EQ8 Giveaway!!

How about a giveaway to brighten your day??? 

Electric Quilt is kind enough to be offering one of my blog followers a copy of EQ8.

To enter:
You must follow my blog by e-mail, bloglovin, or other blog reading service.

Leave a comment on this post (comments on FB or IG do not count as entries) with how you follow my blog. If you are a no-reply blogger, you must include your e-mail address (or else I will have no way of getting in touch with you).

Good luck and stay safe!

UPDATE:  Giveaway now closed.  Congrats to Kelly, entry #20!

Blogger Bundle Giveaway by Needle and Foot

You may remember that I curated a bundle of 5 fabrics for Bernie's shop Needle and Thread back in April, here was the bundle and The Quilt in the Hat quilt I made with it:

Well, Bernie has saved one bundle from each of the 11 designers throughout the year and is now offering the chance to win all of them over on her blog!  She would love for you to vote on your favorite bundle through the year.

GIVEAWAY

11 designers x 5 fat quarters each = 55 fat quarters!!  

Almost 14 yards of fabric!!

The giveaway is open now over on the Needle and Foot blog and will run through Saturday.  The giveaway is open only to US shipping addresses due to the cost of shipping this much fabric.

Here are all 11 of the bundles:

Hop over to the Needle and Foot blog for a chance to win :)

Needle and Foot Blog

Giveaway! Wirlygig Quilt Kit

🎉GIVEAWAY!! 🎉

I am very excited to be partnering with Paintbrush Studio and Jacquie Gering to host a giveaway on Instagram for a Whirlygig quilt kit!

The quilt was designed with Jacquie's Favorites, a collection of Painters Palette Solids curated by Jacquie Gering. The colors she picked are vibrant and so much fun!

**EDITED TO ADD**

There were many questions about the Whirlygig pattern and I am happy to report that it is a free pattern available on the Paintbrush Studio Fabrics website

Link to free Whirlygig pattern

This is a US and Instagram only giveaway (so comments on this blog post will not count as entries).

Here’s how to enter: (giveaway now closed)
1. On Instagram, follow @pbsfabrics , @jacquietps , and @meadowmistdesigns
2. “Like” this Instagram post
3. Tag a friend in the Instagram post comments who needs this quilt in their home! Tag more friends for bonus entries. (1 tag/comment = 1 entry)

Contest entries must be submitted by Sunday, October 28 at 11:59 p.m. (CST) Winner will notified via Instagram DM directly from @pbsfabrics.

This giveaway is not affiliated with Instagram. Limited to US participants only.

40th Birthday Celebration!!

I am now officially 40 years old so let's party!!

Going on today only:

1.  Super 40% off sale

Today only (through midnight EST), you can use coupon code 40YEARSYOUNG in my Etsy shop to get 40% off all patterns, both digital and hardcopy (the code will work on everything in the shop but my book).

You can click here and Etsy will place the coupon code in your shopping card automatically.

2.  All of my profits from my birthday are going to be donated to the Greenville Zoo

I want my birthday to have a positive impact so I will be donating ALL profits from my birthday to the Greenville Zoo.  The Greenville Zoo (my local zoo) is in the process of switching from more cage-like enclosures to more open and natural habitat for the animals.

The Siamang Gibbons' habitat was next, but then a huge storm caused the money earmarked for them to be used for roofing repairs.  I will be donating my profits money to help get them out of their cage and into a new area in the zoo.

So in addition to getting the best price ever on Meadow Mist Designs patterns, you will be helping a great cause!

3.  I'm giving away a super huge 7 yard bundle of solids on Instagram

Who doesn't love fabric, especially full yard cuts of some beautiful solids?  I will be giving away 7 one-yard cuts of Free Spirit jewel toned solids on Friday through Instagram (not on the blog).  Giveaway open to anyone, anywhere.

Click here to go directly to the IG post.

Please celebrate with me!! Thanks!

Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Vol. 16 - Boxed Pinwheel - Blog Hop and Giveaways

Welcome to my stop on the Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Vol. 16 Blog Tour!

