Simply Fat Quarters

Recently there has been some chatter about the new book,

Simply Fat Quarters by It's Sew Emma and the Fat Quarter Shop crew.

I am lucky enough to have a copy of the book.

I haven't made a quilt from it yet...

but let me tell you...

there are some sweet quilts in it.

My two favorites are Poppy and Carousel.

I think that Sherri from a Quilting Life made a christmas version

of Carousel and showed it on her blog.

I haven't seen anyone make Poppy yet.

I am super tempted to start at least

one block just to see how my fabric choices turn out.

All the diagrams are clear and the

instructions are great for a beginning quilter.

I totally recommend it.

Do you have your copy yet?

Winner of Beginners Guide to Free Motion Quilting book

The winner was chosen by random number generator.

#62 Lisa E

Lisa E has left a new comment on your post

"Beginner's Guild to Free-Motion Quilting book tour...":

I'm definitely a beginner in the machine quilting arena. I can do a pretty good stipple but that's about it. I think this book would help me a lot!

Lisa, I have sent you an email.

Congrats!

Jelly Roll Race #4

the fourth jelly roll race :)
I used Mama Said Sew by Sweetwater.

 

For this one, I just removed the selvages and

sewed them end to end.

No additions.

To spuce it up...

I might add OSU applique

to personalize it.

Okay so 2 quilt tops to go...

whew.

Jelly Roll Race #3

Yep jelly roll race #3 of 6 is sewn.

I used an older Moda line Blossom by Urban Chicks.

I added a rectangle 2 1/2" x 4" to each strip.

It gives it a more random modern look.

I am hoping to take this to the quilter this weekend.

I am actually hoping he will have one of them done for me!

I will have 6 quilts to bind by December 20th.

That seems far off...

but....

really it isn't...

Are you making Christmas gifts this year?

Beginner's Guild to Free-Motion Quilting book tour

Comments Closed *Winner Chosen*   The blog tour theme is A Family Affair.
Here's my family....


My Stick Family from WiddlyTinks.com The cats are the center of our world. Aren't most cats though? They sort of rule the roost. Our cats are not real interested in fabric  but they sure do love laying on quilts!

 

Speaking of quilting, machine quilting has always been my weakness.

I started sewing at age 8 as you know and so basic sewing skills

have been well established.

piecing quilts was easy with my sewing skills.

Machine quilting did not happen so easily.

I have tried many techniques

and after careful consideration,

I have made the choice to have it done by a profession.

Well most of the time.

My blog readers have seen me try it here and there.

When I received Natalia's new book,

I was pretty stoked to try my hand at machine quilting again.

I read through the book to generally get a feel for how she approaches quilting.

The cover quilt is my favorite with all the orange fabric.

I can't wait to try her techniques on my next quilt.

Natalia is such a talented quilter that I sent some of my book quilts to her!

If you would like to see more of Natalia's book,

you can visit the other blog tour participants.

Amy Webb - October 6th

Melissa Corry - October 7th

Melissa Mortensen - October 8th

Stash Books - October 9th

Amy Ellis - October 10th

Kimberly Jolly - October 11th

Vicki Christensen - October 12th

Candy Glendening - October 13th

Angela Yosten - October 14th

Gen Q Magazine - October 15th

Tracey Jacobsen - October 16th

Vickie Eapen-ME! - October 17th

Allison Harris – October 18th

If you'd like to win a copy of the book {ebook IF an overseas winner} 

leave a comment here about your machine quilting skills....

and I will choose a winner on October 19th .

It was a good day.

I picked up my Square Me Up Too quilt from my quilter yesterday.

It was sunny for just long enough for me to take a picture.

Can you see the quilting from the back?

It's cars, trucks and construction equipment.

So cute on this fabric.

I ended up using grey for the background instead of blue but it works.

It was a good day.
I also managed to tackle 2 of my most disorganized areas of the house.
It took a HUGE load off my mind.
I just always felt like my house was always dirty because of those areas.
I have 2 more places/spaces left:
my bathroom cabinet and my youngest daughter's toy/play area.
After that....hmm then the basement is the last frontier.
Do you have any rooms/spaces or places that you need to organize?

Winner!

