Giveaway Day (Week) coming soon!

Do you know about Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day?  Well it's time for the Spring week-long fun and chances to win not only neat crafting items, but also to win finished projects!  I mean some give away actual quilts, bags and other home-made goodies!  I am thinking about giving something away, but I am not sure what I should give, what do you guys think out there?  I won't be able to log on on Tuesday so I will probably miss most of the giveaways unless I get to them on Monday.  Be sure to go to visit and learn more of what is coming ahead!

*Shanna

You Don't Say...

And so so we enter my third day of silence. Kind of hard for a girl who likes to talk and has a very talkative daughter who probably thinks I am ignoring her!  Anywho...

I also want to show you the items I chose from winning a $15 gift certificate to Quilt Taffy from Jane's Fabrics and Quilts a couple months ago.  I took quite a bit of time to choose what I wanted from their Etsy Shop.  I finally decided on this pattern called On a Whim and a Cuzco Charm pack.  You should also check out their blog called Taffy Talk which has lots of great ideas shared by 2 sisters, Corrie and Des.  I received these items super quick--once I made up my mind of course, lol.  I plan to use the quilt pattern to teach one of my closest friends how to make a quilt.  I was attracted to it because she is obsessed with snowflakes; she is from Alaska and moved to Texas too!

Be sure to check out this week's Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday (TGIFF) which is being hosted this week by Laura a@Quokka Quilts.  Do you have a finished project you would like to share?  Here is your opportunity to share with a truly wonderful community through out the world!    Be sure to check back here on December 28th because it will be my turn to host!!!

Don't forget to check out this twice a year event!  There are a few categories to choose from even if you are not a crafter there are premade items some of which are truly amazing which are being giving away from free!!  So even if you feel you are not a craft blogger, here is your opportunity to obtain some truly marvelous items, check it out!!!  Just 1 more day til they choose their winners!

Red, White and Blue Blog Hop

I am sorry that I have been away for so long.  I have been caught up in the moment to my packing and getting ready for our move next weekend.  Our apartment is full of boxes stacked in the corner and I have reached that point where I am no longer sorting items but just stuffing them in a box.  I thought I would be a little depressed about this, but I keep reminding myself that I purged 4 shopping carts last fall and 2 this spring in anticipation of our move.  Not only that, but I also purged my fabric stash by many, many yards of fabrics I was never going to use.  Now I just have to get rid of a few more rolls of decor fabric once we've settled on our color pallet for the living room.  I am planning to redo a chair we have with some fabric I was given, at least I pray it is the right color so I don't have to shop for fabric.

Madame Samm At SEW WE QUILT has done it again!  Along with her friend Jane, they shall be hosting the Red, White & Blue Blog hop this July!  There 100 people signed up to share their blocks, I hope you will be willing to check it out!  It's one of the first projects I hope to tackle when we get moved in next weekend.  I am hoping to put together a little quilt with the block I put together for my post in the blog hop, maybe a nice picnic blanket.  I also need to get working on my Quilt for our Baby Girl!

I really, really wanted to be involved with Giveaway Day this year with my own giveaway, but it fell on the worst weekend for me for obvious reasons.  Plus my fabric and craft items are already packed!  Please check it out for yourself though but clicking on the icon.  Perhaps I will have to arrange a little giveaway after I move to purge just a little more fabric!

TGIFF7: Free Motion Joy and a Whole lot of Scrappiness!

I finished a Christmas mini-quilt and hung it on my new mini-quilt table holder (with optional tree header) that I was able to pick up from Connecting Threads for $16 USD.  It's the only sign of Christmas in the whole apartment right now unfortunately, but perhaps I will get the Advent Calendar tonight for the Friday Night Sew-In!  I cut out the letters which was ironed onto fusible web and then did my own sort of free-motion tree around the words.  It was kind of fun, but it makes me look forward to all the FMQ stitch practice I will be doing this next year, it definitely is needed!

I think I listed and featured most of my finished projects on my WIP posting this week, please take a gander/peek if you wish!

I do not know if I will get to the Advent Calendar, but I can tell you a couple of the items I am hoping to tackle tonight!  The first being these placements on the left that I have been working on since the Spring! I think I have finally figured out how I will be adding the word art that has been flummoxing me for many months.  

The next item on my list is to do some planning with my overflowing collecting of scrap bag strips!  This container on the right is not quite all of them even, so I must get something planned with them.  I have been using them for baby bibs and burp cloths for baby shower gifts, but I am thinking of making some lap quilts with several of the lines I have here.


New projects (since last Friday)- 6

In process - 18

Finishes (Since last Friday)- 15

Linking up this week to:
TGIFF hosted this week by Lucy @Charm about you,
Finish It Up Friday hosted by Amanda Jean@Crazy Mom Quilts!
Also check out Laura's  QAYG-FMQ-QAL for 2012!

