National Sewing Month, Precuts, a new FREE Pattern, and a GIVEAWAY

As part of National Sewing Month this month, C&T authors are writing blog entries, doing tutorials, and offering free patterns!  YAY!  To see what other authors are up to on C&T's blog, click HERE.

Today, September 20th, is my day.  So you can hop on over to C&T and read my blog post about My Obsession with Precuts.

There are a lot of reasons to love precuts, aren't there?

Here are some of mine:

12)  Less waste than yardage. 
11)  Precuts are smaller than fabric bolts -- you can store more precuts in a smaller space.
10)  They are just like candy, but better -- no calories!
9)  Whether you actually use them or just decorate with them, they're pretty.
8)  There are sew many different types of precuts available -- there's a precut for every person and every project.
7)  When you're traveling, they pack well in suitcases and carry on bags (fat quarters roll up nicely in shoes).
6)  I've never met a precut that I didn't like.
5)  Books, patterns, rulers, and other tools.  OH MY! (Have you checked out my book, I Love Precut Quilts! yet?)
4)  Precuts make it easy to make controlled "scrappy" quilts.
3)  I can have a piece of fabric from each bolt in an entire collection and it doesn't break the bank.
2)  Precuts can be cut into other precuts (for example -- you can get four 2 1/2" squares from a 5" charm square or four 5" squares from a 10" Layer Cake square).
1)  Precuts are sew addicting!!!!!

I am happy to offer you a new FREE PATTERN in honor of National Sewing Month!  It's called Around Town and it is another companion quilt project from my book, I Love Precut Quilts!  On my Tutorials and Freebies website page, you will also find a couple tutorials and 2 other free companion projects for my book.

 Around Town

 NOW FOR THE NATIONAL SEWING MONTH GIVEAWAY

I will be giving away a copy of my latest book, I Love Precut Quilts!, to one lucky winner -- maybe it will be you!

Here's how it works:

You have up to 3 chances to win.

1.  Leave a comment and tell me why you love precuts.

2.  Become a blog follower and leave a comment telling me you that you're a blog follower.

3. Follow me on Instagram @tricia.maloney and leave a comment telling me you're an Instagram follower.

Ready!  Set!  GO!

You have from Wednesday, September 20th through Sunday, September 24th to participate.

 The winner will be selected randomly on Monday, September 25th.

You never know........I might be inspired to add more prizes along the way if I get lots of encouragement.

PLEASE MAKE SURE TO INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS 

SO THAT I CAN CONTACT YOU IF YOU WIN!

 

Spring Market Friday -- Day 3

After surviving my Schoolhouse presentation yesterday, I was sew sew ready to take on the world today!  Or at least the Quilt Market show floor.

Here are a couple photos of the floor.  You'll have to use your imagination to see how big it really was.  Close your eyes and picture this gigantic room, bigger than a football field.  Can you see the aisles numbered from 200 (row 1) all the way to 3200 (row 32)? Okay, now try to imagine over 900 vendors all under the same roof!

THAT'S QUILT MARKET!

I did not have anything planned for Friday so it was a good day to just walk and look around.  Of course, I checked in with my publisher, C&T, and was delighted to see my book quilt, Breeze -- the blue and white quilt on the left, on display in the booth.  Yay!

I stopped to visit with other friends I've made along the way and somehow, I actually made it through the entire show floor!  Boy, were my feet killing me later.  LOL!


Friday night was the much-anticipated Moda Party and I was lucky enough to get to go the the event.  It was a lot of fun with food, friends, and even some dancing.  I was in for the dancing when they played "Cha Cha Slide" -- really, I know all the moves for this song.  (wink, wink...)

Some of My Favorite Things Part 1

While at Quilt Market, I had the opportunity to check out all of the latest and greatest.

Here are some of my favorite finds (in no particular order):

 I Love Precut Quilts!

By Moi!   What can I say?  Of course, this would make my list of favorite Quilt Market finds!  There were lots and lots of precuts out and about at Market too, which would compliment my book beautifully.  You know, I even saw circle-shaped precuts.  Hmm.....new precut, new quilts.........

  Addicted to Scraps

By fellow C&T author, Bonnie Hunter. If you've never checked out Bonnie's scrappy style, you definietly should!  Her books and patterns are guarateed to empty your scrap stash!!!

   

Iris Ultra Quilting Thread

I know I've talked about this thread before, but you really should try it out.  They've just added more than 20 new colors AND added a giant 2500 yard spool called King!  I'm really glad we're finally making headway finding the spool of thread that never runs out!

 The Make Series by C&T 

This is a fantastik series of books!  Each book has a nice mix of projects great for beginners but also fun for more advanced quilters, too.  The price is very modest too.  Terrific books for quilt shops -- low price, great projects, and would make super projects for classes.

Retro Clean

Have you tried this product yet?  I have and it's awesome!  I have this ginormaous collection of antique and vontage quilt blocks, fabrics, quilt tops, and quilts.  Retro Clean worked really well for cleaning this fragile stuff.

Rose Cards

I have loved the Rose Cards since I first discovered them in 2010.  Each year, Villa Rosa introduces a new card collection to add to the existing cards.  This  ensures that the designs and even the fabrics used in the samples are up-to-date and fresh.

Stay tuned for more favorite finds in my next blog entry.
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DON'T FORGET...............................

Back From Quilt Market!

OH MY GOODNESS!

I've been home about a week from Fall Quilt Market in Houston.

Quilt Market was wonderful......exciting.......overwhelming.......

It's amazing.  I spend months getting myself ready for Market.  Making appointments.  Making quilt samples or demos.  Making travel and hotel accommodations.  Whew!  I'm getting tired again just thinking about it.  LOL!

