by Sherri Sylvester | Jul 18, 2014
Oh dear… it’s the last day of the giveaways… I’m a bit sad to see this week end. I’ve so enjoyed reading all of your comments! They are always such a bright spot in my day. I’ve saved my favorite bundle for this giveaway prize, because it happens to be my birthday today. I love vacationing on my birthday. The memories are always different and full of new things!
Today’s bundle… the photo does not do it justice. I’ve been attracted lately to metallic fabrics, and soft colours. And gold – which is apparently right on trend. Fancy, me being on-trend! I was never “that” person. I must be gaining a better perspective on life now that I’m 35. (Is it sad that I had to ask my husband how old I was turning before I wrote it down?!)
Anyhow. I picked up some fat eighth’s from one of my local quilt shops and paired them with a fat quarter of Crabapple Path that I recently got from Fabricspark. (Tomorrow is the last day in her Summer Sale! Code “Summer Sale” to save 25% on orders over $50.) Just for fun, I decided to add a few handmade buttons from some gold dupioni silk I had in my stash. I am imagining some sort of amazing bag made from this bundle, and since I bought some of the same fabrics for myself you might see one soon!
Here’s the detail recap again: Each day this week I have posted a new giveaway. Each giveaway will stay open until midnight on July 21, 2014 (EST). The giveaways are separate, so be sure to enter each day for your chance to win! The giveaways are open internationally – so everyone can have a chance! Enter on the Rafflecopter widget below – and if you don’t have Facebook to sign in with, just use your name and email!
Be sure to go back and enter each giveaway from this week if you haven’t already. Here are the links: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4.
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I’ll be back from vacation on Monday, so you’ll hear from me on Tuesday and hopefully I can post the winners by mid-week! Have a great weekend, and thanks so much for following along and hanging out with me this week. I so appreciate your support!
by Sherri Sylvester | Jul 17, 2014
Day 4 already – WOW! Thanks for your vacation comments on yesterday’s giveaway. They sound amazing! I am reminded of how many non-North American readers come to visit this blog when I hear your favorite vacation spots are somewhere “close by” in Europe, or Japan! Also, there is a very prominent theme of people who like beaches, and/or nature – specifically quiet nature. I was feeling like some quiet would be good today after traveling with my (thankfully) pretty well behaved kids in the car all day! (and… PS… I’ve saved my favorite fabric combo for the last giveaway tomorrow… since it also happens to be my Birthday!)
I made the pouches for today’s giveaway quite a while ago. Actually, I made 6 of them. I’ve used 4, but saved the last two for a giveaway – and this week was it. I LOVE the cuckoo clock fabric on these, and the retro records, and the Lotta… what can you say, it’s Lotta! The fabric for these is almost all from a 10×10 precut bundle I picked up from Warp & Weft at the Fall Creativ Festival last year. (The records are from Double Decker Fabric.)
The pattern for these little pouches is based on Cynthia Frenette’s “I Can See Clearly Now” Pouch. The original is much larger, and wouldn’t fit within my self-made 10″x10″ constraints. I tested the original pattern for her and use those pouches all the time. They are perfect for sewing supplies, patterns and things the kids need to bring in the car. I’ve actually brought the other 4 smaller ones on our vacation – here and here. You can get Cynthia’s pattern in her shop, and see my review of it here.
Make sure you have entered the other giveaways this week – Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3.
Here’s the detail recap again: Each day this week I am posting a new giveaway. Each giveaway will stay open until midnight on July 21, 2014 (EST). The giveaways are separate, so come back each day to find out what that day’s prize is and to enter for a chance to win! The giveaways are open internationally – so everyone can have a chance! Enter on the Rafflecopter widget below – and if you don’t have Facebook to sign in with, just use your name and email!
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by Sherri Sylvester | Jul 16, 2014
Day 3 Folks! Still interested? I know I am, you all have been so helpful with your comments I can’t wait to ask another question! I am always grateful to get feedback on what you’d like to see and what you’ve liked in the past. It helps me to plan so much better and hopefully put together something that is better tailored to what everyone is interested in. (That said, today’s comment question has nothing to do with the blog!)
My family left for our vacation this morning and it was so much fun to read all of your comments as we drove along. I was super excited to see the amazing number of new readers that entered yesterday’s giveaway (which is still open) – Welcome everyone! I attempted to send you all a “Hi” through email, but I think I may have missed a few of you – if so I hope you will take this as your personal “Hello”! And a special shout out to Linda, who made me and my husband laugh when she mentioned that a “perfect wonky star” is probably an oxymoron! (See yesterday’s tray description for the background on this one…)
Today’s giveaway is not pretty, but it’s super useful! I thought it would be nice to give someone a pair of my favorite sewing scissors. I got my pair from my mom, and you can find out more about them in this post. Of course, with sewing comes the unfortunate necessity of a seam ripper – so I picked up a nice one of those to throw in today’s giveaway too. Don’t forget to make sure you enter for your chance to win each day this week – Monday’s Giveaway is here. Tuesday’s Giveaway is here.
