alittlesweetness

countdown...+ a giveaway (giveaway closed)

I've just completed a couple of quilts for market, which is coming up sooner than I can say 'Little Red Riding Hood'.  It's in just 11 days and I leave in an even shorter 9!  eeek and yay!!  I'm very excited and at the same time wondering/hoping if I'll be ready.  Crossing my fingers over here. 

I've made a simple patchwork incorporating my border print, which I'll have a tutorial for on my blog shortly after market.  

I used Little Scallops in aqua for the backing...

And Little Floral in white for the binding....it's so cute!

The chevron quilt is a free project download from the Riley Blake website and I super love this one!

It's the first time I've made something with so many half square triangles and I really enjoyed the process actually!  Simple and fun.   

For my backing I used Little Floral in Gray and for my binding I used Little Scallops in Aqua...

I have to credit a couple talented gals for my nearly perfect borders and bindings.  Taking Camille's fabulous Craftsy Class has helped me get my borders from being wavy.  Time well spent doing it her way....no more wavy's for me!  And Rita, from Red Pepper Quilts has a wonderful binding tutorial that shows how to join the ends/tails with a bias cut.  (If you look closely you can see the bias seam in the photo below.)  My bindings are waaay super better and I love it!!  I LOOOOVE that my borders and bindings are so much prettier thanks to Camille and Rita.  Don't you just love learning new things?!?!  I do.  :)

And on that note, I think I recall saying something in my last post about a little giveaway!  Yep, I just checked and I did. ;)  And it's a good thing, because it's just what I'll need to keep a smile on my face this week. 

So I have a lovely fat quarter bundle I would love to send off to someone!  Just leave me a comment and tell me what you want to make this summer.  I'm already thinking about it and have a couple must's on my mind already!!  Feel free to leave up to 3 comments if you've ever purchased from me and/or left me comments before.  :)

I'll see you back here on Friday morning (May 10th) to announce the winner and I'll send it off before I leave for market.

Meanwhile, this is where I'll be hanging out....and trust me, it doesn't look so pretty right now.

Thank you ALL for everything!  All the support, friendship and encouragement means a lot.

Hugs...

Tasha

simple twin bunting blankets

A few months ago we had the cutest little baby twins join our extended family!  Even better, it's a boy and a girl and they are simply adorable and sweet. 

These fabrics are from my line The Simple Life, with a few others from my stash mixed in. 

Girl bunting baby blanket....

I decided on a simple design, but with just the right amount of extra cuteness added with the patchwork strips between the sections of bunting fabric. 

My extra fabrics included some Pam Kitty Love, Doohikey Designs, Annies Farmstand and Lecien.  ( I think I'm right on those...) ;)

Inside these soft little blankets, I added a piece of white flannel for a bit of added weight and to help stabilize the minky backing.  I love adding binding to blankets and I wanted to quilt it, I just didn't want the stiffness of batting.  Especially with these being small blankets, I wanted them to be cuddly and wrappable.  I did a very large stipple on these as well.  Which was also very quick...each blanket only took about 15 minutes to quilt.   

My daughter really loves helping in any way she can when I sew.  Taking the pins out after I quilted was the perfect little job for her.  She's 4 now and we've talked alot about how to handle the pins. 

If you look closely, she was sorting them into color groups as she went.  Her own idea!  :)

She also likes to be up close and personal.....oh, and silly too. 

She was very excited to get these blankets done with me before the twins got too big!

Me and baby girl...(these were a couple months ago)

Me and baby boy...

They are growing so fast, but they are still tiny since they were preemies.  Doing great though!

Here are some cute pictures Kerri took when they were newborns....

How cute are they?!?!

Cuter than my blankets for sure!!

;)

Thanks for stopping by my loyal readers and friends! Even when I disappear, you seem to re-appear and  I appreciate it very much.  ;)

I feel a giveaway coming on soon....

Tasha

granny

This granny quilt was always intended to be my daughters 'baby quilt'.  I just happened to have started it when she was about 2 and I've finally finished it just after she has turned 4.  At least she has it to keep for forever now.  :)

On purpose I used lots of floral fabrics, little animals and little girls.  :) 

When Ava was a baby, her nursery was red, pink and aqua, so I kept with that same color palette, but adding gray. 

I used Annie's Farm Stand pink circle buds for backing and Lecien basics for the binding. 

I'll give you a hint what else I've almost finished too.....

I can't wait to show you more of that one too!  :)

For now though, I'm going to stay in these pj's and snuggle my daughter up in her new quilt.  We need it.

Happy Monday!

:)

Giveaway winner + shop news!

Hello wonderful fabricy friends!!  Thanks so much for playing along in my giveaway!  It's truly so fun for me and I appreciate every single comment!  I've read most of them and I swear I'll finish them up.  Such a treat for me!

