Thursday, April 29, 2010

EQ7 is coming!

That's Electric Quilt 7, the quilt program. For years I kept saying that I don't need a quilt design program. That I can keep doing it on paper. A few months ago I was considering buying a program. It would be either EQ6 or buying an upgrade for a different program that I received an earlier version of from someone. I procrastinated and just let it slide.


Now EQ7 is coming out and it looks better than ever. So many new features that I can't resist. If I will be one of ten bloggers chosen to win a copy of the new EQ7, I will also be given another copy to giveaway, right here, on my blog. So, check back next week to see if I won.


Here is a partial list of all the new features that went into EQ7. See all the rest of them and all about EQ7 by clicking on the link for the new EQ7 on the Electric Quilt site.

  • Help buttons
  • Netbook compatible/friendly
  • New videos for beginners
  • 22 PDF lessons in color
  • New look to buttons & dialogs
  • New Activation/Deativation capabilities
  • Install to All Users for classrooms/labs
  • 67 “How Do I?” topics in the HELP menu
  • Over 480 new blocks in the Block Library
  • Copyright-free blocks only in the Block Library
  • Over 5000 scanned new fabrics in the Fabric Library
  • Over 120 new layouts in the Layout Library
  • 52 new photos in the Photo Library, great for Apply Symmetries and Apply Effects
And much, much more.


Don't forget to come back next week to see if I won. If you're a blogger and you want to enter the special blogger giveaway, check out the EQ blog for details.

Debbie

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Simple block break

 
Be sure to scroll down to see two great giveaways to enter.

While spending much time catching up on non-quilty things, I made two simple quilt blocks for a couple of group quilts. One was a heart block sent to a loved member of a few online groups that I belong to who just lost her husband. Oops, I forgot to take a picture before mailing it!


The other is a sawtooth star block made for a surprise quilt being made for a lady in a local quilt group. I blocked out the identifying details, and I belong to several groups, so it's anybody's guess! It's made of my favorite type of fabric, batiks, and my favorite colors to work with, orange and yellow.

Sue Hauser of Alderwood Quilts is having a very useful giveaway. In addition to pieces of two lovely fabrics, Sue is offering the cutest little iron! You have until May 1st to enter.

And, now, one of the biggest giveaways ever! To celebrate it's first birthday, the I Have A Notion Store is hosting sponsored giveaways on their I Have A Notion Blog. One giveaway for each day of the month between March 15 and April 15. But, don't worry, you still have until the evening of April 15 to enter any and all of the giveaways. So, if you haven't been there yet, get started now!
One of the biggest and best of I Have A Notion's giveaways is the Accuquilt GO fabric cutter. Every quilter's dream!

Have fun!

Debbie

Sunday, April 4, 2010

YTRR - Quick catch up

 
Still busy with the Passover holiday, I'll just catch you up with a photo of my little YTRR quilt with round four added.



You can see a photo of me showing and telling about the YTRR at one of the holiday quilt gatherings last week, on Etty's blog. You can see more photos from the gathering on Susan's blog.

Debbie

Friday, March 19, 2010

YTRR, continued - Advice needed

Earlier this week the rules for the fourth round of the YTRR in the Carol Doak yahoogroup were revealed. I spent two days printing, cutting, pasting, coloring, photographing and doing it all over again and again. I came up with two versions, but still can't decide. 

Below you will find Version 1 and Version 2. I am leaning towards Version 2. Version 1 might be a drop too busy for this round. This round should be a little quieter than the previous ones. Also, I don't know if you can notice, but I tried to design round four with a way to make it easy to work into round five. Hopefully, it will fit with the rules for round five. If not, I will make my own rules!


Please let me know, in the comments section, what you think about version 1 and version 2, and why. I will not have time to do any cutting or sewing until Sunday, anyway.


Version 1


Version 2 
Two of my favorite bloggers are giving away great stuff. 


First there's Karen of Sew Many Ways who's giving away a bunch of her Tool Time Tuesday supplies to celebrate one year of TTT. You have until March 21 to enter. You really should go through her blog to read some of her ideas. She's also added two beautiful Moda Fat Quarters and a couple of patterns.


Then there's one of my favorite podcasters, Jackie of Jackie's Quilting Chronicles and Canton Village Quiltworks who recently interviewed Karen Griska of The Selvage Blog, another one of my favorite bloggers from a while back. Jackie is helping Karen to give away TWO autographed copies of her wonderful book, Quilts from the Selvage Edge. You have until March 22 to enter.


