After the Storm: My First Pattern and a Giveaway!

Hi everyone, and welcome to those visiting from Sew Mama Sew.

Well, I'm totally doing this backwards, but I can't really help myself.  See, today is SMS Giveaway day.  I wasn't planning on giving anything away this time around, but then I had this idea - maybe a good one, maybe not so much.  We'll see what you all think.   ;)

My regular readers probably know that I finished my gigantic and color explosive "After the Storm" quilt recently.

I've blogged about it a TON, but still haven't done an official reveal.  I wanted to save that for the Blogger's Quilt Festival, which begins on Friday, so come back then for more photos.

What most of my regulars probably don't know is that I decided to sit down and write a pattern for this quilt.  I've had many positive comments about my progress, and finally one of my readers messaged me begging for a pattern.  So I thought about it for awhile and decided that even though I've never done it before, "How hard could it be?"  Of course, then I decided I wanted to include alternate size options for the quilt, in case other people don't feel inspired to make theirs huge-o-mongous like mine. 

Four weeks and many hours later, I have a finished quilt pattern with SEVEN size options.  :)  I'm super excited to be finally releasing it!  The pattern is paper pieced, and although I have not included instructions on how to paper piece, I did include lots of awesome links to tutorials online.  The pattern is super detailed (at least, I think so), and even includes diagrams for cutting fabric efficiently (because we all know how much paper piecing tends to EAT fabric).

You can find it for sale in my Etsy shop here:  Always Sewin Somethin

To celebrate my first pattern release, I am going to giveaway two PDF copies!  The winners can choose either the large quilt sizes (King/Queen/Full),

or the smaller quilt sizes (Twin/Lap/Baby).  The pattern will be emailed to the winners, so obviously anyone is welcome to enter! 
(Of course, I'm still pretty nervous about putting my first pattern out there for everybody to see, so hopefully somebody is willing to try it out for me!)

To enter, leave me a comment telling me what fabrics you might use for your version of "After the Storm."  Prints?  Solids?  A particular fabric line or color scheme?  I'd love to know!

For a second entry, follow my blog and leave another comment.  I'd love to know how many out there are reading along!  ;)
This giveaway will remain open until Friday, May 16th at 5:00 PST.   I will choose a winner via Random.org and email the winner their choice of pattern.

Now go check out all the other amazing things up for grabs:

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED! 
Congratulations to Cynthia and Bonnie!  

Giveaway Day!

Welcome friends!  I'm so excited to be participating in my first ever Giveaway Day!

I have been SO lucky over the past four years (has it really been that long?) to win a few giveaways myself (I enter a lot of giveaways).  Some were small, and some were not.  If it weren't for some of the most generous people in the universe, my fabric stash would still be small enough to fit in... I don't know... something small.  ;)
So I figured it was time to pay it forward, just a little...  Hopefully there will be more giveaways in the future.

Today I'm giving away three fat quarters of these awesome texty prints.  Perfect for your low volume collection.

HOW TO ENTER:
1.  Leave me a comment - any comment will do, but if you'd like, you could tell me your favorite book.  I'm looking for new audiobooks to listen to while I sew.  :)  (I'm a fan of Brandon Sanderson, by the way.  Just in case you needed new ideas for yourself. "Mistborn" is my favorite.)
2.  For an extra entry (don't worry - it's EASY), check out my newly opened Etsy Shop HERE and tell me what your favorite item is.  I'd love to know what kinds of items you think I should make more of.

Everyone is eligible to enter - I will ship international.
However, you must leave a way for me to contact you.  No-reply bloggers who do not leave contact info will be disqualified.  :/

That's it!  I'll pick a winner via Random.org on Monday, December 16th. 
 
Now go and enter the rest of the giveaways at Sew Mama Sew.

EDIT:  This giveaway is now closed and a winner has been chosen!  Congratulations to AlidaP!

GIVEAWAY!

Hi Friends!  I just have to take a second to pop in and tell you that I'm taking part in my first ever giveaway this week!  I figured I should let you know about it before it's over...

Hop on over to my friend Christine's blog for all the details (or click on the picture).  (Her blog is amazing.  Once you're there, you should stay awhile and check it out.  Seriously.)  I'm giving away a set of Santa/Mrs. Claus baby bibs, made by me!

Also, I planned to get some more Christmas items ready and listed in my shop by today, but somehow the week is totally getting away from me (GAH!  Is tomorrow REALLY Thanksgiving?  Why can't my babies take longer naps so I can get more done!!!  I have three pies to make!).
Anyway.  I should have them up by Friday, along with some Black Friday sales.  What would you prefer - discounts on items or free shipping?

Thanks everyone!

p.s. Happy Thanksgiving to my US friends!  

