Sweet Home Quilt Along Giveaway Week 2

Sweet Home Quilt Along Giveaway Week 2

Each Friday, throughout the Sweet Home Quilt Along, there’ll be a Giveaway. Your QAL hosts, Maureen Cracknell , Jennifer Jones, and myself have coordinated special giveaway prizes with our amazing participating sponsors for each and every week! If you've happened to miss the first Sweet Home QAL post, take a look back and read about it HERE then follow the posts in chronological order until you get caught up.

These Friday blog posts will highlight the Sponsor and awesome giveaway prize offered for this week’s QAL giveaway. The randomly drawn winners will be selected from the growing Instagram hashtag pool the following Monday around 4 pm Eastern with the winner(s) announced on Instagram.

Top #SweetHomeQAL posts in the Instagram hashtag pool

Is your Instagram post featured in this #SweetHomeQAL hashtag pool snapshot???

We’re using Instagram as a Sweet Home QAL community share spot where we can follow along and comment on each others quilt progress and share beautiful photos of our work.

Every time you share a post to your public instagram account and use the official #SweetHomeQAL hashtag in your post caption your post is automatically entered into the giveaway hashtag pool! That’s right—it’s as easy as that—just do what you’d do anyway! So, to up your chances, post a lot of of progress shots of your fabric pull, cut pieces, blocks, sashing, assembly, tops, and ultimately, finished quilts.

You may notice I keep saying you need a public Instagram account to be entered into the giveaway drawings. That’s because if you have your IG account set as a private account, Instagram does not add any hashtags to hashtag pools from private accounts—it’s just the way they roll. So, you may want to go into your IG settings and turn your account to public for the QAL or if not, and I totally get the need for privacy in this strange world we live in, just know that you won’t be eligible for the giveaways.

SWEET HOME QAL SPONSORS

TODAY'S FEATURED SWEET HOME QAL SPONSOR IS Chenille-It!

If you can dream it you can Chenille-it is the tag line for this innovative notions company run by owner/designer/artist Nannette Holmberg. Chenille-it Blooming bias let’s your create a faux chenille finish to all your sewing projects with easy-to-use bias tape. Stitch it, wash it, and you're done—it’s really that simple!

Visit Chenille-It: Shop | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube

We’re so pleased to have Chenille-It as a Sweet Home QAL sponsor and Nannette is giving away three (3) $25 e-gift cards to three lucky winners to use in the Chenille-it shop. You can use the e-gift card toward purchase of any of the wonderful items in their shop like: patterns, kits, fabric, notions, or of course, toward faux chenille Blooming Bias—all available on their site! 

I personally love the Chenille-It Blooming Bias tape and have used it on several pillow projects and as the binding for my first two Sweet Home quilts made in earlier this spring.

I’m planning to use faux chenille binding again for the Sweet Home QAL quilt and have a roll of 5/8’’-wide Cinnamon binding all ready for that finishing touch. Don’t worry, I’ll be going over exactly how to attach this type of binding to your quilt on week 5. But for those of you that like to work ahead, I’ve already a Faux Chenille Binding video prepared for the easy steps needed to achieve this cool look.

Don’t forget to share your Sweet Home quilt makes with your fellow quilt along makers over on Instagram and you’ll automatically be entered into this week’s drawing if you have a public IG account. Three lucky winners will be drawn from the growing hashtag pool on Monday, September 21st around 4 pm Eastern and the winners will be tagged and notified on Instagram.

Be sure to follow along on all three host’s blogs as well as our Instagram accounts: Me @sharonhollanddesigns , Maureen @maureencracknell , and Jennifer @penelopehandmade

I also want to let you know that during the QAL Jennifer and I plan to have impromptu IGTV live videos to give you tips and tricks for sewing your Sweet Home Quilt.

View my IGTV Sweet Home QAL series

View Jennifer’s IGTV story

Work on gathering your fabrics and cutting out all the pieces so next Wednesday we can start piecing the Bungalow blocks! Be watching my Instagram feed on Monday or Tuesday for LIVE video demonstrations on how to assemble Bungalow Blocks. Don’t worry if you miss the LIVE broadcasts as you can always access the recorded video anytime in my IGTV channel.

