retro bathing suit

I have been very, very busy lately designing new patterns for magazines, shops, and patchwork groups. One of my projects this year is help design a Row by Row with a specific scheme. I will let you figure it out yourself just what that theme is. ; ) In the meantime, since so many of you ask about my patterns, I thought I would start to share them with you as well. You can find all of them on Craftsy.

This cute little retro bathing suit is foundation paper pieced. You might think it is too small to sew, but I know you love a challenge. You can always blow it up if you need to. I am really curious to see what you can make with this too. I found it is the perfect size for a journal cover made by the talented Sandra aka Hohenbrunner Quilterin. She has a fantastic tutorial on how to make them.

I would love to see a mini quilt out of these!! Here is a little glimpse of how a mini quilt could look designed with Glamping from Moda. I just love the look of this!

Here is another close up of the the assembly. The block is made with just three sections. Believe me, it is a lot simpler to make than you might think. And no, it's not too small. I worked on an ice cream cone with three scoops of ice cream in the same size as this week that was rather tedious. This you definitely can manage. So hop on over to Craftsy to download your new Retro Bathing Suit FPP Quilt Block.I would love to see what you make!!

Thanks for dropping by!

because retro is so now

I am psyched up for the new year! I am feeling good. I cleaned my sewing room and straightened up my fabrics. I put my most current projects (WIPs -Work in Progress) or UFOs and we call them here into plastic bags - I save them from the Fat Quarter Shop and reuse; I am so Schwäbisch! ;-) I met with a friend to talk about our projects and sewing together for more motivation. Can you feel the energy radiating?

Next on my project list for this week, now I have to think in weeks and not monthly posts, is/was Sew Kitschy. A German friend of mine asked me how "kitschy" translated into English. I think she was a little disappointed when I told her it was the same word. Okay, so the block of this month is that so adorable pot holder and oven mitt. What I really, really like about this BOM is the simplicity, and the retro, the red/turquoise, and only nine months! When I started laying out the fabric for the block, I wanted to use a big retro print for the background. All of the fabrics I have, are medium sized direction prints which started to present a challenge, but I mastered it. It can be done with a little patience. I did get this finished in one day (with other appointments and kids homework on the side). If you like the look of retro and want to use a larger print in the background, go for it! It is worth the effort.

And I wanted to share with you one of the preludes to Linear Refraction. As soon as I heard about the blog hop, I wanted to use some off these really fresh colors and mix them with brown. I have yet to complete this rather small foundation mix. I threw it away yesterday in the cleaning sparade. But oh, the lovely things you can do with Kona solids.

 

Enjoy the rest of your week. Soak up the sun rays whenever they poke through. And keep on sewing and posting!

Sewingly yours,

Karen