Sunday, November 4, 2018

Pick a Pumpkin Blog Hop

Pumpkin Spice & Everything Nice!

Welcome to the 
Pick a Pumpkin Blog Hop 
hosted by Carla at 

Today is my day to share with you what I have created for this fun hop.  Carla wanted us to do something with pumpkins, so I made a happy little table runner based on the Pumpkin Seeds quilt by The Pattern Basket. 



This is about as simple as it gets. I used 2 1/2" scrappy squares to make my pumpkins.  The hardest part is picking your color combinations. I made my table runner even easier by changing pattern slightly.  I made the stem a 2 1/2" square and only made one leaf.

Because it's not a Halloween quilt, I chose to use colors more suited to my decor.  I love the pastel hues, don't you?  With this pattern you can choose to put the star anywhere you like -- high, low, middle, or not at all.  I staggered mine for a little variety.  The overall size of this table runner is approximately 15" x 39". 

Image result for pumpkin seeds quilt pattern









I hope you have enjoyed seeing my project.  If you would like to make your own Pumpkin Seeds quilt you can find the pattern at the Fat Quarter Shop or www.thepatternbasket.com









Thank you, Carla, for hosting this wonderful blog hop.  I love everything pumpkin and enjoyed making this tribute to them.


But wait!  
There are more pumpkins coming your way!  
Go visit these talented bloggers and see what they have in store in you.




Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Peek-A-Who Blog Hop



Velcome!




It's my day to share with you my spooky contribution to the Peek-A-Who Blog Hop created and hosted by Marian at Seams to be Sew .  Halloween is my favorite holiday.  There are so many fun activities associated with Halloween, and Marian's annual Blog Hop is one of them.  Thank you, Marian, for hosting yet another fang-filled hop for us.

This year I am pleased to introduce you to my Ghastly Greeters, Frank and Dracula.  Frank is snug on his laboratory slab awaiting a jolt of lightning, and Drac is just awakening from a long nap.  They are both ready for a night of Trick-or-Treating with their little pumpkin bags.  





These two were so much fun to make.  I drew them first on gift wrap paper (my favorite pattern paper), then cut out and sewn onto their backgrounds.
























Each greeter measures approximately 36" long by 18" wide.  Using the raw-edge applique method made quick work of these guys.  With black thread I sewed around their features at least twice to give them good definition.



Dracula makes a pretty creepy table topper, too. 






























Don't Drac and Frank look dashing with their welcoming smiles?  I think my Halloween visitors will love my gracious greeters as much as I do.






Pumpkin carving in our family is serious business.  You can tell by the intense expressions on my family's faces.  We usually have a potluck eat-a-thon on pumpkin carving day as well.  We don't always carve the pumpkins, sometimes we paint them, or just decorate them with all sorts of add-on embellishments.  Whatever torture we choose for our pumpkins, you can bet we'll be laughing loud.




I hope you enjoyed my offering, now go see what my fellow fiends have in store for you. Make sure you visit Marian at Seams To Be Sew; she has a free pattern for you.


Thursday, October 25, 2018

Just Because Quilts


And don't forget to enter the Raffle for some great prizes!!



a Rafflecopter giveaway


a Rafflecopter giveaway


Calibre Arts is also giving a savings coupon of 50% off their mats.  Click here to go to Seams to be Sew to enter their giveaway.


Rules and Guidelines For Giveaways
Please take the time to read it.

Giveaways offered by sponsors are assigned to the various bloggers for their featured day.

There are no prior announcements on who is doing which sponsor except to the sponsor themselves.

You'll have to visit the blog or the featured blog to enter the giveaways.

Not all giveaways can be entered at Seams To Be Sew.

I will start announcing winners on September 11, 2018, and finish announcing winners on October 10, 2018.

In most cases, the blog where you won at also will announce their 
winners.

You must give a valid email address when you enter the giveaways, any email returned to me, loses the ability to win automatically.

With the exception of Show and Tell Day, all giveaways run for approximately one week.

You are given 3 days to answer the email, if you do not answer within 3 days a new winner will be drawn. Check those spam/junk mail folders, you may miss that winning email if you don't do so because there are no exceptions to this rule.

If you are notified that you are a winner, in most cases, you will need to provide your name, address, city, state, zip code, country, telephone number, and email address.

In some cases, you will be asked to comment on the blog to enter the giveaway... do the right thing and thank them for the time it took to create the pattern, thank them for the pattern and...

Thank the sponsor by buying their products for the giveaways. This helps them continue to offer great prizes for these types of events. You can also comment on their social media pages. Even if you don't win, letting them know you love their products is a huge incentive and they really do love hearing from you.

No purchase whatsoever is necessary.

You must be 18+ in order to win a gift.

You are responsible for claiming and paying any tax owed on the value of any gift that you win. Prizes valued at $500.00 should be claimed.

All winners are chosen at random.

All winners will be announced on the blogs via the Rafflecopter entry form and/or post by the blogger at the site where they won and here at Seams To Be Sew. All winners must allow for their first name and first initial of their last name to be announced on this blog.

Odds of Winning a prize are based on a total number of rafflecopter entries during each week and in total for all giveaways.

This giveaway is void where prohibited by law.

Participating bloggers may enter any of the giveaways.

The word giveaways in the rules and guidelines are also known as sweepstakes.

Most of the giveaways are international shipping this year
in some cases, you will be asked to pay for shipping your giveaways.

I am not rich and I do not ask sponsors for money, they provide prizes only.

If they shipped the prize to me, you will be asked to pay for shipping.
All giveaways will be shipped that are in my home within 48 hours of my having heard from you.

