Scrap Happy Sewing + Book Giveaway

Hi friends!  Today is my stop on the Stash Busting blog hop which means I get to talk about a gorgeous new book by Retro Mama (Kim Kruzich) and sew with some of my favorite scraps - sounds like a great way to spend a Monday!

Pick up a copy of this book here

First of all, I love the photography in this book.  I'm a sucker for pretty books!  And then as you flip through, there are so many great scrappy projects.  I really had a hard time choosing which project I wanted to make first.

These pincushions are high on my to-do list (top left pic) as are those cute apple pot holders below them.  I think I’ll make a couple of those pot holders for teacher thank you gifts.

**This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission (at no additional cost to you) when purchases are made through links found in this post.

I also love this scrappy tote bag, and heaven knows I have plenty of scraps to use on any (and all) of these projects.
  


The project I chose to make first ended up being one of these Cozy Four Square pillows.  The instructions were clear and well-written and I was able to sew the pillow in a couple of hours one evening.  I think it actually took me longer to decide which scraps to use than to make the pillow haha.



Each night at bedtime I read a bit with my youngest son in his room, and I usually use one of his larger stuffed animals as a pillow.  Hello uncomfortable!  So this new scrappy pillow already has a home and a very specific use  - gotta love that!  And I do love an excuse to dig through my scrap bins to find fun bits to use up.



I really do love this book and I think you will too!  You can buy your own copy of the Scrap Happy Sewing book here, (giveaway has ended - thank you!)  and if you'd like to win an eBook copy of Scrap Happy Sewing, just leave a comment below!  (Please 1 comment per person, giveaway ends Monday, May 4th at Midnight.)  Thank you to the kind people at Stitch, Craft, Create for hosting both the blog hop and the giveaway.

Be sure to visit the other stops along the blog hop - it's a whole month filled with scrappy ideas!

Thu April 2nd - Retro Mama
Tue April 7th - SCC
Wed April 8th - S.O.T.A.K Handmade
Thu April 9th - Fabricworm
Fri April 10th - Clover & Violet
Mon April 13th - Robot Mom Sews
Tue April 14th - Vivid Felicity
Wed April 15th - Cut To Pieces
Thu April 16th - Straight Grain
Fri April 17th - Sew Take A Hike
Mon April 20th - Vintage Grey
Tue April 21st - Miss Print
Wed April 22nd - Pink Penguin
Thu April 23rd - Hello Creative Family
Fri April 24th - Follow the White Bunny
Sun April 26th - Cynthia Shaffer
Mon April 27th - A Bright Corner
Tue April 28th - Sew Justine Sew
Wed April 29th - LRstitched
Thu April 30th - Pieced Brain

And you lucky UK residents can also visit Stitch Craft Create here, to enter another giveaway - this one including a pretty bundle of fabrics and two great stash-busting books.

Titch Mini Quilt

This last weekend I finally had the chance to quilt and bind my mini quilt from March.  I first talked about this pattern here.  It’s called Titch from Miss Rosie’s Quilt Co and it sure was fun to make!  I had never worked with such tiny pieces before!

My Titch mini has found a home right next to my Division test quilt – that’s the one I made when I was first testing out my Division pattern.  The blocks are regular size, so I wouldn’t exactly call it a mini-quilt.  I love seeing it up there though!



I’d been kind of frozen with indecision about how to quilt this little thing.  I kept going back and forth with different ideas and then on Saturday I just decided that a finished quilt is always better than an unfinished one so I just started quilting.

 
In the end I love what I did simply because it’s done!  One more project crossed off my WIP list for the year – yay! 

So now that the Titch Mini is on the wall, I realize that I need another mini to fill the hole on the top left corner.  Do you have any recommendations for me?  What’s your favorite mini quilt pattern?

A Little Hexie Project + giveaway winner

Over our Spring Break last week I decided to start a little english paper piecing project (say that 3 times fast!)  I was out of town, up in Spokane WA and had forgotten to bring my current epp project with me.  So I stopped by one of the quilt shops and picked up a few supplies – enough to get me started. 



While I was there, one of the helpful employees pointed me in the direction of this thread:



She said it’s the best thread for epp and it’s the ONLY thread she uses.  With a glowing recommendation like that, I figured I’d better try it out.  Even after using it just for these few hexies, I’m sold.  Normally my stitches are completely visible from the front, but as you can see below, the stitches barely show.  I’m a believer.  The woman recommended this particular color of thread too – she said it pretty much blends in to everything.  So there you go!  I’m passing along the tip to you!