Necessary detail recap again: Each day this week I am posting a new giveaway. Each giveaway will stay open until midnight on July 21, 2014 (EST). The giveaways are separate, so come back each day to find out what that day’s prize is and to enter for a chance to win! The giveaways are open internationally – so everyone can have a chance! Enter on the Rafflecopter widget below – and if you don’t have Facebook to sign in with, just use your name and email!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
by Sherri Sylvester | Jul 15, 2014
Welcome back! Ready to enter for a chance to win the next giveaway?! If you missed yesterday’s giveaway be sure to enter that one as well.
Thank you so much for all of your amazing comments from yesterday. I am excited to put all of your ideas for the blog into some sort of chart and plan around them for the coming year. (I suppose I don’t need the chart… but they are so much fun!) I’m also glad to welcome some new friends who are following along!
Here’s a recap of the details… Each day this week I am posting a new giveaway. Each giveaway will stay open until midnight on July 21, 2014 (EST). The giveaways are separate, so come back each day to find out what that day’s prize is and to enter for a chance to win! The giveaways are open internationally – so everyone has a chance to win! Enter on the Rafflecopter widget below – and if you don’t have Facebook to sign in with, just use your name and email!
Today I decided to give away one of my fabric trays. I love how bright this is and this one is my favorite because the wonky star block in the middle turned out perfectly! I have realized that blogging creates much extra handmade goodness, more than I can use for sure. So I would like to make sure this tray goes to a good home where it can be used, instead of sitting in my “extras” box! (find the tutorial for how to make these here, the fabric is Petite Plume from Warp & Weft)
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by Sherri Sylvester | Jul 14, 2014
It’s that time again… Who’s up for a giveaway… or 5?! Thread Riding Hood turned 2 on July 12th and I’m in the mood to celebrate!
First off, a huge thank you to YOU! My husband can attest to the fact that that I exclaim excitedly (almost daily) about the number of people who have commented on, liked or visited Thread Riding Hood that day. I am so grateful to you for reading, without all of you I could not continue writing. There would not be a reason to post tutorials and new information if there was no one to read it… I cannot thank you enough. Your comments always make me smile, because it means I get to have a conversation with you! I am so grateful that you have taken the time to write something, it means a lot to me.
I have several amazing comments I keep posted on the inspiration board above my sewing machine. They remind me, maybe when it is 2 am and a post is due… or when I have had a not-so productive day, that my job is amazing! And that I so, so love what I do. I am in awe, still, every time I reflect on the fact that I’m close to being able to make this a job, like a real job… with enough income to warrant the amount of time I spend on it! It’s those moments, where I realize that I might soon be able to have a job that isn’t a job – where the “work” is play and I love coming to work every day. And it’s all because of you…
I would love to be able to meet all of you in person and give you something tangible to say thanks. Last year, I was able to post for two weeks straight… but, this year my family is on vacation this week and it isn’t practical. (Also, seeing as how I almost killed myself putting the posts up last year… big beginner mistake! I figured I shouldn’t do that again!) So… I decided to do a giveaway. And then I thought maybe I should split up the giveaway prize into 5 mini-giveaways so 5 people could win instead of only one. So that is what I have done.
Each day this week I will post a new giveaway. Each giveaway will stay open until midnight on July 21, 2014 (EST). The giveaways are separate, so come back each day to find out what that day’s prize is and to enter for a chance to win! I’ve got everything from notions to fabric, vintage to handmade. The giveaways are open internationally – so everyone has a chance to win! Enter on the Rafflecopter widget below – and if you don’t have Facebook to sign in with, just use your name and email!
Today’s giveaway is a lovely bundle of Anna Maria Horner Pretty Potent fat eighth’s + a little matchy vintage love – some “extra wide” bias tape and “29 cent” rick rack! I saved half of the Pretty Potent bundle I used make my insulated lunch sack last month. I hope you like it!
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by Sherri Sylvester | Jul 5, 2014
Here is the tutorial for the Getting Antsy Picnic Quilt! I went over the background for this quilt in the previous quilt background post, so I’ll just jump right into the tutorial here. I used the Charlie Harper Fat Quarter Bundle from Warp & Weft as the base and inspiration for the quilt.
