A Really Great Book!

I burned through a great book this week.

I could hardly put it down (kids, fend for yourselves!) and now, 24 hours after reading the last words on the last page, I am still thinking about Diana, Matthew, and Ashmole 782.

Have you read A Discovery of Witches? It's goooooooood. It's also long at 579 pages which was fabulous. I love a good book I can sink into and get lost in.

Now, this is not teenage fluffy vampire book (not that there is anything wrong with those.) There is a lot of history woven into the story but don't let that scare you off. What it does is gives so much substance and depth to the story and it's a very good story indeed.

The author, Deborah Harkness, is a professor of history at the University of Southern California and has won several fellowships, has written history books, and blogs about wine.  The lady knows her stuff. Her writing is not stuffy or dull though- not at all. She weaves a fabulous tale, one of mystery, intrigue and suspense, and romance.

At the heart of the story is Dr. Diana Bishop, a modern historian and scholar who also happens to be a witch that has made it her life's purpose to ignore her famous and colorful lineage.  Diana, an American studying and teaching at Oxford, requests Ashmole 782, a very old book for her alchemy research,  only to discover it's charmed and full of magic. Unbeknownst to her, this book is in high demand in the magical world and opening it causes a chain of events she never imagined.

Enter Matthew Clairmont, an extremely handsome, brilliant geneticist that also has an interest in Ashmole 782 and as it turns out, Dr. Diana Bishop. Oh, and he's a vampire. Oh yes.

The tale that unfolds is one of magic, devotion, consequences and choices.

I must admit, I love reading magical fiction. I loved Twilight and Harry Potter and enjoy getting lost in the world of supernatural fiction because it's not like normal life. Sometimes, you just want to settle into a good book and to be entertained.

A Discovery of Witches was a great read because Diana and Matthew are worthy characters, real and flawed, despite of or because of their magical abilities. I simply cannot wait to know more and thankfully I just discovered that the second book, Shadow of Night is coming out July 10!

And the best part is, it's a trilogy! Seriously, who doesn't love a trilogy?

So tell me, have you read A Discovery of Witches? What did you think?

xo,
Jennifer
PS: Did you enter the Shabby Apple Giveaway?

It's a Giveaway Day!

Super fun GIVEAWAY DAY!

When the fine folks at Shabby Apple contacted me about hosting a giveaway, I was definitely interested. Their clothes are super cute. Are you familiar with their lovely vintage style?

They graciously sent me this beautiful dress (L'OPERA) and I can honestly say I love it.

It's a lovely color, the cotton fabric is soft and drapes well, and the dress fits perfectly.  The sizing chart was exactly right.  I wore it last night to a casual cocktail function but it would be just as appropriate dressed up or down.

There are so many pretty dresses at Shabby Apple- it's hard to choose.  I love the ruffled leaves on Black Oak:

The ruffles and gathering on El Mar:

and the classy North Shore:

And then there are the lovely skirts like the Humboldt Current Skirt

and the Land Ho! Skirt:

They also have beautiful jewelry and accessories.

Really, you can't go wrong with whatever you choose from Shabby Apple.  And today, my lovely readers, is your lucky day because you have a chance to win a $50 gift card to Shabby Apple!

To enter, all you have to do is "like" Shabby Apple on Facebook. Simply "like" them and leave me a comment here, letting me know that you did. Please make sure you have a valid email address in your comment so I can get in touch with you.

The winner will be announced on Wednesday, April 4! International entries welcome. This giveaway is now closed. 


Everyone has a special chance to save too with a 10% discount code for the month of April. Simply use the code: ellisonlanequilts10off  when you check out! 

Best of luck to all of you and thanks Shabby Apple for sponsoring this great giveaway!
Have a great weekend y'all!

xo,
Jennifer

Do You Know About QUILTCON?

I'm totally psyched about QUILTCON, the Modern Quilt Guild's quilting conference in Austin, Texas, February 21-24, 2013. Who's with me?!

