Can you keep a SECRET....me neither psssst..over here..

Ohhhh look at who's coming to our campaign....

shhhhhhh but it is a secret lol

Every Saturday till August 1st, 

( when our Wantobee Quilter Campaign will commence)

 we will be giving

you all a sneak peak at some of the very special

giveaways from our very special sponsors that will be 

featured during our

  WANTOBE  Quilter Campaign...

Do you know someone who could benefit from this lovely machine?

 A brand New BABY LOCK machine called 

MELODY?

She has some great features..

Or  do you know someone who may  need new Mats and Rotary Cutters..

 How about a 24 x36 Mats with a non slip surface?

Or can you think of someone who needs  a rotary cutter that is ergonomically correct..?

Meaning very little effort and no more wrist pain? 

Our Sponsors from The Grace Company

would love if you could think of a few special people who would benefit

from these?

And I am sure you can think of a few people who could 

use a non slip 6 x 24 ruler

from Creative Grid

Here are some specs why a special someone will benefit from this

I understand the wonderful team at Creative GRID

are also including 3 other best sellers...

-just saying...

OHHHH .....

And what WANTOBE QUILTER 

would not love some of these beautiful

fabrics by Monica Lee.  made by  Timeless Treasures?.

"Now we are going places..."

her newest fabric collection

I could not have said it better...

YOU bet we are going places...

are you ready for this adventure....?

Monica's fabric collection , this here is called

"Now we are going places......"

 How about 24 FAT quarters in a Bundle

( and not 24 fat quarter bundles oops...)

Although I will have more than that to giveaway..yes you heard it here!

...surely someone can think

of a few people who would love these?

Well that is all I can share today...

Oh wait I may have forgotten that a man name "TY"  something like that..

may drop by...just saying lol

Come back next Saturday for more...

Can you think of some new WANTOBE  QUILTERS...?

Well ...start gathering some names... keep them in your pocket

YOU will know why on August 1st..!

Ohhh and our new Wantobe Quilters are not the ONLY ones

who will be winning....yes really lol

Psssst...this doesn't even scratch the surface of what else

will be showcased....

Can you think of something that I may not have mentioned...can you?

Gosh I love secrets, don't you.....?

Now pinky swear, don't you dare tell anyone about this...lol

Behind the Seams with our July Banner Winners

Many countries will be celebrating INDEPENDENCE day

this July, United States, Canada, Burundi, Rwanda, Algeria,

Cape Verde, Solomon, Bahamas, France, Liberia, Madagascar,

Maldives, Peru, Vanuatu...Sew it gives me great pleasure

to share our JULY celebration banner with all of these countries...

And I am very excited to share our JULY Banner WINNERS...

Their  Behind the Seams stories begins with.....

left to right...

Here is Sharon's behind the Seams..

 Imagine my surprise to get an email from Madame Samm telling me that my quilt has been chosen for the July banner!  Can you see me doing my happy dance? In January, I was cleaning out my closets in my sewing room...which is quite full of UFO's.  When I pulled out my Buggy Barn Heart Crazies quilt, it was begging to be finished.  Quilts of Valor had been on my mind, and I decided that this quilt needed to be finished and donated.  For those of you that have been in the quilting world for awhile, you know that this is one of the original Buggy Barn designs from about 10 years ago.  Red, white and blue never goes out of style!  nor do hearts! This has been my first donation to QOV.  I hope that you will visit the QOV website to learn more about this worthy cause. If you don't mind,  take the time to visit the following links...it will make your heart happy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J13UBp8-Yyw

http://qovf.blogspot.com/2011/06/stitches-of-love-begin-healing-process.html

And if you would like to visit my blog, you can find me at and here is my story on my blog.   Thanks so much for making me a banner girl, Samm!

Sharon

 And next is Michelle

NO WAY!!!! This is soooo cool!

ANYHOO, what an amazing banner and to be picked for July is just very AWESOME!!!  So, about here's my paragraph...

