Yay!!! It's my day on the tour! and I have a lot to share with you!! (you are going to want to make it through the whole thing because of FREE STUFF at the end!!)
First off, THE BOOK!!! Yay!
An Apple A Day: 9 Projects for the daily life of quilters, sewists, and crafters
We are so proud of this book, as you probably can guess from our blog posts! And I am super proud of Amanda's designs and her photographer, Kristen Pack of Shadetree Studios.
Now, in order to really promote this book, I wanted to share with you how it inspired my creativity!
My project in the book is this sweet mini art quilt, Apple Blessings:
(btw, didn't Mr Gorgeous do a fantastic job on the frame??? love that man!)
Friendship Star blocks inspired my design, and they continue to inspire my creativity!!
I took Amanda's fabric, Apple of my Eye, and created a table filled with fun little projects you can finish in a day♥!
I made 4 snack mats, 4 mug rugs, and a mini-centerpiece with my scraps!
Here's a quick tutorial on how to make a snack mat:
Create a friendship star block using two different fabrics. Cut 8 4" squares of your background fabric. Cut 5 4" squares for your star.
Sew 4 half-square triangles together with 4 of each of the different fabric squares.
Put your squares in three rows using the above pictures to see which way to place them and sew the rows together.
Add batting and backing (fat quarters of the Apple of my Eye fabric make perfect backings!) and quilt as you like. I love a simple stipple free motion quilting stich. Bind as you would any quilt using your scraps.
If you want more detailed instructions on how to make a friendship star block, grab our book right here!!!
After I had created the Apple Blessings quilt, I had little scraps that I wanted to make into something! So I made these little mug rugs. A mug rug is perfect for collecting all of that condensation that drips off of your glass while you are creating away (or sitting at a nice table!)
I have been having a wonderful time stamping lately, and I wanted to translate that into my sewing! So I grabbed my India Ink Black waterproof ink pad and some fun inspirational word stamps and stamped some muslin. I sewed my scraps around the middle panel, quilted, and bound the little cuties!! Here they are close up:
I used acrylic paint (mixed with fabric medium) to embellish the black ink!
I added some little jewel embellishments, too, leaving enough room on the mug rug to hold the glass! :)
I let my glass sweat all over the ink and it did not run a bit! The only thing that I would be careful with is that you cannot iron acrylic paint. It will melt it! Lesson learned! :)
See all the fun things you can do when inspired????
You are ready to have a picnic, aren't you???
But wait...did you see Candice's placemats that match???
Oh yeah...you need THIS BOOK!!!
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But wait...I'm not done yet!! (btw, stay til the end! I've got a giveaway you'll LOVE!!)
If you've been reading the blog, you know that recently I went to my Modern Quilt Guild's monthly sew-in!
My only regret was that I didn't make Julie's Pack & Play before I went:
This is perfect for carrying your cutting tools, mat and having this awesome ironing surface to boot!!
So I decided to go ahead and make one just for me!!
And I had just the fabric to make it in! Amanda's first line with Riley Blake - Sweet Divinity!
Here's mine!! I have a smaller cutting mat in my big pocket! I cannot wait for our next sew-in! Super excited!!! {aren't my boots cute??}♥
and my tools and ironing surface?
Pure Awesomeness!!
Did I mention you have to get THIS BOOK?????
I have plans to make every project in this book! They are all so awesome!!
For example, I just got this shipment from Lecien of Cosmo Threads...
and I cannot wait to make Stephanie's Core Essentials to keep them organized! and my projects, of course!!
And on July 1st, I was organizing my Christmas projects (for Christmas in July...are you ready????? just drink more caffeine...it works for me!!!) and decided I would make Brooke's quilt with these Riley Blake fabrics!!
The perfect pattern for those fat quarters!! I'm excited!!
But wait...what about Amanda's box????? on the front cover?
I have to make it for my darling quilting daughter, Emma...
she is mid-quilt right now and could really use some organization! Don't tell her, though...it'd make the perfect birthday present!!
I'm thinking about making Johanna's Carry it All Along for my sweetie Cora to entice her to come home once and a while when she goes away to college...
Isn't that awesome??? Grab a few weekend things and come and see momma for the weekend!! (yep, i should admit that she is moving 9 miles up the freeway, but we are pretending it's to another state, so she doesn't really move to another state!! LOL!!)
I'm saving Jana's quilt for me!!
I'm thinking about doing a big rolie polie quilt for my own bed!! This is the perfect quilt for that!!
You've stuck with me and my long post!!!
You are amazing!!
As is this last project!!!
Jackie's necklace was a BIG HIT at Spring Quilt Market!! and because of it's amazing response, I get to give away a kit for YOU to make one of these, too!!!
So, I'm going to give away two prizes!!
One is THE BOOK!!
One is THE BOOK and THE NECKLACE KIT!!
Yay!!!! All you have to do is comment here on this post!!
If you want to have an extra entry, pop on over to my FACEBOOK page and "like" me!!! ("they like me, they really like me!!!") Be sure and leave a separate comment for your FB like!
ETA: You have until Monday night, July 9th at midnight CST to enter the giveaway!!! Hurry!!!
Can't wait to see if you win???
GO HERE to PURCHASE this fantastic BOOK!!!
And thanks so much for sticking with me!! Tomorrow, while letting all of that BBQ digest, you can hop on over to Candice's Blog!! Yipeee!!
Here's the whole list so you can get inspired by all of us!! ♥♥♥
Sunday, July 1st: Amanda's Blog & Jana's Blog
Monday, July 2nd: Julie's Blog
Tuesday, July 3rd: Sally's Blog <<<-----you are HERE!
Wednesday, July 4th: Candice's Blog
Thursday, July 5th: Stephanie's Blog
Friday, July 6th: Johanna's Blog
Saturday, July 7th: Jackie's Blog
Sunday, July 8th: Brooke's Blog
...and don't forget, an apple a day brings blessings YOUR way!!
