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Marci Girl Designs

2017 Finish-A-Long - Q2 Tutorial Week

6/28/2017

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It is quarter 2 Tutorial Week time!  During the year, each of the Finish-A-Long hosts will be giving you guys a free tutorial.  How cool is that?  Every day this week visit the scheduled hosts blog and enjoy.  Hopefully you will learn some new skills or fine tune some existing ones.  Here is this week's schedule:

Tuesday -Sarah of Sew Me
Wednesday - Karen of Capitola Quilter
Thursday - Felicity of Felicity Quilts
Friday - Izzy of Dizzy Quilts

Head on over (right now) and visit Karen of Capitola Quilter, she is sharing a really clever tutorial on how to make a framed accent panel that you can use for a ton of applications.  You can find her tutorial HERE.
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Tooth Fairy Pillows

6/27/2017

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It's the last week to finish up items on the Finish Along list and I'm in a mad dash to knock a few more off the list.  These are two tooth fairy pillows I made for my two boys, they are based on the tooth pillow that my mom made me when I was little.  I took her pattern and made my own funny faces and now they are all set.  My oldest has already lost a few teeth, but he wore out the first pillow I made him so he needed a new one.  My middle child is on the cusp of his first ones being loose so he will get his once he loses one.
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The front is just white Kona quilting cotton with the eyes, mouth and tooth from scraps, sewn down with a satin stitch.  The back is a small wale corduroy I had scraps of and it worked perfect for these.  The pocket on the back is plenty big enough for dollar bills or coins and could hold all their baby teeth at once, but let's pray that doesn't happen.  I embroidered their names to the left of the pocket so they would know which one was theirs.  I blurred part of their names, so no you aren't crazy, it does look weird.

The first one I stuffed I used Polyfil that I had on hand and I used it all up on one (thank goodness I was so tired of storing that.)  Not wanting to buy more I used my cotton batting scraps to stuff the second one.  I tore up the batting and in essence made fiberfill.  It is definitely more dense and a little more lumpy but my kids don't care and recycling for the win.
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This is my third finish this quarter and was number two on my second quarter list found HERE.  You still have time to finish up your projects and link up so get cracking!

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2017 Finish-A-Long - Quarter 2 Finishes Link Up

6/25/2017

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Hello!  Here we are at the half way point of the year, can you believe it?  Well believe it, because it's time to link up those finishes!  You can find all the rules, sponsors and the link up below.  And no, you didn't miss anything, the winners have not been posted for the first quarter, but never fear they will be announced at the same time as the quarter 2 winners.  Trust me, we will be giving out those prizes from our fabulous sponsors.

If you have any problems or need help, don't hesitate to contact me.  One more thing, can I ask you a little favor?  Please take the time to visit some of the other link ups and share the love.  You love comments, right?  Well so does everyone, and even if you only visit the link ups before and after yours, then everyone would get more visitors and that would be lovely wouldn't it?  Alright, go link up and I can't wait to read about all your finishes.


It might be hard to believe but we have made it to the end of the second quarter of the 2017 FAL and it's time to link up your Q2 finishes!

