Applique Made Easy with Slice

Hello Sewing Enthusasits.  Melissa Corry here from Happy Quilting.  I am so excited to be guest blogging here at Sew We Quilt and to have the opportunity to share with you a little machine that I have fallen in love with.  It turned my idea of applique from a pain to a joy!!!  But before I start, I just want to say that I am not a Slice product manager or anything like that.  I don't get paid by them to advertise for them, in fact, they probally don't know I am posting this.  I simply want to share with you this handy little tool for applique.  

So, with that said . . . Let's get to the fun.  A while back I saw a post on Sew Cal Gal about this little machine called a Slice.  I learned that it was originally intended for scrapbookers but many were moving on from it to the Cricut.  (I mention this, because if you are interested, you can find some great deals for used machines on ebay, and normally you can get them with a few extra cartridges :)   The nice thing about the Slice is not only did it cut paper but it will also cut fabric!!  Wonderful!!!  So, I bought one (on ebay) and found a screaming deal for the machine and 7 extra cartridges.  And thus my love of applique began.

So I thought I would show you just how easy this little machine is to use.  Ready . . .  Here we go!!

Start by getting your cutting plate ready.  To do this, simply apply your tack adhesive.  Now the machine comes with a bit of glue that you can use, but it runs out quick and is a little pricey to replace.  So I found Krylon Easy-Tack at my local hobby store and with a 40% off coupon it is way cheaper.  And it lasts for a long time.  Let this sit for about 10 minutes so it gets nice and tacky.  (oh, and you can cut about 20 appliques before you need to wash your mat with warm water and re-adhere more tack spray :)

Now decide what applique shape you want to use and insert the matching cartridge into the machine.  The machine comes with the Basic 1 cartridge, but like I mentioned before, you can often find them used with several cartridges.

Now it is time to get your fabric ready.  Simply adhere Heat n Bond to the wrong side of your chosen applique fabric.  I like to use charm squares as they fit perfect onto the cutting plate and are all around just easy :)

Once your fabric is cooled and your Heat n Bond set, remove the paper backings from the wrong side of the fabric.  That's right, no need for drawing on paper with this little guy :)

Lay your prepared square of fabric onto your cutting place and press lightly to adhere it to the tacky surface.

Now simply find the design on the easy to view screen of your slice machine and select.  (Sorry, no matter how I tried, this picture just kept wanting to import side wards, what ya gonna do??)

Select the size of your applique.  The slice will do anywhere from 1" to 4" in 1/2" increments.  And then just hold down your machine with light pressure while it does all the cutting work.

When it is finished cutting, remove the background fabric and Wha La!!!  A perfectly cut applique in seconds!!!  Oh, I just love this machine!!

And all you have to do is iron it on to the surface of your project and then add a decorative stitch around it to anchor it.  So cute!!

 I have just loving having this machine and have so many projects lined up for it.  I thought I would show just a few that I have already done with it.

This quilt is one that I did for the Moda Bake Shop.  Don't you just love those flowers!!!

Could you imagine cutting those center circles out by hand, yuck!!  But with the slice, it is fun and fast!!

This was a little baby boy quilt that I put together.  The Slice makes adding words to your quilt a snap.  And they just look fantastic!!

And as a special treat, I thought I would show a little sneak peak of an upcoming project.  This little project won't be shown in full until July but I couldn't help showing what great fun you can have with this machine.

So that's it for my little guest appearance for today.  Thanks so much to Madame Samm for having me.  I hope that I was able to shed a little light on some possibilities to make applique less of a chore and more of a joy!!  Happy Quilting!!

Wantobe quilter Campaign.. What's this all about?????

WHAT's this all about ...ALFIE....

For those of us who are feeling nostalgic...go here and be swooned with Dionne

and to those who love Barbra 

or her version....I am split..love them both equally

( sing with me if you know the lyrics...or just read on) 

Ü

In l month we will be unveiling the most 

AMAZING, Spectacular, over the top

campaign for WANTOBE QUILTERS.

