i heart linen

Deux!

Two years ago today......

Oh, how they grow........

Happy 2nd birthday to my sweet, Elijah!  

Check it!

Hello all!  Doing well?  I hope so. 

So, I think I'm suffering from a little bit of blogger's block.  For weeks I've logged onto to Typepad and I've just sat there staring at the blank page not knowing what to write.  Why?  Who knows.  I've thought about this immensely over the past few days and really haven't been able to come up with any reasons.  Lack of inspiration?  Too much inspiration?  Bored with blogging?  Nothing interesting to report?  *shrugs* I dunno. I guess I'm just in a bloggy funk.  Anyone else have this prob-lame-o?  Yeah, it is indeed pretty lame.  I will get out of it though!  No worries!  *does the running man for motivation*  ^_^

In other news, if you're looking for a fun Summer project, check out my Checkerboard and Pouch Tutorial over at Sew News!   I'm so thrilled because it's actually going to be on the cover of the August/September Issue.  It hits newstands on July 20, so be sure to grab yourself a copy.  Lot's of fun projects in this issue. 

Checkerboard

WHAT YOU NEED

• Eight 1 3/4"x7" rectangles of coordinating cotton fabric
• Eight 1 3/4"x7" rectangles of linen
• 10 1/2" square of backing fabric
• 12" square of batting
• Two 2"x27" strips of coordinating fabric for the binding
• Coordinating all-purpose thread
• Acrylic ruler
• Rotary cutter and mat

Checkerboard Piecing

Position the fabric rectangles in two rows, alternating the printed fabrics with the linen (1). Align one cotton print rectangle with one linen rectangle with right sides facing; stitch one long edge. Continue pairing the cotton rectangles and linen rectangles, stitching the strip long edges to form two rectangles of eight strips each. Press all seams in one direction.

Cut the two pieced rectangles into eight 1 3/4"x10 1/2" rectangles, using a rotary cutter, mat and acrylic ruler. Alternate the strip colors, aligning the long edges (2). Stitch the rectangle long edges together with right sides facing to form one 10 1/2" square; press all seams in one direction.

Lay the backing fabric right side down over a flat work surface. Position the batting over the backing, then position the checkerboard right side up, aligning all corners and edges. Baste the perimeter through all layers.

Stitch in the ditch through all layers. Remove the basting stitches.

Binding

With right sides facing, align the two binding strip short ends on the diagonal. Stitch the ends together; trim the seam allowance to 1/4" (3). Press open the seam.

Press one binding short end 1" to the fabric wrong side. Fold the binding in half lengthwise with wrong sides facing.

Position the binding strip end along one checkerboard edge center with right sides facing and raw edges aligned. Begin stitching 2" from the strip folded short edge, stitching through all layers.

At each corner, raise the needle, turn the fabric, and fold the binding up and back down over itself to form a mitered corner (4). Lower the needle and continue to sew.

End the stitching 1" before the binding beginning. Trim the binding end so it fits inside the beginning fold. Insert the short raw edge into the beginning fold and continue stitching to finish the binding (5).

Fold the loose binding edges to the checkerboard back. Slipstitch the binding to the checkerboard back side, mitering each corner and covering the machine stitching.

Checkers

WHAT YOU NEED

• 6"x4 1/2" rectangle of cotton fabric
• 6"x4 1/2" rectangle of linen
• Size 30 covered button kit (24 buttons total)

Cut the fabric and linen rectangles into twelve 1 1/2" squares each.

Cover each button with one fabric square, following the covered button kit manufacturer's instructions.

Pouch

WHAT YOU NEED

• 1 yard of linen
• Eight 2"x10 1/2" coordinating cotton strips
• 12 1/2"x10 1/2" rectangle of fusible fleece
• 13"-long zipper
• 18" length of cording
• Coordinating all-purpose thread
• Acrylic ruler
• Rotary cutter

Piecing

From the linen, cut one 5"x12 1/2" rectangle, one 7"x12 1/2" rectangle and one 12 1/2"x10 1/2" rectangle.

Position the patterned strips, alternating the patterns and aligning the long edges (6). Stitch each strip long edge with right sides facing to form a 12 1/2"x10 1/2" panel. This is the outer pouch piece.

Position the fusible fleece over the pouch piece, with the fusible side facing the fabric wrong side; fuse following the manufacturer's instructions.

Stitch in the ditch to quilt the outer pouch piece.

Experiment by using different quilting stitches and techniques to achieve unique looks and expand your quilting skills.

Zipper

Position the small linen rectangle on a flat work surface. Fold under one long edge 1/2"; finger-press. Center the fold on one right side of the closed zipper, so 1/4" of excess zipper extends beyond each fabric edge. Stitch 1/4" from the folded edge. Repeat to stitch the large linen rectangle on the opposite zipper side(7). Press the pieces flat.

Align the linen lower edges with wrong sides facing, leaving 3/4" of fabric beyond the zipper (8). Press the upper fold and pin the sides.

Pouch Assembly

Position the outer pouch right side down with one cording end centered along the upper edge. Position the zippered linen panel right side up along the outer pouch lower and side edges. Position the remaining linen rectangle over the stack, aligning all edges; pin (9).

Stitch the perimeter through all layers, beginning by backstitching slightly above the zipper beginning. End with a backstitch, leaving a 4" opening for turning along one pouch side edge.

Stitch the pouch upper corners at a slight angle for diagonal corners.

Clip the corners and turn the pouch right side out. Push out the corners and press the pouch.

Fold under the opening raw edge; press. Slipstitch the opening closed. Knot the thread ends; press. 

Enjoy!

Winner, winner, bo binner

The winner of the Sewn Giveaway is.........

#44

Danielle of Feeling the Fabric! Yay!!

Congratulations Danielle! Please email me your contact info. ^_^

Thank you to everyone who commented and for your input on tutorials!  Be sure to stay tuned for the June 12th launch of SEWN!

My baby

It's Sewing Machine month over at Sew, Mama, Sew! Yay!  So here's my little meme about my baby love machine!

What brand and model do you have?

I have a Janome (pronounced Ja-NO-me according to the company website) Memory Craft 4400 .

How long have you had it?

A blissful year and a half. 

How much does that machine cost (approximately)?

I got mine for $799.00 *hides under her desk*  Hope my hubby doesn't see that. Don't want to remind him. tee hee 

What types of things do you sew (i.e. quilting, clothing, handbags, home dec projects, etc.)?

Yes.  Oh, riiight.   I sew just about everything on my little lovely.  Clothes, quilts, home decor, stuff for the kids, everything you've seen from me in the past year and a half has been lovingly churned out of this machine.  I even sewed all 25 of the projects for my bookety boo on this machine. 

How much do you sew? How much wear and tear does the machine get?

Well, I was sewing on this machine almost everyday for about a year, then every couple weeks for the last six months.  It's taken quite a beating, but she still loves me still.  ^_^ I clean it often and make sure all of the lint is removed.  Take care of your baby and it will serve you well.   

Do you like/love/hate your machine? Are you ambivalent? Passionate? Does she have a name?

I am divinely, utterly and passionately in love with my sewing machine. She doesn't have a name, but I guess I should give her one.  Hmm.....I'll just call her...... Ome-chan.  Yeah, that's a nice kawaii name.

What features does your machine have that work well for you?

It's computerized. I LOVE that.

It's SUPER quiet, has an extra high presser foot height, an LCD display that lights up, a needle up/down button, automatic tension, drop-in bobbin, over 260 built-in computerized sewing stitches and a flux capacitor so that I can go back in time and fix any mistakes I made.  Okay. No flux capacitor, but yes to everything else I mentioned. :P

Is there anything that drives you nuts about your machine?

Well, yeah! My machine drives me nuts because I'm so in LOVE with it!

Do you have a great story to share about your machine (i.e., Found it under the Christmas tree? Dropped it on the kitchen floor? Sewed your fingernail to your zipper?, Got it from your Great Grandma?, etc.!)? We want to hear it!

Uhm. Hmm.....lemme see....no. Sorry.  But Bella's finally potty trained! How cool is that? Yeah, goes all by herself now.  I bought her this potty training book called, 'Where's the Poop".  It's a flip book with little poops hidden under the flaps.  I know! Gross right? Well, I read it to her once, she loved it!! And the rest is history.  I realize how extremely lucky we are that potty training went so easy for her, now Elijah, he'll be a little bit tougher.  What were we talking about again?  Sewing machines!....riiiiight. Sorry.

Would you recommend the machine to others? Why?

Yes!  I bought this machine after having a Singer from Target that my grandma bought me.  I used it forever (2 years...hehe) and it eventually became such a headache to use.  It jammed all the time, the threads always knotted up.  I work with a lot of linen which is  a pretty heavy duty fabric sometimes.  This machine runs like a dream and I couldn't be happier with it.  It's easy to use and you can sew any type of project with it.  I think it would be a great machine for an advanced sewer or a lazy sewer like me.  I don't like to be bothered with figuring out settings anymore.  Been there done that.  I love that my machine automatically fixes the tension and such. 

