I don’t really believe in luck, but if I did, I wouldn’t call myself a terribly lucky person. But maybe my luck is starting to turn.
Last week I got a lovely email from Kristin at Sew, Mama, Sew! saying I’d won a yard of fabric. And today I came home to a lovely yard of Madrona Road Fabric! What a nice break from the standard junk mail and bills. Thanks so much to the Sew, Mama, Sew! Shop.
After neglecting the wedding quilt for several weeks (for a very important project, I promise) last week I churned out the remaining 9 blocks I needed AND got them all together in time for the Bridal Shower.
Your only seeing half the quilt in this picture. Weighing in at 91.5″ squared, pre-border, this thing is big. And I’m thinking of making it bigger? Well, 91.5″ is okay for the width, but it’s a bit short for the length of a Queen, especially since the woman I’m making this for is a rather obsessive bed maker. Pretty sure she would not be satisfied if it didn’t make it up over the pillows nicely. Plus, I’m hand quilting it (with cotton perle, don’t worry, haven’t completely lost my mind) and I know it will be getting tugged at and moved around a lot during that process, so a border is going to add some stability to the edges that all those seams on the edges just don’t have. Plus, I was all stoked to get the border fabric 50% at the PA Fabric Depot. But when I got there, only 20 or so bolts of quilting fabric were included in the sale. Not cool, PA Fabric Depot. So, I was heading back toward, “I don’t really need borders, do I?” Stability, eh. Pillow tuck, who cares.
Then I remembered, I live near Lancaster, land of the Amish/Mennonite back woods fabric shop heavens. And I’ve heard great things about their sale rooms online. So I grabbed a friend for an impromptu trip to Lititz, PA to see what Weaver’s Dry Goods might have in stock. Answer: A lot. I wouldn’t call their selection as a whole modern, but there are certainly some good modern prints in the mix, and the selection is huge. Sometimes they apparently have sale fabric in a trailer, I wasn’t lucky enough to hit one of those days, but the sale room in the shop has a pretty substantial selection. I found a print that I love for the border and, perhaps even better, I got 108″ wide quilt backing fabric for $4.50/yd. Yes, you read that right. I was going to piece the back of this quilt, but you can’t beat the easiness of a whole cloth back and you certainly can’t beat it for that price!
I maybe picked up a half yard of some irresistable sale fabrics, too.
And, I got Kona Snow! (Robert Kaufman Konas, $4.99/yd). I was telling the very nice Old Order Mennonite woman who was ringing me up that every time I stock up on snow, it’s gone in a minute. Her response, wait for it, “it just melts away.” Awesome.
So, now I must spend my day sewing lots and lots to assuage my fabric buying guilt! There are really worse things in the world.
Posted in Fabric
Tagged fabric, lancaster county quilt shop, quilt borders, weaver's dry goods
I found my new apartment in Harrisburg this week and I’m totally stoked about that. Plus I went exploring the town a little and of course, somehow magically I’m sure, “fabric” got typed into my garmin and I found my way to the PA Fabric Outlet.
First off, the place is massive. Second, the prices are fantastic. Third, it’s like a mile from the new house. This could be a real challenge to my resolution not to buy any more crafting supplies. I got out with minimal damage this time, but I think I may have to have an accountability partner to go back. Seriously.
$.99 Cottons
Fantastic Flannel for $3.50
Designer Fabrics under $5
On the bright side, I went to a knitting guild (Goal #5, check), so maybe that evens it out a little and I’m haven’t totally failed at my resolutions.
I’m not going to lie, 2011 has been a challenging year for me, a lot of good things, but a lot of really hard things, too. But we’re wrapping it up pretty well. Today, just three days shy of six months unemployment, I was offered a new job, in one of my top choice cities, with a considerable pay raise. And like any self respecting quilter, I bought myself a yard of fabric to celebrate. (I was already on the way to an LQS when I got the call, so how could I resist?)
Half Moon Modern by Moda Fabrics
Now I just need to find a new house and move everything I own for the third time in six months. But, this time it’s going to a long term home, so it’s totally worth it. Probably going to be offline for awhile now, but I’m trying to get my 2011 summaries and 2012 Goals posted before things get too crazy, so hopefully those will be later this week.
Posted in Fabric
Heaven knows I love to window shop online fabric shops, so I was pretty excited to find a good excuse to do just that yesterday. Fat Quarter Shop is giving all of us all a chance to design (and of course, win) our very own Blogger’s Choice Fabric Bundle.
I’ve been wanting to do a quilt using this scheme since I saw this Color Collective Photo. Maybe I’ll get the chance now!
Have a little time to kill now that the holiday rush is over? Head over to the Fat Quarter Shop and make your own bundle for a chance to win! Rules and contest link up at Quokka Quilt.
Thanks for stopping by FFP, but this give away has closed.
We just wrapped up the Blogger’s Quilt Festival, one of my favorite events of the quilt blogosphere and now we’re already here at another favorite, Giveaway Day, organized by the fabulous folks over at Sew, Mama, Sew. I’m doing two separate giveaways this time around, so make sure you keep reading. Also, please note, as much as I love international readers, due to the bulk of these prizes, I could only open these giveaways to the USA readers.
If you follow my blog, you’ve probably seen a whole lotta stings lately, like this
and this
and this
You get the idea, I love string quilting. There is a time and place for technical, precise piece work, but there is a also a lot of time and space in my stressed out life for the freedom of improv strings! Maybe you need some free spirited string quilting in your life?
The Prize: 4+ yards Kona Cotton Solids and all of the strings that I can fit into this medium flat rate shipping box. These are some pretty top notch strings, lots of Kaffee Fassett, Amy Butler, and Anna Maria Horner, just to name a few. Most are width of fabric, though there are shorter lengths too and they are all 1-4″ wide.
To Enter: Guess how many strings will fit in this medium size flat rate box. Your guess is as good as mine, I’m not done ironing them and stuffing them in there. Closest guess without going over will win. In case of a tie I will draw between closest guesses for the winner.
I’ve been very blessed with more fabric for charity quilting than I could probably use in ten years, though I swear that I’m trying. I’d like to pass some of the stash along so it gets put to good use a bit sooner!
First Prize: A large flat rate box stuffed as full as I can get it with fabrics for charity quilting/sewing, including some seriously huge cuts of fabric (think like ten yard cuts) so you have easy backings if you’re doing quilting. And there just might be some nice pieces of designer fabric tucked in, my little thank you for your good work 
Second Prize: A medium flat rate box of quilting fabric for charity sewing. And yes, surprises for you as well.
To Enter: Tell me what charity you sew for. It can be the name of an organization or a group of people (i.e. the homeless, cancer patients, etc.) Please make the charity name/group the first word of your comment, say anything you want afterward. Winner will be selected alphabetically (Word 5, Page 100 of the book I’m currently reading). Again, in case of a tie, I will draw names for a tie-breaker.
General Giveaway Details: Open until May 25, 2011 11:59 EST. You are free to enter both giveaways, but please do so in separate comments. Giveaways open to USA residents only (APO addresses included). You must have an email address associated with your comment to win, if it is not in your profile, please put it in the comment as follows: name(at)domain(dot)com. Entries with no email address in the profile or comment will be disqualified. Please be watching your email on the May 26 and reply with a shipping address by May 27. If I don’t get an address for you, an alternate winner will be chosen.
If you haven’t already, head over to the list of giveaways here:
Good luck everyone- Jill
Tagged charity, charity sewing, fabric, giveaway, sewing, string quilting
I’m not usually a stash Sunday type of girl, mostly because the little designer fabric that I have is bought on extreme clearance a year after everyone else has it. Girl on a budget, you know. And even if I had the money, I need more fabric, well like…I don’t. But I had an amazing fabric find recently at the Scrap Exchange and who can resist at $2/yard?
My favorite two stripes
I have about 15 WIPS. I need to move. And find a new job. But I got to tell you, it’s taking a lot of will power not to start cutting into this. I’m just dying to put it with some charcoal and make HSTs!
If I could only count my works in progress…tee hee…that will be the day. I have forgotten and abandoned stuff I don’t even remember, UFOs galore, fabric everywhere…it’s pretty ridiculous. I’m planning on moving later this year and I am very actively trying to get the number down to countable at least. For now, I’ll just have to stick to counting Active Works in Progress.
I’m surely forgetting some (I told you it was a ridiculous list!). Today my goal to knock a few off the list are:
So, I need to get going…
P.S. Need to sleep, totally forgot to link this up to all the other great WIPs. Check them out if you want some good inspiration.
My spirograph is a generational toy. According to the manual in the box, if your local retailer doesn’t have one, you can send the Kenner Company 73c and they will mail you one. It seriously took me two full minutes to figure out that the “c” was the cent sign! Well, my grandparents 73c has certainly been put to good use over the years, first by my mother, then my cousins, by myself as a child, and now finally in a slightly different manner by adult me as a super cool crafting tool!