Started spreading the news, put this button

on your blog, (  the one on above which is on our side bar) , start gathering 

names of people ( men or women, young teens, relatives (names and email addresses

will be needed)  anyone whom

you know would love 

to begin quilting --- they  may not even YET have a sewing

machine, they may not even YET have stash....they may not even

YET, know what a rotary cutter is.....

WELLLLLLLLLL.....I will give you a HINT..

They could WIN everything here....and I mean

everything AND you could WIN too...

for bringing them forward...

LOT"S OF GOODIES.....

WAIT  till you see who will be OUR SPONSORS.

OH MY GOODNESS, and WAIT.....

Till you see who our guests will be.....

WAIT.....

"just saying"

NOBODY has ever done anything like this before...

and "WE" at Sew WE Quilt @ Stash Manicure...

are sew over the top thrilled to have SEWWWWWWWWWWW

many Sponsors who want to participate with us...

and WAIT....did I tell you  how VERY VERY

GENEROUS they are being...

hint...I may have to move out of my house for awhile...

mmmmm just saying.....

ARE YOU excited, can you think of 

anyone who could benefit from

welllllllll everything????

I can too...I am excited...

did I ever mention, I am a MARKETING LADY?

yep thought sew....lol

A day in the life of Green Fairy Quilts!

Hello All! First of all, for all of Madame Samm's readers we are putting all of our Bella Solids pre-cuts on sale for 25% off. This is just for you readers and it is only for today - so hop on over and get your pre-cuts here.

Madame Samm asked me to tell you a little about our crazy little life here at Green Fairy Quilts. We (Clint and Judi) are a husband/wife team and we run our own business from home with four kids ages 7 months to 6 years old - it can be a juggling act. Clint runs the business and website, while I design quilts for my pattern line, long arm quilts and keep up my blog.


A typical day for me starts with kids, kids, kids! I am a full time Mommy and when the little munchkins are asleep for nap time I venture into my part of the office. My studio is just perfect for me! I absolutely love being able to create in this room - it isn't typically this clean! HeHe ;)

This is where Clint starts his day - 7:00 am and he is already filling website orders from overnight. He keeps busy buying fabric, updating inventory, answering all the customer service emails and adding every product to our website. Add in bookkeeper and he has a full time job just keeping this place running! I am so grateful for how hard he works, and how motivated he is to work and provide for us. In our online only shoppe we carry all of the Moda pre-cuts and we have recently added Riley Blake Designs pre-cuts. You can see what a typical day for Clint is like here and you can sign up for our newsletter here.

Occasionally our littlest munchkin wants to be held instead of napping and I give in and let him watch me quilt. This only works on quilts that have an allover design on them. :)

This is my "Masterpiece." I wanted to make a very special quilt, showcasing the quilting and not the fabric. That is why I chose three colors of fabric and used very plain fabric. You can see more quilt pictures here.

This is the back of one of my customer's quilts. This particular quilt took me over 80 hours of quilting and while I was 9 months pregnant too - it was a relief to finish this quilt - but also rewarding to see it completed in so much detail. If you are wondering, I free motion quilt on my A-1 long arm. You can see more of this quilt here.

Another huge accomplishment for me was quilting this Dear Jane quilt for one of my customers. It took me over 70 hours to complete the quilting. I can tell you now that I am sure I will never attempt to make a Dear Jane because I got up close and personal with how small and how many pieces are in this thing! You can see more pictures of the quilt here.

Another part of my day is designing, I love to come up with my own designs and write the patterns for them. I have over 40 designs and this is my "Carry All Tote," pattern. I had so much fun putting these two totes together and I use them as my purse/diaper bag. These bags are also big enough for my laptop to tote around in.

An all time favorite pattern of mine is called "Dahlia." It is my first pattern where I did all custom quilting on the sample quilt. So, naturally I love it the best because it showcases my two loves - designing and quilting.

