Holiday Hostess Series - Quilted Seat Cover Tutorial (and giveaway!)

My Quilted Seat cushion Tutorial has posted over at Ellison Lane today. I would love it if you would go check it out and let me know what you think!

And don't forget to enter the giveaway for a chance to win awesome prizes from the wonderful sponsors below.

give me liberty! sew-along reveal + link up + giveaway

Boy, this day really got away from me! In all fairness, I spent most of it in bed until now, as I'm home sick with the not cool kind of tummy ache. Not that there's ever a cool kind. But this kind is the really not cool kind. Now to get that thought out of your mind, here's my Give Me Liberty! sew-along project, lounging about amongst the violets.

It was originally going to be a big pillow, but I switched gears and made a little mini quilt instead. I plan on hanging it either in my sewing room or the living room if I can find the right spot for it! Though it looks pretty cute under my great grandmother's kitty tea pot and sugar bowl there on the sideboard. That's the antique piece of furniture Jon's family got us as a wedding gift, which I'll have to properly show off sometime soon!

I used two layers of batting so it would be puffy and quilted a diagonal crosshatch through the half square triangles. The backing is Millie's Closet "floral bouquet" in green, (another FQS 50% off bargain buy) and I bound it with a brown civil war print that I absolutely adore and would buy a lot more of if I ever saw it again. I'd like to put a little label on it, when I get a chance.

The Give Me Liberty! sew-along link up is over Nicole's blog, Bold Goods, today. She's posted a lovely baby quilt and interesting thoughts on it's design and construction. Go check it out, will ya?  We had a lot of fun hosting this thing and can't wait to see your projects! Don't worry, they don't have to be finished, and I think she's leaving it open for a whole week in case you're not ready just yet.

And since there are a bunch of half square triangles left over, I thought I'd offer them up in a little giveaway of sorts. If you've recently sewn up anything using Liberty prints and would like to post about it and our link-up, anyone who links up will have chance at nabbing my remaining 40+ 2.5" trimmed, Bloomsbury HST units. Keep in mind they're tiny and have bias edges, but man their cute. I'm secretly hoping no one enters so I won't have to part with them!

I'm also linking up with Quilt Story's Fabric Tuesday :D

gingham giveaway, come and get it!

It's time for our Gingham Giveaway!  Elizabeth, of Occasional Piece, and Cindy, of Live A Colorful Life, will be doing this giveaway on their blogs, today, too.

We have three bundles to share. They each have three different fat quarters of gingham, plus a full 1/2 yard of Kona white. What's the catch? Just make a virtual pinky swear that you'll play gingham with us! Make a block, or a few blocks, or a mini quilt, or add more ginghams from your stash to make a big quilt!

*On July 4th, post your completed project on your blog, with links back to us.*

We'll be sharing our gingham projects that day, too, so it'll be one big gingham party! Feel free to enter on all three of our blogs, we'll make sure no one wins twice. We'll mail anywhere on planet Earth, (apologies to my Martian followers, I'll get you in on the next one).

To win, leave me a comment telling me how awesome I am what you'd do with your bundle and include a link back to your blog so I can stalk and whatnot. Elizabeth, Cindy and I will pick our winners and let you know on our blogs asap. Best of luck to ya!

*EDIT* - no need to commit to any specific plan for your bundle, just throw a fun idea out there and feel free to change your mind later on!
I'm making a fun, summery, picnic quilt our of my vintage ginghams. Can't wait to show you!

WiP Wed - New Block!

This is the second one of these Rose Star/Jazz Hands whatever-you-wanna-call-it blocks. Kris, over at Duke Says Sew What first tipped me off about Clare's Rose Star block party, which I promptly joined in on. I had been hand-piecing like mad already, and after cranking out a few of these my arm was about to fall off.

 



That's when I decided to up the hexie size to 8 inches (point to point) and try machine piecing. I'd never done y-seams by machine but I figured it out. The first block might be more visually striking in photographs, but in real life this one is my favorite. It screams tropical vacation or something like that.

As far as WiPs go, I made one block for my mom's quilt, and started this new quilt, with two block done now. Nothing else got touched!

STATS: 
Completed Projects - 3
New Projects - 1
Ongoing Projects - 7

I also want to mention my pal Elizabeth is having an awesome Superior Thread giveaway, which you can find here. She's awesome and is full of useful quilty info and wisdom. Plus she writes like a dream :D

Linking up with Lee's WIP Wednesday :D