Tag Archives: giveaway

Autumn Abundance Blog Hop

Today I am celebrating Autumn! Our maple trees are filled with color. Fortunately, we have several different varieties which means the leaves all change at different times, enabling us to savor the season for a bit longer. It is gorgeous.

In preparation for this blog hop, I have been working with a line of autumnal fabrics provided to me by Paintbrush Studios. PB Studios has been a very generous sponsor. They provided me and four other bloggers with the fabrics of our choice in different fall lines and we have each made a project showcasing their beautiful fabrics. The line that I selected for my project is called Golden Harvest.

Here is the schedule for the Autumn Abundance Hop this week.

October 24th – Needle and Foot – You’re here!
October 25th – Janine at Quilts From the Little House
October 26th – Mari at Academic Quilter
October 27th – Tish at Tish’s Adventures in Wonderland
October 28th – Sandra at MMM! Quilts

When considering my options for what sort of project I wanted to make, I decided I wanted to have something to hang during the Thanksgiving season. Thanksgiving is my all time favorite holiday. It centers around family and food – what else does one need? I have been having a lot of fun doing some relief quilting (remember my THREAD and FABRIC pieces?) and thought it would be a good idea to do another one.

I did a quick sketch but didn’t really plan too much beyond that. I began with the center piece. I had this gorgeous brown solid (PB Studios calls is Espresso) and I cut a rectangle and played around with the placement of the lettering. GIVE THANKS was my focus. With the stabilizer fused to the back, I quilted the letters. This goes quite quickly. Especially since Muv over at Lizzie Lenard Vintage Quilting encouraged me to free motion this instead of using a walking foot. She is absolutely right – it worked just fine! Much, much faster to get the lettering done.

Once I had accomplished that, I thought about what sort of design should be placed below the words. At first I thought of doing some applique but the more I thought about it, I decided I wanted to quilt a design instead. I love playing with thread and here was an open space to do with as I pleased. I decided on a pumpkin and took a look at Lori Kennedy’s site, The Inbox Jaunt, for some inspiration. She never fails me. Never! This pumpkin is taken directly from this tutorial. It came together easily.

Using YLI variegated thread, I started by outlining the pumpkin, stem and leaves. Next I filled in the sections of the pumpkin. Following that I added to the outlining to give it some depth. The stem and leaves were also filled in and outlined a couple of times. So much fun!

The next step was to put a narrow border of the olive green solid. I had already decided to do a patchwork border to set off the center. I wanted to use a 2 1/2″ square because of the scale of the fabrics I was playing with.

While I worked things out with the patchwork border, I was thinking about the corners. I made some pinwheel blocks but thought they looked too flat. Following that I made some churn dash blocks and liked these much better.

As it always does, the quilt came together with the sum being so much greater than its parts. I really love this project. The sunflowers, pumpkins, leaves and turkeys are so cheerful. The fabric really is adorable. The green, orange and yellow blender prints worked well to tone down some of the color within the borders. The traditional colors and themes of this line are just right – they made me happy just playing with them. I used a brown print that was in my stash to back it and then used the olive green fabric to bind it. The quilt finished out at 23″ x 25″ inches.

As with most projects, there are a few things I learned. One is better planning equals better results. While it is fun to just sew and see how things come together, I should have done a bit of measuring and planned the patchwork border in more detail. I had to fuss with trimming borders and such to get everything to work together. Also, when I was trimming the piece, after quilting it, I somehow forgot that about the bits that the binding would consume. This is a little bit ridiculous considering the number of quilts I have bound. But I trimmed too deeply, forcing myself to cover points on the churn dash squares on each corner. I was going too fast without considering the details.

I will enjoy hanging it this season and bringing it out again with each Thanksgiving. This simple message of gratitude will remind us of all that we have to be thankful for.

Something I am very thankful for is the generous support of Paintbrush Studios. They were a pleasure to work with and the fabrics they sent to me are just lovely. They are a nice weight and have a very nice feel to them.

Photo courtesy of Academic Quilter

Paintbrush has also provided me with a fat quarter bundle of Into the Woods to offer to one lucky winner. Enter the giveaway by telling me about your favorite part of Thanksgiving Dinner. (Mine is definitely stuffing followed closely by homemade cranberry sauce. Way back when, I posted the recipe for the cranberry sauce I make at Thanksgiving…. just in case you want to try something new.) Leave me a comment and tell me about your favorite. If you are following the blog, leave a second comment and tell me how for an additional entry.

