Thank you all for entering Jill's e-book giveaway.  It sounds like a lot of you are looking for ways to up your applique skills and I know Jill is just the one to inspire you! 

 

The lucky winner of Home Sweet Quilt is:

crspy16 who said...

I'd love to win a copy of this book and learn a new way of doing applique! Thanks for the chance to win!

Crspy16 ~ please send me your email address so Jill can send you her e-book version of Home Sweet Quilt. You can reach me at adctd2qultng@gmail.com.  If I don't hear back from you within 48 hours I'll pick a new winner :)

For those of you who didn't win ~ don't cry.  You can get your copy of Home Sweet Quilt at Martingale or stop by Jill's blog for more information: http://jillilystudio.blogspot.com/

Happy quilting!

~ Amber

A Blook Tour

Just over a month ago I was browsing around on Pinterest and spied this darling quilt.  I immediately fell in love with the striking, yet playful colors and the original flowers that are so delicately appliqued throughout.  I didn't know who made it or who designed it but I knew I loved it!  It was immediately pinned to my "Quilt Love" board.

About a week or two later, my friend (and quilt designer extraordinaire) Jill Finley stopped by the quilt shop I work at to tell us about her new book, Home Sweet Quilt.  I couldn't believe my eyes when that very quilt I spied on Pinterest a couple of weeks prior was gracing the cover of her new book!

Needless to say, I was thrilled when Jill sent me an email asking if I would like to be a part of her Blog/Book Tour or "Blook Tour" as Jill likes to call it :)

Home Sweet Quilt is filled with 12 darling projects and great instructions! One of the things that I am most excited about is the fact that Jill includes a detailed description of how to applique - the Jillily Way!

I don't know if I ever told you but it was Jill who got me excited about applique.  I had tried it several times throughout the years but I always felt a little overwhelmed since there are about a gazillion different methods out there!  That changed a few years ago when Jill came to the quilt shop one day to do a demo of her method.  She made it look so easy and I was sold! I've been using her method ever since.  Her book is as good as her demo with several pages dedicated to teaching her applique method.  Lots of photos are included too!

So lucky for you, you get the opportunity to win an e-copy of

Home Sweet Quilt!  Just leave a comment below and I'll pick a winner Sunday night. And if you can't wait or want to get your hands on a hard copy you can purchase Home Sweet Quilt through Martingale.

Until then, be sure to check out the other participants in Jill's Blook Tour where you can see some of the other great projects from Jill's book as well as earn more chances to win great prizes!

     

Sat, Oct 13:                 Aurifil Threads                        http://auribuzz.wordpress.com/

Sun, Oct. 14:             Linda Lum DeBono                   lindalumdebono.blogspot.com/

Mon, Oct 15:              Madame Samm                       www.sewwequilt.com

Tues, Oct 16:              PamKittyMorning                    pamkittymorning.blogspot.com

Wed, Oct 17:              Amy Ellis                                 amyscreativeside.com/blog/

Thur, Oct 18:             Stitch This (Martingale)              http://blog.shopmartingale.com/

Fri, Oct 19:                Chitter Chatter Designs             creativityamongstchaos.blogspot.com

Gigi's Thimble                           alittlebitbiased.blogspot.com

Sat Oct 20:                 Jacquelynne Steves                   thenoblewife.blogspot.com

Sun Oct 21:                Henry Glass Fabrics                 henryglassfabrics.blogspot.com

Thanks for stopping by and happy quilting!
~ Amber

   

** THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED**

Pinterest.

 I thought I was past that addicted stage.

You know, where you go from wasting an hour or more a day on it 

to just 5 or 10 or 15 minutes.

 

But I'm kind of loving it these days.

Especially 'cause I can do it on the iPad while I watch things like

the Presidential debates with my hubby  

(makes it not so boring)

or one of our many shows like Chopped, Shark Tank or the Bachelor. 

 

Feels like I'm killing two birds with one stone, ya know?

(Hmmm... What if the two birds are wasting time and wasting time?  Does that really count?)

 

Anyways,

What about you?

Do you go in spurts with it?

 Do you use, make or do any of the things you see on there?

I don't know about you but I have really good intentions of having my whole house organized just as fabulously as it looks on my "Ultra Organized" board.  And, I'm pretty sure one of these days I'm going to make all of the recipes I have on my "Sweet Treats", "Yum", "Good Morning" and "Drink Me" boards.  And at the same time, I'll be as strong and tough as I am on my "Be Fit" board and my home will be as beautiful as "My Dream Home" board.

 

 ~ YEAH RIGHT ~

 

I guess it's easy to get overwhelmed with all of the loveliness on there.

You have to be able to brush off all of the perfection that you see.

 

But it's kinda fun trying.

A little inspiration, motivation and eye candy never hurt.

 

Unless...

You eat half a pan of these:

Which I'm pretty sure I did over the course of a couple days.

(These revel bars are super easy.  The recipe makes a ton.  They freeze well.  And they're really yummy.)

 

[Confessions of Cookbook Queen Blog]

You may also feel a little regret when you tell yourself you're just going to have one bite of one of these Mummy Twinkie Pops (I mean, after all, you have to try the fruits of your labor and besides you don't even really like Twinkies) but you end up eating the whole thing anyways cause it was actually quite tasty. 

(I took them to our family Halloween party last Monday.  They were so cute.  I just couldn't resist.  It cost about a dollar a pop to make them and I got all the supplies at Wal-Mart.)

Another thing I made 

(that I spied on Pinterest and didn't feel bad about) 

were these burp cloths:

 [Designer Baby Burp Cloths - link]

They were fun to make and it's nice to (for once) feel "on the ball" ~ 

It's nice to have a stash of homemade baby gifts that I can go to on a moments notice (as if 9 months notice wasn't enough).

I'm just saying that Pinterest is fun and there are lot of good ideas on there.  And you can have fun trying some of them.

But you just have to be careful.

That you don't feel like you have to do all of them.

Just do one or two or three.  

Once in a while.

Now, it is two-fifteen in the afternoon.  

So I need to go get my bra on and my makeup done and my hair flat-ironed because I just wasted a lot of time talking about a really good time waster.

So.  Good-bye :)

Awe-Inspiring Machine Quilting

 You've seen snippets of this quilt here and there before on my blog.  

I believe I started it back in 2010 (eek!)  But now she is finally finished.  And the quilting on it is aMAZing.  I just had to share.

This block of the month quilt was machine quilted by the amazing Kaylene Parry of Lehi, Utah.  She has done many quilts for me before and always does a fantastic job.  I think she probably feels like I'm always pulling back the reigns on her though so I was happy to let her "do her thing" on this one.  (Thanks for putting up with me, Kaylene!  I hope you had fun with it!)

 

The basket blocks (above) and the stocking blocks (below) are two of my favorite parts on the quilt.  I love the designs Kaylene chose.  There are four stockings - one for each member of my family.  More or less can be added depending on the number you want to have.

 

Do you see my sweet little binding?  It makes me smile when I see it :)  I originally thought I would probably go with a darker binding - like the red/coral color or the dark brown - but for some reason the mustard stripe (already on the bias!) just spoke to me.  It's from Stitch Studios and I had been eying it for a while so I was happy to be able to snatch some up and use it!

This house is so cute too.  If you look close you can see the quilted scallops on the roof, flowers in the windows and a heart and doorknob on the door - so sweet!

 As a filler block, I decided to hand-embroider a label and stitch it right on to the front of the quilt!  Kaylene quilted a beautiful design around it.

And the pumpkins!?!  Oh the pumpkins.  I just love the little ocean wave pattern that she quilted...

It looks especially cool on the back side! 

Speaking of back sides, I ended up using up some light colored pieces from my stash to make a pieced back.

That always feels good, ya know?  It's a big quilt - twin size.  I don't have any twin size beds in my house and I don't know where it's final resting place will be :) but I will forever treasure this quilt.  My mom and I each made one together.  I'll never forget the good times we had while stitching our little hearts out.  Kaylene is working on quilting hers right now too.  I know my moms will be just as beautiful!

The pattern for this BOM is a free pattern, designed by Jina Barney of Riley Blake Designs.  She goes to the little quilt guild I am a member of (lucky me :).  The pattern can be found HERE.

P.S.  Most of these fabrics we used are from several collections by Fig Tree Quilts.  We are BIG fans.

A Holiday Tutorial

 Today I am guest posting over at Quilt Story (LOVE those girls!)
as part of their annual Holiday Tutorial series.

If you saw my post there last year around this time, you may remember my
Holly Berry Table Topper tutorial.  This year I've created a quick, raw-edge
Holly Berry Pillow Cover tutorial to go right along with it.

I hope you'll go on over and check it out! 

And don't miss the other Holiday Tutorials going on at Quilt Story! 

October 4th: Kerry from verrykerryberry

October 11th: Amber from A Little Bit Biased

October 18th: Darlene from Sew Cal Gal

October 25th: Kirsty from Handmade by Kirsty

November 1st: Jesse from Messy Jesse

November 8th: Tabatha from Bending Pins

November 15th: Ali from a.squared.w

November 22nd: Happy Thanksgiving!

November 29th: Karen from Sew Well Maide

December 6th: Pennie from Tuppence Ha'Penny Quilts

Have a great day!
~ Amber

Twisted Winners

You guys are awesome!  Thanks so much for all your sweet comments about Twisted.  Man, I was surprised how much you guys liked Twisted Baby!  Glad I decided to go ahead and make up that version!

 It's such a simple pattern to make ~ I literally whipped up the baby top in just one night.

 

Well, do you want to know who won a copy?

 

First, #56:

Judy who said...

That is the most awesome quilt! Love, love, love it!!

 

 Next, #91:

Audrey who said...

This pattern is great! And I love the Marmalade too!

And finally, #95:
KatieQ, who said...

I love patterns that use pre-cuts. It makes it so easy to eliminate a lot of the cutting. I really like the crisp white diamond shapes against the colorful background.


K, ladies  ~ you know the drill.  Email me with your addresses and I'll get those right off to you!  You can reach me at adctd2qultng@gmail.com.

And to the rest of you ~ thanks for playin'.
I seriously loved all of your comments.
You sure know how to make a girl feel good :)


♥ ♥ ♥

Dying to get your hands on a copy?
Head on over to my Etsy shop to get your own!