Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Christmas Caroling Row Along - Frosty the Snowman!

Welcome to Day One of the 3rd Annual Row Along hosted by Seams to Be Sew.  This 6-week event will feature 42 bloggers bringing their interpretation of their and your favorite Christmas Carols in a cute 30" x 10" rows (horizontal and vertical) and patterns for you to download. The row along starts today, September 5th and ends October 10th, 2017, with lots of giveaways every day so make sure you check back to see what the new giveaway is.

 This is my first year to do this Row Along, it has been so much fun to come up with a design that matched the Christmas Carol.  The carol I chose for this Row Along was Frosty the Snowman.  I loved the song and shows growing up and still do watch them every year. 

The shows took the song a little further into more adventures, so it was hard to choose what I wanted to design to bring the actual part of Frosty out.  So I finally decided on a design that shows the sparks that Frosty had when he met his love of his life Crystal.  

"Frosty's True Love," the pattern shows the reaction both characters had when they spotted each other for the first time.  Crystal is demonstrating that cuteness and shyness, and frosty has that smile of the shock of seeing that one and only girl for the first time.  The pattern measures 30" x 10".

The fabric used in my row comes from Northcott's Fabrics New Holiday Collection Fabrics.  The Fabrics used in this row are the following:

Background (Snow Flake Blue 21701-44) - The Magic of Christmas 

Snowman (White 9020-10) and Main Red (Red 9020-24) - Santa Claus is Coming to Town

Solid Red (9000-24) - Tis the Season

 The gray and black fabrics came from scraps in my fabric collection.

 Thank you to Northcott Fabrics for donating the fabric used in all the participating in the blog hop.

Adding characteristics to the row such as Frosty smile and Crystal mouth and eye lashes can be easy by sewing a few strands of Embroidery Floss to the finished row. If you didn't want to sew the embroidery floss, you could use a PigmaⓇ Micron Pen to add the elements.

 I decided to make my row into a small table runner.  I have added the instructions for adding the optional borders in the pattern.

Now for the pattern, just click on the link below to get your free copy of "Frosty's True Love.  The pattern is free.




Please check out the other blogs going on today and through out the whole event, plus the giveaways at the bottom of this blog.
Tina

The Christmas Caroling Row Along Schedule

Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Cheryl LaPlante
      (sponsored by Quilt In Piece)
Morning Glory
Pampered Pettit
Fun Threads
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
Show and Tell Day
Bloggers will be announced at a later date

GIVEAWAYS!



Northcott 1 FQ Bundles 2yds total


   

Calibre Art 24" x 36" Mat
Shipped Via Amazon





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 12, 2017, and finish announcing winners on October 12, 2017.

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](http://www.seamstobesew.com). 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.


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Monday, September 4, 2017

Back to School Blog Hop

It's that time year again when the weather starts to turn cooler, and the leaves start to fall. The stores are full of Back to school specials and sales.  This only means it is back to school time for the kids.  Many schools and colleges have already started, but many will start after Labor Day, like the county I live in here in Maryland.  

 Many of us have many memories of the first day of school.  I have memories of my first day of 1st grade at Frederick Post Elementary in Post Falls, Idaho.  I don't remember a lot from my first day of school, such as my clothes, and my teacher, The memories I do have are memories of my mom taking me to my classroom and getting me settled at my desk for the first time on that special day.  I also remember the brand new Holly Hobbie Lunch Box.  Other memories were when I switched elementary schools,  I only had to walk across the street to school.  It was ideal for those days when it was raining, or on those cold, snowy days,  I just waited until the last the recess bell was going ring, so I did not have to be out in the cold so long as the bused kids. I have memories of some great teachers and classmates that would be there until we graduated High School. It's crazy if you sit back now and think about your back to school memories come in mind.  I could list much more memories, but it would make a long blog post.  

 What is your favorite Back to School memory?


 Island Batik  2017 Spring/Summer Collection 

The Back to School Blog Hop starts today through September 29th.  Each day the Island Batik Ambassadors will be sharing favorite memories of going back to school, we will also be sharing Island Batik's newest fabrics, that will be showing up on at your favorite quilt shop now.  If you haven't seen the 2017 Spring/Summer Catalog, please check it out Here.

Today starts with Carol Steely from FunThreads Designs and me.  We will be sharing fabrics from the Beaujolais Collection.  This beautiful collection is beautiful combinations of lovely fall colors. If your favorite local shop does carry any of these beautiful fabrics, request them to carry them for you and your quilty friends.

