Prizes Anyone?

Would you like to win a set of Anna Maria Horner's patterns - 13 of them?





How about 11 fat quarters from Kate Spain's Cuzco line?  It's Holiday Craft Bash Finale time!

All you have to do is make something using one of the Holiday Craft Bash tutorials and add it to the Flickr group before Friday, December 21.  Two winners will be chosen on Friday to receive these amazing prizes generously provided by Anna Maria and Sewn Studio.

In case you haven't started your project yet, Meredith has kindly listed all 24 Holiday Craft Bash tutorials in one place!  Even if you don't have time to make a project this week, you should check them out - there has to be something for everyone there :)

I just want to say how much fun it has been to participate in the Holiday Craft Bash with Meredith, Jacey and Jessica.  They are so talented and creative.  A special thanks to Meredith for organizing everything and asking me to join the fun.

Good luck and Happy Holidays!

Handmade with Love

Woo hoo!  My North Pole Tree Skirt was nominated for one of the top five Home Decor tutorials Pink Chalk Studio's Handmade with Love Tutorial Contest!  Thank you Pink Chalk!

If you'd like to vote for your favorites, there are four categories:
Gifts for Friends
Gifts for Little Ones
Quilts
Home Decor

Vote here now thru December 20 - one vote per IP address allowed.

This project, and others, are available under my "Free Projects" tab underneath my blog header.

Stay tuned for an announcement of the grand prize for the finale of the Holiday Craft Bash!

WIP Wednesday

Hi all!  Such a fun and busy time of year!  I've got a few non-Christmas related deadlines coming up, but I managed to squeeze in a few other small projects as well.  I actually finished one, but the rest are still waiting,  so I thought I'd link up to Lee's WIP Wednesday.  Click over and check out all the great projects people are working on!

Late last week I tested a great new pattern for quilter Karen Neary of Sew Karen-ly Created.  The pattern is Gift Scrapped (available at Craftsy) and is a scrappy block that looks like presents with ribbons.  I made the table runner version and I hope to get it quilted soon.  I opted to position my "presents" slightly differently than the pattern, but isn't that the fun part of quilting?  The pattern also includes instructions for placemats and a lap quilt.

Over the weekend, I was lucky enough to attend one day of Quilt Camp!  This event was put together by Brenda Ratliff of Pink Castle Fabrics and included teachers Faith Jones from Fresh Lemons, Heather Jones from Olive and Ollie, Jeni Baker from In Color Order and Brenda.  Everyone had a great time!  If you missed Quilt Camp this time, Brenda has more in the works - I'm sure she'll post details on the Pink Castle Fabrics blog.

Unfortunately, I missed Faith's class due to a family conflict.  Her paper-pieced Poinsettia block was a big hit and I saw lots of wonderful versions.

Heather started us off with some improv log cabin blocks and then showed us several other options.  I love the quilt she made with cross blocks so I made a few of those.  I thought I 'd like them better than the log cabin, but not really.  They just seem a little boring - some more playing needed no doubt.  I would love to put together more of these monochromatic log cabin blocks.  If I could do one a day, I'd have a quilt full in no time!

Jeni showed us her fantastic Lined Drawstring Bag.  I chose a medium sized one to use for my laundry when I travel. Jeni's pattern includes 8 different sized bags and instructions on how to make any bag just the size you need.  These go together super fast and are such a fun way to use those prints that some of us (who, me?) might have trouble fitting into a quilt.  Jeni also suggested replacing the fabric ties with twill tape which makes a fast project even faster.  I just might have to whip up a few more of these for the holidays.

I've been resisting the hexy craze - I do love handwork and I knew I'd be hooked - and I was right!  Brenda showed us how to baste and stitch hexies and it is such fun!  If I didn't have these other deadlines, I think I'd be knee deep in hexies by now.  I haven't ordered any papers yet so that is helping to keep my mind on my other tasks.

Are you working on anything non-holiday related?

Christmas Tree Farm Winner!

Thanks to everyone who entered my Sew Mama Sew Giveaway!  It was great to read through your replies about the center of your holiday decorating.  I didn't tally the replies but, I think the tree is the centerpiece for most of you, followed closely by nativity scenes/creches.  Many of you talked about how your nativity scene was made by a family member (or yourself) and your tree ornaments have been collected over decades or generations.  So many lovely memories and traditions!

Now, on to the winner!  Mr. Random Number Generator picked "scody" who said:

I've sent "scody" an email.  Thanks to everyone for playing along - Happy Holidays!

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!

Welcome to Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!  I missed last spring's giveaway so I'm glad to be participating this time around.

If you're new here, I'm Debbie and I design and make quilts.  My style can be described as graphic, modern and minimalist.  I sell my patterns in my Etsy, Craftsy and PatternSpot shops - check them out in the sidebar. I also have some free projects if you look at the tab at the top of this page.  I've just added six new holiday themed projects that I designed as part of the Holiday Craft Bash so go check them out!  But first:

I'm giving away this little mini quilt called Christmas Tree Farm.  This is one of the projects for the Holiday Craft Bash, so if you want to make your own you can.  The fabric is from Kate Spain's Joy line.  This little quilt is about 12" x 18" and has triangles sewn in the corners on the back so all you'll need to do to hang it is add a dowel rod or something similar.  It is raw-edge applique - a technique that is not typical for me, but I wanted to give it a try.

So, to enter, tell me what is the decorating centerpiece of your holiday - is it a live tree, an heirloom handed down in your family, something funky and fun you and your sweetie bought, your mantel that you decorate differently every year?  Leave another comment as a second entry if you follow me (blog, FB, Twitter, Pinterest...).

My giveaway is open to international entries.  I will draw a random winner at the end of the day on Dec 7 (I am in the US Eastern time zone).  Please, please make sure you leave me a way to contact you if you are the winner!  Every time I do a giveaway I get many entries from "no-reply-blogger"s that I have no way to reach.

I'm no computer expert but I think this works:  If you want to know if you are a no-reply-blogger, click on the "Design" button on the top right corner of your blog, then, also in the top right corner there will be a drop down menu where you can choose "Blogger Profile".  Look on the left column.  There should be a spot that says "e-mail".  If you don't have an email address connected to your blog, I can't find you.

If this sounds too complicated, just make sure you put your email address in your comment.  If you want to avoid spam you can spell out parts of it like "mary at aol dot com".

Good luck!

Fresh Sewing Day

Every month Lynne of Lily's Quilts has a Fresh Sewing Day on the first of the month.  The idea is to feature projects you've finished in the last month.  Every month I'm delighted to see these posts - usually on the second or the third as I'm often behind in my blog reading.  I actually saw Lynne's post today, on December 1, so there is time for me to play along :)

This has been a busy month for me with the Holiday Craft Bash and QuiltCon deadlines.  Meredith, Jessica, Jacey and I each made six project tutorials for the Holiday Craft Bash - three in October and three in November.  My November tutorials were:

Joy Centerpiece

Christmas Tree Farm Wall Hanging

Randot Table Runner

Click through for the tutorial posts for the Centerpiece, Wall Hanging, and Table Runner.

I also worked madly on my QuiltCon submission.  I did not get it finished - so close, but I decided I didn't want to do a cheap and fast finish just to get it done and then be unhappy with the quilt.  There's always next year I guess :)  I submitted some of my quilts that were already finished instead.

Along with Fresh Sewing Day, Lynne has a Small Blog Meet with a separate section for blogs that have fewer than 50 followers.  Go check some of them out!

I hope you had a productive month!