I am just so amazed & honored that my quilt was picked for the July banner.  It just makes me giggle with delight.  The pattern is called 'Charming Stars'  by Stef of Little Lady Patchwork.  I knew as soon as I saw it on the Moda Bake Shop Blog, I knew I had to make it.  I love everything about this pattern.  Because of the stars, I knew I would want to use the red, white & blue.  It's an amazing pattern.  It's an amazing quilt.

http://thel7quiltco.blogspot.com/

Editors note....wait till you see the pics of the truck

here is the story about that.. ( I noted Michelle does not have a truck picture..sew here it is..
perhaps she will add them on her blog later)

Okay, the truck....lol...
I knew I wanted to take a picture that showed a patriotic feeling.  And what could be more Americana than an ol' pick up truck? lol!  I drove by this truck everyday to/from work.  It sits in a small field, with tall grass around it and all you can see is the back side.  After asking around, I found the owner of the truck and asked for permission.  Once I crossed over the cable and started to get a better view of the front...I knew this was going to be one exciting photoshoot!  It really is a cool GMC truck, when you look at it it makes you think - they don't make um' like they used too.  I'm real proud of how the pictures turned out but the only thing that would have made it sweeter is if the truck was a Ford...lol!

And now Jane's Story...

www.janesfabrics.blogspot.com

Here you go..

First and foremost thank you to Madame Samm for this amazing privilege. I am honored to be picked for the July banner and to be included with the other very talented ladies.

My name is Jane and my blog is Jane’s Fabrics and Quilts. I have been quilting for 25+ years but have learned more in the past three years of blogging than all the other years combined. To be picked for the July banner has a very special meaning for me; most people cannot wait for Christmas or Thanksgiving or Easter, BUT my favorite Holiday above all the rest is the Fourth of July.

This Holiday means family, friends, picnics, swimming, laughing, talking, eating and ending with a fireworks show.  I just love this day.

 

Oh yes, the quilt!!!

This quilt was one of my first attempts at paper piecing. Once I started I could not stop. Paper piecing is such a joy for me. All you have to do is follow the numbers. If you can count you can paper piece. I do not have very good eye site so this works for me! No points cut off, seams match. If you have not done this technique, try it!!

 

Oh the quilt!

 

My quilt was made using just my scraps. It is a log cabin. I only hand quilt, just never was able to get the hang of machine quilting. I love the feeling of a quilt on my lap, no hoop, just the quilt and I.  When I was done quilting I added some fused stars.I would love to tell you what the pattern was, but I do not usually use patterns.This wall-hanging hangs in my home as a constant reminder of freedom and family.

 

Thank you so much for allowing me to share my story and feelings for this quilt.

Thank you Madame Samm for including me, I am tickled pink!!

And next is our Twin Young Ladies from Hungary

Krisztina and Zsusanna

Dear Madame Samm,

Finally we managed to put together our little story of the heart-mugrugs. Hopefully my English knowledge was good enough for it and if not, please feel entitled to correct it where necessary.
Thanks again for the chance,

