Monday, September 30, 2013

Kate Spain Charm Swap!

Kate Spain is one of my very favorite fabric designers. I have just some of her lines but of course I WANT THEM ALL.

When I heard about her newest line Sunnyside a few months back I came up with the idea of hosting a Kate Spain Charm Swap.
I've been waiting and waiting for the yardage to be released so that I could make this big announcement.

From the buzz I've heard since I hinted about this early in the summer, this will certainly fill up fast so you don't want to wait to add your name to the list.

Here are the specifics:

1) This swap will be open to 54 participants plus me for a total of 56 spots. This is for all of Kate's fabric lines except for the Christmas/Holiday ones. The roll call of included lines is below.

2) Each spot is 2 Kate Spain fabrics, 1 yard of each, though you may want to purchase a slight bit more in case of any cutting mistakes you might experience.

3) Fabric must be new and unwashed and from a smoke free environment.

4) Cut your yardage into 5 inch squares (56 per yard) total = 112 charms. Press your fabric and remove the selvages before cutting. You can follow the great tutorial on how to cut your charms from yardage by Elizabeth Hartman of Oh, Frannson! found here.

5) Ship them out to me by November 7th. Put them in a Ziploc bag and include your 112 charms, an index card with your name, mailing address and email address. You must also include a SELF ADDRESSED STAMPED ENVELOPE so that your charms can be mailed back to you. I will not be billing anyone through Paypal. Unfortunately due to the cost and complexity of shipping back internationally, this swap will be for US participants only. If all goes well and there is enough interest, I'll consider doing a round 2 and include international players.

  Once I receive them all I will sort and return a stack of 112 different charms to each participant! You can sign up for more than one spot. They will be in the mail to you by the 3rd week of November or sooner, depending on how quickly I receive them from all the participants.

6) Very important!!! Please choose fabrics that have not been claimed by another swap member. Please join my Flickr group and check before purchasing fabrics to see what has already been chosen; we want to avoid duplicates. Once you have chosen your fabrics please post pictures, the Fabric line and specific print/color information to the Flickr group.

So who wants to join in on the Kate Spain frenzy?
Your Name
Mailing Address
Email Address
Phone Number (just in case)

Here is the extra exciting part of this swap....the fabulous Julie of The Intrepid Thread is offering up a 15% discount for all of the participants, not only for the Kate Spain fabrics but for your entire order. How awesome is that? When I email you and confirm that you are in the swap, I will include the secret discount code and my ship to address.

Grab the new blog button and leave a comment so I know who is participating. The code is on my side bar. Feel free to spread the news if you'd like.

Here are all the Kate Spain lines that are included in this swap. Remember, no Christmas/Holiday fabrics. Some of her older lines are a bit scarce but various prints can still be found if you do a little hunting.






So hurry up and add your name to the list. You don't want to miss out on this one.

News flash: Tuesday evening:

Hey y'all! Kate herself tweeted about this charm swap and I just saw that over on her blog The Drawing Board plus she posted it on her Facebook page.

How cool is that!

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Buried in clothes & a big announcement

No sewing is going on in this house lately. Absolutely none and that does not make me happy at all. This is what has been occupying all of my free time.
It is time again for the big semi-annual kids consignment sale. I've been sorting through all the kidlets stuff, the clothes, the toys and other things and getting it all ready to go.
First there is the sorting by gender, then by size, putting the outfit parts together, hanging them according to the requirements and then I'll be entering them all into the sale's online system. 

I've already been all through Sunshine's clothes and will finish sorting through Jammer's closet today. I only have until next Saturday to get this all done. It is a lot of work but so worth it. I typically sell about 90% of what I take to the sale.

Yes I promised to have a 350 followers giveaway and will be doing that later this week. There is something a lot more exciting starting early tomorrow morning. If you've peaked at my sidebar, you might have noticed it.

That's right! I'm hosting a Kate Spain Charm Swap. 
Sign ups will open promptly at 5 am EST on Monday so if you want in on this, you'd better be up early. Early entries before that hour will not be accepted. This will fill up fast so make sure you set your alarm so you don't miss out.

If I can make good progress before lunch I may steal an hour in my studio to sneak in a little sewing.

Stunning Stitchin Sunday


Saturday, September 28, 2013

Flights and Fantasies Quilt Show Part 2

Here are just a few more of the beautiful quilts that I saw last Saturday at the Flights and Fantasies Quilt Show at the New England Air Museum.
Making quilts from salvages is very popular and I like this one. It is different from the others that I've seen. i don't save salvages so I'd just use scraps instead.
This Bali Wedding Star quilt was one of the Viewer's Choice winners.
Another great scrappy quilt and I love the overall effect.
This one was another Judy Neimeyer design, this time the Total Eclipse pattern.
My longtime readers know that I love Halloween so of course I fell in love with this quilt.
Just gorgeous.
So much fun! And obviously so much work.
Look at all the detail.
Love, love, love the quilting.
And this quilting design too.
The use of all the negative space on this quilt is perfect.
The kitty quilt got a lot of attention and it got mine too but for different reasons than most others.
Each block was quilted with a different pattern so that is what I noticed.
The double line cross hatch is cool.
Trust me, those pebbles are really small.
Tiny, dense leaves.
Mini feathers.
Can I just say Wow on this one?
There was a small display of Dear Jane quilts and of course this is the one that got my attention the most.
And one of the very best parts of the entire day was meeting Jackie herself and getting to chat for a few minutes. She is so fun and sweet and I can't wait to take a class from her.
Although the quilt designs that she teaches intimidate me quite a lot, she made me feel that I could indeed accomplish one. Soon, very soon.

Daily Craft TV Giveaway Winner



There weren't a lot of comments for the Daily Craft TV class giveaway but it was interesting to read which class each person would have chosen. But there can only be one winner and today Mr. Random chose Samantha K.
I follow through Blovlovin'. Thanks!

Congratulations Samantha. I have emailed you. Enjoy your class.
For everyone else, go ahead and give Daily Craft TV a try. They are well worth it. 


Friday, September 27, 2013

Flights and Fantasies Quilt Show Part 1

 
Last Saturday was spent enjoying the sights of beautiful quilts amongst a fantastic setting at the Flights and Fantasies Quilt Show held at the New England Air Museum. This is the 2nd year of this show and it is the brain child of Jackie Kunkel of Canton Village Quilt Works.

My friend Alana went with me and we only had to travel 2 hours to get there. It was well worth the trip. Just as we got inside and were paying our admission, Jackie herself came out to the desk, I quickly introduced myself (I had warned her that I was coming) and she gave me a great big hug. It was the perfect way to start the day. 

We arrived just in time to see Jackie's trunk show. Yes I took a ton of pictures and I'll share with you some of the better shots. I will tell you though....seeing these quilts in person is so much better than seeing them online.
This is her Desert Sky quilt.
This one is the Christmas Celebration Tree Skirt. If I didn't already have a tree skirt that I love, I'd definitely be making one of these for myself.
I love the colors in this one. This is Jackie's Summer Solstice quilt.
And this is Judy Neimeyer's Summer Solstice quilt. It is fun to see how the fabric choices changed the finished look.
The detail in the precise points and the gorgeous quilting is just jaw dropping in this Thistle Pods quilt.
This is the first quilt we saw upon entering the quilt show. Can you say W.O.W? I'm in awe of this Mariner's Compass quilt and I dream of being able to make my own version some day.
I just had to show you some of the details.

This little heart quilt was simply adorable and I love the echo quilting.
Another really cool quilt with the color placement.
Some of the quilts were tough to get great pictures of but I still think you can get a good idea of just how wonderful they were.
This one was from Judy's A Touch of Spring pattern. I like the color selections.
I'm not into applique but I can appreciate some gorgeous work.
Very cool wedges.
Lots of bright color always catches my attention.
This is all Asian scraps and I love the effect.
Another awesome Judy Neimeyer pattern rendition.
More jaw dropping detail. Can I hope to be able to do this myself at some point?
The tri-color illusion of this one is very interesting and the color scheme reminds me so much of Danny's quilt. I have a feeling that the color combo of Red, White and Black will always do that.
The whimsical nature of this one is really appealing.
The quilting design is one that I'm going to remember for the future.
I hope you are enjoying the eye candy. Stay tuned for Part 2.