EQ Summer Drawing Series Block Challenge #1

The first block challenge is to use the Easy Draw block feature on EQ7.  Here is my block worked up in EQ7. 

We had to not only draw the block, but then put it in fabric.  I decided to change the colors, and make them the same colors as my Aurifil BOM blocks, so then..

 I could have a few extra to add into the my quilt at the end of the year. 

And if you would like your own pattern for MY block.  It is right HERE.  I didn't write up instructions, just the basic cutting.  Please tell me if you have any issues with it.  It is for a 12" finished block or 12.5" unfinished.

 

The lovely places I link to.....

 

Let's Get Acquainted

Freemotion By the River

Quilt Story

Bom's Away @ What a Hoot

Aurifil Blocks of the Month and a Flop!!

I am always trying to broaden my quilting skills.  I have been following along watching all these great blocks pop up on the Aurifil's Flickr page.  Each month a different designer makes a block for Aurifil's Block of the Month.  I haven't pieced a huge variety of blocks, so I thought it would be a great time to try a little something new and pick up a new skill or two.  So this weekend, I have almost caught up with the Block of the Month.

January's Block

April's Block

March's Block

I used a variety of different fabrics from several different designers.  I love each and every one of the blocks and tried a little something new on each.  BUT,.........
 

 

February's Block

 

 

 

Look at this one!!! It was a FLOP!  I generally don't show my mistakes, but we all make them right?  And it is a great learning experience.  I have no clue what I did wrong with this one.   None of the seams lined up, I cut out the wrong colors and it is a little short on the bottom. (My seam ripper was working overtime and it still wasn't right)  I will have to do it all over again.  (Not looking forward to that at all)  I guess you don't learn everything by smooth sailing.

So for now, I have three out of five completed.

P.S. If your haven't entered the Jelly Roll Giveaway, it ends on Friday!!


The lovely places I link to
Let's Get Acquainted
Freemotion By the River
Quilt Story
Bom's Away @ What a Hoot

A Red, White, and Blue Memorial Day

I often cannot find the words to express my gratitude to the men and women who have served in our Armed Forces.

Today, we spent a quiet day, relaxing at home with a small family BBQ.  I was constantly thinking of the men and women who are serving and have served in our military.  Our family like many others have been touched by many great individuals that have served during times of peace and war.  Most were fortunate and made it home to spend quiet moments like these with their families and one gave the ultimate sacrifice.  So, today and everyday I thank all the men and women who have sacrificed and given everything to keep this land free and to fight for those abroad.

Don't Forget to Vote!!!

Voting over at Amy's Creative side has began. 

 

You have until May 30th to vote for your favorites.  If you haven't made it over there, you are missing a huge show of great inspiring quilts and stories. 

 

Here are my two entries, in case you missed them.

 

 

 

 You can find this one in the Quilter Photography Category. #5

 

 

 

 

And this one is in the Art Quilt Category. #25

 

 

There are a total of 15 categories to vote on and a ton of great quilts.  So, head over there and vote for your favorites!!

Craftsy Memorial Weekend Sale

Craftsy is running a Memorial Weekend Sale, join Craftsy in honoring the brave men and women who have served in the US Armed Forces.  For every class sold, this weekend, Craftsy will donate a portion of the proceeds to benefit a veterans' organization (A cause close to my heart). Select classes are 60% off. 

 

 

 

 

The sale ends May 27th at Midnight!

Deck-Ade The Halls Giveaway!!! - Closed

Did you happen to see that the Fat Quarter Shop was turning 10?  Well, in honor of their tenth anniversary they are having a quilt a long of: 10 blocks in 10 different fabrics.

The finished quilt looks super cute!  It is filled with gingerbread men, trees, presents, and some other fabulous blocks.  It is a nice throw sized quilt at 62" x 71".  You can find the details, fabric requirements and the quilt here.  I have always wanted to make a Christmas Quilt, so I am totally going to be joining in the fun.  The Fat Quarter Shop is using the NEW Aspen Frost fabric line.
 

 

 

Which I love!   I love Basic Grey fabric.  They have made such great designs.  I made this little table runner (there is a tutorial) using Blitzen by Basic Grey.
 

 

 

 

And Aspen Frost fabric line looks just as adorable.

But wait I think I am forgetting something!  Oh yeah, it says Giveaway in the title, right?

 

Look what the Fat Quarter Shop has for me to give to one luck reader! 

Who wouldn't want to win this super cute jelly roll of Aspen Frost?  And if you are planning to join the QAL, how cute would it be to use as a scrappy binding or maybe some scrappy blocks.  Fun, Fun!!
 

So what do you need to do to win?
 

1.  Visit the Fat Quarter Shop and leave me a comment telling me you favorite fabric in the Aspen Frost fabric line.  (Mine is Iced Aqua Frosty.  I just can't get enough of those adorable little snowmen)
 

2.  I, of course, L-O-V-E my followers so you get a second entry.  Just leave me a comment saying you follow!

The giveaway is open to everyone, anywhere!!!

 

 

It will close on Friday, May 31 at 11:59 M.S.T.

 

 

Good luck!!!

Blogger's Quilt Festival Entry #2

I decided since we are able to enter two quilts in the

over at Amy's Creative Side.   I would go ahead and enter this little art quilt that I made for a blog hop back in February this year.  So, this is what I created ...

I did a little thread painting using a variegated red thread by Gutermann.

