If you make a Sew Awesome Craft or any pattern, craft or recipe from sewhooked, I’d love to see a photo. Email me or add it to the sewhooked flickr group.
or Get Print from Google Drive
I got a great email request last week from Grace. She was inspired by Shae’s Y-Front quilt to make a bra-themed quilt to raffle off as part of a fundraiser the Susan G. Komen 3 Day for the Cure. I don’t generally take commissions, but I will do a special request, especially when it’s something that touches my heart!
Heart With A Cause
Breast cancer has touched my life through friends and family. Any step forward is a step in the right direction. This pattern is a teeny tiny contribution!
Use it with my blessing to make quilts to remind you to help Save the Tatas!
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Today found me at yet another meeting for The Linus Connection. I’ve mentioned in the past that our numbers were low and that the continued shortage was weighing on myself and the other volunteers.
Thanks to our very diligent volunteers and some serious recruiting, our numbers are back up again and we’ve even been able to set aside blankets for the camps we donate to each summer!
I’d like to say a huge heartfelt thanks to all of my online friends that have donated to my favorite charity and encourage every crafty person out there to make something for a charity in your location. There are loads of organizations out there just like The Linus Connection that could use your crafty skills! Whether you knit a cap, crochet a scarf or make a quilt, whether you do it once a year or once a week, use your crafty skills for good and help change your world. Volunteering for a good cause pays in love and friendship. It’s one of the best non-paying jobs you’ll ever have!
These blankets and quilts were donated through Go Get Granny & Log Cabins For Linus (aka, my online friends!). Thanks a million times to each of you for your time, your talent and your general all-around awesomeness!
Quilt made by Shae, quilted by Marge.
Granny-ghan donated by caitirin
Quilt made with blocks donated by clumsy_chord, pieced by me (to be quilted).
Afghan made from blocks donated by Janina, joined and bordered by me.
Afghan made from blocks donated by craftylilthing in Starknuts colors. Joined by me.
Afghan made with blocks donated by auntypsycho, joined by me.
Afghan made by Mary (Mary also donated loads more granny squares, which are being joined by my friend Linda!)
Afghan made by Mary
Afghan made by Mary
Afghan made by Mary
Fleece blanket with crochet edges, made by Jennifer Tanner.
See more great blankets from Show & Tell at today’s meeting!
I will continue to accept donations until the end of March, so just a couple more weeks now! If you still have something you’d like to share with Linus, please contact me for my mailing address.
If you make a Sew Awesome Craft or any pattern, craft or recipe from sewhooked, I’d love to see a photo. Email me or add it to the sewhooked flickr group.
In which I wax about old things and show you some new ones, too!
If you make a Sew Awesome Craft or any pattern, craft or recipe from sewhooked, I’d love to see a photo. Email me or add it to the sewhooked flickr group.
Strawberry Ice Cream Baby Blanket, made by Knit Picks
Some days, the good news can’t get any better!
On Friday, Knit Picks, a site that any yarn lover will know, published one of my crochet patterns, Strawberry Ice Cream Baby Blanket!
How exciting is that!?
Download the pattern free from Knit Picks
The original Strawberry Ice Cream Baby Blanket was donated to The Linus Connection in March 2009, blogged.
Thank you Knit Picks, for publishing my pattern and making my day! Thanks to Stacey for making it easy as ice cream!
What, you might ask, does this vinyl Christmas tablecloth have to do with a design wall? Well, let me tell ya!
A little birdie told me that I could use a flannel-backed tablecloth for a design wall. Okay, it was Marge (hi, Marge!), who has one in her sewing room, and it works great for her.
The idea has been at the back of my mind for months, but I didn’t have a spare wall. After debating with myself, and lots of cleaning and re-arranging in my sewing/craft room (including giving up a table…GASP!), I am the proud owner of an absolutely free design wall, courtesy of an upcycled tablecloth pulled out of my Christmas stuff!
I love that I’ve been able to put the otherwise unused tablecloth to good use!
