Follow-Up Friday: More Of My Quilts and Are You My Giveaway Winner?

Hi peeps! 

My Hubs named this one "Mountain Dew & Grape Crush"!

I though I would continue on with showing you some of my quilts(the ones that I own-most of my big quilts were gifts and never got photographed as I didn't have a digital camera then).

This one is completely hand-pieced, including adding the borders. I was also experimenting with a high-loft polyester batting(ewww!!). As you can see, I had a bit of trouble machine-quilting the poly batting-things kept on shifting…grr! 

This was the last time I used poly for anything!

Starflower

When the Lion's Gate Quilting Guild(North Vancouver, BC) holds it's biannual quilt show, there is an interactive display where anyone can give hand-quilting a try. 

A guild member makes the quilt top and it gets put in a large, standing quilt hoop. Then throughout the day, different guild members would stay and give pointers on hand-quilting techniques to anyone who was curious and wanted to try their hand at it(there were a lot of men and kids keen to try!).

The partially-quilted quilt is then raffled-off…and one year I won it(above)! I finished all of the hand-quilting, then scoured my substantial stash; looking for the right binding fabric. I think the greyish-blue I chose fits in very well.

Now to the giveaway winner!

I asked my Hubs to choose a random number between 1-119(the number of comments) and he chose:

#112 Sheila, who wrote:

Congratulations on your blogaversary . I follow your blog via email .thanks for the chance.

Sheila-look for an e-mail from Quilt, sew Happy! in your inbox!!!

Thanks so much to everybody who entered my 1st Year Blogiversary Giveaway and who signed-on to follow my blog! Stay tuned-there are more fun things on the way!*

*A big THANK YOU to Connecting Threads for supplying this great prize!

Craftsy is Having a Big Long-Weekend Sale!!!

Nothing beats a long weekend...except for a long weekend full of crafting fun! Get everything you need for a creative “stay-cation” with Craftsy’s Memorial Day Sale. Enjoy up to 70% off all kits, fabric and yarn, up to 60% off sewing project kits and up to 40% off art, paper craft and cake decorating supplies. You’re sure to snag the items you’ve been eyeing at major savings. 

The sale runs from 5/21/15 through 5/25/15 @11:59pm MT!*

*If you are not already a member of Craftsy, you will have to join and create a basic profile of yourself. This is free and takes mere minutes and then you can shop your buns off! Hee Hee Hee…get it? You are sitting on your buns when you are internet shopping!!!

Remember a few months back when I was drooling about the RJR Letters Home Tea and Biscuit Table Runner(above)? Well, I can finally get it! It is now priced at $28.61(CA$)-about $24.00 US$*. That's 45% off the regular price! Yay!!!

*Sorry about the CA$ to US$ price conversion…all of my Craftsy prices show in Canadian dollars only.

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!

Super Sunday: Happy Mail and Giveaway Reminder!!!

Hi peeps! 

We are having amazingly beautiful weather this weekend…but I can't go out and enjoy it as I have a migraine starting to build…groan…so today's post will be shorter than normal.

I received the above fat quarters in the Canada-only swap on Facebook I have mentioned before. April's theme was "April showers" and as you can see, there was a wide interpretation of the theme! 

I'm especially fond of the bright green fattie, as there are cute little umbrellas all over and words to a verse on spring rain.

I belong to another Facebook swap with a Canadian pen pal from Newfoundland, which is a province at the other side of the country(a large island off the eastern coast of Canada). 

In the past couple of months she sent me these three mottled fatties! They are really great blenders and I am so happy to have them! She also sent the cute fridge magnet. It is already on my fridge!

These items are also from the pal in Newfoundland-a crocheted hot pad/table protector, some embroidery floss(great for sewing buttons on quilts-though not for babies!). 

There is a big bag of assorted lime green buttons(cool!), and the cute pack of Canadian symbols buttons, bottom right. I will have to make up a Canada-themed wall-hanging so that I can use those buttons! There is a maple leaf, RCMP hat, snowflake and others inside.