2012

Holy cow, 2012 was a great year for sewing!  Once I finished the school year and retired from teaching, my sewing time skyrocketed (I think I was the kind of teacher who spent WAY too much of my free time doing school stuff.  I really loved it, but retiring was really refreshing for me).  I made two queen size quilts, three baby quilts, 25 wall hangings (almost), two table runners, a sewing machine cover, two growth charts, a bunch of towels, and more!  Check it out:

 

2012 was also a great year for winning giveaways.  I have been incredibly lucky and won some amazing stuff.  I don't think I would be able to fund my quilting obsession at this point in my life without the extra padding (alright - more than just "padding") in my stash.  I should probably document my winnings too, since I'm pretty sure I haven't blogged about most of these (other than giving credit to the contributer in my final posts).

Here they are (I borrowed all of these pictures from the blogs I won them from - their pictures are better than mine, especially now that half of these are sewn into quilts):

1. From http://www.fromthebluechair.com and Pink Castle Fabrics, 2. From http://www.pileofabric.com and C&T Publishing, 3. From http://www.redpepperquilts.com and Robert Kaufman Fabrics, 4. From http://www.redpepperquilts.com and Robert Kaufman Fabrics, 5. From http://lilysquilts.blogspot.co.uk and Oakshott Cottons, 6. From http://happyquiltingmelissa.blogspot.com and Burgundy Buttons

I used some of the sketch fabrics to make my Sunburst quilt, and I used those leftovers in my Rummy Royal mat, as well as a whole bunch of other things - they were great for my Hello Sun Wall Hangings.  I still have a bunch of pink and red (and blue) FQs left.  Just hoping someone I know will have a baby girl someday. ;)

I based my Rummy Royal mat design on one of the patterns from "We Love Color" and I'm still dying to make that quilt on the cover.  Maybe I will break out that Oakshott Colorbox.  It's the only bundle I've been afraid to use so far.  It's such nice fabric I feel like it needs a really perfect project.

Most of the Kona Solids bundle has gone into my Storm at Sea quilt.  It has been really fun fabric to work with.

I haven't made anything from the Modern Patchwork book yet, but I would love to make the Roller Rink quilt someday.

A lot of the Give Thanks fabric went into making my mom's fall table runner and towels.  There is still a lot left - maybe next October or so I will make something for myself!

Whew!  What a fantastic year!  I hope 2013 turns out just as great!  How was your year?

WIP: The beginning of the Sunburst Quilt

I have some works in progress to report this week!  Wahoo!  Summer is so close I can taste it!  There are only two more days of school left and I took today and yesterday off because my babysitter had graduations to attend.  It has been so nice to stay home with my boys (they are getting so big and are tons of fun to hang out with!) and do a little bit of sewing during their nap times.

I have lots to do in the next few months!  We have a wedding, an anniversary, and a new baby coming soon.  Things are starting to move along on the wedding quilt I am making.  I originally thought about making a Sparkle Punch quilt using this awesome bundle of fabrics that I won from Kati.

(Picture borrowed from Brenda at PinkCastle Fabrics.com)

 I thought it would be perfect for a colorful quilt - my favorite!  But the bride requested something modern with green and brown.  So have something else planned.  It's going to be really cool - totally different than anything I have EVER done.  I can't wait to show you more as I make more progress!  Here is what I have so far:

I also did some work on my Fandango quilt.  I have *almost* three sections quilted.  Only two more sections to go!

AND I made a bunch of burp cloths over the past few weeks.  It feels nice to get back into things again.

I'm linking up this week!

Lucky!

I have been super lucky lately!  I think I might have to stop entering giveaways for awhile.  I never thought that I would ever in my life win something from Sew We Quilt!  (They are doing a Wantobe Quilter Campaign right now with giveaways every DAY!)  I mean, come on - they have thousands of followers!  Nevertheless - I won something!  Something BIG, too (I had to pay the shipping - and it was a big package, but I'm sure it will be worth it).  

Here is Madame Samm's picture.  It is way better than mine:

I won the cutting mat, three rulers (which I DESPERATELY needed - mine has TONS of little nicks in it - plus I have always wanted a square ruler!!), the cutter, and a bunch of fabric.

And THEN I got the package in the mail, with a whole bunch of EXTRA stuff!  YAY!

The extra stuff I got was some fancy batting for craft projects, some thread, a quilt book ("More 90 Minute Quilts"), a wooden purse handle set, a mini quilt pattern, fabric glue, and a calendar!

Here is the fabric I won - each piece is a half yard cut, so a total of 4 yards!  Hubby looked at it and said it would make a really cool African skirt.  I think I will save it (for after the babies come) and do just that with it!

I also got some matching floss to go with it!

Here is my new cutter, and the fabric glue I am excited to try out.

