Are You My Giveaway Winner???

Hi peeps! 

So, did you(if you are a mom) have a good Mother's Day? I sure did! The Hubs gave me a G/C for a pedicure at the local spa(easy to get to) and then surprised me and splurged on Chinese take-out!!! Woo-Hoo!!! I can't remember the last time we had restaurant food! What a sweet guy… The Kid brought home a dessert from work and I am saving it for tonight after supper as I had too many treats(the Chinese food) last night.

Now for the winner of my bountiful giveaway! 

I had 402 comments(a record for me!) and asked The Hubs choose a number between 1 and 402. He chose #356…and the winner is: Frederique from France(holey postage, Batman!!!)!!! I have emailed you and hope to hear back from you within 48 hours, or I will have to have The Hubs choose another number.

I just heard back from my lovely sponsor Connecting Threads. They are offering a prize(you'll have to tune in on May 17 to find out what!!!) to one lucky blog follower to celebrate the 1-year blogiversary of Quilt, sew Happy! Isn't that great? YAY!!!

Hop on over to Connecting Threads and show them some quilty love-they are having a sale on selected tools and books right now and have a new fabric collection too!

I will leave you with a nice little pile of fabric…I have to go finish up the photos for my Country Village Quilt-A-Long, Part 3-piecing the blocks! 

If you are a new follower and are just finding out about my quilt-a-long, you can find Part 1 here, and Part 2 here. Come join us!

Sharing is caring!!! 
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!

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

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