Where do you get your labels?

I add a "made During Quiet Time" label to nearly every project I make. The labels that I use are sent to me flat. I iron them in half and then stitch them into the seam of pouches...

potholders...

coasters...pillows, quilt bindings, everything! And the single most asked question on my blog is "Where do you get your labels?"

My labels are purchased from the Custom Couture Label Company on Etsy. Not only do I love their labels but they are work at home moms from NH, just one state over from me. I like supporting other moms who are home doing what they love while caring for those they love.
I just recently reordered labels and they have changed a little bit. The labels I had ordered in the past were 100% cotton. At the moment, they are unable to print those but you can still order your own labels sheets of that material and print them at home if you have an inkjet printer. You can find those here. The labels that are now produced on matte polyester satin. You can purchase them using this listing. My labels measure 1 3/4" square and fold along the centerline so that the text can be seen on both sides (which is great for pouches or potholders where they are sewn into an outside seam). If you want a similar layout, just let Dianna know as she has my order on file and will be able to help you achieve something similar. Dianna told me that the new satin labels are even more popular with her customers than the labels that they had been printing. I think that the addition of labels like these really adds a professional look to your projects. And I just noticed that there is a sale going on now through January 2! You can get 20% off your order by including the code "newyear."
The Custom Couture Label Company will be listed in my sidebar along with my other wonderful sponsors for awhile in case you can't find this post when you are ready to order labels for your projects. Dianna is wonderful to work with. She is prompt and provides a label proof before printing to catch any miscommunications or typos in time. I highly recommend the Custom Couture Label Company!

Blogger's Choice Fat Quarter Bundle Contest

Have you heard about the fun contest at Quokka Quilts? The Fat Quarter Shop is offering a chance to design a Blogger's Choice Fat Quarter Bundle with 12 prints and 3 solids. I would love to make about 20 of these! It's so hard to just go with one color scheme and feel. This is what I have settled on for my entry. What a smart move for the Fat Quarter shop. Entering this contest means spending A LOT of time on their web site browsing fabrics and you end up finding all sort of things you didn't know existed.

Sew What: Rosy Wedge Bag

I recently joined the BasicGrey Altered Arts design team! Each month, I will be designing a project using their fabric products and notions for the "Sew What" series on the BasicGrey blog.
I'm calling this the Rosy Wedge Bag. It's a simple, cute, boxy zippered bag that can hold a surprising amount of stuff! The exterior print is Blissful Bubblegum from the Hello Luscious line. I love the flower. It's a BasicGrey product called Blush in Bloom. Product links are included in my post as well as full, step by step directions for making the bag. I hope you enjoy it!

Petticoat in the Shop

Have you recovered from all the holiday craziness? I think I am just about there but still a little bit tired from a 3 am wake up thanks to a super excited 6 year old on Christmas morning.
I just wanted to let you know that I have managed to print and heat set a number of pieces of my latest screenprinted design, "Petticoat" and it is available in my shop. I am offering it in a number of combinations of size and color. If you don't see what you are looking for, let me know because I might be able to set up a custom listing. I have more prints than I listed. I tend to update quantities as they sell rather than listing it all at once.

Village Ornaments Printable

While Christmas cleaning, I came across the patterns I drafted last year to make village ornaments. I had intended to make the patterns into a free printable in time for Christmas crafting but forgot all about them. Rather than let it go another year, I thought I would do that now. You have plenty of time to make them now before next Christmas!

The printable can be downloaded here. It includes a pattern for a small house, a townhouse, a barn, a church and a Federal style house/mansion. Mine were cut from a tissue box, assembled with a hot glue gun, and decorated with acrylic paints, varnish, stickers, sequins and puffy snow glue.
Enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

1. Christmas Origami, 2. Winter Wash Half Apron for the Holidays, 3. Red and Linen Finnish Stars, 4. Cocorico Block-Vintage Christmas for Melinda, 5. Christmas Countdown with Nordic Holiday by BasicGrey, 6. Winter Wash Pillow Cover, 7. Christmas Origami Continues, 8. Candy Cane Love Socking, 9. Little House Ornaments, 10. Tree Ornament in Mustard Petticoat, 11. Winter Wash Pillow #2, 12. Fabric Finnish Star Ornament, 13. Ladybug Walnut Shell Ornaments

Here's a little mosaic of my Christmas makes for this year. I wish you a very Merry Christmas! I am sure I will be back before you know it with some post holiday pictures. Enjoy your holiday everyone!

Vintage Christmas Cocorico Bee Block

Melinda asked us to create 12.5" blocks with a Vintage Christmas feel. She said that she likes aqua, red and green for Christmas. Among her inspirational images, there was a definite theme of colored lights. I recently saw a gift tag where the top of the tag was white, the bottom red, and lights alternated along the line. I thought it had a nice, clean, graphic look to it and tried to create my own version of that. I used a mini green rick rack for the cord. Melinda enjoys Christmas music so after wracking my brain and my husband's brain and my mother's too, my mom finally thought of a Christmas song mentioning lights. I stamped the verse from "Silver Bells" using my black screen printing ink and heat set it with an iron. I hope this suits her and works with the other blocks in her quilt.