The rulers!

I think I will be making ALL of my blocks 6 inch blocks from NOW ON! :)

I was so pleased to see this little pattern in there!  Madame Samm must really do her research!  I saw this pattern a few weeks before on the blog and thought it might be cute for my little boys' room.  So I left a comment.  Madame Samm must have seen it.  Isn't she sweet to send it to me? 

About two days later, I won ANOTHER giveaway!  This one was from Sha at Craizee Corners.  Her blog is a recent find and I really like it because she has the same sense of style (especially for fabric) as me.  I won TWO charm packs from Me and My Sisters Designs!  I was super stoked because I am a HUGE fan of Me and My Sisters.  I got a "Me and My Sisters Favorites" charm pack, and an "Amelia" charm pack.  I was so excited, I had to open it up and sort through everything before I thought to take a picture (late at night - hence the bad lighting...).  This is the two packs combined:

And all sorted by color:

A few of my favorites - the swirls,

The white pebble looking flowers,

The big flowers, and the paisley print.

I think I'm going to use them to make another puff quilt.  After I finish making baby boy items, of course.


A few weeks ago I won a gift certificate from Randi at I Have to Say....  Hers is one of the first blogs I started following back when I discovered quilt blogs.  She has a quilt-along tutorial button on her sidebar that I used a lot when I was first learning how to do things.
I decided to use her gift certificate to buy this 1001 Peeps fabric.  I think I am going to use it to make car seat covers for the boys:

And then there is this fabric.  I didn't win it, I had to buy it.  But I found it for a really good price and convinced Hubby to let me have it. :)  It's going to become bumper pads for our cribs.  I better get busy!

Making Progress!

I feel like I haven't done nearly enough sewing this summer!  I like to blame in on the fact that I haven't been able to pick myself up off the couch.  I was super tired, kind of sick, and just had no motivation to do anything.  I feel like I have a pretty good excuse (see my last post...).  But still.  How hard is it to do a little sewing?  (I DID finish my beanbag, which took quite a bit of sewing time.)
And then I won a giveaway - from the Ribbon Candy Quilt Company!  I was super excited.  Just in time to start a new quilt!  I have been dying to get back into making QUILTS!  I cut into it pretty quick and forgot to take a picture, so I'm stealing this one from the Ribbon Candy Blog:

It's perfect, isn't it!  I knew right away what I wanted to use it for, but I couldn't make up my mind between a regular square-in-square block and the more complicated out-of-the-box block.  So I decided to do them both.  Of course!  I am having TWINS, after all (yay)!  So I decided to make two matching baby quilts.  The colors are perfect, since we still don't know if we are having boys or girls.
And then Amy announced that it was time for another "One Thing, One Week" challenge.  It was just the boost I needed to get myself off the couch and moving around again.  I wasn't sure how I would be feeling (as far as morning sickness), and summer school has started up, so I only committed to making one set of blocks. 
Luckily, I have been feeling MUCH better lately!  I think I am moving into my 2nd trimester.  Wahoo!  I have a little bit more energy and I don't feel sick anymore.  So I got lots of stuff done this week, AND I finished EARLY!
I managed to make ALL of the blocks for both quilts.  Here they are:

 Looking at them now, I think I like the second one the best.  I found this block somewhere online about a year ago and now I can't find it!  SO I just made it up based on the picture I saved.

Now all I need to do is just add white sashing and sew them all together.  And quilt them.  Any suggestions on how to quilt them?   I am thinking of doing big stars or flowers inside the inner squares on the first quilt.  Other than that, I have no idea - less complicated would be better.  I think I have enough fabric left for a scrappy binding too.  It feels good to be making quilts again!

I'm linking up to Amy's Challenge.  You should go check out what everyone else did!

...Frugality Wins!

This is probably a silly post (and I have been posting a LOT lately - with even more to come), but I am so excited right now. 
I went to WalMart today to do some routine grocery shopping.  You know.  Milk, bread, new seam ripper.  The usual.  My old seam ripper somehow got shoved in a drawer it didn't want to be in and this is what happened:

It was a sad day.  Even sadder - I've been using it like this for months now!  Well, I got fed up with it and bought a new one.  I KNOW you want to see a picture of it.  It's purple:

And it comes with a lid!  I had forgotten seam rippers were supposed to have lids...

Anyway.  That is not the point of the story.  The point of the story is that while walking (quickly) past the fabric section (I wouldn't want to get distracted), I noticed a whole section of fabric on sale for $1.50 a yard!!! Unheard of!!  SO, I bought my groceries and came back to check out the selection.  I ended up getting a whole bunch of yard cuts.  Not sure EXACTLY what I'll use them for, but I'm sure I'll find something.

