SMS Giveaway Winner!

This turned out to be my best ever giveaway!  Many thanks to all of you who took the time to leave a comment!  We must do this again real soon!

There were 671 comments and with the help of the Random Generator...

number 149 was the lucky pick!  

 Which means:

The winner of the fabulous 40 piece Fat 8th bundle of Gardenvale by Jen Kingwell is:

Congratulations Julie!!  The winner has been notified by email and will receive her bundle very soon!

Oh My! What's That?

My last fabric purchase from the infamous Black Friday Sales!  There sure were a ton of great sales going on, none compared to the sweet deals from Pile O' Fabric!  Holy cow...Kona Cotton was a steal!  I needed more like I needed a hole in my head!  Part of me was saying 'don't do it' while the other part was saying 'what are you waiting for'!  As the internal struggle was playing out, my husband walked by, asked what I was doing and then promptly pushed me over the edge...he knows...

The bag runneth over!  It was like Santa's bag, full of delightful goodies for all the good little girls (well for me)!

Naturally I had to have some basic neutrals.  You got your Ivory, Ash, Silver and Pepper. I'm excited about using the Pepper.  It will be my first...

And a little of this and that!

Row #1:  Ice Frappe, Aloe, Baby Blue
Row #2:  Salmon, Geranium, Pomegranate
Row #3:  Cardinal, Peapod, Curry

A very nice mix and certainly worth having on hand, for one day I shall make me a quilt...

It kind of makes me want to sing, but I will spare me and you of that craziness!

You know how it is, you have add a few extras.  All needed.  All useful, and needed, and important!

Auriful thread is not going to spoil, ever!  So, I popped a Pewter (2630), Aluminum (2615), Ermine (2312) and Chalk (2026) in the cart.  Needles are useful...and a bottle of Synthrapol because I'm almost out.

Hazel, you have always made me smile!  This, I couldn't pass up either!  Yep, I'm one of the last to own a Hazel!

Today was also our Guild Holiday Party.  ( more about that later)  We always have a Dirty Santa fabric swap that has been known to get down right dirty at times.  This year it was much more civilized.  I'm not sure why.  I think everyone left happy!

I was lucky enough to end up with this bundle!  Roar!  I look forward to cutting and creating soon!

A good day, a good haul, a good deal!  I'm as content as can be!

LINKING:

Sunday Stash

Clear Vinyl WIP Bags

My how a week flies by!  Last week I shared a piece of clear vinyl I bought from fabric.com, hoping to use it one day for some WIP zipper bags.  Well, we all know how things like that go! You get something for a future project and think... not now... there are other things that must come first, but in the end you cannot help yourself.  You keep thinking about it, you gotta do it...

WIP Bags

So I did.  One bag led to two, two led to three, three led to 'why can't I do it like this', which led to 'I think this would be better'...which led to I am out of clear vinyl now!!  Seriously! Good news:  My itch has been scratched!

Here it is, the clear vinyl.  It is 8mm thick, medium/heavy weight.  Honestly, I didn't know what thickness to get.  I just popped this in the cart and thought it would be fine.

I also mentioned that I was going to buy the pattern for the vinyl bags from Amanda Jean @ Crazy Mom Quilts.  Which I did.  I couldn't very well think of how to make these by myself, and the pattern helped immensely!

As always, the hardest part was picking the fabric!  Why...I don't know.  They are just bags! Eventually I settled on fabric and a zipper!

According to the pattern directions, I needed a 12" zipper.  This one will need some cutting, but it will work.  The zipper will have zipper ends. 

11" x 11"

I got so 'in to it' that I didn't take pictures during the process.  So, yeah.  First zipper pouch. It works.  The zipper opens.  That's a good thing!  But notice the horrible pucker on both sides of the zipper!  Yikes!  I felt like I must have done something wrong.  I reread the directions and wondered what I did wrong.  

The binding was attached like a normal binding.  I even machine stitched it!  Kind easy when it's a clear project!  

I was still feeling pretty good regardless of the flaws.  And I sure as heck wasn't going to give up!  I ain't no quitter!

Day two.  I was giving it another go!  Fabric, zippers, zipper ends for two pouches at once. Check and check. 

Zipper casings attached.  Everything is going according to plans!  Yes!!  Let's move on to the zippers...there has to be an easier way, something that won't pucker!

