Survey and Give-Away at Piecemeal Quilts, and Then Some

Sandi over at Piecemeal Quilts is hosting a survey and a give-away that are a result of her post on 'the dumbing down of quilting'.  Pop on over to read the post, then do the survey and get in on the give-away!

You all have seen my rants about simple patterns, so I'm sure it's no surprise to any of you that I agree with Sandi's post.  The online quilting community is inundated with modern bloggers, no few of whom have gotten to be quite well known for their adherence to the aesthetic that currently defines modern quilting.

Unfortunately, I feel that this adherence does a disservice to newer/less experienced quilters whose primary influences come from the modern movement.  There are so few modern (aesthetic, not contemporary) examples of piecing beyond squares and rectangles, and even those few extend to flying geese and pinwheels.  There is no reason that a quilt can't be something more complicated to piece and still retain a modern aesthetic.

In fact, I would argue that even a Dear Jane quilt, the original quilt completed in 1863, done in the right color scheme could be considered to have a modern aesthetic.  Check out Modify Tradition for some excellent examples of bringing modern to traditional blocks.

Modern quilters the world over!  Let's move beyond basic squares and wonky - test your limits and challenge your own creativity.  Make a quilt that speaks to *you*, one of your own design or take a traditional pattern and try a non-traditional color scheme, and get a taste of creative freedom.  Don't box yourself in because someone famous hasn't blazed that trail for you.

Winner, Winner!

So, I'm a little late, but I ended spending the morning dealing with some family drama...  Too make a long story short, I'm short a brother, but other situations in the family might be fixed.

Anyway, that's not anything I need to dump on you all..

So that makes our winner:

Congrats, Terri!  I'm sending you an e-mail with the CSN gift code!

1. CCQ on the Design Wall, 2. Escapees, 3. Baskets Top with Borders, 4. It's Finished!

The above four pictures are the total sum of my quilty accomplishments for 2010.   Not a lot.  Not a lot at all.

But, you know, I'm okay with it.

This year will be different.  I've got plans!

1.) All of my quilt tops, with the exception of my Grandmother's Fan top, will be completed into quilts this year.

2.) I will do a Double Wedding Ring Quilt-along on this this blog.  I think it'll start towards the end of February - I've got to figure out yardages and everything.

3.) I will start a quilting-related comic, as soon as I have a few drawn and ready to go.

4.) I'll be making a Dear Jane quilt, along with Sandi and Karrie.

5.) I've plans for a mystery quilt...  I have to finalize the design, figure yardages.

6.) I want to join more quilt swaps this year, but we'll see how that goes.  Time might still be a dicey thing, since my boss wants to open a store in the mall.  

7.) I want to start a weekly skill-building segment, working my way through color and fabric choices all the way through to bias-binding a quit.  That too looks like it'll begin in February, and start running on Saturdays.

I've a lot that I'd like to do, obviously.  The only real limitation is me, really, and how much time I'm willing to dedicate to myself, my creativity, and this blog.  But, I'm all fired up, even though I'm coming off of a stupid number of work hours in December, and recovering from a nasty cold that's taken residence in my sinuses.

Honestly, this is probably the best that I've felt going into a new year.  I don't think I've ever gone into a new year feeling like I could actually grab my life by the reins and produce the results that I want.

Give-Away!

I got an awesome opportunity this past week, and I had to choose between giving myself a gift, or passing it along to you, my wonderful readers.  Honestly, it didn't take much thinking, because you all make this whole blogging thing worthwhile.

So without further ado...

You have a chance to win a $30 Gift Code for any CSN Online Store!!


Now, in my searching about while trying to decide if I'd keep this $30 Gift Code for myself or share it, I did some poking around, and I think I know where a good chunk of my tax refund is going ;)  I saw so many great offerings, but I really loved the modern décor that was available.


Check out my absolute favorite picks from my browsing this evening:

So - the nitty gritty, right?  I mean, who wouldn't want to pick up something so cute?


This one is simple!  Just leave me a comment that you've become a follower, or if you're already a follower, leave a comment to that effect.  However, this drawing is only open to my readers in the United States and Canada.  CSN only ships to the US and Canada.  So sorry to my international readers, but I promise, I won't exclude you next time around!


I'll close the drawing Sunday, January 2, 2011 at 10 a.m CST and have the winner drawn and posted the same day.

Two More GO! Give-Aways

Like I said, these are everywhere!

Check out I'm Just A Guy Who Quilts for Ryan's give-away.  He's got five ways for you to enter:  1. Leave a comment on his give-away post saying "Hi" and that you'd like to be entered.  2. If you follow his blog, leave a comment letting me know you follow.  3. Visit the AccuQuilt website and leave a comment telling Ryan what dies you would pick out if you won. Remember you will get 3!!  4. Tweet or Facebook about this giveaway and share the link with your friends and leave a comment telling me you did. Please include @RyanWalshQuilts in your Tweet so I can verify your entry.  5. If you have a blog, share this giveaway with your readers and link to it. Remember to come back here and leave me a comment with the link and you will be entered again!  Ryan's give-away is open until September 5, and he'll announce a winner on Monday, September 6.


