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Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Modern Sewciety

At The International Quilt Market in Houston last October, I met the darling Stephanie Kendron who is the founder and host of Modern Sewciety (a series of sewing/quilting related podcasts).  

(Left to Right: me, Stephanie and my roomies: 

On Modern Sewciety, Stephanie chats with friends in the industry about all sorts of topics.  Recently I enjoyed listening to her chat with "The Butlers" (as in Amy of Amy Butler fabrics and sewing patterns and David Butler of Parson Gray fabrics) who are so down-to-earth yet so inspiring!  


Our chat aired last Friday.  We talked about how I got started in the industry, Market, the book, what I'm up to now...  You can click HERE to listen. 

I'm relatively new to the podcast scene but am glad I found Modern Sewciety because I often find myself thinking it's too quiet when I sew!  Do you listen or watch anything when you sew?  Suggestions??? 

Be sure to stop by modernsewciety.com to enjoy all of Stephanie's podcasts!

Happy quilting!
~ Amber

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Red and White Farmer's Wife Finished Quilt + Stats/Fabric Requirements

Hello happy people!
Today I'm excited to share with you my finished Farmer's Wife Quilt!


It's been away for a while...being hand quilted by a group of ladies in Provo, UT that use their proceeds to buy supplies for patients at the State Hospital.  It was gone for about 8 months.  I got it back mid November-ish and finished binding it over the holidays!


 It really meant a lot to me to have this hand quilted.  I wanted it to have that antique feel and because I know myself and know that realistically I would never actually do it I decided to hire these ladies!  I'm so happy that the money went to a good cause and the money was well worth it (a fraction of the cost of what it would be to have it custom, machine quilted - it was $200 for those of you dying to know :).  


They quilted in the ditch around each piece and they even quilted the dashed lines on my border fabric - which initially they said they wouldn't be able to do.  I was thrilled when I picked it up and realized I wouldn't have to do any more quilting myself!  Whew!  Big sigh of relief :)


Some people have asked how much fabric they would need to make something like this and that's really hard to answer since it's so scrappy.  I just started off with a dozen or so fat quarters and then added more when I needed some variety.  Scraps are perfect for this project since you only need a little bit for each block.  Below are some rough numbers for everything besides the blocks - since I did do my sashing a little different than the Farmer's Wife book instructed. 


Finished Quilt Size: 79" x 100"
Finished Block Size: 6"
Number of Blocks: 83

Fabric Requirements 
(I've included a little extra in the yardage to allow for 
shrinkage and squaring up.  WOF = width of fabric).

Number of Sashing Strips: 192 total
(You will need 2 yards of 42" wide fabric.  
Cut 6 1/2" x WOF strips, subcut into 2" x 6 1 /2" rectangles).

Sashing Squares: 110 total
I did white with a red print for the 82 center squares and
solid white for the 28 outside edge squares (the white outside edge squares are eventually trimmed off - creating triangles - before sewing on the inner border fabric).
(You will need 1/3 yard of white with red print fabric and 
1/4 yard of solid white).

Inner Border: 8 strips
(You will need 1/2 yard.
Cut 2" x WOF strips).

Outer Border: 8 strips
(You will need 1 3/4 yards.
Cut 6 1/2" x WOF strips).

Binding: 9 strips
(You will need 3/4 yard.
Cut 2 1/2" x WOF strips).

Backing: 7 1/2 yards
(cut into 3 pieces, 42" x 90" each)

I hope that answers some questions for those of you just getting started!

Here's a few more pictures of mine...

My backing is just a vintage-y red and cream print.



 

I love it.  And although you may not see me using too much red for the next little while, this is one of my greatest finished quilts.  I hope my grandmother (Gigi) will be proud :)

Happy quilting!
~ Amber

PS.  You can click on the Farmer's Wife label on my sidebar for more posts related to this topic.

Friday, January 9, 2015

Vintage Vibe Book Winner + a Sew Along

Wow!  You guys sure know how to make a girl feel good!  Thank you for all your sweet comments about Vintage Vibe.  It was fun to hear what your favorite projects are!


I'm happy to announce that Anita is the winner of the autographed copy of Vintage Vibe.  She loved Big Baby (yay!!!)  Anita, I just sent you an email so I hope to hear from you soon!

Thanks to everyone for participating in the giveaway and again - for being really, really AWESOME!  For those of you who still need a copy of Vintage Vibe you can ask your local quilt shop or get one online HERE, HERE or HERE.  And for those of you who already have a copy, I would love it if you took a minute to post a review on Amazon - if you feel so inclined :)  I love reading what you lovely people think about it!

Well, I'm off to a little sewing retreat this weekend and I plan to finally finish my scrappy Skipper blocks that I started a couple of months ago.  



























I've invited all my Instagram friends to sew along with me and want to invite you too!  If you post a picture on Instagram, use the hashtags #skipper and #vintagevibebook.  Or if you're not on Instagram be sure to upload pictures of your projects to the Gigi's Thimble Flickr Page (which is sorely lacking right now :).  I'll be checking it often!

Happy quilting friends! 
~ Amber

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Vintage Vibe Book Giveaway

Happy New Year Friends!
I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season spent with the ones you love.  Things were quiet around here - just the way we like it :)


I just want to take a minute to thank all of you! This little blog of mine allows me to record my quilting journey and as really cool bonus, I've made some wonderful friendships along the way!  I appreciate all the encouragement this past year as I accomplished one of my past goals of becoming an author.  It was a dream come true and I know I talked about it A LOT :)  So thanks to those of you who stuck around and cheered me on!  Thanks to those of you who support my little pattern business too.  I kind of love designing patterns and I'm glad you like them too.  

As a thank you for being AWESOME and to wrap up the Vintage Vibe Blog Tour I want to give away 1 autographed copy of Vintage Vibe.  To enter, just leave a comment below (you might even get bonus points if you tell me which Vintage Vibe project is your favorite.  If you're not sure, check out some of the stops on the blog tour where each project has been highlighted.  I made it really easy for you - just click on the links below or stop by the Martingale website and click on the Vintage Vibe gallery.)  I'll pick a winner in the next few days.

Me - Skipper
April Rosenthal - Growing Up
Jessie Finchman - Rainy Day Table Runner
The Fat Quarter Shop - Vintage Vibe
Corey Yoder - Playing Favorites
Sherri McConnell - Scrap Jars
Jodi Nelson - Big Baby
Melissa Corry - Twirl
Pam Vieira-McGinnis- Sugar
Heather Andrus - Sugar Sweet
Andy Knowlton - Dashing
Amy Smart - Scrap Jars
Melissa Mortenson - Pretty Petals
Lori Holt - Lovely

Thanks again!
~ Amber