alittlesweetness

merry christmas!

I did it!  I really did it! Yep, I started a christmas quilt this month and I actually finished it just in the nick of time.  Camille's Vintage Holiday pattern didn't disappoint and I'm in love with the finished product. (Thanks C, for the inspiration)! :)

It was really fun deciding how to do each oranament block...

The pattern calls for one patchwork ornament, but I did two because they were so cute!

(here's one of them...)

The other little alteration I made was doing the pinwheel.  A lot of the blocks centers are made up of half square triangles, so it really just depended on how you arranged them.  I did two pinwheels.

For the backing I found a super snuggly flannel at Joann's and it was absolutely perfect for this quilt!  I love the softness and extra cozyness it brings. 

This quilt is a big size.... 54"X68"....which is one of the largest that I've made.  It took a little longer for what I was used to, but I'm so happy with the result it was totally worth it!

Now we can enjoy it for the rest of the holiday season...I'm sure I'll have it out as looooong as possible!

Thank you SO much to everyone who has supported me this year through my Etsy shop, the beginnings of my fabric designing adventure, your friendship, encouragement, saying hello on my blog....everything!  It really means alot to me and I'm so very thankful! 

Wishing you a wonderful Christmas!  :)

Love,

Tasha Noel

p.s.  all orders have been shipped!  ;)  thanks for your patience!

a tutorial : little x quilt

Hello there!  Today I'm really glad that I have this simple tutorial for you!  I've wanted to get it done for a while now, but life just gets so busy, especially at this time of year.  We've had everything from being sick, to having relatives in town, to dr. appointments and holiday to-do's.  Thanks for being patient!  :)

While I didn't come up with this block myself, I don't know of a tutorial specifically for doing it, although it is just a shortened granny square...which I know there are tutorials for.  Anyway, what I'm hoping is that this tutorial is helpful to those that visit my blog and want to make a little X quilt too!  :) 

Ready?!  Me too.  

First select your fabrics for the little squares.

You will need the following:

Please pay attention that if you are using directional fabrics or are doing any fussy cutting, you are cutting them on point (diagonally) because of the positioning of the finished block. 

Lay your squares out like this:

Sew together the rows using 1/4" seam allowance:

Press the rows.  I press my seams open.  Sometimes I press to one side on bigger pieces, but I've noticed with smaller pieces, pressing seams open helps with accurracy and reduces bulk. 

Lay out your pressed rows again.  See how they are laying neat and flat?

Pin together rows by matching up seams:

Sew together each row until block is complete.  Press. 

This is what your block should look like:

Take your block to your cutting mat and position it on point/diagonally.  (Please pardon my scrubby mat...it's been well loved.)  :)

To trim your block, line up edges so that you are a little more than 1/4" away from your little points.  That way you won't sew through them when you construct your quilt.  Using a see-through ruler helps to do this. 

Trim your block to approximatley 7.5".  (Please read all instructions on this portion before trimming your block)

Trim all 4 sides...please read all instructions below before trimming your block so you have a clear understanding of how to do this first.

While trimming, use mat and ruler guidlines to keep block square.  The measurement doesn't have to be exactly 7.5".  Find the measurement that works for your block and as long as all of them measure the same, it'll be fine.  Mine aren't exactly 7.5"...they are a little bigger, I just followed the same marking on my ruler.  If I was simply following a measurement of 7.5", I might end up cutting too close to some of the points and I don't want to do that.  Just be aware of that 1/4" marking on your ruler to make sure you won't be sewing through any points.  Bottom line, it doesn't really matter what the measurement of the final block is as long as they are all the same and you're not cutting within a 1/4" of the block points.  I hope that isn't confusing, but I think once you are making your block you will understand this.

Here is the finished block!

So simple!  In my quilt I used 12 blocks.  If you wanted a smaller project, you could use just the one block for a pillow or make 4 blocks for a larger pillow or a wall hanging. 

For making the quilt, I have given some very general measurements to follow and also my fabric choices.  I didn't give detailed instructions for each step of constructing the quilt.  It's more of a guideline to get you headed in the right direction. 

All of the fabrics used in this quilt are from my new line, The Simple Life. 

Here are some measurements for sashings and borders. 

Sashing is what goes in between and around the blocks.  I chose the pink/red polka dot on the white background.  Then I have 2 borders....the red polka dot and the pink floral.  For the binding I used the aqua gingham.