I used random.org to find my winner, but it did need a little tweaking.  I'm kind of a stickler on the rules of the game, so I'm very sorry, but rule breakers don't get to win.  As much as I appreciate your desire to win, there are others that do abide by the rules, so most importantly I need to be fair to them! 

And sooooo, the winner is.....

Verena who said...

Oh how I would love to win this!!!!!
Just a couple hours ago, I sat together with my sweet quilter friend Cathy. She wants to make a quilt for the arrival of my surprise baby girl in May. She had asked me if there is any fabric I would like to choose and my instant answer was: The Simple Life by you!!!! I have been eying it since it launched, not knowing that we would expect another baby girl! and I have been following your insta since I discovered you beautiful line. Cathy is an awesomely ( you might know her book: pretty in patchwork, doll quilts) talented quilter and I am sure she would create something magical Thanks for the chance to win!

Please contact me ASAP because you don't have a link or contact info!  If anyone knows Verena, let her know!!  Thanks!  If I can't get a response pretty soon, I'll choose another winner. 

As for SHOP NEWS:

I've added just a couple little things and wanted to share!

My little Reading girl from The Simple Life is now available in an 8X10 print for framing. 

 

I've also added the embroidery pattern for Feeding the Chicks, which you can find here!  I haven't stitched her up, but I had a few requests so there she is! :) 

Here she is below...

I'll continue adding things to the shop that match The Simple Life.  If you're waiting or wanting a particular thing (pattern or artwork!) from that fabric line, let me know and I'll hurry it up on that!  ;) 

Meanwhile, I'm happy to offer 20% off your entire order in my Etsy shop for at least a couple days into next week (Jan 22nd sounds good!) just to say thanks for playing along and making me smile.  Simply enter coupon code HAPPY20 during checkout and it will automatically deduct 20% from your total order.

One tiny last thing...thanks for helping me with the name of that block!  I think I had the most people say it was Shoo Fly!  I'll get a little tutorial done soon!  ;) 

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Tasha

merry christmas!

I did it!  I really did it! Yep, I started a christmas quilt this month and I actually finished it just in the nick of time.  Camille's Vintage Holiday pattern didn't disappoint and I'm in love with the finished product. (Thanks C, for the inspiration)! :)

It was really fun deciding how to do each oranament block...

The pattern calls for one patchwork ornament, but I did two because they were so cute!

(here's one of them...)

The other little alteration I made was doing the pinwheel.  A lot of the blocks centers are made up of half square triangles, so it really just depended on how you arranged them.  I did two pinwheels.

For the backing I found a super snuggly flannel at Joann's and it was absolutely perfect for this quilt!  I love the softness and extra cozyness it brings. 

This quilt is a big size.... 54"X68"....which is one of the largest that I've made.  It took a little longer for what I was used to, but I'm so happy with the result it was totally worth it!

Now we can enjoy it for the rest of the holiday season...I'm sure I'll have it out as looooong as possible!

Thank you SO much to everyone who has supported me this year through my Etsy shop, the beginnings of my fabric designing adventure, your friendship, encouragement, saying hello on my blog....everything!  It really means alot to me and I'm so very thankful! 

Wishing you a wonderful Christmas!  :)

Love,

Tasha Noel

p.s.  all orders have been shipped!  ;)  thanks for your patience!

16 down...

I've been making some good Granny progress and I can finally see that this could be finished this summer.  I'm hoping...I mean VOWING...to get all my blocks done so I can sew them together during an upcoming beach retreat.  (I can't waaaaiiit!!!)

I've got 16 done and I'm loving it.  At first I was a little worried about my color choices, since lately I'm really also loving the addition of greens and yellows to my favorite combo of red, pink and aqua....(like I'm doing in my Farmer's Wife blocks, and some here, which I have ever so seriously neglected!).  I'm making this quilt for Ava, since I haven't done a baby quilt specifically for her from me, like I've done for all of my boys.  Her nursery colors were red, pink and aqua and even though now we are about to start decorating a toddler room for her and I may include the extra colors, I wanted to keep with the same nursery color scheme.  It just is so reminiscent of the colors I loved when Ava was born.

I have included gray, which I didn't do in her baby nursery, so I'm breaking the rules a little here....but shhh!  Anyway, aside from all that jibber-jabber, now that I have a bunch of these grannies done and I can see how it's turning out, I really love it!

I've really preferred putting a fussy-cut square in the very middle.  To me, it makes each block seem more complete and adds that extra cute touch I want for this quilt.

Now, just 4 to go!  Yesssss.

C-ya!

Tasha

easter dress

I know I've been a major slacker lately!  Sorry!  I have to admit, I've been enjoying the low key, taking-the-day-however-I-feel-like-it method.  Feels great sometimes, doesn't it?  Oh yaaa. 

