#GIVEAWAY Tracy Souza Plumcute Designs

UPDATE: Winner of the patterns by designer Tracy Souza of Plumcute Designs was Michele Peckham of Missouri. 

Last month I was able to take a little class by embroidery designer Tracy Souza of Plumcute Designs which she gave at FabricGarden located at 2654 Marconi Avenue, Sacramento, CA.

Tracy has been so kind to provide us with four of her patterns for this month's giveaway! That's right 4! You will win "A Stitcher's Stocking", "Snowman Sparkle", "Winter Welcome" and " Hang With Care".

Tracy has a new book coming out in February 2019. Be sure to get on the list at Martingale books to be notified when it goes on sale! 

Anyway, back to the class, it was lots of fun, great gals all sitting around stitching and gabbing. Tracy has lots of good tips for improving your embroidery.

Designer/Teacher Tracy Souza

Many of her designs were on display...

TO ENTER:  

1). Leave a comment on this post and tell me if you know how to embroider or would like to learn and if you incorporate embroidery in your quilts.

2). If you are on Facebook, like our page www.facebook.com/SisterOfTheDivide

3). Share this post with your friends, you can Share on Facebook or Tag your friends on Facebook.

4). For an extra entry, go to our Facebook page and post a Christmas picture in the comments section under the Giveaway post. It can be a picture of your table, your tree, your favorite ornament, whatever you wish.

Good Luck Quilters!

Drawing will be held on December 20th and the Winner will be announced on December 21st both here and on our Facebook page.

There is no fine print, there is nothing to purchase ever, this is just for fun and to encourage quilting and creativity.

Jellyroll Baby Quilt - Quick and Easy!

Sometimes you need a quick quilt for a little one, or maybe you are wanting to work up some quilts for a local charity. This is perfect! You will not use up your entire jellyroll...unless you choose to make several. You could get your friends together and have a little sewing retreat for the afternoon and whip these out!

The jellyroll that I have used for these quilt tops was gifted to me by a very sweet woman who lost her home in a fire. Many folks came together to provide her with fabric to sew on to help replace the irreplaceable. She did not have any little ones to sew for and so she passed this along to me. In the spirit that it was gifted to her, I feel that it should be continued on and gifted to others, therefore I am making several quilts from this one jellyroll and they will be donated locally. 

Sew let's get started!

Pick a jelly roll to work from...

You will need 8 strips. Mix and match or stay in one colorway, the beauty of a Jellyroll is all of the fabrics are already coordinated, you can't go wrong! (if you don't have a spare jellyroll laying around or you don't want to purchase one, you can work from your stash by cutting 8 - 2.5" x WOF strips)

Once you have selected your strips, you will also need enough background fabric to make a 4.5" strip by WOF (width of fabric)
and two 2.5" x WOF strips.

You can add border to the quilt center to make it any size you wish. The quilt center will finish at 24.5" square. As I finish my quilts, I will add onto this post and give you dimensions for my finish.

We are ready to sub cut our strips as shown in the photo below.
From your jellyroll strips cut 

16 - 2.5" squares
8 -   4.5 x 2.5" strips
24 - 6.5 x 2.5" strips

From your background fabric cut:

8 -   4.5" squares
24 - 2.5" squares

This will make one quilt center.

Let's work on the easy block first. For this block you will use 16 of your 6.5" strips,16 of your jellyroll 2.5" squares, 8 of your background fabric 2.5" squares.  I like to lay them out as shown so I can see if I like the way the fabrics look together and to avoid repeats. 

Stitch the center 2.5" squares together first. I like to chain stitch them as it goes faster, so I pick up the top two squares and stitch them together for each set. Clip them apart and finger press them open, pick up the remaining 2.5" square and stitch it to the background fabric. Press your seams to the colored fabric.

Once that is done, chain stitch one of the side pieces to the block, clip apart, chain stitch the other side to the block and press to the colored fabric. You should have 8 blocks when you are finished.

