Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Pottery Barn Quilt pt. 2 and OttLite winner

Congratulations to our OttLite giveaway winner, Dana, from Country Heart and Home. Random.org picked comment number 68 and it was her!!

I'm continuing to work on the "pottery barn" quilt I'm designing for my friend. Our inspiration started with this bumper pad that was purchased off of ebay:

 She wanted these flower/trees to be used in the quilt design along with lots of hand embroidery, minky, and a piece of pottery barn sheet fabric she loved. 
Here are my paper tree patterns, numbered so I could remember the placement once I got them cut out of the fabrics!
 Next are my tree appliques cut out and ready to be ironed onto the fabric and machine appliqued around the edges.  Since these pictures I've gotten all the quilt top pieces sewn together and I've been working on the embroidery on the trees.  I'll definitely be showing more pictures as I finish it up!


August has been a super busy month for me, with sewing several quilts, wedding and baby shower gifts.  I'm trying not to get overwhelmed, but to enjoy the rush of deadlines and savor being in my sewing room again.  

More bound-edged tea towels...these were a wedding present for a sweet bride who is doing her kitchen in pink and green! 

Earlier in the month I finished off 4 new baby quilts for my etsy shop...haven't gotten them up yet, but hopefully soon!  I'm getting ready for the Dustbowl Arts Market  again in 2 weeks, so I'm hoping they will sell before I have a chance to get them on etsy. =)


Marie wanted to be in the photo shoot...she's so silly!

~Blessings, Jessica

Tuesday, August 02, 2011

OttLite Review and GIVEAWAY!



Raise your hand if you've heard about OttLite. Anyone?  If you are like me, you've heard lots of amazing things about these "natural sun lamps", but just haven't taken the jump to buy yourself one. So...you keep on sewing and crafting with poor lighting, not realizing what a huge difference having good quality light actually makes to your work and comfort.

 
OttLite lighting is expertly engineered with 508 technology to bring the quality of High Definition Natural Lighting™ indoors, providing the ideal balance of brightness and contrast. 

The result is reduced glare, less eyestrain, and low heat. OttLite understands that color, detail and comfort are critical to doing the stuff you love. 

OttLite helps you do what you love longer and offers a 100% delighted guarantee!



(The Tulip comes in different colors and combines elegance and designer style with incredible light!)



OttLite generously sent me the Tulip lamp to review and offer as a giveaway here.  They have an entire line of craft lamps that are available on their website.  

Here's photos of my workspace before and after.  
(Note the little IKEA desk lamp I normally use. It always create such harsh shadows.)

(Here the Tulip OttLite functions as a mini torchiere lamp, providing great ambient light for the whole area.)
(I love how the lamp pulls up and out of the base to angle directly where I need the most light.)

I personally didn't realize how much I was straining my eyes until I turned on my OttLite!  I keep my laptop in my sewing room, and when I turn on the Tulip, I'm more comfortable and am able to work longer with less eye strain. I love how this particular lamp give ambiant light to the whole room, yet has a flexible neck for direct task lighting...this week it came in really handy as I was doing some machine quilting, and then hand sewing the binding on.  

To enter to win your own Tulip OttLite, simply leave a comment telling me why or how you could use it.  

Additional entries:  

Become a fan on OttLite on Facebook and leave a comment to let me know!

Share this giveaway on your blog (or on facebook) and leave a comment with the link!

The winner will be drawn and notified next week on Tuesday the 9th!

Jessica