giveaway::Quick Column Quilts by Nancy Zieman

After I posted about Nancy's book the other day I realized that I forgot let you know that I have one copy of the book to give away!!

Nancy is also hosting an amazing giveaway over on her blog.  You just need to comment on her September 4 post to be entered!  A sewing machine and other awesome prizes are up for grabs!

I'm still working on my bag - I just have to make the straps - I'll get that posted for you next week!

To enter the giveaway here all you need to do is leave me a comment.  To make it more interesting for all of us let me know your favorite way to communicate with your online sewing community/friends!

I love all the platforms - blogging is great when you have more than one photo and funny quip to share, Facebook can help you connect with new people pretty easily, but my personal favorite is the instant feedback of Instagram!  You can follow me @amylouwhosews if you feel so inclined.  I'm private so if you have pics of fabric in your feed you're in! hahaha!

If you're on Instagram leave me your username in the comments too!  I'll close the giveaway Saturday night!

book review: beginner's guide to free motion quilting = {a giveaway}

I was so happy that Natalia asked me to be a part of her blog book tour! (all photos courtesy C&T publishing)

If you have followed her blog at all then you know that she does some amazing work.  Between the quilt designs (many with amazing applique) and the actual quilting, she is one talented mama!

Natalia has written her first book for the beginner home machine quilter!

As Natalia said in her kick off post, quilting does seem to be a family affair! I learned to sew and quilt from my mother.  We didn't have formal lessons, I just learned as we worked on projects and as questions arose.  I love that at the beginning of the book she lays out simple instruction with photos of the different aspects of quilting: the type of feet you might need, thread selection, basics of basting, etc.  I love having all of that information so handy in one place!  I'm always learning something new!

Lately my littleslouwho are my reason for quilting.



I've made and am working on many quilts for them and me and the mrlouwho.  I wish I had Natalia's book when I free motion quilted my first quilt!  It's a good thing no one inspects each little stitch!!

The book has great step-by-step photo instructions to achieve many basic quilted patterns!

There is also valuable information on achieving something more than just an all-over pattern of stipples or loop-de-loops.  Which as a beginner is mostly what I do these days!

I am finding that I really love doing the actual quilting part, but I need more practice.  I can't wait to dive a little deeper into the book and try out some of the techniques!  I have some more placemats to make, they are the perfect size on which to practice! I'll show you when I finish them.

Natalia, thanks for including me!  There will be a giveaway on each post during the tour and a grand prize on her blog at the end of the tour!! All winners will be announced 18 March!

Would you like to win a copy of Natalia's book?  Just leave me a comment here telling me who or what inspired you to start a current project you are working on!

crafty books coming up!

I was asked by Lindsay of Craft Buds to participate in the Craft Book Month 2012 Blog Hop!  I'm working on the post to go up later this afternoon, but I wanted to fill you in on the fun sponsors and  prizes for particpating in Craft Book Month giveaway!

Come back later today to see what I'm going to share from the book, Material Obsession!

Here's the official announcement!

Back-to-school season means its time to hit the books. Craft books, that is! We love craft books for their inspiration, stunning photography and crisp, glossy pages. Hard covers or soft, we just love craft books, and we know you do, too!

All month long in September, our friends at Craft Buds will celebrate sewing, quilting and all kinds of craft books by shining the spotlight on new releases, interviewing authors and editors who make the magic happen and giving you a chance to win.

Blog Hop

Week One

Sunday 9/2: Hopeful Threads / The Jolly Jabber
Monday 9/3: Stitchery Dickory Dock / Me Sew Crazy
Tuesday 9/4: Olive & Ollie / Sew Sweetness
Wednesday 9/5: Fabric Seeds / The Busy Bean
Thursday 9/6: CraftFoxes / Stitched In Color
Friday 9/7: Katie's Korner / A Prairie Sunrise

Week Two
Sunday 9/9: Sweet Diesel Designs / missknitta's studio
Monday 9/10: Sew Tara / Clover and Violet
Tuesday 9/11: Sew Fantastic / amylouwho
Wednesday 9/12: Projektownia Jednoiglec / Two More Seconds
Thursday 9/13: Ellison Lane Quilts / Don't Call Me Betsy
Friday 9/14: Live a Colorful Life / LRstitched