MAKE 8 BLOCKS

That was easy, right? Okay, lets move onto the next block.

For this block you will lay out the remaining fabric that you have cut to correspond with the photo below.

You can use a removable marking pen or pencil to mark your remaining 2.5" background fabric squares on the diagonal as shown. If you don't want to mark them, you can fold them in half and make a finger crease. For new quilters, I recommend that you mark your diagonal. Make sure you are using something that is erasable to mark with. I like the Frixion pens, they iron right out, be sure to test on a piece of scrap first. They also come in a multitude of colors.

Pay particular attention to how the diagonal is laid out in the photo above. If you rotate your background squares as you stitch them, you will not have the result you want.

Again, I like to chain piece. starting with the smaller of the strips (the one at the bottom in the photo above). Stitch right on your line. TIP; to avoid stuffing the tip of your corner into your machine and getting a balled up mess of thread...start your seam as shown below from the long edge of your fabric rather than the tip.

Once you have done this, do the same for the longer piece that is to the left in the layout photo...remember, don't turn your pieces around or you'll have a mess.

Now, trim the corners as shown in the photo below, trim 1/4" past the line that you have marked for the diagonal. Finger press open first pressing to the dark fabric, then give a quick press with your iron. Put your pieces back in the layout show in the earlier photo above.

Taking the short piece first, stitch that to one of your 4.5" squares. Again, I chain piece all of these so it goes fast. Press them open, pressing them to the background fabric this time.

Grab your long piece and stitch to the other side. Again pressing your seam to the 4.5" background fabric. You should now have 8 blocks that look like the photo below.

MAKE 8 BLOCKS

Now assemble your quilt. Lay your blocks out as shown below. Start with four center blocks and four corner blocks then fill in with your secondary block. Don't be afraid to move things around until you have something that pleases you. Also, don't be so critical, baby won't care.

LAY OUT YOUR BLOCKS AS SHOWN

I like to stitch across in rows and press my seams in one direction for the first row and the opposite direction for the second and so forth. This will let you "nest" your seams for perfect intersections.

There will be updates to this post as I finish the quilt tops...so check back. You should be able to get at least 6 baby quilts from your jellyroll.  I used a combination of 2.5" strips of the white kona cotton around the center block as the first border and the outside border can be any combination of strips that will give you a width of 4.5" This will have your little baby quilt finishing out at a nice 36" square. On the purple quilt below I used a combination of a 1.5" strip of a pretty word fabric and a 3.5" strip of a purple floral. Whatever works for you is fine. You will get 6 quilts out of the one jellyroll by adding an equal amount of Kona Cotton Strips. All have been donated to Project Linus in Grass Valley, CA.  I will be making more of these, they are quick and fun!

Quilt Giveaway! UPDATE Winner Announced

UPDATE: The Winner of the Quilt Giveaway is Ramona Dunihoo. Congratulations!!!

Last month, John and I were in Idaho visiting our friends the Morrows, who live in Rigby. I had to visit my favorite little quilt shop in Idaho Falls, Daydreams Quilt N Sew!  

Annalee Leonard was kind enough to host me for a couple of great days sewing in her shop, lots of folks came out to say hello, it was really fun to see everyone. I love Annalee's shop and since we are planning to move out that direction in a year or two...well, I want to do everything I can to support her little quilt shop. There is something wonderful about being able to walk into your local quilt shop and touch the fabric, to spend time browsing through the patterns and notions and to enjoy the camaraderie that exists between fellow quilters. We recently lost 3 very good local quilt shops near our home in Foresthill, California and so I think I am probably more acutely aware of how important it is to support local businesses.

Last Months Winner, Sue Whiteley

You will remember last month we gave away the Brother Project Runway sewing machine that I had shipped out to the shop to sew on for a couple days. The Winner was Sue Whiteley. Well, this month we are giving away the quilt that I worked on in Annalee's shop! 

