Fabulous Feedback!

What a wonderful surprise it was when I discovered this darling photo of finished jackets and hats that were made from my super simple Quilted Baby Doll Jacket and Hat pattern.  These gorgeous jackets were made by Beate Kingsley (or Sewloonie, as she calls herself on etsy) who left this photo as feedback on my etsy shop.  Beate hails from the southern shores of Georgian Bay, which as she states in her profile on flickr, is sometimes called The Sixth Great Lake.  It is actually part of Lake Huron, separated from it by the Bruce Peninsula which is located in Ontario, Canada.  She is very lucky to be just a few hours north of Toronto.  Whew, there is everyone's geography lesson for the day!  Beate is quite a seamstress and by the photographs I have found on her flickr accout, I can tell she loves her grandchildren!  She's a quilter, a knitter, and obviously loves to sew for children and babies.  It's worth the trip to flickr to see what she has created up there in Canada.  One of her albums, FOE FUN, has me wanting to learn all about this Fold Over Elastic.....
      
As I sit here and type this, I am willing to bet that my new friend from the great white north isn't wearing shorts and flip flops like I am.  It's still in the 90's down here.  Where is our fall???  Yoo hooo ... we are ready for you... tap tap tap....

Come One, Come all! Bib Class in Clearwater!

I will be teaching a Quilted Toddler Bib class at Country Quilts and Bears in Clearwater, Florida on Saturday, July 10th. The class will run from 10 a.m. until 4:30. Many will leave earlier than 4:30, but if you want to make a day of it, you certainly can! We really have fun in our classes there!

The Quilted Toddler Bib is a fabulous blank canvas that allows you to practice and learn any and all of the following if you are interested:
* Basic piecing
* Machine embroidery placement / personalization
* “Whole cloth” stipple, meandering or grid quilting
* Hand or machine appliqué
* Bias binding creation and application



You leave this class with a smile and a finished project in hand. You also leave with nearly all the skills necessary to create the Quilted Toddler Jacket. My bibs can be bought on etsy - my shop is: http://www.quiltyindulgence.etsy.com/

Above is my darling Granddaughter, Lucy, wearing the small size bib on her first birthday. See how well she is covered? It is marvelous! Coverage isn't the only plus for this bib, either. It wears like iron. It can be washed over and over again and is as comfortable as an old quilt.

These patterns sew up to make great gifts and with the holiday season fast approaching, it is a wonderful addition to your repertoire! I can promise you that once you make one bib, you will have to make more! They are great stash busters, too. You can use up those orphan blocks you have laying around. You can make a bib or two from leftover charms or jelly rolls. You can use plain denim with the edges finished in bias binding and no quilting.... the options are limitless! Let your imagination soar!

Quilty Indulgence Goes Live!

Happy Friday! I have finally finished the big secret project! I have completed the copyright for my bib pattern, the Quilted Toddler Bib!   I have some more patterns that I am working on and will get them copyrighted and posted soon.

The bib pattern grew out of necessity as I watched my angel of a granddaughter eating her first little bowls of baby food. Her daddy would warn you to watch for what he termed “blow back”. Then there was the “waterfall of food” and a number of other potential actions that were a constant threat to whatever my little darling was wearing. I immediately saw the problem and needed to think of a solution. Thus the Quilted Toddler Bib was born. I chased my granddaughter around the house with an old T-Shirt, snipping and clipping to get it to fit properly in order to make the pattern and then, because she wasn’t the most patient of models, I kept modifying it at home and taking it back for fittings. We finally got it just right and I started making them for her.

That’s when the fun really began because as the parents of my granddaughter’s friends saw these bibs, they wanted some for their own children. I became a bib making machine and then a light came on in my head and I realized that I really had something here. I just had to get it all down on paper, and then get that paper printed!

I wanted the actual bib pattern to be full size (not one you had to tape together), so that required “big girl software” so that when I took the final drawing to the printer, it would print all in one piece. The paper needed to be 24 X 30 inches and my home printer certainly couldn’t handle that task. During this time my granddaughter turned two and outgrew the original bib, so I then I realized I had to make a larger size. So back to the computer drawing board I went, and I overlaid the larger size onto the same paper, like you do with sewing patterns and back to the printer I went. The printer I was using specializes in construction blueprints and such, and talking to him about sewing patterns was quite a lark. He just couldn’t wrap his head around what I was trying to accomplish until I stated, “this is the blueprint to build a bib.” Suddenly we were on the same page! The rest, as they say, is history.

Stop by my etsy shop, if you will, and have a look around. I love company! Have a great weekend, everyone!

Oh, and the inspiration for the bib is the little princess below, Miss Madelyn Mary!