The Long Weekend Giveaway

If you haven't already heard, Heidi from Fabric Mutt and Lori from Lori H. Designs have teamed up to co-host a blog hop all about Amy Butler's fabulous Weekender Bag!  These bags have been popping up all over blog land lately and if you have considered making one yourself, this is the blog hop for you!  Starting November 9th, a great group of bloggers will be showing you their version of the bag and giving you some tips for making your own.  Check out the schedule here.

I've been contemplating making a Weekender Bag for awhile now after seeing so many beautiful patchwork ones.  Here are some of my favorites:

And fortunately it seems that every time someone makes one of these bags, they write a detailed blog post all about the experience.  The bags in the mosaic are no exception - here are the links to the posts about those bags:  (1) Providence Homemade, (2) One Shabby Chick, (3) Needles, Pins and Baking Tins, and (4) Lucy & Norman.  I've also found the posts from Sew Allegorical, Don't Call Me Betsy, and A Quilter's Table about their Weekender experience incredibly valuable (and I love all their amazing bags as well!)

I am really looking forward to this blog hop - after the informative weekender advice posts above and all the posts to come, I really have no excuse not to at least try, right?  I've already started thinking about fabric choices.

I'd add in more fabrics including some dark grays - maybe essex linen in black -  but I really like this color palette.  Or maybe something a bit like this:

Or maybe I'll just go totally scrappy with no specific color palette?  I have to first work up the courage to make one - all the talk of broken needles scares me a bit!

GIVEAWAY

To help start off the blog hop, Pink Castle Fabrics is giving away 2 of their random fat eighth bundles to one lucky winner.  To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment on this post.  Any comment will do but if you want a topic, how about whether you think you might make one of these bags and if so, if you've thought about fabrics yet.

The giveaway will remain open until November 3, 2012 at 8pm EDT and one winner will be chosen at random.  And please, unless you are sure that you are NOT a no-reply blogger, leave your email address in your comment.

This giveaway is now closed and the winner is #99 Judith.

Recent/Current posts:

Blogger's Quilt Festival:  All My Favorite Quilt-y Things Quilt
Fat Quarter Shop Giveaway and Monday Link-Up
The Travelling PicStitch Blog Hop

The Travelling PicStitch Blog Hop

Today is my turn on The Travelling PicStitch Blog Hop organized by Laura from Quokka Quilts and Katy from The Littlest Thistle.  The idea for this hop is that we are to pick a photo and then make an EPP block inspired by the color palette of the photo.

For my inspiration, I chose a photo that I took at the lake this summer.

I started making a block just using the blues and gray from the lake. Then I decided to do one in green (using these templates).  And then purple.  And yellow  . . .

Before I knew it, I had a whole rainbow of EPP blocks and a completed quilt!  And since the quilt was one of my most favorite so far, I decided to post about it for the Blogger's Quilt Festival going on right now (click here to see the finished quilt) so I took out my original inspiration photo and made this block for the PicStitch hop:

This block is almost the Georgetown Carnival block from Lily's Quilts but without the 12 squares between the outside triangles. I quilted this one to the background echoing the center hexagon and I'm thinking it will eventually be a pillow but I haven't quite decided yet.  And I so wish I chose a light gray for the background fabric - oh, well - that would be an awful lot of stitches to unpick!


You can find all the details about The Travelling PicStitch Blog Hop here including the schedule, the sponsors, and  information about the link up at the end of November.   And check out yesterday's (Sunday) post from Helen at Run Quilt Knit Write and tomorrow's (Tuesday) from Martha at Weekend Doings.







Recent posts:
Blogger's Quilt Festival:  All My Favorite Quilt-y Things Quilt
Fat Quarter Shop Giveaway and Monday Link-Up

Fat Quarter Shop Giveaway and Monday Link Up

This week's giveaway is from the wonderful Fat Quarter Shop.  I think the Fat Quarter Shop was one of the first online shops I found when I started quilting and I've always really liked their vast selection and easy to navigate website!  For today's giveaway, the Fat Quarter Shop is offering one lucky winner a $25 gift certificate to their shop.  
You have 3 chances to win.
1. Leave a comment on this post (any comment but if you would like a topic, how about your favorite kona color(s))
2.  My followers - old and new - get a second entry (leave a comment indicating that you are a follower.)
3.  For a third entry, visit the Fat Quarter Shop and leave a comment about which fat quarter bundle is one of your favorites.
The giveaway will remain open until November 3, 2012 at 8pm EDT and one winner will be chosen at random and announced thereafter.  And please, unless you are sure that you are NOT a no-reply commenter, include an email address.
This giveaway is now closed - the winner is #179: dianeOctober 28, 2012 8:21 PM

I've been eyeing the Chicopee bundles by Denyse Schmidt at the Fat Quarter Shop!

