alittlesweetness

Pixie Noel Blog Tour!

This has been such a delightful couple of weeks for me to see some beautiful projects made with my newest line, Pixie Noel.  I'm so beyond grateful for those who have dedicated time to make something for the blog tour! Thank you!  

Today is my turn, along with Christine from stitchingrevival.com and Kerry from kidgiddy.blogspot.com.  I'm so excited to share a few things with you!

I have 3 new embroidery patterns in in the shop that will match the fabric line, and probably a couple more to come along in the coming months before Christmas.

The first pattern is Pixie Boy....I know, my naming is pretty uncreative.  What can I say? He's super cute though! 

This darling mini quilt was made by Corinna of corinna_maycreations on Instagram, who made it for my quilt market display.  

Look at that perfect stitching!  

The next pattern is this sweet Sitting Little Pixie, stitched up and made into this adorable pillow by Heather of vintagegreyhandmade.blogspot.com

I'm in love with the crocheted edge around the pillow! 

Last but not least is thisKissing Bunnies pattern, and made into yet another super adorable pillow.  This one is by Cheri of tinkerwiththis.blogspot.com

I'm loving all the little details here!  

Thank you to each of you ladies for these amazing projects!  :)

Next I'm so excited to finally be in the process of my next quilt pattern.  This quilt was displayed at spring quilt market 2016 and it's called Pixie Socks.  I know they are also essentially "stockings", but I "tried" to make them more long and skinny like the socks the pixie's are wearing in my fabrics.  I made varying sizes for interest and movement and I love how it turned out, especially with the "sweater cables"in between the rows of "socks".  

Ever since I completed my fabric line I knew I wanted to make some kind of stocking quilt!  I worked on revision after revision for months, adjusting sizing, trying different layouts and designs.  I would just go back to it whenever I had the chance, (which in my world isn't always very often at times!) and finally it was the way I wanted it to be!

I love this quilt, it's so fun to make and super cute and whimsical. I hope you love it too! 

Here's a little peek at the backing I used, which is the flannel cheater print from my Country Girls line. Perfect for this quilt!

This pattern will be available soon!  Hopefully within the next few weeks or so.  And yes!  You can use fat quarters to make the quilt!    

The other little quilt pattern you'll be seeing shortly, is the mini snowglobe quilt.  It's such a fun make!

I appreciate your patience as I plug away at my new patterns that were shown in quilt form at quilt market!  There are a few already available in the shop.  This weekend I'm offering everything in my shop at 20% off.  Just enter the coupon code BLOGTOUR25 for an automatic discount!!  

Also, if you've missed out on any of the other blog tour days, go see all the lovely things that were made and I hope you're inspired to make some special items for Christmas or the winter season this year.  Here's the list of participants: 

 

7/18 Ashley of Mommy by Day Crafter by Night

7/18 Cristina of Pretty Little Quilts

7/19 Taunja of Carried Away Quilting

7/20 Angel & Amy of TaDa! Creations

7/20 Sedef of Down Grapevine Lane

7/21 Tina of Emily Ann's Closet

7/21 Ali of Because of Brenna Clothing

7/22 Debbie of Happy Little Cottage

7/22 Megan of Dolly Henry

7/25 Heather of Vintage Grey Handmade

7/25 Amanda of Jedi Craft Girl

7/26 Jemima of Tied with a Ribbon

7/26 Angela of A Little Patchwork

7/27 Andy of A Bright Corner

7/27 Lindsay of The Cottage Mama

7/28 Wynn of Zakka Art

7/28 Kerry of Kid Giddy

7/29 Christine of Stitching Revival

7/29 Tasha of A Little Sweetness

Thank you again to each of the participants for everything you did to make this tour a success!  :)

Tasha


 

Riley Blake Spring Blog Tour!

I'm so excited to be part of the Riley Blake Spring Blog Tour!  As you've noticed, I don't really blog much, but I know a lot of you still do and still enjoy reading blogs, so it's another fun way to be able to connect every once in a while.  If you're interested in keeping up with me on an *almost* daily basis you can follow me on Instagram :)

My new fabric line, Vintage Market, is set to release in June.  It was recently shown at the spring International Quilt Market just last week!

