butterflies and hole in the barn door quilts

My little sister will be having her second child, a daughter, on tuesday. So, in prepartion for said little girl, I made her a quilt. My sis wanted to do pink, and butterflies.

So pink and butterflies she will have.

Bad lighting I know

I turned out well. I just hope it wears well. I appliquéd the butterflies on after I wonder-undered them onto the white background. 

I usually use a zigzag stitch compressed to make a nice satin appliqué border, but it stretched so badly that I tried a blanket stitch.

Then after the butterfly quilt, I other sister, let me know she had an old quilt top she had inherited for an aunt. It had been sitting in her attic for years. She asked if I could finish it, get it long arm quilted, and bound. Well, sure. I KNEW people who could finish it.

I went to the Quilt Haus to look for backing and who should be there? Kelleigh of Kell's Quilting. I grabbed some back and white gingham, and handed it all to Kelleigh, and told her let me know when it's finished. 

When I had researched the quilt pattern Google images identified it as a Hole in the Barn door pattern. I chose a black thread, all over feather meander pattern. I turned out beautifully. The binding I did myself, with mitred corners and it's a God-awful mess. MY part was messy, Kelleigh's was lovely.

Here's my sister Sully with her Attic Quilt (Hole in the Barn Door) and my son, (who must be in all the pictures.

When I had first inspected the quilt I noticed it has been a labor of love for some years. Some of it was hand pieced, some of it machine pieced, and the fabrics spanned 20 years at least.

Next on the menu, more tutu's.

Ruth

Skirt a Day Sewing

So a few years ago I was slurping on a mint chocolate chip blizzard at a Dairy Queen in Salado on my way to pick up my son from his Grandparents. Then I got a call from my bestie/college roommate Nikki.

Let me add some history to this.

Nikki and I met in our Design 1 class in the School of Visual Arts in at the University of North Texas in Denton back in 2000. We bonded over the awful projects with construction paper, and the fact that our T.A. had a tendency to wear jeans with a hole in the crotch, and no underwear. One day, as he was sitting in-between us during a a critique I looked over at her. While I glanced over I noticed that our T.A. (who was sitting on the table) had a huge hole in the crotch of his jeans.

And pushing thru that hole in said crotch hole was his pink hairy scrotum.

 Immediately I started laughing in shock and terror. I was contorting my face in a battle to cover my shock and laughter and Nikki looked over and saw.  I'm not sure if she saw the T.A.'s testicles or just me having what must have looked like a facial spasm but she started laughing.

We immediately became best friends that day.  

Experiences of that kind tend to bond people.

We were both fashion design majors and then became roommates after both our dorm/apartment roommates went all weird on us. The next four years were a daze of college and crazy, sewing, fabric, and the sweat shop that was our dining room. We had other roommates, Drunk Donna, Cute Mary, Drunk Rachel and a houseful of the strangest weirdest creepiest stuff two strange art major girls could collect.

Well, after four years, she went off to New York to work for Teen People and then Seventeen and I stayed in Dallas/Denton to intern for a manufacturer.  Fast forward 6 years, I'm married with a one year old and I'm a stay at home Mom in central Texas. She's writing a book, the third of hers I think. It's all about pattern making, just like we learned in our patterning making 1 class. (Annie would be so proud)

She had almost finished writing a book. I know, a BOOK! All I had done since college was work in some jobs as a designer, and she had done something more substantial than rework a back pocket embroidery on a pair of jeans, or design 20 skorts for a department store.

She needed a favor. Could I do the re-sketch the illustrations she had already drawn?

(I did a LOT of sketching in my former design jobs. Adobe Illustrator and I were practically married. Flat sketches, technical sketches, illustrations. You name it I did it.)

 So I said yes. She even offered to PAY ME!!!

I was so excited. So when I got home from Dairy Queen, son in tow; I came back to an email and a hundred or so sketches to re-sketch in illustrator. Within two weeks I had done, hmnnnn 70-100 or so. There were some updates and reworking after the bulk were done. And it took quite a while until I heard but it's finally published!!! And I have my name as the illustrator!!!! I even got paid!!!!

I feel so........distinguished.

So here's the book that I worked on with Super Star Author Nicole (Nikki) Smith.

You can buy it here.....and also visit the publishers website here.

Or you can see Nikki's blog here.

Here are some badly taken pictures of my illustrations.

Property of Nicole Smith/Storey Publishing

Property of Nicole Smith/Storey Publishing

Property of Nicole Smith/Storey Publishing

Add caption

Property of Nicole Smith/Storey Publishing

Property of Nicole Smith/Storey Publishing

I'm a little sad they didn't use the illustration I had done of the body measurements.

Instead they used a picture, which makes sense when you read the book. 

Property of Nicole Smith/Storey Publishing

All in All, I'm pretty pleased. And I'm super happy for Nikki. 

This makes me happy.

So go out and buy this book. 

Ruth