The Craziness

I have to apologize to everyone, as I have been so busy lately. I have been working on school work and trying to get through the last part of this section in the class, and hopefully take the final soon. I have been also working extra hard to promote and update my new Facebook page for my business, Pitcher's Boutique. On top of all that, I have been packaging up blocks for a swap, put my Moms birthday gift together (still need to mail it), and lastly decorate the house for Halloween.

I promise when I get a few minutes Ill try my best to upload a ton of stuff. Its just been crazy.

Thank you to everyone who has been stopping by, reading my posts and or watching/reading tutorials. Please check out my Pitcher's Boutique FB page and Etsy shop!

I am finally off to sleep, I am exhausted and will be up in roughly 6 hours to run an errand.

Thanks again to all my wonderful supporters and viewers/readers.

See You All Soon,
Sarah

Give Thanks October, Week 4

October 22:
     I needed a lot of interface for a few quilt projects... So, while at Joanns I was able to get an entire BOLT of interface and use a coupon on top of the already 40% off. So thankful that I was able to get over 40 yards of interface and save more money then I paid!!!!

October 23:
     Thankful for the several hours of nap time (for the kiddos) today, because I was able to finish another section of my MA class, and took the section test and received 100!!!

October 24:
     I am so thankful for our Friday Playgroup, it has turned into a wonderful group with some amazing moms and I am just feeling extra lucky to have all of them in my life and in my home each week!

October 25:
     Well, woke up to our fire alarm screaming at us that it had a low battery, and noticed our power was out. Once we all woke up it was just too hot and stuffy in the house, so I have to say I am thankful for a small adventure for the day, of getting out and just going wherever.

October 26:
     I am so thankful for all the amazing people who are giving my business so much love! Check out my facebook page and like it, then check out my Etsy shop and favorite it! Thank you to everyone who has supported me in this new adventure.

October 27:
     Thankful that today I can say Happy Birthday to my wonderful Mom, and know that I will get to see her in a few weeks. I hope she has a special, wonderful and amazing birthday! I love you so much Mom, and I really can not wait to see you!!

October 28:
     Its been a crazy day with a lot of running around, but one thing I am thankful for is that I was able to get our appointments made and our cars tire rotated and balanced today. I know I have had those on my to do list for too long, CHECK!

Give Thanks,
Sarah

Give Thanks October, Week 3

October 15:
     Today I had to make a run to my favorite craft store to buy fabric for a client, that craft store is the ONLY place I know that sells a childhood candy I just love. Thankful that today, after a long day and week, I was able to grab myself a bag of those candies. YUM!

October 16:
     Thankful that I finally finished these Christmas blocks, and I now can send them out to swap! YAY!

October 17:
     Today I got to try a new sewing project. I have made car seat strap covers before, so those are nothing new, but the Tula/Ergo strap covers/suck pads are. I am thankful that a friend let me try them out, and make her some (she gave me all the material), and hopefully she loves them!

Tula/Ergo suck pads

Carseat strap covers

October 18:
     I am so thankful for such an open and loving/caring group of wonderful woman (and men) who are willing to come out and share in our baby wearing/cloth diapering love! Its a great thing. I am finally feeling more at home here in Norther California.

October 19:
     Potty training has not been easy in this house, but I am thankful that my son is getting back in to it. Crossing my fingers that he wants to potty train, and be a big boy!

October 20:
     So thankful I finished the boys Halloween costumes. Totally was worried I would be up sewing them the night before Halloween!

October 21:
     I am so thankful that my neighbors let us watch their little dog, Porsha, while they are on vacation; Porsha makes my day just that much better. She cuddles with me, and wants me to love on her, and when I stop she licks me and pretty much makes me love on her some more. I miss having dogs, and I am so lucky to have Porsha in my house, she is a loving, caring, and sweet little dog.

Give Thanks,
Sarah

Give Thanks October, Week 2

October 8:
      I am so thankful that my wonderful kiddos let me sit in the dinning room, while they played with toys and watched a movie, so that I could finish quilting and putting the front side of the binding on a door hanger for Halloween.

October 9:
     Thankful that my wonderful husband had a few extra minutes to help me with a Halloween decoration, and get that sucker up! The kids love it, and keep saying "look mama, spider"!

October 10:
      Had a precious moment with my two boys while putting them to bed tonight. Thankful that my boys love me enough to want to lay on their bedroom floor and look at glow in the dark stars, while they fall asleep next to me. Its a great feeling.

October 11:
     Thankful that my husband was willing to watch the kids all day while I worked on school work. It was so nice to catch up to where I wanted to be in the class, but also know that my husband is a very helpful Dad.