An invoice will be sent to you via Paypal, and shipping will take place via Paypal, so your Paypal email will be needed to send the invoice. You will receive a tracking number except for overseas shipments. All shipping will either be first class which averages out at 2.77 to 4.00 up to 13 ounces. Paypal fees are added to that amount to cover that fee. All fabric bundles from Michael Miller, Hoffman, and Moda will be shipped via Priority Mail to protect the fabric itself.

Please note, every effort is made to protect the prizes. They go into a plastic bin when I receive them, and it is covered by an air tight cover. I have a dog in my home and I have a smoker in my home, so I do everything possible to protect the prizes.

Most companies are very good about getting prizes off to customers quickly also, but some companies are overseas, so please allow all sponsors a 2-week time period before you report to me that you still haven't received your prize. When the company is overseas, it can take 6 weeks to 90 days for an item to also arrive.

Whether or not you read the above, the rules for giveaways are in place to protect everyone. I do not want to hear you didn't read them, they will be posted on my blog daily during each featured day. There is no excuse for not reading them.

Wednesday, September 12, 2018

Welcome to My House Blog Hop

Welcome to My House!


Carol of Just Let Me Quilt planned and hosted this wonderful blog hop and today is my day to show you what I've created!  

My home is my sanctuary.  I started working when I was 16 and for 40+ years I worked outside my home.  Now that I am retired, I enjoy doing all the little things I missed.  I'm not talking about mopping or laundry!  I'm talking about sleeping until I wake up naturally, watching a movie all the way through, taking my time cooking a meal, and decorating the house to the max for the holidays.  Simple things, but they mean a lot. 

So when Carol suggested we create something that featured a house, I jumped at the chance!

A couple of years ago I bought and made Anni Downs' (Hatched & Patched) quilt Gossip in the Garden.  I love how embroidery looks in a quilt.  So to pay homage to my feelings for home, I decided to emulate her technique.




First I draw my design, transfer it to a cotton square, and then embroider it.  



For this quilt, there are twelve 6 1/2" x 8 1/2" embroidered blocks.  Each one represents something special about home.  The blocks surrounding the embroidered squares measure 8", 6", 4" and 2".  In some places I used 2" wide strips.  Each completed section is 16" x 16" and its finished size is 48" x 64".  Quilting is minimal and is Stitch in the Ditch.


Although I used a lot of my scraps for the blocks surrounding the embroidered blocks, the main fabric used was Freshly Picked from Wilmington Prints.  There is no pattern for this quilt as I made it up as I went.





























I hope you have enjoyed seeing my quilt.  It truly was a labor of love.  Please leave me a comment and let me know what you love best about being home.  

Thank you again, Carol, for coming up with such a wonderful idea for a hop.  This has been great fun!

Now go see what beautiful creations my talented fellow bloggers have made!

September 13th

Just Because Quilts - you are here!





Saturday, September 8, 2018

Welcome to My House Blog Hop Coming Soon

Mark your calendars!  

There's a new Blog Hop coming and it's sure to be truly inspirational!



Carol from Just Let Me Quilt is hosting this Welcome to My House Blog Hop that begins Monday, September 10, 2018.  All projects, whether they be quilts, table runners, or who-knows-what, will have a house theme.  It's going to be so much fun! 

Just look at the line-up of talented bloggers!


September 10


September 11


September 12


September 13


September 14




Be sure and stop by.  You won't want to miss a thing!


Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Fabulous Freebies Blog Hop



When Joan of MooseStash Quilting announced she was hosting a Blog Hop to showcase some of the free quilting patterns to be found online, I jumped at the chance.  It is so much fun to participate in blog hops with a bunch of talented bloggers, and the patterns are FREE!  So if you love quilting and free patterns, you are in the right spot!  THANK YOU, Joan, for hosting this fabulous blog hop!

Today I get to show you my Fabulous Freebie!  Long gone now, Quilt Soup used to be one of my favorite blog sites to visit.  Barbara Jones, owner of this website, made the greatest projects.  They were so creative and always fun.  Barbara now designs fabric for Henry Glass & Co., Inc.  I feel so lucky to have found her FREE patterns on the Henry Glass website.

For my project, I have chosen a quilt she designed called TV B.C. (Before Cable) and uses fabric from her Clean Living line.

Clean Living Quilt 1  by Barbara Jones of QuiltSoup

You can find the pattern here:
http://www.henryglassfabrics.com/php/catalog/fabricshop.php?a=projects&project=576

This is an oh-so-cute quilt made up of 5 retro TV's.  As a a product of the 50-60's era, I remember televisions (sans remote) with "rabbit ears" sitting on top.  As the youngest in the family, I was the designated channel changer.

To make this quilt, I found a couple of yards of the Henry Glass fabric used in the original pattern.  I used this for the background and picked out vintage-looking colors from my stash to make the TV sets and the side panels.  (Does anyone else remember Olive and Harvest Gold?  These were popular colors in the 70's.)



This is an easy quilt to make using patchwork and applique.   The TV set is pieced and goes together quickly.  

 


Once the screen part of the TV is made, the antenna, channel knobs, and legs are appliqued to the blocks using fusible web.  To keep it simple, I used the raw-edge method to sew my fused pieces in placed.





I added the colorful strips panels to the sides and bound the quilt with a lime green border.  The finished size of this quilt is 44" x 52," the perfect size to snuggle under when binge watching your favorite television programs.

I think this would make an adorable Memory Quilt by substituting the screen fabric with favorite family photos that have been transferred onto fabric.  Wouldn't that be cute to send with our kids when they go off to college? 

I had so much fun making this quilt.  If you choose to make this adorable retro quilt, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Now go see what other Fabulous Freebies these talented bloggers have found for you.

Monday August 20

Tuesday August 21

Wednesday August 22
Just Because Quilts (you are here)

Thursday August 23

Friday August 24