I got these two charm packs from a Canadian seller's group on Facebook. I like buying 2 of the same charm packs as I rarely make really small quilts(except for baby quilts, table toppers and zippy pouches). I would need a larger amount of charms to make a lap or bigger sized quilt.

Giveaway is now closed and the prize has been awarded.

GIVEAWAY REMINDER!!!

These are the prizes I will be sending to one lucky individual!

There is still time to enter my Sew Mama Sew Giveaway(YAY!)! Giveaway closes today at midnight, pst. The Hubs will pick a lucky winning number tomorrow!

Link to enter the giveaway post is here

*Comments for the giveaway must be on the "Giveaway" post(link above) to be eligible to win.

In case you missed it, Part 2 of my Country Village Quilt-A-Long, featuring a block I designed(shown above) was published this past Wednesday. You can head over to that post using this link and it is also located in the Country Village QAL tab just below my blog header!

*Stay tuned for Part 3, this Wednesday, May 13th.

Last, but not least, I want to wish all of the moms out there a very Happy Mother's Day! I hope everyone has great weather and are able to spend time with their families.

The Kid had to start work at 11 am, so I won't be able to spend any time with him till after supper. He did give me a kiss on the cheek as he was leaving…a huge surprise! Believe me when I say that teenage boys DO NOT give kisses to their moms anymore…sniff..!

The Hubs gave me a much-needed gift certificate for a pedicure! Yay! 

Question of the Day:

Do you(if you are a mom) receive a Mother's Day gift from your child(ren)?…or does your Hubby give you one?

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!

What's-Up Wednesday!: Happy Mail and a Quilt-A-Long Announcement!

Hi peeps! 

Did ya miss me??? 

As you can see above, I started free motion quilting the Citrus Batik Table topper. My Pfaff was also in the hospital, so I got out my old 1990's era Kenmore. It is a very basic machine, having only 14 different stitches, but it is a workhorse and can do the job. I decided to try the 12-weight Aurifil thread I have, in a yellow-gold colour and was going swimmingly when all of a sudden I started getting thread breaks and all sorts of bird's nests of thread on the back. Yeesh! I tried everything I could think of…rethreading the machine, changing the bobbin, changing the needle and cleaning out the dust and lint…but nothing seemed to work, so I put it aside. Then I got my Pfaff back and would you believe, I had the exact same problem. So I did all the same things to my Pfaff and still was having problems. Double-Yeesh!

I have come to the realization that neither of my machines like 12-weight thread. I have unpicked loads of nasty stitches, but even though I will have to change threads and thread colour, I will not unpick the parts that came out looking okay. If this was to be a gift, that would be another story, but as this is just for us, I will let it go. I just have to keep repeating to myself "let it go, let it go". My Virgo self really dislikes things that aren't just right. Ah well….

I got some great Happy Mail over the past couple of months. I bought a bunch of machine parts off of Ebay for my 1948 Singer 15-91 including a quarter-inch foot, Singer branded needles, a walking foot, lightbulbs, magnetic seam gauge, a bunch of bobbins and an springed open-toe foot for FMQing. When they arrived, I was please to see that these parts will also fit on my Kenmore…bonus! 

I also finally invested in a quarter-inch foot for my Pfaff. Both quarter-inch feet have a little metal guide thing on the right hand edge of them that prohibits you from pushing too much fabric to the right of the foot, thereby allowing you to achieve a perfect quarter-inch seam allowance. Yay!

These two purchases were from Massdrop. The fat quarter bundle is called "Enchanted", and even though the bundle didn't include the 'main' all-over design that ties the whole line together, I got such a good deal that I couldn't pass it up. Plus, I can always find that main print at Fat Quarter Shop or Pink Castle(2 of my favourite USA-based online shops).

