Visiting the Atlanta Modern Quilt Guild

After literally months of trying to get to an Atlanta Modern Quilt Guild meeting, I finally made it today thanks to a torrential rain all weekend, which caused all of the lacrosse games to be cancelled.

I was happy about this for several reasons.  First, of course, just to be there and meet everyone.  Second, I was able to deliver Pam's prize from my 5th Blogoversary Giveaway in person.  This not only saved postage, but was also exciting because I got to see several of her recent projects (Petrillo Bag, Aeroplane Bag, and the signature quilt) in person.

The speaker, Judy Alexander, was awesome.  Her landscape quilts and other art quilts were amazing just to look at, but then she threw in all kinds of tips and tricks.  It's hard to believe she's only been quilting slightly longer than I've been blogging.  I must be a slow learner!

 

 
The last best thing about this visit was that I finally found the last fabric I needed for my dad's 70th birthday sudoku quilt.  And not a moment too soon!  His birthday is in 13 days, and I'm going to have to channel Pam to get it done in time.  Luckily I don't have much else going on right now.

HA!  Deuce graduates the same day, Grace is in a lacrosse tournament all next weekend, there's Mother's Day to think about, I have a commission quilt that should be done already and another one due in June, plus yet another medical test tomorrow morning.

Sorry about the quality of the pictures.  I set my camera down somewhere in a safe place and I have to spend a few minutes to find it again. 



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Post 555 - The One With the Winners

And the winners are....



Drum roll please...



The winner of the five fat quarters is Heather who wrote, "I read a book once with a bedroom with Mood Wallpaper. It changed colors and patterns depending on your mood. I want that!"

That would be cool.  And helpful for husbands everywhere!

The winner of the 10" flannel squares is Gill who wrote, "I like to read by the fire!"
 
Me too!

The winner of the 5" charm squares is Ruth, who liked my facebook page.  She also wrote, "At the moment I am loving charm packs and jelly rolls. I love jelly rolls because I am obsessed with scrappy trip along quilts and I love charm packs because I really want to create a Crochet Fusion Quilt soon."

I've never heard of these, but google is your friend.  These projects are awesome!  

The winner of Quilts in Georgia is Gill who wrote, "At the moment my favourite book is Quilting Modern by Jacquie Gering and Katie Pedersen."

That's a great choice!

The winner of the pattern and pre-cut denim squares for My Recycled Quilt is Pam from Hip to Be a Square Podcast who wrote, "Oooh.... this would be good for my son, who loves blue! Happy Blogiversary!  And related to the actual question you asked... in five years, I hope to have finished a postage stamp quilt for my king sized bed. HA HA HA HA."

If anyone can do it, Pam, you can!

Congratulations!


Thanks so much to everyone who commented and read along for my 5th Blogoversary.  It's been a blast!



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Rafflecopter Review

Everyone should be very familiar with Rafflecopter after the last week, but you may not realize how easy it is to use it yourself. It's free!

I made a little video to show you. Why not set up a giveaway on your blog or Facebook page and try it out?

PS...sorry about some of the choppiness at the end.  I had to do some quick editing so that personal information was not visible on the screen.  I value your privacy!

PPS...in the video I make reference to the giveaway by C&T Publishing for #NQDSI.  The giveaway was actually donated by Stash Books, which is an imprint of C&T.  But I wanted to make sure I gave credit where credit is due.



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My 5th Blogoversary!

Today is my actual 5th Blogoversary and the last day of the giveaway. I just want to say thanks so much to everyone who reads here. I wish I could send you all a present!

Unfortunately, I haven't won the lottery, so today is my last day of giveaways.  Today I'm offering a set of denim squares, pre-cut, and the instructions for making My Recycled Quilt.

You can use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter in several ways.  Today I want to know what one thing you hope to have accomplished in five years - by March 28, 2018.  (YIKES!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!

5th Blogoversary Giveaway! - Day 4

It's Day 4 of my 5th Blogoversary giveaway!

Today I have a great book for you called Georgia Quilts: Piecing Together a History.  The Pit Boss likes it so much he bought it for me two Christmases in a row! 

You can use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter in all kinds of ways.  My favorite, though, will be when you tell me your favorite quilt book.  This can be a book of patterns, a novel, or any other book that inspires your quilting.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!



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5th Blogoversary Giveaway! - Day 3

It's Day 3 of my 5th Blogoversary Giveaway!

Today I have a homemade charm pack (5" squares.  Get it?) of various fabrics that I assembled while I was cutting all that fabric.  

You can use the Rafflecopter widget to enter in a bunch of ways.  The ones I can't wait to read are your comments about your favorite cut of fabric.  Is it fat quarters?  Layer cakes?  Yardage?  Let me know. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!



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5th Blogoversary Giveaway! - Day 2

It's Day 2 of my 5th Blogoversary celebration!

Today I have a stack of 10" flannel squares left over from a quilt I made for a friend who was going through a rough time.  They are all girly girl fabrics.  One has desserts, one has fuzzy slippers, etc.

