web favs of the week

Web Favs of the Week

3 Comments / sewing contests, web favs of the week / By

There is so much going on this week. For some reason it has felt really stressful for me and I don’t even have school age children who have started already or are getting ready to start school!

Sewing Contests

I love sewing and quilting. Sometimes though it feels like I am sewing without purpose – just to see if I can make this or that, or create something new.  If you are anything like me then you are in luck! There are several sewing “contests” going on right now.

Do you follow Stitched In Color?  She is having a fun contest on her blog called “Celebrate Color”. It is a celebration of the colors of fall. She will be having tutorials, contests and prizes on her blog in the coming months.  You should really check it out – even if you don’t win her contests are always so fun – I participated in her Blogger’s Pillow Party at the beginning of the year and just loved seeing what everyone else had created!

For all you quilters out there: have you heard of the Quilting Gallery?  It is a great resource for quilters – including a blog, a list of quilting bloggers, a quilt shop locator, a search feature to find quilt guilds in your area, a quilter’s market – where you will find new products for quilters, a quilter’s fun page, and even a quilter’s cookbook full of recipes. Not only are there a ton of great resources for quilters of all levels on this site AND a weekly quilting competition! This week is Jelly Roll Quilts – I entered my Cobblestone Roads.  Here is a link to the list of upcoming themes – check them out and enter – there are some great prizes to be won!

Have you heard of the Hoffman Challenge?  This is the 24th Anniversary of the Challenge – it is based on one piece of fabric that you have to use and you can incorporate other fabrics into your design. There are three quilting categories: pieced, applique and mixed techniques.  This year they have added new categories this year including sewing and wearable art, accessories and dolls (Challenge History Page).  Here is a link to the FAQ and Entry Form page – you will also find the challenge fabric there. You should give it a try there are some FABULOUS prizes to be won!

Start sewing and enter one or all of these great contests!

Feature: Heidi From Craft Monkey
Have you seen Heidi’s blog Craft Monkey?  I love her blog – she does some fabulous home dec projects. The kind of home dec projects I say that I want to do or I will do one day but never get up the gumption to actually do them! She just finished re-doing three tables – they turned out gorgeously – I wish had that kind of bravery! She also does some great tutorials with easy to follow pictures. If you haven’t been to her blog you should really go check it out!

 

Web Favs of the Week

4 Comments / web favs of the week / By

I haven’t done web favs in a few weeks – sorry everyone – I had a family emergency a couple weeks ago and we are still recovering from it.  So here we go!

I have finally, officially, joined the QAL craze. I joined the “Across The Sea Modern Quiltalong” – here’s a link to the Flickr Group.  Ellison Lane Quilts and FairyFace Designs have designed this QAL and are offering some cool prizes to be won by those who finish their quilt!

Image courtesy of: Ellison Lane Quilts

I am really excited – this quilt can be made using a solid background fabric and a Layer Cake – so I plan on using the “Ready Set Snow” Layer Cake that I won last month from It’s Sew Kiki.  Hopefully this will be a really cute Christmas Quilt that I can give to my God Parents – I have been wanting to make them a quilt for years and I think this is perfect (they are REALLY into Christmas –  I think you can actually see their house from space at night!).

Are there any Brother Lovers local to the Tacoma, WA area?  Have you heard about the Pacific West Quilt Show that is happening the weekend of August 26-28, 2011. I am planning on attending Sunday the 28th, they have a military family special – $10.00 for the whole family and I want to take advantage. There are exhibits, classes you can take and they have a VENDOR MALL – which I am really looking forward to!  I am going to bring my camera and will post pictures the week after the show for all those Brother Lovers that are not local to the area, so you won’t miss out entirely.

Feature: Linda from Stray Stitches

Image Courtesy of: Stray Stitches

I love Linda’s blog. She always has the most interesting and well written posts. She includes fun photo facts – and she must participate in at least 10 different swaps and she runs at least 2 that I know about.  She runs Block Swap Adventures – which both Sunni and I participate in – it is an international swap and has been lots of fun so far. She is also an incredibly gifted quilter.  You really need to take a few minutes and go check out her blog – and if you have the time to make one extra block a month – consider joining Block Swap Adventures with us – it really has been fun!