Now for my giveaway. I wanted to make something to give as thanks for all of the friends, inspiration, and community that happens within our online group of amazing quilters. Using this tutorial from Buttons and Butterflies, I made a pair of potholders from some of the scraps. I will pick a name from the comments to win these two potholders as well.

After finishing the potholders, I decided to cut the remaining scraps into charm squares. I was able to cut a set of 40 charms. So, let’s give those away as well!

I added a small spool of coordinating Aurifil so you can make a fall inspired project of your own!

Good luck! Winners for all three giveaways will be drawn on Friday evening, October 28th. I will email winners and announce them the following day on the blog. Make sure I have an email address to contact you!

Be sure to check back each day this week with the others on the hop. They have been working on wonderful projects for fall and have used gorgeous Paintbrush Studios fabrics that are different from mine. You are sure to enjoy their work. There may just be some giveaways on their sites as well. Enjoy this season of brilliant colors, family and friends, and some darn good food.

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. Thanks everyone!

Linking this post to She Can Quilt as a part of the Q4-FAL event.

If you are wanting to gain confidence in your free motion quilting skills, today might just be the day to purchase a Craftsy Class! Just today, all classes are $14.99. Can’t beat that. I know I learned a great deal with the classes I have taken. I have taken this one from Lori Kennedy and this one with Angela Walters.

(Note: I am a Craftsy affiliate)

Feeling Lucky

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In case you didn’t already get the message, I LOVE our community. So creative and so generous, I am continually amazed with the giveaways that are ongoing. About a month ago, Quilter’s Candy Box had a giveaway. Guess who won? Yep, me. Lucky, lucky, lucky me!

Just in case you aren’t familiar with them, Quilter’s Candy Box is a brand, spanking new business run by Tracy and Elizabeth. It is a subscription service where you receive a box of quilty goodness in the mail each month. The first month of business for Tracy and Elizabeth was this month of June! On Instagram they have been actively marketing their fledgling business. (You would be very wise to give them a follow on IG.) They ran a giveaway for one free box in June and yours truly got very, very lucky that day.

I received the box yesterday and had been waiting anxiously because there were some subscribers that had already received theirs and were flaunting all that goodness over various social media outlets. The box did not disappoint! The contents were generous and included lots of fun things like a charm pack, pattern, crafty items, sweets and more. Take a look at the adorable coffee mug up there! That will be happily used by this quilter for her morning coffee.

This pattern is a special edition, created just for Quilter’s Candy Box, by Bonnie Olaveson. I have never tried Cathedral Windows so I look forward to making this. Take a closer look at this Serenity Charm pack. The colors are soothing and just so pretty.

I’ll tell you right up front, when I make this project, it is staying with me. I love the fabric and I’m keeping this one! Ok, let’s look a little further.

I love these little labels. The colors remind me of Maureen Cracknell but as far as I know, she didn’t have any input here. They just look like her, don’t they? Thread Wax. Here I have to admit my lack of knowledge. I have never used it and don’t know what to do with it. Anyone want to give me a hint? Thank you!

Here is this month’s treat. A lemon cookie. I haven’t tried it yet but it looks yummy. See the paperclip bookmark? I love it’s simplicity with one sweet button. It is currently holding my page on a new Anne Tyler book I started yesterday. (Are any of you Anne Tyler fans? I love her books and have read most of them.)

Here is the month’s crafty element.

This little embroidery kit looks like fun. I have been thinking of giving embroidery a try after looking at the 25th anniversary piece I made for my parents all of 37 years ago. (You can read about that here.) Maybe this is the place I am meant to start.

This was indeed a box of treasures. Quilter’s Candy Box runs a monthly giveaway and if you are following them on either Facebook or Instagram (or both) you are sure to see when to enter to win. The monthly subscription is another way to take advantage. I also checked in with Elizabeth to see if they was a way to order a box as a gift for someone without subscribing. This would make such a nice holiday gift for a quilter. (Note to my kids: bookmark their site. Hint, hint.) While it might not be right for a person’s monthly budget, many quilter’s would certainly love to give (and to receive) this as a gift. Elizabeth was quick to respond to my email: “As for purchasing single boxes as a gift, we will have them available occasionally. We will email our newsletter subscribers about it, and post about it on Facebook and Instagram. We also hope to eventually have a few boxes that are always available (like a birthday box) for a one-time purchase.” I plan to keep an eye out for these opportunities.

