Sewing Room Mug Rug Tute for Benartex

Welcome to Day 1 of the Benartex Mug Rug Blog Hop.

First Blush Blog Hop for Windham Fabrics

 

Welcome to Day 1 on the Ruby Red Designs First Blush Blog Hop.  I'm so excited to be part of this 18-day blog hop celebrating this month's arrival of Ruby Red Designs' First Blush fabric collection online and in quilt stores.

Christmas in July 2016 Blog Hop for Windham Fabrics

For new readers visiting today from Windham Fabrics Snip-Its Blog, and for anyone else who doesn't know anything about me, hi, I'm Chris Dodsley owner of the made by ChrissieD brand, a sewing teacher in Manhattan and VP of the NYC Metro MOD Quilt Guild, blogging about my textile crafts and travel adventures. That's how I introduce myself these days and then there's the bit about how I love to share my tips and tutorials and projects on my made by ChrissieD blog, twice monthly newsletter and various social media sites including Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter and Flickr.

Christmas In July 2016 Blog Hop for Benartex

Welcome to Day 1 of the Benartex Christmas in July Blog Hop 2016.

Bali Blog Hop for Benartex

Welcome to Day 1 of the Benartex Bali Blog Hop, let me start with a great big "hi" to my regular readers and a huge welcome to anyone visiting for the first time from the Benartex blog Sew in Love {with Fabric}.

Santa Sack Tute - Christmas In July 2015

Welcome to day 1 of the Christmas in July Blog Hop; as always, let me start with a great big "hi" to my regular readers and a huge welcome to anyone visiting for the first time from the Benartex blog Sew in Love {with Fabric}.

Today, you'll find my Santa Sack tutorial at the Benartex blog Sew in Love {with Fabric}. The Christmas in July Blog Hop continues to Tuesday, 28 July, with a new project tute and giveaway each weekday (not Sat and Sun).  

Want To Make Your Own Santa Sack With Different Fabric And Another Size?

The instructions in my tute over at Sew in Love {with Fabric} are to make a Santa Sack from the Happy Holidays Snowmen fabric collection by Michele D'Amore for Benartex Fabrics precisely the same as mine. Still, you can make my Santa Sack using any Christmas fabric and size. To make one to your own measurements, cut 4 pieces of fabric to your desired size (don't forget to add 1/2" seam allowance to the length and width) and 2 pieces of batting cut to the same size; you'll also need 4 border fabrics cut 6-1/2" x the width of your main fabric. Follow the tute instructions as usual and quilt and/or embellish to suit.

Trialling Threads and Embellishments

My thread of choice is Aurifil; all the threads I've used for this project are 50/2 wt cotton, and here's a list of the colours:

Bright Orange #1133 (not in the picture)
Light Sand #2000
White #2024
Wine #2260
Black #2692
Light Turquoise #2805
Fern Green #2888
Medium Turquoise #4182

I also trialled a handful of beads but finally decided against embellishments.

Free Motion Quilting

When I'm free-motion quilting, I simultaneously quilt all sections of one colour to speed things up. I fasten my ends for one section and then drag my threads over to the next section - if you try this method, just make sure there's enough length between the two areas of stitching to cut, knot and bury your threads later by cutting the dragged thread lengths at the halfway point. I ensure enough length in my dragged threads so the fabric can remain flat and not bunch up. You can see how I drag the thread in the photo below.

In the tute on the Sew in Love {with Fabric} blog, I promised to share more detailed photos of my free motion quilting, and here they are:

A reminder of how the Santa sack looks when it's finished...

...and how it could look full of toys on Christmas morning.

Free Fabric Coaster Tute - Available Here Now

Remember, I'll be posting a Fabric Coaster tute here so you can use those sixteen leftover Christmas scene squares from your two panels. If you sign up for emails or follow me on Bloglovin, Facebook, etc, you won't miss it ;D

And now for a giveaway - everyone loves a giveaway, right?!

6 Chances To Win A Happy Holidays Snowmen FQ Bundle

(open to US residents only) 

Here are 6 chances to win a Happy Holidays Snowmen fat quarter bundle - you need to leave a separate comment here on my blog below for each chance:

1:  Leave a comment below telling me one of your Christmas traditions.

2: Follow me here @made by ChrissieD via email or blog reader, then leave a comment letting me know where you're following from. Existing followers can join in, too :D

3: Follow made by ChrissieD on Facebook and leave a comment back here letting me know.