The 2017 FAL has a community of bloggers across the world jointly hosting the FAL. Our hosts are:
  • Rhonda - Rhonda's [Quilt] Ramblings - USA
  • Nicky - Mrs Sew & Sow - Great Britain
  • Abigail - Cut & Alter - Great Britain
  • Izzy - Dizzy Quilts - Canada
  • Ella - Throw a Wench in the Works - USA
  • Lucy - Charm about You - Great Britain
  • Sarah - Sew me - Northern Ireland
  • Judith - Just Jude - Northern Ireland
  • Felicity - Felicity Quilts - Canada
  • Marci - Marci Girl Designs - USA
  • Karen - Capitola Quilter - USA
  • Leanne - She Can Quilt - Canada
Social Media Director
  • Sandra - Sew of Course - Ireland
  Before you link up, let's give a huge thank you to our fantastic sponsors:  
Just Jude Designs - 2 PDF Patterns
Sew Sisters Quilt Shop, $25 gift certificate
Charm About You - 2 PDF Patterns
Fat Quarter Shop, $50 gift certificate
Elven Garden Quilts - 3 PDF Patterns
Tartankiwi - $25 gift certificate
Blossom Heart Quilts - 3 PDF Patterns
Mad About Patchwork - $50 gift certificate
During Quiet Time - 3 PDF Patterns
Happy Quilting - choice of 3 patterns
Cooking Up Quilts - 2 PDF Patterns
Sew Sweetness - 3 PDF Patterns
Knotted Thread, $30 gift certificate
The Littlest Thistle - Camp Bag Pattern Pack
Green Fairy Quilts - $15 gift certificate
Quilting Jet Girl - 2 PDF patterns
Sunny Day Supply - $30 gift certificate
Make Modern Magazine - 3 six month subscriptions
Clover & Violet - $30 gift certificate
Sew me a Song, $20 gift certificate
Imagine Gnats - $40 gift certificate
Studio 39 Fabrics - $25 Gift Certificate
March
Laurel Bee Designs, 2 pin bowls for 1 winner
InLinkz.com
For the 2017 FAL, we continue tutorial week. Here is the schedule so you can visit them all:
  • June 27 - Sarah of Sew me
  • June 28 - Karen of Capitola Quilter
  • June 29 - Felicity of Felicity Quilts
  • June 30 - Izzy of Dizzy Quilts
The 2017 Q2 link for your finishes is now open below on my blog and on each of the hosting blogs - you only need to link on one blog for your finish to appear on each blog. Link-up "rules":
  • Add one link for each finish. If you want to link a round up post of all your finishes, use that link to enter one of your finishes and then link the rest of your finishes separately. Please, only one link per finish, as your link is an entry into the randomly drawn prize draws.
  • Please ensure that the photo or blog post you link up contains a link or reference back to your original list so that we can verify your entry (make sure it is from the appropriate quarter).
  • Please become part of the FAL community. Please check out the links of others and comment. We all need encouragement so let's applaud each other. The 2017 FAL Facebook page is here and follow us on Instagram @finishlong and tag your photos #2017FALQ2yourname (substitute your name), this makes it easier for us to match your finishes with your lists.
  • Our hosts will also link their finishes to share in the community, but they are not eligible for any of the prizes.
The Q2 Finishes link will stay open from now thru July 1, 2017 - link up your finishes early and if you have a last minute one, add that one later so you don't miss out. The prizes will be awarded as soon as we can verify all the entries and do the drawings. We will post the winners on each hosts' blog.

And don't forget to start making your Q3 lists as the Q3 list link opens on July 2nd.

An InLinkz Link-up
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The Persimmon Dress and a Story about PDF Patterns

6/23/2017

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My second finish for the second quarter of the 2017 Finish Along was technically finished first, but who is counting (obviously me, haha.)  This was my daughter's Easter dress (though when she wore it for Easter I didn't have the pockets on it yet.)   I used a cut of an Aneela Hoey print for the body of the dress and a Painter's Palette Solid (Orchid) for the trim.  I had that little lace trim in my stash, which I think added a little something extra.  I debated about the pockets that were part of the pattern, and in the end drafted my own little kitty head and hand embroidered the faces.
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You can see the pockets better below.  I think they turned out adorable and totally Kawaii, which I love.  One of the cats is winking because I became tired of doing the satin stitch eyes, great solution wasn't it.  Sometimes I'm so lazy.
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The image above is how I finished the seams inside, just serged (or is it surged?) the edges to keep things tidy and from raveling as much.

Below you can see another example of my clothes labeling system with the numbers from the selvedges.  This time I needed an 18, and since most prints don't have 18 colors, I created an 18 by sewing together the one and eight, turning under the edges and then stitching it to the facing.  So this dress is sized 18 months.  My daughter is tall so it is a wee bit short, so now she wears it with shorts underneath.

The straps were created from bias tape that I made from the Painter's Palette Solid, made me wish I had some of those bias tape tools, though it was easy enough to create myself.
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So, I mentioned something about a story about PDF's didn't I?  Well when it was time to pick a pattern for the Easter dress, I knew right away I wanted to make the Persimmon Dress by Mouse House Creations.  I love everything about this pattern, the pleats, the details, all so cute.  Nothing was wrong with the PDF, the instructions were great.

I already owned this pattern so all I had to do was print it out and read the directions.  Here in lies the problem.  Late last year our old computer died on us and as much as that stinks it wasn't a big deal because it was old and I had been regularly backing everything up onto an external hard drive, or so I thought.  I opened up the PDF pattern file on the external hard drive to discover that not only was it not there, neither was 90% of the patterns I had purchased through the past two years.  Yep, what the heck?  I still don't know what happened in regards to that, either the back ups had failed or maybe I forgot to copy that one folder.  Who knows.

