The Talia Effect

if you've recently rec;d my business card...

2010-05-01T00:06:00.002-04:00

Hi everyone! I know it's been 5 long months since i've posted but i've been busy, busy, busy!

I've recently handed out several business cards which point to this blog. If you're interested in seeing more of my work/jewelry you can browse through my blog here and see exactly what it is I do. You can also head right to my Facebook Page for The Talia Effect and check out the jewelry items i've made and that are up for sale right now :) You can contact me directly by inboxing me there & we can discuss which piece(s) you are interested in OR we can make something custom to fit your needs. I love a challenge and i love making new things, thinking outside of the box, so challenge me! I'd love to work with you! I have done pieces from formal dances, proms, every day jewelry, bridal jewelry & bridal party jewelry.

My specialties are in the following areas:

*teaching (any area of my work: jewelry making, sewing, quilting, crazy quilting, needle tatting & much much more, just ask! My fees vary per your interest and usually I travel to your home.) If you need recommendations i can provide both personal & professional references. I teach for Hamilton Twp, NJ Board of Education Night School and I also have students that i've taught 1:1.

I can teach you:

-the basics of how to operate your sewing machine

-basic sewing lessons starting with making a pillow with a zipper

-pattern reading & construction of clothing

-beginners quilting & intermediate quilting (paper piecing etc)

-crazy quilting, which is highly embellished pieces of art quilting

-needle tatting (18th Century Lace Making)

-crocheting (i've been crocheting for 25 years)

and basic jewelry making

All fees are my fees outside of cost of materials. I can help direct you to the places & websites you need to go to for the best prices or in some cases i have kits made up available for purchase.

In closing, again i'd like to direct you to my facebook page where you can see some of my work. If you're interested please inbox me there & we can talk.

Merry Meet & Cheers to all!

taliana belladonna

Let's play catch up, shall we? . . .

2009-11-28T03:56:00.004-05:00

5 months?! what?! who?! when?! where?! how?! . . yes! how exactly does 5 months pass since i've posted anything?! Well let's not slip into that as much as what has been going on... if i can even recall!

Ok, so i am tempted to say that i haven't been up to much of anything. . . and i don't really think i have been plus i am on a new computer (my MacBook Pro! - thank you to my gifter ;) i love you!) so i don't even have photos on here yet to jog my memory. I was surprised to be entered into a swap called "All I Want for Christmas" hosted by Bea of Bea's Hive. My surprise pollyanna was Kathy of shawkl.com. She picked out the PERFECT gifts for me! Here are some pictures of a few!

ok, i keep trying & trying to post the pictures but it just won't happen, so please visit my flickr page. thanks.

I'm trying to close up my swap obligations which are very few. I have the Secret Sister swap which closes out this month. We reveal in this last package due to be sent out with a photo by Dec. 1st and then the CQ Embellishment Birthday Swap where you send out 6 embellishments to the birthday girls each month. I've already sent out December and the swap closes out on March 1st. I have most of the rest of the 7 last bags ready to go.

What does the future hold for me? Well getting through the holidays is always a bit of a toughie for me. I'm not fond of them, don't believe in them and would love to have the option of not celebrating them but my 2 loves (son & boyfriend) believe otherwise, so out of love, i am obligated. Last year we had the big CQ Round Robin going on the HGTV message board at this time and i am so sad it's not happening right now, so perhaps if the previous hostesses are ok with it, maybe i could head that up, although i will admit - due to past issues of blocks not being returned, i am hesitant. I don't know the details of why certain blocks were never passed on, i just know that it's completely unacceptable and wrong. I wouldn't want to be the hostess of that swap with something like that happening because i'd be livid and i'd make phone calls that would scare the dead into awakening & getting those blocks passed on. Like who the hell does that?! Sign up for such a big swap only to fail on your part. Anyhow, i know that i'd use my best discretion with who signed up & i'd choose group leaders who had good discretion & leading abilities. (not that the past ones didn't! i might choose the same!) Anyway, this is all given that i 1: even decide to head it up and 2. am given permission to. I just miss working on the blocks & getting all antsy about getting mine back.

I haven't had much luck in the falling asleep department lately so i've been awake some ridiculous hours lately. Well, it's 9am and i still have not slept :( and my best friend is here visiting so now, i'll probably pass out during the day while she is awake. This sucks!

Well, that is all from me! Drop me a comment, let me know you stopped by :) i think we all like that here! :)

cheers!

talia

Update! December 3, 2009

I got an e-mail this morning telling me that a CQ RR swap will be held but someone is just trying to tie up the swaps they are hosting and wait until after the holidays. I don't know any more details than that but I am thrilled that I won't have to host it, because as I had mentioned earlier it's a really big deal and I have not really been in the hosting mood. I am really brain dead because after checking through previous e-mails someone had told me that they were going to host it after the holidays. So this is me openly telling all of you that I am really having a DUH moment! To end on a lighter, happier note though - YAY! It's coming up! Wooohoo!

Serendipitous Altruism. . . Wow! Thank you so much Bea! (holee)

2009-06-30T22:23:00.008-04:00

Yesterday I came home to a package waiting on my doorstep. . . the contents of the package unfolded the most beautiful treasure box i've ever laid my eyes on! I think you'll agree!

My friend Bea of Bea's Hive made this and I am so grateful I cannot believe the detail and how textile it is! The carefully placed stitches and ribbons. . . silk ribbon embroidery. . . just beautiful! It goes perfectly on my table of treasures, doesn' t it?!

The star tea light candle holder was from my mom as a house warming gift 4 years ago

*the little lamp was an expensive purchase i made to hmm one of those expensive candle home party companies

*little kitty photo holder is from my sister

*tatted doily & little CQ/quilty mouse from Kathy S. (shawkl) isn't the quilty mouse so adorable?!

*little glass mouse was a purchase i made in LBI while on vacation last year

*the photo in the top left corner was me, my mother & sister in law & her sister in law while on that same vacation

*other photo is of Allan & I while at my nephew's 2nd birthday party

*the 4 glass perfume bottles are all i have left of a larger collection i had that mostly shattered during basically being homeless & many moves.

*The lighted primitive 'garland' is from my friend Rae

*The blue crocheted afghan i made while staying at my brother-in-law's when Allan & I were homeless

*the blue/purple glass plant spritzer was a purchase from Acme that i made when we got our apartment 4 years ago

*the small little tea light candle holder was a gift from my friend Sandee when i worked for the March of Dimes - i was a secretary that helped her with work requests and she is the sweetest thing in the world!

*The glass white "stem" was to another tea light 'lamp' but the top fell & shattered, there is a home-made sachet from my friend Jean (jayardi) that was given to me at our annual CoF retreat

*the coaster is from a set of 4 that my mother bought me several years ago

*lastly! the little fox on the right is from my mom & he's sitting on top of a covered mason jar that i throw change in. *The chair was from my mom's aunt's friend who was giving it away, it's a beautiful rocker with a floral print that i take most of my photos in

Look at little quilty mouse from Kathy of shawkl.com!!! Kathy knows how much i love mice & hamsters :) how adorable!? ♥

Thank you again so much! I am surrounded by such beauty, talent & passion for art, all I can do is smile :)

Wanted: Gifts for Breast Cancer Auction [please]

2009-06-26T08:30:00.005-04:00

A friend of mine is doing a charity gift auction. Do you have something you'd be interested in donating? It could be a CQed block turned into a purse, a pair of earrings, home made stamped cards, quilts, crocheted items, cross stitch, the sky is the limit... YOU NAME IT! Any help would be greatly appreciated and I need to have it in my hands no later than July 27th.

Here's the letter from her:

"Hello all,
Do you have any unwanted gifts? Perhaps you really don't care for what you received during the holiday, your anniversary or last birthday. Maybe you don't have a gift receipt to return it or the moxie to ask for one. Don't let these items collect dust before you re-gift them, stow them away until their forgotten or worse yet, thrown out! I can, make good use of these items. My name is Gerrill Furda and I am walking 60 miles in the 2009 Philadelphia Breast Cancer 3-Day Event. I must raise $2500 to be eligible to participate in the walk. Last year I was able to raise over $8300. On of the ways I did it was to hold a Charity Gift Auction. Please consider this request seriously. You likely have something you can donate. Even if it is gently used someone will likely bid on it."

Exciting update! Miranda Bags, Baby Quilts, Crocheted Sweaters, babysitting chinchillas and a Husqvarna Designer Diamond! WoW!

2009-06-24T15:11:00.024-04:00

Happy Summer Solstice everyone! Apparently I suck at keeping up with my blog, but in my defense up until the past week or so, I haven't done a whole lot!

