Freebies for Friday Finds!

Just sharing a couple of nice Freebies I've found for my Friday Finds for you today :)  This adorable Easter Bunny is a free pattern from the people at Therm o Web/Heat n Bond.  Hop on over and get the instructions Here from their blog.

And from the people at McCall's Quilting and McCall's Quick Quilts, you can go Here and download this free e-book of Modern Quilt Patterns!  Happy Friday :)

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

So True...

photo credit: My daughter, Lisa Butterfield :)

 "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."  ~ Marianne Williamson

Catching up on reading my email this morning, I came across this quote.  It just took hold of me when I read it (ever have that happen to you), and I wanted to share it :) 

I'm a member of IAPQ, and I was reading an article about tooting your own horn (which I find very awkward, but necessary for the business).   Here is the article in it's entirety in case you want to read it: 

Do You Toot Your Own Horn?  

   

Do you toot your own horn? Or are you like many women - yes, it's mostly women - who are reluctant to talk about their successes and talents? You probably don't have any problem talking about the success of your loved ones. Why is it that we have that problem with ourselves?

 

This came up in a discussion with one of my clients about creating a personal brand. She felt uncomfortable about promoting herself on her blog, Facebook and Twitter. It was OK to talk about others and share their successes, but she downplayed her own. Why? She wasn't ready to step into her own power.

How do you get beyond this? Here are a few ideas:
1. Pay attention to when you shy away from sharing your gifts or minimizing your talents in public, ie., with those who don't know you. Awareness is the first step to changing.

2. Change your internal message about what you are doing. You have gifts that others don't have. And, I know that you want to share those gifts. That's why you started your quilt or fiber arts business. You need to share your successes so others can learn about you so that you are able to serve them. It's really about providing a service to your customers, and you can't do that if you hide your talents.

3. Start to put yourself - and your brand - out there in small ways. Take 30 minutes a day and look for ways to contribute. This could be by commenting on someone's blog, writing your own blog post, sharing something on Twitter or your Facebook Fan page.

It gets easier as you go along, and the more people that know about you, the more people you can serve with your unique talents.

I'm sure you've read the following quote from Marianne Williamson. I love this quote and it's pertinent to this discussion:

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

Please share your thoughts on the blog.

 Morna McEver Golletz is the founder and CEO of the International Association of Professional Quilters, an association to help quilters, fiber artists and other creative arts entrepreneurs build business success. Her weekly e-zine offers tips, techniques and inspiration to help you craft business success from your creative arts passion. You can sign up for a F.R.E.E. subscription at http://www.professionalquilter.com.

See the IAPQ blog at http://www.professionalquilter.com/weblog/
(Btw, I highly recommend their online e-zines for quick weekly motivation!)

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

Re-Using an Old Standby

Do you remember when baby food came in glass jars?  I think every dad that I knew growing up had the old stand by nuts and bolts storage unit in his workshop that was made by nailing the jar lids to a piece of wood and the jars hung below when screwed into their lids. 

I think you can still find the little glass jars, but now there are also these cool little plastic (bph free) containers.  With my little grand daughter eating baby food, I now have a source for these cute little containers...hmmm, what to do with them...

Of course they can be used to store nuts and bolts (see ThriftyFun blog), spices (see Simplify blog),  an array of office supplies, and personal care items,

...and even as Monarch butterfly rearing chambers (see the Monarch Watch blog).  (By the way, they are accepting donations of them if you have an abundance of the little containers.)

But of course for me, I'm going to find a use for them in the sewing room!  They stack very nicely and work great on a shelf in my studio holding different types of sewing machine bobbins.  I also have some filled with beads and pins...and I can attest to the fact that they are perfect filled with M&Ms next to my sewing machine :)

I had even added some "bling" to some, and made a pincushion top to give them as favors for my sewing retreat buddies (yes for the retreat that I missed while sick last weekend, so they'll have to get them later).  I just made a little pillow the size of the lid, and hot glued it on top.  (Spray paint the lid first so that you don't see the hot glue through the clear lid.) And decorate the sides with cute ribbon. 

If you don't know anyone with a baby, and you don't really want to eat baby food yourself ~ fear not, you can even buy these cute little containers already empty from TessCreates Etsy Shop, and 10% of the proceeds of the sale goes to charity.  I think you can find just about anything on the internet these days!

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

A Warm Spring Gift

It's a day late for Friday Finds, but I thought this was really nice, and wanted to share.  Even if it doesn't feel like Spring where you are, it is on the way.  To help you feel the warmth, check out Escape Artist's blog and you can grab, as a free gift, one of her computer desktop wallpaper calendar designs for April. 

I chose the pink tulips ~ Thanks Escape Artist :)

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

Pumpkin Baby Smiles

So what do I do when I take a day off from making quilts?  I go to a friend's house and make something else of course! 

My sewing friends (Mary & Starlyn) and I gathered at Starlyn's house and she guided us through making her cute Pumpkin Babies.  I brought mine home and sat him up in this little wooden rocker that I have, and he waves to everyone.  Heather thinks he's kind of creepy, the guys just kind of shake their heads at me, but I can't tell you how many times this silly little thing has made me smile :)   You can see Mary's Pumpkin Baby too here on her blog. 

And It's not a Friday Find Day, but I wanted to share my newest fun find...This is my new notions carry along.  I love all of the zippered compartments (I'm a sucker for organizer bags).  This is a picture of mine loaded up with what I have in it right now.  I'll be carrying this little baby with me on my next trip.  It closes with magnetic snaps which is really nice, and it's a great size measuring 4" x 4 1/4" x 8 1/4" when closed, so it'll fit well in my travel bags.

I have a couple of these Quilt Happy Fold n Go Notions Boxes here in my webstore if you are in need/want :)

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

Delving Into Some Good Books

Spending so much time at the nursing home and the hospital (Dad's currently back in the hospital with some kidney problems now), I've been killing the time with books and magazines as well as my knitting. These are my two newest quilt books that I've been loving from cover to cover. The first one, Quilting Designs from the Past I picked up on sale on my Valentine's Day outing with Heather. I got this one to help me with ideas on quilting up all my little Jo Morton quilt tops.

This next book, String Quilts by Elsie Campbell is not only filled with some beautiful string quilts of all different styles, it's really special to me because two of my best friends have quilts in this book! (I've also attended luncheons at Quilt Odyssey in Hershey where Elsie Campbell spoke. She gives a great lecture and seeing her quilts in person is a real treat!)

My good friend and co-worker Starlyn Baker has her quilt "Leftover Strings" in the Gallery of String Quilts section of the book. Starlyn has several beautiful string quilts and has taught how to make string quilts at our shop and led our Mountain Baby Blanket Sew Ins using strings :)

My close friend Mary Nielsen of Keep Me In Quilts has a quilt called "Diamond in the Rough" and it's pattern in the book. She has a picture of her and Elsie Campbell holding up her quilt at a class on this blog post. This quilt is also on exhibit this year at the People's Place Quilt Museum in Intercourse Pennsylvania!

Mary's special quilt even made the title page! You can purchase this book from our shop if you can't find it at your local quilt shop.

Enjoy the day ~ and a good quilt book!
~ Dawn

Friday Finds

So I got this link from a friend this week, and Mom and I thought it was a great idea and wanted to share it with our readers too!

XEROX is doing something really cool for the holiday season.

If you go to this web site, http://www.letssaythanks.com/ you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it to send to a soldier that is currently serving overseas. You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to a member of the armed services.

The choices that you can pick from are all cards that have been designed by children across the country, and you can choose a default message for the inside, or create your own!

It is completely free and it only takes a second. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the soldiers received a bunch of these? Whether you are for or against the war, our soldiers over there need to know we are behind them. This doesn't take long at all, and it's a wonderful way to say thank you. We can never say enough thank yous to the men and women who are protecting our freedoms, especially during the holiday seasons.