How could I not be with BIG names like: 
Denyse Schmidt
Anna Maria Horner
Malka Dubrawsky
Elizabeth Hartman
Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr


OMG! I can't wait to dig in and hear my quilting and designing favorites talk and teach.  Plus I hear Austin is awesome! 


Great food, fun shopping, and great vendors at the conference. I am looking forward to meeting Tammy of Marmalade Fabrics. She'll be there as a Quiltcon sponsor. 

What's cool is that there is a Modern Quilt Block Challenge going on for QUILTCON too. You can submit up to 3 blocks per person and you use the colors of the QUILTCON logo as your inspiration. 


Elizabeth Hartman will choose 20 of the blocks and make them into a quilt that will be raffled off at the conference. The rest of the blocks will be made into quilts for Austin's Children's Shelter. 


My CLTMQG is going to do this challenge, and I'm really looking forward to pushing myself to see what I can come up with.  What sums up modern quilting for me in one block? Hmmm, that is definitely something to think about! 


Entries are open until August so you have plenty of time if you want to enter too! Marmalade Fabrics has bundles already put together for you in prints and solids which makes it super easy! 


So, are you going too? Will you do the block challenge? What kind of block says "MODERN QUILTING" to you? 


xo, 
Jennifer

Top 5 Toys of the 80's!

Are you a child of the 80's too? If so you should check out my Old School Pinterest board.

It's like, totally awesome! (You did read that in a Valley Girl accent didn't you?)

It's a flashback to my childhood. So here are my Top 5 favorite toys as a child:

Source: google.com via Jennifer Mathis on Pinterest

#5  Fisher Price Record Player, Tape Player and Blank Tapes:  Jammed out to Olivia Newton John Let's Get Physical (what do you mean it wasn't about exercising?) and later loved the tape recorder because you could make a mixtape for every occasion

Source: narcissismandotheradventures.blogspot.com via Jennifer Mathis on Pinterest

#4  Art Supplies: Crayola markers, Crayons, and Paint Pens were a staple of my childhood.  I wrote my name in paint pen on everything I could get my hands on- clipboards, notebooks, my jambox, my Caboodle (come on, you had one too!)   

Source: google.com via Jennifer Mathis on Pinterest

#3  Would have to be my Cabbage Patch doll!  I had a little boy Cabbage Patch and named him Brian after my cute, older next-door neighbor. (Yes, there was always a cute boy!) My CB doll had curly hair, jeans and an orange striped shirt.  Wonder where he is now... 

Source: imremembering.com via Jennifer Mathis on Pinterest

#2 Easy Bake Oven- oh Easy Bake Oven, how I loved you!  I can still smell those brownies and taste the icing right now. That little lightbulb did a great job as long as you didn't burn yourself! There were countless birthday and tea parties for my dolls and family courtesy of the beloved Easy Bake. 

Source: google.com via Jennifer Mathis on Pinterest

#1 And my all-time favorite toy from childhood was Barbie. I loved Barbies! Loved them! I think my first Barbie was a cowgirl barbie who's blue eye-shadowed eyes winked when you pushed a button in her back.  I recall her being a lot like a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader.  
 I think had around 14 Barbies, and I loved them all but the best of the bunch and absolute favorite Barbie was Peaches and Cream Barbie.  With that swirly peach dress and glittery top- she was lovely. 

Source: ecrater.com via Jennifer Mathis on Pinterest

Close second would be Crystal Barbie followed by date night Barbie and Ken. Did you have Career Barbie? She had a pink suit, and came with a briefcase, Time magazine and a Wall Street Journal. Love it! 

Source: 1000barbies.com via Jennifer Mathis on Pinterest

Even though I never had a Barbie Dream House, I did have a Barbie McDonalds (so wish I had it still!)


