Quilty Box!

This is my fourth Quilty Box! I had decided to try it for three months; based on my results, I renewed for another three. I gave the first one away in its entirety, gave away part of the second and totally kept the third. Sorry to those of you who love to win this stuff, but I'm keeping this one, too!

I've been looking forward to this collection since I learned it was being curated by Leah Day. I've been following Leah's blog, Free Motion Quilting Project, for a few years and admire all the video work she has recorded and made available to the online quilting community. Her comfort with the whole video medium really impresses me -- she has even built a crafts "cottage" so that she can work without interruption! That's a learning curve I haven't even begun to tackle...

So, to the Quilty Box:


A DVD teaching 30 beginner level free motion designs, the premise being that you stitch out the designs, cut them into squares and then put them together into a sampler quilt using quilt-as-you-go techniques.


A 6.5" square Olfa frosted ruler -- my 6" square Omnigrid has been a favorite for years, so I'll be happy to try this one and see if it takes a place in my frequently used ruler holder! Anyone have any thoughts about why it's frosted? Does it cling better to the fabric? Easier to see?


Of course I loved the Isacord thread -- Mettler makes it! Being a Mettler spokesperson, I did a little happy dance when I saw this in the box...


...and a layer cake from Island Batiks. 42 ten inch squares of yumminess! This is the London Fog Stack, with 2 pieces each of 21 gorgeous fabrics. These are truly beautiful and it will be lots of fun dreaming about what I might make with them.

Another Quilty Box hit as far as I'm concerned!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Palmdale CA

Christmas Eve -- Must Be Time to Change the Dining Room Table Decor

With my company name being Batts in the Attic, one might suppose that I have a particular fondness for Halloween! Decorated this table in mid-September and with all my teaching travel in the fall didn't get around to updating it.

Since we have people coming for dinner tonight, might be time for a change?


This a fun 12 Days of Christmas set that I got at Williams Sonoma a couple of years ago. We'll have a total of 6 people tonight, so will use the first half for appetizers and the second half for dessert.




We serve appetizers and desserts on our great big kitchen island. I bought a veggie tray, some dips and a couple of appetizers to be served hot from Trader Joes -- bacon wrapped scallops (Yum!) and cranberry camembert filo dough things.


For dessert, we are making an apple pie this morning and I'm setting out some holiday mini-cheesecakes. If somebody doesn't want sweets, there's a nice big bowl of fruit. Although the apple pie that Dan and I make is absolutely to die for!


I've had the "Ribbon Holly" china from Mikasa for over 20 years and it goes perfectly with the napkins that Dawna Harrison made for me a long time ago.


Longaberger baskets, candles -- think I'm done except for the wine glasses. Dan does those

Now off to the kitchen to bake a loaf of yummy sourdough bread and that apple pie!

Merry Christmas to all and hope your Christmas Eve is as much fun as mine will be! It's a tradition to have Dan's family over for Christmas Eve -- probably because we are the only ones in the family who own Christmas dishes!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Palmdale CA

It's December 19 -- Do You Think It's Time for a Change?

Around the end of September, I decorated the dining room table for Halloween using some very fun things I found at Home Goods along with a basket and a pillow that I already had. Wine glasses were a find by my friend Dawna Harrison -- she haunts Pier 1 like I do Amazon!


But all good things must come to an end......took everything off the table today and started rounding things up for our Christmas Eve dinner with Dan's family. I don't know that they would "get" a batty Christmas!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Palmdale CA

Black Friday Sale - EVERY SINGLE CLASS is $19.99 or less!!

This is THE BEST sale of the year. 

Every Online Class is $19.99 or less! 

What a FABULOUS Christmas gift for a loved one or for yourself!!

Click HERE for the sale!!!!

Best Birthday Surprise EVER!

I just finished up my last class of the year this weekend in Salt Lake City, Utah at Nuttall's Sewing Centers.  I'm done for the year... happy and sad at the same time.

Look what was waiting for me in the box in Salt Lake City... the best birthday surprise ever!!!

Giveaway Winner!!!!

Thanks to everyone for entering our "Quilty Box #3! And A Giveaway!" drawing!! 

We picked a winner on Friday and (drumroll please.....)  Kathy E. from Dubuque, IA is our WINNER!

Congrats Kathy!!  Send us an email with your address and phone number and we'll ship your package right out!!  Email address:  battlady@battsintheattic.com

Make something cute with your winnings and send us a pic so that we can feature it for all to see!

And can we just say Kathy... we LOVE the projects you've made... very very cute!!

Christmas Is In My Heart -- BLOG HOP!!