October 12:
     Thankful that one of my new friends was kind enough to give us a cloth diaper to try, and it has been such a difference. My son seems happier, and loves all the colors and designs. Its a great feeling knowing he likes to put them on.

October 13:
     Thankful that we could get out of the house and enjoy some time walking around a few stores and our kids seemed to enjoy it too. They really only threw a fit when we had to leave the toy store. However, it was easy to distract them with the chickens running around in the parking lot.

October 14:
     Thankful that, when my oldest son stole my phone today, that he texted his Dad and not a client or someone  I just met. It made for a great laugh, and even his Dad had a nice life while at work.

Give Thanks,
Sarah

Give Thanks October, Week 1

October 1:
     Thankful that today I got to meet my very first client! I am so excited to be working out of my home and with other military families. I am so thankful for this opportunity.

October 2:
     Today I am thankful for caffeine. Yep, it was a tough day that did not go anywhere near what I planned. So, thankfully I had my early morning caffeinated drink, a mid afternoon one (before appointments), and a late afternoon one (because I was so tired, I didn't even want to make dinner). Now I am enjoying some hot tea with lemon, and enjoying the fact that Friday is almost here!

October 3:
     Thankful again this Friday, that our baby sign/play date is going so well. I am starting to really enjoy each and every mom who comes. Hopefully it gets a little bigger!

October 4:
     Thankful today that I could check out a goodwill store for the first time, and find not one but TWO pieces of fabric! YAY!!

October 5:
     Today was a great day to be thankful for such an amazing group of ladies/moms. I got to be apart of a world record of baby wearing. It was a ton of fun!

October 6:
     The kids protested naps today, so I am thankful that the sky was blue and it was an awesome 80 degrees out. We had a wonderful walk to the shopette and grabbed some juices.

October 7:
     Thankful that I was able to take my youngest to see a doctor today, as we needed to get an update with everything going on with him. Its been a long few months with a horrible rash (poor guy just looks miserable and in pain all the time).

Give Thanks,
Sarah

GIVEAWAY WINNER!!!!

For the Leaf or Fish paper piecing giveaway, the winner is:

Jess Burns

Congratulations, be sure to email me at pitchersbakery@yahoo.com and Ill send you the free paper piecing pattern of your choice!

Thank you again to Kitty for providing the paper piecing patterns for this wonderful Giveaway.

Heres Kitty's BLOG, and don't forget to check out her CRAFTSY page to purchase more patterns.

Congratulations,

Sarah 

GIVEAWAY!!!

I recently was able to test out a paper piecing pattern for a fellow quilter. We both are in the Late Night Quilters Group on facebook, feel free to join us. Check out Kitty's blog, and see her amazing display of her TWO paper piecing patterns. She did a great job on both patterns and I would love to tell you all about them. 

Lets start with the leaf paper piecing, which you can purchase on her Craftsy page. I was really excited to try this pattern out. I have been wanting to do a leaf, a feather, and a few butterfly/bird patterns. When Kitty let me trial run this pattern I was so excited to check this off my list of must try items! The pattern went together really quickly, it was easy to follow. If you are a beginner paper piecer, this is a great pattern to try. If you are a more advanced paper piecing, this is still a great pattern, and still has a few challenges even for the more advanced. I found the one issue I had was with the stem of the leaf, as they are very tiny pieces, and somehow I kept sewing them into the seam. I eventually got it, as you can see from the photo below, but that was my only major issue. I also found lining up all the leaf lines was a little challenging, but if you make sure to square everything up, and double check as you are sewing along, then it should come out great! 

I would recommend this pattern to everyone.

The other paper piecing pattern I got to try out, was the fishies panel. You can purchase it at Craftsy. This pattern I did both facing right and left. The pattern is set so your fish end up facing right. I decided to change it up a little and face my second one to the left. PLEASE NOTE: when you purchase the pattern your fish will swim to the right. So, what did I think about this pattern? I actually found this pattern to be so much fun, and super easy. This pattern is great for beginners and for those more advanced paper piecers. My biggest struggle, sadly, was getting the fish tails lined up with their bodies. I am very OCD, so this might just be me, but it drove me nuts when I did it the first time, and they were just ever so slightly off. So, at most that will be the biggest challenge you face while making this pattern. I love how all you have to do is flip the fish and you have fish going any direction. You can change this up, move them around, add them to other ideas or projects. This is a great pattern to have. I found this pattern to be so much fun, and its a great panel for a girls room, a boys room, a play room, a bathroom, a guest room... see where I am going with this!?

I would highly recommend this pattern to anyone.

NOTE: I flipped the fish on my own, this is not how the pattern will be provided.

