing
Several months ago, in January, when we were all making New Year’s resolutions, I foolishly said I was going to cut back on my fabric and embroidery purchases. Although I’ve bought bits and pieces, the Memorial Day sales, brought me to ruin! The sale was 25% off of everything except for sewing machines. I went overboard! The good news is that I saved over $100 at that one store. Of course I’m not counting the sales at Joanns, the glitter at Art Glitter Institute that was on sale for 50% off, or the larger purchase I had to make (minimum was $100) so that I could buy a $14 rhinestone headband for my niece’s graduation. The other good news is that my grand-daughter is also graduating high school so she’ll also get a headband- since I had to buy a minimum of three. To get to over $100, I ordered an assortment of rhinestone necklaces, so I have a head start for the fall craft shows.
Speaking of quilting, I started another Diamond quilt. Decided to get rid of some beige fabric, so cut it all into 8.5 inch squares. Had enough for 60 squares which will make two quilts. Drew a line down the middle, another line two inches from that. You just have to sew and flip six million 1.5 inch strips, leaving beige in the middle. Square the blocks, lay them out, add a border and you’re done! I’m almost done with the squares, thank goodness!
Also did some work on my embroidery machine. The very cutest purple and pink heart with wings, with a white ribbon with “Angel” on a hot pink t-shirt. Should have it up on Etsy in the next few days. Also stitched a towel with one of the designs from Balboa. That was my big purchase at the end of last year. Turned out nice, very good digitizing.
Back to my day job tomorrow morning. Finished with the month’s work last Monday. One more day of boredom before the new month starts. Can’t wait!
Snow in the Superstititions!
09 Apr 2011 Leave a Comment
in Archives
Well, it’s April 9, well into spring. In fact, the Phoenix area hit a record 100 degrees this past week. Now we have snow! Not in the city itself of course, but in the Superstition Mountains about 45 miles east outside Apache Junction, the little hamlet where I live. It’s been raining for about twelve hours now, a rarity in itself, and the mountain tops are covered in fog for the most part. However, the snow shows through. We’re at about 1800 feet altitude, and I estimate the sprinkling of snow comes down to about 3,000 feet or so.
What a great day to stitch and sew!
Almost back to creativity!
02 Apr 2011 Leave a Comment
in Archives, Goals Tags: craft, embroidery, fabric, goals, postaday2011, postaweek2011
My husband and I packed up the rest of the Mom’s apartment and took all of it to the storage place. Mom’s in a group home, doing well, but still needs oxygen. We don’t know why since her lungs are clear. However, my sister will be coming out later this month to ask many, many questions of the Doctors. So hopefully, with the apartment done, Mom will make a full recovery and I will have to move her- again. Such is life.
I’ve been relatively good with my New Year’s resolution of using the stuff I have, rather than buying new fabric. While my spending for fabric is way down, I’ve discovered stamping and zantangles. My goal for the stamping is to use the stamps as my starting point for making decorated t-shirts, embellishing with embroidery and glitter. Of course my shirts are going to be better than anything that Laurel Burch ever designed! Same contemporary feel with a southwestern twist. I went to the local stamp show, trying to find glitter, and poof, down goes the balance in the checking account.
Check out these:
Book- Glitz It with Glitter by Elaline Waldschmitt. I’m doing the horse design now.
Glitter-artglitterinstitute.com. They are having a sale now.
Stamp store-Frenzy Stamper where I took the zentangle class
Zentangles.com- a way of doing abstract drawings that are very addictive. I color mine in.
Terry Medaris stamps- out of Tucson. I’ve fallen in love with his stamps
Wholesale apparral blanks-McCrearysTees
