show and tell bag pattern winners

Thanks to everyone who entered my pattern giveaway last week. I loved reading your comments! The winners are Deb and her friend Candy!

I hope your week is off to a great start! Happy Monday to you!

show and tell bag in Emma & Myrtle fabric

My new fabric line, Emma & Myrtle, (available exclusively at Connecting Threads) has been out for a several weeks, so I suppose now would be a good time to share a little bit more about it!

The collection was named after two of my great aunts: Emma and Myrtle. Emma was my grandpa's sister, and Myrtle was my grandpa's sister-in-law. Their names should give you an idea of the era in which they lived. :) Originally, I wanted to design a line of fabric based on my memories of them, but the collection evolved into more of a nod to things from that time period. I think that's pretty normal-to start with one idea and land in another place. The prints were inspired by retro kitchen towels, radiator covers, vintage aprons, an ironing board cover, gardens, bed sheets and an old spool of thread. I love how the collection came together! Many thanks to the folks at Connecting Threads for their expertise in developing a line of fabric. There is a lot that goes into it!

Picking out the colors for the line is one of my favorite parts! This was the original color scheme that I selected when I was starting out. It's fun to look back and realize that we didn't veer too far from the original palette.

Along with designing the fabric, one of the parts of the process is coming up with quilts/projects to make using the new fabric. That part is fun, but also challenging for me, as I'm more of a jump into a pile of fabric and start sewing to see what happens. (I'm usually not much of a planner in that aspect.)

The show and tell bag (pattern available here) was designed for taking your quilts to show and tell at a guild meeting or for hauling projects to a retreat. When I wrote the pattern, the fabric was not yet printed, so I made all of my samples from different fabrics from the stash. You can see those bags in this post. The pattern comes with instructions for bags in 3 sizes: Medium, Large and Jumbo.

The bag shown here is the large size. I folded up a few quilts (a lap size and a twin size) and this bag holds them both easily.

The pattern is charm pack or layer cake friendly. There is a kit available here, if you'd like to make one of your own!

(Full disclosure: in my version I took out the 4 fabrics shown above, which were included in the kit and I still had enough to make the bag as shown.)

I thought it would be fun to do a pattern giveaway today! If you'd like to win a PDF copy of the Show and Tell Bag pattern, please leave me a comment in this post. In your comment, tell me about a friend who you would like to win a pattern for. If I pick your name, you AND your friend will each win a PDF copy of the pattern. International entries welcome! I'll pick a winner in a few days. Please make sure to include your email address so I can contact you if you win. Thanks!

I hope you are having a great week!

pattern winner

Thank you so much for your entries in the range backpack pattern giveaway. That was fun! The winner of the pattern is barbaradougherty126. I also wanted to thank you for the warm welcome back after my month off. It's much appreciated!

I hope your week is off to a great start. Happy Monday to you!

range backpack

Welcome to finish it up Friday!

I sewed this project during the summer, so it's actually been done for a couple of months, but I'm eager to share it with you today. The pattern is called the Range Backpack by the amazingly talented Anna of Noodlehead. (The PDF pattern is available for purchase here.) Of all of the things that I've made, this is probably the project at the top of the list that makes me want to exclaim, "I actually made this!!!!" Hahaha!

The pattern calls for waxed canvas, which I ordered from AL Frances on Etsy. I used spring green and a blue denim for the exterior of my bag. I got the hardware kit from Anna. (It's SO handy that she stocks them...saves a lot of time and trouble trying to track everything down.) I had never used waxed canvas before, so I was quite nervous to sew with it, but it went well! It's fun to expand one's sewing horizons. Also, it's nice to have some hand holding and direction while doing it. Ha! The hardest part of the whole project for me was when it came time to turn the bag right side out. I didn't want to crumple the canvas....even though that's the whole point. The canvas gets better with age and with use. Breaking it in will be a challenge for me, I'm certain!

As for the actual construction, I did that at a retreat with a few of my friends. 6 of us made our own version of the backpack, each one reflecting their own taste and style. It was super fun to do the project together AND to get a group photo of all of our backpacks.

