Guest Blogger and GIVEAWAY Time!

Today I am so excited to be hosting

a special guest blogger!

I would love to introduce you to

Melanie Thornton.

Melanie is the owner of the fabulous

web store, Above All Fabric.

For those of you who are new to her store,

Melanie carries a wide variety

of fabrics, patterns, trims,

notions, and ribbons

that would satisfy the taste buds of

any sewing enthusiast!

If you hop over to her store,

you will see that shipping in the US

is never more than $5 !

Above All Fabric also has a perks plus/reward points program.

(I personally love reward points

and I am so glad to be able to earn them on the

fabric that I purchase!)

In addition to running her online store, raising her family,

quilting, and sewing,

Melanie even found time to help start

the Tucson Modern Quilt Guild.

__________________________

So here is a little bit about Melanie in her own words:

Tell us about yourself and how you got started sewing/quilting.

I started sewing at a very young age because my mom sews. She would make us matching outfits and stuff like that. My grandmother (95 years old) is the quilter of the family. She still completes multiple quilts each year. In high school, I had made several jean/flannel quilts. Simple squares, tied with yarn ... nothing very fancy. Then after I went to college, I decided one summer to make a sampler block quilt. So I bought a book and learned about templates and 1/4" seams. I machine pieced my quilt (a queen size) but decided I needed to be true to the tradition of quilting and hand quilt it. On my! It was totally overwhelming! My grandma showed me how to do little stitches- and I was terrible at it! It took me forever to ... and so finally about 10 years later, I hired someone to finish it for me so that my family could actually use the quilt! Looking back at it, the quilt is no longer my style but I love that we can use it.

What lead you to open your own store?

Well, basically, I'm crazy! I started to sell my own items several years ago. People were always asking me where I got my fabric. Several things influenced my store- so when we sold our house, I used some of the money to start the store.

What types of fabrics are you drawn to?

I find that my fabric styles definately shift over time. I am usually an earthtone girl...love browns and greens and yellows (not sunny). I love sewing for my daughter and find I can use anything from tonals to bright prints for her clothing. For quilts, I love things that will switch from room to room rather than focusing on making something for a particular room. I've also done quilts for each of my kids first birthdays...that was fun. I want to do that for my nieces and nephews too!

What kind of projects are you currently working on?

Right now I am working on a few projects that aren't ready to be revealed yet! Isn't that mean! I am also trying to finish up a couple of outfits for a show that I have next week. I also have a Make Life quilt that is completely pieced and I just need to sandwich and do the free motion quilting!

What is your favorite fabric line and why?

Gosh, a favorite is so hard to choose! I love Joel Dewberry's Modern Meadow. I am also excited about Patty Young's new line that is coming out... and Kate Spain is my favorite Moda designer right now (I love her new line that is coming out in January).

What project (quilting or non-quilting) would you like to tackle at some point in the future?

My goal this past year has been to sew more for myself, which has been great. BUT I have not made myself pants (besides PJ pants) and with the extra curves motherhood has given me, the whole idea of flattering pants is kind of  scary to me (I use my kids as an excuse, but let's be honest, the donuts don't help much)! So maybe 2011 will be the year of the perfect pants!

Thank you Melanie for sharing a little bit about yourself!

___________________

 

Now for the GIVEAWAY!

Melanie is giving one of my fabulous readers a

fat quarter bundle of

PURE by Sweetwater for Moda!

To enter the giveaway:

hop over to Above All Fabric

look around and come back and tell me

what is your favorite fabric line.

For an additional entry in the giveaway

become a follwer of my blog

or Melanie's blog !

Also leave a link to this post on your blog

for another entry in the giveaway!

_____________

In addition to the awesome giveaway prize,

Melanie is also offering a 10% discount

to all orders at Above All Fabric

for the next week.

You must use the code:PATCHWORK

in order to receive the discount!

The discount code is good until

Thursday, November 4th!

Thank you again Melanie for being our guest blogger,

for offering a great giveaway prize,

and for the great discount!

_____________

So let the giveaway begin!

Entries for the giveaway will be taken until

midnight Monday, November 1st .

The winner will be announced on Tuesday, November 2nd!

Until Next Time .... Happy Quilting!

The Scrappy Binding

I love to save every piece of fabric.

I have a small bucket that is filled with my

left over jelly roll strips. 

