50 is Nifty Fabric Giveaway!!!

Ok, I said I was going to do it, so here it is!!! I finally hit 50 followers about 2 weeks ago (thanks to the New Blogger Linky Party!) and in turn, I am having a giveaway celebration. I was able to go to my local shop today (which happens to be JoAnn's Fabric). I picked up a couple of fabric morsels while I was there for my followers to try to win. They are 10 fat quarters! The colours just spoke to me:

Also, I've had a few giveaway wins lately, so I wanted to give back!

Here are some things I won that I haven't shared about yet on my blog:

Flock Fat Quarter Bundle from Melissa at Sew Bittersweet Designs (My first Fat Quarter Shop item. I'm impressed with the fabric quality and the size of the fat quarters. I will definitely buy from them in the near future.):

Patty the Quilt Lady's "looking forward to" Giveaway Bundle of hand dyed fabrics:

So, how do you win? I thought since this is all about followers it will go like this:

1. Follow me and leave a comment saying that you follow me (even if you just started).
2. Blog about it to your followers (this is the best one, so you can comment about it twice and get 2 entries). Also, you might mention #3 (below) in your blog post. It could get you more entries!!! Leave a link to the post so I can give it some love :)
3. If you get someone else to follow me for the first time and they mention you when they comment about following me (#1 above), I will add an extra comment for you. For every person you get to follow me, you get an entry (no limit)!!!!! Like I said, this is all about followers!

The contest will run until midnight (eastern time) on Saturday, May 19th. That's two weeks! I'm busy next weekend so I decided to make it run longer :) I'm willing to ship to my international followers.

Thanks for following!!! Hope you win!!!

Until next time,

Mike.

Red Pepper Quilts: Hour Glass Block Tutorial

I just wanted to share this so I don't forget about it. The Quilt Story Block of the Month for May is to use Hour Glasses. I have never made this type of block and this tutorial is straight to the point.

Red Pepper Quilts: Hour Glass Block Tutorial: I have made good progress with my Hour Glass Quilt top, and have especially enjoyed the piecing.  I absolutely love the Half Square Triangle...

Sewplicity: GIVEAWAY: Pins & Rulers

I've always wanted flower-head pins! Ends midnight 4/7/2012.

Sewplicity: GIVEAWAY: Pins & Rulers: Spring is in full swing, and I'm sure you have some awesome ideas set out for your Summer sewing projects.....I want to help you along! ...

City Stitches: Retro Flowers Quilt Along: Piecing your quilt and ...

Newer blogger, but you got see her tips for piecing, they make a lot of sense. Things I knew, and wish I would pay more attention to!!!! And, if you got this far (lol) there's a giveaway from FQS!!!

City Stitches: Retro Flowers Quilt Along: Piecing your quilt and ...: Have you pieced all your blocks?! I sure hope so. Because now it is time to piece the quilt top! And if you like free jelly rolls, read on ...

Craft Nurse Quilt: And the winner is....

Craft Nurse Quilt: And the winner is....: So, I'm sure you guys are ready to know....WHO WON? I know I said I was going to try to figure out the random generator thingy but guess wha...


ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well, one of the winners! Just wanted to give her a shout out with some blog love. Got the package today!

It had a nice note in it and I have to say: it's my first homeade pin cushion *blushing* I have no idea what to do with ribbons! But, I have already planned a home for the thread and the pin cushion ;)

Thank you so much, Kelie for the fab giveaway! Followers and readers, please go give some love to her latest post and follow her and comment on her post :)

Until next time,

Mike.

Fabric Seeds: Chevron Giveaway!

Delicious fabric that's been highly cited lately!

Fabric Seeds: Chevron Giveaway!: After seeing so many giveaways for these cheveron prints by Riley Blake Designs, I was a little hesitant to use them for this week's giveaw...

Fabric Mutt: 100 Giveaway

Follow, comment and congratulate! And, you might win something!

Fabric Mutt: 100 Giveaway: I was blown away to look at the follower counter on my blog this afternoon and see the number "100." I only started blogging at the end o...

Tilda's Twisted Life is having a giveaway...

A Pink Panda Pillow ...and a Giveaway!!
Fabric charm pack leftovers from a project :)
Click here to enter.

