Giveaway Day!!

Welcome all Sew Mama Sew readers!  I"m so excited that you've dropped in on my little corner of the universe. let me tell you a few random facts about me:

• I'm Norma
• I have 2 kids with 1 more joining the family in August
• I just turned the (supposedly) big 3-0, but people still think I'm like 17 years old
• I've been married to my most awesomest husband for nine years now
• I love fabric. I love quilting. I love designing quilts. Piecing is tolerable but the actual quilting is my LOVE!
• I also run the Quilty Giveaways Blog
• I've just had the worst week of my life (WWOML)

Thank goodness for a good ole giveaway to help me focus on something other than the  WWOML. Where shall we start? As if being 7 months pregnant in the south wasn't intolerable enough. I've been sick since last Saturday when I got home from a super fun trip to UT (sadly I didn't make it to Quilt Market.) So after being cooped up for a few days I was starting to feel slightly better on Wednesday. So I decided to be all super productive and start working on the baby's room. This required a trip to Target for some organizational stuff. Well I didn't even get a block from my house when a 15 year old kid with a learner's permit ran the stop sign at a 4-way stop and t-boned into my driver side door :(

Luckily my 5 year old daughter, the baby in my tummy, and I are all OK. Sadly my car is toast. I really should have stayed in bed all day Wednesday too! So I've spent the latter of last week going to doctors offices, talking to insurance companies on the phone, getting police reports, car shopping, and a few more days in bed :)

Sooo... in order to help me out of this funk I want to give away something that is going to make us both happy. Did you see on the list above that I love quilting? I mean LOVE it. Well one of my goals for this year (see bottom left sidebar) was to start quilting for others. I'm finally at a point in time where I can start doing that! So for my giveaway I am giving one lucky person MACHINE QUILTING SERVICES! For freeeeEEEE! (think Adam Sandler in Bedtime Stories)






Here are the details, and if you don't agree please don't enter the giveaway!

• I will quilt any quilt for you under 2000 square inches (crib size or smaller)  (length x width = less than 2000)
• I will use my stitch regulated machine and frame system to quilt on.
• I will do a simple all over meander/stipple (and if the mood strikes maybe I'll do something cooler)
• I will provide the thread (Essential Pro in white)
• You will provide the batting
• You will provide the backing
• You will provide the finished quilt top
• You will pay for shipping both ways
• Because of shipping (cost and reliability factors) I'm making this open to those in the US only.
• You must send me your quilt top by June 20th if you expect me to get it back to you before I have this baby!

I will work out the specifics with the actual winner. Please do not send me your great grandmother's prized quilt or  a masterpiece you want to win blue ribbons with. Remember I'm offering a simple all over design NOT custom quilting. Remember that a squared up top will quilt up a lot better than one with wavy borders.

Anyway... if you're willing to trust me with one of your UFO's then by all means enter away!! Here are some examples of my quilting skills:







To enter:

• Become a follower of my blog. Leave me a comment telling me so & tell me if you enjoy doing the quilting on your quilts
• Follow the Quilty Giveaways blog. Leave me a comment telling so & tell me what you would have me quilt for you

That's it! 2 possible entries. Leave me a separate comment for each one and make sure that there is a way to contact you. Giveaway will close on Sunday 5/29 and I will draw a winner on Monday.


Hope you have a great week!
~ Norma

Blogger's Quilt Festival

The time is upon us once more for the spring Blogger's Quilt Festival. Basically it's a giant online quilt show. Free of charge and in your jammies if you so desire! You can find all of the other participating blogs at Amy's Creative Side.

I want to share my latest finish with you. This is "Heidi's Quilt"





Those of you who have been following my blog for a while may remember that my dear friend lost her husband to cancer a year ago in February. I made this quilt for her using his shirts. The orange setting squares are from his favorite shirt. I was able to find a really awesome orange plaid for the back (Hobby Lobby.)





This is my first official completely quilted on my frame quilt that did not end up with an all over stippling. I learned a ton in making this quilt. Like the importance of squaring up your finished blocks when you're dealing with so many different types of fabrics. Or how long it actually takes to do custom quilting. I very naively thought I'd finish up the quilting in a day. Well I worked on this quilt for about 4 days (don't forget I'm pregnant and have 2 little ones) and used a whopping 8.5 bobbins (these are larger than domestic sewing machine bobbins.) I also learned that your hands get sore from quilting for so long! Oh and I even had to rotate the quilt to get all of the sashings done.

Stats:
64"x64"
Fabrics: Shirtings
Sashing: Kona Bone
Machine pieced and quilted by me
It was made using the free Charming Stars pattern found at the Moda Bakeshop

It's not perfect but I love the end result and I know my friend loved it. I was so glad I was able to give it to her in person last week. That was the icing on the cake for a project that was lots of work. And here's a close up of the quilting.





Feel free to look around my blog and take a look at my other recent love.


~ Norma

PS you can visit my other blog Quilty Giveaways to find the latest quilt related giveaways going on in bloggy land.