So now what, because I don't want to purchase it again.  Some websites let you log in and download it again, thankfully this was the majority of them as I kept all the emails and details of the downloads.  But there were a few that I just couldn't access anymore, either the company wasn't in existence anymore or the download wasn't available.  Insert sad face.  So I decided to just ask the designers flat out if they would send it to me.  What did I have to lose?  I had the receipt in email form and explained what happened.

I contacted Hayley of Mouse House Creations and she was on a trip and replied immediately that when she got home she would email it to me and she did.  How great is that, honestly.  In the end all of those independent designers I have contacted have in fact emailed me the files I had purchased.  Which is pretty great and says a lot about our little sewing/quilting community.

Moral of the story?  Back up your files people, in not just one spot, but two.  It has taken me an entire weekend of emails and sorting and downloading to get back my files and sadly there are about 10% that I won't be able to get back, lost forever on a dead computer.

Second moral of the story?  Not only is our sewing/quilting community awesome, reach out and ask, I have come to realize that all of these designers are super helpful and friendly and they want you to make their patterns just as much as you want to make them.  So I'll end with a big thank you to Hayley of Mouse House Creations, for not only sending me the file but for creating such a great dress pattern. "Insert Smiley Face, Insert Clapping Hands, Insert Fireworks!"
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You guys are in luck, I've included a rare shot of my daughter in her dress on Easter.  I just had to, it was so cute on her.  I usually don't post photos of my children so I must be in a good mood.

The second quarter link up will open in a few days and when it does I'll be linking up this dress as it was project number five from my list found HERE.  I hope you will be joining us with some of your finished projects.

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Summer Picnic Dress

6/21/2017

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The second quarter of the year is quickly coming to a close and I figured I better get to blogging a few of my finishes, and yes I have finishes.  Yippie!  This is the Summer Picnic Dress, a free pattern by The Cottage Mama.  I used some Bonnie and Camille yardage that I had on hand (from Knotted Thread's Etsy shop) though I can't remember which fabric line.  I think it turned out pretty darn sweet.
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Based on my little girl's measurements I decided to make a size 3, which in the end, ended up being a bit too large.  Oh well, I'll save it for next year.  I had a small scrap of that crocheted lace that worked as the perfect little trim between the yolk and body of the dress.  This was a really quick sew and I finished it up in just a few days of sewing on and off.
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I used my serger to finish the seams for a neat and tidy look, except for that one little seam on the ruffle I forgot.  I just used my pinking shears to finish that edge and moved on.  It will hold up just as well in the end.
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I discovered a little trick that I now use in my kids clothes to label the size.  I use the numbers from the selvedge.  I find a number that corresponds to the size, cut it a little larger all the way around, iron in the raw edges and stitch it onto the inside facing.  Yes, it is just a basic number but most people that deal with little kids clothes will be able to figure out it is a 3T or close to it.  I thought this was a clever solution and free.
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This was my first finish of my Quarter 2 Finish Along list, found HERE, it was number six on my list.  The Quarter 2 finishes link up will open next week so you still have time to finish up those projects!

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Meet A Finish-A-Long Host - Marci Girl Designs (Me!)

6/15/2017

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Hello!  My name is Marci Debetaz and I blog over at Marci Girl Designs and this month it is my turn to share all about myself as one of the 2017 Global Finish-A-Long hosts.  So here it goes...


Here I am, 4' 11.5" tall, so yeah I'm short and this photo was taken a little over a year ago but I mostly look the same, or at least I like to think so.  I am currently 36 years old in case any of you were wondering because I know I have somewhat of a baby face.  I was born in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, USA but have lived most of my life now in Louisiana.  My family moved a lot when I was growing up, back and forth between Florida and Louisiana to finally settle in Louisiana much to my disliking, because honestly who wants to leave the beach for swampland?  Not me.  Anyways I went to Middle and High School in New Iberia, Louisiana and then attended College in Lafayette, Louisiana (about a 40 minute drive.)  I met my husband in my second year of College, we both were majoring in Industrial Design and we fell in love.  (Oh so sweet!)  So we dated a few years, got engaged and then married all before we finished College.  We graduated College together a semester after the wedding, both with degrees in Industrial Design.  We found jobs, worked, you know, regular married life and then a few years later we bought our first house.

 

Here is our MAJOR fixer upper 13 years ago when we bought it (though this photo was taken after some serious cleaning up of the yard.)


 Here is our home today, and what you can't see on the back corner of this house is the major addition we are adding and have been working on since February of this year, doing ALL of the work ourselves.  We are hoping to be finished by Christmas, but who knows,  fingers crossed.  I had to mention our house because it has been a major focus of all my free time this year, which stinks because I miss sewing and quilting but will totally be worth it when we are done.

Ok, I got off track.  So after we bought our house we had three kids, two boys, 9 and 5 and our little girl who just turned 2.  I don't post about them directly on social media for their privacy but I promise they are super cute.  It was after my first child was born that I really picked up the sewing/quilting bug again.  I say "again" because I grew up sewing and quilting.  My mom did both and taught me.  I started by making Barbie doll clothing, then that turned into small quilts and sewing my own clothes through High School.  Then when I was in College (and falling in love) I didn't have much time for those hobbies and they fell by the wayside.  After my first was born I became a stay at home mom and discovered I had lots of free time during naps.  Thus my hobbies began anew!


I started up my hobby again making handbags and pouches which I quickly realized I had way too many handbags and pouches, so I opened up an Etsy shop.  I had my shop open for a few years until I closed it at the end of 2011 right before my second son was born.  I always had intentions of opening again after his birth but alas it never happened.  I do hope to one day open up my shop but for now I am enjoying sewing for my family and friends.

  
It wasn't long after I started sewing again that I discovered the world of blogs and designer fabric.  Let's just say that was a total game changer for me and the true obsession began.  I decided to start my own blog in February of 2010 and have been doing so on and off ever since.  I use my blog as a form of diary or portfolio of things I have made through the years and though I find the writing difficult I am glad that I push myself to do so because it is so nice to go back and read about my own projects, many of which I have already forgotten about.


 I love participating in Quilt and Sew Alongs and the occasional competition (for fun, I don't want to stress about it.)  The above quilt was created for the Emerald Pantone Quilt Challenge (I can't remember the year.)  It currently hangs in my bedroom.  This quilt is my original design and entitled, "Emerald Cut."


I will still occasionally make handbags and pouches, I design my own patterns plus make them from independent pattern designers.  The pouch above is one of my designs.


I make way more quilt tops than finished quilts, sadly I have a huge WIP pile.  The photos above and below are examples of two of these quilt tops awaiting quilting.  The top is a One Block Wonder quilt created from just one large scaled print fabric. The quilt below is another Pantone Quilt Challenge, the color that year was Radiant Orchid, this quilt is also my own design.  It is one of my personal favorites.


In 2014 I was chosen to be a contestant in an online sewing challenge called "Sewvivor."  The bag below was my entry for the very first round, which was nautically themed.  Though I didn't make it past the first round, I made a great new set of online sewing friends and had a ton of fun in the process.


Within the first year or so of blogging I also found Flickr and through Flickr I found out about online Quilting Bee's.  I quickly joined several and have never looked back.  I made friends in those first groups, that I still have today and we are still sewing bee blocks for each other.  Though Flickr isn't as predominant these days, things have shifted over to Instagram and the fun continues.  A few years ago most of my quilting bees were coming to a finish and two of my fellow bee mates decided to create a new hand picked group that they named Bee Sewcial.  The concept of the group is that we stay connected and in touch, use only solids and work in improv.  This is our third year together and honestly one of my favorite things to do every month.  The creativity involved and the friendship is just so fantastic.  At the end of our first year together we opened up the sewing prompts to everyone interested and anyone can now sew along with us using the hashtag #inspiredbybeesewcial.


 I guess that about sums of my life.  Stay at home mom to three, in between running the kids to school and nap times I sew and quilt.  I have tried crochet, knitting, tatting, beading and about every other craft you can think of but in the end I always return to sewing and quilting.  I love improv but I also love traditional quilt blocks.  I love to sew clothes, handbags and pouches.  Don't ask me to alter your clothes or to iron like normal people.  It isn't going to happen.  I have a huge pile of WIP's and have been participating in the Finish-A-Long since its inception.  I was thrilled to be asked to host this year and I have been slowly working through that pile.  I do so hope you join us this year!

I'll end my post reminding everyone that in 10 days the second quarter finishes link up opens, you still have time to finish those projects so get to work!

Thank you for joining me today, Marci
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    Marci Girl

    A feisty mom designing, sewing and blogging her way through everyday life!

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