—Happy sewing

Sweet Home Quilt Along

Sweet Home Quilt Along

Have you heard the good news?!?! There’s going to be a Sweet Home quilt along!

Yes, that’s right, I’ll be cohosting the Sweet Home Quilt Along with my good friend Maureen Cracknell and new friend Jennifer Jones. The fun starts September 9th, right here on the blog and over on Instagram.

This quilt couldn’t be anymore symbolic of 2020 and is so much fun to piece you won’t mind staying home one bit! The quilt along is a six week event where we break down and construct our house blocks, sashing, assembly, and quilting into manageable weekly bite sizes. Of course, I’ll have tutorials for you with video tips and tricks to make your Sweet Home blocks as happy as they can be.

Purchase your Sweet Home pattern in my SHOP and gets started gathering your fabrics so you don’t miss one minute of the fun!

To make it even easier for you to get started and source your fabrics we’ve collaborated with the following fine quilt shops to bring you Sweet Home quilt kits that can be delivered right to your door!

Click on the images below to go directly to the kit pages!

Sweet & Spooky Sweet Home kit from Lady Belle Fabric

Sweet Home quilt kit from Lady Belle Fabric

Cozy & Joyful Sweet Home kit from Lady Belle Fabric

Terra Kotta Sweet Home kit from Fat Quarter Shop

Starry Night Sweet Home kit from Lamb and Loom

Prairie Companion Sweet Home kit from Piper Autumn Designs

Prairie Companion Sweet Home kit from Piper Autumn Designs with backing HERE.

If you’d like to read more about this quilt (I’ve made two so far) check out the pattern release post Home, Sweet Home (Quilt) and the Sweet Home & Faux Chenille posts.

We’ve got some wonderful sponsors lined up for this quilt along event and there’ll be giveaway prizes each week during the QAL. The giveaways will be held on Instagram and each host will take turns hosting the giveaway on their Instagram account. Be sure to be following me @sharonhollanddesigns, Maureen @maureencracknell, and Jennifer @penelopehandmade for all the details of each giveaway.

See you back here on September 9th as I post more about the Sweet Home Quilt Along.

Home, Sweet Home (Quilt)

Home, Sweet Home (Quilt)

Sweet Home by Sharon Holland

Wow, I know it’d been a bit since I last blogged but, I had no idea it’d been this long! I’ve really been so busy these last two months (which incidentally is also the amount of time I’ve not left my house) and the time’s flown by for me.

Just to fill in the gaps between the last post and now I’ve done some more paintings, finished a new fabric collection for fall (October release if all goes according to shipping plans), stitched 244 masks—70+ of which I’ve listed for sale in my new FABRIC MASKS page. I’ve also designed, wrote the pattern, and stitched two quilts in my new Sweet Home quilt pattern, and am working on a new fabric line for 2021.

Sweet Home quilt by Sharon Holland photo and long arm quilting by Lady Belle Fabric

Today it’s time to show you the newest pattern in my shop and it’s quilt pattern release day, hooray! You can find this PDF pattern on my SHOP page HERE. This adorable, beginner-friendly design is the perfect scrap quilt and a way to show off all those prints you’ve been collecting.

I’ve made two Sweet Home quilts but for today’s post I’ll just show the first one since I have a bunch of beautiful photos and don’t want this post to get too epic. I’ll show the other quilt next week along with a new giveaway. See end of this blog for this week’s giveaway.

The fabrics for this blush and turquoise quilt are all Art Gallery Fabrics and use prints from several different AGF collections: Spirited, Ballerina Fusion, Marrakesh Fusion, Rosewood Fusion, and Pure Solids.

I love how you can mix between AGF collections and curate an entirely new look!

When I was designing this quilt pattern, I was creating it for a Quilt Along (QAL) to be co-hosted with myself and Maureen Cracknell. Unfortunately, with COVID-19, lockdowns and shipping issue headaches have all played havoc on the fabric availability coming into Art Gallery Fabrics and going out to shops. Even though I pulled the most current fabrics for my quilt, many are already out of stock! My Spirited collection is being reprinted and is probably in a container somewhere waiting to be unloaded.