I hope you enjoyed getting to know us a little better. We work hard and love that we can work together and be home with our kids. We also have a charity where we take quilts over to kids in need in Romania. We have scheduled our trip for our 4th annual charity trip in September. You can see the last video of our trip here.

Thanks and have a wonderful weekend!

"To record each quilt's story"

I am totally a quilter.  I am totally NOT a scrapbooker!!  Mary Lou here from Cheaper than Therapy Quilting!  I've dubbed my daughter Emily as "Keeper of the Photographic Memories" in our home.  Good thing, too, as I have no aptitude for scrapbooking and she does!

As is the case with most of us quilters, though, many of my quilts are given away, and I realized I needed a record of what I'd made for myself and others!! A record of my "evolution" as a quilter, too (although, I can't say I've evolved much! LOL)  So I started a Quilt Journal (like it says on the cover, "To record each quilt's story").

It's cool to go back and see what I've done and who for and why!!

There's my Sun Bonnet Sue page.  I'm one of those Sue haters. 
:-D

But my club had an exchange of blocks throughout one year, and so I recorded my Sues.  If I was gonna do one, it had to be fun!! :-D  My favorite is the Black and White Sue -- mine looks like little Amish ladies discussing a quilt.  And since I didn't win the block exchange that month, I have a record of the block I did!


I like doing funky photographic angles and showing the backs of my quilts (for the record, though, I'm a terrible photographer.  I have to take ten pics to get one good one! LOL). 

I did a Christmas Star with Thimbleberries fabrics on the front and a VIP print on the back that I got at Walmart back in the day for $1 a yard!! I recorded the price in my journal! How cool is that!

I made a "whole cloth" quilt for my mom.  She loved a particular fabric and wanted a whole cloth quilt made out of it, so I complied...I wrote the story in my journal that Christmas:

"Mom had this large scale floral and she was determined for me to use it in a quilt because she thought it was so pretty. So she passed it off to me and started dropping hints about Christmas!...She asked for very thin batting (I used Hobbs Thermore,  1/16" loft!), so the quilt folded up into a compact package in spite of being a full-sized bedspread.

When I took her gift in to her at Christmas, her face fell.  "So, no quilt, huh?" Then she opened her gift and was both thrilled and surprised!! :-)"

My mom passed away the following May, so that record of our last Christmas together is very, very precious to me!! As is her (not my taste! LOL) quilt.





I was also able to record the international adoption of my nephews:

The quilt show (local -- I'm not that good! LOL) where I won "Best Hand Quilted" (and my Mom went with me, just two weeks before she passed!)...

And the quilt I made for the leaders of the Youth Group my daughter Emily and my son Sam were a part of.

What's cool about that quilt is that it was a signature quilt and I captured photos of Emily's and Sam's signatures...

How precious they are to me!! Especially now that Sam has also passed away.

Last month, Madame Samm did me the unparalled kindness of allowing my guest post here at Stash Manicure and informing you that Sam had died.  Thank you, Samantha, for that incredible generosity!!  The messages I recieved in the days following Sam's death were amazing and spirit-sustaining!!  I cannot possibly thank you all enough for the outpouring of love and prayers.  We continue to grieve and celebrate Sam's life.  He was an exceptional young man!! (and clearly a big ol' ham!! :-D)

(Sam with his little brother Will and friends, all quilt-hangers extraordinaire!, at our local quilt show)

Won't you take the time to start (or continue!) your Quilt Journal?  It truly will help you "record each quilt's story!"

 Blessings!!

What is a 'Stash'?

According to this site, a stash is something that requires the occasional 'manicure'

(at this point in time I think it's fair to admit that the online dictionary tells me that to manicure something is to keep it neatly maintained)

Oops, failed that one!

