Quilt for Miss Addy

 

Last summer, my granddaughter saw a fabric quilt panel in my stash while we were looking for something to make Barbie clothes with. She loved it from the moment she saw it.  Eight months later and I am getting around to making her a snuggle quilt with the Michael Miller Sunshine Fairies panel. I bought this and another panel a few years back, so I can't find the coordinating fairy blocks to complete the quilt. I hate when that happens! My solution was to use my Janome 350E embroidery machine to make applique blocks of butterflies to place down the side of the panel. 

The pattern I used has 2 sizes and 6 different designs. I used 5 of the large 5x7 butterfly designs twice for a total of ten blocks. I used two of the 4x6 butterflies, one on a block that I embroidered my granddaughters name and one on a block that I personalized with "Butterfly Kisses from Grandma".




The panel was 22 inches wide, I added a 2 inch moss green outer border before placing the butterfly blocks on the left and right side. Very easy, just time consuming to make the applique butterfly blocks. Each block had a sewing time of between 28 minutes (the smaller image) to 58 minutes for a large block with lots of stops to change thread and trim the applique fabric. 

The finished quilt will have a outer border in brown and I am using a bright yellow minky for the back. I don't have a long arm machine or the patience to use my walking foot to quilt myself, so I will be taking to a friend to quilt for me. I'll update the post with the finished quilt in a couple of weeks.

Festivals Are What You Make Of Them!

When you make the commitment and send the check in for a booth at a arts/crafts festival you never know what to expect. Will the weather be good? Did I pack everything? Will I be beside someone selling the same items? How did the promoter advertise the event? Will people show up? All those questions and only one do I control! Making sure everything gets to the festival!

I was booth 19 yesterday, on a cold and cloudy day, waiting for the people to show up. Since I was working my booth alone I didn't get to check out any other booths, but I saw 2 others selling some of the same items I make. The event was a fund raiser for a local high school, the crowds never made it and I never saw any signs the event was promoted beyond the high school. Before you start thinking I am being negative, please reread the title! I met two wonderful ladies in the booth beside me, they were selling a totally unique book marker. They are very wired into the festival scene, and so eager to share their knowledge with me. Website design, linking up your blog, using facebook to promote yourself.....fun stuff!

The second lesson I learned was to move my inventory around so the items I had in common with other vendors wasn't the first thing shoppers see. Why come into a booth that looks like the one you just left. I moved my speciality items to the front and started seeing more shoppers come all the way into my booth.

A slow show also gives you the opportunity to talk to your customers, get feedback on your items, talk up the quality of your product.

I'm new to the whole festival world. My day job is in advertising and marketing, so I also learned to ask questions of the promoters to see where and how they have advertised the event.

At the end of the day, I broke even, after paying for the booth. I got to see little girls excited as they modeled my flip flops, smiling as they picked out the perfect headband and skipping out of my booth with their bag full of goodies from MY booth! All in all a good day!

Here We Go!

I am loving all the blogs and craft websites now available and have decided to get in on the fun!
My grandmother, Trudy Lee, taught me to sew on her peddle machine many many years ago. The life of a working mom got in the way and I "retired" my machine when I was in my early 30's. A chance encounter with a quilter 10 years ago and I was hooked again! I took a Tee Shirt Quilt class from Margie and set out to make my niece a quilt for her high school graduation. It was a blast and I haven't stopped sewing since.
I love the "creative" side of sewing and have been designing tutu's, flip flops and quilts for 5 years. The response from family and friends to my unique designs lead me to selling at craft festivals. I hope to grow my little home business and love sharing the tricks and short cuts I have learned along the way. I hope this blog helps me to achieve both goals-selling my designs and teaching the next generation the joy of sewing!