winners all around!

Hey you guys! Thanks so much to those of you who linked up your donation quilts/blankets for the 100 Quilts for Christmas! You are all winners! I mean that!

Now onto the pattern winners from Fresh Poppy Designs:

#1 Kristie @ OCD and #7 Tiffany

Congrats! I will be passing along your emails to Heather and Megan!

Speaking of those two wonderful gals, I'm being featured today on Quiltstory!






It's a quilt that I blogged about for the 1st Blogger's Quilt Festival. Maybe you saw it then, and if you didn't? Well, it's a fun one!

Go on over and check it out!

Remember, Sew & Tell this Friday will be the last one until the new year. There will also be an awesome fabric giveaway from Randi at Fresh Squeezed Fabrics! It's going to be Gooooood.

And look at the fun stuff I ordered from her a couple of weeks ago!

holiday happy by monica of happy zombie

I've got some Christmas sewing to do!

Laters!

100 quilts for Christmas Linky!!

Hey everyone!  I hope everyone has had a fun and productive weekend!  Today is the first of three link-up days for 100 Quilts for Christmas!

Now's your chance to link up and show us the blankets/quilts you are donating for the 100 Quilts for Christmas.  By linking up today you are eligible to win this week's giveaway donated by the lovely Megan and Heather of Fresh Poppy Designs and Quiltstory!  Two linkers will win a pattern of their choice from Heather and Megan's Etsy shop.

Like this one - probably my favorite!

Not only do they have some darling patterns and oodles of inspiration,  they are doing such an amazing job bringing quilters closer together with Quilt Story! (I may or may not have a quilt being featured there soon - stay tuned...)

AND a link up today will also enter you into the grand prize drawing with all of this awesome loot!  Of course every quilt you link-up (regardless of which link-up day) will be entered for the grand prizes, which will be on December 15th at Katie's blog!

For details on 100 Quilts for Christmas visit Aunt Spicy or Katie at Bike, Swim, Quilt.
Thanks for helping spread a little cheer with quilts for those in need!

I didn't have the productive weekend I was hoping for.  Loss of sleep due to a miserable little girl with pink eye kind of thwarted my sewing mojo.

Please put your name or blog name in the name spot, not your project name.  The picture let's us see what it is!  This way we can get to know each other better!

sew & tell is playing fat dog

Have you heard of the game fat dog?  It's where you lie around and do nothing after eating a big meal.  Well, that's what sew & tell is up to today.

But don't forget on MONDAY there will be a linky here for the 100 Quilts for Christmas!  See abbreviated details and giveaway info here.   But just a sneak of some of the loot...

from Kate at Swim,Bike,Quilt.

from Mary @ Pin.Sew.Press.

You totally have time to whip up a blanket this weekend. I'm going to!  Come back on Monday for the linky - aka, your chance to enter.

AND don't forget to link up to Amy's Challenge Week on Monday! My plan is to have some skirts finished. I'd better get busy!

Dear You,

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

image via Bakerella

I am thankful that you all keep on coming back to see if I have anything interesting to say.  I am thankful for the motivation and accountability blogging gives me for my creative pursuits.

Now go eat some turkey.

xo
amylouwho

notes, sew & tell holiday schedule, and other stuff

Thank you so much everyone on your sweet comments Friday for my dress!  I learned a painful lesson, which is, late nights don't agree with me anymore.  Luckily, I won't have to do this again for a while. Next year mr.louwho (not so luckily) will be deployed - so I won't have to go to the ball.  And in 2 years, no one will remember that I wore that dress so I can wear it again.  Hopefully by then I'll need to take it in.  I'll feel much better about altering something that I made myself.  So that means I won't have to make a new dress for 3 years!  Whew.  Glad I did it.  And now I'm ready to do something a little less taxing without a deadline.

Like some little girl's skirts.  Or finish up a quilt.

Have you heard about Amy's Challenge she has once a month?

One Monday (today) she posts the challenge - to focus on one project for the week and link up your finish the following  Monday.  Make a comment on today's post with your goal and then link up your finish the next Monday!  I'm going to figure out what I'm going to do this week and participate!  I encourage all of you sew & tellers to join in too.  Sew & Tell is going to be on Thanksgiving break this week and will return on December 3.  So this is a good challenge to do in the meantime!