The stash that lives in the Willowberry house is most definitely not neatly maintained. In fact it's rather embarassingly messy

I really do suffer from 'tidy sewing room envy' when I read about the methods some quilty boffins use to maintain their neatly manicured stashes of fabric. Truly I do... I try to be neat, I want to be neat but I just can't do it. I can't be neat

There. I've said it. My name is Cheryl and I'm not a neat stash keeper

Sometimes I show promise... like when a new bundle of fabric arrives and I take it out of it's wrapping and there it is, all neatly maintained. For at least 53 seconds. Then I break the rules... again

I think one of the most important things about maintaining a neatly manicured stash is having a storage solution for every stashable item. Not always easy... especially when the likes of Moda start baking

Honey Buns, Jelly Rolls, Turnovers, Layer Cakes etc etc. Don't you just love them! Gotta have them, don't know what I'm gonna do with them, can't bear to untie the 'moda' tape, where am I going to keep them... ?

Light Bulb! Make a storage bin/bucket/bag/box from some of my stash!

This is a great little project for using up little bits. If you have a stash of little bits this sew sew simple and sweet storage 'bucket' is the answer. I found the tutorial on a blog somewhere in the great big blogosphere of crafty doings and added a few Christmas bits to make it pretty

There you go, a handy little gifty idea that's just the right size for storing 2 honey buns. If you'd like to make one for yourself, you'll find the stitchery patterns over on my Willowberry Designs Blog as a freebie download. Check out the right hand side bar for the link that says ~ 'Free Downloads and Other Stuff'
Expand it... make it bigger... big enough to store 2 jelly rolls. Or big enough to hold a layer cake and some yardage for a little quilt. Wrap it up and give it to your quilty friend for christmas. She'll love it.

Then go out and buy another layer cake and some yardage to replace the ones you gifted. It's what we're all about.

Tomorrow I'm going to disappear into my quilting cave and start manicuring my stash. I won't surface until it's all neatly stashed and beautifully maintained. See you in about four months time...

Thanks for having me back here in this neck of the woods :)

Cheryl x

View your Quilts.....Pondering Pet Perils with Petunia and Peggy

Winners are now noted at the bottom of this post...Our story opens at the Purple Polka Dot Bees quilting retreat, where Peggy and Petunia are creating blocks for their challenge quilts . . .

       “My sister in Australia wanted to see my progress on my Sylvia’s Sampler quilt, so I arranged all thirty-three blocks on the floor and took a picture to post on my blog tomorrow,” Peggy said, while employing her seam ripper to fix a mistake.

       “Really?” said Petunia. “Wasn’t that a lot of work? How do you make sure you keep them all in the right rows?” 

       Peggy snorted, “The work was when I gathered up all the blocks and had to get the cat fur off of them! Maizie's really shedding now that she's had kittens. And the kittens love to 'help' with laying out the blocks!”

       Petunia looked furtively at the box of chocolate cookies strategically placed between them, wondering if she had already ingested some cat fur.

       “Yes," Peggy continued, "It is difficult to keep them in the correct rows and columns when I do that. But I don’t know any other way to do it! I don’t have room in our apartment for a design wall.”

       Petunia nodded, mouth full of cookie. Swallowing, she replied, “And we don’t like to poke extra holes in the walls to hang up a lot of stuff. Even if we did, I don’t have enough open wall space for that.” 

       Peggy glanced at the sewist in the row in front of them, and whispered to Petunia, “Why has Pamela brought her laptop to the retreat? Can’t she take a break from emails for just a day or so?”

       Rising halfway out of her chair, Petunia considered the laptop screen and reported, “She isn’t looking at emails – she is looking at a quilt! But it isn’t complete….it’s only half there!”

       The two friends left their machines and approached Pamela, who was a newer member of the guild.
       “Hi gals!” Pamela cheerfully remarked, “I couldn’t help overhearing your conversation, and I would love to show you what I am looking at. Pull up those two extra chairs, and I’ll fill you in.”
       As the two friends looked on, Pamela made a few “mouse” clicks and was looking at this page . . .

