Christmas Quiltalong Post 1

 

It's Christmas Quiltalong day.  Hurrah.  Don't forget to hurry over to Cathi to sign up as she's our host today.

I think it might be a bit quiet as I know that 3 (and maybe 4) of our regulars from the UK are all at the Festival of Quilts today.  I'm not jealous at all!

Still, to get the rest of us in the mood, here's a little music to enjoy.

Whoohoo ...

... I've been reviewed!

I was on the Amazon site just now, and saw that someone has written a review of my book.  I was so excited.  (Yes, it was a good review too.)

What day is it ...

... on Saturday?  Well here's a clue:

Yes.  It's Christmas Quiltalong time again, so, get out your Christmas projects, put something yummy in your slow-cooker and come and join us for the day.  Cathi will be our host this month, and she will have the next instalment of our Scatty Christmas Stars quilt for you.

See you there.

Calling all Wantobe Quilters ...

... did you know that today you could win a new Janome sewing machine?  Just click on the gold button on my sidebar to go to Sew We Quilt to enter.

 

Don't forget you do need to be registered with someone (me preferably!) who is displaying this button.  If you're not already registered  you can read about this campaign here

I have a question …

... how big should it be? 

How big should WHAT be?  A table topper or a runner, that's what.

I want to make either a topper or a runner as a gift for someone, and just can't decide what is a good size.  I've been looking on the internet and have found so many different answers now that I'm getting confused.

Can any one help?

I entered …

… this quilt

which a lot of you have seen before and which is called Leaves Around the Cabins (hmm, I wonder why I called it that?), in this week’s themed contest on the Quilting Gallery website.  They have a theme every week, and anyone can go and vote for their favourite quilts.  The one with the most votes wins a prize.  I like prizes, so I entered this week.  If you would like to go and see a great selection of quilts on the theme of log-cabins, and then vote, (maybe even for mine), then you can do so here.  There is also a wonderful quilt called Log Cabins and Fans by Mary Lou Casada, which was quilted by my friend Mary, which you absolutely must have a look at. 

 

 Here's a closer picture to show (off) the quilting on it.

Saving money ...

.. yesterday I went shopping with my father.

He bought several things in multi-packs or larger than usual sizes cos they were a lot cheaper, so his bill was quite a bit higher than usual.  It really amused us that he'd spent a lot to save a little.  Now where's the logic in that we had to ask ourselves.

It's huge, with wonderful prizes ...

What is?

I think I may have confused a few people when I first wrote about this, cos I have had some questions, so I'm now going to try and make it a bit clearer.

First of all, this is open to EVERYONE whether you are a wantobe or an experienced quilter.  There are some fantastic prizes to be given away, every day from August 1st for 90 days!!!

What do you have to do to be eligible to win:

There are 3 steps you need to take:

1. just send me (or any other blogger who has the button above on their blog) your name, address and email 

2. be(come) a follower of the blog where you have registered 

3. be(come) a follower of Sew We Quilt.

How can you win?

 1. If you are a Wantobe quilter, you can go to Sew We Quilt every Monday, Wednesday or Friday and leave a comment but please also say Sue from Quilt Times (or Freda from the blog where you registered) sent me  That way, if you win, I win a prize too.

2. If you are an Experienced quilter, you can go to Sew We Quilt on Tuesdays and Thursdays to leave your comment, also saying who sent you.

Of course, you don't have to go and leave a comment every day, but if you don't comment one day, you can't win the prize that's being given away that day.

The only other thing I think I need to add is that if you are one of the lucky winners, you will be responsible for the shipping  costs.  After all, the prizes have all been sent to Mme Samm already, and we can't expect her to pay for the shipping costs can we?

I hope that's clearer now?  So, if you want to register with me, please send me an email at sue.abrey3@gmail.com and I will add your name to my list, which will then be passed to Mme Samm, (and to no-one else) the organiser of this wonderful campaign.  

Pheww …

… that was close.

