Tula Pink Giveaway Winner

I just love this little froggy - he's so expressive!

I should have done this yesterday, but I just wasn't feeling bloggy.  I woke up yesterday morning and remembered that I was supposed to attend a baby shower and hadn't made the gift.  So I started a project... that took way longer than I thought.  I ended up giving the mommy-to-be a card and a promise, so she will get her gift today.

Anyway, I'm here today bright and early to announce the winner of the Quilts From the House of Tula Pink book and charm pack (BTW:  did you see BD#1's post on Quilt Market where she met the fabulous Tula?)

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

8 

Timestamp: 2013-05-26 13:27:32 UTC

 I thought it was so cool that it was such an early commenter this time...  Anyway, #8 was

8. Joyce  May 17, 2013 at 11:17 AM

I am a follower!

Congratulations, Joyce.  I'm off to email you.  And thanks also to Joyce and everyone else who follows this little blog.  I hope you find something useful or inspiring here from time to time.

Quick Gift Idea

 The 400th Post/Tula Pink giveaway is here, and ends today at 5:00 pm Central Time.

The other day I met my friend for a little fabric shopping/dinner adventure, and I wanted to make her a little gift.  She loves Tula Pink - and in fact I'm making a Neptune/Prince Charming quilt top for her - so I decided to make a little fabric basket from the selvages and some leftover linen from my Scavenger Bag.

This little basket is super easy to make.  I used the Pink Penguin tutorial.  Instead of using the 2" squares she used in her tutorial, I took 6" strips of selvage and sewed them together, then cut them in half and mix/matched them, and sewed them on in the same manner Ayumi did, then quilted and constructed the basket.  It is a fairly easy project, and takes about an hour.

I {over}stuffed it with a few little things from my stash.  I was glad I did, because she brought me a whole bag full of fabric, including some Lila Tueller Bohemian Festival jelly roll strips and pieces of layer cake I've been coveting.  I know exactly what I'm going to do with it, which is really quite rare for me.

I've made a couple of similar baskets.  This one from LouLouThi by Anna Maria Horner.

And this little one with handles is from LouLouThi as well.

So, if you need a quick gift for someone, this could work for you.  Have fun!

400th Post Giveaway - Quilts From the House of Tula Pink

This is my 400th blog post, a fact which amazes me no end.  When I started this blog, I NEVER, E-V-E-R thought that I would really blog - you know, actually write in this forum.  Regularly write.

I really started the blog just to be able to see - and comment on - pictures of my grandchildren (gratuitous photos of grandchildren inserted here), which you know is almost as necessary as breathing, if you're a Grandma.  But once again, I digress...

I have decided to honor the occasion with a giveaway.  I really like doing giveaways.  I love reading the comments I receive.  It's so fun.  I try to answer every one, although sometimes its kind of daunting, and I know that in past giveaways I have missed a few.

So, to celebrate my 400th blog post, I am giving away Tula Pink's book Quilts From the House of Tula Pink and a charm pack of the remaining prints I have of Prince Charming.

I regret that this won't be a complete set of the fabrics in the line, as I have used and/or given away a few of them.  But there is a respectable selection remaining in my stash, and I want you to have something to work with when you get the book. 

You can see that I've used this particular fabric a lot.

So, what do you have to do to win this little gift?  You have up to four chances to win:

1. Just leave a comment here and tell me about a project that's on your quilting bucket list, and why.  Or tell me about a project you are currently working on.  That's all - you will be entered in the giveaway.
2.  If you are - or become - a follower, you get a second entry.
3.  LIKE my Facebook page, or if you have already done so, just leave a comment on my FB page and then come back here to enter. 
4.  Use your favorite social media to tell your friends about my giveaway - blog, Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, etc., then come back here and let me know.

This giveaway will be open until midnight Central time on Friday, May 24.  I will post the winner on my blog by Sunday, May 26.  Please be sure you are not a no-reply blogger.  I will immediately choose another winner if I don't have your email address.

Thanks for visiting - and good luck!

"Prince Charming" Double Hexie Pillows

We all know I simply have no self control when it comes to swaps, but I really love how they stimulate the creative process for me.  While I have received some totally fab-u-lous gifts in swaps, they are not the reason I participate.  I love to try new things and make something that {I hope} will please my partner.  Without the inspiration of the swap, and making things for new people each time, I doubt I would ever try anything new.

For this project, my partner suggested a palette that is not-quite my usual style. I was really stumped until I remembered that I had this Tula Pink Prince Charming bundle sitting on the shelf that I purchased - and used quite a lot - in 2011.  In fact, I made my son pillows from it that year.

The pattern was inspired by this tutorial from Kerri and from this pattern by Jaybird Quilts. 

Be sure if you try it that you are using a 60-degree equilateral triangle template.  Yes, I made a huge mistake and had to re-cut all the triangles.  Boo.  It was a lot of extra work, but the pillow turned out OK in the end.  In fact, I kind of like the fact that the inside hexagon is smaller than the outside, but it wasn't planned that way.  LOL

I had a couple of blocks left over so for the "extra" item, I made this little hexi-ish scrap basket.  If I was to do it again, I would make the inserts more rectangular than triangular, and make it a little bigger.  It is a mere 5-inches in diameter, so it is small, but deep.  Still, it would work very well in my sewing space, which is very cramped (to say the least).

So there you have it - one more swap completed with the hope that it is something my partner will really enjoy.

One Last Block

This is the first month of the Sew Fun Bee S-e-w - & - B-e-e - H-a-p-p-y bee (Sheesh, are these bee names really alike, or what - no wonder I'm confused!) and Cindy was the first to be Queen.  She chose the Stargazing block which was really fun to make once I realized I wasn't clever enough to use different fabrics for each point of the star.  You have to follow the directions, though, or you and your seam ripper will get to become even better acquainted.

Cindy really wanted two blocks, but I didn't have time to make another stargazing block (these little guys get to go all the way to Ireland), so I decided to do the next best thing - I made her a simple wonky star block from some scraps in the scrap bin.  This Erin McMorris fabric always makes me smile. 

Funny, I had this block already made when she said her quilt needed more orange.  Too cool.

Cindy, I hope you like them! 

In other news, I'm playing along in craftytammie's shades of gray charm swap but I mis-read the instructions where she said she wanted them in the mail by January 15th so that she could mail them back by the 31st - I thought she wanted them mailed by the 30th.  Oops.  I felt really stupid.  I bought the fabric a couple of weeks ago, so I really didn't have any excuse.  Saturday morning early I got up and chopped charms so I could get to the post office before it closed to get them in the mail.  To try to assuage my guilt, I made Tammie a little gift.  I thought this Prince Charming hexi needlebook turned out kinda cute.

I guess I really need to start paying closer attention to the details, huh?

Fun Bloggy Stuff

Hey y'all!  Did you see what my talented daughter created???  Yes, I'm the proud mama and I just have to share.  Isn't this gorgeous?  It's Tula Pink's Prince Charming which is pretty darn yummy fabric (I know.  I've been playing with it myself lately - when I'm not playing with wedding dresses...)

Anyway, want to win a charm pack of Prince Charming - or another charm pack of your choice?  Head on over to Leona's blog and leave a comment (or four).  One lucky winner will be able to choose a charm pack from BD#1's Etsy shop.

See, I told you it was fun!

Make Mine Modern

My Make Mine Modern Swap package is in the mail.  I've actually had it ready for awhile, but the mail date wasn't til the 10th.  Since BD#2 and I are sharing a car, I didn't actually mail it til Saturday.

The package actually consists of the pillow, done pieced square in a square fashion...

A little zipper pouch, that would be great for holding things like crochet hooks or seam rippers, or maybe even a little travel sewing kit...

A little embroidered hoop...

A pinnie...

And of course, the purpose of the whole swap, 1-1/2 yards of fabric, which in this case is 6 fat quarters of Tula Pink's Prince Charming, purchased from my fave web shop, Westwood Acres.

Partner, I hope you like it!

Make Mine Modern

One of the only swaps I am involved in right now is the Make Mine Modern swap.  I love this swap.  The creativity of the participants just amazes me!  I really can't hold a candle to the other folks who participate in this swap, but I love seeing what everyone comes up with.  Each participant creates one sewing item, one "other" item, and gives their partner 1-1/2 yards of fabric.

This is the second time I've participated, and I always have a hard time deciding what to do.  This time, I only had one of the fabrics on my partner's "list" - Tula Pink's Prince Charming.  I bought a charm pack from Westwood Acres on etsy,  It's nice to be able to purchase just a little bit of these yummy fabrics to play with, especially when funds - and time - are limited right now.

Since I started with a charm pack, my options were limited as far as fussy cutting the center image, but overall, I like it. I used 9 charm squares for this pillow top.  I used a whole charm for the center and 1-1/2 inch pieces for the center motif.  The Kona green was a scrap from another project, but actually matches the green in the center.  The outer square was the rest of the charm squares I used for the center cut in 1-3/4 strips and random lengths.  I'm not really a fan of gray, but I actually like the gray in this.  There isn't much of it, but it really makes the other colors pop.  And I think the white gives it a clean, crisp look.

So, dear partner, I hope you like my creation.  I'm still thinking about what to do for your sewing item.   Hints?