       “This is my Rainbow Jane quilt,” she said, “and I got tired of crawling around on my knees laying all of these blocks on the floor! This is my very own virtual design wall!”

       Peggy and Petunia were thunderstruck. A virtual design wall? Why, this could be the answer to all their design problems . . .

We interrupt our story to announce that there truly is a virtual design wall, and it is available on the web for quilters around the world! But let’s rejoin Peggy, Petunia, and Pamela (don’t you just love alliteration?!) and see what else they are saying.

       Peggy grabbed the box of chocolate cookies and offered it to Pamela, “Please tell us about this – how does it work?”

       Pamela politely declined the cookies (I think she heard about the cat fur) and went on. “This is a web site with interactive software. You can register for it, and they will host up to six of your quilts in progress at a time. It’s reasonably priced – for just about the price of a fat quarter a month, I can see my quilts “grow” as I upload blocks. And the tutorial made it super easy to upload them….why, by the time I had done it twice, I had it down pat!”

       Pamela clicked again, and opened up her personal blog. “Look here, on the sidebar. See that badge?

       "My friends and followers can click on that badge, and it will open my gallery so that they can see my quilts! No more creeping around on my knees to lay out blocks, and no more Charlie-fur on my blocks, either!”

       “Charlie-fur?” Peggy asked.

       “Charlie is my dog, and this time of year he sheds a lot!” Pamela laughed.

       Petunia marveled, “That sure would make it easier to see if I had too many blocks in one area with red, and all the ones with blue were in another corner!”

       “Yes,” said Pamela, “it helps with layout, and another thing: it helps when it comes time to assemble the top, too. I can use this as a template, and grab the correct block for the row I am working on! Look, here is my Farmer's Wife quilt, that has the blocks set on point.”
       Here is what she showed the girls:

       “One more thing,” Pamela revealed. “When I am not sure whether or not to use lattice strips, or what color to use? I just click, choose a color, and audition to my heart’s content. I can try out border colors, too, or see what it looks like with no border at all. I can try again and again, 'til I find just the right color.”

All right, I can’t stand it any more . . . I just have to tell you, the name of the virtual design wall site is “Ole Frog Eyes.”  We have implemented a companion blog to the site, called “Lilypadquilting,” so in Blogland I go by the alias “Snoodles.” My daughter, a web developer of whom I am immensely proud, created OleFrogEyes to meet a need when she overheard me talking, um,  discussing - OK, I admit it I was whining about how to show off the progress I was making on a large quilt. It was a scrappy quilt, and I had concentrated too much of a color on one side. Voila! OleFrogEyes was born!

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

       I had presented our fledgling site to Madame Samm, and she graciously allowed us to demonstrate it to you on Stash Manicure today. Thanks, Madame!

       It is a great advantage to be able to observe the flow of colors and the effects of patterns as you design/construct a quilt. Often you can make adjustments that improve the overall design and feel of the quilt, before it is all stitched together. OleFrogEyes allows you to easily audition block placement, lattice colors, and border colors, with a few clicks of your mouse! No grommets, no hooks, no holes in the walls, no kittens scampering off with blocks, and no need to use a roller to remove pet hair!

       Let’s face it – quilters are becoming more internet and computer savvy every day; after all, you’re reading this blog, right? And I bet you have a camera, and perhaps you blog, yourself!

      Are you working on the same quilt as a guild buddy, or one of your online quilting friends? Demonstrate your progress by adding your blocks to your quilt in your very own gallery – watch as your friend uploads blocks in another gallery in the same site! There are two quilters who are currently utilizing OleFrogEyes to the hilt: Joy Denise and Yvette.
       Here is Joy's Sylvia's Bridal Sampler:

And here is Yvette's Sylvia . . .

       Isn't it fun, seeing the differences in the fabric choices they have made?  If they want to, they can change their lattice and border colors and determine if they really made the “right” choice for their masterpieces!