When I went to the Circle of Friends retreat in April, my friend Christine was teaching a class on the Miranda Day Bag by Lazy Girl Designs it is a marvelous bag and extremely easy to make. The full color, step-by-step instructions make even the dumbest of us dummies (yes, i am the epitome of the girl who needs those "for dummies" books, hehe!) able to understand and execute each step. This bag is very heavy duty and stands on its own. It is fused with fleece and fusible interfacing. It has 10 pockets that go around the entire inside of the purse. I'm telling you it's fabulous and the pattern is a "must have" for all of us because this bag makes for a lovely gift. It makes a great diaper bag, a great purse or a great business bag! I cannot rant enough about it, so I hope you get the point that I love it! I've made three. On each bag, I did all of the quilting on all of the fabrics before constructing the bags. Here they are:

This is the small version:

"Pockets in the Round" on the inside:

Luna approved hehe:

Wooden handles with seed beads, purchased from Joann:

This is the 2nd one I made, this is the large version that the pattern teaches. I got the fabric with the peacocks and ladies from a friend in Australia. I love the blue fabric, it reminds me of the peacocks and the purple reminds me of the dresses the ladies are wearing. I think this tote is going on etsy :)

Inside:

This is the 3rd one I made for a friend, I love muted colors!

The inside:
I have to put 'bottoms' in each bag to stabilize them even more. My friend Christine was kind enough to have her husband cut out some small and large for me! Speaking of that, it reminds me that I have to make the sleeve for them. I'll get to work on that after I'm done blogging!

Next up I had crocheted a baby sweater and made a baby quilt for my mom to give her friend at work whose daughter had a baby. [-WHEW! Side note: Google Chrome just crashed as i was typing this out GOOD THING blogger save drafts! i would have been so absolutely discouraged to retype everything. Not that i've done a whole lot of typing so far, but it's taken me over a month to even blog so i probably would've been like eh, screw it! LOL THANK YOU BLOGGER FOR SAVING DRAFTS!!!]

Here is the baby quilt. I have said it before and i'll say it again! I LOVE putting eyelet and minkee in my baby quilts. Eyelet gives it an heirloomish, timeless feel and the minkee makes it 'baby' This was given to a little girl. Yep, it has blue in it. I'm not afraid to use colors that move me at the time. I don't believe colors should be gender specific. It only limits you and with sewing and well, every other hobby in the world where the possibilities are endless why limit yourself? So yeah :) This is my interpretation of this little girl's baby quilt:

Close up of the eyelet and gingham, I line the eyelet with white cotton so that the batting does start to pull through the holes:

And minkee almost always is on the back of all my baby quilts unless the customer requests something else. This particular minkee has hearts imprinted on it:

Next, the crocheted baby sweater. This pattern used a cable stitch and I love this particular pattern. My aunt made this same exact sweater with the matching booties and bonnet for my son when he was born. I didn't have the time to do a bonnet and booties, but honestly I don't know many people who go all out and use those these days. Hell, i've heard many people who receive crocheted sets don't even use them either because they "don't want to ruin them" or because they think they're very pretty but aren't 'into that kind of stuff' I, on the other hand, used every single one of the crocheted sets (multiple times) that were gifted to me for Sebastian and if I used the sweater, the bonnet and booties were always on to match! Ok enough of my ranting lol! This is actually a very happy blog entry!

Here is the sweater with a close up in the bottom right corner of the Beatrix Potter buttons I used on it!

cute eh?!

On Thursday, June 18th my sister dropped off her 2 chinchillas: Hugs & Petey for me to babysit for 10 days while she is on vacation #1! I always look forward to babysitting these 2 adorable little guys, because well, they're adorable, comical and silly! I've had a blast babysitting so far. I have let them out at 9am and have been letting them stay out for 12 hours at a time! They're so mischievous! The white one is Petey, named after the bird in the movie Dumb & Dumber (haha! my sister Jess and I love that movie!) the dark grey one is Hugs.

Petey deciding which fabric he'll use hehe!

This was hysterical because they had been out for about 11 hours and decided to stop in their cage, grab a bite to eat and then they both sat there in the front of the cage resting for about 10 minutes! As if they were sitting there relaxing & talking haha! They're too cute!

Hugs climbed all the way to the top of my jewelry case pile... and it's pretty high!

Hugs inspecting the serger

My little chinese dwarf hamster Luna riding Petey for fun

weeeeeee!!!!!

Petey managed to get up on my sewing table and was hopping around up there lol!

Lastly and most exciting for me! I am pretty sure within the next 2-3 weeks i'll be the proud new owner of a Husqvarna Designer Diamond Sewing & Embroidery machine! I also hope to purchase the 4D™ Professional Software! I mean... really! Can you even stand it? The excitement had me so crazy today I paced the floors in my apartment on the phone with my mom for almost 2 hours! LOL! I am looking forward to being able to embroider labels for quilts for charity and do anything I can charity related with this machine. I am so thrilled the machine will be a sort of vehicle for me to be able to participate on different levels and in different aspects in more charity work. Oh! I'll also be purchasing a MacBook Pro Laptop! Finally! I won't ever have to leave home without my computer again!! When I go on the next CoF retreat and other places I'll be able to have my computer with me and post my pictures to my flickr account immediately! I am over and quite frankly have BEEN so over with PC. PC technology & software sucks. I'll say it again, it sucks. It's not efficient and I am so sick of errors and blue screens, I'll be thrilled to be on Mac technology never having to worry about the bs that is PC again! Well... actually I can't fully say that because this computer will be right next to my new Husqvarna and it will be wiped clean except for EQ6 and will be devoted 100% to my sewing machine. I don't want to have to worry about walking back and forth having to USB in and out of a computer for my sewing machine. It'll be nice to have a computer dedicated only to the machine. Convienient, efficient, nice!

Well! I guess that is all for now! Who knows! Maybe the next time I blog i'll have pictures of my new sewing machine too hehe! I'm off for a nap! Happy Wednesday everyone!

A quick little burst of sunshine & more! Oh what a day!

2009-05-19T12:08:00.005-04:00

Hi All and HAPPY SPRING/SUMMER! Oh, I just went out on my balcony to hang my windchimes and felt the warm sun beating down on my arms, back & hair and while I don't like to sun bathe, I must admit that I was enjoying feeling the warm rays sink deep into my skin, into my bones! The feel, the smell of summer, the trees blowing and the flowers! I am in a fantastic mood today! Today is a tad chilly here in NJ but the sun is very warm and I'm just loving it! I should be outside today but since i've just finsihed the bridal party jewelry job I was commiessioned to do, I'm going to 'reward' myself with working very hard on my Miranda Day Bag.

Ok, I started that post hours ago, and then took a 3 hour nap LOL so much for sewing, but i'm off to sew my Miranda Bag now :)

Another reason I wanted to post was to invite all of you to view my retreat pictures from the 2009 HGTV Quilting & Needleworks message board Circle of Friends retreat! There are lots of pictures and I'd love for you to leave comments and let me know you stopped by! [Click here for the photos]

Well, i'm off to sew, wish me success because then I can show you pictures!

Cheers!

talia

CQ RR, Artfire Sale, CoF Retreat and more!

2009-04-08T21:40:00.013-04:00

Hello blog land! It's been over a month since my last post and wow, do I have so much to update you on!

Ok, let's do this in chronological order so that my little mind can get everything!

We'll start with the last 5 peeks that belonged to two people in my CQ RR.

These were Libby's 2 peeks:

The first peek was a spray of flowers that I saw in the Silk Ribbon Embroidery Bible. The 2nd peek is just a small area of a large scale seam treatment that looks really cool when seen as a whole.

These next three peeks were for Shelly:

The first picture - the "beaded ribbon" was inspiration that came from Jo in NZ's blog. I am a big fan of hers and since she posted hers, i've really wanted to try it. It was pretty easy, just time consuming. The picture looks a little silly because the peek had some other girls' work in it and i couldn't show that :) The 2nd picture was an embroidered Eiffel Tower. I had seen that in a motif book that was sent to me by a good friend, another thing i had really wanted to do and that was fun too, so much fun to see it come along! Lastly I beaded a piece of dyed lace.

So Shelly's block was the last one in our group for me to complete and I got mine back! First girl in the swap to get hers back and I was just so excited and when I received it, it just brought me to tears, it is phenomenal to say the least!

This is how my block was sent off, naked to begin with:

This is how my block came home to me, so gorgeous isn't it?!

A couple close ups, you can click on the 2 images above for high resolution pictures, but here are a few:

This is work done by Rae & Shelly. Shelly did the heart and Rae did the rest:

Organza flowers by Mary:

Center faerie wings done by Shelly, she calls herself a newbie... isn't that just ree-diculous!?

