Pick Me! Pick Me!

Moment of honesty here: I get so tickled by those of you who add the words, "pick me!" to your comments. You all do realize that I pick the winner based on random.org's generated number, right? I don't actually "pick" anyone, but, man, I do appreciate your enthusiasm. 

Anyhoo...without further ado, here are our winners:

cindy said...
Love this new line! Would be fun to play with.... I adored your last line of fabrics also!!

 Patti said...
Gorgeous fabrics! Thanks for a wonderful giveaway.

Cindy and Patti, please email me at malka@stitchindye.com with your mailing address and I'll pass that on to Tammy at Marmalade Fabric. Congratulations and enjoy your fabric.

Although announcing a winner should be enough for me, I want to share something more here today. As some of you may know I had the distinct pleasure of teaching 3 days worth of workshops at Quilt Con this past February. All my workshops focused on dyeing techniques and I wanted to share some images from my Itajime (clamped shape resist) class. I was so inspired by the work the students made in all 3 classes, but only thought to whip out my phone and take pictures at the class I'm featuring. I definitely wish I'd documented the other two, but at least I have these.
So, here they are. Enjoy!

 

Charms and Barres

Little side note before I get into the heart of this post: My hobo bag that's featured on the cover of Tricia Waddell's new book, The Best of Stitch: Bags to Sew, came back to me yesterday and, within minutes of opening the package, I  loaded it full of yoga supplies and headed off to class. I'm so happy to have it back!

Anyway, back to my real point or rather points for being here today.

This:

and this:

One explanation at a time.
The first image is of a simple quilt I'm calling Baby Barres using the solids from my Simple Marks collection for Moda. For those of you who knit and read the Purl Bee, you might just recognize the inspiration for this baby quilt. It's my sewn and quilted take on the Super Easy Baby Blanket.
I've long been influenced by knitting patterns, though why I knit in Texas remains mysterious to me. Be that as it may, knitted and crocheted designs often inspire me.
It's incredibly easy to make, just seam together 6 full length, quarter yard pieces (9" x 44"), along their long ends and, voila, you have your pieced top.
I remember the first time I saw the knitted version on the Purl Bee. I thought it was so simple and really quite beautiful in its simplicity. Well, I think this version captures that. Also, you can really adjust the basic design to suit your tastes just by selecting different solids. And, for those of you who love the quilting part of quilt making, this design is great place to let your stitching prowess show. So, give it a try and let me know what you think.

As for the second image, well, that there is a pair of charm packs of my Simple Marks Summer line slated to be released this April. This pair is being offered to two of my lovely readers by a terrific sponsor, Marmalade Fabrics. I had the pleasure of meeting the lovely Tammy, proprietress of Marmalade Fabrics, at Quilt Con a couple of weeks ago and she's just as fabulous in person as she's been over the phone and via email over the past year or so.
So, if you'd like a chance to win one of these, leave a comment and I'll pick and announce a winner on Friday.

Half Moon Rising Hobo Bag

Oh my, 450 eager sewers vying for Simple Marks fabric! Thank goodness for Random.org. in selecting a winner.

And, our winner is:
Jenny Larking said...I love the Simple Marks range. They are so vibrant.

Yay! Jenny, please email me at malka@stitchindye.com with you home address and I'll get those fat quarters to you lickety split.

Announcing a winner is super fun, but today is doubly great because I have another announcement to make. I actually came to find out about this somewhat by accident. Several months ago, I was contacted by the talented Tricia Waddell, former editor of Stitch Magazine, and all around creative gal, asking if I would contribute a bag design to her upcoming book. Now Tricia is one of my favorite people in this business and has always been so supportive of my work. In fact, I've never deleted a particular email she once sent me and often turn to it when I need a little professional boost. So, you can imagine, that I was very excited to be a part of her project. Anyway, long story semi-short, I created a hobo-style patchwork bag, wrote up the instructions, and sent both off to Tricia for inclusion in her book. I didin't give that project much thought until last week when I was flipping through the catalog for QuiltCon and saw an advertisement for this book:

Not only was I happy to be reminded of the project, but I was thrilled to discover that my bag is on the cover. Yes, that is my Half Moon Rising Hobo Bag on the cover! The Best of Stitch Bags to Sew is slated for release in early May and I hope that some of you get the chance to check it out and make some of the projects included. I, for one, am excited to craft some new bags as well as get this one back for use this summer.

Friendship Blog Hop Block and Giveaway

Wow! You folks are eager beavers. I've been getting emails asking where my post for the Moda blog hop is since 7:30 this morning. Cool. I like enthusiasm.
So, without further ado, here's my block:

And click here to access the PDF instructions for this block.

As for the giveaway, I didn't want to waste a precious second taking pictures of the incredibly generous stack of Simple Marks fat quarters that Moda is giving away, but, if you'd like a chance to win, leave a comment and I'll pick a winner and post that next Monday....But not before 12:00 pm CST.

12.4.12

Hadn't posted pictures of these lovelies yet, so today seemed a good a day as any. That and the weather today is practically the same as the day I took these photos in October. What's the deal with that? Where's my winter in Texas?

11.29.12

It's pretty grey here today. Usually that would bother me because I'm definitely a light-sensitive person. By that I mean I could never live in a place where the sun shone rarely or for a few brief hours for months at a time. The light in Texas is perfect for me. It's intense and sharp and almost ever-present.
Today though, it doesn't seem to be bothering me. Maybe because it's also cold outside so the grey sky feels like the right accompaniment to the temperature. It feels like soup weather and that, like days without sunshine, is pretty rare here, definitely worth savoring.

11.27.12

Sometimes when I'm really thirsty I'll grab a drink of water and, because I like making silly statements, say, " I'm sure glad somebody thought to invent water." The same goes for walking into an air conditioned room on a hot day. I just feel compelled to declare, " I'm so happy someone thought to invent air conditioning."
Well, today, I'm thrilled somebody invented stitching.