Riley Blake Designs Blog: Recent Blog Articles

Southern Women's Show

14 Oct 2011

It is warm and sunny in Orlando (sorry to rub it in my cold weather friends). How would it be to live here year round? We had a great first day at the Southern Women's show and we taught our first class, Yo Yo wristlets.

We had a few sewing pros in our class that whipped up their yo yos. We also had a lady that had never hand stitched anything in her entire life and we got to teach her how to make a handmade yo yo and watch her complete her first sewing project. What is more ... ...read more

Celebrate

13 Oct 2011

Riley had a birthday this week. We had a special cake made for a special birthday and it turned out so cute I had to share a couple of photos.

Dippidee, creator of the cake, did a fantastic job adding a fondant lipstick, powder brush and rouge to the top of the cake! And speaking about celebrations, Amanda-The Quilted Fish, is having a special event for the launch of her new fabric line, Delighted! If you live in the Salt Lake area you wont want to miss this. There will be make and takes, food and fun all centered around ... ...read more

More Quilting Basics

11 Oct 2011

Check out this week's tutorial on Cutting Corners College. Quilting basics by Deonn Stott.

We love her step by step instructions which are very easy to follow. Look at all the basic quilt blocks that Deonn has demonstrated this year, and now she is teaching how to put them all together into one quilt. *Remember Deonn posts Quilting Basics the second Tuesday of every month. ...read more

Messy Monday!

10 Oct 2011

I hope everyone had a glorious weekend. Mine ended a little too soon. I was able to visit my son at the University he is currently attending for parents weekend. It was a beautiful fall weekend and he is really doing OK without me. I am catching up on laundry and look what a mess I pulled out of my dryer. Is this what you call a job hazard?

What can you do but laugh and post a picture to share...life gets a little messy at times. Jina and I are busy getting ready for Southern Women's Show ... ...read more

Riley Blake Designs How-to-video #1

06 Oct 2011

We just finished our first "How-to-video". We have more to follow, but this first tutorial features Amanda Herring's pennants.

Fat Quarter Winner

05 Oct 2011

We loved reading all of the comments about our new 2012 fabric lines. Thanks! I used Random Number Generator to choose the winner of the fat quarter bundle...drum roll please.....#22. (which just happens to be my husband's favorite number) 22. So many great ones, but I like Saddle Up a lot. Such a precious, slightly more sophisticated take on a western theme. 4throse at bellsouth dot net by KimberlySeptember 29th, 2011 at 12:09 p.m. Congrats Kimberly. Email cindy@rileyblakedesigns.com with your address. Who is working on a Home Decor item for our contest? This ... ...read more

Lost and Found Quilt

04 Oct 2011

We have a new tutorial to share on Cutting Corners College. Brought to you by Jackie White, this quilt uses "Lost and Found" fabric by My Minds Eye. Beautiful!

When my daughter, Riley, first saw this fabric line she decided she wanted to redo her room. Her room is still a work in progress, but you can see why the teenage girls are going crazy over this fabric. We re-ordered most of the prints and everything should be in stock next month. *We will announce the winner of the fat quarter bundle tomorrow morning. Thanks for all of the comments ... ...read more

What is your favorite 2012 line?

29 Sep 2011

All of our 1st quarter lines for 2012 are on the website. Take a look and tell us your favorite. Post a comment by Tuesday, October 4th for a chance to win a fat quarter bundle. Look under fabrics on our main page, then click on coming soon. Our first line in 2012 is "Scoot" by Deena Rutter. We think it will be hard to choose just one favorite!

Trick or Treat Fabric Baskets

27 Sep 2011

Trick or Treat Fabric Baskets Can you believe Halloween is just around the corner? I love this basket because Debbie Hicks designed it will handles. It is an easy tutorial that can be used with Trick or Treat fabric or you could make a holiday basket using Christmas Candy Fabric. We love our treats! Visit Cutting Corners College for the full tutorial.

Thanks Debbie for a sweet tutorial! ...read more

Tea Party anyone?

23 Sep 2011

I wanted to show a few more pictures from the Creative Connection Event, especially pictures from my first English tea party. I wish you all could have been there, these ladies where absolutely entertaining. I could see them featured on their own cooking show. This is Carolyn and Sarah.

And guess who they worked for for 10 years? Prince Charles and Lady Diana (during the 1990's). Carolyn was the family's personal chef and Sarah was Prince Charles personal florist. They said they were in the palace during the best years when the "boys" were young. Here was the ... ...read more

News Flash

20 Sep 2011

We wanted to announce that we are not making it mandatory to use a Sew Together item in your Home Decor entry for our Contest. When we originally planned the contest way back in January...we thought we would have all of our Sew Together items in stock. Since we are out of stock on some items and waiting till November for others to arrive, we decided to make it optional. We would still love to see Sew Together embellishments in your projects, but it will not get you disqualified if you dont have them....email julia@rileyblakedesigns.com with ... ...read more

Classes at the Creative Connection

17 Sep 2011

The first class I took at the Creative Connection was "Romancing the Wristlet" taught by Debbie Murray, Shea Fragoso and Heather Ales. Fantastic Class ladies! Debbie and Shea are a Mother and Daughter team that own the Gilded Life.

We started with a metal bracelet. We used a decoupage method by ripping scrap book paper into strips and covering the bracelet. Add netting over the dried paper...... Add your trims, laces, and jewels (notice the vintage buttons I bought on Wednesday). And you too can create this beautiful bracelet. Emma Burke and Kathleen Maibauer were sitting at our table. Here ... ...read more