The First : :

Today I want to share the highlight of my week, Haila's and my first sewing session! A few weeks back I had posted on her sewing themed birthday party, where she received her very own Janome. Since then we've been waiting, impatiently, for the right time to begin. For an hour or two that her and I could have just for the two of us to tackle her first project together. Because she's so interested in making quilts, we decided a simple quilted 14" pillow would be a great place to start!

These are the snapshots I shared on my Instagram the night of our pillow making!





She chose a pretty Floressence floral print from my stash and I helped her use my rotary cutter, ruler, and mat set up to trim it to about a 16" square. We ironed the fabric to a piece of HeatnBond Fusible Fleece, she picked out two spools of Aurifil for her quilting and she was ready to go!



Although she has a machine of her very own, for now, being the overly cautious mama that I am, I'm having her use my Janome with the speed control set very slow! As she became more comfortable, I adjusted the speed to be a little quicker. In the beginning, in an effort to keep her quilting stitches straight, she would rock her work back and forth. It was all nerves! It took her repositioning her hands several times before she found what felt best for her to guide the piece through the needle. She did great! Other than working on relaxing and feeling comfortable & confident, at the end of each quilted stitch line she would press the automatic thread cutter button too soon before easing her foot off the pedal. This drove me a little crazy at first, but then I asked her to take a breath at the end of each stitch line before she was allowed to push the button and that totally worked! By the time she was halfway through with her quilting I was behind her trying not to giggle out loud at the sound of her taking so many deep breaths!



After the pillow top was quilted, I trimmed it to a 14.5" square while Haila chose her backing fabric, a pretty Coral Essex Linen. She hemmed her two back pieces by herself with my guidance and did a great job! When we pinned the backing fabrics to the pillow front with right sides facing, no matter how I was explaining it, she couldn't wrap her head around this part. After she sewed a 1/4" from the outer edge all the way around, I clipped the corners, and as she turned the cover out, YES, she got it!



Listening to her excitement during the making and seeing how proud she is with her finished pillow cover is absolutely as good as it gets!









Since she has her heart absolutely set on giving this one to her school teacher, we plan to make a second, identical pillow for her to keep. Then I think a simple, quilted tote bag will be up next!  

Do you have any project suggestions?

This was such a perfect beginning for the both of us!!  ♥ Maureen

A Fabric GIVEAWAY : :

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It's Fabric Giveaway Friday!

  

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My sponsor The Intrepid Thread is a family owned and run business. In their shop you'll find Fat Quarters, Half Yards, Yards, and Yardage, as well as patterns and embellishments. Their designer fabrics include many of our favorites -- Art Gallery Fabrics, Moda, and Riley Blake Designs just to name a few! 
The owners work extremely hard everyday to bring their customers the best fabrics,
at the best prices, with high quality customer service!
  
SHOP  *  BLOG  *  FACEBOOK
 

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We hope you enjoy visiting The Intrepid Thread's sites!! 

For this weekend's giveaway The Intrepid Thread is offering this lovely bundle of TEN Art Gallery Fabric prints, from their new In-House Collection Floressence in the Luminescent colorway!! 

Floressence comes in two gorgeous colorways, this Luminescent and in Magnifiscent! Both are full of beautiful Parisian blues and raspberry reds. It's one of my own new personal favorites!!  

You can find the full collection available in The Intrepid Thread Shop in yardage, FQ's, 
and in a variety of bundles HERE!!

Enter to win!

Here's how,
 
1. Simply leave a comment here in this post. I'd love to know what you'd like to make with these beauties?! (one entry)
2. Follow The Intrepid Thread on facebook, their blog, or sign up to receive their Newsletter. Just let me know that you did by making a separate comment here to record that entry. (optional extra entry)
3. My followers get a third entry! Whether you follow me here, in your reader, or on Facebook, just let me know that you do by making a separate comment here to record that entry. (optional extra entry)
4. Help spread the word!! I know that many of you already do, so I thought it would be nice to add that as another way to enter! Whether by tweet, facebook, pin, blog, etc... (one optional entry)  

That’s 4 possible entries! Enter now through Monday morning, November 12th. Mr. Random will pick the winner and I will announce their name at the bottom of this post, here on the blog, I always try to have that up by 9 am EST!
 
* Note * This giveaway is open to EVERYONE! If you're a "no reply" or anonymous commenter, please remember to include your email address in your comment so that I can contact you should you win!
                                        

Good Luck everyone!!! Have a great weekend!

* * * * *  UPDATE  * * * * *

Thank you to all who entered this past weekend's Giveaway !! 

 

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  From 1,345 entries, Mr. Random says the lucky winner is...

Comment #171 -- Jeana, who said...

Oh I love this line!

Congratulations Jeana!!! I will be in touch shortly!

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My Little Owl : :

This was the scene last Friday after school when my little girl came home to find that her owl costume was finally finished!



Since I have been so busy packing and not feeling well, when it was announced that our local Trick or Treating would be postponed several days because of Hurricane Sandy, I decided to take advantage of those extra days. I was thrilled and relieved when the costume started coming together just as I had planned! And even more, that she LOVES it!!



My daughter picked out all the colors that make up her costume. We used a little of my new Floressence Trellis Tulip in a very bright pink for the bodice and lots of Pure Elements, felt, and fabric scraps for all those colorful feathers. My owl wings are similar to these that I've seen on Prudent Baby and a few other blogs, but I didn't follow a specific tutorial. I used one of my daughter's dresses to measure the length from thumb to thumb, used brown felt for the wing structure, and planned for them to tie on with the dress, rather than around the neck. The owl headband is made the same way I make my Birthday Crowns, which she wanted instead of a mask so she could get her face painted.



Here's a blurry, but good look at the back, with her brothers -- an Army Ranger and a very happy Gothic character!

I wasn't sure I could compete with last year's Little Red costume, which was so fun for me to make! But having her input and for this one turn out just as she wanted, was even better! I am a little bummed that I didn't get as great of pictures as last year, but the weather went from being dark and rainy, to really cold. I'm certain I'll see lots more of this costume throughout the year, so that's alright.



It's packed away now with her other dress-up play things, or I would have taken a few more photos to share this morning. Right now we are waiting to hear when we can officially close and begin to move into our first home. We had thought that would be this week and weekend, but that's not going to happen. Hopefully it will be soon before the snow comes!! Wish us luck and have a great Monday!
♥ Maureen

p.s. I'll add a few extra photos to my flickr, for those of you who might be interested in making something similar yourself!