Sew Along at Sew Sweetness!

Hi everyone! Just popping in - I don't like not posting for an entire week, but unfortunately, I have not been sewing :( However, I will be home this weekend to send out my mug rug for the Swap Adventure, and the magnets to the winner of my giveaway!

I can't wait to sew all the time in the summer. This blog will be updated much, much more often then, I promise.

I really would love to do this sew along of the Jamie dress, but I just can't in the time allotted. However, you should check it out.

It's over at Sew Sweetness - there's also a 15% discount on fabric if you buy it from Sew Love Fabrics on etsy, plus the PDF pattern costs only $7.50!

I would LOVE to make a dress for Europe out of some Innocent Crush yardage or Soul Blossoms. The dress altogether takes very little fabric to make. I hope someone sees this here and has the time to join!

There will also be random prizes on April 21 for people who complete the dress by then and link up that day.

Hope everyone enjoys their week!

Quilting Humor?

Randomly, if I am bored and/or procrastinating, I'll venture over to www.whenparentstext.com. Not often, but once in a while. Today I was scrolling through and laughing (sorry if any of you parents out there don't find it funny, but I think it can be pretty hilarious!) I found this one:

Temptations

ME:	Hey mom! We just finished our concert. We are headed to Pittsburgh tomorrow but are stopping along the way in Amish country.
MOM:	Sounds like fun. Please don’t be tempted to buy expensive quilts!

It has 68 votes, rating 4 1/2 out of 5 stars right now! Now, if I was going to Amish country, this WOULD be a legitimate concern of my family. Clearly, the daughter/son and the people who voted think this is funny! =P

Just thought I would share. I hope everyone is enjoying the nice(r, in general) weather :)

Happy National Quilting Day, Winnings, and Giveaways

Go celebrate by... sitting down at your sewing machine - or making some purchases you have been putting off! I just bought 6 yards of Kona white from Hancock's of Paducah, thanks to the suggestion of Barbara! I saved money AND shipping was only $5.25, I believe! That is for my wedding quilt. I'm so excited - I think I can finish the top this summer. Thanks, Barbara!

The fabric came so fast... and I just wanted to see what the quilt will be looking like... I'm thinking 3 blocks across and three down, with scrappy color borders in between.

Sneak peek:

In other news, I won a couple of giveaways - so exciting! One is from Leona and the Mug Rug Swap Adventure (button on sidebar) - thank you so much, Leona!! And the charm pack of American Jane Pindot was an unexpected delight! :)

I've already been perusing the book and "ooh"ing and "ah"ing... :)

I also just found out I won 5 charm packs of Kona solids from Robert Kaufman! I really need solids, so I'm very excited for that to arrive in my mailbox!

*Giveaways*

Leila at Where the orchids grow is giving away a lot of scraps! Yum!!

Over at From the blue chair, there's a beautiful stack of charm squares up for grabs!

Samelia's Mom is sharing the love by giving away two packages of fabric with adorable buttons, and a keychain too!

Over at the plaid scottie, Kaelin is hosting her third blogaversary giveaway - two gorgeous FQ bundles, and a ton of scraps!

Quilter in the Gap is giving away at TON of HST's in eight different colorways. If you are looking for HST's, you should especially check this one out.

Over at Sunshower Quilts, there's a Baby Go! and 3 dies up for grabs! It seems that these giveaways have died down in blogland over the last few months, but - luckily for all of us without Go!'s - they are still going on! :)

Susan at Susan's Texas Quilting is giving away three very generous fabric prizes to celebrate her three-year blogaversary! Go check it out!

Have a great weekend!

WIP Wednesday

This is truly a WIP - I haven't gotten further than sewing these 10 inch squares together... I'm not a big fan of pink but I am loving this.

And I've been cutting these out... any guesses?

And planning the rest of the quilt, which I'm not revealing yet! It's for my niece. I can't wait to keep working on it this weekend, I hope. :)

And then, there's my yellow Dresden, without the middle circle yet cut out. I also picked out the fabrics for the orange and purple, but forgot to take a picture.

I think I, as a person, am just a work in progress right now =P

And I'm okay with that.

What are you working on this week?

A Surprise Addition to my Stash - from Mom

*If anyone knows of a place I can buy some Kona white or snow (I haven't decided yet) fabric in yardage - that has good pricing and good shipping - please leave a comment or email me - I need to order a bunch for my wedding quilt. Where do you usually order yardage of solids from? Thank you!*

My mom used to make fabric albums.

A couple of days ago:

Mom: "You know, Jess, I might have some fabric in the basement that I never used when I made fabric albums."

Me: "....?!?"

One day later:

Me: *sewing*

Mom: *drops huge bag on table*

Helloooooo new stash! For someone who started quilting only a year ago, any addition to the stash helps. Especially when I'm working on about five different projects right now - but I know that's how many quilters work, so I don't feel alone :o).