Handshaped Wooden Buttons

My husband and I have been assembling a secret Christmas gift and needed just the right buttons. When we couldn't find them, Mark decided to make them. These buttons are hand shaped with rounded edges.

Mark added little "dimples" by the button holes for added interest. The buttons are sanded smooth and sprayed with a clear enamel finish.

While he was at it, he made some extra buttons for my shop. You can find them here. I think that they would be so perfect for handknits. In fact, they really make me wish that my knitting skills were such that I could easily whip up a cowl or sweater just to use some.

Stash Trad Bee Block

I wanted to leave something prettier than the Random Number Generator up on my blog so I thought I would share this bee block that I just popped in the mail. This one is heading to Lynne of Lily's Quilts. She has a tutorial for the block here if you'd like to make one. Lynne asked us to use Kona Charcoal for the neutral and then our own scraps. I wasn't sure where to start with a color scheme so I asked for some of her favorite colors and then it was easy to get going!

Giveaway Day Winner

I am amazed that 737 of you entered to win my handprinted fabric and my husband's hand turned seam ripper. Thank you for visiting my blog this week during the giveaway and for all the nice comments left for me and Mark.
The lucky winner is

310 Jill aka ThatMoxieGirl Designs said...
Wow! I can't wait to dive into your tutorials. My goal is to do some selfish sewing in 2012!

Christmas Origami Continues

I loved the look of the flowers I showed this morning made with text from discarded books but I wanted to see what they looked like in color too! Again, I followed the tutorial here.



Typically, thin paper is recommended for origami and for good reason. However, I tried them using some double sided cardstock from BasicGrey's Nordic Holiday line. Specifically, I used "Half Pipe," "Lift Ticket," "Sweater Weather," and "Catching Air." They were less forgiving than the thin paper. It was also harder to make a nice edge. I'd recommend using a bone folder to avoid sore thumbs! I made one of the flowers using a 3 1/2" square as the tutorial calls for but then made the others a little bigger to better use the size of the scrapbooking paper and to make it easier to fold.


I am not sure what I am going to do with these yet. They would be pretty on the top of packages, resting on a shelf, nestled into the branches on the tree, or attached to florist picks and added to Christmas centerpieces. I love them!

Christmas Origami

When I saw this tutorial, I needed to make one! Aren't they beautiful?


They are simple to make but you do need a little bit of patience or perseverance in the face of tedium/boredom. Each flower ball requires the folding of 72 pieces of paper. But they are totally worth it in my opinion. I can see so many variations in my mind too.


Today I would like to challenge my friend Michele of Michele Made Me to make one out of her colorful junkmail. Have you seen her junkmail snowflakes? They are genius. Get folding Michele! (I hope you play along. After all, I did play along with your tissue box challenge and the recycled jeans challenge...) Can't wait to see it!

Last Minute Tutus

When I posted pictures of Penelope and the library book bag that I made her for Christmas, Carol said that Penny looked like a girl who would like a tutu and that I should make her one for Christmas. I thought that my Christmas sewing was done and I was fully into Christmas baking. Today we are decorating sugar cookies and recently the kids helped create this gingerbread train station.

But once Carol mentioned the tutus, I felt compelled to make them because Penny IS the kinda girl who would love a tutu. And her older sister outgrew her tutu so she should have one too.
They really are easy. I just made an elastic waistband and knotted on strips of tulle. I didn't realize that you could buy tulle already in strips in the bridal section of JoAnns. I didn't fancy the idea of cutting strips of tulle. The strips made it a breeze. Thanks Carol...but no more ideas now because I need to be done Christmas sewing.

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day

Welcome to During Quiet Time! I am participating in Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day again this year.



Here is my offering! My giveaway IS open to international readers.



If you are new to my blog, I enjoy hand printing fabric. My designs are all original and made with care. I print on an Essex blend with high quality, heat set silkscreen inks. All fabrics are prewashed and ready to be used in your sewing creations! My package includes one piece of my Defining Kokeshi silkscreen in black, one piece of Vintage Collection in royal blue, and scraps of My Happy Place and Petticoat in mustard and petal.



My husband makes hand turned seam rippers on his lathe in our barn. The handles are acrylic and polished to a beautiful shine. The hardware is good quality and the seam rippers sell faster than he can make them. This particular seam ripper didn't make it past quality control (me). He did a perfect job handturning the handle but the coloration of the blank didn't please me. The stripes give way to a grey area in one spot. This works for you though as we decided to give it away! I can guarantee that it works just as well as the others and looks perfectly perfect from most every angle (except that one!).

