Friday, September 22, 2017

Welcome to Fall 2017 - Let's Talk Fall Home Decor

The calendar has made it official - it's the first day of Fall.  However it sure doesn't seem like it in Northern Indiana as our forecasted high temperature for the day is 90 degrees.  I thought it was supposed to be hoodies and bon fire weather ! 

Well Mother Nature is fickle, so it won't be long until we cool back down (like next week's extended forecast !) 

In the meanwhile, let's talk about your Fall décor.  I know many of you already have your pumpkins and mums bought.  I tend to wait because I want them to last into November and hopefully through Thanksgiving.  Yep, I'm old school - no Christmas décor until after the Turkey has been celebrated!

But what about your quilted décor?  

I normally start with the table and the dining room.  I take off the patriotic table runner that I use from Memorial Day through Labor day and replace it with a fall runner.  


This particular runner is from my Learn to Machine Bind Your Quilts video class. 



I always like to add a mix of gourds, small pumpkins and an antique dish down the center of the runner.  Just a word of warning... keep checking the pumpkins and gourds to make sure they are still "fresh" .... when they go "bad" they leave quite a mess  - thankfully table runners are washable :) 

I also like to extend the fall décor into the living area.  Our quilts get used not only by humans but also by the pooches...  Miss Zoey is loves a good nap in sunbeam while stretched out on a batik throw. It doesn't matter how many times a day I refold this quilt, she always "fluffs" it to her liking :) 


I haven't decided for sure which quilts are heading to the couch but one of my favorite new designs is my Autumn Bliss quilt which is full of rich color.  It looks like it would be hard to make - but it's really pretty easy. 


Another favorite is my Sunburst Strips & Squares quilt.  This version features a beautiful palette of fall colors and it's super simple to make with a roll of precut strips.


And we can't forget outside too...  This is the décor at my Mother's house.  A simple big hexagon throw made with scrappy fall fabrics along with some pumpkins too. 


I would love to hear about your fall decorating plans.  Leave me a comment below about how you decorate for Fall and next Friday, September 29th, I will choose a lucky winner for a free Autumn Bliss pattern.  Happy Decorating!

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Christmas Caroling Row Along - Jingle Bells


Hi!  Welcome to Masterpiece Quilting! 
I'm Nancy Scott & I'm excited to part of this elite group of bloggers bringing you the Christmas Caroling Row Along.  



One of my favorite Christmas Carols is Jingle Bells - so I used it as the theme for my row. 



I was inspired by the traditional seasonal look of evergreen swags laden with jingle bells attached by big red bows.  I used raw edge fusible applique to construct my row which measures 10" tall x 30" long. It would work perfect as a wall hanging, table runner or mantle piece.  The pattern for my  
Jingle Bells Row  is available on Craftsy for $5.00.  




Because I was having so much fun with my row,

I designed an entire quilt with my Jingle Bell row as the outer border!



The pattern for my Jingle Bells Quilt is available on Craftsy
at an introductory price of $5.95 for the pdf download
through October 31, 2017.   







And what's a blog without giveaways! I'm pleased to have Anita Goodesign, Calibre Arts and Northcott Fabrics sponsoring these giveaways!





Anita Goodesign - Around The World / Fashion 1, 2, 3
Shipping Is Anywhere / Shipping Cost must be paid by winner.  Value $90.00
Description Link: http://www.seamstobesew.com/?p=13512
Starts September 12, 2017 / Ends September 19, 2017
Sponsor URL: https://www.anitagoodesignonline.com/
a Rafflecopter giveaway





Calibre Art 8x8 Rotating Mat
http://amzn.to/2gnASBJ
Value $29.95     Shipping Via Amazon USA Only
Description Link: http://www.seamstobesew.com/?p=13556


Northcott 1 FQ Bundles 2yds total
Shipping Is Everywhere     Value $20.00
Description Link: http://www.seamstobesew.com/?p=13596
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you for stopping by and visiting my blog. 
Be sure to visit the other bloggers participating in the Christmas Caroling Row Along.  I've seen previews of many of the rows and they are simply beautiful! 


