coordinating room decor . . .

Here is some more pictures of the secret pillow, book holder, and pillow sham that I created for Fabri-Quilt's blogger design ring.  You can enter to win a fat quarter stack of this fabric line here.

My middle daughter has been asking for a secret pillow for SO LONG. I won't be telling her little brother and sister about the secret pocket in the back, and hopefully they don't figure it out.  This will be great for putting her little treasures, and knowing where to find them back.

The pillow sham was made with the chisel die for my GO Baby from Accuquilt.  The bright yellow ruffle on the outer edge is my favorite part.

The last thing I made was a book holder for the wall beside her bed.  This is just meant to hold a couple books that she's currently reading.  It's made from a couple dowels, hooks, and the fabric.  Super easy to make, and she's been using it faithfully.

The secret pillow and pillow sham are going under the Christmas tree, and I'm hoping to make throw pillows for the rest of my kids too.  Less than four weeks until Christmas!

dreary outside and cozy inside?

We are trying to adjust to the changing of the seasons over here.  The rainy and dreary weather outside is making us stay inside more, and we're trying to make the most of it.  My kids are enjoying the school routine, but with that also comes more exposure to germs and sick days.  My middle daughter took a sick day and I helped her tackle a recipe from her GEMS Sparkle magazine - soft pretzels.  She did a great job, and it was fun spending time with her one on one.

I received a package from Lysol last week with some more of their touchless soap refills, and disinfecting wipes.  Hopefully our Winter won't be filled with too many more sick days and missed school for our girls.

Disclosure: I am part of the Lysol® Healthy Families Ambassador Program by Mom Central. I received compensation as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.

My first quilt finish for Do Good Stitches . . .

This is the first quilt that I hosted for the Joy circle for Do Good Stitches.  We had some family pictures done on Saturday at a beautiful location, so I took this quilt along to snap some pictures while the photographer was busy with my little ones.

The quilt block is called Boxed Strings, and I love how scrappy this quilt is.  It is so fun seeing so many different prints together.

For anyone that is not familiar with Do Good Stitches - it is an online community of quilting bees that make a quilt each month for a charity or someone in need.  You can apply here.

This quilt will be donated to a cancer patient, and I hope it brings them some comfort and warmth during their tremendously difficult struggle.

A Joy To Share . . .

We received an assortment of Kinder® holiday chocolates in the mail last week and enjoyed some of the goodies with our kids for dessert one night.  My kids were especially impressed with the giant Kinder® Surprise Egg, and for some reason they thought the wrapper made a great hat?!

Kinder® also treated us to a bag of their new hazelnut-filled chocolate eggs, and those are going to my daughter's Kindergarten class tomorrow for their Teddy Bear Picnic.  Kinder® is giving away 7500 coupons for free bags of these eggs every day right now - just check out their Facebook page, they give them away at 12pm EST.

Kinder® is also part of 'A Joy To Share' program. They proudly support the Children's Miracle Network, who has been helping to save and improve the lives of children by raising funds for children's hospitals since 1983.  With the colder weather upon us, and the holidays soon approaching, it's especially important that we think of people in need at this time of year.  There are so many ways that we can reach out to others - by giving to our local food bank, helping at a soup kitchen, and especially by teaching our children the importance of helping others.

Disclosure: I’m part of the Kinder® Mom program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.

Fat Quarter Bundle GIVEAWAY from Fabri-Quilt!

My first tutorial for the Blogger Design team for Fabri-Quilt is being posted today!  The fabric is called Pretty in Pink by Ro Gregg and I used it to make a secret pillow, pillow sham, and book holder.  You can find the secret pillow tutorial over on the Fabri-Quilt blog.

Fabri-Quilt is generously offering a fat quarter bundle of Pretty in Pink to one of my readers!  Just use the Rafflecopter below to enter:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway is open internationally. And check out the Sew Mama Sew blog to enter all the other fun giveaways going on this week!

sidetracked . . .

I have been basting, quilting, and binding the two quilts for our charity bee this past week, but am taking a break today.  Because sometimes a girl just needs a new bag . . .

Fabrics are from WholePort - here and here (and they're having a Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale - they have a huge selection of fabric and other crafting supplies).  Pattern is from EmmalineBags - here (I'm loving the belt detail and hoping my hardware for this bag arrives today!).

scraps to play with. . .

As a quilter, I keep all my fabric scraps.  They have come in very handy for bee blocks and small projects.  Last week I received a flat rate box shoved full of designer scraps from Andrea at Knitty Bitties.  Some of these fabrics are from lines that aren't even out yet!

