Quilt Album Blog Hop and Giveaway

This giveaway is closed now. Thank you all for participating.

Welcome to the QuiltAlbum Blog Hop! Thank you Pat Sloan for inviting me to participate in this event.

What is QuiltAlbum ? It is an easy software that helps you to keep a quilting journal- a database that keeps all the important information about your quilts in one place and makes it simple to print it out for different purposes.

You have spent many hours creating your quilts – this program creates a lasting and complete record of your work - for yourself or for your descendants!

For every quilt you can store as many pictures and information as you want. And you can print out nicely those photos and information – as pages that you can bind into a physical album.
Here are a few of my pages:

You can print a complete summary of everything stored in your QuiltAlbum, as an index for your printed album.

You can also print out a cover for your album.

You can print greeting cards - in many styles-all using your favorite quilt photos.

and quilt labels.

And here are a few tips:

• Use your best photos; I did not have time to search on my computer for good old photos and I saved what I wanted from my blog. If you write on a blog you too can do this if you are in a hurry !
  
  
• I did not have time to add details for my older projects; instead, for every project, I added the month and year I wrote about it on my blog so I can easily find it if I need more information!
  
  
• Use for printing a nice cardboard.
  

If you make a lot of quilts as gifts for your family and friends or if you make quilts for sale, then you will find this software even more useful for keeping records about those quilts.

I am not a very organized person. It would take me forever to find on my computer pictures of the quilts I made 6, 8 or 10 years ago.
It would have been great to have QuiltAlbum since I started quilting and see, in one place, all the quilts I have made over the years.

Click here to learn more about Quilt Album. It is not just a fun and easy to use program, it's useful.

Now, Pat wanted to share some other fun things about me with you.

1. What one item do you really want to add to your studio ?
I would like a tread rack, like this one!

2. What color would you paint your living room if you had to do it right now
Living room or any other room - GREEN!

source

3. What is the last piece of fabric you bought

A collection of solid fabrics.

4. Your favorite candy to find in your Easter Basket -----------------------------------------------

Are you ready for a giveaway ?

One lucky reader of my blog will win a copy of QuiltAlbum. Just leave me a comment.
The winner will be drawn April 6th.

Please go and read Michele's review.
And tomorrow visit:

John Adams - Quilt Dad
Pat Sloan
They'll also be having giveaways.

The Beginning of a New Quilt

I want to make a Grandmother Flower Garden quilt.
But as much as I like to stitch hexagons, I realize that, if I would work on it alone, there is no chance to finish it in less than 5 years!

So I thought that the best thing would be to make the quilt for my mother and all her 4 daughters to work on it.

All her life, my mother made for us the most amazing knitting clothes. So it is our turn to make something for her. All my sisters are excited!

I made kits for us all.

The technique seams easy for them and we all started to sew.
We are using 3/4" hexagons and, if I did correctly the math, we will need about 80 flowers.

These are the flowers that me and Nina stitched last night, until 1 AM. It seams it takes about 4.5 hours for stitching a flower. I don't want to calculate how much time we need to stitch them all.

I will join these flowers with dark (probably brown) small diamonds.

And just when I thought that my youngest sister probably can't stitch too many flowers, as she has a little baby, she called me to say that she stitched until the middle of the night.

So we all are happily stitching hexagons !

Isn't baby Alex adorable ? A quilt for him is next in line.

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Don't forget about The QuiltAlbum Blog Hop!
Visit today:
Linda Lum deBono http://www.lindalumdebono.blogspot.com/
Vanessa Christenson http://www.vanessachristenson.com/

Quilt Album Blog Hop

Have you heard about QuiltAlbum?

QuiltAlbum is a software - an easy way to store important information (including photos) about your quilts. QuiltAlbum is a database that keeps all that information in one place and make it simple to print it out for different purposes.

There is a blog hop in the Quilt-land and 8 quilters will share their experience in using QuiltAlbum.

I am happy that I was invited too. I downloaded it in a few minutes and I started working with it! I love it - this software is useful for any quilter.

