Giveaway Winner Is......

I haven't figured out how to put the RNG thing on my blog so you'll have to trust me.  Mr. RNG picked #13, clivee (Sylvia!).  Oh the irony.  Sylvia was my Modern Swappers partner last round and I just mailed her some other fabric a few days ago!  Good thing postage to Canada is cheap!  I have your address girl and I'll send your winnings to you soon!  Congrats! :)

Crazy, but true........and a GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!

I won two more giveaways this week!  I won a FQ bundle of Remix from Fat Quarterly's Facebook page (check them out!) and I won a Kona color card from Karrie.  This puts my giveaway win total around 20 for this year.  Is that crazy or what?!?!?  I've won some truly fabulous prizes and I get so excited for each and every win.  What's the point you ask?  Well, I've decided to have a (small) giveaway of my own!  I can't keep winning things and never give anything away, right?  I know it's not as exciting as some other giveaways, but I'm a newbie and my stash is relatively small (I swear!)  Here's what you could win:

4 FQs of somewhat randomly selected fabric from my stash

1. My Happy Garden by Cloud 9 (Dots)
2. Modern Meadow by Joel Dewberry (Flower Fields)
3. Summer in the City by Urban Chicks (Houndstooth)
4. My Happy Garden by Cloud 9 (Mushrooms)

5 Hexies of Flea Market Fancy seeds.  Aren't they cute?

11" square of Heather Ross goldfish in bags

You can enter 2 times.  1) Comment with the name of your favorite song to listen to while working out.  I'm trying to get motivated to run and I could use some new tunes on my iPod.  No slow stuff please!  2) If you follow my blog/become a follower, leave a comment saying that!  You MUST do one of these two things, or both.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE MAKE SURE I HAVE A WAY TO CONTACT YOU!

ALSO, if I get over 100 entries (doubtful), I'll giveaway a second prize!

I'll pick a winner on Halloween morning so you have until then to enter.  Mom, I know you're just dying to win some fabric, but try and restrain yourself from entering. ha ha!

A Pip of a Tissue Box Cover

I'm halfway through one of my Modern Swappers projects. It's a tissue box cover that will be reversible when it's complete. I used Pink Penguin's tutorial.  I still can't decide what to do on the other side (whether to use more Sherbet Pips or do something completely different). Anywho! It's cute and I want to keep it so I guess that's a good sign!

 

Heather Ross Sample Sale Loot

If you are a family member reading this blog for cute kid stories, this is not the post for you.

Now that I'm down to just my fellow fabric junkies....I received my package from the Heather Ross studio sale!  Since I had no clue what I would receive, I have been anxiously awaiting this moment!  I was one of the lucky people who actually got to speak with her.  She called to find out which LBAOM prints I'd like!  Although I had mentioned, in the form I filled out, that I would like some original art, she didn't bring that up in the conversation so I was ecstatic when I opened my package to find these awesome goodies!

Everything is either original art or hard to find fabric.  Am I a lucky duck or what?!?!?  I'm so happy that even with the smallest dollar amount purchases (like mine), she still put in quality pieces.  I can't wait to frame the artwork!  The green garlic sprout is my fav. 

In other happy news, I won a giveaway from Fat Quarterly!  I have not subscribed to their (online) magazine yet, but I've heard wonderful things about them and I'm always drooling over the pictures of their projects.  I'm hoping Santa will see fit to add a subscription to my presents. (hint hint SANTA)

Well, I'm off to sew some more hexies!

Gratitude

Although my friends and family think I've gone a bit nuts over the world of fabric and sewing the past 10 months, I have met the kindest, most thoughtful, and generous people ever.   Case in point, I received this today from Jules:

Just because.  Seriously?  Really?  What has to be the coolest, most awesome little rainbow mug rug ever and fabric!  Not just any old fabric either!  Mono black Pez and FFA2 moons!  Swoon!  Jules got on a little kick lately making mug rugs and I have been drooling all over them.  I was going to trade her some selvages for one, but thanks to another Flickr peep, I think Jules is pretty well set for selvages for a while. :)  I can't tell you how happy this makes me.  Julie thank you so so so so so so much!  I love it! 

   That's not all I'm grateful for!  Also, through an anonymous source's kindness, I am able to get my hands on some fabric that will not be available until the Spring!  Said fabric is actually for my Modern Swappers partner, but I'm super excited to see it!  I'll post pictures when it arrives. 