About sew & tell and December -  I've decided that I really want to enjoy the holidays this year and simplify my commitments.  December 3rd will be our last sew & tell until January.   I figure most of you will be busy sewing gifts you can't reveal yet or busy with parties, decorating and the other business of the season.  Let's all take a little breather and enjoy it.  Remembering to step away from our digital tethers and enjoy our families and our friends.

On December 3rd there will be a sponsored giveaway from Randi (a fellow sew & teller) of Fresh Squeezed Fabrics.  She's still deciding what to give away but the things she's mentioned already make me wish I could enter.  Two words: FABRIC BUNDLE.  Two more: NEW LINE.  Be sure to comment that day for one entry and link up for another!

And you should know she has a sale that ends today on all Christmas prints!  I just ordered Happy Zombies Holiday Happy for some cute Christmas stockings and buntings!

On January 7 we'll resume sew & tell with a Christmas/Holiday gift reveal linky party!  You will be able to show off all the sewing you did in December! It will be our normal sew & tell on STEROIDS.  Get ready!  It will be a good way to pass a dreary January day.


Sew & Tell Schedule:
November 26 (THIS Friday) - No sew & tell
November 30 - Amy's One Thing, One Week Challenge
December 3 - Last sew & tell for 2010 + fabric giveaway
January 7 - December gift sewing sew & tell

*****
I forgot to show you the note I found after pinksuedeshoe, Pink - as I like to call her, posted that lovely and hilarious cartoon rendition of my week.  I think it explains my internet 'outage'.

*****
You all are amazing!  Thanks for being such loyal, fun bloggy friends!  I'm thankful for you all.

sew & tell - the link up + the ball gown

If you haven't seen the post e. from pinksuedeshoe wrote, amylouwho goes to the ball, you HAVE to RIGHT NOW!  It's awesome.  There is a reason I love her.  It's like she was a fly on the wall watching everything! And she made me laugh out loud this morning reading it!

As I'm writing this, I feel compelled to match her hilarity.  There's a lot of pressure following such an awesome post!  I'm sure her illustrations are better too.  I didn't get a picture of me sewing, but I'm pretty sure that was the expression on my face!  Especially after I had taken the hook and eye off 2 times before I got it right.

Her rendition of the story was pretty accurate - calendar and everything.  Although, I must dispel the myth of magic brushes. 

My awesome neighbor and friend Sara worked her magic on my hair.

And I just put makeup ON - that's my secret.  Never wear it,

then when you do, everyone will be in such AWE!

I'm really pleased with how the ruffle turned out! (love my super serious face?)

So much went into making this dress.  I did a muslin first to try out the addition of the ruffle and check the fit.  Then everyone got sick and I got behind several days, which was why I didn't finish it until yesterday!  I was up until 2 AM the night before working on it too.

I'll spare you all the nitty gritty details, but I learned a ton!

• I did put in an invisible zipper for the first time without the special foot (because the one I bought doesn't work on my machine).  
• I also put in a separating zipper for the first time (easier than regular zipper, imo) which took several goose chase runs to find a dress weight 18" separating zipper, only to end up with a 16" one.  Which is why I had to figure out the placement of the hook and eye several times.  
• The dress was fully lined, though I aborted lining the sleeves because I didn't think it would matter + I just didn't have time.  
• I figured out that I really enjoy making clothing.  I would like it better without the rush at the end.  I forget how many dresses that I actually made for myself when I was younger.  It's like riding a bike.  I will say, I think it's easier making clothing for others because 1) it's easier to fit patterns to OTHER people and 2) you aren't as critical of other people when it's all said and done.

All in all, I am happy with how it turned out.  There are a few things I would do differently the next time around.  It was tricky working through the pattern because I put sleeves from one view onto the view which was a sleeveless top AND the lining on the faux wrap was trick-EE.  I also ended up not really tacking the lining down, but I think I'm eventually going to replace the zipper, so that's two less things to take out when I do.

Even though he told me not to, I'm posting this picture of him (Shhhh, don't tell!).  I love his new uniform! It's an upgrade since his promotion last month.

