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Quilt Blocks Shop Challenge Winner #2

The next winner for the Quilt Blocks Shop Challenge is Michelle from City House Studio. She made this amazing Love quilt and also an adorable library tote bag, which you can find in her shop. You can visit Michelle’s blog here. And below is a bit about how Michelle got started sewing and opened her Etsy shop. Plus, see some more things she’s made in the images below.

I learned to quilt the summer I graduated from college. I had moved home for the summer, and before starting graduate school, I told my mom that I wanted to make a quilt. Of course I chose a queen sized pattern! So my mom and I spent many hours together trying to figure out how to “quilt.” We bought a good reference book and a rotary cutter, but we actually used a wooden cutting board on the kitchen counter to cut out all of the pieces! We pieced it on my mom’s old Singer, which hadn’t been used since my 4H project in 8th grade. We didn’t quite finish it before my classes started in the fall, so she quilted and bound it herself (this was quite a job for a brand new quilter!), and delivered it to my apartment when she visited me at Thanksgiving. What an amazing mom, huh? My parents bought me a sewing machine for my birthday after I got married, and I’ve been quilting ever since.

Life was crazy busy after my twins were born, but I’m a much happier person if I can spend a little time each day with my sewing machine–so I’ve always managed to find time for quilting. My nephew was born 4 weeks after my twins, and to finish his quilt I figured out how to sew with a baby on my chest in a Baby Bjorn! Two of my favorite projects include a birthday table runner that I made for my twins’ 1st Birthday, and the Farmer’s Wife quilt I made as a present for my Grandma on her 90th birthday.

I recently opened an Etsy store, in an effort to keep my house from becoming completely overwhelmed with the quilts and other projects I’ve made! I wrote my first pattern this spring, a Library Tote bag, after receiving many wonderful comments about the Library Totes that I’ve made for my girls’ teachers.

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Quilt Blocks Shop Challenge Winner #1

Last month, I posted a challenge for handmade shop owners using my Quilt Blocks fabric. Today, I’m featuring one of the three winners (in no particular order). Cheryl from Will Sew for Chocolate made the pillow and quilt that you see above. I love how bright and cheerful this looks. Here’s a bit from Cheryl about how she started her shop, along with some photos of her work:

Lucky me! Creativity has surrounded me all of my life. Mom gave me the talent for working with fabric and thread. Dad was a professional draftsman who gave me a talent for sketching and painting. My sister Kay shares my love of sewing and quilting. My four other sibs (all sisters) sewed once upon a time, but now focus their creativity into creating beautiful homes and gardens. My daughter Nicole doesn’t currently share my love of a sewing machine; she prefers to decorate her apartment, paint, and create adorable greeting cards. I’m confident she has the sewing and quilting gene somewhere inside her just waiting to get out!

I currently sew colorful quilts, pillows and whatever suits my fancy, for my new etsy shop “WillSewForChocolate”. I can hardly believe that only 1 year ago a friend told me I should sell my creations on etsy… and my response was “What’s etsy?”! After some research, I opened my etsy shop in December 2011 and now have quilts that have gone to live in Florida, Connecticut and Guam. How cool is that!

In my free time, I have fun creating girly, glam dresses for my little niece Lily in my “Chocolate Factory” (a.k.a. my sewing room). When I’m not working with fabric, I’m building flower and vegie gardens in my yard and unintentionally sharing them with the rabbits and chipmunks that live here in sunny Madison, Wisconsin.


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Flower Hair Clips

Here’s a project from the past — quick flower hair clips in this tutorial that I wrote for Alpha Mom. Great summer project and a good one for older kids who are crafting and sewing on their own.

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Etsy Finds Friday

Patchwork Quilt from from Red Pepper Quilts, $245.

Shapes and Things Small Cushion, £18.00 from Helen Rawlinson.

Grey Floral Dishtowel, $20 from Lisa Rupp.

20 Wooden Ice Cream Spoons, $8 from Sucre Shop.

Wooden and Crochet Necklace, $18 from Simply a Circle.

Flower Coasters, set of 4, $30 from Decoy Lab.

Hoop Earrings, $29 from Jaros Designs.

Quilt Blocks Fabric, 1/2 yard bundle, $15.75 from Fabricity.

Cars Fabric designed by Samantha Cotterill, 1 yard, $34 from Mummysam.

 

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Designer’s Dozen at Sew, Mama, Sew!

I was talking with Kristin of Sew, Mama, Sew! at Quilt Market and mentioned that I’d love to do a fat quarter selection on her blog. If you’ve been reading Sew, Mama, Sew! for a while now, you may remember the guest packs selected by Amy Karol, Rashida Coleman-Hale, and Alicia Paulson. It’s like a stroll down fabric memory lane, isn’t it? Kristin agreed to let me pick out some fabrics and even sent me my own pack!

I’ve already cut into these to use for a project in 1, 2, 3 Quilt. This color combination is one that I’ve been using a lot of lately, as I love mixing different shades of one color — here mostly greens and blues. Plus I added some of my favorite mustard yellow with pops of orange. Of course I included one of my prints, but I also have Lizzy House, Melody Miller, Lucie Summers, and Denyse Schmidt represented here, among others. So, head over to Sew, Mama, Sew! and pick up a pack before they run out!