May Finishes

Here are the pictures as promised.

3 Suitcases, made out of 3 different colored canvases with Jeans used for the sides, Oakshott cotton and Motorbike fabric for the inside.

 The pockets are all labeled socks and underwear, the littleest one got pictures of a sock and underwear also, since I doubt he can read.

The pattern is Sidekick Suitcase by SewFearless and it really was the hardest pattern to understand and read.  It was written in a bubble speech pattern who does that?  If I wanted my best friend to tell me how to make the suitcase I wouldn't have paid for the pattern.

I did so much of ripping out of seams and I wasted a ton of my precious Aurifil thread and broke 2 needles, I miss my wasted Aurifil the most.

This is his "See Mom, I'm Smiling"

Here's my son showing you the size, it is a fairly good size for a kid, could easily fit in a week worth of clothes.  As you can see the Canvas didn't take to kindly to having iron on Interfacing the whole thing is kind of wrinkly, no matter how much I iron, it didn't stick very well.

I added a divider since my friend said she wanted it easy for the kids to keep things separate.

If you are wondering how I am feeling SOOOO Much better.  Like back to 90%, this morning I was at 70% but after taking a bath in Pink Himalayan Salt I felt like Wonderwomen!  Okay not well enough to clean the house after being MIA for 3 days.

And even though my husband was unwilling to clean house or do the dishes, since that is "women's work", He did massage my back, which after the first day of absolute pain felt really nice.
And right now I am feeling so great I am outside on the Veranda enjoying a Strawberry Mojito (haven't taken any medication pills since this morning so I figure it's a okay) and watching the kids play outside.

 While I catch up on all of my internet going ons.  Gotta Go, Thanks for all of the kind wishes. Hugs!

I don't have pictures of my finish since my camera is downstairs and I dare not ask my husband to look for it.  You see yesterday at lunch time I put my back out getting off of the Vespa, I didn't think it was to bad at first but I couldn't move for the last 24 hours, the husband is mad that I didn't do the dishes before my back went out, lol.  I have a few pre-finished pictures and as soon as I am well enough to go downstairs to grab the camera, I will put up new pictures.
These suitcases were a pain in the a.... to make, I will write more later also, my back is killing me sitting here.
But must enter since I missed last month.

The before pictures, linking to A Lovely Year of Finishes, really gotta go lay down again.

Love Solids!

I have a confession to make, I really like solids, but I rarely buy them, because I like there to be something pretty on the fabric.  That being said, I am in the process of making a only solids quilt with my Large Kona FQ Box, that I talked about here.

100 Kona Solids FQ's

And I convinced a friend to host an American Made Brand Solids Swap, that will go live tomorrow.  You may know my friend Erin of Sew At Home Mummy, if you don't you should, she has an awesome blog and is running a year long Classic Meets Modern Quilt Along and also a Beautify Your Blog 12 week series (if you like my upgrades on my blog they are all courtesy of her lessons).

Swap sign-ups here.

And in case you haven't heard of AMB (American Made Brand) solids they are made by Clothworks and if they are anything like the other Clothwork fabrics I have recieved they should have a beautiful hand and lovely drape.  They are 100% USA, please read more here, even though I am in Greece, I am still proud to be American! (in fact I am wearing my USA flag shirt all weekend in celebration of Memorial Day).
AMB is having a blog tour going on right now and each day they are giving away small FQ bundles, they also have a Farm to Fabric Challenge coming up so if you are in the States you might want to check that out also.

Since I have a hard time buying solids, I like to get them in bundles already prepared so that way I don't have to figure out which ones I want.  But these bundles can cost an arm and a leg and this is where Massdrop comes in, have you heard of Massdrop?
Massdrop takes a group of people that each want to buy the same thing, combines their order, and places that order directly with the manufacturer. As a result, everybody in the group gets the large quantity price while only having to buy one (or two, or ten). (Pro Tip: The bigger the group, the better price that everyone will get!)this is from their site.

The first thing Massdrop does is take a poll, I have put up a poll for some solids, they need at least 200 people to vote in the poll.

Then they pick the top pick and order it, they give you options, you can purchase it at the discount in the beginning or you can just put you name in the hat for if it goes down in price even more.  Now that is awesome, plus I love it that they give you the cost of shipping right up front, it is on the side bar, this helps alot especially since I live in Greece, I want to know how much I have to pay in shipping, cause I add that to the end price and see if it is a real good deal or not.
Would you like to vote in my solids poll, it doesn't cost anything to sign up at Massdrop and you can make up your own polls.
To find my poll, just go to the top of the screen and click on VOTE, then go to the left side the sewing community is listed under CRAFTING, my poll is at the very bottom since I just entered it.  (mmm.. I couldn't find it there, try this and it should take you to the link) I thought this would be fun to purchase as a group.