I LOVE Anna's patterns because they produce such professional looking finished products. Every single time!! As soon as my kids saw it, each one of asked me if I would make them one. That's a good sign of success, I would say! I loved making it....and I felt a great sense of accomplishment when I finished. SO thankful to have been a part of the backpack party that we had at retreat.

Switching gears a little bit....my oldest boy turned 17 yesterday! I'm having a hard time processing exactly how that happened. He requested carrot cake for his birthday, which I was happy to make for him.  Having leftover cake for breakfast is a good way to start a Friday!

I picked this book up from the library a few weeks ago and I've tried 8 recipes from it so far (including the carrot cake recipe)... there is not a dud in the bunch! I can't recommend it enough!

I thought it would be fun to do a little giveaway today! It's been awhile! If you would like to win a PDF copy of Anna's pattern for the Range Backpack, I will pick one lucky winner from the commenters today. I'd like to thank each and every one of you for stopping by my blog and reading. It really, truly means so much!

Now it's your turn! Please link up your finishes for the week. Thank you, as always, for joining me for finish it up Friday!

a trio of pincushions

Welcome to finish it up Friday!

I had very little sewing time this week, so all I managed to finish is these three pincushions. I guess that's better than nothing!

The black and white pincushion was made from scraps leftover from piecing my kindness pillow top. The other two were made from patchwork pieces that were floating around in my orphan block pile. At least they are usable items now! I think they make pretty cute pincushions.

I've also put my favorite tools for making pincushions in the photo. The first is invisible thread. It's a bugger to work with, because it's basically clear, but it makes the hand stitched opening almost invisible. It's amazing! A needle minder is essential because both needles and invisible thread are really, really hard to keep track of. My other favorite tool is a bamboo point turner. (Made by Merchant and Mills. I purchased mine at Modern Textiles.) It's such a handy tool for turning out the corner of tiny pieces like this. I would highly recommend it!

Since pincushions are the topic of the day, I thought it would be fun to do a giveaway, too! If you would like to win a PDF copy of my Plenty of Pincushion Patterns, Volume 1 and 2, please leave me a comment in this post. In your comment, I'd love to hear if you have sewing plans this weekend. If so, what do you plan to make? I'll pick a few winners tomorrow morning. If you win, perhaps you can make a few pincushions before the weekend is through. :)

edited to add: the giveaway is now closed, winners have been posted.

Now, it's your turn! Please link up your finishes for the week. Thank you, as always, for joining me for finish it up Friday!

pincushions!

Welcome to finish it up Friday!

It's been another busy week, but I have some small finishes to share today. Small, but pretty darn cute!

I made these pincushions as samples for my local quilt shop. All 4 of these designs are in my pattern Plenty of Pincushions, Volume 1. I had to make new pincushions because I couldn't bear to part with the originals. Turns out these won't be easy to part with, either, even if it is only for a time! :) These are scrap project #186!

I decided yesterday that I'm going to try to make an entire quilt out of those little sailboats (top left). It's going on my bucket list!!! Each little individual square finishes at 1". It'll probably take me a lifetime to make the quilt....or, it'll end up as a mini or pillow cover. Hahaha! But seriously, can you imagine??? It's going to be epic!

One more finish....this may only be exciting to me, but I finally have my pincushion patterns in print! (Thus the need for the shop samples.) These are only available as wholesale right now, for local quilt shops to purchase, but getting a pattern to this point takes a long time, so it's definitely worth celebrating! Woohoo!

Because I think EVERYONE needs more pincushions in their life, I'd like to do a little giveaway. This giveaway will be for you AND a friend. Each of you will win a copy of the pattern! If you would like to be entered in the drawing, please leave a comment in this post. I'd love to hear a little bit about your friend/friendship and why you chose them for the drawing. I'll pick a winner in a few days! Please, leave your email address in the comment, so I have a way of contacting you.

edited to add: the giveaway is now closed. winners have been notified via email.