 

Quilt Stats:

Pattern:  "Spring Fever" Made by Me - Amy @ Sew Incredibly Crazy

Dimensions: 13" x 18"

Fabrics: I used some Moda Rainbow Batik Charm Squares for the flowers and blue back ground. 

Machine pieced and quilted by me on my Janome.

Category:  Art Quilt

You can read more about the quilt here.  If you would like to look at my first entry in the Quilt Photography category, you can find it here.

Thanks so much for stopping by and enjoy taking a look at all those gorgeous quilts at the Festival!

Bloggers Quilt Festival 2013

So, this is the first year I have entered into The Bloggers Quilt Festival over at

 If you are new here,  Hello!! and welcome to my little corner of the world.   My name is Amy and I have been quilting for a little over a year.  Last year, I was just starting to quilt and really was completely overwhelmed by the talent I found at last years Quilt Festival.  If you are sitting on the sidelines, like I did last year, don't.  I have met some of the nicest, most encouraging people through my blog and by taking part in great blog hops, parties and now a Quilt Festival.

 That being said, this year, I decided to enter my first quilt of 2013 in the Quilter Photography category.  I have several loves, but some of my favorites (not including family) are windmills, the outdoors and quilts.  So here is my entry....

Quilt Stats:

Pattern:  Beaquilter Quilt a long

Dimensions: 60" square

Fabrics: a huge assortment of stash fabric with a little bit of Noteworthy and Kona throw in .

Machine pieced and quilted by me on my Janome.

Category:  Quilter Photography

Pictures taken in my backyard and the open space near our home.

You can read more about the quilt here.

Thanks so much for stopping by and enjoy taking a look at all those gorgeous quilts!

Free Craftsy Class

 Today is Craftsy Free Class Day.
 

 


  This is a day where those that are New to Craftsy can sign up and select a class from a selection of favorite classes, for Free and you will help raise funds for DonorsChoose. Plus, like all classes at Craftsy, you can participate in your class at your leisure and repeat whenever you want.  It is just a matter that this "Free Class Day" is only open to sign up today and you need to be new to Craftsy.  They have huge variety of classes from cake decorating, jewelry making, quilting, to name just a few categories.
 
I just started taking 
 

I can't wait to make a gorgeous Swoon quilt, which is just one of the patterns you will get taking this class.  

Remember that you only have one day to take advantage of your Free Craftsy Class. 

 

Aurifil Giveaway Winner!!

 

 

 

 

Thanks to everyone who entered.  I'd like to give a warm welcome to all of my new followers, I am so glad to have you here and I hope you will stick around.  To my old followers, you know how I feel about all of you.  *Wink*


I broke a little giveaway record with a whopping 520 comments!!!  I would have loved to reply to them all, but the response to this giveaway was huge.  So with no further ado

Congrats to #302.  Grandma Curly.


 I will be contacting her via e-mail.

 Also a big thank you to  Aurifil for sponsoring this giveaway.

 



A Little Amigurumi

My kids love little crochet animals.  I had picked up this book a couple months ago because of all the adorable patterns they had. 

 

 

Martingale (the publisher of this  amigurumi crochet book, and also quilting books) is having a Amigurumi Crochet-a-long, so since my crochet hooks were out and handy, I thought that I would work a couple up.  That and my kids were asking me when I was ever going to make anything out of the book, so here are the ones I had time to do.  I used Lily Sugar and Cream thread on all of the little creation. They would make great yarn stash projects. I used up two more little skeins of yarn. 

A little tea cup.  It is suppose to be hot cocoa, but I left the marshmallow off the top.  I also made a little saucer to go with it.  I plan to make myself one to use as a pincushion.

 

 

Next, a super scary snake.  Look out!  Of course, in camo thread.

Lastly a little sea life, which is probably my favorite. Our cat loves to attack it too.  She drug it off the couch to play with it.  I would have loved to have got a picture with her and it, but she always seems to know when I get the camera out and runs away.  I guess she is a bit camera shy.  Maybe, I can catch her attacking it again. 

 

If you have this great book, I hope that you will join the crochet along.  It is running until May 24th.

 

 



For the Birds Blog Hop

There are a lot of times I join these hops to try something completely different.  For this hop, I chose to do something on time and this hop was my incentive.   Mother's Day is in just a few days and  I am always on the search to make something special for my mom.  Well, she had been hinting that she really liked a bird wall hanging that I had made months ago.  I don't think she realized that I was listening to these little hints she kept throwing my way, but I was.  So, this is what my Mother is getting for her present. 

Giveaway Day!!! - Closed

Have I got a giveaway for you!!!  If you are like me and love to sew.  You have got to have good tools to get the job done, right?  Well, how about some gorgeous Aurifil thread. Aurifil was kind enough to send this great thread set for me to giveaway. 

 

Isn't just beautiful?  A set of great colors, that any quilter or seamstress would loooovvvveee!   There are 12 different colors of 50wt. cotton thread.  If you haven't seen their selection recently, Aurifil has some really great sets of threads that are just too beautiful.  Go and check out the huge selection that they have to offer. 

Well, this set is looking for a new home and it could be headed your way.

So, what do you need to do to win this beauty?

All that I ask, is that you follow my blog.

1.  Leave one comment telling me with (1) what is your favorite color of thread  (2)which way you are following me.  One Comment per person

2.  I will ship this anywhere!!

3. The giveaway ends on May 10th at  10 p.m. M.S.T.
 

4.  The winner will be announced by May 12.

5.  Make sure that I can contact you!!!

Head over to Sew Mama Sew and check out the other giveaways!!