An Autumn Vibes Bundle + Quilting Service GIVEAWAY!

Today I have a special Autumn Vibes and Edge to Edge Quilting Service GIVEAWAY to share from my wonderful sponsor, Lady Belle Fabric!

My sponsor Lady Belle Fabric is run by husband and wife team, Rob & Brooke! In their shop you'll find both bundles and single cuts of handpicked fabrics that are fresh, modern, and fun! Designer fabrics include many of our favorites -- Art Gallery Fabrics, Cotton + Steel, Free Spirit, and Moda, just to name a few! Lady Belle Fabric's goal is to offer the most gorgeous lines of fabric, as quickly as they can!

In addition to Lady Belle's amazing fabric offerings, they are so excited to be able to offer machine quilting to their sweet customers! Lady Belle Fabric has been growing and learning so much about the quilting industry and just knew that getting a Long Arm was the next step in their quilty journey. They have always chosen quality above everything else and that is what has lead them to choosing the Statler Gammill. They love their little bear of a machine and hope it’s quality will shine in your quilts for years to come!

Shop  *  Quilting Services  *  Instagram  *  Facebook  *  Pinterest

We hope you enjoy visiting Lady Belle Fabric and their brand new Lady Belle Quilting!



For this week's special Giveaway, Lady Belle Fabric is offering the winner a Complete FQ Bundle of my brand new collection for Art Gallery Fabrics, Autumn Vibes! This bundle will include a fat quarter cut of each of the TWENTY Fall-themed prints that make up this pretty new collection!



PLUS, Lady Belle Quilting is SO generously offering to finish a quilt with their new edge to edge quilting for FREE!  That's right, the winner of this giveaway will be able to choose from Lady Belle Quilting's collection of patterns and threads to have one of their quilts finished beautifully!!



You're all invited to checkout AUTUMN VIBES, with a special discount of  20% OFF!! There's no code needed to enjoy this saving on ALL bundles including Autumn Vibes, Flower child and Lady Belle Fabric's exclusive, new Flower Child Mix-up Bundle!







Throughout this Giveaway Lady Belle Quilting is offering FREE BATTING on your first quilting service order! Simply add the code: FREEBATTING in the comments of any quilt service order! Enjoy!!



Enter to win!

Here's how,

1. Simply leave a comment here in this post! We'd love to know what you plan to stitch up with Autumn Vibes? Feel free to share! (one entry)

2. Follow Lady Belle Fabric on Facebook or on Instagram! Just be sure to let me know you do by making a separate comment here for an extra entry! (optional extra entry)

3. My followers get a third entry! Just let me know that you do by making a separate comment here to record that entry. (optional extra entry)

4. Help spread the word!! I know that many of you already do, so I thought it would be nice to add that as another way to enter! Whether by Instagram, tweet, facebook, pin, blog, etc... (optional extra entry)

That’s 4 possible entries! Enter now through Monday, August 20th. The winner will be picked at random and I will announce their name at the bottom of this post here on the blog.

* This giveaway is open to EVERYONE! If you're a "no reply" or anonymous commenter, please remember to include your email address in your comment.

A BIG thanks to all who enter our Giveaway!  xo Maureen 

Loved to Pieces Blog Party!

Busy, busy, July was quite the month! In my last blog post I shared how happy I was to be back in this space and I had a major backlog of news and projects that I was planning to share. But the day after that last post, my husband woke up early and knew right away that things weren't right after not feeling well with flu-like symptoms for several weeks. He had Bell's Palsy, temporary face paralysis on the right side of his face and we learned shortly after that, that he had two tick-borne diseases, Lyme and Babesiosis. He's been taking the appropriate medications and today he's doing much better and is back to work. So here I am, excited to share my project for my talented friend, Mathew Boudreaux aka Mister Domestic's Loved to Pieces Blog Party!





This year Mathew joined the Art Gallery Fabrics family as an Angles by AGF designer and released his very first fabric collection, Loved to Pieces. Inspired by his daughter Helena's love for flowers and his love for paper piecing, Loved to Pieces is florals meet EPP geometrics in an array of blues with touches of vibrant pinks and subtle greens. It was an absolute joy to sew with! So much so that I couldn't stop. With everything that had been going on in my life I didn't want to commit to a big project that I couldn't finish in time to share as part of this blog tour, so I started by making one of my favorite go-to makes -- one quilt as you go flat bottom lined zipper pouch, and then I made nineteen more!





The front side of each bag is made with 2" strips of Loved to Pieces and the friendship braid Quick Quilt As You Go pattern that I've been experimenting with more recently, that I hope to share a tutorial for soon. Each bag has a cushiony layer of Hobbs cotton batting, a colorful zipper, a fuchsia faux suede zipper pull and is lined with a Loved to Pieces print or coordinating solid for a really nice finish!





Each bag measures a generous 9"x 9" and reverses to a striping of  Loved to Pieces prints. I made sure that both colorways of this new collection are used for each bag. This collection is so good for 
scrappy patchwork!





The zipper colors I chose were inspired by the blues and greens in this pretty collection. I added a silk tiered tassel charm to this one and I love it!





