{Binding: A Tutorial}

Hi there friends!  I have had some requests for a binding tutorial after posting some images on Instagram and I have partnered with Moda to bring you a full tutorial (with LOADS of pictures) on how to make and sew binding for your quilts and other projects.  

When I started quilting I searched for tutorials online about all the different steps of quilting and used a collaboration of many methods to figure out what worked for me.  That was about 5-6 years ago, and recently, I was thinking "why post a tutorial on binding?  Everyone knows how to bind!"  FALSE.  It was like I forgot I was once looking, myself, for tutorials on the basics of quilting.  So, I hope, if you are just learning, re-learning, or looking for a new method, that you hop on over to the Moda Cutting Table and check out my tutorial!  Happy Binding!

{Fabric Stash Friday: Spring Citrus}

Flower image by Chelsea Fuss of Frolic.

Today's Fabric Stash Friday is Ale's pick.  It's really "springy".  Appropriate with the warmer weather we've been having lately, wouldn't you say?  This palette is like a bowl of apples, oranges, lemons, limes, kiwi!!  It made me dig deep into my green stash and find something other than bright, bright lime green or chartreuse.  I tend to love the brighter greens and don't stash too many natural/more subdued greens.  That being said, I LOVE this fabric stack.  It is so refreshing.  I need more greens!!

This collection has several prints by Lizzy House, a couple Carolyn Friedlander prints and some fabulous older Sandi Henderson prints.  How would your Fabric Stash Friday look today?  Do you need more gold tone fabrics in your stash?  Want to play along?  Check out the Fabric Stash Friday flickr group!  We want to see what you have in your stash too!  What would you make with these fabrics?  I'm thinking a new table topper for my coffee table.

{Fabric Stash Friday}

 

 I'm pretty sure I found this image on Pinterest and I am seriously swooning over this color palette.  It's not as bright as I usually go, but I am really feeling the muted tones.  It's calming, right?  And really, you can't usually go wrong with gold in your stash.  (especially if it's sparkly) ;)

 

 If you don't know by now, aqua/mint is my very favorite color.  I want to paint every wall in my house aqua.  And sew everything in aqua.  It may not surprise you that I had about triple the amount of mint/aqua fabrics pulled for today's Fabric Stash Friday and had to put some back.  It was hard.

More Pearl Bracelets in this stash today (a FAB mixer).  Along with a few solids, mirror ball dots and some metallics for that perfect sparkle.  It looks like there are a few prints in there from V&Co. too.  (LOVE her new line)  Wouldn't this make a gorgeous quilt?  Who wants to come make one with me?  What's your favorite color palette right now?  What colors are you just totally inspired by?

{Goldwillow Afghan}

I have this friend.  Her name is Ale.  She's extremely talented.  We chat all the time about practically anything.  You can read about her art on her Golden Willow Quilts blog.  Anyway, we did a pretty special swap recently and I made her this cozy afghan.  Fun right???  WELL, it was getting so much attention on my Instagram feed (@InsideThePaperBox) that I've had some requests for more swapping!  If you head over to my IG you can follow along as I make them.

This crochet pattern is called the Sunburst Granny Square and you can find the tutorial I used HERE.  If you're a little knowledgeable in crochet, it should be a breeze.  If you're just starting out, YouTube is a GREAT tool for learning new stitches.  I utilize it ALL the time.  I've had a LOT of inquiries about the type of yarn I used on this one.  It's a bit of a mix, so hard to list it all, but what I can tell you is the majority of the colors for the circles were Berroco, Vintage.  I used mostly worsted weight acrylic/wool blends with a couple 100% wool and a couple aran weights mixed in.  The grey joining yarn I used is Vanna's Choice, Lions Brand 100% acrylic in Linen.  I made this one 10x14 squares making the final measurement ABOUT 45x60".

I'm currently hosting a casual little Crochet-A-Long on Instagram for the Sunburst Granny Afghan (#SunburstAfgahnCAL)  Go check it out and I hope you get inspired to try it out yourself and share your progress.

I'm also working on another afghan (because I have like, project ADD or something) using this circle pattern.  It's much quicker and uses less yarn than the Sunburst Granny Square, a great pattern if you're hesitant to try the sunburst.  I'll keep you posted about how that one is coming along in the next few weeks.

But this GoldWillow afghan has gone to live at it's new home in Portland.  I'm extremely happy she is so in love with how it turned out.  Crafty friends are the best!

xoxo

{Fabric Stash Friday}

 

Okay friends, do you want to push yourself to use that funky print you've had forever and are just too scared to use?  OR do you want to work on that color specific custom order and LOVE it?  OR do you just want to play with pretty fabric for a while and challenge yourself to put together new color combinations that might be a little out of your comfort zone?  FABRIC STASH FRIDAY!  I've teamed up with Ale from Golden Willow Quilts and we have chosen some really fabulous color palettes to inspire new fabric combinations right from your very own stash!!  You don't even have to go to the fabric store to play!  The goal here is to maybe pick one of your favorite colors and combine it with something new and fresh.

