My Hand Maker Fabric Firecracker Quilt + A Giveaway!!

I'm sharing more details today about the Hand Maker Firecracker quilt I made as part of the Hand Maker Fabric blog tour. I posted about this quilt on social media earlier this year & today is its first time on my blog.

Hand Maker is by Natalie Barnes of Beyond the Reef for Windham Fabrics and it's available in shops now.

Image via Windham Fabrics

This is a 30" x 30" version of my Firecracker quilt that I made using the Lazy Angle Ruler. It was quilted by Teresa Silva of Quilting is My Bliss.

This is the quilt in Natalie's booth at Spring Quilt Market in Salt Lake City.

Here are the 9 small quilts that were part of Natalie's display & this blog tour:

Images via Windham Fabrics

Check out these blogs to see more of the quilts, projects made with Hand Maker Fabric & for more giveaways this week:

Saturday 03 December 

Natalie Barnes + beyondthereefpatterns.com 

Saturday 03 December 

Ann Shaw + annshawquilting.com 

Sunday 04 December 

Angela Walters - quiltingismytherapy.com 

Monday 05 December 

Amy Ellis + amyscreativeside.com 

Tuesday 06 December 

Julie Herman + jaybirdquilts.com 

Wednesday 07 December 

John Q. Adams + quiltdad.com 

Thursday 08 December 

Latifah Saafir + latifahsaafirstudios.com 

Friday 09 December 

Rose Hughes + rosehughes.com 

Saturday 10 December 

Jenny Pedigo + sewkindofwonderful.com

Sunday 11 December 

Cheri Leffler + cherilefflerdesigns.com 

Sunday 11 December 

Scott Hansen + bluenickelstudios.com

---

Ready for a giveaway today? I'm giving away a fat quarter bundle of Hand Maker fabrics today as part of the blog tour.

The Rules

1. Leave ONE comment to enter. Make sure your contact info is in your profile or that you leave it in the comment.

2. In your comment tell us what your favorite fat quarter quilt or project is.

3. Comment entries must be left on this blog, www.jaybirdquilts.com, to be valid. Comments sent via E-mail, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or any other social media will not be counted.

4. Simple as that!!

You have till 5PM PST on Sunday, December 11th to enter. 

Winner will be selected by 

True Random Number Generator.

Good luck + thanks for stopping by today!

© Blog post written by Julie Herman
For more information visit http://www.jaybirdquilts.com/

I Fell in Love with Zippers in 2015 + a Giveaway!

I like zippers & I have for a while. Last year, I fell in LOVE with zippers.

Here are some of the things I made and what I use them for:

----

The Sweet Pea Pod by Lazy Girl Designs is a new favorite of mine! It uses Joan Hawley's "One-Zip" technique and I became obsessed with changing the color of my zipper pulls! I'll warn you that they are addictive & I've made over 20 of them!

Sweet Pea Pods are great for holding all sorts of things. Wonder clips, charging cables, chocolate, Chapstick & more!

----

Fobio by Lazy Girl Designs is another fun pattern. These key fobs are quick to whip up. Picking the zipper pull colors took me longer than any other step!

----

Becca Bags by Lazy Girl Designs also quickly became a new favorite of mine. I've made over 20 of these as well! The 6 shown here match my Arcade Game quilt.

They make great gifts. I made this one for husband.

The pattern has 2 sizes & the small one makes a great wristlet when paired with a Fobio Key Fob.

----

I had been eyeing up the Sew Together Bag by Sew Demented for a while, and once I started making them, I found all kinds of great uses for them.

Currently I am using it to hold all of my binding supplies. The 3 small zipper pockets contain my scissors, needles & safety pins. The larger pockets hold my Wonder Clips and thread.

I recommend that you follow the Sew Together Bag Sew-A-Long that was posted on Quilt Barn since the pattern does not contain photos.

----

Cash & Carry by Atkinson Designs

I use a large Strip Zip to keep cash handy in my bag. It is the perfect size to keep bills without folding them.

I've also made one Twin Zip

It is basically 2 Strip Zips sewn together.

I use it when I travel. I keep cash in the one side and my receipts in the other.

I use one of the smaller strip zips for my iPad charger.

----

Bridget's Bagettes by Atkinson Designs - I have a bunch of these and use them for all kinds of things. It is SUPER handy how the front is clear so I can easily keep track of what tools are where.

I also made one with Ripstop Nylon as the lining. This way it is easy to clean when I use it for makeup brush storage on the go.

----

Classmate by Atkinson Designs

This fun project can hold a bunch of my notions + rulers. I use it when teaching a class or heading to a sewing retreat.

----

Stowaways by Atkinson Designs

These little guys are a great way to use up scraps. 

This one holds my tissues!

----

All Aboard! Train Case by Patterns by Annie

I use it to hold my EPP projects + my Tula Pink Thread Cases (Pattern adapted from APFE bag)

---

Power Trip by Patterns by Annie

I made this as a holiday gift for my brother. It took 10+ hours and wasn't the most cooperative with my machine. There are some steps where you are sewing through multiple layers of foam and it took some trial & error to get my machine to do what was needed.

I followed Leslie's advice and flipped the pocket orientation.

----

iCases by Patterns by Annie

I made this for my husband to match his Marvel Becca Bag above.

----

I had found myself sewing quite a few zipper projects early in the year, and then I took Joan Hawley's Zip It Up! Craftsy class and my zipper project interest quickly became an obsession that took hold for the rest of year. Especially for handmade holiday gifts! I made these projects while I took Joan's class:

The Runaround Bag by Lazy Girl Designs is perfect for holding my passport, my phone & some cash when I'm at the airport.

Nikita holds all of my chargers, cables & cords.

Bendy by Lazy Girl Designs can be used for so many things! I love this pattern so much that I've made 10 of them!

Bendy works great to hold our snacks when traveling.

I lined a few of them with rip-stop nylon so that if any snacks spill... I'll have easy clean up! And I used up my brown zippers a lot faster than I had anticipated!

----

I had so much fun making my Bendy snack bags that I went through my stash to find my Hershey's Miniatures fabric to make a Bendy & a Sweetpea just for toting Miniatures when I travel!

--

Here are some of the many gifts I made at the end of 2015:

---

Ready for today's giveaway?!? I'm giving away a bundle of supplies to make your own Bendy Bag!! You get the pattern, fusible fleece, fabric and zipper!!

The Rules

1. Leave ONE comment to enter. Make sure your contact info is in your profile or that you leave it in the comment.

2. In your comment tell us about how you will put your Bendy Bag to use or who you will gift it to this year.

3. Comment entries must be left on this blog, www.jaybirdquilts.com, to be valid. Comments sent via E-mail, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or any other social media will not be counted.

4. Simple as that!!

You have till 5PM PST on Monday, January 18th to enter. Giveaway closed.

Winner will be selected by 

True Random Number Generator.

Good luck + thanks for stopping by today!

---

Congrats to Kathy!

---

© Blog post written by Julie Herman
For more information visit http://www.jaybirdquilts.com/