Quick Christmas Gifts / Beauties Pageant 156

One of my crafting specialties is making a small project into a big project. I mean, I truly excel at this. All I do is find a project that can be easily tackled in an hour or two—it could be a pouch or a tote bag or something—and then I make that project a half-dozen times. Or a full dozen times. Or if I’m experiencing serious delusions of crafty grandeur, say, 27 times!

Want to join me on this crazy crafting train? First, pick your own project. I recommend all of those pictured here, including tiny drawstring pouches, pin cushions, and tissue cozies.

Then write up a list of recipients—like a half-dozen new guild board members or a dozen elementary teachers or the 27 staff members at your kid’s preschool (true story). Now multiply that number by two ... just in case. : )

 

To be honest, I am not making any gifts for holiday giving this Christmas, but that doesn’t mean I can’t enable your frenzied, last-minute sewing and quilting! For more on the projects pictured here, including links to the corresponding tutorials or patterns, click below ...

• Tiny drawstring pouches
  
• Pin cushions
  
• Tissue cozies
• More simple gift ideas   

Heads up: The following two Fridays fall on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, so I won’t be back until January with the next Beauties Pageant. Until then, fill us in on what you’ve been up to in this week’s linky. Wishing you all the loveliest of holidays!

 

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• Post your finish in the linky tool. (No links to your own giveaway or linky, please!)
• Point your readers back here with a text link or use the button above.
• Visit and comment on other participants’ finishes.

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Packages Tied Up with Strings / Beauties Pageant 155

Did you see my Monday post? I’m giving away my stash of Denyse Schmidt fabrics, and I couldn’t be more excited about it! I’ve had a long run with some of these fabrics—and certain designs I’ve bought again and again—but it’s time for some turnover with my stash (and, let’s be honest, an excuse to buy Denyse’s more recent collections!).

I knew that chipping away at my stash and cleaning up my sewing space would be a delight. What I wasn’t expecting was how fun it would be to cut up yardage and scraps, assemble them into sweet little piles, and tie them up with string. But it was, and now these cuties are ready to be listed in my Etsy shop between 7 and 9 p.m. tonight for $7 apiece, including shipping.

If you’re interested in a bundle for yourself, I want to temper your expectations. These bundles are small, just 4.5 to 5 ounces each, and there are only a handful of them. I hope to list a few more in the new year, after I finish my Random Hearts quilt.

I’ve had a lot of success with selling yardage and scraps. (I recommend using FeelGood Fibers for destashing like that. Read about my experience with FGF here.) If this idea of giving away fabric and asking people to pay just shipping inspires you, go for it! The next-best thing to buying fabric yourself is giving it to someone who you know will appreciate and use it!

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The pageant rules are simple:

• Post your finish in the linky tool. (No links to your own giveaway or linky, please!)
• Point your readers back here with a text link or use the button above.
• Visit and comment on other participants’ finishes.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Giving Away My Denyse Schmidt Stash!

 

One of my pandemic goals (aside from not contracting Covid!) has been to use up my stash of Denyse Schmidt fabrics, and I’m officially in the home stretch. I’m working on a Random Hearts quilt and invite you to join me!

I’m not hosting an official quilt-along or anything. Instead, I’ve decided to give away my remaining DS stash. I’ll be cutting what’s left into 4.5- and 5-inch strips, the perfect size for making Random Hearts blocks, and asking people to pick up the cost of shipping.

Bundles will be sold for the cost of first-class shipping through my Etsy shop. Keep tabs on my IG feed for an announcement about when the listings will go live.

I feel like Santa Claus—you know, if old Saint Nick were a 40-something mom and quilt maker living in Massachusetts and gifted fabric!

Related links:

• A Last Hurrah with My DS stash
• Random Hearts block tutorial from Make Things. Grow
• From Bolt to Beauty on Instagram
• From Bolt to Beauty on Etsy
  

Plaid-ish / Beauties Pageant 154

Hey, there—long time, no post! I’m happy to be back on my blog after an unplanned break that included a month’s worth of appointments compressed into a week, a visit with my in-laws, and Thanksgiving with my side of the family. Aside from one deadline-driven project I’m working on, I’m hoping to mostly coast through the end of the year. Lucky for me, I have projects close enough to the finish line that I will still have fun stuff to share, even though sewing is in low gear for me through the new year. : )

Pictured here is one of those finishes! It’s my first Plaid-ish quilt. It’s also my only Plaid-ish quilt—until I finish my Gypsy Wife quilt. I’ve decided that feat will earn me a second Plaid-ish. What makes this pattern so much fun? It’s the fabric pull, friends. I love sitting down with my scraps and stash, and developing a palette. It’s almost as much fun as designing patterns. What makes Plaid-ish extra satisfying is that it uses no background fabric, so it busts through a ton of fabric.

 

And there are so many good fabrics in this beauty. Two collections from Kate Spain—Aria and Canyon—set the stage color-wise. (I had bits left over from this quilt and this quilt and this quilt.) I built the palette from there, focusing on salmon, periwinkle, grassy green, aqua, navy, and gray. There are selections from Alison Glass, 1Canoe2, Lizzy House, Janet Clare, and other fabulous designers. The pattern, a freebie from Erica Jackman, of Kitchen Table Quilting, is built around low, medium, and dark tones. If you’ve never played with value before, it’s a blast—you’ve got to find the time to sew a Plaid-ish!

I splurged and sent this project to Narda at Maz Q’s Sewing and Quilting Studio for an edge-to-edge panto. I like to quilt my tops myself and considered stippling this one, but it’s an oversize throw and I knew Narda’s work would give it a polish that my domestic and I couldn’t. 

We have so much to catch up on! Please share your finishes from the past few weeks (more than one upload is encouraged!) in the linky below. It’s nice to be back. : )

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The pageant rules are simple:

• Post your finish in the linky tool. (No links to your own giveaway or linky, please!)
• Point your readers back here with a text link or use the button above.
• Visit and comment on other participants’ finishes.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter