Creativebug Giveaway Winner!

Giveaway day is so much fun! I have enjoyed reading all your thoughtful comments. I wish I could give each of you a three month subscription!

Without further ado, the lucky winner is:

#71 TexasQuiltingGal

Congrats! I have sent you an email and please reply to claim your prize. Thank you all for visiting my blog
Stay in touch,

Michelle

Have machine, will travel.

Creativebug Log Cabin Quilting with Susan Beal Give-Away

It is Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day and I have a three month membership to Creativebug to giveaway! You can take any classes you want, as many times as you want for three months! How cool is that! Just leave a comment on this post and tell me about your favorite sewing or quilting class. My favorite class was Susan Beal's Log Cabin Quilting, which I took several years ago when she taught it at PNCA. Now she has a new version of this fab class on Creativebug!

Creativebug's Log Cabin Quilting with Susan Beal is a super fun, four-part on-line class -- the first class goes live on May 6, and new classes premiere every Tuesday all month. After that the class will be available to watch any time with a membership. This is week two and her Log Cabin Baby Quilt class is premiering on Tuesday May 13th.

I can't wait to watch this class! I spent an afternoon helping Susan sew blocks for this quilt and I can't help but feel a little mushy that my hands were involved in getting to stitch this together! I love how she set this off-center and how there are little pops of pink to really make this bright and cheery!

Each class is going to include a live chat at 11am Pacific time with Susan on the Thursday after it premiers. There are lots more details on the class page with the dates, times and supply lists. .

Here is a little trailer for Susan's class. If you watch closely, you just might see me for a quick second over at Modern Domestic with Heather Davidson. I am feeling pretty lucky to have been a part of this fun project. And congrats to Susan on this really fun class! Check out Susan's facebook page and #cbuglogcabin on Instagram for fun posts and announcements. 
P.S. I will ship anywhere, because this giveaway can be emailed! 
P.S.S I read each and every comment but I don't respond until after the drawing - that way I get an accurate count! Good luck everyone!

Stitch ‘N Swap Blog Party!

I can't believe it has almost been a year since I began working with Generation Q Magazine. It was a memorable first week, that is for sure! I was at Quilt Market in Portland, Oregon, freelancing as a writer for a blog, working at the Pendleton Booth, organizing a party for PMQG at Modern Domestic and on the floor learning the ropes of selling advertising. Oh, did I mention I also did a half-marathon that weekend? Literally. I did 13.1 to raise money for Type 1 diabetes. It was a bit nuts. 

At the end of that weekend, Jake asked me if I would like to contribute a project for Stitch 'N Swap - and since I was on a crazy adreneline high, of course I said yes! I'm glad I did, because I am super excited to be part of this book! We have been having a little blog party to celebrate and there are some crazy-talented folks participating! The book releases on May 19th, 2014 and you can get signed copies from GenQ here!

Blog Party week 1: Jeni Baker, Anne Deister, Emily Herrick, Sam Hunter, Lynn Kraus

Blog Party week 2: Vicki Tymczyszyn, Carrie Bloomston, Victoria Findlay Wolfe, Rose Hughes, Heather Jones, Tracy Mooney, Elaine Wong Haselhuhn

Blog Party week 3: Jake Finch, Scott Hansen (Blue Nickel Studios), Karen Cunagin, Michelle Freedman, Linda Hansen, Kevin Kosbab, Melissa Peda

And what's a blog party without a little give-away? GenQ is giving away three copies of the book to winners drawn randomly from commenting on THIS post. If you live in the U.S., you’ll win a hard copy of the book. If you live outside the U.S., you’ll get a digital version. Winners will be selected on Thursday, May 8, around "noonish New York time".

My contribution to Stitch 'N Swap is a three piece sewing kit. There is a needle book, a rotary cutter-holder and a drawstring bag to fill up with goodies. There are some really super ideas in the book. Each project has instructions as well as swap ideas! I really love Heather Jones Beach Glass Pillow Top. The colors are so pretty and it would be fun to do a favorite-color pillow swap (that is my twist on the swap ideas!) and there are some other great suggestions in the book too.

I will be at quilt market this year with the GenQ team and I am looking forward to it. I vowed that I would simplify my goals, so I will only have one job while I am there and I won't be running a half-marathon. Well, not literally anyway...!

Have Machine, Will Travel

-- Michelle

I Left my Heart (Quilt) in DC

Twice a year I travel to Washington, DC to advocate for funding for the Special Diabetes Program, which funds research for Type 1 diabetes. Since 2009 I have been volunteering with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Advocacy team. My staff partner from DC announced he had accepted a new position in the company and I also knew he was expecting his second daughter, so I decided to make him a little congratulations quilt.

My friend and co-worker Annie designed this sweet little heart quilt (you can get her free pattern at Cool Cottons) and I knew it would be the perfect project for DC. I also couldn't wait to use the BERNINA 820 that I have been borrowing from Modern Domestic to piece and quilt it.

I finished binding the quilt on the plane, which made the trip go by fast. This time I pinned my thread to my sewing kit. It was one of those things I learned the hard-way after I dropped my thread during a previous flight and watched helplessly as it rolled down the aisle and under a seat and I wasn't able to retrieve it until we landed... (that makes me think of that meatball song - you know the one!)