       I hope you have enjoyed this look at our virtual design wall site, OleFrogEyes. I hope that we have inspired you to consider using this site. Cruise around the gallery (Karen, PalmettoQuilter, Joy Denise and Yvette have blocks uploaded), and imagine how easily your friends could see your quilting progress! It really is reasonably priced at less than three dollars a month, so it won’t break your fabric budget!

       Here’s the part you have been waiting for – the giveaway! Five of Stash Manicure’s readers will be gifted with a free, ten day trial subscription to OleFrogEyes! (But you have to let us know that you want one! LOL)
                             1.  Just leave Madame Samm a comment here.
                             2.  Leave us one on our blog, and let us know that you want to try out this "cool tool."

       Oh, but there is one caveat: if you are going to be moving across country, participating in a week-long kayaking marathon, or leaving for the wilds of Kenya for a ten day series of raging rhinoceros photo shoots, tell us you like our site, but please let us know that you can't use it right away ….we’d love to give another quilter a chance, and see some blocks go up right away, so that everyone can admire them! (Madame Samm mentioned she might let us post again later, so you can try the site after your photo shoot in Kenya!)

Hello to our winners!!! Mary on Lake Pulaski, Irene Onderweeg, Robin of RsIslandCrafts, Helen, RazzleDazzle Quilter, and Denise/deBrat!!!

I have emailed all of you except Denise....please get in touch with me via my blog.....http://lilypadquilting.blogspot.com and give me your addy! If I don't hear from you in three days, I'll give your trial membership to another quilter! Thanks to everyone, and congratulations!
Love,

 

AccuStars and Stripes Pillow for the 4th of July!

UPDATE 5 July 11!!  Winners below!!!

When my blogging buddy Madame Samm asked me to post on her blog, I was just thrilled and came up with a pillow kit and complete tutorial just for Sew WE Quilt @ Stash Manicure followers.  I hope you're going to love it!

I will be giving away two of these AccuStars and Stripes Pillow kits (int'l. addresses welcome) to two lucky winners on July 4th, 2011!  Show me the love by giving me a follow and commenting about your favorite summer activity to do with your family on my newly re-designed blog at http://www.rocknquilts.blogspot.com .

Since this is Stash Manicure, I raided my stash when designing this pillow!  If you win one of the two newly designed AccuStars and Stripes Pillow kits in our give-away, you will receive the fabric, cording and instructions, along with your choice of monogram in gold, metallic Madeira embroidery thread!


AccuStars and Stripes Pillow for the Fourth of July
...an original design created by Mary Ann @ RocknQuilts

I set up my AccuQuilt cutter and picked out fabrics from my stash on hand:  gold, blue with stars and red with stars.  I had to go to the local quilt shop (where I work) to pick up the white striped material and cording, sew that must mean I need to do more shopping for my stash, right guys & gals?!?  

I just bought this AccuQuilt star die for my AccuQuilt Go! cutter and have been 'dying' to try it out! heehee 

Since Independence Day for the USA is coming up on July 4th, I decided to create a decorative 12"x12" pillow using this die to commemorate the event.

I always highlight my AccuQuilt dies with permanent marker sew I can see them easily.  Do you also do that?

I put two layers of gold fabric through the cutter (the kits in my give-away will include the pre-cut stars!)

and then....

using fabric glue, I chose a pleasing placement for my six AccuStars - five on the blue and one on the red.

(What's your favorite fabric glue to use?)

My Brother 4000D embroidery machine does 60 degree angles (your kit will include this already prepared for you!  Just let me know what three initials you prefer!)

and I increased the density so the metallic gold thread really 'pops'.

Now cut-away the excess stabilizer from behind the machine embroidered "USA"

(this will already be done for you two lucky kit winners!)

I chose a blanket stitch with metallic Madeira embroidery thread in the top and Madeira white embroidery bobbin thread in the bobbin.  

