Thesaurus Fat Quarter Bundle and Riley Blake Bolt End Basics - Giveaway

Hey everybody, it's one of the best days of the year - Sew, Mama, Sew! Giveaway Day! For the next four days, use the links on the Sew, Mama, Sew! web site to discover sewing blogs and enter to win some serious swag.

I'm pleased to offer two different bundles of fabric goodness this time around. The first is a Thomas Knauer Thesaurus fat quarter (18" x 22") bundle by Andover.

The bundle includes 8 fat quarters, for a total of 2 yards of prints in lovely greens, blues, and browns.

My second giveaway bundle was inspired by a fit on spring cleaning that hit over the weekend. The fact is, my pile of bolt ends/remnants from my online shop is overflowing and something must be done.

This bundle includes a piece of Riley Blake Designs' small chevrons, small dots, and solid quilting cotton in both navy and gray. The size of each piece varies, but the winner will receive a total of 2 yards. These fabrics are great for patchwork quilts, applique, or simply stash building. Thank you in advance for helping me clear out some much needed space.

Please use Rafflecopter to enter. I know not everybody loves it, but it sure makes life easier for us giveaway bloggers. You've got up to six ways to enter the giveaway. The easiest is to leave a comment with the answer to this question:

What is your favorite thing to sew?

a Rafflecopter giveaway




Now for the fine print. This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. You must enter by May 16 at 5 p.m. PST. I'll contact you by May 18 if you're the winner, and fabric bundles will be shipped by May 20th. Two winners will be chosen at random.

Thank you in advance to new blog and social media followers. You absolutely make my day!

-Annik

P.S. Good luck with all your giveaway entries! I hope you win something great.

Catching Up

[Cue sheepish wave] Hi. Remember me? I used to blog here, but eek,  it's been months since my last post. I have no excuse other than writer's block and a growing online fabric shop.

What have I been up to? Not much sewing or quilting, although I did manage to make a little ruffle skirt for my daughter for her 4th birthday.

I used fabrics from Denyse Schmidt's first line for Joann's for the ruffle skirts. The bow is the world's best dot fabric from Lecien, which you can find here in my shop. The pattern is called Rimpsukka and it's from the Winter 6/2011 issue of Ottobre Design.

Here's my girl at preschool on Valentine's Day sporting her new skirt:

The other thing I've been working on lately, between cutting fabric orders, is writing quilt patterns. I have one pattern in the testing phase, plus several more in progress. I'm anxious to show them all to you, but they just aren't quite ready yet. 

This quilt has been getting a lot of love on Pinterest lately, so I'm writing it up, too. I'll have the pdf pattern for sale in my Etsy shop soon. It's easy peasy.

Finally, I'm working on a new tutorial for the blog all about how to work with Riley Blake chevron fabrics, so stay tuned.

Snow is in the forecast this weekend and I can't wait. Here's a photo from our last snow fall on Valentine's Day. It was beyond gorgeous. My little camera just couldn't capture the magic so you'll just have to take my word for it ;)

Happy sewing!
-Annik

A quick update

Today I've been working on my guest post for the Minneapolis Modern Quilt Guild blog, including phone interviews (aren't you intrigued??). It will be up tomorrow, but in the meantime, here's a smattering of what I've been up to lately.

My son, Paul, who is 7 and has great taste in fabric ;), has been begging me to make him something with the Riley Blake navy tone on tone chevrons.

I suggested a tie but he said it wouldn't fit into his wardrobe. After going around and around we agreed on a pillow. I whipped this up in about 20 minutes. He's happy. I'm happy.

Not the best photo. The sun refused to shine today :(

Remember these little postage stamp mini quilts I was working on a few weeks ago?

Now they look like this:

Finally, I've been invited to participate in an in-home holiday boutique a week from tonight. Yippee! I've made 9 infinity scarves and I'm working on a stack of cloth napkins for kids. I'm hoping to get a baby quilt or two done, too. Hubby says I should whip up a few chevron pillows after seeing the one I made for Paul. Perhaps that's not a bad idea.

This week is going to be busy, but not too busy to watch the latest episode of Project Runway All Stars, so I'm outta here.

Happy sewing!

-Annik

I'm Cuckoo for Kokka

The UPS truck arrived earlier this week and dropped off not one, but two boxes of delicious new fabrics. I squealed with joy upon opening the box of Kokka goodies.

My absolute favorite - Union Jack Hello Kitty. You can find it in my Etsy shop in fat quarter, half yard, and by the yard increments.

Here's a rather sad photo of this fabric in action at International Quilt Market this past spring in Kansas City. It's fair to say I went a tiny bit berserk when I saw these prints - just ask my pal Lisa.

This is a tote bag I made for myself using this fab fabric. I call it my "midlife crisis bag." It's okay that I like Hello Kitty more than my 3 year old daughter, right??

Next up, this amazing fabric designed by Dutch Door Press - two letterpress designers from San Francisco - featuring a plethora of Scandinavian and Dutch motifs, including dala horses, windmills, a sweet couple, love birds, and stylized flowers.

Here's the print in action at Quilt Market. Isn't it darling?

I liked this print so much I ordered it in two different colorways. Tangerine, lime, and magenta. Gorgeous!

The Hello Kitty print is 100% lightweight cotton canvas. Perfect for bags and pillows, and clothing (Hello Kitty trousers, anyone?). The Dutch Door Press fabrics are printed on Kokka's signature 85% cotton/15% linen natural canvas. These are also great for home decor projects and accessories. They're both listed in my shop in fat quarter, half yard, and by the yard increments in the Kokka/Japanese Fabrics section.

I'll save you the the full version long story, but when I was a small child my family used to visit a town called Lindsborg in Kansas. There was a store there that sold Swedish textiles - rolls and rolls of them all hanging on the wall. Here is one that my mom probably bought for my grandmother. When my grandma passed away many years ago, I brought this piece home (this is just a small section of it - it's table runner length). It sat on her dresser and still smells of the powder she wore.

I think part of the reason why I love the Dutch Door Press prints so much is because they remind me of childhood, my grandmother, and our family visits to Lindsborg, KS. Well, and they're also just darn cute.

Finally, here's what arrived from Riley Blake Designs. I'm still waiting (ordered over a month ago) on many bolts of chevrons. In the meantime, I've got loads of RB dots. The small dots are great for quilts and kids' clothes. Let me know if you need a dot fix. I can hook you up ;-)

Happy sewing!
-Annik

KCWC

Today is the first day of Kids Clothes Week Challenge. Have you signed up yet? The idea is to spend an hour a day for 7 days sewing kids' clothes. I'm usually terrible about joining these kinds of things, but this year I'm in!

I've already got two pairs of little girl pants cut out. Stacks of knits and corduroys are washed and waiting.

Ottobre Design, also known as kids' pattern bliss!

Here are a couple of dresses I made for my daughter earlier this year using Ottobre Design patterns:

It's a bit cold for these now. Time to sew some fall/winter-friendly clothes. My goal for this week is to make my sweetie a knit dress, leggings, at least one pair of stretch corduroy pants, a corduroy jacket lined with a wool knit, and at least one pair of pants for each of my two boys. Can I do it? An hour of sewing a day just might do the trick! Are you in? What are you making?

Thanks to Meg of Elsie Marley for the kick in the seat of the pants. Now it's time to thread the serger...

Happy sewing!
-Annik