FABRIC & QUILTING

Newsletter Issue No. 6—Free Quilt Pattern, Tutorials and All That Jazz

Fabric, FABRIC & QUILTING, Free Digital Downloads-Freebies-Free Digital Printables, Quilts, Sewing, Sewing Patterns /

You’ve waited patiently for it and now it’s done! Our sixth issue of the newsletter has really become a digital magazine with all the stuff we try to pack into it!

This issue includes a new quilt pattern using Dress Up™, the inside scoop on Designer Workshop, tutorials from the Creative Team, a fabric tutorial on making a camera strap and so much more!

Visit the Carina Gardner Newsletter Issue No. 6 here.

Many of you have requested that we make the newsletter downloadable (which makes sense for those of you needing to print the patterns!). I made sure that this issue and all the previous issues now include the download button for your convenience. I also plan on getting smaller bite-sized downloads of the Dress Up™ Quilt, the Pinfeathers™ Quilt, and the new Dainty Blossoms™ Camera Strap Tutorials available soon.

Some of you saw my early picture of the Dress Up™ Quilt on Instagram (check my sidebar). I usually piece together all my quilts, but my mom helped me on this one. Things have been a bit busy and it’s such a blessing to have a quilting mama! She’s also planning on flying out a couple of weeks before Quilt Market to help me out with the tremendous amount of sewing we will be doing for my booth. The pattern instructions for this quilt are included in the 6th issue, and I hope you get a chance to make it! It’s simple and so sweet!

I’ll be back soon with my favorite way to cut bias strips and all those easy downloads!

Enjoy!

Carina

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Dainty Blossoms Is Here!

Dainty Blossoms Fabric Line, Fabric /

Yesterday I went to Christensen Wholesale’s new beautiful warehouse. First, it’s closer to me (which is always a plus), but the space is so lovely that I would have loved to wander among the racks for hours. I picked up all my cottons a few flannels and laminates for Dainty Blossoms™ to boot. My kids are hoping for pajamas. I think they are going to get their wish. Now to carve out time to sew.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend! Carina

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Paris and Company Fabric Line

Fabric, Paris and Company Fabric Line /

Here it is! A sneak peek at my newest line Paris and Company for Riley Blake! This line has a certain home decor feeling that I love. The colors are soft and oh so fabulous!

This line is currently on presale to quilt shops and will be available to everybody in April 2012. I’m pretty excited about this line since it is so different than any other fabric line I’ve designed so far.

Click on the image to see all three colorways of this line! It comes in 100% cottons and laminates. Yummy!

Hope you enjoy and I’m hoping to be back soon with some amazing projects by my creative team and a whole lot of photos from CHA. I’m flying in on Saturday and just staying the weekend. I’m sure I’ll have plenty to share.

Cheers! Carina

 

 

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Quilted Pillows Using Dainty Blossoms

CRAFTS, Dainty Blossoms Fabric Line, Fabric, Family /

If you haven’t had a chance to check out the Cutting Corner, you are really missing out. It’s a blog sponsored by Riley Blake Designs with all sorts of free tutorials and patterns. I just found this darling pillow tutorial using my Dainty Blossoms™ fabric line and had to share.

I myself have yet to make it down to the warehouse to pick up my bolts of this new line. I know that it is currently being shipped to stores. Have you seen it yet?

I know I’ve been a bit MIA this January, but ’tis the season for sickness. My family can’t seem to get healthy. So much has gone to the wayside as Flissa has been fighting a week-long fever that also involves strep. We’ve never seen anything this bad and ended up in the ER one night with her. Turns out she is just a kid that can run high fevers (107 degrees!—ya, we were freaked out.). Hoping that everyone starts feeling better before I head out to CHA this weekend…and here’s to hoping I don’t catch anything either!

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First of the Year

4 Comments / FABRIC & QUILTING, Family, Sewing Patterns /

It’s a couple of weeks into the New Year and it feels as if the busy from Christmas never really ended. I’m hankering to slow down, and with my little sis in town and my own health a little down, I’m planning to get a little more rest over the weekend.

I’m sure you’ve noticed that we had a much needed makeover here at the .com. I’m sighing with relief that it is mostly finished although there are still a couple of formatting things that are bugging me. But for the most part, the site is making me happy, it’s easier than ever to find stuff, and it absolutely feels like a fresh new year!

So here’s what we’ve been up to:

– Siri turned 8 (Just writing the number made me feel my age!). The pic to the left is her with all her wild-woman hair. That little face makes my heart smile! I haven’t even pulled all the pics off my camera to show you the party we threw. Soon…

– I’ve been preparing for Designer Workshop like mad! I’ve been happy that we have an even portion of seasoned designers with new designers. It’s going to be awesome!

– We have been shipping the new sewing patterns for a week now. If I thought that we had a lot of patterns before, well, I’ve probably reached my sewing pattern limit at the moment as my basement is currently overflowing. My very good husband got all of those patterns in and organized—no small task.

– I’ve had comments on whether I’ll be spilling the beans of my secret paper project at CHA. The sad answer is no. I will be attending CHA though for a couple of short days. And really, there are only a few months left before I will be opening up about my goings ons. I think you will enjoy! It’s taken me a long time to figure out my path in paper, and I’m excited to be able to open up in a few short months about what I will be doing.

– I have a new mentoring program available at JessicaSprague.com. It’s call Designer’s One-on-One Workshop. I thought it would be the next best step for those who are seeking to work more on their fabric, paper, marketing, and digital scrapbooking designs. It’s also a great intermediary step between Art of Digital Design 2 and whatever else I may decide to teach.

Hope your New Year was full of fun new resolutions and plenty of happiness!

