More Texture Magic Samples!

Although I have been very busy, I took a little time to make a couple more samples. The first one is an envelope bag I had been thinking about for a while. It was really super easy. These batiks are great, and I could so see a sharp business woman carrying this with her charcoal power suit and her laptop shoulder bag!



And how cute is THIS!!! This is one of the bibs included in the pattern that has 4 one-cuter-than-the-next bibs!

See you at the show!

Tommorrow and Friday I will demoing for Judy's Quilt and Sew at the Schaumburg Convention Center. It's a pretty good show, geared a bit more towards garment and home embroidery than the show at the Donald E in the spring. I will be in booth 514 so stop by and snicker at my Mr Microphone setup. Makes me feel like "Madonna"

On The Town Tote!!!

Wow, this is a great looking bag, and very simple really. Love the autumn-y fabrics and there are lots of pockets inside! Texture Magic is the perfect accent to really show off the great shape of this bag.

Tottling off to Tammy Tadd's Tomorrow...

I am going to be demoing product from 10-12 (and shopping) tomorrow (Nov. 7) at Tammy Tadd Designs in Sycamore. If you've never been there, GO! Tomorrow they are having a sample sale, with their fabulous samples that go out to all the stores starting at just $5! Talk about great timing for the holidays. See her shop and info here- http://www.tammytadddesigns.com/ . She was one of the shops featured in Quilt Sampler Mag, and rightly so! Hope to see you there! And say Hi! if you saw my blog!!!

I LOVE Peoria!

Wow, there are some awesome quilters in that area! There were about 130 attendees to their meeting, and they really liked me (or so they said! I have no reason not to believe them, lol) And they were also very smart, because they bought alot of patterns and Texture Magic! Seriously, they actually bought more of my intermediate patterns, most places I go, they only want the easy stuff. So-you go! you Peoria area quilters!!! Quilt on!!!

Serenity Tote Done!

I just finished this FAB sample for my trip to Peoria tomorrow. Although not the "cover fabric" I think any larger print with some movement is good. I followed the lines printed on the fabric with a layer of poly batting sandwiched between the Texture Magic and fabric and WOW! It is really interesting.

Peoria or Bust!

I am going to be lecturing (though I truly hate that term, more like entertaining) at the Gems of the Prairie Quilt Guild next Wednesday night, November 4th. I will be talking about "The Creative Process", or at least MY creative process, and will have a trunk show of about 35 quilts and my patterns will be for sale. You can get more info regarding the where and when at http://gemsoftheprairie.com/. I noticed today I am not listed (I was contracted rather late) but I promise I will be there! So, if you are anywhere in the neighborhood, please stop by and introduce yourself!

Goin' to Des Moines!

Put some gas in the Cavalier and let's go! My friend Rita and I are heading to the AQS show in Des Moines. My first AQS show, actually. I will be demoing Texture Magic at booth 0215, so stop by and say hi! I hope my ankle holds up, after having broken it last spring (in 3 places!) I am still not quite the same. Oh well, life happens.

Texture Magic Sweatshirt Makeover

This project has been done in my head for a month. But this weekend I carved out the time to make it for real, lol! The steps are pretty easy if you've done any garment sewing at all. Once the center and collar area were cut to the shape I like, I used muslin to make patterns for a shawl collar and cuffs. I used a piece of TM 18X18, which shrunk down to 14X14, I then cut out my muslin pattern, taking care to "flip" the collar once so I would have a right and left. Then, using the same fabric without texture, I cut out the lining pieces. I sort of loosely based the width of the cuff on how much TM I had left in the piece that had been texturized.







This will be just the thing to wear while I am demoing product!

TA DA!!! The raffle quilt is done!

Here are pics of the raffle quilt that I designed and quilted for Prairie Stars Quilters Guild. The foundation blocks were made by members of the guild, the center applique was done by Chris Berry. Now I just need to get busy and make a pattern for it, which will be sold to help benefit the guild. So glad this phase is complete!









You can get the pattern from me via PayPal, $12 PPD. or $10 from me in person, all proceeds to go to the guild's educational efforts.

4 Ribbons!

Well the Fair paid off! A record (for me) of 4 Best in Category Purple Ribbons! They were for Bed, Machine Quilted (a very large category!) Best Crib quilt, Best Professional Wallhanging, and Best Apron (!!!) So I am very happy, I thought I could pull off 3, but the apron was a surprise!

Anyway I have been working like crazy on my Texture Magic, and here are 2 more samples. A Baby Quilt made from the Bubbly Babies pattern, and a stocking I made very simply by foundation piecing to batting, strips of red and gold and gold hand-dyed. They I used Texture Magic on the cuff, and trimmed the whole thing with gold ric-rac. I would say all told it was about a 2.5 hour project and will demonstate to the shops I am calling on that the sky's the limit!

Goin' to the fair!

Today DH and I are taking my things to the Sandwich Fair. I was unable to paticipate last year, so I had quite a stockpile of things to enter, along with my Texture Magic bag and pillow. All told I have a record breaking 39 items! 2 years ago I got 2 Purple Ribbons (best in category) and this year I am hoping for 3. I will definately blog later in the week to let you all know! We are going Thursday for some fun and great food. This is a great county-style fair, the way they were meant to be!

WOW!

Texture magic is more fun than I even imagined! I have been chained to my sewing machine for days, and it has been quite some time since I have had this kind of enthusiasm for sewing. Without further ado, here are some results. A baby quilt will be along in a day or two...



Texture Magic Stuff

Life happens!

Hi, I am busier than the proverbial one-legged paper hanger lately. My FIL is very ill and I have been helping with him, as they live next door. Soooo...

I am very excited about a new opportunity for me. I am repping a FAB new product called Texture Magic . There is buzz all over the internet about this as it is one of the first truly NEW products to come along in a long time.


I am waiting for my sales packet but you can see a bit of what it does here...

http://www.superiorthreads.com/shop/category/texture-magic/description/

I will blogging about it as I get my hands on it and play, but basically it is a polyester fabric that you sew to the back of fabric and then steam with your iron and it shrinks 30% in every direction, creating fabulous texture. I will also have more info including where to buy on my website soon, but if you are in Illinois, contact me to buy and I will either sell to you, or direct you to someone who can (wholesale orders welcome)

Look for new blogs about all the fun things I am going to make with this great new stuff!

Free Mystery Quilt Pattern???

For anyone reading this I am thinking about offering a free mystery quilt pattern, but would like to know if there are enough people interested to make it worthwhile.

It would work something like this; (suggestions appreciated) At the onset I would give a supply list and each month I would offer a set of instructions via PDF that would be emailed to you. It would take about 4 months to complete. I hope I could offer two sizes, and the skill level would be a confident beginner. Nothing complicated, just sqares and half-square triangles.

So, let me know what you think, I will start a list of emails which you can email me off the blog to bigtimequilter@yahoo.com. The only requirement of you will be to send me pictures of the completed quilts, and your quilt may end up on the cover of the completed pattern which I will sell. Sound like fun???

A stunner!!

I just finished this quilt. It does not get any more custom that this. I designed the "shadow applique" for the setting triangles, filled tightly around the applique, and did stitch-in-the-ditch allover. I am quite proud of it. Maybe someday I will take the time to pay that much attention to my own quilts, lol.

slideshow...

Here is a slideshow of me speaking at a guild



Caron Carlson

I'm baaaacck!

Well, this time of year is usually very quiet for me, but not this year! Yeah!! I have a few of my own quilts I am trying to get to, but the customer's always first. Anyway, here's a recent one or two that I recently finished. I am getting primarily custom now, although I love to get a quickie allover from time to time to break up the routine.