What have you seen on the web this week?

Web Favs of the Week

3 Comments / pinterest, web favs of the week / By

Welcome to Web Favs!

First off, I have really jumped off the deep end and have decided to start designing my own quilt blocks – to go along with this I also have a business name BitterSweet Baby Quilt Designs (named after my precious daughter Anne).  With designing comes an awful lot of math, not my strongest suit but I am getting better at it, especially with the help of websites like this: Victoriana Quilt Designs.  Her site has EVERYTHING a quilt block designer needs – especially all of the pesky math already worked out. My favorite is the free printable quilting charts with everything including HST measurements and backing allowances.  Here site is AWESOME, if you have time and the desire to design but no desire to do math, this is the site for you!

image courtesy of: Yesterday On Tuesday

You may have noticed that I  have what you might call “a crafting habit”.  I think we can both stand up and say, “Hi my name is _______, and I have a crafting habit.”  Well these habits cost MONEY and lucky for us, Yesterday on Tuesday, wrote a blog post last week entitled “7 Ways to Afford Your Craft Habit“. I learned a few things from this post, including the fact that you can now get Michael’s coupons on your phone, did not know that but now that I do, Michael’s better watch out for this Smartphone carrying Mama! I plan to save!


New Feature:  Getting to know your fellow Brother Lovers!

Image courtesy of: The Confused Quilter
I love reading the blogs of those who follow us, after all the best part about blogging is getting to know other bloggers! Staci blogs at The Confused Quilter and like Sunni and I, she is also an Army Wife (there seem to be an awful lot of us blogging about our crafts these days!).  She also participates in Block Swap Adventures, but she has been a member much longer than either Sunni or myself. To see some of Staci’s gorgeous quilts and read about her adventures with her husband hop on over to her blog!
Finally, do you Pinterest?  I do!  Feel free to follow along with me, I admit I have done much pinning lately, but when I do, watch out!
My Feed:
Follow Me on Pinterest Pinning can be addictive, I haven’t pinned in awhile because I was spending more time Pinning and Repinning than most anything else, so beware! 

What are you loving this week? Do you have any Favs to share with us?

I am also guest posting at Sew Homegrown today! Head on over and check it out!

 

 

Web Faves of the Week

1 Comment / web favs of the week, work it wednesday / By

No Work It Wednesday this week because the only thing I am working on is packing and cleaning my house for our big move next Friday. And let me tell you, keeping an 18 month old happy and entertained when you have packed 80% of her toys is NOT an easy job!

Making a packed up situation brighter 🙂

One of my favorite new blogs to follow is One Month To Win It.  This is a seriously fun crafting competition that goes over four weeks.  So far my favorite challenges have been the Under $5 Challenge from Season 3 and Wall Art from Season 2.  The bloggers who have competed are INCREDIBLY talented and have served as a major inspiration for me!
Photobucket

If you think you will “make the cut” today is the last day to audition over at Country Chic Cottage.  Head on over all you incredibly talented bloggers and followers!

I have recently fallen in love with a new concept that I found on 15 Minutes Play.  The main concept behind this blog is to MAKE FABRIC.  How cool is that?!? The idea is that for 15 minutes a day as a warm up you sew scraps of fabric together at different angles and you cut them and sew them back together.  You are making your own fabric out of other fabric.

They are holding a challenge over on their blog to create 10 blocks from their “blocks of the month”.

The entire concept of “making” fabric is Victoria Findlay Wolfe’s, she is a quilter with an art background.  Her personal site, where she does sell her quilts, is Bumble Beans Inc.  I encourage you to go check out both the 15 Minutes Play site and her personal site.

Are you a fellow blogger? Do you host giveaways on your site?  Do you just like entering giveaways?  I am all of the above and I found a seriously cool site that has a linky party every week for giveaways!  Craft Buds is a collaboration blog of Lindsay Conner from Lindsay Sews and Mary Jaracz from Bugglebee. They post tutorials, like the one today for this beautiful Diamond Quilt:

 

Diamonds quilt hanging

 

In addition to all this is the giveaway linky.  If you like entering them or just want to get more exposure for one you are hosting, you should really head over and check it out!

What has caught your eye this week?

Scroll to Top