The 100-count boxes of Schmetz needles were also a steal on Massdrop. I got one box of #14 needles-these are my go-to needles for all-purpose sewing. I also got a box of #16 needles, which are my favourite machine-quilting needles.

Massdrop has very reasonable shipping charges(even to Canada!) and I was really pleased to find out that they combine shipping on multiples of the same item!

I joined a Canadian De-stash group on Facebook and got these two 2-yard pieces for a bargain. I just love those happy purple flowers! I will be using the primary colours stripes for binding on kid quilts. I always cut my binding on the bias, as it is more sturdy. Stripes cut on the bias create a neat finish.

I got these two Mary Engelbreit charm packs for about $10 each from the same Facebook group. The top print doesn't do the whole pack justice…there are so many cute prints in there, in reds, blues, greens and black. I am planning to make one of the free Fat Quarter Shop patterns for charm packs with them.

I also joined a couple of Canada-only swap groups, again on Facebook and these are the fatties I have received so far! The red one at the top right is a Pat Sloan print and I was so excited when it came as I have never had any of her prints and always thought they were super-cute! 

I bought the Simplicity pattern print, bottom right(neat, eh?), and the multi lifesaver print-bottom left, from one of the swappers who was having a de-stash on the other group, and it came with my swap!

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So…now I have an exciting announcement!!!

I will be starting a Quilt-A-Long next week, here on the blog! I contacted Connecting Threads to see if they would like to supply the fabric for me to host a Quilt-A-Long, using a block that I have designed…and they said yes!!! Yippee!!!

The first post will be a photo of the block and fabric requirements for a queen-sized quilt. The blocks are nice and big, at 15.5" square, including seam allowances(15" sewn in), and you will only need 25 of these easy blocks, plus 2 borders, to make a comfy queen-sized quilt! The posts will be about two weeks apart, to allow everyone(myself included!) enough time to complete each step.

You do not have to make a queen quilt, but it would be great if you could participate…three of these blocks sewn in a row would make a nice table runner and four blocks set 2 x 2 will make a nice square table topper.

I will be putting a Quilt-A-Long tab at the top of the blog, to make it easy to find each week's post, in case you don't have the time to make one now, and for easy reference too!

I will be using the Maison de Provence fabric line by Connecting Threads, check it out! Now that I have it in my hot little paws, the rich tones(so beautiful in person) kind of remind me of the spices brought back on the Silk Road by Marco Polo!

The "COUNTRY VILLAGE" Quilt-A-Long will start on Wednesday, April 29, 2015.

Come join us!

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It has been a long and stressful month with my Dad being in the hospital. He had 2 emergency surgeries and spent most of his stay in the Close Observation Ward, due to the nature of his medical situation. I am happy to report that he is now back home and enjoying a good night's sleep in his own bed! Thank you so very much for the comments and messages offering prayers…it really means a lot to me that you took the time to tell me you care. Big Huggs to you!

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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 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 grey square buttons at the end of this post. 

Thanks for reading and have a great day! 

Quilty Huggs, 

Jacqueline 

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

Follow-Up-Friday: What I've Been Up To!!!

Hi peeps! 

How's everyone doing today??? We are having crazy weather…sunny and up to 55 degrees one day, then cold and rainy the next!!! It's really doing a number on my migraines and the Fibromyalgia…grrr!

As promised in this post,I had some fun playing with my citrus HST's. I came up with the above placement and sewed them all together yesterday. I have to say that this is the first time ever, that my HST's have worked out! This time I was very careful to mark my sewing lines and I actually trimmed them too! What a difference that made!

I also promised to show you what I get up to in the evenings while binge-watching Netflix(we are on season 4 of House, MD and season 3 of House of Cards). Well, I sew English Paper Pieced hexagons(1" sides)…a whole lot of them!!! 

Pictured is a pile of about 75% of the hexies I have already done for the Kid's quilt.  These ones have already been sewn together in threes…which I call "triplets".