Carina

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Dainty Blossoms Sling Sewing Pattern

Dainty Blossoms Fabric Line, Sewing Patterns /

Here it is! Introducing our final pattern the Dainty Blossoms™ Sling! This is a multipurpose, easy-going bag!

It’s a bag that makes toting all your necessaries easy for the mom-on-the-go or the carry-it-all professional. Have fun mixing and matching fabrics for the flower accessory.

The Dainty Blossoms™ Sling is fully-lined for a professional finish.

Wheww! And that concludes the introduction of our next four sewing patterns! Want to see them all again? Here’s our sewing pattern page: https://carinagardner.com/sewing-patterns/.

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas! You’ll see these patterns in quilt shops soon! I expect to see the shipment any day now. (Yippeee!)

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Dainty Blossoms Fabric at Riley Blake Studios

1 Comment / Dainty Blossoms Fabric Line, Fabric, Sewing, Sewing Patterns /

I spent a little time in Alpine last week with my art directors working on some new concepts for fabric lines. I walked into the office and saw this GORGEOUS quilt Jina Barney had made with the Dainty Blossoms™ line. It totally took me by surprise! And even though I knew the fabric was going to beautiful in a quilt, actually SEEING it in a quilt made me want to make one ASAP.

Seriously, this photo doesn’t do this quilt justice. At. All.

And if you are quilter, you KNOW how difficult it is to photograph a quilt decently (Definitely, not on my list of things that are easy to take pictures of).

I made sure to grab some scraps so that I could put one together over Christmas break with the kids.

I also found out that two more of my lines are on presale so I will be introducing them to you pretty soon here.

Oh ya, and I promise to introduce the final sewing pattern this week (But while you wait you can check out how darling the mermaid doll pattern is with the Dainty Blossoms™ fabric for the tail…Yipp-eek!).

Happy sewing!

Carina

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Chic Mademoiselle Outfit Sewing Pattern

Dainty Blossoms Fabric Line, Sewing, Sewing Patterns /

Sorry I’ve been away so long. Last week got away from me and I had so much to post (and will now have to play catch up all week). Among other things, our little family came down with some nasty viruses, which put me in bed all day Saturday and put Josh on sick-kiddie-duty all weekend. But we are mostly recovered now, and I’m back to the computer again.

Among the many things I’ve been needing to do is continue to announce our new sewing patterns. Up on the list is the Chic Mademoiselle Outfit.

This an outfit that I plan on making alot of. Siri  and Flissa loved wearing the samples, and you can bet that the Dainty Blossoms™ fabric will be used for this springtime outfit. The outfit shows yardage for no ruffles, a single neckline ruffle (shown), or three ruffles (across the front of the blouse). The ruffle pants and ruffle barrette are pretty fun as well.

The blouse has an invisible zipper down one of the sides and is fully-lined for a professional finish. I think it is one my easiest patterns to make (even if I do say so myself) and if you don’t like making ruffles, it’s just as cute without a ruffle on the neckline.

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And because I have decided to hijack my own post (don’t mind if I do), here are a list of other things going on right about now:

+ The four new sewing patterns are due out the first week of January 2012 (okay, that wasn’t much of a hijack since I dedicated this post to a sewing pattern).
+ Photos of my finished studio are coming soon…da da dah.
+ Our Dec-Jan newsletter is in the works
+ Two brand new fabric lines for Riley Blake Designs (out March and June of 2012)—announcements to come!
+ Lots and Lots of new digital lines (BTW, have you seen the awesome sale on THESE and THESE over at JessicaSprague.com?)
+ Lots of awesome new projects with Dainty Blossoms™ (due out in less than a month!)
+ Our family has a serious obsession with the Muppets right now.
+ Mah na Mah na
+ Siri played her harp in public for the first time (Silent Night at church…I count that :).
+ I’ve been very good about keeping my December clear and empy-ish of work-ish type things this December.
+ Which means I am thinking about starting a holiday puzzle on my coffee table for kicks.
+ Or doing some much needed sewing.
+ Either way, I’m pretty happy with the pace of things in the studio.
+ Just a reminder you have another week to enter the giveaway here.
+ As well as a reminder to have a happy holiday season!

Cheers, Carina

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Pinfeathers Fabric and Sweetwater Frames Giveaway

44 Comments / Fabric, Family, Giveaways, Holiday Projects /

Monday morning after a long weekend of fun (tomorrow I’ll post about it). But for now, I wanted to help you win some more fabric and a lovely frame from Sweet Water Frames.

On the giveaway table today is a full fat quarter set of Pinfeathers Peacock Blue fabrics (9 fabrics in all) and Sweet Water Frame’s 3×3 Rasley Ornament in Green apple (shown below). All you have to do is leave a comment on this thread to be entered to win BOTH of these.

I believe I have talked about Sweetwater Frames here before. Last week I finally ordered our family pictures for the custom 24″ x 36″ frame I purchased from them. It looks amazing over my antique piano (See my frame below). I purchased the Powell in antique white, but I’m so in love with the black frames, I can see myself coming back for more!

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That green apple is ADORABLE isn’t it? And my frame isn’t bad either:). Btw, because I know you are going to ask, the family portrait was taken by my lovely assistant Susan.

So leave a comment to get the green frame and some Pinfeathers!

XOXO-Carina

PS. This giveaway ends on Sunday, December 18th!

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Rini Doll and Mermaid Sewing Pattern

9 Comments / Fabric, Sewing, Sewing Patterns /

Introducing our second new pattern due out this January—The Rini Doll and Mermaid. Yep, that’s right. At the request my own little mermaid-fanatics, I incorporated a mermaid tail option into this pattern.