Thanks so much Tracy and Elizabeth for this very fun box of pretties!

Linking up to a few fun linkies. Check them out at the top of the page, under Link Ups.

Charitable Giveaway Winner!

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Today I drew the lucky winner for my second annual blogiversary giveaway. I had asked readers to tell me what donation they would like me to make a contribution to if they were picked. The winner is Nicolle whose blog is called LadySchep. It is kind of cool that her name was drawn. Here is why:

Happy Blogiversary! My two year was last week, but I totally missed it, lol. What a great way to celebrate! If I get picked, I chose Pregnancy Solutions in Venice, FL as the beneficiary.

See? It’s perfect. She didn’t get a chance to celebrate her blogiversary (she started just two weeks before I did) so we are celebrating it together with a donation to Pregnancy Solutions. I checked out their website and it looks like they provide a wealth of support to women of all ages who are experiencing pregnancy. What a nice choice for a donation. Happy Blogiversary Nicolle! If you haven’t come across her blog, check it out. Attorney by day & blogging in all of her “spare” time, Nicolle writes with a joyful tone and has made some lovely projects including quilts, stuffies, bags and more. I even read a few book reviews sprinkled in there, which I love. So many books, so many projects, so little time – right??

Thanks to all who entered and gave good wishes. I am so looking forward to my third year with all of you! Here’s to more projects, visiting, quilty support and friendship!

Clothespin Bag Tutorial & Giveaway

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I am so excited to tell you that I have a tutorial posted over at Sew Mama Sew today! I hope you will go over and check it out. This tutorial is so timely – at least for the West Coast. We are sweltering this week with temps ranging in the high 90’s. This is the season where I wash clothes in the early morning and hang them on the line. Running the drier only heats up the house and it is hot enough as it is.

I have made a number of these bags and they come together quickly. I love using upcycled denim with a bright summery fabric for the lining.

There are tons of printed twills that work well too.

Upcycled burlap, lined with a fun print and embellished with trim, is adorable as well.

I hope you take a look at the tutorial and give this a try. In celebration of summer and this tutorial, I have a giveaway for you today. I know, I know – two giveaways within the week! If you haven’t yet entered, check the first one out here!

Today’s giveaway is a generous one provided by Sheryl, my sponsor at Brewstitched. Enter the giveaway and you could win a $20.00 gift certificate to her Etsy shop.

I have written about my partnership with Brewstitched before – you might check out an earlier post here. Sheryl has done some fabric shopping lately and stocked her shop with some gorgeous new fabrics, such as this Art Gallery collection, Pastel Thrift.

Soon, Brewstitched will also have the Dear Stella line, Foxtail Forest in stock. It is just gorgeous -but then you already know that I have a Dear Stella addiction. You can preorder yours now and Sheryl will ship it asap when the fabric arrives!

OK – here is how you enter, leave me a comment and tell me what you do to keep your house cool this time of year. For a second entry, let me know how you follow Needle and Foot (Bloglovin, Instagram, Facebook). Want a third try? Just follow Brewstitched on Instagram and let me know that you did. ~~The giveaway will stay open until Saturday, June 11th with the winner announced on Sunday, June 12th. Good luck!!~~ Giveaway is now closed.

All through the month of June Craftsy is having a Mystery Box Giveaway – one for you and one for a friend! Go and enter to win. Good luck!!

(Note: I am a Craftsy affiliate and if purchases are made by clicking on the link I provide, I will be paid a small commission.)

Needle and Foot – 2nd Blogiversary

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Two years ago, when I started this blog, I was so nervous. Like most people that start out, I was afraid I would host this party and no one would show up. But guess what? People read my posts, and not all of these readers were related to me! Hard to believe that it has been two years but it has.

I am so grateful for the friends I have made so far and all that I have learned. When I was starting out, my son, Andrew, showed me how to track how many views I was getting and where they were coming from. Both of us were so surprised to see that this community of quilters was spread out all over the world. I love that. I have made friends all over the United States, Canada and Europe as well as Israel, Russia, Switzerland, Sweden and Mexico. How exciting is that! Our world is spread so far yet we are all able to share this common interest.

I am also thankful for all that I have learned via this blog and our community. Over the past year, I participated more and grew my blog. I joined the 2015 New Blogger event, wrote a few tutorials, was brave enough to hang my quilts in a local show, entered a challenge for QuiltCon and worked ever so hard to further my FMQ skills. All of this was because of the quilting community I am a part of. This amazing group of people that so generously shares knowledge, ideas and feedback is a huge source of information and friendship.