Be sure to mark Kittys Craftsy page in your bookmarks, or follow her if you have an account. She has a few other great patterns available as well. Feel free to check those out.

NOW FOR THE GIVEAWAY!!!!

The giveaway will be your choice of EITHER the Fishies Panel, or the Leaf Panel. You get to pick the one you want. In order to win, you must do the following steps below, good luck and be sure to check back here NEXT FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17 to see who won! Feel free to share this blog post or any other social medias you prefer. 

To enter the giveaway please,

1. Follow me on Instagram: QuiltNSew

2. Favorite/Follow my Etsy shop: PitchersBoutique

3. Lastly, leave a comment below with your Instagram name, and which pattern you want to win and why?

Good luck, you have until OCTOBER 17, so be sure to tell your friends, and check out my instagram for another chance to win other goodies, later on!

Good Luck,
Sarah

A special thank you to Kitty for providing the giveaway.

Hexagon Quilt Top

My recent master bedroom re-decorating project is in full swing with the comforters quilt top done. I am finally done with the hexagon (6inch) black and white themed, with an accent of light green/teal. I cut roughly 200 hexagons, using the little black dress collection. I loved every piece of fabric as it has some masculine and some feminine patterns. I purchased a printed green/teal fabric, a white patterned, and a black patterned fabric which I added to the collection and use in other areas of the room. Those three fabrics just became my three colors and patterns that would tie the pieces of decor together.

Now that you know what fabric I used, and what colors I purchased; its time I show you the long few days of cutting and sewing I did.


The first step was to cut. I love the JayBird hexagon/gem ruler and would recommend it to anyone. Its a simple tool to understand, and you can do so much more with it then just hexagons.

Cut, cut and cut some more. This stack was only half of the hexagons I needed.

Laying out the majority of the hexagons to see if I like the placements or move them around.

Put them in rows, tagged them with row 1... then sewed each row vertical, then slowly pieced them horizontally together.

I marked the stopping points on each side of the hexagon with a washable pen, and that helped me match points and know where to stitch too.

Once all the hexagons were together, I placed it on the bed to see what I still needed to add, or cut off.

I then sewed half hexagons to the left and right sides of the quilt.

Trimmed the sides and bottom, to complete a perfect rectangle. I then boarded the fabric with the black patterned fabric I purchased (not part of the Little Black Dress set). I put mitered corners in the sashing and you can see my video of it HERE.

Added another sashing, of the green purchased fabric.

The mitered sashing corners up close.

The last boarder is the white purchased fabric, and the top is done.

I am excited to finish this quilt up, but a queen size quilt on my small machine might be tough to do. I still need to come up with a quilting design I like too, anyone have any ideas? Well, if you do leave it in a comment below. Thanks for stopping by, and keep an eye out for more decor items for the master bedroom.

Get Inspired,
Sarah

Cathedral Window Pillow

I saw on pinterest a few of these cathedral quilts and pillows. I had been working on our master bedroom decor and wanted to add an accent pillow or two. I thought, well the cathedral pillow would be a great idea. So, I found a great tutorial on how to make cathedral windows without any hand sewing. (There is a part two, so be sure to check that out too.)

The tutorial is super easy to follow and I really enjoyed making this pillow. I hope you find this pillow inspiring as well. Thank you to House of A La Mode for the great tutorial.

Once you do a bunch of ironing you will have the desired amount of windows. I feel like the ironing was the hardest part.

The tutorial shows you how to sew all the windows together by machine, and it goes pretty fast. I had all the windows together with in minutes. I then cut out all the squares, and left a few holes for the green fabric (which I needed to buy more of).

Once I had all the fabric I began machine sewing all the window flaps. It was probably the hardest part. I tried extremely hard to make all the flaps even, but it is harder then it looks.

Once all the windows are in place, it looked great. Some windows are off but once I turned it into a pillow it was definitely harder to see.

Trimmed all the extra material and ready for the back part of the pillow.

The pillow put together and stuffed. I then showed my neighbor and she said buttons would make this even better.

So of course I listened, and added some buttons. She has a great designing eye!

This accent pillow is perfect for the bedroom, and I love how big and bold it is!

When I was done with the pillow, I really thought "how does anyone make a quilt like this!?" I mean the amount of work that goes into this type of quilt would be exhausting. I give everyone major kudos for making a quilt with cathedral windows. Especially, if they did it by hand, which I hear is what they use to do!

Decorate Today,
Sarah

September Give Thanks, Week 5

September 29:
      Thankful for all the amazing, fun, crazy, hilarious memories my big family and I have made. Its always fun to remember the olden days.

September 30:
     Thankful that my books and school work items arrived today! I can finally get my hands into this reading and work on the lessons. Yay!

Give Thanks,
Sarah