I'm slowly working on a selvage quilt, but am really low on selvages. (Hint, hint!)

Enjoy your weekend,

Debbie

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Yours Truly Round Robin

What is a Yours Truly Round Robin (YTRR)? A round robin is usually a project where one makes a quilt block or other piece of needlework or craft and then sends it to the next person in a group of like minded participants. Each participant adds on one round and sends it on to the next one. The number of rounds usually corresponds with the number of people in the group. When the last round is done, the piece is returned to the original owner. The individual rounds follow a set of rules decided by either the members of the group or the organizer of the whole project.

A YTRR is a round robin where you do all the rounds yourself, thus no need to mail it around. Carol Doak came up with her first YTRR challenge (this is the second) after some members of her Yahoogroup got burned while participating in a 'real' round robin. Carol provides the rules for each round every 3-4 weeks and everyone shares photos of their progress in individual albums dedicated to each round. You do need to be a member of the Carol Doak Quilting Group at yahoogroups in order to participate.

All rounds must include a Carol Doak block design. This includes the free patterns on her website, the MANY free patterns designed especially for the members of the yahoogroup, and the MANY books that Carol has published. Here are the rules for the individual rounds, so far.

Round 1, center block: "Make a center using any number of paper-pieced blocks (my designs) in any size in any number of colors." 
For my center block I used the New Year's 2010 block, designed by Carol just for the members of the yahoogroup.

Round 2, border 1: "Should contain only two colors and must include at least one Carol Doak design. You can use different fabrics containing different shades of the two colors, but only two colors should be used in this round. One color fabrics can be solids or tone-on-tones. Or you can use a print fabric that contains only your two colors or shades of your two colors."
For this border, I used the South Carolina block from the 50 Fabulous Paper Pieced Stars book, in regular and mirror image.When I turned the center block on point, I decided that the next round should result in a finish of six inches, otherwise I knew I would get into trouble in subsequent rounds! This resulted in printing out the S.C. block unit foundations in a weird measurement, in order to get it to fit.

Round 3, border 2: "should contain one or more paper-pieced rectangular blocks. Now this round can contain other paper-pieced blocks, however at least one rectangular block should be included. You can put two square blocks together to create a rectangular unit."
For this border I used Unit 19 from the Simply Sensational Nine Patch book, also in regular and mirror image. It is one inch wide. So, the little triangles are approximately 1/4".

In future updates on this project, I will not be posting the rules to the subsequent rounds. You will need to join the Carol Doak Quilting Group to get them!

Here's the piece, so far. Don't forget to enlarge for the detail. It now measures 8" (eight inches) square.


Here's my worksheet. I do not use a quilting program to design my quilts. I printed out the foundations on regular paper, cut out the units, then pasted them to a larger paper. For larger quilts I used graph paper to design a scaled down version, but for minis I design it in the actual size. I color in with markers or pencils, the old fashioned way. You can see that I changed my mind about the colors in round three.

Terri of Sew Fantastic is giving away a Giant pack of beautiful Kona Fat Quarters in the 25 most popular colors. Such a treasure of solid colored fabrics! You have until March 14 to enter.

Enjoy!

Debbie

Monday, March 1, 2010

Purim Journal Quilt

  
Today is the holiday of Purim in Jerusalem. For everywhere else in the world, including most of the rest of Israel, Purim was yesterday. This Wikipedia article gives a pretty good explanation of Purim and its associated customs. 

For one of my journal quilts a few years ago, I collected some of the paraphernalia that came with the gift baskets we received that year for Purim and secured it down into a collage with a piece of tulle. (Don't forget to click on the photo to enlarge.)

Happy Purim!

Debbie

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

And the winners are...

.
It's time to announce the two winners of my One World One Heart giveaway! 

First a little about how I chose the winners. There were 243 comments of which six of them were duplicates. So, that made 237. I put 237 into a Random Number Generator and it chose the numbers 15 and 81. 

I counted down the list of comments, while skipping the second comment of each of the duplicates (I didn't want to delete them.) It wound up being very easy, as there was only one duplicate within the first 81.


Congratulatons to:


#15 is Jingle who said Oh, how fun! Thank you for a great giveaway!


#81 is fran who said beautiful postcards! please include me and drop by mine, too! http://www.artsyfran.com/2010/01/25/owoh_2010/

Jingle has been contacted by email and Fran has been contacted through her blog. If either of them do not respond within 48 hours, I will be choosing an alternate winner.

Enjoy!

Debbie

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Using up some yarn

Don't forget to stop by the One World One Heart Magic Carpet Ride full of great giveaways. It's on until February 15 and I'm #94 on the list of blogs. Be sure to enter my giveaway there.

I've been so lazy about blogging lately. Maybe some of you have some advice to help me with that?

While I've been working a little bit on many different things, I did finish one project! In an attempt to try to use up some of the huge yarn stash that I have from years ago, I joined a Mystery Crochet-a-long. I discovered something I forgot after so many years of only quilting. When I finish the afghan 'top', it's FINISHED! No need to sandwich, quilt or bind it! Only problem is that it doesn't look like there's any less yarn in the cabinets. 

It does need to be blocked but, here is the finished product. Each square is a different stitch pattern. It was a lot of fun. You should check out Carolyn's Gourmet Crochet blog.


Debbie

Monday, January 25, 2010

One World One Heart Blog Giveaway

Comments are now closed for this post. A drop earlier than originally planned, but I won't be able to do the drawing later. See the newest post for the winners.
 

Come join me on Lisa's One World One Heart Magic Carpet Ride of 2010! I had such a great time last year, I'm participating again. Last year there were over 900 participants from all over the world. This year is bound to go into the four digits. Click on the button below or in my sidebar to see the list of blogs for you to visit and to find out how to participate. You can still get in on it!

Photo


The purpose of the event is for creative bloggers around the world to get to know each other. One of the features is to post a giveaway to encourage comments in order to meet the people who comment on your blog.


I love couching yarns for embellishment on quilted items and I love making fabric postcards. So, I'm giving away the same thing I offered last year!


Two lucky winners will each win one of the two fabric postcards you see below, along with one yard lengths of about 30+ different yarns. Great for embellishing quilts, crazy quilting, scrapbooking, etc. Below you can see a photo of what the yarns look like. (Click on each photo to enlarge.)







The simple rules:


1. Leave a comment on this post. Comments on other posts are always welcome, but for this giveaway, only comments left on this post will count. I would love to know where you are from, but it's not required.
2. I need to be able to contact you if you are a winner. If your blogger profile does not lead to your email address, you must include your email address in your comment.
Update: MANY of the comments being left are by no-reply bloggers who are not leaving their email addresses in the comment. Please check your google or blogger profile to make sure your email address is enabled. 

3. Anonymous comments will only be counted if there is an email address included in the comment.
4. The event ends on Monday, February 15. I will use random.org to choose the winner after midnight, U.S. EST, at the end of February 15. 

Have fun and Good luck!


Debbie

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Red and white baby quilt back again

I recently finished embroidering the rest of the reverse redwork blocks for the red and white baby quilt that I started last year. Here are three of them. There are three more, but they will be a surprise when the quilt is finished. 




 I have thought about a setting, but am waiting for a book I ordered where the author used a similar setting for a quilt. Instead of figuring out how to do it myself, I may as well follow the instructions in the book. I'll tell you about that another time.



Check out Rhonda's giveaway at Patches and Peaches. She's giving away a Moda Soiree Honey Bun in honor of her sister's birthday! You have until January 29th to enter in three different ways.

Debbie

Monday, January 11, 2010

We have a winner!

Straight from the Random Number Generator:

 SewCalGal said...






How very generous of you. I've never tried the Quilt Show so I'd love to win your certificate!

I've been quilting since the late 60's, before rotary cutters, mats and all the cool rulers we have now.

SewCalGal
www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com


How very generous of you. I've never tried the Quilt Show so I'd love to win your certificate!

I've been quilting since the late 60's, before rotary cutters, mats and all the cool rulers we have now.

SewCalGal
www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com


How very generous of you. I've never tried the Quilt Show so I'd love to win your certificate!

I've been quilting since the late 60's, before rotary cutters, mats and all the cool rulers we have now.

SewCalGal
www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com


How very generous of you. I've never tried the Quilt Show so I'd love to win your certificate!

I've been quilting since the late 60's, before rotary cutters, mats and all the cool rulers we have now.

SewCalGal
www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com


How very generous of you. I've never tried the Quilt Show so I'd love to win your certificate!

I've been quilting since the late 60's, before rotary cutters, mats and all the cool rulers we have now.

SewCalGal
www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com



How very generous of you. I've never tried the Quilt Show so I'd love to win your certificate!

I've been quilting since the late 60's, before rotary cutters, mats and all the cool rulers we have now.

SewCalGal
www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com

How very generous of you. I've never tried the Quilt Show so I'd love to win your certificate!
I've been quilting since the late 60's, before rotary cutters, mats and all the cool rulers we have now.
SewCalGal
www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com


I just entered this new giveaway by Bobbi of Crafty Vegas Mom for her 99th post. Among the goodies she's giving away to two winners is the bag she made for a tutorial. You have until this Thursday to enter.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Recent giveaway winnings, new giveaway

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Reminder, don't forget to enter my blogiversary giveaway. Only comments made on the giveaway post will be counted towards the drawing, which will take place at the end of January 10.


I also won two Catnip Toys.  Who knew what a catnip toy was?!? Everyday GiveAwayToday sponsors one or more giveaways for other companies. One day last month they had a bunch of pot luck giveaways. You didn't know which one you would win. I don't have cats, so I thought I'd give it to someone who does. But, these things make cute ornaments to hang in my sewing room and they smell good. So, I'm keeping them.




Here's a giveaway I entered this week with beautiful batiks that I love to collect. Sue of Alderwood Quilts is also giving away a Ricky Tims pattern along with the batiks. You have until February 1 to enter.

Enjoy,

Debbie

Sunday, January 3, 2010

My quilt in a book

First off, don't forget to enter my blogiversary giveaway. Only comments made on the giveaway post will be counted towards the drawing, which will take place at the end of January 10.




In January, 2007, Myrah Brown Green put out a call on the Quiltart list for people to make quilts for her soon to be published book. I answered the call and was sent some foundation paper piecing patterns that Myrah designed for the book. My quilt did make it into the book, which finally came out this past summer. The name of the book is Pieced Symbols: Quilt Blocks from the Global Village.




 




Don't forget about the giveaway! Good Luck

Debbie

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Blogiversary Giveaway!

January 8th will be one year since I started blogging. I've been averaging a little more than one post per week. Maybe I could do better than that for the second year.


When I renewed my membership to The Quilt Show, they sent me a gift certificate to give to a friend for a free six month membership. If you'd like one chance to win that membership all you have to do is leave a comment on this blog post sharing any quilty tidbit about yourself (how long you've been quilting or what type of quilts you like to make or anything else at all that you would like to write.)


Important note: Please pay attention! If your comment does not have your profile set to show your email address, you must include your email address in your comment. If the Random Number Generator chooses a comment that has no way for me to contact the commenter, I will immediately tell it to choose another number. It's also nice to be able to reply to your comments.You can go to this recent post by Park City Girl where she explains how to change your profile. 

You can have two more chances to enter, but the first one above is required. For a second chance, become a follower (click on Follow in the sidebar) and write another comment telling me that you did so, or that you have been a follower already.


For a third chance, write about my giveaway in one of your own blog posts. Again, write another comment telling me you did so. All three entries must be made with separate comments.

The drawing will take place after midnight, U.S. EST, at the end of Sunday, January 10. 


I don't like blog posts with no photos, so I'll leave you with a photo of my second ever quilt, made in 1995. It was my own design and was totally hand pieced, hand appliqued and hand quilted! (click to enlarge)




Stay tuned for another giveaway the last week of January. I plan to participate in the One World One Heart blog event. It will be my second year. You can also click on the button in my sidebar.

Good luck!

Debbie

Monday, December 14, 2009

The 4th night of Chanukah

I made my Chanukah quilt in 1999. It's been hanging in our living room and every year since then, when the others are lighting their real menorahs, I add a fabric flame to my quilt. It hangs all year with all the flames and right before Chanukah I take them all off to add them back on once a day. 




The custom is to place the chanukiah (Chanukah menorah) in a public place, in order to publicize the miracle. Some actually place theirs outdoors. Some place it in a window for passersby to see. The background of my wall hanging is meant to resemble a window.


 

 ** ** ** ** **
My friend and fellow hexagon junkie, Mary Anne, is celebrating her birthday on her newly designed website, Sewing and Beyond, with the most fun giveaway contest I've ever seen. You must go to her website to play!

Thursday, December 3, 2009

The final two - 8 and 9

Here are the last two Journal Quilts that I made in the 2003 series. Next I have to find the images I have for the 2006 Journal Quilts.



 

Between spending time doing some paperwork, I've been alternating between knitting the second sock of the first pair of socks I've ever knitted and an unusually shaped scarf. The scarf should be done within the next few days and I'll take a picture. I hope these will finally satisfy the knitting urge and I'll be able to get back to my quilting!


Geta of Geta's Quilting Studio is giving away another one of her beautiful little trapunto style quilts. I just gotta win that hexagon quilt! You have until December 6 to enter. Geta is participating in the Sew Mama Sew big giveaway.


is putting together a package of various beads and jewellery findings and a tutorial to giveaway. You have until the end of December to enter.

Stephanie of A Ditchin' Time Quilts is giving away this cute little antique doll quilt. You have until December 8 to enter.

 


Debbie

Monday, November 30, 2009

Numbers 6 and 7

It's about time I showed you the next couple of Journal Quilts. Here's numbers six and seven. Most of the fabric and embellishments on all these little quilts came from my stash. Many of the beads were collected during the process through purchases on Ebay.



Giveaways I've entered today:


Vickie over at Spun Sugar Quilts is celebrating having written over 400 posts. She's giving away five different  prizes of beautiful sets of fabric. You have until December 5 to enter.


Cathy of Crazy by Design has put together SIX prize packages to giveaway as a thanks to her readers. Cathy will be drawing for the winners after December 5. Here's a peek at the package for quilters.



Enjoy,

Debbie

Monday, November 23, 2009

2003's Journal Quilt Number 5

Here's the center Journal Quilt number 5, in my 2003 series. Clicking on this link for Journal Quilts will take you to all my posts on Journal Quilts.




A little history. The Journal Quilt concept was started by Jeanne Williamson, author of The Uncommon Quilter, in 1999. Jeanne documented all those quilts on her webite. In 2002, Karey Bresenhan, director of International Quilt Festivals, started the Journal Quilt Project, calling on quilt artists all over the world to make one 8 1/2 x 11 quilt per month, for nine months, in time to show them at the Houston Quilt Festival in the fall. 


This continued for five years. For the year 2007, the format changed. Karey called for quilters to make one 17 x 22 (the size of 4 letter size pages) using techniques found in the book Creative Quilting, The Journal Quilt Project. In 2006, Karey chose over 400 journal quilts from the first five years of the project and compiled them into the Creative Quilting book. For the last year of the project, 2008, the quilts were juried. I wrote about mine in this blog post. Go to the Quiltart site and scroll down for links to each year of the Journal Quilts.
I also had a Journal Quilt in the 2007 exhibit and made a series for the 2006 exhibit, one of which is in the Creative Quilting book. More about those little quilts in future blog posts.
* * * * * 
Look at all the wonderful things that SewCalGal is giving away in her Thanks-giveaway! The drawing will take place on Thanksgiving Day. There are five different ways to enter.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Number 3 and 4

Here are numbers three and four of my 2003 Journal quilts. Clicking on this link for Journal quilts will take you to all my posts on Journal quilts.

Numbers 2 through 9 all have one triangle covered with a piece of tulle or netting which covers scraps of fibers saved from embroidery and quilting projects.

Here’s a giveaway for today:

Chris of Dye Candy is giving away your choice of prize from many of her gorgeous products. You have until the 22nd to enter. Here’s a taste.

dye candy giveaway

Enjoy,

Debbie

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

First two of the nine journal quilts

Here’s the first two of the journal quilts I showed you in my last post on quilts from the past. Each quilt, left to right, has a number on it, usually in felt, with embellishments. Number one is gold, number two is violet. Don’t forget to click on the images to see more detail. BTW, for those who may not be familiar with journal quilts, it’s a page size quilt. More about how they got started in another post.
image
image
Now you can check out the giveaways that I have entered today: 

Sivje of Goosegirl Sews is celebrating her 100th post. She is giving away a very stylish apron of her own design.  You have until the 21st to enter.

Elaine of Faithful Quilter: Elaine’s Journey is having a giveaway for Thanksgiving and the drawing is on Thanksgiving Day.  All we know is that it’s something quilty!

Karina and Maria of Karma Quilt are giving away 3 batik Fat quarters and coordinating embroidery threads to celebrate the opening of their BOM blog. Here is the google translation of their giveaway post. You have until the 24th to enter.

LeKaQuilt is giving away adorable little purses and a quilt book. The blog is mostly in Norwegian, but the info about the giveaway is in English. You have until the 23rd to enter.

Geta of Geta's Quilting Studio is giving away another one of her gorgeous little quilts in her November Quilt Giveaway. You have to see her quilts! The drawing is on the 23rd.


Debbie