Last week I posted a giveaway for a copy of my two new pdf patterns.

Sunshine and Lollipops

and
Four Square Fun

I chose the winner with online random number generator between 1 and 36.

The winner is

Needled Mom!

NM, I have sent you the pdf files.

Simply --- Stash







The Simple Life....

Kissing Booth....

It's Simply Stash....

and

I'm lovin' it....

thanks

Green Fairy Quilts





It's getting real

real exciting!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am super excited to share that the new Martingale catalog is out.

It shows the new books from Nov. 2012 to April 2013....

Here's a peek...

Eeeeeeeeeeek!

I am super excited...

I. can. not. wait. til. March.

and to just keep it real...

this is an un-cropped picture.

this is my sewing table after coming home from Vegas.

what a wreck eh?

Get away sewing

there was some hand stitching this week...

I cut a strip off of each of my fat quarters of Liberty fabrics just in case

I was inspired to stitch something while we were on the plane to Las Vegas.

Yep my husband and I went to Vegas for 3 days.

While we were there I stopped at 3 quilt shops.

I picked up a bunch of text prints to add to my fabric stash.

I ended up paper piecing.

These are some octagons

that I have had in my paper stash for some time...

I absolutely love the text prints.

I am officially on the band wagon with these.

I also paper pieced this little flower.

It was a great a great get-away.

jelly roll race #2

Okay I think I have an obsession with these quilts.

This particular race took me just under 2 hours.

I added red Moda Basic Grey Grunge to the end of each jelly roll strip.

This line is Urban Couture by Basic Grey.

I think it is about 4 or 5 years old....

it was about time I used that jelly roll don't you think?

Anyone going to try one of these?

I have 4 more races to go....

Sunshine & Lollipops Pattern & Giveaway

I am so happy to have finished the binding
 on my Sunshine and Lollipops quilt last weekend.
It is another large block quilt that is very simple to piece
and gives you a stunning result.

I used Gypsy Girl by Lily Ashbury.

I was lucky enough to score a fat quarter bundle at quilt market in Kansas City :)

although the pattern works best with a 10" layer cake.

I used a bella solid that I found at J'Ellen's House of Fabric.

Unfortunately, I don't know the bella SKU #.

It coordinates pretty well with this line.

It will be on display at J'Ellen's when the new Gypsy Girl fabric line arrives.
A pattern is also available from J'Ellen's or you can now download the pdf
at Craftsy, Fat Quarter Shop and Patternspot.

If you like to win a pdf copy of Sunshine and Lollipops plus my new Four Square Fun pattern,

leave a comment.

I will randomly select a winner on October 12th.

jelly roll race

Some of you have probably heard of the jelly roll race quilts aka 1600 quilt.

Well I hadn't paid much attention to them until I saw one pinned about a month ago.

I got this hair brained idea to make one for each of my staff this year for Christmas.

I started my very first one with Fig Tree fabric.
It's actually 2 1/2" strips that I had left over from 2 quilt projects.
Some of the strips had bits cut off but for the most part they were intact.

I started by sewing the ends together on the 45 degree angle like I make my binding.

This left me with one continuous strip of 2 1/2" x god knows what? 1600" maybe.

It was A LOT.

I followed a tutorial

( that I can't find the exact right now but google jelly roll race tutorial and tons of stuff pops up)

You basically take opposite ends of the strip

and lay them right sides together along the LONG seam and sew down the side 1/4" seam.

After you sew god knows how long maybe 800"...

you come to the end loop which you cut in half and finish sewing your seam.

Here is a part of my strip after 2 rounds.

and another view.
I pressed each time I sewed.

As you sew your strips together your length gets cut in half and the width doubles.
It's really quite cool.

Here's my finished quilt top.

I absolutely love how random it turned out.
And it was sooo easy.

Given that it was my first try at this, it took me 2 hours to sew it.

I have already taken it to my quilter and only have 5 more to go.

I have lots of ideas about how I am going to make each quilt look unique

 even though they are based on the same principal.

I will post each top as I complete them so you can see how adding squares, sewing straight edge instead of angle or adding rectangles will change the look.

The truth is, is that even I don't know what the result will be.

and that is pretty cool.