Week Three
Sunday 9/16: Fairy Face Designs / Canoe Ridge Creations
Monday 9/17: Inspire Me Grey / Freshly Pieced
Tuesday 9/18: Lindsay Sews / The Cute Life
Wednesday 9/19: The Littlest Thistle / Sew Crafty Jess
Thursday 9/20: Urban Stitches / imagine gnats
Friday 9/21: Sew Bittersweet Designs / The Plaid Scottie

Week Four

Link up your craft book project at Craft Buds from Sept 23-30 from your blog or Flickr account, and enter to win prizes. Winners will be announced on Monday, October, 1!

To participate in the month-long contest, just link up any project you've made from a pattern in a craft book. That easy! You'll tell us a little about the book, the project, how you personalized it, etc.

Rules:

1) One entry per person.

2) Your craft book project must have been completed in 2012.

3) Create a new blog post or Flickr photo (dated September 1, 2012 or later) and link back to Craft Buds/Craft Book Month in your post or photo description.

No time to create a project? This month, just follow Craft Buds and comment to win some new craft books and lots of giveaways! We'll also have expert Q-and-As to show you what it takes to write a craft book, from the initial idea to the layout, photography and the actual printed product.

To help kick off the Craft Book Month contest in style, Fat Quarter Shop is helping us celebrate with a big giveaway! One winner will take home a $100 gift certificate to shop for some new fabric, craft books and notions.

Ten winners will get a new craft book to help work out that creativity! This is the perfect excuse to make that project you've had your eye one, but haven't carved out the time for.

Fat Quarter Shop is giving away 1 copy each of Quilts from the House of Tula Pink by Tula Pink, Sewing ModKid Style by Patty Young, Skip the Borders by Julie Herman, Stop Go Quilt Sew by Angela Yosten and Sunday Morning Quilts by Amanda Jean Nyberg and Cheryl Arkison.

Craft Buds is giving away 1 copy each of Modern Basics by Amy Ellis, Reinvention by Maya Donenfeld, We Make Dolls! by Jenny Doh, New Dimensions in Bead and Wire Jewelry by Margot Potter and More Teach Yourself VISUALLY Jewelry Making by Chris Franchetti Michaels.

Fill out the Rafflecopter form below for your chance to win! The kickoff giveaway ends Wednesday, 9/5 at 11:59 ET, when we'll randomly choose 11 winners. Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

geared for guys book review and giveaway!

I met Emily Herrick of Crazy Old Ladies Quilts last fall at the sewing summit! I was a fan of her boy inspired fabric designs and was really excited to hear about her new book Geared for Guys full of inspiring color palettes and quilt patterns with a masculine edge.

Emily is as fun and sweet as they get! I was really happy to participate when she asked me to to review her book and be a part of the tour!  I received a copy via PDF and am really happy how easy it is to read on my iPad.  I've not ventured out much into the world of eBooks, but so far I like it!!

I love how inspiring the patterns are in the book.  As we all know, it is a challenge to sew for the boys and men in our life.  Emily has successfully married color and design to create eight guy-friendly quilts that I would enjoy too!

There were two quilts in Emily's book that I was immediately drawn to.

I love the grays with a pop of orange in Odd Ball.

And Switch Back is an awesome pixelated version of the ever popular chevron!

I really love the simplicity of her designs in this book.  Things that work really well playing a lot of solids with masculine design.  The focus of the quilts becomes the colors and the patterns - not necessarily a bright focal floral like some of us, ahem (me), might be used to.

If you would like to win a copy of Emily's book Geared for Guys just leave me one comment (with email) answering the following question:

- What is the best thing you have made for a guy in your life? OR What would you LIKE to make for him?

To continue hopping along for more chances to win visit the lovely Pat Sloan for her review tomorrow.  Of course you can visit Emily's blog each day to see where the giveaway is for that day!

