Christmas Caroling Row Along - Free Patterns and Giveaways! (Limited Time)

 

 

 

Hello and welcome to my stop on the Christmas Caroling Row Along.  If this is your first time visiting, my name is Brandy and I am super excited to share my rows with you.  That's right, I have TWO free row patterns for you today thanks to the stars aligning as they do. These patterns are FREE through next Tuesday, October 3rd, then they will be available for purchase.  I hope you have been following along for the entire blog hop, if you have missed days please see the end of this post for a list of all the participating blogs.

 

First though, a huge thank you to Marian at Seams to be Sew for bringing us all together.  She has been a busy bee for the last 9 months organizing this event and gathering up some awesome giveaways and deserves a great many hugs.

 

 

Secondly, thank you to Northcott for sending us samples of your beautiful fabric to work with as well as sponsoring the blog hop.  That was such a pleasant surprise for me!  I sign up for blog hops to have deadlines so I get things done, receiving fabric was really amazing and unexpected.  Take a look at the fabrics I picked out:

 

 

My fabrics came from the 'Tis the Season collection by Deborah Edwards, except for the white textured fabric, that came from Northcott's Toscana collection.  Click the following picture and it will take you to Northcott's site where you can see the full collection.

 

 

On to my rows!  The original row I designed is called "Midnight Clear Bargello" and is inspired by the song "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" and my family's tradition of having lasagna for dinner every Christmas Eve.  I used the process of layering the lasagna to dictate where my colors would go and then used the tune to make the movement in the bargello.  The tune fabric in my row is the poinsettia fabric.  You can download the pattern for this row on Craftsy by clicking on the photo below or clicking on this link:
Midnight Clear Bargello Pattern

 

 

You may have noticed that I do not have any of the Northcott fabrics in the bargello.  That is because I received the fabric after I had already finished my row with fabric on hand, and this is why you get a bonus row from me today!  I am calling it Midnight Clear Stars.  I wanted to be sure to do the fabric justice and came up with this row that I feel still fits with a Midnight Clear theme.  I just love sitting outside and looking at the stars on a clear winter night, the stars are always so bright.  Again, you can download the pattern by clicking on the photo below or clicking on this link:
Midnight Clear Stars Pattern 

 

 

When you make one of my patterns I would love for you to send me a photo!  Also please feel free to ask me questions if something is unclear in my instructions.  My email address is brandizzle7133 at gmail dot com.

GIVEAWAY ALERT!

 

The giveaway on my blog today is from

 

 

There will be three winners of a cotton pressing cloth!  Giveaway ends October 3rd, 2017.

 

 

 

A note from Marian about the giveaways:

Rules and Guidelines For Giveaways
Please take the time to read it.

Giveaways offered by sponsors are assigned to the various bloggers for their featured day.

There are no prior announcements on who is doing which sponsor except to the sponsor themselves.

You'll have to visit the blog or the featured blog to enter the giveaways.

Not all giveaways can be entered at Seams To Be Sew.

I will start announcing winners on September 12, 2017, and finish announcing winners on October 12, 2017.

In most cases, the blog where you won at also will announce their winners.

You must give a valid email address when you enter the giveaways, any email returned to me loses the ability to win automatically.

With the exception of Show and Tell Day, all giveaways run for approximately one week.

You are given 3 days to answer the email, if you do not answer within 3 days a new winner will be drawn. Check those spam/junk mail folders, you may miss that winning email if you don't do so because there are no exceptions to this rule.

If you are notified that you are a winner, in most cases, you will need to provide your name, address, city, state, zip code, country, telephone number, and email address.

In some cases, you will be asked to comment on the blog to enter the giveaway... do the right thing and thank them for the time it took to create the pattern, thank them for the pattern and thank the sponsor by buying their products for the giveaways. This helps them continue to offer great prizes for these types of events. You can also comment on their social media pages. Even if you don't win, letting them know you love their products is a huge incentive and they really do love hearing from you.

No purchase whatsoever is necessary.

You must be 18+ in order to win a gift.

You are responsible for claiming and paying any tax owed on the value of any gift that you win. Prizes valued at $500.00 should be claimed.

All winners are chosen at random.

All winners will be announced on the blogs via the Rafflecopter entry form and/or post by the blogger at the site where they won and here at Seams To Be Sew. All winners must allow for their first name and first initial of their last name to be announced on this blog.

Odds of Winning a prize are based on a total number of Rafflecopter entries during each week and in total for all giveaways.

This giveaway is void where prohibited by law.

Participating bloggers may enter any of the giveaways.

The word giveaways in the rules and guidelines are also known as sweepstakes.

Most of the giveaways are international this year, in some cases, you will be asked to pay for shipping your giveaways.

I am not rich and I do not ask sponsors for money, they provide prizes only.

If they shipped the prize to me, you will be asked to pay for shipping.
All giveaways will be shipped that are in my home within 48 hours of my having heard from you.

An invoice will be sent to you via PayPal, and shipping will take place via PayPal, so your PayPal email will be needed to send the invoice. You will receive a tracking number except for overseas shipments. All shipping will either be first class which averages out at 2.77 to 4.00 up to 13 ounces. PayPal fees are added to that amount to cover that fee. All fabric bundles from Michael Miller, Hoffman, and Moda will be shipped via Priority Mail to protect the fabric itself.

Please note, every effort is made to protect the prizes. They go into a plastic bin when I receive them, and it is covered by an air tight cover. I have a dog in my home and I have a smoker in my home, so I do everything possible to protect the prizes.

Most companies are very good about getting prizes off to customers quickly also, but some companies are overseas, so please allow all sponsors a 2-week time period before you report to me that you still haven't received your prize. When the company is overseas, it can take 6 weeks to 90 days for an item to also arrive.

Whether or not you read the above, the rules for giveaways are in place to protect everyone. I do not want to hear you didn't read them, they will be posted on my blog daily during each featured day. There is no excuse for not reading them.

Please take note that you will have to pay the shipping cost for this prize should you win.  But isn't it totally worth it?!
 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Northcott and Calibre Arts are also having giveaways every day of this event, you can enter them at Seams to be Sew's website.
 

Here is the schedule for the entire blog hop, I hope you will hop around and create some fun rows!

 

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Quilting Affection
Any Pattern
Just Let Me Quilt
Quilt In Piece
Kissed Quilts

 

Thursday, September 7, 2017
Daydreams of Quilts 
Seams To Be Sew
Be A Quilter
Creatin’ in the Sticks
Fun Threads

 

Tuesday, September 12, 2017
Sew Incredibly Crazy
Masterpiece Quilting
Sugarlane Designs
Happy Sewing Room

 

Thursday, September 14, 2017
Barbara Dieges
Cynthia’s Creating Ark
The Quilted Snail
Ms. P. Designs USA (sponsored by Just Let Me Quilt)

 

Tuesday, September 19, 2017
Jaded Spade Creations
Adventurous Applique and Quilting 
UlaSewing / SzycieUli
From Blank Pages

 

Thursday, September 21, 2017
Martina Latimer

 Quilt Fabrication
Patchwork Breeze
Patti’s Patchwork
Miss Loreen’s Schoolhouse

 

Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Cheryl LaPlante (sponsored by Quilt In Piece)
Morning Glory
Pampered Pettit
Fun Threads

 

Thursday, September 28, 2017
Mountain Meadow Designs
Quilt Art
Made By Marney
Renee’s Quilting Addiction

 

Tuesday, October 3, 2017
MaryMack’s Blog
Kathys Kwilts and More
Pamela Quilts
Duck Creek Mountain Quilting
Heleen Pinkster

 

Thursday, October 5, 2017

Seams To Be Sew
A Dream and A Stitch
Upstairs Hobby Room
Words & Stitches



Ahh, a break

Hello again!  It's been radio silence for quite some time, perks of working for a packing and shipping store during the Christmas season. :)  We have been quite busy, as I'm sure you can imagine.  I have found time to sew a couple times this month though!  We had our potluck guild meeting on the 8th and had a gift exchange, so I made this potholder:

 I had to fight for my chair again...

He is getting entirely too comfortable.

 

Also, I took the time and painted my nails during a Seahawks game!  Strings of lights, next time I will go a little more simple though.  I ended up changing my nails to just the red and green tips halfway through the week, and had a ton of complements on them.  Simple is effective!

 

I made up some wine bottle bags to sell at the store, last year we had people asking for something similar (we are the only place in town that can ship wine besides doing so directly from the winery itself) so I figured I could pick up some pretty fabric from Joann's and whip up some bags pretty inexpensively.  We only have one left now!  I think I made a total of 10.

We put together a little gift package for my brother-in-law Joe and his daughter Eryka, and I included this jar in the hopes they will bake the cookies up together.  Or Eryka will do it with Joe's girlfriend Sarah.  Whatever, just make the cookies!  I was pleased that I was able to cut my usual chocolate chip cookie recipe in half and it fit in the quart jar without issue.  I do understand now why people put the brown sugar on top of the chocolate chips though, that flour sifted right through them hahaha!  Silly me.  Next time I will do Flour, chips, brown sugar, flour, brown sugar, white sugar.  Then I'll still have the layers but it will be more clean.  I think.

I also was able to use almost all of this last Sunday to cut up fabric for this table runner, it's a French Braid runner and the first time for me making one.  It is coming along nicely, I just hope to finish it before 1pm on Christmas (that is when I will see the intended recipient).

 

I have been making tumblers as a leader-ender project as suggested by Bonnie Hunter.  These are pairs laid out next to each other, it's fun to see the progress!  Of course I went with 2 1/2 inch tumblers, why would I use larger ones that might go together quickly?  I have decided I need to go through my fabric and cut 2 1/2 inch strips from each piece so I can have more variety in my pieces, I don't have a lot of scrap in general and definitely not in that size.  So I will have to create some.  And I'm fine with that, just need to make the time to do it.

I also finally sat down to see how long it would take to make this Hunter's Star quilt, and it turns out it takes ~half an hour for me to make one block.  I need more than 30, and that means at least 15 hours just to assemble the blocks for the top.  So I will not be trying to complete this for Christmas.  Probably Father's Day though.

 

We have had one GOOD frost this month.  Even snowed for a day!

And then we had sunshine.  It's actually sunny right now, I can feel it on the back of my neck.

 

 

The cats were so excited yesterday morning, running back and forth between the side window and the front window, and then John and I heard this thunder-like noise, and when we looked outside we saw a HUGE cloud of birds flying in our yard!  It was the first time we've been so close as to hear them flying, it was really neat.  We tossed some birdseed in the yard with the hopes that they will entertain Belle and Thomas for a while.  It's working.

 

I also took a few minutes this weekend to finish decorating the tree.  It always makes me so happy to bring out my ornaments, I have many old friends in my boxes.  And John and I have picked up some new ones, the black and white zig-zag one on the bottom left is from our visit to Mesa Verde in Colorado.  And our topper this year is an heirloom from my Great Grandma Schuster (the same grandma who I inherited the White from).

 

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas, I am personally excited that I have Christmas Eve all to myself for ~8 hours to make candy and sew up a few more items before John gets home and we head to my aunt and uncle's house for the annual Lasagna Feed.  Oh, I better remember that I'm making a lasagna this year, oops!  Guess I know where I'm going after work tonight!

 

Merry Christmas!

~Brandy

 

This may be one of those times it's ok to let the cat out of the box...

 

There are some perks to being sick...

Such as actually having time to write a blog post!  And getting some lap time with the kitty.

 

 

Belle has become quite the snuggler, and is actually asleep on my lap as I type this.  Thomas is getting better about letting us pet him, and occasionally hold him for a few moments.  Belle doesn't like being held.  I'm still very happy with how well they are adjusting.  Also, a plug for Fresh Step cat litter, WOW!  That stuff is incredible, and saves our home from smelling really awful.  Thank you to that company and the people who made such a thing possible.  I still think we ought to train the cats to use the toilet though... lol

 

So I am participating in a parade!  Lorna at Sew Fresh Quilts is hosting a sew along for this adorable pattern she came up with, and I was instantly attracted to.  I love the colors.  I'm not obsessed with elephants, but I have a friend who is, so I made this for her:

 

 

 

 

 

I have it basted and ready to quilt, and hope to get it done in the next couple days to send off, she lives in Texas and has no idea it's coming

(as far as I know she doesn't read this blog...)

 

I actually had a customer recently!  I had dropped business cards at the quilt shops in case someone needs a small quilt quilted, or for when people who don't sew ask at the shop if someone can make a quilt for them, then they have my information, and a lady called with a top finished but needing quilting.  I was so excited!!  I did learn that I did not charge enough, basically I ended up being paid $5 an hour to quilt this for her, so lesson learned.  I underestimated how long it would take to do this (took over 8 hours) and I will not undervalue my time!  I'm worth more and am well aware of it.

 

 

I ended up not quilting on the bear, but did outline any place with lace, mainly to make sure the lace wouldn't get pulled out by small hands.  Also, that binding was from a yard sale, a JCPenney brand of pre-made binding which was in surprisingly good shape, but probably 40 years old.  I was a little nervous about it, but we shall see if I hear back from them.

 

Super Bowl Sunday was exciting, I made this block, which will become a pillow sham, and I'm trying out a different method of assembly which I will share in the future, when I actually get it finished.  I just LOVE this mottled brown I got, perfect football color.  I made this block based on the Touchdown pattern by Cluck Cluck Sew

 

Made some homemade bread for our chili cookoff, we all ended up winning, because the best chili was made by mixing all 6 of them together!

 

And look!  We used my table runner, Woohoo!

 

 

And I made this bag for my co-worker's other niece, who is a math teacher.  Perfect fabric find!!  Tried an Orange Peel quilting method, and it turned out ok, but next time I will make them smaller.  These were on a 2 3/4 inch grid, and weren't as tight as I would have preferred.  But it turned out pretty well.

 

Ok, off to the doctor's office, I hope you all are staying healthy!

 

~Brandy

 





Christmas in July is happening for me!

I am so excited because I have just made myself a promise that I will allow myself to work on Christmas projects the next two weeks!  I adore Christmas fabric, and have some set aside for a bed runner that is inspired by this:

 

 

I love how the faces have so much personality!

 

I have been working on a couple other projects as well, actually have a finish too!  I had seen the video from Missouri Star Quilt Co about making a dresden plate block with their tumbler, and as I have the mini tumbler I decided I needed to know how big a block would be when you make it.  9.5 inches is the answer!

 

Turns out the tumbler dresden only needs 16 pieces, so I left a couple out.

Inside look at the dresden making process :)

Yup, ~9.5 inches

My personal favorite piece

Here is the finished product!  I for some unknown reason, ending up closing the binding on the front.  That was not the plan... But it still looks good!

I used this as an opportunity to practice FMQ on my Bernina 750 QE, and I feel pretty good about it!  And I did the overlapping fabric as the backing, so technically this is a pillow sham and will be going to my cousin in Portland as soon as they get moved back into their house (her room caught on fire, fortunately everyone is fine including Butch, her cat).
 

Picked up some Timeless Treasures fabric from Craft Warehouse (until that day I was unaware CW even carried fabric, and not only that but MODA fabric!)

Actually didn't follow a pattern, read somewhere that this table runner uses equilateral triangles for the end pieces and figured it out for myself!  It wasn't difficult for me, but math/angle type things are not difficult for me, so there you go.  I plan on a post that is focused on this runner, and I definitely want to pick up some Christmas themed striped fabric now!  I will say, one of these times I'm going to remember to actually measure my pieces and think it thru a little in regards to my backing, I ended up ~2 inches short of having the right length of backing fabric.  Not a huge deal, I pieced 2 pieces of it together, but you know, sometimes it's nice to have a solid backing.

And this beaut is actually a 3 week late wedding present!  Hopefully my friend isn't reading my blog, but if so, surprise!  hahaha, I'm so excited to get this done, I just cut out the fabric for the border (a deep blue with the red as cornerstones) and will finish getting those on this week for sure, then take it to my mom's place to baste it all together.  John helped me choose a sandy colored flannel backing.  I am going to quilt it on my Bernina and am thinking a large feather-type pattern will look nice.

 

Other things on my holiday list include:

 

*Hunter's star for dad

*Scrappy four patch for sister

*Strawberry quilt for John and me

*finishing my lap blanket for work (needs batting and sewn up, should be easy enough...)

*make myself new sweatpants

 

Oh!  And I made a super fun cupcake bouquet the other day, and got paid for it!  Always a fun perk :)

 

Have a wonderful day!

~Brandy