Kristin from The Crafty Quilter’s Closet has put together a great tutorial to make these nesting fabric baskets. Aren’t they just ADORABLE!!

Download the tutorial! Scroll to the bottom of the page, it’s a PDF file that you can save to your computer or print out to take to your sewing room.

I want a set for my sewing studio, and I think both Lucy and Alice, my nieces, will need sets too for Christmas. They’d make a great gift for your quilting friends as well. Perfect for storing fabric scraps.

Ryan Walsh of I’m Just A Guy Who Quilts, put together a fabulous tutorial for this mini quilt.

It’s called Bundles of Joy Quilt and finishes at 24″ x 28″. You’ll need one charm pack and one yard of coordinating fabric. Lots of step-by-step pictures to walk you through how to put this mini quilt together.

I’m thinking to make a larger version for myself to have in my living room. I have a Butterfly Garden layer cake just calling out to me to be used.

Congratulations to Yvonne of Belgium for winning last week’s weekly themed quilt contest, Two-Coloured Quilts, with her very unique I and Y challenge quilt.

Thanks to Jojo’s Quilt and Gift Shoppe for their donation of a Metro Market fabric bundle. Thanks also to the 758 voters that cast their ballot over the weekend. It was an exciting contest.

This week’s theme is Snow, Ice, Cold… quilts that make us go Brrrrrrr! To enter, read the rules and guidelines, then submit your quilt photo. Voting will start on Friday and last until Sunday night.

This week’s contest is sponsored by my good friend Geta Grama from Romania. Many of you will already be familiar with her as she’s had several of her free tutorials featured here. I am also the very lucky owner of one of her shadow trapunto quilts.

Last year, Geta published her first Shadow Trapunto e-book, which is fabulous by the way. Now, she’s released a new set of patterns, called Pockets with Love. The pockets are made using origami (the traditional Japanese art of paper folding ). She adapted the technique to fabrics and instead of a single piece of paper, you use two (or three) pieces of fabric. They are super cute and super easy to make. These are perfect for Valentine’s Day, Easter or Christmas as you could hide little treats in the pockets.

The winner of this week’s contest will receive one set of Geta’s Pockets with Love patterns, including the bonus Jolly Bag pattern. Check out the fabulous bags she’s made.

Here’s Geta’s latest free tutorial from her blog, a gorgeous portfolio. Perfect for any little girl. I do believe this would make a great present for my almost 4 year old niece’s birthday later this month. Of course, you can change the fabrics for the artistic little boy in your life too.

If you want to be a sponsor, contact me.

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You may use the code below to add the logo to your own blog. Thanks for helping to spread the word. The more contestants, the more exciting the contests.

The Alliance for American Quilts has announced a new quilt contest.

“New From Old” is the theme of the 2010 contest and quiltmakers are encouraged to think broadly and creatively about this opportunity to celebrate the past in the frame of the present. They might seek inspiration and/or content from antique quilt blocks, fabrics, trims, color palettes or stitches, then use the tools and materials of contemporary quilting to produce a new wall quilt. Artists might also respond to the theme more conceptually-an “old” idea recycled, a new way of creating an old block, technique or style, or a more personal interpretation.

The rules are simple: quilts must be 16″ x 16″ (including a 4″ sleeve and a label) and consist of three layers. Contest quilts must be sent to the AAQ by May 31, 2010. The contest is also a fundraiser; all quilts become a donation to the organization and will be auctioned on eBay Nov. 8 – Dec. 6, 2010 to benefit the AAQ and its mission to document, preserve and share the history of quilts and quiltmakers.

The contest quilts will tour national venues, including the National Quilting Association’s annual show in Columbus, Ohio, June 16 – 19 and the American Quilters Society Show in Knoxville, Tennessee, July 14-17. All contestants will benefit as well from their quilts being displayed on the AAQ website, not just during the contest and auction, but permanently, on the Quilt Index.

I’m really excited about this contest, and have been thinking about ideas for the past few days. I’m thinking something miniature, Amish-like or totally scrappy. The Alliance does amazing work for quilters, and I’m happy to support their efforts in this creative way. Head over to their web site to get all the contest info.

The past few weeks, I have been sorting fabrics, and attempting to make sense out of my scraps. I’ve been cutting pieces smaller than a fat quarter into more useful pieces for some upcoming projects.

One of the quilts I want to make for myself is a scrappy Postage Stamp Quilt. It will be totally random with 1.5″ finished pieces. I’ll start piecing these together as leaders/enders, while I work on other projects.

Over the weekend, I started doing the math, to get a rough idea of how many 2″ unfinished squares I’ll need. For a 40″ x 60″ lap/wall quilt, I’ll need 1,040. For a 50″ x 70″ lap quilt to cuddle under, I’ll need 1,380 pieces. Wow!

Here’s what I’ve got so far:

Two things come to mind immediately: 1) I don’t have anywhere near enough fabric cut and 2) I need a larger box. Without having counted what’s there, I’m guessing 150 to 200 pieces.

I’ve limited myself to only four of one print, though I may change my mind about this as time goes on. I need 260 or 345 different fabrics.

Do you know where this is going?

Anyone interested in exchanging 2″ pieces? I have lots of 2″ extras cut and lots of charms at 5″ too if you prefer those instead. This would be a one-to-one swap, I’m not organizing anything fancy. If you’d like to contribute to my postage stamp quilt, you’ll find my mailing address on the contact page.

A couple notes:

• I need reds, pinks, greys and light blues, but really anything is fine.
• No more than 4 of one print, please. Less is fine too.
• Accurate 2″ squares of good quality, 100% cotton fabric.

If you want to drop me an email to let me know they are coming, that would be great, so I can make sure I have enough to return to you. If you don’t want any in return, thanks!!

Gudrun Erla of G.E. Designs has invited eleven very cool ladies to have some fun blog-hopping around the country starting today.

Each will post every day sharing favourite Christmas recipes, traditions and stories.

And each day, one of them will share a Christmas/Holiday project with you. Twelve days… twelve free projects. WOW!

There will be prizes!!!

Start your hopping here:

• Nov. 9th. Gudrun from GE Designs
• Nov. 10th. Sandy from Pieces from my Heart
• Nov. 11th. Terry from Atkinson Designs
• Nov. 12th. Pat from Pat Sloan & Co.
• Nov. 13th. Heather from Anka’s Treasures
• Nov. 14th. Pam from Pam Kitty Morning
• Nov. 15th. Kari from New Leaf Stitches
• Nov. 16th. Terri from Whimsicals
• Nov. 17th. Sherri from This ‘N’ That
• Nov. 18th. Carrie from Miss Rosie’s Quilt Co.
• Nov. 19th. Roseann from Rosebud’s Cottage
• Nov. 20th. Linda from Linda Lum DeBono

Fun, fun, fun … for everyone!!

For day 1, Gudrun has posted this adorable quilt-as-you-go Sweet Trimmings Christmas tree wall hanging. It’s super cute and very quick to complete as you quilt it at the same as you put the top together. I definitely need to make one of these for myself. Maybe add a few buttons to serve as ornaments too.