234 don't be crabby pillow & giveaway.

Happy Halloween!  I don't have a very festive post for you today, but I do have a giveaway for you :)

When Laurie Wisbrun asked if she could send me some of her latest line, Don't Be Crabby, I jumped at the chance.  I love Laurie's fabric and this line is just so fun!  It's the whales... they just kill me with their cuteness.  This collection is due to release in December.

I decided to make some pillows for my nephews with the fabric since they are all obsessed with swimming, lakes, fish, boats, etc.  I had high hopes of finishing all four pillows before the end of the month but unfortunately life got in the way!  I was able to finish the first one though so here it is!

I used the pattern for my Woodland Tails Pillow, which was published in Issue 9 of Fat Quarterly.  I chose to offset the middle panel on this one a little though, since I accidentally cut the whale fabric wrong!

Since the pillow had a nautical theme going on, I decided to add in some nautical themed quilting.  My sewing machine has an anchor stitch (#235 on the Janome Horizon 7700) which was exactly what I was looking for!

The back is nothing too exciting, but it does feature one of the cute fish prints from Don't Be Crabby.

I just had to add in one of the selvages from the fabric too!  Can't waste those little crabs :)

Now for the giveaway!  Robert Kaufman is offering up one fat quarter bundle of Don't Be Crabby to one of you!

To enter, simply leave a comment on this post.  Tell me what you'd make with these prints, or what you're doing to celebrate Halloween!  Followers of this blog get an extra entry by leaving an additional comment.  Please make sure there is a way for me to contact you!  I'll pick a winner on Saturday.

Update:  This giveaway is now closed.  Congrats to our winner, hollymade!

5 Scrap packs in the shop!

Just wanted to let you know I put together some scrap packs, which are now available in the shop!  Update:  All sold...thank you so much!!  My scrap pile was getting out of control!

You can still use the code DESTASH15 to get 15% off your entire order.  I will refund any shipping overages.

1 saturday stash.

New fabric from Pink Castle Fabrics this week!  Tangled Threads in Black,  Spot on Tiny Dot in Black,   Small Chevron in Lavender and Orange, Ladder Dot in Black and Fuchsia, Super Star Cheery Circle in Gray, and Spot on Tiny Dot in Gray.

I also picked up yardage of some pretty linens while they were in stock!  Essex linen in Steel, along with some Essex yard dyed linen in Flax and Black.  These always seem to sell out quickly, but you can still pick these up at Stash Fabrics right now!

As you can see, I took advantage of Brenda's moving sale!  25% off all fabrics, using the code MOVING.  The code is still valid until the end of October!

Stash Fabrics is also having a sale!  You can save an additional 15-30% off all sale items for a limited time!  No coupon needed, the prices already reflect the discount.  Many are only $5-6 per yard, and shipping is still free when you spend $50.

0 destash sale!

I'm destashing some fabric this weekend!  Head over to my shop to take a look.  I might be adding more over the next day or two so buy whatever you want right away and keep checking back.  I'll combine your orders, wait to ship it all until Monday and refund any overages on shipping!  Save 15% on anything in the shop by entering the code DESTASH15 at checkout before Monday :)  Have a great weekend!

8 so much sewing!

You know those weeks where you're sewing more than you're blogging?  This is one of those!  Here's my attempt to catch up on the things I've been working on.

First, off, I'm making progress on my pillow for the Pillow Talk Swap!  I'm piecing the borders on these hexies using partial seams, which are really not that scary once you get the hang of them.

I added the borders to my Cosmos butterflies quilt!  I really want to get the back made for this quilt soon so I can start quilting it!  I might even attempt to FMQ it, even though it's not exactly my forte.

I finished two pillow fronts for my Don't Be Crabby pillows!  Two more to go, and then I need to quilt them and add the backs!

I've been obsessed with making tea towels this week!  These are made out of the new Timeless Treasures line, Urban Suburban, which is debuting at quilt market.  They are seriously the cutest prints, and making tea towels is so quick and easy!  Tutorial coming soon for these.

I think that's all for today!  We're going out with friends to watch the Tigers game tonight, so no more sewing for me!  Hope you're all having a nice Wednesday :)

3 saturday stash.

I haven't done a stash post in a few weeks!  The weekends have been pretty busy here with construction in our bedroom.  But we're taking a break right now which means I can share some new purchases with you!

I finally caved and bought Field Study.  The colors and prints are just so beautiful, I just couldn't resist any longer.  I bought a half yard bundle from Westwood Acres.  Amanda has such a great shop!

I got a surprise package from Windham Fabrics recently with layer cakes of the new fabrics by French Bull, Multidot and Delight!  These prints are all so bright and fun!

I also bought a couple new sewing books lately, Sunday Morning Quilts and Pretty in Patchwork Holidays!  Both of them are wonderful!  Pretty in Patchwork has the cutest projects, I'm dying to make a Modern Maple quilt!  Sunday Morning Quilts has some amazing scrap projects and a ton of information on scrap storage too!  I desperately need to organize my scraps.

In case you're in the shopping mood, here are a two fun sales for you!

Pink Castle Fabrics is having a moving sale, offering 25% off of everything in the shop with the code MOVING.

Stash Fabrics is also having a sale!  You can save 10% off of anything in the shop, including presales with the code TWITTERME.

20 halloween decorating.

I finished my Halloween table runners, so I figured it was time to share some photos from around the house.  It's looking pretty festive in here this year!

First stop, the kitchen!  This is hanging out in the middle of our kitchen island today.  But I moved the Boo pumpkin over from the table for this picture :) 

 Spiderweb quilting!  This was really fun!

 Here's what the kitchen table looks like lately.  (The Boo pumpkin has been moved back to it's usual home).

 Over in the living room, here's one side of the mantle.

