Upcoming Anniversary Giveaway #3

In August, I will be blogging here at Girls in the Garden for 8 years and I am having a giveaway a month until August.

To review, in March I had a quilt giveaway and "the wife" won the quilt
Then in April, it was a Mood gift certificate and some fabric from my stash and Beverly was the winner

Are you wondering what the May giveaway will be?  Well, wonder no more...
The Colette Guide to Sewing Knits

picture from Amazon

The book is available from Amazon and at Colette

That isn't all, you have to have the pair from Colette Patterns....

picture from Amazon

This book is available from Amazon and Colette

I will draw for a winner on May 10th, so entries end midnight central time on May 9th.

Good luck and thanks again for all the wonderful comments on my blog.

 

Schmetz Needles - Inspired to Sew

Schmetz Needles has a new digital magazine called Inspired to Sew , which was started in January 2014

Here is the information about this publication from the Schmetz website:

Inspired to SEW Digital Magazine

Inspired to SEW digital magazine is about that moment of inspiration. What inspires you to sew? Does it happen when you are looking for a special gift? When a new baby is born? When you need a unique outfit? Maybe you were inspired to sew by a class you took or a blog you read? Something you experienced on a vacation? Maybe you saw something on Pinterest?

Inspired to SEW features interviews with sewing stars, fabric designers, authors, teachers, sewing enthusiasts and bloggers from around the world — sharing their behind-the-curtain moments of muse.

Well, this month, issue 5, May, I am the "Sewing Star" - their words not mine. :)

Here is the issue link and if you are reading this after July 1st, head here for the archives.

Inspired to sew is going to feature the Mood Bloggers and in Issue 2, Meg was featured

I am truly honored to be a part of this publication, which is also distributed to fabric and quilting stores around the country.

Focus

Last week and this week, I have had a bit of fashion sew focus problem.  Do you ever have that?

I made this shirt a couple of weeks ago and snapped a picture for Instagram

Which is from the Just Add Jeans collection at Pattern Anthology.  I will get good pictures of me wearing it next week.

After that, it was Easter week, many other things going on and we enjoyed the family so much that weekend.  The little guy had a good time hunting eggs.  All the girls,spouses and my parents  were here and the weather was gorgeous, it was just perfect

A couple of days ago, I started on another Archer shirt from this gingham.  I have been working on it a bit each night.  I love the hand of this fabric and just need to do the collar and cuffs.  The fabric is from Mood Fabrics, which I purchased with some Christmas money.  I think it will be perfect for the spring and summer.

Now the reason for my hard time focusing?  As I stated in an earlier post, I am flying out tomorrow morning to see Lynne of Wonderfully Made.  Whenever, I am heading on a trip, I just can't seem to get motivated to sew or start any project for that matter.  Good thing I don't travel very often, or I would never get anything done!

Lynne has our days planned with many fun activities and on Saturday we will be hanging out at their shop, Ellen J Goods.  She just texted and  asked what I eat for breakfast..... well, honestly, brown sugar pop-tarts!

I am packed, the alarm is set for very early and I am so excited (nervous, too, I don't fly very often at all).

Next week, after catching up. you will find me more focused and sewing away.  Tell me, do you have times when  focusing on sewing projects is hard?

Projects

I have been doing quite a bit of sewing, mostly quilts.

As my stash of baby quilts for gifts is down to one, I made 3 baby quilts.  They are all at the longarm quilters, so pictures when I get them back.

My friend's quilt shop is starting to do Saturday morning workshops.  I told Meredith (my friend and namesake for my Meredith) I would teach a workshop.

For Easter, I get the kids candy and a little something else.  I think at their ages, they are past the baskets :), so I bought brown bags.  Using my Silhouette, I added their names and a bit of cutesy Easter.  One thing for sure, I overestimated the size of the bags!

Lastly,  the cabinets are all painted and just waiting for the cabinet maker to install the shelves and trim

I love the new look and cannot wait to see it all done.  

I am heading out to work on moving mulch and rock today.  

On the sewing table, Archer gingham shirt, which has been cut out forever.  