This quilt measures about 48.75" X 40.5"

This quilt really goes together quickly!  If you have done a little piecing or patchwork, this is perfect for you.  It's a pretty small quilt...baby sized.  If you want it bigger, just make more blocks or wider sashings and borders. 

I hope you love making this quilt!  It's my favorite right now!

Tasha

little X quilt...

I thought it was about time I started showing you the quilts I made for market!  I ended up doing 3 lap/couch sized and 2 baby/mini's, but today I only have pictures of one quilt.  With 5 out of 7 members of the family sick this week, it's slowed me down quite a bit.  Especially since 1 of the 5 is me. (blah!)

So this is what I call the Little X Quilt:

I loved this one I saw on Pinterest, by Sewn With Grace and it was really fun and easy to put together.  It's constructed the same as a Granny Square, simply with less sqaures.  So if you've done granny's, you'll think this is super fast.

I really love fussy cutting for centers! 

Even this little guy got an X....

I really don't know if there is a tutorial for this block, so I'd be happy to put one together if you are interested.  Let me know!  I may end up doing some general cutting instructions for this quilt anyway, just in case.  Next week? 

I hope to get around to showing you each of the quilts I've done...

I'm crossing my own fingers for you and ME that everyone will stop coughing around here first though.  Hmm...Maybe begging will work better? 

Anyone have any natural remedies for coughs that you know works?  (slightly off topic, but I really want them gone!) 

Holiday Tag-A-Long

It took me about 2 seconds flat to decide to make some cute tags with Amy and Kristyne.  In other words.....they had me at "Tag-A-Long". 

After my market sewing frenzy, it's a nice change of pace for me.  Something small, simple, and carefree.  Just because!

The only thing that held me back ever so slightly was the fact I couldn't find my eyelets and tools from our move, so I had to wait to get to Joann's. 

But these little cuties were worth the extra trip!

Time well spent in my book!

It was just the perfect thing for me....

Thanks for the great idea and inspiration to two of the cutest, sweetest girls ever!  And trust me on that one, they are.  ;)

Now go....go make some tags!

Tasha

news from the shop! {cyber monday}

I hope you have all enjoyed the beginning of the holiday season so far!  We loved our Thanksgiving break so much!  We celebrated with dinner at our home with lots of family and saw Wreck It Ralph beforehand (which was great btw!).  A little shopping, a couple of activities and lots (and lots!) of relaxing made it simply fabulous!  Life is not perfect, but there are always blessings to count and for that I am so very thankful.

I've got my Christmas decorating underway.....more to get done this week.  I'm feeling simple this year, so we'll see, but this is it so far....

As for the shop news, I'm really excited to be getting my paper items back in the shop!  I was having some printer problems, but also decided for a while that I didn't mind the break, so I didn't scurry to get it back and running.  But I'm ready now and so it's back!  yay!

Here's a tiny sampling from the shop of illustrations and embroidery patterns....

For CYBER MONDAY, please enjoy 20% off your entire order by entering coupon code CYBER20 during checkout.  Yay for coupon codes!  This coupon code is only good for today, but no worries, I'm promising at least a couple more sales by Christmas.  :)

Happy Monday!

Announcing...Little Red!

I'm so happy to be announcing my 2nd fabric line with Riley Blake!  Little Red Riding Hood has been a long time coming and I love how everything came together....I hope you do too!

These are just the strike-off's, so unfortunately we all have some waiting to do! :(

If you're new here, or if you don't mind the little history recap....I started selling the Little Red Riding Hood fabric in my Etsy shop (using Spoonflower) over 3 years ago.  Can you believe it!??!  I sold it steadily for about a year and a half, then only by custom requests for about another year.  When I knew I would be doing a Little Red Riding Hood line with Riley Blake, I stopped taking the requests for anymore Spoonflower fabric.  In my new line, you'll also notice my mushroom fabric that I was also selling in my shop for a couple years.    

I loved finally being able to come up with other coordinating fabrics for the two I had already done.  I did make some changes to the original version of the Little Red fabric, which I think you'll like.  The outlines are a soft brown, instead of the solid black.  There's the addition of Grandmother's cottage and also some pretty flowers.  The mushroom fabric is the same, except a tad smaller in scale. 