The swirls were done by Lisa

The crystals on the black were done by Edna

Button cluster top left by Shelly

So yeah... can you just imagine the shock and awe I was in?! I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I enjoyed getting it back... well maybe you can't be that excited ;)

Over the weekend, I had my very first artfire sale! It was so very exciting! My needle tatted choker "Dianthus" sold to (get this) a woman who will be wearing it on her wedding day!!! Well, didn't I just feel like as proud as a peacock! She then asked me if she could commission me to make the jewelry for her bridal party!? 6 bridesmaids, a flower girl, her mom & step mom. WOW!!!!

Here is the choker she purchased:

The necklaces that her bridal party will be wearing will be 2 & 4 strand "illusion necklaces" with pink & clear swarovski crystals. Her wedding is in August and she said she'd e-mail me photos so that I can use them promotionally... even more cool!

The past few days I've been making jewelry. I've been wanting to make jewelry again a lot so since all of my sewing obligations are now finished, I can focus on jewelry making oh, and adding more to my artfire store. My friend Erica is doing the write ups for me because I am just not clever enough to describe my items & she's just doing a bang up job! I'm going to add pictures even though I hate inside pictures with flash! It just washes everything out. I need to get outside to get some good natural daylight photos!

I still have lots more ideas, and I cannot wait to make more! If you'd like something custom made or if you'd like to check out my artfire studio, the link is: Talia's Artfire Studio

Oh, earlier I mentioned Jo in NZ... a few weeks ago, I ordered her book: SEAMS Like Fun

it was a lot of fun to page through, her work is just so beautiful. I encourage anyone interested in CQ (whether you've jumped in or you're still just collecting items, waiting to jump in) to make the purchase! They're reasonably priced and you can find them in her etsy pagre.

In December I ordered an industrial sewing machine & table from harborfreight.com. Well, first it was back ordered for something like 8 weeks, so I didn't get it until February. My mom's boyfriend was putting it together only to come across the pulley on the motor being cracked! :( When I called harborfrieght to ask them to send me a replacement part they wouldn't and told me I had 2 options: 1. return just the 42lb motor and i'd have to wait for it because it was on back order or 2. I could return the entire machine (over 100lbs) back to them, shipping paid, and they'd send me a whole new machine. What the hell?! The machine, complete with the motor was in stock, but the motors individually weren't. They came separately. Well, I was so beside myself. Part of the machine was already put together with oil in the bin and everything!!! I couldn't go taking it back apart and loading that monstrous thing into a box and to the PO! So, I took the part to my lqs that repairs machines to see if they could order the part. (That was back in the 2nd week of February) Well, to make a long story short... the part just came in Monday! Almost 4 months! What a tease and a bit of a disappointment. I just hope when he gets back over here that we don't come across anymore broken parts. Luckily for me, since the lqs was having so many problems with the people they were ordering the part from, they kindly gave it to me for free! So i saved $15-$20! Lucky me! Now it probably won't get put together until after I get home from the retreat, but that's ok because I won't have time to learn to play with it before then. I've only sewn on one once and that was enough to understand the speed and power of it!

Lastly, I've been packing my suitcase because in 2 weeks, I'll be leaving on a jet plane ;) Heading to Manchester, NH to reunite with old friends and make new at the HGTV Quilting & Needlwork Messageboard Circle of Friends Retreat (CoF)! I'll be staying from Thursday thru Sunday. My suitcase is half packed and I just keep piling items in it. There are still things I need to complete to bring with, but things are coming along! We're making the "Miranda Day Bag" I'll be making a large and a small bag. I love, love, love the fabrics I have picked out and i cannot wait to see my new bags! I know i'll be using one of them for tatting. I might just have to make the other one day to day practical because I don't want them collecting dust, they're going to be too pretty!

Well! I think that is all for now! I hope to get back to blogging at least once a week!

Cheers!

China Blue Sampler Wallhanging and a surprise little gift in the mail!

2009-03-05T11:05:00.004-05:00

Hi everyone! Happy March! I hope everyone is very busy, churning out project after project! I wish I could say that I was, but I'm not. I really need to make nice with my new sewing area and just have at it. The industrial machine that I "got for Christmas" (which didn't arrive until mid-February) is still out of commission. The pulley on it was broken and the company wants me to send back the whole machine... a 72lb machine and a 40lb motor, all over a little stupid pulley! So I went to my local machine repair shop and they ordered one for me and that was at least 2 weeks ago. Le sigh! I just want to play on it already!

Anyway, on to happy news! I finished this Wallhanging the day before Valentine's Day, as it was a gift for my boyfriend. I just never got around to taking pictures of it finished. I'm not happy with the quilting I did but I'm over it lol! So here it is!

I'm so happy to see it finished. I really did accomplish what I set out to do in that class, I made the sampler and I made one Persian Star (pictured in my blog post below.) After having made the Persian Star, I decided, I don't want to frame this, I want to make the whole quilt!!!! Maybe I really should've just stopped, squared it off and framed it lol because there is no way I can make that whole quilt right now! If I didn't already have pieces cut out and set up to start on another block for it, I might just call it a day... We shall see!

Next, I recieved the sweetest card and present in the mail! My friend Becky from the HGTV Quilting and Needlework Message Boards sent me one of her tatted seahorses! She had shown a picture of one she made and I was drooling over it! He is so beautiful (in a tatting kind of way) and so cute (in a little seahorse kind of way). Thank you Becky, I love him!

Other than that, I wish I could say I've been up to more but I haven't. I've been working slowly but surely on our CQ RR. We're on the 5th round right now. Next round is the last one and then I get my baby back! Oh the tears will be streaming I am so sure of it! I've had fun, working on everyone's block, adding my touches and getting to see the lovely work more and more as the swap progresses has been just astounding. If only these girls knew what their blocks look like now! Hehe!

Ok, I'm off to figure out what to sew first. Hopefully I'll whip up a whole bunch of stuff and be back to entertain!

Cheers!

talia

Where does the time go?!

2009-02-01T10:29:00.007-05:00

Ya know, can we talk? Last time I posted it was January 15th... where has the time gone?! Perhaps into my sewing... and i've got the work to prove it! Taking the WedgeWorks class proved to be much more fruitful than I thought. Here, i actually did have plenty of time to work on the blocks and it was a challenge but you know, in the end aren't the challenges what make us feel most rewarded? The fighting, the thinking, the struggling, the lack of the one fabric you need most of... lol! Yep, I used from my stash thinking 'oh i'll just stash bust' and stupid me could've slapped myself silly when I ran short about a yard of the ONE fabric that was so important to be recurring in each of the China Blue Sampler blocks... It actually made a cameo in the Star O'er Bethlehem block below too... hey!! so did the other light blue fabric!!! See, i have favorites and i'm not afraid to admit it! The fabric line I fell so madly, deeply, crazily in love with was Floret line from Blanktextiles.com I mean aren't those just absolutely beautiful delicious?! The color array and the design just make me want to eat my heart out! I have a few of those but not nearly as many as i'd like to have! I seem to have digressed a bit here lol! Ok, so I ran out of the Night color (seriously isn't this like amazing... too bad it's all out of print!) I of course found some on my saviour site: thousandsofbolts.com i love that site and i cannot stress love enough. So here I am in my creative ocean just flowing and going with it and bam! I run out of that fabric, so I had to place the order and wait a few days for it. My goal for this class was to make one Persian Star and the China Blue Sampler. In making the China Blue sampler, I noticed that in order to get the same effect the author had displayed the directions were absolutely inadequate and I had to start drawing things out, trace the template and draw the 'design' i wanted onto the template so I knew where to cut my fabrics. That was a 10 hour day in and out of it all. Yikes! I am so glad I had that "ohh!!!! i have an idea" moment and thought to trace the template out onto paper and go from there because otherwise I just could not picture in my head how in the world I was going to recreate these blocks! Trust me, if you have the book and you attempt this, you'll understand what I mean by all of that.

Now back to the goals of the class... I figure, If I could make that star, yay for me! I'd mat and frame it and be merry. Well let me just telllll you! These stars are like Lays potato chips... you can't have just one. And of course me, in my silly 'stash busting' mode had used fabric from my stash that I had limited amounts of. This one however, I was not so lucky with because it came from Joann fabrics and I don't have the sku #. It seems they don't have it now and of course, this was my background fabric lol!!! I'm on a roll here right?! So, I decided since there are 8 stars in the quilt (oh yes, I decided to go for it and make the WHOLE darn quilt! as if I need another quilt, and no I most certainly will not give this one away!) I would do 2 of the same and make 4 sets of 2. Ok grand! So far i've made the 4 blocks for the China Blue Sampler but they are still circular, I have to set them into the squares and I've made one Persian Star but I do have fabric cut and ready to start sewing to make more.