I'm so excited I might actually bust one of these out for my guy this summer!

everyone needs a little spring

My ears are burning because they're talking about me over at the Jolly Jabber with a chance to win this:

Again, I'm so flattered I was asked to put this together! It was a lot of fun and I can't wait to start making some half square triangles for a zig zag quilt!  Sound fun?

Click HERE to purchase!

{amylouwho} happy december!!! (and another giveaway!)

I LOVE December!  Everything about it!  Christmas, Christmas music, salted caramel hot chocolate (ahem, Starbucks I love you!),  Gingerbread houses, lights on houses, christmas trees, presents, birthdays (2 in our family!), etc.  It's just a fun, though exhausting month.

I wanted to introduce you to someone who might be able to help you with some holiday shopping for gifts, or for yourself.  My friend Leigh asked me if I wouldn't mind giving away some of her jewelry to my readers! And offer them an exclusive discount in her etsy shop. Of course I said yes!

Meet Leigh of LeedleDeedle Quilts and Designs.

she's the kind of friend that will split a fat quarter set of Fandango with you and give you all the turquoise pieces.

I met Leigh this year in my virtual quilting bee, Bee Tweet.  When I went to Utah this summer we met in person for the first time and it was so fun!  You know how you meet someone and you feel like you've known them for a long time?  Totally that kind of friend.  We were also able to hang out again this fall at the Sewing Summit.  It was awesome.  We would totally hang out all the time if I lived there.

She's made some amazing quilts,

but the project she is working on that absolutely blows me away is her hand stitched hexagon project.  WOW! It's so awesome V. wanted to steal it.

Not only does she quilt, she creates jewelry!  Which is where you come in.  She is giving one of you a pair of earrings from her shop.  I'm pretty sure I know I'd pick these,

or maybe these,

or these!

They are all so pretty!

To enter, just go to her shop and come back here and tell me which earrings you would pick! Easy!  If you want to be really fun, tell me the best present you are giving to someone this year.

Giveaway will be open until through Sunday night, 4 December, midnight-ish. I will announce the winner early next week.

In case you can't wait to see if you win, Leigh is having a sale all month long, 20% off her whole shop!  For amylouwho readers she is offering a 25% discount through next Friday, December 9.  Just enter the code AMYLOUWHO25 during notes to seller during checkout.

Good luck!! See you tomorrow for sew & tell!!

{amylouwho} dyeing to stitch blog tour and giveaway!!

I'm so pleased that my friend Candy of Candied Fabrics invited me to be a part of her blog tour for Dyeing to Stitch!  She is a master at making her own hand-dyed fabrics and along with the folks at Quilting Arts Workshop she has put together a comprehensive guide to dyeing fabrics and creating art with the finished product!

Look at cute Candy! Unfortunately we haven't had the pleasure of meeting in person but we have exchanged many many emails and facebook messages.  I can't wait to give her a hug in person when we meet in real life!

It was really fun to watch her and hear her voice!  She is a biology professor by day and has great way of connecting with her audience.

The DVD is broken up in to the following chapters.

Not only does she talk about the basics of dyeing and how she came up with her process, she discusses color theory.  

My favorite quote from the video, "I get obsessed with a particular color..."  I so hear you! (#turquoiseobsessionmuch?)  We've bonded over our love of turquoise-y blues and bright greens (and bird silhouettes)!

She even came up with her own “Candiotic Table of Elemental Color” 

She is able to recreate any color here by using the recipes she also discusses.

In the chapter, "Using Quilting as a Line + Conclusion", she shows how she makes her mini art quilts.  This was probably my favorite part of the DVD - her botanical sketches are gorgeous!  I love this pillow in particular.

She has definitely cultivated her signature look and I love it.  I love how passionate she is about creating every element of her art.  And really, when you think about the fact that she creates every part from the color of the fabric on up, it really is art.

Here are a few other examples of things that she has made (that I love!)

And probably my favorite was this quilt for babylouwho that several blogging friends made for me.  Candy contributed the fabrics.

What's a baby quilt picture without the baby?  I can't believe she's not this little anymore!

I feel a little sheepish to say that I've never watched any Quilting Arts TV.  But after this I'm excited to find more workshops that they've produced.  It was really well done!