A word of warning about this tutorial. It is simplified and assumes that you know some basics about quilting and have made a quilt before. If you have any questions please feel free to email me – sherri@threadridinghood.com and I’ll do my best to help you out.
You will need:
- 1 set of 7 Charlie Harper fat quarters (from Warp & Weft here)
- 6 solid coloured fat quarters
- 3/4 yard/metre border (cut to 2 3/4″ strips)
- 1/2 yard/metre binding (cut to 2 1/2″ strips)
- 4 yards/metres non-directional backing
- 1/8″ black ribbon (100% polyester)
- 1/4″ black ribbon (100% polyester)
- scraps of black quilting cotton (fits within 1 fat quarter)
- quilt batting to fit – aprox. 75″x75″
If you would like to colour in your layout instead of laying it out you can click here to print out the quilt template and use it to plan your quilt. I laid out my fabrics with the “cool” colours on the top left and the “warm” colours on the bottom right and worked my way to the centre with each.
Here we go…
- Cut each of your 13 fat quarter into 3 rectangles 5.75″ high x 19.75″ high each. You should have 39 rectangles in total.
- Make 9 black hexies. If you’d like you can use my no-baste hexie tutorial. In the tutorial post there is also a template for creating the hexies in the proper size. They should be 3.5″ from point to point and 3″ high.
- Lay out your rectangles in the order you want them. You will need 3 columns with 12 rectangles each. You will have 3 rectangles left over. Lay out your ants as well so you can make sure to position them where the background is not as busy. This way they will show up better when you stitch them on. (As you can see I was going to mark a “trail” for the ants in ribbon and changed my mind at the end.)
- Stitch each column together in the order you placed the rectangles.
- Press each seam open.
- Pin the columns together at each seam and stitch them together. Press your seams open.
- Piece the border strips together to make one strip aprox. 250″ long.
- Stitch the border to the top and bottom of the quilt first.
- Trim the strip to 90 degrees at each corner as you go. Stitch the border to the left and right side once the top and bottom are sewn and trimmed. Press all of your seams open.
- Piece your backing together. I used the 3 extra rectangles + a few small scraps of my favorite prints and a solid red square. I cut my backing fabric in half and pieced one half on each side of the scrappy stripe. Then I trimmed off enough height from the top piece of backing fabric to allow the stripe to be approximately 1/3 of the way down the back. (see a photo in the last post)
- Lay your backing right side down on the floor or table, place your batting on top of the backing. Add your quilt top right side up to create your quilt sandwich. Make sure to align the stipe on the backing and the stripes on the quilt top so they match up with where you will be quilting/tying your quilt. Baste/Spray/Pin to hold everything together.
- Remove the paper hexie template from each hexie and pin them in place where the ants will go. This marks the quilt, so you can avoid tying it where the ants are attached. The body of the ant is made by matching two straight hexie sides. The head is made by matching the point on one hexie with the centre straight edge of another. (Please ignore the ribbon “trail” under the bottom ant.)
- Tie your quilt at the corner of each rectangle and twice in-between along the lines. I used painter’s tape and my quilting ruler to keep track of where I was tying.
- Machine quilt the border. I stitched my lines about 1/2″ apart.
- Cut 6 legs from 1/4″ ribbon per ant. The front legs are 2 1/2″ long and the back legs are 3″ long. Also cut 2 antennae from 1/8″ ribbon per ant. These are also 2 1/2″ long. Use a flame to *carefully* melt both ends of each leg or antennae. This will prevent them from fraying.
- Pin the ribbon legs and antennae to your hexies as indicated in the photo. About 1/2″ of one end of each ribbon will be underneath the hexie. Pin along the edges of the hexie to keep it in place as well.
- Stitch each ant to the quilt. Sew along the centre of each ribbon and around the edge of each hexie. Repeat until all three ants have been stitched on.
- Sew the binding strips together to make one long strip aprox. 300″ long. Bind your quilt using your favorite method. I use the cluck cluck sew tutorial to machine stitch my bindings.
All finished and ready for picnicing. Go take some photos and show it off! And of course, I’d love to see your creations. You can share your projects on Twitter and Instagram @sherrisylvester with the hashtag #alongforthreadride or #threadridinghood, or post them on the Thread Riding Hood Facebook page. (As usual, this tutorial is for personal/charitable use only – thanks!)
** Please note: This is a sponsored post and some of the fabric was provided to me at no cost by Warp & Weft. However, as always, all opinions are my own and I will never promote something to you that I do not love myself. **