The give-away Jo at Jo's Country Junction lasts a little longer.  Jo's closes September 8, and she'll announce the winner on September 9.  Jo's give-away is much, much simpler, and will select two winners.  One will win the GO! Cutter, and another will receive three dies.  Simply leave a comment on her give-away post, saying which prize you'd like to win.  That's it!  Easy, no?

More GO! Give-aways

These things are all over blog-land!  I come to you today with another three GO! give-aways.

First, Karrie over at Freckled Whimsy.  She's giving you five chances to win.  1.) Leave a comment on her give-away post.  Anything you want.  2.) Follow Karrie's blog.  I highly recommend that you do so.  3.)  Tweet about the give-away and leave a comment with a link to the tweet.  4.) Blog about the give-away, and link to it in a comment.  5.) Leave a comment with your three favorite GO! dies.  Karrie's give-away closes Friday, August 27th.

Next, Cindy at Sew Cindy.  Her give-away is today ONLY.  Run, run and leave the single comment Cindy is requiring for your entry.

Finally, Heather at a la mode fabric is hosting our third give-away of the day.  Enter by: 1.) Leaving a comment about what your favorite cartoon is.  2.) Blogging about her give-away, and leaving a link to it.  3.) Follow Heather's blog, and leave a comment to that effect.  Heather's give-away also runs until Friday, August 27.

Scraps? Sign Me Up!

It should be sad that I get giddy about blog give-aways in which the prize is scraps...

Shouldn't it?

Okay, you're right.  It isn't!

I love to get my hands on other people's scrap baskets, and to play with them, particularly since I have two string quilts going at the moment.  So, when I saw Melissa Stramel's give-away on her blog, I had to sign up!  Melissa's blog is also definitely worth going through for inspiration, and it's liberally sprinkled with photos of her adorable children.

Accuquilt GO! Give-Aways

I will unabashedly say that I am intrigued by the new gidgets and gadgets that are developed for quilters.  Plainly said, I'm a techno-geek, and I love new toys to play with, particularly if they offer easier methods of cutting.

Thus, the Accuquilt GO! has caught my attention.  Apparently it's caught the attention of quilter's everywhere!  I know of two give-aways for this interesting, and portable(!) machine.

First, check out Sweet P Quilting and Creations for her give-away, which ends on August 31.  You get two chances to enter.  One, become a follower of her blog, or if you are already one, leave a comment to that effect.  Two, blog about her give-away and leave another comment.

For your second attempt at winning a GO! Cutter, pop over to visit Karen of Sew Many Ways...  Not only is she doing a give-away, but she's doing a series of tutorials utilizing the GO! Cutter's hexagon die.  Enter by: 1.) Visiting the Accuquilt website and finding the die that you would to have, and leave a comment about it.  My choice was the new Double Wedding Ring die.  2.)  Become a follower of her blog, or if you are already one, leave a comment to that effect.  3.)  Blogging about the give-away, and leaving a comment about your own post.  Karen's give-away closes September 1.  

There's two other GO! give-aways coming up, that I'm aware of.  I'll try to remember to keep everyone posted, as those go live.  Until then, GO (hehe) try and win one, and good luck!

Awesome Hand-made Jewelry Give-Away!

I stumbled across this blog and give-away today:  Cindy from Creative Thought From Cindy is giving away some amazing hand-made jewelry!  You can win a custom made necklace with Viking Braid and a wire-wrapped stone.  Check out Cindy's post to see some examples of her work!

Sweet Give-Away!

As you all know, I tend to trip through blog-land randomly looking for cool things to inspire me and keep me drooling... A random look through comments at The Happy Zombie resulted in finding 44th Street Fabric...

...where Bev is hosting a sweet, sweet give-away!!  See the post for the rules of the give-away.

 

 Photo borrowed from Bev's post

Is this not absolutely adorable and scrumptious?  It's Feathered Friends by Wendy Slotboom for In the Beginning Fabric.  I love the colors.

Piecemeal Quilts Give-away

I'm so excited! A fellow blogger local to me, who also happens to own the same quilting frame and nearly the same sewing machine for said frame, has reached 100 posts on her blog. Sandi also owns three cats (or is that owned by the cats??)

Sandi's just awesome :) She has a comprehensive list of things to trouble shoot when setting up the Little Gracie II frame and the Janome 1600P (or whichever variation of that machine one has). It was invaluable to me when I finally got the chance to play with my machine and start quilting.

Anyway, for her 100th blog post, Sandi is hosting a give-away:

"To celebrate my 100th post, I’ve arranged a little giveaway. The winner will receive six half yard cuts (for a total of three yards) of one of the following fabric groupings. You choose which set – I have a huge, eclectic stash and I tried to pull groupings that would appeal to different people. If I have more than 100 comments, I will give away a second set, and a third set if I reach 200 comments."

To see the absolutely delicious fabrics that Sandi is offering up, visit http://piecemealquilts.wordpress.com/. I was lazy and didn't feel like putting up pics for this particular post - forgive me. I'm in love with the Asian inspired set!