celebrate CREATIVITY in all its forms

How Romantic

OK, so earlier this month I was pretty much stalking my local Barnes and Noble bookstore.  I burned up the phone line daily to inquire about a particular magazine issue.  Before you think I've lost my marbles, let me say it was all for good reason and great anticipation. 

My efforts finally paid off after I got my hands on the latest issue of Romantic Homes magazine.  Actually, I was able to get my hands on two.  One for me and one for my mom.

Perhaps you already see where I'm going with this.  There's an article entitled Best Blogs which profiles several blogs in this June 2008 issue.  If you turn to page twenty-one you'll see celebrate CREATIVITY in all its forms featured. 

A photo of my sweet dandilion-sniffing daughter is at the top of the writeup. 

I have to extend a big thank you to Tara Frey who wrote the article.  Tara regularly writes about fun and beautiful blogs that catch her eye and she's wonderfully supportive of the diverse creative efforts she finds throughout the blogoshere. 

Tara has her own blog as well called Bella Cafe which is a "a vintage pitstop to refuel your soul" and is always a pleasure to browse.    Also check out her oh-so pretty shoppe which is filled with vintage pillows, elegant frames and mirrors, pretty decor and treasures that can help make a house a home.

If you've never picked up a copy of Romantic Homes, it's a fantastic magazine to flip through when all is quiet and you have a peaceful moment to yourself to just relax and indulge in the beautiful articles and photos.

It's one of my favorite reads, and I've accumulated quite a collection of issues over the last few years.  This is the kind of magazine I just can't bring myself to toss-even after reading it cover to cover multiple times.  Every issue is just too pretty to throw away.

Meanwhile, I do want to give a "shout-out" to the other two blogs that are featured along with mine. 

Lidy Baars calls her site Little French Garden House and her blog is a pleasant mix of antiques, vintage treasures, home decor, photos and stories that are wonderfully French-inspired.  Little French Garden House is a delight to stroll through, and I promise you won't just visit once.

Pop over to Tuttichic and you'll see why Chris Glynn has such a loyal following.  Chris' beautiful photos of gardens and home design are so serene and peaceful looking it's a treat to get lost in it all.  She also shares my affinity for the late/great comedienne Lucille Ball.   Little French Garden House has such a sweet vintage charm it will keep you coming back for more and more inspiration.

I love giving you a sneak peak, but I hope you'll pick up this issue of Romantic Homes for yourself.   If you're looking for eye candy you'll definitely find it in this magazine which is always filled with so many lovely things to see and enjoy. 

I'm really honored to have celebrating CREATIVITY in all its forms included in this issue and I appreciate the opportunity to have my blog reach a new audience through the pages of Romantic Homes.  Stay tuned because I have a few projects slated to appear in some upcoming issues of this magazine later this year.

I'd also like to extend a heartfelt thanks to everyone who pops in to see my creative and crafting efforts.  I'm humbled by your thoughtful words of encouragement and support. 

My little blogging experiment (as I like to call it) started on a bit of a whim nearly one year ago.  I think I'll keep it.  Thanks again!

Cover Girl

It's great to be a cover girl!  Just ask 4-year old Maeve and I think she'll agree.  That's Maeve on the cover of the May/June 2008 issue of Memory Makers magazine.  That's also my scrapbook layout on the cover. 

What a fun thrill for both of us!

Maeve is the little sister of my daughter's best friend.  If she looks familiar, that's because she modeled an adorable polka-dot jumper that I made and featured in a post last year, entitled Tiptoe Through the Tulips.

The jumper has a tulip border that was created using a great technique called paper foundation piecing.   

I came away with so many wonderful pictures from the photo shoot and as an avid scrapbooker, these were great shots to work with for a few layouts. 

The page below was specifically created for consideration for a Memory Makers magazine "cover call". 

The Memory Makers editors liked my original design as well as the various other elements in the layout.  However, they requested a few adjustments, including a greater focus on Maeve's eyes and a change in color pallete.

Notice how a close-up photo and the change in background color from orange to pink, affects the look of the layout?  If you're trying to evoke a certain mood when creating a page, then background color can have a major impact.

Here's another peek at the revised version on the cover-issue which is on newstands now.  This is my second cover layout.  You can see my first magazine cover which features my daughter on her 4th birthday if you click here.   It's really a great feeling to have my scrapbook efforts recognized in this way. 

This cover layout was requested by Memory Makers' editors back in November 2007 for May 2008 publication. That really illustrates just how far in advance many of the magazines often work on a particular issue. 

When the editors e-mailed me the news about getting the cover, I kept that info from Maeve's mom for months, until I actually had the magazine in hand. 

