TGIFF Sept. 29, 2017

Hi and welcome to my blog. If you are a new reader I would love for you to folow me. I have my blog, my Facebook, and Instagram.

Today I want to share a quilt that was fun to make, but that I also tried something different with. 

This quilt is one that will be absolutely perfect in the coming months with the cold weather ahead. I had heard of people backing a quilt with fleece. I decided to give it a try. I did some researching and found that opinions varied as to whether or not I should use batting. I decided to.  So I loaded it on my frame. 

I put the selvage edges going across the width of the frame. Then I layered my batting, I used warm and natural, and then put my top on.  I used a variegated blue thread. Everything for this quilt came from my stash.  

I did feathers and leaves.  Not everything is perfect, but that is okay. 

The quilt is almost ready for using. I work full time and we are on huge overtime. At least I get to sew at my job.   So, please link up your finishes. I would love to see what you have been doing. 

Please leave a comment, I love to hear what you are doing. I read them all and I do try to reply. I recently learned that it is best to reply via email, so that is how I will respond. 

Making Connections A free motion quilting workbook

I have been having so much fun doing blog Hops and learning new things. Today, I get to share with you a fun new book. Dorie Hruska is an award winning long arm Quilter and teacher. This book is fabulous.  It is called Making Connections - A free motion workbook.

It is really written for all Quilter's whether you are a newbie or have been quilting for a while, and whether you quilt on a domestic machine or a long arm.

Dorie takes you through, step by step, building on continuous curves, and sharing ideas for things you can do.   I have a bunch of ideas going through my head for some quilts I will be quilting.

So, let me share with you a couple of things I have tried.

This one I did some curves in the squares and threw in some swirls.  I used a pink thread, not sure of the brand, but I love how it turned out.  I am going to turn this into a throw pillow cover.

This is a view of the back. My quilting is not perfect, but I will improve. This was done on my viking Lily 550.

After doing this, I started looking for more orphan blocks that I could quilt and turn into throw pillow covers. I knew I didn't have time to get a bigger project done.  So, I found this block, and got thinking about how fun it would be to quilt some rectangles.

I took some King Tutorial thread by Superior Threads  that was a variegated and did the same design that I did previously.  I did find that sometimes I got mixed up in what way to do my swirls, but it worked.

Dorie suggests in her book to talk your way through the quilting. That is definitely something I agree with. Also, one of the best things about this technique is that you start and end in the same place. I can't wait to try this on my frame.

How about a giveaway?  WAIT. LET'S DO 2.   1 giveaway will be for a copy of the book, it will be either a hardcopy or an ebook, depending if you are in the U.S. or international. The 2nd, is a throw pillow cover. Either of these 2. Just leave a comment about which color you would like. In fact, I think I will do one in neutrals. So, tell me which colors you would like.  I am going to run this giveaway untilike Saturday, September 16. I will end it at 4:00 pm  MST.   I will pick the winners on Saturday evening and will message you. Please leave your
email address.  Also, I would love it if you would follow  me.

For the pillow cover it will be limited to U.S. only.

If you want to purchase a signed copy from Dorie, you can do that by going to www.forever-quilting.com or you can also get a copy, not signed, from www.ctpub.com

I want to thank Dorie and C & T publishing for this opportunity to participate in this blog hop.

Need more inspiration? Check out Aston at www.quiltingmod.com

This week I am linking up with Free motion by the River at www.conniekresin.com
And Jennifer at www.inquiringquilter.com for #wedwaitloss

Island batiks back to school blog hop

Welcome to my day on Island Batiks back to school hop. I always associated back to school with the weather cooling down, and wearing the crocheted capes and ponchos my grandmother would make for us. 

After I had kids and started homeschooling them, I found the quilts would come off of their beds and be used for wrapping in as they did their school work. It was nothing to find us wrapped in nice soft quilts as we were sitting there reading classic literature. 