Here are the pictures:

Persian Star

Block #10 China Blue Sampler

Block #7 China Blue Sampler

Block #5 China Blue Sampler

Block #3 China Blue Sampler

Ok, next on my list... well this really wasn't on my list but yesterday I made a pair of earrings that i am in love with! I am calling them Tears of the Moon:

they measure 5.25" from the top of the ear hook to the bottom of the pendant. I noticed that photographs rarely do jewlery any justice. Oh well, in real life they sparkle like crazy!

I did work on a few other things but I cannot post because they are Secret Sister related, and who knows if she'll pop into my blog ;)

Lastly, I've been (unsuccessfully) trying to tat one basket a day, but I do have like 9 or 10 done so far! I'll have to take a picture of them later and post :)

Happy creating everyone!

Paper Piecing, WedgeWorks and Classes!

2009-01-15T22:13:00.006-05:00

Hi everyone! Lots to update you on! Today was so cold and it snowed quite a few inches, I have been frozen solid all day.

Alright, so I've been determined to really get down to brass tacks with paper piecing. Last year I attempted a 4" block from Carol Doaks "300 Paper Pieced Quilt Blocks" book. It wasn't anything special, not even a pattern just a crazy patch style block, very easy, 4 pieces. At the time I was like ok, easy enough... until I volunteered to make a 12" block for a friend for a charity quilt she was putting together. I decided on the "Star O'er Bethlehem" block from quilterscache.com. It was a struggle, there were a lot of tears, a lot of cursing and more tears. I had almost given up, it was tough and all of the piecing and ripping and repiecing was really getting to me. I finally wound up with this end result:

The blocks were also voted on, there were many, many very beautiful blocks and I actually won first place! I was extremely honored and very humbled. So it all paid off. I tried to re-make the block a while later and i was not successful. The end result was completely wonky and unable to be worked with.

Fast forward to now, yesterday I decided to pick a block make it 8" and work on it. It took an hour, jeez! But I am satisfied with the end result:

Today, I worked on this one, love it! The whole thing reminds me of my boyfriend's mom and her love for florals, coffee and shabby chic design. I chose the fabric with her in mind.

My goal is to do at least one a month and by December make a nice little wall hanging. I don't know if I can commit to more than one a month at this point, my time is very limited.

I started taking a class at my LQS today. It is a 4 week class that is held every Thursday from 10am-12pm. Those 2 hours fly by so fast! The class is for Cheryl Phillip's book "WedgeWorks" it's an 'easy' Mariner's Compass with no paper piecing. Here are 3 photos from the book *please note these are not my work:

Cover of the book:

"Persian Star"
"China Blue Sampler"

At first, I wanted to make the China Blue Sampler. Then I started leaning towards the Persian Star. When I got to class, almost everyone was doing the China Blue and it really made me want to deviate and since I wanted to do the Persian Star anyway... then I decided i'd make one Persian Star then mat and frame it and make the sampler. I pretty much understood the directions for the sampler and since everyone wanted to make it the instructions were being talked about a lot. Once I got home I was reading over the star instructions and while I don't feel like I can't do it... i'm like hmmm, I wish I had spent more time in class reviewing it. At this point though, I feel like i'm beyond the technicality of the directions and i'm really faced with a challenge with choosing the fabrics. I know contrast is everything with a Mariner's Compass and I am keeping that in mind. I just also feel like I have a big opportunity to learn a lot from this class but with my given time constraints I really feel like I can't do the class justice. It's a horrible feeling. Hopefully my shopping trip to Joann tomorrow will relive me and i'll find some incredibly inspiring fabrics.

This weekend I will be spending with my 8 year old son and we have my nephew's birthday party to go to on Saturday. Tuesday I start teaching my Crazy Patch Heart class and I'll have my Thursday class going on, then next weekend I'll be in New York with my best friend. Not to mention I will also have the next round of the CQ RR block to work on, it'll probably arrive tomorrow. Oh! And i'm hosting 2 buy ins: silk ribbon and perle 8 cotton.

Over the past 3 days i've managed to needle tat up 7 or 8 baskets too. I'll post a picture of them tomorrow.

I always manage to keep myself extremely busy! I hope to post pictures of more progress on the paper piecing soon!

Cheers all!

CQ RR, Round 3!

2009-01-13T11:16:00.007-05:00

This round i had the pleasure of working on huntres9's autumn themed block. It proved to be a bit difficult and challenging at times because I was concerned about adding the wrong colors! My work on the block is finished and it's off on its way to the next gal. Here are the 2 peeks that I shared for the blocks owner.

I traced this tree out onto tissue paper, basted it down and embroidered over it ripping the paper off after. Added a couple SRE flowers at the base of the tree. It has a small bird's nest with 2 blue eggs in it.

I needle tatted the "R" monogram and added a SRE rose and a little blue glass flower bead:

Embroidered Pillowcases & an update on what I'm up to!

2009-01-09T21:54:00.004-05:00

I made these pillowcases for a dear friend who was my "Secret Sister" last year. I have been working on them since early December and I had really wanted to get them to her by Christmas but it just didn't work out that way. So, I got them off in the mail to her on Tuesday. Hey, at least they're done and they've arrived! She was very good to me, extremely attentive - always right on top of my posts on the messageboard. I always received a heartfelt letter in a box that was packed full of bows and ribbons with lots of care. Hope she enjoys them!

I seem to be lacking here in blog land. I have been extremely busy, honestly... seems I don't have too much to show for it though. Ah! I know, i'll have peeks to share with you from this round of our CQ Round Robin and I also just finished the siggy wedding quilt I was hired to make! I'll have photos of that for you soon!

What's coming up for me? Starting Tuesday, January 20th I'll be teaching four 2 hour classes at a LQS for a Crazy Quilt heart (i had blogged about this earlier this year.) So that is very exciting! I am prepping my kits for that, still have some work to be done but it's well on its way! 2 weeks after that I'll be starting my 8 week class on CQ. I still have lots to do for that one. I'm also taking a class for Cheryl Phillips "WedgeWorks" book. (the first one) That starts Thursday January 15th! I am a little concerned that it's a time intensive class and I have so much going on I hope I can give it the attention it deserves because I also have the CQ RR going, 3 more rounds to go! Oh! Oh! And i'll be visiting my very best friend of (eep!) 15 years in New York for the weekend of Jan 23-25! Then i'll also be visiting her for my birthday on the weekend of Feb 20-22. We're going to a comedy show and we'll hang out a little bit, i'm so looking forward to a nice weekend away, but you know i'll bring at least one needlework project ;) probably my tatting since it's so space friendly and portable.

Well, there's my update for the new year. I hope this entry finds you healthy and well! See you soon with some CQ peeks! Stay tuned...

CQ RR, Round 2!

2008-12-29T03:26:00.003-05:00

Ok, ok already... It's been forever since i've posted... or so it feels like it! I've been up to a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

We're actually on the 3rd round of the HGTV round robin and let me tell you I haven't even touched the block yet! I've been too wrapped up in the holidays, but I thought i'd at least share the 2 peeks with you that I did on the 2nd round block.

The first treatment was made using some templates my friend Kathy shared with me. She works up all kinds of cool crazy stuff!

This is a silk ribbon Christmas tree with gifts under it. I basically copied it from the Silk Ribbon Embroidery Bible.

Stay tuned for more! I start teaching 2 different CQ classes and I am pretty nervous!

3 Breast Cancer Quilts In Honor of Carol Finally Delivered...

2008-12-15T23:07:00.007-05:00

In January of this year I found out that my boyfriend's mother's cousin had passed away from Breast Cancer. This is the letter I received from Heather, my sister-in-law:

"Hi girls!

Several weeks ago, my cousin lost her fight to breast cancer. She's my mom's cousin and one of her daughters (the one I am close with) is my age. I can't put myself in the place of my cousin to know that she just lost her mom. She and her two sisters have had a very tough life. They lost their father at an early age too. So, here they are parentless, and my cousin is not married yet and I know she'll probably be getting engaged sometime soon and it's just sad that she won't have them here with her for those special moments.

At any rate, I admire her very much. She is a really strong woman! Her and her sisters are going to do the 3-day race for the cure and they are looking for donations. I didn't know if anyone might be interested or if you could spread the word along. I know that some companies match donations and such. I just wanted to do whatever I could to help. So if you have a moment to check it out or pass it along, that'd be great!

Thanks!!!