After making this, 

I also made the binding, and look how much (or rather, how little) binding fabric I had left

Yesterday …

... I spent a wonderful day with some friends.  
I met J on our fabulous train holiday in April, and it turns out that she really wanted to learn about quilting.  Well, she lived fairly near me, so what's a quilter to do? We've met up a couple of times since, together with another friend of hers who also wanted to learn.  They are both naturals if you ask me. 
This is J’s first ever block, which she made, quilted and bound during our first play day and her second block, made after I showed them how to make half square triangles yesterday,

and this is F’s first block,

As well as a great time sewing and chatting, we had a lovely veggie pasta lunch, followed by a lemon sponge for pud.  I haven’t got pictures of the food cos we ate it all. Thank you both for a great time.
In the evening I went to a meeting of Tuesday Quilters  There was an interesting talk about liberated patchwork, but it’s not something I can see me (aka “control freak”) doing.  The group are holding a workshop on it in a couple of months, but I don’t think I’ll be going somehow.
So all in all, a wonderful, quilty day.

Wantobe Quilters wanted ...

Edited to add :
1. if you are a Wantobe Quilter, in order to win, you will need to visit Sew We Quilt @ Stash Manicure   on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays while the campaign lasts and leave a comment;
2. if you are already a quilter, you will need to visit  Sew We Quilt @ Stash Manicure on Tuesdays and Thursdays and leave a comment 

Good luck everyone - especially Me!!

Are you a WantobeQuilter?  Would you like the chance to win some awesome prizes?  Well, just read on .........

Starting on 1 August, and running for 90 days, Madamme Samm is organisng a wonderful giveaway campaign over at Sew We Quilt @ Stash Manicure .

Prizes include all sorts of wonderful things, from sewing machines to needles, mats to rotary cutters, fabric to wadding, books to magazines, in fact everything you could imagine to assist you in being a NEW Quilter.  Just look at the list of sponsors so far, isn't it mouth-wateringly amazing?

 

So, if you would like a chance to win in this wonderful campaign, all you have to do is send me an email at this address with your name, address and email address, which I will then submit to the organizer.  This will not be shared with anyone else.  Then, if you win anything, I win something too.  If you want any more information, simply click on the WantToBeQuilter button on my sidebar.

The only other thing you need to do is to be a follower here, and over at  Sew We Quilt @ Stash Manicure.  

Just a couple of bits of small print: you will not be eligible to win anything if you do not register with a blogger where you see this message and any winner will be responsible for paying the shipping costs of their prize.

We have a winner ...

...  It was time to draw the number, so I asked Mr Random.org to choose, and this is the result

and number 54 is Shelley, who said

Nice book! I love fabrics by Three Sisters so I would use:
Grace Winter blossom natural
Grace Berries Cocoa
Grace Berries Ivory
Grace Paisley Rose Dark Green

Thank you so much everyone who entered and helped me celebrate, and thank you once again to 1Choice4Quilting for so generously sponsoring this giveaway.

Don't you just hate it ...

.. when you spend hours working on something, then you hit delete instead of save?

Don't forget, my giveaway for $50 gift certificate from 1Choice4Quilting is still open.  Just go here to enter..

Ooooohhhh (and giveaway update) …

 This giveaway is now closed.  You can see who the lucky winner is here
… look what Postman Pat just brought me

         

24 copies of my book.  I am so excited - could you tell?  

To celebrate, I have decided to keep the giveaway  for a $50 gift certificate from 1Choice4Quilting open until the end of this week, so I will close it at midnight on Friday 22 July and announce the winner on Saturday.  To enter the giveaway you need to go to 1Choice4Quilting and choose the four fabrics you would use to make the quilt on the cover and then leave a comment here, telling me which four you would choose.

Giveaway note ...

... I meant to say in my Celebration Giveaway post yesterday, that if you have trouble with Blogger when trying to leave a comment, just send me an email privately and I will include you.  You will find my email address by going to my profile and click on the email link there.

Celebration Giveaway

This giveaway is now closed.  You can see who the lucky winner is here

Woohoo, today is the day my book is available in the US.  Now I'm determined that this won't be allowed to change my lifestyle at all, but I do want to celebrate, so I'm having a giveaway. 

So, what do you have to do to win?  I would like you to look at the quilt on the cover of the book, then go to 1Choice4Quilting, here and decide which four fabrics you would pick if you were making this quilt, then come back here and leave me a comment telling me your choices.  When you leave your comment PLEASE make sure I can get in touch with you if you are the wiunner.  If you don't have a blog, or are a no-reply or anonymous blogger, please leave an email address.  You can email that to me privately if you don't want to leave it publicly.

Now I expect you want to know what you could win don't you?  Shawna from 1Choice4Quilting wanted to help me celebrate, so she has very generously donated a $50 gift certificate valid in her shop.

I will close the giveaway at midnight (BST) next Tuesday, 19 July, use the random generator to draw a winner, and announce the name of the lucky person on Wednesday morning.

Quebee's QAL

This is what I have been working on for Qubee's Christmas Quiltalong, which he held yesterday.

Due to time differences, I didn't get much done yesterday, but have got this far today.  I was planning to sandwich, quilt and bind it this evening, but there was a slight technical hitch.  I forgot to buy some backing fabric!!

Christmas QAL Post 6...

... We all like the word "free" don't we?

So I've spent some time online, looking for some free Christmas quilting projects.  These range from placemats to quilts and from traditional piecing to applique.  Have a look at some of them if you're looking for some Christmas inspiration.


Santa's Coming table runner
Santa wallhanging
Christmas Star wallhanging
Jingle Bells wallhanging
Silent Night wallhanging
Advent calendar
Star quilt
Christmas Stocking quilt block
Christmas Wonderland tablerunner and placemats
Stars all Around tree skirt
Placemats
Candy Cane Lane quilt
Oh Christmas Tree! quilt
Starry Eyed quilt
Table Topper
Peppermint Swirl pincushion
Personalized placemats
Christmas Packages quilt

I actually found loads more, but thought this was a good list to start with.  I hope some of you might find some inspiration from these projects.

Now I'm signing off for the night as it's almost 9.30pm.  Thanks so much everyone for coming to the party, and I hope we'll see you all again next month.

Don't forget, tomorrow Charlie is hosting his QAL, so maybe I'll see some of you there?

Christmas QAL Post 5

OK, I’m going to try using Live Writer to show you my work today.

So far so good.  Now all I have to do is persuade Blogger to let me show you.

Christmas QAL Post 4

Well I was going to show you photos of what I've been doing today, but Blogger thought otherwise.  I have cut the fabric for about 60 blocks for a new quilt, thenI've been stitching redwork snowmen.  I'll try again in a while.  I'm also having trouble leaving comments on your blogs, so if you're thinking I'm quiet, please excuse me.

Message for "Anonymous"

We are interrupting this programme to bring you an urgent message.

Someone left a message on a previous post to ask if she's locked out of the Quilt Alongs as she doesn't have an web/blog address.  Unfortunately, she is also a no-reply person, so I can't reply.  Please, if it was you, could you send me an email with your email address, so I can get back to you?

Christmas QAL Post 3

So just why did I call yesterday's post "Deck the Halls"?

 I got to thinking (dangerous thing, that) and I started wondering how everyone decorates their houses for Christmas?

Indoors I go fairly minimalist.  I have a big artificial tree in the conservatory, which I just have lights on.  I put a small fibre-optic tree in the living room in the bay window, and put my angels and my gingerbread men candle holders out and that's about it.  I have never been that keen on decorated trees, but I do love them with just lights on.  In the UK people have only recently started decorating the outside of their houses, and I do have some tiny little pre-lit trees that I sometimes put along the path to the front door.  I also used to put some lights over a couple of bushes in the front garden.   Last year we dug them up though, so I had to find somewhere else to put those.  For some reason Mr Fixit refused stand outside with them draped tastefully over him.

