Giveaway Day Results & Charity Blocks

It's now time to reveal the winner of my Giveaway Day drawing; but first, I'd like to say Thank You to everyone who participated...including Mom!  I really enjoyed reading all your comments and learning what tool/notion is your favorite or one that you couldn't live without.  The most widely mentioned ones come as no surprise...a Seam Ripper and Rotary Cutter.  What would we do without either of these?

So, Mr. Random Generator has chosen # 78 to be our winner this evening.

Congratulations Debra!!! an email is on it's way to you now.

Ok, now how's this for a segway...

Since we are talking about giving (get it, GIVEaway Day), I want to show you the blocks that I made as part of the St. Louis Modern Quilt Guild's charitable project for our local chapter of Project Linus.  If you haven't heard of Project Linus, I encourage you to visit their headquarters here.  Since their creation in 1995, they have donated over 3 million blankets/afghans/quilts to children in need.

Our group is collecting cross/plus blocks in 2 different colorways:
                       -Pink & Orange
                       -Blue & Green

We hope to collect enough blocks so that we can make 1 of each quilt, and while our VP, Mary Clare, has only asked for 1 block; she of course won't turn down more...more blocks = more quilts :-)

You can read about our charitable project here.

While the lighting isn't so good, you get the idea.

All of our blocks are due in July and I can't wait to see how many wonderful combinations and variations our members make.

Thanks again for participating in Giveaway Day! and Congratulations once again to Debra.

Giveaway Day Spring-2011

May 25th, 2011 10:01pm...Giveaway now closed...stay tuned for winner

It's Giveaway Day!!! courtesy of Sew, Mama, Sew!!

I encourage you to visit all of the wonderful blogs and shops participating in today's event.

I apologize for anyone who visited me early in the morning as I'm just a little late getting mine up as we had some wild and crazy storms that shut our power off for a few hours; but all is good now.

So you probably want to know what you can win, eh?

6 Fat Quarters

I'm also going to include a surprise too; but I'm not going to tell you what it is...hence the surprise.

While you can certainly just leave a comment and be on your merry way to the next blog/shop...I do hope that you will spend a little time learning about each of the blogs/shops that you visit.

For example, did you know?

-I am the Founder & President of the St. Louis Modern Quilt Guild
-I am going to be featured on Moda BakeShop within the next few months (my first project)
-I am addicted to Flickr Swaps and all the loveliness that people make

This is a great time to find someone or something "New to You", so say Hi!

To Enter:

1. Leave a comment below telling me your favorite sewing tool/notion.

2. Make sure that you include an email address, Flickr Name, or something if you are a No-Reply Blogger.

3. While NOT a requirement, for a 2nd chance to win...consider following me...and if you already follow me, make sure you say so.

Winner will be drawn on Wednesday, May 25th at 10pm (CST) by Random Generator.

If I cannot get in touch with the winner by Friday, May 27th, another winner will be drawn.

Good Luck!!!

P.S.  I have comment moderation on because of those nasty spammers,
so please do not fret if your comment doesn't show up right away :-)

Spoiler Alert

Of course, if you read a few posts back or you were at the last St. Louis Modern Quilt Guild meeting, you already knew this; but here it is anyway.

I'm going to be featured on Moda Bake Shop! 

It will be my first recipe and I'm super stoked.

It won't be for a while, most importantly because I haven't even started making my quilt yet; but also because the fabric that United Notions (=Moda) sent me doesn't even hit the shelves until September. 

It's Circa 1934 from Cosmo Cricket. 

Circa 1934 Swatch Page here.

Now, I'm usually not a fan of dustier colors; but as soon as I saw the typewriter keys, and large numbered fabrics, I was absolutely smitten.  The palette is certainly true to it's name and I'm going to enjoy playing with something brand new.

I wish I could share more; but for now, you'll just have to be happy with my random posts here and there with a photo of scraps, and when it gets closer maybe an itty-bitty sneak peek.  And don't worry, when it's time for my recipe to go up...I'll be yelling it from the rooftops.

My 1st Presentation on Modern Quilting

I was invited by the wonderful people of the Circle in the Square Quilt Guild to make a presentation on Modern Quilting to their membership this evening.  My program was titled "Modern Quilting: The Ins & Outs of this new movement".

I prepared a PowerPoint, wrote everything down that I wanted to say, had some quilts to show (thanks to some girls from the STLMQG) and I raided my studio for fabric, books, etc. 

When it came time to give the actual presentation, I ended up winging it instead and ignoring my notes completely.  Turns out that I do better without them, and it also seems that once you get me talking about Modern Quilting...it's kinda hard to get me to shut-up.  I don't know how long I actually talked for, so forgive me ladies if I ran over :-)

It was the 1st time in like forever that I had given a Presentation, and while I'm still getting used to being at the "Head of the Class" during my own STLMQG meetings.  It's certainly all good practice and from what I hear, I'm doing a Good Job!

There were some good questions and comments from the audience, and the overall atmosphere was pretty  interactive.  It looked like a handful of photos were taken too, so when I get ahold of them, I'll share them with all of you.  Update: I got some photos.

 Yep, that's me...talking with my hands :-)

 Here we are admiring Cara's quilt

The quilt on the table is Mary Claire's.

Thanks to Cara, Mary Claire, Juli Ann and Elizabeth for letting me borrow their quilts.

Below is some information I promised the group I would post here on my blog.

If you are a part of another guild/group and would like me to make a similiar presentation, please let me know.  I would love to do this again.  You can reach me here and we can work out the details.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All of the items belong are links, so click on them individually.