Love,

Heather

http://08.the3day.org/site/TR/Walk/PhiladelphiaEvent?pg=personal&fr_id=1186&fr_id=1186&px=1668966"

At that point I felt like I really needed to do something... of course make each daughter a quilt to comfort them. What a loss and I couldn't imagine! Right away I turn to my friends on the HGTV Quilting and Needlework Forums and ask if they'd be willing to donate a pink/white block. I wasn't thinking too big and before I knew it we had almost 90 blocks and about 50 people involved with donating blocks and money for batting, backing, shipping, long arm quilters, a woman who donated 3 beautiful quilt labels and this project became a pretty big undertaking. Over the course of 3 months the blocks were sent in... 90!!! In flowed letters of stories from girls who were making blocks in honor of mothers, sisters, cousins, and so many loved ones. Letters of love, hope, faith and even more love. Once all blocks were in, I pieced the 3 very large (about queen size) quilts and sent them off to the long arm quilters.

Around September the quilts had arrived back to me, quilted beautifully and ready for delivery! Next step... to get in touch with the sister who lives here in New Jersey. It took me about a month or so to get in touch with her, she's a busy one! And we planned to meet for dinner. Time slipped by and in November we got back in touch and then fast forward to this past week when we finally agreed to meet up. Last night Allan and I headed to her house to deliver something was all she knew. I hadn't told her anything of the quilts, just that all of us had felt moved to do something for them. We arrived and talked and finally I told her the story and she was so gracious, thankful and excited. Of course there were lots of tears and lots of heartfelt hugs... how incredible it felt to be a part of this! I really love my friends on the board and I am so grateful they helped make this happen. I could've pulled off something small... but never anythingof this magnitude.

Here is the letter Christine posted tonight on the board (and how sweet of her to take time to post a thank you to everyone!)

"Christine (Baby Bear)

Posted Dec 15, 2008 10:04 PM

Hello Everyone!

I want to give all of you a hug!!! I cannot thank you enough for the beautiful quilts! It is truly the best gift I have ever received! I am so very touched, and I'm even crying as I write this.

I told both my sisters about the quilts, and they were so touched. They will be coming from South Carolina to visit the day after Christmas, so they will be able to see them then. I didn't want to send pictures, because the pictures would not do the quilts justice. I want them to see the quilts for the first time in person

There aren't words that can express my gratitude. The quilts are extraordinary, and just knowing how all of you came together with Talia, and put forth so much time & effort for someone who you hadn't even met before, is so remarkable! Your acts of kindness embody the very essence of my mother, Carol. And for that reason, this gift has such a special meaning to me. It is also very fitting because my mother loved to sew as well.

Your thoughtfulness is overwhleming, and you will hold a very special place in my heart forever. This past year has been very difficult for me, but it is moments like last night that make a world of differnece. I owe that moment to all of you! I only wish there was a way to give a moment like that back. From the bottom of my heart.....THANK YOU!

Love,

Christine"

Here are some pictures:

Valentines Day Themed Crazy Quilt Heart Class

2008-11-30T12:44:00.005-05:00

Do you remember some time back when I had posted 2 naked hearts for one of the classes I'll be teaching? I had finally started embellishing them. It had taken me around 2 months to really dream up what was to be for both of them. I finsihed the pink and white one and moved onto the red and white one. I embroidered my first peacock, who i thought was very dorky looking, then I adjusted his eye a bit and was a little more pleased, but still, much to learn in the way of making peacocks. Next time i won't outline his body in black that's for sure! Anyway! Last Sunday 11-23 while shopping, I had taken them with me while looking for a few embellishments. I lost them. Yep you read it right. I lost them. I didn't realize it until I got home with dinner and my boyfriend and I were about to sit and watch a movie and eat. As the movie was playing and i was picking at my food, I instinctivly went to reach for my red and white heart to work on it and then I couldn't find it. Well we looked everywhere. Tore the apartment down, looked in the bags and in my purse and emptied everything 6 or 7 times, checked the freezer and the refridge, checked all over the car and found nothing. We retraced our steps back to Joann and the parking lot... still found nothing. I left photos of each heart with my name, phone number and that I'd pay a cash reward for them if found. A week later and still nothing. That night, even though I felt completely horrible and like my world was coming down, I sat and whipped up 3 new hearts on the machine. I managed to fully embellish one to take as my class sample for Tuesday. The store had been asking for a class sample and if it's going to be a January class, people should at least have a good month to look at it ya know? So I raced against the clock and finished the new pink and white one. It's almost a replica of the old one but it's all I could manage given I only had a day to work on it.

I brought it to the store and the owner is out for a week, but the one woman who works there is so sweet and was very flattering even saying she'd be signing up for the class! I feel so unworthy or something lol! Like it's so simple I feel so silly when I get compliments, even though I agree they're beautiful I feel like anyone can do it! Oh well, overall I am thrilled I got them a class sample, but I sure do miss my old ones.

Here are some photos...

These are the original 2 that I recently lost, the pink and white one was finished. The red and white one was in the works...

The 3 new hearts I made. I know the top left one is way too busy. It'll surely be a 'what not to do' piece ;)

Class sample finished...

Close up of the fully open roses, they were fun!

I miss my old hearts but I really hope whoever found them will treasure them as much as I do...

Crazy Quilt Christmas Ornament Swap!

2008-11-30T12:38:00.006-05:00

I finally got my pretties back! And wow they sure are lovely!

These are the two that I sent in:

I have some of my needle tatting on the left one and lots of silk ribbon embroidery on the right one!

And these are the two I got back! How beautiful are they! They're so shabby chic! ...and guess who loves shabby chic?! ;) I love all of the stitching and charms and lace and how cool is the one that is in the shape of a tea pot?! I'm grateful that I was encouraged to be in this one! Yay!

Finally Made Something For Me!

2008-11-30T12:27:00.004-05:00

I was originally making this as a gift and then I just kept falling more and more in love with it! Of course that doesn't mean I won't duplicate it for the recipient ;) but I just love it! It is my first charm bracelet of this magnitude, it's very jangly and is just full of charms and crystal! What fun! Here are a bunch of pictures with close ups. I can't wait to wear it!

Pin Cushion Madness!

2008-11-26T13:49:00.004-05:00

I've been collecting caps for the past couple weeks now, anticipating making some really cute pin cushions!

My first attempt was this cupcake pin cushion. It came out cute, but of course I have bigger, better plans for the next ;)

Then, last night I sat and made these two. They work up super fast and very easy! Very addicting... I went and bought a 50lb bag of sand today to fill all of my new ones! I put rice in these with poly fiber fill. The rice probably wasn't such a great idea but oh well, live and learn!

More to come soon!

CQ Ornament Swap!

2008-11-19T16:18:00.005-05:00

I joined a CQ Ornament swap about 2 months ago VERY excited, having thought of this earlier in the year. I kept thinking "wouldn't it be so beautiful to have a tree full of small crazy quilted ornaments?!" And then, it happened! Unfortunately for me it came at a time where I had already committed myself to so many other things, including paid work, so I could only make 2. I had hoped for at least 12, i mean jeesh! Nevertheless I made my two and here they are! Of course I love the one with all of the silk ribbon embroidery. On the 2nd one I know something is missing over the tatting... i just don't know what. I hope whoever receives them enjoys them! Those little bees and critters are so fun to make! The tatting is mine, i just added some gold seed beads for a holiday effect.

Pin Up Girl Crazy Quilt Hearts

2008-11-19T16:02:00.004-05:00

I love pin up girls. The new ones are pretty but I'm talking the older pin up girls... 50s & 60s. Yes, 2 weeks later I am still feeling creatively tapped out but i'm talking embellishment wise, not quite design wise. On Election night, as a matter of fact, as the votes rolled in I sat and worked on these hearts. They were a lot of fun but I learned that I should have enlarged the heart so that I could get a little more area to work on. Regardless, I will finsih them, and they will be mine. I don't have anything that I have CQed that I own to show. So I thought these would be a fun set of pieces to keep, and I hope to add to my collection by hosting a swap for these next year!

She came first. Notice i couldn't resist immediately adding a beautiful rhinestone trim on her. My plan is to take feathers and from behind pop the feathers through around her boa to make it look real. A lot of fun (and an experience that'll be eh?!... like making a wig! I better google a how to there!)

Next came this beauty. I love the black/white/sepia thing going on here.

Lastly, came this gypsy like gal. I love gypsies so the idea of a gypsy like pin up girl in front of the moon?! A-1, first class craziness! She's actually not topless, although you cannot tell in this picture.

So what you see is what you get! That is how the sit right now because I am a bit busy with other things and still kinda feeling like: ??? what do I do with these??? As if I've never embellished anything before. It's ok, timing is everything and it will come to me! Stay tuned!

