Hitched!

Thought I would update you with the awesome news that I married my best friend back on October 10th of this year (2011).  This is me with the handsome Chad Wurzer, commonly known as Mr. Patch Abilities!  HA! 

We chose a very very simple wedding with the JP and a couple of witnesses.  Since every wedding deserves to be photographed, we drove up to Dunning's Spring, just outside Decorah, Iowa where this gorgeous cold spring gushes out from the side of a bluff and cascades down the hill as a waterfall.  Thus creating the perfect backdrop for a most gorgeous couple, if I do say so myself.  Hee Hee!

Would you believe I chose my outfit just 15 minutes before leaving for the courthouse?  And in this next picture you'll see why I didn't, or couldn't take much time to choose my clothes . . . . because at this point, the items of clothing that still fit were becoming more scarce!

And here's why.  At the time, I was going on 7 months pregnant.  All planned of course (smile). 

I love this picture of us. Some people wouldn't dream of having a wedding day photo showing their pregnancy.  I, on the other hand, am so grateful to be well into this chapter of my life, that I want these great pictures to look back at one day and tell my kids how we met, fell in love and couldn't wait to start our brood.  

I'm 39 in this photo, so I'm not getting any younger to be wasting any moments on waiting to have munchkins.  Hence, the baby bump on my wedding day.  I'm even smiling as I write this. =)

So, as you can see I've been a very busy girl this year.  And I'll be starting 2012 with an even bigger baby bump!  I'll keep ya posted.  In the meantime, my creative juices just keep flowing with new Patch Abilities design ideas.  This has been quite the update to my blog, wouldn't you agree??


Till next time . . . . . 

I'll keep blogging, as long as you keep peeking in on me. =)
~Julie

Embellishments on the Monthly Mini #5 series

 So, I mentioned in the last blog posting that I'd touch on the embellishing that I did on this set of designs.  

I'll start with the January pattern shown here to the right.  The huge snowflake is appliqued of course, but what about all those little snowflakes suspended on silver threads?  Are those buttons?  Are they appliqued?  Oh Holy crap NO!  Can you even begin to picture me tediously snipping out intricate snowflakes from fabric?  There's not enough home-brew in the state that would cause me to tackle that nonsense.  "Okay then, what did I do" you ask?  I took a piece of freezer paper, folded it up 2-3 times (just like I did when I made snowflakes at the ripe 'ole age of 5) grabbed my Exacto blade (I didn't have this deathly tool at 5, hmm?) and made tiny little cuts in the folded paper.  Then, with high anticipation, I unfolded the paper to see what brilliant little snowflake cutout I'd just made.  Fun!  Took me several tries to get the desired snowflakes I wanted. 

And . . .. how . . . . does my child-like snowflake cutout mumbo jumbo help to create the little snowflakes shown on this design, you may ask?  Well, I certainly didn't glue paper snowflakes to my fabric!  What I had created was a snowflake stencil from freezer paper - you see.  Then I laid each snowflake stencil on my background fabric, picked up my STENCIL BRUSH, TITANIUM WHITE PAINTSTIK and I applied this fabric paint on the stencil.  Obviously, the paint is only going to go on the fabric where the stencil has open areas and the result is a painted snowflake.  This is fabric painting and it's so so so easy.  Put it this way, in the time it's taken me to explain it here, I had all the snowflakes stenciled/painted on my fabric. 
You, my fabric-loving friends, do not need to create your own snowflake stencil from freezer paper . . .. . cuz I've created one for you out of plastic.  And, it's included in the pattern, which you will receive when you join this series at a participating shop.

I also used fabric painting to create the little shamrocks, stems and whispies that are seen here on my March pattern in this MM#5 series.  As with the snowflakes, I find it much simpler, faster and just plain more practical to fabric paint these details using a stencil, rather than fart around cutting out detailed, skinny, and dainty pieces of fabric.

So, fabric painting has become my friend.  I used this technique on 8 out of the 12 designs in this series.  Yeah, I like it that much!  And, as I said above, I've designed a plastic stencil for all these shapes, for you to effortlessly fabric paint these embellishments.

You may be asking yourself "but, what if I don't know how to use the fabric paints and how to brush on the paint, or even how to dry the paint, what about stenciling/fabric painting instructions?"  Never fear quilter dear! I include a full set of step by step instructions with the stencil. 

Quick!  Here's a pop quiz.  Where do you get the stencil?  With the first pattern, of course, when you sign up to do the series.  Ahh - you were paying attention.


That's the story of my secret embellishments on this newest series of Monthly Minis.  I hope I've enlightened you on a neat, practical technique you've not seen before now.  I know that when I used "painting on fabric" for the first time, my eyes lit up as I imagined all the possibilities.


So - that's my gab for today folks.  As always, I welcome your comments and feedback, and until next time . . . thanks for peeking in on me.


~Julie