The Christmas Caroling Row Along Schedule

Thursday, September 14, 2017
Barbara Dieges
Cynthia’s Creating Ark
The Quilted Snail
Ms. P. Designs USA
                                            (sponsored by Just Let Me Quilt)
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Cheryl LaPlante
                                            (sponsored by Quilt In Piece)
Morning Glory
Pampered Pettit
Fun Threads
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
Show and Tell Day
Bloggers will be announced at a later date


Rules and Guidelines For Giveaways
Please take the time to read it.
  1. Giveaways offered by sponsors are assigned to the various bloggers for their featured day.
  2. There are no prior announcements on who is doing which sponsor except to the sponsor themselves.
  3. You’ll have to visit the blog or the featured blog to enter the giveaways. Not all giveaways can be entered at Seams To Be Sew.
  4. I will start announcing winners on September 12, 2017, and finish announcing winners on October 12, 2017 with the exception of the Calibre Art giveaway, those will be available after each featured day, starting September 06, 2017.
  5. In most cases, the blog where you won at also will announce their winners.
  6. You must give a valid email address when you enter the giveaways, any email returned to me, loses the ability to win automatically.
  7. With the exception of Show and Tell Day, all giveaways run for approximately one week.
  8. You are given 3 days to answer the email, if you do not answer within 3 days a new winner will be drawn. Check those spam/junk mail folders, you may miss that winning email if you don’t do so because there are no exceptions to this rule.
  9. If you are notified that you are a winner, in most cases, you will need to provide your name, address, city, state, zip code, country, telephone number, and email address.
  10. In some cases, you will be asked to comment on the blog to enter the giveaway… do the right thing and thank them for the time it took to create the pattern, thank them for the pattern and…
  11. Thank the sponsor by buying their products for the giveaways. This helps them continue to offer great prizes for these types of events. You can also comment on their social media pages. Even if you don’t win, letting them know you love their products is a huge incentive and they really do love hearing from you.
  12. No purchase whatsoever is necessary.
  13. You must be 18+ in order to win a gift.
  14. You are responsible for claiming and paying any tax owed on the value of any gift that you win. Prizes valued at $500.00 should be claimed.
  15. All winners are chosen at random.
  16. All winners will be announced on the blogs via the Rafflecopter entry form and/or post by the blogger at the site where they won and here at Seams To Be Sew. All winners must allow for their first name and first initial of their last name to be announced on this blog.
  17. Odds of Winning a prize are based on a total number of rafflecopter entries during each week and in total for all giveaways.
  18. This giveaway is void where prohibited by law.
  19. Participating bloggers may enter any of the giveaways.
  20. The word giveaways in the rules and guidelines are also known as sweepstakes.
Most of the giveaways are international shipping this year in some cases, you will be asked to pay for shipping your giveaways.

I am not rich and I do not ask sponsors for money, they provide prizes only. If they shipped the prize to me, you will be asked to pay for shipping. All giveaways will be shipped that are in my home within 48 hours of my having heard from you.

An invoice will be sent to you via Paypal, and shipping will take place via Paypal, so your Paypal email will be needed to send the invoice. You will receive a tracking number except for overseas shipments. All shipping will either be first class which averages out at 2.77 to 4.00 up to 13 ounces. Paypal fees are added to that amount to cover that fee. All fabric bundles from Michael Miller, Hoffman, and Moda will be shipped via Priority Mail to protect the fabric itself.

Please note, every effort is made to protect the prizes. They go into a plastic bin when I receive them, and it is covered by an air tight cover. I have a dog in my home and I have a smoker in my home, so I do everything possible to protect the prizes.

Most companies are very good about getting prizes off to customers quickly also, but some companies are overseas, so please allow all sponsors a 2-week time period before you report to me that you still haven’t received your prize. When the company is overseas, it can take 6 weeks to 90 days for an item to also arrive.

Whether or not you read the above, the rules for giveaways are in place to protect everyone. I do not want to hear you didn’t read them, they will be posted on my blog daily during each featured day. There is no excuse for not reading them.




Sunday, September 10, 2017

Making Connections Blog Hop

Making Connections Blog Hop


Hi!  Welcome to Masterpiece Quilting!

I'm Nancy Scott and I'm excited to be part of this blog hop where we celebrate the release of Dorie Hruska's latest book Making Connections: A Free-Motion Quilting Workbook with C & T Publishing. 

