New Quilt Patterns

I've got a few new quilt patterns currently out at "the tester's". I'm just about to burst, though. So I thought I'd share one with you. Its called Baby's Boxes and the draft here, is comprised of the Dogwood collection by Henry Glass & Co. Its also the fabric collection featured in Quilter's Home Magazine this month.

Hopefully this one, and the 3 others will be ready to debut by March 1st. I'll keep you posted, of course. Back to work!

New Quilt Patterns

Apron Class Next Week!

Ok, local friends- I've got my apron classes coming up next week, Friday the 6th and Monday the 9th. Due to a scheduling conflict- the Friday class will be in the afternoon at 1:30p. So if you're considering the class, please make note of the time change. I do have only 2 spots left in the Friday class and two in the Monday class. The apron class will feature the French Seams technique and you'll leave with a super cute adjustable, full-length apron. Tell your friends.

Apron Class Next Week!

Another Grommet Bag

I was asked to make a Grommet bag for a dear friend. The cool thing about this purse is that SHE was active duty and this is HER uniform. Sure, it happens to have her husband's name on the bag as well... wait, same last name. It works on many levels. =) Since it was her petite uniform, there are two pockets on the front. The original Grommet bag design was altered slightly to add the pockets and take off the ribbon. She also picked this super sweet fabric to coordinate with her bag. The fabric is named "jane" and was purchased in Japan at least 6 years ago.

I also added a few more pockets to the design, for my friend. Its got a total of 6 pockets. Two functional pockets from the uniform, 3 total smaller pockets- just right for the cell phone or keys and then the lined zipper pocket inside. Its even got a key ring loop in there.


With the small amount of extra fabric I had left from the 1yard of floral I made a little credit card wallet. Its the first of its kind.



And my favorite picture of the bag: (as if its one of the kids and "oooh, I just love the face its making in this shot." Yeh, I'm kinda into the sewing...)

As soon as the roads are cleared by my favorite Civil Engineeing team, and the snow day is officially over, I'll drop this in the mail. Stay warm!

Oh, and if any of you in the blog land are wanting your own purse, please contact me. ~jen~

Another Grommet Bag

The Swap Sign-up is closed!

Ok, its officially, the 2009 Spring Quilt Block Swap sign-up is officially closed. Wow. We have 4 online swap sections and my real-life guild. That's a total of 45 players (well, some of us are in more than once...) But holy smokes. How wonderful. I am very pleased that we ended in an even 4 sections. I do have one lady who contacted me right after the last spot was filled. I'm having trouble with your email- I'm sorry the swap is filled. I do anticipate hosting another swap in the fall, though. As for those of you in the current swap- I'll be sending out an email this week regarding shipping information for the blocks. Thank you again for playing! Also, you can add your swap pictures or just follow along on our flickr group. ~jen~

The Swap Sign-up is closed!

One Day Left for the SWAP sign up!

Ok, there's only ONE day left and only ONE color left, PUrpLe, in the great 2009 Quilt Block Swap! There are only 4 total sections- which is wonderful and definitely exceeded my expectations. Thank you so much.



I do think one lady dropped out in Section 2, so I went ahead and "signed up" in her color, Light GREEN.
This block is called My Blue Heaven. I guess its My GREEN Heaven now. Its an original Marcia Hohn pattern from the www.quilterscache.com.

This block will live along side my Yellows in the Road to Oklahoma block for Section 1. By joining two sections, I will get 18 different blocks in the end.

So, I need one other guest to sign up, jump in with both feet and take Purple for Section 4 of the 2009 Spring Quilt Block Swap.

I also need email addresses for one lady in SECTION 3:

Sect 3- Ginny

Ginny, please email me your email addresses, so I can send you the "where to mail it" info this week. If you're all ready to go: look for an email from me this week AND get those block in order to drop in the mail on or before March 23rd. {details will be in the email}

Thanks again for playing!!

One Day Left for the SWAP sign up!

Quilts for Charity

As it turns out, there is no local Project Linus chapter in my area. In fact, after asking my guild, they said that they've not found too many places to drop off charity quilts- in the immediate driving area.

I was researching where I might be able to mail my quilted donations and - Thanks to the blog, though, I was contacted by the people at Kidz Quiltz.

