Take 5 book review and giveaway

All you read was giveaway, am I right?

well I break for giveaways too so I can't complain.

I really do want to this share this book with you.

More Take 5 Quilts by my lovely friend Kathy Brown.

First, check out the cover...

Isn't it bright?  totally my style.

In fact, there are so many easy quilts in this book it was difficult to choose which was 'best'

or rather best to feature.

I am not sure if I am more smitten with the 16 quilts or the fact

that Kathy has released two new quilt books in less than 12 months!

She's a design wizard.

I don't think she's done either...

I have a feelin' there's A LOT more coming in the future.

In the mean time, we can enjoy this book.

Since this is going to be difficult for me to part with this book,

I am going to make this 'giveaway' a bit more "work".

I would like to know what 5 fabrics you would pick to make a quilt in this book.

For example:

I would choose a solid and 3 Flea Market fancy prints that

coordinate with this print:

This is meant to be fun....

fabric window shop if you have time....

peek at some new fabrics

Here and Here and Here....

I'll choose a winner on May 8th.

 Please make sure there is a way to contact you in case you are the winner.

p.s. I have received zero compensation for fabric shop mentions...

they are just my favorites.

Sooo ready

I am kind of sort of sure that this is the last order of Flea Market Fancy

pretty convincing?

Nah..

So I am finally over my virus slash

 cold slash

10 day illness.

I was done with it...it wasn't done with me.

 I have been feeling better that way and wham...

serious back, right hip and right knee pain.

I finally caved and went to the Chiropractor.

She's also my next door neighbor.

So far,

she's my hero.

One treatment and I haven't had an incident of shooting pain since.

I see her again Monday and I hope with treatments

 and massage that I can get this worked out by quilt market.

Have I told you? I am soooo ready for April to be over.

Join me

It's true, I have a block in Vol.5 of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks...

May 4th I will be posting about my block and giving away a copy of the magazine :)

Winners

All I have today are the winners for the English Paper Piecing book and pdf's of my new patterns. I have been quite under the weather for the last 2 days. I am worried that it may be strep throat. Anyhow, I haven't been having a stellar week to say the least.

The winner of the book English Paper Piecing is:

Teresa of a Quilt and a Prayer

The winners of my patterns are:

Jean Burke of Quiltamamas

and

Marls of the CatandCapers
Congratulations!
You will get an email from me shortly.

a story, flea market fancy and graph paper...

I didn't get FMF the first release.

I was just finishing dental school, knee deep in debt, with a new husband, new baby and well...

A LOT of debt.

I couldn't afford to buy it.

When I realized that Free Spirit was releasing it again, I vowed to have a piece of each print.

I may or may not have gone over board

(yardage of some, FQ of each print),

I may not be done buying yardage.

Just saying.

Some of you may not care for the prints or that they have been re-released....

for me it a bit like a dream come true.

Anyhow,

I cut some new Flea Market Fancy Legacy yesterday.

Then popped out my graph paper.

See how organized I am?

Eventually the graph designs go into EQ7 and so forth.

There is a method to my maddness.

There will be a FMF quilt....

oh yes there will be...

p.s. don't forget to enter the giveaways on my blog

My quilt pattern pdf's HERE

English Paper Piecing book HERE

Cinnamon Jiffy & Spiked Shortbread.....

Can only mean one thing....

I have a BIG CARTEL site :)
It's called
Spun Sugar Quilt Designs

I am so excited.
I still have more patterns that I want to add and change the design,
in the mean time, I will still be selling my patterns on Patternspot.com.
I am toying with the idea of an etsy or ebay site,
I am not sure yet.

This is the Spiked Shortbread baby quilt.

It is an intermediate level quilt because it uses a template for the 'spikes'.

Marti Michel's template set R to be exact.

The inspiration for this quilt can from an over all feeling that I wanted to use the materials, templates and rulers that I already own.

Plus I wanted a quilt that looked modern, but I don't do well with wonky piecing.

The templates helped me 'feel' good about my piecing and

achieve the look of many of the modern quilts I see on other blogs.

I had the Template set R from my Chocolate Drop quilt that can be found on Moda Bakeshop HERE.

Remember that?

yep I used the same template for both.

Spike Shortbread is pieced very quickly when you use the template.

It's only 38" x 40" and I machine quilted it with my walking foot in about 4 hours.

It's definitely a quilt that you can make in a weekend.

*************

Cinnamon Jiffy is another pattern that I designed a couple of years ago for Quiltmaker.

I decided to release the pdf version.

Once again this quilt can be created in a weekend especially if you a charm pack or 2 1/2" scrap squares.

I used French General Panier de fleur for this model,

as well as Verna by Kate Spain

and I have used Origins by Basic Grey.

It's been WELL tested!

And for those of you that kindly read this entire post,

I am giving away 2 sets of my PDF patterns.

Leave me a comment on THIS post and I will randomly select a 2 winners on

April 21st.

*One rule*

Leave me an email so that I can contact you and directly email the patterns!!

best to type it like this:

abc quilter at yahoo dot com

Best of Luck!

A sneak peek

I have a bit of exciting news to reveal....

and here is a peek at one of the 'news'.

Patterns coming soon.....

I will post more about it tomorrow.

don't you just love Reunion by Sweetwater?

EPP heaven. and a giveaway.