My sister, on the other hand, also loves her Christmas tree, so she puts hers up by the end of October and doesn't take it down again till about February. She also has lots of decorations on the tree and tinsel, etc over every surface.

So that's how we decorate.  How about everyone else?  Do you go for the full monte, ie trees and lights etc in every room?  Do you decorate outside as well as in?  I'd love to know.

Christmas QAL Post 2

I saw this online the other day, and just thought it was great.

Come to think of it, can anyone, Santa included, explain how come some people can leave comments on my blog and others can't?  Also, where are my followers today?  They've all gone off to a Christmas party without me I reckon.

Christmas QAL Post 1

I've found the Christmas music.

I've got the Christmas candles out.

I've got my projects ready for the day

I've got some Christmas brownies baking in the oven.

The Linky-thingy is set up on the Christmas Quiltalong page so please fill that in so we know who's here today.

I think I'm ready for our Christmas Quiltalong weekend.

What about you?

Deck the Halls ....

.... hmm, wonder why I used that as the title for this post?  Any ideas anyone?

From Millan.Net

For a Christmas-Quiltalong-filled weekend?
Don't forget, I'm your hostess on Saturday, and Charlie is hosting on Sunday.

Test

 

Blogger won’t let me in to my own blog at the moment and I keep getting a message saying that Blogger doesn’t exist. 

What? 

How have I been writing posts for the last couple of years? 

Perhaps I don’t really exist? 

Am I a figment of my own imagination?

I’m trying this using Live Writer to see what happens.  I hope I can get it to work before the Christmas Quiltalong starts tomorrow.

To all my American friends ...

Have a great day.

From Millan.Net

I just thought I’d remind you …

--- it’s just a week until Christmas Quiltalong weekend.

Are you ready?

I am, so I’ll see you there.

The other night ...

... I did something I haven't done for many, many years.  It was good fun, and I had a great time.  So what was I doing?  I was colouring in with kids wax crayons, look

I went to Tuesday Quilters, where my friend Quilthaze was demonstrating how to make these fabric postcards.  The colours are brighter in real life, but as you can see, I went for the quiet, subtle look with mine.

Calling all quilters ...

... do you know someone who is just starting out or who wants to start on the quilting journey?  Well you could help them to win all the equipment they'll ever need.  Just click on the button on my sidebar for more information.  I am reliably informed that the prizes are going to be just wonderful. 

All the details will be posted on Sew We Quilt @ Stash Manicure in a month's time.  I'm not going to tell you that apparently you could win too just for nominating someone else, cos that will mean there's less chance that I might win!

(PS this is going to be open to anyone, whether you live in the US, UK or on the moon, but we overseas entrants will have to pay the shipping for our prizes, which seems fair enough to me.)

In the words of Victor Meldrew …

I don’t beleeeeve it.

I’ll try again…

Not to be defeated by Blooming Blogger, I’m trying to use software called LiveWriter to do this post with photos.

I wanted to show you some of the great mail I’ve received recently, so, here goes:

Every month one of the blogs I follow, Quixotic Crafter has a giveaway, and I have been lucky enough to win in May and June.  In May, Susan sent me this cute scissor bling, and in June I received the pattern for these cute flowers.  Thank you so much Susan, I really love them both.

Early in May I entered my name on many blogs to try and win a copy of this magazine:

and I won one of the copies.  When it arrived a couple of days ago, the scissors in the photo were also included.  I thank the editor of Quiltmaker for sending me these.

As you know, I am planning to join Charlie's quiltalong on Sunday 10 July, and here is the fabric I ordered from 1choice4quilting:

This was so quick, it arrived in 6 days, which is amazing for a package from the US.  When I opened it, I loved the fabrics, but there were other things included as little gifts.  There was a great emery board, with quilt patterns on, which I love; there were some quilt labels and a pair of scissors, which were not in the photo cos they were actually being used at the time, and a thank you card from Shawna.  What?  Shouldn’t it be me thanking her?  Anyway, it really made the package special, so thank you so much Shawna.