Tragically many of my Barbies met an untimely end when my younger brother and his friend, fully ensconced in skater-boy mode, gave almost all of my Barbies mohawks and swoop skater haircuts. Oh my-talk about tears! I cried buckets and truth be told, am still might be a little peeved about it. 


The Barbies that survived are tucked away, along with their clothes and accessories, under my bed right now- waiting for my daughter to be old enough to appreciate their awesomeness.   She's not quite ready yet.


Honorable Mentions: Fashion Plates, Strawberry Shortcake dolls, Banana Seat Bike, plastic charm necklace


So there you have it... my top 5 favorite childhood toys from the 80's. There are so many great memories though... check out my Old School pinboard and take a trip down memory lane with me. 


What about you? What are your top 5 favorite childhood toys? I'm dying to know! 


xo,
Jennifer

COMING SOON!

COMING SOON! 

Fabulous products, tools and gadgets you will love to use. 

Plus PRIZES! Woo Hoo!

Stay tuned... 

xo,
Jennifer

Retro Flower Sew-Along

Looking for a new quilt-along to join?  My friends Bianca and Megan are hosting a Sew-Along/Quilt-Along for the Retro Flower quilt pattern.

The Retro Flower pattern (by Christina of The Sometimes Crafter) is a lovely modern quilt that is a great way to conquer your fear of curves. As it is a sew-along, if you want to join in, you will need to buy the pattern.  


Of course there are prizes too... The Fat Quarter Shop is offering up 2 giveaways, each featuring a jelly roll of your choice as well as 3 grand prizes each featuring a $75 gift certificate to Fat Quarter Shop!  Woo Hoo!

Guest Judges for the Grand Prizes include Rachel, Stitched in Color; Nova, A Cuppa and a Catch Up; and Christina, The Sometimes Crafter. 

There's a Flickr group already started to pop over and check things out. Then check out the schedule below to get started. 

Schedule of posts

3/20: Welcome - Both

4/2: Templates/cutting - Bianca

4/9: Sewing curves - Megan

4/23: Piecing Blocks - Bianca

4/30: Piecing Quilt - Megan

5/7: Quilting by Machine - Bianca

5/14: Quilting by Hand - Megan

5/21: Thank you/Linky Party opens -Both

6/1: Deadline to link up

Have fun! 

xo,
Jennifer

Me, Camping? Not so much.

Spring is tied with fall as my favorite season. Everything is beautiful, the weather is getting warmer, and it's nice to spend time outside.

A Dogwood tree in my front yard

Cherry trees down the street

But, this by no means means I am headed off to the woods to go camping or hiking or any other super outdoorsy adventure.

Source: youneedadrink.com via Jennifer Mathis on Pinterest

I don't do nature up close. This might make me a bit prissy but I do not like bugs or being dirty and prefer my bed to be indoors. I think I would be up for more adventures if they didn't involve bugs. 

But with kids, it's fun to get out and explore a little bit.

So, we took the kids on a walk on the greenway in town this week, and it's one of my favorite naturey places to go.  

I can appreciate and enjoy the sights and sounds of nature without having to be off the path.  

Just to be clear, I have done a few outdoorsy things: I've been camping (once was enough) and I've hiked Grandfather mountain in NC a LONG time ago (which was pretty fun.) I used to play in the woods and the creek as a kid, and I've been paragliding and hiking in Switzerland (which was awesome!) 

But these days I prefer to enjoy nature if I don't have to get too close. I know, I know, some of you are probably rolling your eyes.

The Greenway is awesome though. It goes through town in sections and has been an ongoing project in Charlotte for the past several years. There are other parts that are more urban that I am looking forward to checking out too.

This particular stretch though is woodsy and runs along a creek and a swamp. We found all kinds of fun things to look at on our walk.

We are definitely going back soon! 

Winner!

YAY! The winner of the Fruit Slice bundle from The Intrepid Thread is...

#58

Diann, contact me so I can pass along your info to The Intrepid Thread!
Thanks to everyone that entered.