As thanks to all of you, I would like to host my second annual Charitable Giveaway. I am feeling ever so fortunate but there are many out there that need our support. Like last year, I want to donate to one of your favorite non-profits. It can be any cause that you hold near and dear to your heart. Leave me a comment telling me what charity you would like to be the recipient if you win. I will draw one lucky winner and make a donation of $25 to the charity of their choosing. Because I don’t have to pay crazy shipping fees, this giveaway is open world-wide. I hope all of you will enter. The giveaway will stay open until Thursday, June 9th and the winner announced on Friday the 10th. Here’s to another awesome year!

Giveaway Winner & a Tip From a Genie

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Good morning! I want to announce the winner of the giveaway sponsored by Brewstitched! Drawn by Random Number Generator, the winner is 24, Tami from Sew Much for Free Time! Thanks to all who entered! If you didn’t win today, remember that you can still have 10% off of your order through the end of tomorrow by using coupon code NANDFMARCLUB10!

Here is my tip! I have been working on quilting my Square Dance quilt for the past week or so. My machine has been giving me all sorts of grief, not the least of which is eyelashing on the back side. It has been really frustrating. Consulting the wizard of all things, Google, I have read a fair amount on technique and the speed of one’s hand movements related to the speed of the needle. I also came across quilters who touted these Magic Bobbin Genies. These are small washers made of teflon that are dropped into the bobbin holder, underneath the bobbin. I gave them a try and they are very helpful. It didn’t solve the problem 100% but certainly improved the stitching by quite a bit.

I am not totally sure why these work. My best guess is the washer provides a slick surface on which the bobbin can spin. This is not an affiliate post, I am just spreading the word in case it might be helpful to you. They come in packs of 12 which seems to be a lifetime supply! I am not sure how long they last but it seems like there isn’t much wear and tear on the little discs. I didn’t pay close attention when I ordered and ended up with Size L. The package says they are for machines with snap-in bobbin cases. I have a Janome and my bobbin drops in. At any rate, the washer fits perfectly and definitely improves the quality of my stitching.

Now that I am nearly done qulting my Square Dance quilt, it seems a good time to begin something new. Seems like I haven’t started a new quilt for a while now. Several weeks ago I was perusing blogs and came across a quilt along that was sorting soon. I have never followed along with a QAL and it sounded like fun. I liked the pattern (called Stepping Stones) and thought it might be fun to meet more of the online quilty community. Jennifer, over at The Inquiring Quilter, is hosting the QAL. It is definitely not too late to join if you are interested. Other than the social aspect of making the quilt with a group of quilters that are working from the same pattern, there is the benefit of having a schedule to work to each week. I am really enjoying seeing the fabric choices that the others are using for their quilt. As for mine, I have had a collection of black and white charms in my stash for a while now. I didn’t have quite enough for the project so I found more on Etsy. The charms will be bordered with 1 1/2″ strips. If ever there was a time for pre-cuts, it is this quilt. I found a honey bun in royal blue at Missouri Star Quilt Co. This was my first order from Missouri Star and I smiled when I read their shipping notice. Someone over there is a very creative writer! I also smiled when I was ordering my blue strips and I saw their Daily Deal with a package of Kaffe Fassett charms for $2.00. Score. And so my stash continues to grow, bit by 5″ bit.

Time to sew. I have been neglecting my Etsy shop and need to make a few new Chemex cozies today. I also need to work on about a billion little HST’s for the quilt along. Hope you will carve out a few minutes to sew as well.

Linking up all over the place. Check the tab, Link Ups, at the top of the page for details!

Mid-Week Update

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First of all, I really want to thank everyone that entered the giveaway last week. I loved reading about all of the Christmas memories. So many really sweet stories were told; I encourage you to take a peek at the comments and read them. It was very heartwarming. Julia drew two winners. My gifts were sent off to Kelly (she won the bunting) and Sarah (she won the tablerunner). Interestingly, both winners hailed from Pennsylvania! Congrats to both!

I have been busy in my sewing room over the past week. Working on my row quilt, Christmas gifts (which I will share after the holidays), a very frustratingly fluffy yellow bathrobe and a gift for my dad for his upcoming birthday. Where to start? Let’s go with the frustrating stories and end up on a more pleasant note, shall we?