And here's a preview of the video!





Now, for what you have all been waiting for - the GIVEAWAY! Would you like to own your own copy? Candy is offering up one copy of her DVD to one of you.

To enter:
Leave a comment telling me about a current work in progress!  Me? I'm working on a dresden plate mini quilt.  :) And leave an email in your comment so I can reach you!!

Winners will be announced on Monday, December 5!

And as reminder, here’s the rest of the tour:

1. Friday, 11/11 – Victoria Gertenbach of The Silly BooDilly­
2. Monday, 11/14 – Susan Brubaker Knapp of Blue Moon River
3. Wednesday, 11/16 – Kathy Mack of Pink Chalk Studio
4. Friday, 11/18 – Melody Johnson of Fibermania
5. Monday, 11/21 – Amy Ellis of Amy’s Creative Side
6. Wednesday, 11/23 – Diane Doran of Ooh! Pretty Colors
7. Friday, 11/25 – Vicki Welsh of Field Trips in Fiber
8. Monday, 11/28 – Brenda Gael Smith of Serendipity and the Art of the Quilt
9. Wednesday, 11/30 – Amy Webb of Amy Lou Who Sews
10. Friday, 12/2 – Robin Ferrier of Simply Robin
11. Tuesday, 12/6 – Natalia Bonner of Piece N Quilt
12. Thursday, 12/8 – Beth and the gang from Sew Mama Sew

Hope you are all having a great week so far! I'm getting ready to paint my kitchen tonight. I CANNOT wait!

{amylouwho} sew & tell v3.8 mini quilt party and giveaway!

Hello!!!  It's here! I know, I'm probably more excited than you all are! But still :)

I mailed off this mini quilt early this week for my partner in the Post Sewing Summit Swap.  I'm not going to lie.  I was a little intimidated to sew for my partner (hi, partner!).  I went through all of her favorites on Flickr searching for some inspiration. Knowing she liked bright colors and her favorite being green, I decided on doing something bright with stars.
Then I got cold feet and went in a different direction.  Then I got cold feet again (and by cold feet I mean a little birdie told me my first idea was better) and dove back in with the stars.

I'm not going to lie to you - I love the way it turned out!

And the quilting on this was really fun to do!  I got to practice some of my skills that Allison taught me in her free motion quilting class.

I chose my favorite Amy Butler polka dots in Lime for the back.  (and said birdie told me this is one of my partner's all time favorite prints! Yea!)  Binding it in the turquoise really helps it pop! (birdie suggested this too - which was a better choice than the green I was going to go with.  Thanks birdie!!)

This quilt was so fun to finish.  It didn't take that long, and I learned how to  piece them in a "random" way so they weren't just all in rows.

It was a little tricky at first, but I just layed them out and figured out where I needed to add more white. I love learning new things!  It was nice to practice on a small project too.

So many of us were inspired by the mini quilt class at The Sewing Summit!  Holly (who designed my new banner and button) started a new Flickr group!  You can head over there to add your quilts, or just look at some eye candy!

So now onto the details of the party + prizes!

Instead of making this a super long post and relisting all the prizes I'll summarize them. But you can go here to read the prize post.
1) Lovely Dana from Old Red Barn Co. is offering a 30$ gift card to her soap shop!
2) Erin, is offering up a flat rate box of swag from the Sewing Summit! 
3) Kim is offering up a bundle of awesome Heather Ross scraps!
4) Candy from Candied Fabrics is offering up a set of “quilter’s 8ths” of her own hand-dyed cottons. (check out the birthday sale in her shop!)
5) Nadine from The Material Girls Quilts, is giving away a jelly roll of fabric!

Now, for the fine print.
To enter:
1) Link up a new blog post about your mini quilt.  You can have blogged about the quilt before, I just ask you write a new post for our party, linking back to the fun!  Use a link or button in your post. (And by new post I mean written in the last 2 weeks, for you swappers who may have already blogged ~ just edit to add the button and/or link)
2) Leave a comment on this post.  Tell me one thing on your Christmas list.
**I really want a walking foot and a food processor.  :)**

3) If you don't have a quilt to enter, write up a blog post about sew & tell (button on sidebar) or the mini quilt party (also on sidebar) and let me know in the comments.  Leave a link to your blog post.