Now I’m off to put my feet up.  It’s 9pm and I’m exhausted from all the tennis today!

Grrr....

.... I was planning to show photos today of things I have received in the post recently.  Blogger thinks otherwise and won't let me upload anything.

So I'm going back to watch Wimbledon.  Come on Andy Murray!!!

Re-inventing the wheel ...

I decided I didn't like the stars I was doing for the Scatty Christmas Stars quilt, so I'm remaking them on a cream background, and the other fabrics will be much more muted than I originally intended too.  I obviously have too much time on my hands, if I decide to remake 10 blocks.  Either that or I'm mad.

Now for some fun news.  During the last Christmas quiltalong I was contacted by Charlie from Qubee Quilts, who wanted to join in but who works every Saturday.  To cut a long story short, he is now going to run a quiltalong on the day after our July one, ie Sunday, 10 July.  He has a super quilt design for us, and will be posting all the instructions to make this quilt over the course of the day, so instead of just locking up the family for one day, in July you will need to lock them away for the weekend.  (Food and water might be advisable in the room where you put them.)  Here is the quilt that Charlie has designed for us

and you can go here for the fabric requirements.  I have to tell you that I have already ordered mine to be sure they arrive in time.  I have also put Charlie's button on my sidebar so you can click it and go directly to his blog.

I hope you'll join us and make a weekend of it!

Come in number 5 ....

.... oh no, you're thinking.  What IS she on about now? 

Well, I'll tell you. 

On Saturday, during the quiltalong, I told you that I would draw a winner from amongst the people who joined the party.  Furthermore, I promised to draw the winner and tell you about it on Monday.  So I'm a day or so late.  Yeah, OK, I'm four days late.  But you know what they say?  Better late than never. 

So, according to Mr Random.Org, the winner is number 5

and number 5 is Sharon from Vroomans Quilts.

What service ....

... I wanted to order a couple of charm packs and some co-ordinationg fabrics today.  I found what I thought I wanted from an on-line shop called 1choice4quilting, but it was difficult to be sure whether brown or black fabric would go with them, and also which cream background would work best.

So, with one heck of a cheek, I emailed Shawna (who is the owner) at about 3.30 this afternoon,  to ask her if she could choose these 2 fabrics for me.  Within an hour, after a few emails going back and forth, she had sorted it all out for me.  She was a delight to deal with, and I just wanted to say thank you so much Shawna.  I'm always ready to complain if I don't think I'm getting good service, so it's only fair that I also give praise where it's due.

The price are great too, and I suggest that next time you are looking for anything, you go and have a look at 1choice4quilting's website here. 

I've just also had an email to say that my fabrics are on their way to me already, 3 hours from my first contact with Shawna.  So that's what I call brilliant service.

Thank you and a message for Malmur ...

... so much everybody who has taken the time to try and help me with my lost snowmen.  Several of you are no-reply bloggers, so I have not been able to reply by email to thank you.

Also, Mal, please would you contact me again about the Christmas Quiltalong, as your email was also a no-reply, so I haven't been able to answer you.

Help please ...

... I have a problem. 

Yes, thank you, you at the back there, stop giggling.  As you know I have this inexplicable urge to do some redwork ad you were all so helpful with my previous questions that I thought I'd ask you this.  I am sure that last year there were loads of people stitching away at snowmen, which were being offered as free BOM type patterns, but now I can't find anything on any blogs.  Am I going mad?  Can anyone help me please?

Here it is ...

...the centre of  my Christmas Wreaths quilt.  It still needs the borders, which I hope to put on tomorrow, but I love it so far.

Found them!!!

... My missing strips were all hiding from me.  They were on the floor, behind my sewing cabinet.  I blame the cat personally.  She's not ours, she's a lodger who is with us while Mr & Mrs Nomad completely renovate their new house before they move in.

So this is what they've turned into now.  I'm off to press them and then sew them altogether now.  Hopefuly I'll get that done in the next hour, then I can post again and show you the complete centre.