Check it out. I love the sunflowers and Disney... and also all of the baby-like fabric :) So... many... scraps. Of lace, too. I'm in love.

And the winner is...

7

jennifer said...

Owls, cupcakes, hearts I'm not hard to please:)

March 6, 2011 10:37 PM

Congrats, Jennifer! I just emailed you!

Thank you so much to all of my followers, again, and to everyone who stops by, and to those who leave comments. Also, thanks to those who posted about the giveaway on their blogs. All of you make my day, and I appreciate the support more than you can imagine! I expect I'll be having another giveaway soon.

I wish I could put up an email message, or an automatic text message, or a message pasted to my head that says "Busy Sewing" (ala "Gone Fishing"). All I want to do is sew and I'm constantly distracted, haha!

So, the next two days, I'll be pretty busy sewing, but I'll update more during the week [aka when I'm back at school and can sew no more :( ].

Things I'm currently working on:

1) My mug rug for the swap (see right sidebar)

2) 4 fabric magnets for Jennifer!

3) Quilt for my soon-to-be niece

4) Yellow Dresden plate

I'll post snippets of these soon!

Massive Awesome Giveaway Post

Yes, they are awesome, and I'm posting about them here so you know about them, too, in case you don't already! (okay, also, to be honest, to get an extra entry, but hey, you know!) :)

Over at Alderwood Quilts, the book "Weekend Wonders" is up for grabs. I would really love to peruse that one! Go try to win it! You have until April 1st.

Sew Fabulous is having a giveaway that would go really, really well with my just-got-here layer cake of Central Park - a Central Park Fat Quarter Bundle. Oh my goodness. You have until March 31st.

To celebrate 700 posts and 1000 followers (wow!), Vickie at Sugar Spun Quilts is giving away THREE $50 certificates to the Fat Quarter Shop - you know you want to try to win that! You have until midnight on March 17.

Kaelin at The Plaid Scottie is having a second blogaversary giveaway - a gorgeous FQ bundle of Katie Jump Rope, and a huuuuge box of scraps (ah, I think I would faint if I won that, I love scraps). You have until midnight on March 17.

The lovely hostess of the Mug Rug Swap Adventure, Leona, is giving away three copies of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Volume 2! You have until midnight on March 18. (A lot of these giveaway end around that day, I'm noticing!)

Over at Jaybird Quilts, you can win a kit to make the Hugs and Kisses Quilt - with the pattern and a Lazy Angle Ruler, as well (from Wondrous Woven Fabrics)! This one ends soon - March 13th at midnight.

Almost done! Sew Fresh Fabrics goofed up over at Little Island Quilting, and there's 4 half yards of gorgeous fabric (I see some Tufted Tweets!) up for grabs - this one ends soon, too - March 12 - so head on over now!

If you read this far down, congratulations! One more - The Vegetarian Hunter is giving away FQs and her new pattern! Go check it out, it's beautiful! This one ends March 20th.

Okay, I fibbed, there's one more - my giveaway ends tomorrow! Not sure when I'll draw the winner, but your best off entering now if you want to :)

Passport Sleeve Making

*P.S. - New and old followers, don't forget to enter my giveaway, it ends Saturday!*

I recently received my first passport in the mail - for my study abroad trip in May to Germany, the Czech Republic, and Poland! I am so, so excited! One of the things I decided to make was a passport cover, just to keep it protected - and to flash some flair! That "United States of America" logo is boring!

I've made this once before, with bunnybum's tutorial. The white one with the purple flowers is for me, and violet one is for my friend, who is about to find out if she will be student teaching in Italy next year. I think one reason we are friends is that she's more than okay with my purple obsession :)

It's so simple, except I should have heeded the tutorial's advice to sew the whole thing together very close to the edge. I'm thinking - "oh, I've been so good at perfecting the 1/4th seam allowance lately, I'll just follow that over my topstitching" and the passport did not fit! Seam ripper to the rescue, and the second time was a charm.

I also had to bend my passport cover quite a bit to fit it into the covers, but it didn't do any harm. These work really well as gifts for someone going on a trip!

The white and purple flowers is one of my favorite fabrics in my stash, and I only have half a FQ left. Sadness. I'm saving it for my purple quilt - or, I could always buy more... I'll have to go searching for it on etsy again. The name or designer wasn't on the selvedge, but the violet fabric's selvedge had it: Timeless Treasures. Luckily, I still have a lot of that violet fabric.

I'm linking up with Hoo's Got Talent for the first time! I love looking at the entries from this linky party. Go join the fun!

I'm also linking up to At Confessions of a Fabric Addict!

What have you been working on?

Tee-hee...

I *may* have just broken my fabric diet... it seems that many of these precuts are gone, and I feel like they're just going to get more expensive... I've been waiting to get this... plus, fabricshack.com has 1/2 price shipping, you can't beat that... :)...