"Kidz Quiltz pledges to provide quilts to children around the world who are in need due to circumstances beyond their control. We believe every child should have his or her own quilt. Due to poverty and natural disasters, children world-wide are left to face the elements on a daily basis. We have made it our goal to help them stay warm and to show them we care by wrapping them in quilts." -from their About Me section

They have the mailing address listed on their site and it truly looks like a good place to start sharing some of the quilts from the studio.

I just thought I'd share the info I've found.

Quilts for Charity

Big Announcement!

Its Big Announcement day here at the ReannaLily Designs studio. The fine people who run my domain name account have fixed my website. http://www.reannalilydesigns.com is back on! I cannot tell you how happy I am with their quick turn around. They must have heard me hollerin' all the way up in Canada. Do you see me doing the happy dance?? Oh, I'm dancin!

In other big news (which is why the site-crash timing was LESS than ideal)- I've added a shopping feature over on my site! I've joined the 21st century and have my own cart buttons and paypal service linked to my products. Whenever you see the custom designed:

You can start shopping. I have to thank my friend Gretchen for turning me onto the whole paypal "cart button" feature. It was super easy for me to use, and so far seems to be super easy for customers. I'm still working out a few kinks- but its going pretty well.

And in redesign news- Customers can now see the front and BACK of the pattern envelope when you click on the thumbnail image. I know when I'm shopping I always want to know the fabric requirements I'm getting into. Sure its a nice quilt, but am I going to need 33 yards??? (FYI, none of my patterns need 33yds- goodness, that'd be alot!!!)

Still with the big news- I've released 2 of the upcoming NEW NEW NEW patterns over on ReannaLily Designs.
The first one is a very sensible Quilt Guild Name Tags pattern, which I had mentioned here before. The final image has gone through some make-overs, but the patterns are well-tested and ready for your sewing machine. The 6 designs are all paper pieced. I developed this pattern after joining a few quilt guilds (in various cities) and not having my name tag, which always seemed to get lost in the move. Boy, if I had a dollar for every time I've used the phrase "lost in the move." Anywhoo- Its hard work to make a "quilt" that small- especially if you aren't a miniature-quilt quilter. As a result of really wanting a tidy, quick but-still-WOW name tag, I designed these. These are NOT hard work to make, and you probably have enough fabric in your current stash to make them. =) Each finished "quilt" measures 3.5" x 5" OR and this is really the best part- you can enlarge the pattern 130% to make fabric postcards. (Yes, you can actually mail them.)

This second release is a Queen size quilt called Intensity. Its made from fat quarters or assorted yardage. This one, like my Quick 3D Sampler and the Interlocking squares patterns has quite a bit of graphic impact without being an art quilt. I love the contrast in this design. Do you see triangles? Do you see squares? Me, I see squares. My husband, he only sees the triangles. I love the red with black & white.

I have 3 more patterns in the works. Two are tested and we're just waiting on cover images. Oooh- the suspense! Hopefully a pattern will make it over to your house, soon. As always, I'll keep ya posted on all the developments here at the HQ. Have a great afternoon. ~jen~

Edited to add: As of Jan 21, 2009- The great 2009 Spring Quilt Block swap only has 6 spaces left. Section 4 will be the last section. There are only 5 remaining days to sign up. If you're already in the swap and would like to join a second time- please do! Tell your friends. Monday the 26th of Jan is the last day to sign up. After the 26th, I'll be sending an email out to all the players regarding the shipping instructions. Thanks again for playing!

Big Announcement!

As luck would have it-

I just wanted to stop by and let you know that my URL forwarding service which makes my long extensive homepage read "www.reannalilydesigns.com" is down. If you found the blog, but still want to get to the main design site, you can still get there from here: CLICK HERE. Boy I wish I would have had some advance notice on that mess. I wonder how many other customers are sitting here thinking "I'm glad the QNNtv.com newsletter didn't drop TODAY." Goodness. ~jen~

As luck would have it-

The Swap and Patterns

Wow guys- you're awesome. This swap is taking on a life of its own! I've got everything sorted and tracked on an excel spreadsheet. I just opened up Section 4. The swap is listed with SwapDex and Sew Mama Sew- so thats a good bit of coverage for my little Spring event. Sign-ups are still open 'til Jan 26th. Please do check that your name is on the side bar and the color is correct. I do still need email addresses for


Sect 3- Ginny, & N Canadas

I need to get these addresses so that I can send out the "where to mail 'em" email at the end of January. Most of you have your blogs listed/linked to your name under the section where you're playing. Thanks again for playing!!!

