Sew Red Mystery Sew-Red-Along Revival Block 7!!!!!

Let Your Heart Live Green
Sew-Red-a-Long Revival Block 7!!!!!

This is a block of optimism.  It represents the result of decisions to live more greenly, to eat a more healthy diet, to let go of stress, to work to prevent or repair heart damage, to pay attention to our health and our quality of life.  The floating hearts with wings of leaves are meant to represent the lighter load our hearts carry if we live in a healthier manner.

Pattern Instructions

Cut a 121/2  “ square for the background fabric.  I used scrap fabrics for the hearts and leaves, but you could make the hearts the same and the leaves the same and use two 10” squares. You will also need fusing, I use the lightest available as its easiest to stitch through, but you can use your favorite.

In order to obtain the patterns for the fusing from the template, first enlarge the template 130%.  The pattern must then be reversed.  I do this by taping the printed page to a window,  printed side to the glass, and then tracing the patterns onto the fusible paper side.  (If your copy is not dark enough you may need to go over it with a sharpie first.)  Cut these tracings out leaving a small margin around each piece, and being sure to number each one.

Iron these pieces onto the wrong side of your fabric and cut out on the design lines.  To obtain a placement pattern, trace the original enlarged template onto wax paper.  Place this over your background fabric.  Position your pieces, remove the background paper from the fusing, reposition  the pieces and iron them in place.  These can now be stitched into place using whatever thread, stitch, and method you prefer.  I used a small machine zig zag stitch. 

~Happy Sewing!!! Theresa, Maryla, and Olivia 

5^th Block of the Sew Red Sew-a-long from Saremy Duffy

We are just bursting at the seams (hee hee) to show you the next block in the Mystery Sew Red Sew-a-long!  This inspired-by-Cathedral-Window quilt block was designed by the wildly talented Saremy Duffy of Chicken Boots. 

All about Saremy

Saremy Duffy is an extremely avid seamster with a business making and selling accessories for knitters, crocheters and others creative folks called Chicken Boots.  All Chicken Boots products are made right here in the USA in Chico, CA, and we proudly carry them at Jimmy Beans. Saremy is passionate about knowing where the things she buys come from and tries to buy Made in US and handmade first—within reason financially.  I bet what you really want to know, though, is why she chose the name “Chicken Boots” for her business.  The Duffys have raised a lot of chickens and after a 1.5 year hiatus while they found a new home, they hope this year they will have chickens again.  Saremy says she falls asleep dreaming about the Chicken Coop / Bunny Hutch she will build in the yard next to their pool once they're all settled in their new home.  During all that time of raising chickens, they’ve called their boots that are worn to take care of chicken chores their 'chicken boots'. Their daughter was five when she coined the term and it stuck!  

If you’re local to the Chico area, check out the public knitting group that Saremy hosts at the Chico Library each week.  You can also keep up with all of her adventures on her blog (http://www.chickenbootsusa.com/blogs) or by connecting with her on Facebook. Don't forget your boots!

Saremy and Sew Red

 Saremy picked up on heart-healthy eating and exercising habits from her mother’s example; her mom was a nurse who worked in a heart catheterization lab, which runs diagnostic tests to see if someone is at risk for heart disease.  Saremy is passionate about knowing where her food comes from and tries to eat organic, local foods as much as possible.  Saremy knits and sews a lot, which can lead to a sedentary lifestyle, but she’s very conscious of being as active as she can.  As an avid cyclist-turned-runner, Saremy makes it a point to get her morning run in before becoming consumed by work.  She has also challenged herself that she’ll get to knit for every hour she exercises this year.  We think that’s a great way to stay active!  Seeing firsthand how devastating heart disease can be made Saremy excited to be a part of the book.  You can find her amazingly practical and stylish Jewelry Case in Sew Red!

Saremy’s Block for the Mystery Sew Red Sew-a-long!

Saremy was inspired to re-interpret the traditional Cathedral Window quilt block.  She used fabrics from Luella Doss's Fowl Play collection - perfect for the creator of Chicken Boots! We love that her block can be assembled in many different ways, and can’t wait to see how you all choose to orient your own blocks!  Click over to the Chicken Boots blog to find instructions!

More Great Sew Red Reviews!

Hi, Everybody!

We've had so many great reviews of Sew Red, I wanted to continue to share them with you.  We're thrilled that so many people have loved the book and patterns, and it's great to see the message of heart disease prevention through crafting making its way around the craft blogs.  Here are a couple more glowing reviews from some of our favorite sewing bloggers!

The first is from Rochelle of the blog Lucky Lucille, a vintage-inspired sewing blog.  Rochelle also knits!  She did a fantastic review of the book and even made one of the projects, the Asian Modern Pillow by Linda Lee.  She put her own spin on the pattern by choosing adorable fabrics in her favorite colors, red and light blue.  We love it!  And isn't her dog, Lucille, gorgeous?

We also had a wonderful review from Jen of Grainline Studios.  I love how she called it a "Book Report" - so cute!  Jen made the Spiral Scarf by Nancy Zieman.  She especially loved the unique construction method for the scarf.  Her project came out beautifully!  Love the colors and styling.

Thanks to Rochelle and Jen for their great reviews and lovely photos!  What have you made lately?  Send us an email at info@stitchred.com - we'd love to see your projects!

~Heather

Sew Red Spectacular!

We've had some really awesome feedback for the newest Stitch Red book, Sew Red!  The feedback we love best is when somebody sends us pictures of a project they created from a pattern in the book.  Recently, we've received quite a few really awesome ones, and I wanted to share those with you!

First up is Kirsten Aufderheide, a cosmetologist and quilting instructor from Santa Cruz, CA.  Funny story about how she came across her first copy of Sew Red: her mother, Annie Smith of the podcast and blog Annie's Quilting Stash (http://simplearts.com/blogs/) had a copy for review.  Kirsten saw it and liked it so much, she carried it home with her without realizing it was her mom's review copy!  She decided to make the  "You Are So Loved" quilt by Vanessa Christenson for a friend who recently had a baby, and it came out beautifully!  

Adorable!

She used Bears in the Woods fabric by David Walker to go along with the teddy bear nursery theme.  Cutest of all: her husband helped her cut out all the fabric!

Laurie of the House of 34 do-it-yourself website/blog made the Sonoma Purse by Patty Young.  She used gorgeous batik fabrics from her stash and did a wonderful job!

Gorgeous!

She even did a nice review of the book at the same time.  Thanks, Laurie!

Check back next time for more great Sew Red projects and happy sewing!

~Heather