BUT it's all sew sew worth it when you get to the Convention Center and walk into that gigantic Quilt Market Floor.  The only problem is that it's sensory overload.

I didn't take tons of photos, although I would have loved to. Too much eye candy, you know?

Here's my view of Houston from the cab on our way from the airport.

My favorite thing at the hotel....well, one of 3 favorite things -- the awesome pancake maker machine at breakfast, the hot tub/spa after a long day running aorund Market, and cookies and milk at 4 pm every day.

Ollie posing next to my book, I Love Precut Quilts!, at C&T's booth!

Favorite restaurant in Houston!!!!!

I made 4 quilt samples for Camelot Fabrics.  Aren't the displays sew sew sweet???

I did a couple of free motion quilting demos at the Enmart booth -- have you tried their Ultra Iris thread yet?????

I made a video (or 2) to promote my book with C&T, too.  (Sorry, no photos, but I'll post the link as soon as I have it.)

One of the most important things that I learned at Market was how to use Instragram from my friend and traveling pal, Sondra.  THANK YOU, SONDRA!   So, if you're on Instragram, please follow me @tricia.maloney.

After Market, I couldn't wait to get home and back into my studio.  Time to quilt!

C&T Blog Post about I Love Precut Quilts! and a Show

YAY!  I should be receiving an advance copy of my new book any day now...maybe even tomorrow.  :)

In the meantime, C&T blogged about my book on Friday.  Here's the link.  Check it out -- it shows several of the projects and features the introduction from the book.  Leave a comment and let me know what you think.......

I Love Precut Quilts! Blog Post

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Now I don't normally vend at shows because I'm more of a designer/quilter/author/lecturer but one of our local shows, Octoberfest,  lowered its fee so I thought I'd take a chance since I have umpteen quilts that need to find new homes.  (Honestly, I think I need to start a quilt adoption program.)

Although sales weren't that great and I went home with almost all the quilts that I took with me -- umm, that was around 66 -- I had a great time and did a lot of networking about my book, lectures, teaching, etc.  So, maybe this show will surprise me at some point in the future.

Here's some pics of my booth.  I was pretty luck that the vendor diagonal to me never showed so I, of course, offered to fill the space with quilt eye candy.  (wink, wink!)

In Between Projects....and a Little Marketing

Well I'm off to a good start on the Marketing front.  I decided to start by contacting the wonderful companies who gave me fabric/batting/tools/etc. to use for the book.

Riley Blake Designs
Moda (United Notions)
Camelot
Robert Kaufman
Cotton + Steel
Fiskars
Roc-Lon
Mary Ellen Products
Enmart
Fairfield World

Hmm.  I think that was all of them.  I've heard back from several already AND I have even talked to a couple on the phone to brainstorm ideas.  I'm still waiting to hear from several of them, so I'll probably contact those ones again in case they didn't receive the email or whatever.

I've started talking to a couple magazines too, but I've barely scratched the surface on this avenue and need to get back to it.

I am definitely going to host a blog hop with C&T.  I've already received the guildelines and info.  F-U-N!  I had such a fun time participating in the Quiltmaker Magazine 100 Quilt Block Volume 13 tour that I wanted to do it again, but this time the focus will be my book, of course.

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While I was waiting for my box of fabric for 3 magazine projects, I decided to do a little cleaning in my studio.  What an interesting experience, to say the least.  I did a little re-arranging along the one wall and then started sorting and organizing a bit.  OH MY!  What a lot of stuff I had scattered around my space.  I found notes from my first book, Orphan Block Quilts, which released in 2010.  Not to mention all of the scraps of paper from magazine pieces and just little notes that don't mean anything now.  Ugh!  Apparently I have a paper problem.

One of my favorite things to do with 8 1/2'' x 11'' sheets of paper that only have printing or writing on one side is to cut the paper into quarters and use the clean side for notes.  I even do this at the library where I work.  Too bad we can't wash paper, huh?

Anyway, here are a few photos from my "dungeon" studio.  My studio is located in the back corner of the basement.  I keep trying to steal a little bit more space as everything seems to multiply when I'm not looking....LOL!

 

What a mess!  See the stack of papers?  Those are from my first book!

 One of my favorite pieces in my studio -- my moveable giant ironing station with storage.  I worked on actually putting things in the bins.  Hidden clutter, YAY!

 

This is where I store my usual basic yardage.  Folded with an 8" ruler so everything is uniform.  Divided by color.  I also have some collections housed by themselves -- fat quarters (also organized by color), 1930's reproductions, 1800's reproductions, Christmas, Fall/Halloween, Patriotic, and PRECUTS (of course!).

 

Here's another view of my storage wall.  AND there's my amazing sewing machine and BFF -- my Janome 8900.  Too bad about the exposed concrete floor though, huh?

As I was cleaning up and re-organizing, I also found a lot of items that I didn't want anymore so I got those ready for an upcoming garage sale.  You know.....I must help to fuel the underground quilting movement.

Of course I was just getting into the cleaning groove when my box from Moda came today.  Here's a peak inside my box.  Ho hum.  It figures, doesn't it?  Hopefully I'll get back to it before another 6 years passes.

YAY! It's Official -- My NEW BOOK is Out in November 2016

Just found out for sure this past week that my new book, I LOVE PRECUT QUILTS! will officially be out in November this year -- six months from now!  WHOAH!

I received the Fall 2016 C&T catalog and my book is in it!  Yippee!

I also found my book on Amazon for pre-order.  WOW!


Hopefully, I'll be headed to Fall Market in Houston this October.......