I snapped a quick photo in my hotel room before I gave the quilt away. It is fun to share my quilting side with my Advocacy friends. I promised to bring a sewing machine next time and give sewing lessons in the bar. I can't imagine what ridiculousness that would be!

The trip was successful and I brought home a few souvenirs (these pens are priceless!) The Senate is voting on the Special Diabetes Program as I type this post. My fingers are crossed that our funding is renewed for another five years. 

*Update - the SDP was renewed for one year yesterday as a part of the 'doc fix' and the President (yes, that President!) is expected to sign it into law today! I am so relieved. Losing this funding would be devastating for important research and for the diabetes community. I have decided to make another heart quilt to celebrate this good news - this time for our JDRF auction. Off to get fabrics!

Trip Around the Sun Quilt

I am excited to share my new free quilt pattern 'Trip Around the Sun' The pattern for this quilt will be available at Cool Cottons and the quilt will be hanging there in March. This is my second quilt I have made for Marie. The first one was a quilt called  'Off the Wall' that I made way back in 2011. You know those quilts you wish you had never given away? Off the Wall was one of them...

Trip Around the Sun soaking up the rays

For this quilt you use 5 different 1/8 yard cuts of analogous colors (colors that are next to each other on the color wheel) and a solid neutral. The initial blocks are pieced together using the method made popular by Bonnie Hunter for her Scrappy Trip Around the World, which sparked the #scrappytripalong Instagram craze at the beginning of 2012. I added my own little twist and voila: the Trip Around the Sun was created! 

I heart FMQ and making pebbles with the BSR

I have been borrowing a Bernina 820 from the generous crew at Modern Domestic and I have been learning how to drive it. The big areas of negative space were crying out for me to be brave and use that BSR. It was completely hypnotizing to draw all those little circles. I can't wait to practice some more!

Trip Around the Sun basking in the glory

One fun thing about this quilt is that you can easily increase the size of the quilt by making more pairs of blocks. I am planning to start collecting blue fabrics for a project that has a deadline in April. Oh, and the name of this quilt was inspired by the Montessori tradition of celebrating birthdays by 'walking around the sun' and maybe a little bit by the Jimmy Buffet song of the same name. It is a gift for my sister's best friend who is expecting her first baby in March.

Quilt! Knit! Stitch!™ Modern Metallic

Last spring I participated in a brainstorm session with the show producers for Quilt! Knit! Stitch!™ They were interested in showcasing an exhibit of modern quilts from the Pacific NW MQG Meetup Guilds at their event in Portland, OR in August 2014. I thought about what trends excited me and what would be inspiring and different and also what would represent the Pacific NW. Together we arrived at the Modern Metallic challenge.  

Robert Kaufman Quilter's Metallic fabrics available for Modern Metallic

Here are the details for this exciting special exhibit:

Quilt! Knit! Stitch!™ presented by International Quilt Festival will be presenting Modern Metallic at our show in Portland this summer. This exhibit will premiere at Quilt!Knit!Stitch!™, August 14-16, 2014.

Modern Metallic will showcase modern quilts made by members of Modern Quilt Guilds in the Pacific Northwest. Quilters are encouraged to feature the use of metallic design details including but not limited to fabric, thread, and themes.  

Follow this link for more information:

http://callforentriespnwmodernquilts.com/

Modern Metallic is sponsored by Robert Kaufman. Robert Kaufman is offering participating guilds gorgeous fabric from their new Quilter's Metallic Collections: Quilter's Tussah, Quilter's Linen, and Quilter's Burlap. Leave me a comment if you want more information about participating and how to get fabric for your guild. And make sure to tag your posts so we can see all the beautiful things you make! #robertkaufman #quilterstussah #quilterslinen #quiltersburlap

Giveaway Day + Sewing for all Seasons

It is  Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day! I am super excited to give away a copy of Susan Beal's Sewing for All Seasons and some fabric to make the sewing organizer that I designed for this book.  Just leave me a comment about what you are sewing this winter and a way to get in touch with you if your profile does not link to an email address, and you are officially entered to win! I will draw a name on December 13th at 5pm PST.

Last year Susan asked me if I would be interested in designing a project for a book she was working on. Susan had the vision for a Sewing Organizer project and we collaborated on the details. It is super handy to take to sew days: I use mine often!

I also have a second project in the book: Cozy Wool Slippers. I have designed footwear in my past life and so I took on a slipper project. I will say, this was a challenge! The criteria was to make something pretty that didn't need a pattern. That was a little different than designing shoes for pro-tennis players!

I was thrilled when the slipper project showed up as the cover shot on an Apartment Therapy best books selection. Susan had picked wool for this project and I was talking about it with my friend Stacy at the Pendleton Woolen Mill Store one day. She is one of those folks who has really clever ideas about how to make stuff. For the record, it was her idea to use those shoe inserts you get at the drug store as the interior for this project. Brilliant!

I love how Susan signed my copy of the book. It is such a thrill to work with her and to be a part of such a beautiful publication. Thanks for stopping by my blog today! Make sure to visit all the other great giveaways over at SewMamaSew.com! 

Update! The winner is #157! I plan to reply to comments which will change the numbers, so Congratulations Rhonda D! And thank you everyone for all your terrific comments. I enjoyed reading them! I am inspired by all your creativity!

Happy Holidays!

Michelle