Showing posts with label Moleskine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Moleskine. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Book Review and Giveaway WINNER!!!

Hi peeps! 



I thought I would share a book I received for Christmas, as I realized it has been ages since my last book review! This is Make+Love QUILTS, by Mary Fons. Does her last name sound familiar? Well it is, because her mom is Marianne Fons of the dynamic quilting duo Fons & Porter! Mary Fons is also the Editor of Quilty magasine, which has become a new favourite!


The book is very well-written with lots of colour photos, and is a Stash Books publication(a niche division of C & T Publishing)…I own several Stash quilting books and have never been disappointed by their quality and attention to detail. 

The first 39 pages are dedicated to Theory + Practice; fabric, design fundamental and construction basics, then you move on to the 12 quilt projects.


This is the quilt from the cover…and my main reason for putting this book on my Christmas List! Each quilt photo is paired with colour suggestions. This one is the biggest quilt in the book, as-is the measurements are 108" x 126", but it is easy enough to adjust your quilt to be smaller.

I should note that all of the quilts in this book are made with scraps, but you don't have to use only scraps, you could go with a more controlled palette.


As you already know, I am a big fan of COLOUR! Not so much a fan of low-volume, but what attracted me to this quilt is the use of right-angle triangles. I also have the Accuquilt right-angle triangle die, so I knew I would be able to cut the pieces for this quilt easily…and from my scraps of course!


I must confess that the Bow Tie block is a top ten favourite block(Churn Dash wins hands down!!). It would be fun to make this quilt using the pictured black background with a multitude of scraps for the bow ties.


You gotta love a quilt named "My Dear" right? Those simple Nine-Patches mixed with a row of Rolling Stones blocks really give this quilt a modern edge while still making the blocks accessible to any skill level.


What can I say??? Of course I chose this Churn Dash quilt as the final quilt to show you!!! So easy to do up in scraps or with a coordinating 4-fabric bundle plus border!

As I said above, there are 12 quilts in this book. I have only shown you my favourites.

In my last post I showed you the cover of my Moleskine block ideas/design book. I though that you might want to have a glimpse at what I do when I am sketching and designing! 

You can find a design book for yourself at Massdrop.


This is a block I have been working on re; the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris earlier this year. I also included the two towers of 911 in New York as I felt that both horrific incidents were connected by tragedy. 

I don't yet know if I will be doing a tutorial of this block…some bugs to work out!!!


This is not an original design. I was working on changing the measurements of the finished block and also of the first square and resulting logs.


Here you can see where the first idea got trashed and the second attempt is so much better. I prefer to work on unlined paper, even though I have to draw the lines myself. That way I can play with the dimensions a bit more.



One thing I forgot to mention about Connecting Threads are the cute little postcards they include with each order. They have the Customer Service phone number on them so you can easily reach them if there is a problem.

After many years of no-trouble purchases I had a minor issue with one this year and called the Customer Service Department. The person on the phone looked up my order and listened to my problem, then corrected it quickly and politely, just like that. No hassles whatsoever! Gold Star to them!!!


I was on the Connecting Threads website yesterday and I noticed that Make+Love QUILTS(reviewed above) was in their Clearance section, at $10.33, which is 55% off!!! Woo-hoo!!!

Also in the Clearance section is this week's Weekly Deals, which are website-only specials that usual offer great discounted prices. This week's deals are on marking tools and acrylic rulers!

Now for the giveaway winner!!!

Wow, there were several hundred comments(YAY!!!) and it was hard to choose, so I asked Mr. Random(aka my Hubs) to choose a number and he chose…

#154. sherryberrybim, who wrote:

sherryberrybimSaturday, March 7, 2015 at 6:28:00 PM PST
I would make a lap quilt with this bundle of Luminescence.
I have sent an email!

Thanks so very much to all of you who entered and made this giveaway a big success!! Thanks also to my many new/continuing(can't say 'old'…just didn't sound right) followers who choose to allow me to come to their mailboxes a few times a week! I will endeavour to keep you entertained!!

Sharing is caring!!!
Don't forget that I am happy to share…feel free to pin to Pinterest, post on Google+ and Facebook, and Tweet away! Just please make sure your posts link back to this blog. 

*If you mouse/hover over the top right corner of my photos, a red pin-it button will show up and all you have to do is click it to be taken to Pinterest. There is also another red button right beside it for posting to Facebook and Twitter. Or, you could always use the little grey square buttons just below my signature. 

Thanks for reading and have a great day! 

Quilty Huggs, 

Jacqueline 

PLEASE NOTE: This post may contain affiliate links and I will receive a small commission if you make a purchase after clicking on my link. Thanks!

Sunday, March 8, 2015

Sum it Up Sunday & Giveaway Reminder!

Hi peeps! 



How are you doing on this fine Sunday? I say fine as it has been warm and sunny here since Friday…I even went out and about in a t-shirt today! Yay!!!

Just wanted to remind everyone that today is the last day to enter my giveaway: A 27-piece fat quarter bundle(some prints shown above) of LUMINESCENCE from the lovely folks at Connecting Threads. Have you had a chance to check them out yet?

Here's the link to the giveaway post:

***GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED AND THE PRIZE HAS BEEN AWARDED***

All you have to do is comment with your answer to the question stated there. You may also have a second entry if you follow me…and tell me how you do! There are follow windows for email and Bloglovin' on my right sidebar. 

Note: if you choose to Follow by Email, Feedburner will send you an email with a link to click. This is not spam. Feedburner needs your permission to send my posts to you. If you don't click that link, then my posts won't be delivered to your inbox. 
Just so you know!


I was at a church jumble sale recently and spotted this quilt. It is a bit rustic, but the colours go well in my living room and I couldn't beat the price…a whopping $2.50!! It is about 50" x 50" and is hand-appliqueed and hand quilted…both skills I can no longer do, due to carpal tunnel surgery on both wrists. 

They were raising money for a clean water well in Mexico, so I was more than happy to support them with a few other purchases too!!!


Yes, this photo is supposed to be blurry and obstructive! I can't actually show you yet as I am working on a block for a Sew-a-Long here on my blog coming very soon!!! 

That leather-bound book above is made by Moleskine and is my go-to block-ideas/designing book. It was the Hubs' Christmas present from his firm, but as soon as I saw it, I had to have it!!! It has a pocket inside the back cover for loose papers, a ribbon book mark and an elastic closure…perfect for taking with me from easy chair to sewing table. I just love it so much…and will have to get another soon, as this one is almost filled up. Thankfully, I can usually find them on Massdrop!

Sharing is caring!!! Don't forget that I am happy to share…feel free to pin to Pinterest, post on Google+ and Facebook, and Tweet away! Just please make sure your posts link back to this blog. If you are not sure, please ask me!

If you mouse/hover over the top right corner of my photos, a red pin-it button will show up, and there is another button right beside it for posting to Facebook and Twitter. Or, you could use the little grey buttons just below my signature.

Thanks for reading and have a great day! 

Quilty Huggs, 

Jacqueline