🎄12 Days of Christmas in July 🎁 with *2* Giveaways!

*giveaways are now closed*

Hello friends, Merry Christmas in July!

Since the last time I was on the blog the temperature has turned a 180 on us, it is blazing outside now!  Which makes it nice to sit and sew and think of cooler days to come.  😁  I was super excited when Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict invited me to participate in the blog hop again because I had some projects to get done.  Thank you Sarah for organizing all this goodness!  In addition to all the inspiration you will see on this hop there is a giveaway sponsored by FIGO Fabrics that you can enter to win on each participating blog, and I am also having a celebratory giveaway!  The giveaway links are near the end of my post.

First, I completed a couple pillowcases for my nieces.  I love the "burrito" method with French seams, it makes such a nice gift.

Secondly I completed this quilt!  A bit of back story on this:  I was picked by Henry Glass for the Desire to Inspire Challenge in May 2019, and got to work with this beautiful collection of fabric called Jolly Ole Soul by Barb Tourtillotte (visit here for pictures of my projects) and origionally planned to use this as the backing of the quilt I made.  I ended up liking it too much to part with, so instead made it even larger and quilted it up for John and I to snuggle under!
I made this quilt with the panel that is part of the line and then made some simple present blocks using flying geese for the bows.  I made my "presents" different sizes and alternated the background for added interest!  I also used a couple prints from last year's Challenge with the Just Beachy fabric.  And I decided to quilt an edge to edge pattern with the swirls as they mimic the swirls in the white around Santa, and it was relatively quick to stitch out.  Sometimes you just need your project to be finished!

I backed it with flannel, fyi
RED FLANNEL BLEEDS
and you should wash it before doing anything else with it.  I washed mine twice with 3 color catchers each time, and I think I will be comfortable sleeping under it now.

I had to get John to take a photo of how much taller the quilt is than I am, I'm so excited to have it cover my toes and nose at the same time!

I really appreciate you taking the time to visit my blog today, and guess what?  This is my 100th post and in celebration I am offering a giveaway in addition to the one from FIGO Fabrics (entry form below my drawing)! I am offering a pair of handmade beaded Christmas earrings!  Your choice of either snowmen or Santa earrings if you win.  My giveaway is open until July 27th and I will announce the winner shortly after.
(I have to limit this to US only due to ridiculous international postage rates, but I will figure out an alternate prize if you are overseas!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And here is the beautiful fabric from FIGO Fabrics (a fat quarter bundle!):

Make sure to click SUBMIT!

I hope you have lots of fun exploring the posts on this blog hop and get a ton of inspiration!

Brandy

Thomas and Belle say "hello" too!  They really love this rainbow quilt, I am guessing it's the wool batting.

I am also linking to

Sew Fresh Quilts

Henry Glass & Co. Desire to Inspire and other things happening

Hello friends!  I just realized I haven't been on here to tell you about a number of exciting things that have been going on in my life.

 

 

 

First off, John and I officially started the longarm business in January!  How exciting is that?  Our business is called Blue Spool Sewing Room.  I am having a lot of fun with my Handi Quilter Infinity and will definitely be getting pictures up.  If you want to check out our business page please visit www.bluespoolsewingroom.com.

 

Secondly, I was chosen to take on the challenge over at the Henry Glass Fabrics blog and I had so much fun working with the Just Beachy collection!  I finished a beach quilt, a swim bag, and a pillowcase.  They put up my projects this morning, you can click this link to see what I said there and the photos I sent them.

 

Here are some behind the scenes from working on my projects:

 

 

I decided I wanted to make a star quilt and make it octagonal like the pink one in my header picture above.  I auditioned fabric and attempted to fold in into the shapes so I would have a fairly clear idea as to what it would look like.  You'll notice that I ended up not using the colorful dots after all.

 

 

I decided early that I wanted to use two layers of batting since we plan to sit on it.  I also tried to think ahead as to what I would do for quilting.  I knew I wanted to give an impression of a starfish so after staring at photos of starfish I figured a ribbon candy pattern would look neat on the black and give the texture I wanted.  Also, as much of a pain as it may be, stitching-in-the-ditch is definitely important for making blocks look right after quilted.  I made it my goal with this quilt to not use any computerized designs, so all of this quilting was freehand!  I am glad to see that I am getting better everyday.  Practice practice practice!

 

I used jean yardage to back this quilt and I just love how the turquoise thread looks on it.  Also what looks like a huge wrinkle in the upper left-hand corner is just from me holding up the quilt while I took the picture. :)

Super excited when I reached the halfway point!

 

John and I had planned a trip to Eureka, CA a couple weeks ago which worked perfectly for me having a deadline to get my beach quilt finished.  We were able to get out and take some fun pictures first thing in the morning and only had to fight the wind a little.  We found this spot that had a nice tree and quick access to the water as well.

 

I caught John sneaking a peek...

Superstar!

 

This is me walking into the wind, considering how heavy this quilt is with it's two layers of batting and jean back it lifted in the wind pretty easily.

When we got home I went to work on my new swim bag for water aerobics.  Mom and I are still trying to attend every Monday and Wednesday.

 

I wanted zippered pockets on each end so I can put my keys and wallet away and not have them floating in the bottom of the bag.

 I chose to use mesh as the upper portion of my bag so I can see what I have in there easily, plus it looks neat.

 



Thomas helped me make the tops of the bag, I wanted to plush them up a little so the mesh doesn't wear down on the fabric, at least I hope that is how it works.  Plus it gives a nice finished look.

I was so excited when I finished and the bag stands up by itself!

It holds everything I need and more!  It will also be perfect the next time we go to the beach to hold two towels and the beach quilt, plus sunscreen, shoes, and water.  I am pretty happy with how my bag turned out.  When I get some instructions written up for it I will be sure to let you know.

 

It didn't take long for Belle and Thomas to find the quilt when I brought it home from working on the longarm, but if it is kitty approved it must be good!  Oh, and that gray stripe there under Belle is a burp rag I made for my sister-in-law, we have a nephew coming in June!

 

I hope you enjoyed some of these behind the scenes photos, I still have quite a bit of fabric left from what was sent me so I am going to crank out some more projects over the summer and I will be sure to share with you.  Thank you for stopping by!

 

~Brandy