Giveaway day-My winners have been picked, notified, and now I am waiting to hear back from them before I announce the winners either Saturday or Sunday (American Central Time)!  Tomorrow night I attend my first baby shower for my own little girl, Ziona!  I am rather nervous actually!

WIP: The Sore Fingers Edition...

Welcome Blogland!  Are your fingers as tired as mine are?  I have had to take a few extra naps to recover from "giveaway day" so far!  How are you faring?  Anything you think I must take a look at?  If so, add a link to it in the comments section and I will check it out!  I have truly enjoyed reading and responding to comments, but my heart is sadden that I had so many "NO Reply Bloggers" out there with truly fantastic ideas that can't win my give-a-ways!

And now on to our regularly scheduled last-minute-edition of WIP's!  Last Thursday, Friday And Saturday I participated in the "Occupy Sewing Room" Challenge ( I had to do the spread out version on account of baby girl cooking).  So consequently I have quite a few more items both cleared off and added to my Progress list!

Cleared:

11 burp cloths, 2 Christmas potholders

Melting Rainbows

A Christmas Pot-holder 

I also finished one of the projects I am writing a tutorial about.  I hope to post a set of tutorials over January thru April on Tuesdays.  It's a way I can still participate in my lovely blogging community while having a baby, recovering from said baby, adjusting to life with said baby, and moving with said baby (when she is 9-12 weeks)!

Added over the past week:

Two Quilt tops in Yellow, Grey, White & Black

Modern Pinwheel Twist quilt top won by our "Baby naming contest" winner who correctly guessed the name of our little girl!  Check out "Giveaway Day" blog post to win the materials to make your own quilt top!

Right in the middle of working on my secret project, my husband begs me to make him a gift for his secret Santa!  Then he said , "Oh it's too nice to give away, I'll find something else!"  I love that man!

 Among my two additions for this week is a Valentine's table runner (circles in the picture on the lower right) and a secret project involving the fabrics from the picture on the left!  Some projects have been taken off my WIP list permanently because I gave them over to someone else to finish!

I have pretty much stuck to bed rest since Monday, we will probably not have much turned out for TGIFF, hosted over at Lucy's Charm About You this week.  I am hoping to be able to participate in my first "Friday Night Sew-In" this coming Friday, but we will see!

So my WIP's this week are:

New projects -6

In process - 19

Finishes - 16

Linking up to:

Well, no where really, everyone is on break! lol.

GIVEAWAY DAY!!

"Modern Pinwheel Twist" quilt top measures about 60"X 60"

Welcome to Giveaway day!  Last year I was down with Meningitis so I spent the 3 days trying to comment on as many links as I could and yet still did not make it though the entire list!  I decided that this year I wanted to give something away as well!  I found so many new blogs to follow and was connected to so many people around the world.  Be sure to check out the master linky party at our super hostess Sew Mama Sew!  I have two winners to chose today!

So What am I giving away?
First person chosen will receive :
Enough fabric to complete the "Modern Pinwheel Twist" quilt top above!
1- "Oh My!" Moda Charm pack
1- Bella Black Moda Charm pack
0.75 yard of yellow fabric
1.5 yards of black fabric
1- 24"X 24" Red Square to cut out your square to fit
("Lil' Twister" tool not included)

Second person chosen will receive:
1 "Just Wing It" Moda Charm pack
1 "Crazy for Dots & Stripes" RJR Charm Pack

What you must do to be in the drawing?
I have plans to move in the spring, therefore I will have to set up my crafting area anew!  This time though I will have to take a small child into mind (Our baby girl is due in January/February!)  Make a comment below giving me a craft room organization tip or things to keep in mind when planning the organization of my crafting area.  What has helped you the most?  What has hindered you from completing projects?  You are welcome to become a follower however it is not required to be considered, nor will it increase your chance of winning.  I did not like the hoops some blogs required last year, so I certainly will not do that to you!

I am so sorry that I am not able to ship internationally this year (meaning I cannot drive currently because of my pregnancy, but I can walk to the US post office 1/2 a block a way.) so, this time the giveaway is only open to US residents who have a way for me to contact them (meaning you are not a no-reply blogger).

When will the winner be chosen?
The comment section will close on Friday, December 16, 2011 at 5p.m. PST.  I will chose the first winner from the best comment/advice I receive! The second winner will be chosen by random.org (you may only win one prize).  I will contact the winners no later than Sunday, December 18, 2011.  I will announce the winners when I have received a response from the email indicating the person has won.  If there is no way to contact a winner, another winner will be chosen.  Thank you for entering my give-away!

TGIFF6: At the End of the Rainbow...

It's Friday again!  And I finally am finished with my "Melting Rainbows" wall hanging!  I was asked by several people how I was able to add the pieces to the wall hanging.

 1.  Cut parchment paper the same size of the fabric pieces (which have already been ironed to fusible web, with the paper back still on, check out picture on this POST)
2.  Place paper cut-out roughly where you want to put the piece.
3.  Sketch roughly around the other pieces
4.  You then cut along those lines, sketch again & cut paper until it fits the area you woud like to fill.
5.  Place paper on the fabric piece, cutting along the one side first (which ever side has more items to fit the piece around).
6.  Place in the area you are wanting to fill, adjust piece just in case it does not fit correctly
7.  If the other side is open (not filled with other pieces) you can cut however you would like, be creative.
8.  When piece is as you would like, pull the backing off and iron in place.  Move onto the next piece you would like to add.

The black background is two pieces of Kona solid black fabric spray-basted with a layer of Warm & Natural cotton batting between.  I cannot tell you how to go through this process sanely with pin-basting since every can shift around and cause possible bubbles so I spray-baste.  It was finished off with zig-zagging around each piece and then a little FMQ on the outside edges, then bound with a black print with grey pebbles.

I postponed my "Occupy Sewing Room" challenge to do all day tomorrow (I wasn't feeling well so crafting did not go long today).  You should click on the button on the right side to find out all about it.  I will post what I accomplish on Sunday.  Also we have announced the winner & the name of our little girl:  "Ziona Katriel"  You can find out more about what that means reading my Husband's POST!

Don't forget to also check out the link for Giveaway Day.  I may be busy checking other links, but I am also giving some things away!

My Friend Katie also has some great Christmas giveaways on her blog, Shades of Grey, go check it out!

I am linking up this week to:
TGIFF being hosted by M-R at Quilt Matters
& Finish it up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts

SR-W49: A Very Small Showing

This year I will be entering Giveaway day hosted by Sew Mama Sew!  And I will be giving some items away in the "sewing Supplies" category!  Last year I won some beautiful fabric from one of the stores that posted items for giveaway and so I thought that this year I might give something away myself.  Please stay tuned for December 12th when the giveaways start!

This week I was a very, very good girl in comparison to last week that is!  I did not buy any fabric, but I was able to get a few little lingering projects done off my WIP list!  The next week I am hoping to have the "Melting Rainbows" wall hanging completed, continue working on the Cowboy table runner and the advent calendar, sadly enough, still hasn't been touched since I had my meltdown moment with it.  We will be packing up some items from my craft room and reorganizing it in the next couple of weeks.  We plan to use part of it for storage to make more room elsewhere for the baby and to start staging our boxes for moving in April/May/June!  And I will continue to rest some more...lol.  Have a wonderful week and happy crafting!


so here's the happier verdict this week:

Busted this Week:                  00.50 yards

Busted from 08/01/2011:       206.75 yards
Stashed this Week:                00.00 yards
Stashed from 08/01/2011:       95.5 yards

Net Busted for 2011(from 08/01/2011):  111.25

I won a contest!

It was my first year to find out about "Give-a-way Day" which is hosted by Sew Mama Sew each year.  Each year a list of blog sites and stores sites sign-up up to give something(s) away.  This year it was divided into three categories, there were sites from all over the world participating, and the lists were massive!  I was having a bad recovery week and thus was only able to check out about 20 blogs on one list and maybe 4 blogs on another list.  Today my package arrived in the mail from Karamat; I was informed a few days ago that I won!  

What did I win?  Well, Karamat has an etsy store which sells fabric.  On her blog she required each person to pick two yards of fabric they would like from the Etsy site and make a comment.  I pointed out the listings for one yard of each of the prints from the "Frolic" line that is in the first picture above.  In the second picture the new fabric is tucked in with the "frolic" stash.  You may be able to tell that I end up stashing more from Sandy Gervais' lines than any other fabric designers (she currently has 1.5 drawers with her name on it), although I have started to branch out a little.  I originally saw a line of fabric called "Fresh Squeezed" in a quilting magazine and really liked it.  It could not be found, but "Frolic" was by the same designer and had similar prints that I really enjoyed.  

Moda Bake shop has a great pattern using "Frolic" called "WhirlyWheels Baby Quilt" that I was drawn to, so I started collecting fabrics.  However, in the end, I could not bring myself to cut into the fabrics since it was my first foray into the lands of designer fabrics and so I made this pink quilt last year for a friend out of other fabrics. I found another Moda Bake Shop pattern inspired by "Frolic" that I will be attempting in the future.