The fine line between honesty and ugliness.

Today I read a hugely long blog posting/comments about people "being real" on their blog and not following the herd mentality. Don't like a fabric line other people do...speak now or forever hold your peace. Do you have a pet peeve about blogs/patterns/fabric companies...spill it, girlfriend...all in the name of keeping it real.
I posted my annoyance and then thought better of it. Nobody asked my opinion...nobody really cares. I think it's pretty clear what I like by looking through my quilts. No need to state my DISlike.

Some people complained about some people having expensive machines. I have a nice sewing machine (ok, TWO!)...so sue me. It is the first really nice thing I ever allowed my husband to do for me.  I don't get manicures, haircoloring, and have a bag for every outfit..I don't even know you could call what I wear an "outfit". What is it to someone else how I choose to spend my money? I assure you my family is not suffering because of what goes on in my sewing nook.

Others complained about people buying too much fabric or fabric that was too expensive.  I learned to sew on wal-mart fabric and I don't care where you buy yours.  I use more expensive stuff now because I have slowed *way* down in my quilting...I'm talking my time more and enjoying myself instead of playing Worker Bee.  I can afford to buy better stuff  because my volume has gone down.  I will admit I have gotten a few things free...sue me on that.  What do you do, send it back with a no thanks?? 

Yet more people were annoyed when people talked about their faith (guilty, and if that is wrong, I don't wanna be right) or showed their babies or their feet...you're not gonna catch my feet OR a full shot of my babies on this blog, but I am not going to be annoyed if you do.  Personally I love seeing a good pic of babies feet (double whammy!).

Don't forget the spelling and grammar police.  

Honestly after reading all that it seems terrifying to write a blog post! 

Do I have negative thoughts? Absolutely. I just...

• don't buy it
• don't read it
• don't sew it
• don't follow it
• talk to a trusted friend and let it all hang out...move on.  

 Choice is a beautiful thing...thank you all for choosing to listen to my ramblings thus far.  I hope to never see someone trashing me for what is said here, but if I do...I will click that little red X in the corner with a quickness. 

My first King Size quilt is getting bound now and I hope to have it up this week.  400 inches of hand binding...whew.  This is gonna take a while.

Sweet Home Alabama

And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

As you may know, I'm a born and raised Alabama girl. Yesterday, my home state was devastated by a swarm of angry tornadoes. I know a lot of people have a hard time understanding how God can let things like this happen. I don't know the theology of weather...I just think we all spit in the milk so we can't be surprised if sometimes it tastes ruined. What I do know is that God is in the details...and sometimes can use bad things to spare us from worse things...or to help us realize where our priorities should be. We humans have a bad habit of getting caught up in the small picture.

Yesterday my sister stopped to go to the bathroom and her bathroom stop kept her from making it to her destination...a small community that was decimated by a large tornado. In her weakness, God showed His strength.


A few days ago, my sister's elderly mother-in-law fell. She was staying at my sister's house so my brother-in-law could help her get to a doctor appointment. Her home is now obliterated.  In her weakness, God showed His strength.

My sister, a nurse for the state of Alabama, was called to a hospital to triage patients.  A young man we grew up with, now an EMT, recognized my sister and immediately saw that she could help a woman who was stricken with grief...she sent her mother home to rest after watching after her ailing father in the hospital and mother died on the way home.  The woman, a Christian, had so many questions about when the pain would get better.  My sister called upon the experiences of losing our parents to give hope to the woman and remind her that Christ's sacrifice means this is not goodbye forever. 
In her weakness, God showed His strength.
Pray for the people affected by these tornadoes and that they can see God's love for them in the details to come.

I'm going to leave you with a song.

Picnic & Fairgrounds...oh, the plans I have for you.

I was lucky enough to find every single Denyse Schmidt Picnic&Fairgrounds print.  I may kick myself later, but I decided to only buy the picnic colorway (minus the lone yellow print).  I came home and immediately decided to pull some of my stash from the "favorite favorites" drawer where I house my vintage fabrics and American Jane stash.

I pulled lots of American Jane Building Blocks, a vintage shirting fabric, and another vintage aqua fabric.

And when I spotted my little vintage pink elephant pillow panel, I decided I had to go back and get more of the red/pink prints...6 yards more.  My sister-in-law is pregnant and in case this is a girl I got this while I could.  I want this to be a special quilt and what could be more special than that cute elephant?  With Joann's coupon prices, I went ahead and bought 3 yards of the giant gingham for backing.  I bought a good bit of both the red gingham prints because I am a gingham girl and at $5/yard it will go with a lot of my projects.  I have 3 panels of the elephants so I thought if the quilt turned out cute I might kit the other 2 panels with some of this yardage.  I used coupons on everything, so nothing was over $6/yard.  I really don't buy fabric that much (despite what my sister thinks, ahem), but when I do get in the mood to get more, I tend to buy a lot.  Hi, I'm Mary...and I binge on fabric. 

