Twisting Take 2!!

Yesterday everyone decided to give me an early Christmas present.  The little ones took a 3 1/2 afternoon nap and the older ones enjoyed some unsupervised craft time :)  Which meant I was able to finish my Twister.   This is a gift I am trying to finish up by Christmas.  However, when I finished I was not quite as happy with my results.  Don't get me wrong, I don't hate it or anything, I had just planned for a brown row, a brown-pink row, and then a pink row to pop.  The pink row really pops but the brown-pink row just blended to much with the brown row.  You know when it just doesn't quite turn out the way you had seen it in your head :)

So . . . . I grabbed the remaining pieces from the Heidi Grace pile and decided to use the tan brown instead of the brown I used previously.  I didn't use it initially because it has the same print as one of the brown prints but I think I can handle that if it makes a greater distinction between rows.  So this is what I will be working on today :)

Twisting again :)

** If you are looking for the 3rd Christmas Extravaganza Giveaway you can find it here :)

Do you ever have one of those days where you know you should be doing something else but you just want to do that special something :)  Ya, that was last Thursday for me.  I have WIP that need to be completed, Bee's that needed to be organized (which I did this morning :) , designs to be put into EQ, a tutorial to finish, and I had to pack to go out of town for the weekend.  So what did I do????

Started another "Twister" baby quilt!!!  I have been thinking over a stack of Heidi Grace on my shelf for a few weeks now and while lying in bed Wednesday night decided that it would be so adorable in a twister quilt but I wanted it to have more of a layed out look then a random look.   I got up (at 1:00 am mind you :) and figured out the design I wanted to do.  I wen't back to bed for a few hours and then got up and after getting the kids off to school went right downstairs and started sewing together the grid :)  I am so loving it!!!  I am about a 1/3 done.  Here's hoping I can get some more done today :)

Christmas Giveaway Extravaganza with Burgundy Buttons!!!

GIVEAWAY CLOSED

It's Friday again so that means it is time for our third Christmas Extravaganza Giveaway.  This week's giveaway is sponsored by the fabulous Leah at Burgundy Buttons!!  Leah's shop is so fun and filled with all kinds of Moda goodness.  She has yardage, pre-cuts, snuggles, flannels and wovens.

And did you know that she has been having a fabulous 12 Days of Christmas sale???  Each day was a different sale.  Well if you didn't know, don't fret.  As the finale of the sale, you can get all of the sales from all 12 days!!!!  This Finale ends Saturday at Midnight so you best hop on over quick if you want to score some great deals :)

Now, onto the giveaway!!!   Up for grabs, a California Girl Jelly Roll.  This is Fig Tree Quilts newest line slated to come out in March.  That's right, you can't even buy this yet, but you can win it here!!!!

For a chance to win just do the following . . . and please, only one comment per option for a max of 2 comments :)

1 - Be A follower of Burgundy Buttons blog and leave a comment.  How about you tell me something you love about their shop or let me know you are new to Burgundy Buttons :)

2 - Pop on over to the Finale of the 12 Days of Christmas Sale and tell me what item you just are dying to put under your Christmas tree.  (I always love gifts that are to me, from me, tee hee hee :) 

So that's it :) The giveaway will close on Wednesday the 22nd. and I will announce a winner shortly after.   And Don't forget to stop by next Friday for our final Christmas Giveaway!!!  Good Luck to all and Happy Quilting!!!

Winner, Winner, Winner!!!!

First off, thank you to Julie and The Intrepid Thread for sponsoring such an amazing giveaway!!!  Obviously, it was well like because WOW, there were a lot of comments.  1079 to be exact. So lets get to announcing the winner (who obviously has the luck of the Irish) of this fabulous Power Pop Giveaway!!!

And according to Mr. Random.Org the winner is . . . . #222

Who happens to be . . .  In Black and White!!!   Congrats!!!  I have sent you an email

Didn't win today . . .  It's okay.  Stop by tomorrow for our Third Christmas Giveaway!!  It's gonna be good!!!