Do you want to read more about what a Marine Corps Birthday Ball is all about?  I wrote a post about it last year.

There is a slight change to the linking rules about your own tutorials - please read!
What did you finish this week?

PLEASE READ THIS POST IF YOU ARE NEW TO LINKING UP!  :)

NEW RULES FOR LINKING UP!  Please read carefully.  The delete monster will be eating non-compliant links.

1. Please write the post for sew & tell - or add a blurb mentioning sew & tell to a post written earlier in the week.  If you are linking to a post with your own tutorial, please make sure it was a finish from this week and that the completed project is shown first.

2. One linky per person. (please put multiple projects in one post.)

3. Link to your specific post.  (See here for permalink instructions - or email me.)

4. Link back here with a link or a button.

5. Comment away!

amylouwho goes to the ball

Hello, it's e. here from pinksuedeshoe. Amy asked me to do a little filling in this morning. Her interwebs are all funked up, and she'll be back later today (hopefully) to post the Sew+Tell linky. In the meantime, let me tell you a story. It's a good one.

Amy has been working on her little black dress for the Military Ball this week. If you follow her on facebook you've been able to see a few sneak peek photos and heard all about Dress Drama 2010. Well last night was the Big Ball. And I'm here to give you the play by play.

Amy's been working on her dress all week. You know, plus be a mother, wife, bake bread for the needy and freeze raspberries and mint leaves in ice cubes to freshen up her afternoon sip of cool ice water. Things were going well. She had everything under control and her life was a picture of calm and order. If by "well" you mean that with only five hours to go before ball time she still had to set in sleeves, tack down lining, finish the hem and then check off all those pesky last minute details of her dress. No pressure.

Thanks to her awesome serger and some wicked cool sparks flying off her machine, she was able to finish a full hour before she had to leave. How did she do it? She's totally a rockstar.

Then of course she sat down and closed her eyes while the magic brushes and lipsticks and mascaras that she keeps on hand pampered her face and perfectly coifed her hair. (I asked her to share the secret of those magic brushes, but she is very wisely keeping it to herself. She's pretty business savvy and I think she's planning on securing the patent before she lets those babies out of her sight. I hear she sleeps with them tucked in her mattress. Or maybe it was under her pillow. I forget.) Instead of sharing her secret, she told me to tell you that the ruffles on her dress look fantastic.

Right at the stroke of six Amy waltzed down the stairs to some beautiful music to meet her Prince Charming (aka Mr. Louwho). He was looking all fantastically fantastic in his new uniform, perfectly polished and pressed. He took her by the hand and swept her off in a magic pumpkin coach to the Ball where they dined on rare delicacies and danced the night away. It was the perfect end to Dress Drama 2010.

And why is Amy not telling you this story herself? Well, sometime during the night a rocketship crashed through the internet lines that connect her to the rest of the world. The astronaut behind the joystick (rockets definitely don't have steering wheels) was very apologetic and told Amy that he'd get it fixed as soon as he could. And when she told him that she has a Sew+Tell blogparty to host today, and she really needs the internet, he felt even worse.

So, what's the point of this whole story? Amy will be back later today with a written apology from the astronaut and the rocket crew. And she'll post the linky for Sew+Tell then. And she better post some real pictures of her little black dress and her handsome Prince Charming. And then we can all live happily ever after. The End.

*Illustrations may or may not be representative of actual events. I mostly just made them up.

100 quilts for Christmas

click here to read more.

Oh how I love a good charity project for Christmas! It's something I think can keep the holidays centered on what is really important.

Aunt Spicy has teamed up with Kate at Swim.Bike.Quilt to host this awesome quilt project for Christmas. I feel honored that they have asked me to help them out this year!

Go read the entire post about the project HERE.  And then come back on Monday November 29, to my blog and you can link up your quilts/blankets for donation on a special edition of Sew & Tell!

By linking up your blankets you will be entered into a drawing for that week (from the Quiltstory/Fresh Poppy Design gals) and also entered into the GRAND PRIZE drawing which will take place after December 15th.  It's going to be a LOT of fun!

I'm planning on doing at least one blanket, if not more.  I'm going to donate them to my local Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society who helps underprivileged military families in my area.

Let me know if you are going to participate and where you will donate!