And this time next week, I will be hanging out with Lynne of Wonderfully Made, I am so excited to spend a few days with her.  Checking out at her shop Ellen J Goods, shopping, talking sewing and eating.  Sounds like a perfect long weekend to me!

Happy Easter!

Block of the Month Sampler

Almost a year ago, three of us started a quilt club through my local quilt shop.  I cannot express how much I enjoy this group.  Once a month we have a meeting, with a program, show and tell and food!  One thing we started at the second month was  a Block of the Month Sampler.  The purpose of this was to learn new techniques, including paper piecing, English paper piecing (hexagons), applique, to name a few.

La Petite Salon in Gracie Girl

Meredith made this quilt, she is a young lady who loves bright colors and fun patterns. She picked a great combination in the pattern which is:

Winner, Winner!!!

Thanks so much for all the wonderful comments for the giveaway post, I loved reading them.

If you look at the comments on the blog post, blogger says I have 64 comments, 2 of those were replies of mine to comments.  With this in mind, there were 62 actually comments and I had one person email me.  This person could not get blogger to accept her comment, so I included her with the comments.  In total 63 comments and I used random.org to generate a number for the winner.......

And #5 is Beverly, congratulations, Beverly.  Please email me your mailing address and the email you would like the gift certificate to be sent

Thanks to all who entered and remember there are 4 more giveaways until the official anniversary in August.

McCall's 6711 -Ponte Blazer

I bought this great ponte knit from Fabric Mart a few months ago but couldn't decide what to make.  I posted a picture on Instagram and a fitted jacket was the most popular garment suggestion.  I went with McCall's 6711, made first just over a year ago in a stripe knit, which I love and wear quite often.  In fact, I wore it to a fundraiser about a month ago and as I was leaving a lady stopped me.  She told me how much she liked my outfit and how nice I looked.  I thought that was so sweet of her and I know I walked with a bit more confidence in my step.

I did not line this one but I serged the seams and finished the facing with a pink knit,which this picture shows.

I cut out all the garment pieces in a single layer, helping to match the pattern with the princess seams, side seams and sleeves.  As you can tell in the picture above the pattern is only on the right side.  This made pattern matching more difficult for me.  Does anyone have suggestions in this situation?

I had one side that matched really well, in fact I think this is the best I have ever done, so I am sharing my print matching happiness.

The other side is almost as good but not quite, the sleeves are nice and so is the side seams.  One thing that has happened with my almost empty nest and no school activities to attend, I have more patience and time in my sewing.  I spent a couple of nights cutting out this jacket.  A most unusual task for me.

With all this print matching, my fabric ran a bit short.  I cut my sleeves a short 3/4 sleeves, but had some scraps of fabrics to add a turn-up cuff to the sleeves.  This was a nice solution to add length.

Thanks all of those you commented on my Instagram photo and helped decide what this fabric would become.  I love your suggestion!

Print Mixing and Vogue 8909 with Mood Fabrics

During my day, I love to head over to Mood Fabrics' online store and check out the what's new section, which is updated quite frequently. It is such a nice break in my day and I can contemplate all the fabrics and what they might become. After I browse for a day or two, it is time to shop! I tend to shop two different ways when looking at all the fabric goodness at Mood Fabrics. My first way is with a specific garment in mind, which in this case led to these two fabrics in my cart, the first this Mood Fabrics' Pucci-esque Bold Border Print Poly Jersey

 

Mood Sewing Network - Three Fabrics

Mid-morning over at Mood Sewing Network you can see how I used this Italian Suiting

and this black and white stripe knit

and this print jersey

Into an outfit that I knew I would love part of it but turns out I love all of it so much.

Speaking of Mood Fabrics, sign up for the giveaway for my blogging anniverary

Stripe Plantain T-shirt

Deer & Doe has a free t-shirt pattern called Plantain and I downloaded it right away.  This week I finally got around to making it.  Here it is on my dressform from an instagram photo

I really like this shirt, it fits beautifully and the flare is just a nice hint of flare without being oversized.