Sum it Up Sunday & Giveaway Reminder!

Hi peeps! 

How are you doing on this fine Sunday? I say fine as it has been warm and sunny here since Friday…I even went out and about in a t-shirt today! Yay!!!

Just wanted to remind everyone that today is the last day to enter my giveaway: A 27-piece fat quarter bundle(some prints shown above) of LUMINESCENCE from the lovely folks at Connecting Threads. Have you had a chance to check them out yet?

Here's the link to the giveaway post:

GIVEAWAY

***GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED AND THE PRIZE HAS BEEN AWARDED***

All you have to do is comment with your answer to the question stated there. You may also have a second entry if you follow me…and tell me how you do! There are follow windows for email and Bloglovin' on my right sidebar. 

Note: if you choose to Follow by Email, Feedburner will send you an email with a link to click. This is not spam. Feedburner needs your permission to send my posts to you. If you don't click that link, then my posts won't be delivered to your inbox. 

Just so you know!

I was at a church jumble sale recently and spotted this quilt. It is a bit rustic, but the colours go well in my living room and I couldn't beat the price…a whopping $2.50!! It is about 50" x 50" and is hand-appliqueed and hand quilted…both skills I can no longer do, due to carpal tunnel surgery on both wrists. 

They were raising money for a clean water well in Mexico, so I was more than happy to support them with a few other purchases too!!!

Yes, this photo is supposed to be blurry and obstructive! I can't actually show you yet as I am working on a block for a Sew-a-Long here on my blog coming very soon!!! 

That leather-bound book above is made by Moleskine and is my go-to block-ideas/designing book. It was the Hubs' Christmas present from his firm, but as soon as I saw it, I had to have it!!! It has a pocket inside the back cover for loose papers, a ribbon book mark and an elastic closure…perfect for taking with me from easy chair to sewing table. I just love it so much…and will have to get another soon, as this one is almost filled up. Thankfully, I can usually find them on Massdrop!

Sharing is caring!!! Don't forget that I am happy to share…feel free to pin to Pinterest, post on Google+ and Facebook, and Tweet away! Just please make sure your posts link back to this blog. If you are not sure, please ask me!

If you mouse/hover over the top right corner of my photos, a red pin-it button will show up, and there is another button right beside it for posting to Facebook and Twitter. Or, you could use the little grey buttons just below my signature.

Thanks for reading and have a great day! 

Quilty Huggs, 

Jacqueline 

Giveaway, Giveaway, Giveaway!(…and a recipe too!!!)

Hi peeps! 

I'd like to extend a warm welcome my new sponsor, Connecting Threads.

Connecting Threads has graciously offered this 27-piece fat quarter bundle of their brand-new Luminescence fabric line as a giveaway to one of you!!! 

…and it's primarily purple…mmm! Wish I could enter this giveaway myself!

Here's a little bit about them:

Connecting Threads offers quality cotton fabric, designed specifically for quilters. Connecting Threads is an online and catalog retailer selling quilting fabrics from some of the industry’s most popular manufacturers like RJR Fabrics, Cotton + Steel, and more. Connecting Threads also sells our own exclusive fabrics, with limited-edition designs that you won’t see anywhere else. Each of our exclusive fabrics are created according to our exacting standards and finished with our top-secret formula to create a flawless and amazingly soft finish.

We are proud to offer our exclusive fabrics at a price that fits within most budgets without sacrificing quality one iota. How do we manage this? We go directly to the mill, taking the middleman out of the equation. By sourcing and selling our fabrics directly, we are able to offer our customers wholesale prices on fabrics that won’t be found anywhere else. We believe that convenience shouldn’t cost extra, so we never charge for cutting. This means that our charms, strips and other precut fabric bundles have the same per-yard cost as our normal yardage cuts. Because affordability is one of the core values at Connecting Threads, we also do our best to offer fabrics from outside manufacturers at the lowest prices possible.

I love, love that their in-house lines retail at $5.96(US$) a yard…and they have Cotton & Steele basics at only $9.96 a yard! They also have an amazing Clearance section with deep discounts on Fabric, Books, Tools and Patterns…so many deals to be had! 

Connecting Threads often has excellent sales with up to 40% off regular retail prices. For example, right now they are offering 30% off their EssentialPro polyester thread and 40% off specialty rulers and pressing tools! WOW!!!

They offer free shipping within the continental US with any order over $50. Shipping to Canada is only $7.99 with your $60+(US$) order. They also collect any duty and taxes owing so that we Canucks don't have to pay Canada Posts's onerous $5 "collection fee"..a personal pet peeve.