Here's the whole thing:

Red Colorway

Pink Colorway

Aqua Colorway

Full yard

Border Print (images are running along the edge of the selvedge)

Little Red Riding Hood - white main

 

Little Red Riding Hood is pre-selling now and will be available in March of 2013.

You can also see it here on the Riley Blake website!

I hope you love it!!

...more market! (a very long post)

It's been a little rough since I've been home from market, but I think I'm finally feeling back to normal.  Even though the market experience can be tiring (and just plain wipe you out for days), it's definitly worth it!  Not only was it exciting to have my own fabrics on display, it was also fun to see everyone else's displays and to meet such amazing and friendly people.  I can't say enough about how nice everyone was.  I didn't meet anyone who wasn't supportive, encouraging, kind and friendly!

Meeting Joel Dewberry was a definite highlight for me!  He was so down to earth and genuinely kind and personable.  We chatted with him for a little bit and I learned that his mom is Donna Dewberry of One Stroke Painting who I used to watch (in awe!) on TV when I was a teen.  My sister is a true hoarder of Joel's fabric, so it was fun for both of us to meet him.  I loved the cute outfits he had in his booth!

Meeting Allison from Cluck.Cluck.Sew was great too!  I've been following her blog for a couple years and I love her patterns and style.  She's super nice and totally laid back! 

Speaking of super nice, we loved chatting with Chelsey from Pink Fig patterns.  She was there helping Lila Tueller with her gorgeous Mistique booth and they were both so helpful and encouraging to my sister, Talia, who is just starting to look into the pattern business. 

I had a picture of us with Lila as well, but it turned out blurry.  I got this one of the two of them at takedown, I know they were exhausted, but I thought the photo was cute.  They really were so fun to meet!  Just so nice!

It was fun to run into Sherri from A Quilting Life right in front of my booth.  I've also been following her blog for a while now too and she is one talented quilter!  She even bought some of my Spoonflower fabric a while back, which was partly the beginning of my fabric adventure.  Thanks Sherri!  ;)  She was also very sweet! 

Here's Bari J's beautiful booth....I know she worked her guts out on it!  She was also just the nicest person to chat with.  I got a picture of us, but I wasn't looking blog worthy!  (and it was one of the only other pictures where I was wearing a different outfit!...shucks!)

Loved this adorable booth from Darlene Zimmerman!  So sweet!

The awesome dresden at the Liberty booth!

Liberty

Tilda fabric!  So pretty!

I spotted some quilts from Bonnie and Camille's Marmalade!  Lovely, lovely!

Pretty quilt from the Mary Rose Collection...so cute!

Fascinating quilt made of super teensy squares!! 

 

And of course I'm saving the best for last here......  ;)

The best part was meeting everyone from Riley Blake!  I loved watching the booth in action.  They are the kindest people and they work so hard to get everything done!  They are amazing people to be around!

 

Here's me and Cindy Cloward (her and her husband are the owners) at takedown...we were generally tired here!  Bret and Cindy are both truly the nicest people!  (I told you everyone was nice!!)

Here's me and Jina.  She basically helps me with everything!!  She's a sweetheart and I was so glad to meet her in person!  Thanks Jina! ;)  (Remember, this is takedown....we are tired!)

Here's some cute displays from Riley Blake:

Doohikey Designs

Lori Holt

Zoe Pearns

Emily Taylor

Sandra Workman

And in case you missed it, here's mine.  ;)  We moved things around a couple times...this is how it was at one of those times....

Then to this...

and this...

So, I think that's enough pictures for one day, don't you?!?!  I say yes.

I have to tell you who I missed though!  Somehow, even though we planned on meeting, I missed my sweet and spazzy friend Kristyne from Pretty By Hand!  HOW, oh how did that happen, we both say???  We ran into everyone else but each other!  Next time!! 

AND....how on EARTH did I miss the fact that TY PENNINGTON people! was at market and I didn't KNOW!  I was even telling my sister how he has fabric now and that we could actually meet him someday and it still didn't occur to me to investigate if he was in acutality, AT MARKET!  Helloooo?!?! Truth is...I'm a little spacey like that.  No lie.  

Anyway, NEXT MARKET, I'm hunting at least two people down.  Remind me if I forget!  (please!)

Tasha

P.S.

If I forgot something or someone, please forgive me.  I had a lot of photos, but some were no good....blurry or really bad face making or something.  I loved meeting everyone though!!!  I met the super sweet and talented Pam Kitty Morning and my favorite little girl skirt designer, Jona  (who has tons of market photos!) ...but the pictures just didn't turn out. :(  both were the just the sweetest, nicest people though!! 