The fabric used to make the quilt is Woof Woof Meow designed by Stacy lest Hsu for Moda. Such a sweet jelly roll filled with kitties and puppies, paw prints and balls of yarn. Perfect for anyone who has an affinity for fur babies.

The quilt pattern is called Keyhole from Missouri Star Quilt Company. It's a fun and easy quilt to make, perfect for a beginner and great for a seasoned quilter who wants to do some "no thinking" quilting. The video by Jenny Doan of Missouri Star Quilt Company will teach you how to make this quilt.  The type of fabric you select will dictate the "style" of your quilt. This quilt fabric is whimsical and yet the color palette and the design of the quilt lends it to a multitude of styles. 

I decided to take a few of the remaining blocks and make a standard pillow sham. The quilt finishes at about 65" by 73".

There are so many cute motifs in the fabric designs on this quilt, it really was great fun to put together and I'm hoping that you (the winner) will love it! I used the stripped fabric shown in the photo above to bind the quilt and also you will find it in the pillow sham as well. The quilt will be on display at Daydreams Quilt N Sew, 802 Pancheri Drive, Idaho Falls, Idaho. Be sure to drop in and say hello to Annalee and check out her wonderful shop.

Daydreams Quilt N Sew located at 802 Pancheri Drive, Idaho Falls, Idaho

HOW TO ENTER: 

1. LIKE the following Facebook pages
www.Facebook.com/SisterOfTheDivide and www.Facebook.com/Daydreamsquilts

2.  TAG a friend in the comments below the giveaway post.

3. LEAVE A COMMENT on this blog.

4. EXTRA CHANCES: 
Go into Daydreams Quilt N Sew located at 802 Pancheri Drive, Idaho Falls, Idaho and you will be given an entry. Or you can request a free entry by sending a post card with your name and address clearly printed on it to the address of the store above and you will be entered. Limit one per day. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY.

Purchase anything in the store up to $20.00 and you will receive 5 extra chances.

Purchase anything in the store $20.00 - $50.00 and you will receive 10 extra chances.

Purchase anything in the store $50.00 or over and you will receive 20 extra chances.

Online purchases will count as well if you cannot go in person.

DRAWING WILL BE HELD ON AUGUST 22ND, 2018.
THE WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON AUGUST 23RD, 2018

GOOD LUCK QUILTERS!

And The Winner of the NEW Brother Sewing Machine is...

WIN THIS MACHINE!

UPDATE: The Winner is Sue Whiteley

Congratulations Sue!

John and I are headed out to Idaho this week for a little vacation and of course I'm going to stop at my favorite little quilt shop, Daydreams Quilt N Sew. I want to spend a day sewing at Annalee's shop and just enjoying myself. Isn't that what vacations are all about? Didn't want to haul my machine on the plane and tote it across Idaho so I have ordered up this Brother Project Runway CS5055PRW sewing machine to be delivered to the shop today and it will be there when I come to spend the day next Tuesday, June 19th. I will sew on it that day and we will give it away on June 20th. (that way I don't have to ship it home either...lol)  It's a perfect machine for a quilting retreat, a first time quilter or even just as a back-up to your grand sewing machine. Here are just some of the features...

• Brother™ Project Runway™ model delivers couture-level, consistent stitch quality
• 50 stitches – customize in style with built-in clothing, decorative, heirloom and quilting stitches
• Includes complete designer sewing and finishing solutions, with 6 specialty feet, accompanying stitches, and specialty needles. Enjoy designer features for blind hems, zippers, overcasting edges, sewing on buttons, knits and stretch fabrics, twin needle top stitching, and more
• Professional, elegant buttonholes – 5 one-step buttonholes automatically sized to fit your specific buttons, for truly custom results
• Reliable, easy threading of both top thread and bobbin – for consistent, high quality stitching. Please note: this machine is recommended for use in countries that do not support 120V AC, even if a voltage adapter is in use

Daydreams Quilt N Sew, 802 Pancheri Drive, Idaho Falls, Idaho

HOW TO ENTER:

1) Come into Annalee Leonard's shop Daydreams Quilt N Sew, located at 802 Pancheri Drive, Idaho Falls, Idaho anytime from June 13th until June 19th and you will automatically be entered. You do not have to purchase anything.