What factors do you think are important to consider when looking for a new machine?

Hmmm....I think the most improtant thing is to go to a shop where you can try it out first.  I bought mine online, but I got lucky.  That won't always happen.  Sit in front of it, try it out a little, see if it 'fits' you and your sewing style.  Find out if it has all of the features you want as well. 

Do you have a dream machine?

Yes, I think I have a dream machine.  For me at least.  It suits me and the way I like to sew. Too bad about the flux capacitor though. ^_^

Sewn and other things

Hello there.  Rainy cloudy day here in my neck of the woods.  Again.  Boo.  No dancing in this post. hehe.

Anyhoo, I'm gearing up for a shop update in the next week or two or three.  It's been quite a while since I've updated the ol' shoperoo.  I just got a shipment of watercolor palettes in the mail, so guess what I'm making! ^_^ 

I've got a lot of catch up sewing to do, so that's what I've been busy doing lately. I basically put everything off so that I could finish my book.  I've got quilt blocks for two quilting bees to finish, gifts for a handful of friends, projects for the Fall issue of Stitch, stuff for the shop, stuff for my children, stuff for my home and a partridge in a pear tree.  My machine will have lot's of smoke coming out of it from being overworked I'm sure. I love it though!

As promised, the Sewn Giveaway update.  Since the May Giveaway Day went so well, I decided to do the same prizes, different pincushion, but same prizes otherwise. But this time there will only be ONE winner. Yay! *pretends to do a cartwheel since she can't do one in real life*  Woot!

Just a recap for those who missed the last giveaway.......

The first item up for grabs is this lovely pincushion!

A copy of the new issue of Stitch featuring these lovely projects .........

Can I just mention that Malka is my new idol.  Love her work! How great is this pillow?

A pillow by the awesome Amy Karol.

A too cute skirt by the also awesome Chelsea Anderson.  Add this onto my list of things to sew for Bella please!

The tote bag I designed for this issue. 

There's also a nice little write up about The Workroom in Toronto.  I'm still trying to convince my husband we need to move to Toronto just so that I can shop there all the time.  He's not buying it though. Is there something wrong with that logic? *shrugs*   Anyhoo, If you haven't been to Karyn's blog yet, you are soooo missing out!

And the final prize is a copy of my book, when it releases in the Fall! YAY!

So there you have it folks.  All three goodies for ONE lucky winner. 

To make it more interesting, I mentioned before that I'd like to post a few project tutorials here, but I'm not sure what you'd be interested in seeing here. I think the book sucked all my creative juices out.  Well, okay not really, but I just want to be sure I don't post something people won't like. :P 

So please help me out and you can win something super duper too!  And I may or may not pick some random surprise winners as well.

Let the games begin!
I will leave comments open until 9AM EST, Monday, June 8th and I'll pick the winner (or winners hehe)
later that day! Good luck! ^_^   *running man* okay, so I lied about the dancing. :P

All sewn up!

Hi!

Good weekend?  Me too.

Sssssooooooo.

I guess you're wondering who won the giveaway.  Well, I've got the winners selected.  But before I reveal their names, I'd like to announce............

Another giveaway!!  Woot!! *running man* *moonwalk* Yay! ^_^

Sara Fielke, one of the super talented authors of the uber lovely book, Material Obsession,

is launching a new sewing and quilting site by the name of SEWN! Yay!

She's hosting a little competition to win some pretty cool stuff (like her book!) and then she's also hosting a Blog Launch Party.  Close to 100 blogs (i heart linen included) will be hosting giveaways to help Sarah, celebrate the launch of her new site!  Lots of chances to win some pretty wonderful prizes, peeps.  Peeps?  Twitter peeps are Tweeps?  What are blog peeps called?  Bleeps ? *shrugs* haha! Sounds like one of those SAT questions, right? Okay, I'm a dork. Moving on.

I haven't decided what to giveaway this time around.  But I will be posting it on Wednesday and the draw will be on Monday, June 8th.  So stay tuned!  You just might win this time around! Woot! *does the robot*  I love giveaways! I think it's because I never win when I enter them myself, so might as well be the giveaway-er since I'm not the giveway-ee. :P

Okay! On to the winner winner bo-binners!

The trusty Random Integer Generator produced these number from it's magic virtual hat.  Oddly they came out in numerical order. 

The winner of the Pincushion is # 83.......