   I also want to give a big shout out and thank you to Hawthorne Threads today.  I had ordered a Modern Meadow bundle from them almost 6 months ago, but only this morning got around to unfolding it and getting it ready for it's intended purpose.  I discovered that half of the bundle was cut too short or at an angle!  This usually isn't a huge deal for me, but the pattern I want to use requires using almost the entire FQ and being short .25" - 1" is a big freaking deal!  I emailed this morning, not asking for anything, but more to let them know that there had been an error.  I honestly didn't expect them to fix it since it had been so long, but if their cutting methods were faulty, I wanted them to know.  Well, within MINUTES, Charlie had emailed me back asking for pictures and telling me that they buy precuts from the manufacturer.  After I sent him about 8 pictures looking like this:

 He then writes back to say that although they can't give me a full refund since it's been over 60 days, they're sending me a check for $20!  Holy moly!  That's over half of what the bundle cost!  Talk about good customer service!  No wonder they are so popular!

In my own crafty new, I'm half way done quilting my Bliss top so hopefully I'll be posting pictures this week.  I also made this which is awaiting quilting:

Not my usual style, but I saw this pattern and I had bought this charm pack on clearance a while back.  I didn't buy the pattern, but looked at the picture and worked it out.  Easy peasy!  I thought it might be nice to hang up for fall.  The pattern has a face on the pumpkin, but I thought it could last into November if I left it as just a pumpkin. 

I also made these two mini projects for some Flickr peeps, just because I needed a quick finish:

I also finished another purse for my godmother:

I'm also working on a project for my Modern Swappers secret partner with these:

I guess that's about it!  I'll leave you with a picture of my cutie pie's new favorite place to be.

Completed Bliss top and Pattern Review

Here are some things to know about this pattern (Marmalade by Thimble Blossoms):

1. You will need 2 1/4 yards of background fabric, not 2. Unless there is something they aren't telling us about how to lay out 68 petals, I could only fit 58 on the fabric I had left after cutting the 10" squares. I even took in pictures to my LSQ to see if I was missing something.
2. If you use the Bliss line, you will need to use one of the LC cream squares for background fabric. This tip relates to #1. There is simply not enough background fabric to make the petals and the squares. The pattern does not say you will need to do this, but I did. It's not like I was going to use the cream one as a background square and a print square.
3. Follow the instruction on cutting down the fusible web. It's critical. The quilt will be SO heavy if you don't and it could hinder your quilting abilities.
4. The centers of the flowers are what I like to call Points of Doom. It's where needles go to die. I broke three needles sewing the rows together! I even upgraded the size of my needles hoping that would help to no avail. You have many layers of fabric AND fusible web. Not pleasant.
5. I wasn't a fan of how the pattern suggests to do the borders (sewing all the strips into one long strip then cut to fit each side). I find that awkward and unnecessary. To each his own.
6. If you use a lighter colored fabric over darker for the centerpiece flower (here red and aqua), the red will show through a bit at the center b/c of how thick the center of those flowers are. I'm thinking of adding a little hexie or something to the middle to hide it.
7. The instructions for making the different blocks and block layout are very good and easy to follow!
8.  There are no instructions for cutting and making the back.  Yes, it is fairly easy, but still, there should be some mention of the back
9.  The pattern instructions are in a very weird order--there is discussion of cutting binding and sewing it on before they even get to the quilt top.

I'm still undecided on how I will quilt this. I have to decide soon because it needs to be finished by next Thursday so I can give it to my LSQ for display. I'll post completed pictures soon! If anyone has any questions, just let me know!

UPDATE:  After getting a few comments I think I should point out that this pattern was not difficult, I just thought the instructions could have been better.  Other than the Point of Doom, everything was easy.  I would certainly make this again, I would just choose an alternate applique method (no more fusible web!)

Happy First Birthday Cian!!!!

My little troublemaker turned 1 today!  Happy Birthday Cian!



Bliss WIP (aka 144 Petals on the Wall)

 Remember all those things I was tracing? Yeah, well it was a petal and there were 144 of them. Yep, 144 times I had to trace that darn petal. 144 petals I had to cut out of fusible web. 144 petals I had to cut out the center of the fusible web so the quilt wouldn't be heavy. 144 fusible petals I had to iron onto fabric. 144 petals I had to cut out of fabric. 144 petals I had to fuse onto more fabric. 144 petals I had to APPLIQUE. Ever heard of chain piecing? Well I was chain appliqueing. Not sure if that is a real term or not, but I had an assembly line going. I have a lot more work ahead. I have to sew all these triangles with applique together into rows, sew the rows together, add two borders, and applique a center to the red flower. Oh, lets not forget basting, quilting, and binding. Sigh. The upside is that since I'm going to allow it to be displayed in my LSQ, they gave me 40% off all the fabric I need to make this. Sweet!