4: Follow made by ChrissieD on Instagram and leave a comment back here letting me know.

5: Head over to Sew in Love with Fabric, sign up to follow their blog by email or blog reader, and then leave a comment here, letting me know you did so.

6:  Follow Benartex on Facebook and leave a comment here, letting me know.

Please be sure I can access your email.  

If you're a WordPress, Google+, no-reply, anonymous commenter, or unsure, please add your email address to each comment. If I can't find you, I'll immediately draw another winner.

This giveaway is open to US residents only and closes Friday, 31 July 2015, at 11.59 pm (EST). A winner will be chosen from the comments using a random number generator, contacted via email and shared at the bottom of this post.

Best of luck!

And The Winner Is!!!
NB: Since selecting a winner, I have replied to many comments, which has changed the number sequence next to each comment. The winning comment indeed WAS #162 at the closing point of the giveaway, as you can see below in the screen print I took at that time, but this is no longer the case due to my added comment replies - Chris

Debbie also shared her family tradition of playing Monopoly on Christmas Eve with both kids. I love that; playing board games with my kids is always fun! I've so enjoyed reading everyone's family traditions in the comments sections; if you're looking to start your own traditions, take a read. There are plenty of great ones for inspiration.

Congrats, Debbie, I've sent you an email :D

If you want to know how to make my Santa Sack, head over to Benartex's Sew in Love with Fabric blog, and there'll be another six great Christmas projects, too, each weekday through Tuesday, 28 July. The projects use a variety of Benartex Christmas fabric collections, and the giveaway on each blog will be for a fat quarter bundle of the fabrics used by that blogger for their own project.

Here's the Christmas in July Blog Hop schedule:
Monday, 20 July: Chris, that's me, @made by ChrissieD, and I've used Happy Holidays Snowmen!!
Tuesday, 21 July: Debby @Debby Kratovil Quilts using Homespun Holiday
Wednesday, 22 July: Kelly @My Quilt Infatuation using Ornamental Splendor
Thursday, 23 July: Kristen @KD Quilts using Santa's Here
Friday, 24 July: Melissa @My Fabric Relish using Frosty Forest
Monday, 27 July: Nikki @The Girl Who Quilts using Frosty Forest
Tuesday, 28 July: Wendy from Ivory Spring using Shades of Winter

Thanks for dropping by and taking part in the Christmas in July Blog Hop - Chris :D

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Disclaimer: Fabric was supplied at no charge to mbCD by Benartex to create the tutorial; otherwise, this post is for informational purposes only; no payment or commission is received on click-throughs to links shared.

Yuma QAL - My Fabric Choices & Giveaway

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you're probably already aware I'm taking part in the Yuma Quilt Along (QAL).  That's the original quilt above, designed and made by Andrea and quilted by Ivete of Gotham Quilts.  I've been friends with Andrea and Ivete since I moved to America, and last year they created Gotham Quilts - an online fabric store, and the Yuma Quilt pattern is a free download here on their website.  Even if you're not joining in the Yuma QAL, do nip over and take a look at their online store and their blog Fabric Nerd; they ship internationally too.

This week it's my week on the accompanying #yumaQAL Blog Hop, and to start off my week, I'm going to share with you my fabric choices.   When the girls asked me to help promote their new pattern, I jumped at the chance; loving the bold, strong graphic design, I thought it begged to be made in solids, so that's exactly what I'm doing - American Made Brand Solids to be precise, and yes I did get them here from the Gotham Quilts online store.

Based on my pencil coloured Yuma Quilt sketch...

...this was my initial AMB solids selection

made up of these two bundles from Gotham Quilts:

7-colour Bundle in Purple

7-colour Bundle in Teal

I added these two additional fabrics to give the project some pop.

Light Olive and Dark Raspberry

My Fabric A choice is White, and my Fabric B choice is Taupe, and that's my Light Grey Background Fabric in the centre. 

I left out these 3 fabrics from the bundles. 

Dark Indigo - too dark, Light Aqua and Light Turquoise - too pale. 

And my final choice for my 13 Small Triangle Fabrics lined up in the order I'll use them in the quilt.  With four main colourways - a red centre with purple, then blue, then green to the quilt edges.  The colours follow their usual colour spectrum progression, and as the warmth recedes from each colourway, the quilt should also appear to step backwards to the edges.  I'll use the strongest, most saturated colour as the lead triangle in the Pieced Triangles with a medium and a lighter shade of the same colourway side by side behind it - medium to the left and lighter to the right in each pieced triangle section.

