AMB Blog Tour Winner

I loved hearing all about where all of the commenters were from and what they enjoyed doing in their own home state. It gave me lots of ideas of places to visit and things to do in a number of places I wouldn't have thought of.

Using the random number generator, the winner of the fat quarter bundle is:

Bethany! Congratulations Bethany, you should have an email from me.

Thanks to everyone for commenting! 

AMB Blog Tour - Massachusetts

Welcome to Day 3 of the American Made Brand Blog Tour. Today I'd like to share with you the license plate I designed to represent the great state of Massachusetts. While I'll always consider New Hampshire my second home, since I lived there for 15 years, I will always love Massachusetts - the state where I was born and call home again. Keep reading for a great giveaway!

I thought it would be fitting to make a license plate with the ubiquitous hat worn by the Pilgrims since Massachusetts is where the Pilgrims landed. I also wanted to design something that people might be able to use, not just for a license plate quilt. This hat block would be perfect for a small throw pillow to decorate the house during Thanksgiving.

This block is paper pieced and finishes at 12" x 6". Because the block is 12" long, I recommend printing this block on legal size paper. To download the pattern for free, visit my Craftsy shop here.

If you've never been to Massachusetts, I highly recommend a visit. There's so much to see. In Boston you have a number of great sites like the Freedom Trail, Fenway Park, The Boston Public Garden, The Museum of Fine Arts, The Children's Museum, The Museum of Science, Faneuil Hall, The North End, and so much more. The restaurants are amazing. Outside of Boston you have beautiful beaches (yes, like on Cape Cod and The Islands). Drive west of the city and you can visit Lowell, the birthplace of the American Industrial Revolution. For us quilters, there's the New England Quilt Museum, the Boot Cotton Mills and the American Textile Museum. You've also got beautiful lakes and mountains all over the place. The Appalachian trail does go through Massachusetts after all. And we can't forget about the Berkshires in Western Mass. Are you a basketball fan? You're in luck - the Basketball Hall of Fame is in Springfield Massachusetts. Oh, and while you're out here, you can always visit some of the other awesome states in New England.

Now for the giveaway... Clothworks is giving away a fat quarter bundle of its American Made Brand fabrics. These fabrics are 100% Made in the USA. The colors are wonderful and rich.

I want to make this giveaway easy, so just tell me what state you're from and one thing you like to do there to be entered. That's it! If you are a no-reply blogger, please make sure I have a way of contacting you. If I can't email you, I'll pick another winner.

Only US residents or those with a US mailing address are eligible for this giveaway. I'll draw a winner next Tuesday, May 27th.

***The giveaway is now closed***

Blogger Quilt Festival - Twirling Trellis

I've designed a lot of my own quilts over the past few years, so picking one for the Original Design category was a tough one. In the end, I decide to pick one that felt most spring like and was very happy - my Twirling Trellis quilt.

I designed this quilt at the beginning of 2013, but I didn't get a chance to show anyone this completed quilt until a couple of months ago because it was off getting the royal treatment by Modern Quilts Unlimited. 

I think one of the things that I love about this quilt is that I didn't extend the pink pinwheels into the outer white sections. I think it gives the quilt a nice balance and centers it. Like so many of my quilts, it's paper pieced. 

This was the very first quilt I tried to do ruler work on my longarm. It was a bit tricky at first, but I got the hang of it. 

I used Michael Miller Cotton Couture solids for this quilt and quilted it using So Fine #50 thread. I pieced the quilt using Aurifil #50 in white. The batting is Quilters Dream Cotton. 

If you want a copy of the pattern, you can purchase a copy of the magazine online, as I don't think it's on newsstands anymore. And look, there's my quilt on the cover! How exciting!!!

Blogger Quilt Festival - Confetti

Wow, it was hard to pick just two quilts to showcase in the Blogger Quilt Festival. To start, I decide to showcase my Confetti quilt.

This quilt was actually made as part of a Bee - the Simply Solids Bee to be exact. I set out a bunch of neutral fabrics with a couple of brights - a navy, lime and dark pink.

I absolutely fell in love with the top when I finished it, but I think the quilting is one of the main reasons I decided to use this quilt in the festival. It took a TON of ruler work on my longarm, and I'm pretty sure my hand was deformed for over a week after the fact, but it was so worth it. I randomly drew a section using my ruler, outlined it a 1/4" and then filled it in with 1/4" lines parallel to one of the lines in the shape.

The hardest part of this quilt was assembling the top. When blocks came in, they were all improv blocks, but some had more white space than others. Some had a bunch of smaller pieces while others had some large ones. I couldn't figure out how to make them work, until several people suggested that I cut up some of the bee blocks to make it work. Gasp! How could I cut up something someone had worked so hard on?

But then Victoria Findlay Wolfe came to visit the Boston MQG and she said that she cut up bee blocks to make one of her quilts. If Victoria could do it, so could I.

This quilt finishes at 51" x 50" and was made with a bunch of assorted solids. I quilted it using So Fine #50 - Pearl. I used two layers of Quilters Dream Orient.

WIP: A Baby Quilt

Wow, it's been a long time since I've sewing. This has been our busy season with work. Throw on a couple of grad school finals and sewing has been practically non-existant. Fortunately, I managed to squeeze in a little sewing time here and there over the past month to throw together this simple baby quilt for my cousin who's expecting her first baby late this summer.

This was the second tumbler quilt that I made. Both went together very easy. I used my Accuquilt Go! to cut the fabric. I used four charm packs for this quilt that I had lying around for a while now. I'm determined to use some of the fabric I have in my stash, so I'm hoping to use fabric I have on hand for the backing and the binding.

My goal is to have this quilted and bound within the next month. I think it's do-able, but you never know. 

American Made Blog Tour - Preview

You may have heard about the American Made Brand Blog Tour kicking off next week. The folks at Clothworks invited me to represent the fine state of Massachusetts, the state where I was born and currently reside (I admit, New Hampshire has a soft spot in my heart, having lived there for 15 years).

As part of the tour, one lucky blog winner will receive a fat quarter bundle of some beautiful american made solids.

So come back next Wednesday, May 21st and check out the license plate block that I designed for Massachusetts and a chance to win a fat quarter bundle of 100% American Made fabric.