Sep
30
August was my month to be the quilter for our do. Good Stitches circle, Dream. I chose to have everyone make this (what I thought would be) simple starburst block by Ashley at Film in the Fridge. Looks easy right?
As it turns out, it’s really a lot more of a pain to get those points to line up than I ever imagined. I ended up making two of these blocks. Our group is in a bit of flux right now due to new babies and moving members and other exciting stuff, so we were a little short. I was going to make another 3 to make the whole quilt 3×4 blocks, but just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Those blocks are a pain! I apologize to all the lovely ladies of the dream circle for picking it.
As it turns out though, the 3×3 layout inspired the quilting. After I’d quilted along the block seams I realized I had the perfect tic tac toe board, and so I quickly cut out an X and an O template and laid them out for quilting.
The binding I chose was a plain teal blue. Originally, I’d asked everyone to include a bit of gray in each brightly colored starburst as a way to tie them all together, but as it luck would have it, the aquas and teals really stand out more.
And here’s my block for September. I’m afraid it doesn’t look as bright and cheery as it did when I first pulled the fabrics. Really, quite muted.
Now, I just need to find the time to package these two goodies up and send them off.
Jun
27
Charming Travelers Giveaway
Filed Under Giving, Quilting, Sewing | 6 Comments
A few weeks ago I won the second traveling charm pack started by Karen. Diane at from blank pages started the original swap, and Karen decided we needed a second charm pack circling around. I won the pack all the way from Quebec at Marika’s blog. As she says in her winner post, I’m very lucky at her site because this is the second giveaway I’ve won there.
Well now it’s your turn for a shot at this little bundle of fabric. The rules are that you receive this package of 5 inch charms and you can choose however many suit your fancy, but they must be replaced with high quality quilt store cotton charms from your own stash. You must also be an active blogger in order to create a giveaway of your own and to keep the chain going, you must be willing to ship to both the US and Canada. Also be sure to update the Charming Travelers page with your location if you win!
So, now that all of the fine print is out of the way, if you want to win this cute little bundle (and I’m just saying that I might be adding some HTF designer charms. wink wink) just leave a comment on this post.
Entries will be open until 10pm (Central) on Tuesday, July 3. I will draw a winner via random.org on Wednesday, July 4! Good Luck!
May
30
So who won the Mendocino Madness giveaway day last week? Well, I had the lovely random number generator at random.org pick numbers for me. (I had it generate 6 numbers in case I couldn’t contact one or more of the commenters, but as luck would have it I heard back from the first two numbers!)
The winner of the blush and aqua fat quarters of Heather Ross’s Mendocino Presentation fabric is: (drum roll please…)
And the winner of the fat eighth of the gold swimming sisters and fat eighth of the brown kelp forest and small piece of the brown kelp stripe is:
Congrats ladies! And thank you to everyone who entered. I read every single comment as they came in. I wish I could have had time to respond to everyone, but with nearly 500 comments there is just no way!!! Thanks again to everyone!
May
29
do. Good Stitches {March 2012}
Filed Under Giving, Quilting, Sewing | 4 Comments
March was my month in the Dream circle of do. Good Stitches to be the quilter. That just means that I got to pick the block everyone made, and then was the person responsible for putting the final quilt together and getting it sent off to our charity, Project Night Night.
For March, I chose to do the string block that Ashley demonstrated on her blog ages ago. I really love the white line down the center, it seems to tie all the blocks together even though they are made from so many fabrics. I decided to alter the layout in this quilt to get a more “chevron-like” pattern. I like it, but I think if I were to do it again with this type of block I might make the white “centers” a little less centered so they could come to points.
On the back, with the extra blocks, I used the same criss cross pattern that the tutorial shows. I had to search my stash for a fabric to fill out the back. I knew I wanted to use a solid because the blocks themselves are so busy, but I didn’t have enough of anything (except Kona snow and other neutral fabrics) to do the entire back. In the end, I chose these two bright solids. I really like the way it came out. (Sorry, I have no idea what colors they are…)
I quilted it 1/4 inch from the white center lines for a nice wide zig zag. The quilting shows up wonderfully on the back and I really love it.
Binding was a big headache! I had no idea how to bind it without it looking really really busy. After many suggestions from a lot of wonderful ladies, I ended up going with bright prints. I used 3 leftover pieces of binding from other quilts. The scrappiness of it just goes… you know?
I forgot to add the label before I basted and quilted, and so I attached it after the fact. The front has so much going on though, that you almost can’t see the stitching line.
It’s going to be really hard to let this quilt go… She’s definitely one of my favorites! But I know that the child who receives it will need it far more than I do. I hope it brings security to that little person in their time of need.
May
21
Giveaway Day — Mendocino Madness!
Filed Under Giving, Sewing | 481 Comments
Entries for May’s Giveaway Day are now closed. I will choose the winners using a random number generator before Monday May 28, 2012!
A while back, I lost my mind and started buying up all the Mendocino I could find. Ok, not all, but I decided I must have at least a bit of every fabric. And in the process, I ended up buying a few duplicates, partly because I couldn’t remember what I had already, but also because a lot of these fabrics are sold in small bundles, and to get one that I’m missing I might have to buy a couple that I already had. I really wish I hadn’t completely missed out on these fabrics when they first came out!
Well, what better way to eliminate duplicates than to share with you! So I actually started looking for some dups on purpose! These are by no means all the extras, but I think I’ll save a few for future giveaway days. :)
The first lucky winner will get these two fat quarters of Heather Ross’s Mendocino Presentation Mermaids in Aqua and Blush!
The second winner will get this little bundle. It consists of two fat eighths — Brown Kelp Forest, and Gold Swim Sisters, and a small 9″ x 11″ (ish) piece of the Kelp Stripe in Brown.
All you have to do to win is leave me a comment telling me either what you’ll make with these fabrics, or which fabric line you totally missed out on!
For a second chance to win, follow my blog and leave me a second comment saying you are a follower!
International Entries welcome!!!
I will close the entries at 7pm CST on Friday May 25. I will randomly choose the two winners with a random number generator.
Happy Giveaway Day! I hope you are one of the lucky winners!