This week Ale picked this sweet image that is actually a complete contradiction to my previous statement because it is so so me, right up my alley.  I LOVE AQUA!  And then pair it with some reds and PEACH?!?!  Y.U.M.  (I MAY have chosen a few more prints than necessary)  I super love pretty much all Bonnie & Camille fabrics and it shows in this weeks stash.  Several prints from a couple of their earlier fabric lines (Ruby, Bliss,.... Sundae stripe is a FAV print of mine and happens to be making a return in their new line, Miss Kate).  I threw in some basics like chevron, stripes, dots and solids.  Then some more unique staples like Pezzy, Pearl Bracelets and Crosshatch.  And how cute are those apples and the Henna Garden by Sandi Henderson??  This is a perfect color combination in my opinion and was super easy for me to pull together.

The palette below was created using the Palette Builder at PlayCrafts and it pulls Kona solids for you to use to create your perfect fabric combination (!!!!) Awesome right???  Kona Ice Frappe???  Perfect.  Head on over to see what Ale has created for her Fabric Stash Friday using the same inspiration.  (You won't be sorry, her fabric collection is amazing)

 

Stay tuned in a couple weeks for the next Fabric Stash Friday color challenge.  It's a fun one!  Want to join in? Contact me.  If there's enough interest, we'll share the inspiration images and do a little link up!

Happy Weekend Friends!
xoxo

{Sewing Summit, 2013}

Wow!  What an experience you guys!  I've basically been looking forward to SS13 since I saw (on IG) how much fun everyone was having last year and got completely jealous.  But seriously, totally awesome.  My friend, Ale and I got our tickets the minute they went on sale and basically acted like 12 year old girls about the whole thing.  Talking about being roomies, planning pre Sewing Summit projects, discussing how over packed we would be and how big of an extra (empty) bag to bring to carry home our goodies.

Photo dump coming up.  My apologies for the picture quality.  All pictures are camera phone only.  I'm not even sure I know WHY I brought my Canon with me. ;)

Here I am.  DFW ------> SLC bound.  Obligatory foot/handmade bag/airport pic.  (in the aqua skinnies I HAD to purchase the evening before leaving) ;)

Obviously, the first thing you do when you arrive in Salt Lake City to attend Sewing Summit, is go fabric shopping.  Here we were at Material Girls Quilts and Pine Needles.

And BUY ALL THE FABRIC.  Why yes, I did buy the end of the bolt of several Bonnie & Camille prints.

The class line up was so great this year.  I had several wonderful and insightful lectures and hands on sewing classes.  Here I am with Christina from The Sometimes Crafter in her Foundation Paper Piecing class.  I loved finally getting to meet her in person and her class was great.  LOOK at that little block I made!

I took the Personal Branding lecture with Olivia Omega and guys, she was AWESOME!  So much fun!  She insisted that we take a selfie.  In class.  And post it RIGHT THEN.  So here I am with Kaylee, who actually happens to be a local friend that I met through Instagram and our love of sewing.  But definitely go check out Olivia's Website and Blog.  She has so many wonderful things to share about being yourself and being authentic on your blog.

Heather Bailey was the keynote speaker.  HEATHER BAILEY!  Her story was wonderful.  She talked about how she got started designing fabric for Freespirit and touched on all the other super amazing things she's done.  She was beautiful, inspiring, wonderful and sweet and she was genuinely happy to be with us during Sewing Summit.

I didn't get pictures of EVERY class, but I really did take some great ones.  Publishing a craft book.  Photography.  HTML for bloggers.  LEGGINGS!  I MADE LEGGINGS!  And they FIT!  I'm pretty pumped about that.

But what I FORGOT to mention, because I'm such a terrible blogger, is that I TAUGHT MY OWN CLASS!!!  I taught a group of 30 people how to make mini dresden plates!  They did so well!  Which is awesome because I was pretty nervous about it.  I have a pretty roundabout way of doing things sometimes that I always think only make sense to me.  But they made some super adorable tiny dresdens.  I got wonderful feedback and felt pretty special to be among so many other talented teachers and speakers.

So that's about it in a very small, short nutshell.  I'd have to say, one of the coolest parts (and maybe a little scary) is meeting all these people you have become real friends with, that share the same interests and have never actually met face to face.  A really cool feeling.  Thank you to Erin and her crew for putting it together.  Nice work.

xoxo