The tablecloth was very wrinkled, so I put my iron on the lowest setting and gently ironed the flannel side, leaving the iron on the fabric as little as possible. It smoothed the tablecloth out great, now it has no wrinkly bits!
I applied the tablecloth to the wall just like you’d cover a frame or a seat cushion. One pin in the top and the bottom, then one in each side, smoothing and pinning around until it was taut. It was literally about a 5 minute job.
New design wall shown with donated orphan blocks.
Fun, huh? This is not my idea, but it’s easy and inexpensive, and every quilter needs a design wall, so I had to share!
I really was going to make this my Wordless Wednesday, but I just can’t do it! I see photos all the time of quilts and quilt blocks that people around the world have made using my patterns and Guest Designer patterns from sewhooked. Seeing one in person? Absolutely priceless!
This quilt was made by Dianne Ferguson, owner of Honey Bee Quilt Store, for her teenage daughter. She’s hand embroidered quotes from the books all around the quilt, starting at the top left with the first sentence from book one and ending with the last sentence from book seven. She plans on quilting it soon, so I’ll definitely have to take another picture then!
Dianne is now my boss at Honey Bee Quilt Store…but she started this quilt well before I started working there. How’s that for cool?!
In which I ramble about ATCs, awesome Linus donations and publishing!
designs by Marissa Dinsdale, click for pattern
This week’s Guest Designer profile is of the awesomely talented Marissa, another gem from Harry Potter Paper Piecing. We’ve been online friends for a while now and I look forward to seeing what designs she’s working on next!
Marissa at the Harry Potter Exhibit at the Boston Museum of Science
Name and where you’re from:
The name they gave me is Marissa and I go by MKissa on the interwebz. I was raised in Costa Mesa, CA and now reside in the city of Orange, still in CA (7 minutes and 3 freeways from Disneyland).
Website/blog/online store or other place where your patterns or photos of your work can be found?
Public Blog (Mostly Craft Stuff)
Etsy
Livejournal (Mostly Friends Only, but I’m always looking for new friends)
How long have you been paper piecing and/or quilting?
I’ve been paper piecing since July/August or 2008 and have been seriously quilting for about just as long, although I recently found a quilt top that I made when I was 13ish… so really… about 14 years. 🙂 I started paper piecing when I came across the HP paper piecing community on LJ and immediately jumped in.
What do you use own your block designs for?
Quilt labels, contest entries, and my Buffy designs will be a wall hanging or in their own quilt.
When did you start designing?
April 2009
Was there a particular inspiration to draw your first pattern?
I needed a label for a pair of quilts I was making for a friend that was having twins… the quilts had monkeys and bananas on them, so I decided that a banana pattern would definitely do the trick.
Do you remember what your first design was?
See above
Do you have a favorite among your own designs?
I am currently working on some Buffy designs and am really happy to bring another of my favorite fandoms to the quilt world.
What do you use to design your patterns? Paper and pencil, a specific software, etc.
I was using Microsoft publisher, but I am switching over to Illustrator or Photoshop since I just got Creative Suite for my home computer.
How has the online community changed the way you craft/quilt/design, etc.?
Oh my gosh yes! It has taught me to take inspiration from everywhere. My online friends have taught me that if you don’t know how to do something and want to do it you can figure it out. My friends are always encouraging, willing to lend a helping hand, give some great advice, or point me in the direction of a favorited tutorial.
Anything else you’d like to add?
I’m 28, and live with my MAN and our two cats (Rupert & Dexter). I work full time as the Event Coordinator for a non-profit in the city of Orange (where we live) and I work part time as an assistant manager at a local pizza joint. Most of the time that I am crafting I am ignoring some other chore that should be done or staying up way past my bedtime, but I love it, and it is my ME time, which is oh so important.
Find Marissa’s patterns on sewhooked!
Happy Quilting!
If you make a Sew Awesome Craft or any pattern, craft or recipe from sewhooked, I’d love to see a photo. Email me or add it to the sewhooked flickr group.
Sewhooked 