This time I folded the vinyl away from the casing.  That way I have fabric, zipper, fabric...which should make things go much smoother all the way around.  I found that vinyl is super sticky and it slips and slides.  I'm sure that's what caused of puckers!
  

8" x 8 1/2", 14" x 14"

  
It appears folding back the vinyl was the solution.  No puckers!  It still isn't perfect, but I can live with this.

Of course, this has now led to my version.  As much as I like and appreciate the pattern, and I could never have thought of this on my own, I wondered how it would work 'my' way. Just a slight variation...

I didn't feel the zipper tabs were needed.  They look good and all, but they also limit the opening size.  Surely I could skip this step.

So I did.  I also moved the zipper closer to the top.  Either way is fine.  I just wanted to give it a test run.  
  

13 1/2" x 15 1/2"

You see that I totally went bonkers with this clear vinyl thing.  I was hooked!  (kinda like mini mini quilts a couple months ago!)

Project bags stacked high with WIP's, important fabrics, little blocks and scraps!  You could use them for anything...anything!  

You might be thinking a good old Ziploc works perfectly fine, why go to all the trouble and time for these?  I say why not?  Look at them!  Color...cute...variety!  

One yard of vinyl goes a long way! 

Sewing with vinyl or oil cloth can be tricky.  It sticks, it slips and slides. 

• You need to use longer stitches when sewing with it.  Small stitches may cause your vinyl to tear away like a perforated piece of parer.  
• Go slowly and gently pick up the vinyl as it moves through the machine to prevent sticking.
• Fold the vinyl away from the casing when installing the zipper.

Let's talk about cutting vinyl!  Believe me when I say it's tricky!  You can't see it very well with a ruler on top.  It sticks to the rule and shifts easily.  I have a plastic vinyl on the backs of my rulers and it made it nearly impossible to cut accurately.  I ended up flipping the ruler over which didn't solve the problem completely.  

I found that cutting the back piece was best done after the front was complete.  Inevitably, you have to trim up the front and it seemed to always be a different size that the back.  

My take on these bags and the pattern:  The pattern is well worth buying, especially if you are like me and need a jumping off point.  I wouldn't have known where to start!  That being said, you could easily figure it out with out a pattern.  (me, not so much)  Personally, I like the bags without the zipper tabs.  Easier access when opened up and they look clean and finished without tabs.  Buy the pattern, give it a go!  

LINKING:

TGIFF

Fabric Frenzy Friday

Can I Get A Whoop, Whoop

There's still time to enter my Sew Mama Sew GIveaway!
Click here to enter:

Sew Mama Sew ~ Giveaway Day

Sew Mama Sew ~ Giveaway Day

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED!  THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!

Welcome to my blog and the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway!  I love participating in the biannual Sew Mama Sew giveaway events each and every year!  It's a great way to find some great blogs, meet new people, have some fun and of course, a chance to win a prize!

First off, if you have never been here before...my name is Jayne.  I've been quilting for ten years now. (boy, does time fly)  I am passionate about quilting, any and kind of quilting. While I tend to veer to the modern side, I also like to swerve to the traditional lane too! Improv is perhaps, my favorite technique.  The fact that there are no rules to follow is what makes it so much fun to me!

Here are a few of my favorite things from this year! 

 Reclaimed Improv          Pattern Revisited               Threads                  Casual Link

           Illusion                   Mini Quilts                       Hand Dyed                     Confetti

Now on to the giveaway!

Gardenvale by Jen Kingwell!  

A big bundle of sweet delights!  There are 40 fat eighths (9" x 22") in this collection just waiting for someone to 'whip' up a fantastic quilted master piece!  

You gotta love that...right?

To Enter:

#1) Leave  a comment telling me who you love buying gifts for the most during the Holidays!  For me, it's my dog...she loves ripping open the paper!  

#2) New and old followers get a second entry!  Leave a second comment letting me know how you are following! 

(Links:  bloglovin', instagram )

• This giveaway is open to everyone everywhere!

• If you’re a “no reply” or an anonymous commenter, include your email address in your comment.

• Giveaway ends December 13th at 7pm CST

• The winner will be chosen by Random Generator.  I will announce the winner on my blog and notify them via email.   

Thank you for stopping by!  I hope you come back after all the 'hopping' around for the giveaways!

So enjoy...have fun and be kind!


THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED!  THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!