One bag has been filled with goodies and will be offered in a special Giveaway today on my Instagram, one I'll be sending to Mathew as a thank you/congratulatory gift, and the remaining eighteen bags will be available for purchase in my Etsy shop! Each bag in my shop will come with a surprise freebee gift and a small scrap pack of leftover Loved to Pieces 2" strips! I also have ten silk tassel charms available if you'd like to add one to your bag purchase, just be sure to let me know on Etsy when you order!



For today's special Giveaway prize I'm offering everything shown below -- a Loved to Pieces flat bottom zipper pouch bag with a silk tiered tassel charm, a six-piece bundle of Loved to Pieces prints, a spool of fuchsia Aurifil 40 wt perfect for hand piecing, an Omnigrid ruler, Dritz seam ripper, vintage needlecase kit, fabric quilt labels, a variety of EPP papers from Love, Patchwork & Quilting magazine and Dritz, plus a notepad, quilters graph paper notebook and sticker set from Art Gallery Fabrics!



Can you believe that everything shown here fits inside one of my bags!



I hope you've enjoyed my stop on Mister Domestic's Loved to Pieces Blog Tour! It's such an honor to be amongst this amazing line up of designers:

• Monday July 16: Amanda Woodruff of A Crafty Fox
• Tuesday July 17: Sharon Holland of Sharon Holland Designs
• Wednesday July 18: Angela Wolf of Angela Wolf Pattern Collection
• Thursday July 19: Brittany Jones of Brittany Jones
• Friday July 20: Sharon McConnell of Color Girl Quilts
• Saturday July 21: Elina Temmes of Elina Temmes
• Monday July 23: Meghan Buchanan of Then Came June
• Tuesday July 24: Nicole Daksiewicz of Modern Handcraft
• Wednesday July 25: Cristy Stuhldreher of I Love You Sew
• Thursday July 26: Kate Basti of Quilt with Kate
• Friday July 27: Courtney Davis posting at Melly Sews
• Sunday July 29: Mimi Goodwin of Mimi G Style
• Monday July 30: Kim Niedzwiecki of Go Go Kim
• Tuesday July 31: Tara Curtis of Wefty Needle
• Wednesday August 1: Saija Kiiskinen of Saija Kiiskinen
• Thursday August 2: Jodi Godfrey of Tales of Cloth
• Sunday August 5: Brett Lewis of Natural Born Quilter
• Monday August 6: Karen Tripp of The DIY Addict
• Tuesday August 7: Tracy Martin of Tracy Bug Creative
• Wednesday August 8: Sharon Burgess of Lilabelle Lane Creations
• Thursday August 9: Maureen Cracknell of Maureen Cracknell Handmade
• Friday August 10: Kylie Gersekowski of Little Moo Designs

I hope that we all inspire you to sew with Loved to Pieces!

Be sure to visit my Etsy Shop if you're interesting in ordering one of my Loved to Pieces Bags and be sure to visit my Instagram today at noon EST to enter my special Loved to Pieces GIVEAWAY!



xo Maureen

A Tutorial: Whole Cloth Quilted Journal Covers!

I've been away from this space for a few weeks while family has been visiting and we all traveled to Corolla, NC for our annual beach vacation. While I was away I missed sharing here and today I’m so excited to jump back in with this fun, kid friendly tutorial that I created as part of Janome’s Summer Sewing Camp!

These Whole Cloth Journal Covers are a new favorite make of mine, are a great project to get beginner sewists of any age comfortable with machine quilting and in the end, you’ll have a useful and pretty project to enjoy!



For this set of Whole Cloth Quilted Journals I used my Sisterhood and Blooming Ground Luscious prints from my brand new Flower Child fabric collection for Art Gallery Fabrics. I chose to make these covers whole cloth vs the pieced and stitched patchwork projects you're used to seeing from me to showcase the beauty of these favorite Flower Child prints of mine! I hope that choosing pretty fabrics to make your own journals will be your favorite part of the process!

In addition to choosing the perfect fabrics to feature as the journal cover fronts, you'll need a coordinating lining fabric, thread, Hobbs Tuscany 100% cotton batting and standard composition notebooks.





As a Janome Maker I recently started sewing with the Janome Horizon Quilt Maker Memory Craft 15000, an amazing sewing and embroidery machine full of built-in stitches and incredible features! For this tutorial I used a built-in wavy quilting stitch set at different stitch widths and lengths to give the look of free-motion quilting done effortlessly with my Janome machine!





You can follow this link -- Whole Cloth Quilted Journal Covers to download the complete instructions for my Summer Camp project! While you're there, be sure to check out the full list of Janome 2018 Sewing Summer Camp projects created by my fellow Janome Makers!



I hope you love making these journals as much as I do! Be sure to let me know if you give them a go and be sure to tag me @MaureenCracknell and add #MaureenCracknell & #JanomeCamp18 when you share. If you'd like to make some of your own using Flower Child, you can find these fabrics widely available in your favorite online fabric shop. If you're need of help finding any of my fabrics, you can leave me a comment anytime!



