I am looking forward with excitement to The Creative Connection Event, co-founded by Jo Packham, Editor in Chief of “Where Women Create” and “Where Women Cook”.  Held in St. Paul, MN starting September 17, this is the 2nd year of the Event. I decided to attent after hearing great things about last year’s event.

Geared toward creative women, the event focuses on handmade and on food and cooking. I guess I don’t have to tell you that since I had to choose one direction, I chose handmade. In addiiton, a day will be devoted to social media and blogging.

And, Pitch Slam slams are being held one afternoon where one can pitch a product or literary idea to a panel of professionals for each of several fields. The Pitch Slams are limited to 9 people for each category, with the 9 people selected randomly.  It was a “whoohoo!” moment for me when I found out that I was selected for one of the pitch slams. So, I am busy working on my “product” to pitch in a time frame of 3 to 4 minutes.

The Creative Connection Event will also have a market place and a book store, 2 of my favorites for any event!

I haven’t been to St. Paul, but have been to Minneapolis a few times and love the area. I’m especially looking forward to visiting the area and attending the event! All this plus some good friends who are also attending should all combine for an inspirational few days, learning new things and great networking.

Check back as I will write all about my experiences at TCC!

Phyllis

I’ve been showing you some of the free quilt patterns that I designed for Quilting Treasures. Of all of the quilts I have designed, this is one of my favorites because this particular quilt has some great memories. It was designed with Marie Osmond’s “Gypsy Breeze” fabric line, which I absolutely love. I was told that Marie wanted the design of this quilt to be bohemian and off centered to work with the feel of the fabric line. So I submitted two designs, and she chose this one.

It was displayed in Quilting Treasures booth at the International Quilt Market in Houston. I was thrilled to meet Marie who was there for a personal appearance for her new fabric collection (see my prior post on meeting Marie and Quilt Market).

Although this “Gypsy Breeze” quilt is from a couple of years ago, the pattern is still available for a free download from the Quilting Treasures website. While the fabric is no longer available, the pattern can be used with other fabrics. (You will have to scroll down through all the free quilt patterns posted to reach this download.)

If you use this or any of my other patterns, I would love to see the quilts you create with them!

Happy quilting!

Phyllis

Ah, the romance of fairy tales!  I have always loved them and especially Sleeping Beauty.  Mary Engelbreit’s newest fabrics for Quilting Treasures feature her wonderful illustrations of this favorite classic for her Sleeping Beauty fabric collection.

I enjoyed working with these beautiful fabrics to create a quilt pattern for free pattern download from the Quilting Treasures website.  Sized to fit a twin size bed, it will make any  girl feel like a princess! I think the colors are wonderful and very feminine.

The quilt is composed of two quilt blocks, both simple so that you can easily complete your quilt.

Have a beautiful fairy tale of a day!

Phyllis

I just love these  fabrics! Sunshine Resort fabrics by Loralie for Quilting Treasures are just adorable with Loralie’s ladies at the beach.  The colors and motifs of ice cream, sun and surf all make for fun summer memories. And flip flops are definitely a summer wardrobe staple although in the south, we wear them for a while longer.

I designed this fun quilt pattern for Quilting Treasures website . It’s available for free download from their site with just a quick click - Loralie Sunshine Resort Quilt.  The pattern is very easy and can be sewn quickly.

So check it out and create a fun quilt to enjoy for years to come!

Here’s to a great summer and fun quilting!

Phyllis

I love sewing and quilting with beautiful fabrics, so its fun to design projects for Quilting Treasure’s website with some of their newest fabrics. I have finished several quilt and sewing designs for free download from their website and wanted to share them with you. Using the red, white and blue fabrics from Studio 8′s collection Monaco, these aprons can be made in a blue or red color combination. The aprons are sassy with two layers for the skirt to include a little overskirt. The top band of the bodice is ruched for extra detail.

This quilt is easy to sew and is made with the red colors of the collection. The blocks have a random arrangement of fabrics.

The patterns are free for downloading.  Just go to the Quilting Treasures website for these and many more projects.  Please check back as I will post some of the other projects I designed for them.

Happy sewing!

Phyllis

The heat is bad enough, but when you add lots of humidity, its time to stay inside and remain cool and refreshed.  This is also the time for iced tea or lemonade, both of which I have been guzzling!  Adding lots of cool fruits and salads completes my daily menu  (plus a little chocolate of course).