I'd love it if you would follow During Quiet Time or take a peek in my shop. However, all that is required to win is a simple comment. Please tell me what your sewing resolution would be for the New Year, should you choose to make one. Maybe you are going to finish up all your WIPs? Maybe you aren't buying fabric but working from your stash? You tell me for a chance to win. I will leave this giveaway open till Dec. 16th at 5:00 pm. I will pick a winner using the Random Number Generator.
Thanks for visiting! Happy Holidays!

Editted to add: My husband sells his seam rippers in my Etsy shop. For those who have gone looking for them, they are sold out at the moment. He will be making more and they will be listed after Christmas. He also accepts custom orders. Just send me an Etsy convo and we can arrange for that. Thanks for all of your inquiries.

Another Edit: SMS asks that the giveaways close at 5 today PST. I was forgetting the time zone difference. I will draw a winner this evening at about 8:00 my time and will post the winner here!

This giveaway is now closed.
The winner is
310 Jill aka ThatMoxieGirl Designs said...
Wow! I can't wait to dive into your tutorials. My goal is to do some selfish sewing in 2012!

Inset Zip Pouch

I made my first Inset Zip Pouch, pattern by Keyka Lou. I've been wanting to try this pattern for awhile because I have never installed an inset zipper. The directions were clear, as I have come to expect from Keyka Lou patterns, and the pouch came together without a hitch. I like this pattern because it allows you to feature a small bit of a special fabric. I used my mustard Petticoat screenprint for the center panel.

I used Anna Maria Horner voile for the exterior because it was such a good match and a Jennifer Paganelli Queen Street print in pink for the interior. The mustard zippers from Zipit are the perfect match for mustard Petticoat!

Because She's So Cute

Penny has been wanting a library bag like her big brother and sister. I decided I would make one as one of her Christmas presents since there isn't much a third child "needs." Now she will be able to fill her very own bag with books on our weekly trip to the library.
I had a really hard time cutting into my Alphabet Panel from Yuwa of Japan but thought it would be so sweet for a little one's book bag. But seriously, look at this face....

how could I not?

For the Love of Invisible Zippers

Last year, right before Christmas, I installed my first invisible zipper. I haven't made a single envelope closure style pillow cover since! I love, love, love invisible zippers. First off, I love the challenge of getting it as invisible as possible with just the little pull dangling off the end. Secondly, it allows me to make an 18" pillow cover backing with just a fat quarter! And finally, I think it provides such a nice and professional looking finish.
Well, sometime between my last order of zippers from Zipit and my most recent order, Jennie started carrying invisible zippers! I have to share my excitement with you because second to my love of invisible zippers is my love of a bargain. I had been paying $2.99 for a single 12" invisible zipper at my local big box sewing supply store. Check this out...ten 16" invisible zippers for $8.00. That's 80 cents per zipper! I must use at least two invisible zippers a month. This is a significant savings!

A bit of Petticoat

I know I said that my screenprinted fabric, "Petticoat," would be available the first week in December. Clearly I had lost my mind. Who makes that sort of definite statement with Christmas just weeks away?

You will find a bit of Petticoat in my shop this week. I listed some yesterday and a bit has sold already and there is a bit left. There will be a lot more later. This time I am not going to say when! My guess is that it might come after the holidays.

I hope you are all enjoying your Christmas preparations!

Seam Ripper Joy

Joy is a new, handturned, acrylic handled seam ripper available right here. Mark has finished his last batch of seam rippers for this year. He will accept custom orders for the new year but there will be no more seam rippers available before Christmas. This time, he added a couple made from African Rosewood as well! I ship first class with delivery confirmation for domestic packages. I mail the same day whenever possible so the packages should have time to travel!

Winter Wash Half Apron

Ever since I first printed my Winter Wash silkscreens earlier this month, I knew I wanted to make another two tiered/double skirted half apron (similar to the one I made with my Vintage Collection print). This time I used a red and white Nordic snowflake print for the apron. The top layer of the half apron skirt is a fat quarter panel of my Winter Wash print cut with rounded edges and lined with bleached linen. I did that for two reasons. For one, it makes for a nice finished edge. Secondly, the bold red and white design would have shown through the white Essex.

Since I don't wear aprons while I cook, I put this apron in my shop and tried to size it such that it would fit a wide range of body types. The gathered waist band measured 15 1/2" and there are 37 1/2" long ties on either side. They can be wrapped around and tied in front or tied behind.
I'm having fun exploring different possibilities for this print!
Oh, and the cookies seen in the first picture are today's bit of baking for the freezer stash. They are snickerdoodles...recipe here.

Seam Rippers-Move Quickly!

My husband completed two more seam rippers. There is a pink (SOLD) and a dark aqua with black swirl. I have shown aqua with black swirl before which is a bit lighter in color. This one is a touch deeper.

After this, I believe we will have exactly 7 more to post before Christmas.