2) If you make a purchase at Daydreams Quilt N Sew, either in the store or online at their website https://www.daydreamsquilts.com/ from June 13th until the end of the business day on June 19th, you will be awarded additional entries as follows:

      Purchase up to $20. will be awarded 5 additional entries
      Purchase over  $20. and under $50. will be awarded 10 additional entries
      Purchase over $50 and up will be awarded 20 additional entries

Online orders, please type SISTER in the comments section of your order.


3) You can receive an additional free entry by going online to either our Facebook page Sister of The Divide or Daydreams Quilt and Sew's Facebook page and under the post with the picture shown above, TAG your friends or SHARE on your Facebook page.

There you have it!  Drawing will be held on June 20th, you need not be present to win.

I will be in the shop all day on Tuesday, June 19th, sewing my happy little heart out. I hope you will come on into the shop and say hello! I'd love to meet you.

John and I are so looking forward to our trip, we will be visiting friends and scouting locations for our retirement home, wheee! I'll post pictures of our travels on our Facebook site. Keep stitching! I'll see you in Idaho at!

Oksana's Wedding Quilt April 2018

Mr. & Mrs. Artem Kurudimov, married April 15, 2018

Oh my gosh, this year is flying by and I cannot believe that I have not stitched or quilted yet! I know! Hard to believe! December I had carpal tunnel surgery, January we started packing for a move in February, February I came down with the croup which lasted way into March, March our kitty Sophie had to have her left eye removed...and I am STILL unpacking boxes! Yes, it's exhausting just reading it. But here we are, it's April and I'm back!

One of the gals that I work with has been planning her dream wedding for the past year. Oksana and Artem were married last Sunday in the most beautiful wedding. It took place at Catta Verdera in Lincoln, California and the venue was lovely. The whole day was perfect, incredible weather, happy people in attendance to witness the joining of this couple. The reception was filled with music and fun antics and of course great food and a beautiful cake. 

Oksana is a "modern" girl and not much into the quilting scene, so I asked her to pick out a quilt that she would like me to make for her wedding. It did not take her long to let me know that her "color" was gray. Gray! And she would like a very modern quilt with clean lines...we looked at several on Pinterest and she decided that she liked The Modern Gray and White quilt by Amy Smart shown below which you can see more of on Amy's Blog here: Diary of a Quilter

Modern Gray and White Quilt by Amy Smart

Oh, thank goodness she picked an easy quilt. This year has already presented enough challenges to go around! Now, which box is my rotary cutter and mat packed in??? Yes, it's like that, quit laughing!
We have moved temporarily to a tiny house less than half the size of our previous home and will be here for two more years until I retire and then we are off to Idaho! Half our belongings are in storage and the rest of what we kept is slowly getting sorted out and put away here. Meantime, I'm going next door to my friend Noell's house to use her sewing room and get this quilt cut. (I was able to locate the rotary cutter and mat about a week later) The Bride wanted all solids so I chose a bundle of Robert Kaufman Kona Cotton Grays and got to cutting. I cut my squares 6".

After cutting all the squares of the gray Kona Cotton, I cut an equal number of 6" squares of Kona Cotton White. Then I sat down with my fine tip permanent marking pen and drew a diagonal line on each of the white squares. Then I paired those white squares up with one of the gray squares and started machine piecing them through, stitching 1/4" away from the diagonal line, and turning the piece and stitching down the otherside of the diagonal line again 1/4" away.  Now there are a gazillion ways to make HST units and I won't go into that here, we will save that for another blog post. Once all my Half Square Triangle units were stitched, I cut them on the diagonal line and then proceeded to trim them up.