That's it! I hope you all have had fun getting ready for today!  I have!  Let's get the party started!
Linky will be open until Sunday night.  Winners announced Monday.  :)

I would love it if you put your name/blog name in the linky so we know who you are! :)

{amylouwho} an introduction and a giveaway

*****THE GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED*****

Sara of Sew Sweetness is going to be a regular contributor to our sew & tell Fridays!

Isn't she adorable? That's her naughty secretary bag and amazing dress she made!

I love getting to know people, especially their sewing/crafting history.  I thought it would be fun for you to get to know Sara a little better! We met through a mutual sewing friend and I finally begged enough that she started blogging last year!  I'm constantly amazed at the beautiful and professional looking items she creates!  And she has something to giveaway today!

*****
When did you start sewing and how did you start?
I first learned to sew in the 3rd grade. My mom had little sewing lessons for my friend and I, once a week. We made a drawstring bag and a dress. My mom let me wear my dress to school (although hers didn't, lol). I didn't take up sewing again until about 8 years ago; I thought it would be a great idea to mass-produce purses and sell them online. I made them assembly-line style. They were pretty awful actually!! I still have the parts in a big garbage bag, and my husband is constantly asking when I am going to finish them. My skills 8 years ago are not the same as they are today; he just doesn't understand why I'm not going to finish them. :-)

Her skills today.  WOW.

What is your favorite thing to sew and why?

I really love to sew all kinds of things...quilts, bags, clothing for my kids, clothing for myself, accessories...I will try anything. It is such a challenge to me to try new patterns, and I love it! I love the idea that there are so many free tutorials out there on the internet, it makes sewing so accessible for everyone.

photo courtesy Sew Sweetness

Is there something you are afraid to try?

I am actually nervous about trying to hand-sew hexagons. I always say I'll try it, but something is holding me back. That's probably the only thing I'm afraid to sew, everything else...let me at it!!

What is the best thing you ever made? Was it your favorite?  Did you keep it?

Usually, I'll say that my currently completed project is my favorite! However, there is a bag that I keep coming back to every few months (whereas my other bags, I'll use for one stretch and then don't go back to); it was a bag that I made from a Jenna Lou Designs sewing pattern called the Mabel Bag, and I made it with an Echino fabric. I love it so much!! It's a simple, beautiful design.

photo courtesy Sew Sweetness

Do you sew more for yourself/family or other people?

Obviously I like sewing things for myself, and I like making gifts, but I have an extreme phobia of making items to sell online, or getting custom requests. In that instance, sewing becomes like homework or a chore for me, and I'm always concerned about taking the fun out of sewing. Mainly, I just want to work on what I want to work on! I do like testing patterns or tutorials for other people, though!

photo courtesy Sew Sweetness

How long have you been blogging? What are your favorite things about it?

I've been blogging for one year and a month. It's gone by really fast! When I look at some of my blog posts from the beginning, I can't believe that anyone actually followed me in those days! I've learned that there really is a science to it all...taking the right photos, assembling your postings so that they grab attention right from the beginning, and keeping things fresh and exciting. Networking also plays a roll (commenting on other blogs, putting images up in Flickr, hosting giveaways, sew alongs, etc.). My favorite parts of my blog are the sewing pattern reviews and the tutorials...I am big into reading reviews for anything (products I buy, sewing projects, etc.), and so I feel the pattern reviews especially are one of my major focuses. It's funny because when I was younger, I was always trying to get into journaling. I could never keep up with the entries, and when I did read back over what I had written, it was really boring. I don't feel that way at all with my blog. Growing up, my parents always thought that I would be a writer, and in some tiny way, I sort of have. I enjoy the writing process and having well-thought-out blog posts. The hands-down best part about blogging are all the friends that I have made...I never would have gotten into blogging if it weren't for Amylouwho, and I never would have met Amy if it wasn't for my great friend, Kim (My Go-Go Life).

I know you were a GoBaby Accuquilt blogger - do you like your machine?  Are you able to use it a lot?