Behind the seams: heart in blue-white-red

Hello everybody, we are Kriszti and Zsuzsi (Christie and Susie in your language) from Hungary.
We are twin-sisters and both addicted to sewing. It comes from our family. Our grandmother, althought she wasn't a seamstress, sewed a lot for her family and then for the neighborhood as well. Our mother - also not a seamstress - didn't sew that much but made lovely clothes for us and for our older brother when we were children. So we started to sew also. We tried to convert old clothes for something new and stylish. These things didn't turned out well every time but we improved slowly. Our first quilt was a bed cover for wedding-present for our brother. We were sixteen then and just put it together from at least 30x30 centimeter (around 12") squares of sewing waste, donated by a sewing cousin. It was a simple diagonal pattern, here and there with not matching pieces as it came out of the waste. Honestly we can say sew that it wasn't the prettiest quilt you've ever seen but they liked it and used it until fell apart. It was almost (oh my) twenty years ago and we sewed much better ones since. Kriszti was on the patchwork-line and I learned fashion-designing and sewing clothes meanwhile but nowadays we both making patchy things and clothes also. We make quilts and bags for custom order and sew many lovely little dresses, hoses, skirts etc. for Kriszti's six little god-children (both girls, five of them in the same family).
Little bit more than a year ago we started to show our things on our blog and made our little shop on Meska (what is the smaller, Hungarian sister of Etsy). Since besides writing ours we read a lot of quilting-world's blogs, we had the influence of the mugrug-fever this winter. Our first mugrugs were the blue-white-red ones with the lovely heart-pattern. The pattern of the easy-to-make little heart is from a blog too but unfortunately we don't remember where we saw it first. After all we decided to try them in small pieces for example on mugrugs and use some of our scraps for it. We selected some vibrant reds and put some white and blue for the smooth contrast. It turned out nice and we made a pair of it for Valentine to our shop because it seemed to be a good present for anyone.
Then one fine day we recognized that Madamme Samm needs red-white-blue pictures for July banner... and planned to send the picture of the quilt - a bed cover again - that Kriszti just finished in the mentioned color-scheme. Just for fun we collected some other blue-white-red items from our gallery like a glasses-pouch and... yes, the hearty mugrugs and look at that what's in the banner? :o)
Thank you Madamme Samm for choosing us and let us introduce ourselves. And all of you... you should know now that here are two curious colleagues of you admiring your beauties and You're very welcome to drop by on our blog at A Matula ikrek blogja to visit us any time. :o)

Kriszti and Zsuzsi
http://amatulaikrek.blogspot.com/

and this from Shanna
I had misplace Shanna's story...have it now

http://ssparrowinflight.blogspot.com

The design for the Quilt came from the fact that my friend's baby 
 was to be born in July last year, I wanted to use colors that would work
 for both genders, and I wanted to try something more modern with my
 arrangement and prints.  I love the deep blue colored fabric and it
 reminds me of the blue colored used quite a bit in Texas where we 
 live.  I started this quite last year in June thinking that it was
 simple design so I should get it done quickly.  I found out how
 everything must be straight and orderly because the White showed 
 every wrinkle; every mistake.  My machine has a speed setting so for this
 quilt I turn it down to focus on keeping the lines in order.  I also
 discovered spray basting and the meander stitch during the making of
 this project.  I finished the quilt in February of this year.

 Thank you again for choosing my quilt picture.

Thank you all ladies...I LOVED reading your Behind the SEAMS stories....my favorite part of beginning a new month... I feel sew much part of the whole process...I feel connected to you all...There is something sew heart felt about seeing your vision come to life...I celebrate you, today, tomorrow, always. 

To all of you....I just know they will love to hear your comments...

sew all those who do will be in our draw too for this...

( double the chances)

Later this evening draw will take place..

WINNER has been CHOSEN and already sent her a note

as soon as she acknowledges her win.. I will post it here...

It is Karen in Australia..( sunburstquilts.com).she is sew excited

Thank YOU all for participating...

in the weeks ahead..there will be many many many giveaways..

YOU will all have your chance...YOU bet on that!

Yes it is that time again...New Banner winners and month end giveaway!

Congrats to our JULY Banner WINNERS, 

however before we celebrate them...

let's talk about our June Banner Winners..

I am always sad to say goodbye to our Banner Ladies

in this case Dawn and Susan, Jamie and Laila...

Here are their stories, their behind the seams page!

You filled our month with LAVENDER, we felt you,

we saw you, and I heard from many bloggers how much they loved

Lavender, lilac, purple now...YOU created a phenomenon...

a movement from pinks to Lavender...no easy accomplishment..!

Even though I have never been a big fan of this color

you inspired me..I can certainly see myself making one now...

You all spilled sew much love into our unique banner..

Thank you., we will miss you and we hope to see you again!

xxx

And NOW--

It gives me great pleasure to salute you OUR JULY BANNER WINNERS

When you see their quilt on the banner on our new blog background tomorrow.

you too will gasp...