The holidays are a time for family, and often we forget that there are those who are separated from their loved ones in service for our country. I wish I had known about this program a few years ago when my brother in law was overseas for Christmas. We should never forget to thank the men and women in the armed services who do so much for us and make such major sacrifices.

Lets see how many cards can be sent this holiday season!

Heather

Friday Finds

Does this symbol confuse you a little? It represents a common RSS Feed. You can click on this symbol on many blogs and websites to "subscribe" to updated content, another words every time a new post is uploaded you receive a link to that new post. My blog has a "Follow" button on the bottom right sidebar, that you can click on and receive updates through a free Google Reader. I find that the easiest way to have all my blogs updates together, but occasionally I find a blog that I like, and they don't have a Google "Follow" button (because maybe that blog is Typepad, Wordpress, or another blog base besides Blogspot) I usually look for this symbol to link the updates to my "My Yahoo" homepage. Then there are the blogs or websites that I can't find either button on and I just bookmark the site, I don't receive any notification when they update, and I have to remember to periodically go back and look at them. So consequently I get blog updates in a couple of different locations, and others just bookmarked and I do find it all a little confusing sometimes.

Sheri Thompson told me about Feedmyinbox.com, and says she loves it. With Feed My Inbox, blogs, news, and even Twitter feeds can be delivered right to your email inbox. It couln't be easier, just type in the blog web address (URL), and your email address, and when that blog is updated, it comes to you as an email. Simple. It's another tool out there to help simplify the way you can read and keep up with blogs and websites that may be a little hard to "follow". You could even set up a free email account just to send your blog updates to.

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

Friday Finds

Have you heard of Leah Day of Day Style Designs yet? I found her blog called 365 Days of Free Motion Quilting Filler Designs and it's fantastic!

Every day she shares tutorials on how to do a different free motion design on a regular sit down sewing machine using great photos and videos. On the blog you can sign up for her free newsletter with updates on the quilting designs featured for that week.

This link on her website has a cornucopia of quilting articles and video demonstrations, and just her Frequently asked Questions page is worth the cost of admission :) Check it all out, it is well worth the time.

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

Friday Finds ~ Paper Pieces

Someone on the Jo Morton Yahoo group posted about this little item the other day, and it made me think to show them. These are called Paper Pieces, I found them at a local quilt shop, but you can also find them on the Paper Pieces website and they have all kinds of shapes.

With the diamond shapes that I have, I'm making some 8 pointed stars using Jo charms and scraps. I'm probably going to applique mine onto a background fabric (mainly because I prefer applique to piecing). I'm thinking a brown background maybe...

These are thin card stock templates that you use the English Paper Piecing method with (this method is most often thought of using hexagon shapes). Pin the shape on your fabric, cut the fabric roughly a quarter inch larger than the paper template, and baste the seam allowance around to the back (I work from the front) using a large basting stitch.

Then with right sides together, whip stitch the pieces together. I used a neutral thread and small whip stitches, making sure to pick up just fabric and not sew into the paper templates. The templates can be used several times if you're careful with them and don't chew up the edges.

Additionally, if you are a person who loves to play with color and graph paper there is a link on the Paper Pieces website for Free Down-loadable Design Sheets in many of the shapes that they make (just click on Downloads at the top of the main page). That right there is worth the cost of admission :) Too much fun!

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

Friday Finds

Some quilting tools have many uses. Take the Gypsy Gripper ~ Yes, it's a great handle to put on your rulers, and it's removable and can move to different rulers in your collection. It's especially nice when you are cutting fabric all day and can lean on the ruler a little differently to help with hand fatigue, not to mention keeping your fingers up safely away from the rotary blade...

...but did you know it makes a great telephone? (sorry for the grainy photo, it was snapped quickly on my daughter's phone camera) As soon a Elsie spotted the Gypsy Gripper when she came to visit me at the quilt shop, she immediately picked it up and started holding a conversation with her Uncle Bobby. I don't know why she was calling Uncle Bobby, but she kept saying, "Hello, Bobby, Hello...I can't hear you". I guess the calling network for Gypsy Grippers aren't quite as good as Verizon or Sprint :)

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn