Black Friday/Cyber Monday HUGE Deals and Giveaways!

Happy Thanksgiving week, y'all!  You may have noticed that I didn't have my usual mid-month sale post this month.  I figured that since the biggest shopping days of the year begin this weekend and continue through Christmas, I would forego my regular posts in November and December, and just make one giant holiday sale post to fill you in on all of the latest happenings at my favorite shops.

So, before you enjoy your Turkey Day, take note of these great deals and get ready.  Scheme and dream, load up your shopping carts, and gift yourself some fabric love.  Or you know, you could plan to purchase the things you'll need to finish up those holiday gifts (which sounds much less selfish if you really need an excuse).  And yes- this post has giveaways as well- THREE of them, so don't miss out!

I'll kick off this post by offering the first of the giveaways, and this one is from me.  I am giving away a pdf pattern of choice to two readers.  Bubble Bath and Pop Star are a couple of my more recent favorites, but I have 17 different patterns to choose from.  My patterns range from very easy to more difficult, and all of them have super-detailed instructions, including cutting diagrams and full color illustrations.  Several of my patterns have an illusion of curves, but all have simple straight piecing.  Most are written in a variety of sizes as well, so you're sure to find one to fit your needs, to help you make a special quilt as a gift or for yourself.  You can check them out in my Craftsy shop HERE, or my Etsy shop HERE!

                  

If you need a really fast gift and don't have time to make a quilt yourself, I do have one quilt in my Etsy shop for sale as well (this will be my only quilt listed before Christmas!).  My Truffles quilt has fresh shades of aqua, red, and gray and a fun, modern pattern.  It is a versatile throw size, and you can see it HERE!

Up next is Fat Quarter Shop.  Here's the thing with FQS- they are having some amazing sales for Black Friday, and separate awesome deals for Cyber Monday, but I'm not allowed to share them with you.  Fat Quarter Shop likes to keep their sales confidential until they are live.  Since I'll be enjoying Thanksgiving with my family, and this will be my one and only post until next week;  I won't get the opportunity to share the specific details of these sales with you (and yes, I DO know what they are).   All I can say is definitely check them out on those days.  You won't be sorry!


                    

The next shop is where I designed and purchased one of my favorite additions to my quilts- my labels!  They are high-quality, color printed, custom labels that are so easy to sew right into the binding of your quilts, adding the perfect professional touch!  Since I've shown my own labels a few times (you can see them HERE if you've missed it), I want to take this opportunity to feature the labels from someone else who has designed some for herself- Jess from Quilty Habit!  Aren't they fabulous?

Jess and I each ordered THESE labels in the 2.25" width and had them printed side to side, rather than running the length of the ribbon (these details are important).  No worries, though!  Peter at Finer Ribbon will guide you through the process, and they will even send you a paper proof that is perfectly to scale so that you can print it out, fold it, and be absolutely sure you're getting what you want.

                         


Finer Ribbon has extended their 15% off coupon with the code MQI15.  It's hard to beat a spool of 1000 labels for that price, friends!

The next shop on my list happens to be sponsoring the second giveaway!  Lady Belle Fabric is always one of my favorite places to shop, and they are certainly rewarding their customers this holiday season.  The entire store will be on sale up to 40% off, with a FREE Sweet As Honey six-piece FQ bundle with orders over $50!
         



Lady Belle Fabrics is also giving away a jelly roll of V and Co.'s Simply Colorful collection.  One lucky reader will get to choose her three favorite color ways.  That's going to be a tough decision, because they are all so lovely and vibrant!

Fabric Tree is up next, and though they are a shop that is a little smaller, their fabrics are beautiful, and their customer service is impeccable.  They have precuts, bundles, and yardage, and they have some really adorable collections.

Fabric Tree's entire shop will be discounted, with yardage 20% off.  Notions, patterns, and precuts will be 15% off;  and the best part is that this sale will extend until the new year.  I think I might have to get some of this fun Christmas fabric before it runs out!

                       

At Shabby Fabrics, they're making Christmas shopping as easy as 1, 2, 3, 4!

$1 Block of the Month sign ups

20% off kits, notions, threads, and pre-cuts

30% off all fabrics!

40% off CLEARANCE items!

So fun!  The sale will run through the weekend, so don't miss out!

                     


Last, but certainly not least is Fort Worth Fabric Studio, and wow!  They certainly have some great things happening this week!  Today through Thursday 11/26,  all Moda fabrics are 15-25% off.   You don't need a special code.  The sale prices will be reflected in your shopping cart.  On Black Friday and Saturday, all Riley Blake & Michael Miller fabrics will be 15-25% off.   Again, no code needed; the sale prices will be reflected in the shopping cart.

They are also having a Treasure Hunt every day this week through Saturday!  Each day will feature 5 NEW treasure hunt items.   Just look through the shop for the items with a gold star like the one on the right.   These items will be on sale at an exceptional price for one day only!   

You will love what they have selected for the treasure hunt - a sampling of new goods, basics, precuts, best-sellers, and more!

                      

Fort Worth Fabric studio is also sponsoring the final giveaway of the day!  They are generously giving away a Glisten fat quarter bundle.  These beautiful, rich Christmas fabrics are just timeless and would look amazing in any Christmas project!

                     

Okay, friends!  Entering all three of these fun giveaways is easy peasy.  Just leave a comment on this post to let me know what goodies you're scheming and dreaming about.  Please be sure you leave an email address so that I can contact you if you are a no-reply blogger!  I'll announce the winners at our next Needle and Thread Thursday (12/3).

This giveaway has ended.  Thanks to all who entered!  :)

Good luck to all, happy shopping, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Smoky Mountain Hike

Bigger blocks rock, y'all.  I have always loved the Road to Tennessee pattern, but I've shied away from making one because traditionally the blocks are pretty small, and sometimes I'm just a little bit lazy.  It's okay. I admit it.  When I got the woodland themed fabrics for this baby quilt though, and saw that the animal prints were fairly large, I figured they would work well to size up the traditional RTT block.  I love how it turned out, and how quickly it went together!

I used just nine different fabrics, with four 8.5" squares cut from each one. The white corner squares were cut 4.5." The blocks finish at 8 inches, making the entire quilt 48" square.  I think this is a great use of bigger prints, or even a small bundle of fabric that may be difficult to mix with others.

When I took this photo, I intended to just give a close up of the stippling and a few of the prints, and I only realized later that this pic actually shows all nine fabrics.  I think they all play so well together, considering that they are mixed from my stash, and not from a single collection.

The backing is pieced with wide stripes, using up most of my leftovers, and that darkest navy blue just begged to be used in the binding.

The slate blues and smoky grays in this quilt, along with the woodland animal prints, inspired the name, Smoky Mountain Hike, and it is going to look amazing as the focal point in the nursery.  With Thanksgiving approaching at breakneck speed, I am so glad I was able to check this one off my list!

Needle and Thread Thursday!

Happy NTT, y'all!  Over the weekend, I finished up my Mardi Gras quilt, and planned to get started on a baby quilt for a friend next.  Well, sometimes the best laid plans get thrown out the window.  The nursery is decorated in shades of slate blue and gray, and has a modern woodland theme going on.  My friend actually asked specifically for fabrics with bears and/or deer in it.  She even had these two fabrics in mind if I could find them.

    

The first is called Bear Hike by Birch Organics, and the second is called Buck Forest, from the Hello Bear collection.  I finally found them from the same shop to save on shipping (in the right colors), and they just arrived today!  Waiting for a specific fabric to arrive in the mail is torture when you're trying to stay on a schedule, not to mention when you're working up to a holiday.  Anyway, now that I have everything I need, I love the fabric pull for this baby quilt.  It's going to be so sweet.

In the meantime, flexibility is the name of the game.  I decided to go ahead and knock out the next quilt on my to-do list, a camouflage quilt for a friend's son, who is an avid outdoorsman.  From cutting to binding, this quilt went together in just a couple of days (with a couple of late nights), and I'm delivering it to her tomorrow!

If it looks familiar, it's because she saw a photo of this quilt I made for my brother in law a couple of years ago and fell in love with it.  There are just a couple of differences between the two quilts.  First, I found a fabric that has a marble print in shades of brown, and decided to use that for the square frames, rather than solid Kona Chocolate.  I also chose to make a scrappy binding on this one.  I think both of these choices add some depth and texture to the quilt.  The backing is solid Mossy Oak camouflage, and I quilted it with chocolate brown thread.  This finished quilt measures 60" x 60," and I think it will be just perfect for taking along on a camping or hunting trip!

Without further ado, check out a few highlights from last week's party that really caught my eye (it was especially tough to pick this week).  Judy from Sew Some Sunshine linked up this ultra-modern hexagon quilt.  So unique!

Valerie from re-engineered shared her Clovers and Jam quilt, and I love the earthy colors in this one!

and finally, Greta from Material Detachment showed off her finished Pickle Dish quilt.  I absolutely adore this pattern, and the orange and green combo is so much fun!

Okie dokie, friends!  It's time to link up your latest masterpieces, or masterpieces-in-progress!  I can't wait to see what you're sewing these days!

Oh, and one more thing- NTT will be taking a break next week for Thanksgiving, but will return on December 2nd.  I hope all of you in the US have a wonderful holiday filled with family, food, and fun!

1.  You can link finished projects or WIP's , but just keep it about quilting and sewing!

2. Link to your specific post (not to your home page!) to make it easier for others.

3. Please remember to spread the word and post my button or a text link.  

4. Spread the comment love far and wide!

5. Following me is not a requirement to link, but is so very appreciated!

Mardi Gras Revelry

Mardi Gras Revelry is finished, and I am so happy to report that it is packaged and ready to ship out today!

This quilt was so much fun!  I am not really a novelty fabric kind of girl, but for Mardi Gras, a touch of ostentatious is perfect.  I mixed themed fabrics with others from my stash to balance it out though, and I'd say the mix is about half and half.  I definitely wanted the colors to be distinct, because from even the slightest distance, the purple, gold, and green prints could have ended up looking muddled in the quilt without other, more solid fabrics to break them up.  The individual prints are a little difficult to distinguish in the photo of the entire quilt since they are smaller, but you can see them better here (pretty proud of my triangle points too)-

There are feathers, masks, and fleur de lis prints, as well as more traditional prints in Mardi Gras colors, like the chevron, stripe, checkerboard, and polkadot fabrics.  A few of the prints have some gold metallic accents (but not too many).  Then there's my most favorite fabric- the Mardi Gras leopard print!  When I bought the fabrics for this quilt, I almost left this one out because I felt like it was almost too over the top, but I am SO glad I decided to include it.  I love that it is a themed fabric, but so unpredictable.

Speaking of buying these fabrics, I really had a hard time finding everything I needed from one shop.  I was determined to stay with the traditional colors of purple, gold and green, along with black and white.  When I started shopping, I was surprised to find that lots of Mardi Gras fabrics have many different colors in them, and I knew I didn't want that for this quilt.  I also didn't want to pay shipping costs from five or six different shops to get the variety I needed!  A quilt shop in New Orleans, Mes Amis Quilt Shop, came to my rescue.  They are not an online shop, but they do have a website, boasting that they keep almost 30 Mardi Gras prints in stock year round.  They were more than happy to take a phone order and ship the fabrics to me, but since they are a brick and mortar shop only, they didn't have photos of each of their prints readily available.  They were kind enough to text pictures of their bolts to me, 5-6 at a time, so that I could decide what I wanted to order.  Now that is customer service.  (ps- this is NOT a sponsored post, I am just extremely grateful!)

I made use of every single bit of the fabrics in the pieced backing, and finished it off with a Kona Purple binding to frame all of that loud print.  The finished quilt measures 56" x 72," so it is a really great throw size.

I think the combination of the fun fabrics, along with the diamond pattern reminiscent of harlequin masks came together pretty perfectly on this quilt.  And I think it truly captures the spirit of Mardi Gras!  It's glitzy, loud, ostentatious, and so much fun-  perfect for the season where those of us from Louisiana "laissez les bons temps rouler,"  or let the good times roll!

Needle and Thread Thursday!

Happy NTT, friends!  If you missed it, I finished up the queen sized Ambleside quilt and posted the finish HERE, and for the last couple of days, I've been working on something new.  We are smack in the middle of the holiday season, and I'm working on a quilt with a holiday flair-

Not what you were expecting?  We all get so preoccupied with Thanksgiving and Christmas, but if I asked you what holiday comes after Christmas, I know many would probably say Valentine's Day.  That is, unless you live (or are from) Louisiana.  For us, Mardi Gras is next!  Mardi Gras day falls on the Tuesday right before Lent, but we actually let the good times roll for an entire season, beginning on January 6th.  This day is also known as Twelfth Night, Three Kings Day, or Epiphany.