TNT Thursday

So my big New Thing this week was actually talked about on Monday. I made a new Holiday Oven Mitt as part of the Quilt Story Gift Tutorial hop.  I worked with Insul Bright for the first time (Which I really like) and I made my first oven mitt, (kind of obvious :)   I also realized that releasing a tutorial on the first day of Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day makes it really easy to get missed.  So just in case you missed the tutorial over at Quilt Story I thought I might add it here.  It is TNT Thursday after all and who knows, maybe you want to try sewing your first oven mitt together :)

To make this oven mitt you will need :

   2 Pieces of Christmas fabric each  measuring 10" x 16" for the outer oven mitt

   2 Pieces of Christmas fabric each measuring 10" x 16" for the inner lining

   1 piece of Christmas fabric measuring 2 1/2" x 16" for the binding

   2 pieces of Insul-Bright batting each measuring 11" x 17"

   2 pieces of Warm and Natural batting each measuring 11" x 17"

   

You start by making 2 mini quilt sandwiches.  Layer each sandwich starting with the lining print faced right side down, then the Insul-Bright, followed by the Warm and Natural batting and then the outer print fabric with right side up.  Baste your two mini quilt sandwiches.

Print out a copy of the Oven Mitt template.  Trace the template onto each of your quilt sandwich making sure to flip it over for the second tracing.  (So the thumbs should be on opposite sides of the sandwiches.)  The template is for a standard size oven mitt but if you want yours longer (I like mine that way) you can add 2" to 3" at the bottom of the template.

This is my favorite part.  Quilt inside the tracings of each quilt sandwich.  (I like to stay inside the drawn line so that I don't end up cutting any of my quilting lines.)  You can quilt a basic cross-hatch design or you can spice it up and do some fun free motion quilting.  I did swirls to match with the candies :)  Once you are done quilting your two sandwiches go ahead and cut out on the trace lines of each sandwich.

To make things a little easier when binding we will stitch up the bottom of the oven mitt.  If you have a serger just go ahead and surge along the bottom (and only the bottom) of each side of the oven mitt.  If you don't have a serger (like me) stitch a straight line 3/8" in from the edge and then go back and do a tight zig-zag stitch right along the edge.

Place your two oven mitt sides with right sides together so the linings are both on the outside.  Pin along the outer edge but not along the bottom of the oven mitt.

Now once again, if you have a serger, go ahead and serge around your pinned edge.  If you don't go ahead and stitch your straight stitch 3/8" in from the edge and then go back and do a tight zig-zag along the edge.  This is a lot of layers so if you have a heavy duty needle and a walking foot it will help :)

Turn your oven mitt right side out.  This takes a little work along the seams.  Use a sharp tool if necessary to push out some of the curves.

All that is left is binding the bottom.  So take your binding strip and iron it in half.

Measure the amount of lining you will need to go around the inside of your oven mitt and overlap 1/2".  Trim the excess.

Take your newly trimmed binding strip and open it up and place it with right sides together.  Stitch a 1/4" seam along the raw edge.  Now fold your lining in half again with wrong sides together and right sides out.

Place the lining inside the edge of your oven mitt with the raw edge of the lining along the edge of the oven mitt.  Pin in place.

Now stitch a 3/8" seam along the edge of the binding on the inside of the oven mitt.  This is a little tedious but a walking foot and heavy duty needle will help.

Lastly, flip your folded edge of the binding over the oven mitt and pin. You can hand sew the binding down or use your machine.  Whatever your preference :)

And you are done!!  Wasn't that easy.   Now just fill it with some fun Holiday baking goodies and it is ready to give to your friends and family :)  Enjoy!!!  And if you make some of these fun Holiday Oven Mitt's I would love for your to post a picture of them in my Happy Quilting Flickr Group :)

So that's my new thing :)  So what have you been up to?? 

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