And I don’t think you’ll be disappointed with all the other options: 4 different hair styles, 4 different bang styles, an optional mermaid tail, a ruffle dress, skirt, and plenty of accessories!

The face is an easy embroidery project (as is the tail). The dress and skirt are fun accessories that your little sewer could make too. Make multiple clothing items for this little lovey up! Or simply sew a fun fabric into the body as the outfit.

The finished doll is  about 22 inches long and the finished mermaid is about 15 inches long.

 

 

 

 

 

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I can see myself making a lot more of these in the coming month. I love using scraps of fabric, felt, and fleece for this doll (measurements come in yardage AND scrap fabric sizes).

I’ll be introducing the third sewing pattern in a couple of days…

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Winners of Baby Safari and Giveaway for Dress Up Fabric

17 Comments / Fabric, Family, Free Digital Downloads-Freebies-Free Digital Printables, Giveaways, Sewing, Stuff I Love /

Thank you to everyone who entered the Baby Safari Giveaway! Reading what everyone was doing this holiday season was so inspiring and touched my heart! I had a horrible time deciding, and I implore you to continue to enter the giveaways during this month since I wanted so badly to give every one of you a fat quarter set!

Here are the winners from the blog:

Rosemary says:

This is THE BEST pumpkin pie I’ve ever tasted. It’s the one my family requests to have for Thanksgiving from now on. Happy Baking :) {Pumpkin Praline Pie Recipe in the comments! I might have to give this one a try! Thanks for sharing Rosemary!}

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April says:

This holiday we are trying to have a homemade Christmas. One of my daughters is helping me make quilts for almost everyone . . . a big project. It is hard to find things to make for men so we are really thinking hard on that one. We have a new baby in the family so I thought your fabrics would be fun to do something with. Have a great holiday and thank you for sharing your creativity with us and all your fun ideas and art work.

That’s a big project April! Men’s fabrics are so DIFFICULT (Believe me as I have been trying to work on a fabric line for “big boys.”) Hopefully, these fabrics help a bit with the “little boys” in your life!

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Vanessa B says:

A few years ago we started a new family tradition in the spirit of giving and the holidays that each one of us would do at least 1 good deed and then speak about it during Christmas Dinner…so Im looking forward to the holiday meal and hearing what each has done out of the kindness of their hearts for someone they know or a complete stranger. Turns out my family is very kind, even to strangers :-) I would luv to win these fabrics, Thanks for the chance!

Vanessa, your family tradition melts my heart! Oh, if we all could just be a little kinder during the hoildays (and throughout the year!). What a sweet tradition!

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Martine says:

Hopefully ithis year it will be a fertile Christmas…Just before Christmas our IVF program will end, maybe next year there will be a small family under the tree!

Martine, I’m wishing you the best of luck in this!!!

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Here are the winners from the Facebook Page:

Jasa Clos  says:

We will just be enjoying having Jake home this year, he was in Iraq for Christmas last year and opened gifts over skype. I have a new little neighbor that sure would enjoy a new quilt and the fabrics are just great.

Bless your heart! So happy for you will have Jake back and I hope you enjoy the fabrics!

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Gemma Robillard says

Beautiful – what a nice giveaway!! I would love to give these to my mom since she’s a new quilter and making gorgeous quilts. Hey, that’s a nice Christmas gift! ;).

How sweet are you? I hope you both get to enjoy them!

Winners: Please email me at carina@carinagardner.com with your address and we will have these sent out ASAP!

Thank you again for all of your comments—for sharing how you plan to slow down, your recipes (Meg, I WILL be trying to make that apple crisp!), how you are going to cuddle with the ones you love, travel, and play in the snow! (We are also enjoying the recent downfall here in SLC.)

It was so hard to decide on who to choose for this last giveaway, that the rest of the upcoming freebies will be chosen by the random number generator:). lol. Less pressure on me! Just keep those wonderful, inspiring comments rolling!

This week I’m giving away two FULL sets of Dress Up—yep, that is 11 juicy fat quarter fabrics in each set! This giveaway will end on Friday. (That would be Nov. 25, Black Friday, Sale Day, National Standing-in-Line Day, Left-Over Turkey Day, and any other name you can give it..)

Tell me your favorite Thanksgiving Food in the comments below to be entered!

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Introduction to the New Sewing Pattern—Garden Party Outfit

1 Comment / Fabric, Sewing, Sewing Patterns /

I’ve been keeping secrets for months and now it’s time to spill the beans! Here’s the first of my next four sewing patterns! Get ready to check these out at your local quilt shop January 2012.

Ready to pull out your sewing machines? Because you will want to when you see all the pretties I’ll be showing you the next few weeks!

What’s new in these patterns? The best new feature is that the patterns now span 2T to 10. They also feature the European sizing equivalent. As always they have a metric conversion chart and glossary of terms.

Susan’s daughter Paige and my daughter Siri got dolled up to help me photograph My Garden Party Outfit! The front cover is one of my personal favorites since I have a soft spot for these two girls.

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All my new patterns feature my new line for Riley Blake Dainty Blossoms™ (also due out this January!).

The Garden Party Outfit sewing pattern features 2 dresses, a blouse, and skirt. The V-shaped neckline makes this outfit delicate and unique all at once.

Paige is rocking the blouse and skirt while Siri is wearing Dress B—a simple V-necked dress with a sewn-in sash. The third outfit is a V-necked straight dress with a seperate sash you tie on (Dress A).

You can check out the back of this sewing pattern here.

If you are a retailer, you can check out our list of distributors here. This list may be changing in the near future so check back often.

Want the fabric or sewing patterns at your local retailer? Make sure you call them and ask for the lines!

Last thing—make sure you have entered for the fabric giveaway below and watch for the next one!

Happy sewing! Carina

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Giving

70 Comments / Free Digital Downloads-Freebies-Free Digital Printables, Giveaways, Holiday Projects, Sewing, Sewing Patterns /

It’s November, and I’ve told myself that this year the holidays are going to be a little different. Instead of the rush, rush, rush, I’m hoping to really live in the present this holiday season and remember to be grateful for what I have. I’ve cleared out my schedule of any “hard” deadlines and while I certainly will be working, I hope to work at a more relaxed pace.

So maybe it’s a change in attitude about the holidays?

Either way, I have been thinking alot about being grateful and generously giving. And as always, my thoughts have turned to this blog and how I can share with you—make your life a little more pleasant or a little more beautiful.

…and that’s when I decided that I wanted to spend the next couple of months sharing with you more craft ideas and more “stuff” on this blog.

So there you have it—it’s officially the season of “giving” here on my blog. And to kick it off, I have 6 fat quarter packs of Baby Safari that I am giving away! Four packs (there are 6 fabrics in a pack) will be given away to comments on this blog post and two packs will be given away on the Facebook thread that links this post. Tell me what you are doing this holiday season. Maybe it’s a tradition or something new. Maybe it’s a scrumptious holiday recipe or the time you plan on cuddling with grandbabies. Whatever it is, share it! Winners will be announced on Sunday evening on both the blog and facebook page.

More fat quarter packs to come, announcements of new sewing patterns, more holiday craft tutorials, and lots of eye candy!

Hoping you also find a lot of joy this holiday season! -Carina

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Delicious Fabric

2 Comments / Fabric, Sewing, Stuff I Love /

I’m a sucker for fabric all lined up, ironed, and folded pretty (who isn’t?). So I took this picture of some freshly cut fabric my lovely new intern cut up for me to send to my mother. My mom, who is an amazing seamstress and quilter, is (thankfully) testing my next quilt design for our January newsletter. Doesn’t it look pretty all ready to be sent off and happily quilted? Lucky fabric.

And now I’m going to drop a hint. Next week begins a really wonderful, really giving kind of thing on this blog. You are going to want to watch for that post…

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Red Blanky

2 Comments / Fabric, Family /

I’ve been working in an amazing mess, but finally the shelving is up so I am no longer walking on fabric. And yes, that sewing machine is sitting in it’s new spot, but no, I cannot show you anything else because the mess around that one spot is in-cred-i-ble. Seriously.

Plus we’re only in phase one of the studio makeover so everything else now gets to come down (one mess at a time!).

So the picture at the top of this post it really to highlight the project I have been working on. I have a new favorite website— Spoonflower. It’s a site that lets you uploaded your own custom designs to be turned into fabric. It has saved my life since Siri wanted me to “recreate” her red blanky.

I’ve mentioned Siri’s red blanky before here. Last year, red blanky was so ragged and beaten (partially because it was my red blanky first before it got passed on to Siri) that my mom cut it up and placed it into a quilt so Siri would still be able to snuggle it.

Apparently, good intentions have turned against me. Siri has been pretty weepy since we “preserved” red blanky.

She can’t understand why I won’t just have one of my manufacturers make me some new red blanky fabric, but as you can see, this is not the, um, prettiest fabric in the world. Okay, I’ll say it—it’s downright hideous. But I love it and she loves it, so forget pretty.

I scanned in the old fabric (now in quilt blocks) and reworked the pattern in Photoshop to make it repeat. I sent it off to Spoonflower and whola! New red blanky! The top photo is the new blanky and you can check it against the “before” photo there with Siri five years ago.

Not a bad match—even if I do say so myself.

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A New Flickr Group

Sewing, Sewing Patterns /

I’m finally getting around to some things that have been sitting on my backburner for some time now. One of those things is a new flickr group for all you fabric and sewing pattern fashionistas!  Yes, yes, I know it’s taken me a year to get around to creating such a group, but I’m doing it now, right? Better late than never?

The new flickr group is called Your Carina Gardner Fabric and Sewing Pattern Projects—as to imply, if you make something with my fabric or with one of my sewing patterns, I want to see it! Sure I get google alerts, and I can see that you are making things and just putting them on your blog. But it would be so nice if someone about to make the blouse from the Playdate Outfit could see how fabulous your blouse turned out! If you’ve made a darling blanket with my Baby Safari line, I’m going to want to see it!

So will you please, please do me a favor and shower me with all your fabulous sewing and put your photos in this new flickr gallery?

And if you are a scrapbooker, be sure and check out the layout flickr gallery (and add yours!). It’s bejeweled with The Raven line just in time for Halloween!

Oh, and you can always go to the flickr galleries by checking out the links on the sidebar (ya, over there on the right…and yes, you will have to scroll down alot!)

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Issue No. 5 of the Newsletter—Spraguefest and Tutorials

3 Comments / Fabric, Free Digital Downloads-Freebies-Free Digital Printables, Jessica Sprague, Scrapbooking, Sewing Patterns, Stuff I Love, Tutorials /

Wheww! Here it is! Our fifth issue of the newsletter. This thing just gets bigger and bigger! This one is 39 pages long with a huge section on Spraguefest, an introduction to Susan, a quilt pattern, a coupon code for Designer Workshop, and tutorials galore!

Be sure and check out the calendar at the end…it’s a sneak peek into the “big stuff” coming up the next few months here in the studio.

Here’s you link to Newsletter Issue No. 5:

https://carinagardner.com/newsletter/carina-gardner-newsletter-issue-no-5/

Enjoy!

Carina

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More To Come…

2 Comments / Fabric, Jessica Sprague, Quilt Market, Quilts, Sewing Patterns /

It’s been so busy since I got back from Vegas that I haven’t posted anything (well, much of anything) about Spraguefest. In fact, there was so much to show and write about that we decided to just add it to our newsletter.

In fact, we’ve got a lot of great stuff coming out in this quarter’s newsletter including an introduction to the fabulous Susan (many references, but never a formal introduction). How about a new quilt pattern? Simple and modern…you know me! Keep your eyes out for the 5th issue of our newsletter coming in a couple of days! Never seen our newsletter? You can check them out (and sign up for) them here.

So what’s been keeping me so busy? I just finished Art of Digital Design 2, which was critique-heavy. Everyone did a great job and it is sad to see that class end:(. The other thing I have been working on has kept my sewing machine a-humin’. If you attend Quilt Market, keep an eye out for my goodies in the Riley Blake booth. So what is it you say (the suspense is killing me!)? Four brand-new patterns! They won’t arrive until January, but I’ll give you lots of sneak peeks and Riley Blake will be showing off these new patterns in Dainty Blossoms™ at Quilt Market in Houston.

Lots of good things coming…get ready!

Carina

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Quilting, Er, Napping Cat

1 Comment / CRAFTS, Fabric, Quilts, Sewing /

Rosy and I agree about many things.

Sleeping is good. Eating is good. Snuggling is good. Back scratches are really, really good.

Where we disagree is our take on quilting (and oh! the contention!). Rosy believes half-finished blocks are perfect for napping on. I, personally, like to see the quilt get finished before it is napped on.

I guess we have to disagree about something.

Quilt sent to machine quilter…check.

House completely wrecked…check.

Half packed for Vegas…check.

Siri has new glasses right in time for picture day…check (will show off soon!)

Ready to fall into bed…check!

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Quick In and Out

3 Comments / CRAFTS, Fabric, Sewing, Sewing Patterns /

Stopping in rather quickly so you get my take on the display I had at Mormon Handicraft Quilting Shop on Saturday night.

-I literally ran around my house 20 minutes before grabbing everything in sight (including the wreath on the door) for the display.
– It took three trips from car to store to haul in all my stuff in.
-I realized I was missing the stand with all my clothing.
– I frantically called Josh
– Who saved the day.
– I was sweating.
– Not from forgetting the stand but because of all the trips from the car into the shop.
– I hope I didn’t stink.
– But everyone was so polite that I doubt they would have told me if I did.
– I’ve never seen so many women in the shop at one time before (See photo below!).
– I had a blast chatting it up with everyone.
-Everyone was in love with the wreath and those darn easy-to-make flags (no there isn’t a tutorial on it, but grab the pattern from the Love Nest™ Flag Quilt if you want!).

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-You are getting a sneak peak here of the doll pattern coming out in January (think mermaids!)
-No, they aren’t coming out before then and
-Yes, the pattern includes removable clothing (should you make the doll rather than the mermaid version).
– I got more oohs and ahhs over the lamp than anything else (And it’s just gathering and hot glue!)
-DeAnna (above left) has convinced me that a trunk show is in order (Maybe January?)
-Elise and Jessica (also above right) were awfully nice to let me take this picture of them.
– I’m not sure if I’ve ever shown my sketches of my designs before they hit fabric (See the paisley from Coquette™ below).
-So there it is:).

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– And last and very unrelated (but important for those of you who like free fabric), there is a giveaway of Pinfeathers fabric over at the Craft Girls Workshop Facebook page. All you have to do is add your comment to the post! Check it out here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Crafty-Girls-Workshop/174744046778

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Mormon Handicraft

1 Comment / CRAFTS, Fabric, Jessica Sprague, Sewing, Sewing Patterns /

The last couple of days I’ve been running around getting ready for Spraguefest and the launch of my new line of sewing patterns. My friends Susan and Ashley spent a couple of nights helping me package up these fat quarters and coupons for the Spraguefest grab bags. Stacks of eye candy!

Speaking of eye candy, I’m going to be hanging out tonight at the Fort Union Mormon Handicraft Quilt Shop for their semi-annual event with lots of samples from my sewing patterns and sneak peeks at my new ones! I’ll be talking about fabric and generally hanging out! Come by if you are in the Salt Lake area from about 5:30pm to 8pm. Mormon Handicraft is located in the Deseret Book at 1110 FORT UNION BLVD, MIDVALE, UT  84047-1804. I’m told that it is a crazy event with lots of giveaways, sales, and general fun for the ladies.

Hope to see you!

XOXO-Carina

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Pinfeathers Rosetta Wreath- Free Download

5 Comments / Fabric, Free Digital Downloads-Freebies-Free Digital Printables, Sewing, Tutorials /

My sister-in-law walked in as I was making this wreath and said, “Weren’t you just complaining about the number of wreaths you have?” Ummm, yep. I might have too many wreaths. But this one is just SOOO cute! (justification, justification).

So this is definately a time-consuming project but with only a couple of steps. I recommend doing it in front of a really good movie (We were watching Howl’s Moving Castle when I made this one).

The final result is so adorable that I could get a little crazy with this idea—cone shaped trees, ornaments…okay, I’m just going to stop right there.

Download the instructions by clicking on the photo!

Have fun! -Carina

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Baby Bib and More Tutorial from Pink Chalk Fabrics

1 Comment / Jessica Sprague, Sewing /

I spotted this darling tutorial over at the fabulous Pink Chalk Studios using my Baby Safari line. It includes a bib, baby booties, baggie, and taggie. For the full set of instructions and pattern check it out here:

http://pinkchalkstudio.com/blog/2011/09/09/one-yard-wonders-sew-along-%E2%80%93-week-36-finished-projects/

As for me, I’m finishing up Art of Digital Design 2’s critiques today. I might be losing my voice. Thankfully next week’s critique is written!

Oh, check out this blog post over at Riley Blake if you get a chance!

Happy Sewing!

Carina

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Flannel and Oilcloth

2 Comments / Fabric, Sewing Patterns, Workshops /

I went to check my strike-offs yesterday at Riley Blake for Dainty Blossoms™ and found out some exciting news! Not only will cottons be available for the line, but oilcloth and flannels! The oilcloth and flannels will be in the large floral (the left-hand corner fabric in the digital magazine) and all the dots. I was practically jumping for joy!

In other news, my little Flissa started preschool this week. With Siri in school and Flissa in morning preschool, it’s the first time I’ve had the opportunity to work during the day. It’s pretty exciting as I’ve been hoping to get rid of my late-night design binges! heehee! Fliss has been SO ready to go to school (with big sister out of house and the entire neighborhood in kindergarten, there is only me to entertain her—not the coolest prospect).

So I’m going to happily (and hopefully) finish our new sewing pattern line this coming month (look for all the sneak peeks in the October newsletter) and finish teaching the Art of Digital Design 2 (It’s been a blast!).

We’re also finishing up the final touches of our new workshop this winter! Be sure and check it out! We’ve been so excited about the interest and would love to see you there for this design marathon! Bring your husband along to ski while you hang out with the girls!

Please note that this workshop has a cap of 20 students. Make sure and reserve your spot to attend this event.

XOXO-Carina

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Bike Basket Tutorial

3 Comments / CRAFTS, Fabric, Sewing, Tutorials /

Check out my bike basket tutorial on Celebrations blog! I made these for our bikes for the Gardner family reunion/triathlon. A triathlon, you say? Yes, I feel like I should explain that it is not a REAL triathlon. It kind of goes something like this:

Run, Eat, Bike, Eat, Swim (it seems like we should eat after that too)

Really, it’s an amazing extended family event to help us all get in shape. And we do eat between all the event (Run at 10am, Lunch, Bike at 2pm, Dinner, and Swim at 7pm).

Anyway, back to the bike basket. In order to have Siri and Felicity participate, I ordered them bike connectors. Felicity and I did 8 miles. Josh and Siri made it the entire 12 miles. I was pretty proud we made it as far as we did because it was a horribly, hot day and I managed to get sunburned (go figure!).

Thank goodness for the baskets holding our water and goodies!

Fabrics shown here are from my Pinfeathers collection.

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Favorites

3 Comments / Fabric, Sewing, Sewing Patterns, Stuff I Love /

Here are some of my favorites taken from the photoshoot with Susan that didn’t make it into the newsletter. I hope you enjoy too!

Getting ready—I was pleased when Susan walked into my house and said it wasn’t as bad as she expected it to be! (We fixed that only moments later).

Years of girls’ camp practice and having three younger sisters finally pays off!

This one just warms my heart.

Secrets, secrets…

Hmmm, could Felicity have jumped into this photo at the last minute to give us a cheesy smile? Yes. Yes, she did.

Someone thinks she is SO funny.

Obviously, bribery is in order. (You can’t see it, but I’m wearing a ring pop to stick in her mouth between photos).

]

Bribery is apparently not working.

Okay, it’s obvious we are going to need to focus on someone else willing model. Meet Sophie. One of next door neighbor’s daughters. She was a perfect angel on this shoot. I MIGHT have started making her dress two hours before the shoot. Ya, it was that kind of day.

This is Paige, Susan’s daughter. I don’t think we got a bad shot out of her.

Speaking of the devil—here’s Susan herself.

My other child (much more willing, but not by much) to let us take pictures.

There’s that ring pop!

I adore this one!

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Dainty Blossoms for Riley Blake Designs

1 Comment / CRAFTS, Fabric, Sewing /

If you missed it, the fourth issue of the newsletter announced my move to Riley Blake Designs for all my new fabric lines starting with the release of Dainty Blossoms™ in January 2012. I am so excited for you to see the work I have been doing with them! All of it is so beautiful and will make the most amazing sewing patterns!

I don’t think Dainty Blossoms™ is up yet at the Riley Blake website, but it shouldn’t be too long before you see it up for presale (for quilt shops only). So my digital maggie on this is even more of a sneeky, sneeky peek. Check it out!

Today I also started my new Art of Digital Design 2 class. It’s going to be a blast, and I’m so excited about the group of students taking it!

Going to take a break from my computer now to get things going around my house. We just got back from a little family get together at Bear Lake and my house is in need of some TLC.

Happy Monday!

Carina

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Carina Gardner Quarterly Newsletter (Issue No. 4)

2 Comments / CRAFTS, Fabric, Scrapbooking, Sewing, Sewing Patterns, Stuff I Love, Tutorials /

FINALLY! We’ve finished our fourth issue of our newsletter! Better late than never, right?

I think this is our best issue so far. First of all, there are a LOT of photos. And tutorials. And photos. And an announcement (which links to ANOTHER digital magazine). And did I mention photos?

It’s seriously delicious!

Susan has already posted a bit on getting ready for this crazy photoshoot (see it here). I can tell you right now that we had so many amazing photos that I’m not going to be able to resist posting them.

But first, click on the newsletter to the left here and take a peek at all the fun we were up to in the studio.

https://carinagardner.com/newsletter/carina-gardner-newsletter-issue-no-4/

More photos to come!