It really is beautiful in sew many ways....

Sew to Sharon, Michelle, Jane, Kriszti and Zsuzsi and Shanna....

you are our ladies of RED, WHITE and BLUE..

  

WHY I chose THEIR quilts out of the 373 quilts that came into my inbox...???

From left to right... and may I add here, it is sewwwwwwwwww difficult

to choose...there were sew many unique ones, I could have designed a 

JULY banner many times over... Sew THANK YOU to all who submitted

your quilt photos..YOU continue to inspire me!

 Let's take Sharon's  heart shape quilt from the moment I saw it...

and  she will remember this ...

I  wrote to her  " get this to our banner selection, please"

and you did.. ( I forgot all about it until I was choosing

photos and then remembered it with fondness)

and I am glad, as many others will

be when they see it full blown...

It is heart felt for me, as anyone who

puts hearts into a quilt has ONE..

That she has !.

 Next Michelle's, well oh my...

as soon as I her  photos on the Turquoise

rusted truck...I thought..WOW! I want that truck...lol

And BOY do I love her  quilt...the colors, the pattern, the piecing,

the quilting...well OH MY OH MY OH MY...

Wait till you see her photo shoot..PERFECTION...

( I wanted sew much to show it here the truck......

but you will to wait till tomorrow) 

Next Jane's...first thing I noted, hand quilted,

and the colors, sew bright, her photos on the bush

of floral background, made this one of my favourite

outside pics indeed. The stars...well today, this month

she will be a star..HER quilt reminds me of a vintage

quilt from the 1960's. The colors were what anyone

could duplicate if they had these in their collection..

Something sew familiar about checks, and stars...

something that just brings out a smile....

Next, Kriszti and Zsuszi, although a small piece

it was the perfect size to squeeze into our banner

for that special little touch.. Wait, you'll see!

Indeed heartfelt all the way from Hungary.

Twin sisters at that...I love the simplicity

of  their color choices and the blue striped material,

very patriotic... and above our logo to remind

us to open our hearts to our world of  quilting friends

Sew pleased to include  them both.

Wait and see!

Next Shanna, now this one, again

from the moment it came into my inbox,

I could not forget it...3 colors, and WOW,

what an impact on me it made...I am sure

many will feel the same..you could choose any

2 colors with your white background and it just

screams TASTE...not in as lick the quilt lol

more as in  she has  bold TASTE as in

design...Yep that is what I meant. lol

Sew again, congratulations for being part of our very special month.

Although I seem to say this every month...really, truly, madly, deeply..

This one is my FAVORITE....lol

GIVEAWAY

And as is customary, we have a giveaway to celebrate a new month

leaving us and another unfolding...

SEW today...RED and BLUE fabric compliments from 

Michael Miller--they have some pretty nice new collections...

and threads Finca #8 Presencia 

As always our most delightful sponsors are indeed

very generous...

I always put more into the package then 

what is won....just saying...

Here are 12 fat quarters in red and blues

as well as some red and white and blue Presencia threads...

Your name and number may be chosen

if you are a follower...yes easy

and if you can answer this question...

"How many people do you know would love

to learn how to quilt using this fabric collection?"

What would you teach them how to do?

Draw will take place tomorrow at 6:oo pm

EST.

Magnetic Button Ring Tutorial

Hi. My name is Kim Walus from Bitty Bits & Pieces. Just a little about me: I've been blogging now for over 3 years and I just love designing, quilting, sewing, creating, taking pictures and making tutorials. I've been sewing for 36+ years now and quilting for about 20 of those years. I wrote and published tole painting books in the early 90's for about 5 years. I keep myself busy now designing projects for Moda Bake Shop and was recently published in the first ever Moda Bake Shop Book called "Fresh Fabric Treats" you can learn more about the book by visiting my blog. I'm also involved in a few other top secret projects that I will eventually reveal and talk about on my blog so, you'll want to check in from time to time.