And in other news, I'm working on two new patterns for my small modest little pattern line. I'm very excited. The first one is finish & tested, I just need to finish up the photography for the cover. The second pattern is finished, and the photography is finished- I just need to have it tested. Its currently at the pattern testers' house right now. I'll have the images on here as soon as they're available.

The Center Applied Zipper classes were this past weekend. I must say, they went really well. The students worked with cotton, satin and even faux fur. Turns out, you can put a zipper in every single one- no problem. One student made TWO pillows in the allotted class time. With that one down, I'm already marketing my February class. Its the Adjustable Apron. I've got more details on the Class page of my website.

Ok, its official- I'm a link-aholic! I put so many linky-words in my blog posts. Holy smokes. It only takes a second to do... Everyone's doing it... hehehe.

Many irons in the fire.

edited to add- Thank you ladies, for sending your email addresses.

The Swap and Patterns

A little press-

I am so happy to report that my Etsy shop, designs, & Seamingly Accurate were featured on Funky Finds. They are based in Ft. Worth (right up the road) and have a large Funky Find Fair in the spring. We'll see if I'm able to make it down in April. In the mean time, check out their blog and find more Funky items over in there shop collective.

A little press-

What's New?

The first up new item I wanted to tell you about is this *NEW* use for the Seamingly Accurate Seam Guide. I've developed a way to make larger half square triangles, still without having to mark the diagonal center of all your larger squares. I'm so happy about this. Its going to make all those blocks for the swap sew in a snap. Here's how it works:

A. Mark the center line of the first square of your project, as you would traditionally.

B. Start sewing 1/4" to the left of that center line, still pretty traditional.

C. Here's the magic- Make a mental note, as to where on the seam guide the right hand corner passes. (where the BIG BLACK arrow is pointing in the picture above)

D. Now, with every other large HST pair of that size, sew by lining up the right hand corner with the guide line from step C. Once the large square has moved up onto the seam guide, you can continue to sew 1/4" from the center by making sure that the corner point is lined up with the Dotted ¼” line, next to the Needle Line. (see below)

I hope that makes sense. Its a huge time saver!
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Pretty exciting stuff. Also, I've got NEW full-length aprons over in the shop. The aprons are 100% cotton designer fabrics and have a little ribbon or contrast on the lower edge. They've got clean lines and, of course, are washable. Boy, could you imagine finding an apron that was NOT washable? Anyway- these can hit the washer and dryer, no problem. Here's a peek at the newest aprons:

So that's what's new in my corner of the world today. I hope you're having a great Sunday! ~jen~

hey- look at how my fonts when crazy in this post. nice.

What's New?

QNNtv dot com Newsletter

I'm so excited to tell you that QNNtv.com has featured me in the member community as the "Free Member Pattern". HOW EXCITING. QNNtv.com provides online streaming video of many various quilt shows with tons of techniques. Not only does it have a link to my website's pattern page, but it also has a write-up on Seamingly Accurate. I am just beaming. Thank you so much for the support! I really do appreciate it. ~jen~

QNNtv dot com Newsletter

Real Life Quilt Block Swap

Since I've already outlined the Quilt Block Swap guidelines and rules- I thought, what the heck, I might as well have a separate section of swapping with my own local guild. I'm happy to report it was well received and now, I have a list of real-life players over in my side bar. In fact, if you want to use the guidelines for your own guild or social sewing group- please feel free to do so. Of course, I'd love it if you mentioned my blog and where the original rules started. So, since I signed up with ORANGE for my real-life guild swap, it looks like I've got a bit more sewing to do.

And just an update on the swap- sign-ups are through Jan 26th and I still have two colors available in Section 2. As soon as Yellow and Dark Green are taken, I can open up Section 3.

I'm teaching the Centered Zipper Pillow cover class this morning. Hopefully, I'll be hosting the February Adjustable Apron Class in the community center, instead of in my small dining room. I'll keep you posted.

Have a GREAT Friday. ~jen~

Real Life Quilt Block Swap

My Swap Block

I'm so excited about the response the Spring 2009 Quilt Block swap is receiving. Thank you blogosphere. Sign-up are through Jan 26th, so there's still time to play. Please make sure your blocks measure 12" and 12.5" unfinished. I started working on my first set of swap blocks. I'm in section 1 and have chosen to do Road To Oklahoma.