I had fun making a couple of quilts and pillows for the display....when I get everything back, I'll be able to get some better photos to share. (these were taken with my iphone so not the best quality...sorry!) 

This little pillow below was made using my border print, so the stripe and the illustrations are one piece.  I decided to add some trim across the middle for added fun, but even still, super easy. 

The quilt below is a new pattern I'll have available in a couple of months.  There are a lot of little details to the quilt, so it will take more time for me to get it all together.  But such a fun quilt to make!  It has market stands, vintage sewing machines, jam jars, strawberries, blueberries and flowers.

The other quilt, which was made by a few fabulous helpers (my sisters Talia and Trista, and my IG friends Christine and LeAnne) is made using my new pattern called Country Fair.  I'm so excited to finally have this pattern available. 

Here's just a peek of the one made for market.....(photo courtesy of LeAnne...thank you!!)

Here's the pattern made up in my previous lines (The Simple Life, Little Red Riding Hood and Country Girls) before I had made the one for quilt market...

 

 You can purchase the Country Fair quilt pattern in my etsy shop on sale this week for just $5!       (reg. $8)

 This pattern is great for those who have done a little bit of quilting, but you don't need to be super experienced, just a little patience with the smaller star blocks, but very simple piecing and it goes pretty quickly.  A fun way to mix things up and use some scraps!  It's a nice big lap size, approx. 68X68.

Here's a close up of the orange peel quilting....i love it!

Thanks so much for stopping by my little blog!  Don't forget to try my new quilt pattern and remember my new line, Vintage Market will be in shops shortly! Yay!

It's the last day of school here in sunny Arizona, so I'll wish you all a happy summer!  :)

Here's the schedule for the rest of the blog tour!

 

5/15 - Where Women Cook5/18 - Becky Marie Designs8/18 - Pattern Anthology5/19 - Carina Gardner5/21 - Lori Holt5/21 - Tasha Noel5/22 - Lori Whitlock5/22 - Cinderberry Stitches5/23 - Eleanor Dugan5/26 - Simple Simon5/26 - The Quilted Fish5/28 - Melly & Me5/28 - Elea Lutz5/29 - Zoe Pearn5/29 - Doohikey Designs5/30 -Samantha Walker
5/30 – Kelly Panacci

Have fun!

Tasha

Blueberry Bliss ~ my first quilt pattern

This was quite the work in progress for me, being my first attempt and experience creating and putting together a quilt pattern.  Whew!  I go MUCH slower than the average human being of course, but goodness that's a lot of work!  I'm sincerely impressed with these pattern designers that just whip em out like nothing!  Jeepers!  Anyway, super fun and really glad I did it!  I learned a few things in case there is EVER a next time.  But we'll see about that.   :)

So, my new pattern is called Blueberry Bliss because it's just full of blueberry happiness!  I've used my newest fabric collection, Country Girls, using only the blues and greens.  I've also added some Riley Blake Designs basics that coordinate, like the polka dots and ginghams  There's also a couple in there from my previous lines that as well.  I'm in love with navy and aqua these days, so any excuse to use those colors is a perfect one.  ;)  I wanted to combine the blueberries with something totally country and log cabin blocks were exactly that!   There are even little country cabins on the fabric so it was meant to be.  

This really is the easiest quilt to do!  Any beginner can do it!  I've heard my instructions are good, so I hope you give it a try.  :)

You can purchase the PDF downloads in my shop and get it right away.  