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Hair Accessories

2 Comments / Fabric, Sewing /

These darling flowers were made out my Baby Safari, Dress Up, and Pinfeathers lines by Poppies Pretties. I was completely smitten with them (as I am sure you are too)! You can check out her etsy shop at http://www.etsy.com/shop/poppiespretties. I’m sure she’ll have accessories using the fabrics shown here for sale in the near future.

We used a couple of these accessories in our photo shoot yesterday (I’m jumping up and down with anticipation to show you all the results!). I’m almost finished with are newsletter and my new fabric line coming out in January. Oh yes, it’s going to be good!

Now that I am finished writing and taping Art of Digital Design 2, I’ve got a little more time to play with all this great fabric. More to come…

(Baby Safari fabric shown here)

____________________________________________________________

(Pinfeathers fabric shown above)

(Dress Up fabric shown above)

(Pinfeathers fabric shown above)

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Pinfeathers Birdie Lace Up Tutorial

1 Comment / Fabric, Sewing, Sewing Patterns, Tutorials /

Get ready for a whole lot of fabric fabulous-ness! It’s been a lot of midnight sew-a-thons around here to show off this fabulous fabric. Susan and I have been hard at work! Here’s the first tutorial from the studio!

This is a really cute skill-building toy for preschoolers as little fingers will work on gaining their fine motor skills by lacing the strings through the holes! It also makes a darling decorative display item in the home or is a great project for a child’s birthday party.

Materials

  • Carina’s Partridge Bird Pattern-Free Download
  • 1/3 yard heavyweight fast2fuse, thin piece of cardboard, or heavyweight Wonder Under.
  • 1 fat quarter for a single-sided bird or 2 fat quarters (for an alternate fabric) for a double sided bird
  • Colorful shoelace or cording 1/8′ to 1/4″ diameter. Length will be vary depending on the size of your bird.
  • Fabric glue
  • Paper punch

Instructions

1.     Your first step is to download the PDF of the partridge from Carina’s Partridge Bird Pattern. At this point you can decide how large you want your lace up project to be. The smaller the child the larger you may want to make the bird so that they will have something substantial to hold in their hand and lace up!

2.    Adjust the percent for the size you need and print your bird.

3.    If you are using the Fast2Fuse, you will fuse your fabric onto the Fast2Fuse according to the manufacturer’s instructions on the Fast2Fuse packaging.

4.    Trace the bird patterns onto the fused fabric and cut them out.

5.    Use a good hole punch to punch the holes for the lacing.

6.    Knot one end of the the shoelace and lace it through the first hole pulling it to the knot.

Alternate method

You can also make a Pinfeather’s Birdie Lace Up using a very thin piece of cardboard. Tracing the bird onto the cardboard, you cut out the bird’s shape. Then trace the bird pattern onto the fabric. Use spray fabric glue to glue the fabric to the thin cardboard bird. Use a hole punch to punch holes. Finally finish the project with step #6.

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Deadlines

1 Comment / Fabric, Sewing /

I’ve managed to put myself under a number of deadlines in the next couple of weeks, so what do I decide to do? Oh ya, write a blog post. It’s an attempt at procrastination that will only end in a night filled with editing class videos.

Part of my problem is that when I plop myself into my chair, I have a gorgeous view of all my new fabrics—just sitting there, begging to be sewn, cut, cuddled on, worn, quilted, and any other number of things you can do with such glorious amounts of fabric.

It’s killing me.

It would kill you too right?

I’m not just being dramatic am I?

All right, well, enough of the whining and back to business. I get to spend the entire weekend working with that wall o’ wonderfulness.

Hope to be back with some eye candy soon!

Hugs-Carina

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Playhouse to Clubhouse

5 Comments / Fabric, Family, Holiday Projects, Sewing, Stuff I Love /

We got a Costco playset in April, which has kept my kids outside most of the summer. I had this idea that I was going to make it more of a “clubhouse” by making curtains for it.

Fast forward to yesterday (aka 4 months later). I picked up Amanda’s red polka dot laminate at Riley Blake’s warehouse. I was so excited that I stayed up late into the night to pound grommets into the curtains (much harder than I anticipated). I’m hoping the laminate holds up okay outside. I’ll probably pull the curtains down before winter and bring them inside for a good washing.

I might have given in and decided it was time to just buy a drill (instead of borrowing the neighbor’s) to install the curtain rods. Maybe I was tired of digging in someone else’s garage. Or maybe I decided that a girl just needs a drill of her own. The three of us headed to Home Depot this afternoon to get some hardware for installing the Tacksam Curtain rod sets from Ikea ($3.99 a rod).

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Now Siri can sell in her “shop” better than ever. Although she has informed me that they will still be making potions down there (but now they can close the curtains so that the non-witches will not steal the recipes).

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Carina Gardner Sewing Pattern Giveaway at the Boutique Cafe

1 Comment / Fabric, Free Digital Downloads-Freebies-Free Digital Printables, Interviews, Quilt Market, Sewing, Sewing Patterns /

At Quilt Market this last May I had the opportunity to visit with Daria at the Boutique Café. She has the interview up and a giveaway of one my sewing patterns. You’ll notice I make a big announcement about where my fabric is going at the end of the interview (did you catch it?). We will officially announce and show you some yummy samples of the new fabric line in our next newsletter.

Speaking of sewing patterns, I’m in the middle of finishing up two more patterns! I hope to have them finished up by the end of the month (waiting on my Pinfeathers, Dress Up, and Baby Safari to arrive to finish them up!). I can’t wait to show you! So back to the sewing machine for me!