Oh, this bathrobe! The fur and fluff that flies when I work on it is truly amazing. I had NO idea what I was getting into and never will I buy such a fluffy fabric again! I have the robe basically assembled – I sneezed my way through it only to find that it will fit nicely once I gain about 75 pounds. I don’t know how to account for this. I made it a size small (8-10) but honestly, I could wrap it around me twice over. When I re-read the post about planning to make this, I can hear a very cocky tone in retrospect. I said that garment sewing came naturally to me because I had done it so often. In some ways that is true. I knew how to put it together, didn’t need to ponder the directions, just dove in and sewed. But what about trying the thing on? At least holding it up to me in front of a mirror at some point?? Nope, as I was getting ready to hem it, I thought, ‘hmmm, this looks a tad large’. I put it on and my jaw dropped. It frustrated me because I can only imagine the fluff that will fly if I try to take a seam ripper to it.

I tossed it on the bed in the sewing room where it landed in a cloud of yellow. There it sits, waiting until I calm down and decide how to fix it.

Next project update: My Classic Stitches project that I have been working on all year. You probably remember that I have been doing a BOM project led by Mari over at Academic Quilter. All I had left was to complete the green row of ‘Peace and Plenty” blocks. Well, I can honestly say these blocks gave me no peace. Not a moment, in fact. It started out well enough. When I was up in Downieville over Thanksgiving weekend I got all of the green pieces cut and I felt so proud. All organized and ready to go. I came home and assembled the first block. It was adorable and I even shot an email with a picture of it to Mari. (What is it they say about pride????)

With that one done, I quickly made another. So far, so good.

After those two, everything hit the fan. For some unknown reason (though it may have to do with that whole pride thing) I couldn’t assemble block number three. COULD. NOT. I sewed it and picked it apart and sewed it again and picked it apart. After the third time using my seam ripper (you know when the edges of the fabric are frayed and you know that the integrity of the block is nill?) I gave up. Luckily, I had just read Mari’s post about finishing her row quilt (which is spectacular – take a look here!) I saw that she had issues with the brown row and decided to just make a checkered row of simple squares. Since I had my green blocks cut, I just trimmed them down to 3 and 1/2″ and called it good. I figured I was really just taking my cue from the master. So my green row is now a simple row of blocks. (See it to the left of the pink hearts?) I actually like that it is a small row. I wanted a change in the height but couldn’t see myself really making any of these blocks in a three or four inch size. At least not without a considerable amount of pain. 😉

Right now I have all the rows hanging over the back of the couch (luckily we have two!) I am at the stage where I am moving rows around, trying to decide what order to put them together with. I need to get sashing fabric too. I don’t have any stash that is long enough and I don’t want to piece the sashing. I do love how this is coming together and hopefully I will get it assembled in the next few days.

Finally – to leave you on a good note… I went to the monthly meeting of a gardening club that I belong to. Since there really isn’t much gardening to be accomplished right now, we made wreaths for the holidays. I decided to make a really big one so i could hang it on the front of the house. All of the boughs were cut from trees in out yard, which is a nice thing. It turned out so pretty and was incredibly easy to put together. (I really needed a win at this point!)

I also wanted to show you how pretty the Swoon Mini looks. I hung it on the wall behind the Christmas tree and the lights just make it glow. I just love it. I need to make another one that doesn’t have a holiday theme.

I hope your recent sewing efforts are a bit more successful than mine have been. I feel I am turning the corner though. Ready for success.

Linking to Freemotion by the River and Let’s Bee Social. Links to these two lovely blogs are at the top of the page, under Link Ups.

Sew Mama Sew December Giveaway

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Hi Everyone! Welcome to one of my favorite events of the year. Twice each year, in December and May there is a huge giveaway link up sponsored by Sew Mama Sew. It is a fun way to check out blogs you may not otherwise have read. If you have not checked out the giveaway yet , I encourage you to do so. So many craft bloggers have linked up and there are all sorts of prizes to be won.

If this is your first time visiting Needle and Foot, welcome! I hope you will take a minute to look around my site. I have been blogging for approximately 18 months and have made so many friends via this blog and the others that I follow. To learn more about me, click on the About Me page at the top of your screen. I have many of my quilts displayed in the Quilt Gallery page (also at the top of the page). If you would like to read the blog post associated with a particular quilt, click the title showing just below the picture. I love blogging and sewing and spend most of my time with one or the other. Comments and questions are always welcome and I try to answer each one. (With the exception of this particular post – I won’t be able to answer each comment on this post. I hope you understand!)