Denyse Schmidt 75 FQ's modern solids bundle

Shops are selling it for almost $200 but they get it from the manufacturer for half the price, less than $100, wouldn't it be fun to see how much we could buy it for as a sewing community.  Go vote, it doesn't cost anything and is fun, a few weeks ago they got a really good deal on Aurifil Thread and also on Liberty Lawn Fabrics.

Linking up to Sunday Stash, cause I have some solids but would LOVE even More!
I hope you join in one or more of the fun solid things going on, AMB Fabric Swap and Massdrop deals.
All of the Massdrop links are an affiliate link, I think, never done it before, but if I invite 5 friends something good happens!

Baked to much, I broke the oven!

Ooopppsss...
Have you ever baked too much that you broke the oven, I did, yesterday.

I baked our families favorite chocolate cake, recipe from Linda at Buzzing and Bumbling.
And my Apple Pie (recipe at the bottom)

Would you like a piece?

What would you pick?

Apple Pie, ala mode (with ice cream)

Or Chocolate Cake?

Well this little hand was reaching for the.....

Ice Cream, of course the one thing I didn't actually make.

She requested the chocolate cake since she watches Peppa the Pig.

But when she saw the ice-cream come out, that's what she wanted.

So last night when my husband wanted a pizza and he turned on the oven, poof.. the lights went out, the oven somehow blew a fuse.  We can't get a mechanic in till Monday, but that's okay, cause we have plenty to eat, lol.

Okay on to sewing, as I was talking to my friend Shirley who has been doing some really great EPP projects lately I was telling her I didn't have any EPP (English Paper Piecing- great for doing some sewing while on the go, so easy to take with you, I have mostly done hexagons, but there are other shapes out there) to do while the kids played outside and how I didn't really need to add any new projects to my WIP list.  Well then I got to thinking, hey I can do some embroidery while watching the kids play.

working on some embroidered feathers as a gift for a friend.

Shirley has her hexie project in the Show Off Saturday Linky Party at Sew Can She, it is number 14, and the person who gets the most clicks is featured in the Sew Can She Friday post, can you support Shirley and click on her project to see it.

 APPLE PIE RECIPE:

Pastry:

3 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. Sugar

1 cup butter (room temperature softened)

3/4 cup Greek Yogurt

(if it needs more liqued, add a Tbsp. of cold water, 1 at a time)

Knead dough until mixed thoroughly, place in fridge to chill, while you cut the apples. 

Apples:

10 Apples, peeled and sliced

1 Tbsp. of Cinnamon

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

2 Tbsp. of Flour

Mix it all together

Take dough out of fridge cut in half and roll half for the bottom of the pie pan.  Pour apples on top, take 3 small slices of butter and place on top.  Then roll other half of dough and place on top of the apples, I roll the edges and then give the top a punch with a fork a few times.  Bake in the oven till the top is golden brown, about 50 minutes.
Now in order not to break your oven place a pan underneath to catch any apple juices that flow out of the pie pan.  I think this is how I broke mine cause I thought I would be smart and add water to the bottom of the oven after the pie cooked in order to get all of the juices off of the bottom. Ooppss..

Linking to these great parties!

Sewjo Saturday

Winners and a Win!

I had 2 winners for my SMS giveaway days and I don't know if you remember about me saying ONE HAD to be International, well I didn't have to worry about it because both winners are.
I picked this out for the Greek Butterflies Package:

Dana from Tel Aviv Israel said "I love blue and purple (both light or dark) or yellow - and if not- than I have faith that you choose your taste, I'm sure it will be beautiful :)"  Well now thanks to her, I am totally digging dark blue with yellow, from the bottom we have a F8th of Riley Blake Large Gingham in Yellow and Dark Blue, then we have a F8 AGF Sugar Flashy Wheels(yellow) and Dear Stella (blue) and 2 FQ's AGF Nature Elements (yellow) and again Dear Stella (blue), this is about as scrappy as you will see me, lol, I have the hardest time mixing things up, but I still love how this package turned out, it also went with some matching ΠΕΤΑΛΟΥΔΑΣ (Butterflies) thread, that I picked out.

Plus HST's on a Roll and some extra purple charms, cause I roll like that.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

My next winner Martina lives in Switzerland!  All packages have been shipped out, Thank you to everyone who entered and stay tuned for another giveaway happening in June.