Yay Aunt Spicy and Kate for thinking up such an awesome idea and then DOING IT!! xo

sew & tell - sew sweetness

I was hoping to share my mock up top from my ball gown but yesterday was a lot of drama with the little people at my house and I  haven't gotten to the sleeves yet.  I've been posting pictures on my facebook page if you are interested.  I really like the way the ruffle looks!

So instead of me...

I'm so excited to feature Sara of Sew Sweetness today! Not just because she's super-talented, but there's a great story behind how we 'met'.  Remember my friend Kim (who doesn't blog) who I met at Costco and gave me all the awesome Heather Ross fabric?  Well - she and Sara are cloth diaper exchange friends and Kim suggested Sara and I become friends on facebook! She has just recently started blogging and does great pattern reviews.  And every Thursday from now until Christmas she announces a new pattern giveaway for the week!  Go check out this week's Amy Butler pattern giveaway!

One of her first sew & tell posts was this awesome dress she made for the Amy Butler challenge.
Then a few weeks later she decided to make her first quilt from the fabrics in her unfinished project drawer.  Here's a sneak peek at the loveliness:

And this week she is sharing this lovely bag:

Which was inspired by another sew & teller! Go read about it and see if it was you!

Thanks Sara, for being such an awesome addition to our sew & tell community!

There is a slight change to the linking rules about your own tutorials - please read!
What did you finish this week?

PLEASE READ THIS POST IF YOU ARE NEW TO LINKING UP!  :)

NEW RULES FOR LINKING UP!  Please read carefully.  The delete monster will be eating non-compliant links.

1. Please write the post for sew & tell - or add a blurb mentioning sew & tell to a post written earlier in the week.  If you are linking to a post with your own tutorial, please make sure it was a finish from this week and that the completed project is shown first.

2. One linky per person. (please put multiple projects in one post.)

3. Link to your specific post.  (See here for permalink instructions - or email me.)

4. Link back here with a link or a button.

5. Comment away!

fake it til you make it + pretty fabric +wip

I've been feeling a bit of a slump in my blogging.  So I decided I would do some easy fun posts to get me back in the groove.  It *might* be working.

Should I start with some gratuitous fabric shots?

I bought my ball gown fabric from Fabric.com. I needed to spend a couple dollars more to get free shipping. I ended up with 3 yards of the Henna Garden that I love so much. I might need to get more of the green.  I think these would make adorable dresses.

I also finally caved and bought some of Bonnie and Camille's Bliss. I had been eyeing it for a while and wanting to get on the red and aqua bandwagon.  It was Mary's mug rugs that convinced me. This was an add-on to another order to optimize my shipping costs.

Because these had finally come in!!

Thanks to Kathy at Pink Chalk Fabrics for emailing when she got them back in stock! I ordered it the same day. And due to my partially brain dead state, I accidentally had the order sent to my old address in Virginia. Luckily the post office came through and got it forwarded to the right place. TEN DAYS LATER. But at least it didn't get lost. Thank you Kathy for shipping it with delivery confirmation!

So I cut out and put together the main bodice of my dress. AND, the scary part, I tried it on. I think taking a smaller seam allowance is going to be the only size alteration I need to make - which is quite a relief! This nursing body of mine is not quite what I'm used to.

It doesn't look spectacular on the hanger, but today I'm going to add the ruffle and maybe even the sleeves! and then we'll see. I might also make it just a tad bit longer. I like to make my short-waisted self appear longer.

And just to keep it real, I cleaned off my sewing table and it still looks like this.

That black fabric in the bag is the fabric for my dress. I hope I won't look like I'm going to a funeral.  Especially since it's a BIRTHDAY ball!  Happy 235th United States Marine Corps!  Semper Fi!

ten apples up on top!

I love that children's book - do you remember it? I've been on an apple craze lately.

I made 6 pints of apple butter early last week and then got in pie filling mode at the end of the week and finished it off with a little applesauce.

l-r: 1. apples ready for prep 2. I love my apple peeler/corer! 3. awaiting the syrup 4. ready to eat 5. my super helper making a magnifying glass out of a ring and the magnetic lid grabber.

It's so satisfying to look at all those apples all pretty in their jars. Some will be pies made for us.  Some will be gifts for neighbors and friends.