While my good friend Linda knew the page had been picked up for publication because she had to sign a release, she didn't know the layout featuring her daughter was selected for the cover.  It was really hard keeping that secret for the last 6-months.

Needless to say, when I handed Linda the issue with Maeve on the cover, she was pretty stunned and totally thrilled.  What a great keepsake this issue will be for the entire family.

I think you can see from the photo below that Maeve is pretty excited about it too.

Finally, here are a few more of my favorite shots of Maeve from the polka-dot jumper shoot.

I love all of these pictures of Maeve and she was such a perfect little model for me.  She was so easy to work with and quite enthusiastic about everything.  Her eyes and smile just light up everything around her. 

While this magazine cover is Maeve's first, I suspect this won't be the last for this cover girl. 

Trip Around the World

When I was a little girl, I had the chance to live and travel to many parts of the world as the daughter of a Peace Corps director.  However, I never took a trip "around" the world-until I made this quilt. 

Trip Around the World is the name for this quilt design which starts with a fabric square in the center and radiates outward with seemingly hundreds of other colorful squares that create one big square after another.

I'll admit, when I first saw the pattern for this quilt I was a little intimidated because I thought it contained far too many individual squares than I could possibly keep up with. 

The little 2-inch squares actually are not sewn together individually at all.  It only looks that way.

Since I completed this particular quilt a while ago without taking pictures of the process, I'm going to back-track the steps for you using leftover fabric from different projects.  Six different fabrics were used for this quilt so I just rounded up half a dozen remnants for this tutorial. 

Start by cutting 2 1/2-inch fabric strips out of each fabric selection.  Cut the strips the length of your fabric yardage.

If you make this project you'll be cutting strips much longer than the example in the photo below which is a scaled down version for purposes of this basic illustration. 

Sew the strips together using a 1/4-inch seam allowance.  I use a special 1/4-inch foot which attaches to my sewing machine.  It has a small black metal fabric guide to the right of the needle and the raw edge of the fabric rests right up against it as it's being stitched.  This is a great tool to help maintain a consistent 1/4-inch seam allowance.   

You can contact your sewing machine manufacturer or local sewing shoppe to find a 1/4-inch foot to fit your particular machine.

After stitching all your strips together, you'll end up with a very large piece as in the photo below.  Iron this piece flat making sure you do not stretch or pull the fabric during the ironing process.

Once the strips have been sewn together and ironed, cut across the width of the newly constructed piece to create new strips which are 2 1/2-inch in width.  See-thru quilter's rulers make this step a breeze.

You'll notice in the photo below that each new strip contains a 2 1/2-inch square from each of the six fabric selections.

The strategic and staggered placement of these strips is what creates the Around the World design.  Because of the 1/4-inch seam allowance on each side of the strips, your finished squares within the strips will end up measuring 2-square inches. 

Remember, your actual strips will be much longer than the ones in the demo photo below.  When sewing these strips together make sure you line-up your square seams and pin in place before stitching.

As you can see in the photo below, after staggering your strips per the pattern instructions and stitching them all together, you're left with the appearance of tons of individual squares. 

I think this is a wonderful pattern that actually suggests it's more complicated to construct than it really is.

Of course, it's no secret by now that I love a scalloped border on a quilt.  As always, I applied that technique to this project using the same green-checkered print for my binding that I used for the small border within the quilt.

I think when you repeat fabric selections like the binding and a border, it really helps tie all the pieces together for a nice effect that looks consistant and well planned. 

I just love how this checkered print looks against the green toile. 

Speaking of toile, my favorite part of this quilt is definitely toile print.  I've said here many times that I love just about all things toile. 

There's just something about this style of fabric that always speaks to me regardless of the color or pictoral depicted in the print.  To me, it's such a classy fabric.

I also think toile makes an especially beautiful backing for just about any quilt.  It just gives it that vintage look that really helps a modern-day quilt look much older.

Take a look at the contrast of the quilt backing with the other fabrics in the quilt top in the photo below.  I love this combination of fabrics which comes from a line manufactured by Marcus Brothers called Vintage Gardens Collection.

Here is another view of that scrumptious toile on the back of the finished project.  I think using a fabric like this for the back makes the quilt virtually double-sided because the back is as pretty as the front.

I loved this green toile fabric so much I ended up buying the entire bolt.  Needless to say, I have several other projects using some of this same stash.  I'll share those projects later in an upcoming post.

So next time you're planning an excursion, why not consider this trip around the world?  Just think, it's fun-filled and colorful, and you'll never need a passport.