Refund Bundles Delivered.

Congratulations! Thanks to all who entered. This will surely be an annual tax day event!

We have tons of new arrivals in the shop. I'm making this short so I can get to the newsletter to give you some peeks! Have a great weekend!

Quilt Tops At Last! A Bee Update

First, please excuse the iPhone picture that is a bit grainy. Second, here's a Quilt Top! Becca has sewn together the top for the boy quilt headed for Project Linus. Everyone did such a fabulous job. It's a veritable I-Spy of elephants, campers, giraffes, cars and more!


And by some miracle, I managed to not be late for something and got this top of gorgeous, girly blocks sewn together as well, the other quilt headed for Project Linus. We're both working on the backs now and should have some more pictures soon.

We said we had some news about Round 2 and we're very excited to report that we've enlisted the magical services of Anne Marie of GenX Quilters to be the Fairy Godmother of the next quilt. (Insert sprinkling of fairy dust here.) We will gather up all the blocks, wrap it all up in batting and backing and send it off to the magical land of Ohio as Fairy Godmother Anne Marie has generously agreed to turn it all into a quilt for the ALS Quilt Challenge. We have so many willing volunteers waiting to make blocks for quilts that we wanted to make sure everything moved along in a timely fashion. Becca and I worried that if we were trying to put together a quilt every month or so, that we would get behind. So we're tremendously grateful for Anne Marie's help. Give her a pat on the Fairy wings next time you visit her blog.

Congratulations!

The response to our little giveaway has been just overwhelming! (My mom thinks quilters are a little crazy! Silly mom.) We decided to award both a US box AND an International bundle.

The winners are #787 – Our Busy Little Bunch and # 1394 – Michelle. We've emailed you both and hope to get your scrappy bounty out to you soon. Thanks to everyone who entered. We surely know how to get our scraps in good hands from now on!

We'll have some pictures of the quilt tops from Round 1 of our Scrap Bee to show in a day or two. These are the boy and girl quilts going to Project Linus! We also have some exciting news about Round 2 coming up. It involves a little bit of fairy magic....

Fabric Refund Giveaway

Tax day is near upon us and whether you get a refund or write a check, it always tends to be a little stressful... paperwork, complicated forms, math. Blech.

But what if you could get a windfall of fabric? A Fabric Refund! A bountiful, brimming, beautiful box full of Sew Fresh Fabric. Sound tempting? You see, our scrap box runneth over. Again. We're three quilts into our Scrap Quilting Bee and it's not really making a dent. We need to offload some of this bounty.

So here's the prize:
(for US readers) a full Medium Flat Rate box filled with Fabric – guaranteed enough fabric to make an entire quilt

(for International readers) a full Flat Rate Envelope filled with Fabric (sorry folks, the box price overseas is prohibitive but you'll still probably get enough to make a quilt top.)

Here's what you have to do:
• one entry for a comment telling us how you found out about this giveaway (a blog mention, Facebook, newsletter, etc.) or where you've seen our button online
• one entry for signing up for our newsletter (see sidebar)
• one entry for becoming a blog follower

Contest ends Wed. April 20 10 pm EST

Now, keep in mind these are no mere scraps. There are small pieces and large pieces. Fat quarters and any length of fabric shy of 18" landed here. Just to name drop a little... Anna Maria Horner voile, Heather Ross Far Far Away, Lizzy House, Amy Butler, Heather Bailey, Laurie Wisbrun, Sandy Henderson, Denyse Schmidt, solids, Essex linen and more. If it was sold by Sew Fresh, it's fair game.

Blogger's Pillow Party

If you haven't already, head on over to Stitched In Color to check out the Blogger's Pillow Party. The April entries will be judged by the fabulous Malka Dubrowsky of A Stitch In Dye and the prize will be a Kona Bundle (actually two bundles) by yours truly! 24 FQs of solid goodness.


Pillows are fun, quick, useful and can zip up your decor in a snap. Go ahead and give it a try. I've made a few pillows in my time so I know anyone can do it. If you're afraid of the invisible zipper (though Rachel at Stitched in Color has a great tutorial), go for the quick and easy envelope enclosure. Here's some great inspiration from the Flickr pool and here's a quick and easy one I made. Now go sew!

The Color Purple

Sisters on the Runway, an organization that seeks to raise awareness and funding for women and children affected by domestic violence, recently added a new chapter at my daughter Alison's university. As a member of the UMass chapter, Ali asked if I would be willing to make a quilt for the silent auction accompanying the fashion show. All of the proceeds from the evening would benefit Safe Passage in Holyoke, MA. The color purple has symbolized domestic violence for more than twenty years so it only seemed appropriate to use that as a starting point for the quilt.

At first I pulled out every purple I owned but it was not what I had envisioned at all. Instead I opted for the Larkspur line from Alexander Henry as the base and then mixed in some Kona solids and various other prints (Tufted Tweets in Orchid, Hypnotize by Kathy Davis in Raspberry, Dan Bennett Eggs in purple and Stone Ta Dot). The left over pieces were used to create the backing. The binding is Cobblestone by Paula Prass, one of my all time favorites.

It was with mixed feelings that I delivered this quilt to Alison. While I was more than happy to make it, I am more than saddened that there is a need. As a Mom, I am so proud of her for getting involved and working to make a difference. I do love that girl....

Becca

Pips are Rolling in

Most of the Grey and some of the Pink Lemonade colorway of Sherbet Pips by Aneela Hoey has arrived in the shop. We've ordered the entire collection and the rest should be arriving shortly.


We've also received an assortment of Moda Cross Weaves in some yummy colors. The Cross Weaves have different colored fibers in the warp and weft which results in a rich, dimensional color. They are similar to shot cottons but have less stretch than other ones we've seen. We think they make a nice option for sashing. What do you think?