Just for comparison, the envelope had 5 yards of fabric in it . . .

So I shouldn't have any problems finding colors and prints for my upcoming blocks.  And I think I'll start pulling some boy prints for a new babe born this week. :)

Holiday SALE at Accuquilt!

Accuquilt is having a Holiday SALE!  Go check out some amazing deals!

And if you haven't signed up for their newsletter, than you should!  They start you off with free patterns, keep you up to date on the latest news and sales, and they host lots of generous giveaways!

sneak peek . . .

I received some gorgeous fabric in the mail last week from Fabri-Quilt.  The fabrics are from Ro Gregg's new line Pretty in Pink.  I've already created one little project with it, and the tutorial will be featured next week as part of the new design ring for Fabri-Quilt.  And today I pulled out my GO Baby and new chisel die and started playing around. Can't wait to show off these projects!

encouraging imaginative play . . .

I'm excited to be a part of the KINDER® ambassador program again as they launch their new 2013 toy collection.  My kids love getting Kinder Surprises as rewards or just for a fun dessert.  They've also started using some of the new bouncy monsters and softy tummies animals in their everyday play.  And my little guy can often be found with one of the new combo cars or dinosaurs.  I love that these toys encourage imaginative play but are also inexpensive enough that if they've been forgotten somewhere, it's not a big deal.

Disclosure: I’m part of the Kinder® Mom program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.

Winning fabric on Pinterest?

I am not super-savvy with all the social media stuff out there, but I have been trying.  I just recently got on board with Pinterest, and have had fun playing around with it.  Our computer lost a bunch of files last week, and all my favourites disappeared - so I like that I can keep them safely online now.  I also upgraded my old flip phone to a smartphone a month ago, and just uploaded the Pinterest app today.  Anyone have any other recommendations for some sewing/quilting apps?  I'm having fun discovering all this stuff . . .

Fresh Squeezed Fabrics is having a pin-it-to-win-it contest.  You just have to pin one of their bundles, and get people to repin it.  I decided to take chance with a small bundle and a big one.  Would you please re-pin them for me?  Just click on the pics below.  And it doesn't seem like a lot of people are entering this contest so far - so if you also want to enter, just leave your link in the comments so I can repin yours :)

Celebrate! Good Stitches

Back in March of this year, I joined the Joy circle for do Good Stitches.  Since then, I've made wonky star blocks, a Swoon block, patchwork wheels, star weaving blocks, and this past month I had my first attempt in paper piecing with these hot air balloon blocks.

I probably would have never taken the time to do any of these quilt blocks otherwise, and it was great trying them out with only a small time commitment.  I encourage any quilters out there to consider applying for one of these circles.  All the quilts are given to worthy charities or individuals struggling with an illness or loss.

It is optional to apply as a quilter, and originally I didn't plan to.  But there was an opening for one in the circle I wanted, so I went ahead.  Because of this, I was in charge of hosting two of the quilts for the Joy circle this past year.  This means that I get to pick the design, colors, and everyone sends their lovely blocks to me.  The first time I had everyone make simple string blocks in girly prints/colors.  I then used my Boxed Strings tutorial to assemble the blocks.

The second time, I had everyone use the Hugs & Kisses quilt block tutorial from Little Miss Shabby.  I changed the dimensions a bit, and everyone used boy prints/colors.

At the beginning of this month, I received an email from the host of the Do Good Stitches groups.  She is hosting a year-end celebration!  This is our chance to encourage each other to finish up our quilts and link them all up in one place.  There is also going to be a giveaway for any non-bee members to link up charity quilts, so anyone has a chance to win! Details are here.

quilted teapot cozies . . .

The Intrepid Thread sent me a stack of fat quarters from The Ladies Stitching Club line.  This line seemed perfect for some teapot cozies, so this week I tried a couple different styles.  I was trying to go for something less traditional, and I wanted the pieces to be quilted.

The first pot is a smaller one, and I used a wrap-around cuff style with matching trivet.  I love the dense quilting on this one, and had fun picking out a couple snaps to coordinate with it.

The second pot is a more traditional one, but I changed up the style of the ties, and did little belt loops instead of a casing.  The bottom is also a little more boxy than most teapot cozies, but I wanted to avoid gathering the top fabric to a circular bottom, because that would've been pretty tough with pre-quilted pieces.  This teapot cozy will be featured in an upcoming newsletter from The Intrepid Thread - if you'd like to receive it, you can sign up here.

Linking up to Finish It Up Friday and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.