As for my wins, I thought I didn't win anything other than the awesomeness of checking out some new blogs.  Did you see the girl who used an IKEA cardboard box to make an extension table for her sewing machine, she shows you how here.  And this wonderful blogger answered my question about how she finishes her embroidery hoop art, plus she sent me 2 other tutorials, here and here.
But then Tuesday morning I got THE e-mail, the one I looked for all weekend, I had won something and not just something but some awesomeness, a handmade goodie, my favorite kind of win and this is from a gal who quilts like Angela Walters, it is soooo AMAZING.   You have to check out her Radiant Orchid Challenge entry, the quilt is double sided and then her LONE STAR QUILT, just blows me away, I had put this on my Inspiration board when it came out and now I get a piece of her FMQ artwork.
Thank You Renee of Quilts of A Feather!
Your pouch will be treasured and a cool part is she lives in Albuquerque, I went to High School in Albuquerque and we visited the old home town when I took my husband and kids to the States last November.

Here Kitty Kitty-Sunday Stash

Last week I showed you the Sweet Safari Alyssa Thomas print and told you I was waiting for the Here Kitty Kitty fabric that I had pre-ordered, well it came in!  This is the first time I have pre-ordered fabric, and I am so glad I did not only did you get 3 patterns for FREE when you pre-ordered but she also sent me a FREE pattern with my order a little Monkey-M pattern, probably for my name Mara.  AND she drew a kitty on the package, I am so cutting that out.

a Alyssa Thomas drawing on the package and wrapped so nicely!

Each Individual Print

kitties playing in blue, grey and yellow

I will show you each kind of print with one folded out as a Fat Quarter and the other 2 colorways at the bottom, so you can get an idea of the scale of the prints.

Yarn rolled out, pink, blue and yellow, kittie repeat every 12"

Those are the 2 "main" prints the rest make awesome stash prints that can be use for any project.

First the Fur

Then Tiny  Little Paw Prints

GeoMetric Kitties, this reminds me of the CatVent that went on last year.

Look at the awesome design it makes from above.

A close-up of geometric kitties.

And Last but not least, the Kitty Dots!  LOVE!,
the kitty bubbles are repeated about every 12"

Also in this bundle were 3 coordinating solids

In Grey, Yellow and blue!

I love this bundle and I am so glad I pre-ordered, it's not even in Stores yet, yippee!

I even have Alyssa Thomas's book, and stay tuned cause in June
I will be giving away a brand new copy of this book.

Linking to Sunday Stash.

Le Challenge-WIP

NATURE:

I love Butterflies!  This is just the quilt top, it is not quilted, but I hope I can still put it in the months Le Challenge, pretty please.
I ran out of the white fabric after destroying this quilt and after taking a poll with some of my blogging buddies I decided not to add a different color but to make a larger white butterfly at the top with the very last remnants of white.
FABRICS:
Cocoon by Valorie Wells the small butterflies and ringing the large butterfly.
Alchemy by Amy Butler on the outside of the large butterfly

Alchemy is on sale right now at Craftsy along with some other Amy Butler prints at just a $1.25 a FQ, very tempted, I really loved this print and got it in a Hawthorne threads bundle.
The flower on the bottom part is from Fandango by Kate Spain and the outer border is Free Spirit Maggie.
I was also working on all of my HST's, man ironing takes a LONG, LONG, time.

got the big ones ironed, need to do the little ones.

Almost 500 HST's and if you want to make this quilt there are 2 chances to win the pattern, 1 from me and 1 from Cornelia who designed this pattern.

When she first asked me to be a pattern tester I immediately thought of arrows and crosses, Hunters hunting through a forest and the animals hiding in the safe harbor of the crosses.  It took me a long time to find the right fabric for what I was looking for,

I totally screwed up one block, but figure it would be fun to just go with it. lol 

read here I didn't want to use the seam ripper.

What do you think, to blah?

It is very hard to photograph low volume fabrics.

Linking to Le Challenge

and WIP

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway!

Hello My name is Mara, I am an American girl who married a Greek boy and now I live in Greece.

I mostly love looking at and petting fabrics and every once in a while I actually complete something to show to you, you can check out any of the buttons at the top of the blog to see what is going on with me, they are still a work in progress, I did a remodel on my blog this last week, I hope you like it?

Thank you to all of the new visitors visiting from Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Week (all links will take you to a new window, so link away, if you see something you like,) and Thank you to all of my regular readers.

Now let's get to the giveaway!  I have 2 bundles of joy leaving my house and possibly going to yours.  One winner must be an International (non US or Canadian) so if the first name that is picked by the Rafflecopter is from the States then I will continue to pick the second name until it is an International person. 

GREEK BUTTERFLIES PACKAGE:

This is just an example.

 What's Included:

1. 1 yard of fabric, you get to pick from my stash, you can pick 2 half yards, or a half yard and 2 FQ's (like pictured) or 4 FQ's or even 8 Fat Eighths if you like.  The winner will tell me their 2 favorite colors, or the 2 colors most lacking in their stash and We will put a bundle together.
2. 2 spools of thread, ΠΕΤΑΛΟΥΔΑΣ (pet-a-loo-duhs) means Butterflies in Greek and this is a thread made in Greece with Egyptian Cotton, I would say it is like a 40wt thread, and I can even say it is very comparable to Aurifil thread.  Once we have picked out your fabric bundle I will take the fabrics to the local Haberdashery and pick out 2 colors that match well with your bundle.