Until more normal business resumes and shops can get restocked we’re tabling our QAL for now. I’m very disappointed but will be ready with two quilt already made and loads of video tutorials to prepare, sponsors lined up—all to make a sew along extra enjoyable when the time comes.

The nice thing about a pattern release ahead of a quilt along is that you can start planning and gathering your materials early! I love how different colors and fabrics give this quilt an entirely new look and vibe and have included a coloring sheet of the quilt in the PDF pattern. Did you know you can download virtual fabric swatches from the various Art Gallery Fabrics collections and play around with different looks? Yup, just look for the Download JPEG Swatches button on every collection and start planning.

This Shabby-Chic Boho palette is what I put together for my first quilt and is my happy zone for colors and florally prints! It’s very girly and with the Daisy Chain long arm quilting design stitched by Brooke Becker of Lady Belle Fabric and the chenille edge finish—it’s the perfect finish to this sweet quilt.

Lady Belle Fabric - Sweet Home Quilt Kit

Brooke has curated a beautiful bundle of Art Gallery Fabric to make her own version of the Sweet Home quilt and has kits ready for you to make a quilt too!

Photo and quilt kit by Lady Belle Fabric

All your favorite Art Gallery Fabric designer’s prints are mixed together in this soft and sweet palette with shades of dusty mauve, mint, navy, coral, and terra cotta that’ll look right at home in your decor all year round.

Photo and quilt kit by Lady Belle Fabric

Visit Lady Belle Fabric to find this Sweet Home quilt kit, fabrics, and long arm quilting services. Brooke is the best and genuinely a fabulous person. I love helping support small businesses and quilt shops—especially during these tough times.

Let’s talk about the Chenille-It Blooming Bias edge treatment to replace traditional binding to add an additional layer of Boho-Chic to this quilt. This stunning look couldn’t have been any easier to create with a double-layer of 5/8”-wide Blooming Bias and took half the time of traditional binding. Instructions for adding chenille binding to your quilt are included in the PDF.

5/8”-wide Chenille-It Blooming Bias

I’m absolutely in love with this chenille binding and have another new quilt pattern in the queue that’ll be finished in this same technique. But, if you’re not feeling adventurous, there’s also traditional binding information/yardage included in the PDF pattern.

See materials list on the Sweet Home pattern listing in the SHOP.

For both my Sweet Home quilts, I’ve filled them with Hobbs Tuscany Silk Blend batting. This is my very favorite batting for many reasons. The drape of a quilt with silk batting is luxurious and vintage-soft. Tuscany Silk is lightweight, resists wrinkling, and has better insulating properties than traditional cotton batts. It handles much like cotton batting for hand or machine quilting and has less shrinkage when laundered. Oh, and great quilting definition, too!

Staying at home never looked so good, right? I hope you like my new quilt design and check it and my other patterns out in my SHOP.

I mentioned a giveaway earlier in this post and a new pattern release wouldn’t be complete without a giveaway or two! Read below on how to enter for a chance to win my new quilt pattern…

GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

Congratulations to: Jennifer Lewis, Laura M, and Anne!

Comment to Win a Sweet Home PDF Pattern!

* Note * This giveaway is open to EVERYONE! If you're a "no reply" or anonymous commenter, please remember to include your email address in your comment--you can't win if I can't get a hold of you!

1. Simply leave a comment here under this post! (Counts as first comment entry).

2. My followers get a second entry! If you follow via subscribing to my posts, with Bloglovin (or another service), or follow me on Instagram, just let me know by making a separate comment. (Counts as second entry). Note: I'm no longer on Facebook.

3. Help spread the word!! I know that many of you already do, so I thought it would be nice to add that as another way to enter! Spread the word about this giveaway on YOUR instagram, facebook, tweet, pin, blog post, etc... (Counts as a third entry). 

That’s THREE possible entries and three chances to win! Enter now through Monday, May 18, 2020. I’ll be drawing names for three winners. The winning comments will be picked at random around 4pm Eastern. I’ll post the name of the winners on this post once they've been notified and responded to my email.

Be sure to visit my Instagram feed @sharonhollanddesigns for a chance for you and a tagged friend to win PDF patterns from my SHOP. Winners can pick a substitute PDF pattern if desired for the blog and IG giveaways.