Also, I just want to add a big thank you to those that continued to encourage and support me in getting this done!  It took me forever but I'm so glad it finally got done!  This quilting community is wonderful and inspiring as well as patient and forgiving when we just can't do it all just exactly when we want to.  Life pulls all of us in many directions and we need to remember that we can't do everything all the time and we have to let ourselves be ok with that.  So if something takes more time or doesn't get done at all EVER, we need to not get down on ourselves or compare ourselves to the person who looks like they get it all done all the time.  They aren't either.  And its totally OK!!!  I'm so glad when we can support each other in our sucesses and failures....because we all need that!  It keeps me going, I'm sure it keeps you going to!  Do what you can, WHEN you can and let the rest go without the guilt and comparison.  I continue to tell myself this on a regular basis.  With so much inspiration out there, it's easy to want to do everything RIGHT NOW.  My little pattern took me like 4 months to get done....4 months!!  Seriously?!?!?  I know others can do things a million times faster!  But that's the best I could do and I'm ok with that.  I've had to be!  So really, don't get down on yourself if you just can't get something done that fast....it's ok.  Really.  And that's all for my little soap box moment.  :)  Just sayin THANK YOU for waiting.

This week my pattern is just $5 instead of the regular $8.  So, I'd love it if you'd give my first little pattern a try.  If you do give it a try and you have a comment or suggestion or notice an error, please, please let me know!  I'd appreciate a kind email at [email protected] if you have anything to say about it!  :)

 

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful week!

Tasha

thank you sale!

Hello friends!  I know I have been so out of the loop for awhile but I really appreciate visitors, new and old, and I'd love to be able to say THANK YOU!  by offering a little sale in my etsy shop!

Simply enter COUPON CODE:  CYBER20 for 20% off your entire purchase!  The sale will continue thru Friday, Dec. 6th. 

THANK YOU!  :)

Have a wonderful week!

Tasha 

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

Little Red is here!

Not only is Little Red Riding Hood here, so am I!  As much as I love the many aspects of blogging, I really needed to give myself permission to take it off my list for a while.  Once I did that for myself, it was nice to focus on my family and a few other important matters.  One of which was completing my 3rd fabric line for Riley Blake....but it's not quite time for sharing that, but soon.  :) 

Meanwhile, I've been anticipating the arrival of my Little Red Riding Hood line and she's finally here! 

I couldn't be happier with how it all came together!  It's very sweet and cheery, just the way I like it.  :)

I hope you like pictures of fabric because I have a few....

and a few more...

and because I sincerely love these little mushrooms....

here's another.  :)

So, there you have it and it's in shops now!

A lot of you may know that my Little Red Riding Hood fabric was originally created a few years back when I sold it in my Etsy shop using Spoonflower.  Which, btw, I'm so thankful to have been able to use their services to be able to start experimenting with fabric design and SO appreciative of so many customers who purchased these fabrics from me.  Totally cool and fun for me!  So, I did some revision of that design for this new line, but essentially it's the same.  I also was selling my Mushrooms in my Etsy shop at that time too, so it's really amazing to me to see them both on bolts now! 

Yesterday I was featured on the Fat Quarter Shop's blog, The Jolly Jabber where I talk about the history of this design a little more, as well as some other fun questions they asked me.  I'd love it if you took a quick peek!  :)

And one more....

Thanks so much for stopping by even though I've been missing for a bit!  I'll be back soon. 

I promise!

Tasha

a little hello!

Since I'm having a sale in the shop right now, I wanted to stop in and let you know I added a couple more little things. 

I'm so lucky that Amy of Nana Company, made up this adorable potholder featuring my little happy hen...that, yes, I know....looks/is more like a rooster!....*whatever. ;)  It says happy hen on the fabric, so it's staying that way.  But no matter what you choose to call the happy little animal....that pattern is now listed in the shop!  Yay! (gosh, i love that little pothodler!...that's a little pocket at the top, btw!...doesn't amy need to do a pattern for that?!? hint, hint)

(photo courtesty of Amy!) 

Also, I had a request for a Miss Strawberry embroidery pattern, so she's also in the shop!

Remember, she's an illustration too! (gray or aqua backgrounds)

I came across a couple photos I had taken of the market projects that Heather, from Vintage Grey had made....so I thought I'd share them now. 

I loooove this apple pillow!

Heather used the Bustle and Sew e-magazine's September issue to make this pillow.  So cute!

She also did an adorable redwork mini quilt with my new Laundry Day pattern, which is very similar to my my original Laundry Day pattern /illustraion.  The difference is there are flowers instead of mushrooms.  Both versions are in the shop! 

Her hand crocheted edging is perfection!