I am so excited to be a part of Christmas is in My Heart Blog Hop hosted by 
Marian Pena of Seams to Be Sew! 

If this is your first visit here… WELCOME!  If you’re a follower of mine already, take time to visit each blog on the hop each day… there are creative ideas, fun stories, and fantastic giveaways at each stop (including a $25 gift certificate to Fat Quarter Shop each and every day of the Hop!). 

There are so many fun projects, especially during the holidays, and I had a hard time picking which project to feature.   I finally settled on “Christmas Kaleidoscope” because it has special meaning behind it and also because it’s MY pattern… which means I get to give it to you for free!  

I came up with the idea by playing around with a 45 degree wedge kaleidoscope ruler.  Made the first couple with Christmas fabric as gifts for friends.  Then one day I was up in Livermore delivering some finished quilts to Alex Anderson (emcee of “Simply Quilts” for its 12 year run on HGTV) and asked her why all of the quilting and crafts shows only showed Christmas projects; it seemed to me that Hanukkah and Kwanzaa were important winter holidays as well.  She said, “OK – do it!”  So I made one for Hanukkah, one for Kwanzaa and another one for Christmas and did the “Winter Holidays” show in 1997.  “Christmas Kaleidoscope” has been one of my best selling patterns ever since!

My pattern will be available for free download throughout the duration of the Christmas is in My Heart Blog Hop.  I hope you have as much fun creating your Kaleidoscope as I did!  

 

** NOTE:  This pattern was only available for free during the Blog Hop, this link will not work after 11/19/15.

See more patterns and other fun things on my website!

Now for the line up…

Thursday, November 12
Bejeweled Quilts
Quilt Shop Gal
The Quilting Queen OnlineIn The Boon Docks
BumbleBerry Stitches

Friday, November 13
All Thingz Sewn
Marjorie’s Busy Corner
Jane’s Quilting
Just Sew Quilter
Batts in the Attic

Monday, November 16
A Stitch In Time
Apple Avenue Quilts
From This To That
Just Let Me Quilt
Quilting Affection Blog
Kwilt Krazy

Tuesday, November 17
Just Because Quilts
Words & Stitches
Feather Your Nest
Patchwork Breeze
Quilt In Piece

Wednesday, November 18
Pink Doxies
Miss Loreen’s Schoolhouse
Morning Glory
In Stitches and Seams
Moose Stash Quilting

Thursday, November 19
Meadowbrook
Tea Time Creations
Selina Quilts
Living My Dream
Seams To Be Sew

Sponsored By The Fat Quarter Shop

And finally… how to enter the $25 giveaway.  And a BIG THANK YOU to Marian Pena of Seams to Be Sew for putting this together and to Fat Quarter Shop for sponsoring this blog hop and donating the $25 gift certificates!  To enter, simply click on the Rafflecopter below!

Happy Holidays!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Authorized Vac & Sew, Fresno CA

Have to show off some student work from my Feather Frenzy class;

Theresa Cina was playing with an overall feather effect...

She had dark print fabric on the back and was using light thread on both sides -- Gave an awesome contrast effect on the back!

I got as excited about the back as the front! We had a fun three days just quilting and playing with threads!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Fresno CA

Headline News: Angela's Very First Quilt Takes a First Place Ribbon at Houston Quilt Festival!

This is TRULY headline news!  How would you feel if your very first quilt, that took you three years of intensive effort to make, took the First Place ribbon in Traditional Pieced Quilts at the Houston Quilt Festival?  Angela Petrocelli's feet haven't touched the ground in weeks -- ever since she got the notification that her quilt had won a prize.  When she got this communication she didn't know WHAT prize, just that her quilt had won.

Then, when she realized that her quilt was first in the entered category, the shock set in....

Let's give you some closeups of this incredible quilt and then I will tell you a bit about Angela and how I know her.

The quilt is named "Why Not?"

Let's get a little closer so you can see the incredible detail in the piecing.

And closer yet....

In Angela's words:  After purchasing my first sewing machine, my quilting friends said I should start with something simple.  I asked "Why?" and explained I had a vision of what I wanted to do.  Over 2,000 colors and 10,000 pieces later, I finished my first quilt and now I say, "Why Not?"

Angela used cotton fabrics and 60 wt. Mettler cotton thread for the piecing and 40 wt. Isacord thread for all of the free motion quilting that she did on this spectacular quilt.  Which brings me to how I know Angela.....

Angela lives in Prescott Valley AZ and, with her mom, has taken two of my machine quilting classes at Mulqueen Sewing Center in Mesa.  She freely confessed that she was a beginner and would I please bear with her because she knew she was going to have a lot of questions.  And she did!  We had some very good discussions during class work time that were more in depth than what is presented in these classes.  She just soaked it in and was one of those students that not only listens and learns, but goes home, practices and puts everything she has learned into use.

Angela gets to quilt every day and, of course, her skill got better and better as she kept putting in the hours to perfect her skills.  When she came to the Mettler thread booth where I was working at Quilt Festival, her excitement over the first place win was contagious!  I met her the next day in the aisle where her quilt was hanging and we made a video that explains her thinking behind the making of this quilt.

You may have to turn up your volume a bit to hear everything she has to say -- Angela has a pretty soft voice!

I think that says it all -- Congratulations, Angela, on a beautiful quilt and a well deserved first prize.....

And did I tell you she also won "Viewer's Choice"?  Wowie, zowie!  What an adventure for her first quilt, but knowing Angela, she'd say "Why Not???"

And the best news of all? Angela is only 35 years old, so we are likely to see more stunning quilts from this very talented lady!

The BIG WINNERS!!!!!!!!

CONGRATULATIONS to Lisa Mullins at Wandering Stitches in Orlando, Florida!!

They won me!!!!!!

Mettler is sponsoring a super special event February 26 - 27, 2016 at Wandering Stitches and I am so excited for it!!

Thanks to Mettler for everything and I can't wait to see you at Wandering Stitches in Orlando!

Because Making Should be as Fun as Giving...

Fall is the perfect time to spend a cozy afternoon learning something you love!  Make something beautiful this holiday season and spread the joy!

Craftsy is having an UP TO 50% OFF SALE!

Click HERE to see the sale (affiliate link).
 

Quilty Box #3! And a Giveaway!

I was really excited about this particular box because I knew it was curated by Angela Walters, a quilter whose work I admire.  There’s only a couple of things I’m willing to part with for this month’s drawing, so….

Here’s the rundown on Angela and the contents of the box!

The book is by Natalie Barnes with Angela and has patterns for a variety of smaller things (purses, placemats, table runners, wall hangings) as well as a few quilts.  I love the use of color and the very clear and well illustrated instructions.  It was easy to find a project with the included materials, so I’m definitely keeping this!

First I picked the table runner, then looked through my stack of recent purchases to see if I could come up with an accent fabric.

I found this gold fabric (and red and green and a few other things) at Jeff’s Sewing & Vacuum in Augusta GA when I was teaching there earlier this month.  It goes perfectly with the color scheme that Angela set with her choice of yarn to tie up the fat quarter bundle and the accompanying thread.

NOW for what I’m giving away!

There was a pattern in the book that used circles made with this acrylic template, but any of you Drunkard’s Path fans would find this a useful addition to your ruler collection!  I’ll also toss in the envelope the two spools of Aurifil thread, one grey and one a beautiful yellow, that were also included in this Quilty Box.  I’m such a Mettler thread addict that I will use that instead.

Verdict on the Quilty Box:  Two out of three were a definite hit with me, so I’m planning to renew!

There are two ways to win the acrylic templates and thread... 

*  Follow my Blog and leave a comment on this post telling me that you followed and want to win the package.  (If you already follow my Blog, just leave a comment on this post and we'll get your name in!)

* Like our Facebook Page HERE.  Then share THIS Facebook post and leave a comment on the post telling me that you shared and that you want to WIN!!

We'll draw a winner on November 13!  Good luck!!!!

BERNINA Embroidery Class at Bolts!

Bolts in the Bathtub is my local BERNINA dealer and quilt shop -- when I'm home I tend to hang out here a bit.  The owners, Dawna Harrison and Fay Bergier, are long time good friends; in fact, I was one of Dawna's first quilt teachers in 1994!

Since I've been exploring machine embroidery, the tables have turned and Dawna is now my teacher.  When she told me about this cute table runner class and the calendar showed that I'd be home (a near impossibility in the fall!), I took the class.

I was working on my BERNINA 780 which has been living at Dawna's house since we started embroidering the Ooh La La quilt together (from Angie Stevenson of Lunch Box Quilts).  We've been getting in a lot of BFF time while I've been learning new skills.

Now I have more reasons to go over to Dawna's -- getting the table runner finished by Christmas!

So do you machine embroider?  What projects are you working on?

Another One of My Favorite People on Craftsy!

Some of you really tease me about how often food appears on the blog and how much I like to cook -- and eat -- and it's true!  So I'm always looking through the Craftsy classes as new ones come up to see who's been enjoying themselves in the Craftsy kitchen for our benefit.

The one I just saw and downloaded is "Cook Smarter: Solutions for Weeknight Dinners" from Sara Moulton. Sara used to be the executive chef for Gourmet magazine when that was still in publication. I started reading and cooking from Gourmet when I was still barely into my twenties and was an avid Sara fan on Food Network. That was the channel I would turn on in the sewing room when I was doing all that machine quilting for customers for many years before I started traveling so much.

I loved watching Sara because she was very clear in her instructions and she was so cute with her guests on the show.  I say "cute" because she's maybe five foot tops and she was looking up at everybody while explaining things.  She's tiny, blonde, and reminds me of a Tinkerbell who can make great food!

HERE's a link to this class in case you might want to be a Sara fan, too!

A Beautiful Weekend for a Craftsy Sale!

Learn something new and achieve something amazing in a Craftsy class! Right now during Craftsy’s sale, you can use my affiliate link to save and support a craft you love.  Click HERE for the big sale!

OUR WINNER!!!!!!

Congratulations Sherril McGann!!!!!!!!!!!!  Email us at battlady@battsintheattic.com with your address and phone number and we'll get your Quilty Box sent right out!

Thanks to everyone for participating in our Giveaway!!  Watch for next month's Giveaway... to be announced soon!

Last Chance!!

Only three more days until we draw a name for the Quilty Box Giveaway!!

Have you entered??

Check out the details HERE!

Good luck!!

* * * Back To School Sale * * *

Ready for learning that feels like recess? 

Check out Craftsy's HUGE sale!!  Shop up to 50% off ALL online Craftsy classes — no textbooks or pop quizzes allowed.

Some perks of Craftsy Classes are...

 

• Watch your classes in your pajamas - it's totally acceptable (and encouraged!).
• Shop popular supplies that will have your friends passing notes.
• Go ahead, cut class! With lifetime access to your lessons, you watch when it's right for you.
  
  
   
                           Click on my affiliate link HERE and say hello to a new kind of school! 
  
  
  
  
  
  

A Quilty Box Giveaway!

My blog, as well as just about everybody's blog, is easy to access using an application called Bloglovin'.  I really like it because it keeps all my favorite blogs in one or two daily e-mails and then I can click on the ones I want to look at further and then scroll through the others.  One of the blogs I read regularly is written by Leah Day, creator of the 365 Day Free Motion Project, and it was on her blog that I learned last month about Quilty Box.

Quilty Box is a subscription where you can either go by the month or pre-pay for longer periods of time.  Prices range from $48/month for month-to-month down to $44/month if you prepay for 12 months.  I decided that 3 months would be a good period of time for me to decide whether or not it was for me.

My first box arrived last week and you can see the contents above -- let's look closer!

First I looked at the very nice two sided card that described everything in the box and contact information for each source in case I wanted to buy more -- I think that's brilliant!  What if you loved the thread and wanted to know where you could get your hands on it?

The card also talks a little bit about Tabitha Martinez, the curator of this particular box, and offers a code to Quilty Box subscribers for a 10% discount, good through 12-31-15.




The box contents were based around the above cute book that features raw edged birds in various projects, some of which featured crocheted edgings.

Placemat with piecing, applique, thread sketching and a bit of crochet....

Pillow using the same techniques -- I could just see this in a child's room!

The materials in the box to help you make some of the good stuff in the book were a charm square pack featuring 16 fabrics from Cotton & Steel.....

 

coordinating yarn and crochet hook....

 

a couple of spools of Konfetti, 50 wt. cotton thread from WonderFil Specialty Threads and a scissors holder so you don't misplace them while you're doing all this fun stuff.

My take on this:  I think it should have been named Crafty Box rather than Quilty Box due to the multiple techniques featured.  Leah is challenging herself to make something from each box and she made a coaster with crocheted edging.  I could see why Leah was delighted because crocheting is one of her skills, but it isn't something I see myself doing anytime soon and, frankly, the book was a little too cutesy for me.  Maybe if it had been skulls and roses?

That said, the quality of the materials was very good and I was not disappointed in any way with that.  Also, if the items had been purchased individually, they would have added up to more $ than the box cost.

I have two more months coming in before I make a decision whether or not to continue. 


Meanwhile, this cute Quilty Box is this month's GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!!!!  If you would like to have the contents of this Quilty Box for your very own, there are two ways to get your name into the drawing...

*  Follow my Blog and leave a comment on this post telling me that you followed and want to win the Quilty Box.  (If you already follow my Blog, just leave a comment on this post and we'll get your name in!)

* Like our Facebook Page HERE.  Then share THIS Facebook post and leave a comment on the post telling me that you shared and that you want to WIN!!

We will draw a name on September 15!  Good luck!!!!!!!!!!