Jocelyn of words without songs!!!  Yaaaay!

and the winner of the newest issue of Stitch is # 189......

Jesse of jezze!!! Yaaaay!

and the winner of a copy of my book when it releases in a few months, but will have something super groovy in the mail to tie them over (haha) is # 623.....

Megan of Apiary Designs!!! Yaaaay! 

*mchammer dance*

Congratualtions, ladies! Please email me with your contact info so that I can get your goodies in the post!

Huge thank you to the wonderful lovelies at Sew, Mama, Sew for hosting such a fun day.  Can't wait for the next one.  I love finding so many great new to me blogs to read and "meeting" new visitors as well!
And thank you to everyone who commented, all 673 of you! ^_^ 

May Giveaway Day!

** Update -- I will leave comments open until about 9am EST, Monday, June 1st.  I'll announce the winners later on in the day. **

Yay! It's May Giveaway Day! Woot! *running man* Okay, okay, okay. I'm calm now. *deep breath*

Okay, So I'm giving away a lovely pincushion just like the one featured in my book! It's made out of a watercolor palette and it makes me swoon with delight!  I hope the winner will love it as much as I do. ^_^  

Next up, I'm giving away a free copy of the new issue of Stitch.  I have a little tote bag featured in this issue.  Check it out!  It's an awesome issue.  I'm going to post some photos in my next post this afternoon. 

And finally I'd like to give one lucky winner a free copy of my bookety book when it releases. You won't get it for a few months.  But I'll put a little something extra in the mail for that winner to hold you over until the book is out. ^_^ 

So three winners folks!  I'm also shipping internationally so everyone is welcome to leave a comment if you'd love to have one of these lovelies! 

Three!

My little one .........is becoming a big one very quickly!

 

 *sobs* I'm losing her already! *wails* :P

Happy 3rd birthday, my Bella-boo! ^_^

**Huge THANK YOU for all of the book love! I'll post some more about it in my next post, but this one's all about my Bella!**  

I Love Patchwork! ^_^

Okay, so I was having a 'me' moment and decided to 'Google' my own name (oh hush ...you know you've done it too and if you haven't you're probably gonna now..... :P ) and found out my book was already up on Amazon! *faints* Why am I the last to know about these things?

So here it is my friends! My darling book! It's available for pre-sale on Amazon ! *faints*

"I Love Patchwork, 25 Irresistable Zakka Projects To Sew" 

by yours truly, Rashida Coleman-Hale! ^_^

"Offering a modern approach to traditional fabric design, this charming instructional illustrates how to create sophisticated patchwork projects by combining linen and print fabrics using simple quilting procedures. Presenting a diverse collection of projects—many inspired by the Japanese zakka aesthetic—such as a travel sewing kit, sewing machine cover, table runner, apron, eco bag, towels, calendar, lap quilt, tote bag, pillowcase, and shoulder bag, all designs are fun, functional, and easy to master. Combining sewing, appliqué, quilting, and patchwork techniques with thoughtful advice on how to select, work with, and care for linen, this colorful handbook is brimming with sophisticated and innovative projects to challenge and inspire both beginning and intermediate sewers and quilters."

Hence the reason I have been so scarce around these bloggy parts. It's been quite a wild ride, let me tell you.  I never thought writing a craft book would be such a raging river of emotional highs and lows. Lot's of laughing and a little boohooing.

(Some sneaky peekies for you! ^_^)

Many deadlines.  Oh the deadlines! Lot's of late nights....2, 3, and 4 in the morning hovered over the sewing machine or sitting in front of the computer while my wee ones and the hubby slept soundly. *now has a nervous tick when anyone mentions the word 'deadline' *

I've learned so much about myself, about time management and how much I suck at it.  :P But overall it's been oh so much fun and such a thrill and a blessing.   I can't wait to start on the next big thing.

You've all been so supportive over the past year.  All of your emails and comments, even the quiet lurkers....I read my stats you know. :P  You've all really kept me going and I'm so happy that I've been able to do this.  Thank you! You're all Rockstars to me!

Did I tell you how divinely and utterly happy I am? Lot's more to tell, but I'm off to the grocery store now.  I just had to share this with you! I'm bursting!!! Enjoy the little sneak peek and run over to Amazon and make a little purchase if you feel so inclined. ^_^

(btw....sorry if the post looks all wonky, Typepad is being a brat right now and not doing what it's told.  Am I the only one just slightly annoyed with how Typepad is working lately? Surely, I'm not.)

Happy Easter!

Hoping you have a blessed and wonderful Easter Sunday! ^_^