 And the other side...

 The coffee table is looking pretty fall-ish too.

Table runner #2 is in the foyer on the little table to the left of the door.  Yes, I have two of these owls!  They're too cute to just have one :)

The dining room table is decorated too, not so much for Halloween but for fall in general.  I really need some different flowers for in here!  They're looking a little too springy to me.

That concludes the tour for today!  No decorating upstairs since it is a disaster up there... construction is so messy!

5 this week.

I'm doing a little sewing this week with Don't Be Crabby (out in December from Laurie Wisbrun) to make some pillows for my nephews.  I'm trying to get a jump on the Christmas gifts early this year!

Hello kid colors!  These are definitely bright!

I make such a mess while making improv blocks, which is what I'm using for the outside borders.

 I've got one front almost finished and 3 left to go.  That whale print is my all time favorite!

I'm hoping to finish these up very soon, and there might be some Don't Be Crabby to giveaway when I'm done too :)  

Also, in case you are in the mood for some fabric shopping... Pink Castle Fabrics is having a moving sale since Brenda is moving the business into a real shop!  Everything in the store is 25% off until the end of October with the code MOVING.  You're welcome :)

7 planning.

I'm doing a bit of planning for Round 9 of the Pillow Talk Swap!  I was inspired by this cute card from Ginger & George, which has been hanging on my wall for a long time.  I'm thinking rainbow hexies with some low volume prints mixed in might be fun?

Lots of stuff to share this week!  I'm finishing up the binding on my halloween runners, and doing some improv sewing with Don't Be Crabby.  We also installed hardwood floors in our bedroom this weekend which is pretty exciting!  It won't be too much longer until we can actually sleep in there again.  And I finally got my computer back today, I am so excited to have Photoshop and Illustrator again!  Hope you're all having a great Monday :)

17 butterfly quilt progress.

I sewed my Cosmos Butterflies quilt top together this past weekend!

Now I want it to be bigger!  A nice lap size would be ideal, something to cuddle up on the couch with!  I'm going to add a border of this Bella floral print around the whole thing, and frame that out with some Skinny Plaid in Blue from Cosmos.  Hopefully it will look okay!

Looking forward to finishing this one!

214 Welcome Quilt Sandwich & Field Study Giveaway!

Today I want to welcome my newest sponsor, Quilt Sandwich Fabrics!  Quilt Sandwich is an Etsy shop based out of Marysville, Washington, which has been open since November 2008.  The owners are even looking to expand into their own online shop soon!  It's run by two fabric-obsessed sisters, Becca and Kris.  They've both been quilting for over 15 years!  The shop specializes in modern and contemporary fabrics from designers like Amy Butler and Anna Maria Horner, which is of course right up my alley, and stocks more than 800 bolts of fabric!


Quilt Sandwich has a really broad selection of fabrics, including some of my latest favorites, Field Study, Chicopee, and Bella.

If you're getting ready for some holiday sewing, they also have some of the Cherry Christmas prints by Aneela Hoey.  These prints are just so sweet!

There are lots of good basics as well!  I need to restock on some black and white prints and these are calling my name.

The prices at Quilt Sandwich are very reasonable and their shipping costs are low too!  They even offer $5 off of shipping if your purchase is over $80, and $10 off if your purchase is more than $200.

Now for the giveaway!  Quilt Sandwich is giving away a charm pack of Field Study, plus 1 yard of that gorgeous Sinister Swarm in Blueberry print!

To enter, simply leave a comment on this post.  Tell me what you've been sewing lately!  Make sure you leave a way for me to contact you if you win.

You can also gain a second entry if you "like" Quilt Sandwich on Facebook, and leave an additional comment telling me you've done so!  I'll pick a winner next Tuesday!

Update:  This giveaway is now closed.  Congrats to our winner, Fran!  Thank you everyone for entering!

Thank you all so much for supporting my sponsors!  And thank you to Quilt Sandwich for sponsoring my blog! :)

5 halloween sewing.

I've been eager to do a little sewing for Halloween and finally got some time yesterday on my day off of work!  I had totally forgotten that we have Columbus Day off, so it was like a freebie for me since I was reminded of it Friday just before I traveled back home from Boston.  It was nice to have an extra day to recover, work trips always make me so tired!

I spent the morning yesterday stitching up two table runners.  Nothing too complicated, just some simple scrappy patchwork!

I'm in the process of quilting them now, hoping to finish that up tonight and get them bound so I can enjoy them for a couple weeks!

In other news, my computer is getting fixed at the moment, and I am lost without Photoshop and Illustrator!  I never realized how much I used those programs until I didn't have them for an entire weekend.  I'm counting down the hours until the computer is back in my possession :)

18 best friend photo shoot.

This past weekend I took my sister and 3 of her best friends out for a little photo shoot!  We had a ton of fun wandering around town and acting silly.

Aren't they the most gorgeous girls?  Beautiful inside and out!

I went out and bought some balloons to pose with just for fun.  They didn't have many options to choose from (I wish they were the big round ones!) but I like the pop of color!

I like this picture so much, don't they look like they really love each other?

They all brought their colored jeans, which looked really cute together.

Evidence of the silliness!  

Two of the girls had to leave for work, but that ended up working out okay.  At the end it was just my sister Gaby (on the right) and her oldest friend Sarah, they've been best friends and inseparable since they started elementary school!  She's like another sister to me.

Gaby brought this art print and wanted a picture with it!  I think she's been looking at Pinterest a little too much :)

We took advantage of the fall colors at sunset... the reflection off the river was beautiful!

I think it's safe to say they had fun :)  

In other photo news, I finally have a photography website!  You can check it out at www.hollydegroot.com if you want to see more pictures!  It's still a work in progress but at least it's functional now.