Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Winner

And the winner of a cushion cover made by me is:

Who was:

Well done Megan - will email you for your address.

She also said 'scrappy' so I have to get my thinking cap on and come up with something that is me and scrappy - I shall enjoy that.

Thanks to everyone who played along.

Soy Amado No. 21

We haven't had an orange quilt yet, have we?

Well how about this one?

I starting picking out blocks that had orange in them; whether a little or a lot, I put them all to one side.

The blocks are quite random in style but (I think) seem to work well together because of their common colour.

And bringing up the rear, we have:

And I decided with all the cars scooting around on it, for a boy it should be.

Soy Amado No. 20

Now I know I promised some fancy shmancy look back at the first 20 quilts but it's exam week coming up. Younger daughter was supposed to be producing the goods so if you don't mind, we'll have to wait a while more until she's able.

This is a 'blue for a boy' quilt I think.

I was on sparkling form as when I turned it round, I realised the text fabric was all over the place and really, I still think it should all 'read' the same way.

Love the random orange fabric

If you had a hand in the making of some of these blocks, please say. I'm losing track of remembering who sent what and would like to give a mention each time.

Thanks for your continued support and a big thank you to 'Donna' who sent me nine beautifully made pillow cases (the home will find those incredibly useful) and some blocks but what made me happy the most was lots and LOTS of pre-made binding. Complete time-saver so thank you.

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day

THE GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

Woot woot.

Ok. Excitement over and down to business.

Once again I am offering to make someone their very own cushion/pillow cover.

Here are some I've made for people over the last few years.

The rules are very simple and you have up to five chances, none of which involve you tweeting, bleeting, IGing or FBing it because life's too short.

• Leave one comment with ONE word ONLY describing the type of cushion/pillow cover you'd like ie. 'scrappy', 'monochromatic' etc. If you leave any more than that, such as 'thanks for the giveaway' etc, I won't include you in the draw. My giveaway, my rules ;-) 

• If you are a follower you get to leave a second ONE word

• If you have helped me out with my Soy Amado project (whether that be whole quilts, blocks, binding etc) you get to leave an additional three comments with ONE word in each comment which will give you a total of FIVE words spread over five comments

Giveaway will stay open until late Friday May 16, after which a number will be drawn at random.

***

If you would like to help me with my Soy Amado project all the details are in the main menu bar - Giving Back - Soy Amado. In an ideal world I'd love whole quilts but if you can't, I'd love to receive any random 12 1/2" blocks you may have, that have had batting and a back added to them and been quilted. Please email me for my address if you're interested.

Thanks.

Soy Amado No. 19

I had such grand plans for combining more selfish sewing with Soy Amado but then the painters and decorators arrived and my plans have been temporarily scuppered. I have so many quilt ideas spinning round in my head. Unfortunately, my sewing room is being used as a furniture storage room while the rooms around are redecorated.

Before my sewing room became completely inaccessible, I moved my sewing machine downstairs and plonked it ceremoniously on the dining room table, grabbed some bits and bobs and decided that would be my work station for the next month.

But I forgot to grab any fabric and the pile of Soy Amado blocks were also in the dining room and so, I'm sewing them up because they're there, they're accessible and I have to sew.

And this is no. 19

All the blocks are from one person (@nantucks on Instagram) save for one, which when you see the back, you'll probably be able to work out which it is.

I love it for being bright and fun.

And then I love the back too.

Particularly the big floral print.

I think it's my favourite 'back' so far

I know there are different ways to join the two ends of your binding and I thought I'd show you how I'm doing it.

I always join my binding strips on the diagonal so I want to finish on the diagonal so you can't tell the different between any of the joins. Binding on the diagonal gives (in my opinion) a less bulky and more subtle finish than butting two bits of fabric ends up against each other and sewing vertically straight down...if that makes sense.

So when you start sewing your binding down (I cut 2 1/2" binding on straight of grain) I leave a 'tail' of about 9-10", I sew my binding on and then probably leave about a foot gap from where I first started stitching.

See pic below.

I then lay one tail on top of the other (probably cutting the tails down if there is too much excess for them to lay flat within the unsewn (my spell check doesn't like that word...maybe I just made that word up) gap I have left.

If you can remember to call the tails 'leftovers' (which is what I do and what they technically are) it'll help you with the next step.

You need to measure 2 1/2" from where the end of the underneath leftover/tail is, along the top leftover/tail.
That measurement will always relate to the width of your binding. So, if you made a 2 1/4" width binding, you'll want to make the overlap between the two leftovers 2 1/4" and so on.

It was then at this stage, when I first started out making quilts, that I could never remember which end went over which but then I stopped calling the ends 'tails' and instead they became 'leftovers' and there is my answer. The left end goes over the right end.

So the left one is pinned on top of the right. You are pinning the top edge of the left hand side to the end of the right hand side - right sides together.

You're then going to stitch diagonally from left to right - just like you do, if this is the way you join your  binding pieces.

Snip the excess fabric to the right of the stitch line to about 1/8", give it a good press and then you can finish off attaching the binding.

So I'm curious.

How do you join your binding ends?

Linking up to Finish It Up Friday

Soy Amado No. 18

All the blocks for Soy Amado number 18 came from just one person in Australia who sent her contribution to my sister's house and then I brought them home with me in our suitcases.

Several Aussies sent blocks to my sister's house and I apologise as I packed all the blocks in one suitcase and the notes that came with them in another and then here we are, several weeks later, and I am not sure who to thank for their generosity. I do remember opening up the box at the time and thinking 'wow' when I saw all the blocks.

They even included pre-cut sashing pieces too and enough fabric to do the binding, so really, I had very little to do with this one.

If it's you, please stick your hand up and let me know so I can thank you!

(Edited to add: It's Wendy - thank you Wendy...see comments section)

I love it.

Digressing slightly; I was in a bee a few years ago and when it was my month I sent out black, white and red fabric only and asked for blocks made with the half-square triangle only - so I know how striking a limited colour palette can be.

Anyway, getting back to No. 18.

The blocks were a complete array of patterns and all just beautiful.

And even the backing fabrics continued the colour theme.

Couple of things while I remember. Some people are straight stitching right around the edge (or as close to) of each block and I've found that really helpful. It's not a deal breaker but if you do fancy doing it (and it really helps me if you are using quite a high loft batting) that would be great.

Some other people have mentioned that when they are quilting their blocks, it does shrink the end measurement a little. If you're starting out from scratch maybe start with a 12 3/4" block and then trim to 12 1/2" once you've finished quilting it. If you can't, again it's not a deal breaker.

Big thanks too, to everyone who is sending me extras - I didn't realise how grateful I would be for pre-cut binding ( 2 1/2") and pre-cut sashing strips (1" and 1 3/4") but having had it to hand, it's really speeded the process up. A couple of people even enclosed money which, although very kind, is not necessary. I've donated your money to the home in Mexico City so thank you.

And so I continue.

Onwards and upwards to No. 19.

Soy Amado No. 17

And this is what number 17 looks like.

With another sozzled birdie.

I sort of, in a vague way, tried to put lightish blocks together.

I need to go back and catch one of the blocks that I missed.

Lots more Soy Amado quilts to come as I have such a pile of blocks to choose from.
Thank you.
I'll just be a bit slower putting them together as I combine selfish sewing as well.

Like these bags.

Which I love.

A great way to use so many different coloured fabrics and zips and gives you an almost instant sewing hit when time is short.

Linking up to Finish It Up Friday

Which it is at the moment.