I just LOVE the florals, and the purples, in this line, especially.

P.S. I still have a giveaway going on until Saturday for my followers, old and new!

Fabric Magnets Tutorial and a Giveaway!

-The giveaway is now closed. Thanks to everyone who entered! Check giveaway post for winner.-

I had several requests for a fabric magnets tutorial, so here it is! There are SO many possibilities - they really are endless. They take only a few minutes each to make, so you can easily make them themed for a present - and they look great!

Fabric Magnets

What you need:

Fabric scraps, in any shape, or a character... or whatever you wish!

Fabric scraps for backing

Sewing machine (you could hand sew them if you'd like, but machine is much faster)

Scrap pieces of batting (this is a GREAT way to use the batting that you cut off when you make a quilt) or polyfill

Scissors

Magnets or a magnet roll - can be found at Michael's and Joann's

1. First, decide which scraps you will use. You'll want to cut them into the shape you want.

2. Next, cut a piece of backing fabric. This won't really be seen at all, so you can use a piece that doesn't match, if you'd like (even though this does :) )

3. Turn the backing face down, and make sure the front fabric is face up - just like a quilt sandwich. Start to sew around the outside - I would use less than a 1/4th inch seam allowance, but make sure you are far enough away from the edge.

Also, reinforce with just a couple of backstitches when you start, and make sure you end with 1 and 1/2 or 2 inches open. Backstitch when you stop.

4. Now, you are going to stuff that opening you left with the scrap batting or polyfill. You may need to use a scissor, especially for hearts.

5. Sew the opening shut, and then trim any backing fabric that sticks out from the magnet.

6. Cut a piece from a magnet roll. If it's like the one I have, you'll peel off the back and simply stick it on the back of the fabric. You may have to use fabric glue or some other kind of adhesive if the magnets you have are not in a roll like this.

Ta-da!

They are so addictive to make!

-My Giveaway-

I would really like to thank my followers for reading and following, because it's always nice to know that someone is there, and you guys are fabulous! So, thank you so much! That's why this giveaway is going to be followers only.

I'm giving away a set of four magnets. They can be whatever you want, you just have to let me know! I'll make them, or if you want any of the ones you see in the above refrigerator picture, you can have them. I also might throw in something extra for the winner...

1. For one entry, state that you are a follower, and if you are new, you are welcome to become one! You can become one now by clicking the "follow" button on Google Friend Connect on my left sidebar. If you follow by email instead, or by RSS feed, just let me know.

2. For a second entry, tell me what kind of magnets you would like. Themed, hearts, owls - you can tell me whatever you want - use the pictures I have posted here for inspiration! Put this in a separate comment. If you don't know right now, either, you can say that, and if you win, you can decide then.

2. You can have a third entry by blogging about this giveaway, and posting, in a separate comment, the link to your post.

That's three entries! I wanted to find some way to thank my wonderful followers :)

The giveaway will end this Saturday, 3/12, and the winner will be picked at random.

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial!

A Colorful Scrappy Saturday

*Stay tuned tomorrow for my Fabric Magnets tutorial and a follower-only giveaway!*

I finished up my use of red scraps today by sewing my February project together... and now, I've done March, too! I think I'm going to do more with green scraps in the next couple of weeks - I have a lot! - but finishing the green Dresden plate was my ultimate goal (even though they don't really take long!).

Green as Kermit the frog... I love green. I know part of it is a little rumply, but I'll be able to fix it... I think.

The red - many scraps generously donated by Kathy at Cottage Garden Quilter! Red really grew on me with this project. Now I have a little more red in my stash and scraps... maybe I'll use it more often in my projects...

Here's a picture of all the finished plates so far. For my wedding quilt, I think I'm going to make three more: orange, purple, and yellow. The wheels are in motion in my mind... maybe I'll pick fabrics/scraps this week. I can't wait to see how this turns out!!

-Giveaways-

I have a lot today!

Over at Sew Jewely, Jewel is giving away 4 different bundles of fabric.

Kaelin at The Plaid Scottie is giving away a beautiful bundle of Monaluna fabircs and a copy of Denyse Schmidt Quilts.

Jackie at Jackie's Art Quilts is celebrating her one year blogaversary with a FQ bundle giveaway.

Over at 1Choice4Quilting, they made a mistake, and are giving away 4 1-yard cuts or 8 half-yard cuts of Sunkissed!

For her March giveaway, Jeanette at Inch Worm Fabrics is giving away 5 beautiful batik FQs.

Over at Creating from the Heart, Melissa is giving away a HUGE bundle of things, including a Brother CP-7500 Computerized Sewing Machine. Wow!

And finally, last but not least, Nichol at A Desert Quilter is giving away some lovely thread and red, black, and white FQs.

Enjoy your Saturday night!