I am so excited to have a block called Boxed Pinwheel in Volume 16 of the 100 Blocks magazine by Quiltmaker!  This is my seventh block to appear in the 100 Blocks magazines.  You can see my previous 100 Blocks: 

Sewing Triangles in Vol 10 

Outlined Plus in Vol 11

Paper Star in Vol 12

Cloud Burst in Vol 13

Pinwheel Punch in Vol 14
Sizzle Star in Vol 15

Boxed Pinwheel is a great confident beginner level paper-pieced block.  The 12" (finished) block was designed the block using Electric Quilt 7 (EQ7) and I really like how it looks like the pinwheel is floating in front of the frame.

I had some fun playing around with some quilt top designs using Boxed Pinwheel

....in a classic design..

... on point...

... with a dark background and some blocks with just a frame...

...a different colorway...

...how about some holiday versions?  Halloween...

...Christmas...

...4th of July or a Quilts of Valor quilt...

I hope that you have enjoyed all of these renderings of  Boxed Pinwheel being used in different quilt tops to see how versatile the block is!

Make sure you stop by Quiltmaker's blog, Quilty Pleasures, for some great prizes and a complete list of blog tour participants! 

Now on to the Giveaways (yes plural!):

Prize 1: Quiltmaker is sponsoring the giveaway of a copy of 100 Blocks Magazine Vol. 16.  This magazine drawing is open to everyone-international included.  The magazine will be shipped directly from Quiltmaker.

Prize 2:  I am also sponsoring a second prize, a copy 100 Blocks Magazine Vol. 16 plus a printed copy of Vintage Star.  This giveaway is open to everyone-international included and will be shipped from me.

To Enter:  

1.  Leave a comment on this post, any comment.  If you would like a topic/question to answer, I would love to know what inspires you to quilt.

2.  My blog followers (old and new) get a bonus entry.  Leave a second comment with how you follow the blog.  (Here are some links for following... Bloglovin, Email)

The giveaway will run for 4 days, until 8 pm EST on Friday November 17th.  I try to respond to each and every comment I get on my blog, but with giveaway posts the numbers are usually too great to do this.  PS - If you are a no-reply blogger, please leave your e-mail address so I have a way of contacting you if you win.

Thanks!

** Giveaway now closed, thanks for entering!! **

The winners were comment #83 Nancy Sue and #65 Sandra

OIfa Endurance Review and Giveaway

As August's instructions for the Magnolia Mystery quilt have been for cutting our fabric, I thought it would be very timely for a review of the Olfa Endurance rotary blades and a giveaway!

This giveaway came about because Olfa commented on an older post of mine on Instagram where I had a bunch of HSTs and an Olfa cutter in the picture.  I replied to their comment that I love my Olfa cutter and that I have tried so many different types and brands of cutters and it is the only one I use.  They asked if I had tried their Endurance rotary blades and when I told them I had not, they offered to send me one to try and if I liked it they offered to sponsor a giveaway so you could have a chance to try one too! (So long story short, this giveaway is sponsored by Olfa but all opinions are 100% mine.)

I was wondering if I would be able to really tell if my blade stayed sharper longer, but after cutting all of the fabrics for three complete quilts I can say that I really could tell a difference.  The blade was still sharp after all of that cutting.

In addition, Olfa also sent me a folding cutting mat.  This is going to be perfect to bring to classes or retreats and when unfolded is a very usable 12" x 17" size.

You can find the Olfa Endurance blades and mat on Amazon or your local quilt shop. (affiliate links)

Would you like a chance to win an Olfa Endurance rotary blade and folding mat?  There will be two winners, each winning a blade and mat.  Due to shipping costs, this giveaway is limited to only the US and the prizes will be shipped directly from Olfa.

To enter, simply use the rafflecopter: (if you are reading this post via e-mail, you may need to click over to the blog for the rafflecopter box to appear below).

(If you do not have an Instagram account, you can type in "no IG" into the box for an entry)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Vol. 15 - Sizzle Star - Blog Hop and Giveaways

Welcome to my stop on the Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Vol. 15 Blog Tour!

