The theme for this week’s quilt contest is Just Squares and Rectangles. You can submit quilts, table runners, mug rugs, pillows, etc. as long as the item is completely finished (i.e. bound and quilted).

Update – please read: The theme is JUST Squares and Rectangles. No triangles, appliqué or embroidery please. Save those beautiful quilts for another week.

Our friends from the Fat Quarter Shop are back as this week’s sponsor featuring their It’s Sew Emma Patterns. They are giving away two $35 gift certificates for this week’s winners.

It’s Sew Emma Patterns

Your whole life you might have heard the saying “Don’t be a square”, well this week we will let you be more square than you could have ever imagined because this week’s theme is “Just Squares and Rectangles”. So, start thinking squares and let your quilts be square-y!

Back at It’s Sew Emma, we have been squares, circles, stars, triangles, polygons… you get the idea. Here are a few of our squares we have passed by. First, The Magical Cat in the Hat, I think this one has been an all time favorite.

Then, Gumdrop Garden which has traveled all over the world to different Quilt Markets.

Rooftop Orchard, designed by Thomas Knauer, with his recreation of a bird of view of rooftops in big cities.

Coming soon is our Tumbling Blocks pattern and quilt kit made with the adorable Vintage Baby for Riley Blake & backed with a Snuggles Pack by Moda.

Now let’s see your squares and rectangles! We will give away a $35 gift certificates to Fat Quarter Shop for two winners!

Good Luck!
The It’s Sew Emma Team

Enter the Contest

Get your cameras out! To enter the weekly contest, read the rules and guidelines, then submit your quilt photo by Thursday evening (EDT). Voting will start on Friday and last until Sunday night.

Weekly Quilt Contest Links

• Guidelines
• Submit your photo
• 2012 Themes, Winners & Sponsors
• Sponsor a contest – only a few weeks left

Last Week’s Quilt Contest

Thanks to everyone who entered last week’s Delightful Dresdens contest. There were so many gorgeous quilts to see. Our sponsor wished to remain anonymous. Congratulations to the winner:

Katy Jones

The kind folks at OLFA sent me their latest 5″ Precision Appliqué Scissors to try out and share with my readers. They are also giving away a pair to one of you too. See below for how to enter the give-away.

I’ll admit I was a little skeptical that I’d like these scissors. I already have many pairs and really how many do I need? Well, I tried the scissors a while back and must say they are one of my most favourite pairs now. Here’s what I love about them:

• Light-weight .. I mean really light weight, so that they are very comfortable.
• Large cushy handles that fit nicely in my hand and don’t cause strain when used for long periods .. no more pinched fingers.
• The packaging claims that the scissors can be used to cut through up to six layers of fabric with little effort, and they DO! Without the fabric shifting either.
• The tips of the blades are as sharp as the rest of the blades, so that trimming curves and V’s for appliqué is super easy and accurate.

I don’t have anything negative to say about these scissors. One recommendation would be to make a larger pair with the same qualities. You can read more about the scissors on OLFA’s web site.

My Project

Below is the project I was working on when I first tried the scissors. It’s the centre circles for my hearts row for my Robin Rowers partner. I’ll post more photos of that project soon.

For my stuffed circles, I needed 5 larger circles in black, 5 smaller ones in white and 5 pieces of light weight batting. I’m using Karen Buckley’s Perfect Circles templates and Erin’s tutorial.

I traced a large circle onto one piece of black fabric, layered the five pieces together, stuck them with a pin, and cut out all pieces at one time. I did the same for the white circles…

… and the batting too.

Quick and easy!

Here’s one of the heart flowers that the circles were for:

Give-Away

OLFA is giving away a pair to one of my readers. To enter, leave a comment below telling me what you did this past weekend. Any gardening or quilting?

Winner will be randomly selected Sunday, April 22, 2012. Thanks to OLFA for adding such a great product to my quilting tool box.

Congratulations to #33 Cheryl Hartzog .. check your email for a message from me.

It’s voting time!! The theme for this week’s contest is Delightful Dresdens. Grab yourself a cup of coffee and a pencil to make note of your faves. You can vote for THREE favourites this weekend.

The quilter with the most votes will win this lovely fat quarter bundle donated by an anonymous sponsor.

Now it’s time for you to vote for your favourites!

• Voting is open Friday – Sunday @ 11:59 p.m.
• One vote per person (based on IP address NOT email address), so have your family and friends cast a ballot for their favourite quilt (from home if you send it to coworkers)
• Winner announced Monday!

How to Vote:

• Review the photos and stories below… there are several, so you’ll need to scroll down to see them all. You can also click the link to the slider version to review the quilts in the large format and then return to this page to vote.
• Underneath the photos, scroll down, you’ll see the names of all the quilts with a square button** beside each one. Select the buttons for the quilts you want to vote for. You can select up to THREE quilts this week.
• Then scroll down, all the way, until you get to the bottom of the names of the quilts. Press the vote button.

** Note: If you don’t see the square buttons to vote, but instead see the voting results, that means someone on your IP Address already voted, or that the voting period has ended, or that you need to refresh the page to see the voting options. Shared IP Addresses are very common in home or work networks.

Slider version: To view the large photos of all the quilts and descriptions, CLICK HERE. You’ll need to return to this page to cast your votes.

Please Note: If you are not seeing all of the photos, check your browser settings. Go to view, and text size. Make sure it’s set at medium. If you need web sites to be larger so you can read them more easily, then use the browser’s Zoom function, not the text resize. You can also use the scroll bar above, beside the photos, to scroll and see the hidden ones.

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Next Week’s Quilt Contest

The theme for next week’s contest is Just Squares & Rectangles. You can submit quilts, table runners, mug rugs, pillows, etc. as long as the item is completely finished (i.e. bound and quilted). Get your cameras out!

To enter the weekly contest, read the rules and guidelines, then submit your quilt photo by Thursday evening (EDT). Voting will start on Friday and last until Sunday night.

Weekly Quilt Contest Links

• Guidelines
• Submit your photo
• 2012 Themes, Winners & Sponsors
• Sponsor a contest – only a few dates left for 2012

The Learning Center

In the Learning Center this week, Pat Sloan explores the very base of our craft, the pieced block. She invited Faith Jones of Fresh Lemon Quilts to guest post and Faith created an excellent basic piecing tutorial with tips for all quilters. Be sure to check out the give-away too.

Read the post here: The Pieced Quilt Block!

Join the FUN: Mystery Quilt by Email

Last year, Heather Spence hosted a Mystery Quilt By Email to raise funds for her mom’s stem cell transplant. Now, Heather’s hosting another Mystery Quilt to help another family stricken by cancer and ever-increasing medical bills. I hope you’ll join the Mystery Quilt FUN and help too.

More information here: Join the FUN: Mystery Quilt by Email!