The Quilted Block - Headbands variation

The Quilted Block - headbands variation

This type of quilting I have practiced a little bit more so I had more confidence when I quilted this.

I always love how the back of the quilt looks.

Thanks for reading♥

Fabric Love Friday! Grey Batik Edition.

This is the sixth in a series of grey batiks that I have acquired over the years. I don't know the designer's or the collections since batiks have no description on the selvage edge. I would love comments if anyone knows the designer's and the names of these beautiful fabrics.

Erin Condren Life Planner

I'm so excited to announce the arrival of my very first Erin Condren Life Planner!

The colors I chose for my cover were light gray and plum.

I know many of you who are finding this have already seen the insides of an Erin Condren Life Planner so I'll be brief on the intro and get right into the way I plan on organizing my life.

PS: Click the pictures to enlarge!

First off here's a blank month for reference.

This is November, our current month and when I received my planner. 

I like to use Washi tape to map out my work days since as you can see they are all over the place. Yikes! I have nothing written in the goals section to the right and much of this looks empty and that's because the months nearly over. I want however for my monthly spread to highlight the major things that are happening in my life and work is a big part of that. I will also add in birthdays, family events and other major happenings to this page. I'm planning on using part of the goals section for my bills that are due because I like to see those laid out over the whole month to make sure everything gets paid on time and check them off as I go.

Here's the first weekly spread of my Life Planner, it starts in the last week of October which was weeks ago so I decided to use this as a brain storming page. I thought really long and hard about my life goals and what I want to accomplish and set to lay those things out in these categories. I know things will probably change and evolve as I grow and I love that the blank format of this life planner allows for that. If you get your planner and have some extra weeks in it that have already gone by use them to find out what works for you.

After I decided what I wanted out of each section I decided to map out the whole week. I wanted to see it in full view, so I took another one of my extra weeks and set it up. 

I decided the first section of my day would be my "to do" list, chores, errands, appointments.

The next section I wanted to focus on my passions, my dreams. Which is really anything crafty, sewing, card making, crochet, etc, but  my main focus being my blog and my Craftsy.

The third section I had a hard time deciding what would get that spot but as soon as I realized there is more room at the bottom a decision was made to make it "family time". Now family time to me is as simple as the time I spend with my husband and our cat (i.e. date night, or TV time together) to something more literal like a family gathering. Also I would include it to mean time spent with friends and being social.

Lastly in the small lined section is my space for my health goals. I use a fit bit so I really don't need to document it on paper but I like the paper as a reminder to stay hydrated and workout.

Finally we have the section on the right which doesn't belong to any particular day but rather the whole week or really whatever you want it to be. I want to record what I am currently reading as a reminder to put that device down and pick up a book. As for the rest of the column I haven't decided yet.

And finally I have the start of this week, today is Tuesday and there's still a lot of blank space. I don't want to have my planner swallowed up by stickers and tape. I am practical planner first and pretty second. I will use stickers and tape but carefully. As Tim Gunn would say "use the just fab accessories wall very thoughtfully"

I think my advice to new planner owners would be "leave yourself some room to grow"

If you haven't checked out Erin Condren's life planners yet then click this link to visit her site.

Thanks for reading♥

Fabric Love Friday! Grey Batik Edition.

This is the fifth in a series of grey batiks that I have acquired over the years. I don't know the designer's or the collections since batiks have no description on the selvage edge. I would love comments if anyone knows the designer's and the names of these beautiful fabrics.

The Quilted Block - Echo 3

This is the third type of echo quilting I have done on this block. This is just another variation using the same methods as in the previous two.

Thanks for reading♥

Fabric Love Friday! Grey Batik Edition.

This is the fourth in a series of grey batiks that I have acquired over the years. I don't know the designer's or the collections since batiks have no description on the selvage edge. I would love comments if anyone knows the designer's and the names of these beautiful fabrics.

The Quilted Block - Echo 2

This is the second echo design I came up with for this block.

I really like the gentle curve that was created following along the pieced design. I used my walking foot and gently guided my block through the machine.

Thanks for reading♥

Fabric Love Friday! Grey Batik Edition.

This is the third in a series of grey batiks that I have acquired over the years. I don't know the designer's or the collections since batiks have no description on the selvage edge. I would love comments if anyone knows the designer's and the names of these beautiful fabrics.

Classic Curve bag - Pattern Reveiw

I feel a like I have been sitting on this on a while and it's because I really dislike writing this as a negative review. However I have to be honest in my opinions because that's what I would want from a review.

With that said perhaps I'll do a pros and cons list of this pattern and let you decide if it's worth the purchase.

Pros:

• I like the curve of the bag, very classic look like a high end Louis Vuitton or Dooney Burke, Coach, really a lot of high end designers have used this curve.
• I like the double zipper, again this element is present in many high end bags.
• I really like the zipped inner pocket and the instruction was fairly clear. Again high end bags use this technique.
• The materials needed is very clearly listed
• Nice roomy size

Cons:

• I did not care for the look of the handles and that's just my personal opinion so I altered mine. However the way the instructions say to sew and turn the handles is a nightmare. I could not get mine to turn without a struggle so I ended up making my handles the way I knew how without the headache. There are easier ways to make handles than this...
• The inner pocket ended up too tiny for me.
• For me the long handles did not fit comfortably over the shoulder and I realize this will vary from person to person but you should never say "this will fit over your shoulder" when it's cut that close. And yes I made my handles longer per the instructions.
• I could have really done without the pages of pattern layouts
• Drawings instead of pictures, I find pictures to be worth a thousand words so the more of them the better.

Features:

• $7.00 price tag
• 9 pages of instructions
• 2 pages on how to layout your materials
• 5 pages for your pattern peices

I think the rundown for me is this is a classic bag that has been made by many designers, particularly those on the higher end. The details such as the inner zip pocket is something you find on almost every purchased handbag hanging in your closet. With that said if you are new to making bags and want to learn some new techniques for construction that will give you that professional look then this pattern may teach you a thing or two.

I felt the construction of the bag started out clean and nice but when I got to that last few steps it failed me or the pattern pieces failed me. See the last picture for the bunched up bottom corner ugh! I want to love my bag however I am frustrated that it doesn't fit over my shoulder. Now before all of you expert sewers scold me for not measuring my strap needs remember I'm thinking from the perspective of the newbie or buyer who may not know how to alter and be equally as frustrated. Also I wanted to try and follow the pattern as is. That's why I started out making the handles as described even though that is a way I found to be difficult and in this case downright impossible.

Will I make this bag again? Yes with several changes, heck I may even start over from square one.

Was it worth $7.00?  Yes and No. I realize that this is not an answer but I honestly feel very on the fence about this purchase. I think the value is not $7.00, so worth buying just not at $7.00 price tag.

Thanks for reading♥ Olivia

The Quilted Block - Echo 1

I started playing with a series of echo quilting with this block and in the next few installments you'll see the variations I came up with.

Thanks for reading♥