Pockets, Pinwheels, and Pillow Cases!

Remember how I mentioned that there are some pretty neat tutorials at The Quilted Fish blog, put together by her amazing design team? Well, this past week I decided to dive right on into making one, and here it is!

            

This pillow is SO neat! I love how detailed it is, as well as how fun it is to have a pocket on the front. As I mentioned last month, I'm really into french shabby chic, romantic, decor right now, and am in the process of redecorating my daughters room to be a romantic ballerina room, all done in soft pinks, creams, and florals. I'm currently in the process of making a "big girl size" rag quilt for her, and her new room, and when I saw this pillow tutorial I just knew that I had to make it in the same fabric to complement the collection. Don't you just love the color scheme?! As soon as my daughter saw it, she went in her room, grabbed her stuffed cat, and stuck it in the front pocket. This is now how she tucks her stuffed animals in to sleep at night!

If you're interested in making this for yourself, check out the "Pocket Full of Pinwheels, Too!" tutorial, which can be found HERE, at The Quilted Fish blog. This tutorial was created by Karrie Lyne of Freckled Whimsy, who is also a part of the Quilted Fish Design Team.

If you do make this pillowcase, I'd love to hear about it!

~ Alicia

Riley Blake Tutorial to Launch APRIL 26TH!!!!

So, after a very long time of planning and promising, my tutorial for Riley Blake is final scheduled to go up on April 26th! If you remember, this all began back in January when my first package of goodies came from Amanda Herring of the Quilted Fish. Now that I know exactly when my tutorial will be launched, and who will be hosting it, I can now reveal to you what my BIG tutorial project is! Ready???

I present to you.... the "Oh So Sweet" Patchwork Dress!

If you'd like to learn how to make this dress, please check out my tutorial at Riley Blakes "Cuttin Corners" on April 26th! I will be adding a button link to the side of my blog, the week before it launches, that will link you directly to my tutorial.

In the mean time, if you like to check out other great tutorials, head over to the Quilted Fish blog, and see all the amazing projects her design team has put together for everyone!

Till next time,

Alicia

New Toys!!!!!

 So, about a month ago Joanns had their Cricut Cake Mini on sale again for $99, and of course when I went in to buy it, there was none in stock! Now keep in mind, this has been the case since Thanksgiving , so I was getting a little antsy, to say the least. This time was different, however. This time I went down there and said, "I would like to special order the Cricut Cake Mini," and I had it in my hands within 2 weeks. YAY!!! So... I am excited! Months and months of waiting, and it's finally mine. Anywho, I brought it home, opened the box, and not too much to my surprise, the Cricut Cake Mini is almost exactly the same machine as the Cricut Personal Cutter. What IS awesome about it, however, is that it makes cakes, cookies, cupcakes, etc. fabulous by cutting baking materials.

The first day I brought it home I wanted to use it SO badly, but since I was scheduled to be at rehersal in 3 hours, there was no way that was going to happen. As a result, my beautiful machine has been sitting in its box, in the kitchen cupboards for aproximately 2-3 weeks. Well, yesterday that all changed! Being a full-time, stay-at-home mom now, I have the time and freedom to explore my creativity, and to top it all off, it counts as mother-daughter bonding, and expressive play/ art creation! For those of you who didn't study early childhood education in college, this basically means that my daughter is having fun, while learning and growing.... It's a win-win!

Back in January, I wanted to make a really awesome 2 tiered Mini Mouse cake for my daughters 3rd birthday, made with fondant and gumpaste, with polka dots and minie mouse heads all over. Unfortunately, I didn't have my Cricut Cake by then, but now I do - SO, while the birthday is gone and done, I wanted to play around with my new toy, and see what it could do. One of my ideas, along with the 2 tier cake, was to make cupcakes (which my wonderful sister-in-law made) AND to add a 1" homemade chocolate wafer cookie, cut into the shape of Minnie Mouse. Yesterday I pulled out the recipe for the cookies and got to work, to see how darling my idea would have been. By the way... the chocolate wafer cookie recipe is SO good, and SO easy, so feel free to check it out at the Smitten Kitchens blog http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/03/homemade-chocolate-wafers-icebox-cupcakes/. When making my Minnie Mouse cookies, I followed the recipe to the part of kneading the dough, and then proceeded to follow the instructions for rolling it out onto my Cricut Cake cutting mat. One thing I learned from this experience, is that purchasing the Cricut Cake Tool Kit is probably a good idea, and smart investment. I'm going to have to use my machine again with fondant rather than cookie dough, to see if my tools are any better, but I think that the Cricut Tool Kit would probably be best, and is a fair price for what they provide. My spatula was fine (Cricut's is smaller, which could be nice), but I don't suggest using a full-sized rolling pin... definately invest in a fondant roller!

After rolling out my cookie dough onto my cutting mat (it was uneven, but whatever!) I popped in my "Mickey and Friends" cartridge, and began to cut my Minnie Mouse cookies. This machine is SOOO awesome! Without a hitch the machine began to cut my cookie dough into perfect Minnie Mouse heads.... I was SO excited! Now began the task of removing the Minnie shaped cookies from the cutting mat, which was a long process. When working with cookie dough, you constantly have to put it into the freezer to harden a bit at each stage, which makes this whole process a bit time consuming. If you have a cute cookie cutter, I reccommend using that instead, but if you REALLY want a Cricut image then allow alot of time for making cookies... alot as in, all day! Because the cookie dough softens so quickly at room temp, I suggest putting in the freezer for 10 minutes or so 1) as soon as you finish mixing the dough, 2) after you roll the dough onto the cutting mat, and 3) after the dough is cut by the Cricut machine (this might have to be done multiple times, since the dough may thaw too much while you are in the process of removing the cookies). The dough has to be rolled out to 1/4" thickness on the cutting mat, which my full sized roller didn't do very well. As a result, some of my cookies were a bit thin, but still held their shape and looked super cute! I cooked them for aprox. 7-10 min. and let them cool, and had darling Minnie Mouse wafer cookies! While the wafer cookies aren't super mouth watering on their own (their good, but thin, so the taste doesn't resonate to their fullest potential), they would have been the perfect topper for my daughters birthday cupcakes! Now I know for next time.

My next project is to have my sister-in-law over to make "mini" cakes with, and play around with all of our fondant possibilities. I purchased three 4 1/4" mini cakes pans at Joanns, yesterday, and plan to purchase a couple 6" pans as well. Then I need to find a good fondant and gumpaste recipe, and get started on making these cakes. Last June? July? (When did you get married, Paige?? lol), I made a 3 tiered cake for my sister-in-laws wedding (Seen in photo to the right), and while it was very beautiful, there are many things that I learned through trial and error. First off, each tier is made using TWO 2" layers of cake, yielding a 4" tier. Good to know! Second, while it is possible to decorate a cake by hand cutting fondant for decorating the cake, it would be best to use the Cricut Cake, and get a way more intricate cake design, with A LOT less work! That's why we are going to have our "mini cake baking day", because I would really like to perfect my cake making, and maybe start a mini business on the side.

I'll be sure to take lots of photos of our baking day(s), and blog about our adventures and let you know how it went!

Till then, have fun, and stay creative!

~Alicia

Just a Little While Longer...

So, my turtorial (that shall currently remain nameless) is still underway, and I am currently working on tweaking it to be as perfect, and easy to follow as possible. The wonderful Amanda Herring of the Quilted Fish has reviewed it, and made a few suggestions of what needs to be tweaked, so I am getting on that ASAP. Let me just say that working with Amanda, thus far, has been an absolute delight! She is so darn creative, and working with her fabrics and knick knacks has been a dream come true for me... really! Anyway, I don't have much time to post right this moment, but I did want to let everyone know that my tutorial is coming, and that it should - with all hope - be up and running on someones blog (maybe Riley Blake's?!) in the very near future. Regardless of where it is posted, I will most certainly let everyone know when it is up, and have a link to which ever blog is hosting my tutorial.


Best Wishes,

Alicia

Exciting Things are Happening!

So, once again I appologize for being away for too long, BUT things have begun to happen in my life, which I feel will allow for more creative time... which includes getting my butt on this blog to write about it!

Remember how a couple of months back I posted about applying for a design team which was being assembled by the amazing Amanda Herring over at "The Quilted Fish?" Well... I didn't make the cut, BUT -  there is a "But", and a rather important one at that! - While I did not make the initial "design team" (apparently my application got lost in the shuffle of emails, and wasn't opened until it was too late), Amanda was so impressed with my work and creativity that she offered to work with me on a one on one basis outside of the group, until an actual spot opened up. Pretty good, huh?! So, I of course accepted, and about a month ago received my first package of goodies from Amanda. Wanna see what was inside???

(I appologize that this picture is crooked... it's actually straight in my picture file on my computer, but for some reason when I upload it onto the blog it decided to go sideways. Very annoying, but what can  you do?)

How beautiful is that sight? I received a nice little package of various cuts of Amanda's "Sweet Divinity" line, as well as the cutest buttons you ever did see, and a couple of crochet flowers. This is my dream come true! Receive a package of material and nick-knacks, and have to come up with something creative? Ya, I'm all over that!

So... the wheels in my head started turning, and each item was bringing it's own inspiration to me through color, shape, and style. Finally, I think what inspired me the most was the little buttons, and crochet flowers. Those two things gave me an idea, which set my creative frenzy off with a mad dash, and everything followed quickly after that.

Want to know what I made? Well... I'm not ready to post my tutorial on this just yet, so I don't want to give too much away, but let's just say that you can wear it! Stay tuned within the next couple of days to see what I made, and get the full tutorial on how you can make it yourself! Also, check out Amanda's blog http://www.thequiltedfish.typepad.com/ to see other cool tutorials, as well as to see her wonderful line of fabrics and patterns!

Until then, take care!

~ Alicia

I Feel.... Shabby Chic!

