Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day: Two Hawthorne Threads Scrap Packs

*** Congrats to lucky number 109, Sandra!  Your Scrap Packs are on their way! ***

It's that time of year again!  Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day!  I love visiting all the blogs, finding new ones to follow, and the chance of winning some great stuff doesn't hurt.  And once again, I'm pretty excited to get to join in myself.

So if you've visited before, you probably know all about my love of scraps (and if you're new, welcome!).  I love looking into the bin and seeing all the colors.  It's so much fun to mix and match because you can pull a little bit of everything out, without emptying all the shelves of fabric.

This is a picture of the bin months ago (though the working bin, not the bin I've given up on.  And not the mini scrap bucket, because those have a home elsewehere).  It's gotten more packed and I don't even bother trying to force the lid on, but I get really excited when I finish a project using only these little bits!

1.  Catvent Wall Hanging  2.  Pebbles on the Beach Mini  3.  Orange Peel Vines Hanging

So down to business.  I'm giving away two scrap packs from Hawthorne Threads.  They have really great fabrics, and you get some fairly generous cuts.  I absolutely love getting them, because it's a little surprise every time, and always a good one.  The packs come in Warm, Cool, and Fresh.

How to enter the Giveaway!

Leave a comment telling me which TWO you'd like for a chance to win.

Followers, old and new, get a second chance to win.  Just leave a second comment telling me how you follow.

This giveaway is open to US entrants only, and will remain open until Friday, December 12, at 5 p.m. (PST).  If you're a no-reply commenter, make sure you include your email address so I can contact you.

Thanks for stopping by!  And be sure to check out all the great blogs participating in Giveaway Day this year!

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!

Congratulations to #534 OhioLori!  You're scrap packs are on their way!!

Thanks to everyone who visited!!

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Hi all!  I'm really excited for Sew Mama Sew's Giveaway Day!  I've loved entering it myself in years past, and now I get to join in on the giving!  

For the newbies here, I'm Mary and I love sewing, and knitting, and pretty much everything that involves making.  I love filling this space with projects that I'm working on and showing off some of my finishes.  

My big love lately has been scraps.  I've been collecting better and better scraps, and I love a good sewing project that lets me just play with them.

My bucket of little scraps, made from scraps!

And what better way to share my love of scraps than to get you some of your own!  I'm too much of a hoarder to part with mine, but I'll offer up two scrap packs from Hawthorne Threads.  They are really generous packs; you get about two yards of either warm, cool, or fresh colors.  So you can pick two different ones, or two of the same, whatever you want!

These are just some of the yummy fabrics I've gotten in my Hawthorne packs!

To win, leave a comment telling me which two packs you'd like.  And if you choose to follow my blog, you can leave a second comment letting me know where you follow.

Comments will be open until May 16 at 5 p.m. PST (2 p.m. EST).  I'll announce the winner on May 18.

            

Here's a look at some of the things I've made from my scraps recently!

WIP Wednesday!!

It's my first WIP Wednesday of the new year, and I have a kind of New Year's resolution project to share!  Perfect.

So the Catvent QAL left me with a bunch of awesome scraps that were conveniently similarly sized, so I figured they'd be perfect to use together in another project.  I was keeping them all together in a little baggie since my normal scrap bin would have taken over the entire dining room, and that baggie got pretty full.  So I decided to start stitching them together into some "found fabric" a la Victoria Findlay Wolfe's 15 Minutes of Play.

I didn't want to cut them any smaller, so I would just find pieces that fit together and sewed.  When some of those pieces fit together, I sewed some more.  And eventually, I got a couple pieces that were decently sized!

I've used up almost all the patterned pieces, and have a bunch more solid scraps, so I'll save those until I fill the baggie up with more prints and make some more squares.

So what's the New Year's resolution?  I want to use up those scraps almost as fast as I make them!  No more 10 gallon bucket of scraps for me!  Fingers crossed...

Linking up with Lee for WIP Wednesday and Kelly for Needle and Thread Thursday!

Scrap Happy Purse Pattern!

So remember way back when I cut into some pieces of my Flea Market Fancy?  It was to make this!!  It's the Scrap Happy Purse from Amanda Jean over at Crazy Mom Quilts.  The second she posted a picture of her version on Instagram asking for pattern testers, I was in.  It's such a cute bag, why wouldn't I want to make my own!

The pattern was really easy to follow, it's mostly a basic tote, with a great outer layer.  I was able to use a bunch of scraps I'd gotten in a scrap pack from the Anna Maria Horner store clean out a couple months back.  I'd been saving them for just the right project, and this was perfect.  Then, I added a couple charms I'd gotten; two were the FMF, but there was also an AMH velour, a couple Tula Pink prints, and some dots.