I've been longarm quilting since 2006 and it's always a challenge to come up with new and fresh ideas for quilting. Sure you can always stitch out an edge to edge pattern and call it finished but what really gets the attention is custom quilting that highlights the piecing.  This book is full of designs and techniques that are applicable for both domestic machine and longarm quilters and will allow you to do exactly that - get a custom quilted look without all the stops and starts.  

Sometimes my biggest challenge is deciding what designs I want to use, so I'm asking you to help me out.   Here is my new Christmas table runner that needs quilted.  I used my Let's Gather pattern to make it.




I want to quilt it so the quilting highlights the piecing but doesn't necessarily draw attention to my non-so-perfect piecing :)   so the techniques in Making Connections are perfect. 

Here's a close-up look at the block so you can see it better. 




From my design software, I exported the block diagram and printed it.  Then I began playing around and drawing some different quilting options that are in the Making Connections book.




Which quilting option do you like best?  

Another decision I have to make is thread color - which should I use?  Do I want to draw attention to the quilting or just let it subtly add texture?    Here are the first 5 thread cones I grabbed.  All of the threads are Superior So Fine 50wt. 




And here is a close-up so you can see the thread better.  I know I have a favorite picked out but I want to know what you think too!



For your input in helping me decide how to quilt my Let's Gather runner, C&T Publishing is giving away a free copy of Making Connections.  To enter, leave a comment with which thread color (gold, beige, yellow, red, green or suggest one) and which quilting option (a, b, c, d  or suggest one) that I should use. It's that easy!  After the blog hop ends on September 15th, I will select a winner and contact you for your mailing address.
**Note: Only winners with addresses within the US will receive a hard copy of the book. International winners will receive the e-book version.

To order a signed copy of Making Connections, here is the link to Dorie's website, Forever Quilting. 

Be sure to stay tuned to my blog - later this month I will have a show and tell post when I quilt my Let's Gather runner using your suggestions for quilting and thread. 



Also be sure to check out all the awesome quilting that is happening in this blog hop.

BLOG HOP SCHEDULE


Friday September 1st
C&T Publishing Blog: http://www.ctpub.com/blog/   IG:ctpublishing

Monday September  4th
Holly Anne Knight Blog: https://www.stringandstory.com/ IG: stringandstory
Susan Arnold Blog: www.quiltfabrication.com IG: quiltfabrication

Tuesday September 5th 
Becca Fenstermaker Blog:  www.prettypiney.com IG: prettypiney
Teri Lucas Blog: www.generationqmagazine.com IG: genqmag

Wednesday September 6th 
Sherry Shish Blog: https://poweredbyquilting.com IG: poweredbyquilting
Pam Morgan Blog: www.mysweetlittlestitches.com IG: sweetlittlestitches

Thursday September 7th 
Katy S Blog: www.katyquilts.net IG: katyquilts
Laura Piland Blog: www.sliceofpiquilts.com IG: sliceofpiquilts

Friday September 8th 
Suzy Webster Blog: https://websterquilt.blogspot.com IG: websterquilt
Bernie Kringel Blog: https://needleandfoot.com IG: needleandfoot

Monday September 11th
Jamie Mueller Blog: www.jamie@sunflower-quilts.com IG: sunflower_quilt
Nancy Scott Blog: http://masterpiecequilting.blogspot.com IG: masterpiecequilting

Tuesday September 12th 
Sherri Noel Blog: www.rebeccamaedesigns.com IG: rebeccamaedesigns
Anorina Morris Blog: www.sameliasmum.com IG: sameliasmum

Wednesday September 13th 
Yvonne Fuchs  Blog: https://quiltingjetgirl.com IG: quiltingjetgirl
Barbie Mills Blog: https://thequiltingmill.blogspot.com IG: thequiltingmill

Thursday September 14th 
Afton Warrick Blog: www.quiltingmod.com IG: quiltingmod 
Kathy Bruckman Blog: https://kathyskwiltsandmore.blogspot.com IG: kathyskwiltsandmore

Friday September 15th
Susan Arnold Blog: www.quiltfabrication.com IG: quiltfabrication
Dorie Hruska Blog: http://www.forever-quilting.com/blog IG: foreverquilting

Thursday, September 7, 2017

Island Batik - Back to School Blog Hop

Hi!  Welcome to Masterpiece Quilting !