Stay home and sew,

Sharon

I am an Amazon Associate site and earn from qualifying purchases on the products I’ve linked below. The helpful products selected are the same or similar to materials used to make the project(s) in this blog post or related items I think you may enjoy.

Chenille Pillows

Chenille Pillows

Chenille pillows by Sharon Holland

It’s been a pretty intense couple of weeks here as I’ve been sewing and photographing for the Spirited Look Book coming out December 2, 2019. The Art Gallery Fabrics Look Books are a virtual magazine of inspiring projects made with fabrics from the newest collections. I’ve got about one more day to wrap everything up and take a little breather so this seemed like a good time to share my Chenille Pillow project with you before Thanksgiving week rolls around. Who knows, you may be looking for a quick decorating project to spruce things up before the holidays.

This is one of those projects that looks super high-end and difficult but is SO easy! I guarantee once you add chenille to a project you’ll want to chenille everything—the texture it adds is amazing and the application is as simple as doing a straight stitch on your sewing machine.

Here’s How to Make Chenille Pillows

Gather your supplies to make two pillows:

• 5/8 yard SPT-85229 Trail Marker Range print fabric from Art Gallery Fabrics Spirited

• 5/8 yard DEN-L-4000 Soft Sand Linen blend from Art Gallery Fabrics

• Two rolls 3/8’’ -wide Chenille-It in Natural

• Off-white thread (to match chenille)

• Two 22’’ squares of cotton batting

• Two 16” invisible zippers to coordinate with print or linen

• Two 18’’ pillow forms (I used feather pillow inserts)

• Spray baste

Chenille-It Blooming Bias

When I designed my Trail Marker print for Spirited I envisioned embellishing this print with embroidery or some sort of extra details to enhance the geometric-global design.

First I experimented with embroidery but wasn’t in love with the results and it was very time consuming. Then I tried needle punch embroidery but because of the tight weave of Art Gallery Fabrics cotton it was a big fail. I really wanted to see my vision come to life and remembered the wonderful Chenille-It product I used when sewing for my Signature collection Look Book. See the pillow tutorial made with Signature fabric and Chenille-It HERE.

Chenille-It is a blooming bias tape that gave me EXACTLY the look I wanted and is incredibly fast and easy to apply.

Chenille the Pillow Tops

• Cut two 21’’ squares from the printed fabric. These will become the fronts for two pillows. Layer in this order: 22’’ square batting and 21’’ print square right side up. Spray baste according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

• Working in one diagonal direction at a time and starting near the center of the layered fabric, apply the chenille by stitching down the center of the blooming bias tape, sewing through both fabric and batting layers. There’s no need to pin the bias tape down, I just eye-balled the diagonal line as I sewed. Trim bias to edge of fabric then start a new row parallel to the first.

• Continue adding parallel bias strips that run in the same diagonal direction.

• Repeat to attach blooming bias to the diagonal lines running in the opposite direction by crossing the tape right over the previously applied diagonal lines.

• Once all the chenille bias tape has been sewn to the foundation, follow the instructions on the package to “bloom” the chenille. I lightly wet the stitched pillow top under the faucet to get it damp-wet and vigorously rubbed the chenille with my hand to fluff it before tossing into the dryer with some damp towels to bloom and fluff further by tumbling. In the photo above, the pillow top on the right has been fluffed lightly. I ended up fluffing it more when I bloomed the second top on the right that hadn’t been bloomed yet.

• Carefully press the dried, bloomed pillow tops. Trim and square to 19’’.

Assemble Pillows

• Cut two 19’’ linen squares for the pillow backs.

• Referring to my Hidden Zipper tutorial, to finish the pillows using the 19’’ linen squares and 16’’ invisible zippers. Again, a hidden zipper sounds super intimidating but you’ll be amazed how easy this technique is and your pillows will have a professional, high-end look when finished.

Chenille pillows by Sharon Holland

Be watching for the Spirited Look Book coming the first week of December and find more inspirational sewing projects for your home and family.

Have a happy Thanksgiving!

Spirited fabrics by Sharon Holland