See, I told you!!

quilt market ~ fall 2012

I know, it's about time already!  I've been in some serious recovery mode since I got home and I'm not sure I'm done yet either.  With Halloween and now a few sickies in the house...me being one of them, I barely have my things out of my suitcases!  For reals.  So please forgive me....once again...for my super slow behavior.  And in advance, I apologize for some bad photos too.  Sadly, the Iphone didn't measure up quite like I had hoped.  Next market I'll have to haul the real camera!

I was soooo super glad to have my mom and sister come along with me to market!  I couldn't have done it all without them.  From setting up, to figuring out how to get to where we needed to go, to just having the moral support, friendship and someone to chat with....we had a great time!

I grew up watching my mom sew practically everything...dresses, clothing, dolls, pillows, home accessories and yes, lots of quilts and blankets!  I loved learning new little things from her along the way.  Cross-stitching, making little dolls, stuffing handmade ornaments, doing lots of crafts.  So truly I am so thankful she could be with me!  My sister, Talia, is such a talented sewist herself!  She creates and sews pretty much anything and everything as well!  She always makes her own patterns for clothing (and other things too) for her darling little girls, so I was thrilled that she was willing to create a couple of outfits for my display, which will be available in pattern form for purchase soon!

Here's me and Talia after set up: (super bad lighting!)

My mom and Talia during set up:

One side of the booth:

Kerri's quilt and a Marie Madeline dress!

Talia's dress and a quilt I made:

Amy's Patchwork basket and hexie pincushion!

Talia's overalls.  Pattern will be called 'Seraphina'. 

Talia's dress, Pattern will be called 'Amelie'.  I'll keep you posted on availability for both.

Lambie pillow and Happy Tree pillow

One highlight of my market experience was discovering that an adorable booth, Marie Madeline Studio, had used The Simple Life combined with Lecien's Flower Sugar to make their clothing!  The company, Marie Madeline, is a mother and her 4 daughters.  Just 3 of the sisters were there at market, but they are simply the sweetest and cutest girls you'll ever meet!  I was thrilled to see my fabrics used in such adorable creations.  Their booth won an award at market too!  Thanks Marie Madeline!!

Abigail, Me, Achaia, Apphia

Me and Achaia

Also, I wanted to thank Kerri (lovely little handmades), Amy (nana Company), and Heather (Vintage Grey) for making up some super cute things that helped make my display complete! I couldn't have squeezed in time for even one more teensy-tiny item, I was stitching on the plane!, so truly, I'm so grateful they were all so excited to help.  It ended up just exactly perfect!  Some of my pictures didn't turn out very well and didn't get used, so I hope to do some more photos of each of the items from my booth when I get a chance.  I'm sure they will each do some of their own too when they get their cute things back, so keep an eye on their blogs.  

(Although I'm tempted to see how I could keep all the cutie stuff for myself!) ;)

Check back later this week (hopefully, if I've fully recouperated!) and I'll post more of what I saw and who I met (and who I missed...waaaa!) at quilt market! 

Tasha 

pillows!

With quilt market just a couple weeks away, I've pretty much been sewing every day.  Although I can't really show you everything yet, I have a couple things to share.  I snuck in some time to make pillowcases for Ava's bed (using Kerri's super easy tutorial) that aren't planning to go to market.  Plus, I did give that one hexie flower a home on a hand stitched, hand quilted pom pom pillow.  That will be going to market. 

And now for the abundance of photos....

Ready for a nap?  Me too and I just got up.  :) 

Have a wonderful week!

Tasha

just a little shorty

I thought I'd just pop in quickly today to say Hello!  Hello!  :)

And show you a couple little peeks of my projects I'm working on for market. 

These blocks are made using the designs from the panel that I cut out and I'm simply following the stitch lines that 'square out' each design. 

For picture taking, I'm using Instagram more ....super fun, easy and addicting.  I love all the different filters you can use and I love quickly seeing what everyone is up to.  I'm tashanoel1 if you want to look me up.  :)

I hope you enjoyed the peeks!  Now it's off to the sewing machine I go! 

After I get some food....I'm craving muffins? 

Oh ya... it was this!  Anyone feel like baking?  *sigh* 

Tasha