Kerri had done some beautiful photos of her Simple Patchwork and Stars quilt, but I haven't shown it here yet!  Such an adorable quilt and she came up with her own tutorial! 

Cute! Cute!

Wanted to mention that I noticed on the Riley Blake website that the pink and aqua simple florals are sold out as well as the pink Main....so if you've had your eye on any of those, you might want to consider purchasing soon!

For my little shop sale, I think I'll keep that going for a couple more days since I just added those couple things today.  Remember, HAPPY20 is the coupon code during checkout to save 20% off your entire order!

Thank you SO much for those of you that have ordered already!  I appreciated it very much.  :)

Am I forgetting anything else?  Please tell me if I am....I generally think about 72 million things at once... 

but really I love it!  ;)

Oh, I thought of something already (imagine that!)...

**If you are interested in stitching up an embroidery pattern to help me out with shop examples, please email me at [email protected].  The one criteria is that you need to be very confident with your ability to stitch very neatly and be able to use colors that coordinate with The Simple Life.  You know, red, pink and aqua.  ;) 

And I think that's about it!  (I think)

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

yes, i'm still here....

I think I win the lamest blogger award, but I assure you, I'm keeping busy. ;)

This week my fabrics are arriving at shops so this is very exciting to me!  Especially with it being my first line.  It's also very strange, but I feel very blessed to be a part of such an exciting industry.  And although it's strange, it also feels very 'normal' for me to be doing this.  I've been drawing my whole life and have always had a love of creating.  I've sewn for many years, even back into my childhood.

My fabrics are a natural reflection of who I am and what I love.  I've always enjoyed drawing 'little girls' as my mom would attest to as they were always on the walls she says.  :)  My parents both are not surprised at all that my drawings consist largely of more 'little girls'.  Me and my sisters very often drew together with my dad's special markers.  We drew houses and families and yes, lots of little girls.  In pretty dresses of course.  :)  I loved children at a young age and loved babysitting, then worked at Kinder Care after high school with the toddlers and also was a nanny before I had my own children.  I've always been young at heart, (definitly don't feel my age), played with dolls way too old I'm sure (shhhh...), and I just love all things super cute.

If you want to find out a little bit more about me, I did a little interview with the Jolly Jabber about my new line The Simple Life, that you can read here!  It was really fun, thanks Jolly Jabber!  :)

In other news, I finally got my first real quilting sewing machine!  It's a Pfaff Expression 150 and so far I'm loving it.  I'm really excited about this one since I know it will last for many many years and give me the results and ease of quilting that I've been wanting.

Here I am testing it out....

Yep, it works!    

Which is a good thing with fall market just around the corner and I've been starting on some projects.  (If you're going to fall market, let me know!) 

Here's all my trimmings... kinda pretty huh?

I rearranged my sewing area so that Ava can hang out with me more comfortably while I sew, so here's a little table with my stuff and her stuff.  :) 

And see how I'm molding and shaping her correctly?

Happy Wednesday!

Tasha

the real deal + a giveaway

It seems it's been ages for me to wait, but I've finally recieved my first real deal batch of The Simple Life!  I have 2 yards of each print and the panels to start sewing things for fall market.

And I can't waaaiit!!!! 

It's so very soft and lovely!  I couldn't be happier with the end result.  Everything looks perfect!

This line is going to be just darling for fall time, with it's vintage style and little country images.

Red colorway

Pink colorway

Aqua colorway

If you would like to have some of The Simple Life, leave me a comment telling me what you do to keep things simple in your life (when things get too crazy!) or if you have a tradition or words of wisdom passed down from someone that helps you get through the busy times...something that helps you relax and enjoy the simple things in life!  Please share, I want to know! 

When I get my bolts here this month, I'll send you either a fat quarter bundle or a couple yards of your choice. 

If you've ever purchased from my my little shop before, you are welcome to a 2nd entry!! 

Giveaway will go through Wednesday, September 5th...that's my kids first day of school. 

(quiet cheer!!...yaaaay!!)  ;)

I'll be so excited to start sewing!!!

I hope you will be too!

Tasha