Giveaway Winner ~ Sneak Peek ~ Plus

Greetings everyone!

Many thanks to those of you who joined in the Giveaway fun for the Family Tree scraps! 

I loved reading all of the sweet comments on the post -- Thank you so very much.

Many thanks also, to those of you who follow my Blog, Facebook, Pinterest, Craftsy, Twitter or Instagram accounts. 

Just loving how much we can share and grow in all of those Social Media outlets.  I'm honored to have gained 7 followers on Instagram --  Woot ~ Woot!   I'm pretty new to Instagram but LOVE that I can quickly post a picture of what I'm working on for others to see and comment.  Such fun.

Before we get along to the Winner -- I have a little sneaky peek of an upcoming quilt AND something to Crow about for my dear friend and mentor Wendy Sheppard.

Ya'll might know Wendy from her lovely blog Ivory Spring.  Wendy shares her awesome "Thread Talk" advice, makes and shares design after beautiful design, does all of her own free motion quilting on a domestic machine, is a mom and a wife - and just one really talented lady.

Crowing!!  In the next few weeks her new book "Recreating Antique Quilts" will be released by Landauer Press.  Can't wait for you to check out the gorgeous projects in Wendy's first book!!  

This week the great folks at Landauer interviewed Wendy for their blog AND it's possible that you could be hearing her on a Pat Sloan Podcast too!!  (Maybe?)

To learn more about Wendy, click the image below and you'll be taken to her blog where she shares her great news!  If you don't already follow Wendy -- you really should consider starting. 

Image Courtesy Ivory Spring Blog

Now here's a sneaky peek of something that I'm working on... I should be able to share more soon and there may even be a giveaway involved... be sure to stay tuned...

What I love about this little gem is that I was able to use a large amount of stash fabrics to create it.  I purchased a small amount of burgundy and a bigger amount of Antique Fair Rose.  

All of the fabrics are Moda and the fabric lines are OLD!!  The center panel is Collection for A Cause and most of the remaining prints are Blackbird Designs Antique Fair line for Moda.  I am in love with the birds in the center panel.  Do you like so far ?  I'm having fun!!

OK - now on to our winner -- at 9pm EST there were 79 comments over on the giveaway post.  I plugged the numbers into Mr Random.org and he came up with:

Lucky "57" -  OhioLori -- you're the winner of the bundle of Family Tree scraps.  Congratulations.  I'll send you an email so we can exchange addresses and get you this beautiful fall fabric to play with.  Yippee!! 

Thank you all again for playing...

One other thing -- A couple more milestones are brewing in my blog and Facebook accounts and I think I'm going to need another giveaway this week (separate from the sneaky peek above).  Stay tuned for more fun coming to a post near you!

Finally -- the weather in the NorthEast USA has been just Fall Fabulous!  Actually, it feels more like summer than fall -- but who's complaining?  

I leave you with this awesome Sunset Glow and Crescent Moon over our Finger Lakes cottage from Saturday night 9/27.   What a way to close out the day!

Happy Stitching all!
Hugs,
Karen

Welcome Autumn - Finishes - A Giveaway!

Here in the Northern Hemisphere it's officially Fall! 

Quoting the Farmers Almanac:  "The autumnal equinox brings the fall season to the Northern Hemisphere on September 22 at 10:29 P.M. EDT. 

The word equinox comes from the Latin words for "equal night."   The fall and spring equinoxes are the only days of the year in which the Sun crosses the celestial equator.

From here on out, the temperatures begin to drop and the days start to get shorter than the nights."

I know what that means to me -- more sewing!  Does it mean the same to you?

Soon the backyard trees will be showing these beautiful colors...  I can't wait!

With some fall lectures and trunk shows at a few local guilds I've been busy getting some finishing touches on a few old quilts.

Here is my "Milkbone" quilt before it was bound....  It was quilted "McTavish" style using #Aurifil Mako Cotton 50Wt thread -- gosh that thread works wonderfully for dense machine quilting!  No breaks, little lint and the backtracks are almost invisible!! 

 

And here are a couple of "after" shots...

and

 

It sure makes a beautiful table mat.   You can read more about "Milkbone" by clicking here and here.