Crazy Quilt Round Robbin 1st Block

2008-11-19T15:57:00.004-05:00

Alright, almost 2 weeks since i've posted - wow! Still kinda tapped out but I have been feeling the urges to post here, i've just been lazy!

As I posted earlier I am in the HGTV CQ Round Robbin. My first one and I was scared to death to join! I mean - really - what if I messed up someone's block after people had worked countless HOURS on it?! But ya know what? Once you get that block, it's not the same feeling. The block speaks and you just work... They really do talk and it's SO much fun! I'll never second guess joining a CQ RR again that's for sure!!!

First up I got EMB's block. Her theme was butterflies. I wish I could post more but I can only show you my 2 sneek peaks that I showed her. I will also show you her block as I received it bare.

Here I tatted the "E" and added some silk ribbon embroidery over it.

Here, I added the lace with the beads and a little "heart flower" then the beaded silk ribbon.
Fun, fun, fun! Next up is fishingwidow's block. It's here and I already have some ideas 'drawn' out ;) Stay tuned!

Creativly Tapped Out

2008-11-08T00:13:00.002-05:00

For the past week, maybe almost 2 now, i have just been creativly tapped out. I stare at all of my CQ projects as if I have never touched one in my life. I lay out beads and lace and this and that and nothing comes to mind. I'd hate to say I'm 'depressed' because that just makes me feel even worse. I'm not quite sure what to think. My friend Kathy has sent me some e-mails today to help me with some ideas and they were great, I sat down to stitch and just couldn't. Needle in hand and I just stare... I don't know what to do or what to make of things at this point but it's really disappointing. ugh! This is a bad slump to be in, my projects are really what keeps me going!

I've been looking for a fellow tatter in New Jersey to tutor me in shuttle tatting because my flip keeps getting messed up. I've put out those tear off flyers in the local supermarkets, looking for shuttle tatting tutor $15/hr., still nothing. I have put ads on craigslist, nothing.

So frustrating!

And The Winner for the CQ Give-a-way is...

2008-10-31T23:04:00.002-04:00

wow, all I can say is this girl must've been sending out some serious energy LOL i knew she wanted this pretty bad! I mixed up the names, shook them up, flipped them and then Allan picked her right out. . . and announced. . .

Congrats! Stay tuned girls, i'll be doing another one in a few weeks!

Watercolor Portrait Give-A-Way!

2008-10-23T02:50:00.002-04:00

Wow, now wouldn't this be amazing to win?!

She is offering this:

"This giveaway is for a portrait of one child or infant.

I will paint the portrait from a photograph supplied by the winner. The size of the portrait will be 9.5" x 11" and is painted using quality materials. "

Sitting Pretty Studio

Tatted Monograms

2008-10-22T17:22:00.004-04:00

I love monograms. Love, love, love them! Well whaddya know, in the mail a couple days ago I get this book from my friend Lois. It's dated 1949. Ok let's address that to begin with, i love history. . . you couldn't get me to love it in high school but now I cannot get enough of it! Reading the ads is so much fun and it's so amazing. Allan and I just wonder what the kids 2 generations from now will think of all the fancy stuff advertised now! Great reading. "earn as much as $5/hr!" We don't even think it's funny in the laughing sense but truly interesting!

Ok, now inside this book is a group of patterns for shuttle tatted (come on guess....) Yep! Letters! She wondered if I could convert them to needle patterns. . . well i've learned that it's actually pretty easy, in shuttle tatting when you close the ring or end the chain you don't reverse, in needle tatting, you just add the reverse most of the time. So the "E" was the first initial I came up with, I can't tell you why right now though, that is for a later blog ;) Then the L which is my favorite, it reminds me of "Laverne and Shirley" for some reason. (Jim Vallely who was the write and producer also did the Golden Girls, I adore them, was watching them the other night) and then the S, which looks a bit wonky but since it's detached it has to really be sewn into place. Maybe I could alter the pattern a bit to make it a bit more fancy. Crazy quilts, here these gals come! These are a lot of fun, I hope to work up the whole alphabet soon! . . . and you know i'll be back with pictures don't you? ;)

CQ Heart Tutorial

2008-10-20T01:13:00.005-04:00

My friend Jane_Kiwi was asking about the CQ Heart process so i did this little "step by step tutorial" :)

First, print out the heart template: CQ Heart Template [click here]

1st: Cut out the heart and trace the pattern onto muslin.

2: Choose your center fabric. A 4 or 5 sided piece is usually best, this will allow for more fabrics along the edges. I have chosen a sheer fabric, so i have a solid piece under it, which is why you see 2 fabrics there. I work with the traced side of the heart face down, but you can see the heart because the pen bleeds thru the other side.

3. Choose a 2nd fabric and pin it to the first fabric matching the edges, then pin to keep in place. Notice i have made 2 small marks where the first fabric begins and ends. This is just to show you where you will begin and end stitching.

4. Stitch fabrics together, clip loose threads. Then press open. I use a loose piece of muslin i have laying around to cover the fancy fabrics so they don't get scorched :)

5. Cut away the excess fabric (where the green extends beyond the white fabric) and pin and stitch down your next piece of fabric. Continue to cut away any fabric that is more than 1/4 past your seam.

6. Continue to piece around in a clockwise or counter clockwise around the center piece. Pin as you go to keep your fabrics from slipping and sliding all over.

Just showing the progression of the piecing until the final piece of fabric is done... The nice thing about doing the hearts is that 4-6 pieces of fabric will be all you need. They're a great beginner piece.

Now that all of the heart has been covered, here is what the front looks like (certainly doesn't look like a heart!)

This is what the back looks like.

Now how you go from here will be your own personal preference. You can cut away the excess fabric, baste the edges, then zig zag and go from there. I like to baste before i cut away the excess fabric. I lie my heart right side down onto the feed dogs and machine baste with my largest stitch. I baste first so that as i'm cutting pieces of fabric aren't flopping all in front of my scissors and it also holds the fabric safe and securely. I've accidentally cut into the fabric i'd be embellishing because it was flopping all over while cutting. So with the back side up so i can see my tracing lines, i baste about 1/3" inside.

Cut away excess fabrics. Cut exactly along the traced line.

The basting along the edges is put there as a reminder NOT to embellish past that. If you start stitching buttons and beads there, when you go to sew them down to something or what have you, your needle will come in contact with the embellishments and well... i will leave you to imagine the rest

Lastly, zigzag or serge your edges so that they do not fray like crazy as you embellish them! And you have your heart! Great Job!

Reprint Permissions Policy:

You may reproduce or copy this page in print for non-commercial, non-profit teaching and educational use only. Proper acknowledgement must be given to The Talia Effect for any material reprinted.

"Think Girly" Order Up!

2008-10-18T02:38:00.006-04:00

'The mad tatter' as I like to think of myself was at it again at the request of my friend Sherry. She had contacted me to make her some tatted goods for a CQ block she was going to be embellishing. "Think girly" she says, and that is all she says. . . So, i thought girly with the butterfly and clover leaf heart, and then the ecru 80wt tatted basket was where 'delicate girly and dainty' came to mind ;)

I love the clover leaf hearts. They are so beautiful. I look forward to the day i learn to shuttle tatt though because needle tatting tends to work things up larger, a lot larger than shuttle tatting would. With needle tatting you have to rely on working the thread on the needle. With shuttle tatting you work the piece on only the thread, so it's only as wide as the thread, and with 80wt, that is pretty small! Regardless, they came out pretty and I love them! Once all dressed up for a night out on the town, I think they'll be dazzling and whimsical!

Ok, let's do a Crazy Quilt fun pack Give-a-Way!

2008-10-15T18:02:00.009-04:00

Hi All! I am going to join in on the fun over at Debi's Fall Into Fall Quilters Blog Giveaway! I will be giving away a Crazy Quilt 'fun pack' which includes:

15 cuts of silk ribbon (12"-20" long)

20 fabrics

12 laces

10 venise laces

13 small baggies of beads

2 variegated perle 8 cottons

1 pack of charm keys

1 winner's choice of one of my tatted items: clover heart, medallion, frame or basket. If you look through my blog youwill see pictures of what i've made. When you win, I will send you an e-mail with the colors and weights of thread that I have :)

Here are my rules:

1. You must have a blog somewhere, some type.

2. You must have a USA snailmail address.

3. Leave a comment here and tell me a little about your crazy quilt inspirations.

4. Comment deadline is October 31 (midnight eastern).

If you mention this post in your blog, your name will be entered a 2nd time.

Be sure to let me know in your comment if you do!

Any comments that do not include this requirement

will not be counted in the drawing.