The winner of last week's giveaway from Contemporary Cloth is #205 JoyceLM.  Congrats Joyce - I've sent you an email.


Click here for the current schedule of bloggers who will be posting this week.




And for this week, again link up your recent sewing and quilting posts, visit each other, promote the link up with a text link or the button on my sidebar and when the link tool asks for your name, what about the name of one of your favorite children's books.






If you are here from the Blogger's Quilt Festival, here is my quilt.

All my favorite quilt-y things quilt!

Here is my entry into this fall's Blogger Quilt Festival.  This is a very recent finish so I haven't even mentioned it on my blog yet.  I chose this quilt because it has so many of my favorite quilt related things all combined into one!

I started by making several different styles of EPP blocks.  This one is the Spring Carnival block from I'm a Ginger Monkey.  Then I took each block, a piece of Kona Snow, and a large piece of batting and just stitched organic lines to attach them all together using 50wt Aurifil in a light silver grey color (is this considered applique?)

I then used the quilt-as-you-go method and made each EPP block the center block of a log cabin using mostly light colors but adding in the occasional pop of color.

Next, I improv pieced them all together (I found QAYG and Improv piecing to be a bit of a tricky combination!)

I also added this little scrappy rainbow of fabrics to the bottom left corner.

I backed it with a wonderfully soft flannel from Amy Butler's Love Collection.  (And yes, I pre-washed the red fabrics - I actually pre-wash all my fabric anyway!)

And then I added just a tiny bit of hand-quilting to each EPP block in a coordinating color (I had to take some of the photos in this post before adding the hand-quilting.)

That's it - almost all of my favorite types of quilting - EPP, QAYG, log cabins, hand-quilting, scrappy fabrics combinations, and rainbows.

Quilt Measurements:  approx. 36 x 38

Special Techniques:  Hand-piecing (EPP) and hand-quilting.

Quilted by:  Me on my home machine and by hand.

Best Category:  Baby Quilt, Scrap Quilt, Home Machine Quilted

My quilt is #315

Linking to the Blogger's Quilt Festival at Amy's Creative Side.  There are already over 300 quilts so if you haven't already, go take a look.  And if you are visiting from the Quilt Festival, welcome!

Three Little Chevron Quilts

Last week, autumn seemed to really be here - the air was crisp and in the mornings, we needed sweaters and blankets for the walk to school.  So, I decided I "needed" to make a few stroller blankets for my little one.  I finished these over the weekend and surprise, surprise - it was 80 degrees yesterday!    

Since I was making these with a clear purpose and recipient, I decided it was a good time to try the chevron/zig zag quilt that has been on my list for awhile.  For this green/white version, I used the HST method.  I cut 8 inch squares of each fabric and then used this technique to make 4 HSTs at a time - I think they ended up about 5 inch square.

When you look close up, you can see I really missed at most of the points but from afar, I really like the way this type of chevron looks.  Oh, and do you see my super thin binding?  I thought I would try to preserve this fabric that I love by cutting thinner binding strips - I cut them at 1.75 inches!  It was actually counterintuitive because even though I used less of the fabric, you can barely see the binding!  Oh, well!

For the second quilt, I decided to try this method for the zig zag which does not involve any HSTs and therefore, no trimming of the HSTs.  For a true comparison, I should have also used solid colors for this one but I didn't have enough left in my stash (what kind of stash doesn't have white?!?), so I had to go with prints.  

These blocks were very quick to make but I have to admit I spent a little too long figuring out the block placement (I had to call in my puzzle-loving daughter to help.)  This was probably because I used two different prints with the linen for some of the blocks instead of one print and one solid and then had to match them up for the look I wanted.  And for this one, you don't even need to look closely to see that most of my points do not match.  I definitely plan on trying this method again but using only solid colors.

For the last stroller quilt, I used chevron fabric!!!  Actually, this one came about because I wanted to participate in the Scrappy Stash Quilt Along but I don't have nearly enough scraps.  If you read my blog at all, you might have noticed that I have two daughters that love to sew AND they love to sew using my scraps (um, well, the ones that I don't hide away!)  But seeing all the scrappy rainbow log cabins around blog land last week inspired me and this was the end result.