Once I get all my "triplets" done, I sew three of them together, side by side, into "niners". Sew, sew, sew!!!

I store my "niners" in a plastic shoebox. I have them wedged in there very tight, so they actually press themselves. This also keep them nice and flat as when I sew them together they kind of curl up at the ends.

Once the "niners" are all sewn together, I stack two of them to make an "18-patch". 

This is my basic block and they are all super scrappy. This quilt, like the one I made for us, will have 216 of these 18-piece blocks and will measure 96" x 113", plus a 4" border. It makes a pretty huge quilt, but that also means you can double it over on itself and have a two-layered quilt for especially cold nights.

These are the half-hexagons I have already basted. The ones like the yellow one on the left will be for going down the right and left sides of the quilt and the ones like the red one on the right will be sewn onto the top and bottom blocks. 

Once I have my "18-patches" done, I lay out the ones I want for the top and bottom as well as the right and left sides, then I attach a numbered label(i.e.: T1-meaning the top left-side block). That way I know which blocks go where and can attach the half-hexies. It would be way too cumbersome to have to attach these small pieces once the body of the quilt is all sewn together.

Question of the Day:

Have you ever made a quilt using the English Paper Piecing technique? If not, would you be interested in a tutorial on how to baste the fabric to the paper shapes, then sew the shapes(hexies) together?

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 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 your Pinterest boards. There is also another red button right beside it for posting to Facebook and Twitter. Or, you could always use the little grey square buttons at the end of this post.

Thanks for reading and have a great day! 

Quilty Huggs, 

Jacqueline 

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

A Charming Smile, Tuesday Tip and a Contest to Enter!

Hi peeps! 

How is everybody today? I am at the tail-end of a four(yes, four) day migraine…not fun at all! The sun is shining, it is fairly mild and I'm talking to you…so a much better day! 

Before I was laid low I managed to get my citrus batik HSTs for the table topper all trimmed…YAY!!! Now I get to have fun and play!! I'll get you up to date on that!!!

Did you know…Much like velvet and corduroy, thread has a nap?...I KNOW!!!

I only found this out recently…this is after almost 40 years of plying a needle…

When you hold the end of the thread that is coming directly off the spool and press your fingers while running them down the thread, it will feel smooth. Now do the reverse…you can actually feel the difference.

This is an important thing to consider, especially if you do a lot of hand sewing. So, what I do is thread my needle BEFORE I have clipped my length of thread. That way I will remember which tail of thread is which. I keep that end of the thread short and cut at the end of the longer piece. The longer piece will always be on the nap...and the shorter piece will be against the nap…but that is okay as it's the longer piece that I'm concerned with.

Once I am sure which thread-end is which, I knot the longer end. It really makes a difference! I do a lot of hand sewing at night in front of the TV(will show you in a later post) and can tell you that my thread runs through the fabric pieces smoothly and I rarely get a tangle! Awesomeness!!!

Last night I managed to get another men's shirt cut up…I really have to start removing the buttons from the placket strips…I've got several of them waiting for attention! As you can see, this one has an embroidered logo and I will try to find a use for that. The shoulder yoke and sleeve cuffs were lined in a nice chambray, which was an added bonus. 

This was one of the Kid's shirts, a men's size small, so there wasn't as much useable fabric. But, I had originally purchased it at half price from Value Village, it was worn for a year and now I have cut it up for quilting fabric…so it was a super-recycling project, and plus I really liked the pattern/colours. I might give it a bit of a starch treatment as the resulting fabric is a tad thinner than the other shirts I have slated for demolition.

Don't forget to enter Craftsy's #Secret Stash Contest! Prized include a secret stash box of goodies as well as a Craftsy class of your choice! Bonus!!!

Stay tuned as I have new sponsor news AND another giveaway coming soon!

Thanks for reading and have a great day! 

Quilty Huggs, 

Jacqueline

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