Giveaway Winner

Congratulations to Mandinga who said she liked the pleated pouch. I have sent you an email. 

Thank you all for entering!  

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Giveaway Day!

Today is Giveaway Day at Sew, Mama, Sew! This is one of my favorite days of the year. Thankfully, it comes twice a year. :)

Today, I am giving away a bag from my Etsy shop. Any bag you choose!!!

To enter, visit my Etsy shop (www.seamandstitch.etsy.com) or see pictures and leave a comment below telling me which bag is your favorite. Is it the Pleated Pouch, Zipper Cosmetic Bag, or Pretty Pleats Pouch?


Visit Sew, Mama, Sew to see many more giveaways!

This giveaway will be open through May 10. I will choose a winner using random number generator. I will contact the winner by email so please include your email address or be sure I can email you from your profile. Items will be shipped ASAP after winner chooses bag.

Quilts for Kids

I finished quilting my donation quilt for Quilts for Kids. I had lots of fun coming up with a design and going for it!

I also finally started on the Fireworks quilt my mom picked out. The blocks are beautiful but take a long time. Each block has 73 pieces!!!

Quilts for Boston

I made two blocks to contribute to Quilts for Boston. Lisa from Vintage Modern Quilts (find her blog here http://www.vintagemodernquilts.com) kindly sent me some blue and yellow scraps to go along with what I finally found in my stash.

I hope my blocks and the quilt they are made into can comfort someone after such a tragedy.

New Finishes And WIP

I have made several more bags for lots of different people. It is so nice to be able to make something in a short amount of time in between quilting.

I pulled out a Jellybean quilt I was making into three smaller quilts. I added a border and basted it to practice free motion quilting. I am enjoying it but it takes a while!

Lately

Since the move I have been working on smaller random projects. I made three dresses and have one more to make. I am working on finishing a quilt Nana gave up on making. I also got a bunch of good mail yesterday for lots of projects. Can't wait to get started on them, but I need to finish some other things first!

Finish It Up Friday

I have finished several projects this week. It is so nice to work on smaller things such as bags. I feel like I have accomplished so much unlike working on a quilt.

I also started a new BOM (even though I have kept up with the first)! It is the Modern BOM 2 from Sew, Mama, Sew. The blocks are designed by Alyssa from Pile 'o Fabric. We will make six large blocks which will be a nice change. I chose Auburn colors hoping to make it for Philip, but I had to add a gray and light blue. I hope he likes it!

Trying New Things

After reading other quilting and seeing blogs for several years, I have seen lots of amazing free motion quilting. This means that the quilter (most of them) does not use the machine to help move the quilt to make stitches. Because I don't draw well I always assumed that it would be too hard. I think I did try a looooong time ago, but I didn't know what I was doing and tried to stitch over.a piece of paper with a pattern while using the feed dogs on the machine. What a disaster!
I have, in the past few, weeks watched many YouTube videos from Leah Day's The Free Motion Quilting Project. She has many, many videos in which she demonstrates quilting different designs.
I also was inspired after watching the videos from a QAL at Pile O Fabric. She also includes lots of helpful information for newbies (and made me want to join in with the QAL). However, I have a lot already on my plate with moving. I also don't want to make and then ruin by quilting all those blocks.
Yesterday while Collin napped, I got everything set up. Well, I should have ordered a few more tools but went for it without them. Below you can see my first attempt at stippling. There were a few places where my lines crossed. I am still very proud of myself for attempting this. I now know that with a little more practice, it is do-able!

Spools Quilt Finish

I finally finished the Spools quilt that I have been blogging about! I am so excited that it is finished and can't wait to give it back to Nana complete!

This is the whole quilt! It ended up being about 60x65.

Another picture of the whole quilt. I had a great time putting each block together and also putting the rows and columns together. It was pretty difficult to make sure that it was all balanced.

A lady from Nana's quilt guild quilted this for us. She quilted back and forth through each spool and loops in between. It really looks like thread on a spool and tangled thread. She did a great job!

For the backing, I chose to make another column of spools to line up with the front. The long-arm quilter did a great job of matching it up so the quilting would be the same. I know Nana can't wait to get her quilt back. She plans to keep it on her bed. :)

Not Much Action

I haven't sewn too much since Christmas.  We got the Spools quilt done by a long-arm quilter.  I am waiting for my mom to bring it this week so I can get the binding sewn on.  My grandmother was so excited and surprised when she opened the box with the quilt top in it!

The story behind the quilt: My grandmother has been quilting for almost as long as I can remember.  She has sewn for most of her life, but after she retired she learned to quilt.  One Christmas, I asked her to buy me a beginning quilting book.  After I got the book, she helped me make a very simple patchwork quilt.  It is not big at all, but it was my first quilt and is still special.  From there, I started reading blogs and finding patterns online, always calling Nana when I ran into a problem or needed an opinion.  She taught me how to use a rotary cutter, how to tack a quilt, how to make and attach border, and how to make and attach binding.  Without her help, I would not know anything about quilting nor would I have ever looked into getting started.  I owe all of my quilting to her.  I wanted to make something special for her to thank her for teaching me.  When I saw the Spools quilt pattern, I knew it was perfect for Nana since it related to sewing and quilting.  I can't wait to finish the binding up and attach a label and give the quilt back to its new owner!

The other quilt was for my mother-in-law.  I took the batting and everything to finish it when we went home for Christmas, but I did not have ANY time to do it.  I accidently left the batting there so I am waiting for that to come with my mom this week too. 

In other news, I am excited to say that I am in the process of testing a new pattern for Tie Dye Diva Sewing Patterns.  After the pattern is released, I can show more.  :)