Since these were all small quilts, I decided to practice FMQ on all three.  And, yes, I still need lots more practice!!!  

There are still a few days left to enter the Contemporary Cloth fabric giveaway, click here.

Linking up to TGIFF and Crazy Mom Quilts.

*edited to add:  I've had several people ask which technique I prefer and the answer is: I'm not sure yet - I've ordered more solid fabrics so I am going to try the second technique again using those for a better comparison and then I'll write another post with my conclusions!

Contemporary Cloth Giveaway and Monday Link Up

This week's giveaway is from Contemporary Cloth.  Sondra, the owner, stocks an excellent collection of modern fabrics including many organic lines and fun fabrics from Japan!  

For today's giveaway, Sondra is offering this beautiful bundle of Cloud 9 Organic Fabrics.  The bundle includes one yard of the fabric in the center of the above mosaic which is a soft flannel.  The bundle also includes one half yard of each of the other 8 quilting weight cotton fabrics shown.  You can find more information about these lovely fabrics here.
You have 3 chances to win!
1.  Leave a comment (any comment will do but if you'd like, why don't you comment about what you've been sewing lately.) 
2.  My followers - old and new - get a second entry. (leave a comment saying that you follow.)
3.  For a third entry, subscribe to Contemporary Cloth's newsletter.  Their newsletter is a great way to learn about their great fabric specials/sales and new arrivals - this week it is 20% off Echo and Bella!  To sign up, visit Contemporary Cloth and look for the sign up about 3/4 down the page on the left side.  (leave a comment saying that you signed up or that you are already on their mailing list.)

And please, unless you are sure that you are NOT a no-reply blogger, leave your email address in your comment so that you can be contacted if you win. The giveaway will remain open until October 27, 2012 at 8pm EDT and one winner will be selected at random. 


Click here for the list of bloggers posting this week.

And for this week, again link up your recent sewing and quilting posts, visit each other, promote the link up with a text link or the button on my sidebar and when the link tool asks for your name, what about your nickname for your sewing machine???  or just the color thread you used this weekend.

Patchwork Squares Quilt

After seeing all the low-volume quilts around blog land lately, I was inspired to make my own.  I went through my small but growing stash and pulled out everything I thought qualified as low-volume.  Then, since I wasn't planning on making a quilt for a tiny doll, I added some fabrics that kind-of qualified as low-volume.  I cut them into 5" squares, stitched a few together and put a picture on Instagram asking if it was looking low-volume or baby - well, the answer from my IG friends was pretty unanimous that it was baby - oh, well!  

So, I'll try low-volume again in a few months when I have some different fabrics in my stash but fortunately, my middle daughter who has been patiently waiting for me to make her a quilt for cuddling loved this fabric combination.  

We kept choosing fabrics and adding squares until it was her perfect size - we included some darker prints at the end.  And she requested a cozy flannel backing.

I think this is the largest quilt I've ever made and for some reason, I decided to do some free-motion quilting.  Well, after three rows of completely awful quilting and an evening of unpicking, I sat down to hand-quilt it.  I figured I'd ask my daughter if she had a preference for floss colors and she told me that she would like to do the hand-quilting herself!

I wasn't exactly sure of the best way to do this but for some reason, I decided to first add the binding  to the quilt.

Then, since I wanted my basting pins back, I machine-quilted a few of the squares randomly throughout the quilt.

She is now very slowly hand-quilting the squares - she told me her goal is one square each day - so,  yes, it will be awhile!  But at least it will keep her warm in the meantime!

And while I'm on the subject of sewing for my middle daughter, I tested this adorable paper pieced pattern for Kristy from Quiet Play.  She just listed this one in her Craftsy shop.  And, I was totally inspired by the other pattern tester, my friend Heidi from Fabric Mutt, whose idea it was to use a text print for the fence! 

And last, but so not least - a few weeks ago, I got the most wonderful emails from Kerry from veryberrykerry and Ali of Very Berry Fabrics informing me that I was going to be receiving 20 9x12 pieces of this beautiful Liberty Lawn fabric from Ali's lovely Folksy shop Very Berry Fabrics!  Any suggestions for what I should make with these beauties???

Linking up to TGIFF which is at Echinops and Aster this week and Crazy Mom Quilts.