The fabric that I get to share with you today, is called lotus blooms. I love it. The purples, blues, greens and pinks. All are favorite colors. As I looked at this fabric, I knew the pattern is choose to make would need to really show it off. I had been working on a metro medallion quilt by Sew Kind of wonderful and really loved their patterns. So, I started looking through them and found metro twist, and knew that was the one I wanted to do.

I had hoped to have the top all the way done, but I have been working long hours at work. So, I would sit and handpiece during my lunch break.

I would sit outside at a picnic table and see howhat fast I could stitch.  Then once I got home, if I had a few minutes, I would do as much on my sewing machine as I could. 

I am really liking how this quilt is turning out. 

I really wanted another picture outside,  but I looked out and it was dark. I will have this top finished by the 29th  which is the last day of the hop. So, please join me then.  I would love it if you would follow me. 

Now, for the fun stuff. Island Batik is giving away 3 fat quarter bundles, so click on the link below for that. 

https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/511f5ed418/

Please join my friends for the back to school hop. You can find the link at

http://www.islandbatik.com/news/index.php/back-to-school-blog-hop-with-the-island-batik-ambassadors/

I am giving away 2 1/2" strips of fabric from this collection and a roll of stash builders (5" wide x 45").  For this giveaway  U.S. residents only. All you have to do is comment below about a favorite subject in school.  I had 2. 1 was home economicso and the other was marching band.  Then for a second chance in the drawing, comment how you follow me. I love comments. I read them all, and I try to respond as quickly as I can. This contest is open until 8:00 am mountain time September 30, 2017.

One last thing. I have a very special offer for you. I have teamed up with my friends from Sew Kind of Wonderful for a special offer.  From now until the 29th of September,  you can purchase the Metro Twist Pattern and the Quick Curve Ruler at a 20% Discount. Just use the code "Connections20off" at checkout. I really appreciate them doing this for my readers.

Thanks for joining me. I have a fun blog hop on Thursday as well,  so please join me then. 

3. Count them 3. 3 blog Hops coming your way

There is a 2 letter word, that I swear is not in my vocabulary. Maybe I need to be a 2 year old again to learn it. But, there is a 3 letter word that seems to come out of my mouth a lot. Have you guessed them?   The 2 letter word is "NO". The 3 letter word? You guessed it "YES".

In all actuality, sometimes I do say no.  I like to stay busy and I like to learn new things. In learning new things, I am participating in 3 fun upcoming blog Hops. 

The first one starts on Monday September 4th, and ends on the 29th. It is an Island Batik hop. Each Ambassador was sent  a box of fabric in February. 1 bundle had to be kept secret until now. There are lots of fun prizes to be given away.
You can follow all the ambassadors by going to Island Batiks blog at www.islandbatik.com and clicking on "blog"

My day to share mine is September  12th. I will be sharing a fun quilt I am making.  This is just a sneak peek of what I am doing.

There is another one that starts the same day. My friend Dorie Hruska of www.forever-quilting.com has written a fun new book called Making Connections, which is about free motion quilting.

Remember, I said I like to learn, right?  I am lucky to have friends who write these books so we can all learn.  The complete schedule for this hop can be found at www.forever-quilting.com or at www.ctpub.com/blog. Each stop on the hop will be giving away a copy of the book. For U.S. residents you get a hard copy of the book and international residents get an ebooknow. My day to share about this book is September 14th. And I just might be giving an additional 1 or 2 items away.

The last one starts Tuesday, September 5th, answer posts will be Tuesdays and Thursdays and goes into October. Oh my word, there are tons of fun prizes. This one is a Christmas Carol row along.

 Each of the designers had to design a row based on a Christmas Carolist. I will be posting my row on October 3rd. You can go to my frieND Marian's blog at www.seamstobesew.com/blog for a schedule, beginning Tuesday, September 5th.  You definitely want to visit each blog, as each person will be giving a free pattern and each of us will have prizes to give away.


I just wanted to make sure my readers and followers knew about these blog Hops. I love doing them.

As always,  I love your comments. I read them al, and try to respond as quickly as I can. So, enjoy your day, and it is time for me to get back to my sewing, so I can have projects ready to share. So tata for now.