I'm cutting up rectangles for a king size staggered rectangle quilt (no points matching!).  This isn't all of the prints I am using.  I have over 20 prints total and I'm just cutting as I can.  When I have close to 300, I will start piecing and hope for the best.  I may edit out those pieces that are broken up into 2 prints.  They are causing too much of a visual break for me.  I may just put them on the edges so it's not as distracting...depends how many pieces I need.

Are you giving in to the Picnic&Fairgrounds juggernaut?

Happy Easter, y'all!

His love STILL amazes me. You are loved.

train wreck.

 Shameful, isn't it?  My sewing area is a hot mess.  In my defense the trains are put up there by my youngest.   I am trying a new work layout and it is just not working for me.  Stuff is much harder to keep organized.

 But when it gets all clean and tidy I found a few things...like this little USA Pottery mini teapot (?).  My cow shaped creamer got broken and I needed something else to keep extra water for my thirsty rowenta.  This holds much more (even though it is not as cute as the little cow was).

 and I found a sewing machine drawer that was in beautiful shape for $1.  I even found that houseplant in it for free on the side of the road.  A neighbor was getting rid of it, so I'm trying to root it.  I can't wait to clean up my space so I can find a great use for this drawer.  Suggestions welcome!

 And I found a Slice for 34.99!  After a LOT of help from Darlene the Sewcal gal, I was able to get it to work on fabric!  She is posting a tutorial soon but if you need help before then just email me and I will be glad to "pay it back" by helping you out.

The slice was a really serendipitous find since I am smack dab in the middle of a project where I am cutting out tons of letters...this is a moda bakeshop project in the works using Kate Spain's Flurry.

Do you let your work space get this messy?

Twill tape quilt labels...DIY

For months I have mentally stored this tutorial just waiting for a time when I had t-shirt transfer paper and twill tape and a bit of time.  This is a fabulous idea and I wanted to share the tutorial and my results with y'all.

I printed some on white twill tape and the rest on natural twill tape.  I scored the all cotton twill tape for 79 cents a yard at Joann.  I may have also been greedily hoarding Denyse Schmidt fabric while at said Joann. 

I used my MAC Word program to write Mary Lane Brown and The Tulip Patch...lots of copying and pasting.  I used a 10 font in American Typewriter, but I think I could/should have gone up to 11 or 12 and still fit on 1/2" tape. 

One word about reversing your text to mirror image... I had a hard time figuring this part out.  I ended up and printed off a sheet with the text going in the right direction and then scanning that sheet into my scanner.  Once scanned, I opened up the scanned image in MS Paint...making sure my page orientation as changed to portrait vs the default of landscape.  I then clicked "flip horizontally" under the the edit/resize area.  I'm sure there is an easier way, but don't look to this tech-challenged girl to find it.  Always run a test print on plain paper so you don't waste the expensive T-shirt transfer paper!

I plan on sewing these into my binding seams like a loop tag.  I feel weird writing my whole name on a quilt I give to people, but I do feel I probably SHOULD be labeling.  How do you label your quilts?

Coining slang..

Since childhood, one of my sillier goals has been to coin slang (My friend Stacey would argue that I already have, as she now uses "Ritzy Cracker" as a description for snobs). Are you ready for this?

Thread Cred \thred kred\
Commanding a level of respect in fiber arts (e.g. knitting, sewing, embroidery, quilting) due to experience in or knowledge of those skills. Street cred for fiber arts enthusiasts.

Let's use this in a sentence:

OMG, did you see that quilt...it was uh-may-zing! Her thread cred is off the charts.

Thread Cred...Let's make this happen people.

...and I wanna hear what achievement you think would give you "thread cred".

Joann Fabric Stores: Super Saver Tips

With Denyse Schmidt's new line, Picnic & Fairgrounds, available at Jo Ann, there are going to be a lot of people who would not have set foot in Joann before deciding to check things out.  Here are some savings tips to help you get the most for your money.

1) Check your newspapers on Sunday or their website for printable coupons.  These are usually good for 40-50 percent off one item.  This will really help with purchasing backing fabrics and battings.

2)Download the Joann app for free to your iPhone or an iPod touch.  Once the app is downloaded, click "coupons" and put the coupons in your virtual wallet.  Just show the virtual wallet to your cashier and she will apply it to your cart.  You can use these in addition to your Thanks to my friend Tiffany who taught me this!