The good news for you? 8 giveaways on 8 blogs - 8 chances for you all to win a license of QuiltAlbum!

My turn is on March 31, I can’t wait to share with you why I love this software.
Until then, make sure you visit the other blogs for your chance to win !

March 29

Rachel Griffith http://www.psiquilt.com/
Benita Skinner http://www.victorianaquiltdesigns.com/VictorianaQuilters/311QA.htm

March 30
Linda lum deBono http://www.lindalumdebono.blogspot.com/
Vanessa Christenson http://www.vanessachristenson.com/

March 31
Me - Geta Grama http://cadouri-din-inima.blogspot.com/
Michele Foster http://quiltinggallery.com/

April 1
John Adams http://www.quiltdad.com/
Pat Sloan http://www.patsloan.typepad.com/

Click here to QuiltAlbum website to learn more.
Good Luck!

Solid Fabrics

I am the happiest girl ! I have a collection of solid fabrics ! I don't know how many colors, I think more than 50.

But now I have to wash them all!


Fat quarters, fat eights and 10" squares! That is - I just took pictures of them and I started feeling bad from my allergy.

I think I have to put them in some pillow cases in the washing machine.

Phew, I will need two days to wash, iron and arange them on colors ! But I can't wait !

Would you like to join me in a Quilt Along?
I am thinking about such a project !

Free Quilting Design

Are you on my newsletter list ?
Starting this month, at the end of every month, I will send to my subscribers a free quilting design.

Here is the design for March - you will receive pdf files in two sizes and instructions to resize the design to fit your needs.

Quilt it in the blocks of a quilt, make appliques or trapunto, wall hangings or pillows.
Here are two options.

If you are not on the list, you can subscribe on the right sidebar.

Quilted Postcards

Do you remember them ?

I am selling some of them, details here.

WIP

Yesterday I had so many hopes...that I will quilt the Jewel Box quilt. But my industrial machine doesn't want to sew at all, no matter how many efforts I have made. I changed the needles, I adjusted the tension of thread countless times, I used my best thread- NOTHING - the thread keeps breaking !

After one hour of struggles and one block quilted, I folded the quilt and I put it back in the closet. Tomorrow I have to call the mechanic because I don't know what else to do.
I waste a lot of time when the machine doesn't sew !

Look at these pieces how nice the same machine quilted them, a few days ago (I did not applique the dots, it's just a beautiful fabric).

I am working on a new pattern - a summer tote ! I made the prototype and I started to make samples ! So many possibilities - now I am making the quilted ones! And these are only two of them.

Have a great week!

One more step...

Today I am going to quilt my mother's Jewel Box quilt!

Happy weekend!

Quilted Basket Swap

Hello my dear readers,

How are you doing ? I am still here, just busy with unpleasant, non-quilting things.

Two years ago I made a few quilted baskets, it was fun to make them and the little girls who received them were very happy.
I wrote even a tutorial for making this basket:

I was excited when Michele wrote me a few weeks ago that she will organize a Quilted Fabric Basket Swap and the participants will follow my tutorial.

They can use any design and any technique, but the basket must be made with 100% cotton fabric, quilted and lined and the size will be approximately 15.5″ x 6.5″ x 5″ deep.

The possibilities are endless, would you like to join us ?
Registration closes April 4th, see here all the details.

I am planning my new design!

Have a great weekend!

Button Bouquets

Unique button(but not only) bouquets, I love them:

http://www.rockstarphotographyblog.com/2010/01/gorgeous-unique-button-felt-and-fabric.html

Hexy Coasters

I can't believe how much I enjoy stitching hexagons by hand!!! I don't know where I find patience but I can't wait to start the new (and large) project, in a few weeks!

I made coasters!

Thank you all for the tips you left on my blog, they really help me. I just have to find a tool to punch holes in the center of the templates, I spent some time removing them.

I fused the hexagons to heavyweight interfacing (here is the technique) and I used from my lefovers all the little pieces, even 1.5" wide strips.

I join the strips with zig-zag stitches.
It was more fun to join the hexagons than to fuse them and stitch them in place. I will not make other coasters too soon!

Happy weekend!