 As always the Island Batik Ambassadors, are making great projects from the fabrics.  Last month, I started using this collection with my Quilt As You Go Projects. 


This month, I made a beautiful wall hanging, out of more of the fabrics.  This project used ten of the different fabrics in the collection that we received.  The quilt primarily was made from one block, with two different color patterns.
  
It is amazing how changing the colors of one block can just change the whole aspect of a quilt.  The finished size of my quilt was 44" x 44" nice size for a little wall hanging.  


Blog Hop Schedule


WEEK 1

Tuesday, September 5 – Country Dozen
Cheryl Lynch Quilts • Inspired Layers
Wednesday, September 6 – Bonsai
Little Bunny Quilts
Thursday, September 7 – Sakura
Masterpiece Quilting

WEEK 2

Monday, September 11 – Fresh Pick’ins
KISSed Quilts
Tuesday, September 12 – Lotus Blooms
Kathys Kwilts and More
Wednesday, September 13 – Olivera
Joan Kawano • Vicki’s Crafts and Quilting
Thursday, September 14 – Rise & Shine
Den Syende Himmel • Sally’s Quilting Corner
Friday, September 15 – Diner Days
Ark Angel Creations • Karen Overton

WEEK 3

Monday, September 18 – Seas the Day
KISSed Quilts • Whispers of Yore
Tuesday, September 19 – Vineyard
The Inquiring Quilter • Inchworm Fabrics
Wednesday, September 20 – Abalone
PamelaQuilts • Yellow Cat Quilts
Friday, September 22 – Captain’s Anchor
Purrfect Spots Designs • Beaquilter

WEEK 4

Tuesday, September 26 – Lobster Bake
Seams to be Sew
Wednesday, September 27 – Solstice
Bejeweled Quilts • heARTs Creations
Thursday, September 28 – Sour Apple
Seams Like a Dream • Kauffman Designs
Friday, September 29 – Zen
Lizard Creek Quilting • Quilt’n Party

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

I have 2 giveaways for you! 

Island Batiks Giveaway

Island Batiks is giving away 3 gorgeous fat quarter bundles.  Three different lucky winners will be randomly selected to win one these great bundles:

Captain's Anchor, Batiks Go Retro, and Abalone Collections

To Enter click on the link below. There are many ways to enter!

ISLAND BATIK GIVEAWAY


Quilting Affection Designs Giveaway

I will be giving away Two - 5" "Beaujolais" Fabric Bundle two lucky winners. Each bundle contains 4 - 5" strips of various fabrics from the "Beaulojais" Collection. 

Enter Rafflecopter below for a chance to win.

Quilting Affection Designs Guidelines and Rules for this give away.


  • No purchase necessary. Open to residents of the USA only.
  • While we hope you will leave a comment on the post of the day because we love comments, we want no reply bloggers to have a chance at winning also. Rafflecopter will collect your name, country, and email. 
  • One - 5  inch “Beaujolais” Fabric Bundle will be given away to two lucky winners.
  • The Winners picked at random via Rafflecopter at the end of the day on September 29th. Winner will be drawing be on September 30th receive notification via email. 
  • Winner will have approximately five days to claim their gift, if five days pass, the gift will be offered to another eligible entrant. Winner must provide name, address, city, state. 
  • Only US Address, please
  • Winner will be announced on this blog and in the Rafflecopter window here on this page. Winner agrees to allow their name, city, state to be publicized.
  • Odds of Winning a prize are based on a total number of Rafflecopter entries.
  • You are responsible for claiming and paying any tax owed on the value of any gift that you win where applicable. Some restrictions on gifts will apply based on shipping policies. This sweepstakes is void where prohibited by law. 

See you at the Winners Announcement on September 30th.

 Tina
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Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Island Batik Ambassador Quilt As You Go Challenge

This month the Island Batik Ambassadors were given the challenge to make a Quilt As You Go project.  This has was a great challenge for all of us, know it was for me since I had not done this before.  Some of the Ambassadors even did their projects on the longarms but chose my domestic Janome 7700 machine for this project.

Bloc_Loc® Kaleidoscope Heaven
Well, I must say this was my first time with making a project this way.  So I had to do some research. So, I started doing a little research and found a great tutorial by Sherri Noel, check it out Here. So, after doing some reading, I began working on my blocks for my project.