Why would I already have them done? Well, funny you ask. I just wanted to be ahead, in case I need to join another section later. Oh and by joining two different sections, I get twice as many swap blocks... so yeh, having section 1 finished is opening up some options for me later. And, its only 9 blocks.

Thanks to the currently players for listing the blog button on your websites. I do appreciate the spreading-of-the-news. Viva la 2009 Swap!

I'm also working on making some new full-length adjustable aprons for my Etsy shop. It feels like a while (only a month, though) since I've added anything new to the store. My full-length aprons sold out right at Christmas time, so I do need more in the shop. In fact, I've got to go finish those aprons up before the preschool chariot must pull out from the driveway this afternoon. =)

jen

My Swap Block

Spring 2009 Quilt Block Swap

Spring 2009 Swap!

I love sampler quilts, but I often find its time consuming to cut each block individually and piece them one at a time. So, in efforts to have another sampler quilt and to CeLEbRaTE my 1^st year anniversary blogging at www.reannalilydesigns.blogspot.com : I’m hosting a Centralized Quit Block swap. Here’s how it works-

A centralized swap is one where you mail all 9 of your blocks to me, then I swap them out and mail them (8 others + one of your own blocks) back to you in your PROVIDED self-addressed stamped envelope. Take your finished blocks to the PO without sealing the package. Have them weigh your bundle and buy that amount of postage, plus $.20 to be certain, and stick on your return envelope. Place that envelope in with the blocks and send it on its way.

International players are more than welcome to hop in. I will be shipping from my US Post Office (73521) - so the “return stamp” needs to be US or you can send paypal in the exact shipping amount of your return postage, and I’ll just buy the stamp for you when I mail out the swap packages. {If you have a better method for International Return Postage, please email me! I'm open to suggestions.}

The swap is a Rainbow Sampler.

1. Maroon
2. Red
3. Orange
4. Yellow
5. Light Green
6. Dark Green
7. Light blue
8. Dark Blue
9. Purple

The Details: You pick the color you want to work with, from the pallet pictured above, and one block, from www.quilterscache.com. Then you make 9 identical monochromatic blocks. The blocks should measure 12.5” square, so that they will be 12” square when sewn into your new quilt. The foreground color should be the color you selected and the background color should be white or tone-on-tone white. Please use 100% cotton fabrics. You do not have to sign the blocks if you don’t want to, but please do include a paper name tag pinned to the back of EACH your blocks, so the recipient will know who else has generously swapped. Name tags should have your first name, city and state.

edited to add: Your colors can pattern or solid, as long as your blocks "read" monochromatic + white/tone-on-tone white. You can see my Yellow block here.

The swap is designed for 9 total players per section. If we have more than 9, I’ll open up a second section. I will be linking all the players in the side bar of my blog, so even if you see 18 or 27 names, you’re only making 9 blocks.

Skill Level: Since you get to pick whatever block you like- it’s a good swap for all skill levels. If you are a quilting master, sure pick something with a lot of triangles. If you are a beginner, go with some kind of modified 9-patch block. Quilter’s Cache has blocks for every type of quilter.

Sign Up: Email me or post a comment with your color choice (by number) and block choice. If someone has already chosen a color you desire, please choose a different one. You’re runner-up color; that way we’ll still get the rainbow effect per section. Can you join twice to yield a larger quilt? Sure- but you’ll have to make sure you are in two different sections in order to yield 18 blocks. In fact, if you’re considering joining twice- you might want to wait to sign up the second time- to see if we need to fill in some sections. {Please check the side bar where I've listed the Swap sections to see whats available.}

Time line:

There will be 3 weeks to sign up. Sign ups close Jan 26^th, at the end of the day. I’ll add all the names & links in on the 27^th.

There will be 8 weeks to finish the 9 blocks. Blocks need to be in the mail by March 23^rd. I will swap them as soon as each section is received and drop them back in the mail as quickly as possible. Depending on how far the mail has to travel- Hopefully, we’ll all have the makings of a sampler quilt right around April 15^th, USA Tax Day.

Think about it. Tell your friends and grab a blog button to enjoy the fun! Oh, if you want to go all html crazy and link your blog button- you can link it to this post or to this blog. Thanks!