Ok, now it's your turn! Please link up your finishes for the week. Thank you for joining me for finish it up Friday!

pattern winners

Many thanks to all of you who left kind comments on my last post. The five winners of my PDF pattern giveaway are:

Stitchified
Schultz Family
Vicki Lou
Pennylanequilts
Linda B

Please email me so I can send along your prizes to you!

Happy Monday to you!

bright birch tree kit giveaway

I put together a little bright birch tree starter kit that I'd like to send to a new home. I've collected a huge variety of small pieces (and they are small) but they are perfect for my bright birch trees pattern! The great thing is, most of the pieces are ready to sew up...very little trimming will be required. The kit includes a copy of the print pattern and a tall pile of small scraps...just add the background fabric of your choice! If you don't like small scraps, please do not enter. (Seriously!) :) If you do like small scraps and you'd like a chance to win, please leave me a comment on this post. In your comment, I'd love to hear what quilt project you are closest to completing. (I'm anxious for a finish, can you tell?) I'll pick a winner in a few days. US mailing addresses only this time, please! Thank you!

Lines by Design Quilts winner

Thanks for all the entries to the Lines By Design Quilts book giveaway! I can't believe how many of you have so much BLUE in your stash. That was far and away the most prominent color stated in the comments. I found that very interesting!

The winner of the book is Julierose! Thanks to all of you who entered! Hope you are having a great week!

Lines by Design blog hop

Today I'm happy to be a stop on my friend Debbie's blog tour for her new book, Lines by Design Quilts. This book is so true to Debbie's clean, graphic and straightforward style. The book contains 17 fun projects--in various sizes--to sew and inspire. It's a beautiful book!
The bar chart quilt caught my eye immediately. I've thought about making something similar to this for a long time, but I never had enough vision to follow through. For that reason, I was more than happy to give this pattern a try. It's much better than I could have done on my own!

I've had this red jelly roll in my stash for years, so I was thrilled to finally have a reason to sew it up! I pulled various fabrics from my stash to round things out. I am not good at following directions, or counting, apparently, so I had to add an additional fabric to the mix about half way though....but that's pretty typical for me! Ha!

Sewing with jelly rolls is messy. Yikes! I bet I will be vacuuming up red fuzz for the rest of the year...but it was totally worth it. I LOVE how the quilt turned out. LOVE it!

I was worried that some of the darker red prints that I pulled would blend into the background too much, but I think it turned out to be the perfect balance. Hurray! (And phew!)

When it came time to quilt it, I decided to do a small stipple in the background. I quilted loopy L's in the printed strips. I also changed thread colors for the strips: some were quilted in red thread, some were quilted in white thread. It required me to bury quite a few knots, but it was time well spent. I love how the stippling unifies the background strips. This quilt will be texture-iffic once it is washed!

The ovals print (on the left) was the last minute addition to the quilt. I'm glad I had to add one more fabric, because it introduced another scale of print to the quilt. It needed it!

It has been awhile since I machine bound a quilt, but this one was a good candidate for it! 3 out of the 4 corners turned out beautifully. I suppose that's the best I could ask for. :)

The backing was a very deliberate choice. I wanted something that would camouflage both the red and white threads. This definitely did the trick! (The backing, binding, ovals and one of the red polka dot fabrics are all from my good neighbors fabric line.)

The finished quilt is about 60" x 78" or so. I was tempted to make a few of those strips scrappy, but I resisted. Aren't you surprised? :) Red is a bold choice for the background, but I couldn't love it any more. I need to go bold more often!

(The red background fabric is Moda Bella Solid (9900-JR 16).)

Since this is a blog hop, Debbie and her publisher are giving away a copy of the book to one of my readers! If you would like to win, please leave me a comment in this post. In your comment, I would love to hear what color of fabric is most prominent in your stash. (Is it because you always use it? Or is it because you never use it?) The contest is open to everyone! A hard copy will be sent to a US resident OR a digital copy will be sent to a resident outside of the US. I will pick a winner in a few days!