Healing Heart for Sweet Tea

2008-10-14T15:56:00.005-04:00

Recently we found out that a friend of ours on the HGTV Quilting and Needlework Messageboards lost her dear husband in a car accident to a drunk driver. We are all very sadend by this and so the CQ girls have been rounded up to make what we call "Healing Hearts." It is a 6" Crazy Quilt heart. We will be mailing them all to our friend Tammy who will then mail our friend the package.

This is my healing heart for her. My ideas were that showers bring flowers. I hope that her showers are soon over and that the flowers will start blooming all over the place for her. Maybe our Healing Hearts can help them grow a bit faster? ;)

I am quite fond of the little flower garden here and the little ant who is curiously going to make one of these flowers a shady rest area for a nap time snooze.

Needlebook Swap!

2008-10-11T11:26:00.001-04:00

Yesterday, I spent the day working on needlebooks for Tami's 2008 needlebook swap! I did not think i was going to be able to pull through and make them. I even went as far as e-mailing the hostess to apologetically tell her that I was sorry but I had to drop out. After that, something took over me and I really did not want to miss out on this. A friend had signed me up in good fun. . . and I am so glad she did!

I didn't come up with anything as beautiful as some of what i've seen, but I did what I could do given the work load I am pulling right now. Of course the floral one with the tatted basket, butterly and silk ribbon embroidery is my favorite! The basket and butterfly were needle tatted by me. The basket is a pattern courtesy of HoneyBee'sBliss.

I wish i could've went to town and CQed them, but time was not on my side this time! Each book includes 4 felt pages to store your needles.

Here is what I came up with:

2008 - 2009 HGTV Crazy Quilt Round Robin!

2008-10-11T10:50:00.003-04:00

"I could never touch someone else's block after so many women have done so many beautiful things to it, what if i screwed it up?!" Or at least that is what i said last year to NickiLee and Kathy, standing in our room in Houston, Texas. She was showing Kathy and I, practically in tears, the most amazing piece of art work you could ever lay your eyes on. . . her round robin block. She is a big fan of blue (i'm telling you we're gypsy soul sisters!) and the ocean. her block was all shades of beautiful blues and greens made with silky, satin, fancy fabrics. . . What a sight to behold as she showed us the handi work that 6 or 7 women from around the United States, gals we like to think of as our sisters, had sewn onto her block. I choke up right now thinking about the presentation of her block that she had given to us at the retreat last year.

Nicki is a fantastic teacher and encourager. (enabler... oops! hehe) In e-mailing with her since then and having caught 'the bug' . . . the crazy quilt bug that is, she has encouraged me to 'just do it!' 'jump in with 2 feet!' and so i became inspired, encouraged and willing. It wasn't long ago that Tami had started sign ups for the 2008-2009 HGTV Crazy Quilt Round Robin. I signed up, so excited! Time started passing and I started thinking, 'there is no way i could piece a crazy quilt block THAT BIG' and hey. . . sure i could have pieced a smaller block, but in this swap, i think 'go big or go home!' I allowed feelings of doubt to start creeping in and soon enough I was ready to contact the hostess and tell her 'i am sorry, but i am cowering out of this!'

One night, after putting Sebastian to sleep, I sat and was working on some projects. 4 am creeped around and BANG! I went for it! I worked hard for 5 hours until the sun came up and the faerie block was born. Made with various faerie pictures, blues, blacks, purples and some hints of green the block was taking form. I stayed up for a while longer that day and finally crashed. The long night into the morning had finally taken its toll, but I wanted to continue to work on the block so badly, to see it finished!!! Oh how cruel sleep can be to creativity, right in the middle of a SURGE too!

After I woke up I pulled another all-nighter. The block was complete. I was ecstatic and in love.

On this block you will see some things that are very dear to me. There are 2 hand silk paintings, painted by my friend Carolyn. The peacock is very dear to my heart because she had made it for me, not even knowing how much i LOVE peacocks when i was very ill last year in and out of the hospital for 2 months. It was a surprise gift. The flower painted on black silk was a gift from her in a CQ embellishment swap we had.

Over the next 6 months, 6 ladies from around the United States will start dressing my block up in embroidery, silk ribbon embroidery, beading, laces, ribbons. . . the works, the whole kitten caboodle! She will return home to me in April 2009, hopefully just in time for the 2009 Circle of Friends retreat where the HGTV girls meet up for chocolate, shopping, food, fun, memories and bonds that will last a life time.

. . .is it April yet?!

3 Classes and One Crazy Teacher...

2008-09-29T05:27:00.003-04:00

Teaching was something I have been interested in since I was young. I'd play school with my sister, make handouts, had a chalkboard and all these things. About 4 years ago i looked into getting the degree i'd need to teach high school English (one of my favorites) and that didn't work out. About a month ago i started getting the 'itch' to teach again and wondered what I could teach and what I would teach if given the chance to. I started talking to Allan and my best friend about the opportunity and dediced that Crazy Quilting would be a fun thing to teach because you don't hear of it much (or at least around here.) I had been wondering if I could get a position teaching through the way i had learned to sew. Every Spring and Fall our township offers Continuing Education Classes for adults. A variety of things from Italian Cooking to sewing to baking to knitting to dancing and more. I had the catalog and while I was on the phone with my best friend talking to her about the opportunity and how nervous I was, I looked in the back of the catalogue and sure enough it said: Instructors Wanted. Hmmm.... I'd surely call tomorrow and find out the details. So I called and the women i spoke with had mentioned how exciting it was because they had been looking for a quilting teacher since the last one had gotten ill. I advised this wasn't just basic quilt piecing and they still, were excited. I applied and soon after got the e-mail asking for my 'blurb' for the catalog! So, come Spring I will be teaching a Tuesday night class and a Thursday night class on CQing! The class will run for 8 weeks and the Tuesday and Thursday night classes will be different groups.

Not too long after, I headed up to Burlington to my favorite local quilt shop: Olde City Quilts. I rent a long arm there and I just love the shop, love the staff and the owner, Judy, is such a warm, sweet person to be around. Rae, one of the women who work there, had complimented my bracelet which i had made that morning before I headed over. She had told Judy to come back and check it out too.

In talking to Rae and Judy I had mentioned that I am a needle tatter. Showed some of my work and Judy had said "You should teach a class!" I also mentioned my CQing and she said the same thing! I e-mailed her some photos of my work and last week i brought some CQ work in to show her. She said "I'd love to put you on the calendar for January, maybe you could teach a Valentine's Day theme class for this?" I happily agreed. She asked if I could make a store sample and that is what i am working on now. These are 2 naked hearts that I will start filling in with red, white and pink embellishments and stitches. They will be the class samples.

I am nervous but with the help of my dear friend Kathy who has been amazing and so helpful she is helping me with my class outline, handouts and things like that. Actually, she asked me for a class outline and a list of supplies needed and she just took off with it, creating all of the paperwork i will need. I am sure that you could only imagine what having a friend like that feels like! Having her as a friend is a major blessings in my life. Her enthusiasm and encouragement are constant, she makes me feel like this is something I could really do, really succeed at. Kathy is a woman whose kindness, helpfulness and encouragement know no bounds, and for that, I am grateful. I ♥ you Kathy!

September Secret Sister Thank you!

2008-09-06T19:54:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to say thank you to my BSS in my own way on youtube again this month :) BSS, if you read this i hope you don't mind that it's 6 minutes. I promise to cut it down to at least 3 next month :)

Here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7EZNea-Gts

Change: New Title

2008-09-05T03:04:00.000-04:00

So, i've decided to change my "title box" since 'The Talia Effect' is my 'deal' so to speak. The logo is my design, which i love and so yep, there it is!

The Talia Effect was started when i decided about a year or actually two years ago (wow... already) when i decided i wanted to launch a website and a line and this and that.. i started going wild! ...as i do when i want to start a project! I started creating logos and banners and this and that. Then i realized, i can sew, but i can't tailor and do seamstress work. Oh well, my sewing teacher kindly invited me over to her house to teach me, perhaps this fall! Anyway, the dream kind of came down to the site (www.thetaliaeffect.net) becoming a showcase of all i do... the clothes i've made, the jewelry, the quilts, the tatting, crocheting... and so on and so forth. I plan to learn much more.... and that will all be there too. In the meantime i am desperately searching for a web designer who can do clean, cut, pretty web designs but CHEAP! The website is my next long term goal i guess, seeing how finding a designer has become a pain in my ass task. So that will sit on the side line. I do have my "HTML Web Author Certificate" ...where the hell is the rollinging eyes smiley... all that really means is i can sit here and hard code until my eyes bleed and hands fall off ie: ... i don't know how to work with dreamweaver and such... but i have the program... ugh. another class i need to take.

Short post, but i've got to get back to cutting silk ribbon for my girls ;)

Welcome to my new sewing room/studio!