Thanks for playing. I look forward to virtually meeting you! ~jen~

Update Jan 5, 2009: Section 1 is officially full. Section 2 is open for your choices.
Update Jan 9, 2009: Section 2 has TWO spots left, Yellow and Dark Blue. Section 3 will open soon.
Update Jan 11, 2009: Section 2 is officially full. Section 3 is now open with ALL color choices available. Tell your friends and grab the little SWAP blog button.
Update Jan 14, 2009: Section 3 has ONE color left - DARK GREEN. As soon as its taken, I'll open up Section 4.
Update Jan 14, 2009: Section 3 is full full full and Section 4 is wide open!
Update Jan 21, 2009: Section 4 will be THE LAST section in the swap. As of this morning we still need 6 players. Tell a friend!
Update Jan 24, 2009: Only two days left for sign up! Section 4 is still open and has 3 color/spots left! Jump in with both feet. First-time-swappers are welcome.
Update Jan 26, 2009: Ok, the swap sign-up is officially closed. To my delight, we ended up with 4 even sections, and my real-life guild. That's 45 total players. Thank you so much. Check out my blog or the blogs listed in the side bar to view some of the sewing progress! You can also see more blocks from the swap in our flickr group.

NOTES: If you missed the swap and the sign-up deadlines, you can still join a similar swap, hosted over at Jane's Fabrics and Quilts Blog.

Spring 2009 Quilt Block Swap

520 What??

I've been thinking of this little quilt for a while. Well, I originally pictured it in "real full size" but then, I decided- No, it needs to be a doll quilt. I have just the sweetest little 2.5yo Doll mommy in mind for it.

The original plan was to make a quilt based on sashing, and using the solid blocks to showcase quilting. After seeing Sew Colleen do her quilting with the Pam Clark method of marking the block into 8 sections- I just had to try it. Needless to say, it does take a bit of practice. In fact, you cannot even see the quilting in the little quilt. That is just fine with me. I did consider doing the quilting in red thread, but I'll have to save that idea for another project. The solid blocks measure 4".

What you can see is the OVER 520 half inch squares. They *almost* line up. hee hee. Lets call it Folk Art Inspired. =) The squares were not individually pieced, thank goodness. I pieced them in pairs, so my cut units measured 1" x 2". But yes, still ALOT of half inchers on there. This is completely a de-stash quilt, too. I mean, I have a wide assortment of little 2.5" squares to work with, so thats where all the tiny squares came from. The whole quilt is the size of a fat quarter- 18" x 22". Each section of the pieced binding is 2". I used a scrap of 80/20 Cotton batting for the quilt to give it that crinkle. The back is Heather Bailey.

Its soft and is ready to be drug around the house, tea parties in the back yard and tucked in nicely around baby doll.

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And in other news- I've got the quilt block swap details ironed out. I've already added the blog button in my side bar. I'll be posting on Monday. Please check back!

~jen~

520 What??

Project Linus-

A couple years back we, the family, did a few Project Linus quilts all together. It was really fun to work on them as a family. This year, 2008, we did it again. The hubby did all the cutting, helped arrange and did the pinning. The kids helped with the arranging of the "puzzle pieces" and I did the sewing.
The first thing I did was sort out a stack of misshaped pieces. This is a total de-stash quilt. I then instructed the hubby to use his brilliant math skills to cut as many, larger pieces out of the odd shapes- as long as they were multiples of 3". So (without the seam allowances) 3 x 3 or 3 x 9 or 6x6 or 12 x 12- You see, this way, they'd all go back together in the end.

To my surprise, we didn't have that many stray pieces left over from the cutting process. The trick it to cut the largest piece you can- 12x12, so that in the end, if you need to cut it down- you can.

He looks like he's done with pictures, right? Evidentially I'm messing with his creative chi. hee hee. I did manage to snap one more though, when he wasn't looking. =)

And I quilted the small quilt myself on the Elna 3007. I did the free motion, with large meandering. The quilt is also machine bound.


The sweet kiddo not pictured in the arranging, is holding the quilt. {technically, still not pictured.} whoops.

My dad has affectionately dubbed this Oklahoma from the Sky, in winter. I suppose that is what most of the farmland must look like right now.

Since the quilt has big chunky pieces and I did have an expert team passing me fabric pieces "These two go together mom... no no, like this." It was finished in a weekend. I definitely should quilt more, with the family, de-stashing, for charity in 2009. It was very fun- and I think they enjoyed it, too.

Project Linus-