One of the most important things to remember when you are quilting is that you must make sure that each unit that you make is the same size, exactly. You can make hundreds of units for a quilt and think that you are making them all the same size, but if you measure them, they may be off just a bit...well, that "just a bit" translates into a whole lotta "off" when you get them altogether. Take your time, measure and trim up as you go along and you will have much less aggravation when you are quilting. Just think if you built a house and you didn't measure carefully and you were off on every board that you cut and nailed together, just imagine how that would look and how long that house would stand. Same with a quilt. And that old carpenter's adage "measure twice, cut once" applies to quilting as well. Take your time, don't be in a hurry, it's a process, enjoy the process.

So, all my little HST units are put together and I'm thinking...hmmm...I know where my design wall is but where am I going to put this thing up so that I can see it...there really isn't a space in this house. The only place is the hallway...so, there is it. I cannot really get the perspective that I would like, looking at it straight on but I think we are in the ballpark here. Make do!  All the little HST's are stitched together now and I am waiting for the backing fabric to arrive this week. I should have this completed by the time the newly weds return from their honeymoon!

We love our little temporary home on 10 acres in the forest and it came complete with 3 little miniature donkeys and a creek in the front pasture area. Coupled with all the Canadian geese that have flown in to have their little babies, it's really a grand place. The view from my sewing room is so pretty. It feels like we are on vacation everyday here.

Our 14 year old kitty Sophie is recovering nicely after having her surgery. 

Her eye had a malignant tumor it turns out so we are not sure how much longer we will have her with us, the vet said it was pretty advanced and it could have already spread to other parts of her body, but for now she is feeling great and seems back to her old self. She just looks like a dolly that had one of her button eyes come off. Her stitches are out now and she and her sister are back to their old antics running and chases each other up and down the hallway.

I have a fun giveaway to announce this coming weekend...so be sure to check back, you won't want to miss out! Thanks to all who have been following on Facebook and have expressed your kind thoughts and have offered up your prayers for us. They are felt and they are so appreciated. All is well on the Divide! Now let's get quilting!!!

Winner of the Brother Sewing Machine Announced

WINNER ANNOUNCED!

UPDATE: The winner of the Brother CS5055PRW Project Runway Limited Edition Sewing Machine is Sandra J. Harris. Congratulations Sandra, it's on it's way to you right now!

                                           * * *
I promised you a special giveaway. We will be giving away one Brand New Brother CS5055PRW Project Runway Limited Edition Sewing Machine. Treat the Designer in you to a range of professional features in the CS5055PRW, a Project Runway™ Limited Edition computerized sewing machine with 50 built-in stitches, including 5 styles of auto-size buttonholes. Use the bright LCD display screen with computerized stitch selection to choose from a range of decorative, quilting or heirloom stitches to embellish your wardrobe. Experience virtually effortless sewing on denim, tweed and other thick fabrics with the exceptional feed system. Complete with an advanced needle threading system that makes threading easy, fast bobbin winding system, Quick-Set™ bobbin and super bright LED-lit work area, the CS5055PRW will help you turn clothing into runway style creations in no time!

Watch the Video below to view the machines features. 

To Enter you must like our Facebook page. www.facebook.com/sisterofthedivide

Comment below telling me why you would love to win this machine. 

Share this post on your Facebook page or on your blog.

Drawing will be held February 1st 2018 and the winner will be announced on our Facebook page on February 2nd 2018.

There is nothing to purchase ever. This is for fun and to encourage quilting and creativity. This Giveaway is restricted to residents of the United States of America. There is no cash value.

Good Luck Quilters!

I am off this month recuperating from carpal tunnel surgery so I will not be posting much this month other than this giveaway. I hope you are enjoying your New Year and dreaming of projects that you would love to create on your very own Brother Project Runway sewing machine!