2008-08-27T23:50:00.000-04:00

By the by!.... (god get me OFF of this thing aleady!! -giggle-)

Allan and i live in a one bedroom apartment. September will be 3 years that we've been here and FINALLY this apartment is clean and all together! It feels incredible. I've spent the last month between being sick with my fibromyalgia and other ailments, doctor's appointments and other obligations, cleaning this apartment, i mean finally scrubbing and taking pride in cleanliness (psh.... first time in my 28 years LOL) just cleaning this place up! It looked like a storage unit exploded for so long... i mean just things over things, on things stacked on more things. ick! anywho... point is after talking with Allan, we just knew our desks could no long reside next to each other. Between our gaming on the headset, phone calls, television re-runs (me watching Bravo! and numerous re-runs of any and all reality shows and my Kathy Griffin) we were just like yeah... what the hell! I said to him one day, "how would you feel about seperating spaces? You take all of the bedroom except i keep my dresser in there and i take the living room..." he said yes! It took us 3 long ass days of hauling box after box after box to our little storage unit and unpacking closets and re-organizing them to suit our needs with our new spaces. So yep, we're done! And of course i'm paying for it with the fibro pains and also all the damn bruises that keep appearing on my legs?! Like... am i getting my butt kicked in my sleep or something?! Here is a link to a video of my new space! I hope you can tell what is what.... it may take a few minutes to load up, so go get some coffee and come back. If it's playing, just re-start it.

My new sewing space .avi

A day at The Land of Make Believe...

2008-08-27T23:39:00.000-04:00

This isn't sewing related, but family related. Thought i'd throw that in the mix a bit here. Today me, my son Sebastian who will be 8 on Sept. 22, my mom, my sister and one of her 2 sons: Landen (who is 4) went to The Land of Make Believe. It's a park with small games, rides, a petting zoo and a nice size water park. We had a lot of fun and i'm going to share some pictures :) My son has the brown hair. Landen has the blonde hair. My sister is in the white shirt and by process of elimination... my mom is the other brown haird girl :)

Sebastian and I went on very large water slides today in a double tube! That was TOO much fun! It's so crazy to be at a point in his life where we can share good times like this... on big water slides! We totally had a blast and then, he went on one by himself! omg! Since when did he get over 36"?! LOL! I look forward to so many more of times like these with him... he better not get to that "ew i can't go and be seen with my mom" stage... or i'll embarrass him to no end... j/k.

Ok, i have some obligations that are past due to finish up. Just wanted to share this magical little day that i had :)

Crystal Jewelry

2008-08-27T03:27:00.001-04:00

Ok one more! This year i also learned how to make jewelry! This is fun for me because i am not a fan of diamonds and things of that sort, but i LOVE swarovski crystal! My friend Kristen was making all of my jewelry for so long and i finally really wanted to learn how! And so i did! I am so appreciative to my friend Kristen for just being an inspiration to me with all of the beautiful pieces she has made for me and other people. I am of course not quite the master she is and I may never be, but just knowing the basics is great. Jewelry makes great gifts and some pieces work up quickly and easily. If interested Kristin does beautiful custom work, her website is: K's Sparkle Creations.

Pictured are some of the pieces i've made. The blue and black set was made for NickiLee as a thank you for all the buy ins she's hosted and for all of her help along the way, teaching me to CQ. She is a lover of all things blue! So i saw those beads in the store and i could not resist. I came right home and just went at it. The biggest compliment was when she e-mailed me telling me she put the earrings right on and went to the post office and one of the women who work there complimented her earrings! It's those little moments in life! ..isn't it!?

The black and clear woven set was for my sister for Mother's Day! They look gorgeous on and they just float. The multi-colored woven bracelet was my first woven, i was so pleased with the way i came out, but i still haven't made one for myself. Need more time! Need more time!

Tatted Jewelry

2008-08-27T03:18:00.001-04:00

When i first started tatting i made a lot of chokers and earrings. Pictured above are just some! Here is a link to the many that i've made. Tatted Chokers

These are so much fun to wear. I always get compliments when i wear the black set. I feel like i am wearing a vintage piece of lace or something! The girls who have purchased these from me have always had great results. My step mom ordered a set for her best friend for her birthday and it was such a compliment, she called me telling me how much she really loved it! So i kept making more and through word of mouth i started getting a lot of requests! I am looking forward to making more intricate patterns for the chokers, but i still need to learn to shuttle tatt. I am hoping to put up some papers in local super markets for a shuttle tatting tutor or teacher. Then my next step would be ordering one of those gorgeous shuttles with all of the decoration!

Well, it's getting late and i am going to The Land of Make Believe with my mom, son, sister and nephew. I better get some sleep!

Tatted Items for CQing

2008-08-27T02:55:00.000-04:00

I started making these baskets, hearts, pieces of lace and butterflies for CQing. I've really had a lot of fun making them! The baskets can be filled with embroidered flowers, the hearts decorated with beads... I've received many orders for especially the baskets, hearts and pieces of lace. If you're interested you can contact me at ithinksew@gmail.com

Well I'm finally here!

2008-08-27T01:57:00.001-04:00

Hi all! I've always been half and half about blogs. I have read a lot of them but was never sure if i wanted one because i wasn't sure that i'd be able to keep up with it. After thinking about it for a while and my friends encouraging me that this is what i needed to do... i'm here!

Over the past few years i have had a "wild ride"... i first sewed when i was 18 then i put the machine aside after one project, but i knew i'd get back to it sooner or later. After moving in with my boyfriend in 2004, he paid for me to take many classes, starting with a night sewing class. From there i've been like a wild woman 'conquering' many new things one by one. It all started with a simple pillow with a zipper! I started making lots and lots of clothes, and although i am not a seamstress and i do not know how to do alterations, i am sure i'll get there one day.

My love for sewing took a turn one day after spending a good amount of time at Joanns staring at the quilting fabric. I've been crocheting since i was 5 or 6 thanks to my aunt and "the lady down the street" her name was Mrs. Boyd. when i was a little girl, during the summertimes, i'd go walk down to Mrs. Boyd's house and she'd be sitting on her porch watching the sun set and crocheting. She taught me and I am so happy to have a little story like that affiliated to my life because i've always been jealous -not maliciously jealous but.. just ya know.. an 'i wish i had that' kinda thing- of people who had a mom that taught them to sew or a grandmother, because my mom isn't into sewing lol! She always says "i have NO idea where you got this from" ... and of her 2 daughters, i would be the one least likely to be domesticated... ok anyway! back to my sewing taking a turn... so i decided, well if i can crochet a blanket, i am sure i can sew a quilt... so, again, Allan (my dear boyfriend) paid for me to take a quilting class with Pat O'Brien (she's a local who many learn to quilt from) She is a fantastic teacher and bang, i started taking class after class. 2 Christmases ago, i was making a quilt out of brocade fabrics (ugh... never again...) and ever which way i tried to quilt it, the fabric just pulled and pulled! I was desperately searching the web like a mad person to find solutions. Through my google search i stumbled onto the HGTV Quilting and Needlework forum. 1 year and 9 months later, i am a complete posting addict over there LOL! I've met some truly amazing women who make me laugh, who make me cry (in a good way!), who share not only my dreams and support me, but we all support each other and encourage the other. It has been a force in my life that has really driven me to want to learn more and do so much more. This year i was lucky enough to attend their annual retreat. 40 of us met in Houston, many of us not knowing the other except for our daily board posts. I can honestly say i've met amazing women, with amazing stories, and now we share amazing friendships. My roommates NickiLee and Kathy were the best roommates i could have ever wished for, we laughed, we cried, we hugged, we shared stories.... and i know from those precious moments that we are all tied at the heart.

I bounce off the walls with projects and new ideas and tying me down wouldn't sit me still! I have been referred to as 'The Mad Tatter' . . . recently this year i've learned the fine art of needle tatting. I am going nuts wanting to learn to shuttle tatt because it looks SO much prettier! I am sure i will learn! I was encouraged to learn to crazy quilt (CQ) and i didn't think i'd be able to do it... The tatting i learned because in February my HGTV secret sister sent me a gift card for Michael's for my birthday. I decided after seeing tatting here and there that i just HAD to learn this art! and so i did! I have been making jewelry and pieces for CQing since!

I have a message board called: A Stitch In Time and anyone who loves quilting, sewing, needlework are welcome to join! There is a steady group of us over there and we enjoy talking freely with each other. HGTV is fantastic but sometimes we're a bit too limited there sometimes. You must register though to be able to peruse the forums.

It's been an amazing journey so far... and i look forward to the road ahead and sharing it all with those of you who decide to stop by :)