After several stops & turns, I sprayed with Mary Ellen's Best Press starch - I LOVE this starch because it never leaves behind flakes and because it relaxes the fabric and takes away puckers.

Along with my German-made Rowenta iron, my pillow is ready to put together now!

I've chosen a straight stitch middle with J foot for my Brother Innovis 4000D embroidery machine

After cutting out two 11" squares of muslin (included in my kit give-away!), I sewed around all corners and left a six inch opening on one side sew I can stuff with fluff!

Clipping the corners will make for clean edges after turning.

Stuff the fluff!  

(No fluff provided in the kits, so hopefully you have some in your stash!)

Now our front, back and muslin form are ready for the white, striped cording.

This is my wonder machine - the Pfaff Quilt Expression 4.0!  LOVE my QE4!!

(QE2)

(QE4)

I've measured around each side of my 12" block and cut a 3" strip of white striped fabric for my rather enormous, snazzy-lookin' 1 1/2" cording which I cut to 53" to give me enough to go around each corner.  

Rather nautical, isn't it?

(To keep cording from unraveling, be sure to keep the ends taped.)

After sewing my cord binding together, I snip and press my now one piece of binding.

Almost exactly on!

This is why I've chosen the name "RocknQuilts" for my blog - I like my stuff to 'rock'!

This sticky note is to display how the fabric will eventually encase the cording.

Here we go!

(For best results, snip twice around corners.  They will be rounded with such thick cording.)

Pinning works best, but remember to stop and not run over them.  Make sure the cording is sewn down onto the wrong right side of the fabric (learned this the 'hard' way - definitely was not a 'rocking' moment, but learning moments are good, too!)

(Switch to the zipper foot attachment so you can get as close to the cord as possible and use a left straight stitch if your machine has that available.)

Here's the little Brother Ltd. Ed. Project Runway 2000 we'll be using in the quilt shop where I work for next week's Kids Kamp.  Please visit here for an extremely cute chalkboard tote tute I created just for my class

and for YOU - the readers of Sew WE Quilt @ Stash Manicure:

Xtreme Cuteness

To join the cord ends, fold over the left end to create a "sleeve" and 'stuff' the right, open end into it.  You will be sewing over this opening next.

Right sides together :-)

(Blind zipper foot attached.)

Sometimes I don't pin, but with this thick cording, I highly recommend it!

When finished sewing, clip the corners and turn right-side-out!  Almost done!!

Stuff your pillow form into the opening and hand-sew it shut, then...

Ta-Dah!!!  

Happy Fourth of July to my fellow Americans!

Happy Canada Day to all those Canadian buddies out there!

and

happiness to all from all lands!!

If you win one of the two AccuStar Pillow kits and are from outside the USA, please let me know how you would like your pillow monogrammed with three letters in gold thread.

As my 'thank you' for reading along, I would like to tell you that besides the two pillow kits I'm giving away from RocknQuilts at http://www.rocknquilts.blogspot.com, 

one of the two winners will also receive.....

a brand new Stars AccuQuilt die!!!

Now, how can you win?!?  

1.  Please leave a comment here for Madame Samm  and be a follower if you are not already. This blog is great for  reading  posts from sewists and quilters across blogland!!

2.  Follow Mary Ann at her newly re-designed blog.

3.  Finally, please leave a comment at http://www.rocknquilts.blogspot.com about which summer holiday you love best and tell us a bit about how you celebrate it!

4.  And, for an extra chance, create a new post on your blog about this give-away, then come back to Mary Ann's blog and leave a comment about it with the link to your blog post!

Good luck to all!  

**If you don't win and really want to create this pillow, then what?!?  No fear - don't worry - that's not a problem!  Please contact me via my blog and I will be happy to create an AccuStars and Stripes Pillow kit just for you, including your own personalized three-letter monogram in gold, metallic thread for only $20 USD plus postage.  I am a PayPal certified blogger.**

WINNERS!!!

Click HERE.