   

   My favorite colors recently have been grey with a beautiful Tile Blue

3. Triangles on a Roll, (not pictured), I will also be putting in enough Half Square Triangles on a Roll for you to be able to make a larger version of this Flowers and Butterflies Quilt.  This is a pattern I came up with and I will be making a tutorial for it soon.  In the meantime if you have not heard of Triangles on a Roll then please check out my previous videos on them or watch the one below.

My son is a better quilt holder than my daughter.

 This is the quilt I whipped up using charms and the HST's on a Roll, this is only (4) 16.5" (unfinished) blocks sewn together, but I will send you enough to do  20 blocks, of course you can use use the HST paper for whatever you want to make.

Okay I'll hold the quilt for you, what is it?, oh that's pretty,  wait something beeped on my computer, mmm, I better push a button, I don't want to hold the quilt anymore, I need to type, I better get a closer look at this, (she's not the best quilt holder)

But she is wearing her Butterfly dress for this photo shoot.

EVERY WHICH WAY PACKAGE:

1. The digital pattern "Every Which Way", written and designed by Cornelia Pramendorfer of Pieced With Love XOXO, a wonderful pattern that I am in the process of working on, and will show more pictures as I get more done, if you would like the pattern now you can purchase it on Etsy or Craftsy.

   

   Image courtesy of Cornelia, this is the quilting she did on a pillow with her pattern.

2. 1 Large Spool of Aurifil 2024 40wt thread, I get all of my Aurifil thread from Elita in Switzerland, she has good prices and good service.
3. Half Square Triangles on a Roll, (picture shown with plastic wrap on), I will cut out enough paper for you to be able to make Cornelia's lap sized quilt, if you were to do this without the papers you would need to cut, 420 small squares of fabric to make 840 Half Square Triangles, I will help you out with that ;)

I am not sponsored by anyone and all of these items other than the Every Which Way Pattern has been purchased by me and I am giving it to you.  Cornelia is getting married at the end of the month, so be sure to head over to her blog to wish her good luck. I will be having a larger fabric giveaway in June for my big birthday bash, so make sure to come back.  I will also be organizing some European Fabric Swaps to come soon (of course any one is welcome to join)  I thought the first ones could be a Low Volume/Text swap or maybe a Christmas themed swap.  I am working on getting some shops to give us discounts for the fabric purchasing and we can all get together to make an order and I will cut it and then send it out to all of my International buddies, are you interested?

HOW TO WIN: use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter, you don’t need a Facebook account. Simply enter your name and email address in the widget instead. The first entry is available to all, just tell me where you live.  There are more options to earn extra entries, if you’re so inclined. Do as little or as much as you like. All SMS giveaways end on May 16 at 5 p.m. PST.   Since that is in the wee hours for me in Greece, I will have the Rafflecopter choose the winners the next day and then contact the lucky guys by email.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sunday Stash-Organic Fabrics

Recently Contemporary Cloth was asking people to do a Survey and when they were done they would get a code for a discount, well I decided to help out and I did the Survey.  WELL the discount was Awesome!  I got 25% OFF of my order and then 50% OFF of my International Shipping and that was a savings of $12!  SWEET RIGHT!  
I love all of the Organic Fabrics that Contemporary Cloth carries AND they have a lot of it in their Sale Section.
I picked up some more "Geo Grand" from Daisy Janie.

Caravan at the top for the binding of my quilt and Crystal Ball on the bottom for the patchwork backing of the Quilt.  What Quilt you ask, Well it used to look like this.

But the white fabric is not organic and I want to use green batting.

So the quilt now looks like this.

The white sashing looked really good for another project of mine, so this is all that is left of it and the grey fabric you see in the back will be the New Background fabric for all of my hexagon blocks.  The grey fabric is Robert Kaufman Pure Organics-Silver.
The other Geo Grand Fabrics look like this.

I don't know the weight of these fabrics but they are heavier than normal quilting cottons.

More Kaufman Pure Organics, in Marigold, Aqua and Pink, they feel like the Konas

A Happy Coincidence.

The Marigold matches perfectly with the giraffe, monkey and lion on the "Safari Sweet"Alyssa Thomas's Organic fabric.

I got 3 Yards of this and I am so glad it has a beautiful hand, so buttery soft, like AGF fabrics and even the selvage little fuzzies feel good and I normally don't like them.  I am so happy that I pre-ordered her new fabric line coming out soon, Here Kitty Kitty, I can't wait to get my hands on it.

Linking to Sunday Stash going on over at Sewing by Moonlight today.
Oh and in case you were wondering what I was doing with my white fabric