Hope y'all are having a great Saturday!

xo,
Jennifer

New Zippy Typewriter Pouches

I needed a quick sewing fix last night and whipped up these two Melody Miller typewriter pouches.

Cute newsprint fabric interiors- perfect for the typewriters, don't you think?

They're 6.5" x 7.5" and are both available in my Etsy shop!

Happy Friday everyone!

xo,
Jennifer

Farmers Wife in Your Life: Needlebook Tutorial

When Sunni asked me to join in her blog hop of the Farmer's Wife in Your Life, I was super flattered.

There have been so many great projects included in her hop, all focused around using the Farmer's Wife blocks in an every day item instead of a quilt.

I have long admired the little friendship star block and knew right off the bat what I wanted to do with mine: a tiny star was born and a little needlebook came to be.

This needlebook uses the fun, bright, whimsical Flock fabric by Thomas Knauer. It's small, but useful and easy to fit into a sewing bag or your purse.


Needlebook finished size: approximately 12" x 5"

Materials Needed:
small cuts of fabric for book
fabric for binding: 1/4 yard/ (2) 2.5" strips = 44 inches
friendship star template (optional)
interfacing
felt (6" x 4")
ribbon (19")

To make the 3" friendship star on the front, you have two options. You can foundation paper piece the star as I have (pattern here) or you can piece your star  using the following measurements:
(2) 1 7/8" squares cut into 4 triangles (colored fabric for the star)
(1) 1.5" square (colored for the middle of the star)
(4) 1.5" squares (white- for the corners)
(2) 1 7/8" squares cut into 4 triangles (white)

My needlebook is constructed of 3 panels for a trifold.

For the outside of the needlebook, make your friendship star and add 1" strips for the border (pink dots.) Then add 1" strips to the top and bottom to bring the block up to 4.5" x 5.5" size.

Cut the other two panel pieces 4.5" x 5.5." Sew all three panels together. Cut a piece of interfacing/stabilizer and iron it on the back side of your panel. *If you plan to add decorative hand stitching around your friendship star as I did, do this before you add the stabilizer. 

For the inside of the needlebook, you will also make three panels. The first panel is 4.5" x 5.5" and has a 3.75" pocket. You can add a band to the top of the pocket by making a binding strip and sewing it on to the pocket before you add it to the panel.

The middle panel is 5.5" x 5.5" and the third panel is 3.5" x 5.5" has a 3.75" pocket as well. Sew your panels together and then add your felt piece.  Fold your felt in half, open it up, position it in your needlebook and stitch down the middle, backstitching at the beginning and the end.

Now you are ready to put your two panels together to make your needlebook.  Place your panels wrong sides together, pin and add your binding as you would on a quilt. Once complete, place your ribbon in the middle of your needlebook, pin and sew in place on the back, backstitching at the beginning and end. Be sure not to sew your ribbon to the felt inside!

Now you have a tri-fold needlebook, perfect for holding, thread, scissors, needles and pins for your hand-stitching projects.



I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and if you make on of these, please add it to the Inspired By Ellison Lane Quilts Flickr group. I would love to see it!

Thanks again Sunni for including me in the Farmers Wife in Your Life blog hop! Check out all the details of the competition and blog hop over at Love Affair With My Brother.

Have a great day!
xo,
Jennifer

Twirly skirt- free pattern

I tried my hand at sewing clothing this weekend, and I LOVED it! I made my sweet girl two twirly skirts using the free Lazy Days Oliver + S pattern.  We had a little photo shoot on Monday before school (foggy morning!)

They were pretty quick and easy to stitch up, and the only thing I didn't have on hand was the elastic.

I used some Loulouthi Totem for one with some Denyse Schmidt Aunt Edna trim for the bottom trim and on the other one I used some super soft cotton that I had left over from a dress my mom made her as a baby. I'm so happy I used that as it is one of my favorite fabrics, and I love how one skirt is funky and one is sweet.