All that quilting is really awesome too.  Because it's quilted so densely onto batting, it pretty much has all the stability I'd want.  And then, when you add the home dec weight lining, you have a bag that will really take a beating.  I've been toting it around for a while, and it's been great. 

I love the size of this tote.  I can carry around a book or a small knitting project, or I can just tuck in a diaper and wipes if I'm doing a quick trip with the toddler.  I'll probably make another of these because I have plenty of scraps, but I might have to add a couple more pockets because I can never have too many pockets.

The pattern is available here. 

Thanks Amanda Jean for letting me test for you!

Linking up with Quilt Story for Fabric Tuesday and Funky Polka Dot Giraffe for Too Cute Tuesday and My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday!

Quilt As You Go Block Tutorial!

Want to know all about the magical world of quilt as you go blocks?  I thought you did.  It's pretty awesome and forgiving if you don't feel like measuring or thinking, and they go pretty fast, so you can make a bunch in one go and they're already quilted!

So first you cut your batting.  I cut mine 12.5 because that's the size of my ruler.  Of course, it's going to shrink on you once you start quilting and you'll want to square it up again when you're finished.  So if you want to have bigger finished squares, cut the batting bigger, probably by at least 1.5 inches.

Now, this is the fun part, and where I started to deviate from all the tutorials and how-to's that I found.  That first piece of fabric, just plop it down in the center.  Don't measure where it's going, or try to center it perfectly.  I didn't even care if that piece of fabric was actually squared off itself.  Just put it down and quilt some lines back and forth over it.  I used the outside edge of my foot as a guide, but I'd do some quilted lines wider, skinnier, or a mix of the two.

Then, lay the next piece of fabric down and sew it down.  Again, don't over think it, just make sure that when you sew, it's a straight line so that you're fabric will lay flat once you flip it over to quilt.  (Of course, if you botch that bit, you can just make your first quilted pass really close to the seam to really make it lay down.  Told you it was great if you didn't want to be accurate!)

Quilt it down!  

That weird zig zag bothering you?  I found a bunch of featherweight fusible interfacing and I'm using it to piece together my batting scraps, but I don't trust it, so I do a super big zaggle to hold it together.

I used every scrap possible, which meant that sometimes I'd sew them together to make up the length that I needed.  It's pretty fun to mash together all those little bits, and I got to do some fussy cutting to add cars and flowers to some of my other blocks.

The placement of each layer is different from a traditional log cabin block because I didn't add my sides in a consistent pattern, like always going clockwise when sewing down the next layer, or doing top and bottom then sides.  I just sew with whatever scraps looked good and require the least amount of cutting.  Sometimes, like here, it would get a bit rectangle-y and I'll try to even it out a little.  Other time's I'll just keep adding wherever.

Keep adding layers until the entire piece of batting is covered.  

Then you trim it down to the size you want.  Like I said, I initially made my batting squares 12.5", but I trim them down to 12".  

These are really fun to make, and the weirder they look, the more I like them when they're all together.  I just have four more to make then I can officially finish this quilt.  I'm pretty excited to finally get to cuddle under it!  

Linking up with My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday and Live a Colorful Life for Really Random Thursday!

A Finished Rainbow QAYG Top!!

I'm so excited!  I managed to finish the top of this quilt last night.  (I would like to thank my wonderful quilting assistants: Coke, Ice cream, and Star Trek; without you three, I would have been sleeping well before this was finished.)

I'm quite happy with how this turned out.  I was worried that it would be dominated by all the pink and purple since I'd originally wanted the the quilt to only have a couple little on the corners.  Well, when I decided to go twin sized, I made three more blocks of each color, which worried me, but since the middle is mostly blues and greens, it doesn't scream "PINK!!"  It's more, "hey dude, rainbow!"

The only minor hiccup in this quilt was last night as I was trimming all those blocks up, I realized they'd shrunk because of the quilting.  I suppose I should have seen something like that coming since quilting a normal quilt usually ends up with the quilt shrinking or growing and requiring some squaring up.  But I just trimmed them all down to 12" instead of my expected 12.5" and everything was hunky dory.

When I finished the top last night and measures 58" x 92", which is a little scant on the sides and long on the bottom.  So I decided to just wait until morning to try it on the little dude's twin bed to decide whether I needed to add another row.

See all of it bunched at the bottom?  I think most of that will just hang nicely if I didn't have the foot board, and I could just tuck it under.  But it will hang much lower there than on the sides. 

See?  It hangs a little under a full block on the sides, but a whole block and a half on the bottom.  So I'm going to ponder for the day whether to add another strip of blocks to the side.  Luckily, I got all of those batting and purple scraps, so I don't think it will be a problem.  

One more, because I just love how they look all stacked up!

Linking up with Amanda Jean for Finish It Up Friday and over at Lily's Quilts for Fresh Sewing Day!