What better timing for completing my quilt book. The heat makes it much easier to be focused and content to stay inside, especially since I have been buried working on instructions and graphics. All the quilts are finished and the book is almost finished as well.  It will be out the door in a week.  I will be giving details very soon as well as photos from the photography session in absolutely the most wonderful and charming studio.

Stay cool and enjoy some iced tea, ice cream or anything iced!

Phyllis

I have been buried under piles of fabrics the past few months!  I have been working on a new quilt book to be published this fall in time for the fall International Quilt Market in Houston.  I’m really excited about this book and just love all the quilts.

I took pictures of the fabrics when I first got them in before I started cutting away.  It was a heavenly delight with all the wonderful array of colors.

I can’t say too much about the book now, but I will tell the focus of the book and lots more about it soon.  Like most of my designs, it will have some whimsy. And again, I’m so excited about this book!

Have a day filled with inspiration and creativity!

Phyllis

Doesn’t this Nurse Central fabric collection designed by Loralie Designs for Quilting Treasures make a gorgeous quilt!  In addition to designing fabrics for Cranston Printworks (with new lines coming out 2011), I also design some quilt patterns for their free project sheets on their websites.  I designed this quilt using this really fun fabric collection and want to share it with you.

This pattern is available for free download from their Quilting Treasures division. The quilt is pieced in a block layout. Check out all the patterns on their website and you will see that there are many wonderful free quilt patterns for you to enjoy sewing.

I love books and while browsing through books, I found these 2 that are fabulous for creating spectacular gift wrapping. The books have different methods of creating wraps and I fell in love with both of them. And they offer fantastic wrapping techniques that can be used right now during “the wrapping season”.

Uniquely Gifted by Eleanor J. Leinen with beautiful photography by Marc Vaughn shows you how to create a work of art with each gift. Whether you are a crafter or not, you can find yourself creating beautiful gifts with things you already have on hand or can easily purchase. Items such as ribbons, fabrics and papers are combined with such items as old jewelry, tassels, trims, beads, silk flowers, beads, and many more items to create these beautiful wrappings.

Since each wrapping is very unique, instructions are not provided. But with all the “stuff” we have in our stashes, we can follow Eleanor’s inspiration to create our own works of art. Creating them with a box or giftbag that can be opened without damage to our artistic endeavors will allow our work of art to remain intact and a gift in itself. This is a fun book and I plan to create works of art with my wrapping from now on!

The Wrapping Scarf Revolution by Patricia Lee offers a different method of wrapping by creating gorgeous wrapping scarfs from fabrics. The wrapping scarf can be used over and over which is very economical.

The book is filled with easy-to-follow diagrams of the many different styles of wraps, including wrap bags. You just choose the fabric you want and start creating wraps adding embellishments as you desire. I have a huge stash of fabric and plan to also put the techniques in this book to use.

A wrapping scarf can also allow you to create a tradition when swapping presents back and forth using a special scarf – from friend to friend, mother to daughter, sister to sister.

I love both books so please check back. I will show you projects that I create using the techniques of both books. (My mind is already whirling away with ideas!)

For full disclosure, I purchased both books.

Here’s to pretty wrappings and a happy holidays!

Phyllis

Send a warm message in a special greeting card you make! This week for the Sizzix blog hop, I created a colorful and fun card with Brenda Pinnick’s Album die from Sizzix, the featured die in this week’s hop. I also used fabric from Brenda’s Couleur Vie fabric collection from Henry Glass.

All you need is these few materials:

Album, Brackets, Bigz XL Die #656053 by Brenda Pinnick from Sizzix

Card stock, felt and fabric for the dies

Card or card stock

Felt (Felt in project from National Nonwovens)

Turquoise colored rhinestone brads

Glue (Beacon Zip Dry)

Fusible Web (Steam a Seam 2 from The Warm Company)

Instructions:

Cut each layer from the dies, alternating with cardstock, fabric and felt. The fabric was fused to the layer below with fusible web and the cardstock and felt were adhered with glue.  Punch holes in the corners and add rhinestone brads.  Glue the die layer stack to the front of a card and add your message.

For an alternative use for the die stack, add it to a present instead of a bow for a really unique look.

Be sure to hop to the other blogs to see all the fabulous projects.  Just click forward or back in the Sizzix button in the sidebar.

Wishing you a warm day – its cold here!

Phyllis