Remember THIS post?  Well, I have recently discovered that there are quite a few people out there who still buy the cheap fabric over the more expensive, name brand, high quality fabric.  That was nice to know.  It looks like I will continue buying cheap fabric most of the time, with an occasional splurge on something I REALLY want (like the PURE charm packs I used to make THIS quilt).
However, this fabric isn't exactly "JoAnn" cheap - it's "Walmart" cheap.  And I am totally aware that the quality of the fabric is not as great as it could be (especially with those pinks and blues - they are very thin).  But for $1.50 a yard?  I just couldn't pass it up!
I'm pretty sure I bought enough fabric to make at least 2 baby quilts (tops AND backs) and one large quilt.  All for less than HALF the amount I spent to make THIS quilt!   Maybe I should go back for more.  I tried to find some greens and yellows, but there wasn't really THAT much to choose from.  I'm still just in shock.
Now, I hope I haven't offended anyone - particularly those who sell fabric online.  Someday, when I am a professional quilter, :)  I PROMISE to buy that Moda or Robert Kaufman, or whatever kind of nice fabric I have had my eyes on.  But for now, this is the only way to fuel my hobby...

Want to see what I got?  Well, okay.

These are going to be added to my ever growing stash of pink and blue "baby quilt" fabric.  Except, one of them is purple.

I bought these because I wanted to buy something NOT pastel.  I have always wanted to make something black and white with only one other color thrown in.  Looks like it will be red!  I'm not a huge fan of leapord print, but that's okay since I will probably be cutting this into lots of pieces when I figure out what to do with it.

This one I just like!  It will probably match NOTHING, but it has a very nice thick texture and I just like it.

All in all, I ended up with 11 yards of fabric for $17.  You would be excited too.

On a side note, I won a couple of giveaways!  Yay!  (I'm as shocked as you are...)

I won this from Staci at The Confused Quilter:

And THESE lovely fabrics are from Kaelin at The Plaid Scottie.  She calls it her "Saturated Rainbow" fat quarter bundle.  I LOVE it and the colors are right up my alley!  I think the purple is actually my favorite, since I have NOTHING purple yet.  Plus, Kaelin is from New Orleans!  Anyone who knows me personally will understand why that is significant. 

 I can't wait to make something with them!

I finally won a giveaway!

Ever since I discovered the world of quilt blogs and the concept of "giveaway," I have been entering them like crazy.  :)  My stash seems so meager right now and I hate asking the hubby to let me buy more and more fabric, so I try to get it any other way I can.  Well, the people in the quilt blog world are SO GENEROUS!!!  It is amazing.  Some day, I will have to give back to the community.  Maybe I will host a giveaway of my own sometime.
Anyway, I finally won a giveaway - my first one!  And it was a good one!  Diane at Quilty Pleasures had a giveaway on their blog a week or so ago.  She was giving away part of her 9,000 pound stash!  I can't even imagine how much fabric that would be!  I guess it is not that uncommon though (I have a long way to go...).    Anyway, she picked 5 winners to send some of her fabric to and I won!  I was so excited.
WELL.  The package came yesterday and I couldn't believe it!  There was a lot more fabric than I was expecting and ALL of the pieces are at least a fat quarter!  THANK YOU DIANE!  I'm pretty sure you just doubled my fabric stash.  Literally.  The hubby and I had to go to Walmart to buy me another set of drawers (and he didn't even complain about it - probably because we didn't have to buy the fabric to go in them).  I spent the night sorting through the fabric and reorganizing my little drawers.  It was great fun.
I must admit, lots of these fabrics I wouldn't necessarily have picked for myself (I tend to go for the bold, bright colors), but I think that is a good thing because it gives me a lot more variety.  And I love that there are so many browns!  I think the more I look at them, the more I like them.  Yep.  I can't wait to figure out which ones to use first!

So.  Here is my stash BEFORE (I got the first set of drawers for Christmas, by the way.  They are SO nice).

And this is what I found in the box when I came home from work yesterday.  GASP!  That pile is so tall!

I proceeded to organize everything by color and lay it out on my table:

48 pieces!

Here is a closer look:

Pinks:

And my personal favorite:

Whites, Oranges, and Yellows:

The hubby's personal favorite.  He loves ties that look like this.  I think he's kinda weird. ;)

Greens and Blues.  I like the green flowers and the little cupcakes on blue.

And browns.  My other favorite is the one on the far right.

Here is my stash with all the old stuff mixed in with the new!  That's a lot of fabric - at least for me!

The solids wouldn't fit on the table.  It is so hard to get a good picture when I am never home while the sun is up!!!

And there you go!  Now I have TWO sets of drawers (plus the little one for my tiny pieces, charm packs, and thread).  I guess I better go make somethin!