I love it!! I have the Accuquilt Baby, but am hoping that Santa brings me the regular Accuquilt machine for Christmas! I did use it a lot for several of the tutorials on my website (although, even if you don't have a machine, I've attached templates to use for those projects instead). It makes cutting so much quicker, and very precise. That is the problem I have when cutting out many pieces from a paper template...they are not exact, and it seems the more I cut, the less precise I am. Some projects it is not so vital to have exact fabric cuts, whereas others (such as a Double Wedding Ring Quilt), it is extremely important that your fabric cuts are exact, or your quilt won't turn out. I like the dies the best that have more difficult shapes; for instance, I would probably not buy a die for strips (just because I'm on an extreme budget), as I'd just use my ruler and rotary cutter.

made with the accuquilt diamond  die.

How do you manage sewing, blogging, and taking care of your family?

Family always comes first. But once the kids are asleep, I'm usually sewing from 9:30pm until around midnight. I like having that big chunk of uninterrupted time to sew, because especially if I'm making some clothing, I need to be really focused on my project. The blogging time usually fits in around then, too. Over time, I've learned that it's a big no-no to be taking photos at night, so I will squeeze in photographing projects during the day (and usually have my kids help in some way).

What is your favorite sewing memory?

My favorite sewing memory is taking my kids to Joann Fabrics (we're there at least once a week). I let them pick out fabrics for things I'm making for them, and I also let them help me pick out my Kona solids. Often, I'll take a small swatch of fabric in with me, and I have them match up the swatch to the correct bolt. They also like taking the bolts (I'm often only getting 1 or 2 things, so I can use coupons on everything I buy, lol) up to the cutting counter, each of them takes an end.

Anything else you want to share?

If you're interested in sewing, never be afraid to try something!! It might not come out exactly right, but each project will teach you something new about sewing. I mess up all the time, but there's always the seam ripper, and if worse comes to worst, you can always use the fabric for another project. You also don't have to spend a lot of money on sewing supplies...I am constantly buying large chunks of fabric in the form of bed sheets, old dresses, or curtains, usually for a dollar or two, at the thrift store. Get free sewing patterns online or take a sewing book out from the library. Just get sewing!! :-)

Thanks so much for having me, Amy!!!
*****

Sara, thank you for being so inspiring!

For all of you Sara is giving away one of her amazing bags that she's made!

You can have up to 2 entries (1 comment for each entry)!
To enter all you have to do is:
1. Leave a comment telling us your favorite WIP (work in progress)
and/or
2. Visit Accuquilts page through THIS LINK to sign up for free patterns and newsletter. Come back here and leave another comment telling me you did so.

Easy~peasy!  I'll leave the giveaway open until early next week! (Be sure you leave an email if you are a no-reply blogger!!)

And don't forget to come back tomorrow for sew & tell  to link up your finish for the week!

Modern Basics book review and giveaway

Welcome to the end of the line of Amy's blog book tour!

Amy and I go waaaaay back! Well I like to think we do. I remember "meeting" her because I think we were both fairly new to the crafty-blogging scene and she was one of the first blogging friends I made. And a few months later when I visited Utah, I emailed her to see if she wanted to meet up and hang out. I remember her telling me her husband was worried I was some crazy person who may or may not be trusted. Little did he (or we) know the online sewing community is full of such niceness! And that more than 2 years later we would still be good friends!  It has also been fun to quilt with her in an online quilting bee.  And I can't talk about Amy here without acknowledging her part in inspiring Sew & Tell!

If you haven't heard yet, Amy has written a book!

I was so excited to see the book in person.  It is chock full of simple sophisticated quilt designs that even the earliest beginner could tackle.  The first page of each pattern has a photo of the quilt laying flat, supply lists, clear cutting instructions and suggestions for different sizes.

I love this window pane effect!

I've always loved a postage stamp quilt and this variation doesn't dissapoint.

This is the first project I have earmarked to make from the book!

 
I asked Amy a few questions so we could all get to know her a little better.

How and when did you learn to sew?
I learned to sew from my mom and 4-H.  Mom is left handed, and didn't want to teach me backward.  I was 10 when I started, and haven't stopped except for a few years in college.