3.   Are you an educator...teacher, librarian, coach???  Educators get a 15 percent off discount at Joann!  Bring whatever ID you have and your cashier will hook you up with a card to show at future visits.   I wonder if Sunday School teachers count???

And in case you are wondering, I did get the picnic colorway of Denyse Schmidt's new line.    With the tips above I saved $25 over 6 2/3 yds worth..I had my sisters in town and I loaded up their iPhones and plus I made my teacher sister check out my 3 yards of backing fabric (I still paid for it all).

I remember when I started quilting I saw some of this stuff called Flea Market Fancy in the clearance section at my LQS.  It stopped dead in my tracks...it was beautiful and it felt like butter.  I bought some up for $2 and $5 a yard not knowing the hoo-ya this stuff was causing to modern quilters everywhere.  I got some Katie Jump Rope ($4-$5/yard) and it is my favorite quilt...it feels wonderful and looks so fresh.  I wasn't crazy about Hope Valley or Greenfield Hill, but these new lines just sang out to me.  I have no idea what I will do with these but I didn't want to miss out...it looks like it has been FLYING off the shelf since they got it Wednesday.  Some bolts were near empty.  It doesn't feel AS divine as FMF or KJR, but it still feels as good as most LQS fabrics and I know it will "play well with others"...namely some of my American Jane.  I might even decide to tackle a king size quilt for my bed.  If Diane Rose (the blind quilter) isn't afraid of it, I shouldn't be either!.

Do you have any other Joann savings tips?  Let everyone know in the comments!

Would you quilt if you went blind?

Answer that question for yourself and then watch this...I promise you it's worth clicking the link!

CLICK HERE TO BE INSPIRED!




(sorry, the video doesn't allow embedding...it's a you tube link). Thanks to my friend Tara for the link!

New Pattern: Tiger Tails!

If you have been reading this blog a long time you will remember that I created Houndstooth Heritage, a no bias houndstooth quilt pattern, for my sisters. They are huge fans of Alabama football (and the houndstooth is our thing!). Loving Alabama football is pretty much mutually exclusive with liking Auburn football.

Well, I was blessed to have found a distributor for Houndstooth Heritage with a company that distributes NCAA licensed fabric and notions! I was then asked to create a pattern for Auburn and LSU...both have Tiger mascots...2 birds, one stone. I did an internal "balk" but when I talked to my brother-in-law, an Auburn fan, he sounded excited and asked me to make him an Auburn Tigers quilt. Well, what matters more than football is family...and my brother in law Justin is a good man and a great brother-in-law. I was happy to oblige him and he gave me the inpiration to put love into making this pattern. He has never asked me for anything but he took care of my mother in her dying days (he is a nurse practitioner) and we all love him deeply for that.  His mother is an amazing hand quilter so I never planned on making him anything since her quilts are so much more wonderful than mine.  I am glad to have an opportunity to do something for him.

 You cannot use licensed NCAA fabric in a quilt pattern without getting your own pattern licensed...fine by me, I am on a solids kick!

 You can change the stripes for your team...Cincinatti Bengals, LSU Tigers, Auburn Tigers, RHS Golden Tigers (my alma mater!).  The stripes are achieved by what I am calling "guided improvisation".  AKA- I used a LOT of fabric and sewed a lot of  ways to figure out how to make it look REAL.  I hope I succeeded

My sister is not thrilled about having this in her home, so I am giving her this quilt to appease her:

PDF patterns can be purchased through my etsy shop at a discounted rate.  If you are interested in carrying this in a shop, it will also be available in paper form...just email me at marylane_brown at yahoo dot com for details.

And for the record, ROLL TIDE!

Have you ever made a sports quilt?

Monochromatic Quilt Challenge: WINNING#

Last night I received an email that Shadowboxer was one of the three winners of The Modern Quilt Guild's contest, Project Modern Monochromatic Quilt Challenge judged by Malka Dubrawsky.   Needless to say, I had a hard time falling asleep after that!  I am really honored to be chosen...the other two quilts are beautiful.  Click here to see them!  I drafted this pattern one night and the next morning saw the challenge posted...I don't believe in coincidences, so I knew I had to go for it. 

Now my only "problem" is deciding if I like the Kaufman Darks or Kaufman Lights best...25 yards worth of solids and a quilting book...WOOHOO. Which set should I choose??

Givin' up the dream (of other people)

 This summer I started a hex project like all the cool kids and I even used the color scheme du jour (well, du last year anyway).

 These things were languishing away in a drawer and I needed a quick dresser scarf for my sewing area so I turned it into a table runner.

I took some serious shortcuts...machine binding and actually zigzagging a few hexes together instead of hand attaching.  I'm not even ashamed about it- I'm just glad it's done now.  I like it but I am gonna be a lot more careful about starting a trendy project in the future.  It wasn't enjoyable to do.  Have you ever started a trendy project and regretted it?