About the Project:

I've been using i-top products for a few years now and when I saw their newer product for button rings I got all excited and knew I HAD to make a magnetic button ring! It's a great way to have a pin handy when you're machine sewing or hand sewing. The magnets I bought are really strong and will surprisingly hold a lot of pins.

I first made up several rings to take to a Quilt Retreat I taught at in March for the ladies in my class and a few of my friends that went with me. I also made lots of rings for Spring Quilt Market as little giveaways for my friends and others that I would meet during the 4 days at Market. I have to tell you that they were a HUGE hit!!! I even took it over to the i-Top booth and showed it to the people there. They loved it and thought it was a clever idea. I just think it's a simple and effective use of their product.

I've made a tutorial for all of the reader's at Sew WE Quilt @ Stash Manicure. I thought you might enjoy making your very own Magnetic Button Ring. You'll have sooo much FUN making them that you'll want to make one for ALL of your quilting friends too!

What You Will Need:

• 1 Scrap of Fabric measuring 2.5" x 2.5"
• 1 Scrap of Wool measuring 2.5" x 2.5"
• 1 pkg. Large Snap Daddies (28mm Buttons) by i-top
• 1 pkg. Snap Rings by i-top
• 1 pkg. Craft Magnet (12 x 3mm round)
• 1 i-top Tool for making the buttons (one option for making covered buttons)
• Dritz Covered Button Kit-Size 45 (another option for making covered buttons)
• E6000 glue

Instructions:

1. Here's a picture of the i-top products and the magnets.

2. Open packages and take out one metal disc without snap, one disc with snap, one ring, and one magnet.

3. Take a piece of vinyl and cut a 2" circle to make a circle template. Inner circle is 1 1/8". Or use the plastic circle that comes in the Dritz covered button kit. You can also use the handy i-Top tool.

4. Center the clear plastic circle over the fabric you want to see when the button is done.

5. Trace the circle and cut out the fabric.

6. Place the button disc in the center of fabric and place into the plastic cup.

7. Take the metal snap disc and place the magnet on the opposite side of the snap. Make sure and remember to place the magnet in the center of the metal backing. Trust me when I say that I've forgotten to do this step and then you'll end up with just a really cute button ring.

8. Now place the metal snap disc with the magnet facing inward on top of the fabric/metal disc.

9. Use the blue pusher to push the front and back pieces securely together. You will hear a small snap as it connects and comes together.

10. Remove completed covered button from the plastic cup.

11. The magnetic button is now ready to snap on to the ring.

12. At this point you can add a wool flower to the back of the ring if you wish. I used a bit of E6000 to attach the wool flower to the back of the ring. Using a toothpick just spread it around the snap then attach the wool.

13. I used a Sizzix Big Shot to cut out the flower shape. Here's the link for the Sizzix Die that I used to cut out the flowers. The flower shape is the smallest flower on the die and it has the perfect size hole that fits the snap on the button. Also, the hole is cut out at the same time as the flower shape.

14. Let glue dry for several hours before using.

This is the ring without the wool flower attached.

As you can see it holds quite a few pins!

A view of my magnetic button ring on a spool of thread with the scissors holding the ring in place.

A closer look at the back of the rings.

Here's a closer look at the front of the rings on my fingers.

Thank You Madame Samm for inviting me to post here on Sew We Quilt @ Stash Manicure and I hope you all enjoyed a little peek into my world and that you will absolutely LOVE making this handy little gadget to keep by your sewing machine.

GIVEAWAY: Leave a comment and you will have a chance to win ONE Magnetic Button Ring in your choice of red or black. Winner will be chosen after Midnight on Saturday, July 2nd and the winner will be announced on my blog on Sunday, July 3rd.

Update Information:

Several people have asked where to buy the products. I want to remind you to click on the links that I've provided above and it will take you to i-Tops Website where you can click on the STORE LOCATOR button that will take you to a map. Then Click on the STATE that you live in and it will take you to a list of places in your STATE that sell the i-Top products. Also I did a search on google and here are a few other links where to can buy the product online HERE and HERE. You will also want to watch the Imaginesce video HERE.