The other piece I finished is a WAY OLD work in Progress -- Family Estate.  Family Estate is a pattern in the Laundry Basket Quilts book "Friendship Strips and Scraps".  

 

This little quilt was appliqued and pieced months before I quilted it on my domestic machine.  I used Aurifil Mako Cotton 50 Wt Thread for the needle turn applique, the piecing, AND the quilting.  I love the way it turned out!

To finish it up, I needed to complete the window curtains, the door panels and the door knob.  I used wonderful #Aurifil Mako Cotton 12Wt thread to hand stitch the curtain ruffle (french knots) and the same weight Aurifil thread to machine stitch the panels around the door!   12Wt, 28Wt, 50Wt thread -- the Aurifil never lets me down! 

You can read more about my Family Estate quilt by clicking here.  Many thanks to my friend Debbie Wick for the awesome door knob button.  Isn't it sweet ?

One more thing to celebrate and then we'll get to the giveaway. 

It's been almost a year since my first recipe was published on the Moda Bake Shop -- Can you believe it ?  In October, 2013 I created my first design and tutorial for the "Family Tree Quilted Envelope Pillow".   You'll find the free tutorial and PDF download by clicking here.

It was one of the most fun and enlightening steps I've ever taken in my Quilting career.  Design, applique, piece, quilt, write the tutorial, and publish on the Moda Bake Shop.  It was truly an honor!

So what better way to celebrate this accomplishment than a giveaway of the Family Tree scraps that have been sitting around the sewing room for nearly a year!

One lucky reader will win this pile of scraps, mostly strips, of Family Tree by Deb Strain for Moda.  If you're interested in making the pillow - perfect -- these scraps will go a long way to get you there.  They would also be beautiful for a simple strip runner for Fall (which is why I kept 'em).  Whatever the case, it would be fantastic to see someone putting them to good use!

If an international winner is chosen, instead of shipping you scraps I'll email you a PDF copy of my Spring Basket pattern.

To enter the giveaway leave me a comment letting me know if you are a follower (old or new).

If you follow me on other social media outlets -- let me know that in a comment too!

Did you know I recently started using Instagram ?  You can find me there at RedbirdQuiltCo.   I think I only have two followers... my granddaughter and my niece... lol.  If you start following me on Instagram leave me a comment and let me know.

Get another entry if you share this giveaway with your friends (Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Blogger, Twitter).   Comment and let me know.

My giveaway will end this Sunday, September 28th at 9pm EST. 

One other thing... there is an awesome Quilt Giveaway going on until midnight Tuesday at my friend Angie's blog.  Click here before Tuesday at midnight to enter!

Have a fantastic week all - finishing up some more tutorials and fun projects -- will share soon!
Hugs,
Karen

It's a Finish - Let's Celebrate!

It's been an exciting week!

On Monday I was fortunate to share a mini trunk show and lecture with the Penn Yan, NY "Keuka Quilters".   What a lovely and talented group of ladies eager to share their love of quilting.  Thank you for having me Keuka Quilters -- it was sew much fun!

Prior to the program I worked feverishly to finish some things.

This is a Way Old Work in Progress (WOWIP) "Winter's Harvest Pinkeep" by Renee Plains as published in the Winter, 2011 issue of Primitive Quilts and Projects.    Of course, with my love of Redbirds, I turned it into my Valentine's Pinkeep and I love it!

I've had it "nearly" complete for years but it needed the wings and body tacked down.

Yippee !  All done!  You can read more about my "Winter's Harvest Pinkeep" here.

To celebrate the finish I've decided to have a giveaway.  

I have a copy of the Summer, 2014 issue of Primitive Quilts and Projects magazine that I would like to share with one lucky winner.

This issue has one of my favorite projects in it ~ it's called "The House That Jack Built".  This beautiful Mini Quilt was designed and created by my friend Debbie Wick.    The magazine has beautiful shots of this sweet quilt.  It's a MUST make!!

To enter the giveaway, hop on over to the Redbird Quilt Co. Facebook Page and follow the giveaway instructions on this post.    If an International winner is chosen I will email them a PDF version of my first published wool applique pattern, "Spring Basket".  

Spring Basket is available for immediate PDF download from My Craftsy Store.   You can read more about it by clicking here. 

Stay tuned for other upcoming giveaways and thanks for your continued support!

Hugs,
Karen