I'm so happy to back in this space, I've missed it! I hope you're all having a wonderful Summer!

xo  Maureen 

A Sparkler Fusion GIVEAWAY!

Today I have a special Sparkler Fusion GIVEAWAY to share from my wonderful sponsor, Lady Belle Fabric!

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My sponsor Lady Belle Fabric is run by husband and wife team, Rob & Brooke! In their shop you'll find both bundles and single cuts of handpicked fabrics that are fresh, modern, and fun! Designer fabrics include many of our favorites -- Art Gallery Fabrics, Cotton + Steel, Free Spirit, and Moda, just to name a few! Lady Belle Fabric's goal is to offer the most gorgeous lines of fabric, as quickly as they can! 
   
SHOP  *  Instagram  *  FACEBOOK  *  Pinterest  
 

We hope you enjoy visiting Lady Belle Fabric! 

For this week's special Fabric Giveaway Friday, Lady Belle Fabric is offering the winner a generous FQ Bundle of the brand new Fusion collection for Art Gallery Fabrics, Sparkler Fusion! This bundle will include a fat quarter cut of each of the TEN shimmery prints that make up this pretty new collection that includes newly colored prints from Amy Sinibaldi, Pat Bravo, Bonnie Christine and ME!

You're all invited to checkout SPARKLER FUSION, along with a special discount of  25% OFF ALL bundles, notions and pre cuts + FREE SHIPPING on orders over $75!! 

You can find Sparkler Fusion in the Lady Belle Fabric shop as fat quarter bundles and as half yard bundles, along with Lady Belle's exclusive Sparkler Fusion Basics Bundle and yardage of my Sprinkled Peonies Sparkler Metallic print! Be sure to visit this amazing shop!!

There is no code needed to enjoy any of these special discounts! Enjoy!!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Enter to win!

Here's how,

1. Simply leave a comment here in this post! We'd love to know what you plan to stitch up with Sparkler Fusion? Feel free to share! (one entry)

2. Follow Lady Belle Fabric on Facebook or on Instagram! Just be sure to let me know you do by making a separate comment here for an extra entry! (optional extra entry)

3. My followers get a third entry! Just let me know that you do by making a separate comment here to record that entry. (optional extra entry)

4. Help spread the word!! I know that many of you already do, so I thought it would be nice to add that as another way to enter! Whether by Instagram, tweet, facebook, pin, blog, etc... (optional extra entry)

That’s 4 possible entries! Enter now through Monday, July 9th. The winner will be picked at random and I will announce their name at the bottom of this post here on the blog. 

Note * This giveaway is open to EVERYONE! If you're a "no reply" or anonymous commenter, please remember to include your email address in your comment. 

A BIG thanks to all who entered our Giveaway! This week's random lucky commenter is, cllcraft. Congratulations! Please check your email for a message from me. xo Maureen 

Flower Child Journal Covers : :

I have a new Summer sewing obsession: Flower Child Journal Covers!





While brainstorming Flower Child LookBook projects that would showoff each pretty Flower Child print, fabric journal or notebook covers were at the top of my to-make list! For my LookBook projects, I like to recreate and use a combination of my own tutorials with those created by other makers in our community to share and link up to. A quick Pinterest search landed me on my friend Svetlana's blog: s.o.t.a.k handmade! Svetlana is incredibly talented and I was confident that I could trust her tutorial to be well written and easy to execute, so I gave it a go and I was hooked! Recognize this project from the LookBook?



Since this first one, I've been experimenting with my own ideas for making these journal covers and as a result my stack keeps growing! These covers are all designed to fit the standard composition notebook that are widely available, although I think I've cleaned out every store that carries them in this little town!



To add a bit of the boho flair that I love so much, I added a length of my handmade Flower Child Twine tied around a few of them. This twine is another addictive project that I shared in the LookBook! It's a wonderful, simple project perfect for keeping your hands busy when you're not able to sew. I definitely recommend that you give making fabric twine a try!




For the Journals that feature my Sisterhood print, I created a quilted patchwork panel, similar to the Journal Cover free pattern that Sharon Holland shares on her blog. The main difference in the covers that I made verses those that both Svetlana and Sharon have shared is that I quilt mine to a layer of Hobbs cotton batting and my measurements and instructions differ slightly. Below you can see all the variations I have tried so far. The options are endless!

For these two I used a modified version of Svetlana's tutorial that include a feature fabrics, a contrasting fabric for the spine of the notebook, and a lining fabric. Such a great way to show off my Flower Child Meadow print!

These Quilted Whole Cloth Journal Covers are my favorites yet! I'll be sharing a tutorial for making these on the Janome blog later this month or early next month, as part of the 2018 Sewing Camp with Janome happening ALL Summer long, where we'll share fun, skill-building projects each week that are designed specifically for children in mind. I think these journals are perfect!









And, since I already have several finished and I'm totally obsessed, I've decided to offer them FOR SALE for just $22 each! I'll be adding them to my Etsy Shop or you can leave me a comment here or email me anytime at maureencracknell@hotmail.com if you're interested!

Thanks in advance for your support and for stopping by! xo Maureen