I am definitely going to be making more of these. I think I've caught the clothing bug! I'm thinking about making one for me.

I want to make her a couple of dresses too. She loves dresses and prefers them to anything else, especially if they twirl. Any good pattern suggestions?

How to Create a Blog Button with HTML Code Box

Last week I showed you How To Make a Blog Button the Easy Way using the online photo editing tool PicMonkey.

Now that you have that awesome blog button, you need to add some HTML code to it so you can post it on your blog.

Want people to be able to grab your button too, like this?

<a href="http://ellisonlane.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Ellison Lane Quilts" src="http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l623/ellisonlanequilts/buttons/elqbuttonwords125.jpg"/></a>
No worries! I've got you covered. Here we go.

To add your blog button to your sidebar in Blogger, you simply go to your Dashboard, Design, Add a Gadget, click on Picture, upload your blog button from your computer and insert your blog url in the box provided.

Now, to make a blog button with a grab box of code, follow me. 

First things first. Upload your button to Photobucket.

Once you do that, click on the link on the right that says "Direct Link." It will turn yellow and tell you it copied your link for your button. You should paste it into a word document to have it on hand. 

Now, copy and paste the paragraph below into that new word document.

<div align="center"> <a href=”IMAGE DIRECT LINK” target="_blank"><img

alt="NAME OF YOUR BLOG" src="IMAGE DIRECT LINK"/></a> </div> <div

align="center"> <form><textarea rows="6" cols="20"><a href="URL OF YOUR BLOG" target="_blank"><img alt="NAME OF YOUR BLOG"

src="IMAGE DIRECT LINK"/></a></textarea></form> </div>

Now, CAREFULLY, change the colored sections into the appropriate text or links. Be careful people because if you add a space or delete something, the code won't work. Keep all characters, including quotation marks, in tact!

IMAGE DIRECT LINK: this is the Direct Link you cut and pasted from Photobucket.
URL OF YOUR BLOG: example: http://ellisonlane.blogspot.com  (be sure to include the http://)
NAME OF YOUR BLOG: Ellison Lane Quilts (obviously use your own but you can and should use spaces here and only here.)

Your code should now look like this:

<div align="center"> <a href=”http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l623/ellisonlanequilts/buttons/elqbuttonwords125.jpg” target="_blank"><img

alt="Ellison Lane Quilts" src="http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l623/ellisonlanequilts/buttons/elqbuttonwords125.jpg"/></a> </div> <div

align="center"> <form><textarea rows="6" cols="20"><a href="http://ellisonlane.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Ellison Lane Quilts"

src="http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l623/ellisonlanequilts/buttons/elqbuttonwords125.jpg"/></a></textarea></form> </div>

Now, that looks like a bunch of gibberish but once you cut and paste that into HTML, then you will have this: 

<a href="http://ellisonlane.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="Ellison Lane Quilts" src="http://i1127.photobucket.com/albums/l623/ellisonlanequilts/buttons/elqbuttonwords125.jpg"/></a>

Awesome, right? 

So, now what to do with that? Well, you can insert it in a blog post as I have by pasting that code you created into the body of the blog post.  First you must click on the Edit HTML tab and then paste the code into the body of the post. Then switch back over to the Compose tab. 

To add this button to your sidebar in Blogger, go to your Dashboard, Design and Add Gadget. Click on Add HTML and in the box that opens, paste the entire code you created. Click SAVE and then you can preview it on your blog and move it to the perfect location on your sidebar.

If someone wants to grab your button, all they need to do is copy the code in the box and paste in an HTML gadget and they're all set.

You now have your very own blog button with a grab box. Way to go! Be sure to upload it to the Inspired By Ellison Lane Quilts Flickr Group because I would LOVE to see it.

Be sure to check out Part I of this tutorial: Making a Blog Button the Easy Way!

PS: Did you enter The Intrepid Thread giveaway?
xo,
Jennifer