For the Win!

Thank you to everyone who stopped by my blog and to those of you who entered to win! It was a really fun learning experience. I learned that I need to play around with Rafflecopter before I try to use it again. And I learned that my blog template is somehow resistant to every effort I tried to number my comments (CSS, html, etc.). Beth from the blog Hello Quilt Lady made a valiant effort to help me (thanks, Beth!), but alas, no numbers. So, I decided to do it the old fashioned way - I picked a random number and counted. I'll play around more with my blog template and see if I can be ready for next time.

More importantly, I learned that quite a few of you are making (or have made) plus quilts or string blocks recently. There was a lot of love for the half-square triangle and paper piecing. A lot of quilters chose their first quilt as their favorite. For others, it's always the last project they worked on. A lot of people mentioned that they were really proud of a certain project and then said, "even though it's not perfect," or something similar. Personally, I think technical perfection is overrated (notice the title of this blog...). It's nice to have a goal and good craftsmanship is a worthy one, but we're all learning and growing. A project that you give your time to, that you put your heart into, that is cherished and enjoyed - that sounds like perfection to me! Let's encourage one another!

(I tried to reply to comments and then I just got over-run, so I stopped :) But I read them all and visited any links that you shared.)

Without further ado (sorry for so much of the fore-going "ado"!). Drumroll please...

The winner of Giveaway #1 - the Joel Dewberry Heirloom fabric is #164...

Selleck

The winner of Giveaway #2 - the Waterfront Park bridges fabric is #123...

Catskill Quilter

I have emailed both Catskill Quilter and Selleck. Thanks again, everyone! Hopefully, I'll run things a little better next time :)

Happy sewing! Make something beautiful!

SewMamaSew Giveaway Day Giveaway #2

(***Edited - I removed the Rafflecopter app since the number of entries was not tracking with the number of comments. I will just pick a number at random (with the help of a trusty assistant or random.org) and count my way to the winner :)***)

Hey there Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day blog hoppers!

As the title says - this is SMS GD Giveaway #2 for my blog. Please see post #1 for the other giveaway. This is the first time I'm doing a giveaway and I have a feeling that I'll do something to mess it up, but you take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have...

(Did you shout "the Facts of Life?!" If so, that is awesome. If you didn't, well, that's totally fine, too. Facts of Life was an American sitcom from the 80's. George Clooney even had a role on some of the later seasons, long before his Academy Award days.)

Anyhoo, I decided to do two giveaways because I couldn't figure out how to do it in one and in the interest of full disclosure, I wanted to let people know that I had previously listed these five fabrics in some Flickr swap groups but didn't get any takers. But I still felt like there was someone out there who might really want to use them in their projects. And I thought I might be able to reach that person thru this giveaway. So, if that person is you - please enter! I like all my fabrics to go to homes where they are loved and cherished :)

These are five half-yard cuts in navy, grey, black, yellow and off white and they come from the Waterfront Park collection by Violet Craft for Michael Miller.

Please leave a comment by May 16 at 10:00pm CST and tell me about your current favorite pattern or technique. My apologies, but this is open to US addresses only.

Best of luck! Can't wait to read your comments! Check out more giveaways at SewMamaSew.

SewMamaSew Giveaway Day Giveaway #1

(***Edited - I removed the Rafflecopter app since the number of entries was not tracking with the number of comments. I will just pick a number at random (with the help of a trusty assistant or random.org) and count my way to the winner :)***)

Greetings!  It's SewMamaSew Giveaway Week (Can I get a "woot woot!"? - how 'bout just a "woot!"? It is Monday after all)!

Welcome to my blog! If you poke around, you'll notice that there hasn't been a lot of activity here for the last year, as I had a baby and consequently, my sewing space disappeared :) But I'm still an avid fabric and quitl/sewing inspiration collector.

I have been really lucky to win several giveaways in the past (actually, I just one one two weeks ago from Anna's awesome Noodlehead blog) including a couple SMS giveaway day and I wanted to return the favor to all you fabulous fabric-aholics, fabric connoisseurs, fabric aficionados out there.

I've never done a giveaway before (so sorry in advance if I muck it up!). I really use this space as a sewing journal, to document the projects I'm working on and make little notes for myself, in case I revisit a pattern or idea. And as I mentioned, there's not a lot of activity on here at the moment - though I hope to change that when we move to our new place in August!

Please enter by May 16, 2014 at 10pm CST. Just a comment will do ya - Tell me a project that you are really proud of or that is a favorite that you've made. Share a link if you've got one. C'mon - toot your own horn and we can all share in a Mutual Admiration Society! My apologies, but this is open to US addresses only.

On to the fabric!

I hate to call these "scraps" because I don't want to give the impression that they are schnibbles or snippets. These are legit pieces of fabric! They just aren't full, proper "cuts." So, they are scraps in that sense and because I've used them in a couple projects.

Like this one:


Or this one:


Both are still UFOs.  The incomplete zig zag above is a Moda Bake Shop pattern. I have all the blocks done and packed away somewhere. They just didn't all fit on my design wall (which is a flannel-backed vinyl table cloth!) I believe I cut 4" blocks instead of using 5" charm squares. It's hard to remember, since it was a couple of years ago! (Do you have any projects like that?!) I'm sure I wrote it somewhere on this blog - I'll have to take a look!

All fabrics are from the Joel Dewberry Heirloom line from Free Spirit Fabrics. I'd say that most of the pieces are bigger than a fat eighth and maybe around a quarter yard. Some are selvage to selvage, some have one selvage and a small number have neither. There are 17 total prints and I would estimate about 4 yards of fabric. The orange, yellow, aqua ones above are between 6"or 7" by at least 40".

These are wider cuts - closer to 13"-14.5" by 33".  I think one is more like 13" by 29".

These are lovely fabrics. The colors are great - I love the oranges and the pink/garnet prints are really saturated. There's a good mix of really bold graphic prints and more delicate florals to balance it out. I've really had fun working with them and I hope someone else enjoys them too!

I have a second giveaway posted HERE. (Bridges fabric from Waterfront Park.)

Good luck!! I look forward to reading about your awesome projects!
Check out more giveaways at SewMamaSew.