So as you may have noticed, I have been on a roll with quilting books.

I just can't stop it seems.

I noticed that Martingale has a new website and you can buy books directly from them.

I am really liking this option versus buying on Amazon.

I know, I need to support my local quilt shops...

I know, but in my defense I rarely get to drive to see Joyce (she is 75 miles away)!

So how could I stop buying new books, when a new book comes out all about English Paper Piecing?

I mean that is my favorite way to hand piece....well hand piece any small quilt.

Bloom Creek's Vicki (cool name) has really out done herself.

I think this book is packed with super cute projects.

She gives basic instructions about how to paper piece as well as little tips.

So many choices, I am not sure which one to start first....

but I am pretty sure I want to start this one.

I had even picked out my fabrics and all....

then I got side tracked with our spring break road trip and didn't get back to it.

I have it all sitting on my cutting mat....so hopefully this weekend.

It's like every other quilting I start...

it's anyone's guess when I will start it!

So about the giveaway.....

 Martingale was cool enough to give me a copy of the new English Paper Piecing book to give to one of you.

Leave me a comment with just one word - your favorite English Paper Piecing shape.

For example:

hexagon

triangle

jewel etc.

Just one word for your comment.

Also make sure I have a way to  contact you via email :)

I will be randomly selecting a winner on

April 19th.

1974...a good year.

As I mentioned in a few blog posts, I finished 4 projects on our road trip.

This quilt is the biggy.

I have had it quilted for over a year now and 'going' to bind it,

but never got around to it.

Well finally I finished it.

AND it was a beautiful, but windy, day and well enough for a quick picture.

I am enamored with this fabric line.

It's 1974 by Urban Chicks for Moda.

The pattern I used is from the book Strip On!

by G.E. Designs.

I added the borders but the general idea was from her book.

Little Quilts = joy

One of the highlights of our spring break 2700 mile road trip was this...

Little Quilts in Marietta, GA.

The first quilt book that I ever bought was "Little Quilts: All Through the House" by the owners of Little Quilts.

The first quilt that I ever finished was the log cabin from their book.

This was before I knew how to use a rotary cutter or ruler, so I cut the strips with scissors.

I even 'hand' quilted it. It turned out wonky to say the least.

Anyway, I have nearly every pattern that Little Quilts sold.

I had always hoped that one day I would get there.

And sure enough I did!

It was awesome.

I mean just packed with fabric, samples, patterns, books...and on and on.

It wasn't just primitives or civil war as it appears.

They had Kaffe, Moda, 1930's and baby quilt prints.

An eclectic mix.

Here's my loot.

I wanted a couple of souvenirs so I picked one of their project bags with their logo

and a collectable shop button.

And this lace and printed ribbon.

Check out the thread, sewing machine and scissors on that ribbon....it's only 3/8" wide!

I LOVE it.

So that was a highlight of the trip...

we had other good times too, but more on that in another post.

Happy Easter

I sincerely hope that you have a wonderful Easter.

2700 miles

Yep we drove 2700 miles this week.

I am sooo glad to be home.

We went to Myrtle Beach, SC and then on to Savannah, GA.

The kids were happy to stay in a hotel and swim in the pool.

I find it funny that they think vacation is staying in a hotel.

During those miles and miles, I finished 3 knitted dishclothes.

I particularly like to knit the interlocking hearts pattern.

I have made it like 20 times. It's easy to knit and somewhat mindless.

I even started another one in blue/green colorway.

I have no particular plans for them.

I just knit them LOL.

I finished the binding on 4 quilt projects,

including this baby quilt that I have had "ready to bind" for over a year.

The rest of the trip included Lakeland FL, Atlanta GA and finally home.

I am slowly getting laundry done and getting re-organized for the week ahead.

Easter's tomorrow and there is so much to be thankful for.

I have more to share about our trip, finished projects and such,

I hope there will be a bit of time to blog more tomorrow...

very pleasant surprise

Stitched for Fun.

Yet another book that creeped into my library.

There are multiple sweet projects in this book.

I love the simplicity of the flowers here.

I feel compelled to make this embroidery, although I HIGHLY doubt my kids will actually use it.

I think it would be sweet for my 'unmentionables', LOL.

I am going to dig through my linen stash

 ( I really only have 2 colors of Kona cotten linen in my stash!)

and see if I have enough for a whole bag....

I am thinking that adding some quilting cotton, as in a horizontal strip, across.

This could allow me to use less of the cotton linen if I happen to be short on yardage.

We'll see.

spring break

Litchfield beach, Pawleys Island

The girls with their dad....

Everyday Handmade:the book

This book has been in my new stack for a few weeks.

I am a book hoarder.

I love to look at the pictures and dream that I will have time to make each project.

I only hope to make one or two.

This book is so sweet.

There are so many different project ideas, tote bags, kitchen goodies, quilts and other fun gifties.

It was really really hard to limit myself to a couple of 'favorite' projects.

There is even a bunting quilt and I have seen atleast 4 or 5 patterns done in this style.

There is one particular quilt in this book is my favorite.

They use a light blue background as if it were the sky.

The buntings are a rainbow...

it's lovely.

And of the kitchen-y stuff....

This tea towel is my favorite.

macaroons...yum

if you get the chance, check out this book.

If I ever

When I make something from this, I will share it for sure.