30% off | Big sale on Aqua and Orange Nesting Chairs!

I hope everyone had a really wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! Mine was spectacular. So much to be thankful for and it was so great to spend time with my family and take a break and slow down a bit.

And thanks to everyone who had such great suggestions for sugar free options from my last post. Dinner was wonderful and not a bit of processed sugar to be found. :) I am, however, still stuffed to the gills and am going to have to eat air sandwiches for a week in order to get back on track. But boy was that a great dinner (and lunch, and dinner, and lunch...)

As a break from the kitchen today, I spent some time this afternoon organizing my studio. Discovered that I have too much inventory in stock of Nesting Chairs in Aqua and Orange though. So I decided to do a quick sale and see if we can clear the shelves a bit. So, the Aqua and Orange Nesting Chairs fabrics (from my inventory only) are on sale at 30% off. If you need more than what's listed in the store, just message me and I'll see what's still left. Happy shopping!!

Giveaway winner..and a sugar free dilemma

I'm excited to announce the winner of the signed copy of Pretty in Patchwork Doll Quilts by Cathy Gaubert! Congratulations to Jo Ann, who left comment #28.
I am on pins and needles waiting to see this book. Thanks for the opportunity to win a copy!
I hope you love the book as much as I do Jo Ann!

Can you believe that Thanksgiving is only a week and a half away!? I am really excited for the holiday this year. Completely not ready of course, but it always seems to come together anyway, doesn't it? :)

I'm thinking of trying to reduce sugar a bit though this year and was thinking of trying to bake a sugar free pie. Has anyone had any luck with baking/cooking and sugar substitutes not tasting all 'chemically'? I tried using Splenda last year in a cranberry relish and had to throw it out it was so icky. I wonder if it was because the relish isn't cooked and the Splenda needs to be cooked to not taste weird... But would like to give it another go and try the cranberry relish and perhaps a pie with something other than sugar. Wonder if Stevia is the way to go? Any reccos would be great. One of my guests has diabetes so would like to be able to make all of my sugar-y dishes without sugar...Suggestions anyone?

Giveaway!! Pretty in Patchwork Doll Quilts book

I was going through Flickr right before I headed to Market and spied this adorable picture.

So, how surprised was I when her smiling face walked into the Robert Kaufman booth at Market a week ago? Sweet Cathy Gaubert, the author of Pretty in Patchwork Doll Quilts, and her wonderful editor and friend Amanda Carestio, came by the booth and introduced themselves. We just gabbed and gabbed and I really loved getting to meet them both!

Cathy had a copy of her brand new book with her and let me spend a few minutes oohing and ahhing over her copy. There are 24 fantastic projects and because they are all doll quilts. Which means with their small size they all seem really approachable and would come together pretty quickly. I can hardly wait to try a few out. There are some amazing pieces in here that really have my creative juices flowing. There's a Dresden Plate pattern that is calling my name. I plan to make it for one of the walls in my studio.

And I was just tickled to spy a bit of Tufted Tweets in one of the projects!

Take a peek at this sophisticated and stunning creation by Cathy.

And how much do you love this piece by Penny from Sew Take a Hike?

I really adore this book! And Cathy has graciously offered a signed copy of the book for me to giveaway to one of you. Just leave me a comment here and you'll be entered to win. Easy peasy! One entry per person please. I'll draw the winner after 8am CT this Sunday, November 13.

Fabric sighting | Sew to Swap Book

I was on Amazon a few weeks ago and was perusing some of the fabulous new sewing books that have recently been released. Doesn't it seem like there's been a surge of great new titles showing up on the scene lately? I was really drawn to one called Sew to Swap: Quilting Projects to Exchange Online and by Mail by Chrissie Grace.

Some day, when things slow down a smidge, I'd really like to be able to participate in some of the online swaps I see all over Flickr and in blog land. They look like so much fun. So this book looked like a great intro on how to organize a swap and into my cart it went. And I was reading more about the title, I spied two little pieces of Tufted Tweets on the cover. I placed my order and was excited to see if I could find any more little pieces of Tweets in any of the projects in the book.

Boy was I surprised and delighted to find that there is an entire swap and resulting quilt filled with Tufted Tweets. The quilt really just took my breath away! Lookie at how gorgeous this is! Each and every block is just fantastic!

And there are some absolutely beautiful illustrations by Ariel Eldridge that really add something special to the book. I just love how she's taken the process and the patterns and translated them into her beautiful hand drawn accompaniment to the projects.

If you're looking for guidance on setting up, or participating in, a swap I highly recommend this book. And even if you're not interested in swapping a thing, there are some really wonderful patterns and tutorials. Contributors for the book include 17 bloggers that each have a wonderful color and design sense so it's great to see how all those styles are brought together. Head on over to Chrissie's blog this month and follow along in her Blog hop for a bunch of extra tutorials and giveaways.

Congrats Chrissie and team. It's a really wonderful book! I can't wait to get started on some of the projects.

Quilt Market Houston 2011

I'm back from Quilt Market in Houston! And I have to tell you, I had so much fun!!

Living in Austin, it was a quick 3 hour-ish drive to Houston. And as soon as I dropped my bags in the hotel, I headed off to the convention center to visit the team from Robert Kaufman and see Modern Whimsy. When I arrived at the booth, I was simply stunned. Stunned I tell you! It was my first time seeing Modern Whimsy really up close. (I of course had received my swatches during strike offs, but this was my first glimpse of full sized pieces of the fabric.)

And you guys know I have a penchant for dancing/bouncing about when I get excited... So I'm sure I was subconsciously bouncing a bit in the aisle when I walked up to the booth... :) The team from RK did such an amazingly beautiful job! Modern Whimsy was on display along with the talented and sweet Ann Kelle Designs as well as the fabulous new collections by Marie Perkins of Inkjet Designs and Print and Pattern.

I somehow didn't get a good shot of the 2nd color way with the kelly green, yellow and pink. Harrumph! 

But...you can kinda -storta see it hanging from the edge of the table below the sign in the first picture above...

On Sunday, the Robert Kaufman team scheduled a meet and greet for me. I was really nervous at first, but the nerves quickly dissipated. So many wonderful people came by to say hello and introduce themselves. I got such a kick out of meeting folks who I've only gotten to know through my blog or through Flickr! It was the highlight of my trip. Unfortunately, we used everyone's camera BUT mine for the shots, so I don't have any of those to share. So if you happen to have been there and we snapped a pic together, send it my way! I'd love to post it here to share with everyone.

Modern Whimsy will start shipping this December, so I'll make sure to share news about it's release as I get it. And as soon as I receive my samples and have some FQs to start giving away, I'll start dancing about again and you'll be the first to know. :)