 

Oh! And feel free to visit the other stops on the blog tour to see more of the book:

 

Wed, Mar 2     Christa Watson     http://christaquilts.com     

Th, Mar 3        Casey York      https://studioloblog.wordpress.com/

Fri, Mar 4        Heather Jones http://www.heatherjonesstudio.com/blog/

Mon, Mar 7     Kate Colleran  http://seamslikeadream.com/blog/

Tues, Mar 8     Rossie Hutchinson      http://www.rossiecrafts.com/blog

Wed, Mar 9     Amanda Jean Nyberg http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/

Th, Mar 10      Amy Ellis         http://www.amyscreativeside.com/blog/

Fri, Mar 11      Lynn Krawczyk            http://smudgeddesignstudio.com/blog/

Mon, Mar 14   Debbie Grifka  http://eschhousequilts.com/blog

 

pattern winners

The pattern winners for this week are Joan G, Linda Rose, Anja, and Brooke! Ladies, please email me and I will get your choice of 3 PDF patterns to you! Thanks to everyone who played along. Happy Monday to you!

pattern winners

Thanks for all the kind words about my snowflake pillow! I appreciate each and every one! It was pieced, not bias tape applique, to answer that question. :)

The winners of 5 PDF patterns are: Alidiza, Diana, Carol, and Myra @Busy Hands Quilts! Please email me so I can get your patterns to you. Thanks to all of you for reading, commenting and linking up!

Happy Monday to you!

winners

I haven't forgotten! The winners of the 3 PDF patterns from last week are: Jen from Stitchified and Granny Maud's Girl. Thanks to everyone who played along!

winners

The winners of this week's giveaway of 3 PDF patterns are Claudia and Lucy. Thanks for all your comments and kind words! Happy Monday to you!

more PDF pattern winners

The winners of 3 PDF patterns from my shop this week are Julie and Carol. Emails have been sent. Thank you to all of you who joined in! We will do it again next week! :)

Happy Monday to you!

PDF pattern winners

The winner from Friday's link up party is Cheryl and the winner from the comments is Sherry. Emails have been sent! :) Thank you for all you who joined in....we will do this again next week!

Happy Monday to you!

ladder leap winners

Thanks for all of the positive feedback about my ladder leap quilt! The winners of the PDF pattern are: Marjorie's Busy Corner, Anne D., Jasmine, Little Black Cat Quilting and Suzanne. (Please email me so I can send you a copy of the pattern.) Congratulations to the winners! A big THANK YOU to each and every one of you who stops by here to read and comment. It means so much! xo

Happy Tuesday!

sweet tweets giveaway winner

The winner of the sweet tweets giveaway is Naurispelto! Thanks to all of you who entered!

pincushion party update and a winner!

Good morning! Have you been keeping up with the pincushion party? I've been enjoying seeing what others make....so much creativity! It's been an absolute delight to see everyone's work so far and I thought it would be nice to have a round up a few times during the party. If you have a few minutes, check out the amazing pincushions by these fabulous sewists: Anna, Mary, Svetlana, Debbie, Holly, Carla, and Faith. (I've added direct links to make it easier to navigate.) Thank you so much to my talented friends for being a part of the party!

 

Also, I've decided to do a little retroactive giveaway. I've used the random number generator to pick a winner from the commenters in my kick off post. KaHolly, you've won a charm pack of my new good neighbors fabric! I hope you have fun playing with it!

One last thing....I've gotten a lot of comments and emails about international shipping. I'm working on sorting out how to offer (for a very limited time) bundles for those of you who live outside of the US and Canada. It may take me a few weeks, but I'll keep you posted!

scrap pile winner

Thanks for all the fun comments on the scrap giveaway post. I loved reading each and every one of them. I can't believe that only a few of you commented that you like fishing! That is hands down my favorite summer activity. :)

The winner of the scrap pile is Karen H. Thanks for all of you who played along!

I also loved reading your WIP post comments! Thanks for taking the time to leave them. xo