So, back to reality, I have a few things that need to get done, and back to the computer I am!!  Not without showing you the little Easter Dress I made for Ava first though.  ;) 

My main inspiration and desire was to use some Riley Blake Chevron....aqua, of course!  I got mine from Randi at Fresh Squeezed Fabrics.  Then, because I knew I wanted to be able to use several fabrics, I thought Sandi Henderson's Knot Dress would be perfect.  Especially since I already owned it.  Even perfect-er! (p.s.....I don't see that pattern for sale anywhere...???)

For the other fabrics, I used what I had on hand.  Hard to do since I don't normally buy large cuts of fabric.  So, a little give and take is necessary.  For instance, at first I wanted the top to be the pink flowers and the bottom to be the yellow flowers, but because of the amounts available in my stash, I needed to switch those two up...but I love it!  I knew if I got a pink top to go underneath it would give me that pink near her face that I wanted. 

I love the chevron straps!

I used a vintage sheet for the apron, trimmed out with Lecien Flower Sugar and Riley Blake crocheted lace (ask Kerri if she has more white). 

And, not to bombard you or anything, but here's a few pic's of Ava wearing her dress.  The sun was very bright, so sorry they aren't the best technique wise, but I'm happy to have these anyway. 

I love this one of her because she was absolutely focused for a minute on just this one dandelion that caught her attention.  So sweet!!

A good reminder to stop for a few minutes, be still and just take in the precious moments that we have with our loved ones, our life, and the world around us. 

Hugs. ;)

Tasha

little bitties....

So, it's Spring Break and I've got lots of to do's with kids home, a baby shower to help with and Easter quickly approaching!  One thing I'm working on is some little bitty hexie flowers....

EEEK!  I'm in love!

I had fun pulling pretty springy fabrics for these!

These are tiny 1/2" hexagons, which I got at Sew Deerly Loved.  I don't see them in her shop, so maybe ask if she still has some not listed. 

And what are they for? I'll leave that part a surprise....heehehee.

But I can't wait to get these little bitties all done!

I'll be taking the week off of any extra blogging and shop to do's....just going to focus on kids and projects, but just for kicks, (and although I won't be shipping anything off this week) if you'd like a little spring discount at the shop, please enter COUPON CODE: SPRING20 at checkout for 20% off your total purchase.  This is for paper products and embroidery patterns only. 

Happy Spring!!

Tasha

pretty and cute

I've kept rather busy this week with several things, one of which is a gift so I'll share that next week.  So I thought I'd just quickly show a couple little things that have made me smile!

This for one.....

is most definitly the prettiest little stack of fabrics from Kerri that I seriously am in LOVE with!

I actually couldn't stop photographing the little bundle of adorableness!

love, love, love!

I'll be in heaven incorporating these into my projects....

Speaking of projects....

I'm still p-o-k-i-n-g away at my Farmer's Wife blocks, which always are so fun to make, just hard to find the time for everything. 

So, I think this is like my 19th block?  (something like that?) and the group is on about week 28-ish (something like that)  So, ya, i'm poking along, but oh well.  I just do it when I have the moment and I'm so glad, cuz look how cute...

BOX {9}

I finally took the suggestion from Kristyne and did pink and red for Valentines Day and I totally love it!!

It's helpful to decide on just a couple colors first.  It's not so overwhelming and it does help balance out all of the really scrappy multi-colored blocks....I still love those kind too.  Maybe my next one.

So, anyway...

That was my pretty and my cute!

Happy Weekend!

Tasha

Granny addiction!

So, I know I said I was going to explain my new fabric line, and I really am going to (soon!), but I got a little sidetracked with all this Granny business going around. 

To my knowledge, it all started with this amazing quilt made by Jolene over at Blue Elephant Stitches.  She always has the cutest quilts!  I decided I would make one for Ava, since I haven't made her a quilt yet.  I know....it's a shame since she just turned 3!  I love the traditional, timeless look of the Granny Squares, so I thought it would be a perfect choice for her.  And in red, pink, aqua and gray of course. ;)

So far I've made 6 and boy are they addicting!  

The combinations are endless, which makes it easy to want to do another...and another.... Plus, they are pretty simplistic in they layout because you only need two colors (i have 3 in some of mine) and you arrange the colors in a specific way.  One color for the outer squares and then a second color for the inner squares.  So, although there are alot of options on fabric and color combinations throughout the quilt, when it comes to each individual block, it's limited.  Not a lot of room for over analyzing everything....which is what I tend to do.

So, if you DON'T want to be addicted to something (else!)....

DON'T make a Granny!

And DON'T say I didn't warn you!

Tasha