You will also see that there are videos on the IMAGINESCE (i-Top) website. Also, one other thing- When I taught how to use their products at a quilt retreat my local quilt shop contacted Imaginesce (maker of i-top products) and purchased them at wholesale for the retreat.

Puppy Chew Toy Recovery

Hello, hello!! Its Wendy from Why Knot? again and I am so fortunate as to have been asked back to Stash Manicure again .... thank you Madame Samm and thank you to all the readers who didn't boo me off the stage therein providing me the opportunity for a repeat performance!!  {{deep bows of appreciation!!}}

Imagine .... this shoe is a valued quilt:

What would you do????

Some of you may recall that a month ago, I was here sharing about a quilt that was chewed on by a mouse. ... bad mouse!!  In that post I talked about a quilt that was brought to me that was accidently left out for the puppy think it was his chew toy.  It looked like this:

Front .... can you say "bad puppy" ???

Back ... are you cringing yet???

How can you not? Especially once you find out this was a Christmas present from one sister to another.

I do not know the fate of the puppy ... though with the charity of Christmas, I'm sure it was only scolded

(yeah, right! .... lol)

Well .... with a little careful nipping (pun intended) of the seam ripper

I carefully removed the quilted stitches in the affected areas...

and strategically removed the pieced blocks that had to be replaced,

revealing the damage to the batting

I cut out a rectangle of batting to replace this damaged batting.

And, since the backing is patterned, I cut out the damaged fabric

along some of the shapes so as to make the repair on the back more ...

Granted ... it's not seamless and invisible as this is a repair, but,

but cutting along the pattern of the backing, I felt I was better able to "hide" my replacement piece.

What do you think?

Also, since this material is Minkee, I made sure the nap was going in the same direction.

I then, from the topside onto the repair patch, zig-zag stitched around the edge of the quilt onto the patch ... here's what the wrong side looks like:

I trimmed the rectangle patch piece down with pinking shears to reduce the interior bulk before replacing the damaged batting:

I carefully zig-zagged these edges together ... well, take a look:

And the batting repair patch turned out like this:

Whew .... break time???

:) Coffee and Chocolate!

Okay, back to business ... on to repairing the top of the quilt:

These are the damaged pieces which I need to replace.

I kept them handy to make sure I do not mistake replacing them ...

pictures come in handy here also.

As these pieces have been quilted and washed, measurements were a bit tricky:

However, being an experienced quilter ... or just a lucky one ... persevered and measured as close as possible.  These are the replacement pieces I came up with, using the scraps that were given to me ... major point here ... when making quilts ... don't always through out your scraps they just might save your puppy!!

I pieced the block and then carefully stitched the block into place,

first stitching the sides, and then the top:

I replaced both borders, by mitering in the strips into place ...

and

Whaaa-Laaaa!

To be completed now, quilt and replace binding ... however, please note, again ...

due to quilt having been quilted and washed previously, the repair does not

quite match up with the backing ...

So I had to bravely trim up the quilt so I could replace the binding.

Gutsy, I know, but heck, I've come this far ... got to carry on ....

Yay! Quilt Repair Finished!!

Yes, this repair took me 8 1/2 hours, however, to the sister who never told her other sister the damage happened to her precious quilt in the first place, it is totally worth the repair.

You can bet your puppy's behind .... it was totally worth it!

What do you think?

Do I rock ... or do irock????

And speaking of I-Rock....

How about this 

GIVEAWAY!

 Like to win... please answer...

If your dog or cat * must be a big CAT....would eat

or chew your quilt, what would you do?

Now leave me a comment, go to my blog and be follower,

and you will win this I- Rock...

from Stash Manicure's Sponsor. 

I-rock Imaginisce company great sponsor

Thank you! everyone...

Draw will be tomorrow! 

posted on both blogs

Congrats Nancy ...

she has already been contacted

and her package is on its way to Texas

in the morning...

To all those who participated

YOU rock!