Wow! What a Deal!!

Hi, all!

You know, it's not very often an offer comes along that is so good, you have to share it with everyone you know - but honestly, this offer is that good!

How would you like to have unlimited access to Craftsy's great library of classes for two weeks for only $1?!?!?!  Just imagine - with Craftsy Unlimited you could check out a photography class to learn new techniques for taking great pics for your blog (that's high on my list!), or take a cooking class - maybe even a cookie decorating class?  

With Easter coming up, that could be an interesting new skill to have!  And of course, there's so many great quilting classes - my personal favorites are anything by Christina Cameli, of course!  Want to learn how to knit or crochet?  Now's your chance!  There are so many options you could watch non-stop for two weeks and never see it all!

This great offer from Craftsy is to give you just a taste of what you could have if you sign up for Craftsy Unlimited, available by the month or annually.  But you have to hurry - this two week offer is only available 3/5-3/7 - so sign up now!  What do you have to lose?

Hugs!

Sarah

This post contains affiliate links.  Clicking on these links doesn't cost you a penny, but it helps me support this blog - so your clicks are greatly appreciated!  Thank you for your support!

Scrumptious Scraps Quilt-Along - Change for a Jelly Roll!

Hi, all!

Welcome back, to the final Sunday for the Scrumptious Scraps Quilt-Along!  From the comments and emails I've been getting from you all, this year's quilts have been a big success - many of you have made your own versions or been inspired to add them to your own bucket lists.  I love to hear that!  Our final guest post is this week, from my good friend Emily of Em's Scrap Bag. If you haven't seen her blog before, you are missing a world of wonderful scrappy quilting advice and inspiration!  And she makes the most beautiful artisan soaps - their names sound good enough to eat!  And best of all, she is the brains, hands, and heart behind Quilty Hugs for Happy Chemo, one of this year's charities for Hands2Help.  So now, from the multi-talented Emily, comes her tutorial for Change for a Jelly Roll.  And remember, hang around until the end, when I'll announce the winner of last week's giveaway and you can leave a comment for this week's scrappy giveaway!

*&*&*&*&*&*&*

I love this time of year and Sarah's Hands 2 Help. I am so thankful for her and you, who read her blog. Your generosity never ceases to amaze me as boxes upon boxes of quilts arrive at my home full of love for those fighting cancer. I could in no way help so many if it were not for this outpouring of quilts. So it is with great pleasure I present this scrap friendly tutorial.

My strip bin could barely be contained so I chose to design a coin quilt.  I call it Change for a Jelly Roll.  If you click on the pictures it will enlarge them so you can better see the measurements. For this quilt you will need 2 1/2 yards background, leftover bits of jellyroll strips to equal about 620", and a bunch of random strips. (precise I know!)

From your background fabric cut:

Nine 3.5" x width of fabric strips. Sew these end to end and sub cut into six 3.5" x 60.5" strips.

Three 11.5" x width of fabric strips. Sub cut these into two 4.5" x 11.5" rectangles, four 5.5" x 11.5" rectangles, and twenty 3.5" x 11.5" rectangles.

Sew your jellyroll pieces end to end along the 2.5" side until you have a strip at least 605 inches long. Sub cut this into ten 60.5" strips.

Sew your random strips (any width) into strata that measure 12" wide.

Make as many of these as you need to create six 6.5" x 11.5" strata units, nine 4.5" x 11.5" strata units, four 3.5" x 11.5" strata units and four 2.5" x 11.5" strata units.

Following the diagram below, sew strata units between background units make two of these rows. (Row type A)

 Following the diagram below, sew strata units between background units make one of these rows. (Row type B)

 Sew 5 of the jellyroll strip units together. Make two of these.

 Sew the strata row type B between your jellyroll rows.  Then sew one row type A  to the top and the other to the bottom.

And there you have it - a quick, cheerful quilt that hopefully made a dent in your scrap bin!

Thank you Sarah for allowing me to contribute. Thank you in advance to everyone who donates a quilt to Quilty Hugs. They are truly appreciated.

*&*&*&*&*&*&*

Thanks for the great inspiration AND tutorial, Emily!  Wow wow wow!  Are you all as excited by this pattern as I am?  I don't know about you, but my string bucket is running over, and this looks like it could be just the thing to put a BIG dent in it!  

And now for the winner of last week's scrap package giveaway...

Congratulations, Shirley!  I'll be contacting you by email to get your snail mail address!

And now, one final scrap package giveaway to end our Scrumptious Scraps Quilt-Along!  Just leave a comment below with some bloggy love for Emily and her tutorial, and let me know if you want to be included in the giveaway.  Be sure to leave your email address  so I can reach you if you win!  I've responded to all the comments left so far, so if you haven't received a response so far it's a good bet you're a no-replyblogger!

And here's an important reminder - next Sunday this year's Hands2Help Charity Quilt Challenge begins!  Be sure to drop by - and hopefully sign up to participate - because there will be a giveaway (not scraps this time!) for one of our early participants!

Hugs!

Sarah

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? Crushing Those Crescents!

Hi, all!

The week has flown by, and it's finally Friday again!  And you know what that means - it's time for us to get our whoop whoop on!  Spring always makes me want to start new projects, and I've got the beginning of one to share with you today - so let's get started!

*&*&*&*&*&*&*

A few weeks ago, I received my copy of Christina Cameli's new book, Wedge Quilt Workshop.  Oh so many pretty quilts!!  I had a lot of fun in her wedge class at QuiltCon last year, so I knew it would be good, but this book is just loaded with great stuff!  

This quilt immediately caught my eye - I just love the clamshell look, especially because this one is appliquéd with no curved seams!  So I grabbed a fat quarter bundle of Make Life... by Sweetwater that I picked up from a friend's destash and started cutting wedges...

...and not too long after that, I had all the crescents sewn together!  But I had something a little different in mind for the background, so I set those to the side and grabbed some storage bins that had been sitting around my studio for way too long.

I've been saving old jeans for years, thinking I'd use them someday to make a quilt - and this seemed like the perfect time!  I went through all of these and cut a bunch of 6" x 18" strips from the legs.

Because they varied in cold from light to dark, I decided to arrange them with the light ones at the top and the dark at the bottom.  The lighting wasn't great today - blasted rain! - but you can see above what my background will look like.

Then, because I couldn't wait to see what it would look like, I laid all my crescents out on the background pieces - and I love it!  I think it's going to look spectacular when it's finished.  I've started sewing the background pieces together, but it should be done soon and then I get to start appliquéing the crescents on!  I'm not sure what I'll do as far as batting - it may be really heavy with all that denim - but I'll work that out later....

So - - - can I get a whoop whoop?

*&*&*&*&*&*&*

And now it's your turn!

What's got you whooping it up this week?

What's making you do a little happy dance?

Share!  We want to dance right along with you,

And it's always more fun to dance with friends!

The party will stay open until Sunday midnight.

Hope to see you there!

Hugs!

Sarah