On to the giveaway. I have two giveaways to offer. (Before I get to far into it, I want to be sure to tell you that I will be shipping within the United States only. I apologize but it is fairly expensive to ship outside of the US.)

The first is a holiday table runner that I made. It measures approximately 40 x 14″. The center of the runner is a pieced stripe of various Christmas prints. The various fabrics feature holiday ornaments, poinsettias, and holly. The color scheme is green, red, cream and gold. Along the length of the center strip is a border of dark cream and gold fabric. Next to that is a deep red border.

The backing fabric and binding are the same deep red, gold and green print. I quilted this table runner on my home machine by stitching the length of the table runner at various widths. I would love to give it to one of you!

The second giveaway is a holiday banner, or bunting. The flags are double-sided so it looks nice where ever it is hung. Across the top is red ribbon with an extra length left at each end t give you some flexibility when you decide where to hang it. These buntings are a fun holiday decoration and I would love to send it off to one of you!

I used traditional colors and many of the fabrics have a vintage look to them.

.Each flag measures 6″ across the top and is 9″ in length (down to the point of the flag). The entire banner measures 80″ in length from first flag to last. There is 20″ of ribbon hanging freely to use to hang it. To make this, I cut the triangle shapes and fused them together with Wonder Under. I topstitched the perimeter to add strength to the flags.( I don’t think it will do well in the washer. I would just spot clean the flags as necessary. )

OK – Here is how you enter to win one of these giveaways! Please leave me a comment describing the best (or favorite) gift you have ever given or received. It can be either one. I am looking forward to reading your memories! If you follow me, you get an extra entry. Just comment and let me know how you follow. The giveaway will be open through Sunday, December 13th. I will pull two winners on Monday morning. Be sure that you are not a no-reply blogger (if you like, you could leave your email address in the comment.)

Thank you so much for stopping by! I wish you luck with all of the giveaways this week. I hope you have enjoyed looking around my blog and invite you to follow me via Bloglovin or sign up to receive posts in your email. (Rest assured that your email address is never shared or used for purposes other than to send you blog posts.) Both links are on the right at the top of the page. For a little more fun, follow me on Instagram. I am @kringelb.

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.

Again, thank you for visiting. I am wishing each of you a fabulous holiday season, whichever way you choose to celebrate.

Charitable Donation Winner

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Hi Everyone! Happy Tuesday. Wow, as always, summer came quick. Never fails that the temp jumps from mild to crazy hot in a matter of days around here. We were floating along with lovely 78 degree temps and it is in the high 90’s this week. I am not a fan of hot weather. Makes me ever so grateful for the A/C unit. The older I get, the more I dislike hot weather (thank you menopause.)

One positive side to the heat is that my husband’s berry patch is going crazy. We have blueberries and boysenberries that are ripening and they are so yummy. Right now we are picking about 5 pints daily of the two combined (more boysen’s than blue’s). Ray is all about making jam so I suspect that he will take over the kitchen on Sunday and put up jam. When he does this, I happily become chief bottle washer and he does the rest.

Thanks to everyone who entered my blogiversary celebration giveaway by leaving me a comment about their favorite non-profit. I truly enjoyed reading through each comment and found it interesting to see what everyone holds near and dear to their heart. If you haven’t read the post, I offered to donate $25 to the winner’s favorite charity. My sister, Patti, then piped up with an offer to match my donation, bringing it up to $50. Because, you know, she’s awesome like that. 🙂

And the winner is……….. Number 9, Sarah Goer!! Sarah was one of the first virtual quilty friends I made when I began this blog last summer. A talented quilter and writer, Sarah is also a stay at home mom to two little ones. I enjoy her blog and especially love reading about the projects she does with (and for) her kiddos. Her son (about 5-ish years old) is on his second quilting project already! Do yourself a favor and take a peek at her blog, Things I Make. Sarah left a wonderful comment as an entry to my giveaway. See what you think:

“Happy blogiversary! What a special and unique giveaway. And thank you Patti for contributing as well! The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation has a special place in my heart as my friend’s 18-year-old daughter (who I’ve known since she was 2 or 3) is living with CF. She just graduated from high school and is on her way to college. I admire how hard she has worked while also having daily treatments and regular hospital stays to deal with her CF.”