WIP Wednesday

I've decided to just punch this out.  To go completely crazy and sew like a mad woman until this Rainbow QAYG quilt is done.  All those blocks that are off center are the ones I've added since this weekend.  That includes three purple blocks that could not have happened if I didn't have two friend's with plenty of purple scraps to spare.

Still a little doubtful if I'll have enough to finish three more pink blocks.  I may have to start knocking on random quilter's doors begging.  Sure I could just cut into the stash, but where's the fun in that!

Of the sixteen I needed to add, I've finished ten!  Downhill skating from here!

And doesn't this lovely pile of knitting look almost sweater shaped?  It's so close!  I have a few more chest decreases left, and then I can start shaping the shoulders and knitting the neck ribbing!  It's so close and I want to wear it because I'm starting to get a bit cold sewing on the porch, and I could use another cozy sweater.

Linking up with Lee for WIP Wednesday!

 

Chugging Along!

I finally decided that I needed to get started on this project again.  It's such an easy sew since I don't have to cut a bunch of pieces or match seams.  But I did need a small vacation from it after deciding I needed 16 (!!!) more blocks to bring it up to a twin size quilt.

Well, after sewing up a couple pairs of pants and some selfish sewing, I'm back at it.  I poured over my big scrap bin and dug out some more pieces from the way bottom.  And I pulled some scraps from my weekend sewing and added a couple spots of Anna Maria Horner to the two lighter blocks.

Also, can you find Darth Vader and C-3P0 on the dark blue block?  I found some scraps from my son's PJs and had to add them.

Plus, I managed to come back from Jess's place with this awesome pile of batting and fabric scraps.  My new block count includes three purple blocks and three pink blocks.  I'm not big on using those colors, so it was a stretch for me to even get the few that I already made.  Luckily, purple is the one color that Jess seems to always have in stock.  That bag will probably make up the purple blocks, and there's a few pink scraps that might get me part of the way to my goal there.

And seriously, that's probably all the batting I'll need for the rest of the blocks.  I'm going to cut it all out tomorrow to see where I stand, and then piece together the rest.  I think if I get all the batting blocks cut, it will be easier to just sew my butt off.

Linking up with Quilt Story for Fabric Tuesday and I Have To Say for Show and Tell Tuesday!

WIP Wednesday

I couldn't help myself!  I went into Joann's to get one very specific colored fabric for a swap block, and found this awesome sparkly teal corduroy on sale for $4/yd!  Who could possibly say no to that?  Plus, I had a half off coupon for the piping, so I'm in the middle of  making a seventh pair of Parsley Pants!  (Love that pattern!)

This is the stack of 24 Rainbow QAYG blocks.  I'll have to do some real scrap organizing to get the 16 more blocks I need.  And organizing might mean making these awesome color coded scrap buckets from Sunday Morning Quilts.  Of course, that could just be me procrastinating.

I think tomorrow these might end up being some quilted pouches.  Grown-up ones, for me that I don't have to fill with the kids' toys.  I definitely need a better make-up pouch, and maybe one for my EPP stars that I started years and years ago.  Carrying them around would definitely be incentive to work on them more.

For size reference, that's a giant 12 inch My Little Pony.  

And that is almost a whole second sleeve!  I've had more knitting time on my hands now that school's back in session and I'm waiting in the massive pick up line at the school.  I have maybe seven more four-row repeats before I can join it to the sweater, but I'm going to have to try on the sweater torso first to make sure it's long enough.  The more I look at it, the shorter it seems to be.

Linking up with Lee for WIP Wednesday!

Scrapbuster Quilt Finish!

I'm so glad to finally have this quilt finished.  It's been around so long it practically needs to have chores and an allowance!  I made the top almost two years ago after buying the book Sew to Swap.  I didn't have anyone in mind to swap with, I just really liked the projects inside, and I'd been reading most of the contributors' blogs.

This project was the Scrapbuster quilt (there's a tutorial for the two blocks here and here), which was perfect because, at the time, I thought I had an overabundance of scraps.  Of course, that was when I had a large shoe box of scraps, now I have a 60 quart tub of scraps!

I had this whole thing made, basted, and partially quilted in about a month, but then I started a new project and forgot it existed.  I finally pulled it out over the long weekend and decided to finish it once and for all!  

The quilting design on it was from two years ago, straight lines crossing the points and centers of the corners.  At first I'd been marking the lines all out with a marking pen, but when I restarted, I remembered someone had used blue painters' tape to mark out their lines.  So much better!

Had I not already started the quilting, I might have gone for a more dense free motion pattern and taken advantage of all those frames, but I like how it turned out.  It's drape-y and soft and perfect for cuddling, so I can snuggle and play I Spy with all those scraps.

Linking up with Amanda Jean at for Finish It Up Friday!