I am so excited to have a block called Sizzle Star in Volume 15 of the 100 Blocks magazine by Quiltmaker (and my block even made the cover)!  This is my sixth block to appear in the 100 Blocks magazines.  You can see my previous 100 Blocks: 

Sewing Triangles in Vol 10 

Outlined Plus in Vol 11

Paper Star in Vol 12

Cloud Burst in Vol 13

Pinwheel Punch in Vol 14

Sizzle Star is a great advanced level paper-pieced block.  The 12" (finished) block does have a lot of pieces and template sections (so it is not the quickest block to sew up), but I think that the resultant block has a striking look to it.  I designed the block using Electric Quilt 7 (EQ7) by using some of the Serendipity functions and then further refining the design.

Just like my Ruby Roads quilt I shared 2 weeks ago, the Sizzle Star block has a different look and feel when placed on-point:

Horizontal                                           On-Point

To show the versatility of this block, I played around in EQ7 to see how many different quilt top designs I could make with the block.  Here are some of my favorites...

The Sizzle block in a horizontal layout (with sashing) in a variety of colors.

The Sizzle block in an on-point layout (with sashing) in a variety of colors.

A single column of blocks (great way to enlarge a quilt without having to piece so many blocks)

On-point with a dark background and some half blocks around the edges.

An on-point patriotic version, great for a 4th of July picnic or a Quilts of Valor quilt.

I hope that you have enjoyed all of these renderings of Sizzle Star being used in different quilt tops to see how versatile the block is!

One question I was asked to answer in this blog post was where is the oddest place I have hidden fabric.  The only time I have had to hide fabric was after I bought an Elsa (from the movie Frozen) quilt panel at a quilt guild meeting and was showing it to my husband when I heard my daughter come towards the living room.  I quilt hid the panel in one of my end tables so I would not ruin her surprise before I could sew it up into a full quilt for her (here is Elsa peeking out!)

Make sure you stop by Quiltmaker's blog, Quilty Pleasures, for some great prizes and a complete list of blog tour participants! 

Now on to the Giveaways (yes plural!):

Prize 1: Quiltmaker is sponsoring the giveaway of a copy of 100 Blocks Magazine Vol. 15.  This magazine drawing is open to everyone-international included.  The magazine will be shipped directly from Quiltmaker.

Prize 2:  I am also sponsoring a second prize, a copy 100 Blocks Magazine Vol. 15 plus a printed copy of On a "Jelly" Roll (my most popular pattern).  This giveaway is open to everyone-international included and will be shipped from me.

To Enter:  

1.  Leave a comment on this post, any comment.  If you would like a topic/question to answer, you can tell me how you feel about paper piecing (like, love, dislike, hate, or have never tried it).

2.  My blog followers (old and new) get a bonus entry.  Leave a second comment with how you follow the blog.  (Here are some links for following... Bloglovin, Email)

The giveaway will run for 4 days, until 8 pm EST on Friday May 5th.  I try to respond to each and every comment I get on my blog, but with giveaway posts the numbers are usually too great to do this.  PS - If you are a no-reply blogger, please leave your e-mail address so I have a way of contacting you if you win.

Thanks!

**Giveaway now closed, thanks for entering! **

Needle and Foot Blog Hop and Giveaway

I am honored to be kicking off the Grand Opening blog hop for the Needle & Foot Etsy shop.  Bernie has filled her shop with some beautiful fabrics!

In addition to the giveaway at the end of this post, Bernie is offering everyone a coupon code to her new shop.  Use the code NANDFREADERS15 for 15% off any order over $5.00 (the coupon code will be active through Sunday,3/26).

For the hop, Bernie sent us the listing of different collections she had ordered for the shop and I immediately went to Maureen Cracknell's new line, Garden Dreamer.  I love Maureen's collections, she has such a way with combining colors and prints.  That they are on Art Gallery's wonderful cotton substrate is another bonus.

Here is the Garden Dreamer bundle that Bernie sent me:

My goal with this bundle was to make a baby quilt for my son's teacher who was due to have a little girl (I actually gifted the quilt before the hop, his teacher loved it, and had her new baby girl last week).

I wanted to keep the quilt as soft and snugly as possible so I first quilted by echoing the seam lines around the blocks using some Sulky light cream thread in 12 wt.  I used the 12wt as the top thread and a 40wt thread in the bobbin, plus a larger needle to handle the thick thread.  The thick thread quilted wonderfully without any issues and created good impact in the quilt.