I have been shopping at Connecting Threads for YEARS, since before they had their beautiful website! As a matter of fact, I always have an open shopping cart and wish list to dream about!

To find out how to enter the giveaway…read on, McDuff!!!

Photo: Vancouver Sun website

Do you remember when I mentioned making vegetable stock(or broth) in this post? Well, there was a feature article and recipe in yesterday's Vancouver Sun about just that. They said there are studies where it's been shown that homemade broth has extremely good restorative properties and can help mitigate many medical conditions. Sports doctors regularly recommend drinking broth to help heal injuries faster and cut the length of the common cold and flu.

The young guys above have a shop which specializes in making/selling their homemade stock which they simmer for 4-5 days!!!

Photo: Vancouver Sun website

There are even "broth bars" popping up around Vancouver where you can buy a steaming cup of homemade broth to enjoy…watch out Starbucks!!!

I decided to give the Hubs a break from cooking and made a big pot of chili con carne yesterday. I can't give you a cost-per-meal on this one as I had everything in my pantry. I do know that the cans of beans were $0.99 each, the paste was $0.75, and the tomatoes were around $1.25…just can't remember what I paid for the juice. The lean hamburger meat was also on sale and I had the spices in-house.

When specific canned goods(like the ones above) go on sale, I grab the limit allowed to stock my pantry.

My 'secret ingredient' is Clammato juice, but we didn't have any and I wasn't going to head to the grocery store for one thing that was probably not on sale. So, I subbed in the V-Plus juice.

I browned 2 pounds of lean hamburger meat then placed the cooked meat on a paper-towel-lined plate to absorb the excess grease. Then I caramelized 2 medium, chopped onions in the same pan. While I was sautéing the onions I was dumping the contents of the canned goods into my large pot…making sure to rinse the goo off the beans in a colander beforehand. I added generous portions of cumin, chili powder, dry mustard and black pepper as well as 5 cloves of well-chopped garlic. I forgot to add red pepper flakes!!!

Then I added the drained meat and cooked onions into the large pot and heated to a rolling boil, stirring constantly. I love how the above photo shows the steam rising!!! Then the hard part…turn the burner down to medium and keep stirring for at least a half an hour. Then I just leave it to cool on the stove.

About a half an hour before suppertime, I crank up the heat to rolling boil again and continue stirring for about 30 minutes…this allows the chili to thicken and the flavour also intensifies.

The end result…a steaming bowl of chili to knock away the winter chill! There is enough in the pot for 3 suppers for 3 people.

Now, for the giveaway!!!

-Leave me a comment telling me what you would make with this lovely 27-piece bundle of Luminescence!

-For a second entry, follow this blog and indicate how you follow(i.e.: by email or via Bloglovin'). The Follow windows are on the upper right sidebar of this blog. 

Please note: with the follow by email option, they(Feedburner) will send you a confirmation email…you have to click the link they give you in that message to become an actual follower who receives my blog posts in their inbox.

*Two entries per person please.*

*For Canadian and USA residents only.*

*Giveaway closes at NOON, MONDAY MARCH 9, 2015

Connecting Threads and Jacqueline Frances are not responsible for lost or stolen mail.

Feel Free to share with your friends, post to Facebook, pin to Pinterest and Tweet away!!! There are little grey sharing buttons in the box at the end of this post.

***GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED AND THE PRIZE HAS BEEN AWARDED***

Thanks for reading and have a great day! 

Quilty Huggs, 

Jacqueline 

Sooo, wanna see what I got for Christmas???…and What I'm Working on Now!

Hi peeps!

Each year, when we gather together for American Thanksgiving, it is a family tradition that we stick everyone's Christmas lists on my MIL's fridge. So, my Hubs suggested that I choose my own Christmas gifts(from him and the Kid) this year. To be fair, my Hubs was having a pretty busy time at work.

Woo-Hoo! Super-bonus points for him!!! Hee Hee Hee…

This was when all the great Black Friday sales were going on, so I clicked on over to Connecting Threads(a favourite on-line shop of mine) and went to town! 

I love how they label each piece with fabric name and your yardage cut

They had their books at 40% off and deep discounts on selected fabrics, patterns and notions. The purple print is called "Fronds".

The pretty drawstring bag and thread snips were from my Dad

I also got the Morroccan Tiles pattern that has been on my CT wish list for ages. I am thinking of pairing solids with small amounts of 'modern' fabrics for that one. 

That teal tool on the far right is a half square triangle ruler. I've had a 6"-long one for years, and needed the longer one to finish that Jumbo Prism Pillow I was working on in this post.

It was sure hard to not open that box when it arrived a week later!

I had been saving up so that I could take advantage of Craftsy's big after-Christmas sale. These table runner kits were bargain priced(about $6 each!), so I picked up 4(shown above). The kit contains 40 5" charm squares of Batik fabrics in the Punch colour line, plus a free pattern. I have been meaning to make a new runner for our coffee table and thought these bright citrusy prints would brighten the place up.

I opened up one package and started thinking about which squares to pair together, as I would like some contrast in each pair. I will be using two packages as our coffee table is quite large.

I surfed my stash and found the perfect fabric for binding. It is a cross-weave of two slightly different colours and will be perfect binding. The photo doesn't do it justice, it is more shimmery in person. Is shimmery a word? If not, it should be! hee hee hee

This is a half-yard piece, so if I cut my binding strips straight of grain instead of on the bias, I will have enough for the large table runner, as well as for one of the extra kits.

I started marking my sewing and cutting lines on the lighter squares, using my new half-square ruler and a black Frixion pen. It doesn't show up very well here I'm afraid, but is dark enough for me to see it while sewing. 

I am having a problem with my Frixion pens not working all that well…does anyone know what might be the problem and how I can fix it?

Click here to go directly to Craftsy!

Affiliate post:

Did you know that Craftsy is have a huge Winter Wonderland sale? They are offering up to 65% off fabrics/kits/notions and classes. The classes never expire and you own them for life, so you can go back a watch them as many times as you like! I have several! It is completely FREE to Join Craftsy.

Sale ends at midnight February 2, 2015 MST, so don't delay!

QUESTION OF THE DAY:

Tommorrow is Groundhog Day…will he see his shadow?

Comment below!

PS: I'd like to thank each and every one of you who emailed me to see if I was doing okay. I was having a difficult time health-wise, and lost my bloggie voice for several months.

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Quilty Huggs,

Jacqueline

Fun Finds at the Dollar Store, and Giveaway Winner(s)!

Hi peeps!

I had some fun at the 'good' Dollar Store recently, though I have to admit that our Dollar Stores up here are actually $1.25 stores!!! 

I needed a container to fit my arriving-any-minute Clover Clips. I ordered 2 x 100-pack, so was thinking I needed a largish box to with them in. Got 3 small rolls of Washi tape too!(The box I bought was way too huge, so I found another in the house. The above box now holds my extra 1" hexagon papers!)

I got this 10-pack of slide-seal freezer bags as I am wanting to make the below bag. At $1.25, they were a steal, compared to the Zip bags I have in my kitchen drawer. As these come from the Dollar Store, I wouldn't use them for food storage, who knows what they are really made of.

The tutorial calls for 6 bags, and I am planning to make two-one for my EPP supplies and one for my embroidery stuff. I plan to only use 4 bags for the EPP one as I think 6 will make it too bulky. Six bags are fine for my embroidery stuff(minus my larger hoop).

Got some Happy Mail!! I am really impressed with the calibre of packaging on my first purchase from Massdrop. My Clover Clips were in a nice, sturdy box with a clearly readable label. The shipping costs were VERY reasonable for something shipped to Canada from the States.

WOW!!! This is the latest Massdrop deal:

Aurifil 12-weight thread, 10 small spools ONLY $29.99!! Regular price $50!!!

Use the below link to join this awesome deal!!! Great for quilting and machine-embroidery.

https://www.massdrop.com/r/Q2XSMW

I love how these Clover clips look like candy! They will come in sooo handy when I tackle sewing the plastic bags into my Busy Bags!

And now for the giveaway…drumroll please..ta-da!!!

The winner of the $35 Gift Certificate to Fat Quarter Shop is:

Saskia S.!

I have emailed her and hope she gets back to me soon!!!

Thank you so much to my sponsor, Fat Quarter Shop. We have other things in the works, coming soon!

I was thinking that having only one winner wasn't fair, gotta pick one more, please, Mr. Hubs!!(I had him pick two numbers between 1 and 24)

I will be sending a 6-pack of craft clips, and four spools of Connecting Threads' Essential thread to:

Debbie C.!

I had to email her via her YouTube account, as it was the only way to get a hold of her!

The above gifts are not sponsored, just a little prezzie from me!

Please remember, if I can't reach you, you can't win!

I just want to thank everyone that follows this blog and those who entered my giveaway. There will be more in store!!!

Quilty love and huggs,

Jacqueline

Happy Mail and Some Sponsor News!

Hi peeps!