Mike.

Perpl(h)exing Situation...

Is it ok to applique hexagons on your quilt top or blocks? I have all these hexies I made and I just don't want to whip stitch them all together by hand. I would rather thread paint them on a quilt top! Any ideas on what I should do with them or how to "do" with them? Machine ideas only. They are 2" sided.

I was thinking of some bright yellow fabric, perhaps marbled and just putting them on wherever I feel :) Which brings me to something else. I buy a ton of fabric on fabric.com. I see that 108" yellow backing is only $9 a yard. So, one yard is actually 3 yards. Is the quality different for this material? Or, could I use it on the front? I'm curious. Put your thoughts below on anything.

Still pondering the 50 is Nifty giveaway.

Until next time,

Mike.

Craft Nurse Quilt is having a giveaway!!!

It's some lovely fat quarters :)

Link here:

Craft Nurse Quilt Giveaway

Ends Monday 4/30 at midnight eastern.

Also send her an email if you have binding tips.

For me, I found a tutorial from Moose on the Porch Quilts. I don't use the whole tutorial, but the part about putting the ends together, it works perfectly every time. It starts on page 7 of this pdf:

http://www.moosequilts.com/BindingTutorialWeb.pdf

So, CNQ, I hope this helps!

Mike.

Another Giveaway: Mary Jane's Tearoom 2012 Spring Giveaway

Click here for the giveaway:

Mary Jane's Tearoom 2012 Spring Giveaway

Also, don't forget to follow me on pinterest and twitter in the sidebar under my followers.

And, I'm still pondering the 50 is nifty celebration!

Mike.

Sew Bittersweet Designs: Sponsor Highlight: Fat Quarter Shop & Giveaway

Sew Bittersweet Designs is having a giveaway from the Fat Quarter Shop! Check it out!

Link here:

Sew Bittersweet Designs: Sponsor Highlight: Fat Quarter Shop & Giveaway

Oh, and I'm on twitter now. Follow me on the right :)

Mike.

WIP Wednesdays, Block of the Month and Do you think I'm Hexy?

I've been working on the block of the month over at Quilt Story. They are doing a nice simple monthly plan in which this month was HSTs (half square triangles). Last month was 9 patch. I am doing 2 of each BOM so that I have a larger quilt at the end of the series. It started in March. Below is a picture of my March and April blocks.

I really got some good use of my Bloc-Loc. I got this tool at the Quilt Show in New Jersey last month. It was expensive, but I think I already got my monies' worth. It's great the way it grabs the piece making it easy to square off. I also used the draw a line technique that I learned in the Craftsy Block of Month for February 2012. Basically you add 1 inch to the size of the finished block (including the seam allowance) and then draw a diagonal line on the back of one square, put the two squares together and sew 1/4 inch on either side of the line. Then, you cut on the line and voila! You have 2 squares. I then square it off with the Bloc Loc to the finished size (3 1/2 inches in this case). It makes them perfectly every time (not wonky looking) and it gets rid of the tiny dog ears on the corners. It's important also to note, that if you press the seams open before you square them off, the tool will not grab the seam! Learned that the hard way ;)

In the background on my cutting mat you can see strips of fabric. This is for a quilt I am working on for my Aunt L. I will talk more about that on another WIP Wednesday. In the meantime, I've been whipping up some hexagons on the train. There were some German tourists on the train at World Trade Center and they were standing over me when the gentleman said "a stitch in time saves nine." Turns out his English was not very good, but he just wanted to try out some of the English cliches he had learned in Germany. His wife said I was doing "patchverk." :) It's an obsession to some degree. So, "Do you think I'm hexy?"

I'm linking up at Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesdays.



Until next time,

Mike.



BTW, I am still deciding how to celebrate turning 50 (in blog followers!) I'm thinking giveaway, but I need to ponder what to give away :)

50 is Nifty!!!

I have 50 followers now! This calls for a celebration! Stay tuned :)

Liebster Award

My bloggy friend Danielle at Fresh Off the Spool gave me the Liebster Award the other day.

The Liebster Conventions says that :

    1. Thank your award presenter on your blogblog and link back to him/her

    2. Copy and paste the award to your blog

    3. Present the Liebster Award to 5 blogs that you think deserve to be recognized

    4. Let them know by leaving a comment on their blog

    5. Have faith that your follower will spread the love too!

I have chosen the following blogs for the award:

http://pattythequiltlady.blogspot.com/

http://www.quiltingcurve.blogspot.ca/

http://alittleoffquilter.blogspot.com/

http://celticthistlestitches.blogspot.com/

http://www.fishcreekstudio.blogspot.com/

These are just some of my favorites. It was hard to choose five!

Mike.

Trilogy: Free Motion Stitching, WIP Wednesdays and The Hexamaniac.

If you've been following me, you might know that I have been participating in the Craftsy Block of the Month (BOM). I posted about making Hexagons for April. Well, I finally finished the second block.

The one on the bottom was the second block. I used a starry night for the sky and a dark green leafy pattern (from my curtains) for the grass.

I had never appliqued before, so I decided to just wing it. I took my shapes (some of which were sewn together already in strips) and sprayed the backs with 505 adhesive sewing spray. Then, I positioned them on the background. I decided to do a straight stitch with white thread right up next to the edges:

At first I was doing this with a foot attached and the feed dogs going. But, it was a ton of stop and go, so I remembered Leah Day at the Free Motion Quilting Project having us stitch in lines or follow a pattern using free motion. I decided to try this and let me tell you, it was so much easier and faster! They stitched on rather nicely and in no time! It just sew happens that the Quilt Along Wednesdays last week was a review of stippling and these techniques. I'm happy that I thought of something I learned and applied it to this block!

Now, to the last part of my story. Once I started sewing all those Hexies (by hand) on Craftsy I realized that I could do this anywhere. I don't even have to be home. So, I took my zippy pouch that I won and loaded it with fabric squares and all the necessary accoutrement and took it on the train with me to work. It became addictive. Then, during my lunch break (after eating) I went outside in this lovely weather here in NYC (Battery Park) and paper pieced some hexies :) I just picked out some fabric. I have no idea what these will be for. But, I knew I had just started another work in progress!

I also want to mention that I have linked up at the New Bloggers linky party. Go there and visit some of the newer bloggers and comment on their posts and follow them too! They need them! When they reach milestones, they usually have giveaways!!!

Anyway, until next time,

Mike.

I am linking up at WIP Wednesdays at Freshly Pieced and the Free Motion Quilting Project.

 

        

Giveaway Alert

Kelie at Craft Nurse Quilt is having a giveaway. This is her first one! She's celebrating 10 followers. I think she needs more!!!

Here's the link:

http://craftnursequilt.blogspot.com/2012/04/i-made-it-to-giveaway.html

Good luck!

BOM - a - gons!

OMG!!! I finally started working on the Craftsy Block of the Month for April. It's very time consuming. The topic is English paper piecing. It took me probably a total of 3 hours to make one block! I'm not unhappy that I learned a new technique and I thought that never in a million years would I be making hexagons. I especially never thought that I would be hand sewing anything! But, OMG, it would take me forever to make a quilt made of these blocks! I guess I always thought that a BOM was all about quick and easy projects that you could do "as you go" and in the end you would have an entire quilt that seemed it took you so little time to make. Not the case with this block! I'm happy with the turnout, but in this BOM there are 2 blocks a month. And, the second one is very similar in technique, so I know it will take me awhile. Anyway, here are the pics (first one is the finished block):

I am glad that I have now finally appliqued something. I decided not to do the hand applique. I just did a straight stitch "sew on" and to stabilize I used my trusty basting spray "505." Whew! What a project! It's pretty, but with my limited sewing time, I could never do such projects that take so long. I would have so many less "Friday finishes." :( I think for the second block I will take the "hexies" with me on the train to work so I can do it then. I only need the squares, templates, scissors and a needle/thread. That sounds like fun actually (besides all the weird looks I will get being male and in business casual).

I've decided to work on my HST (half square triangles for those that are new) for the Quilt Story BOM. I think this will not take me as long :)

Anyway, until next time,

Mike.

WIP Wednesdays... Pucker Up!!!

Hate to share my misfortunes, but I just finished quilting my Mother's quilt and when I was done all I could say was "Mother Pucker!!!" I need to write this post so that I can learn from my mistakes. It helps me to "ingrain in the membrane" and work it all out.

Ok, I haven't binded/bound it yet, but here are the pics (laid on a King size bed, but the quilt is Queen):

Puckering below (if you can see it) and some stitches ripped out :(

Binding below. And a kitty that likes to play with it :)

I need to figure out what caused all the puckering. I have some ideas:

1. Trying to baste (spray) on a design wall that is not suited for a quilt of this size.
2. Not spraying it thoroughly because of the size and the design wall limitations.
3. Not checking underneath while free motion quilting to make sure there were no problems (especially since I was breaking thread between every loopy flower design).
4. The quilt was so big and my sewing table so small, there was a ton of adjusting and a ton of overhang causing the baste to lose its hold.
5. Quit trying to rush things and looking for instant gratification.

I could go on and on I am sure. But, I think next time I will just be extra careful to check the back more often. I might even pin some of the outer areas (this is where most of the problems occurred). A nice solution would be to just buy a long arm :) Would probably make a Queen much easier to deal with! I know I was flattening and spreading, but I just did not feel the puckers with my gloves on! And, it happened in about 15 places!!!!!

Anyway, thought I would share. My mind is fluttering with tons of other ideas for fixing or for what went wrong, but feel free to share your thoughts!

I'm linking up at Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesdays!



I also wanted to mention that I have linked up at the "new bloggers" link party. If I reach 50 followers, I'm having a giveaway!

Until next time,

Mike.

Just a giveaway alert. $50 gift certificate to fabric.com. They have free shipping on orders over $35 and they always have some steals and deals, so this can be a nice load of fabric!!!

Link here:

Crafter’s Giveaway: $50 Gift Card to Fabric.com

Just sharing a giveaway win...

I won this adorable zippy pouch from Diane of "from Blank Pages" 's giveaway. I decided it was perfect for my small rulers and squares.

Oh, and she threw in some zippers!!! I have no idea how to sew in a zipper :) And, I am astonished by how small the piecing is on this little gem! Nice work, Diane!

Anyway, thanks again!

Mike.

WIP Wednesdays - All Queened Out

I have to say this is quite a large project for me. I am still working on my Mom's queen sized quilt (Posts: here, here, here, here, and here, as well as another WIP Wednesday). It's starting to give me an enormous sense of accomplishment. As you can see in the first picture below, the quilt top doesn't even fit on my design wall. And imagine, the back will be even larger!

 Here is a shot of the border up close. I wanted a print that would compliment the log cabin blocks.

Here I am working on the backing. I back piece, so I used some of the leftover fabrics (and I stashed some). I also used my signature in the horizontal strip (something Wizard of Oz).

Although I do not have a picture of this, the back is finished and I used 55 inches of an old sheet (king sized) that is light blue with a white pin stripe. We never used this sheet anymore because we changed our decor, so I recycled it in the best way I know how, and saved some moolah in the meantime!

I have already started quilting it. I am using an orange thread (Gutermann polyester). I did not have enough, so I took a break from it. Yesterday my supportive husband stopped by Joann's on the way home from work and got me more. Also, I learned something from this experience. Don't lose the labels on the top of the thread. They have a number on them so you can match the color!!! I think he did well on matching it and honestly, if it's not right, no one will probaly even notice :)

I am using a quilting pattern/style/technique that I saw at Oh, Fransson! called Loopy Flowers. It's working well, although my hubby commented that he was not sure he liked it :( I did it slightly different (and I think theirs look better). I am doing one on each log cabin block (and breaking thread between each). That's 42 flowers!!! I've done about 8 flowers so far.

Anyway, I am linking up at Freshly Pieced's Work in Progress Wednesdays.  I am sure you will hear more about this quilt soon. I'm off Friday so it's a three day weekend for me and I hope to get it finished (and bound).



Until next time,

Mike.

There's a fabric giveaway at Heartstrings and Heirlooms Fabric Shoppe

http://heartstringsandheirloomsfabricshop.blogspot.com/2012/04/no-foolin-giveaway.html