I wanted to add a little extra touch so I added some big stitch hand quilting between the machine quilting using a light green pearl cotton.

I backed the quilt with an old Denyse Schmidt print that I think complimented the gold/yellow print in the quilt top.

I usually create a quilt starting from the design and then adding in fabrics so it was fun to design a quilt starting with the fabric this time :)



The Grand Opening Blog Hop Celebration will be going on all week with a chance to win fabric at each stop:

Monday: Cheryl @ Meadow Mist Designs ← Thanks me :)
Tuesday: Cynthia @ Quilting is More Fun Than Housework
Wednesday: Jayne @ Twiggy and Opal and Kitty @ Night Quilter
Thursday: Mari @ Academic Quilter
Friday: Yvonne @ Quilting Jetgirl

Now on to the Giveaway!

Prize: 

Your choice of either 6 fat quarters or 3 half-yard cuts selected from any of the available fabrics at the Needle & Foot Etsy shop.

To Enter:  

Please do one of the following options:

1. Hop over to Instagram and follow Needle & Foot.
2. Go over to Facebook and follow Needle & Foot.

Then, leave a comment on this post with which option you completed.  

The giveaway will run for 1 week, until 8 pm EST on March 27th.  I try to respond to each and every comment I get on my blog, but with giveaway posts the numbers are usually too great to do this.  PS - If you are a no-reply blogger, please leave your e-mail address so I have a way of contacting you if you win.

Thanks and good luck in the giveaway!

**Giveaway now closed, thanks for entering! **
The winner (selected by Random.org) was comment #61, Kathy E.

Crafted Applique - Review and GIVEAWAY!

I have pleasure of introducing my good friend Lara from Buzz in Bumble's new book called Crafted Applique to you today.  I met Lara almost 2 years ago through a blog hop and she is one of the sweetest woman I have met online.

When she told me she was going to be releasing a book I volunteered to help out any way I could. In addition to sending me a copy of Crafted Applique to review, she is also sponsoring a giveaway of an additional book, see the bottom of the post.

Confession time...I have not done much applique because...

1.  Raw edge applique - I don't like how the edges fray when doing a straight stitch to hold down the applique and I don't really care for the blanket stitch or zig-zag look (and I can't get the satin stitch to look decent).

2.  Needle turned applique - I really do not know how to do this type of applique and I bleieve that it is very time-consuming.

In Crafted Applique, Lara introduces a totally new way of applique which totally changes my thoughts on applique.  It has the speed and ease of fusible applique with none of the fraying, the best of both worlds!  In the words of a guild member I showed the book to, "This is a game changer". 

Take a look at this bookmark Lara sent me made using the technique, it is raw edge applique with a straight stitch...look how clean and smooth the edges are! (and this is after my entire guild played with the bookmark)

In addition to teaching her new applique method, Lara does a wonderful job completely explaining all of the different variations and tips to make the method work best for ever situation.  Crafted Applique also contains 7 fun applique projects to try the new technique on.

So now you probably are wondering what Lara's magic applique method is.  I can't tell you but you do have an opportunity to win a copy of the book below or if you cannot wait to get your hands on a copy you can order it today on Amazon (not an affiliate link).

To be entered, simply leave a comment on this post, any comment will do.  If you would like a topic comment on, you can tell me whether you have ever appliqued before and if yes, which method is your favorite.

The giveaway will be open for one week, ending on Wednesday, May 25th at 8 pm EST.  If you are a no-reply blogger make sure to leave your e-mail address (If I can't reach you, you can't win).

Thanks!

Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Vol. 12 - Winners

I am happy to announce the two winners of the Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Vol. 12 giveaway.  (You can find my block and the different quilts I rendered using it here).

The first winner, who will receive a copy of the 100 Blocks Vol 12 magazine directly from Quiltmaker is Susan:

The second winner, who will receive a copy of the 100 Blocks Vol 12 magazine and two of my newly printed patterns from me is Kathleen:

The optional question was about your favorite quilting notion.  The favorite by far was the rotary cutter followed by the seam ripper.  I totally agree with those choices!