WIP-IT Wednesday: Country Village QAL Blocks & Giveaway Reminder!

Hi peeps!

This was the second quilt I made and my first try at hand-quilting. You'll notice that there is no close-up photo as I don't want you to see the "toe-catcher" hand-quilting stitches…they are truly awful!!! This one lives on one of my quilt racks, so no one can see it.

The quilt started with a remnant of the cute pigs in pyjamas print, which is to the left and right of the center square, as well as the outer border.

How is everyone doing with their Country Village blocks for the quilt-a-long? 

I have ten finished and pressed, including the one block I had to take apart and swap the center out. 

Sorry about the drab lighting, the area where I sew has awful light and I have to sew with a bendy lamp that almost touches my face.

I have the eleventh block all ready for trimming. I like to finish my sewing day with an item that is already started, so that next time I can jump right in!

I wanted to show you my bag of selvedges from Maison De Provence, the fabric collection by Connecting Threads. They are so pretty! 

Piecing with selvedges seem so be all the rage at the moment, so I'm thinking I should at least give it a try. So funny, when I started quilting in the early 1990's, the selvedge was considered waste and now it is a part of the blocks you can make.

*Giveaway has ended and the prize has been claimed*

Don't forget to enter my 1 year Blogiversary Giveaway for a chance to win the 29-piece fat quarter collection of Line Dried from Connecting Threads! 

Comments close on Thursday, May 21 at 11:59 PM, PST. Comments must be on the actual giveaway post. 


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Don't forget that I am happy to share with your friends…feel free to pin to Pinterest, post on Google+ and Facebook, and Tweet away! Just please play fair and make sure your posts link back to this blog. 

*If you mouse/hover over the top right corner of my photos, a red "Pin-it" button will show up and all you have to do is click it to be taken to Pinterest. There is also another red button right beside it for posting to Facebook and Twitter. Or, you could always use the little square grey buttons at the end of this post. 

Thanks for reading and have a great day! 

Quilty Huggs, 

Jacqueline 

PLEASE NOTE: This blog accepts forms of compensation such as, but not limited to; fabric/notions/patterns/books in exchange for a posted review and/or tutorial. All comments/critiques/opinions are completely my own and are not those of the provider. This blog may also contain affiliate links and I will receive a small commission if you make a purchase after clicking on one of my links. Thanks so much!

W.I.P.-it, W.I.P.-it good Wednesday!

Hi peeps!

I started working on the citrus batik table topper I mentioned here and here.

I usually eyeball it when I'm doing half square triangles(and they never seem to work out), but this time I decided to draw the sewing lines on the wrong sides with my Frixion pen. Woa! What a difference that makes! I never realized how much my machine(and my hands) move the fabric around, making slightly wobbly lines instead of nice straight lines. 

In all fairness Pfrancine(my Pffaf) is in dire need to be cleaned and have the motor timer reset but I got this pretty pile done in no time flat!

I wanted to show you what happens when put your iron on the marks made with a Frixion pen. You can see the pen marks on the bottom triangle, below the stitching. 

I pressed the seam quickly, and as you can see on the top triangle, the marks disappeared completely. It's like magic!

I have been seeing others around blog-land who are pressing their seams open and thought I would give it a try. A small project is a great place to see how it goes. I liked how crisp the seam was.

Here is one of the finished HSTs, now all I have to do is *ug* trim these squares down. 

I can't tell you the specific dimensions as this was a free-with-purchase pattern and it is not available on the Timeless Treasure website. I did go there to check, so that I could share with you, but no I can't. Sorry…but, you can probably figure it out!

I wanted to talk about thimbles…do you use them??? 

I have never been able to use a conventional thimble, they always felt 'wrong' on my finger. I have been using a leather thimble(pictured above) for years, but wear them out very quickly as I push the needle with the side of my middle finger. These thimbles cost around $10-$15 plus shipping and I have gone through several in the past 18 months, while I have been working on two enormous hexagon projects.

I saw the blue one(a Roxanne's mid-priced metal thimble) on clearance so I ordered the largest size. I have mentioned my thick fingers before, and I really thought the XL size would fit. Well, it only fits if I rub a tiny dab of hand lotion into that finger…and, well it still didn't feel all that right. Plus after just a few hours of use, the pretty blue paint started to come off!

I was shopping at a favorite Etsy shop and noticed the metal cuff-style thimbles there. They were ultra cheap…I think 4 for $1, so I bought them. Well, they work great! I have been using one for a couple of months now, with no problem! Just goes to show you that expensive doesn't always mean the best!

Don't forget to enter Craftsy's #SecretStash Contest here.

Prizes include a box of secret stash goodies(and they have tonnes of things to choose from!!!) as well as a Craftsy class of your choice! Cool!!!

Also, the person I awarded my consolation prize to in my last giveaway never got back to me, even though I allowed 48 hours for a response. 

I have contacted Pam P. and hope she will get back to me asap!

I did notice that a lot of the people that commented were "no-reply bloggers" which means they didn't have an email connected to their open id and therefore I had no way of contacting them. So, if you would like to win …and receive your winnings, please check your Google+ account and see if your email is visible in the top right drop-down window. If it isn't, just Google how to fix the no-reply blogger issue on your Google+ account and you will find a few tutorials to show you how to fix it!

By the way, a big HELLO *waving happily* to my new followers. Thanks so much for joining up!

Question of the day:

Do you wear a thimble, and if you do, what kind of thimble do you use?

Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Quilty Huggs,

Jacqueline