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June Salt Lake City Shop Hop

1 Comment / Fabric, Sewing, Sewing Patterns /

If you are in the Salt Lake area, you should check out the Wasatch Front Shop Hop going on this weekend. Fourteen shops (listed below) are participating and it’s a total blast!  I had a chance to drop by Mormon Handicraft over by Fort Union Blvd. on Wednesday to check out their display of my sewing patterns. Thought I’d take a moment to share some quick photos I took!

It makes me so happy!:)

All the shops participating have their shops decorated with the theme “The Greatest Quilt I Ever Read.” Here are the shops participating the Wasatch Front Shop Hop:

American Quilting (Orem), Mormon Handicraft (Midvale), Sew Sweet (Tooele), Broadbents (Lehi), Pin Needles (West Jordan), Stitching Corner (Orem), Corn Wagon Quilt Co. (Springville), Piper’s Quilts and Comforts (Salt Lake City), Thimbles and Threads (Draper), Elaine’s Quilt Block (Cottonwood Heights), Quilter’s Haven (Bountiful), Village Dry Goods (Brigham City), Quilts Etc. (Sandy), and Whimsy Cottage (Holladay).

I believe the shop hop runs from June 15th-18th. Hope you get a chance to drop by one of these wonderful shops!

XOXO-Carina

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A Bit Ruffled

1 Comment / Fabric, Family, Sewing /

…in the best way possible of course! Susan says I get bonus points for the pom poms on top (They are kind of hard to see on the top of the lamp in these photos).

This lamp shade is a breeze to make. I think I got the shade from IKEA (a couple of years ago) and the lamp from a consignment shop. It takes two 5″ x 43″ strips of fabrics to make each ruffle (I have 5 ruffles here using my Love Nest™ fabrics). Hot glue ruffles, pom poms, and a ribbon on top and you are done. How easy was that? Into my girl’s room it goes!

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Riley Blake’s 80s Party

3 Comments / Family, Quilt Market /

Crimped hair, jellys, and awful blue eye shadow…classic 80s. Here we are on our way to Riley Blake’s 80s party. My brother-in-law said that Josh looks like Glenn Gulia—the resemblance IS uncanny.

I haven’t posted for a while so here’s a few things going on:

+ I have been working hard on Art of Digital Design critiques. I hope to have them finished this coming week!

+ Art of Digital Design 2 will be up at JessicaSprague.com sometime this coming month. The class will start August 22nd. Plan on some serious designwork and a series of assignments that will help take your skills to a whole new level!

+ If you are a sewing superstar, check out my 3 fabric lines coming out June-July. Of course, we will have free quilt patterns and projects on the blog and newsletter.

+ Along with new fabric lines, comes sewing patterns! Expect 3 more patterns shipped to stores in July! I am SO excited about the new children’s clothing we are introducing! Hopefully, you’ve had a chance to get your hands on one of our current patterns & checked out the beautiful packaging and easy instructions.

Happy crafting!

Carina

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Spring Quilt Market 2011

2 Comments / CRAFTS, Fabric, Quilt Market, Quilts, Sewing, Sewing Patterns, Stuff I Love /

I was a happy girl at Quilt Market this weekend. Susan and Emily walked the show with me and we have a fabulous time! It was nice to have market in town (here in SLC). Here’s a sampling of my Friday (prepare yourself for a long and picture-heavy post!):

This was fun! My little bio at Northcott and a few of my patterns on display at The Pattern Peddler’s booth.

The absolutely delicious Riley Blake booth! And I feel silly because I completely forgot to take pictures of the Little Miss Suntop and Skirt model & the High Tea Soiree Dress model while I was hanging out. I’ll get photos of them when I pick them up.

(You know that Riley Blake is giving away this Beach Cruiser, right?)

Susan was cracking us all up with her enthusiasm! Here she is getting a Moda tattoo. Classic Susan!

And me forcing her to pose in a window frame.

Those gorgeous hats (above) are a new pattern by Amanda of the Quilted Fish. Seriously, adorable!

Here’s one of my new favorite people-Rebeckah Merkle. Here booth was fab and she was sweet too! She has a new line with Timeless Treasures.

This fabulous footwear belongs to Anna Marie Horner’s daughter. Anna Marie passed on some serious style to her daughter.

If you attended market, you might have joined in the All Dolled Up contest that was going on. This fabulous quilt was at one of those booths. And that flower…well, how could I NOT take a photograph of it? Of course, I have no idea what booth it was in.

Me with the extremely nice Joel Dewberry. The amazing frame and mini quilt are by Gigi’s Thimble.

Emily in total bliss as she picks up EQ7!

These lovely ladies (Megan of the Brassy Apple and Daria of the Boutique Cafe) are giving away one of my Ruffle Dress Patterns! Check out their podcast interview with me in a couple of weeks at the Boutique Cafe!

Finally, I had to show you a little goodness from the Seven Islands booth. I think Susan was drooling…literally.

That’s a pretty decent sampling of my two days at market. Hopefully, I’ll get some pics up soon of Josh and me in our 80’s gear for the Riley Blake party. If I haven’t scared you away yet, that post might do it.

Happy sewing!

Carina

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Machine Quilting Show

Fabric, Quilt Market, Quilts, Sewing /

On Saturday, I did a quick run down to the Southtowne Expo to visit the Machine Quilting Show. It was a busy day, but I’m so glad I had a chance to go. My friends Emily and Laura spotted my Love Next™ fabric in this darling quilt…it made my day!

I’m pretty excited about this coming week…it’s Quilt Market! While you won’t see me with a booth at this one, you will be able to catch me part of the day on Friday at the Riley Blake and Northcott booths. You’ll be able to check out my next three lines due out this summer at the Northcott booth. I’ll also be wandering the show. Feel free to stop me and say hello!

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