The Blocks and Fabric

The blocks I chose for my project came from some new Bloc_Loc® Rulers and book called "Kaleidoscope Heaven."  In the book, it gives you lots of different ways to use the new Kaleidoscope ruler and templates, the design I came up with was on page 18.

Island Batik "Beaujolais" Collection
The Island Batik Fabric I used for the project comes from one of the newest fabrics collections, called “Beaujolais.”  Now, I just used a handful of the colors in this collection.  I will be highlighting more of the fabric in next month’s Back to School Blog Hop.  
 
The Kaleidoscope blocks are fair easy to make. Basically, you are cutting your “A,” and “B” templates from strips either from one fabric strip or from multi colors strip sets to get the different effects in the block.

Step 1- Trimming the units.
After all the cutting is complete, you start by sewing the template "A" and "B" pieces together.  Once they were sewn together, you use the Kaleidoscope grooved ruler to trim the units down.  Then you sew all the units together to make a 6" block.

I made a second block in a different color variation for my little quilt. Now the fun begins!!!!

Preparing Quilt Block Sandwiches

My unfinished blocks measured 6 1/2", so I needed a 7" batting square and 7 1/2" backing pieces.  

For the batting, I keep all my scraps from my quilting for varies projects that may come up. The batting I used was some leftover Black Quilters Dream Poly.  Next, the backing came from two different fabrics.

The sandwich starts with laying the backing down right side facing down, then adding the batting in the middle and finally adding top with right side facing up, basting the sandwich with basting spray. The basting spray is there to help hold the pieces in place as I quilted the blocks.  


 Quilting and Squaring

Once I had made all my quilt sandwiches were basted it was time to start quilting all my blocks were in place, using my sewing machines walking foot.  It takes some time to do all the quilting, but it will be worth it in the end. 

After I completed all the quilting I trimmed the blocks to 6 1/2". 





Joining Quilt Blocks

Once all the quilting and squaring is completed the next step is the joining the blocks.  I cut out (2) 1" x 6 1/2" strips for each block.   

I placed one of the 1" strip on the bottom the block (right side facing down), then put a second 1” strip on top of the quilt block (right side facing up) aligning up the edges. Pinning if necessary.  Once everything aligned up, you sew using a 1/4" seam allowance. Continuing with all the blocks, except the ones at the end of each row.  Pressing all the strips on top of the block only to the right.

Sew all the blocks together, by layering two blocks together with tops of the blocks facing together, ensuring to align the pressed strips to the right edge of the bottom block.  Once the block is sewn together, flip the blocks open and notice batting pieces will lay next to each other nice and flat. Repeat these step to complete your row. 

After the rows are made it's time to secure the back strip down.  Start by preparing the backing strips by giving them a nicely pressed 1/4" crease on the open edge, then fold the strips over one more time and hand stitch all the back pieces down, just like you would bind a quilt.  
Once all the backings in the rows are completed, It's time to stitch all the rows together, following the steps the same steps used in joining the blocks together.  Cut (2) strips would be 1" x width of the row.  Sew all the rows together by using the front strips and, followed by hand stitching the backs together, to complete the project.

My Quilt As You Go Project is now complete.



I found that Quilt As You Go was a fun and fast project.  I defiantly would do this again.

Be sure to check out the Quilt As You Go the other Island Batik Ambassadors are doing this month. The list of Ambassadors are at the bottom.

Also come back next month for the Island Batik Ambassador's Back to School Blog Hop starting September 4th.  It will be so much fun!!
  
Turid from Den Syende Himmel
Stephanie from Quilt’n Party
Pamela from Pamela Quilts
Jessica from Desert Bloom Quilting
Kate from Seams Like a Dream
Jennifer from The Inquiring Quilter
Barb from Bejeweled Quilts
Jeanette from Inch Worm Fabrics
Connie from Kauffman Designs
Bernadine from Needle and Foot
Bea from Beaquilter
Cheryl from Cheryl Lynch Quilts
Maryellen from Mary Mack’s Blog
Joyce from Hearts Creations
Marlene from Kissed Quilts
Karen from The Quilt Rambler
Marian from Seam to be Sew
Laura from Slice of Pi Quilts
Linda from Inspired Layers
Carol from FunThreads Designs
Alison from Little Bunny Quilts
Jean-Sophie from Sophie Junction

Janet from Whispers of Yore


 Tina

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