In honor of Sarah’s friend, $50 has been donated to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation!

Finally, here is a peak at the quilting I am doing on the batik Honeymoon quilt. It is a traditional nine patch pattern with each block being made up of nine 5″ charm squares. The center of each nine patch is a blue square which I quilted with a large flower of one sort or another.

I have all twelve of the flowers done and just started the filler pattern to go around the flowers. I am doing a leafy vine.

It is kind of difficult to see the pattern against this particular batik because is it so busy and leafy. This is the only square I have done so far though. I think I should be able to get this finished up fairly soon. Seems like it is going quickly.

That’s it for now. Wishing each of you a wonderful summery week! The season for iced coffee, iced tea, iced water… get the idea? Stay cool and enjoy.

Linking to Freemotion Mavericks, Sew Cute Tuesday and Freemotion by the River. Links to all of these sites are available at the top of this page, under Link Ups.

Happy Blogiversary to Me!

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I can hardly believe it, but today marks one year since I first published my first post on this lovely little blog of mine. This post is my 97th. Who knew I would think of something to say 97 times!! I have had such a fun time this year writing posts, tracking my projects, and best of all, meeting so many friends in this on-line quilting community.

I read a lot of blogs. From food, vintage collecting and thrifting, finance information and investing, to humor and parenting (which should go hand in hand, in my opinion!) there are blogs about anything and everything. However, the quilting community of bloggers is unique. This community is caring, respectful, and supportive. Honestly, this is a great group of people. There are all levels of quilters in the blog world – some are experts with endless talent, many are beginners and everyone has a common love of cutting fabric into bits and creating something from it. The philanthropic and caring nature of this group impresses me no end. I have seen so many situations where another quilter is experiencing a hardship and is immediately supported by quilters as a group. Conversely, when there is reason to celebrate, this community is right there cheering you on.

I am grateful for all that I learned this year. It was nervewracking to publish my first post. I was not at all sure anyone would want to read what I had written. I remember thinking, well, I would have at least six readers (my five sisters and my parents!) Here it is one year later and I have nearly 100 followers. Thank you.

Gratitude also goes to my son, Andrew. He set up this self-hosted blog, does the updates and other miscellaneous tasks needed to keep it running. When I come with questions, can I do this, how do I do that, he is so patient with his explanations. Better yet, he often just makes the changes I want. Take a look at those gorgeous social media buttons on the upper right side of the page. Yep, thank you Andrew!

I am truly grateful for this community. Getting involved with other bloggers has enabled me to improve my quilting skills. The tutorials that are so generously provided and painstakingly written are such a great source of learning material (hah – pun intended!) Just this year, using tutorials, I learned to use a Hera marker for quilting, found cleaner methods for binding my quilts, learned to look at color values when deciding which fabrics to use in a project, and free motion quilting – oh, how thankful I am for the endless posts on FMQ! The many link parties that are hosted each week have provided me with exposure so that readers could find my little blog as well as allowed me to find other blogs that I may never have stumbled across.

It has been a blast and I look forward to my second year! In celebration of this milestone, I wanted to do something special. I considered a giveaway of some sort of fabric but it didn’t seem right. Really, don’t we have enough fabric? Aren’t our shelves bursting with it? Be honest now. 🙂 Instead, let’s celebrate in the giving way that our community is known for. I would like to make a donation to your favorite non-profit. Leave me a comment with a link to your favorite charity. Maybe add one or two lines about the charity. (Who knows, maybe others reading the comments will be intrigued by your charity and get involved.) I will pick one lucky winner and donate $25.00 (USD) to your charity. I am looking forward to reading about the organizations that are near and dear to your heart. This type of giveaway also allows me to include international readers. Previously, I have always included only USA readers in my giveaways because the shipping costs are so expensive. But this giveaway is open to anyone! Just give me the link to contact your non-profit. This giveaway is open until Monday, June 8, 2015. I will announce the winner on Tuesday the 9th. I hope everyone will enter so that your charity has a chance for a donation.

UPDATE: The donation to your favorite charity has just been matched by my sister Patti! She is celebrating my one year blogaversary with me and wants to double the donation. Yay!! This means that $50.00 will be donated to the charity of one lucky winner. Isn’t she the best? See her comment offering to make this match. Thank you Patti!!!

I hope you all know that I am thankful for your readership and even more thankful for your friendship.

Linking to Thankful Thursday at Quilting Jetgirl and Lorna at Let’s Bee Social.