Bugapalooza Strike Offs

Look what just arrived in the mail.... Bugapalooza strike offs. Whats a strike off, you ask? Well in the fabric printing world, the mill takes the design files that we (In The Beginning Fabrics and I)  send the mill. The mill does a first round of printing the designs on fabric. They screen print small pieces of the design and these are to make sure the colors are correct.

Think about if the mill just printed thousands and thousands of yards and it was the wrong color, yikes! Strike offs are usually sent once, notes are made about color changes and sent back. Then a second round of strike offs are sent. Usually that's all that needs to be done, every now and then a third round is required.

These strike offs are for my Bugapalooza fabric line that is arriving in stores in April. This is the first round of strike offs and they turned out really great. Every single one needs to be examined for printing flaws and color changes. 

Over the next few weeks, I will start planning out what patterns and projects I want to sew with these prints. This gives me a head start so when the yardage arrives I am ready and don't have to think about a thing and I can begin sewing.

 In the meantime, I will start sewing some smaller projects with these, because seriously, receiving strike offs is like being a kid on Christmas morning.

I always get questions about this.... how do you get these in your favorite quilt shop? Tell them to contact In The Beginning Fabrics for Bugapalooza or you can e-mail them this blog post.

                             

 Have a great day,

Visit my Website, Etsy Shop, Blog, Facebook

Ticker Tape Quilt

I finally had a chance to get my ticker tape quilt photographed, yipee! I had so much fun making this quilt. I had a big ol bag pf scraps containing fabric from all of my previous lines. I can't bear to let go of any of them so when I came across a picture of a ticker tape quilt I knew I had found there use.

First I started by deciding how large I would like the quilt to be. With ticker tape quilts you quilt as you go. Since this was my first time doing this I decided to stay small. My quilt would be a wall hanging measuring 36" x 45"-ish. I cut my white background, batting, and backing a bit larger. Sandwiched them all together and got it all on my work table. I started sorting my fabrics and cutting squares and rectangles of all sizes. At that time I didn't have a clue about how I was going to lay them out. I like to figure things out as I go, so I hopped right in to cutting and arranging.

In the first layout I had colors scattered around and it was just too jumbled for me. So I then started grouping the blocks by colors. I was happy with this layout so I started pinning. I tacked each piece down with a straight pin. This was just to hold it's place. When I started sewing I would line it up near the other blocks to be straight. I chose to sew around each block and then continue on to the next without breaking my thread. That must be the lazy(or efficient) quilter in me. :)

After sewing down all of my blocks, I could trim the excess background and bind the quilt. Ta da!

We are planning to hang this one on the lime green wall in our bedroom. I snap a picture as soon as that happens.

 

Want to know more about ticker tape quilts? Head over to the Sew Mama Sew blog.

Have a good day!

Visit my Website, Etsy Shop, Blog, Facebook, or Studio and Gallery

Pillows

Hello,

I posted pictures of these pillows last year just after Quilt Market. Since we were looking at the new pin cushion kits yesterday. I thought it would be nice to revisit these. I made these pillows just the same as I did the pin cushions. Actually, I made the pillows and then I thought a smaller version would be a super cute pin cushion. That's when "Pin Party" was born.

I am a sucker for these felt balls, who doesn't love multi-colored polka dots? Okay there are probably a few of you who don't, but there can't be many, they make you smile.

Have a great day,