I’ve never been super artistic when it comes to free hand drawing. Actually, that’s a total understatement, my drawing skill is roughly at the same level as when I was first busting out spirograph drawings in my basement as a child. So I’m always on the lookout for creative new ways to come up with embroidery and quilting designs that don’t require free hand drawing. I love my grandmothers’ method of using coloring book images and shape outlines from my grandfathers wood cutting book. My more modern take on that is often free clip art images. But one day as I was brainstorming on my commute home it hit me out of no where, “I wonder if my mother still has that spirograph somewhere?” Suppose I shouldn’t complain about my mother’s pack rat tendencies anymore, because over Thanksgiving I was thrilled to get my hands on the original 1960s Spirograph. Possibly the best find in the box was this sample of my childhood art, the title is really the highlight here:
Made by Me Jill Stemple
Apparently, I had healthy self-confidence in my artistic abilities as a child! I’m still in the experimental phase of how this is all going to play out in my crafting, which is basically that awesome state where you have more ideas than time and finger strength to craft them all. For now I’m launching a line of Super Spirograph Napkins and as a part of Giveaway Day at Sew, Mama, Sew!, I’m offering one lucky reader a chance to win a set of four. I’m also doing a magazine/fabric giveaway for those readers who like to craft themselves! Giveaway details below.
GIVEAWAY 1:
To win a set of the spirograph napkins tell me which colorway you’d like to win: red, periwinkle, teal, bright blue, green, yellow, or purple. Later today these will be over in my shop if you want to have a peek (Napkin Section). Winner will be chosen by a random number generator.
GIVE AWAY 2:
Quiltermaker’s Magazine Winter 2010 V. 2, the 100 Block edition, is full of patterns for great new quilt blocks from top designers and quilt bloggers, you’ll surely find some inspiration to put a yard of Anna Marie Horner Fabric to good use. Enter this giveaway by leaving a separate comment telling me something that you have re-purposed into a crafting tool (think spirograph design maker or chopstick needle turner). It doesn’t have to be rocket science, but I’ll be choosing this winner by the most interesting/creative, so the more random the better.
Both giveaways will be open through 12/17/10 8:59pm EST. Items will be shipped priority mail on 12/18/10, so you can expect to get them by Christmas if you are in the USA. Giveaway open internationally, but internationally readers won’t receive items by Christmas (short of a post office Christmas miracle). Please make sure I have an email address to contact you if you’ve won, if I’m unable to contact you I will pick an alternate winner. Good luck and looking forward to all the creative suggestions!
Update Note: I’ve had some requests to purchase sets of these. I won’t be getting many, if any up in the shop today, but if you would like a set I will do custom orders for up to 15 people and they will ship in time for Christmas (USA only). Convo me on etsy or email me at jill.stemple(at)gmail.com if you are interested. Thanks!
Update 2: Yes, I will do a multi-colored set if you prefer a mix of colors.
Posted in Crafting, Fabric, Giveaway, Holidays
Tagged embroidery, fabric, giveaway, napkins, sewing, spirograph
Durham has a lot of great resources for crafting supplies. Of course we have the full cadre of chain crafting stores. Then there is my beloved Scrap Exchange. And then there is Grannies’ Panties. Yep, that’s what I said. Okay the full name is actually Everything But Grannies’ Panties, but the second half is what it tends to be called. Grannies’ is an amazing old house turned thrift store/permanent estate sale. You can find pretty much anything, for pretty much nothing. I’ve gotten great stuff there over the years, but none rivaling this weeks find…drum roll please– an authentic antique 1930 quilt, still in usable condition!
The yo-yos are whip stitched together, it’s not technically a quilt since they aren’t layered on anything, I’ve just laid it on a sheet for protection. I’m trying to decide how to restore it. I will definitely be ripping off the ugly bubble gum pink ruffled border, almost certainly a later addition since it isn’t faded at all. I’m thinking I’ll layer the yo-yo’s onto a solid for stability. Open to any suggestions! Won’t be doing anything with it until I get my Christmas present finished up, so I’ve got some time to think on it.
P.S. I will be participating in the craft blogosphere’s Giveaway Day, check back Monday 12/13.
Posted in Crafting, Fabric, Thrifting, Vintage
Tagged antique quilt, quilt, quilt restoration, thrift store finds, thrifting, vintage, yo yo