Many Louisiana folks decorate their homes for Mardi Gras, and some even take the decorations off of the Christmas tree and replace them with ones of green, purple, and gold (not me, by the way).  This quilt is for a friend in Louisiana who wants a Mardi Gras quilt, and was very clear about the fact that he had no qualms about it being loud and busy.  After all, Mardi Gras is a glitzy holiday, so why should a quilt to celebrate it be any different?  I chose to make a diamond pattern because it reminds me of harlequin masks, which are often used in the decor of the season.  I just need to get this top squared up, and get going on the backing!

Alrighty then!  Check out some of the highlights from last week's fabulous party!  Afton from Quilting Mod shared this fun mini-

Beth from Cooking Up Quilts showed off this quilt, called Snap, Crackle, Pop!  Isn't it awesome?

and Heather from QA Creations linked up her newest quilt, Forging Steel.  Gorgeous!

So, maybe you're working on holiday projects of a different kind; or maybe some holiday gift sewing; or maybe just something fun for yourself?  I can't wait to see!

1.  You can link finished projects or WIP's , but just keep it about quilting and sewing!

2. Link to your specific post (not to your home page!) to make it easier for others.

3. Please remember to spread the word and post my button or a text link.  

4. Spread the comment love far and wide!

5. Following me is not a requirement to link, but is so very appreciated!

Nostalgia

I finished this my Ambleside D4P quilt this morning, and though the lower volume hues are outside of my norm, I really fell in love with the delicate prints and soft colors.  Every fabric in this sweet collection makes me think of vintage linens and lace, or embroidered handkerchiefs.  Although the florals are updated, they look like they could be right at home on a bed during a bygone era as well.  Because of the timeless florals and simple pattern, I decided to name this quilt Nostalgia.

If you missed my last post, this quilt will be a Christmas gift for the parents of a family member (by marriage).  Since the recipient's favorite color is yellow, I was asked to make the binding and backing yellow.  I really prefer for my binding and backing to be in contrasting colors so that when the quilt is turned over, both are distinct, so right away, I knew I needed to figure something out to be happy with it.

My solution was to use wide yellow stripes on either side of the scraps, then smaller green stripes down the length of the quilt.  By doing this, I was able to minimize the binding and backing blending together.  I used the same yellow fabric for both backing and binding, so it doesn't look strange on those small places at the top and bottom of the quilt where they do meet.  I think the backing and binding are a win-win- lots of yellow, but still plenty of contrast.

This finished quilt measures 80" x 100," so it will cover a queen sized bed generously, and the quilt, including the scraps on the back, used up every single bit of a 40 FQ bundle- hooray for zero leftovers!  These soft, dainty prints were so nice to work with, I just might have to choose lower volume fabrics more often!

NTT and Ambleside

Happy Thursday, all!  I can't believe it's November already!  Thanksgiving is just three short weeks from tomorrow, and Christmas... well, I don't even want to count.  I have way too much to do!  For the past few days, I've been keeping busy with the Ambleside FQ bundle I got a couple of weeks ago.

These are just a few of the 80 blocks I have to make, and they aren't even pressed yet.  This quilt will be a queen size (80" x 100"), so I have some marathon sewing sessions planned to get these knocked out.  These D4P blocks aren't difficult, but they are a little more time consuming than you would think.  I guess that's true of any block that you have to sew twice.

This quilt will be for my cousin's wife, who wants to give the quilt as a Christmas gift to her parents (I don't think there's a less convoluted way to say that).  She saw my Springtime Blooms quilt and wanted a quilt with the same pattern, and with fabrics that have the same softer colors.  I think the Ambleside collection fulfills those needs nicely.  So far, I have 55 blocks finished, and I'm hoping to get the rest sewn tonight and tomorrow so I can get the top put together.

Last week's party was ahh-mazing!  Y'all are really kicking your awesomeness into high gear with the holidays approaching!  I'm positively swooning over this warm/cool AMH Dresden Plate quilt by Maryse Makes Things-

This Modern Maples quilt by Cardboard Boxes and Paper Hearts is such a pretty tribute to the season-

and Cathy at A Quilting Chick linked up a brand new Moda Bake Shop pattern, Night in Old San Antonio (or NIOSA) for short- gorgeous!

I can't tell you how much I love browsing your projects week after week (even if I don't have time to comment on all of them).  Y'all truly inspire me.  Let's link up, friends!

1.  You can link finished projects or WIP's , but just keep it about quilting and sewing!

2. Link to your specific post (not to your home page!) to make it easier for others.

3. Please remember to spread the word and post my button or a text link.  

4. Spread the comment love far and wide!

5. Following me is not a requirement to link, but is so very appreciated!