A Fabric GIVEAWAY : :

It's Fabric Giveaway Friday!   

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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  
 

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We hope you enjoy visiting the Lady Belle Fabric sites!! 

For this week's Fabric Giveaway Friday, Lady Belle Fabric is offering the winner a beautiful Fat Quarter bundle of Bonnie Christine's newest fabric collection for Art Gallery Fabrics, Cultivate! This bundle will include a fat quarter cut of each of the 20 beautiful fabric prints that make up this wonderful new collection! How very generous!!

You can find Cultivate available in the Lady Belle Fabric shop in individual cuts, as Fat Quarter Bundles and as half yard bundles! Be sure to check out this amazing shop!!



In addition, Lady Belle Fabric is offering my readers 15% OFF any order from the shop throughout this Giveaway until Tuesday September 1st, just use coupon code "QUILTS15" at checkout!! Such a great opportunity to stash unreleased fabrics from Lady Belle's Sample Sale section or their new Liberty of London bundles!

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Enter to win! 

Here's how,

 
1. Simply leave a comment here in this post! We'd love to know which of these new arrivals are catching your eye, 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 31st!! 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!

Thanks to all who entered our Giveaway! From the 732 comment entries, #387 Student Crafter was randomly chosen as this week's lucky winner! Congratulations, I will be in touch shortly!   ♡ Maureen

Improv Gemstones Pillow : :

Thank you for all the Birthday wishes last week, it was very special! Besides all of the wonderful "Happy Birthday's," I felt encouraged by your comments to turn my first three gemstone blocks into a new, quilty pillow!



I love the way it turned out, and I got my coral fix by using these sweet Cultivate fabrics with the addition of peachy-coral AGF Pure and Prisma Elements!



I finished this one again in my new favorite long, lumbar size of 14" x 28" with straight-line quilting every 1/4" using both a pale peach and light pink Aurifil 50wt. I framed it with a peachy coral binding and backed it with a durable Robert Kaufman Essex Yarn Dyed linen in Sand. 



I'm only just getting started with this gemstone idea! I plan to pull a stack of low volumes to add to these Cultivate prints for more gemstone block making this week! Many of you were curious if these gemstone blocks are paper pieced. They are! I simply sketched out a new gemstone with slightly different dimensions, for each of the three blocks I made so far. I'm not looking for precision with these, the sketch was just my guide, but the paper foundation was necessary for me to make these gemstones with so many teeny pieces and sharp angles. Each block finishes at just a 10" square.



Paper piecing isn't something I'm very knowledgeable about. It always feels like experiment. Even when I finish whatever it is I've set out to make, I always wonder if I've done it right. My only real tips to share would be to 1. Shorten your stitch length quite a bit. The first time I ever attempted to paper piece I left the standard stitch length of 2.40 set on my Janome, and when I removed the paper, sadly I had loosened several seams. And, 2. Tracing paper is my personal favorite paper to use! It's translucent so you can actually see what you're doing, it's smooth, tears away easily, and we always have it on hand. I've never printed on it, since I hand draw everything, but I imagine it's compatible with most inkjet printers.

How about you, have you tried paper piecing blocks? Any words of advice from the paper piecing experts out there?

Gemstone Beginnings : :

Today's my Birthday, hooray! But I wanted to pop in quickly and share what I started yesterday! I've had this idea to make improvisational gemstone quilt blocks for so long now. Sketching out various diamond and gemstone shapes has become habit for me whenever I sit down with a pen and paper. When these Cultivate fabrics recently arrived, even after I shared yesterday morning's post, I didn't think these prints were the right match to my gemstones quilt idea.



Then yesterday afternoon I took another look, and noticed the inconspicuous diamond shapes within these two Cultivate Seed Packet geometric prints. I was inspired to try!



The first block came together a bit slow. I was improvising, composing my block without any pattern or prepared cut pieces of fabric. When I first dreamed up this idea, I was planning to happily accept a bit of wonkiness, unmatched seams, etc... But as I worked on my first block I was being a bit too careful for me to not lose interest before making enough blocks to finish as a quilt.



The next two came together in the same amount of time it took me to make the first. They're certainly more wonky than my first try, but I love how they turned out! I especially love how the three look together!



The three 10" square blocks sewn together, with a long narrow strip added to both the top and bottom, finish at just the right size to turn into a new pillow in my new favorite 14" x 28" size. I'm considering it for just these three, there will surely be many more gemstones in my future! Hmn, what do you think?

♡ Maureen

Coral ♡ : :

A quick look at my Instagram feed and you'll see that I'm loving all things Coral these days! From roses to patchwork to porch swing quilts!







My recent Herringbone Pillow with Renaissance Ribbons was just the first of many projects I'd like to make this Summer featuring this beautiful color, in it's various tones. From the pale, peachy pink coral to the warmer orange infused coral, I love it all!



I'm off to a good start by stashing one yards cuts of these top two Prisma Elements in Soft Wulfenite and Warm Thulite!



Bonnie Christine's newest collection for Art Gallery Fabrics, Cultivate, just arrived and I love the strong presence of pink citrusy coral!





The perfect collection to get my coral fix, don't you think?

While snapping these photos I was reminded of this color inspiration Coral + Melon mosaic I shared three years ago! I'm feeling just as inspired by it today!



How about you? What colors & color combinations are you loving these days?

♡ Maureen

A Fabric GIVEWAY : :

It's Fabric Giveaway Friday!  



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My sponsor the Knotted Thread is run by Jenn, a fabric lover with a passion for sewing! In her shop you'll find both bundles and single cuts of Fat Quarters, Half Yards, Yards, and Yardage, as well as some of Jenn's very own handmade items up or sale!! Designer fabrics include many of our favorites -- Free Spirit, Moda, and Riley Blake Designs just to name a few! 

Be sure visit the Knotted Thread blog to sign up for the new monthly Newsletter, HERE!
  
SHOP  *  BLOG  *  FACEBOOK  *  INSTAGRAM 
 

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We hope you enjoy visiting the Knotted Thread sites!! 

For this week's Fabric Giveaway Friday, the Knotted Thread is offering the winner a beautiful Fat Eighth bundle of Bonnie Christine's newest fabric collection for Art Gallery Fabrics, Cultivate! This bundle will include a fat eighth cut of each of the 20 fabric prints that make up this wonderful new collection!

You can find Cultivate available in The Knotted Thread's Shop as a Fat Eighth Bundle, a Fat Quarter Bundle, and a half yard bundle right HERE!!

In addition, the Knotted Thread is offering my readers 10% OFF any order from the shop throughout this Giveaway, just use coupon code "Maureen10" at checkout!!

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Enter to win! 

Here's how,

 
1. Simply leave a comment here in this post! (one entry)
2. Visit The Knotted Thread HERE and sign up to receive their new monthly Newsletter! Just let me know that you did by making a separate comment here to record that 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, May 18th!! 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!

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Thanks to all who stopped by to enter the Giveaway!! This week's winner is comment #79 --  Robyn Miller! Congratulations Robyn, I will be in touch shorty!!

♡ Maureen