Feelin Groooovy...Part 2

Right after receiving a motherlode of 70s vintage quilting fabric I happened upon more of the same in my favorite thrift store.

I found this really neat craft book  and bought it for some inspiration for my 70s fabric.

I like this one...my favorite block is "A Quilt is a Textile Sandwich."  Mmmmm...sanchwiches.

I loved this one...it looked very fresh still.  I love looking at old blocks and old quilts because chances are if it is cute today and was cute back then, then it is a timeless quilt and not just a trend that will look dated in 20 years.  I think this wold be cute with patchwork sections mixed in.  Of course I'd have to machine applique any appliques I did.  I am not good at needleturn (yet!) and I really need heavy duty quilts at our house.  My friends who do needle turn don't use their quilts as sick quilts, dragarounds, and the occasional unintentional rug.

And here is the fabirc.  There are good sized hunks of the green floral, red floral, yellow floral, and brown dot.  Someone had cut out strips and pieces for a log cabin baby quilt (pattern was included).  The aqua is probably not 70s...maybe it is...it's definitely older.  There is over a yard of the aqua.  I am not sure I can use it but I paid $1.14 for everything in this post so I wasn't going to pass it up!

Still looking for 70's quilt ideas.  I am playing around with the idea of mixing patchwork sections with machine applique.  Any suggestions are welcome!

Quilted Eyeglass Case

I'm having a hard time seeing my glasses in the morning so I made myself a bright eyeglass case (yeah those corners were supposed to be rounded) in American Jane prints.  I also made my sister a replacement eyeglass case.  I tried making her a handbag one time and it turned into a wine bag.  We are baptist so obviously that was not gonna work.  I cut the wine bag down in size and was left with an eyeglass case.  It's a sad tale of girl with no spatial skills.

Mushroom iPhone case

.

I have never been a technology person (well, not counting my beloved TiVo) but I just got an iPhone and let me tell you, I'm hooked.  I LOVE face timing my family in Alabama!  I LOVE letting my kids play games in a waiting room.  I LOVE checking directions when I am in a new place.  I LOVE my phone.  My husband bought me an otter box (one could say I am accident prone) so protection is not really an issue.  I did want something to carry on small errands since sometimes I do not bring a purse.

It took a few tries to get it the right size and get the flap to work.  The mushroom look is an accident...I just like that fabric...it's from Hoopla by Moda.

And here it is all filled up with iPhone goodness.  I gave my son the smaller one for his backpack.  I am sure he can find some junk treasures to put in it!

Pocket Binding/Binding Pocket ...a life changing tutorial.

This is a binding pocket on a washed & loved quilt.

You may laugh at the "life changing" part, but learning about binding pockets certainly changed my quilting life for the better.  My best friend Amie at The Fabric Warrior learned pocket binding from this video and then taught me in real life:

I have been using this method for a while now and I absolutely love it.  I'm doing a tutorial in still pictures so you can have a printable reference if you'd like to give it a go. 

 Take your binding fabric and cut your starting end at a 45 degree angle.  Fold over 1/4"-1/2".  I used pinking shears to cut down on fraying.  You could also use fray check if you like.   Make sure to cut any of the flap that overhangs the edge of the binding (you can use regular scissors here because it will be sewn eventually.

 I'm using a small coaster here to demonstrate.  Take the bottom edge of your binding and sew with 1/4" seam about 3" and stop.

 Now fold your binding over. Start sewing an inch or two  below the fold.  That is your binding pocket.  I usually leave more space but this was a small piece so I didn't have as much room to work with.

 Attach your binding like your normally would (this would also work for bias binding and rounded edges).  Stop sewing an inch or two before your binding pocket.

 Now cut your binding strip at a 45" angle making sure to leave about 1/4" or 1/2" longer than your fold in your binding pocket.  If in doubt, cut longer...you can always cut more but it is a pain to add more.

 Tuck your binding strip into your pocket like above.

 Sew your binding strip down once you have it in the pocket nicely.

Here is how it will look.  I like to tuck my binding in then sew the bottom part of the binding down and THEN go back and sew the top edge over.  It makes my pockets as tight as possible...you will appreciate this when you turn your binding over to finish it.

 Here is how it looks on the other side.  I actually machine stitched binding.  This is going to be a ridiculous excuse to cover my home in American Jane fabric an iron rest for me so I will never have to see the un-pretty bottom.

Thanks Amie for showing me this method.  It has definitely ended a lot of my binding frustration & procrastination.  I hope it does the same for y'all!  How do you attach YOUR binding ends?