This list is not at all comprehensive; but it's a great starting point for those interested in Modern Quilting.

The Modern Quilt Guild
The St. Louis Modern Quilt Guild
Flickr
Blogger

Amy's Creative Side
Cluck, Cluck, Sew
Red Pepper Quilts
{House} of A La Mode
Handmade by Alissa
Tallgrass Prairie Studio
Anna Maria Horner
Jaybird Quilts
Oh, Fransson!
Stitched in Color
Two More Seconds

Here's some online shops where you can find Modern Fabric, again...not all of them; but a start
Fat Quarter Shop
SewMamaSew!
Hawthorne Threads
Pink Chalk Fabrics
FabricWorm


If you click on my Blogs/Links tab above, I have others listed too.

Thanks Again!!!

Mystery Quilt Finished...Whew!

Hi All,

So if you've been following along recently, you'll know that I've been working on a project in cooperation with Fabric Designer, Laura Gunn.  She contacted our quilt guild (STLMQG) and wanted to know if there were any members willing to take on a crazy challenge...

Make a LapSize Quilt in 2 1/2 weeks using her newest line, Painter's Canvas

Five members took on this challenge: Me, Mary Claire, Jamie, Lynne and Juli Ann.

After we coordinated schedules, met with Laura Gunn to discuss our quilts and select the fabric...we were left with 11 days. Yes, that's right folks...11 days to make a LapSize Quilt.

The quilts will be carried to the International Quilt Market in Salt Lake City and displayed in Michael Miller's booth alongside Laura Gunn's fabric collection. If you are going to market and come across my quilt, take a photo for me...pretty please with a cherry on top.

Okay, enough begging.  I titled this quilt, Puzzled and when you see it, I hope you'll know why. This is my first quilt/block-design and I'm super excited to have the chance to share it with all of you here. I've submitted the idea to Moda Bakeshop, and if I am so lucky as to be selected...then I'll certainly have to put pen to paper right away as my chicken-scratch notes aren't enough.  Keep your fingers crossed !!! 

UPDATE:  I'm gonna be on Moda BakeShop - YAY!!!  I don't know when just yet; but I'm working behind the scenes right now to figure that out.  You'll all be the first to know when it goes up.

May I now present, Puzzled

When I saw the brick facade, I knew this was the spot to get some photos.

And now the back, as you can see I added a surprise

Finally, a cozy and inviting shot highlighting the wonderful fabric, Painter's Canvas

Love it, Hate it, let me know...I'd love to hear your thoughts, and you'll

be seeing more photos tomorrow too as I am participating in Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival; but I just couldn't wait another day without sharing this with all of you.  Can you tell I'm excited!!

******Blogger Boo-Booed, and this post was missing for a while; but now it's back up. Unfortunately all of the wonderful comments have disappeared...so keep chatting it up, I'd love to hear what you think*******

Fast & Furious Quilt...Will I Finish in Time??

I've made alot of progress on my quilt that is due next Wednesday.  I cut out all 360+ pieces of the quilt Sunday and Monday...thank goodness for the Rotary Cutter.  Tuesday, I started sewing the pieces together.  Suprisingly, the blocks went together super fast and I finished 18 yesterday and the final 18 tonight.  Keep in mind this is with working on it about 2 hours each evening.

I laid everything out on the floor and played around with the color placement before making the final decision, and slowly picking the rows up one at a time. 

My plan is to start sewing them together Friday.  My STLMQG has a Sew-In all Saturday...can you guess what I'll be working on??

Here's some sneak peeks.

Painter's Canvas by Laura Gunn

Here's the left-over scraps from the FQs I selected

Here's 1/2 of the blocks stacked all nice...just waiting to play

You thought I was really going to show you this...aww, aren't you cute.

Don't worry, once the quilt is done and handed off on it's journey to Quilt Market, I'll get started on a free-tutorial so you can make your very own. 



May I introduce...

Me.

I've been blogging since August of 2007 and this blog has been about what I've been doing on my house (renovation), in my studio (quilting) or even in the yard (gardening).  Yet, you never saw the person behind the screen.  Honestly I've sort of felt like I've led multiple lives, one never really intersecting with the other.

What exactly do I mean, you ask?

Let me try and explain. 

My REAL life "offline" included a family that loves and supports me, friends that keep me grounded, a job that pays the bills, a mortgage, college debt, etc.  If you would have asked me the question "What do you do?"...I would have answered with what I did at my paying-job day to day, and said nothing about the fact that I was a Quilter, Entrepreneur, Blogger, etc.  This latter part existed entirely "online" and amongst close family/friends, it was always just a Hobby, not a part of my REAL life.

Yet, last year things changed.  Maybe it's because I had turned 30...who really knows. 

What I do know is since I started the St. Louis Modern Quilt Guild in July of last year, I have grown much more as a person, been given more opportunities then I could have imagined, continue to meet and be inspired by amazingly-talented people (Yes, you STLMQG members), have actually been more creative in the past 9 months then probably the last 4-5 years, etc. 

So here I am, my name's Kristy Daum and I'm glad to meet you.

I am writing this post because today someone asked me to send them a Bio and Picture, as I am giving a presentation on Modern Quilting to a local quilt guild in a few weeks, and they needed something for their newsletter.  I think that request cemented the fact that I need to think of this blog as an extention of my REAL life and vice versa.  Quilting and Blogging isn't just a hobby, it is a big part of who I am now and honestly who I want to be down the road. 

This blog will continue to be about what I'm doing and may be random at times; but that's okay with me.