So I have recently been inspired by French/English Victorian Shabby Chic design, colors, and decor, and decided to start to transform my office/design space/ creative room into a French Shabby Chic paradise. This was inspired by many different things, one being that my family is about to move to our first house EVER... YAY! Which means that I will need to redecorate all of the rooms all over again... What a bummer! ;) The french shabby chic inspiration actually came from my recent design of my daughters Barbie blanket, in which I was looking for vintage silhouettes, crochet scallops, and light pink flourishs. i originally thought that I would gear my daughters bedroom towards a "Barbie in Paris" theme, but I now think that I will focus this attention to my office instead. My daughter will still get an awesome room designed, but I think I will take teh French theme for myself. The secong inspiration for my new office design is Michaels, yes, the craft store. Michaels is currently carrying a GORGEOUS french shabby chic line of decor, made by Ashland home decor. So, I purchased a dusty rose wire dress form, a couple of decorative hangers with the eiffel tower and victorian skeleton key designs, and a couple of stacking boxes in teh same basic style. What I am planning is to paint my new office a light dusty rose/ petal pink, with cream trim, and use black accents - such as shelves and knobs - around the room. I also want to invest in some glass apothecary decanters to hold my various nick knacks, and perhaps drape chiffon and pearls around the room in different ways. I also am on the lookout for Victorian mirrors and picture frames; I'd like to have one main picture frame hanging on the wall (I saw the perfect one at the Road to California Quilt show this past weekend), and would like the smaller picture frames for applique work that I would like to design to embellish my walls. The applique work I'd like to incorporate would include various silhouettes of women, a chandalier, bird cages, skeleton keys, the eiffel tower, fleur de lis, and a crown, all of which would be embellished appropriatly, and mounted on a beutifully quilted background in a shabby chic appropriate style. My main goal is to turn my office/design space into a "happy" inspiring place to be. As of right now, all of my inspirational pictures are just copied and pasted to a Word document, but as soon as I have something concrete to show, I'll take a picture and get it uploaded in here ASAP!


My word of advice to everyone out there.... Let the world inspire you! There are so many things worth being inspired by, wether it be an old vintage mirror, or a beautiful combination of colors, or a picture of a bird. Once you get inspired, don't get in your way; let the creativity flow with every inspiration/ thought that comes to mind. This is how great things happen!

A couple of weeks ago I receive a box from Hancock Fabrics which, in addition to my 5 yds of Peltex#70 (to be used on another project), contained various 1 yd cuts of cute "Barbie" or Barbie looking fabric. Upon receiving the box, I noticed that one particular cut of fabric was exceptionally soft, and it fueled my creative interest for my latest design. To add to the creativity that was already begining to form, my daughter walked into the room and gasped saying, "Mom! It's Barbie! Oh, I love it so much!" I immediately went into my craft room (which is a disaster right now :( ), and began pulling out all of the various left over cuts of soft fabrics that I've been storing over the past year. What I came away with was a wide assortment of minky's, flannels, and satins, all in a Barbie approved color scheme.

With the fabric and "The Quilted Fish's" "Bloomin' Trellis" pattern in hand, I went to work cutting all of my wonderful fabric down to 5" squares. After cutting roughly 50 some odd squares, I proceeded to sew them together, randomly, in a diagonal fashion until I had 4 columns and 6 rows.

   

Now, I had originally planned to continue to follow the "Bloomin' Trellis" pattern, and add gathered ruffles along the sewn 'ditches', creating a lattice look, however I'm not so sure I'm going to go that route anymore. I feel as though the gathers would be too much, however, if I don't do the gathers, my uneven/ not-lined-up edges and corners will show. Hmmm... I might have to think on that one a little longer. Anywho, it's still in the works, so no need to decide on that just yet!

After sewing all of my 5" squares together, I decided to add a 12" border of white minky dot around the edges. This would allow for me to get creative with various applique's, as well as allow for a 1 1/2" satin border.

Then I began to think, "What am I going to applique onto the blanket?" Originally I had planned to use the design included in the "Bloomin' Trellis" pattern, but since this is a "Barbie" blanket, I decided to do some online searching for Barbie related designs.

My goal for this blanket was for it to look cute and girly, yet sophisticated and shabby chic. I immediately envisioned a Barbire cameo silhouette in each corner, complete with a ruffled/scalloped frame around each. I looked online and found a darling "vintage" Barbie silhouette, and cropped it to an approximate 3.5x5" size. For the cameo frame, I crocheted a scalloped edging using thin cotton yarn and a 3.5mm hook. To finish the look off, I gave Barbie a pink satin bow for her hair, and a pearl necklace. The result...

Then all I needed was a top and bottom applique design to finish everything off. For the top, I went with a girly heart swirl flourish, cut out of a light pink rose embossed minky; and for the bottom I chose the classic Barbie logo, cut out of hot pink satin.

Here's a wide shot of the whole top piece, and my daughter, who is absolutely in LOVE with her un-finished blankie...

SO, it's not completely finished, but almost. As soon as Joann's put's their minky on sale from $15/yd to under $9/yd, I'll be down there buying the backing, batting, and light pink satin binding to finish this blanket off. As of now, I'm thinking of quilting it using the stitch in the ditch method for the center, and then carrying that through the edges of the blanket, creating a 4 1/2" diamond grid over the whole thing. I think I might do this using a pink thread, so that the quilted diamond grid stands out against the white. I don't know... just an idea, it might change tomorrow!