I'm Nancy Scott and I'm one of the 2017 Island Batik Brand Ambassadors.  

I'm so excited you are participating in our Back to School Blog Hop and Thank You for stopping by my blog.  



The line that I am working with is Sakura - A Signature Collection by Kathy Engle for Ebony Love of LoveBug StudiosYou can see the full Sakura line on Island Batik's website.  Also be sure to check out all the beautiful quilts made with Sakura in the Island Batik Spring / Summer Catalog


Be sure to look for the Sakura line (as well as all the other gorgeous Island Batik fabrics) at your local quilt shop - they should be arriving soon!  If they don't have it in stock, don't be afraid to ask them about carrying Island Batik fabrics.  

Earlier this year, I made a small "Salesman Sample" to be used by the Island Batik sales reps featuring each of the fabrics in the collection.  In case I haven't said it before - I absolutely adore this collection - it is so ME!


For my Blog Hop project, I used my Black & White Express pattern but changed it up by using the full Sakura Collection.   Here's the original Black & White Express quilt. 




And here is my remake using the Sakura fabrics. 



I'm not sure which one I love the most - the pattern really showcases the fabric. 

As a special bonus to celebrate the Back to School Blog Hop, until the end of September, I have special pricing of $6.95 for pdf downloads on my Black & White Express pattern.  

I'm also giving away a pdf copy of the pattern. 
The giveaway is open to anyone with an email address so I can send you the pdf.  

To enter the giveaway, leave a comment here about your favorite Back To School memory and for more chances head over and follow me on IG @MasterpieceQuilting and for even another chance, like my FB page Masterpiece Quilting. 

The winner will be chosen next Thursday, September 14th. 






Speaking of favorite school memories - mine was always recess!  Even though I was a good student, I was a farm kid - so I loved (and still do love) to be outdoors and recess was my only chance to run around, look at the sky and enjoy some sunshine.   So it's only fitting that I my quilt to the playground for a photoshoot!  

Here it is lounging on the bleachers.  By the way, this is a perfect sized quilt to make for watching fall sports. 


And then we tried out the swing - but we didn't have anyone to push us!


We had a lot more fun hanging out on the fence!  Aren't fences made for climbing anyway?


We tried the teeter totter but that didn't go so well !


And before the bell rang, we had to try out one last piece of equipment!


I hope you enjoyed my Back to School adventure and thanks for visiting my blog. 
The blog tour has just begun and continues until the end of the month.  Be sure to
check out the fat quarter bundle giveaway on the Island Batik blog as well as the
blogs of my fellow Island Batik Brand Ambassadors.


   Here are the dates and links:

WEEK 1

Tuesday, September 5 – Country Dozen
Cheryl Lynch Quilts
 • Inspired Layers
Wednesday, September 6 – Bonsai
Little Bunny Quilts
Thursday, September 7 – Sakura
Masterpiece Quilting

WEEK 2

Monday, September 11 – Fresh Pick’ins
KISSed Quilts
Tuesday, September 12 – Lotus Blooms
Kathys Kwilts and More
Wednesday, September 13 – Olivera
Joan Kawano
 • Vicki’s Crafts and Quilting
Thursday, September 14 – Rise & Shine
Den Syende Himmel
 • Sally’s Quilting Corner
Friday, September 15 – Diner Days
Ark Angel Creations
 • Karen Overton

WEEK 3

Monday, September 18 – Seas the Day
KISSed Quilts
 • Whispers of Yore
Tuesday, September 19 – Vineyard
The Inquiring Quilter
 • Inchworm Fabrics
Wednesday, September 20 – Abalone
PamelaQuilts
 • Yellow Cat Quilts
Friday, September 22 – Captain’s Anchor
Purrfect Spots Designs
 • Beaquilter

WEEK 4

Tuesday, September 26 – Lobster Bake
Seams to be Sew
Wednesday, September 27 – Solstice
Bejeweled Quilts
 • heARTs Creations
Thursday, September 28 – Sour Apple
Seams Like a Dream
 • Kauffman Designs
Friday, September 29 – Zen
Lizard Creek Quilting
 • Quilt’n Party