Scrappy Days Are Here Again... and a Ton of Stuff!!!

Hi Everyone! Just wanted to let you know what I have been up to over the last couple of weeks. I also still haven't announced the winners of my last two giveaways (here and here). They were contacted the next day and both have already received their respective prizes.

Barbara from Cat Patches won the fat quarter bundles:

Gabriele from Gabriele's Boutique won the Holly Jolly Christmas fabric assortment:

This also brings me to an important point. Gabriele was NOT a no reply blogger, but her email on her profile was out of date and kept bouncing back to me. I was able still to click through to her blog and find her Facebook page where I left a message on her wall. Sometimes it's really easy to find the person even if you do not have their email. I wanted her to get her prize and I wanted her to know that her email was bad! She did not realize it and was probably missing out on giveaways that she had previously won.

As a segue, I also wanted to point out that if you link Google+ to your blogger profile, it will make you automatically a no reply blogger!!!!! But... and most people don't realize this, your name in your profile and in the comment (if the blogger receives the no reply email) is linked to your Google+ page where the person having a giveaway can obviously contact you. It's just not by email.

Anyway, on with the show. First off, happy holidays to everyone!

I just wanted to let you know what I have been up to. Here we go:

Work in progress: I have been sewing these 320 hexagons on the train while I commute back and forth to work everyday. It's finally coming together, but I have quite a bit of whip stitching left to do. I did it in blocks and now I am just sewing the blocks together. Oh my, the people I get asking questions all the time!

90% of the fabric comes from my very first giveaway win from about a year ago. I haven't decided what to do with the charms yet. I have been working on it since about June of 2011, and I sew on it some everyday pretty much (every work day). And, if you can believe this, I have not blogged about these hexies at all. I know you all got tired of hearing about hexies the last time!!!

Work in Progress: I have started my first rag quilt. It is all owls mostly. They had a great sale on flannels at Joann's. I still have tons left over too. I am going to alternate the prints so they form diagonals (matching) across the quilt. I am coordinating the solids as shown in the picture. The solids will be on the back. 

Finished: This table runner is finished. I made a nice simple nine patch block with HSTs. I used scraps and leftover fabrics from my stash. This was the first one I had ever made :)

This is the back.

Here it is loaded an ready on the machine. I haven't decided yet if it was worth the trouble to load it on the long arm since I know I could have done it FMQ on my home machine. I did enjoy using the machine for the third time though.

Work in progress: This one is my first truly scrappy quilt. I literally hit the bucket to find anything that would make a 5.5 inch square. It's mostly random, but I still tried to make sure there were no similar squares too close to each other. It is really going together fast!!!

Well, if you made it this far, I wanted to let you all know that I have a new sponsor. I'm not doing a giveaway yet, but if you would like to stop by and see Nicole at 1 Choice 4 Quilting her button is at the end of this post and at the top of the right side bar. The store has an awesome selection and I am pleased with their shipping rates. $2.95 for orders under $10. $4.95 for orders $10-50 and anything over $50 ships free!!!

Also, my Facebook page has been really hopping since the last two giveaways. If you haven't liked The Amateur Quilter yet you should. I always try to share any useful or interesting blog posts I read as well as any giveaways I come across.

This week I am going to link up at Richard and Tanya Quilts Link a Finish Friday and Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesdays!

Enjoy your holidays!

Until next time!

Mike.