 
And now, for what you’ve been waiting for – the winner of the Home Executive Planner giveaway is….

Heidi [Banks of Frog Creek] !!  Congratulations Heidi!  Thank you all for entering.  Now I've got to get back to that pile of laundry.  For me, that's the WORST part of taking a vacation - all of the laundry that needs to be done once you're home - ugh!

Jump Rings Quilt

Once upon a time there was a Jelly Roll.  (Have you heard this tale before?)  The Jelly Roll was called “Bluebird Park.”  Now this Jelly Roll was a favorite of mine, but no one could tell because it sat on a shelf while I waited for the “perfect” pattern to use it on.  The perfect pattern never appeared.  So one day, I decided to stop searching for the “perfect” pattern and just use the next pattern that caught my eye. 

That pattern happened to be found in this Block Magazine.  In fact, it was the cover quilt.



The pattern is called Jump Rings and at first I had passed it by because it was written for a layer cake.  Upon a second look however, I realized that it would be pretty easy to use a Jelly Roll instead.  So in the end, our tale has a “happily ever after” ending – the pattern I used turned out to be the perfect pattern after all.  And a finished quilt is better than a stack of fabric, no matter how pretty those fabrics are!



   The quilt top was fun to make – I sewed it in a couple of days up at Quilt Bliss.  However, because I had held on to the Jelly Roll for so long, I could no longer find the print I wanted to use for the border.  Kind of a bummer.  The quilt was still a nice size without the wide border so I left it off!



For the quilting I tried something a little new to me, and I did sort of a swirls & shells design.  I like it, but next time I’ll do more “shells” than “swirls.” 



On the backing is a solid Kona cotton – a pretty peachie color.



I think I’ll be using the Jump Rings pattern again.  A friend of mine said she made a smaller, baby sized Jump Rings quilt to give as a baby shower gift.  I love that idea!  I like to keep my eyes open for good patterns that use pre-cuts and this one is going into the collection!

You can find individual issues of the Block Magazine here and you can subscribe here.

How I Stay Organized + a giveaway!

A few years ago I wrote a blog post about a new planner that I found in a local book store.  I had fallen in love with it, and since then I’ve used the next couple of editions of the same planner. 

It’s called the Home Executive Day Planner and the designer (Jen Boss) has just released the latest edition!  In the past, the planner has run from August to August but this time it has entries in it for Aug 2015 – Dec 2016.  Perfect!



I really have used and loved my older Home Executive Day Planners – see here’s proof!  I found my planner from 2013-2014 and flipped it open -



I’d say that was a pretty average week from 2014.

So I’m really excited about having a new planner to use starting in August.  Let me show you what I love about the new version.  First of all, there are now tabs for each month!  Love the tabs!  In the previous editions I just made my own :)



For each week, you have a layout like this – now with five columns for each day.  What I love about this, is that the columns can be used however YOU want!  In other brands of planners that I’ve seen, there are pre-set categories (like school/work/home) but that hasn’t always worked for what I need.  In the past I’ve made the three on the left into the categories of morning/afternoon/evening.  That’s just what works for me.  (You can see here how another mom uses her daily columns.)



For each week there’s also a spot for a weekly menu (I’ve done a weekly menu since my days as a food blogger) and a shopping list.  This isn’t the final shopping list that I take to the store, but this is the spot where I jot down things as I use them up – the last of the vanilla for instance, or when my son needs to bring treats to school for something.  Handy reminders!

I also love the recipe section, the Birthday list, the Christmas shopping list and the notes sections.  I think I’m going to use the first page of the notes section to keep a running list of my quilting WIPs.  How nice would that be to have an organized list of those?  Maybe I’d even get some of them done this year haha.



How’d you like your own Home Executive Day Planner?  Jen has generously offered to give a planner to one of my lucky readers!  To enter the giveaway, leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite time of the day!  (Mine is mid-morning, when the day has already started yet it still holds so much potential.)

Giveaway is open until midnight on Sunday April 12th.  Winner will be chosen randomly and I'll announce who the lucky person is here on Monday, April 13th!



See the pretty ribbon bookmark in my planner?  If you order your planner from Jen’s shop the ribbon is included.  If you buy one from another store or amazon, you’ll have to add your own. 

To learn more about Jen and the Home Executive Day Planner, you can follow them on Facebook.  You can find tips on their blog and see more of the planner here.  

As always, thanks for stopping by!  I know there are a lot of ways to connect with others and be inspired by quilters and I’m just so glad you chose to read along here at A Bright Corner.