We've already eaten one jar of filling with vanilla yogurt and homemade coconut almond granola.  Then we had some of the applesauce on gingerbread cake.  And just in case you were wondering, baking soda is REALLY important in cake.  Unless you want gingerbread fudge as mr.louwho called it.  Ooops!

Now I should probably stop procrastinating that dress I need to make.

PS - Maggie made an appearance on Penny's blog, sewtakeahike,  the other day.  I'm with Penny, I love all you lovely bloggy friends!

sew & tell - quiltstory

edited to add:  Finishes today can be from the last two weeks because of Blogger's Quilt Festival last week.  Thanks for the reminder Leslie!

It's been another week with no finishes for me. I have started working on a dress to wear to the Marine Corps Birthday Ball in a couple of weeks. I'll be able to show that to you soon.
So today I'm excited to share a beautiful finish from a fellow sew & teller!

The brain child of sisters Heather and Megan of Fresh Poppy Designs is a fairly new blog called Quilt Story.  Have you heard of it?  They've been participants in Sew & Tell in the past and have created this new blog aptly titled.  In their own words:

"Every quilt has a story behind them, and we really wanted to take the time to share what was put into each quilt. I have realized now more than ever that most quilts have a lot of love put into them. They are made for friends, they are made for babies. They are made to comfort. They are made to hold someone who is sick.  Each quilt really has something to tell and that is what we are doing at Quiltstory. We take submissions from everyone and would love more quilts to feature."

Like I said, what a great idea!  Behind every quilt is a great story! 

Heather has a finish this week of her first quilt free-motion quilted by herself!  This inspires me since I am free-motion quilting my bird quilt by myself.  For the first time.  It's scary!

I love her rationalization for her new sewing machine, I'm going to have to try that out too.  You'll have to go over to her post to read about this gorgeous quilt!

image via quiltstory

Be sure to head over and leave her some comment love!

Can't wait to see your finishes this week!  I love having a weekly deadline giving me (and you!) a reason to finish up another project!

What did you finish this week?

PLEASE READ THIS POST IF YOU ARE NEW TO LINKING UP!  :)

NEW RULES FOR LINKING UP!  Please read carefully.  The delete monster will be eating non-compliant links.

1. Please write the post for sew & tell - or add a blurb mentioning sew & tell to a post written earlier in the week.  This is not a tutorial party.  Please link to any tutorials you may have used.

2. One linky per person. (please put multiple projects in one post.)

3. Link to your specific post.  (See here for permalink instructions - or email me.)

4. Link back here with a link or a button.

5. Comment away!

extra! extra! this just in...

Do you want to see a sneak peek slide show of Amy Butler's new line?  It's pretty awesome!

*****

I had grand plans to get a lot accomplished last week, but mostly I cleaned bedding, floors, towels, toilets, etc.  Clingy babies make for a messy house, a lot of laundry, and a lot of T.V.  It's okay though, they aren't always this needy snuggly.  Plus it gave me the luxury of wearing my sweatpants!  Although, it put me behind the curve ball in getting a few sewing projects started.

*****
Everyone was mostly better for Halloween so we had some fun getting pumpkins:

Carving said pumpkin:

Trick-or-Treating:

and eating some yummy yummy Mulligatawny soup.

Did I say yummy?!

*****
I don't know if you remember last year when I scrambled to get a dress together to wear to the Marine Corps Birthday Ball.  I was, what, 4 months pregnant?  That was tricky.  Well, it's ball season again and I'm crazy enough to try another one.  My biggest problem is that I procrastinate in the WORST way when I am trying something new.  And it's in TWO weeks.

So this is the pattern I'm using.

But no, I can't just do one straight off the pattern.  I'm going to do the side gathered top (C), and add sleeves (E) which I will chop off at the elbow.  And then I think I'll add a ruffle around the neckline.  Just because.

I bought a bunch of muslin so I can do a mock up to make sure it fits and I don't ruin my real fabric.  I'm getting all panicky just typing about it.  I do have the pattern pieces cut out...

******
I'd rather be finishing this:

or starting work on these two quilts:

But I'll probably put off those too.  Anyone else do that?  Anyone have an antidote?