Dainty Blossoms Fabric at Riley Blake Studios

December 13, 2011 by carina 1 Comment

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

Pinfeathers Fabric and Sweetwater Frames Giveaway

December 5, 2011 by carina 44 Comments

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!

Rini Doll and Mermaid Sewing Pattern

November 27, 2011 by carina 9 Comments

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…

Winners of Baby Safari and Giveaway for Dress Up Fabric

November 20, 2011 by carina 17 Comments

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!

Introduction to the New Sewing Pattern—Garden Party Outfit

November 18, 2011 by carina 1 Comment

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

Giving

November 15, 2011 by carina 70 Comments

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

Delicious Fabric

November 11, 2011 by carina 2 Comments

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…

Red Blanky

November 3, 2011 by carina 2 Comments

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.

Issue No. 5 of the Newsletter—Spraguefest and Tutorials

October 23, 2011 by carina 3 Comments

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

More To Come…

October 18, 2011 by carina 2 Comments

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

Quilting, Er, Napping Cat

October 5, 2011 by carina 1 Comment

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!

Quick In and Out

October 2, 2011 by carina 3 Comments

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

Mormon Handicraft

October 1, 2011 by carina 1 Comment

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

Pinfeathers Rosetta Wreath- Free Download

September 18, 2011 by carina 5 Comments

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

Flannel and Oilcloth

September 7, 2011 by carina 2 Comments

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