I was going to give you 25 because, you know, the whole FIVE thing, but I had more than that left so I'm giving you all 38 of them.  They would be perfect for a fun back or a shaggy raggy quilt.

You can use this Rafflecopter widget to enter in a bunch of different ways.  I want to know what your favorite thing to do while snuggling under a quilt is.  (Please keep it PG!)  Do you like to read?  Watch a movie?   Make another quilt? 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!



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5th Blogoversary Giveaway! - Day 1

We're kicking off five days of celebration for FIVE years of blogging.

Today's prize is FIVE fat quarters of fabric left over from my Master Bedroom block for the WannaBee's house quilt.  I love these fabrics.  They are so soothing and restful.  I wish my real bedroom looked like this. 

You can use the Rafflecopter widget below for lots of ways to enter.  The one I'm most looking forward to is the comment about what colors your dream bedroom would be. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!



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The State of My Stash

As expected, Bonnie's visit to our guild last week got me all inspired to cut up my scraps and put them away neatly instead of piling them in baskets.

I have the whole system in place - drawers for the various size strips and bricks and squares, "cheat sheet" on my cutting table, a basket for strings and a basket for those little bits best saved for paper piecing. (I should just dump that whole basket into a dog bed because I HATE paper piecing and I HATE using itty bitty irregular pieces for it even more.)

I have a drawer for orphan blocks and a million ideas for leader-ender quilts.

But I don't do it.  I'm lazy.  When I finally get done with a quilt, the last thing I want to do is tidy up the scraps.  Once I've skipped it thirty-four three or four times, the pile is so overwhelming that I can't imagine it ever being neat.

Then Bonnie came and re-inspired me.  Also, this whole 5th blogoversary/5 giveaways thing.  So I spent a good part of this weekend cutting and stacking and counting.  I've got a fat quarter bundle, a stack of charm squares and a whole bunch of flannel and denim.  I have strings and selvages and embellishments, and I'm trying to figure out which ones would make a good prize. 

Best of all, I've found a certain serenity in the pressing and cutting while I listen to a podcast or watch a West Wing on Amazon Prime.  Though there doesn't appear to be an end in sight, I know that every 15 minute chunk of time brings me closer to my dream sewing space - the one that is organized and clean and ready for me to make my next quilt.



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My 500th Post!

I cannot believe this is my 500th post and I'm about to hit my 5th Blogoversary!  We should celebrate.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I will do 5 days of giveaways for my blogoversary on March 28th.  If I can blog every day from now until then, my 555th post will be on March 31 when I will announce the 5 winners.

So I'm throwing this out there:  what are your favorite giveaways?  Fabric?  Books?  Gadgets?  Gift certificates? 

Let me know.



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Blogoversary FAIL

Today is my blog's third birthday. Wahoo!
I marked this date on my calendar a few months ago so I would be sure to post a week's worth of fabulously celebratory blog entries.

I hope you realize how much trouble I've gone to. 

• I have nothing of any interest to give away.  Maybe I'm just tired of looking around my own sewing space, but right now it doesn't even look good enough to be free.  
• I tried to update my header, managed to squeeze in a poor quality picture, and now can't figure out how to change it back.
• We crammed so many lacrosse games into this past rainy weekend that I didn't set up any interesting or funny posts, so you are stuck with this lame excuse.

Wheeeeee!

Maybe I'm just in a bad mood from three solid days of rain and thunder and lightning.  I'll be back to give it another shot tomorrow.

Sorry.

Congratulations!

To Jaye from ArtQuiltmaker. You are the winner of this book:

Please email me at JENGGREER at GMAIL dot COM with your snail mail address and I will get it out to you right away!

Thanks for playing everyone!

My Second Blogoversary Giveaway!

2

Wow!  That last blogoversary just blew right by without me even noticing!  April Fool!

Technically it was March 28, but who's counting, right?

To celebrate, I would like to give away this book:

The usual rules apply - the RNG will choose from those who post here and link back to Quiltin' Jenny on their own blog. If you add your name to my followers (see the sidebar), your name will go in the hat twice. (No, I'm not above bribery. Isn't that what these things are for?)  I'll draw in one week, on April 8, 2010. 

Thanks to my readers, especially the ones who've been here since the start!

And the Winners are...!

Thanks to those of you who played my Blogoversary game this week. What fun!

I've had my darling Gracie pull the numbers out of a hat, and the winners are:

Day 1: Moda Six Pack - Liz A., who wrote, "Congrats on your Blogoversary! Isn't it amazing how quickly time flies. The older we get, the faster it seems to fly by."

Day 2: Playful Patterns - Colleen formerly of South Africa said her biggest quilting challenge is "I am fairly new to longarming and learning tension and the quirks of a used machine takes getting used to. Love the quilting though and so excited to try new things."

Day 3: Lighthouse Pattern and Sky Fabric - Melissa said her suggestion for a guild challenge is "a Dinner and a Movie challenge with a size requirement of 12"x60"....ha...just had to get that in." Obviously she is teasing me about an old challenge, and NO, those weren't the actual size requirements!

Day 4-6: No winners - did you forget about me or just not like the prizes?

Day 7: The grand finale! Gemstones pattern and hand dyed fabric - Melissa! who begged, "PICK ME, PICK ME! I sew hoping I win!"

Congratulations to my winners and thanks so much for playing!

Please email me your snail mail address to jenggreer AT gmail DOT com and I will get your prizes to you right away. Melissa, I will just bring yours to guild so you can show off a little.

Another lovely giveaway is going on at Quilting on the Run right now for this adorable Fiskars scissor sharpener. Isn't he cute! Check it out.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Blogoversary Grand Finale

It's the last day of the Blogoversary Giveaway. I wanted today's gift to be a little extra special, but I had a tough time deciding what it should be.

I found this pattern called Gemstones that I bought at the Gulf Coast Quilt Expo in Panama City Beach with my best quilting buddy a few years ago. I don't know why I never made the quilt, but the pattern is unopened. The picture doesn't do it justice, but I remember being totally wowed by the sample.

To jazz it up, I decided to include three squares of my own hand-dyed fabric from our program with Marquetta Johnson. It was very hard to part with, but I know it will have a good home and that surely the winner will come back and post a link to whatever may be made with it!

This has been a fun week, and I hope you have enjoyed it. Tomorrow I'll draw names from each post and send a quick note to the winners. Remember to link to your blog, follow me in the sidebar at the right, and today be sure to tell me about your favorite quilt show - link if you can!

Have a terrific weekend and thanks for reading!

Blogoversary Day 6

We're winding down on the Blogoversary Giveaway, and today's gift is an assortment of goodies. I have a copy of Jennifer Chiaverini's book, The New Year's Quilt; a fat quarter of flip flop fabric; a package of betweens needles, and a little bag of hand-dyed buttons.

I hope this will put the winner in a quilty mood! Don't forget to link to your blog, add your name to my followers in the sidebar at right, and today I want to know what your favorite book is.

Tomorrow is the last day of Blogoversary Week. It's been so much fun! Thanks for playing.

Blogoversary Giveaway Day 5

For the fifth day of blogoversary giveaway week, my true love gave to meeeeeeee...this Peace sign necklace from GraceMary.com.

My friend, Mary, has been making jewelry for several years now, and most of my daily favorites come from her. She has some wonderful gifts, especially at this time of year for Mother's Day, First Holy Communion, teacher gifts, and graduations.

I am a very lucky girl because Mary has been known to give my husband a call and let him know when I admire a new piece of hers. He appreciates the help and I love a gift that I will wear frequently.

Remember to link back to your blog, sign in as one of my followers in the sidebar, and today tell me about your favorite piece of jewelry. I would say mine (besides my wedding and engagement rings!) is this, also by Mary.

Happy Wednesday! The weekend is in sight!

Blogoversary Giveaway Day 4

On to Day 4 of the Blogoversary Giveaway. Today we have this lovely if unfinished tote bag.

I made one for my wonderful mother-in-law and had enough fabric for two. As I have learned, though, making two identical projects is not a good plan for me. I get bored and never quite finish.

So some lucky person who loves this fabric as much as I did will get the almost completed tote, the fabric with the freezer paper templates ironed on to the handle fabric, and instructions for how to complete it. This purple bag needs a good home, and my UFO pile is not it!

Remember to link to your blog, follow me to be entered into the drawing twice, and today please tell me in your comments how many UFOs you personally have. "Too many to count" is an acceptable answer and the approximate number at my house. But now I will have one fewer!

Blogoversary Day 3

Behind door number 3 of the Blogoversary Giveaway is this terrific little paper piecing pattern of a lighthouse. I made it on retreat for a guild challenge several years ago, and had so much fun learning to paper piece.

Here is my finished miniature quilt:

I hope someone will enjoy this pattern as much as I did. I've included a 6" strip of my favorite sky fabric, which is enough to make the background out of if you choose. Remember to link back to your blog, follow me in the box at the right, and today tell me your favorite guild challenge idea. Since I'm currently the challenge chair for our guild, I love new suggestions for the future.

Hope you all have a great week, and keep reading to see what will be next on the list!

Blogoversary Giveaway Day 2

It's Day 2 of the Blogoversary Giveaway, and today's winner will receive the Discovery Toys Playful Patterns. It's a fun, educational game to introduce early geometry and pre-reading skills to young children (ages 4+), and the perfect way to stimulate the imagination of your quilter-to-be.

Remember to link to your blog, add your name to my followers list, and leave a comment. Today, in honor of my abysmal lack of knowledge about geometry, I'd love to hear what your biggest hurdle in quilting might be!

I hope this is as fun for you as it is for me. Enjoy your lazy Sunday and have a great week to come.