A few weeks ago, Craftsy had a free-shipping sale, and I was all over that, as shipping to Canada is surprisingly costly. So I got these two Fossil Fern 100-piece charm packs as I am planning to cut them up for hexies and make a large quilted tote bag. I have been checking out my books and cruising the internet, looking for that 'perfect' tote pattern! Does anyone have any ideas?

On payday, I headed on over to the Connecting Threads website, as I always have an open cart going! I had been hearing all about Amy Smart's book, Fabulously Fast Quilts all over blog-land, and since it was on sale, I bought it as well as two more copies of Katy Jones' 25 Quilt Blocks…to giveaway sometime soon!

I got 7 yards of this white-on-white print for my Impromptu quilt. I actually only need 6.5 yards, but as it was on sale for $3.56 a yard, I got extra. There is always a need for w-o-w prints here. Darn, as I think of it, I probably should have ordered more! I mean, how often do you see a w-o-w on sale?

Do you remember all the  4.5" squares I had started cutting with my Go Baby, for a paper bag quilt? I sort of stalled on it as I was kind of meh on having to cut a bunch of Kona-snow squares(I mean, how boring is that, anyway?). Then I got the Amy Smart book! The second pattern is this one(Fast Four Patch) and uses the same size squares, along with red and white strips, both of which I have on hand! Serendipity at it's best!

Lastly, I loaded up on the CT Essentials thread, which was on sale for $1.95 a spool. I use this for everyday sewing, machine piecing and English Paper Piecing. I never use my Aurifil thread for EPP shapes, as eventually, all the thread gets removed and thrown away.

As promised, here is a part picture of the purple Batik sheet I bought Saturday at the Caribbean Festival. You can see the Celtic cable border and hand-knotted fringe.

A close-up of the stencilled red turtles. I think they look happy!

My last bit of Happy Mail is from my sponsor, Paper Pieces. They sent me a small pack of hexagons and a small pack of tall triangles, as well as 2 mini charm packs, to be given away soon.  You can click the logo on my upper left border to go straight to their online store. Don't forget to use the savings code!

I have more happy sponsor news, but you will have to wait till next post to find out!

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Jacqueline

A finish and some extra special Happy Mail!

Hi peeps!

I finally managed to finish the table runner I was making for my Dad's birthday. We are having him over for supper on Sunday, though his birthday is actually today. Link to the tutorial is on my Cute Tute Links page.

Here's a close-up of the quilting. I did 'in the ditch' for the side pieces and a continuous decreasing square in the center. 

I just love those cavorting chicks and chickens! Aren't they cute???

I backed it with an piece of Debbie Mumm fabric. I have been hoarding this scrap piece for ages, I think it was from one of her first lines! 

I had JUST enough, with a strip left over for my 'string' box…will make a string quilt one of these days...

Got some Happy Mail from Connecting Threads. They had a rare pattern sale, so I stocked up, and the 2 books were Clearance. 

I really need to make that Sit & Stitch pincushion. The arms of my easy chair are getting a real beating from all the pins and needles I stick into it!

More from Connecting Threads…I rarely buy kits as they tend to sit around and get lost in my sewing room. I really wanted this pattern(Wedges), and of course, the blue-green batiks were a must! The thread was on sale for $1.95 a spool, so I stocked up on some favourite colours. The lime and orange are being discontinued!

Spoiler alert: I wrote their customer service to complain about the many thread colours that sold out too fast for me to purchase…they got back to me to tell me they will give out a special coupon code(on this coming Monday) to all their customers who lost out, and the code will make the thread @$1.95 again. Not sure if they will give this code to everyone as I only got notification for it because I complained.

Now for the extra special Happy Mail!!! Soon after I started this blog, I contacted Mr. Alex Veronelli of Aurifil threads to see if I could get some samples to try and some to give away as well. The man is a sweetie and did not disappoint! Look at what he sent me!!! Those colour cards are a $30 value!!! The local UPS guy was impressed that we got something from far-away Italy!

I received 12 spools and I have chosen the spools I'd like to keep. I have 8 spools to give away! I will be having a giveaway soon…for 4 different people! Each person will receive a large spool, a small spool(curtosy of Aurifil of Italy) and a package of John James needles(curtosy of little old me!).

I am giving you a heads up, so you can get organized!!! I will have 2 conditions for this giveaway; you must follow me by email(that includes my Google+ and Bloglovin people!), and; you must comment and let me know what kinds of tutorials you would like me to show you. But not yet!!!

I will let you know when the giveaway is to start(hint: Maple Leaf) and you will have a few days in which to register. I am giving you time to put on your thinking caps, let your creative thoughts flow and think up tutorials...

I did do a tutorial recently, but am having a hard time attaching it to this blog! grrr…

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Jacqueline