I have been saving them to someday make

another scrappy quilt.

However, for my Charming Stars : Fig Tree Version,

I decided to dig into my bucket and

make a scrappy binding

out of my left over Fig Tree jelly roll strips

 from a past project

Here is what they looked like once

I attached all of them together.

The Moda Bake Shop has a great tutorial on using

jelly roll strips to make binding. The tutorial

can be found here.

Here is a closer look at my scrappy binding:

I just love to see how the scrappy binding creates

a rainbow of yumminess.

Until Next Time ... Happy Quilting!



Charming Stars : The Fig Tree Version

As I promised you earlier,

here is the Fig Tree version of my

Charming Stars Quilt:

This version is a little bit different from my original version.

After all, I can't have two quilts that are exactly alike!

This time I only used two charm packs

from the fabric line Patisserie by Fig Tree for Moda.

My original recipe calls for three charm packs.

This meant that I would have (9) 13.5" X 13.5" blocks

instead of the (16) blocks that were in my

original version.

Also, I could not decide on a border fabric,

so I chose to eliminate the outer border.

This way the sashing border becomes

the order border.

Charming Stars: The Fig Tree Version

48" X 48"

(You can find my original recipe at the Moda Bake Shop.)



Until Next Time ... Happy Quilting!

I Have Been Baking Again!

I have been in the kitchen again!

The Moda Bake Shop kitchen.

This time I have been

baking up some

Charming Stars.



Hop over to the Moda Bake Shop

to view the Recipe!

Until Next Time ... Happy Quilting!

SPOOK-TACULAR NIGHT: A Charm Pack Tutorial (Part 2)

This is a charm pack friendly tutorial. For the fabric requirements and cutting instructions, check out Part 1 of this tutorial here.



In Part 2 of this tutorial, we will be quickly constructing and assembling the quick top. So grab your cut fabrics and let's start "spooking"!

Block Construction

Note: All seams are a 1/4". Press all seams to one side.

Step 1:

• Gather your Moda Bella Solid Stone 2 7/8" X 2 7/8" squares

• Lay your ruler from corner to corner on the 2 7/8" X 2 7/8 squares.

Step 2 :

• Draw a diagonal line from corner to corner on each of the  2 7/8" X 2 7/8" squares.

Step 3:

• 
  
  With Rigth Sides Together (RST), layer a 2 7/8" X 2 7/8" square on top of a 5" X 5" charm square.

Step 4:

• Using your sewing machine, stitch on the diagonal line.

Step 5:

• Place the 1/4" mark of your ruler on the diagonal line that you just stitched.

Step 6:

• 
  
  Using you rotary cutter, trim 1/4" away from the diagonal line.

Step 7:

• Press the block open.
• The block should measure 5" X 5".
• Repeat and make a total of (40) 5" X 5" blocks.

Step 8:

• Layout the charm squares as shown below.

Step 9:

• With RST, layer a 5" X 5" charm square on top of another 5" X5" charm square.
• Stitch the blocks together.
• Press the block open.
• The block should measure 5" X 9 1/2".
• Repeat and make a total of (20) 5" x 9 1/2" blocks.

Step 10:

• Layout the blocks as shown.
• With RST, layer a 5" X 9 1/2" rectangle on top of another 5" X 9 1/2" rectangle.
• Stitch the blocks together.
• Press the block open.
• Block should measure 9 1/2" X 9 1/2"
• Repeat and make a total of (10) 9 1/2" X 9 1/2" blocks.
• Finished block size : 9 " X  9"

Step 11:

• You are now ready to assemble your blocks. Refer to the photos and diagrams for your block placement.
• Layout the blocks into 3 rows.
•  Row 1 & Row 3 will each contain (4) 9 1/2" X 9 1/2" blocks. Place a 1 1/2" X 9 1/2" rectangle between each block.
•  Row 2 will contain (2) 9 1/2" X 9 1/2" blocks. Place the 9 1/2" X 21 1/2" rectangle between the two blocks.

Step 12:

• Make a quilt sandwhich and baste the layers together.
• Quilt as desired.
• Bind the quilt using your favorite method.

SPOOKTACULAR NIGHT

44 " X 34"

Finished Block Size: 9" X 9"

I hope that you are inspired to create your own SPOOKTACULAR version of my quilt!

Until Next Time...Happy Quilitng!