I've got lots more to share with you, so I'll break it down over the week like this:

Monday: my fabric choices

Tuesday: creating the HSTs and Pieced Triangles

Wednesday: Log Cabin Triangles

Thursday: piecing and joining rows 

Friday: finished Yuma Quilt top with added borders

almost there! - Quilting My Yuma

and finally - Yuma QAL - A Finish

If you want to join in, all you need to do is download the free Yuma Quilt pattern here and be sure to share your work on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc, using the hashtag #yumaQAL.

Gotham Quilts have created a Yuma colouring sheet for you to test out your own Yuma colourways - it's here on their Fabric Nerd blog and if you don't want to miss a thing - sign up for emails here direct from Gotham Quilts - they'll let you know each time someone on the QAL blog hop posts something.

The Yuma QAL Giveaway is now over - the winner will be announced at the bottom of this blog post on Tuesday, 24 August 2015, when I return from my travels.

YUMA QAL GIVEAWAY

I'm offering a Yuma QAL Giveaway here on the blog - a $25.00 gift certificate for use on the Gotham Quilts website.

Here're 6 chances to win - you need to leave a separate comment here on this blog post below for each chance:

1:  Leave a comment below telling me what fabric(s) you want to make a Yuma Quilt with.

2: Follow me here @made by ChrissieD via email or blog reader, then leave a comment letting me know where you're following via.  Existing followers can join in, too :D

3: Follow made by ChrissieD on Facebook and leave a comment back here letting me know.

4: Follow made by ChrissieD on Instagram and leave a comment back here letting me know.

5: Head over to Gotham Quilts, subscribe to their mailing list, then leave a comment back here letting me know that you did so.

6:  Follow Gotham Quilts on Facebook and leave a comment back here, letting me know.

Please be sure I can access your email.  

If you're a WordPress, Google+, no-reply or anonymous commenter, or maybe you're just not sure, please add your email address to each comment.  If I can't find you, I'll immediately draw another winner.

This giveaway is open internationally and to everyone and closes on Wednesday, 19 August 2015 at 10.00 am (EST).  A winner will be chosen from the comments using a random number generator, contacted via email and shared at the bottom of this post.

Best of luck!
And The Winner Is!!!
NB: Please note since selecting a winner as I reply to comments on this post, the number sequence will change next to each comment.  The winning comment indeed WAS #85 at the closing point of the giveaway, as you can see below in the screen print I took at that time, but this will change due to me adding comment replies - Chris

Tina is the lucky winner of the $25.00 Gotham Quilts online store voucher code, and she's keen to make a Yuma in Handcrafted - that Alison Glass fabric collection is a very popular choice. Certainly, Andrea's original two Yuma quilts look fabulous made up in it.  

Congrats Tina, I've sent you an email :D

YUMA QUILT ALONG SCHEDULE:
Each week another blogger will be sharing their YumaQAL experiences with you; check out each blog involved for more chances to win additional Gotham Quilt gift certificates.

17 June - kick-off blog post on Gotham Quilts
week of 22 June - made by ChrissieD click here to find all my Yuma QAL posts
week of 29 June - Faith and Fabric
week of 6 July - Daydreams of Quilts
week of 13 July - Lisa in Port Hope
week of 20 July - Sunflower Quilting
week of 27 July - Roar Haus
week of 2 August - Gnome Angel
10 August - Life Under Quilts
12 August - closing blog post on Gotham Quilts and start of linky party
19 August - linky party winner(s) chosen

Don't forget to share your Yuma Quilts using the #yumaQAL hashtag, and then join in the QAL final linky party on the Gotham Quilts' Fabric Nerd blog.  You can add finished quilt tops or quilts - winners will be chosen at random, and prizes include a $100 Gotham Quilts gift certificate and a  bundle of Alison Glass Handcrafted courtesy of Andover Fabrics.

Look out for the YumaQAL logo.

Clicking on an image will take you to a new page of crafty goodness :)

Disclaimer: Gotham Quilts supplied the fabrics used at a discount price to mbCD; otherwise, this post is for informational purposes only, no payment or commission is received on click-throughs, and opinions are my own.