What is your favorite thing about quilting?
I really love all of it, but my favorite is finishing the binding.  My husband has watched me lay a corner out, and see the first finished corner. Watching it be finished, is magic!

What is your favorite non-quilt thing to sew?
Bags!  I like to think up my own shapes/patterns and sew a new bag for each season.

What or who inspired you to start this book writing project?
As I started sewing more and more quilts, I was looking for simple and interesting patterns that could be finished easily in a week or two, instead of a month or year.  I wasn't finding them, and started sketching my ideas, which eventually turned into a book proposal.

Is there any sewing project or skill that intimidates you?
I'm not an expert at applique, but I don't let it intimidate me!  I keep trying it in small doses to gain the experience.

What is your biggest hurdle in completing projects?
Like any of you...TIME!  There's always a project, or two, on my brain waiting for the time.

What is your biggest asset in completing projects?
I'm very systematic in my approach, this helps keep me organized, and makes it easy for me to pick up where I left off. 

Are you indeed, superwoman? ;)
Hahaha, no.  I wish.

Fruit or Chocolate?
Chocolate - for sure!

Naps or sewing?
I wish my kids still napped!  I rarely nap, and much prefer to sew with my free time.

Thanks so much Amy for letting me a part of your tour! You can check out the rest of the blog tour posts here - there may still be giveaways open to enter! And if you are too impatient to find out if you win a copy, you can always purchase a copy here.

Amy has offered up a copy of her book to one of you!
To enter:  Leave me a comment telling me how long you have been sewing and if you have ever finished a quilt.  
Giveaway ends Tuesday March 8, winner announced on Wednesday! Make sure you leave an email in your comment if you are a no-reply blogger.  Winner will be drawn by random.org.
I love finding things out about you guys!  Good Luck!

lucky penny + pincushion kit giveaway

Do you have a lucky penny? I do! And she blogs over at sewtakeahike! If you were around this summer you got to read several of her guest posts as she helped me out when I was birthing and moving. Oh yeah, that sounds way more glamorous than it really was.

She was part of A Notion or Two quilting bee with me last year.

Backtrack. I wanted to tell you one of the things I figured out while I was 'away' was that I need to not over-commit. It's not fair to the people that are constantly waiting for me to make good on my end of the deal. And it's not fair to me not enjoy making something because I of the worries that comes with it - guilt for being late, nervous if they will like it, making things because I HAVE to not because I want to. I'm not saying that I didn't want to be a part of such a fun group, but with my life getting so crazy this last year, I couldn't in good conscience continue with the bee and I dropped out. It was a fun group for 2 years. It turns out a lot of us had run our course and it's practically a new group. And I'm a little bit sad that I'm not still in it, because I recognized a lot of sew & tellers in the new group and how fun would it be to quilt with you!! So I've been playing catch-up on bee blocks the last few weeks and have 5 to show you and one more to make.

Okay, back to Penny! I just got the bee blocks she made for my month. I had wanted to make Rachel's Pinwheel Sampler quilt but couldn't do the quilt along, so I decided to have my group make some of the blocks! And they all turned out so cute!

Penny designed this asterisk block for the pinwheel quilt and I love it!  She is a pro at paper-piecing and this just makes me happy! I know it was made from her heart.  That is one important lesson I've learned from Penny.  If it's truly made from your heart it will be perfect and creative and unique!

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And if that weren't enough she also included a sweet flannel blanket for babylouwho.

She knows how to rock a crochet hook that's for sure!

She's so sweet she also gave me one of her footstool pincushion patterns to giveaway!

Actual kit will mostly likely differ from the photo.  But knowing Penny, it will be equally awesome!

Isn't it adorable?!

Just leave me a comment and tell me about a blogging friend you've made.  I'll leave the giveaway open until, oh, I don't know, Wednesday 22 February?  Remember Sew & Tell will be back next Friday! (24 Feb)

I ♥ all of you, my dear blogging buddies!

*fine print - no compensation was received for doing this giveaway.  Penny's just nice and wanted to share!